Flying, Frocks and Fishies.....

this past week has been a busy busy one, not much gardening was done... it's still chilly and very unwelcoming to my peppers and tomatoes and down right killing to the 2 little cucumber plants that i bought... AND all are in my greenhouse with heat pads and lights... i can 'feel' them shivering in their pots... i managed to build a few barriers from Digger Dora and maybe even the bunnies and occasional deer that might wander closer to the house....

last Friday daughter and i got to go to a lecture for Autism and anxiety...Facing Your Fears: Group Therapy for Managing Anxiety in Children with High-Functioning Autism,  it was an an 8 hour day presentation for parents and professionals and then on saturday another 8 hour day for professionals only, put on by ACT ( Autism Community Training)  and the host speaker was Dr. Judy Reaven from the University of Colorado.. Dr. Reaven is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics,  Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine and is the Director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic of JFK Partners...some of the methods of dealing with anxiety are in the video on this link  it will give you an idea of some of the lecture... daughter bought the book set Facing Your Fears which includes a therapist manual, child's workbook and parents workbook... one of the first things we are going to work on... bees and wasps!!!
i'm glad i was invited along, was well worth it...

before getting the lecture we got to fly to Vancouver... on a small plane, a bit lumpy but fun...here's a view as we were leaving Nanaimo Harbour...

crossing Georgia Strait

Vancouver Harbour

the size plane we flew in

 on the return trip we took the ferry and i got some rather 'chilly' shots of some of the coastal mountains by Horseshoe Bay... rather reminds me of the Fiords of Norway perhaps... and yes.. unusual at this time of the year...

Vancouver Skyline

bye bye Vancouver..... i'm so not a city gal.....

well that was Friday... Saturday was a fun day.... eldest granddaughter's prom day.... so old... just seems like yesterday she was a baby toddling about.....

what fun... down to the waterfront pictures galore... sushi for dinner,  then off to the dance... then after parties....
ahhh to be young!!

Sunday..... new day to do things..... the weather was stellar still and so the other two grandkids and i went to the beach.....

i loaned them my camera and they took some great pictures

of one of the eels they found

they had great fun... the eldest found a bucket and they wandered the beach looking for critter treasures... rocks and shells overturned, crabs a plenty, some bullheads (sculpin) and a few starfish...

and this dead fish below... which we think is a Pacific Needlefish, scanning the internet i came up blank.. anyways if you know what it is.. please let me know... 

and now you know why so little gardening this week....

p.s.  thanks to queen of string who knew who this little guy is...   http://www.elasmodiver.com/Bay_Pipefish_Pictures.htm

Bitten by the bug.......

if your sqeamish... don't read any further.... if you want to know by what... keep reading....

last Saturday i was out in the garden, making fences to keep digger dora out of the beds and generally tidying up... went to throw in some laundry and something in my chest was poking me... i actually thought i'd managed to get a blackberry thorn stuck under my bra strap.....

wrong!!

a tick...a nasty little black legged tick burrowed into my flesh...YUCK... now i can put up with a lot of insects but ticks are not one of them... they are a bit like playing Russian Roulette... round and round we go, which one is a carrier.....of ... Babesiosis, Colorado Tick Fever, Ehrlichiois, Lyme Disease, Relapsing Fever,  Rocky Mountain Fever, Tick Paralysis and Tularemia...   depending upon where you live of course......

grossed out yet??? i am!!

this year has been an incredible year for ticks here... i've found at least a dozen of the little devils on the dogs...usually i get them right away, put a drop or 2 of tea tree oil on a Qtip and dab on the tick.. within an hour the tick is dead and removal easier...

anyways...

it was Easter Weekend so doctor's office was closed until today... i went  in complete with a photo of the area where it's all red and swollen and the tick in a bag, (mine i killed with teatree oil but today was told they lab requests live specimens)....   already i know that i'm going to have to make a few waves in order to get treated..... why you might ask.... because Lyme disease is not well known, not well addressed and finally the government is realizing,  poorly diagnosed.... how do i know this??? because last year i went to a seminar on Lyme Disease on Vancouver Island it seems there are some very serious issues.. one being that a great number of people were told there is 'no' Lyme Disease on the island... hmmm i say, considering of the at least 100 people at the seminar, everyone of the audience either had Lyme Disease or knew of someone with it.... so many of the folks said the same story.. that's not possible, not here, couldn't be a tick bite, must be a spider and the list of excuses goes on... fortunately someone is finally waking up...
here is an article from The Vancouver Sun regarding the B.C. government commissioning a report on Lyme Disease in B.C. ... the findings are:  "testing is poor," there is "no treatment for chronic Lyme disease patients," "the true incidence of Lyme disease in B.C. is unknown," "the majority of GPs lack knowledge about Lyme disease" and "the current state of diagnostic methods for chronic Lyme and other related infections is poor."  i'd have to concur..... the doctor i had today was good.. i'm glad... she finally agreed that prevention was worth it and gave me a prescription for the antibiotics but not before i repeated several times that i have friends who have Lyme Disease and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy... they were ignored, told they had any number of other things including 'all in their heads' here's the name of a counsellor you should see...they are both in serious condition from 'side affects' of the Lyme Disease.. all because they weren't treated immediately.....

the moral of  my post today is if you've been bitten, try and get the offending tick ALIVE in a jar, get treatment as soon as possible.... and if you have to nudge the Doctor into prescribing antibiotics so be it... an ounce of prevention is  worth a pound of cure... or in the case of Lyme maybe not even a cure....

here is a list of Foundations:
CanLyme (Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation)
The Lyme Disease Foundation
American Lyme Disease Foundation
Lyme Disease Network
just to name a few
and a very good film about it  
Under Our Skin
you can find excerpts and trailers on youtube by typing in Under Our Skin....

a good online news article:
CBC news

this is it after a couple of hrs... when i first discovered the tick,  the area around the tick was a raised red mass about the size of a quarter.... what you can't see here is that it's very sore and raised up and actually hurt... until this morning it was like that, this morning it's still the red centre with what looks like a blister in the middle......had i not been more informed i might have thought 'oh it's just a bite' and not bothered with the doctor...  

Earth Day 2011 .... love our earth.....

whether your on the beach or beside the ocean

wandering in the forest

 or in the desert

big

or small

or just hanging around...

wherever you are

to you all...

“Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.”

Ayn Rand

Beauty is only Forest deep.......

and only a few steps away from the garden... yesterday i spotted a Trillium peeking out from underneath one of the fir trees... 



beside another tree is a busy busy mound of red and black ants.. nature's cleaners.. they aren't nice if you wander too close to their nest, so i stayed away... i've accidently stepped too close before and yikes.. i was a hopping and stripping off clothes , much to the delight of my daughter who got to witness it... they maybe small but quite the biting power...

and i found Trouble..... the entrance to Trouble......

and the exit of Trouble....

bunny trouble!!!



every once in awhile i see that waskly wabbit running around and now i know where Trouble lives... i won't disturb Trouble as it seems the dogs haven't found the burrow and the cat from across the road chased Trouble but got sidetracked and wandered off after easier pickings... but i'm going to have to wrap wire around my fruit trees ... i did have the cherry tree wired, but i can see if Trouble and i are going to co-exist i'll have to protect my trees...

i've been pretty busy lately, i'm working on the original raised bed, not done yet, but getting there... i've planted a second batch of peas, all my walla walla onions and shallots, some beets and all the brassicas... i still have covers over everything, still far to early not too.. this week, i woke up to ice on the car... a reminder that the warmer days are just a tease..... momma nature just dangles a hint of warmth then poof ... frostbite!!

Big Worm Little Snake....

i've been busy busy.... digging, mulching, spreading manure and compost... all actual 'pre-garden' stuff that needs to be done... the price of veggies is out of this world, when one cauliflower costs $2.50 and a cucumber is $1.50 or more one needs to expand the garden space!!!
this year is the 'turn over the raised beds" year... a lot of work but not something i do on a regular basis.. normally i would just top up and or scratch the surface with fresh rotted compost or well aged manure, but this year the 10 huge bags of aged manure from granddaughter's highschool football team, the 2 old compost piles and the bags and bags of 'stewed' greens from my friends house are all being put to good use...  in between rain and cold and icky weather i've managed to turn over most of the raised beds, topped up around the fruit trees and am now working on the original raised bed i had....

it's old and most people would consider not worth having but over the years supplied me with potatoes and squash and different herbs as well as a colourful supply of daylillies..... the bed originated with a load of top soil that i never got finished moving, the season was getting late so i decided i would just put a frame around it and make do... well that lasted a couple of years, then my son in law and daughter decided it was 'ugly' and made me a beautiful big E raised bed, which is most awesome i must say.... see the pile of rocks in the left side of the picture?    i've spotted many a snake or alligator lizard sunning themselves on the warm rocks in spring and summer... i love those slug patrollers!!!

i'm not sure how much i'm going to do with the bed this year, but i'm going to divide it into sections, put in some squashes and a very thick layer of hay around them and pray that the beds don't get too dry over the summer....
i tend to be a bit of a 'buddhist' gardener... i have issues with squashing slugs and insects, stepping on snails or worms so i'm ever vigilant about trying to not shortening the lives of many a critter... here are a couple of the residents i unearthed today.... a sign that i must be doing something right in the garden... balance is wonderful thing......

When April Comes.......

When April Comes!


When April comes with softly shining eyes,
And daffodils bound in her wind-blown hair,
Oh, she will coax all clouds from out the skies,
And every day will bring some sweet suprise,--
The swallows will come swinging through the air
When April comes!

When April comes with tender smile and tear,
Dear dandelions will gild the common ways,
And at the break of morning we will hear,
The piping of the robins crystal clear--
While bobolinks will whistle through the days,
When April comes!

When April comes, the world so wise and old,
Will half forget that it is worn and grey,
Winter will seem but as a tale long told--
its bitter winds with all its frost and cold
Will be the by-done things of yesterday,
When April comes!


Virna Sheard

Help!!!!

please.... i've noticed that on other people's blogs i show up as "home" not as Roast Garlic and Other Yummy Things...... sighhhh i've searched and searched and changed a few things, but still comes up as "home"........ anyone have any ideas what i can do to fix it?   oh another issue that drives me crazy... i put the pictures in then when i publish it the text comes up beside, not below where i put it...

speaking of home... the 'homespread' is coming along ... in between the incessant rain and grey, i've managed to take some beautiful aged cow manure and spread it around my Rhubarb and Strawberries, dig it into some of my raised beds and even deposit into my newly moved composter...my composter was originally over by the comfrey and the hops and was useful until the bear came and lopped off it's top... after that i never really used it so the compost in it sat for several years.... i dug up that black gold, sifted and spread liberally over the manure that i'd put around the Rhubarb... i'm envisioning Rhubarb Pie ... mmmmgood futuristic thought .....

the above picture shows the future Rhubarb Pie and Dora the Digger's latest dig... the brat!!!

things are slow this year, including me... an ever annoying neck and shoulder issue that is only allowing me to dig and do a few things at a time... an hour here and there per day... but i guess it's better than nothing... and since i've not figured out away for Dora the Digger to dig in appropriate spots i'll just continue to putz along....as for my seedlings all the lettuces, arugula, onions have managed to come up abundantly but the rest is a bomb... not one single Milk Thistle has sprouted, only 1 Black Cherry Tomato seed and only a few dill seeds managed to sprout...

first planting of peas are up... YAY!!!!
this morning i planted some Squash seeds... if any manage to sprout i'm just going to call them Succulent Suprise.... originally i had several  different types of seeds that i'd saved from either my own Spagetti squash from the garden or the Delicia  and Carnival i'd bought from the local farmer's market....and a most delicious Butternut that a friend gave me from her garden.. i was dilligent in cleaning and drying, all nicely labelled ready to go... until i took them to my greenhouse..... i was distracted and got to doing something else in there and whoosh my arm hit them and splat on the floor they went..... anyways.... Succulent Suprise was planted this morning... hopefully some will sprout!! 

Be afraid..........

very afraid....... yesterday in ' Take back Urban Home-stead(ing)s 'there was a lengthy discussion on Monsanto and seeds and one of the statements on the Monsanto page was "In the hands of farmers, better seeds are helping the world grow more, while using less. Researchers around the world, in both the public and private sectors, are working to improve seeds through the use of advanced breeding and biotechnology."

the catch word that got to me was BREEDING..... i had no idea that seeds bred... not realizing that Monsanto also was 'playing God' in the animal world too... i must have been sleeping...... missed a few years i guess...

i made comment about the breeding part and nobody replied to it so that got me snooping around on the net and i found a link to a movie which shows what Monsanto is doing and if continues will be doing to everyone on this planet....be afraid.... very afraid....

Wide Eye Cinema presents........   Patent For a Pig: The Big Business of Monsanto

the movie is not current but i think very valid as there are many 'new' and 'current' things that Monsanto has done that should make you go hmmmmmmmm and run to your nearest garden and plant those heritage, unmodified seeds and tend to your unpatented GMO free fed flock of critters......

Houston we have a problem.......

today's post has been eaten...... just a few biscuits, crumbs and the ripped remains of the paper bag remain....

the above 'mutt shot' shows the guilty ones... Dora to the left, Sampson to the right....
innocence exudes from every whisker and those moist brown eyes just beg for forgiveness..... burp, slurp and a drink of water and the evidence was almost consumed...
fortunately i'd already given a few away to Brownie and Chewy, daughter's dogs and to her 3 degu's, 2 rats and 2 ferrets.. all loved them...

my recipe isn't exact because there is no rising, no 'chemistry' beyond holding together enough to be cut out and baked...

Peanut butter, Molasses and Carob Cookies

2 cups Quinoa Flour
1 cup  Kamut Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cup Kamut flakes
2/3 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp. flax meal
3 tbsp. brewers yeast or Engevita Yeast (NOT rising yeast for bread)
1/2 cup of carob powder or 1 cup of carob chips
1 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of molasses
approx 1 cup of water  (enough to make a semi sticky dough)

mix all together adding enough water to make a semi sticky dough....
take a cookie sheet and line with waxed paper or parchment paper put some of the dough on it and cover with another sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper... roll out approximately 1/2 inch thick (like regular cookies) and cut out with your favourite cookie cutter.. place on another cookie sheet and bake approximately 1 hr at 300 degrees.....

for a variation which i actually prefer...

bake 20 mins at 300 degrees  then remove from cookie sheet and place on dehydrator racks and dry til crispy dry...

one of the reasons i used many different types of flours is because i have them.. some i have had for quite awhile and eventually they will go rancid.. so what a good way to use them up....anyways, i'm not fond of using wheat for dog treats so usually will use other types of flours such as Quinoa, coconut, barley, oat and even different bean flours...
while dehydrating my house was filled with the smell of peanut butter and molasses.. mmmmm

so i guess the proof of deliciousness is in the eating... burppppp

Fungal beauty......

i think the Shiitake Mushroom is a rather beautiful creature... majestic even...

well i'm just impressed because it actually grew, i didn't kill it with kindness by overwatering....

the Oyster Mushroom not so graceful.. a clump of tasty goodness tho....

so all of a sudden i had a massive amount of fungal food and what to do with it... i made a stirfry and still had tons left over....

i love my dehydrater... almost as much as my pressure canner...

it's old and very well loved and has made copious quantities of fruit leathers, dried tomatoes, peppers, plums, raisins, jerky ... whatever was available to be dried.... i even tried potatoes but that wasn't such a great experiment... onions were the worst i must say... had to set up a place on the deck... the onion scented 'eu d cologne' wasn't exactly delightful... long lasting tho ;)    

at the moment my house smells like a simmering pot of mushroom soup.... not so bad huh!!!

i can't wait to toss in bits of dried mushroom in my next pot of soup....

MMMMmushrooms and Munchies....

i have more to come in my Upcoast series, but taking a break to show you some things...
MMMMMmushrooms are a growing!! Last week i went to Seedy Sunday in town and had a blast, bought some seed exchange seeds and some mushroom bags....the below picture shows Shiitake to the left and Tree Oyster mushroom to the right.. when i first got them i forgot to take a picture... but this is mid-week...

the next picture is 2 days later... the Tree Oyster on the left and the Shiitake on the right...

the pictures below i took this morning... a week and a day past when i first bought the mushrooms...
i don't know much about them but i'm thinking that dinner might includ a few mushrooms :D .... yum yum

the guy that i bought them from had a printout on each type of mushroom so i followed the directions on each mushroom... so far so good... the Shiitake isn't as prolific as the Tree Oyster but i do see small nodes popping up so maybe they are just slower than the Tree Oyster... anyways... yummmmmy in my tummy!!

i've been planting away in my greenhouse as well... it's just not big enough so in my mind by next year i'll have a bigger one or at least another area where i can have seedlings ...

arugula and cos lettuce is just getting going... i no longer have them on the heat mats, but will cover them if the temperature drops down to freezing... my greenhouse gets pretty darn cold when the temperature drops down, so ever vigilant ...

some cress and more different varieties of lettuces...

above you can see the seedling trays are in a box.. i was fortunate to find some fish carrier boxes from a local pet store..... they were suprised that i asked for them but they make awesome seed warming boxes... i put the heat mats in the bottom, cover with a sheet of plastic to keep it dry and then the trays or plugs ... works great.. when the temp dropped to below freezing in the greenhouse, they were toasty warm at a sweating 60 plus degrees....

below u can see how my little seedlings are covered... with what you might ask?  foraged goodies!!  i truly am a scavenger for things.. these covers are from a friend who had to buy new furniture and these were their covers... recycle reuse i say... the fabric is very similar to reemay which is used for crop covers... anyways.. thanks Cindy....

thought i'd show you my 50cent treasures from the hospital thrift store.... there were about 20 of them ... those clips apparently are shower curtain clips, but they work great for holding up my seed covers...

and last but definately not least...... i sorted out my seed stash.. some seeds are from a few years ago, but hey if even only a few seeds sprout so be it... i've acquired a few more packages this year including a package of peanuts... something that doesn't grow here, but thought i'd give it a go in the greenhouse....

i still have a lot of things to sprout, such as spinach, leeks, cilantro and and ..... ahhhh the list goes on......