Radish Love "Radish Chippies"

So. 

I have always avoided radishes. Never liked them. (Especially how they repeat themselves afterwards)

I was challenged by a friend of mine to rethink them... especially because they are one thing you can plant SUPER early, and eat within 3-5 weeks from sowing. I was IN! (but cringed about actually eating them)

 Enter:  Radish "Chippies" -- my son came up with the name.

Materials Needed

I used about 2 cups of fresh ruby-red babies, and came up with a great way to learn to love (or continue to)

I used a pampered chef mandolin slicer to get them nice and thin... my setting was at "2" (but would have rather used the saladmaster one that Lisa VT has, but she wasn't home while my creative kitchen juices were going!)

How it all went down:
2 cups whole radishes
1 tbsp grape seed oil (or oil of choice)
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry oregano

Details:
In a large bowl toss the above ingredients together.
(like an Italian Mamma makin' some salad)

350 degree oven, in middle rack about 15 minutes, give them a turn, and put down on lower rack to brown.

On Tray - 350 oven. Middle rack. 15 minutes. The move to bottom rack for another 10-15 minutes.

The conversion in my heart happened here. I now love these babies!

{Thankful}

Gardening for Canning and Freezing

If you are planning on starting a garden for the purpose of being able to can and process much of your bounty... here are some suggestions I have on what to grow for a season in your front or backyards.

Humble Beginnings in 2011

Keep in mind, I live in Canada... so for those of you what are in the USA, you may be able to grow other foods (like kumquats for example) If you have access to local farmers markets, be sure to weigh out the pros and cons to growing your own versus buying from a local farmer. Sometimes a plant takes more effort, money and energy than they are worth when you are doing smaller scale, backyard gardening. Here is a lovely link for working out the logistics for space, cost and time too.



 I know that the following few that we have grown and loved are GREAT for canning and freezing:

Veggies:

Beans - for Dill Pickle Beans, plain canned beans, or flash-frozen
Green, red and yellow peppers - freeze well for stuffing, can well for salsas, chutneys, corn relish, etc.
Cucumbers - for obvious reasons! PICKLES! RELISH!
Asparagus - keep in mind that this stuff takes 2 years to establish from crowns before you can begin harvesting. It's an "investment" in the backyward garden, best grown along a fence. Once it is done (very short season) you can plant low-rooting things like salad greens where it was... and them make sure you heavily mulch before the winter comes to protect the area. Makes DELICIOUS dills though.
Legumes - for drying and soaking/cooking later on. You have LOTS of choose from, and I wold say these are ONLY worth is if you have LOTS of space.. otherwise, they are cheaper in the grocery stores.
Onions - You can grow from seed (start NOW!) or sets (later)
Corn - a heavy feeder for those of you with backyard gardens... and it takes up quite a space of room to get a decent amt... but if you have the room... I say go for it.
Beets - Hello beautiful colour. We use blood bull beets from the seed savers exchange. NOM.
Others... if you want to "grow there" - pumpkin, squash, cabbage (for sauerkraut or Kimchi)

Fruits:

Tomatoes - hundreds of ways to use these babies. Make sure you get a variety that say sis processes well... or one that you love. One bush can yield 10-50 lbs of fruit too... so tomatoes are a MUST in this girl's garden

Ground Cherries - These are a staple in my garden from now on. Simple to grow. See my bog about them here: GROUND CHERRIES, and I snapped a photo of the back of the seed pack for your enjoyment. PS... they are apparently perennials too! PSS. I can't say enough about these babies!

First Berries 2012

Peaches, pears, apples, concord grapes, raspberries, blue berries, strawberries - all amazing for preserves and such. Just make sure you think about how much space the plants take up, and how long the plant takes to product a harvest. I would say that strawberries are a great place to start, but make sure you get the established trailing ones if you want a harvest this summer. Raspberries can be invasive, but also incredibly rewarding. Growing them at the back of your property along a fence is good.

Herbs:

Dill from Dedo's Garden in Innsifil, ON

Dill (for pickles)
Garlic (for pickles, pesto, etc.) - see blog post here about my little garlic helper :)
Basil - for pesto
Oregano
Thyme
Sage
Lemon Balm - for tinctures, flavoured liquors and simple syrups
Mint (lots of varieties) - same as above for purposes  also great dry for teas and homemade bath soaks
Lavender - same as above :)
Cone Flower (Echinacea)

Ready to Harvest

Made July 18th 2012 - used them as Rx this last winter and gave as gifts

A long way to run

I've been thinking a lot about our Nanny. As I write this blog post, I'm listening to Collective Soul's "run" --- and I can't help but think of her full life.


She was born in Macedonia in a small Village in 1930. She saw the wars. Her stories are incredible. She re tells them clearly reciting the images of helping the soldiers with their wounds, running back and fourth between villages with messages, and hiding away from the Gureilla Soldiers that would hide in the mountains above the villages.

Coming to Canada was a big deal.


Her family wanted a better life. Once here, they settled in the Hamilton and Toronto area, with other Macedonian families.

She and our Dedo met, married, and had 3 incredible kids. Tom, Diane and Julie. They are a testimony of the importance of family bonds, and sticking together, no matter what.

Nanny is jokingly referred to in our family as "the cat with 100 lives". Her body has been though SO much from a sickness standpoint, but she has always recovered. I don't know exact medical details (because there are so darn many!) but she has a bunch of miracles to talk about, and she gives her Creator all the glory. Rightfully so. If you saw her medical history, you would not believe what He has done in, through and with her.

My thoughts drift back and fourth to just how hard Nanny has worked her entire life. We recently visited her in Barrie, Ontario, and I kept on studying her hands in mine. Holding them. Turning them over. Feeling her tiny bones. Her knobby knuckles. The cool, smooth finger tips. Gently pressing on her purple and blue veins. The labour they have put out. Those incredible hands.

I asked her what God's been telling her lately. She always has something to say about Jesus, and I love her stories.

She spoke about a dream that she had, clearly. It was a vision that a large and healthy tree. The trunk was huge, and off the large branches there were hundreds of gifts. She was standing in this dream, looking at the tree. She felt inside her that God was showing her just how blessed she has been in her life. All of the branches were her family, and the gifts were things that God had blessed her family with. She said He was reminding her just how full her life has been. So full. She kept on repeating those words over and over.

"I've had such a full life".

Right now I wonder what she feels at night. In a retirement home room. Alone. Eating at a table with forced-friends. Wait for family to visit. Would you look on at others being visited by, and try and feel happy for them... and not sad for yourself? She is really blessed to have family with her weekly. So many of her mates are not. And it shows. They startle when you touch them. Not used to the interaction. I want to hug and kiss them all. Stroke their heads and brush their hair. Read to them. Tell them just how much they are loved.

I looked around while we were there at all of the sunken-in faces, the longing eyes. We stayed for dinner, and during the meal our son was laughing hysterically about something. Typically I would have asked him to keep it down... but glancing up around the room of the yearning on lookers... I saw dull eyes light up. Laughter. A child's laugh. Some were even brought to tears at the sound. (So I hammed it up a little, and kept him going for a little while to let them bask in the happy glow). :-)

Nanny lost her husband, our Dedo, just shy of a year ago, in May of 2012. They had been married for 60 years the year he peacefully passed. She was by his side. What would it be like spending that amount of time with someone, and then. They are gone. Bed lies empty. Sheets cold.

What would it be like closing your eyes at night, not knowing if you'll wake.

What is is like being told when to eat. What to eat. Not being able to cook any longer  when your life's passion was cooking and serving your family and friends. To not garden. Would your hands cry out for soil and your palms for calluses? Would your body ache not of old age, but of loss of something much deeper.

Passions lost. Freedom gone. Your very existence being dictated by a system or institution's schedule.

Would you pretend to your family like everything is OK... knowing it would hurt them to know otherwise.

Would you have any regrets of not travelling to see the world. Not being able to travel any longer for purely health related reasons. What would it be like to live a full life, but wondering how much further you have to run... until its... Gone.

I roll these things over in my head sitting here, listening to the sink drip and hearing the buzz of the dryer. Simple house sounds. Would you miss those too?

One thing is for certain. Nanny has the rested assurance that she will see her Jesus' shining face, and looks very much forward to the day when she can run with Him in Heaven. Be reunited with her husband and relatives.

Her joy is in Him. Her hope is in Him. Her life is cradled in His hands.

I am so thankful for her stories. Her life. The lives she has created, the legacy that she has left. I am thankful for her heart. Big and wide. I am thankful for being adopted in, grafted into the tapestry of her family, seamlessly as her granddaughter.

I am blessed.

Thankful.

Making Kelp Fertilizer

We took this photo out at St. John's Conservation Centre here in Niagara.
Our son asked is the moss was "old seaweed". 

The boys and I (Meap and SK) started some lovely sea kelp fertilizer. It would be ready in about a week or so, and we'll introduce it to a few experimental plants (to make sure its good) and then... I will report here how it's g(row)oing! I anticipate that the valuable minerals and nutrients will be a yummy treat to our babies.

I would encourage you to do your own research and see what you come up with. All I know is, commercial liquid kelp fertilizer is EXPENSIVE!

NOTE: *** I was hoping to find Canadian Kelp, sold here in Niagara but there is none to buy when I called around to the 4 health-food stores... so I spent the $1.99 at the local Asian Grocery Store, and the product I found was harvested in China. It hurt me to compromise my usual "buy local" "buy Canadian" philosophy... but this was an exceptional experiment, and not a "typical" purchase pattern of our household. ***

Rather than making a blog entry, I used my YouTube account this time, and you can view the video here.

Making Kelp Fertilizer for Seedlings <--- click here for the youtube video.

Enjoy and let me know what you use for your seedlings to give them a boost of nutrients!

Between nerdy gardening friends

Sharing and gardening go hand in hand. No one "knows it all"... which I believe is part of the magic of gardening... and everyone is all so willing to share their wins and losses with gardening over the years.

Here is my on-going "makes me happy" list of why gardening is something every person can get excited about.

Become a scavenger for these bad-boys. Recycle bins around the end of May and into June are a gold mine in my 'hood.
Just be sure to wash them out thoroughly before using them when transplanting your seedlings. It avoids disease transfer and is general good practice when dumpster diving. You can be choosy too... they were free.... so be sure to re-recycle any that you find are broken, damaged or too weak to hold another season of growing babies. Generally, free stuff makes me happy. 

Getting all washed-up before Julia comes over to help re-pot the over 50 tomato seedlings earlier this week. I used dish soap first and gave them a hot hot bath (as hot as my hands could tolerate . Then I emptied out the tub. Rinsed it best I could. Then I re-filled with vinegar (about 2 cups) to a 3 inch deep tub of warm water. We (son and I) scrubbed them with a Norwex Cloth, and let them air dry.

Flats are great. So are flats with plugs (think homemade Popsicle mold shaped) . I think in years coming, I will invest in getting  flats with plugs to avoid root disruption. Using the flat bed method is fine... but you end up doing a lot of root ripping, which makes me cringe. Not pictured here are the clear dome lids. You don't need anything fancy. Any container will do. Used spinach containers from No Frills are great too.

Have a willing "go to person" for your questions on gardening. Mine is Rose Bartel of Bartel Organics off Lakeshore Rd. / Fire Lane 18 ... and Linda Crago from Tree and Twig Heirloom Vegetable Gardens. This is a photo of her on her farm last weekend, from a seedling starting course. 

There are thousands of great groups online. Here is one that I started: Niagara Garden Idea Swap - feel free to join!

My Healthy Green Family  - like this page... it's a great recourse for North American gardeners
Garden Coaches Chat: No Guff. Lots of Fun. This one is great for Canadian Gardeners... and buy the book!

On Twitter, you can #hashtag your questions to #gardenchat and you will be linked up with thousands of gardening friends. You can follow me on Twitter here

On youtube I found the worlds sweetest man... Navajopa31 - if anything... just listen to one of his videos to hear his sweet accent. I love that he refers to his wife as "my bride" ... CUTE! He lives in Virginia (I think), and has a summer home/cottage with an incredible garden. I have learned so much about soil building and tomato planting/growing from him!

On the world wide web I found Margaret Roach, who left her high-powered job as working for THE Martha Stewart to become a steward of her land in Vermont. She is 20+ years in the making of incredible gardens (flower and veg) I check in with her website consistently. She is humble, well-read, and I trust her advice. Find her website Away to Garden, and spend an entire afternoon shifting through the hundreds of articles she has written over the years. 

Find some local friends to share the love with. 
Seen here is Steph and Julia. Both amazing women,  mammas, 
and garden lovers. I also cherish Laura T, my aunts, Valerie H, Tammara H, Elly VH and my Lisa VT. They are all so wonderful and awesome mammas and gardeners in their own regards, and I am thankful for their help and advise. 

One last thing about abundance and sowing an extra row... Garden of Eating Niagara is an incredible volunteer based oragnization that harests local fruits and veggies from people's front yard trees, local gardens, etc... where abundance or waste is an issue. They set up a time they can send over their kind volunteers and will take care of any unwanted or unused fruits and donate them to local folks in need. Wonderful organization. Here is something they are rightfully bragging about on their website:  

Since its founding in 2009, The Garden of Eating — Niagara has harvested and delivered more than 5,600 pounds of fresh fruit to local food banks, shelters and soup kitchens.

In 2012, we harvested 2,057 pounds of mulberries, red and black currants, crabapples, sugar pears, bosc pears and kieffer pears. Thanks to everyone who made this our best season yet. Here's to getting even bigger and better in 2013.

Happy Gardening Season 2013 friends! Share your bounty and sow an extra row this summer. Your local food banks and neighbours will be forever thankful.