Podcast: Four Seasons Farm Gardener's Cookbook - Book Review

Book Review

• Four Seasons Farm Gardener's Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch & Eliot Coleman 

Merry Christmas!

Podcast: All American Selection Winners

All-American Selection Winners

• National Winners
• Regional Winners

Podcast: Real Christmas Trees

Real Christmas Trees

• Real Christmas Trees
• Container & swags etc

Healthy Food Costing Too Much for the Poor

There is a cold calculus that is unavoidable in the nether realm of poverty.
In a world where daily survival defines how every penny is spent, the future’s horizon is no farther away than the end of the week. Nothing can really exist beyond that. Not with a pocket full of lint and an empty stomach.


Continue reading at  Healthy-food-costing-too-much-for-the-poor

Some of the comments after this article suggest that most people do not know how to shop and cook today.  This is true of all people, not just the poor.   Just look at the grocery buggy of the person behind you in line at the checkout.  It takes time and planning to cook from scratch so it must be extremely difficult  to eat healthy especially if you are working 2 jobs to stay afloat.

Periplaneta Japonica, Invasive Winter-Proof Cockroach

This Periplaneta Japonica, an invasive winter-hardy cockroach has been spotted in New York City.  That's a little too close for my liking!

The High Line, a park that turned a dilapidated stretch of elevated railway on Manhattan's West Side into one of New York's newest tourist attractions, may have brought a different kind of visitor: a cockroach that can withstand harsh winter cold and never seen before in the U.S.

Read the rest of the article at the Huffington Post Canada

Podcast: Artificial Christmas Trees

Artificial Christmas Trees

• Artificial Christmas Trees & how to decorate

Podcast: Garden Trends

Garden Writers Association (GWA)

• Garden Trends Oct 2013

Shapeshifting Trees

http://www2.macleans.ca

I have always wondered why certain trees are planted under power lines.  There are so many more suitable trees.

A lot of trees in St. Catharines look like this one.

Macleans article
Take a closer look: shapeshifting trees near power lines.

Podcast: Building Soils Naturally - Book Review

Book Review

• Building Soils Naturally by Phil Nauta

Podcast: New Products, Invasive Plants

New Products, Invasive Plants Alert

• Mirrored Garden Trellis, 
• Fish Protector (Bird B-Gone), 
•  Mississauga Property Taxes to increase due to no lawn,
•  Proven Winners-Strawberry Kiss,
•  Invasive Plants Alert,
•  Guelph Arboretum Workshop.

Christmas Trees - Real vs Artificial

Upcoming Open-Line Garden Show podcast in December.  Christmas Trees - Real vs Artificial

Remembrance Day

 

Podcast: Succulent Container Gardens & Succulents Simplified - Book Review

Book Reviews

• Succulent Container Gardens

• Succulents Simplified

National Men Make Dinner Day!

Today is National Men Make Dinner Day! As I have just found out it is celebrated on the first Thursday of November every year. It is aimed at the men who never cook--this includes Bruce! he is more of a survival cook.

The day has its own website Menmakedinnerday which features reasons for participation, rules & what foods should NOT to part of the dinner.  It even has some simple recipes to get you started.

Rules include a no interference policy for the women of the household, family dog is not allowed to be secretly fed man's cooking--we don't have a dog! maybe that's a good thing!! and no barbecuing--actually DD#1 does ALL the barbecuing in our house.

Love the last sentence of Rule #12.
Rule #12: After meal, table is cleared by man, dishwasher is loaded. Man returns to table for stimulating after-dinner conversation. At this point, man is told how much his meal was appreciated. He, in turn, describes the joys and challenges of the experience. He is given a hug, and his TV remote is returned to him.

Podcast: New Products

• Thermal Heated Hose
• Deluxe Grounds Rake
• Deluxe Shrub Rake
• Leaf Blower 

Podcast: Vanhof & Blokker New Plants for 2014

Vanhof & Blokker

• New Plants for 2014

Podcast: Vanhof & Blokker, Perennials

Vanhof & Blokker

• Perennials

October in the Garden

It's was Thanksgiving weekend and we ate dinner on the patio.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  The vegetable garden looks ratty but what do you expect, the veggie growing season is winding down.  These are the tomatoes I harvested at the beginning of the week.

Mighty Mato Big Beef, Mighty Mato Bumblebee Purple
& Golden Honey Bunch Tomatoes

The hardy orange tree is absolutely loaded with fruit this year.  Will be picking them up for quite a while till they all drop.

Hardy Orange Tree

The other plant that is still doing extremely well in a container is the Gyphon Begonia.  I love this plant, it is my favourite container plant.  This one was a little overplanted but that's how I like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Podcast: Growing Degree Days

Podcast: Turf Grass, Tree Mildew & Tar Spot

• Turf Grass

• Tree Mildew & Tar Spot

Open-Line Garden Show Podcasts

GREAT NEWS!!

I am pleased to announce the Open-Line Garden Show Podcast, on-line every Saturday!

The inaugural Open-Line Garden Show Podcast will be on Saturday, October 5, 2013
Go to www.brucezimmerman.com,  & click on the 'Podcast link'

or become a friend on facebook:  www.facebook.com/TheOpenLineGardenShow

Bookmark these pages as a new podcast will be on-line every Saturday.

Halton Food Swap

On Tuesday, September 10, we drove to the Burlington Library-Central Branch for the Halton Food Swap.

What is a Food Swap? you ask.  It's kind of like a Christmas Cookie Exchange, but with all kinds of food, -- everything you bring MUST be either foraged, grown, or made by YOU!!  

We arrived around 7 pm & there was already quite a few people there, the event was free but you had to register online at Eventbrite as there was a 25 limit for swappers.  I think by the end of the night there were about 22 swappers with all different kinds of food to swap.  

We set up our items to swap on the table, filled out the forms of what the item was, how to use it & what the ingredients are.  

This is the pile of dishcloths DD made for the swap.

DD's Dishcloths to swap

We were then free to walk around the tables and see what everyone else had to swap.  You then put your name down beside what you want & what you would like to swap it for. 

DD's Swap Form filled out

After mingling & seeing what you would like, the serious swapping begins. 

We came home with, herbs, carrot soap, 5 packages of gluten free cookies, Apple Jam, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Yellow tomato sauce, frozen tomato soup that I just added light cream to & boy it was delicious.  It did not last long.  Also had a little bite to it!  Michelle also put some pears in the trunk of my car & I made Pear Juice with them a couple of day later.  All in all a very successful night! 

Grandmother's Golden Relish

The 'Grandmother's Golden Relish' in the book Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving has piqued my interest.  I was at Golda's Kitchen a few weeks ago & came across some Clearjel so picked it up.  This recipe calls for Clearjel & I have had a hard time finding it.  Cornstarch is NOT stable for home preserving, you have to use Clearjel. 

The field cucumbers & the red & green pepper were chopped, mixed together, covered and set aside for 12 hours or overnight.  I elected to leave them overnight and start the canning process in the morning.

Spices getting to a boil

Cucumber mixture added to the spice mixture.  Looking Yummy!!

Finished 'Grandmother's Golden Relish'

'Grandmother's Golden Relish'

Bruce tried the Golden Relish at dinner time & finished it off.  I think this one is a definite winner!!  Must make more next year.  I am sure this will not last long.

Canning Palooza - Part 3 or What I Did On The Long Labour Day Weekend!

This canning marathon started on August 31, 2013.  I was up at 6:00 am & on my way to the St. Catharines Market for pickling cucumbers, peppers & field cucumbers.  I had all the rest of the ingredients & canning supplies in boxes at home ready to be put into the car.  We left the house at around 9:45 am & headed down the QEW to Burlington.  This was our destination for the Canning Palooza marathon.

Car loaded and ready to go!

We arrived at our friend Michelle's apartment after phoning for directions--never completely trust Google Maps.  Unloaded the car, read the instructions for the recipes we were going to make--Tomato Ketchup, Traditional Bread & Butter Pickles, Cucumber Relish & Crabapple Jelly, we never did get to the Crabapple Jelly & started to peel, & chop the cucumbers, peppers & field cucumbers. 

First we made Cucumber Relish, then onto the Traditional Bread & Butter Pickles--lots of references to Larry being jarred up!! then Tomato Ketchup.  The Ketchup was to take the longest time, it did not want to reduce.  The recipe said it was to take about 45 minutes, well it definitely took longer than 45 minutes, more like 5 hours.  Finally it did reduce to the consistency of commercial ketchup and was canned.  We got home at 10:00 pm & fell into bed.  Definitely a successful day!

Didn't get any pics of this canning.  Girls were too busy peeling & chopping!

What Is At The Top Of Your Canning List for Equipment?

What is the one piece of equipment for canning you absolutely cannot do without?  

Mine is not exactly equipment. I can have ALL the nifty gadgets but this is the one thing I absolutely cannot do without!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

My Skechers:  A Very Good Pair of Runners

These skechers are the best, most comfortable runners I have ever had!!  They make my life a lot easier when it comes to canning!

Canning Palooza - Part 2

I ordered a bushel of 'Marianna' tomatoes from Domio Farm on Seventh Avenue in St. Catharines.   They called me to tell me that the tomatoes were ready.  I picked them up, now I had to can them.  Bruce & Zebrina went to work & Calluna and I set out to can the bushel of tomatoes.  It took us 3 hours to crush the tomatoes--Note to self, look into getting an electric tomato machine. 

Still have 3/4 of a bushel to go!

Crushing the tomatoes

Sneaking a break!

By the time I was finished I had extremely sore feet--Note to self, wear your good runners! I had canned 27 - 500 ml jars of tomato sauce & 1 1L size.  I wanted to see if the 1 L size would fit in my canner & how it went.  It was great.  Need to do more 1L jars. 

Canning Palooza - Part 1

Canning Palooza started with a gift of a 3L basket of blackberries that were quickly turned into Blackberry Jelly.  It was very yummy!!

Blackberry Jelly

After the blackberries, I bought a master case of Red Haven Peaches and processed them into jars for the winter.  Bruce & the girls love peaches for lunch. 

Peaches waiting in the 'Fresh Fruit' solution to be peeled.

My Canning Buddy Peeling the Peaches

Peaches waiting to be jarred and canned.

Peaches in Jars

Canner on the Stove

Red Haven Peaches

Red Haven Peaches & Peach Juice

The peach juice was from the peach peelings.  I boiled them in the light syrup I had left from canning & then strained the liquid through a jelly bag & got peach liquid.  It will make a nice addition to smoothies in the winter.

Next was a bushel of 'Marianna' Tomatoes for Basic Tomato sauce.  There was a message the bushel I ordered was ready to be picked up.

Building Soils Naturally -- Book Review

Building Soils Naturally Innovative Methods for Organic Gardeners by Phil Nauta.

Open-Line Garden Show Feb 9 2013_Building Soils Naturally

Haliburton Sculpture Forest

Last year we went to Muskoka for 4 days visiting friends with a cottage.  We had a wonderful relaxed time.  While there we went to the Haliburton Sculpture Forest.  It was extremely interesting and a really nice walk on the trail. 

The Haliburton Sculpture Forest is in a park near the village of Haliburton in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario.  It is an outdoor collection of sculptures by Canadian & international artists.

We got a brochure with a forest map which was very helpful.  This directed us to where the sculptures were so we didn't miss any.

Here is some of the pictures I took of the sculptures.

Gelert
Mary Anne Barkhouse

Bronze sculpture of an Irish Wolfhound 

inspired by the Welsh legend of Gelert & Prince Llywelyn 2011

Gelert
Mary Anne Barkhouse

Dreaming Stones
Kevin Lockau

A 'mystical totem' made from six granite boulders 

collected from around the region.  2001

Dreaming Stones 2001
Kevin Lockau

Dreaming Stones 2001
Kevin Lockau

A Walk in the Woods in Haliburton
Mary Ellen Fallow

Stylized limestone hiker 

holding a bronze cast of a maple leaf.  2001

A Walk in the Woods in Haliburton
Mary Ellen Farrow

A Walk in the Woods in Haliburton
Mary Ellen Farrow

This was one of my favourite pieces in the whole forest.  I was intrigued with what vintage farm objects went into the making of this moose.

 

 Moose Scraps
Leo Sepa

Found vintage farm objects 

formed into the shape of a moose.  2001

Moose Scraps
Leo Sepa

Moose Scraps
Leo Sepa

This was the other favourite of the whole sculpture collection.  The detail in the huntress' face is exquisite.  

 Sleep of the Huntress
Doug Stephens

Woman sleeping in Belmont rose granite. 2004

Sleep of the Huntress
Doug Stephens

Sleep of the Huntress
Doug Stephens

Visionary - A Tribute to Sir Sanford Fleming
Richard Shanks

Steel & bronze surveyor's transit
incorporating symbols of time and direction. 2002

Visionary - A Tribute to Sir Sandford Fleming
Richard Shanks

This sculpture of the beaver reminds me of the book Narnia:  The Lion the Witch & The Wardrobe. 

Beaver

Art Students of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (2002)

with support from Mary Anne Barkhouse & Michael Belmore

Large cement beaver contemplating a metal post.  2002

Beaver
Art Students of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School

Beaver
Art Students of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School

Metalgenesis
Sound Vessel:  Forest

Don Dickson & Amy Doolittle

Forest designs in a rectangular prism 

of steel plates encasing sound rods.  2003

Metalgenesis
Sound Vessel: Forest
Don Dickson & Amy Doolittle

Metalgenesis
Sound Vessel: Forest
Don Dickson & Amy Doolittle

Looking up the trail towards Metalgenesis
Sound Vessel: Forest

To Cut or Not To Cut
John Beachli

Father and son conversing over a tree stump . 
Carved in local granite.  2006

To Cut or Not To Cut
John Beachli

To Cut or Not to Cut
John Beachli

Curled Figures

Susan Low-Beer

Two curled cement figures
mounted on a large boulder. 2003

Curled Figures
Susan Low-Beer

Curled Figures
Susan Low-Beer

Curled Figures
Susan Low-Beer

Redwing Frond
Darlene Bolahood

4 metres high, curved steel spine
with painted acrylic panels. 2003

Redwing Frond
Darlene Bolahood

The Homesteaders
Jake Mol

Family created from old telephone 

poles and farm implements. 2004

The Homesteaders
Jake Mol

Pan
George Pratt

A 'larger than life' salt and pepper granite

figure of Pan resting against a tree stump. 2003

Pan
George Pratt

Pan
George Pratt

 C to C

John Shaw-Rimmington

Constructed by students of the 2007 Dry Stone Structures Course,
Fleming College, Haliburton School of Arts

Two inter-twined "C" shaped dry stone walls,

made with locally quarried granite. 2007

C to C
John Shaw-Rimmington

C to C
John Shaw-Rimmington

Kennesis:  Horse & Rider
William Lishman

Near life-sized horse and rider,

created out of small cuts of steel,

painted bright blue. 2008

Kennisis: Horse & Rider
William Lishman

Kennisis: Horse & Rider
William Lishman