Year One: What I Learned

My first year of balcony gardening was TOUGH. I feel like I invested a lot of time and energy into a garden that didn't give much in return. I feel much doubt on the suitability of my balcony and of my abilities to grow food. I feel like Apollo Creed after 1 round in the ring with The Russian. But I know I can't let one bad year kick my *ss just like that. Now that I'm armed with a year of knowledge and experience, this upcoming year is sure to be an improvement.

To help you avoid the same growing pains I went through, use these learnings and tips to get started on a healthy garden.

• Growing from seed and starting indoors is challenging, especially in low-light conditions. Start some of your plants from seedlings, and don't think of it as cheating.


• Be sure to FILL your containers with potting soil. Over time, the soil will pack down considerably.


• Container soil will run out of nutrients. Add nutrients every 2 weeks or so --- compost, manure, kelp powder and fertilizer teas are your friends.


• Be realistic, but experiment. Grow what is best suited for your conditions (e.g. sun, etc), but if there's a plant you really want to grow, give it a go.


• Talk to fellow gardeners, seed exchangers and farmers to collect tricks of the trade.
  
  
• Diversify! Choose plants that do well in different conditions, and plants that mature at different times in the season. That way, you'll always have food to eat.
  
  
• If the edible part of the plant is ready to eat, harvest it now. You could wait to see if it'll get bigger, but it'll probably also get more bitter and tougher.
  
  
• Don't get discouraged. Pests, weather and other destructive conditions are sure to arise and work against you, and get even the best gardeners.
  
  
• And most of all: Spend time enjoying your garden. Bring positive energy to your green space. We garden because we love.

Thank You, Kale

Last week, I returned from vacation to a very empty fridge. Luckily, there was still one plant left in the garden: kale. I had left it growing in the garden even as the weather turned cold, since I read that kale tastes sweeter after a light frost.

I sauteed the dark leaves and piled them on top of a hot bowl of sweet potato ginger soup. It's nice to be back home.

Thanksgiving Ephiphany

After 30 years of living on this planet, I think I finally get Thanksgiving. Not the part of being thankful... sure, that makes logical sense. But the timing and the big meal part. This little gem of insight was all thanks to my balcony garden.

There was a Risk Of Frost warning on the radio earlier this week. So I dutifully harvested all of my vegetables that night. If I didn't, there was the chance that the frost would kill the plants and I would have nothing to eat.

So I now I'm looking at a table full of freshly harvested vegetables, wondering how I'm going to eat all of it before it goes bad. Hmm, maybe I should prepare a big meal of some sort. Maybe invite lots of people, like a feast.

A-ha. The Thanksgiving feast. It's all about frost. Historically, Thanksgiving dinner was the freshest meal one would eat until the following spring. And because frost hits Canada before America, Canadians have Thanksgiving several weeks before Americans.

Let me savour this moment of ingenuity before you tell me you already knew that.

Squirrelling Away Squash

The cold weather is upon us. Sadly, that means goodbye to our warm weather friends, like tomatoes, peppers and zucchinis. But hey, squash is in season. My favourite cool weather vegetable. Even saying his name, Squash, is kind of fun.

I rented a car for the weekend for a short Thanksgiving trip up north, which presented the perfect opportunity to load-up on those heavy gourds at the market. Three butternuts, two acorns and one something-or-other. I brought them home and cut them into cubes, to store in the freezer for the winter months.

I soon found out that peeling 6 squash (or squashes?) at one time
can be sweaty work. The acorn and something-or-other squash was particularly hard to cut, and required holding a super-sharp knife at strange and uncomfortable angles. Grotesque images of accidentally slicing off all 4 tips of my fingers popped into my head; no doubt instigated by a recent visit to the emergency room after I sliced off the tip of my thumb cutting kohlrabi.

In the end, I had 2 fat freezer bags full of cubed squash, and retained all fingers and thumbs intact. A lot of work for a Saturday morning, but I know it'll be worth it when it's minus 1000 degrees outside and I'm curled up on the couch with a steaming hot cup of squash soup.

Canning Party Potato Salad

Yessiree, nothing says summer like potato salad. Aside from potatoes, you can really put anything you want in it, depending on how you feel and what you have.

This is the recipe for the potato salad I made during the canning party, using almost all things bought fresh at the market that morning; the potatoes were dug up a few hours earlier. Measurements are approximate; I like to taste as I go.

Simple Potato Salad
Season: Mid summer

Ingredients:

2 lbs new potatoes --- a mix of red and white, even a yam if you're feeling it
4 onion top sprigs --- the green part, sliced thinly
A few fronds of dill --- chopped
4 tbsp vegan / regular mayonnaise
1 tbsp mustard
1 generous pinch of cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional add-ins:
1/2 diced sweet pepper (e.g. green, or red/orange for colour)
Handful of sprouts (e.g. daikon)
Corn kernels

etc.

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the whole potatoes, and boil until tender but not too soft. Drain water and cool potatoes in a cold water bath. Chop into chunks; I like skin-on. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard and cayenne. Add in with the potatoes, and toss in the onions and dill, and any other add-ins. Scoop out a portion into a bowl, pour a glass of wine, sit outside, and enjoy the summer.

Canning Party

Two weekends ago, a couple of friends came over to my apartment and we had our first annual canning party. Wooo!

We made dill pickled cucumbers and beans (top photo with chicken looking on), tomatoes and pickled beets/onions (bottom photo), and peaches. It took a night of prep work (my friend was up until 3am roasting beets!), and 5 hours of jar sterlization, filling jars, making pickling juice and simple syrup, and boiling water canning. In the end, we had about 40 jars of all sizes and colours, ready for storage. But still, I kind of wished I made more.

You can find lots of instructions about canning on-line; I like pickyourown.org because they have step-by-step instructions and pictures. With the whole local food movement gaining momentum, there's likely to be a canning workshop close to where you are. In Toronto, Foodshare held a free workshop in August, and the Gardiner Museum has one coming up in September.

Hhere's a few tips I've learned over the last couple of years:

• Pack your jars as tightly as possible. The fruit/veggies shrink during heat processing; if you don't pack tightly enough, you'll have lots of liquid in your jars.
  
  
• Get the right tools for the job. Last year I used the largest stock pot I had, which only fit 3 jars, because I didn't want to buy specialty items (gadgets really annoy me). But it took 2 full days to finish canning. This year, I bought a basic canning pot with rack from Craigslist for $10. What a huge difference: it fit 7 jars, and the rack fits in so that you don't have to reach into the boiling water to pull out the jars.
  
  
• To keep pickles crunchy, minimize heat processing time and/or soak in brine the night before. Soft pickles are kind of gross.
  

And most of all, have fun! Turn up the music, invite over some friends, open a bottle of wine, and can, baby, can!

Haiku

Sick tomato plant.

What was green and growing is

Now yellow-purple.

A Lesson In Biodiversity

This summer's weather has been unusually rainy and cold. As a result, crop yields have decreased across southern Ontario. City folks don't need to worry about their food supply since most of their food is sourced globally, but those who eat locally might have noticed. For example, there were little or no strawberries at the farmer's market.

My own garden is following suit. The leafy greens, to which makes up most of the garden, aren't growing. I just pulled the entire lot of mizuna mustard, since they were still very small plants (about 1" leaves), but already started to bolt. When greens flower, their leaves become bitter.

But 2 of the plants seem to be loving the cool weather: arugula and peas. The peas were an underdog plant: I planted the seeds very late in the season, only because I had an empty space and figured I would give it a shot. Now, it's my favourite plant. I love how the plant grow arms that hook onto nearby sticks for support, and how the peas poke out right from the flower.

Moral of the story: biodiversity is good. But you knew that already. So if you have the space, grow a lot of different plants. When Nature acts unexpectedly (and she will), your garden can adapt much better.

Tomato Love

My first tomato ripened last week. One yellow cherry tomato, to be exact. Though it's encouraging to see some edibles flourishing in the garden, I feel like a cheated a little... this tomato was on the plant when I bought it. In my own defense, it was small and green at the time. So I did bring it to maturity, I guess. I took about a zillion photos of the lil' guy... my own collection of tomato porn.

In case you're wondering, the tomato plants I grew from seed are a pretty pathetic lot. Most of them died some way or another, and of the 2 that I transplanted, they haven't grown at all in a month. To give you some persective, they are only about 1 or 2 inches tall as it is.

Attack of the Aphids

Think your apartment balcony garden is pest-free because it's off the ground and isolated? Think again.

I was watering the plants, when I noticed that one of the little beet leaves looked fuzzy. Upon a closer inspection, I realized it wasn't green fur... it was covered in aphids.

Little green aphids. They look so small and harmless. Until they infest your garden and kill your plants slowly by sticking in their fangs and sucking out the life juices. I should have checked sooner; the nasturtium leaves (see photo) were looking strangely puckered (see most-left leaf) and yellow coloured (see most-right leaf).

How did they get here? My guess is that they rode in on another plant. Here's a creepy fact: each aphid can produce millions of babies, and aphids are born pregnant.

So at least one time in the morning and evening, I religiously inspect the plants and squish aphids with my fingers. From the You Grow Girl book, I've also tried a few other methods to keep them under control (also as seen in photo):

• making homemade yellow sticky traps -- not too effective; the sticky stuff (petroleum jelly, molasses) isn't too sticky and most of it drips off in a few days
• adding some foil to the plant base to confuse the aphids -- also doesn't seem to0 effective
• making citrus oil spray by steeping orange peels -- seems to kill aphids when sprayed directly

I'm actually finding the whole finding-and-squishing process sort of relaxing and meditative...though it probably also helps me accumulate bad karma. And I've been late for work everyday this week; you can really lose track of time doing all that killing.

May the best organism win.

First Harvest

Today, I had my first official harvest: 2 arugula leaves. Okay, nothing really to celebrate. But arugula is definitely the head of the balcony class; their long, peppery leaves are the envy of all the other plants which I started from seed.

I also picked some red chard leaves from the seedlings I acquired and planted last weekend. One of the plants was already starting to bolt (going to seed). I read that when leafy edible plants bolt, their leaves turn bitter. So I figured better to chop that baby down and eat it.

These pretty little leaves will do well in a pasta with some oil, onions and mushrooms.

Aspire to Something Higher

I was counting on growing all plants from seed this year, figuring it wouldn't be too difficult: sow, water and harvest, right? But after many weeks of very slow progress, with the realization that I might not be able to eat anything from the garden this year except sprouts, I decided to try planting seedlings.

Last weekend, my partner's mother brought over some tomato plants from her own stash: 2 Beefsteaks and 1 Tiny Tom. And just yesterday, I went to FoodShare's Plant Give-Away event, where I picked up 5 healthy looking plants: 2 Golden Cherry Tomato, 1 Ruby Red Chard, 1 Cinnamon Basil and 1 King of the North Sweet Pepper.

All these babies are now replanted into containers on my balcony. With half a bag of mushroom compost mixed into the soil, and sunnier skies in the forecast, the plants should all be a happier bunch. Now that the little seedlings have bigger, stronger plants in their crew, they're sure to be more motivated to grow.

Seedling Gets A Beating

My tomato and pepper seedlings haven't been growing well under the fluorescent indoor lights; only one set of true leaves have grown. After visiting a couple of garden stores and seeing the strong and tall plants for sale, a surge of envy convinced me that the seedlings just needed some outdoor exposure.

I started exposing the seedlings to the outdoors a few hours a day, to harden them. Then one day last week, we had an unusually chilly spring day. I checked the weather before I left work in the morning; the forecast seemed warm and sunny enough. I still put the seedlings outside, but put a clear protective shield on the containers, just in case. The wind swooped in like.... well, like the wind. By the time I arrived home that afternoon, the protective shields were nowhere to be found. Three of the 6 seedlings were lying down, their stems snapped. Some of the other seedlings' leaves turned yellow, shrivelled, or blew off entirely.

Sorry little helpless plants. You paid dearly for my mistake. This post is dedicated in your memory.

Outdoor Planting: Round 1

This weekend, we spent a few hours setting up the balcony for the first set of seeds to be planted outdoors this year. We:

• Soaked the tougher seeds overnight to help them germinate
  
• Cleaned the used containers with a diluted bleach solution
  
• Lined some containers (knaf liners for the milk crates, clear plastic garbage bags for the cedar planters)
• Hydrated the coir bricks
• Mixed the coir with potting mix, and added fish emulsion fertilizer where needed
• Created a plan of where to set-up the containers and which plants would go where, based on the plant's sun needs
  
• Filled the containers with the new potting mix
  
• Planted seeds: arugula, swiss chard, beets (2 kinds) and mustard greens (2 kinds)
  
• Drank beer

We ended up being 2 bags short of potting mix; very annoying since I took 2 separate trips to buy the potting mix and had to take a taxi home since the load would have been way too heavy to bring on the streetcar.

The indoor seeds are doing quite well, except for mint (which still continues to be M.I.A.). Kale is the newest addition to the indoor team, and are sprouting up nicely.

Container Stories

I was hoping to set up the balcony garden using as many second-hand materials as possible. Aside from the containers I've mentioned already, I also received 2 plastic milk crates, an old shipping crate purchased from Craigslist for storing tools, and had some handy few gardening tools donated. But I needed a bigger planter... after all, I have the space, and a lot of plants to put into the "ground".

I contacted a fellow from Craigslist via email to inquire about an old wood planter he posted on the site. Turns out it was too small for my needs, but he insisted that he could make me one to my specs out of found wood. After negotiating on price, $90 for a 4' L x 2' W x 2' H cedar planter, he was off to build my masterpiece.

A few weeks later, after hearing no word from him, I emailed him to see what was going on. He was sick, but he would get to building the planter as soon as he could. A few days later he sends me an email, stating that he bought the wood, but it was really expensive ($75) so he wanted to renegotiate the price.

Huh? I thought that he was going to FIND the wood, not BUY it. Grrr. So being the pushover I am, I said fine, how about $120. He agreed, and was to deliver the following weekend.

My phone rings on Friday: the 4' x 1' x 2' planter is ready to be delivered that night. Great, but... HUH? I clearly stated 2' wide, NOT 1'. Well, I ended up paying him the money and taking the very tall and awkward looking planter. Before he left, he suggested that next time he could build me a planter out of found wood and it would be much cheaper. And that's when I realized I was living in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

In the end, we broke the planter in half and built 2 planters, each with 1' height. Overall, the twins turned out well, and we supported an independed seller of a locally-made product, though I know there's a lesson to be learned in this story somewhere.

Good Apple

The beautiful weather we've been having lately reminds me of Farmers' Markets... buying a small basket of cherry tomatoes and popping them in my mouth as I walk home with a giant bag of veggies. And since my new apartment is pretty close to Brick Works, I have been fantasizing about biking to the market on Saturday mornings. So this morning I went to the Toronto Farmers' Market Network website to see when this market would be opening, and something caught my eye:

Joining our year-round farmers’ markets (the early-birds of spring), Toronto will have a new market beginning on April 23, The Appletree Market, Thursdays 3-7 pm at 200 Eglinton West, just a short distance from Yonge Street.

Whaaaa ----? TODAY is APRIL 23rd!!! Oh, lucky day! A year-round market in a convenient location - beside the TTC subway line, and on my way home from work! Though I love the Dufferin Grove market, I really have to come to terms with my new found east-endedness (and loss of west-endedness), and stop frequenting places that require a special trip and several days of planning to get to.

The new Appletree Market is a pretty decent size, and has quite a few vendors (especially considering we're not in harvest season). There were 3 local produce vendors, selling seeds, root vegetables from winter storage, flour and eggs. Other vendors were selling honey, wild edibles, cheese, meat and baked goods. It was a nice little sign of summer, and gave me the motivation I needed for seed planting this weekend.

On The Come Up

Oh boy..... oh boy. Sweet and hot peppers have started sprouting a couple of weeks ago. Last week up came the cherry tomatoes... though I had them in a dark place and wasn't watching, and now they're leggy. And this morning: tiny basil leaves were peeping from the soil. But the mint pot remains barren. I thought mint was supposed to be hardy?

Not all the seeds sprouted. Good thing I planted several seeds to fall back on. But now I wish I planted more.

For the past few weeks, I've been searching for second-hand containers. So far, I bought 2 Wild Turkey whiskey half-barrels, found 1 cracked terracotta pot on the curb, and had 3 clay pots donated from a generous Craigslister. But I still need lots more... at least 6 medium/large containers, mostly for planting greens (kale, mustard, chard).

Top photo, from L-R: tomato (Riesentraube), tomato (Yellow Currant and Black Cherry), pepper (Hot Fish), mint, pepper (sweet Purple Beauty).
Bottom photo: basil (Spicy Globe) --- barely visible sprouts.

Making Babies

So now you have seeds and the basic seed starting equipment. Next step: SEED STARTING. Finally....oh joy!

But wait. Don't be too eager: be sure to start your seeds at the right time, to ensure the seed is ready when the weather is. The description on your seed packet should help.

Add seed starting mix (or potting mix, if no ss mix available) to the containers you're using for seed starting. Embed seeds, about 1-2" apart (if there's room), depending on size of seed. Plant more seeds than you actually want to grow, since some might go to heaven. Not sure how deep to plant the seeds... I just added a light cover of mix.

If you're starting seeds indoors: add water to the tray and wait for 1 hour. Discard any water left in the tray that hasn't been soaked up by the pot. This method will ensure you're not drowning the seeds. Place in a very sunny spot, or a few inches under your fluorescent light for most of the day.

I started hot fish peppers, sweet purple peppers and mint seeds last weekend. No sign of life yet.

Container Gardening - Equipment

Here's my list of things to acquire for the balcony garden. If you have the time and interest, try sourcing items second-hand from a thrift store or on Craigslist. I scored these great whisky barrel planters for $40. Especially with containers, you can get really creative... rain boots, kiddie pools, old bathtubs ... the sky's the limit.

• Containers.
  Be sure to add drainage holes if there aren't any; plants don't like to be sitting in water for too long. If you don't want to drill holes, the next best thing is to add a layer of lil' rocks to the bottom of your pot.
  Keep in mind that different materials hold water differently: plastic, ceramic and tin holds water for longer; terracotta and wood less.
  Consider the plant when thinking about pot size. Better to go big than too small.


• Potting mix.
  I had to do a little searching before I found organic potting mix; $5 for 15L bag at Grassroots, also sold in bulk. Though it has peat moss in it, which I heard is sourced in an environmentally-destructive way. Boo.
  Don't use garden soil; you'll need a sterile mix.
  


• Fertilizer.
  I'm hoping my worm composter will provide all the fertilizer I need. Plus I have a little sample bag of organic fish compost from a nice man at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair, so I figure I'm good to go. But in case you're looking, check out the organic fertilizers at Grassroots, all under the Urban Harvest brand.


• Pruning scissors.
  Much more kind to the plant than twisting, pulling, etc.


• Gardening gloves.


• Trowel.
  


• Watering can.
  Not essential, but makes it easier to sprinkle your plants with water and avoid flooding them with a sudden, hard downpour.


• Resources.
  Books, internet sites (like this one!), people.


• A PLAN!
  Lots can be said for trial-and-error, but you'll probably have more success from the start if you're armed with a little knowledge and some ideas of where to put your plants, considering sun/temperature.

And, if you're starting from seed, you'll also need:

• Seeds.
  Seed exchanges are great - I think YouGrowGirl.com has a forum for this. Otherwise, you can buy from a garden store, or order directly from a specialized seed seller. Some popular organic seed sellers from Ontario: Urban Harvest, The Cottage Gardener, and Greta's.
  


• Seed starting mix.
  Where's the organic seed starting mix in Toronto at? Since I couldn't find any, I'll try potting mix. A lady at Grassroots suggested this, since she had some success with it. Plus I like the idea of buying less things, and using what you already have.


• Cells or small containers (if starting indoors).
  You could buy seed cells, or use containers you have on-hand. I cut up some empty tetrapak cartons and plastic bottles, added some holes in the bottom, and placed them on styrofoam take-out trays.


• Very sunny spot, or a fluorescent light (if starting indoors).
  If you don't have a south-facing window or balcony, get a fluorescent light from a thrift shop.
  

Local Oils

Live in Toronto and interested in local oils other than butter? Here's a few that I recommend trying. Local and organic vegetable oils don't seem to exist in this part of the world; let me know if you find otherwise.

Sunflower Oil
Brand: NuSun (www.FlorAlpFarms.ca)
Grown/Produced in: Mitchell, Ontario (100-200 miles from Toronto)
Cost / Availability: $17 for 1L... available at 4Life Organics
Oil is light coloured and has a medium sunflower seed flavour (uhhhh, duh). From the website, it seems as though the oil is grown/produced locally; sending this question through the company's website elicited no response.

Soybean Oil
Brand: Pristine Gourmet (www.pristinegourmet.com)
Grown/Produced in: Waterford, Ontario (<100 style="font-weight: bold;">

Canola Oil (extra virgin)
Brand: Pristine Gourmet (www.pristinegourmet.com)
Grown/Produced in: Waterford, Ontario (100-200 miles from Toronto, as crop is outsourced from other nearby farms, but processed/packaged in Waterford)
Cost / Availability: $8 for 250mL... available at Culinarium, Fiesta Farms
The most flavourful canola oil you've ever tasted; has a nutty quality to it.

Seed Booty

Hoooo-rah! Having just moved into a bigger apartment with a large balcony (100+ sq ft), I've been having dreams of container gardening. So last Saturday, I attended Seedy Saturday, Toronto's annual community seed exchange event. It was the perfect place to grab seeds if you're looking for rare, organic, heirloom and/or local seeds, and talk 1-on-1 with growing experts. It was held at the Wychwood Barns, a restored TTC (public transit) repair barn which now serves as a community and art space.

The event had a great turn-out; though a little breathing room and some more face time with seed sellers would have been nice. I went armed with a short list of seeds:

3 herbs - mint, coriander, basil
4 vegetables - kale, swiss chard, beets, hot peppers
1 edible flower - nasturtium

But seed mania got the best of me, and I ended up with 6 more seeds, including 5 donated by a container-gardener friend. So now I have seeds for mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, arugula and bell peppers too. Grand total: 15. Yikes.

I spent the rest of my seedy day peeping into thrift shops looking for planters (none yet), reading 2 gardening books from the library ("You Grow Girl" and "The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden", both really good references for beginners), and setting up a comprehensive gardening schedule and balcony layout based on sunlight requirements and companion planting. I've transformed into a garden geek, when did that happen. If it so tickles your fancy, you can check out my gardening schedule and layout, I welcome any and all comments!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0083wFSfTpO5XF7yYFvtAQ

How-To: Sprout in a Jar

Guess who's bizzzack---??? I've been busy moving, and vacationing, and unwinding from all the moving and vacationing, that I've been ignoring my lil' P-a-J for too long.

Let's talk about GROWING FOOD already. For a blog about local food, it's about frickin' time.

Jar sprouting: me love. With some common kitchen equipment, a tiny bit of apartment space and a little time, you too can help sprouts emerge from their hard shells and enter the real world. Not only is it fascinating to watch, but sprouting seeds improves its digestability and nutritional value. So go ahead and eat your cute little sprout babies.

You can sprout many dry beans or seeds from your local bulk store (e.g. chickpeas, wheat berries, quinoa), but the yields likely won't be as high as if you used seeds specifically sold for sprouting. I usually buy Mumm's brand, since this seems to be the only brand available in Toronto. You can buy a variety of Mumm's seeds at many shops, including Toronto Sprouts, The Big Carrot and Essence Of Life.

Before you start, check to make sure the seeds can be sprouted by the jar method.

Tools:

Wide-mouthed glass jar (I usually use a 1L mason jar)
2 tbsp sprouting seeds (my favourite: daikon radish seeds... spicy like wasabi! And they grow little white root hairs that look creepy and neat)
J-cloth or cheesecloth - cut to fit over the top of the glass jar opening
Elastic band
Medium-sized bowl

Directions:

Add 2 tbsp seeds into the jar. Secure cloth onto top of jar with elastic. Rinse seeds by adding water to jar (through the cloth), and draining water. Fill jar again to cover the seeds. Let seeds soak for 2-6 hrs. Drain water, invert jar, and prop on an angle in the bowl. Twice a day, say, when you wake up and before you go to sleep, add some water to the jar, swirl, drain, invert and prop. In 3-6 days, you'll have a jar full of sprouties ripe for the eatin'.


Home-Style Potatoes with Daikon Radish Sprouts
Season: Autumn or winter

I adapted this from The Veganomicon cookbook's "Diner Home Fries" recipe. You can change it up a bunch of ways.... add/sub chopped peppers, turmeric, cumin seeds, chili peppers. Serves 2 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes --- sliced into 1/2" thick pieces
1/4 onion --- chopped
a handful of fresh daikon radish sprouts
oil for frying
salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil. Add potatoes, and cook on medium heat until firm but can be pierced with a fork (10-15 mins). Drain.

Heat oil in a skillet on med-high heat. Add potatoes, arranging in a single layer in the skillet. Cook until nicely browned (7-10 mins), and stir to brown the other sides, adding oil if needed. Add onions, stir and cook for 3 mins. Add sprouts and cook 2 mins until onions are transparent. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Maitake Mushrooms

I was picking up some groceries at 4Life, a great lil' shop in Kensington Market that sells organic produce and bulk goods. Sometimes they'll have some interesting produce brought in by local farmers.

About a month ago, I noticed a box of unfamiliar fungi. The shrooms were little bunches of woody gills, sitting in a plain brown box, waiting for adoption. I was told they were maitake mushrooms, brought in from a mushroom farmer in Waterloo. Figuring these rare gems would probably cost a fortune, I bought the runt of the litter. He was just a little bigger than a toonie. (It rang up a measely 50 cents, but I was too embarrassed to ask for more).

I ate a little bit raw, and it was delicious. Nice mild earthy flavour. I broke the rest up and mixed it in with a half bowl of spaghetti, garlic and olive oil. M-m-mushroom. If only I had more.

How-To: Compost Food Scraps with Worms

A few months ago, my workplace purchased several vermicomposters. Pretty progressive move for a corporate head office. Yeah, it would have been a lot cooler if we got a big fluffy dog instead, but Rover can't turn food and paper scraps into nutrient-rich "soil" like worms can. Well.......... it's debatable, but let's just agree that I'm happy with the worms-in-office situation.

The worms were purchased and delivered from TheWormFactory.ca, a small local organic farm in Ontario. Through reading and working with the worms, I've quickly learned that vermicomposting....

- Doesn't stink (literally). Worm bins allow air circulation.
- Is a good way to use shredded paper scraps. Worms consume paper, and use it as bedding.
- Is a good way to use food scraps. Worms can consume their weight in food, each day! No onions, meat or fat/oil though. My worms seem to like apple scraps.
- Worms are very independent. They can survive days/weeks without having to give them food.

With some gentle persuasion from co-workers, I decided that I should start my own home vermicomposter. The castings would be used to fertilize my future crop plants. It was easy enough to start: take a handful from one of the existing bins (worms + castings), and mix it with a handful of shredded scrap paper in a tub (with air holes). Voila: my own wicked lil wormies.

I've also picked up some great vermicomposting tricks:

- When feeding, make a hole and fill with food scraps. Cover with shredded paper to create a smell-barrier.
- Trace feeding locations in a spiral pattern. That way, the worms will learn where to look for food, and the whole bin will be used equally.
- Always have 2 to 3" of shredded paper to cover the worm's environment.
- Add water if needed to ensure environment is moist.
- When the castings are ready for harvesting, feed worms applesauce (or other blended fruit/vegetable mix) on one side of the bin. Prop the bin up on the other side, and leave for 2 weeks. Almost all the worms will have migrated to the applesauce side, allowing you to scoop up worm-free castings from the other side of the bin. Easy as pie.

Please feel free to send me a message or email if you have any questions about vermicomposting!