TEA WITH TIBET

What A Pleasure to be remembered for some special event or activity in one’s life. I teasingly asked my youngest son what he’d remember me for. “Your soup,” he replied without missing a beat. “I often think of when we were kids and those huge pots of Saturday soup you used to make and the basket of chunky baking powder biscuits.” That was a delightful reminder that basic nourishing foods can be the touchstone that triggers warm memories of family life. That remark tied in with my good fortune in being able to have the five Tibetan monks, who were performing at the local art gallery, to lunch a few Saturdays ago. What on earth to feed them was my first response. But, when in doubt I always turn to my old soup pot. Watching these five husky men and their driver delve into their bowls of 9-Bean soup followed by murmurs of satisfaction, reminded me of my sons so long ago slurping down overflowing bowls of soup and looking around for seconds.

In Talking To Friends about meals and ingredients it is always a surprise to hear that there are contemporaries who don’t enjoy making soup. It is such a wonderful basic food and in these times when families particularly are having difficulty with the costs of feeding their youngsters an inexpensive bowl of soup can provide a high level of nutrition. The secret ingredient in fabulous soup is the stock. I keep a large jug in the freezer and every scrap of cooking water from steaming or boiling vegetables is poured into the container. I also toss in any turkey, chicken or beef bones. As well I freeze broccoli stalks, coarse green leek leaves and overripe tomatoes. Now this will surprise some readers, but all my eggshells are crushed and added to the container as well. The shells are highly nutritious as the lining is a wonderful source of hyaluronic acid which supports healthy joints and skin. Once the shells, bones and veggies have simmered gently for a few hours then discard them by using a strainer. You now have a broth enriched by calcium, minerals, vitamins and the hyaluronic acid that can be used as a base for any soup recipe. If you follow these suggestions for creating a rich stock you will wonder why you’ve neglected making soup for all these years.

Sometimes I Do a “Clear The Fridge” soup by pulling out the vegetable container and using fresh uncooked left-overs, particularly potatoes. They help to thicken the soup. Another basic ingredient of most soups is onions. Just take the time to sauté the onions in a splash of oil for about five minutes before adding them to the other ingredients. That releases a delicious sweetness that greatly enhances the taste. If you like a soup that is a combination of creamy and chunky then take half of your cooked soup and either mash it or whip it in the blender and return it to the pot.

Who Was The Great Writer Anonymous that said “ The discovery of a new soup does more for the happiness of humanity than the discovery of a new star”. It’s true that food remains one of our greatest pleasures. And, when the food is satisfying to the soul as well as satisfying to the body, then we’ve got a winner when we make a delicious pot of soup. According to a favourite food writer, Jean Hoare, a French proverb says that a well made soup keeps a coin from the doctor’s pocket…which is another way of saying that a bowl of chicken soup will fix us right up. For comments email msostler@telus.net To refer to previous columns that appeared in The Mirror please google Urban Gardener Campbell River.

WILL COUNCIL CHICKEN OUT?

Will Council Chicken Out on a bylaw to raise backyard hens? A recent report says that we can expect a omnibus rezoning amendment for Quinsam Heights to be prepared which will include a section herding horses, sheep, goats and chickens into one bylaw.
Already the cluck, cluck, clucking has begun about how much space a horse requires as compared to the space needed to raise a few chickens. The report states that councilors are willing to agree on one point…that chickens are smaller than horses! Good thinking.

If the urban chicken issue is lumped in with other farm animals it will get fowled up in the hot debate that is sure to follow. We need to separate the question of a chicken bylaw and bring it forward on it’s own merit for the City of Campbell River rather than entangling it with the Quinsam Heights zoning. If Victoria, Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Ladysmith and New York City have urban chicken bylaws do we need to squawk over a few hens. Ask Esquimalt about their bylaw. The spokesperson says they haven’t received a single complaint since it was approved 18 years ago.

There Is A Need for city councils everywhere to get involved in the support of community food sources. According to a researcher there is a flock of chicken and fresh food activists across this country, standing up for the right to keep egg-laying hens in their backyards. A current green Party report states that 85 per cent of Vancouver Island’s food was produced locally 25 years ago, now it’s down to only 10 per cent. We all remember what happened last winter when a snow storm cut off fresh food delivery to the Island. Within three days the grocery shelves were emptying fast. This is the best example of what is meant by food security. If we can grow some of our food locally and raise chickens for their eggs and meat then we are taking small steps towards food sustainability…we become part of the solution.

Chickens provide healthy, pesticide-free eggs. They consume kitchen waste, produce great compost for the garden, make great pets. Times have changed and we have to think about being environmentally smarter and being sustainable. Raising chickens fits that goal. We activists are buck-buck-bucking for change.

Foraging For Mushrooms trek, sponsored by the Museum, attracted my interest and I was fortunate to tag along as the course was fully booked. The local mushroom expert Sequoia Letosky led us along a Beaverlodge Land trail and from there we veered off into the bush. The first fungus along the route turned out to be the deadly Amanita. With our leader instilling the fear of God into us, we neophytes peered timidly at every sighting after that warning. Despite anxieties it turned out to be a great learning experience and I particularly was excited about discovering the Lobster mushroom. These fungi are an intense orange in colour and can be found around or under rotting logs. One needs to get down on hands and knees and scratch around as they are not obvious at first, being generally covered over with soft moss. The lobsters do not have the traditional shape, more like shrivelled potatoes. I filled up my small basket and left for home in a state of great anticipation. I washed them thoroughly, cut away the black spots and grilled them lightly in butter and bacon fat with a sprinkling of pepper. Served on a toasted slice of whole wheat sourdough bread my meal turned out to be akin to a religious experience! I can hardly wait to go back to same area. This time I’ll take a compass as it is very easy to get disoriented, especially when one is crawling around on one’s hands and knees.
For comments msostler@telus.net

BUT CAN SHE GROW A CAN OF GUINESS

Watching Our Irish Neighbor experience planting her first window garden was a great reminder that growing things can be a joyous experience. Our friend Maureen looked on this as week my sister Shelagh and I replanted our window boxes with a selection of wintering herbs and veggies. She was emitting clucking and ooohing noises which is a strong sign that she had caught the growing bug. So off we went to the local garden shop with Maureen leading the way, in search of some good over-wintering starter plants and a four foot long plastic window box. Chives, parsley, mixed lettuce and pak choi were her choice and a small bag of organic compost. We also added a six pack of deep purple violas to the list as they provide colour and eye appeal throughout the coldest season.After the window box was planted and she placed it outside, on the kitchen window sill, she stood there entranced. Her son Jamie commented, when he saw the display. “Oh b’God, now me mudder is growing them greens we’ll have to be after eating the stuff”.

While In London three weeks ago I visited my cousin Rebecca’s allotment garden. She lives in a flat on the 14^th floor near New Cross. The mixed population is dense and obtaining a much sought after allotment often means a long wait to qualify. Taking the train through Wales and south through central England to London I spotted allotment gardens every where, but particularly under bridges, railway right-of-ways and empty lots.

Rebecca’s site includes 67 other plots on a steeply sloped terrace beside the railway. Each plot has it’s own small garden shed, some ornately constructed and others just a few planks hammered together with a sheet metal roof. Nevertheless, each plot is someone’s tiny kingdom and the shed becomes a place to brew a cup of tea, munch on rough cheese sandwiches and observe the bounty of one’s toil. Rebecca’s plot is roughly 20’ by 40’ and has room for four types of berry bushes, artichokes, asparagus, runner beans, onions, spuds, salad stuff, courgettes, leeks and eggplants. Tomatoes didn’t do well last year so this season she has them in grow bags propped up against the shed. The camaraderie amongst the gardeners was a pleasure to watch and the mix of plot holders is like a mini United Nations gathering.

When I Return to Campbell River at the end of September I will be interested to see the progress that has been made on expanding the community gardens on St. Peter’s church property. Gold River also has plans to designate property for allotment gardening as does Quadra Island so that indicates a growing interest in encouraging people with limited space to take advantage of community property.

Here’s an interesting item spotted in an international paper. Neilsen Canada reports that demand for canning supplies has gone through the roof and sales are up more than 100 per cent over 2008. I remember the pride our mother took in lining the cellar shelves with jars of fruit, jam and vegetables. Nothing can compare with the earthy pleasure of growing one’s own food and storing supplies for the winter months. Our lives are changing so rapidly and one cannot open a newspaper without being made aware of the impact of our lives on the planet. The effect of our short sightedness is becoming increasingly obvious but we are also witnessing a shift in the way we treat the earth around us. Consumer demand for alternatives has meant that organic food has grown from something only lentil munchers ate to mainstream produce. We can make a difference, simply by growing some of our own food and the pleasure it gives is immeasurable. For your comments please email msostler@hotmail.com

MEMORY OF A FOOD GARDEN

Capture The Memory of your summer food garden by gathering your mature herbs which by now should be ready for the drying process. If the herbs haven’t already dried out due to the intense heat of this summer then pick the sprigs and lay them out to dry on a baking sheet. The top of the fridge is an ideal spot. In a week or two they should be ready for grinding. My favourite method of processing is to use the old fashioned bowl and pestle system. Popping the herbs into a blender is just as effective but one loses the hands-on feeling of creating something special. A favourite herb mix is called Herbs de Provence and you can give it your personal touch by adding dried wild geranium or a touch of ground lavender. This basic French mixture that you will love is equal parts of rosemary, thyme, savoury, majoram, basil and oregano. The fragrance from this combination is gorgeous and enhances any food you are preparing and if you have enough for extra jars they will be treasured as small gifts.

I’m Still Here in Carlow, helping to care for an elderly sister but expect to be home in a few weeks. It’s surprising to discover that Ireland has no bottle recovery policy. As we have no car we enjoy strolling two to three miles a day to the shops and library where we use the computers. We equip ourselves with a spare plastic bag and, operating under some strange “Canadian” compulsion, we pick up bottles and beer cans rolling around the streets and under the hedges. And elderly woman stopped us on the street the other day and asked why we were picking up the garbage. Explaining this compulsion prompted her to sigh. “Jaysus, Mary and Joseph ye poor tings and ye have no car at all”.

Our Totally Dedicated Campbell River Beautification Committee would be stunned if they surveyed the state of the local Carlow streets, which actually display downtown signs boasting that the city, the same size as Campbell River, won the Tidy Town Award in 2007. The old Irish are particularly charming with a wonderful attitude towards life so I shall learn to cast my eyes on the impossibly lovely hills…the “Forty Shades of Green” that surround us, and avoid peering down the alleys and byways.

Did You Know that stinging nettles make fabulous fertilizer juice? Well, that’s so, according to a local friend who told me to cut down the huge stinging nettle growing at the back of the property and chop it up into small pieces. Then I am to place the pieces in a bucket and cover with water. After about six weeks, according to my advisor, it will turn into a dark green slurry. Then it’s time to strain it and place in a lidded container. I can then add a few tablespoonsful to a watering can and it makes an outstanding liquid fertilizer. If any readers have tried this idea successfully please let the rest of us know. It’s always exciting to discover a simple, new method of producing organic fertilizer at virtually no cost or effort. Drop a line to msostler@hotmail.com .

MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME

Make Up For Lost Time and start planting now. Not everyone is so well organized that they can meet the spring planting deadline. The good news is that this is a great time to start planting a garden that will allow you to harvest greens in the autumn and root vegetables in the winter months. Now is the time to take advantage of “follow-on” crops…a new buzz word. With good planning you will be able to avoid the “hungry gap” by ensuring an almost continuous supply of at least some veggies right through the cold season and into early spring months. By now most of your spring plants will have bolted and that gives you with plenty of space to be infilled with starter plants from the market, or seeds to be sprinkled onto the top soil.

In The Weeks Ahead consider planting either quick maturing vegetables such as beetroot, kohlrabi, red chicory, spring onions, leaf lettuce, oriental greens such as arugula and spinach. Those that are particularly suitable for overwintering are leafy cabbages, Swiss chards, kales, spring cauliflower and broad beans. Quick maturing crops such as the lettuces, spinach and radishes may be ready to harvest in six weeks whereas the cruciferous plants such as cabbage and sprouts may take up to 18 weeks. In a large ceramic planter on my condo deck I seeded a few red potato sprouts in May. As I am still in Ireland my friends harvested my mini red potatoes last weekend and emailed me a mouthwatering description of Sunday dinner on their deck consisting of my precious spuds, garlic, leeks, herbs and mixed salad plus their grilled steaks. Now if they can just be persuaded to do another planting by the time I am home again there should be a second potato harvest. I love the way the Irish describe a meal plan…two veg, three spud and a bit o’ meat.

In Carlow I Have Managed to produce an amazing array of leafy vegetables and herbs in the six weeks since arriving here. The greens seemed to leap out of the soil and in the first three weeks the leaves were big enough to make up crisp green salads. All the veggies are reared in a hodge podge of pots and bags placed on the cement walkway against our rental house. Those that have been outstanding are rocket and spinach. Rocket is similar to arugula but is crunchier and the stem is edible as well. It rains here almost everyday so heat loving plants like tomatoes are hopeless. The Irish are not keen food gardeners so my rag tag arrangement of pots creates a good bit of discussion. Yesterday I answered a knock on our door and there was a fellow from a paving company saying that he noticed there was a terrible lot of green grass in the backyard and he was offering to bring in his equipment and pave it over. “Then you could have a grand summer and not have to keep looking at all that grass,” says he. “Just get yourself a nice set of patio furniture and sit out there with herself (my sister) enjoying life and not have to worry about a ting.” I didn’t know whether to burst out laughing or give him a good kick.

MARKING THE TERRITORY IRISH STYLE

Consider This Column a report from your foreign correspondent in Ireland…the land of my parents and the home of two sisters. On holiday here I’ve been scrounging through the Dublin dailies looking for interesting items on gardening for the reader.

The headline in the garden page of the Irish Times brought me to a quick halt.
Chicks are Chic! According to that doughty publication the latest sounds in the back streets of Dublin are the cluck, cluck, cluck of chickens living the urban good life. Hard times require finding ways to be more self sufficient but the city’s rookie gardeners are facing a wildlife challenge. Wiley foxes are prowling the alleys searching for vulnerable chicken coops. An enterprising designer has come up with an ultra trendy coop design called an Eglu which includes four live chicks. It has captured the interest of the urban aesthete and recently won a design award. These haute couture hen houses can be purchased at Dunleary People’s Market on Sundays for the astonishing price of $600.

Mark Out Your Territory was the advice given to a poultry neophyte in Dublin who expressed concern about the presence of the cagey fox. He has been advised, by an agronomist, that if he quite literally marks his territory every evening with a stream of urine the fox will not cross the line. “That’s a brilliant idea” he responded, “but what will the neighbours say?”

Turning Shopping Bags Into Planters is a totally new concept to me but on the Emerald Isle it is considered very edgy and creates a sustainable use for all those woven plastic shopping bags we seem to accumulate. First punch a few holes in the bottom of the bag to allow for drainage, fill with compost and insert a dozen or so starter plants into the soil. Two weeks ago I filled a bright yellow sack with 12 red and yellow stalked Swiss chards. The bag was quite deep so I rolled the edges back. Now you can hang the bag on a wall hook or place it on the sun deck. My chard loves all that warmth and is already producing big leaves for use in a stir fry.

Six Years On The Beautification Committee has left me with an enhanced expectation of downtown cleanliness. So, the astonishing state of Irish streets and side walks has left me as agitated as a wet hen. They are covered in cigarette butts and gum. There is no bottle deposit refund so beer cans and pop bottles roll around in every gutter and under every hedge. A meeting with Mary White the MP for Carlow led to my pointing out that in B.C. bottle collection can be an important source of cash to people on limited incomes. She laughed heartily at the phrase “dumpster diving” and asked me to repeat it three times. I was urged to send her information on how the system was set up to create the bottle deposit act.

Back To The B.C. Scene. Bolting is what happens when plants that have been producing steadily for the past two months decide that enough is enough and push up one last flowering stalk. Save the seeds, if they are organic or heritage stock, when the head has dried out. Meanwhile, you probably have more seeds left in the packets. Replant right away, remembering to add more compost to the soil, and in no time at all the seeds will push up new sprouts and you can look forward to a fresh crop. This procedure is called succession planting. In fact you can succession plant on an ongoing rotating basis for many varieties. The excellent chart in the West Coast Seed Catalogue (found at www.westcoastseeds.com) will guide you as to the best planting months for specific veggies.

CITY COULD COVET CUTE CLUCKERS

What Is Campbell River Missing that Victoria, Burnaby, New Westminister, New York, Seattle and Portland, plus countless other cities already have? Local resident, Connie Thiessen knows. The answer is a bylaw allowing residents to raise chickens on their property. In her letter to council, from which she has given me permission to quote…” In a time of economic stress when we are urged to grow our own food and buy locally, the lack of a chicken bylaw eliminates most residents from utilizing one way of maintaining a locally grown and inexpensive ‘green’ diet. Chickens love vegetable scraps. What better way to compost than by turning your scraps into quality protein”.

Thiessen pointed out that recently a neighbour complained to a by-law reinforcement person regarding her friend’s chicken coop which is within city boundaries, alleging that it was attracting rats. “Granted, rats are in the area” states Thiessen “but living close to the water, rats are a fact of life here and other neighbours have stated they’ve been trapping rats long before my friend’s four lovely hens arrived. These hens are now due to be destroyed within a week or so and our family and neighbours will mourn the loss of the best eggs available.” The four hens produce four eggs a day.

She continues “Hens are not noisy. Roosters are. They nearly purr with happiness when you feed them the leftover lettuce shavings. They cluck sweetly in the morning around 9am and like to brag about having laid an egg. “ Thiessen is calling for city council to formulate a bylaw ensuring a clean, humane, liveable policy to provide residents with a rewarding way of feeding their families. Another resident, Helen Sikora, contacted me to see if I had any “pull” with council. What I can do is join with both ladies in urging council to seriously consider the request. So…what do you say Mayor Charlie and councilors. We need some warm and fuzzy good news lately and permission for a couple of warm, fuzzy chickens could be the perfect antidote. As an after thought what about a “stay of proceedings” on the imminent death sentence of the four cute cluckers who were recently served with their papers?

Life In An East Facing Condo on the waterfront has its benefits but the downside is the icy cold north wind that has been blowing almost daily. However, my tubs of vegetable greens are thriving on the deck and I have been harvesting every day since early May to create crisp, intensely green salads. I snip off the outer leaves of kale, butter and leafy lettuce, chives, arugula, chard and a mix of herbs. Toss in a few leaves from the basil on the window sill, a couple of tomatoes and tiny chunks of goat cheese and I’m as happy as a rabbit on a golf course. The greens are all cool weather cruciferous plants and reproduce so quickly that I have enough salad fixings to share with the neighbours. Keep your basil indoors until we get some consistent warm days and remember to snip that wonderful plant from the top down so as to force the growth.

A Composter Small Enough To Tuck under the kitchen sink sounds like a solution for those of us in small spaces. My cousin Bridget, who lives in Kyoto, wrote to tell about her and companion Tad’s recent experience with a Bokashi Composter. It’s a small bucket with a lid and a spigot at the base of the container. They toss in kitchen waste including leftover cooked food and sprinkle it with something called EMBran which is a decomposing agent.
In about 10 days it produces a nutrient rich liquid which is drained off through the spigot. It can be used as a powerful liquid fertilizer and the remains of the compost can be spaded into your soil. They keep two buckets on the go. Their neighbor has been using this system for a year and says everything is growing much bigger and tastier than past crops. Bridget is raving about the Bokashi. You’ll find lots of info regarding this system on the internet and there is a Vancouver contact which should show up in the search.

THE VANCOUVER ISLAND DIET

It Was Only a Matter of time and now the “Vancouver Island Diet” is attracting all the buzz. First it was the 100-Mile Diet originated by an amazing young Vancouver couple, then the 50-Mile Diet that mushroomed out of Powell River and now the focus is shifting to an all-island diet. A group in Cowichan Valley seem to be the source who are spear-heading the movement. Their manifesto caught my eye and to quote a few lines: the Vancouver Island Diet means not only eating food produced on the island but supporting our local farmers, fishers and food producers by providing them with a decent livelihood. It means taking the trouble to seek out producers of all kinds of products that we use on a daily basis and making the very political decision to shop locally. It means asking the managers of local stores to clearly label which foods and products are from the island. For more go to… http://www.vancouverislanddiet.com/

Having Just Finished Barbara Kingsolver’s latest and hottest book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle where she recounts her move back to a West Virginia farm with her family, I encourage you to ask for it at the local library. It is an absorbing story of a family taking over their old farm and learning to restore and plant the land in order to produce all their foods for an entire year. One of Kingsolver’s greatest concerns, when they were still existing as commercial consumers, was the distances food traveled to reach their table. Her experience has prodded me into doing a similar count. Let’s see…fresh flowers from Columbia, 6,000 air miles, tomatoes from Mexico, 2,500 miles, fresh peas from China, 7,000 air miles, goats cheese from Quebec, 3,500 miles. Well, you get the idea. If one is sincerely trying to buy locally it means peering at every label and asking the retail staff endless questions. If we all put pressure on our retail stores we will soon get clear labeling telling us what is island grown, what is B.C. grown and what is Canada grown. Of course there are many things we can’t get in this country but it supports our farm industry if we always start by thinking “Island First”.

The Edible Plant Workshop I attended earlier this month gave a whole new meaning to “Eating Locally”. Colin Buss and Luisa Richardson lead our group of 20 on a trek through a Simms Creek tributary and it was a revelation to discover that so many plants that we hardly glance at can actually sustain life, if necessary.
Retired archivist, Irene Ross, listened intensely, taste tested all the plants we were shown on the trek and the following day tried out some of the native greenery on her husband, Dr. John Ross and her brother-in-law. Luncheon included Miner’s Lettuce, fiddleheads (from the base of Lady Ferns,) Maple Tree shoots, the young needles from Douglas Fir, Salmonberry shoots as well as its flowers, and berry-like heads from a plant known locally as Snap, Crackle & Pop. The salad was topped off with a vinaigrette dressing. The diners consumed the greens with gusto and proclaimed the meal a success!

60,000 Honey Bees on the Vancouver Conference Centre roof, runner beans on the lawn at London’s City Hall? In the search to bring you interesting items on what’s happening in the grow-your-own food movement it is astounding to see this quantum shift throughout some of the world’s greatest cities. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson is drawing up plans for community gardens surrounding the Tower of London and Marble Arch. The Hayward Gallery will soon have a vegetable patch on its roof. At Vancouver’s Fairmount Waterfront the chef harvests fruits, veggies, herbs and honey for his menus and even has apple trees ripening amongst the skyscrapers. Even New York has turned green and a civic dinner was recently served to a group of eco-chic types which included Bronx Collard Greens, Brooklyn Beans and cocktails with Muddled Berries foraged from Central Park. Now where does Campbell River rate amongst these metropolises? Stand by for an exciting announcement on what is planned for the just installed green roof on our City Hall. http://www.islandfocus.bblogspot.com/

BUSINESS IS BLOOMING IN GARDEN SHOPS

Business Is Blooming in local garden shops as residents’ enthusiasm for growing food gardens increases. Retailers tell me that seed racks are being quickly depleted and baskets of starter vegetables are flying off the shelves. The homegrown vegetable movement seems to be sweeping the province, according to news reports.

“Harvesting” the Cut & Come Again garden evokes a feeling of satisfaction, especially when you’ve waited weeks through this chilly spring weather to sample the crops. That’s the way Jurgen and Inga Kettler expressed their pleasure when telling me about their first meal of mixed greens freshly picked from tubs on their east facing deck garden. For their premiere luncheon they added a few organic tomatoes, herbs and a splash of organic oil. Yum!

In my deck pots I have a mixture of young plants purchased at the garden shops as well as a variety of salad greens started from seed. The miracle of “harvesting” is that you can go on eating from the same tubs of veggies until the weather becomes very warm in July. At that point your plants will “bolt” and produce a flower head. Let them dry out and recover the seeds from the head. If they’re organic those seeds can be planted again in late August and you’ll have vegetables growing in the barrels all winter long. Imagine on Christmas Day wandering out on to the deck with a basket looped over your arm prepared to snip a basketful of crisp greens for the holiday table. You’ll be bragging so hard your guests will groan…with envy.

There is a technique for cutting the leaves so that the plants can reproduce. In fact there are two systems. Either take a pair of scissors and clip off the top of the plants…like giving the plants a hair cut…or the other choice is to clip only the outer largest leaves from the plants. Whichever way you chose, it provides you with an endless supply especially with spindly plants like chives, mizumi, arugula and lettuce. It takes a leap of faith to shave off all those leaves but it works. The next crop will bounce up in a couple of weeks. Clip basil differently. Remove greens from the top down to the last two large leaves. The plants will reproduce surprisingly quickly.
Make sure your basil is sitting on a sunny windowsill...too chilly outdoors yet to move it.

A Mittlenatch Reader Called to ask if I knew anyone who would like to share space in their very large garden. She and her husband also have a small greenhouse and produce so many edibles that she calls their garden the “Zero Mile Diet” as opposed to the “100 Mile Diet”. If you need garden space and/or are willing to help them manage their garden the email is jndandeloin@gmail.com. Now that’s a very neighbourly action. They moved here from Saskatchewan where “spin gardening” was born in Canada. That a type of gardening where a farmer rents out land to allow others to raise crops for personal use or resale at farmer’s markets.

The First Farmers’ Market of the year opened on Sunday and the great news is that there will be local farmers selling local produce. We appreciate the huge effort the Comox Valley farmers have put in through the years to haul their produce up to our Sunday market. Now we can enjoy their produce as well as “support local growers and buy close to home” This is a small step in fulfilling the mission to become a sustainable community.

Did You Know there was an Edible Native Plants workshop held Saturday at the Sportsplex. That was a chance to discover many of the edible native plants in our area and where to find them. I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about the nutritional value of native plants and how to prepare them for sustenance. Watch this column for future workshops on this subject.

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING

The phrase, Square Foot Gardening keeps popping up wherever people are discussing growing food in very limited areas. Small space gardening is what this column focuses on so I keyed in to Google and up came a puzzling array of sites. I wanted to read what Mel Bartholomew, the originator of this concept, had to say about the subject and I located his site at http://www.squarefootgardening.com/. Mel, who lives in the eastern U.S., was a traditional gardener until he became fed up with having to manage such a huge spread with its accompanying weeds. He invented the concept of planting in a raised bed measuring 4ft. by 4ft. and discovered that using a formula for planting, he could produce a season’s supply of fresh veggies for his family of four by gardening in four raised beds. He has a video on his web site showing the step by step process. I’m excited by this idea as he developed the plan 25 years ago and it has been tested thoroughly by a generation of gardeners. For those of you with large pots and balconies you can still adapt his ideas to your limited spaces. If you are planning Cut & Come Again plantings, it is possible to replant the pots at the end of the summer growing season and have herbs and fresh greens throughout the winter, as well as a few root vegetables.

West Coast Seeds Catalogue 2009 is an excellent reference booklet and provides a chart and simple directions for when to begin your seedlings, when to transplant them outdoors, when to harvest and when to plant for winter eating. The booklet is free and the only garden shop I know of presently that has the catalogue is C.R. Garden Centre. As well a book that is strongly recommended is Year Round Harvest- Winter Gardening on the Coast, by Linda Gilkeson.
To locate my past 2009 columns in Google please go to www.islandfocus.blogspot.com

CLIPPING FRESH HERBS

You Can Capture that “Mother Earth” feeling just by growing a tub full of herbs. They are easy to raise and aren’t too fussy about the condition of the soil in which you plunked them. You can clip fresh herbs all season long or leave them for harvesting in the autumn. Drying out the leaves and grinding them in a pestle and mortar will give you that cozy feeling that you have just fulfilled the first steps in providing for the family table.

Herbs like heat, about six hours of sun a day, so leave your shady spaces for the Cut & Come Again (C&CA) plants. As these ideas we’re writing about in this column are targeted on small space gardening we should work our projects around tubs on the patio, balcony or deck. A wide tub would be ideal for a pungent selection of herbs tucked in together and maybe a few nasturtiums or rockery plants tumbling down the sides of the tub for a splash of colour.

Start by planting some hardy faithful herbs such as oregano, sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, tarragon, sweet majoram, savoury, and lemon scented geranium. That mix is generally referred to as a “chef’s blend”. For a bit of sophistication try adding a few lavender blooms and that transforms the humble mix into an “herbes de provence”. It’s easier to pick up starter plants at the garden shops for perennials such as rosemary, bay leaf, and lavender. Later on this summer I’ll come back to the subject of herbs as we move into harvesting our precious little crops.

There Are Wonderful starter trays with clear plastic elevated lids in the garden shops. They are inexpensive and create an immediate greenhouse on your windowsill . Just add three dozen small peat moss container cups, fill them with organic potting soil and your chosen seeds. In a couple of weeks or less those seeds will be peeping up at you and ready for transplanting in mid May. In fact, if you leave the lid on you could gradually acclimatize the plants to the outdoors by setting the tray on the deck during the days.

How Cool Can You Get? The provincial government employees’ union BCGEU newsletter has a column in the spring publication called Cool Communities. They are interested in the position that municipal councillors are taking on food security related issues as well as protection of agricultural land, preserving the UBC Farm and supporting the infrastructure for farmer’s markets. In fact, they did an online questionnaire to gather opinions of candidates prior to the last election and forwarded the results to environmental and food security groups. Good show BCGEU! That’s what rethinking the use of our Island land is all about… gradually shifting our understanding of how fragile our food supplies are…remembering that only 6% of the food we eat is grown on the island. Herbs grown in pots, replacing flowers in tubs with edible plants, supporting the local outdoor food markets, asking the store mangers to bring in more island grown food is how we can each begin to take those small steps towards creating food security.

There Are Endless Sites on the web that provide you with the specifics of food gardening as well a couple of excellent west coast magazines that deal with all the vagaries of growing stuff in our climate. Check the list of linked blogs that I've posted and you will be surprised at the garden information that is available. A Powell River writer’s new blog examines in detail the issues surrounding the food movement and posts an interesting selection of topical blogs. Some enthusiastic citizens kicked off a campaign a couple of years ago called The 50-Mile Diet and it has been a great stimulus to the number of Powell River people who are now operating small farm gate markets and others who are throwing themselves into the joy of growing food for their own families and sharing their experiences on-line.

PLANT A CUT-AND-COME-AGAIN GARDEN

March Is The Month when fingers get itchy for doing something with the soil. Many of you emailed me to express an interest in the the Cut & Come Again garden that I referred to in my first column. So…let’s take a look at the steps to be taken to become a fully fledged small space gardener!

This is the perfect solution for those of us who are wanting to grow leafy salad veggies and herbs in pots or tiny spaces. The plants I suggest are cool season lovers and by late July or Aug. the plants will bolt and then you replant for the winter crop. The best part of the C & C garden is that the outer larger leaves can be snipped off as they mature and the plants will keep producing.

Extra Easy To Grow and a real favourite is oriental mizuna. The plant has dark green feathery leaves which are mild and sweet. It’s ready in 45 days and is delicious in salads and stir-fries. You can direct seed into the soil or start the seedlings in small containers, like egg cartons. In order to get an early start that’s what I’m doing on the kitchen counter. Once they reach an inch in height I’ll transfer to larger containers but keep them indoors. When the weather is warmer in late April they’ll go on the deck in my large patio pot, in a spot where there is protection from the high winds and frost. Other vigorous C&C veggies are mibuna, Chinese broccoli, oriental mustard, spinach komatsuna, deer tongue, red merlot and arugula. Swiss chard thrives in cool weather and looks delicious in the pot with its red, yellow and purple stalks. Kale is another favourite and I love the deep green colour in salads and stir-fries.

You Can Direct Seed right into your soil but it’s better to wait until mid May before beginning this type of planting. Remember to choose a section of the deck or garden that doesn’t have too much direct sun as these are plants that love some shade. Because this type of seed produces edibles in 40 to 45 days what a wonderful way to capture the interest of small children in beginning their first garden ventures.

You’ll find a great selection of these particular seeds in the garden sections of local stores. The packages are clearly marked Cut & Come Again. Some stores carry organic seeds and one of the real benefits of organics is that when the plants mature or die off (bolt) you can harvest the seeds for the following year.

Glad You Asked about the process for freezing parsley Lois. Don’t wash it before popping it in a small freezer bag. It will stay crisp and surprisingly pungent for months. You can either snip or slice off whatever you need for soups and garnish for salads.

Growing Herbs is Magical and next month we’ll talk about growing herbs in pots. Last autumn I grew five different herbs on my deck. When they matured I dried them on a spot atop the fridge. They were then ground up together to create an Herb du Provence and stored in small jars. Five months later there is only one jar left and when I open the lid and inhale the deep pungent scent my nose quivers with delight!