by the side of the road

I will be heading out in just a few hours for one heck of a driving vacation. Driving, you say! Yes, driving. While I am a big fan of the staycation kind of holiday, it is time my beloved and I visit some friends and family across the province. We’ll be heading out to Kingston, then Toronto, next Niagara, some place called Arthur, then Pickering, and finally a quick dip into the Quebec Gatineaus before heading back home. Along the way, I plan to pull over at every vegetable stand and farmer’s markets that I can find. If you have any suggestions, leave them here. I’ll check back as often as I can.

summer bounty

At this time of year, the freshness of local food practically JUMPS off your plate and smacks you across the face. You feel RICH with summer bounty that seems never-ending. But, my friends… it will end. If you’re a 100-mile dieter, six months from now you will crave things like fresh pesto, spinach and bell peppers. You will long for the taste of raspberries and blueberries. You’ll wish green beans and swiss chard were on your plate once again.

So here’s the reminder: stock up NOW. Don’t just savour the flavours of summer today - save them for tomorrow!! Freeze them, can them, dry them, store them SOMEHOW. There are so many easy ways to do so. It’s just a matter of doing so.

scrabulous surprises

Not everyone goes for surprises, but I LOVE them. So, a few weeks ago on my birthday, my beloved handed me six Scrabble tiles and, with a mischievous grin, he said “Happy birthday.”

I stared at the tiles… T P O C N I

Hmm, my present was somehow hidden in the tiles. I started to play with them while I chatted with my brother and sister-in-law, who were with us. But frustration got the better of me and I focussed all of my energy on the tiles. Pocnit… Coiptn… Nicpot… Tipcon… then finally… PICTON!!! We were going to Picton!!!

I had been wanting to visit Picton and Prince Edward County for months, ever since I heard about their Taste Trail. The Taste Trail is exactly what the name implies… a marked trail through the county where you go from one decadent taste experience to the next. And that’s exactly what we did for our weekend getaway. In two days we managed to fit in several wineries, some fantastic restaurants, lots of farmer’s markets and more! I really can’t do all of them justice but my mouth waters at the very memory of them all. A few of the highlights included:

• The Bloomfield Carriage House (a perfect lunch on a cute little patio)
• Slickers Ice Cream (all natural ice creamy goodness in a cone)
• County Cider (nice crisp cider that actually tastes appley)
• The Merrill Inn Restaurant (a divine dinner lit up by a field of fireflies next to us)
• Norman Hardie Winery (not technically on the Trail, but well worth the deviation - pricey but SO good)
• Fifth Town Artisan Cheese (the cheese is fantastic but the visit to the building alone was worth it! A fantastically “green” operation from ground up.)

Prince Edward County is such a great example of a region that supports its farmers and producers. Everywhere we went, we saw places advertising local products. And they weren’t just greenwashing us, everyone knew the local farms, producers and other businesses and they happily directed us to them whenever we asked. We came back from our weekend piled high with local goodies.

It was a FABULOUS surprise weekend.

growing by leaps and bounds

Wow. I have been remiss on the posting front this month. In addition to back surprises, I had a vacation surprise (more on that to come), and a whole lot of life to catch up on! Well, what have I got to catch up here on HPD? Definitely a lot, and I’m going to start with an update that is ridiculously long overdue. The garden!

I think the last time I wrote about it, my beloved had just built an extra bed and I was kicking my tomato seedlings out of the house and into the garden. I was also secretly wondering if I was really ready to take on all the gardening I had planned.

Well, my wondering was misplaced. I have barely lifted a finger to take care of this garden, and it has THRIVED without me. I know we’ve been incredibly lucky in the Ottawa area with great rain and warm weather this summer. But it’s more than just the rain and the good weather, my garden grows without me.

And this month especially, that has been such a blessing.

it never rains, but…

…it certainly does pour sometimes.

I remember it was about this time two weeks ago when I started to feel a little stressed out. My beloved and I had just a week to prepare for our own belated wedding reception. After a small family wedding last fall, we were finally going to host a big party to celebrate with everyone else. We’d planned a barbecue in our backyard for over 100 of our closest friends… and we’d decided to do most of the preparation ourselves. So yes, this time two weeks ago I was starting to feel a little stressed.

Thankfully, my beloved is pretty good at recognizing my stress and he calmed me down. We talked about what needed to be done, who was going to do it and when. A week seemed like enough time between the two of us to check off all the items on our list. And it likely would have been… if we’d had the chance.

Instead, the following morning I picked up a pile of records and threw my back out something wicked. And this was in the middle of a holiday weekend - there wasn’t a single chiropractor within 100 miles who was working that weekend. So my beloved proved once again why he is so beloved as he worked tirelessly day and night - cleaning the house, shopping for groceries, and starting 40 lbs of potato salad. I lay on the floor and watched.

A few days later, when I got an appointment to see my lovely chiropractor, he told me that this wasn’t the same easily-fixed problem that I’ve had in the past. A week to ten days, he told me. I blinked back a few tears, trying not to think about how I was going to greet 130 people while lying on the floor. Then I scheduled daily adjustments and massages leading up to the party. Each day, it was marginally better and I thought that I just might manage to make my own wedding reception.

So , the big day arrived. Imagine a party with everyone invited from two-week old babies to little old “I-don’t-tell-my-age” ladies. Beautiful sunny skies, lots of laughter and everyone relaxed and smiling. Thankfully I was able to enjoy almost all of it, and my beloved and I celebrated exactly how we wanted.

the great garlic scape!

PEOPLE! It is garlic scape season!!!! WOO HOOO! If you haven’t tried garlic scapes yet, then make this YOUR YEAR to do so. They have the lovely pungent taste of garlic without the stinky breath after-effects.

Garlic scapes are like the scallions of an onion (or so I’m told…). They’re the part that goes all curly and gets a little flowery bud on the tip (you can see the ones in the photo had just started to curl - they will often be curlier). Chop off the bud and the rest is yours to play with in the kitchen. Chop them up in a salad, mix them in with a cream cheese dip, throw them in a stir fry, or get even more creative! I’d say garlic scapes can handle almost any recipe you throw at them.

If you’re not sure where to start, try this recipe. It can be served fresh or put in the freezer for a rainy day.

Garlic Scape Pesto

• 1 cup garlic scapes, flowery tops removed
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup nuts (you can use any kind… walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, etc)
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan

Put the scapes in a blender and pulse until they are almost mushy. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse briefly until the mixture is even. Serve and enjoy! (If you plan to freeze the pesto, add the nuts and cheese AFTER you unfreeze it. All pestos freeze best without those two added.)

P.S. For anyone who is growing garlic, and shy to cut the scape lest the bulb be affected… well have no fear! I spoke to one of the farmers at the market last weekend and he said cutting the scape is actually good for the bulb. He said depending on the type of garlic, removing the scape can up-to-double the size of the garlic bulb. You’d be a fool not to!

time flies

egads! Where does the time go? Well actually… let me tell you.

Let’s see, on Friday I came home to a boat load of rhubarb that my mom and friend had kindly harvested for me. I washed and chopped rhubarb that evening, again on Saturday, and then finally finished on Sunday morning. Most of it went towards the slurpalicious rhubarb juice recipe, with a decent sized portion towards the decadent rhubarb vodka. And I topped off a few of the bags in our freezer with the rest.

Also on Sunday morning, my beloved and I went strawberry picking and brought home six large baskets. We spent the rest of the day washing and freezing the berries… at least the ones that didn’t get diverted into our open mouths. I tell you, it is NOT possible to resist a plump red strawberry that has been sitting in the sun.

Then, last night I spent the evening preparing more spinach for the freezer - 10 POUNDS OF IT! Yeah, that took awhile. When I finally finished, my husband said, “So what’s next? Is that it until tomatoes are in season?” I didn’t have the heart to tell him about the pickles, chutneys, and jams to come in just a few weeks.

So forgive me blogosphere, I have been absent. But I AM thinking of you.

gardeners are givers

There’s something about gardening that makes people want to give. A year ago when my beloved and I moved into our current home, I quickly attacked the overgrown front flower bed with zeal. My neighbours, many of them gardeners as well, would stop by and comment on my progress. They divided perennials and brought them over for me to plant. And it wasn’t just perennials that they shared - as harvests came in, they brought us fresh vegetables like cucumbers and garlic scapes, saying that they had too much. I thought we had hit the jackpot and moved to the best street in town.

But you know… it’s not just my street, I think all gardeners are givers. Last night, I got an urgent message from Kathy over at I Wet My Plants, saying that she had a tomato emergency. She had 40 extra tomato plants and no homes for any of them. I called her and happily agreed to take several off her hands. I knew I could find SOMEWHERE to plant tomato plants with divine names like Red Lightning, Black Pear, and Hawaiian Pineapple. Kathy even dropped them off at my office while I was working - how sweet is that?!?

Gardeners and their generosity always amaze me. I think they appreciate how much the Earth gives to us, and feel compelled to share it with others. So I say here’s to generosity - may we always share our gardens.

so much spinach!!

Fresh spinach is ABOUND these days. It exploded in my garden about ten days ago and everyone at the Farmers’ Markets has it for sale. But you and I both know that there is only so much spinach salad one person can eat. So what should you do with this bounty? Freeze it for the winter! That’s right, it’s super easy and you’ll be so glad you did.

But how, you ask? Well, first wash the spinach and remove any stems from the older leaves. Stems on young leaves don’t need to be removed. Then blanch the spinach EVER so briefly. I used a steamer and steamed in small batches… as soon as I saw the leaves wilting, I took them out right away. Next, submerge the spinach in ice cold water IMMEDIATELY. If you find that the spinach breaks up easily into little pieces as you do this then you’re blanching for too long. When the spinach has cooled off, take it out and drain it in a colander. Put the spinach in a container or bowl, see if you can squeeze out a little more water by pressing against the leaves, and then put it in the freezer. If you like, you can thaw it briefly an hour or so later and knock the frozen piece into a freezer-proof bag.

You may want to use small containers, or an ice cube tray to freeze the spinach. When dinner time comes next winter, pull out as many pieces of this lovely treat as you like, throw it in a pot to heat up, and ENJOY!

bookworm update

Time to update on my slow read through Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey Sachs. And to make sure that you don’t get the wrong idea, my speed is NOT a reflection of the readability of this book. Sure, it’s not quite the page turner that many people want before bedtime, but for me this book has changed the way I understand my surroundings. Listening to the news has become bearable, choosing which actions to take is easier, and I feel connections with people I have never met from around the world. This is a book for someone who is trying to make sense of the world we live in today.

That’s not to say that I have completely made sense of the world. (I still have a quarter of the book left to go… maybe it will become clear as I polish off this last section.) While I was familiar with many of the environmental challenges that Sachs outlines, I hadn’t understood how demographic issues link to them, and how global prosperity is tied in. Sachs brings it home with his message that ultimately we will experience successes and failures with all of these issues together as a planet.

Sachs demonstrates his ability to think BIG time and time again through the book. I’d like to sit down with him and pick his brain. Right now I’m stuck on a question about fertilizer… stay with me. Sachs talks about the potential for the world to reach a population of 10.6 billion by 2050 (we’re currently hovering around 6.8). Now, if you’re like me and you put 2 and 2 together, then you’re probably wondering HTF can the planet handle THAT? We’re having food crises now, trying to feed our current population.

Sachs has a couple of solutions to our population problems. One is to encourage a voluntary reduction in population growth so that we don’t hit 10.6 by 2050. The highest total fertility rates are in developing countries around the world, and he points out that this is not a coincidence. One of the reasons parents procreate is to ensure their own security. For a voluntary reduction to occur, Sachs says that these countries need to experience economic security. When parents no longer see children as the only commodity and security available to them, the total fertility rate will begin to decline.

Okay, so here’s the fertilizer question. Sachs says that part of promoting economic security in developing countries is to improve agricultural productivity. He recommends fertilizers as one way to do this. This stumps me. While I’m guilty of having used them from time to time, recently I’ve come to think of widespread use of fertilizers to be bad for the environment… bad for our water system, and bad for the overall nutrition of the soil. Does Sachs know what he’s talking about here? I wonder… especially when he seems so darn smart with the rest of the book.