It's Time!

The Daffodils are finally blooming! They've come up a month later this year than last, but now that they are here everything is ready to burst with growth.

And so are my sprouts, I started my pepper sprouts (I'm trying 8 different varieties of pepper this year) March 5th, and it took them awhile to sprout, Ancho took 17 days, but now they are making true leaves! 

I always started my tomatoes on the Spring Equinox, Basil too, and they have just sprouted as well.

I like to keep my sprouts under lights to keep them from getting leggy, which means long, sprawling and weak. I use 4ft shop lights that I bought at Home Depot for $17, I am using plant bulbs, but I've successfully grown tomatoes using normal fluorescent bulbs before too.

And look what came in the mail yesterday! Seed Potatoes. Last year I planted my potatoes on April 5th, I'm aiming for the same timing this year, I'm just waiting for a dry spell so that the soil isn't so wet when they go in. 

Yay! I love the Spring.

Nettles! and Dandelions! Why not....

A group of wonderful Ladies and myself went out last week to attempt to forage for some Nettle in Pacific Spirit Park, here in Vancouver. We were fortunate to have someone with us with a gift for intuition, especially around herbs. She drove right up and parked beside a large patch of Nettles on her first try, surprising because they were so small, as this spring has been a cold one. 

But we were there and so we clipped the tops off of all the Nettles we could find.

I brought them home and washed them,

Then I packed them into a fine mesh bag and hung them in a window for a few days till they were crispy dry, but still green.

Then I sealed them into this jar to use throughout the year as a tasty and nutitious tea.

Mmmmmmm Nettle tea. 

Then I got to thinking...

Aren't Dandelions as nutritious as Nettle? And they are abundant in my own yard, I don't need to travel, even to a close by city park. And so...

After cleaning and preparing the Dandelion I was surprised how little there actually was

It was barely even noticeable in my pasta sauce, adding just a bit of nice colour. A successful foray into a new food, one that I never thought of as food before, and certainly one that raised even my eyebrows. 

But this day was bound to come.

Nettlefest on Galiano Island

Nettles would likely become  the new trendy superfood if they weren't so abundant, and free to gather, barring the cost of a painful sting. Packed with iron, and vitamins A, C and E, they are used as an antihistamine, a diuretic and show anti-inflammatory properties. They are also tasty, once steamed or blanched they can be used much like spinach, or dry them for a tasty tea.
This weekend Galiano island is celebrating Nettles through their annual Nettlefest, two years ago my experience there was great, the day started with gathering the Nettles...

They are growing everywhere in this disturbed clearing

Back to the hall to do sorting, not how everyone is wearing gloves

Blanching them a few seconds in water removes their sting

Squeezing the water out of the blanched Nettles makes convenient balls to cook with

These can then be chopped and added to things

Like this Nettle Gnocchi baked in tomato sauce

Or these Nettle bread rolls

A plate of Nettle goodnes

Served to everyone who came,

Nettlefest is fun and delicious, and the Galiano community is warm and welcoming. If you are free this weekend, and in the area, I highly recommend stopping by: http://galianofoodprogram.ca/

Finding Security

Last weeks Earthquake and Tsunami felt so close to home, and saddened me immensely.
I'm praying for the survivors, that they find comfort, food, shelter and loving people surrounding them at all times.
I'm also assessing my families ability to withstand an earthquake of that size. Where we live, in Vancouver, we are prone to huge earthquakes, but since one hasn't happened in 300 yrs we are pitifully less prepared than Japan was.
And so I created an emergency kit, rather ad hoc, but this is what I put in it:

• Flashlight
• Batteries
• Wool Blanket (wool is warm even when wet)
• Radio
• 4 bottles of Water
• Candles
• Lighter
• a few cans of Tuna
• Photocopies of our Passports

This kit, which I am storing in our car, would not keep us alive past a few days if we had no one else. It is a handy collection of items to get us out of a jam, but not real security.
Real Security lies in the Community and the Skills you build.
And so, this spring I am promising myself and my family that I am going to focus on building both Community and Skills, and have fun doing it, because life is short, lets not make it shitty.

My Garden Journal

I've benefitted enormously from having kept a garden journal. I use a moleskin cahier with grid paper to make it easier to do garden bed plans. Try it out this season, you'll become hooked as it helps you learn what your garden can produce for you.
What to record in it is up to you. I use it to:

• Plan what type of crop I want to plant in each bed, according to its sun situation and what went into that bed last year (no similar crops, to prevent a pest issue)
• Record what Varieties of seed I am trying this year (I love exploring different types of heirloom seed) and I always have a running list of every type of seed I currently have
• Organize a Schedule of when each type of seed needs to be started, and post this somewhere to be seen everyday through the spring
• A Record of the actual Planting Dates and if you do starts, then the date of Starting AND the Transplant Date
• A Record of the Date of First Harvest for each variety, this is possibly the most helpful thing to know when trying to determine what seeds you want to plant out, because you can try to have a continuous harvest with this info.
• The Weight of the Harvest for each variety, this is fun for some varieties, but for others (like pumpkin) its tricky (we needed to borrow a bike scale) 
• Finally, I like to make a note in the fall about my general impression of each variety, would I plant it again, was it easy to save seed from, etc.