Showing posts with label homelife. Show all posts

The Dark Side Of Organic Broccoli

Wednesday, August 10, 2011


Our family loves broccoli.
Steamed, with cheese sauce, roasted with garlic and olive oil, it's all good to us.
That makes having access to organically grown broccoli in your own back yard a huge bonus.
We can eat all I can grow. And I only grow organically.
But. . .
There is a dark side to organically grown broccoli.
It rears it's ugly head when you are eating your delicious, garlicky, roasted broccoli, savouring every bite, when your horrified gaze beholds one of these. . . . .!!!


Only instead of being green, plump and squirmy, he's crispy, curled, and roasted!
And he's on your fork!!!
Thankfully, Henry and Jesse just shrugged and said " Oh well, it's just extra protein."
It could have been so much worse. . .
Had Crystal been over for dinner last night, her shrieks would have been heard around the globe!
Mom's would likely have joined her.
Please don't tell either one of them about this or they may never come for dinner again!

And now I'm off with a big plastic container and garden gloves for a lengthy caterpillar picking session.
Shudder!!!


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How Can You Tell Rosa's Spending To Much Time In The Garden?

Saturday, May 14, 2011

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 The spiders got tired of her getting into every nook and cranny in the garden making it impossible to keep their webs intact, and decided to move their work inside.
I'd say they they are doing a fine job, wouldn't you???
I'm not so sure about me though. . . .


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Farmer's Markets

Thursday, March 17, 2011



Local Food
 I promised Tamara that I would be posting today and I've been out so much that I hadn't had time to sit with the computer.
This evening though, Ev and I went to a little Farmer's Market on the north end of the city.
It was very tiny, but quite fun because most of the vendors were very happy to chat with you and let you know all about their products.
 At the bakery booth, I had a chance to sample some really nice rye bread made with locally grown rye as well as bringing home a baby brioche.  I've been wanting to try my hand with those but had never actually tasted it, so now I'll know how it's supposed to come out.
I bought some freshly milled wheat from a local farmer who is growing heritage grains (used by the bread baker) and if I like it I'm going to buy a big bag of wheat grains and mill it myself at Ev's house. I do love my bread!
Other local stuff I took home was whipped honey (Yum!) an elk garlic sausage (Henry's going to be sooo happy!) and some cranberry breakfast sausage. Since I'm going to be making deer sausage one day soon I'm looking for ideas.
You'd think I would have stopped there but I also brought home two dozen homemade pirogi, a chicken pot pie and a Cornish pastie (which I'm going to have to share with someone. It's HUGE!!)
 All that should have been more than enough, but I couldn't resist one last thing. Cheddar shortbread with a touch of cayenne pepper. It was quite pricey but I have tried to make cheddar shortbread a few times and it's never quite turned out. I figured this was a good way to find out how it's supposed to taste. You know so mine will be better next time!
Just don't tell Henry, because I'm not going to share!
And now that I've made you all hungry and drooly I'm going to say goodnight.
5:30 comes early. . .

*Hmmmm. . . Looks like I may not have done anything wrong when I made the shortbread. I can't say I like this stuff either. Jesse  tried it and didn't like the taste. Sigh. . . Oh well, you can't win them all. I guess I'll share with Henry now. . .


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A Warm Fall

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Jesse's opinion on the long spell of unseasonably warm fall weather:
"It stinks!"
"It just doesn't feel right!"
"It should just get cold and snow already!!"
??!!!
Can this be MY son???


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Australian Heritage Pumpkins

Thursday, October 29, 2009


So I wanted to utilize my greenhouse for as many months as possible. . .

You know, to make me feel less guilty about the amount of money we spent on it.

I decided to try pumpkins.

I could, of course, have chosen a regular pumpkin, but what fun would that be? I choose to grow an Australian heritage pumpkin instead.

It was an awfully pretty pumpkin with it's unusual bluish grey skin and I'm always up for a growing challenge!
I ran into some problems.

There wasn't a whole lot of pollination going on and I couldn't figure out if the bees were having a problem finding the flowers in the greenhouse or if there was some other reason I had only one tiny pumpkin on the whole vine. (considering how few mini pumpkins I got off of the rampant vines in the front garden I'm thinking other factors were in play.)


Fall came and the vine died back. Truth be told, the vines came close to death several times through the summer as I found it very difficult to keep it watered even with the enormous pot I used.
I brought my lone pumpkin inside and used him as decoration for fall.
He began to get soft rather quickly and as I wanted to save the seed for next year, I decided to cut him open.

Easier said than done!!

I nearly killed myself trying to cut this guy open! I have never cut into anything that hard.

Now, I had only intended to harvest the seeds as I am not at all fond of pumpkin pie, or any pumpkin dish.

This guy was tricky though.


As he split in two, the most refreshing aroma of cucumber wafted through the kitchen.
I had second thoughts about putting most of him in the compost bin.

Henry said if I made any thing pumpkinny I would have to eat it myself.

Hmmm. . .

I decided to work on saving the seeds while I thought things over.

The plan is to give seeds from this pumpkin to a few friends in my neighbourhood next spring.
Plants planted from saved seed begin to adapt to local growing conditions over time and I hope that by spreading it around the neighbourhood a bit we will see even more of that.

We shall see. . .


Staring at this beautiful pumpkin I had a brilliant idea!

Who else to give it to but my good friend Ev, who spent time living in Australia with her husband and oldest daughter?!

Look what this pumpkin came back to me as!
Pumpkin risotto!


Complete with chopped nuts on top. Ev seems to have a thing for topping things with nuts.

I.do.not.

Shudder. Sorry Ev, but there is nothing worse than enjoying a soft creamy food only to be ambushed by crunchy nuts!

I hate to say it. . . but I scraped the nuts off.


I did however, add Parmesan cheese and noticed how lovely the chunks of pumpkin looked nestled next to the creamy rice.

But the question is. . .

Did it taste good??
Did it ever!
Yum!!
We'll have to grow more again next year Ev!


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Oops!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I thought I was writing a post for this blog.
I hit publish and to my surprise, the post showed up in my gardening blog. ( okay, Jurrina's gardening blog. I think you have to publish more than your guest writer to claim a blog as youur own!)
When I thought about it however, I realized that it was very appropriate there and so I have left it.
Want to check it out (and find out about the garden movie)?
Hop over to http://rosa-pottingshed.blogspot.com/
Happy Canada Day


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Please, Don't Judge Me!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

It's been very busy around here, with me spending much of my time doing rather than writing about doing.


I've been on a field trip. (which I will one day blog about on the Potting Shed. Sorry Marlene!)


Tried something new while baking bread.


Been hard at work in my own greenhouse.

Started ripping out much of the plant material in the back yard to prepare it for my new interests. (Fruits and veggies!)

Attended meetings to get the new community garden going.

Been biking to work whenever I can.

Had a birthday.

And spent yesterday in the garden.
Digging, transplanting, watering and. . .

Pruning the topiaried cedar I purchased for $24.99 at a big box store a few years ago.
It wasn't the perfect specimen with the top being rather wonky, but at that price I was not going to be too picky!

It sat in a lovely blue pot on the front steps all season. Fall arrived and I knew it had no chance of surviving through the winter in the pot. The front garden wasn't ideal either as it tends to be quite windy during the winter.
But that is where I had always dreamed of having a topiary and for $24.99 I figured it was worth a try.
It survived!
And grew.
Now I have to tell you that pruning is not my forte.
So I didn't prune it at all last year.
This year it had to be done.

Courage in hand (as well as sharp pruners!) I approached the shaggy cedar.
After a while I gained a bit of confidence.
Whoo Hoo!
It looked like I knew what I was doing after all!

The time had come to finish it off.
Following the spiral I began working on the wonky top.
I began to clip and snip.
I stood back.
Surveyed my work.
And had the fleeting panicked thought that you can't glue branches back on once they have been clipped off.
Because you see, I hadn't followed the spiral properly.
So. My topiary is now a spiral topped by a little pompom.
And every time I see it I giggle uncontrollably.


Because, well, it looks ridiculous!
The big problem however, is that I have, without remorse, mocked badly done topiary in the past.
So all I really want to do is put a big sign beside my topiary saying. . .
Please, Don't Judge Me By My Topiary!
Giggle.


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Sunflowers

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

As many of you know ,I started this blog with the idea that it would be all about gardening.

I started out okay, but well, other things started to happen.

Once we began renovating the bathrooms , one thing lead to another and other things needed doing.

Suddenly I was spending more time shopping (shudder!) than I was gardening.

I hardly did anything I had planned.

Plants I had started from seed died waiting to be planted in the spring, due to my lack of a greenhouse and too many nights taking care of other people's plants ( but I love you anyways Tam!)

I had planned to plant sunflowers as I love how they look in fall.

That didn't happen, but, thankfully the birds did it for me!

After spending all of last week cleaning and organizing the house I finally, by Saturday evening was able to say I was done.

I had reached the bottom of the laundry pile( a twice yearly event), scrubbed and vacuumed and rearranged the living room.

The time had come to use the lovely sunflowers in the house.

Here's where they went. . .


The garden room.


By my favorite chair.

In my pretty new bathroom.


In the kitchen.

And then, for something a little different,

Some late flowering clematis paired with a bit of sea lavender.

Fresh flowers from the garden, a clean house and, oh yes, applesauce cake made with our homemade applesauce and butter icing. (yes I use real butter!)

Life is very good.


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Look what the delivery man droppped off!

Monday, September 8, 2008


Blessings have be raining down on us in a big way lately!

I've been having trouble with my oven for quite a while.

The repairman came and fixed it.( For a price.)

It worked for a while, but then. . .

I started having trouble with the oven again.

Henry said "It's time for a new one."

Really!

Whoo hoo!

It took a bit of convincing on his part to get me to agree to a higher priced model. (I know, I'm weird.)


As you can see, this baby comes with 5 burners, one of them an oval in the center. There is a cast iron griddle that fits over that burner or you can put a grate over it and just plunk a big pot on there.

How amazing is that?!

The best part though (aside from the fact that it's gas) is the convection oven.

That's right ladies. . .

I'm going to be baking/roasting up a storm this fall.

Once I've finished in the garden you will likely find a lot of posts coming out of the kitchen.

I can hardly wait!


*And Jenny?I tried out the original recipe for cinnamon bread last week. It's almost perfect. A little sagging in the center but. . .I think it might be the oven. As soon as I'm hooked up I'll try it again and then I'll post the recipe. If it doesn't come out perfect I'll still post the recipe and let you fiddle with it! Lol.


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Back to work

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Well, the holidays are truly over.

We had our vacation at the cabin. ( Stories and pictures to follow later this week.)

My mom's moved into her new apartment. A big thanks to Uncle Henry and cousin Karl who drove her up here from the Okanagan and to cousin Marie and her boys for coming into the city and helping to haul all that stuff up two flights of stairs. ( There was no elevator and my mom has a lot of stuff! And this after she pared down significantly!)

School started yesterday and with it so did school bus driving.

For the first year ever,I didn't have nightmares that involved leaving late, getting lost, forgetting students, getting stuck in the mud, or deciding to take a nap halfway through the trip!

What a relief.

I can't decide if that's because I'm more experienced(15 years this year) or just had too many other things going on to even have had time to think about it!


Henry finished my gazebo .This means the whole front garden needs some revamping.

Whoo Hoo!

I love revamping!

I'll be posting on this process as well and will be looking for opinions as it gets underway.

Volunteer work has begun and my cousin L ,who moved here recently with her family has offered to help me put on this Year's Winter Bazaar.(There is talk of a petting zoo, complete with baby kangaroo!) So we'll be working on that Thursday.

And then there's the mysterious UPS delivery. . .
Much work must be done before those packages can be opened.

Whew!

Fall is here.

And. . .

For Tamara, who wanted to know what I did with the free Darvonda mums I received.

A few found good homes with friends.


I used mine here.
Four were used in the school gardens I've put in across the street.





Complete with Darvonda birdhouses. (also free!)



That leaves one.

So if anyone out there wants it . . .

Drop by for coffee and a visit and it's yours to take home.


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