Hometown loveliness

I was recently home for an extended visit, and there is much to share, much of it relatively mundane.  However, those who know me, know that I find the mundane delightful. While I am happily not homesick living in London, there are so many things I do miss about home, and Hamilton, not the least of which are friends and family. It is a bit of an old chestnut, but it is the little things you miss most, such as checking on the progress of the vegetable garden in spring - where in my mother's garden, the cherry tree is in bloom, and rhubarb is ready for picking, and making into little galettes!

 The rhubarb tarts were my contribution to a lovely gathering with friends which served as farewell party to Jenna, a member of the Beehive who is leaving us for an exciting life in the country. Inevitably, we always end up eating a lot of cheese at such gatherings, but no one ever complains about this. We were hoping for a picnic, and though the weather did not favour us, I think we did pretty well indoors! A particular highlight:  manchego cheese paired with Hollie's preserved apricots!

I was happy to be able to drop by craft night at Needlework, two of my dear fellow Bees new business venture, a sew-by-the-hour fabric shop.  With the place was buzzing all evening long, with people working on their projects, Needlework is fast becoming the nerve centre of the Hamilton DIY community!  It gave me a chance to catch up, and shall I say, even conspire, with a few friends on future projects.

My dear friend Georgie's mother, who keeps chickens at her Greensville home, was kind enough to drop by with two dozen of the most beautiful eggs I have ever seen.  One of the very special things about Edwina's eggs, besides their flavour and wonderful colour is how she marks each egg in pencil with the date she collected them - so you know which eggs to use first.  Simple brilliance. The blue/green shells of some of the eggs were too beautiful to put on the compost heap, so I have saved them, and begun collecting them in jars. They will keep my small collection of bird's nests company. 

While in Toronto, installing my work at Harbourfront Centre, I visited my favourite lakeside spot.  I used to spend my lunch hours here during my residency in the craft studio.  I love this vantage point of Toronto Island at all times of year, but winter time might be my preferred season, when the shore is at its most quiet.

My last day before returning to London could not have been lovelier (aside from packing anxiety) as my friend Michelle treated me to a lovely walk at the arboretum of Royal Botanical Gardens and through the trails leading to Cootes Paradise.  These trails form part of the Bruce Trail, Canada's oldest and longest footpath, which traces the length of the Niagara Escarpment.

The woods in spring were brimming with life:  redbud trees in bloom, may apples, and trilliums.  We passed by beaver lodges, and this adorable little chipmunk. Sometimes I need a reminder that we in Hamilton are living in the midst of real paradise.

Rainy Days, Silver Linings

The mud puddle that is my vegetable garden. 

I have been so dismayed with our weather of late.  It seems every rare sunny day lands during my work week.  It has been raining so much that even when it we do have a dry day, it has been too wet to work in the garden. All this spring rain means farmers are delayed in planting their crops, and so too am I.

When I awoke this morning I was so disappointed to find it was raining again; I felt like staying in bed.   I decided to get up and go outside to check on the progress of a few things, to remind myself that despite the weather things are happening out there...

Outside on the porch, the plants I planted for the farm's new dye garden are starting to come up. This year, as part of our co-operative farming venture, we have decided to plant a dye garden.  I have my own dye garden out at my family farm, but I hardly have the chance to get out to it.  The farm garden will be a lot closer, and we'll have more hands to care for it.  

I ordered seed from Richter's Herbs and finally planted them last Sunday - and some of the plants, especially the safflower, are already quite big!  We'll have Goldenrod, Dyer's Broom, Lady's Bedstraw, Marigold, Tansy, Dahlia, Zinnia, Coreopsis,  and Weld.  We're also trying out Indigo and Woad, which yield beautiful blue dyes. I'll transplant down from my farm some Madder plants.  Madder is historically one of the most important dye plants in the world.  Madder root can produce colours ranging from orange to rust, brown to pure red.

I'll be posting more the dye garden here, and on our Beehive blog, all summer. 

Last Saturday, I direct sowed some vegetable seed in the garden:  lettuce, spinach, arugula, mâche, beets, turnips and radishes.  It has rained so much this week I was worried that maybe my seeds would be washed away, but here they are, tiny arugula and turnip leaves.

The wire you see over top of the seed bed is to protect my vegetable from the rabbit who has been visiting my yard all winter.  Last year he ate all my bean plants!

Under the cold frame, my eggplant and tomato plants are suffering a little from lack of sun, but the forget-me-nots in the frame are pretty content.

Asparagus spears are poking up their heads as well.

 

My rhubarb is pretty happy with this cool, wet weather.  So there are many things to be cheerful for.  But perhaps most exciting of all is what grows hidden beneath this large upturned planter.

Several weeks ago, when the rhubarb was just beginning to come up, I put this large black fibreglass pot overtop of the emerging shoots. Traditional rhubarb forcing pots are made of terracotta, but any large pot will do - this one is very large, about 24 inches tall, by 18 inches in diameter.  The small hole in the bottom of the pot allows a little light inside, and the pot creates a warm little house to bring the rhubarb on more quickly.  The stalks will reach toward the light, growing tall and straight, keeping the whole stalk bright red.

 Is it not just beautiful?  I'll pull some of this lovely rhubarb soon.  The rain has stopped, the sky is brightening, and the birds are chirping. It's election day, and it's time to go vote!

There are some creatures who love this wet weather!

Spring Forward.

Eggplants with their seed leaves.

In winter, I hibernate. Hence the long silence from yours truly.  In spring, my energy returns, and so does my enthusiasm for things domestic. Last week, it snowed.  Nevertheless, now is the time when I begin to plan for outdoor activities later in the spring.  Namely, beginning the garden, which starts with seeds.

Back in February, I made a trip to Tregunno Seed Co. on Catherine Street North to pick up potting soil and pots. I ordered my tomato and eggplant seeds online, from The Cottage Gardener and The Cook's Garden.  The Cottage Gardener is a family owned nursery near Port Hope, Ontario, that specialises in rare heirloom varieties of tomato.  They have a vast selection of tomatoes, but also grow many other heritage and unusual varieties of other vegetables. The Cook's Garden is an American seed company.  They have a few varieties of tomato and eggplant that I like and have not found anywhere else.

Seed Packets.

Every year, I like to try a few new varieties of tomato, along with my favourites.  I love tomatoes, and in summer time, I eat several tomatoes everyday.  I also like to can whole and stewed tomatoes to eat plain and to cook with - San Marzano.  Last year I also grew a variety called Principe Borghese, an Italian variety grown for sun-drying.  These are repeat for this year. My ultimate standby is the powerhouse tomato Brandywine, a huge, beautiful, flavourful red fruit. Wonderful for eating fresh, cooking and preserving.

This year, I may have slightly lost my mind as I decided to grow 11 different varieties.  2 varieties will be for preserving - canning and drying.  The rest will be for eating fresh, and canning as well.

This season's other players are a multi-hued cast ranging from white (White Queen)  to yellow-orange (Jaune Flammee, Nebraska Wedding and Valencia), to multi-coloured (Big Rainbow), to red (Rose de Berne and Bloody Butcher) to purple (Black Krim).

Seeds are amazing.  An enormous tomato plant will grow from each of these dry little seeds!

 Once I have the seeds planted (3-5 seeds per pot), I water them, and place them inside these plastic domes in a sunny window until they have germinated.  Once the plants start coming up, I will begin rotating the trays - the plants seek sunlight, so will lean toward the light -  unless rotated daily, you will have spindly, crooked plants! Once the plants are about 1-2 cm tall I remove the domes.  If the weather is warm, I will put the dome-covered trays outside.  In the sun, the trays become like mini greenhouses.

Tomatoes toasty and warm in their little greenhouses.

Three weeks ago, I planted 5 varieties of eggplants, and I now have little seedlings.  Soon, they will need thinning, but I am waiting until they start to get their second leaves. As soon as the snow melts, I will begin putting them outside in the cold frame during the day.

My darling eggplants. Are they not adorable?

After danger of frost, I will plant my babies out in the garden -by my Grandma Blanche's rule of thumb - after the May 24th holiday, or when the black walnut trees begin to leaf.