Saturday, February 26, 2011

spring, space and seeds

Spring has been teasing us as of late in Ontario. It's here for a day, then the snow flies. That means it's time to start thinking about the garden. I myself, don't have anywhere to start a garden, but am lucky enough to have a friend whose landlord is keen on growing delicious fruits and vegetables in their apartment yard. If you're in the same situation as I was and not having a space to grow food outside, fear not there are networks to help you. Have a look on sharingbackyards.com for your city. This website lets you see where people are that have yards and don't have time or interest in gardening. But would be willing to let other people like you, who don't have somewhere to garden, use their space to grow. How convenient!

Another exciting step that can be taken at the moment is looking through seed catalogues and considering what you might be interested in growing this season. This is a really fun part of the gardening experience. With numerous heirloom seed catalogues available, you will be shocked and amazed at the variety of vegetables that you may not have even know existed. Remember that in order to have a variety of species, it's important to put your money towards supporting companies that reject genetically modified seeds. Past generations have worked hard to save seeds that are nutritious, hardy and capable of reproducing seed. It's important to respect this part of our history and support the companies that are fighting to keep seeds that stay true and can reproduce to provide food for our future.

These are two of my favourite catalogues at the moment.


Shortly you'll be mapping out your garden, starting seeds inside and testing your soil to decide what you may need to add and where you'll place different plants. In a matter of months you'll be eating delicious produce from your own garden.

Throughout the next few weeks I'll be updating you on what we're doing to achieve the most productive, efficient garden we can. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

worm update

I'm sure everyone is curious about how the worms are. Who wouldn't be? So here it is. There are more of them. A lot more of them. My worms have at least doubled and I recently had to move half of them over to another container. Honest Ed's supplied me with a reasonably priced tupperware which I drilled some holes in to. I'm not sure I put in enough, but it is an easy fix if not. I also noticed that the kit I bought had a small drainage type vent near the bottom. I did not add this to my new tupperware but haven't noticed a need for drainage since the first major leak. I'm glad to report there have been no more leaks of compost water since then.


To get this new kit started I layered some shredded newspaper on the bottom of the tupperware, added some compost that I hadn't been able to fit in my overly full initial compost worm haven, spooned half the worms and compost from the initial worm bin into the new one and added another layer of shredded newspaper for good measure. I plan on giving this to a friend to take care of his compost needs as I'm not sure I can provide enough vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grinds for this number of worms. Stay tuned for more updates on the exciting world of worms!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

We all have different ideas on how we can cut down on our food waste. I thought I'd provide some hints of what I do (or try to do rather) in order to limit the diet of the compost worms under my sink.

Look in your fridge. If you're anything like me you'll be surprised at what you have in there. You may not have any idea what you had initially planned on making with that asparagus, but now it is time to experiment.

Buy what you need. While you're shopping decide what you're going to use the things you buy in. We all have the impulse buy, but don't buy that half price cauliflower unless you know what you're going to use it in. It's easy (for some) to get sidetracked in the grocery store and buy things you don't need. If it helps, make a menu ahead of time and write out a list to stick to. Having eggs, puff pastry, pitas and canned soups in the house can be really handy when you're trying to get rid of some of the near-rotting vegetables. Why not make a delicious broccoli pizza on your frozen pita breads or bulk up a canned soup for a quick meal? lovefoodhatewaste offers great ideas on storing food and making menus.

Produce bags. These are the answer to the bendy carrots in the 'not-so-crisp' crisper drawer. You put your produce in the bags in your fridge and the food lasts a week or so longer. It's genius. Schedules change and maybe you didn't get to make that broccoli casserole you bought those two heads of broccoli for. Not to worry, with produce bags there is always next week. I don't love the idea of more plastic bags, but in the battle with keeping lettuce fresh, I'll make my concessions. Brown bag your mushrooms; they won't get slimy, they'll just dry up and you can rehydrate them when you cook them.

Soups are an ideal way of cutting down on waste. Though the art of making soups was not always a skill of mine, i.e. Great depression soup of 2008, I've started to experiment with the crisper drawer remnants. When you have scraps from your veggies instead of throwing them “elsewhere” put them in a bag in the freezer for stock. This way if you ever have the urge to make a wonderful soup, boiling your scraps will lead to a tasty stock.

Eat your leftovers. You're out to eat with friends and you forgot to ask for the half order of fries because you know that you can never finish all the fries on your plate without feeling sick. Take home your leftovers (lunch tomorrow) or give your fries to the hungry guy on the street (dinner tonight). If you hate the styrofoam containers, carry around one of those handy collapsible tupperwares that can fit in your purse or manbag.

Being aware of what you're buying and keeping track of what is still left in your fridge is crucial to not wasting as much food as we do. Check your vegetables and fruits. If something is going bad before you intended to use it be flexible and change your plans. If there is a small bruise or rotten spot on some of your produce cut it out and use the rest.

If you're concerned about how long you can keep things in your fridge check out this sweet website that gives you the low-down on what is safe to eat after how long.


Don't be afraid to use your senses. If it smells rotten, it might be. If there is a foreign shape in your fridge covered in fuzzy mold, put it in the compost. The expiry date on your yogurt says today, but it seems fine. It probably is. Give your food the benefit of the doubt. A quick wash off of the spinach at the bottom of the bag might be enough to have a delicious salad instead of a meal for the worms.

Experiment with your foods. Mix different ingredients from your fridge. If you have a mushy pear and some shrivelling zucchinis maybe its time to make zucchini-pear muffins. What is the worst that could happen?