tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22050672924068742392024-02-07T19:33:12.215-06:00Point of a Million ConnectionsA smorgasbord of food topics. Join the conversation!Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-51069231894764136552012-07-11T21:45:00.000-06:002012-07-11T21:45:39.041-06:00Gardens Update: 3 of 7I started out with a plan when I was planning my seven garden spaces. It was logical, as plans are. It took into account harvesting times, water needs, and companion planting. I have no idea what it is. I seem to have just planted "things I like" in each of the seven. But they're thriving!
This is at my friend Sarah's. We each have half of her garden. The onions love that clay soil! The peppers,Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-36741356076415194732012-06-29T14:02:00.000-06:002012-06-29T14:02:51.074-06:00Vincent's Sweets: A Baking ExperimentVincent has asked me a few times if he can bake cookies - from his own recipe that he makes up. I haven't wanted to let him because I have a miser's abhorrence of waste, and given his limited culinary knowledge, I anticipated having to throw out the mess of inedible ingredients post-baking.
That's probably not a good reason to quell curiosity and experimentation. The other day, I decided to let Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-57825651665543425012012-06-25T21:12:00.001-06:002012-06-25T21:13:46.199-06:00In which we travel in time to the 1950s.
Can you read this? It was taken from a moving car again, as billboards in our city tend not to be in places where people walk.
I'll read it for you. Let me put on my horn-rimmed glasses first and help myself to one of those cocktail franks - thanks, Doris.
"Food powers mankind [sic]. But what powers food?"
Potash, my friends. Potash, the gasoline in our corporeal Studebakers. Potash helpsEdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-44515403111453736892012-06-20T21:47:00.002-06:002012-06-20T21:47:58.343-06:00BeautifulGo here. See this.
How many of those have you grown?Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-25485271715322270082012-06-13T21:47:00.002-06:002012-06-13T21:53:12.860-06:00Old MacDonald's HensAs urban folk are further isolated from the countryside where the majority of the food is produced, the stereotype about Old-MacDonald type small family farms lives on. Who doesn't get warm fuzzies when contemplating a red barn full of hay with a rope swing in the loft, and happy cows contentedly chewing cud?
Courtesy of the CCA
McDonalds is all over that. Localism, nostalgia, patriotism - Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-89375382375918993052012-06-12T22:25:00.000-06:002012-06-12T22:25:43.424-06:00Home Garden is where the heart isI've planted in seven garden plots this year, but our home garden is still dearest to me. When we moved in three and a half years ago, it was a 54 square foot strip of patchy weeds in front of the driveway. That summer, I dug it up with a spade, added half a bale of peat and a garbage bag of well-rotted cow manure, and had a bumper crop of tomatoes. The next summer I learned the pitfalls of Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-26465753896005649302012-06-09T21:11:00.000-06:002012-06-09T21:11:30.890-06:00Photoessay: What does a six year old find interesting about gardening?My son got a camera for his birthday. He came to work with me last Tuesday. Here's what he thought was fit to shoot:
Raspberries
The windows look like arrow slits in a medieval castle.
Bedding plants
Me opening a can (there were many pictures like this)
Wheelbarrow
Disgruntled mom (see "Gumbo")
Himself
Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-38960311193077168342012-06-08T14:47:00.000-06:002012-06-08T14:47:54.958-06:00GumboIs gumbo:
a) a delicious thick soup featured in Lousianan cuisine that typically contains "a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and seasoning vegetables, which can include celery, bell peppers, and onions (a trio known in Cajun cuisine as the 'holy trinity')."
b)The plasticine-textured glop that is rock-hard when dry, impervious when wet, and passes for soil in the area inEdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-57155021319127226122012-05-22T10:45:00.000-06:002012-05-22T10:45:33.102-06:00May flowers?Rain. All week. With a low of zero on Saturday. I have three gardens left to plant, not including the 5400 sq ft one that is my job.
I'm not too worried. It'll keep. Here's some happy pictures!
Grandpa's Siberian Home Pepper
Silvery Fir Tree
Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-45425851853970338902012-05-15T10:57:00.000-06:002012-05-15T10:57:06.164-06:00Food Tourism, Bakery Edition
Bakery in Istanbul, 2001 - I taught ESL in Turkey for a while
Boulangerie in Paris, 2012 - My mom's celebrating her birthday in proper style
Patisserie in Nice, 2012 - my mom's photo again
It would be too cruel to take a picture of the donut I bought at Safeway the other day and label it "Saskatchewan 2012".Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-33396139952430485382012-05-07T21:42:00.000-06:002012-05-07T21:42:29.269-06:00Only 30 Chances to Get it Right?Last Saturday, I saw the film To Make a Farm. It follows five young small farmers through the 2010 growing season. The director, who was present for the screening, said he originally thought he was setting out to make a depressing film about the end of farming, but it ended up being very hopeful.
The film is definitely worth viewing, and I could say more about it, but one line in particular got Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-16220527531235343322012-05-03T21:47:00.000-06:002012-05-03T21:47:13.563-06:00Connect the Dots: Wetlands and AgricultureMy extended family gets together on all the big holidays. Lately, my relatives on a farm southeast of where I live have been hosting. My cousins are thoughtful folks and I enjoy talking with them about farming - and I was gifted with some homegrown lentils, homeground flour, and some borage seed.
My one cousin is sitting on his RM's advisory board for a pilot project focusing on environmental Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-11202681897222632922012-04-28T14:39:00.001-06:002012-04-28T14:40:38.311-06:00Farm Safety: The Real StoryU.S. Labor Department has just withdrawn a set of proposed safety regulations for young people working in agriculture. The regulations proposed to disallow children under 16 from operating machinery with power takeoffs, and from working in feed lots, grain silos and stockyards.
Under these regulations, my brother wouldn't have been able to pay for his university education by farming my Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-77841058147400324742012-04-24T14:40:00.000-06:002012-04-24T14:40:07.869-06:00Julie Guthman weighs in on obesityI came across a book I'm pretty excited to read, via the Rams Horn. It's entitled "Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism" and it's by Julie Guthman, who gained fame in academic foodie circles with "Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California".
How can it be anything other than excellent, with a quote like this:
"Fast and convenient food has been a Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-51211360855133304012012-04-22T15:30:00.000-06:002012-04-22T15:30:42.235-06:00Earth Day at Our HouseEdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-10608739166676374992012-04-20T13:42:00.000-06:002012-04-20T13:42:46.504-06:00What does deregulation mean for health?I didn't buy much chicken from the grocery store when I was in North Carolina. The "contains no more than 10% broth" label put me off. What was it hiding? In Canada, when you buy chicken, that's pretty much what you get - although the antibiotic and pesticide residue isn't listed, and the quality of muscle tissue that is confined, not allowed to stretch or move, is also dubious.
ApparentlyEdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-84425298928199092242012-04-16T21:13:00.000-06:002012-04-16T21:13:53.320-06:00Can't see the forest...
In the city where I live, every single tree was hand-planted. There are over 350,000 of them. "Oasis" is probably a fair descriptor, given that we are also located in the semi-desert Palliser's Triangle and get 15 inches of annual precipitation.
We also happen to be frequently ravaged by winds - 22 km/h is the average, but a recorded high wind gust clocks in at 153 km/h. And our temperatures Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-56486311263565789252012-04-10T14:35:00.000-06:002012-04-10T14:35:47.118-06:00Jill-of-all-trades.Recently, I heard about the value of being a generalist from two different places. First, I attended a workshop on permaculture by Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture. He suggested that being a generalist was valuable for permaculture because you need to be able to see whole systems and integrate a lot of different parts. You can, of course, specialize in mycellium or straw bale building, but you needEdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-32489808063801157392012-04-02T21:39:00.000-06:002012-04-02T21:39:08.769-06:00DIY Compost Tumbler: A Photo Essay
55 gallon barrels that formerly held mold inhibitor for animal feed.
Hardware and tools purchased for the project.
Hammering old nails out of fence pickets to reuse for the base.
The base on which the barrel will turn.
Slick!
Helping by putting the nuts on.
The paddle inside the barrel - more repurposed material.
Yum!
The finished tumbler!
Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-73584142270867861892012-04-01T09:51:00.000-06:002012-04-01T09:51:07.256-06:00First Harvest of 2012
The kids are nibbling at the chives.Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-47998729485310277882012-03-25T21:39:00.000-06:002012-03-25T21:39:36.810-06:00My Absence ExplainedOn March 19, I was offered a job.
Not just any job. A kick-butt job. A job that combines my academic studies, my favourite hobby, and my teaching and volunteer experience.
I am planning, coordinating, publicizing, recruiting volunteers for, and implementing, a 5400 square foot vegetable garden at a public institution in town.
It's been a bit crazy! We launch the project in three days. Other Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-48125110303706625982012-03-17T21:32:00.000-06:002012-03-17T21:32:51.308-06:00You can lead them to water...
As requested, a horse cake, made from the best devil's food cake recipe ever.
The now three-year-old who refused to try even a bite of the cake.
Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-7808603838764903992012-03-13T11:07:00.001-06:002012-03-21T08:27:58.991-06:00And you thought you were so health-conscious.Whole wheat kernels, replete with germ and bran, have proven health benefits over refined, white flour. (True, benefits questioned by the Wheat Belly author and cardiologist.) One meta-analysis found that "There is a consistent, inverse association between dietary whole grains and incident cardiovascular disease in epidemiological cohort studies." Another concluded, "The case-control evidence is Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-56052065662129328012012-03-08T10:38:00.000-06:002012-03-08T10:38:34.061-06:00Women Feed the WorldHappy International Women's Day! This post honours some women leaders in the global movement for sustainable, healthy, just food systems.
Let's start with Frances Moore Lappé's trenchant remarks on the food movement: "Some Americans see the food movement as “nice” but peripheral—a middle-class preoccupation with farmers’ markets, community gardens and healthy school lunches. But no... It Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2205067292406874239.post-63364528350120849642012-03-06T21:48:00.000-06:002012-03-06T21:48:35.670-06:00Read the Comments? I don't know how many times I read comments on a news item and wish I hadn't - and then I tell people about the horrible things people have said, and am told "Never read the comments!"
This time, though, I am glad I read the comments because I found this gem. I've been thinking a lot about waste lately, and about how to create as closed a system as possible with my Edenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07292652729664250649noreply@blogger.com0