16 Apr 2019
Take a venture with me, to my first balcony garden in celebration of Earth Day!
Many years ago I built an entire vegetable garden all by my-small-self. Three tiered. Stones for stepping. The whole shebang. And did I mention it was my first gardening experience? Go big or go home, right? I was an all-or-nothing type of character, and in the end it was just too much.
I started by digging up a huge...
09 Oct 2017
Wanda had a sex change. His name is now Wand.
Our fish are not happy campers. We are pouring silent killers down the drain. Our poor fish are undergoing sex changes and it is not out of choice.
If pouring our shampoos and soaps down the drain can make a fish do an about face in the sex department we should be concerned.
The culprit is triclosan, a PPCP (polychlorinated phenoxy phenols) which is...
15 Jul 2017
Growing up, I was never one to enjoy the bug life. Call it societal conditioning, as movies and media ingrained the heebeegeebees coursing through my veins at the sight of all critters big and small. My mother’s arachnophobia was passed down to me, then successively through my son’s screech of horror in the presence of spiders. I am trying to change this.
As I strive to be at one with my natural...
11 Feb 2016
Honey, I’m home!
Every home should celebrate a jar of honey.
Spread it on toasts and breads. Sweeten your biscuits, cakes and muffins.Dress your ham, coat your pork ribs, barbecue chicken wings in a honey sauce.Relax with honey. Sweeten your tea. Savor its goodness.If your throat is sore, sip a honey toddy.Learn to relax in a honey bath.. Add 2 Tbsp honey to a cup of hot water. Dissolve and...
22 Jun 2015
If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months.E. O. Wilson
Last year was truly a year of discoveries in my vegetable garden. Unfortunately most discoveries were of the pesky insect and wild animal variety. With our children’s and our health to worry about, we don’t spray anything that could harm...
10 Sep 2014
Lavender is powerful. Lavender is renowned around the world.
Lavender is rich in its aromatherapy. These aromatic molecules called esters pacify and calm. I remember a screaming baby on an airplane was immediately calmed when her mother produced a small hanky in which she dabbed a few drops of lavender essential oil. Baby slept.
Lavender has antibacterial and anti-microbial properties. It is...
30 Oct 2012
Worried that the snow will be soon be flying and the ground will be frozen hard? Don’t despair, there are still a few weeks left for those of us who keep putting off the inevitable. Make sure you have a supply of those huge, sturdy garden compost bags, do a few stretches and put on some warm comfy clothing and you will be all set. Here is a short list of chores you should get done in the next...
21 Jul 2012
Gene Stone’s book, ‘The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick’ is an inspiration. In each chapter, whether it be on ‘napping’, cold showers, friendship or garlic, Gene Stone includes an excerpt on ‘sharing in the secret’. The following is on Garlic.
Share in the SecretGarlic can be ingested in many ways. Some people cook it and some eat it raw—which is fine if you can abide the taste and the...
13 Mar 2012
In one week it will officially be spring…..though in most parts of Canada it feels like spring has been with us off and on all winter (I am told the apple trees have already blossomed in Vancouver!). For the first time, some species of migratory birds, never even bothered to leave and the Great Lakes did not freeze over. The attraction will be strong for hard-core gardeners to get back into the...
01 Aug 2011
Water Wise Gardening
Here in Eastern Canada (Montreal) we are fully immersed in the dog days of summer. After a cool, damp spring that left most of the region water-logged and flooding, we have shifted to the extreme opposite. The heat and sun have been with us day-in, day-out with only the occasional deluge when a thunderstorm rolls through. Even those have been few and far between and most of...
