I don’t pretend to be an economist, or an expert in any area other than the way I choose to live. But like you, I have to purchase food, and like you, I’ve witnessed many changes in the way this is done over the years. Never more, than the changes we all witnessed in 2020.
So what is “buying food” gonna look like this year?
As with everything else in our world, grocery buying trends in 2020 were drastically affected by the Covid pandemic. Within weeks the whole landscape, worldwide – changed. As the year wore on, food shortages that modern generations have never before seen, became less of a shock and more of the ‘norm’. Images of empty shelves became common place. Panic buying in the early months, turned to strategic buying, and the term “Food Security” took on new meaning.
There is little doubt that our collective experience in 2020 altered the way we as a society look at food shopping, but have you noticed any changes in your personal experiences? Has your buying behaviour been altered over the last twelve or so months? If so, in what ways?
The pandemic uncovered gaps in the way our food was distributed – as the unthinkable became reality. Our former collective sense of invincibility became a little more vulnerable, and all those freaky people who practiced Food Storage, suddenly seemed a little less strange. Consumers stopped buying just for today, and started buying with tomorrow in mind. Food companies responded by setting aside the development of fun, new products, to make way for the bigger challenge – that of keeping the shelves stocked with staples. And that, was no small challenge!
The pandemic uncovered gaps in the way our food was produced too. We had gotten away from locally produced food, as it had become more cost effective to import from distant producers. This always made me nervous. Market gardens and farms that depended on seasonal migrant workers found that their once dependable labour supply was no longer able to cross borders. Adjustments had to be made. Social distancing requirements made it necessary to close meat plants, and other assembly line productions. More adjustments had to be made. Home gardening skyrocketed in popularity as food supplementation became important to more and more North Americans. Many seed companies began selling out. More adjustments had to be made.
Restriction in movement, and general hesitance to gather in public, with health and safety protocol implemented on every level, created a whole new reality for buying groceries. Newly introduced delivery options were embraced quicker than before, so that consumers rarely had to walk the aisles in person unless they chose to. And all this time, healthy eating remained a priority – even gaining renewed attention. Afterall, our best defense against disease is good nutrition.
So here we are, standing in a new year, not seeing the changes we all hoped we would by now. 2021 looks suspiciously like 2020. After months of lifestyle adjustments, experts believe that the evolution of consumer behavior will continue in it’s current trend, as more and more of us have experienced first hand, the convenience of groceries delivered right to our doors. Online subscription purchasing continues to rise in popularity, providing flexibility, consistency, and food security. Buying ahead requires food stability, so alternatives to perishable foods are critical, and people are looking at the quality of freeze dried food with renewed interest.
Our once ‘outgoing’ society, has given way to a ‘homebody’ society, and for the foreseeable future, that implies a ‘homebody economy’ – of home cooking, home baking, home renovations, home gardening, and DIY projects. Online recipe searches have increased dramatically, and online shopping of food and other essentials, seems to be here to stay.
2020 was a fascinating year, of change that none of us could have imagined at the beginning of it, but we humans are an adaptable lot, and we’ve learned ways of being successful with our new reality. While Covid fatigue is a real thing, and we yearn to get back to our former lives, there is little expectation that we will ever return to many of our pre-covid behaviours. There will be loss in that – of course. But change also implies growth. We’ll figure this out. And in the process, hopefully we’ll hold on to those things we loved about our pre 2020 lives, while we embrace new, innovative ways of going forward.
The challenge of course, is to open our eyes, and to not only ‘see’ for ourselves what those new, innovative ways of improving our Food Security are, but to be willing to incorporate them. Freeze dried food is the most nutritious food on the planet – second only to what we can grow in our own backyard, organic gardens. It is shelf stable, making long term food storage easy. There is zero waste so it is more economical when compared to the 40% food waste in the average North American home. And it is light weight, making it easy to ship thousands of miles. It is the answer to the high cost of food in the north, and food shortages in many countries.
For the average North American home, it is the answer to nutritious, delicious meals prepared in half the time they used to take. For people focused on healthy eating, it is the best way to eat vine ripened, “fresher-than-fresh” nutrition. For people to whom food security is a priority, the 25 year shelf life is a huge benefit.
I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions for food security going into 2021.
There are some basic truths that rule life, no matter what culture or religion we come from. One that, whether we like it or not, we’re all subject to – is the “Law of the Harvest“. What exactly is that? Well, it is very simple and straight forward – essentially “We reap what we sow“. One of life’s great lessons.
Joy of the Harvest by Simon Dewey
A cousin of the Law of the Harvest is “the LAW OF ATTRACTION” which, simply put, is that “like energy attracts like energy”. A negative, complaining type of person always has something to complain about because they find the negative in everything, while a positive, cheerful person always finds the good to be happy about. I’m sure we all can think of examples of both types of people, and can acknowledge that they create self fulfilling realities for themselves. The law of attraction however, goes further. It is based on the idea that people and thoughts are made up of pure energy and that not only can a person attract positive or negative experiences through their positive or negative thoughts and affirmations, but that the process can literally improve one’s health, wealth and personal relationships. I believe this. To a certain extent. But I feel there is a critical component missing.
Let me explain. Harvest is a natural law, a tangible, physical, visual, easy-to-understand law. It says that harvest always comes after a season of sowing. Every farmer and backyard gardener understands the intimate relationship of sowing and reaping. And it is an analogy that transcends beautifully into all aspects of our lives, including spiritual applications.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galations 6: 7
In 1903, British philosopher James Allen published a book that he called AS A MAN THINKETH. It is based on Psalm 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he“, and follows the process of the mind guiding our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of life. “Purity of mind leads inevitably to purity of life, to the precious love and understanding that should control our everyday acts and attitudes towards friends and foes.” he wrote, and his life exemplified his philosophy.
James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh
Born into a working class family in England, James was the older of two brothers. His mother could neither read nor write. His father was a factory knitter. In 1879, following a downturn in the textile trade of central England, James’ father travelled alone to America to find work and establish a new home for the family. Within the first two days of arriving in New York City, his father was killed, believed to be a victim of robbery and murder. At the tender age of fifteen, James was forced to leave school and find work to support his family.
Having a better education than either of his parents, he eventually found work as a private secretary in several British manufacturing companies, and by his early thirties, was earning his living in journalism and reporting. He married, and found an occupation writing for a magazine where he could rely upon his spiritual and social interests and skill as a writer. This provided him the time and opportunity to be creative, and he published his first of many books, including “As a Man Thinketh”. James and his wife Lily, had only one daughter Nora. He died at the untimely young age of only 47, having written several books, and leaving material that would be published into several more. His words have had a positive impact on generations, and they illustrate the use of the power of thought to increase personal capabilities. Although he personally never achieved great fame or wealth, his words continue more than a century later, to influence people around the world.
The underlying premise of “As a Man Thinketh”, is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person. Truly, he knew of that which he wrote. A lesser man could easily have let his difficult beginnings pull him down into a defeated life, but against all odds he rose above it. What he learned through a lifetime of application, was that purity of mind can bring happiness and confidence. By magic? By some miraculous process of magnetism? Not at all. But through hard work, and by applying guiding principles that he learned through heartfelt searching. No doubt his father’s tragic death and his family’s economic hardship shaped his future development. He observed that many people were trying to improve their worldly position without seeking spiritual betterment, when he had learned the opposite was true: that by seeking spiritual betterment one gained the power to improve worldly position. He didn’t teach about getting rich, or seeking power, except as it applied to personal empowerment to ACT. And it was through acting upon the truths he learned, that he created a good and fulfilling life for himself and his family.
Through his book, James Allen pointed the true way to a better life. “Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body,” he wrote, and likewise “Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body.”
James Allen may have introduced the concept of the law of attraction, but since then, it’s taken a turn that I kinda doubt he would be proud to be connected with. In its basic form – to me, the principle of attraction sidetracks at best, the part God plays in our betterment. For some reason, it seems to attribute the attraction of good to some mystic force of the universe, some inner energy without a name. It circumvents the missing piece of the puzzle. That piece is ACTION. Action follows intent. Intent alone – no matter how much energy we spend thinking about it, is insufficient to bring about change necessary for a different result.
Viktor Frankl – neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl proved that while we cannot always alter the outer forces of our experiences, we can determine the type of person we allow ourselves to become. He said “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl and James Allen could have been great friends if they had lived in the world at the same time. Each of them was influenced by their unique and tragic circumstances, and yet rose above them. Neither pretended it was easy, but their ‘thinking’ ultimately changed their lives.
And that brings us back to where I began – THE LAW OF THE HARVEST. It is a foundational gospel truth. One that we can count on to apply in all aspects of our lives. Yes, it is possible from time to time, for our harvest to be slightly delayed, tricking us into thinking we got away with something. But in the end it always catches up, and we WILL reap what we sow; in the end, we WILL get what we deserve.
That isn’t a threat, and it certainly isn’t always negative, although I admit, sometimes it comes across that way. To every action there is simply a consequence. Years ago, a teacher demonstrated this principle visually for me with a pencil on the table. We may only pick up only one end of the pencil, but the other end is unavoidably affected. We may choose an action, but we cannot choose the consequence. There will always be a consequence, and in many cases that consequence is a pre-selected, natural result – governed by nature.
Ben
I knew a handsome young man once who consistently made poor choices, but rarely seemed to pay their price. I’ll call him Ben. Inevitably Ben’s poor choices would catch up and then pile up, and suddenly some spark would ignite the whole pile, and the world would come crashing down on him in consequence of his latest series of poor choices. Most of those times, Ben chose not to take accountability for the results. It was always easier to blame others, or circumstances beyond his ability to control. Of course, it is more comfortable that way. Not very productive, but a whole lot more comfortable to never accept responsibility for ones failures.
Eventually Ben started making better choices, some might even say – excellent choices. Choices that were difficult, and didn’t show too much comfort in the immediate future, and which required firm resolve and commitment to follow through with them. But the consequences of his previous poor choices had long lasting results and he still had to pay the piper. For a time it seemed that no matter how much he did right, he still lived with the ill consequences of his prior actions. He was still reaping – albeit a little late, the dismal harvest he originally sowed. And ironically, that harvest continued to be in affect a long time after his attitude changed course.
A couple years into these better choices, Ben began to see better results. He had become so accustomed to living with his prior consequences, that he was unprepared when they began to fade into the background. One day he realized his life had taken a turn for the better and he literally marveled at the good place in which he found himself. But it was not by accident, nor coincidence, nor even simply a change of heart. The fact was, that the unfortunate consequences had nearly all run their course, and he was starting to live with the results of his better choices. The natural consequences of THEM. A much fuller harvest.
Specifically, how did the Law of the Harvest apply in Ben’s life? He paid a price for his poor choices. At the time the price seemed disproportionately high to him, and lasted too long, and in some ways, he is still living with the regrets of some of them. But he has placed them in the past and moved forward. When his choices matured, and his actions followed, he began reaping a richer harvest.
Amelia
Amelia is a lovely young mother with a handful of cute kids. Now if you’ve never had four or five kids at the same time, trust me – some days can be challenging, even overwhelming. I get it. And overwhelmed she was. Amelia began to dream of the education she wished she had taken seriously in her younger, pre-mom days. And it became easier to escape into a desire to improve her mind, than it was to take care of her children. She justified it of course, because who can find fault with the desire to improve one’s education? It is a noble goal. But the timing was now difficult. Children aren’t ‘hobbies’. They are living, breathing human beings with personalities and potential. Their health and well being is completely dependent upon their parents. They literally have CLAIM upon us, legally, morally, and eternally.
The truth was, Amelia found reading her ‘lessons’ more fulfilling than doing dishes, changing diapers and cleaning house. She found the things that she was learning were insightful, satisfying, and rewarding. The more she escaped to her studies, the worse life became around the house. Who’s gonna make the meals? Not mom. She’s busy improving her mind. Who’s gonna clean the house, take the kids to school, help them with homework, ensure they get their chores done, learn personal grooming, develop good friendships and interpersonal skills, gain confidence to deal with challenges and to go into the big wide world? Not mom. She’s busy improving her mind and getting the education she wished she got when she was younger. Can you see where this was headed?
The result was a house of chaos, and the more chaotic it became, the more Amelia retreated behind closed doors to study her ‘lessons’ – because after all, she had important things to do. Education was important, and she was choosing it. It made her feel good. It was much more meaningful that the lowliness of housework, and the drudgery of meal planning – both of which as we all know, never-Ever end. But no matter how distracted you are, there are basics that need to be done in any household, especially where there are children. So who was preparing the meals? Doing the laundry? Doing the shopping? It isn’t that Amelia didn’t love her children. Any one could see she did. She simply found it easier to depend on others to rescue her when she so often fell behind. She got used to friends bringing in family meals. Often. She got used to friends coming in and cleaning when the house got away from her. She began thinking it was her ‘due’. She expected it. She couldn’t even count the times her well-meaning friends and neighbours had helped out with various things – trying to lighten her load. Sometimes when the meal wasn’t just right, or it was a few minutes late, or was too similar to what someone else brought recently, she’d even complain. Just a little.
The Law of the Harvest was gonna play out in Amelia’s situation; of that there was never any doubt. In fact, it already was. And it was beginning to look tragic.
If I had a relationship of trust with Amelia, the first thing I would suggest she do, is to visualize what kind of harvest she wants at the end of this metaphorical ‘season’. My guess is that in her heart of hearts, she’d want happy, healthy children – equipped to handle the adult world confidently, who know and love their Heavenly Father, and keep his commandments. I believe she’d want to have a happier marriage, where both she and her spouse were not only contributing active parents, but equal loving partners. If I am right, I might suggest she look at her current actions and ask herself serious questions like: “How is this action going to help my son have a better day in school tomorrow? my daughter be a good friend? show my children that I love them and that home is a safe and happy place? How is this going to help my children grow into the happy, confident individuals I want them to be? How will this help me be a better mother and/or a better spouse, and show my spouse that I value him?” and so forth . . .
If the honest answer to any of these questions is “Its not” then, I might suggest its time to reassess the action. Children grow up all too soon, there will be time for Amelia to catch up on her education. It’s alright for her to lay it aside for the time being and focus on those who need her.
How awful would it be, to finally reach the top of the ladder we spend years climbing, only to find out it is leaning against the wrong wall?
Specifically, how can Amelia use “the Law of the Harvest” to guide her life? Amelia planted tomatoes in the sun, and she waters them when she feels motherly, but she’s expecting others to stake them and prune them.
She could try to understand that as a mother, she owes her children more than she is currently giving them. By nurturing the seeds she’s already sown, she will be investing in a more rewarding harvest at the end of season, with fewer regrets. Taking care of the immediate priority of children now, doesn’t imply that she will never be able to fulfill her dream of getting her degree. Not at all. To everything there is a season. Delaying the harvest of one, for the harvest of another that is more important, and by necessity more immediate – is not failure. It is a conscious choice of priority.
Alex
Alex was a sales rep for a well known tech company. His company was the biggest in the country, and he was one of the top sales reps in his region. His clients were professionals, and he was a man of no small reputation. Some time ago, a competing company hired Alex, thinking to benefit from his experience and success in the field, and perhaps even to gain some of his existing customers.
They soon discovered however, that though he was knowledgeable in his field, he was arrogant and unteachable. They learned that though he could give exemplary service, he rarely did; he didn’t like being inconvenienced. Yes, he represented his company with confidence, but he was pushy and impatient with prospective clients. He was the top of the food chain and he liked it there. He felt that he shouldn’t have to work as hard as others did anymore, after all, his ship had already come in. And it was a yacht. His reputation among his clients and peers was now one of mixed reviews. Some respected his knowledge, others resented his arrogance. Some appreciated his confidence, others did not feel he valued their opinions.
Specifically, how is the Law of the Harvest playing out in Alex’s life? At some point, Alex had sown good seed to get where he was. Because the harvest he was currently reaping was the result of previous work, Alex is choosing to not pay attention to how things are changing. Perhaps his previous company had an edge earlier, because of something completely independent of him, and he may have been in the right place at the right time. Perhaps existing clients simply don’t like change, so they stuck with him out of habit. Who knows? Whatever the truth is, his previous reputation and professional success was a harvest he happily reaped. But he forgot about the principle of choice and accountability, and its close tie to the law of the Harvest. He neglected to take into consideration how small the professional world in his field is, and how reputation spreads. With his current attitude and work ethic, he is now sowing an entirely different crop than the one he wanted. He wants tomatoes, but he was caring for them as if they were hostas. Hostas don’t want sun; tomatoes must have it. If you want tomatoes Alex, you must do more than put the seed into the ground. You must give them what they need to flourish.
Frank
Sometimes we get in our own way and we refuse to take responsibility for our own faults. Frank is not getting the shifts he wants at work. He feels persecuted by his supervisor, and is considering filing a complaint with the union. Frankly, (no pun intended), he is lazy and has a reputation for shuffling off when there’s work to be done. Colleagues don’t like working with him, and some have even asked not to. The problem is, that Frank convinces himself he is a good employee, and tells anyone who wants to hear it. He doesn’t think there is anything amiss with his performance.
Sometimes we need to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask what our responsibility is when we are not seeing the desired harvest. I have no idea what can be done for someone who is so blind to their own faults.
Helen
Helen is negative about most things: her job and the people she works with, her neighbours, her friends, her spouse, her in-laws, . . . . . She has a hard time seeing the good in people and talks ‘smack’ about them behind their backs. When people hear what she says about others, they wonder what she says about them. She has a victim mentality and feels like everyone is out to get her (and by extension, her family). She is quick to be offended, and has no problem telling people off when she is. She considers herself a loyal friend, but usually that means taking up their fight with them. Consequently she doesn’t have a good group of friends who want to be around her. Her nature makes it difficult sometimes to recognize the blessings she has in her life.
Like Frank, Helen may need to take a long hard look in the mirror to discover her responsibility when she doesn’t see her desired harvests. The most important thing she needs to recognize, is that many of her problems are self made. She can learn to alter her thinking with a little hard work, but first she must be able to accept that the common denominator in all she finds wrong with her world, might be herself. And that is not an easy thing to admit. For anyone.
Dean
Dean just got laid off. He hadn’t seen it coming, and assumed it never would. He had had a government position, and kinda felt that he was immune from such things. Like thousands of others, he had been working a lot from home during the Covid months, but was asked to come into the office Monday. That was that. Done. A fair severance, but no job. Understandably, it took a few days to digest it and to be able to talk about it. He reviewed his family’s situation: He had three young children at home. His wife had been working part time – picking up shifts now and again. He had been with his current employer for almost a decade and had a good reputation there; he knew he could get some good references. He and his wife had a house with a mortgage of course. They didn’t live outside of their means. They paid an honest tithing, and understood the blessings that came from doing so. They had a couple of older vehicles that he always kept in good condition. Most importantly, other than their mortgage, they had strictly avoided debt. What a relief that was at the moment! He felt sure that that fact alone was going to reduce the stress and nervousness of being between jobs for awhile.
Hard to say how long it might take for Dean to find another job in this market. Thankfully, they have some modest savings that they’d have to be careful with, but when combined with his severance, it will help. But back to the debt thing. They have NO credit card debt! No heavy monster interest hanging over their heads.
Specifically, how does “the Law of the Harvest” apply here? One cannot assume that doing one’s best will shield them from trials. Trials are inherent to our mortal experience, and we can learn a lot from them, but there are things we can do in preparation to prevent them from being worse than they have to be. We can in fact, soften their blow. By paying an honest tithing, and avoiding credit card debt, Dean protected himself and his family in the very best way he could have. Although this unemployment experience was not on his radar, he was prepared for it. He understands that while it is only a bump in the road, it could be a big bump. But it is not the harvest. The harvest is yet to come.
~
The moral of these stories is singular: “If you want tomatoes, plant TOMATOES.” Plant exactly what you hope to sow. Tomato seeds yield tomato plants, which in turn produce more tomato seeds. Keep your desired harvest in mind: TOMATOES. Choose your actions intentionally. Whatever they are, YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW. Using my friends Ben, Amelia, Alex, Frank, Helen and Dean as examples, consider the seeds you are currently planting, and ask yourself if those are the ones you really want to harvest? At one time Alex sowed tomatoes, but he hasn’t taken care of them for a long time, and he cannot expect to continue to reap a harvest he is no longer nurturing.
sometimes we Sabotage ourselves with self defeating behaviour
When one finds problems overwhelming, or maybe even painful, it is tempting to find a bandage, some kind of self-medicating behaviour, rather than learning from those experiences or developing strategies to work through them. Self medicating behaviours are ones that offer relief from pain, or fear-of-failure, and though some can be helpful in the short term, many times they are counterproductive. Self medicating behaviours that remove the worst of our fears, might take the form of alcohol, drugs, inappropriate relationships, self harm, over eating, over exercising, pornography, over spending, excessive indulgences, and so forth. The problem with this solution is that eventually it wears off. And reality comes back into focus, revealing the same problem that never really went away, and has now resurfaced. And we have still not developed skills to deal with it. Instead of learning skills to improve, we have simply learned to escape, and very often have introduced a new problem that can be worse than the original. Addiction.
The more one employs escape strategies, the more dependent we become on them. We find relief there. In our self medicating behaviour we chill out, we become more confident, we like ourselves better, we lose our usual inhibitions. Its a happy place for us. But soon enough it ends again, and we’re back to where we started – again. And the only things we seem to be learning, are quicker ways to escape those things we find difficult. Addiction is forming. Addiction to what? Addiction to whjhjhatever behaviour you are employing to avoid the pain you are living with. The longer you go on, the more serious your addiction becomes and the less you are equipped to deal with the new consequences that it brings with it.
And of course, there will be a reaping of this too.
In my studies and reflection, I have come up with five principles of the Law of the Harvest. They’re not official, not very profound, and probably never gonna be written anywhere else but here. But they are personal to me, learned through my experience. Understanding them helps me apply them to my benefit, and they help me hold myself accountable. Perhaps you may find them of benefit as well.
Lesson 1 – We Reap what we sow
Look ahead. What is it you WANT to end up with? If you want tomatoes, start by PLANTING tomatoes. Find out all that tomatoes need to thrive and do you very best to give it to them. They need as much sun as possible, so pick a sunny spot. They need nutrients, so make sure their soil is rich, continually adding to it with compost and mulch. They need air, so prune and stake them to ensure they have space to grow, and air flow to prevent disease. They need water, but water remaining on their leaves may cause disease, so water from beneath. When you ensure tomatoes have the very best environment and care, you can reasonably expect a bountiful harvest of beautiful, flavourful, nourishing tomatoes. Taking shortcuts in any of these areas will reduce the quality of your harvest. Planting marigolds will not give you a basketful of tomatoes. And letting dandelions flourish will not give you a basketful of tomatoes.
Reading text books will not get your kitchen cleaned up, and meals made. Browsing Pinterest, and flipping through magazines will not give you the kitchen you desire. Staying in bed all day because you’re overwhelmed, with not help your kids learn the golden rule and develop feelings of self worth.
When you have decided what you WANT in a final harvest, plant THOSE seeds, and NURTURE them along the whole season.
Lesson 2 – Sometimes the harvest is not immediate
Trying to cheat the natural consequences of our actions prevents us from valuable learning opportunities and preparation. We simply will not develop the skills we should have. Our world is governed by natural laws; its how we know objects will fall down instead of up, how we know the sun will rise in the morning, and why we know the rain will get us wet. These are things we can count on, without which life would be chaos.
Sometimes we make poor decisions, choices others may even have warned us not to make, actions that we innately sense are not for our own good, . . . nevertheless, we don’t suffer. In fact, everything seems to continue on pretty much as normal. We enjoy the immediate fruits of over spending, we neglect to change the oil in our car regularly, or maintain tire pressure properly, and yet it seems to run fine, we eat poorly but our health doesn’t suffer, we don’t study but we do well in class, …. etc. The delay of consequences can be empowering. We might even feel that we cheated them. Then all of a sudden, the exam looms and we know we’re going in unprepared, we can’t afford to pay the bills, the motor in our car fails and our tires wear out quicker than they should, our lack of energy catches up to us, and we seem to be getting sick a lot, . . . . . . Our lack of preparatory work becomes painfully evident, and bluffing our way through isn’t working anymore. It seems the whole world comes crashing down all at the same time, and we can’t “catch a break”. We compare ourselves to others, and fail miserably. And most importantly, we are stressed to the max, and unhappy.
Then the opposite may also be true from time to time. We try our best. We do everything we know how to do, to abide by ‘the rules’ associated with promised blessings. We work tirelessly, we follow the golden rule, we put God first, we pray for help, we teach our children, we show them by example the path we’d like them to follow, . . . and yet it seems, the same problems continue to plague us. We can’t get ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel seems so far away we can’t see it clearly, our kids choose paths we know will bring them misery. I’ve been there, I know how discouraging some of those things can feel. But I have learned that no matter what it looks like now, the promised harvest is absolutely assured. We must carry on, stay the course, do the right thing because IT IS the right thing, having faith that God is in control.
A favourite scripture of mine says: “There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated – and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20,21) I have seen it come true time and time again. I have absolute confidence in it. You might say it has become a mantra to me, encouraging me on, trusting that God is in control and that I will receive the promised blessing.
Lesson 3 – Trust that the harvest WILL come, and it will be exactly what we sowed.
We live in an immediate gratification world that sometimes makes us believe everything should happen instantaneously. That’s hard to argue with, when so much around us reinforces it. Infinite information is a only a click away. We talk to anyone we want, practically anytime we want, from wherever we happen to be. New furniture is ours with the click of a mouse, delivered to our door next Monday. There is an app for everything. Instant results. We don’t like to wait, and we don’t see why we should have to. Hey, I live in the same world. I am as guilty as anyone else.
So how do we trust in something that doesn’t seem to be happening quick enough? How do we learn to step back, take a breath and have confidence in something we seemingly have no assurance of? Well, there are some things we DO have assurance of. Some things that we can count on.
“I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” (D&C 82:10)
“Do what I say.”? . . . I can do that. I want to do that. I will do that. I made a commitment long ago to do that. Sometimes I might have to learn His will on a particular subject, but when I do, I will do whatever is necessary to align myself to it. Why? Because of this assurance: “My words are sure and shall not fail, …. wherefore be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; …. ” (D&C 64:31-34)
I decided long ago that there was no one I wanted bound to me, more than God. His counsel here is simple and straight forward, hard to misunderstand: “DO WHAT I SAY”. His promise is equally simple and straight forward: “I THE LORD AM BOUND”. The opposite is true in reverse “when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”
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Someone recently told me that not only was I relying on unsustainable promises regarding the law of the harvest, but that I was encouraging others to put too much stock in harvests that may never come. She pointed out that sometimes a gardener plants and cares for a garden only to lose it through no fault of his or her own. Drought. Disease. Hail. Early frost. Any number of rotten tricks that nature can play on us will affect a harvest. And can even remove a season’s harvest completely from the picture. I know that. I’ve lost seasons’ harvests to unexpected early frosts, to hail and to other things beyond my control. But it has not diminished my testimony of the bigger picture.
Many years ago, we had an experience that taught me a life long lesson, that became the foundation of what would develop into a strong testimony of this principle. It is a lesson that I have seen recur multiple times, not just in my own life, but in the lives of those I love. Dan and I lived in a small Alberta city – Camrose. Our first baby had just been born, Dan was working in a bank there, and we began to set down roots, expecting Camrose to be our home for some time to come. We bought a modest home that we were to take possession of July 1, and since it was empty, we asked if we could plant a garden before we moved in. It was to be our first ‘real’ garden in our very own ‘real’ home. We felt so grown up.
We planted the garden. I have no idea what we planted in it, only that we did. About the middle of June, Dan lost his job. Big surprise, and overnight everything changed. We couldn’t take possession of the house obviously, and we had already put in notice with our landlord. So we packed up and moved into Dan’s mom’s basement while we tried to figure out what we were going to do from there. By September, Dan was back at school upgrading, working on the weekends delivering pizza, and we found a little apartment in our old ward on the west side of Edmonton. Friends in the ward were harvesting their own gardens and we received garden gifts from time to time. Cucumbers here, tomatoes there, lettuce, carrots and beets – it was wonderful. One day I mentioned to my new friend Shirley Clelland, “I didn’t even have a garden this year, and yet I am harvesting probably more than I would have if I had had one .” She offered a perspective I had never considered, with a gospel truth I had not known.
“You may not have harvested your own garden Cindy,” she said “but you DID plant a garden. And it is because of your garden that you are being blessed this way.“ She pointed out the principle of obedience. That promise that when we obey a law, we receive the blessings associated with it. Plain and simple – according to her. The prophet said “plant a garden” – we had. The circumstances surrounding the fact that we didn’t harvest it were incidental. The principle stood. She bore testimony to me in her straight forward way, that I could count on that principle all the days of my life. “There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.” she recited, “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which is is predicated.” (D&C 130:20,21) I didn’t know it then, but my life changed that day.
I had seen the fruit of the principle with my own two eyes. And yes, Shirley was right, I had planted a garden. Pitiful though it might have been, I had been obedient. I had tried my best to obey. That was all that mattered. God is in the details. When we get stuck in expecting the harvest to look exactly how we think it should, we may miss a lot.
Lesson 4 – Don’t discount a harvest simply because it looks different than you expected
Assurance of a harvest doesn’t mean you’re always gonna have a bumper crop of tomatoes. It doesn’t guarantee employment, or freedom from problems. And obeying gospel laws and principles doesn’t protect us from all of life’s trials. But it will frame them differently, and it will make all the difference in the final outcome.
We’ve had our share of unemployment. Along with many others in the economic downturn Alberta experienced in the mid 1980’s, we lost our house. Dan went back to school and worked part time when we had four children. There were many hard things about those years, and in the following years of repaying student loans. And there were great blessings too, although none of them looked much like money. We learned the importance of having a Food Storage, and we relied upon it. We learned to live within our means. We learned the difficult lesson of staying out of debt. Dan got a job he enjoyed with the government, and we got on with the business of raising our children.
In 1996 we bought a failing business that we believed we could turn around. An independent niche Bookstore. It wasn’t a dream we’d always had, it simply presented itself one day, and it felt like the right thing to do. Dan continued to work full time, and I took over the management of it. Our kids all worked there over the years we owned it, and there were many wonderful things that came from those years. But it was very hard too. 60 hour weeks. The first four years of no income from it – every dollar went back into it, paying off the bank loan, overhead, stock, freight, staff, . . . . etc etc etc. About five years later, we had a big surprise. One day Dan went to work as usual, and was home two hours later.
Downsized. It took our breath away. We were stunned. Could hardly speak. It took a few days before we could even tell the kids. We had five children by then, our daughter had just gotten married, our oldest son had recently returned from a mission. Our other boys were aged 11 – 17. While we sat together in a family meeting, our oldest asked the question that was on everybody’s mind: “What does this mean? What is this going to look like on the day-to-day? What’s going to change? What do we do different?”
It was with relief and tremendous gratitude that I could reassure them with “We are in good shape. Other than the house, we don’t have any debt. We own two decent cars, if we have to sell one, we can. Our priority is to not loose the house. Every ounce of energy will go into protecting it, and we will do without what we must do without to keep it safe. ” I reminded them of our Food Storage. “From the outside looking in,” I said “it will appear as if life is going on the same as it ever did. We pay our tithing and the Lord will sustain us. We’ll simply be careful until Dad is back to working fulltime.”
It went on a lot longer than we expected; in fact – Dan never did get back into his field. It was an emotionally difficult time, especially hard on him, as much of his confidence and feelings of self worth, were tied up in being gainfully employed. He picked up part time seasonal work at a local hardware store, then started building fences and decks. He eventually started a maintenance business and gained a contract with a big property company in the city. But that took years. Through it all, we still had our bookstore, which just before his layoff had turned a corner in that we had finally paid it off. So many times in the months and years that went by, I paused and considered “Wow! Who could have imagined that this would go on as long as it has? What would have happened to us if we had had credit card debt?” I had no doubt that had we been in unnecessary debt, we would have lost the house.
Bad things happen. Even to good people. Job loss happens. Illness happens. No one is exempt from trials in this life. And some of the harvests are less than stellar. Sometimes what we worked for ends up being regrettable. As difficult as that episode was for us, it was a first rate lesson in the importance of staying out of debt. Debt would have changed our harvest considerably. It was a tangible, touchable lesson for our whole family. Most of our kids were old enough to understand, and went into their own marriages with a healthy appreciation for living within one’s means. For that alone, I would say it was worth it. Not that I’d ever want to go through it again, but what we gained from those hard years is hard to put a price on. The harvest? Nothing we pictured in the beginning. But as so often happens when the Lord is involved, it turned out much better.
Lesson 5 – Don’t look back.
Every season gardeners learn new lessons about what they’re growing. Sometimes the lesson is what worked beautifully, so that we can repeat it. Sometimes the lesson is what NOT to do next time. But whatever we learned, it took the whole season to finalize the lesson. Nothing can be done to reverse a season, and we only get one chance at it. We may even lose the whole season’s harvest.
There is nothing to do, but to go forward. Next time – simply do better, applying what we learned, gaining confidence along the way with improved skills. Maya Angelou’s counsel is another mantra to me, and I have it written in big letters on a wall I see every day. “Do the BEST you can until you know better. Then when you know better, DO BETTER.” I love it because it doesn’t dwell on past mistakes. It encourages me not to grovel in guilt after I have repented. It motivates me to go forward and do better. It is simple and straight forward – just like the gospel. I do best with “simple-and-straight-forward”.
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The law of the harvest is as real to me as the sun and the moon. I have seen it implemented year after year, simple and straight forward, and above all dependable. I have confidence in it. I have reaped many harvests – not all of them good, but they were what I sowed. I am currently reaping a harvest I set in motion many years ago. I trust the principle so much that it is a guiding influence in my life. It motivates every decision. Some people refer to serendipity. Some refer to karma. Some refer to luck. Those things imply fickle ‘chance’, and I cannot invest in chance. The law of the harvest is not chance. It is a natural law, as much as gravity is a law of physics, and we can count on it to the same degree. Even more so. And when we do, I pray that it will be the JOY OF HARVEST we experience, as is so beautifully depicted in Simon Dewey’s classic picture above.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the law of the harvest and how it applies to life outside the garden as well as in it.
“By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
At the risk of being too cliche, Benjamin’s counsel about planning is absolutely true. It may be tempting to skim through the planning stage of your garden, or even to skip if altogether, but if you do, I promise you will regret it in the not-to-distant-future. I have been gardening in the same garden for over two decades, but there is not a single year that I don’t plan it out again BEFORE I plant. There is never a time when the garden is the same as it was the year before. I am always wanting to try new things in new places, and as the sun/shade ratio in my backyard (due to tree growth etc) has evolved over the years, it has changed how things grow and flourish (or not) in certain areas. Where am I going to put the potatoes? What can I do to get the carrots more sun? What can I do to amend my soil in this bed? What is going to separate the potatoes and tomatoes? (they hate each other bytheway) It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most important step in growing a garden.
Start at the beginning, with a PLAN. Map out your garden – keeping friends together, bad neighbours apart and considering sun and shade
WHERE:
Choosing WHERE to plant your garden is not to be taken lightly. You can’t just plunk it in an available patch of ground. There are important things you must look for, that will determine the type of garden you can grow. If you’re growing flowers there is a lot of flexibility, but if you’re growing vegetables you need . . .
SUN: You can do without a lot of things in a vegetable garden, but you cannot do without SUN
Get to know your yard and garden. Go out into your yard at different times of the day. Find the spot with the most sun you can afford to convert into garden space. Six good full hours of sun is considered FULL SUN, and that is what you’re looking for. Don’t discount using pots in sunny areas. Don’t discount the front yard either. Who said that gardens must be in the back yard. Some of the best and most beautiful vegetable gardens I have seen are in front yards, so open your mind.
To begin with, pay attention to the light patterns in your yard every couple of hours. Note how they’re different in the spring, summer and fall. Get outside in the spring, and assess where the shadows fall and for how long. Record your findings. Either use marking stakes to indicate light and shadow in your yard, or draw a map, sketching in where the shade in two hour increments. Start about 7 AM and stop about dusk. Use a pencil to mark shady sections of the yard. Note the sun and shade pockets throughout the day. Vegetables need at least six full hours but many flowers will do beautifully with less.
Remember that light patterns change. The position of buildings may not change but many other things do. When we moved into our current house the yard was bordered with trees, especially along the west side, many of them evergreens. They provided a sense of privacy and necessary shade in the hot dinner hours when we chose to eat outside, and we appreciated them. As time went on we noticed that we needed our sun umbrella less, and one day I was shocked to note that by 4:00 in the afternoon, our shade stretched all the way to the trampoline, a good 100 feet! Clearly that shade had been gradually increasing but I had never paid a whole lot of attention to it, other than to notice that our table wasn’t as hot at dinner time as it used to be. Once I did start paying attention however, I noticed how that shade had changed the growing patterns of a huge chunk of our yard. Dan had been wanting to cut those trees down for a few years because of the shade, but I wasn’t convinced till my big discovery. Trees grow. Big trees become bigger trees. It happens so gradually that until we are prepared to open our eyes and seriously take NOTE of the sun vs shade situation in our yards, it simply escapes us. But regardless of whether we’re taking note, it is affecting the growing conditions of everything it touches.
We live in a neighbourhood that is about 40-50 years old. That’s a lot of evergreen trees that 1st graders1 received at the end of their school year, planted with not much forethought in bare yards. Those “Arbor Day” trees grew up. Many of them are now almost half a century old! Driving in neighbourhoods the age of ours, one sees MANY evergreen trees planted too close together, or in unsuitable spots. They grew so gradually at first that it was easy to ignore what was bound to happen. . . .
No one likes to cut down trees, but sometimes it just has to be done, and I knew for a long time the day would come that our two big spruce trees would have to go. They had grown to a whopping estimated 35-40 feet tall, and in their ideal environment, were only gonna grow taller. Dan had been trying to talk me into removing them for years, but I liked that I couldn’t see other houses from our yard, they gave the illusion that the houses weren’t there. We had noticed for a long time that growing patterns in our yard were changing, but I remember well the fateful day that I finally agreed. I was standing in the middle of the yard about 3 or 4:00 in the afternoon when I noticed I was totally in shade. As I looked around me taking in all the shade, I was surprised at how I hadn’t noticed it before. Yes okay, I had noticed less sun in an area that used to grow great vegetables; I noticed that we could eat dinner on the patio without an umbrella anymore; I noticed that the black currants stopped growing a long time ago. But it wasn’t till that afternoon that I put it all together and realized Dan was right – those trees had become bullies, and worn out their welcome. We needed sun. Don’t get all huffy on me; I appreciate trees and we have plenty others around the yard. But these ones (on the west side of our backyard) were restricting too much sun, making it difficult to grow other things that were also important to us.
When you’re tracking your sunlight, keep in mind that in the spring bare branched trees are not giving as much shade as they will in the summer; once they leaf out, the former illusion of filtered sunlight morphs into full shade. Be frank in your assessment, it doesn’t do you any good to be sentimental about trees. If they work they work, if they don’t they don’t. You’re the boss. You can replace a tree that’s grown too big with another smaller, more suitable-to-the-space tree. Perhaps a fruit tree.
Ideally, for your vegetable garden you’d like to find a nice sizable patch of ground that receives 8 hours of full sun a day, unobstructed by tree shade or building shade. But if your yard is mature, that may not be possible without removing or at least pruning a tree or two. Removing the lower branches of a tree can allow filtered sun to shine through where full shade once dominated, and for flower gardens that might suffice, but vegetables need more than filtered sun.
Our sunniest spot was over on the north east corner – where the previous owners had parked their RV and a couple dead cars, so it was packed gravel, and possibly contaminated with oil. We didn’t have the resources to dig it all out and replace it with good soil, so we opted to put in raised beds, bricking in the pathways. Over the years, fruit trees have been planted in the yard and other trees have had to go – mostly because of shade in the wrong spots. The point is that sometimes you can MAKE sunny spots, or at least REMOVE sun impediments.
Your best spot might be in an area where all you have to do is remove grass. Lucky you. Your best spot might be shaded by some nice trees. You can always prune lower branches to open up sunlight, or you might have to remove one or two trees. Remember, you can always plant another tree in another area where it can be a better neighbour. Your best spot might be in an area with poor soil or as in our case, no soil. In that case, raised beds might be your best option. Your best spot might be on your patio, in which case you may be obliged to grow in containers. If you live in an apartment, your best spot might be a balcony. Sun will determine your best spot. Every other condition is manageable.
I believe that for the most part, gardening directly IN the soil bed is the easiest and usually the best. But raised beds are a great alternative with a whole list of benefits. Container gardening IF the container is big enough and is watered frequently, is ideal for spaces where soil space is poor or not available like a patio or balcony. Remember however, that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There is no reason you can’t employ more than one method depending on what your yard or space provides. I have several flower gardens throughout my yard, all IN ground. My tomato garden is IN ground. My vegetable garden is in raised beds. I use containers throughout my yard, especially on my patio to extend my growing area. In-ground, raised beds and containers can all have a place in the same yard depending on space and exposure.
Sun is serious business, and I have a philosophy about where plants reside in my yard. If you are a plant that tolerates shade or partial shade, you will get it. There are too many plants that MUST have full sun, to be wasting it on any that are agreeable to less sun. So we have a very segregated neighbourhood in our yard: separated by their need for sun, full sun, less sun, partial sun/partial shade, mostly shade, full shade. Each area is populated by those who do best in it.
Sunny areas can be very HOT and will need special attention, and watering is very important. Not watering often enough or giving too little water at a time stresses plants and makes them susceptible to disease.
Flowering plants like tomatoes and cucumbers love the sun. The sunnier the better. They will ripen better in the sun, and will in general do better in every way.
Leafy plants will bolt in hot sunny areas, so they could use a more filtered area. Partially sunny areas like east or west exposures offer a balance that is suitable for many plants including leafy plants.
SOIL – Preparing your soil and maintaining its best health
Soil is more than just ‘where your garden lives’, it is also ‘what it eats’, so pay attention to what’s in it. Most garden soils, without regenerative organic additives will be depleted within just a few growing seasons. To improve depleted soil or maintain good soil to a rich healthy plant-supporting environment requires a simple plan of adding organic material such as aged manure and compost. Whether you buy compost or make your own, along with manure it is the best organic additive to your soil.
Getting to know your soil: sandy-clay-loam, acidic or alkaline
SANDY Soil is very loose, letting both moisture and nutrients drain away. Working in organic matter like garden compost acts like a slow-release fertilizer helping restore nutrients, as well as providing absorbing material so important in moisture retention. Preventing water from leaching through so quickly with also retain nutrients.
CLAY is made up of very fine particles that stick together making it difficult to drain. Working in nutrient rich organic matter like compost and well rotted manure (emphasis on WELL ROTTED), physically breaks up the clay improving drainage and acts as a slow-release fertilizer. It also makes the soil easier to work in, and less compacted after rain.
LOAM is a rich soil containing a well balanced amount of sand and sediment and other rich organic matter with a smaller proportion of clay. It is what we’re striving for in the perfect garden soil.
Replenishing your Soil
Even the best of soils must be constantly replenished with nutrient rich additives to keep them fertile. Without replenishing, the soil becomes nutrient poor, no longer attractive to worms and not a good source of food for plants. This results in weak plants with stunted growth, that are susceptible to pests and disease. The answer is not fertilizer – vitamins, the answer is good organic material – FOOD. I am not anti-vitamins for people or for gardens, but it cannot replace good food. As with people, good nutrition is key. Vitamins come afterward, if needed.
Well rotted organic material and woodchip mulch is an excellent way of nourishing your soil, increasing soil moisture and adding loam to both sandy or clay soil.
The best time to bring in manure is late fall or early spring, before planting or after the season’s growth is completed. If you live in a rural area it might be easier to find, but hey, that’s what google and social media are for. Do a little searching, ask a few people – you’ll find good sources. The emphasis is always on “OLD” when talking about manure, especially if you’re going to use it in the spring. How old is old? There are many factors that contribute to breaking down manures so its not as simple as saying “3 years old is best”. Manure that has decomposed adequately will be brown and crumbly. It will have a fresh earthy smell, not the yucky fresh manure smell. That could be as soon as second year, or take as long as three or four years – depending on sun and moisture.
Applying manure to your garden beds: It’s all about your purpose. You may be adding manure for a number of reasons. If you are doing a big over haul of your soil in the spring or winter, you’ll be adding a lot. Remember the older the better. Whether adding in the spring or fall, go ahead and layer it over the top. In the spring you should be able to plant as usual. If adding in the fall, it will further break down over the course of the winter. If you’re applying old manure as a mulch mid season around flowers, spread one to three inches deep. This will help conserve soil moisture, and will break down slowly over the season. Leaving the manure in the top layer will slowly release its nutrition over the course of a season’s watering, letting it soak through with the moisture. You’ll get many years of ‘fertilizer benefit’ from this, as well as improving the texture of the soil.
Applying compost to your garden beds: I generally apply last year’s compost to my beds in the spring as I prepare the soil for planting. If I was buying it, I would do the same thing – in the spring. How much? Since I make my own compost, I use whatever I happen to have. If I was to buy a truckload, I’d apply it like horse manure – everywhere, and then either spread it on top or work it into the top layer. As with manure, if you need the material to break up the soil as with clay and sand, work it into it. If your soil is already good texture, and you’re just adding it for nutrition, leaving the manure or compost in the top layer of your soil, will slowly release its nutrition over the course of a season’s rain.
Burying Food Scraps in the Garden: In the early spring I am anxious to start composting, but often times my existing compost is not quite ready for me to add my kitchen scraps. In fact, most of the time it is still not quite thawed. What to do? The ground is generally thawed a lot sooner, so I dig a hole in a spot where I will NOT be planting root vegetables like carrots or beets, and bury my kitchen scraps. By the time I am ready to plant seeds in that spot (making it impossible to bury more food scraps there), the compost pile is ready for the new season’s offerings.
PH balance: Soil PH is an indication of the acidity or alkalinity of soil and is measured in PH units. The PH scale goes from 0 to 14 with PH 7 as the neutral point. From 7 down to 0 the soil is increasingly more acidic. From 7 up to 14 the soil is increasingly more alkaline or base. Why is this important? Plant nutrients become available or unavailable according to the soil’s PH level. Most vegetables thrive in slightly acidic soil, because that PH affords them good access to all nutrients, a good range being between 6 and 7. Its not possible to ensure your soil is exactly the right ph for each individual vegetable, but in general terms you can focus on certain ranges. Below is a good estimate. Extremely acid: < 4.5 Very strongly acid: 4.5-5 Strongly acid: 5.1-5.5 moderately acid: 5.6-6 slightly acid: 6.1-6.5 neutral: 6.6-7.3 slightly alkaline: 7.4-7.9 moderately alkaline: 7.9-8.4 Strongly alkaline: 8.5-9 very strongly alkaline: >9
It is easy to test with a simple garden soil test kit using dyes, available at hardware or gardening stores, but don’t expect extreme accuracy with ‘numbers’, more just ranges with these kinds of tests. You will however, get a good idea if your soil is strongly acidic, strongly alkaline or neutral. Amending your soil is not difficult to do, and you can do it organically, but the sooner in the season you know what you are dealing with, the sooner you can start amending. In addition to adding manure and compost there are things you could be adding to increase or decrease over all acidity. For instance, peat moss is an excellent soil amendment for acid-loving plants and is easy to incorporate. Simply spread two or three inches to the top and work it into the upper layer of soil. For soil that is too acidic, try adding agricultural limestone to it. Work it into the upper layer of soil. Do your research, and ask around for suggestions. These are two very different things bytheway. Asking your neighbour for his opinion is not research, but both are valuable. In this day when google can be your neighbour, you’ve got the best of both worlds at your fingertips. WHAT:
What vegetables? What variety of those vegetables? Where do you buy your seeds or seedlings?
Plan to maximize your harvest by drawing a map. Perfection and accuracy isn’t necessary, just be reasonable and close to realistic. Planting rows north and south is always best, its just not always possible depending on your yard configuration. If you have to plant east and west, watch that the bigger plants are in the back of the garden (north) so they don’t shade the shorter ones. Do the best you can with what you’ve got, that’s really all you have to do.
Best choice of vegetables to grow is entirely related to what is suitable for your area, your climate, your spot, and your sun availability, and of course your preferences. Yes, you want to be adventurous, and Yes, you’d like to try new things, but remember this whole adventure is ‘NEW’, so maybe don’t get too exotic in your first year or two. Yes, you want to think outside the box – but you want also want to give your plants the RIGHT conditions where they can be their best selves. Your first few years are important to your confidence as a new gardener. Set yourself up for success by selecting varieties that others in your area are finding success with. Ask around for best suggestions of what vegetables to grow, and what is suitable for your area. Ask neighbouring gardeners. Ask on gardening facebook groups. Gardeners are always happy to share what they’ve gleaned and learned from others. You want to give your plants the RIGHT conditions where they can be their best selves.
Not all plants do well in all conditions, or even in all areas of your yard. For instance, I don’t grow carrots worth a hoot in my yard, but my friend a few blocks over grows the best carrots I’ve ever seen. I suspect its a sun issue for me, so I’ve tried different areas of my garden, but still I have yet to have a great carrot experience since living in this house. There may be some conditions that are simply not suitable, so I focus on what I grow best.
buying seed
There are no shortages of places to buy seed: local hardware or garden supply stores, dedicated seed stores, even grocery stores. Many people order their seeds from seed companies. Last year was the first year in a very long time that I ordered from a seed company on line, and I did that because with all the Covid weirdness that was manifesting itself in the stores (like the shocking TP shortage) in the spring of 2020, I wasn’t at all confident that I’d find seed in the usual spots. It is my habit, and has been for most of my gardening years, to buy seeds one year ahead. Every year I buy seeds for NEXT year, and this year I plant the seeds I purchased LAST year. This way I am never worried about my prospective garden being at risk because I cannot find seed, or perhaps I might not be able to afford seed in any given year. There have been years like that for us, and seeds are not cheap. Planning ahead is part of my philosophy for being self reliant. Of course, I may pick up an extra package of something to use this year, but by and large the pattern is to buy ahead.
while there are others I add from time to time, the basic vegetables I grow that I think are pretty universal are these:
BEANS: bush or pole; green, yellow, purple; all are tender and must be planted well after last frost; assorted varieties. You may already have your favourites. If not, ask around for recommendations. For most years I have planted bush beans because they I’ve never really had places for pole beans to climb. But last year we added some vertical trellises and an arbour to our garden in the hopes that by reaching UP, we might increase our productivity in the ground space we have, so, now pole beans are my preference. Taste wise, my personal favourite type of bean is purple beans. I like them for a number of reasons, but mostly taste. They grow purple so they are easy to pick, but don’t worry, when you steam them they turn a gorgeous bright green. They have a somewhat ‘nutty’ taste which I love.
BEETS: red, yellow; round, cylinder. My personal favourite is the traditional gorgeous round red beets. Detroit or Ruby Red are my choices. Detroits also produce nice tender greens which is a big plus in my books.
CARROTS: orange, red, white, yellow; long, short; varieties: Nante Coreless are my go tos but I am still open to suggestions and could be persuaded by seed company claims of traditional sweet tasting carrots.
CORN: best suited in large gardens with LOTS of sun. Best to plant in groupings as they cross pollinate each other. There are some years we’ve grown corn even in our city raised bed garden and had beautiful corn, there are other years the summer simply wasn’t long enough and it turned out we wasted the space. You takes-yer-chances with Corn up here. A favourite among the people I polled is Extra Early Super Sweet.
CUCUMBERS: I haven’t had a lot of luck with cucumbers in my present garden. I am looking for suggestions myself. I am very motivated to have them grow UP on my trellises.
dill growing with poppies in strawberry patch
DILL: This is a garden must for me, and I buy the seed in bigger bags of 250+ grams. I broadcast the dill among my other plants as they grow straight up and don’t compete with their shorter neighbours. I realize dill is not a vegetable, its an herb – but it lives in my vegetable garden and I replant every year. For more references to dill in other posts, just search the key word.
GARLIC: I plant bulbs in the fall to harvest the next late summer. Grown in amongst potatoes, said to deter potato beetles.
KALE: For years I have avoided everything from the cabbage family simply because I got tired of trying to outsmart the cabbage moth that is responsible for the thousands of ugly worms in cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts. I tried everything I ever heard about or read about, and in the end I gave up and decided those would things I bought from the grocery store. So when ‘kale’ became popular, I didn’t even consider it. Last year I bought 6 kale plants quite by accident, thinking I was buying flowering kale for my flower pots. When I realized my mistake I decided to plant two of them in three different spots in my garden to see if there was a favoured spot. I was pleasantly surprised that they grew well and we ate kale almost daily for most of the summer. By late summer, the two that were furthest into the garden, and so less in my sight line, got quite eaten by some kind of rude bug – but the others seemed fine. Lesson learned, this year I’ll be planting kale on purpose, and probably double what I planted last year. *hint: they need sun of course, and water often.
I have fallen in love with kale in the garden. It is ready to use from June to freeze up, always happy and healthy – just a little more ‘mature’ toward the end, like the rest of us.
LETTUCE: leaf, romaine, butter, head; I plant a pretty generic leaf lettuce that I buy in bigger bags of at least 250 grams. I plant in the early spring, then replant about three weeks later to have some variety in readiness. You could be picking baby spinach for a mixed green salad by mid June and will be picking right up till freeze. Green garden salads almost every day.
ONIONS: green onions or bulb onions, and every thing in between. I didn’t grow onions for years, cannot recall my reason for stopping. But last year I planted several green onion bulbs, to be pleasantly surprise with the results. I think we’ll be good friends for many years to come as I plan to do the same thing from now on. They grew well and quickly. I planted them among radishes and leaf lettuce and harvested as needed ALL summer long. They were wonderful to have on hand and we used the entire plant from bulb to the top green tip.
PEAS: Peas are a great cold weather crop, so best to plant them early when they ground is finally ready to be prepared. They like cold feet so don’t worry about a little cold. For years I did not grow them because they took up more room than I felt I could spare, but now with my emphasis on growing UP, I suddenly am much more interested in planting some. They’ll be done by the end of July, especially if you planted them really early. So you can plan for them to make room for something that might need the sun later in the summer, perhaps zucchini? Stupid cutworms were a problem for me last year. I’ve gotta come up with a better plan to combat those enemies this coming year.
potatoes in garbage bags with leaf mulch 2020
POTATOES: red, white, yellow, purple; varieties like Netted Gems, Red Norlands, Yukon Golds, Banana, Purple, etc. I love all kinds of homegrown potatoes. Since we’re in raised beds, room for potatoes has been a problem for years but I generally plant a few plants every year anyway. My very best experience with potatoes was many years ago when we planted about six potato plants in straw. Everything about it was great but sadly, for one reason or the other we never repeated it. Soon we moved from that house and the spot was different, getting straw was sometimes more difficult than others, . . . This coming year, I am committed to repeating the experience with some barley straw.
RADISHES: I am not particularly a fan of the taste of radishes, and a handful in a salad once or twice a year is usually sufficient for me. However, for some inexplicable reason I bought two packages of radish seed last year and decided to throw one package in amongst my spinach, green onions and lettuce seed. As expected, they grew quite quickly and were up and happy in good time. In thinning some spots out, I tasted a few and loved the fresh, slight peppery flavour of the tender greens. Always scouting for young greens to add to spring salads, I began adding the radish greens. Terrific! I found a recipe for radish green pesto so I made a batch. BEST pesto Ever! I made a great discovery that season that will pay off for the rest of my life. Me and radish greens will be friends from now on.
SPINACH: plant as early as possible, they like it cold and will bolt in the summer heat. By the beginning of July, they’re done.
SQUASH: bush like zucchini, trailing like acorn, butternut, spaghetti. My fave squash is butternut
SWISS CHARD: This is a standard in my garden, I couldn’t have a garden without it. One of my favourite summer dishes is SPANAKOPITA which I grow swiss chard especially for. Its almost the only thing I do with it actually, other than a dish of steams greens here and there – but I am THAT serious about Spanakopita.
tomatoes along the west side of the house, climbing on a trellis to provide airflow along the bottom. Companioned with chives, basil, feverfew and marigold, with a healthy kale plant along for the ride just for fun.
TOMATOES: small tomatoes in pots, larger tomatoes in garden; determinate – fixed size which are usually caged; indeterminate which will continue to grow and grow and grow as long as the season allows, producing tomatoes all along the way. In another climate, an indeterminate tomato could grow for years, trailing the ground and establishing rootings frequently. I have come across my favourite tomato ever in the last few years, first introduced to us by my sister who was given a tomato gift from a gardening acquaintance. The story goes that the seed for the tomato came from Romania, so the type and name are a mystery. My sister collected the seed and the following year grew her own plants. She gave me some, we loved the tomatoes and collected our own seed which we started in the house last March. At this point, I am convinced I may never grow another tomato variety again. They are indeterminate. They are hearty and healthy plants. The fruits are delicious and sweet, and HUGE, as in huge-like-a-dinner-plate. I call them ROMANIAN GIANTS and I have seed to sell.
when planting seeds, always defer to the instructions on the packets for specifics
TURNIPS: I am a newly converted fan of turnips since I started roasting them (like sweet potato fries), so this coming summer will be my first attempt at turnips for at least two decades. A perfect example of how one should never discount learning new favourites to grow in the garden. Here’s hoping for a good experience.
CABBAGE: All members of the cabbage family with the exception of kale, are of NO interest to me in the garden. I love them all, and use them in my daily meal planning, but I will not grow them. See above.
What a bleak world this would be without flowers: without their gorgeous colour, and their sweet intoxicating, natural fragrance. In the warm months, flowers abound in and around our homes, with many practical reasons for growing them – not simply “to gladden the heart“. But in the cold months, one has to be more ‘deliberate’ about including them. That’s where potpourri becomes an invited guest, but before we get to that, lets talk about how important flowers are to our gardens. Here are 6 reasons to grow them.
1. To attract pollinators
Bee enjoying the flower head of garlic chives, cut and destined to be part of a kitchen bouquet
The most important reason I grow flowers is because I like them. But probably the most important reason I grow flowers IN the vegetable garden, is to attract pollinators. Bees are not the only pollinators, but they’re the most recognizable, and they’re every gardener’s friend. As the bees (and other insects) collect pollen, they distribute it to nearby fruits and vegetables pollinating as they go. The longer pollinators stay in your garden, the greater the pollination rate, so planting flowers among vegetables like zucchini and other squash, and cucumbers is very important. Look for bright coloured flowers. Studies indicate that bees like the colour purple. I grow Borage throughout my vegetable garden primarily because of their purple flowers which attract the bees.
2. As companion plants
rosemary in the centre, marigold to the right, red orach behind, poppy leaf at 11:00, borage leaf at 7:00
Sometimes for shade, sometimes to attract pollinators, sometimes to attract pests away from vulnerable neighbouring vegetables, sometimes to repel pests, flowers are more than just pretty faces in the garden.
3. To improve soil
Flowers from the legume family like Sweet peas, Lupins, Wisteria and Clover can improve nitrogen levels in your soil, not just from growing but even after they’ve finished growing. With the lawn mower, chop up spent bean and pea plants, and then use as mulch in areas of your garden that need nitrogen. As the mulch breaks down and rain filters through it, important minerals like nitrogen are returned to the soil. As my Borage grows bigger and begins to shade surrounding plants, I cut stems to put into summer bouquets, but remnants get added to the mowing. There are many other plants (not just flowers) like Mullein and Comfrey – that provide great ‘green manure’ for your garden. Be open minded to a benefit you may not have considered before.
Many flowers like nasturtiums are more than beautiful splashes of colour in the garden, and more than attractive faces to pollinators. They are delicious, and nutritious. Nasturtium flowers and leaves, pansies and marigold petals are the perfect addition to any summer salad. Making sure they’re free of chemicals is important, but you know what you’re adding or not adding to your own garden. Common edible flowers are Nasturtiums, Calendula (and other marigolds), Borage, and Pansies (including violas). I even freeze Delphiniums and Geraniums in ice cubes to add to chopped water in a glass dispenser.
All parts of the Nasturtium plant is not only edible and delicious, but highly nutritious: flower, leaves, stem and seeds. Search the keyword “nasturtium” to read other posts about this wonderful and versatile plant.
*cautionary hint: Not all flowers are edible so do some research and get recommendations before you freely harvest. My grandkids enjoy eating the many things I give them to try but we have a very strict rule which is – you cannot eat anything that isn’t a berry – unless Gramma gave it you to eat.
5. To gladden the heart
Getting back to the “gladden-the-heart” part. For most of my married life, my mother in law had freshly cut flowers on her table all summer long, and I came to find JOY in that. It is a rare day that I do not follow her example and have fresh garden flowers on my table during the warm months. Through doing so, I have personally come to know the meaning of what ‘gladden the heart‘ means. Growing flowers ensures a steady supply of every changing seasonal bouquets, and that has become increasingly important to me as I get older.
6. Preserving
Drying flowers when they’re in their prime extends their season and their reach throughout the winter. Who says we can’t have flowers on our table all winter long too? That’s where potpourri comes in.
Flowers in the house – Potpourri
The definition of Potpourri (pronounced ‘poh-poo-ree‘, is “a mixture of dried flower petals with spices, kept in a pot or jar for their fragrance“. Variations of potpourris have been used for millennia, all over the world – for fragrance. The type of potpourri I make is patterned after European recipes, mostly because of climate related ingredients. The mixture contains dried flower petals and spices, and essential oils, as well as ‘fixatives’ – the ingredient used to ‘FIX’ the scent.
While there may have been a myriad of reasons people used potpourri in days gone by, there is only one reason I use it. Because I love the smell of flowers. There is something about flowers that come from one’s own garden, lasting for years in a potpourri mixture . . . . I have a 3 gallon crock in my living room full of flower petals that I have dried – some of those petals have been there for decades. I add to it yearly, tossing new petals into the old. Making your own potpourri is easy, and using flowers and herbs from your own garden makes it personal and memorable.
part one – the ingredients
When selecting flowers, look for ones that keep their colour. * Rule #1 – don’t rush your potpourri. Like many good things, sour dough and potpourri cannot be rushed. You’ll be starting in the summer as you’re drying flowers, and you’ll be finishing mid winter – perhaps. This isn’t a race, and good potpourri will last for years and years – so relax, take a breath and enjoy the process.
* Rose petals have always been the most basic and important part of any potpourri mixture. I grow few roses, but I collect some from friends, and of course – I receive fresh roses from time to time throughout the year. I never waste them.
Other flowers: Any flower that has a pleasant natural scent and retains a nice shape and colour when dried, is a prime candidate for most potpourri mixtures. Carnations, lilacs, violets, pansies, geraniums, peonies and lily of the valley are good choices. The only petal that I keep separate for its own unique potpourri is ‘Lavender’, and that is simply because it is different enough that it deserves its own pot, and because I am particularly partial to the scent of lavender. If I am to add any other flowers to a lavender potpourri, they will also be purple, of small delicate petals and similar in general, like lilacs, dephiniums, corn flower (bachelor buttons) and forget-me-nots .
Common herbs: such as oregano, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, lemon verbena, basil, assorted mints, sage, lemon balm and meadow sweet are good choices to add to floral mixtures or to use separately.
Spices: fragrant spices such as cinnamon bark pieces, whole cloves and allspice are sometimes used, and I can see their value, but they don’t usually make it into my own mixtures unless I’m making something ‘Christmassy’.
Citrus peel: In many old recipes, dried whole oranges are crushed and mixed with spices. Or one could thinly pare the rind from an orange, lemon, lime or even grapefruit and dry till crisp. They can be added whole or crushed.
this jar is chopped and dried orris root from 2019 and 2020. Probably next summer I will grind it up in my coffee grinder to use.
Fixatives: A fixative is a substance that absorbs scents and retains them for a long time. You really need a fixative, the gentle scent of flowers is simply too delicate to last.
The only fixative I have ever used in ORRIS ROOT. You may find it in specialty shops like spice stores, some garden shops, health food stores, or even craft stores, and it is something I can make myself – which of course is always appealing. Orris Root is literally the root of an iris plant. When you buy it, it may come in ‘crumbles’ or as a fine powder not unlike icing sugar in texture. It is easy to use.
Sandalwood. I have never used sandalwood, mostly because I don’t know where to buy it, but I do like the smell of it, and wouldn’t be opposed to using small pieces or slivers of it in a potpourri mixture from time to time.
Essential oils: Essential oils are added to potpourri mixtures to strengthen the scent. Be adventurous and experiment: of course you’re going to use your favourite scents, but try combining oils of ‘like’ scents, try mixing floral and herb scents that you like. Constantly test the ‘scent’ when mixing into your bowl of flowers.
part two – colour and texture
Potpourri should be as beautiful to look at as it is to smell, so pay particular attention to the dried colour of what you’re using. Occasionally you come across a flower or herb, that when dried, completely loses its beautiful colour. Don’t use it unless it smells so amazing you cannot pass it up, but seriously, I cannot think of a single example of an ugly dried flower that smells that amazing. Flowers that dry with beautiful shapes and colours are: borage, delphinium, forget-me-nots, hydrangeas, marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies, salvia, tansy and zinnias. Consider adding rose hips and other interesting treasures in your garden for texture.
Sometimes you come across such perfectly shaped small flower heads or beautiful whole buds, that it seems immoral to rip them apart. Keep them in their form. If drying them is an issue, you can use a drying agent – a ‘dessicant’ to help.
using desiccants for texture
Silica Gel The most commonly used medium for drying flowers is SILICA GEL. You should be able to buy from a drug store, a craft store or a hardware store. To use, simply put a one inch layer of silica gel in an airtight container, gently place the trimmed bud or flower on top of the gel, stem tip down. Some flowers may want to lay on their side, some might be best laid stem tip up. Be flexible. Gently pour the gel on top of the flower, taking care to get gel between petals if possible, eventually covering the whole flower. Seal the container and place in a secure place, safe from being jostled. Expect it to take 2 – 6 days for most flowers depending on how dense they are. * hint: Afer use, silica gel must be re-dried. Spread out on a tray and dryin a low oven until completely dry. Store away for future use.
Borax I have never used borax to dry flowers but it sounds very compelling to me. I will for sure try it. According to directions, take 1 part BORAX and 2 parts cornmeal and stir to completely blend. Layer borax mixture in airtight container the same as for silica gel, place flower on top in the same way as above, gently sprinkling borax mixture over top. Not necessary to completely cover. Seal and put away. Leave for about two weeks, checking occasionally after the first week.
part three – harvesting and drying
Flowers: Just when the flowers are at their most beautiful – usually just before fully opening, is when they’re perfect. Afterward, both scent and colour will begin to diminish. Gather on a dry day, mid morning is best – after the dew has dried but before the heat of the sun.
When drying, pay particular attention to not crowding them. I usually just leave them spread out and loose on a clean tea towel in the open air inside the house and away from direct sunlight which may fade them. If you have a lot, use a baking rack to keep the air circulating. Petals should be dry and slightly crisp, which could take several days in some cases, so don’t be in a hurry.
part four – assembling your Potpourri
– Dry all flowers and leaves till they are crisp. – Use a glass or ceramic bowl or pot to mix. Never use plastic or anything porous, or metal. Plastic will keep the smell long after making it difficult to use for anything else, and some metals may react to some oils. You really should dedicate your bowl to potpourri – then you don’t have to worry about scents lingering. – Place all your petals and leaves in large bowl, add any other non powdered ingredient. – Mix your scent and fixative: Simply add drops of the essential oil of your choice a few drops at a time and mixing well after each addition to an amount of orris root. How much orris root? Depends on how much potpourri you’re making, but maybe start with 4 ounces for approximately 6-10 cups petals. Blend essential oil into the powder with your fingers or the back of a spoon until thoroughly blended. – Sprinkle the scented orris root onto the flower mixture, then toss with your hands to ensure it is sufficiently incorporated. – Add whole citrus peel, whole spices and buds if using. Gently toss with fingers again. – Gently move potpourri mixture into jars, crock, or ziplock bags. Seal to leave for about 6 weeks to set. If in a jar or bag, do not leave in direct sunlight. Toss petals or shake bags frequently – every day or two to prevent fixative from settling.
part five – Enjoying your potpourri. For years!
My 3 gallon Medalta crock is the main container for rose scented petals of all kinds. I’ve been using this crock for about 40 years. It can never be used for anything else at this point; I expect that scent has become part of the crock.
For many years I kept my potpourri in a crock pot in the living room. When the house whas freshly cleaned, I would remove the lid, toss the petals and let the scent waft through the room. A very good friend of mine developed a sensitivity to perfumes that evolved into sensitivity to most scents, including flowers. At first, I paid attention to NOT having the potpourri open when I was expecting her to visit, but it got so that I stopped lifting the lid at all in case she stopped by. I didn’t want her to not be comfortable in my house. This was quite a sacrifice at first, but soon we mostly forgot about what was in that crock. Life changes and my friend moved away. One day I rediscovered my lost love of potpourri and began the process of getting back into the habit of using it.
How to use
rose scented and mostly rose based in an antique jar and a not-so-antique jar
Don’t leave your potpourri out in the open for days at a time. The smell will dissipate over time. Personally, I never bring it out until the house is cleaned. It’s kind of a reward I suppose, but it just makes sense to me that a clean smell should go with a clean house.
1. Pour your potpourri into an attractive bowl in your living room. Toss with your fingers. Before you go to bed, pour back into the crock, or jar.
2. Make small sachets out of thin cotton fabric. Store them in your drawers, closet, linen cupboard, or even pillow cases.
3. Keep in pretty antique jars that you can put on the table, your dresser or your bathroom counter when desired. When done, replace the lid and put away. Keep jars out of sunlight.
Remember, that even the best oils will eventually lose their scent. Toss the petals with your hands from time to time, and refresh your potpourri with a few more drops of oil when needed. You can always start a new batch next summer, or continue to add to existing batch every season. For years I have two potpourris going. The big one is probably one third roses, so I use ROSE as my primary scent of choice. The smaller one is LAVENDER which is about half lavender petals and leaves, and the other half – supplemental petals like lilacs, delphiniums and borage flowers.
Lavender with a few like coloured flower petals like pansies, violas, lilacs and even a rose.
4. I buy nice little jars or make nice little cloth sachets and fill them up for gifts. Tie a piece of ribbon or lace.
I’d love to hear your experience with homemade potpourri. If this is your first time making one, be brave – you cannot go wrong. Have fun and tell me how it went.
President Ezra Taft Benson declared: “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words of life’ (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. … [You will also enjoy] increased love and harmony in the home, greater respect between parent and child, [and] increased spirituality and righteousness.” “These promises,” President Benson assured, “are not idle promises, but exactly what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us draw nearer to God” (GC, Oct. 1986)
I have found over my life, that these words are true. I have taught that they are true. And one can receive the blessings from that power according to the personal diligence that one gives to the book. I taught my seminary students that if they were to do nothing but carry that book in their arms to and from school, and between classes and lay it beside them during classes, they would receive strength from it. How much more then, could they receive from it, if they opened it up and looked at the pictures now and again? And if so, how much more strength could they receive from it if they actually read from its passages? And then – what if they chose to start at the beginning and read it through? And finally, WHAT COULD BE OUR BLESSING if we seriously engage in an earnest STUDY of it? With a faith filled desire to know and understand its mysteries?
I testify from my own personal experience that the power and strength one receives from the Book of Mormon, will be in direct association to the time and focus one devotes to it. There is, as President Benson promised – “a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book.”
Who among us does not want * greater power to resist temptation? * power to avoid deception? * power to stay on the strait and narrow path? * life in greater and greater abundance? * increased love and harmony in the home? * greater respect between parent and child? * increased spirituality and righteousness?
Are you kidding? What would I be willing to give in order to see these promises fulfilled in my life? What would YOU be willing to give to see them fulfilled in your life? As with so many things that come from God, the deal is not complicated. The answer in fact, is deceptively simple. ‘Simple’ does not necessarily mean ‘easy to do’, it just means ‘straightforward’ and ‘uncomplicated’. A prophet of God – Ezra Taft Benson, promised me that “When [I] begin to hunger and thirst after those words . … ” I will see those blessings manifest in my life. I took him at his word. I engaged in the ‘challenge’, and I though I loved the book before, my appreciation for it increased exponentially, and my love deepened.
For some strange reason known only to Facebook, I cannot share this video on my facebook account. Whaaaat? Personally, I think its brilliant, and I did share it several years ago to my personal fb page, but it came up in my memories today and I thought it worthy of bringing it front of mind. Well, not according to facebook. They warned that my account has been restricted because of it. Oh bruuuther. I have my theories about key words fb is programmed to detect, and yes, I realize that they cannot spare human hours to find those key words, and machines cannot be reasoned with . . . . . .
But in the meantime, this wonderful demonstration interviews several young boys, who appear ‘normal’ and average in every way. They prove themselves however, to be extraordinary when push comes to shove. The first time I watched it, it brought tears to my eyes. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could actually ‘influence’ the behaviour of adults, who sometimes justify their own sense of right and wrong. You can see the boys struggle with the seemingly innocent instruction to ‘hit’ a girl. Unfortunately, you start to wonder about one or two of them, but in the end their gentle inner voices prevail. They are each examples of what Thomas S. Monson taught “May we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong.” One has to wonder if there were others who were initially part of the ‘experiment’ but who failed and so not included in the video. Oh I hope not.
In this world, too many still justify violence against women. Even some who are idealistically against it in principle, find ways to rationalize their behaviour when they choose to give in to “the easier wrong.” In some cultures it is completely accepted, and horrendous crimes perpetuated against women go unpunished because society justifies it. This is a discussion that should be had around the dinner table over and over again. President Ronald Reagan said it best — “All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins.” Well I am not American, but I completely concur with what he says. Truth is truth, and is irrefutable, so let me take a minor liberty: “All great change begins at the dinner table.” God bless our dinner tables. God bless our homes.
A good film to show your families, and an important topic to discuss. Every where.
Lemons are one of the most popular fruits in the world, and probably the most versatile. I can’t think of too many other fruits or vegetables you eat, then wash your windows with. They are highly acidic and are used in every part of a meal: main dish, sides, salads and desserts. They are used to tenderize meat and in salad dressings. They are used in baking, drinks, sauces and dips. My favourite yogurt flavour is lemon. They bring a fresh, delightful ZIP to everything they’re added to.
But did you know they’re also your best friend when it comes to cleaning your house?
They are clean and green, non toxic and relatively common. They cut grease and leave a pleasant smell behind, instead of the heavy antiseptic smell of normal household cleaners.
Recently I’ve been on a lemon-kick. I asked a lot of people what they use lemons for, and was surprised to find that very few people actually USE them outside of cooking or baking, and truth be told, not even a whole lot of that. Unfortunate. I suppose perhaps, most of us just don’t know their tremendous value. I readily admit, that lemons can be pretty pricey up here (in Alberta) for most of the year, but I thought: “if I had a house in Arizona and had a lemon tree, I’d probably use lemons for everything.” So I phoned my friend in Arizona who has a lemon tree, . . . . . Guess what? She doesn’t use them for anything more than I do LOL. Except that she puts them down her garburator because they help clean it out, and make it smell better. I don’t have a garburator anyway.
On the internet, I came across a TON of sensational claims for lemons! Apparently, they can do everything short of drive your kid to school. Who knew? It was tricky sifting through the ridiculous claims to extract reasonable tidbits of truth because there were SO MANY claims. It seems every thing on the internet has to be miraculous to get any attention. So I made it a matter of personal study. I bought some lemons and did a lot of experimenting, and I learned a lot of things.
The truth is – lemons are pretty amazing in the house and they don’t need us to exaggerate their usefulness, or try to make them look better than they really are. Admittedly, a lot of what they do well, vinegar also does – which is considerably cheaper in my world. Nevertheless, I think its worth taking note of some things, and I certainly think we should use them more than we do.
So I’ll tell you what I learned about lemons. Fresh – Dehydrated – Powder concentrate – Oil
in the kitchen: cooking and baking
Add them to baking: breads, muffins and cakes; as well as lemon soups and other dishes. Who doesn’t like lemon poppy seed muffins? Lemon blueberry muffins? Lemon coffee cake, lemon sugar cookies, lemon cheese cake . . . . the list is endless of things lemons made better.
– Lemon marinade for shrimp Dan uses lemon to marinade shrimp (that he grills on the BBQ). Very delicious. Lime would have been equally delicious. – drizzle lemon juice over fish or chicken while grilling – Lemon Chicken* See recipe below – Ricotta Cheese* See recipe below Not kidding. Use lemon juice to make homemade Ricotta Cheese*. Oh my goodness, so easy. You’ll never buy ricotta again. – Lemon Sauce*See recipe below Use to pour over fresh gingerbread and as a lemon drizzle for cookies, muffins or coffee cakes.
lemons and limes in the dehydrator fall of 2020
– Dehydrated I dehydrate lemons and limes when I have excess. A couple of years ago, I came across a great deal, and dehydrated about 10-15 pounds. Sliced and laid single layer in the dehydrator, they took about 24 hours when the dehydrator was full. They’re Beautiful, and very handy to use the rest of the year.
dehydrated lemons in water
One thing I love about having them on hand is lemon water. I use them dried to flavour cold drinking water all year long, when ‘fresh’ lemons are not readily available. I keep it in the fridge and serve it daily. I top up the water whenever we drink it down, keeping it going for a couple of weeks at least. When the lemons seem to have lost most of their flavour, I dump them into the dish washing water* (see below) and get a few new slices for the next jug of water.
Lemons as a natural alternative for cleaning
in the KITCHEN
CLEANING PRODUCE claim: fruits and vegetables from the store often have pesticides and other contaminants on them. The disinfectant quality of lemons make them a natural to remove toxins. Use 1/4 cup in 2 cups water. Soak your other and vegetables fruits for five minutes in the lemon water, then rinse and dry. Store as usual. my experience: seem to be fine
PREVENTING OXIDATION IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES claim: Fruits such as apples, pears, peaches and avocados begin to ‘brown’ when exposed to air. This is called oxidizing. Squeezing lemon juice over top with prevent of at least slow this natural process down. my experience: ABSOLUTELY!! Who hasn’t used this age old kitchen hack?
CANNING ACID FRUITS AND TOMATOES claim: Adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to a quart of tomatoes, increases the acid level needed for safe hot water processing. my experience: ABSOLUTELY! Anything that is preserved in boiling water bath, MUST have a high acid content. The heat of boiling water is sufficient to kill off the micro organisms that cause spoilage, mold and fermentation, but not enough to kill botulism spores. Botulism can only develop in low acid, oxygen free conditions, which is why acid fruits like peaches and tomatoes are canned in hot water baths, but low acid foods like most vegetables, legumes and meat – must be canned at the much higher heat that pressure canning can offer. Acid is critical because it inhibits the germination of botulism spores. Adding a tablespoon of lemon juice (or vinegar) will give you an added level of safety to already acid rich fruits. I have ALWAYS added that little bit extra acid when home canning with the hot water bath method.
REPEL BUGS claim: to repel bugs my experience: I put some lemon wedges in a couple of house plants that were problematic for me with little types of fruit flies. Disappointingly, after several weeks, I didn’t find it helped at all. No effect worth reporting.
CUTTING BOARDS claim: Because of their antibacterial and antiseptic qualities, lemons are valuable for cleaning cutting boards, pizza stones and that sorta thing. my experience: I was happy with the results. It looked cleaner, felt cleaner, smelled cleaner, all of which gave me confidence that it actually did ‘good’.
REMOVING ODOURS claim: will remove unpleasant odours on surfaces like cutting boards and garlicky fingers. my experience: I rubbed half a lemon cut side down over the cleaned cutting board. Rubbed lemon juice or lemon oil onto my finger tips after peeling and mincing garlic. I was happy with the results. Smell gone from my hands completely. The board – pretty good, although I have used it to chop garlic and onions for years, so I don’t think anything is gonna bring it back to newness.
lemon oil
REMOVING ‘STICKY’ GLUE claim: will take away the stickiness on surfaces left from labels etc my experience: For label residue on book covers or other surfaces, just drop a couple drops lemon oil and rub gently around with your finger tips. Wipe away with clean cotton swab or tissue. Works GREAT!
NATURAL AIR FRESHENER claim: the oil in the skin of a lemon or lime is where the fresh scent is. Simmer uncovered gently in water for an hour on the back of the stove. my experience: pretty good
CLEANING STAINLESS STEEL, COUNTER TOPS, STOVE TOPS claim: to clean all that stuff my experience: dip half a lemon cut side down into coarse salt, and rub onto stove tops, counter tops, and stainless steel pots. Rinse and dry with dry cloth. I was happy with it.
okay, this is orange vinegar, admittedly not lemon. But don’t discount the value of other citrus fruits. Made with orange peel steeped in white vinegar for a couple of weeks. I dilute in the spray bottle slightly with water, and I use it as an all purpose cleaner. Cuts grease like nobody’s business.
SINKS, TAPS AND FAUCETTS claim: to clean, degrease and shine those things my experience: I used a lemon half with course salt or baking soda to scrub my sink and taps etc, in the kitchen and bathroom. I liked it.
CLEAN MICROWAVE claim: half a lemon in bowl of water in the microwave – power on for 5 minutes then let it sit for 5 more minutes to let the steam loosen the baking on nastiness, then simply wipe out with moist micro fiber cloth. my experience: I tried it and it seemed to work great. Admittedly, I don’t have and never have a really dirty microwave. I have talked to several people who’ve used lemons to clean them and they swear by it.
REMOVE HARD WATER SCALE AND DEPOSITS claim: boil water with a half lemon in your kettle for a five minutes then let it cool. Wipe out with a dry cloth to remove hard water deposits. Scrub with half a lemon if the stain is pretty set it. Soak your faucet head in lemon juice or vinegar overnight. Wipe down or scrub with with a brush. Rinse and wipe. my experience: I did exactly that and IT ROCKS!
CUTS GREASE claim: throw a leftover half lemon into your dish washer for a cycle. my experience: I don’t have a dish washer so I throw it in my sink of hot soapy water when washing dishes. I love how squeaky clean it makes every thing. Shinier metal pots, clearer glasses, streak free counters.
GLASS CLEANER: 3 T lemon juice + 1 cup of water in spray bottle. Spray onto windows and wipe with dry micro fibre cloth.
GENERAL CLEANSER: fill clean jar with clean lemon peel. Top up with white vinegar and let sit for a minimum of two weeks. Strain and put into glass spray bottle. See the image above for orange vinegar. Another excellent all purpose cleaner.
DEGREASER: 3 T lemon juice + 2 cups water + 1 T baking soda + 1 t dish soap. Spray onto surface, let sit for a few minutes, then wipe off with clean damp cloth.
LAUNDRY
claim: that they make your whites even whiter – no bleach required my experience: Yes they do. Slice up a few lemons and add to a pot of water. How many? One, two, three: depends how big your pot is and how much water you’re using. Bring the water to a boil. Turn off heat, add your white tea towels, napkins, pillow cases or whatever, into the water and let them soak for an hour or so. Remove, wring out by hand, and launder them as you usually would – with other whites of course. Will lemons replace bleach in getting out stains? I doubt it. The citric acid breaks down stains that make whites seem dingy after a while, and it IS a gentler alternative to bleach. But for the bad stains, bleach is still here to stay. On a side note however, I find that sunshine also does a great job of keeping whites white. I use a clothesline in the warm months, and in the hot sun of summer, I’ll sometimes leave my whites on the line for two full sunny days. Back when I was using cloth diapers (yes, I used cloth diapers for all five kids), I found that by the end of winter, my diapers were getting a little dingy. Over the course of summer, they became noticeably brighter and whiter. Clean whites soaked in strong lemon water and then hung on a sunny clothesline is a total winner!
BATHROOM
– Use half a lemon with baking soda on all your taps and faucets, scrub then rinse and wipe off with clean dry cloth – plunge the water out of the toilet, then use half a lemon with baking soda to scrub the inside bowl. Dispose of lemon immediately. – clean anything in your bathroom the same way – then rinse and wipe. – soak your toothbrush in lemon juice and baking soda for 30 minutes then rinse. – do the same thing with your hair brush.
SKIN CARE
Lemon juice as a : – natural toner and cleanser, – natural astringent, lemons will help decrease inflammation – decrease oil that may contribute to acne and other blemishes – breaks down dead skin cells for better removal, which also helps with acne – Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant that helps reduce skin damage and premature aging – mixing with aloe vera may help with any irritation caused by the acidity of it – lemon oil dissolves sticky wax residue when waxing your skin
Lemons are *ANTIBACTERIAL, * ANTIMICROBIAL, * ANTISEPTIC. The enzymes help with digestion, the rich vitamin content helps with our immune and respiratory systems, and “we” have discovered they help with kidney stones.
our experience: My Dan is a professional kidney stone maker. He can produce them like nobody’s business, but if you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you know this isn’t a good thing. He’s done everything and taken everything, that we’ve ever heard of or read about, that even had the slightest chance of helping. We set all prejudice aside in the name of being open minded. So hard to say if most of those things helped or not, because after a while there was always another kidney stone. Until over 10 years ago. . . . We heard that the natural acid in lemon juice prevents the formation of kidney stones – something about dissolving the calcium they’re made of. I don’t pretend to be an expert, or even to understand the science behind it, but Dan started drinking lemon juice in his water faithfully every day. Its a pretty strong sour taste – but he acquired a taste for it. And for more than a decade, no more kidney stones! Yup, you could say we’re converted. Longest stretch in his adult life without kidney stones. Kinda hard to turn your back on that little wonderful fact. However, that much lemon juice in your water everyday is not without its underside. It is absolutely brutal on the enamel of your teeth! Dan hardly has any enamel left, and he’s in the process of getting lots of crowns. Truthfully, we cannot blame lemon juice entirely for all of that. I suspect a life time of drinking coke contributed, but the lemon juice sure didn’t help. Would we recommend it? Yes! Would we do it again? You betcha. But we’d pay more attention to the problem of acid on the teeth. The Moral to that story? Lemon juice is good for you. But rinse your mouth out after drinking it.
PRICE
Winter is CITRUS SEASON. You should find prices will be best between November – April, especially December – February.
My TAKEAWAY from all my lemon experimenting – Would I buy lemons just for cleaning? Living in Edmonton, probably not. Unless I got them for a pretty good price. I use vinegar for much of the same things. If I lived in Arizona however, I’d use lemons a LOT. For now, it would depend on price and availability. But – I’d sure second-use every piece of lemon that was in my house before I threw it into the compost. I use lemons for everything I mention above and I REALLY like the results. I like the squeaky clean (literally ‘squeaks’) feel, and the scent. I like that it cuts through grease and stickiness.
words to define: *ANTIBACTERIAL – prevents the growth of, or outright destroys bacteria. *ANTIMICROBIAL – resists or destroys pathogenic micro organisms. *ANTISEPTIC – destroys and prevents the development of microbes. *PATHOGENIC – means capable of producing disease MICROBE – germs
Recipes:
*LEMON CHICKEN: Dan’s version(4 servings): 3 or 4 pounds chicken pieces – evenly sized zest from 2 lemons + juice from one, slice the other lemon to use as garnish 2 cloves garlic crushed fresh garden herbs in the summer: thyme and rosemary chopped OR dried garden herbs in the winter: thyme and rosemary (crumbled) 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper 2 Tablespoons melted butter Marinade the chicken in lemon juice and seasonings for about two hours. After marinading, place chicken in baking dish (reserving the lemon juice mixture in the fridge), brush liberally all over with butter and bake at 425 for about 40 minutes. About 20 minutes into cooking, remove from oven and baste the chicken with ALL of the reserved marinade. Be generous. Return to oven and continue to bake till chicken is cooked through. Chicken is cooked when the juice runs clear and the skin is brown and crispy. Remove from oven. Don’t over cook. Cover with tin foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Serve with remaining juices in a saucer on the side. * Not including marinade time, expect this dish to take about an hour. While its baking, prepare some rice or noodles to serve it with.
Thrive Life lemonade powder, while in a base of non GMO cane sugar, is for all intents and purposes, unsweetened. Strong natural lemon flavour from lemon oil, used to make lemonade of course (add your own sweetener), and in place of lemon juice in most recipes.
LEMON CHICKEN: Cindy’s version (4 servings): I don’t cook meat, so I use freeze dried chicken pieces. Using the same recipe as above, I would take the larger pieces of FD seasoned chicken strips (about 2 1/2 cups), and refresh / marinade them in the same mixture as above, for about twenty minutes to ensure all the wonderfulness of the lemon was absorbed fully.
In a hot skillet, I would saute Freeze Dried sliced onions, (just a minute or two until aromatic) in the melted butter, then add the seasoned chicken pieces and the remaining marinade liquid. I would probably add some FD red and green peppers because I could, and maybe some FD broccoli too. Maybe even some FD asparagus at the very end. Depending on the additional vegetables I ‘might’ add, its possible I might have to add a bit more water if necessary. Not too much. 1/2 cup to 1 cup (?) When all is heated thoroughly, remove from heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes. * Not including marinade time, expect this version of the dish to take less than 15 minutes. You better have your side dishes ready. Serve over rice or noodles or mashed potatoes – exactly the same as Dan’s recipe above.
*Lemon Sauce 1 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon white flour 1/4 cup butter 1 cup boiling water Stir together over low heat till sugar is dissolved and sauce is beginning to thicken. Add juice of 1 lemon (or 1 tablespoon of THRIVE lemonade powder). Stir till incorporated. Add a little more water if necessary. Pour over gingerbread cake, Christmas pudding, English trifle, or wherever you want it.
* Homemade Ricotta Cheese What is RICOTTA CHEESE? Italian ricotta is a fresh, soft, white cheese made whole milk It is heated near a boil, which causes it to coagulate and form a soft cheese. Like paneer, and cottage cheese, and other fresh cheeses, ricotta can be heated without melting. This makes it perfect for filled pastas like ravioli, and baked good like cheesecake.
2 litres WHOLE milk 1 teaspoon of salt – optional 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (or 1 T Thrive Life Lemonade) large pot, wooden spoon or silicone spatula, thermometer, something to keep the thermometer off the bottom of the pan, colander and some cheese cloth to strain the cheese, large bowl to strain into
Pour milk into a large pot and begin heating over medium low heat. Slowly bring to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Expect it to take up to 30 minutes, stir frequently to prevent scorching on the bottom. Increase the heat and cook, watching closely until the surface begins to lightly bubble, but doe NOT boil. Keep a watchful eye on it, stirring regularly. This should be approx 200 degrees F (up or down a few degrees). Add lemon juice (or lemon powder), stir to incorporate. You will see the milk immediately begin to curdle.
Remove from heat and let the pot sit for 15 minutes. Line a colander with cheese cloth, and place over large enough bowl to catch the whey. Spoon the curds from pot to cloth lined colander, and let it strain for half an hour. When cheese is cooled squeeze gently to form ball. Use immediately, or store in fridge up to 3 or 4 days.
okay be honest now, how many servings of fruits and vegetables do you get a day? Go ahead count ’em. How many did you get yesterday? How many so far today? And what about the variety?
The new Canada Food Guide says that at least half of what we eat in a day should be fruits and vegetables. . . . . uh, wait a minute while I soak that in. I believe I eat more fruits and vegetables than most people I know on most days, but I’d be hard pressed to say it is consistently half of what I eat. The recommendation is for an adult to have at least 10 servings a day! What does that even look like?
Vegetables: 2 cups raw leafy vegetables 1 cup cooked leafy green vegetables 1 cup raw vegetables 1/2 cup cooked vegetables 1 medium potato or sweet potato 1/2 cup vegetable juice
Fruit: 1 cup raw fruit 1 medium apple, orange, banana 1/2 cup fruit juice
If 5 of your servings in a day came in the shape of a watermelon . . . well, good for you, I love watermelon too. But variety is where we’re going to get the assortment of nutrients we need for good health. 3 apples a day might be great once in a while but we NEED variety. And a good variety of ‘fresh’ (as in picked within a day or two) is almost impossible for most of us. Are you eating your colours? . . . enough cleansing greens? enough immune enhancing yellows and oranges? enough heart healthy reds? and enough deep antioxidant rich blues and purples?
If you’re like so many North Americans, you’re lucky to get a quick bowl of cereal, bagel or cup of coffee in the morning. You make it to lunch with zero fruits or vegetables. And then it goes down from there. For me, I have to FOCUS on making sure my diet includes enough Fruits & Vegetables. If I am not intentional about it, before I know it, I’ve slipped into old habits and I can easily make it to dinner time – lucky to have eaten an apple.
sigh ….. what to do?
If you’re still reading this, I am willing to bet you’d like to be eating better. And you probably even try hard to make sure your family does. And you are likely better than average, but 10 a day? Come on, that’s hard for anyone on a consistent basis. Especially in the winter (which is a long season in my part of the world). Did you know that 80% of us don’t get enough nutrition from plants? Sadly our SAD way of eating (Standard American Diet) causes severe health problems: 40% of North American adults (and 20% of young people ages 2 – 19) suffer from obesity, which puts them at risk for heart disease and stroke and type 2 diabetes, as well as tooth decay, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis and many types of cancer.
that’s a big yikes! and it deserves our attention
I think we all know a thing or two about the importance of fruits and vegetables and the reasons they should make up the majority of our diet, and yet . . . . . here we are. What holds you back from eating more fruits and vegetables in the day? Here are some of the typical answers North Americans give. Do any of them describe your situation? * don’t know how to prepare them * too much time to prepare * too much energy, its easier to eat non vegetable meals * don’t like the taste * scheduling issues * haven’t made it a priority * too expensive * too much waste when we don’t eat it quick enough. …. And millions turn to supplements to compensate for our lack of nutrition. Supplements instead of real food. I am not anti-supplements, but they’re only intended to ‘supplement’ good eating, not replace it. That’s why they’re called s.u.p.p.l.e.m.e.n.t.s.
Divide the 10+ servings into your day. That means consuming 3 – 4 servings at every meal with some nutritional snacking along the way. I know that sounds like: how can I even eat that much food? Well, the idea is that if you’re eating enough fruits and vegetables you won’t have enough appetite for the junk, or the less nutritious options. It’s not as hard as you might think. Here’s the HACK: it’s called “RUVI” – from the root for “Roots of Life”. (Ru = Roots, Vi = Life)
* most helpful HACK for consistently eating more fruits & vegetables
Not a supplement. Not a juice. Ruvi is fruits and vegetables. Nothing more (really, nothing added) and Nothing less. Seriously, all the natural fibre you’d get if you ‘ate’ those fruits and vegetables, except you drink it. I know right! How easy is that? Each of the four blends contains the equivalent of FOUR complete servings! That’s freeze dried fruits and vegetables – the absolute most nutritious way of eating them. And you DRINK THEM.
And remember those reasons we have for not eating more fruits and vegetables? * don’t know how to prepare them: hello, mix them with water and shake * too much time to prepare:20 seconds is all it takes * too much energy, its easier to eat non vegetable meals: not sure what could get easier than Ruvi * just plain don’t like vegetables : each blend is the perfect mix of fruit with the vegetables to make them delicious * scheduling issues:what can be easier than a Ruvi in your purse, glove compartment, gym bag, locker at school, desk at work, trailer, 72 hour kit, and kitchen. Doesn’t matter what your day throws at you, you’ve got YOU taken care of. * haven’t made it a priority: give yourself a 30 day challenge. Use Ruvi every day for 30 days, then step back and analyze how you feel. You’ll be thrilled by how much difference true nutrition makes. * too expensive:if you were to buy the variety of fruits and vegetables that go into Ruvi – you’d be spending several times more $. This is the BEST and least expensive way of eating more nutritiously. * too much waste when we don’t eat it quick enough: no waste with Ruvi. All the nutrition of ‘fresh’ produce and Zero waste (that means huge savings).
bottom line
There really is nothing like Ruvi. It’s straight up goodness that your body is craving in the simplest, easiest-to-consume form: freeze dried whole fruits and vegetables, and nothing else.
I want to know what your experience is with eating more nutritiously. I want to know how you incorporate more vegetables into your daily diet. I want to know what you think of “drinking your colours”.
in this chapter: Mullein, Mint, Nasturtium, Oregano, Parsley, Plantain, Poppies, Radish leaves. Some inside, some outside. Chapter continues to be a work in progress. I’d love to read your comments below.
MULLEIN
Mullein is a big, tall, unique looking plant with long fuzzy leaves, and in the flowering years it can reach six or seven feet tall. Introduced to North America with European settlers, it is considered a weed, that grows wild in fields and ditches in many parts of BC and Alberta. Some of the leaves can grow about two feet long.
Pronounced ‘mull-en’. People often want to give it more pizzaz when they say the word, but its just boring ol ‘mull en’.
in the garden
Mullein is a hardy biennial in the western states and provinces from zone 3 to 9. It loves sun and dry, so its the perfect plant for the backdrop of a country flower garden, or along sunny fence lines. It is drought resistant so once it gets established, it will pretty much take care of itself. It requires winter dormancy before it can flower. Yes its a weed, but its a great ‘weed’ so don’t be a bigot; bees love the yellow blossoms and birds eat the seeds. If you don’t want the seeds to disperse freely, then remove the flower stalk before it seeds. Personally, I don’t mind plants that self seed if they’re easy to pull up where I don’t want them. Mullein is easy to pull up, so I mostly let the wind or birds plant them where they want and I pull them up where its not gonna work for me. In fact, that’s how it came to me. As a gift from either the wind or some of my bird friends. I didn’t know what it was for a couple of years. Since its a biennial, it was different the second year, and confused me when it didn’t come back the third year, but a few babies took its place. My philosophy is to never kill something I don’t understand, and since it was new (and very interesting), I decided to let it prove itself to me. I figured it out finally and we understand each other now, and have a good relationship. It grows tall, so it needs room to be what it wants to be, but its so fun for the kids to touch the soft fuzzy leaves that I want it in a place where they can enjoy it.
Fun fact: because the leaves are so big (up to two feet) and soft and fuzzy, the aboriginal people and early colonists lined their shoes with the leaves to protect from the cold.
As a biennial, the first year is the leaf year, getting only about three feet tall; the stalks and blossoms grow in the second year. Its small, yellow flowers are densely grouped on a tall stem, which grows from a large rosette of leaves. It won’t come back the year after it seeds, so if you can manage it, its good to have a few mullein plants in various stages of their development to ideally, you always have the tall yellow flowered stalks.
In the spring, when a cluster of a few plants appear here and there, I keep two or three at most in any given area and remove the others to replant elsewhere or two give away. With a little care, they’re easy to transplant.
Mullein is reputed to have expectorant and cough suppressant properties that make it useful for relief of the symptoms of sore throat and coughs. It has been used traditionally for respiratory conditions such as cough, asthma, pneumonia, and colds, but there is limited scientific research to support the claims. Currently the jury is still out on the medicinal uses of Mullein so for now, I use it only as an ornamental herb in my garden, and will continue to stay on top of continued research.
MINT
Mint is a fast-growing, aromatic herb that is more of a common part of our life than we might realize. Who is not familiar with the flavours of peppermint and spearmint, or the scent of mint in general? It is a hearty perennial with fragrant, toothed leaves and tiny purple, pink, or white flowers. One of the most popular aromatic oils and flavour extracts, there are over thirty different mint varieties. While I admit to being tempted sometimes into trying various ‘flavours’ over the years, in the end, I just want a normal mint for my purposes. I know, probably boring. What can I say?
fun fact: mint is native to Europe, Asia, North America, southern Africa and even Australia! It is widely distributed throughout the world and grows best in wet, moist soil.
in the garden
Mint is vigorous in the right conditions, and is known for its ‘aggressive’ nature and reputation for taking over the garden, so for years I tried to keep it separate and contained. But the gardens that are ‘separated’ in my yard usually don’t get as much sun, and my mint never really did that well – certainly nothing I would refer to as ‘aggressive’. A few years ago, I admitted defeat and transplanted my mint to a more luxuriously sunny spot in my herb garden that is not contained. There it is doing very well. I finally reasoned that if I wanted to benefit from it then it deserved some advantages too. Even mint needs attention. I am watchful of it, and will keep it under control. This year I went even one step further and planted some spearmint in another garden spot in my yard. My neighbour has mint growing on her east side just outside her gate. It get a lot of sun and does very well, but she doesn’t use it. So I do. Thank-you Jodi. So currently, I have peppermint in my herb garden, spearmint in my “protected zone” and who knows what kind of mint growing in my neighbour’s garden that is accessible to me. It is not uncommon for me to gather some of all three varieties and use them together in whatever dish I am preparing.
A very good way to grow mint IN the garden without the risk of it spreading beyond where you want it, is to use containers IN the soil. Dig a hole and plant the pot to ground level or an inch above if you prefer. This gives it the advantage of being in the ground, which protects it during the winter, but restricts its root growth. I have never done that, but I expect, ever few years, you’d want to dig it up and thin it out. Planting mint in regular pots on the patio or elsewhere above ground may contain it, but it is less likely to survive the winter that way. Although mint will do well in several different conditions, it likes a rich moist soil so give it your best.
in the kitchen
Mint leaves can be harvested once the plants are ready to flower, but for daily use, I snip pieces of them all summer long as needed. I use it as an ingredient in several summer-type dishes that I prefer fresh, and so only make in the summer, like watermelon salad and tabouli salad. I use fresh mint to flavour cold water all summer long, or dried – for mint ‘tea’ in the winter.
To pick, I clip a stem down a few inches to the top of a new set of leaves. Then after washing, gently dry with a tea towel, then tear away the leaves and use a very sharp knife to chop on a cutting board. I use my ulu knife and board. I only use them raw – mostly in salads or salsas, but if you’re going to add them to a hot dish, add at the end of the cooking process to help maintain their delicate flavor and texture. – Chop fresh mint and throw into a fresh fruit salsa with chopped apples, pear, lime juice, jalapeno, and honey, – or with chopped strawberries, cantaloupe, honey dew melon and a little lime juice, – or a refreshingly flavourful watermelon salad – diced watermelon, chopped mint leaves, fresh lime juice (or lime powder), a little olive oil and crumbled feta. (*hint: I love lime, but go ahead and substitute lemon if you prefer) – I love finely chopped cucumbers and lightly chopped mint leaves in water with ice. So refreshing. – or mint tea – pour boiling water over a handful of fresh or dried leaves. Allow to steep for 5 of so minutes and drink hot. Sweeten as desired. I add a portion of a stevia leaf for sweetening.
other uses
– Mint is a calming herb that people have used for thousands of years to help soothe an upset stomach, indigestion and even headaches. Use it in a cool drink or in a tea. – Mint oil is popular as a natural mosquito repellent as the strong scent is apparently unappealing to most insects, and is an effective way to treat many insect bites too. – After a long hot day in the garden, sprinkle a few handfuls of fresh mint into your bath water. The cooling sensation of it will reduce your temperature very effectively. – Mint leaves, especially freshly crushed ones, will help you deal with nausea and headache. During pregnancies a strong mint tea was the only relief I used to get from headaches. – Chew mint as a natural breath freshener. – Because of its amazing scent, use it in potpourri. – Mint has earned its spot in my garden. I wouldn’t want to go through a summer without it.
NASTURTIUM
Nasturtiums are interesting looking plants, with their bright greenery and vibrant flowers, great for pots, hanging baskets or planted directly in the garden. The first time I ever saw them they were spilling over in three gorgeous hanging baskets at the entry way of my friend Dorothy Beck’s beautiful home just outside of Devon, Alberta. She filled her baskets with nasturtiums every spring, and I never see them without being reminded of her. In fact it was Dorothy who first told them they were edible, although I’m pretty sure she never ate them lol. Since then, I’ve come to know and appreciate them much better. They are so much more than a pretty flower.
They’re double agents actually, passing equally for flowers or herbs when it suits them, and they’re they perfect choice for cut flowers on your table, hanging in your yard, planted in your flower garden, or dispersed among your vegetables as companions. They’re super heroes in your vegetable garden – sacrificing themselves for the health of other plants.
in the garden
Nasturtiums are slow to germinate, so you might want to get a head start by seeding indoors 3 to 4 weeks before the last spring frost. If you haven’t done that, give them the advantage of soaking up to three days before planting directly into your soil mid May. Remember, they take a long time to germinate (which is why planting them indoors is good) so be patient. Expect at least two weeks, and even then – they might take longer. I know. I told you – be patient. This year I didn’t decide to plant nasturtiums till it was too late to start indoors, so I soaked the seeds four days and planted directly into planters. I had a vision for what I wanted in an arrangement of five pots, them spilling from one to the other. Once they were planted, I tried to be really good about watering, but after over two weeks (it seemed like longer), I gave up and admitted defeat. I concluded that I must have either soaked them too long, or let them dry out once they were in the soil. Argh! They were new seeds so I was fairly confident they were good. It was undoubtedly my fault. So with empty pots, I went out and bought some lobelias to take their place. Another week at least went by before I started seeing a bunch of cute little round faces of nasturtium seedlings peaking up at me. Little stinkers! “Where were you when I was waiting for you?” I was happy to see them though, and now I’m gonna have some fuller pots than I expected. Interestingly, I even found some nasturtiums growing in my potting soil as well – evidently where I dumped some starter soil back into the box after giving up. I love love love happy surprises, so its all good. I transplanted some among my cucumbers, tomatoes and squash, for their companionable benefit. If I find any more strays, I’ll continue to plant them into my vegetable garden.
In addition to being a down-home-beautiful flower, nasturtiums are useful in your garden for a number of reasons. Their bright flowers attract pollinators – which is a good thing, but they also attract pest insects – which is also a good thing. I know that doesn’t sound right, but by planting one or two among your squash, tomatoes and cucumbers for instance, they will act as decoys for aphids, weevils and certain types of beetles – protecting the vegetables, becoming sacrificial plants for the betterment of your garden’s society. Thank-you nasturtiums. See, I told you they’re super heroes.
The leaves are very identifiable – a most interesting perfectly ROUND shape. And the flowers are unique too. Bright, vibrant colours, funnel shaped with cute little spur-things on the back. They prefer moist, well drained soil in full sun but will tolerate partial shade. They actually prefer poor soil, and will bloom better there, so if you have a less desirable spot, nasturtiums can be your perfect tenants. They need no fertilizer, in fact the more fertile the soil, the fewer blooms and more foliage you’ll get – which is fine because both leaves and flowers are edible and equally delicious. But just because they’re content in poor soil, doesn’t mean they don’t need to be cared for. You should water them regularly throughout the growing season – being careful to not let them sit in soggy soil. Good drainage is the key. If they get too dry you’ll notice them drooping, but don’t worry, they’re quick to forgive when you give them a nice drink of water. Like me, they prefer the non-really-hot days, and will do better in the early and later parts of the season. Perfect for our northern gardens.
Dead-heading throughout the summer will prolong blooming, and if you’re growing in containers, trim them back from time to time because they can get gangly. If you’re using them in the kitchen regularly this shouldn’t be too difficult to keep up with.
Planning ahead: save seeds to plant more next spring. In late summer / early fall, when the plant starts to wilt and shows you that its tired and really wants to die, let it. Allow the seeds to dry out on the vine. They’ll fall off, but collect them, brush off the soil and bring them inside. Once they’re completely dry, store them in a labelled and dated non-plastic envelope with your other seeds. I say ‘non-plastic’ in case they aren’t completely dry. You don’t want them to get moldy during the winter.
Fun fact: Nasturtiums are native to central America, from Mexico to Peru, where the native people used the entire plant as food. Europeans brought them to the Old World in the 1500’s where they were quickly adopted.
in the kitchen
Nasturtium leaves and/or flowers are an excellent addition to any garden leaf salad. They add colour and interest and a brilliant, bright, peppery flavour. As soon as they have 4 leaves, I consider it fair game to pick a leaf or two from each plant. In fact, like most of us, they’re more tender when they’re young, so don’t waste a minute. Once they start blooming, you’ll be able to add the flowers to your salads too. Even the stems and seeds are edible and delicious. Such a valuable plant! And beautiful too. It seems there must be a down side to them, but I haven’t found it yet.
Picking the flowers of course keeps more flowers coming. Its part of the game we play with annual flowering plants: they want to go to seed, its how they survive; we try not to let them go to seed. In their quest to produce seed, they continue to flower. In our quest to prevent seeding (and therefore postponing the ‘end‘), we continue picking the flowers. So in actual fact, the more you eat, the more will grow. * hint: pick in the morning while they’re still plump from the dew.
Nasturtium leaves in the kitchen ready to be made into pesto. Best Pesto ever!
Eventually, the season will draw to a close, or your nasturtium plants will simply get away from you and go to seed regardless of your best efforts. That’s alright too, remember even their seeds are edible! You can add them in salads or even better . . . . you can pickle them in vinegar and use them just like capers. As soon as the flower dies off, pick the seed. The seeds are about the size of pea seeds, and they should be green. If they’ve already ripened and are brown, don’t use them for ‘capers’, but don’t waste them. Set them aside for planting next spring.
recipes
It hard not to like the flavour of nasturtiums in a salad, both leaves and flowers. They do more than look great. The leaves have that sweet peppery, a little spicey taste like a young radish, and the flowers – similar but a little milder and sweeter. But don’t stop at salads. You can eat the stems and seeds too. The seeds are made into ‘nasturtium capers’.
I admit not everyone in our house likes capers. Come to think of it, it might just be Dan who doesn’t like them. They’re strong flavoured, tangy, even pungent. Nasturtium capers aren’t gonna be a whole lot different, so if you like capers you’ll love them, if you don’t you won’t. Because they’re so strongly flavoured you won’t use a lot in any recipe so they go a long way. I love them, especially in a broccoli pasta dish my mother-in-law used to make, or in a Greek Salad. Any recipe you can find for using capers, can be substituted with nasturtium capers.
nasturtium seeds in jar ready for vinegar
The only tricky part with nasturtium seeds might be to find lots of them at the same time. But don’t worry about it, pick what you’ve got and start as if you’ve got a cup. Then continually look for more, adding to your ‘pickling seeds in the jar’ with vinegar as you pick them. Soon enough they’ll catch up to the others and they’ll all taste the same in the end. Remember if the seeds have gone brown, leave them to finish ripening and then use them to replant next year, you want GREEN seeds for this recipe. You can also make nasturtium capers using a salt brine instead of vinegar. The process then is ‘fermenting’ instead of pickling. I’ve never done it, but maybe I might give it a try next summer.
Nasturtium Capers recipe 1 cup green nasturtium seeds 1 cup white or light coloured vinegar (your choice) 1 teaspoon sea salt options: * a little bit of freshly ground pepper or some peppercorns slight crushed in your mortar and pestle, * a few sprigs of fresh dill if desired * use 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water with 2 more teaspoons sea salt for more of a fermented result
Rinse the nasturtium seeds blotting them dry on a clean towel. Put into a 1 pint pickling jar. Fill a small saucepan with vinegar, salt, and water if you’re using it. Bring to a boil, then let it sit to cool. If you’re using dill and/or pepper, add a few sprigs to the jar, then pour pickling solution overtop. Seal. You can set aside out of direct light for three or four days to begin the fermentation process, or put directly into the fridge. Allow to sit for at least 3 weeks, but the longer they sit, the more flavourful they’ll be. You can probably keep them longer, but best to use within a year or so. Fill a small saucepan with water, vinegar, salt, and sugar, bring to a boil. Add a few sprigs of fresh dill in the jar, then pour pickling solution over the pods. Just in time for the garden to give you more. Enjoy.
Ways to use Nasturtium capers: * in a tuna salad sandwich * in a simple creamy pasta sauce * in deviled eggs * in potato salad * My favourite way (and the dish where I learned to love capers) was one my mother in law used to make. Here’s to you Mom (Miriam Ruth Beck Thomas).
Not really a typical recipe – here goes: Miriams’s Broccoli and Capers with Pasta Bring water to boil and salt. While its heating, prepare a dressing using about 1/4 cup (or less if you’re not making much) capers and about the same amount of its brine (vinegar), crushed garlic, olive oil and a dash of red chili seeds. Set aside to wait for pasta. Cut up broccoli stems and florets into bite sized pieces. If you’re using small pasta, use small pieces, if using bigger pasta like rotini, use bigger pieces. Set aside to wait for pasta. Boil pasta in salted water just until el dente (not over cooked). In the last minute or two, throw in broccoli. Don’t turn your back on the broccoli. Cook only long enough for the broccoli to turn its brilliant green colour. Drain immediately and pour into serving dish. Pour dressing over top and toss to coat all. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired, and freshly ground pepper.
nasturtium pesto: stir in the shredded parmesan at the end. I use freeze dried cheese because I always have it, and its wonderful.
Nasturtium leaves in pesto I’m just using my traditional pesto recipe here, substituting the leaves
3 – 4 cups packed nasturtium leaves (or combine them with basil or other garden herbs) 2 cloves garlic little bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper 1/2 cup almonds or walnuts 1/2 cup olive oil (or more) 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
fresh bread with nasturtium pesto and fresh tomatoes
Combine washed greens, garlic, salt & pepper, nuts and olive oil in blender or food processor. Blend till almost smooth. You’ll have to push the leaves down from time to time. Stir in parmesan afterward. Be flexible here, add a little more oil if needed, add a little more cheese if needed. optional – add a small squeeze of lemon juice at the end for some nice zing
Nasturtiums have earned an honoured place in my garden. I can’t imagine a year without them.
OREGANO
Oregano is a staple in every herb garden. Primarily because it is so doggone easy to grow, and easy to please. It is super friendly and loves everything and everyone; a real confidence booster for first time gardeners. * Spring came early this year? Great! Oregano will be one of your first plants to green up. * Late spring? Don’t worry about it. Oregano will be pushing through the cold nights like a trooper. * Lots of rain and hardly any sun? No problem. Oregano can be its own mini rain forest. * Lots of sun and a little on the dry side? Gotcha covered. Oregano is very forgiving on either end of the spectrum. For a plant that originates in the hot areas of the Mediterranean, it is surprising how hearty an established plant can be in a typical Canadian year.
in the garden
Oregano is a hearty perennial that makes a useful ground cover in any sunny part of your garden. It may start out low, but can grow up to two feet high when mature! It has a lovely pink to lavender coloured flower (some varieties might have white flowers) so I make sure to have it in a few different spots: my herb garden of course where I keep it trimmed by harvesting, and in a couple of my flower gardens where I allow it to flower to use in bouquets and flower arrangements. Strip off the lower leaves to use fresh or dry and then enjoy the flowers in a jar of water. Because its so independent (not one of those high maintenance fair weather friends), oregano is the perfect beginner for any herb or backyard garden. If you’re much north of Edmonton, or live out in the country where your garden is open, its possible your oregano might not make it through every winter. Just be prepared for this and don’t take it personally. That’s one reason I keep it in a few DIFFERENT spots throughout my garden. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, and we do live in Canada after all. I even grow some in my vegetable garden as it is a friendly and helpful companion to many other plants.
Oregano in upper right, parsley in center and sage forefront. Lupin (purple flower) upper left of center, feverfew upper far left (flowering like little white daisies). Red orache center left.
Most useful and even culinary herbs are considered weeds (we are such name calling bigots), and as such they’re not particularly fussy about the soil in which they grow. Oregano is no exception. Not surprisingly then, rich loamy soil is not even desirable for oregano. It actually prefers sandier, lighter soil that drains well. So if you have a difficult spot in a sunny area (rock garden, along a sidewalk, or close to your kids’ sandbox) – let your oregano show you what its made of. If you’re in an apartment with a sunny side, or small condo with limited patio space, oregano will do well in a pot. If you live where I live though, be prepared, a pot makes it a one season plant as it won’t likely survive the winter outside of the ground. Best to plant it IN the ground if you have a spot available, so that it can come back, but if you don’t – no problem, just treat it like an annual and replant it again next year. It does best in sun of course, but doesn’t demand full sun. Other than that it is virtually trouble free and maintenance free. Having said all this, my garden has excellent rich soil and I really don’t have a poor-soil place to plant it, so it is where it is. Thankfully its pretty difficult to offend oregano.
The leaves of oregano are flat and oval and can range from fuzzy to almost smooth. Occasionally mistaken for marjoram as they belong to the same family and look very much alike.
Oregano plants are in the mint family (and a close cousin of marjoram) so they propagate themselves through root expansion. I wouldn’t call them ‘invasive‘, but they will spread if not contained, so you can call that whatever you want. I like this fact and it keeps my oregano plentiful so that I have lots to move around and to give away.
It can be started from seeds but they take a long time to germinate. Catalogs offer a wide variety of seeds, but unless you’ve got your heart set on a particular type that you can only get by seed, spend a few bucks and get a plant from your local nursery. Better yet, get a cutting or division from a friend, then you’ll know exactly what to expect and you’re more sure of its hardiness. After a few years, you can divide your own plants to spread oregano to different parts of your garden, and share with friends.
Few garden pests bother oregano, (another great attribute), in fact the strong scent of oregano repels pests, making it an excellent companion plant in your vegetable or flower garden or under fruit trees.
Many use oregano oil as a natural insect repellent, and even as bug spray for your household plants! Simply add a few drops to a spray bottle with water, and spray your plants with it. You will keep aphids away.
in the kitchen
Oregano is a MUST-HAVE in any kitchen garden, probably the herb I use the most during the cold months as it is so wonderful in soups, meat stews, pasta sauces, chicken dishes, dressings, and roasted vegetable dishes (especially any with a Mediterranean flavour. One of my favourite ways to use it in the summer months is with a few other herbs on vegetables roasted over the barbeque with a little bit of olive oil.
Fun fact: did you know that climate, soil, and moisture can cause variation in the flavour? That means that your oregano can be quite unique to YOU.
As with most herbs, oregano leaves taste best before the plant flowers. In my herb garden I pinch the flowers to keep the plants bushy and prevent it from bolting to seed. In my flower garden, I allow them to flower and then cut to use in the house in flower arrangements. Either way, cutting the flower off keeps the plant vibrant.
To harvest (anytime after the plants are close to 6 inches), simply clip with some kitchen scissors or clippers. I cut the stem right to the ground to encourage more stems from the base and keep the plant looking plump. I pick the bigger, older stems that are a little more ‘woody’. Swish lightly in clean water to wash and shake excess water off in the sink. Let sit on a clean tea towel to let the wetness dry off, and when no longer damp, strip the leaves from the top by holding the top and sliding your finger the thumb down the stem.
Oregano and Thyme. Very good friends.
Conveniently, harvesting = pruning. Most woody, perennial herbs don’t require pruning to grow. They’re fine left to their own devices and given the right growing conditions, in fact many will become shrubs or carpets of ground cover. But in a well kept garden, pruning will improve the look and strength of the plants, and the whole idea in a home garden is to USE the herbs anyway right? Pruning also encourages new growth which will have the best flavour. Having said this, the flowers of the oregano plant attract bees and other friendly pollinators which is very desirable in any garden, so allowing some flowers to stay on the plant is a good thing. There simply is no bad way to grow oregano. It is going to like you and help you no matter what you do or don’t do regarding it. Wouldn’t we all like to have friends this loyal and forgiving?
I use it fresh all summer in salads, and many other dishes, and use it dry all winter in tons of hearty meat or vegetable dishes. One can even make into a tea or tea blend – which is quite tasty bytheway. I sometimes use it in my pesto to supplement basil if I’m a little low on basil. When you know something is super nutritious as well as delicious, your incentive to use it MORE is enhanced.
However you use it, just make sure you do!
oregano is good, and good for you
More than just a culinary herb to use in the kitchen, oregano is rich in antioxidants, boasting one of the biggest antioxidant ratings. Keep in mind of course that we don’t eat handfuls of oregano like we eat handfuls of berries, but just knowing that should make us want to include them as much as possible in our diet. Rich in Vitamin K, (a lesser known but important nutrient), it is helpful in preventing heart disease and building strong bones.
a veritable bouquet of herbs! Clockwise from 11:00 and 12:00 is Feverfew in full flower, 1:00 is Red Orache (more green than red here), 3:00 is Orache, 4:00, 5:00 and 7:00 is Mint, 6:00 is Feverfew and dead center is Oregano
Oregano is well known to strengthen our immune system, so make sure you have plenty on hand for flu and cold season. Because it has powerful antibacterial and anti-fungal properties oregano oil is very popular. It has a remarkable ability to fight bacteria and studies indicate that it’s antimicrobial quality is not diminished by heating. For those who suffer from arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, it is helpful to know that oregano contains a substance known as beta-caryophyllin, which inhibits inflammation, so we can add anti-inflammatory to the list of favourite ‘antis“.
Oregano has earned its honoured place in my garden, and I love that the flowers attract bees which are welcome guests. I highly recommend it in your herb, flower, or vegetable garden. A single plant can yield you enough to use fresh during the summer and enough to dry for the rest of the year.
I’d love to hear your Oregano story. How do you grow it and where? What are your favourite ways to use it? Any tips for the rest of us?
PARSLEY
Culinary. Breath freshener and helps with digestion, it is often used on plates as garnish, but we are missing out on the benefit if we think its only decorative. Parsley is native to the Mediterranean area.
in the garden
Parsley commonly comes in two varieties, – flat leaf or curly leaf. Both are biennial plants with bright green leaves, but don’t get your hopes up – in the Edmonton area, it comes back less than half the time, so be prepared to either plant by seed, or rebuy from the nursery every spring. It is in the same family as dill.
If you’re starting your own plants indoors, its best to start well in advance as parsley is a slow starter and can take up to three weeks for the seeds to sprout. Consider about twelve weeks before you want to plant them outside, that makes it mid February in my world. For better germination, soak the seeds for a day or two before planting. For this reason, and because I only want a two or three plants, I usually just buy them from the nurseries.
Easy to transplant into the garden, give them a sunny spot and drains well. Water well in the beginning to get established, and then from time to time as needed. One plant will give you as much fresh parsley as you’ll probably ever need in one season, but since I dry for the winter, I plant a few. I use both the curly and the flat leaf parsley for different things so I grow them both. They say the flat-leaf type has better flavour, but I can’t say as I ever noticed, certainly never put them to the test. To me, they’re interchangeable as desired. Whatever your personal preference is.
fun fact: Parsley is one of the world’s most popular herbs and is widely used in European, Middle Eastern, and North American cooking.
using parsley
ULU Knife – from the Inuit people of the north. Intended to use for butchering and scraping hides, I have never used it for meat. Indispensable in a summer kitchen.
I snip leaves from the outer portions of the plant throughout the season, letting the smaller branches mature. Swish in clear water and flick water off. Tear into desired pieces, or chop on cutting board. I have an ulu knife that I use for thousands of things – chopping herbs is just one of them.
To dry, I cut off the branches of clean parsley and either dry on clean kitchen towel or the dehydrator depending on how much I have to dry at any given time. I don’t pre-chop.
* method 1 – lay the parsley (minus the bigger stems) on a clean kitchen towel and leave to air dry on the table for several days. When completely dry and brittle, stuff into a glass jar, label, cover and store out of the light. * method 2 – if its humid or you’ve got a lot to dry, or are pressed for time, lay the clean parsley on dehydrator shelves. Turn on the dryer and leave for several hours. If I have to leave the house for any length of time, or I’m going to bed, I turn the dehydrator off to prevent it from running longer than I want it to. When the parsley is completely dry, stuff into a glass jar as for method 1.
I’ve tried to keep a parsley plant in a sunny window in the winter time, but I’ve never had much success. No matter how sunny my window is, the sun just isn’t sufficient in the winter to keep it nice. I am kinda into eating parsley ‘fresh’ in the summer as that is when I’m more likely to make things that require a lot of fresh parsley like TABOULI because of the other ‘fresh’ produce I’m getting from the garden. I don’t mind using dry parsley in the winter as my winter cooking is different than my summer cooking and it works just fine for me.
Parsley is packed with important nutrients and offers many health benefits. Particularly rich in Vitamins A, K, and C. Vitamin A is essential in a healthy immune system and eye health. Vitamin K supports bone health and blood clotting. Two tablespoons of parsley gives you more than the recommended daily amount for Vitamin K. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, great for heart health and vital to our immune systems. Parsley is also a good source of minerals such as magnesium, potassium, folate, iron and calcium.
PLANTAIN
Plantain is a low growing perennial weed common throughout most of the world, introduced to North America (like so many things) with settlement by Europeans. Whether you knew the name or not, the chances of you being familiar with plantain is very high, as it is found on disturbed ground almost everywhere – city, town, farm, meadow, woods, … you name it. In earlier days it became known as “white man’s foot” because it was common along roadsides and other disturbed areas. The seeds would stick to the boots of the travelers and to their animals. It grows and spreads in areas close to people and domestic animals. Interestingly, it is also wind pollinated so not dependent on bees, and the seeds along the spikes are popular with birds.
For all the above reasons, it has come to be a noxious weed in North America. Kind of ironic as the definition of noxious is “injurious to physical or mental health“, and plantain although perhaps irritating to farmers, can be very beneficial and in different parts of the world it is actually cultivated as a crop. See below for more. …..
I have transplanted plantain plants to a ‘protected area’ of my garden, where weeds are allowed to grow in peace and safety. It has taken me a few years to educate the people I live with about the value in some plants so that the ‘weeds’ can be left to thrive. They don’t pretend to understand me. They just roll their eyes and shrug their shoulders and promise to stay out of the protected zone. This year, I had to transplant in two more plantain plants because my well meaning mom dug them out in the spring. lol – But I think we’ve made progress. I have put up a sign in that section of my garden that say “Let it Grow“. It was my daughter’s slogan; I voted for “Weeds have rights too”, but she was the one who made the sign so she had veto power.
The seeds and tiny flowers extend just about the full length of the spikes. The leaves are broad and oval shaped. The stocks holding the tiny flowers grow up from the roots.
plantain close up
They say that plantain leaves are edible, though you’d want to eat them very young in the spring as they get bitter and a little tough as the season wears on. I have never eaten them so don’t have an opinion. The seeds are also edible and when cooked will swell. I’ve never eaten them either but see below for some amazing uses of the seed.
It is used as a fresh poultice (called spit poultice) for insect bites. To make a ‘spit poultice (I know, I don’t like the name either), pick several leaves, and mash them together. You can put them in your mouth and chew up to make a green mush – hence the name. This could take you awhile as the leaves can be fibrous and …. well, chewy. The enzymes in your saliva apparently help release the healing and antiseptic properties from the leaf, and give it the proper texture to apply to the bite area. Wrap with gauze or other clean fabric to keep it on for several hours, replacing when it dries out. Similarly it is valued for its soothing quality and is used in salves for open sores.
Fun fact: because of its excellent water solubility, plantain seeds – also known as “psyllium”, is commonly used in commercial bulk laxatives. The seeds absorb water and become a thick, viscous compound that resists digestion in the small intestine. This resistance to digestion allows it to help regulate high cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels, as well as relieve mild diarrhea and constipation. Unlike some other sources of fiber, the body typically tolerates psyllium well, making it a helpful natural choice.
Most of the psyllium seed used in North America comes from India as the herb is not commercially grown in North America. People use psyllium as a dietary supplement, available in the form of husk, granules, capsules, or powder. Manufacturers also fortify breakfast cereals and baked goods with psyllium. Psyllium husk is the main active ingredient in Metamucil, a fiber supplement that reduces constipation.
POPPY SEED
One of my garden’s most pleasant surprises is a sudden midsummer splash of RED interspersed here and there throughout. I first discovered Poppies quite by accident, in the little Ukrainian neighbourhood of our tiny farm-town – Calmar, Alberta. We were a year or two into our very first real garden, in our very first real home – an old, rundown house that we loved and fixed up. I worked hard in my garden, trying to keep it as weed free as possible, but one evening when I was wrapping it up for the day, I surveyed my work and noted a single tall weed in the middle of my potato patch. It looked so strong and healthy I didn’t have the heart to pull it out, so I left it. The very next day it rewarded me with a big, gorgeous red flower the like of which I had only seen in pictures. My neighbour confirmed it was indeed, a poppy. A weed. That was my first experience with the idea that the word ‘weed’ is a relative term. We really shouldn’t get so tied up in the word, as if it defined value. And yet we know we do. I learned that my poppy produced seed, the same poppy seed so popular in Ukrainian baking. It was the beginning of a life long friendship. Me and poppies.
Notice the big seed pod that remains after the poppy flowers. Thousands of future poppies in each one.
That single poppy was the beginning of a dynasty. It did what all poppies do after they bloom, it went to seed. Inside a poppy pod are thousands of tiny seeds. At first white, they ripen into an assortment of grey and black. I took those ripened seeds and broadcast them all over my garden. The next year I had lots, and so it began. I brought the seed with me to every house I’ve lived in since then, and shared them with everyone who asked for some. In the mid 80’s we lived in a townhouse for two years while Dan went back to school. We’d lost our house to the economic downturn in Alberta at the time, and had come back to Edmonton for what we thought was a couple of years. (So much for that theory, 35 years later we’re still here.) My poppies were growing in the only sunny spot my small yard offered, one we prepared under our front window, with the many other flowers and herbs we brought with us. Together these flowers softened the discouragement I felt at the time, and made our new dwelling more of a home. After my poppies bloomed, some stupid neanderthal came one night and cut off all the unripe pods, taking them. Of course there was a purpose – it’s an opium poppy after all, and I supposed the thief knew secrets I didn’t know. I never grew poppies in a front yard again.
Poppies are a bright, colourful, early summer addition to any flower, herb or even vegetable garden. All they need is sun. They can grow to three feet high, maybe higher. Straight and tall, with beautiful toothed, light green leaves and striking crepe-papery flowers that tower over their neighbours. They come in lots of different colours, but of this type I have only ever had red with slight variations on red.
I learned long ago that when they grow in clumps of several, or for crowding reasons they don’t gt enough sun, they will not grow very big, so its important to thin them out to no more that two or three relatively close together, and make sure they are not shaded by nearby plants. Single poppies (with less competition for sun) will grow the tallest, making the biggest heads, hence the biggest flowers, and ultimately the most seeds.
Because I have limited space, my gardens are rather . . . . . . FULL, and sunshine becomes a premium resource. I don’t want the poppies being shaded, but I also can’t have them shading lower plants either, and I want good airflow in my gardens, so there are concessions the poppies have to make too so that all my plants are happy. Because I am waiting for their seeds to ripen, they’re in that spot for the entire season, so after the plant has finished its flamboyant display, I pull off the lower leaves, allowing for better air flow and more light to come in. The plant can still ‘ripen’ as for all intents and purposes it is ready to die anyway.
Truth be told, I’d grow poppies just for their brilliant flowers, brief as they are in bloom, but every stage of the plant pleases me. Its a lovely plant as it gets ready to flower and the flower is spectacular. Then when they’re ready, the seeds are edible, often sprinkled on top of bagels and used in muffins, breads, cakes and salad dressings. And when all is said and done, the dried seed pod is its own kind of beautiful, making a classy statement in the maturing garden, and a striking addition to dried fall flower arrangements.
Poppies possess natural pain-relieving properties, making it an important medicinal plant in the pharmaceutical industry. Most medicinal opium comes from Turkey, India, and Australia. The sap from the unripe poppy seed pod contains compounds used to make morphine, which is what made it an important medicinal plant thousands of years ago in southwest Asia.
growing
Poppies are friendly neighbours and good companions in herb, flower or vegetable gardens. Here they are in my strawberry patch growing with dill. Everyone is happy and healthy.
Poppies are easy to grow. They want sun, and otherwise don’t ask for much. They don’t even need good soil, and will grow almost anywhere. There are many different varieties and colours, and from the same seed, I have occasionally had pink or even double flowering blossoms. Such is the miracle of genetics. The poppy is an annual flower, and I broadcast seed freely when I harvest it in September or October. It sits dormant all winter and when the conditions are right in summer, they start to grow. It is not uncommon for me to have sporadic blooms from the beginning of July through the end of August.
I have heard that mixing the seed with a little sand helps to evenly distribute it. Good idea, but I’ve never done it. The plants have a deep taproot and do not like to be transplanted. Don’t even bother trying to transplant, just gather the seed and start fresh in the spring. I always have so many plants volunteering from the seed I sprinkled liberally the previous fall, that I simply pull the ones that are too crowded or in spots I don’t want them to grow.
using poppy seeds
Truth is, poppies are the source of opium, morphine and many other drug compounds. For centuries they’ve been used as mild sedatives and pain relievers, all the way to life and soul destroying drugs. Personally, I decided decades ago I wasn’t interested in pursuing any use other than to the ripe seeds as a food. So while I acknowledge the darker side, I’m not going to waste anytime debating where the line is regarding it.
poppy seed loaves from Eastern Europe have lots more seeds in them than the couple of tablespoons North Americans are used to seeing in our muffins
As a food, poppy seeds contain essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc and iron, as well as some B vitamins and omega 6 fatty acids so necessary to a healthy heart. They have a distinctive nutty taste and are used whole or ground into meal as an ingredient in pastries and breads. I have always loved poppy seed muffins, cakes and breads, but the true Eastern European poppy seed roll was an acquired taste. Having said that however, I really like it now. Recipes abound for tons of dishes so be adventurous and try them. My faves include: Poppy Seed cookies, muffins, scones, bundt cakes, loaf cakes and even angel food cakes. Poppy seeds as a topping for breads, rolls, bagels etc. Poppy seed dressing for salads.
Poppy Seed Dressing: 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 T lemon juice, 1 t lemon zest and 1 T sugar mixed together to dissolve sugar 1 T liquid honey 1 T poppy seed Use whisk to gently combine all ingredients. Refrigerate till ready to use over top salad.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of these valuable garden herbs.
Radish Leaves
okay, I know – radishes are vegetables. But did you know that the leaves are not only edible, they’re great tasting and super nutritious too? I’ve never much liked radishes themselves. As a child I didn’t like their strong peppery flavour, although my mom enjoyed them and we always had some on hand to add to green salads. As an adult, I tried them from time to time to see if they got better, but nope. I even grew them a few years, hoping that their home-grown-ness would appeal to me more. Nope. If anything, they were even stronger. So its kind of a mystery to me why, a couple of years ago, I purchased some radish seeds. Two packages actually. I know, right!?! I am pretty sure I had no intention of eating them. I had heard that some gardeners use radishes as a row marker for carrots since they are so quick to germinate and carrots are infamously SLOW to germinate. That interested me and I decided to give it a try.
When the radishes germinated, they were a refreshing sight of early green in the garden. As they grew they were tender but strong and vigorous, and one day when I was out looking for new greens to add to a garden salad, they called to me. I reasoned that radish seeds were often in sprouting mixes I had used in the past, so I invited them to my salad party. They did not disappoint. Their flavour was mildly peppery – not the over powering pepper of a radish bulb. Their texture was tender and delicate, and most appealing. I became an instant convert, and I picked them regularly from then on – for salads.
But radishes grow up, and they developed the traditional radish bulb we are familiar with. I still don’t like those, and I noticed that the greens got a little tougher and even a little prickly, and stronger tasting. Their appeal in a garden salad lessened, but my loyalty to them remained. It was their nutrition that I couldn’t ignore. Like broccoli and kale, radish leaves are a nutritional powerhouse, but they’re a heckuva LOT easier to grow. They’re also rich in vitamins A, B6, and C as well as minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and iron, and folic acid! They have long been reputed to speed up digestion.
I decided to try doing something different with them. Something that didn’t care about their prickly texture. PESTO. Because as most people know, Pesto is the solution to most of life’s problems. Wash well in cool water as the coarseness of their texture holds grit. If I end up with a few radish bulbs in my collection of greens, I add them. They’re not good to me for anything else anyway. I cut the radish in half to make sure there are no wormie things inside – a nasty sometimes occurrence. I use a Vitamix blender, because this will get pretty thick. I recommend something similar.
Radish Pesto
radish leaves tucked in the blender, in the fridge, waiting for the right time
5 (or so) cups radish leaves packed into blender 3 or 4 whole cloves of garlic. Don’t even bother taking the husks off when using a high powered blender. Instead of garlic cloves, I use entire stalk (including bud on bottom) of garlic chives. A good sized handful, coarsely chopped. Juice of a whole lemon (sometimes I’ll throw in half of a lemon rind and all) 1/2 – 1 cup almonds 1/2 – 1 cup olive oil, slowly added (begin with 1/2 cup and add slowly if necessary) salt and pepper to taste (begin with 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t pepper and then go from there, tasting all along) 1 cup parmesan cheese (I use freeze dried parmesan)
garlic chives in the garden act as an able garlic substitute all summer long till the real stuff is ready to harvest in September or early October
I realize the amounts might seem a little ‘unprecise’, sorry, I don’t know how to do it any other way. But it really is about availability, and personal preference. Whatever works for you. Begin somewhere and go from there. Put the greens in the blender and turn on low, pushing down as needed with the plunger, and pausing frequently to scrape down sides. Once the leaves have reduced a little in volume, add the garlic and lemon juice, and slowly begin drizzling in the olive oil, continuing to run the blender and using the plunger to ensure everything gets pureed. You don’t have to use all the oil, just until the texture is right. Slowly add the almonds a few at a time; you don’t have to use the whole cup. I like the texture of the parmesan so I only add HALF of it in the blender, and I stir in the rest by hand later. Let pesto sit for about 15 minutes if possible before you use it. And use FRESH! That’s the whole point. Leftover pesto can be stored in the fridge for several days to have on hand for other uses. During the summer, I make several batches of pesto to freeze for use all year long. Its been recommended to hold the parmesan when freezing, then add later. Sometimes I leave it out, sometimes I don’t. Can’t say I’ve noticed any difference actually, but then I use freeze dried parmesan and maybe that makes a difference (?) You can decide yourself.
Enjoy. I would love to hear your comments about any of these herbs and recipes.
All things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart. (D&C 59:18).
Gardening is a lot about preparation. And waiting. You clean up, rake out, dig up, move around, plan for, mow, chop, burn, haul here and haul there for days and days. It means dirty hands, dirty-all-over, and sore muscles. Then you wait till the forecast is favourable and finally you plant! If you’re like me you plant in stages. Spinach first, assuming it’s bed is ready. Then potatoes and peas, carrots and beets and so forth. Lastly are the delicate bedding plants like tomatoes, hoping that you’re not jumping the gun. And very lastly is basil (persnickety little princess that it is). Its a happy day when everything is looking your way, and the sun appears to commit to a lengthy stay – the tomatoes are finally into their summer home. And then! . . . you wait. . . . sigh . . . .
I cannot be the only gardener who wishes things would grow a littler faster. We can prepare the beds, fertilize, water, mulch, weed and water some more, but I’ve never met a seed in a hurry. Every year I try to be more realistic. “Get real!” I tell myself. “Stop peeking.” I tell myself. And I do. For maybe a week. Then we get a good two day rain, and I cannot help but take the inevitable day-after-the-rain-garden-tour, looking closely for any shoots of . . . anything. If I was honest, I am always disappointed. Having said that however, I am still utterly amazed at the difference two weeks in May can make to a garden.
May 1: my world is brown. A few hearty weeds starting to unashamedly show themselves, and the promise of buds on a few early trees.
May 15: The trailing bell flower (I call it devil-weed) is the most hardy green thing in the yard and it’s happy to be alive. (I’m not happy its alive) Dandelion leaves are beautifully tender in texture and taste. More buds on more trees. Most perennials are up, even the hostas have started poking their pointy heads through. Leaves have budded out on the chestnut tree. Blossoms on the Mayday tree, and the scent of them on the breeze. Tulips are blooming. Things are starting to green up.
May 21:
The stupid red lily beetles have sprung out of NOWHERE and are eating every relative of the lily family for miles around. Pink blossoms on the crabapple trees, and white blossoms on the cherry tree. Popcorn literally popping on trees all over our yard. The Delphiniums are two feet high. Mint is poking through the soil. Borage is in the four leaf stage. Mullein is nice and big and fuzzy. Lovage is already three feet high. The bright cheery yellow daisy-like flowers of Leopard Bain are in glorious full bloom. The world is suddenly every shade of green!
June 1: The garden is full of promise and hope! Above all, hope. When all is said and done, after all is said and done – there is nothing one can do to rush the outcome. What if the carrot seeds don’t germinate? What if that one time I let it go dry was the critical time when they were their most vulnerable? What if stupid idiot cutworms cut the cucumbers off again? (stupid idiot cutworms) What if it hails? I hate hail.
faith vs hope
“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.” – W. E. Johns
I do not have faith that my seeds will germinate. That would be a misplacement of my faith, as I have seen times that seeds have not germinated. Many factors influence that outcome. Of course, I HOPE they will, and I water them as if they will, and I keep hoping till I see it actually happen.
I don’t even have faith that I will have a harvest. Again I hope every year for a good harvest, but my faith is reserved for something much more dependable than the weather, or the fickle nature of ‘nature’. I have faith in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ. I have faith that He will answer my prayers, and that He will bless me according to my diligence and obedience to the laws and principles upon which those blessings are predicated, and of course those He desires to bless me with. I have faith in His promises; promises like families are eternal and that I will see my dad again. Other things I don’t have faith in.
For my garden, I hope the weather will be good. I hope that the sun will be hot. I hope that we’ll get enough rain and that our rain barrels will refill frequently. I hope that day will follow night, and that night will follow day again the way I’m used to. The way I like it. But this year of Covid19 has taught me that even the things I thought were constant and dependable, are volatile and removable. Do I have faith that life will always be what it is right now? Absolutely not.
If there was no hope in a harvest why would we plant a garden?
our city backyard family garden cc 1988
I love garden fresh carrots. Crunchy and juicy at the same time, there is nothing quite like them. But carrot seeds are very small and they take forever to germinate, and keeping them moist while they germinate is critical and truth be told, . . . . . I’m not always on top of it. Watering them can cause a flood and push them all into one area leaving another area empty. You could easily have 8 billion carrots growing so closely together that you must thin them out or they’ll be puny, spindly, little things.
This year I hit upon two reeeeeally good ideas for growing carrots and I happily carried them out. One was to soak the seeds for four days till they begin to sprout, then suspend them in a cornstarch slurry inside a small ziplock bag. You plant them through a small hole snipped in the corner of the bag, squeezing the slurry of seeds into a pre-watered trench. The other idea was to sprinkle the seeds into a pre-watered area and then keep them under a board to protect them from drying out or from being washed away by water. Both hacks required constant moisture of course. I used the best of both ideas and was ‘hopeful’ (even giddy) for excellent results, reasonably certain of a positive outcome. Between hand watering and the rain, I was confident the row never dried out. After about a week I allowed myself to peek, and thereafter peeked almost daily. Carrots can take an easy twenty plus days to germinate (I told you they took forever), but I was delighted to see little white spears poking out of the ground in less than two weeks. I gingerly lifted off the boards to let the sunlight start greening them up. The ground seemed moist enough but I soon got distracted and didn’t get back to them till the next day. Bone dry with not a sign of seedlings I saw the day before. (sad face) I was certain I had killed the tender startlings by uncovering them too soon. I hoped I hadn’t. I watered gently and often, continuing to ‘hope’ for the best but I had lost my prior confidence. I was just considering taking next year’s seeds (I always buy one year in advance) to begin soaking them. Our season is short enough, that every day that goes by gets closer to being too late to start seeds in the garden, so I didn’t have a lotta flex time to weigh it out. I continued to hope, watering daily for the best possible scenario, and checking daily. A few more days and I saw those wonderful grassy-looking tiny bright green speers poking through the dirt along the carrot trails! I am SO glad I didn’t give up.
If hope hadn’t existed I would have ceased to water, ceased to check daily, ceased to expect the best, and consequently I would have sabotaged potential, losing any chance of carrots in my garden this year.
“When the world says give up, hope whispers ‘try it one more time.‘” – anonymous
Hope is a choice. It doesn’t just happen to us; we consciously and intentionally choose it. Hope strengthens us mentally and emotionally. Hope provides a positive outlook on life. It literally makes us happy. Hope reduces stress and anxiety. Hope improves our general state of health and boosts our immune system. Hope is essential to our feelings of self worth. Hope moves us forward and makes the future look like a brighter place, one in which we’d like to live. Hope energizes us. When we are positive and cheerful it is easier to have energy. Hope increases faith. And faith increases hope. They are very closely tied together Hope is healing. Depression is a state of hopelessness, and the opposite is true. Hope is not stagnate, it is all about ‘doing‘. Acting on hope yields more results than sitting on hope. Hope is infectious. Just like laughing makes us laugh and smiling makes us smile, hope in another inspires hope in ourselves. Hope is realistic. Hope in a fairy tale world is not hope, its fantasy. Hope for a pony while you live in an apartment is not hope, it is pleasant musing.
“Every thing that is done is this world is done by hope.” – Martin Luther
The truth is, hope may let you down. It seems cruel but sometimes even those things we have the greatest amount of hope for, don’t happen. Its at those times we wonder why we ever invested in it. It seems briefly that had we not hoped, we wouldn’t have fallen so far, and wouldn’t hurt so much. But for the most part, hope is such a pleasant companion while we’re walking with it, that at the end of the journey, we decide it really was worth it, and we yearn to walk with it again, because with hope everything looked brighter, and our days were better. I wouldn’t ever want to live without it. No matter what happens, I hope ‘hope’ and I can always be friends.
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus
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The next few blog posts will follow the theme of Lessons I learned from my Garden. I hope you’ll join me. I would love to hear your comments, and your own experiences about lessons learned in your own garden.
