Pass the honey, Honey. Pass the sugar, Sugar. Pass the tea, Bag?

"We're putting it on Wax,(it's the new style)"

Yep, that is a quote.

Well we decided to try something new, we like honey, we use a lot of honey, and it smells awesome. So what have we got planned? Bees wax candles, Why? Cause we need to make a mess somehow. but at least it is a mess that smells good.

raw, pre-cut, dirty, smells awesome

I purchased some raw bees wax from a local apiary, where I go to get the liquid gold. On this trip I asked if I could purchase 5lbs of wax also; show up and there it is, chipped off the old block with a chisel and marteau. Fill up a few jars of honey and we're off. So then after about a day of the block sitting on the computer desk and smelling terrific, I decide to start chipping it into smaller pieces to ease the melting process. This is a little bit of a task, so I make up a double boiler with an old mason jar, old pot, and a coiled up piece of copper wire. Filled the mason jar with water and placed my chisel and putty knife into the mason jar to heat up. I then push the chisel and putty knife into the wax till it starts breaking apart and repeat this process till I am left with pieces in the 2"-3" with a ton of little chips and flakes everywhere. They look like good sizes for quicker melting, so I start melting them down in the double boiler system.  While that is happening I start creating a makeshift filtering system, now that's the secret part can't let that one out. Filter is made, wax still melting. after about 30mins wax has fully melted. Pour wax through filtering media, onto baking pan... old baking pan, lined with parchment paper.

All chopped up.

She's always there happy to help, dangerous or safe

Getting wax off stuff is a pain in the ass,and anything used quickly becomes something old and something you don't care about. Kind of like how North Americans treat our elderly in old age homes.... ouch that's a sore spot. So was that wax that just dripped on my hand. Use caution and PPE.

All the crud left in the filter media

found this little fella, in the filter too. 

After filtering the wax and letting it harden it takes on a lighter colour since dirt and debris have been removed. Yes, if it is previously unfiltered it is going to have dirt, propolis, pollen, bees and bee parts, and who knows what else.

The whole process makes your house smell nice and sweet like honey.

Hot Chocolate Part Duex

So, I wrote a post with a recipe for Hot Chocolate last year, but I love the stuff too much, who can blame me right?! RIGHT!

So I am Lactose intolerant, that store bought junk just messes me up big time. So last year was an experiment in the making of hot chocolate. I just wanted to control what was in it. There still is a lot of sugar in it, which I might try experimenting with this year or next what ever comes first. But alas there is only skim milk powder where I live. Then I got adventurous, I looked on the internet went to these weird sites about alternative foods not found in your local grocery store cause they are the devil, am I right? YA! So doing some incognito web surfing(chrome has a setting for that) and I found Rice Milk powder, Soy Milk powder, other Milk Powders, Cocaine Powders....no, no I didn't, and last but not least Coconut Milk Powders, YEAH! BITCH!

So I go down to the local Health food Shop, Jo Annes, sneek aboot look in the baking section there, bammo there it is White Gold. So I takes that back home.  Mix up a little chocolove slam that back and then life was born on the 9th day.

So in all seriousness back to the recipe. AND pictures this time.

1 3/4cp  -  Cocoa Powder
1 3/4cp  -  Powdered Sugar
2 cp       -  Coconut Milk Power
1 tbsp     -  Corn Starch
1 tsp       -  Salt

All the Ingredients in the bowl, sifted but not mixed.

Everything all mixed up.

Sitting Pretty.

Looks like something out of a 70's magazine, But better.

Peace, I'm off to work.

Who smells like garlic?

I smell like garlic! Those who dout me, take a whiff.

This is our first attempt at growing garlic, K cleared out the community garden last week, I planted 194 cloves in it tonight. We really like garlic, almost all our recipes call for garlic and we usually double it. So hopefully if all goes well we will never have to buy it again...... maybe.

We got the garlic from a friend who grows copious amounts of garlic. All together there were 46 bulbs, 40 Music or "Musica" is another name thrown around, so I've heard and read a few times. It is a Porcelain variety which netted me 155 cloves of really good size. 6 Persian Star, which are of the Purple stripe varieties and got 39 cloves.

I really don't know a whole lot about growing it so I read quite a bit about it, and talked to some of our friends. Everyone seemed to be in the same boat with depth and spacing.

This is what we started with, spent a little bit of time separating them while watching some shows.

This is where all those cloves ended up. My rows aren't the straightest, but that's alright to me! I tend to wobble a little too.

And then it got dark @ 5:30, so this is how it ended.

194 so that's 8 rows of 24, two of those rows may have had 25 in them, you do the math. Rows are 10" apart, planted 6-8" apart and 3-4" deep with 2" of mulch and going to throw some more on there this week before the neighbours get rid of their leaves. Straw is a preferable mulch, but we had plenty of leaves off the neighbours lawn and he already bagged it so half the job was already done. That's permaculture right there, let someone else do half the work... haha I kid. But seriously straw would have been better, the leaves are going to turn into a mat, in the spring when the leaves thaw we will have to loosen them up so as to let the little garlics poke out. Just another reason to get out of the house and out of doors earlier in the season I guess.

well

Adios Amigos. Go listen to Ramones now.

Community Garden!

This is a video K. took while visiting the community garden plot. This was the first year we purchased a community garden plot, we enjoyed it. Reasons for the plot this year was because we don't have enough room for Cucurbits.

Cucurbitaceae is a plant family with hundreds of plants, Squashes, Pumpkins, Gourds, Cucumbers, Melons and lots and lots of things. Among all those things, they also like allot of room. We had three plants in there two watermelons and one squash, which we trained to just go around themselves many, many times. We ended up getting 4 Moon and stars watermelon and probably 12 to 14 Delicata Squash.

Also in the garden were Bush Beans, Garlic, Onions, and one poor nasturtium that was swallowed up by the vines but was still alive at the end.

6 experimental garlic, that were trans planted from a cell pack to the plot in mid spring. It really didn't have much time to make it. The garlic we did get from it was strong, it would have scared away any signs of a cold coming on, it burnt the tongue.

A bunch of Onions which only half started growing, and the ones that did ranged from small to 1 very large all red.

Beans, Bush Beans of the green variety. Well they did really, really well 6 plants, which were a struggle to start due to 3 or 4 year old seed, numerous attempts soaking, drowning, sprouting in paper towel, and just sowing directly in the plot. Beans,beans, beans we did get, were never with out, those 6 plants left us with 2 meals a week, for the two of us which was perfect.

                                         

Peace,
Time to get something done around here!

Getting to the end

I am not really good at keeping up with regular posts I have failed a few times already at trying to up date regularly, but I am doing it now so get over it.

The date is August 12th 2013, I am featured watering the plants and petting Herc while hes lounging in the grass, Zoey our fluffy ridiculous cat also makes an appearance, and some bees.

Tomatoes have really started producing at this point and everything is flowering.

thanks for watching, now go to bed
PEACE.

Tea Time

This is old forgot to post.
Tea, so many flavours, so many different ways to make it, so many different ingredients, so many different cultures, many many different things. My all time favorite is Lapsang Soochong....... no, no it is not actually I don't like it much at all I use it for something completely different from tea since I was so disappointed, maybe I will release my secret use for lapsang in the future. Really my favorite tea is Chai one of my old bosses said he thought North Americans were funny, cause we call it Chai Tea, because Chai means tea, so we are saying Tea Tea, he is Persian.

Well as I am making a big ole batch of tea for a pot luck at Greenshire Eco Farms, I will post my recipe.

So the way I make my Chai for a small batch enough for a few cups.

5-8      -  Cardamom pods (bruised/opened by pressing down with the back of a                   spoon or smashed with a mortar and pestle)

5-8      -  Cloves

5-8      -  Black Pepper corns

tbsp     -  Minced Ginger root

1"        -  piece of a Cinnamon stick broken up

3 or 4  -  Tea Bags (I use orange pekoe caffeinated and decaffeinated depending                 on when I'm making it)

1/2cp   -  Milk (soy, Almond, Coconut, or regular)

4 cp     -  Water

1 tbsp  -   Honey or to taste

bring water to a boil, add everything but the tes bags and milk, reduce to a simmer.
Simmer for about 5 mins or your house smells awesome, throw in the milk, tea and honey.

There you go my version (probably stolen or elaborated from someone somewheres) DEAL WITH IT.

Peace I'm out.

Another Video.....

Here is another quick video of our garden 17 days after the last video. It was a bright sunny day with wind. Please keep speakers down wind blowing can be a little loud. I have been pretty busy didn't have time to post this a lot of fancy book learnin been going on studying for EGSA (Electrical Generating Systems Assosiation) exam, taking online John Deere courses, and working way to many hours.

Here is the Vid starring Herc (our furry friend) at the end.

July 2nd 2013

This video is from July 2nd, the highlight of this video is the black cat Boss, who distracts the director during a few moments of filming and the giant cherry tomato plant. Everything looks a lot better in this video, all the plants have taken root and taken off very well, this is where the real excitement of gardening comes in. So with out further ado the video.

June 11 2013 Garden Updates and garage sale finds.

A few weekends ago I scored 3 pieces of vinyl @ a yard sale two doors down, $2 bucks for Paranoid - Black Sabbath, Who's Next - The Who & Frantic City - Teenage Head. Been playing them quite a bit. What a beauty find good thing I walked the dogs or I would have missed them. I stopped when I saw Teenage Head poking outah the back of a milk crate. To my surprise she had a few good records in an otherwise mediocre collection, she had all the same stuff you would find sitting for ages at a thrift shop.

Well this is interesting looking up our garden video to post for this blog I came across plenty other videos of people doing garden updates for the same day so here is some links just because I want to.

Alderman Farms - Brookhaven, Mississippi
J&J Acres - Toomsuba, Mississippi

Life: Our Adventure

It has been warm again the last few weeks. Everything in the garden has really been happy with that. We have gotten a ton of new Tomatoes forming, which means maybe some canning might happen. I have already made and froze four 2 cup containers of marinara. Had some more Tomatoes diced up in the fridge and now we have eight 250ml jars of salsa as of yesterday, everything but the Jalapenos and cumin seed came from our gardens so that's fun. Peppers have been washed, sliced and frozen on a tray then put into bags for storage.  Also been trying out our dehydrator. I have dehydrated Patchouli, Calendula Flowers, Basil, Blue Berries, Cilantro, and some Jalapeno peppers. I am going to try a few more things and add to our jars of dehydrated things. I need to make some Pesto to freeze for a little bit of summer taste in the colder months.

Been spending some time re-arranging our house. We picked up two used items of furniture for a good price on Kijiji, we couldn't really pass them up. First was a vintage solid wood teachers desk or pedestal desk what ever you wanna call it, its beat up in all the right places I like it. Then we also picked up a couch which cost more in our own labour to get it out of the condo and into our house than it did to buy.  I would say it took a good 3.5 hrs X 2 bodies to move it, including travel time. Small condos and old houses just don't fit big furniture at all.

We weren't planning on buying furniture but we had talked about it lots. We didn't like our desk, but we got it from our house mate when he was done school.  It didn't have drawers so we had baskets under it holding the printer paper and extra USB cords and other cords, just looked like a mess. We had the couch for 5 years I think, with a lot of ass traffic. They have both served their purpose and have been well used, we just needed a change. So we browsed Kijiji just for fun, found the desk, wow good price for something we actually really like: big, wood, old and storage. When we got it home, cleaned it up and found a sale sign in one of the drawers asking $350. We got a lot better deal than that so I can not complain there. It was an easy move, it already had the screws taken out and separated in 4 parts, fit in the truck easily. When looking at a piece of furniture in a garage, then putting it into an old small house, there is a little bit of distortion in eye balling the size of it. To fix that we no longer have a dining room table and now no longer have a dining room, it is a multipurpose room.

Then we looked at couches on Kijiji and saw this one dark couch, looks new and not gaudy. So we booked a time for picking up the couch; also take into consideration we have not gotten rid of any of the other furniture yet. The day after we get the desk home we head on out to get the couch. We got the measurements, yep seems like it will fit in the truck alright. Head down, look at the couch, realize there is no bargaining for this thing its in brand new condition. So now to get it out of the ladies condo 5' long and 3.5' wide hallway, 7'x3'x3' couch, and a 34" door way into another hall. Turn it this way, no turn it this way, well they got it in here. I don't remember what they did to get it in here. Lets try it this way, we're going to scratch the wall, no now its up against the mirror, ok try it this way, Alright we are in the hall, pick it up walk down the longest Apartment building hallway ever. In the elevator (that was the easiest part in the elevator). Down to the moving room, ?No moving room? really? We have to take it through the underground parking? Alright in the basement down another really long hallway, wait? There are 4 doorways in this hall, with the hinges on opposite sides of the frames, for no other reason than to annoy us.  They also seem to get smaller and smaller, turn it this way, no that way.  Wont work the door is on the other side, oh the doors will not stay open, okay we're through to another hallway. Oh look the moving room yes, no, it just leads into the underground parking, remember that part, right okay. Through the underground to the doors, run around to the front of the building, grab the truck bring it around. The door for the cap is 33" high, wow that's no good. Well we just have to get it over that hump of the couch then it gets lower in the middle, okay that's not soo bad.  I will just lift it up on this end and tilt it in nope, okay tilt and turn, no the legs are hitting the side box of the cap okay.... we'll flip it on its back okay lets try that, no right its as high as it is deep, flip it back over lets lift and just force it the padding will squish, alright we're in. Oh well that was fun, great Thickson Rd. has an accident and they are diverting all the traffic, sweet traffic jam. Oh I will just head north, 'F' the 401 I says to my little lady friend we can go north, "Hey remember that little pastry I brought home from the Portuguese bakery, well its just around the corner from here.", "Lets go."

Get home a few hours later, "alright lets get it into the house, the other couch came in easy, maybe this one will." No, no it wont, its shaped completely different. Get everything out of the way get it out of the truck, wow that was really easy how come it came out so easy? Gremlins I tells ya little Gremlins. Alright into the front porch, into the hallway, oh our hallway is a little bigger that will help. No it won't there is a staircase in it as well. Turn it this way, no turn it this way, lets try it this way, we're going to scratch the wall no now its up against the mirror, okay try it this way. "Well what if we turn it around" says the pretty little blonde girl on the other side of the couch, "No, I don't think it going to work that way" says me. Lets try it, tilt it up, slide it into the bigger area at the bottom of the stair, spin it around slide it back bring it back down, pick it up, walk 1/3 up the stairs over the railing, "turn it this way" says the voice hidden behind the couch.
"I can't see anything you gotta let me know what to do"
"okay I got a leg and the arm through"
well I am stuck on the stairs holding this thing and can't go anywhere, well figure it out, its in, it is in the living room with the other couch, wow! We should have gotten rid of this stuff first. House in shambles.

Another Video

We are going back in time again to May 29th 2013, how did I do it? Well I went on my computer, then to Youtube on my internet browser and drank an espresso and amazingly we traveled back in time and heres a video to prove it.. oh? we didn't travel in time? prove it! Video #2

Peace, its bedtime.

Absent from posting things.

I haven't posted anything in a long while, I don't think anyone noticed though. I should have started this at the beginning of the year but its too late for that, so I am going to start now. My pretty little lady friend, my partner, my friend and all around amazing girl takes videos of our back garden at different intervals of the season. To show the progress of all that we grow. I am going to post them on here one at a time so I can look like I post a lot. This video is from April 9th of this year showing off our baby Spinach, Kale and Chard under our little PVC pipe greenhouses in our raised bed.

I will try and post one of these a week for the next few weeks so I can get back in the habit of checking this blogger thing out.

Peace out.

Things I like.

There are a few things that I enjoy.
I can wake up, go outside and pick some vegetables. Come in and make breakfast a tomato and cucumber sandwich to be exact. Sit in my back garden with a cup of coffee, watch all the bugs do their thing (minus the ones I whack with a badminton raquette). There are Hover flies which are pretty fun to watch float in one place like a helicopter, the bees bees bees everywhere which is a great sound to have about you one flower to the next mostly staying at the Bee Balm, and Anise Hissop. Then there are the birds Chickadees daring ballsy little devils, who will swoop in for their meal even if standing a foot from the feeder, the Golden finches flash of yellow hanging out at the feeder getting its full share, Cardinals make an appearance you hear them more than see them. The pesky bullies that are the Bluejays scaring all the others away. The quiet little Doves sitting atop the garage waiting for everyone to be done to come in and clean up. Dark Eyed Juncos who I think are the goofiest ones they make me smile I don't know why but I think they are funny as hell. Nuthatches up and down the cedars calling they aren't too quiet at all. Squirrels? well they can fuck right off. Those are the things that I enjoy right now.

Peace

(Normal) Food.

Normal food is from a big building, which is ridiculously over heated or cooled depending on the season. With florescent cool white lights showing off the sorted "ripe", "cleaned" and glistening with their smooth coating of wax with everything else you don't need. Right? no? hmmm.

Food is grown in dirt (most of the time), in a field or small garden, in the sun, wind, rain. Bugs pollinate the flowers of fruit bearing plants, bugs also eat the plants and fruit. When it rains little dirt particles and bits of sand bounce off the ground and onto the plants/ When the wind blows it picks up the same dirt and sand particles and they get caught by the plants. Fruit and Vegetables get harvested (picked) when ripe. You buy these items take them home and wash them before you eat them, even though they are Organic or chemical free what ever your choice. Why? Because dirt and bugs hide in the leaves or little crevices of the fruit and veg., small local farmers don't have the time or means to pick, clean, sort and deliver all these items. If they did offer these services your food would cost 200% more, for the time and equipment needed. Good kitchen hygiene involves cleaning your food before you prepare it for your meal. So don't be disgusted with the little bits of sand and possible bugs. They are just part of the process or growing local, Organic/chemical free, reasonably priced food. Get acquainted with the bugs because they are in your neighbourhood. Enjoy your food and the time it takes to grow and prepare your meal, food is fun and delicious. Whats missing in our diets of over sanitized, perfectly clean food from those big buildings? DIRT. If you take a bite of something and there is a little bit of grit in it, don't be a wussy and grossed out, just swallow it, You probably ate dirt when you were a kid anyways.

GO out and support your local Farmers Market and Farmers, It's Canadas long weekend and its the Canadian thing to do.
Another Candian thing to do Canadiana Punk Rock playlist
D.O.A. - I am Canadian
Teenage Head - Aint Got No Sense 
The Riptides - Red Dawn
NoMeansNo - Canada is Pissed
The Creeps - Midnight another Phone Call
SNFU - Reality is a Ride on the Bus
Chixdiggit! - Quit your Job & Chupacabra
Propagandhi - Less talk, more Rock
Dayglo Abortions - Proud to be a Canadian

peace I'm out

EATING: Swiss Chard

The Garden has been behaving. We have gotten on top of those pesky leaf miners at least on the chard. Which by coincidence we are having for supper with a sheppards pie, and I wanted to write a post about cause I am bored, chard is delicious, and this is the recipe we are using today.

Swiss Chard with Olives, Garlic, Currants, and Feta

you will need

Swiss Chard - as much as you want
Olives - handfull or as much as you want
Garlic - 1 clove or as much as you want
Currants - handfull or as much as you want
Feta - Crumbled - handful or as much as you want
Salt N Pepa - Push It as much as you want

So first things first get the chard from your garden, you have a garden right? with greens in it? oh you don't ok well grab the chard from your refrigerator.

Wash/rinse your chard, shake excess water off, bunch chard together and cut 1 inch strips or how ever big you like it, chop garlic finely, put pan or pot on medium heat, add a small amount of oil (not really needed).
Once pan is hot add chard, after 30seconds add garlic, wait another 30seconds turn heat source off so as to not over cook "wilt" your chard, add olives and currants, and season with salt and pepper, once doled out sprinkle feta on top.

Ingredients, Check

Ingredients chopped,check!

Ingredients in pot, Check!

Cooked? Check!, oh look at that the bread is done too.

Add Feta, and eat. photographing food is hard.

Thats it Thanks
Peace, I'm out

The Garden

Yesterday was productive, Well it was productive in the back garden. Meaning we planted a lot of stuff or re-potted a lot of stuff. We had planted 7 Tomatoes of varying species earlier, I listed them HERE! but we still had quite a few more maybe 15 more plants. Anybody want a Cherry Tomato plant, here in the Kawarthas? I went and bought 3 more storage totes, from that place that sells a bunch of stuff and has tire in their name. A 115 liter tote holds two tomatoes very well we had two from last year so 5 all together now, plus our 3.5gal pails from the grocery store bakery which used to hold frosting (the gross kind). We also planted 4 Cucumbers which will be trellised, 3 or 4 Courgettes, 4 Basil we have 6 more to plant, 3 Nasturtiums. Also sowed 14 Bush green Beans, and 4 Scarlet runner Beans which will also be trellised, Cilantro lots of em, Chamomile hundreds of em.
Our Kale, Spinach and Chard, are all coming along nice. A couple more Chard and Kale seeds have sprouted and been coming along now for about a week. Leaf miners, Leaf Miners, Leaf Miners have already made an entrance into the raised bed. Picking off eggs sucks, they do what their name means, they hatch burrow themselves in the leaves, and eat eat eat, leaving a miners tunnel behind. They look like little bugger maggots. To Remove poke a hole at one end of the tunnel carefully push from the opposite end of the tunnel to the open end, as if you were trying to get air bubbles out of your phones screen protector. Depending on how early you do it, little tiny maggots pop out or how late bigger ones will come out with a little black dot for a head. CRUSH! those little bastards they are very unwanted. So row covers have been implemented over our chard and Spinach they seem to leave the kale alone.


We have been hardening off our Peppers, Aubergines, Watermelons and Delicata Squash.

Pictures will come later it was uncomfortably humid to be fiddling with a camera today or yesterday. Not used to our season yet.

Peace I'll be back.

Selling and sold stuff.

Kijiji is great, if you need to get rid of something, or need something for yourself, or are just bored and wanna window shop you can do it for hours, yes and make yourself feel bad by looking at all the pets available because "we are moving and cannot have our dog anymore" grow a pair would ya, I thought dogs were part of the family. I haven't rented a place for a long while, but last I heard you cannot be evicted because you have pets. Either way I won't get into that. 
We have been trying to make room in the house and garage. We just have way too much stuff, I was able to get rid of  a CRT TV, huge friggin wall unit for the CRT TV, stereo and speakers, Motorcycle, refrigerator, Tires and Rims. I have more tires a rims too if you need em please buy em off me. Either way if you want to get rid of things price them right you can get rid of it fast. You are trying to get rid of it don't be greedy and it will go quickly. again just another post to talk about myself. sorry.

I wrote this before the murder of Tim Bosma, just a reminder please be careful when selling items if you are meeting new people. Don't let them into your house, if you can show your wares outside of the house it is always better or make sure you have someone else in the house with you or in my case a very vocal dog, all my items are shown on my front porch, in my front veranda, or in the middle of my driveway. Having nosy neighbours helps plenty too.

Either Way Hit the Gas

Peace I'm Out

Too be a Cat

up in the morning, fresh cup of coffee
lounging beside me, small ball of fluff
resisting the sleep, embracing the light
little kitty groans, coming from a box
birds singing chirping, ready for the day
day begins, when kitty says

That is Zoey in her little Red Bed, on top of Beanies apartment. My awesomely talented Mum made the stained glass behind Zoey.

Laundry time

REvisions

Ran out of laundry soap.... gotta go make some I guess. There are a lot of posts about making your own cleaners and detergents, So I am going to add another to the list the more the merrier. We have read a few recipes.... but I don't like that cause I'm not going to eat it. lets call them directions and measurements.

I am not experienced in the whole making your own cleaning products still a little green, my roots are showing but were going to try different things. Right now this is working for us with our city water, I don't know if it will be different with well water or hard water. It took me this long to make our laundry detergent, Trampled by Turtles - Rebellion (lies) (Arcade Fire cover), and a while longer to write this post.

What you will need!
Pure Castile Soap (I used Dr. Bronners Magic Soap)
Borax (Sodium Borate)
Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate)

So what to do? Well grate the soap with a fine grater make it small flecks, more soluble in water that way you don't have to use hot water cool or warm will work.

After you do that add two cups each of the Borax and Washing soda.

Mix it all up either stir or put in container and shake what ever you prefer.

Use 2 tablespoons We now use 3 - 4 tbls per load of laundry, I use 3 4 - 5 tablespoons when washing work clothes(I am a Diesel Generator Technician I tend to get smelly) put more or less in find what works for you. If you want more Smell from the soap grate another bar and add another cup each of the sodas add some essential oils, though we found that didn't really work.

While writing this I stumbled upon this gem Death (Detroit, Rock and Roll '75) how? I don't know but its great.
 That link no longer works here try this one Death - Politicians in my eyes!
Peace, I'm Out

Woah!

So yesterday was wicked beautiful out, sun shinning. Just beauty bod, had lots of good sun time today. Raked up all the twigs that the cedars dropped over the winter, top dressed the raised garden bed with some sheep manure, brushed all the loose hair off the dogs. just thrilled that it was so warm out, I fully enjoyed it. Got time to take some pictures of our seeds we have been starting in the collector room (the room that collects everything).

First up we have from Edible Antiques, Azoychka Tomato, Pirkstine Orange Tomato, and Moon and Stars Watermellon, This was our first time ordering from E.A. I'm not into writing reviews but delivery was fast, nice envelopes with good description.

Edible Antiques, I like the envelopes.

Then from The Cottage Gardener, we ordered new Sandul Moldovan Tomato, Little Finger Eggplant(I kid here it is), Some flowers Calendula, Heirloom Sunflower mix, Cardinal Climber, Sensation Mixed Cosmos.
From last year we are using King of the North Sweet Pepper, Five-Colour Silverbeet Swiss Chard. We also bought Organic Kelp Extract, we have a hard time finding any good fertilizers that aren't Scotts Miracle-gro brands in our area, so this will apparently make upto 255L.

and from last year or maybe the year before we have from Cubits Chadwick Cherry Toms, Bloomsdale Spinach and from Urban Harvest, Little Bells Pepper (which we saved seeds from last year) we couldn't find anybody who had them and were running low. and Vates Blue Curled Kale.

We have our small greenhouses heating up the soil in the raised garden beds to transplant house Kale, Chard, and Spinach. We took them out yesterday to harden off in the nice weather, today isn't as nice, hence why I am writing this.

Here they are with their packages.

I wanna thank these people also for the work that they do finding suppliers, collecting seeds, find sustainable organic and Heirloom Varieties. Cause its something that I would not want to do. I am happy to support them.

These are our planned plants for this season, we are getting quite the collection.

Sleepers, enjoying the weather. Guarding the Gnomes home.

GreenShire Eco Farms

This is an attempt to reach out to another audience. Friends of mine have been struggling, and need some help. They run Greenshire Eco Farms in The Kawarthas, and practice Permaculture, sustainable growing techniques, Alternative Equine Education and Equine-assisted learning for Humans, and provide agri-tainment and educational workshops to the public, and a home for neglected and abused animals.
I have been on their farm numerous times, either late night bon-fires, visiting the horses, petting the pigs,  and taken their vegetables and eggs home for supper. They are a beautiful, vibrant group of characters, I wish them all the best and we will continue to support them any way we can and right now this is another way we can. Please follow them on Facebook Greenshie Eco Farms, they have organized a Crowd Funding Campaign looking for the kind hearts of other like minded individuals, to donate and or share and spread the word to help raise some funds at It Takes a Village to Save a Farm.

Thank you,

Scratches for "Ziggy Stardust"

Horses hanging out in their "Paddock Paradise"

Gloria likes treats.

Amelie, always a goofball.

Peace I'm out, now I really need to go get something done.

FOOD

The Facebook is full of arm chair protests,

I post a lot about organic foods growing your own pesticide free food, buying local, supporting local businesses and trade. We try to eat as much "Organic" sustainable food as possible, we try and buy from local stores as much as possible, and we grow a bunch of food during the growing season, if we had a bigger back yard we would implement season extending practices. Once winter comes around its really difficult to always have fresh fruit and veg. I just can't justify buying tomatoes from Israel, or cucumbers from the Netherlands, when something pops up from Canada we snag up an arm load. which means Cucumbers with every meal or Tomato and Cucumber sandwiches a plenty which I can't really argue about they are delicious.

I don't know where I am going with this, just wanted to talk about myself I guess. maybe I will update this later.

peace out, gotta do stuff now.

Oh, Ahead

So, as I sit here in a coffee shop, listeing to spongebob on the TV hanging over my head, waiting for the work on my work truck to be complete. I have some time to write a post.

 We have sowed, watched and waited for the first batch of our veggies to develop, all but 6 pots have sprouted. We saved some pepper seeds "Little Bells" from last season, last spring we couldn't find any from the suppliers that we use. All of our own have sprouted which is awesome, can't wait they were good producers, we froze quite a few of them little buggers.

We ordered from The Cottage Gardener, we also ordered from Edible-Antiques.

We are trying a different variety of Tomatoes this year. Last year was kind of a let down with our Brandy-wines, though it was a shitty season altogether but we want something that isn't as prone to cat facing, and blossom end rot. We got another variety of Eggplant which produces more, but smaller fruit, which is alright (I am not that big a fan of those Aubergines).

Chard and Kale in the back.

Kale

Zoey

Peace I am out......... doing stuff I am supposed to be doing.

Spring, what?

Spring, Spring is almost here, nothing has been happening all that much.

We made a purchase of a vehicle, we needed one that was more reliable (starts every time you want it too), doesn't leak(we had little seedlings sprouting on the drivers side floor in the summer, ice rink in the winter, with any warm sun rays getting to the vehicle it would create a nice sauna in there, conveniently sticking to the windows, just to freeze up over night so you have ice on the inside and outside of the windows), and windows that go back up(not stuck down on the 401) 2007 Tucson it has a lot more room than our grand am, its nice to have more space for the pups.

There has been more snow than we have had in a few years which is kinda nice, to actually have winter and not just teased with miserable weather. Whats the point of winter with out any snow? I had to get my snow blower started one day, cleared the lane about 3 times in a day, a few Fridays ago. Dogs have been appreciating the snow too, we have enjoyed it too! it wears them out a lot faster, cats not so much appreciation.

Doing her best kangaroo impression.

Funnin in the backyard