Shaping young minds

I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside...

Wait no, that's a throwback from my childhood. Let me hear it from all the Whitney lovers in the blogosphere!

Jan from Thanks for Today is hosting an annual Earth Day event called the Gardener's Sustainable Living Project. Check out her blog to see how others are being eco-friendly or taking action to create a more sustainable lifestyle. I do things that many of you do as well in order to live a more green lifestyle - shop locally whenever possible, garden organically, water with harvested rain, compost my kitchen scraps, and basically just reduce in lots of ways.

My entry for Jan's project is about a larger way I'm contributing this Earth Day. Though there is lots of paper in the photo above, I think it will be put to good use as I'm leading the merit badge for Boy Scout Troop 666 (I shit you not). This is a job I'm doing as a Master Gardener (still earning my initial hours).

Like Whitney, I do believe the children are our future and despite my slight hesitation at the rather satanic troop number (if you never hear from me after Saturday, you'll know why), I'm so excited to talk to the young boys about photosynthesis, building soil, growing vegetables, vermiposting, organic methods to control pests, etc. I'm trying not to go into this too naively, and I've been told sometimes there's a rush to simply check off tasks to earn numerous badges, but I DO hope to put my teaching and counseling skills to build some genuine excitement about gardening. I figure if I get just ONE kid to see the joy in growing his own food, that would really make it worth my time. And scout's honor, I don't even care if that sounds naive.

Montreal part 2 - Montreal Botanical Garden

*The 2011 Garden to Table Challenge will begin on Saturday, April 30th! There will be fun, food, and prizes involved - get ready!

So I went to Montreal because my sister participates in a biennial conference that often happens to be in locations I want to visit - Puerto Rico, New Orleans, etc. I look so forward to these trips not only for some sisterly bonding time, and so my kids can have some bonding time with their dad, but also because I really enjoy my own company sometimes. One day last week with my sister gone bright and early, I had some coffee, bundled up in my down coat, and with camera on shoulder, map in back pocket, headed out for the Metro to the Montreal Botanical Garden.

I'm not an architect and I'm sure this building is incredible in many ways, but it's really just kinda...kooky too, right? As I came off the Metro, I saw an elevator on the other side of this 45 degree tower and vowed to take the ride up. From the top, I could see the expanse of this incredible city that I'm sooooo in love with. Montreal Part 3 will list all reasons why. Below, the large buildings in the foreground make up the Montreal Botanical Garden.

Indoors, there was not a lot out of the ordinary to see since it was off-season, but in the greenhouse, a few beauties caught my eye. This might be a durian tree - someone correct me if I'm wrong...

One of the highlights of my day was my long conversation with a bored gift shop worker - we'll call him Joe. Through Joe, I got a real insider's view on Canadian politics - makes me feel like I really need to pay better attention to world news. We discussed taxation - provincial taxes and otherwise, the difference between a small jar of maple syrup being a "luxury" item (and thus taxed) versus a 3-pack being a "family size" (thus not taxed), the possible discovery of oil near the poor fishing provinces of Canada and to whom the oil and riches might belong to, the concept of sharing the wealth and the feelings of the wealthy folks from Alberta about it, and about the possibility of building an underground power line to the east and the feelings of the people who supply the power (uh... nnnoo.), the tendency for Canadians to stay in their own province even if they are near the border (I explained that where I'm from, people often work in Maryland, live in Virginia, and hang out in DC). Joe shared that from what he has heard, people from the U.S. do not particularly identify with a specific state - with the exception of Texans. I thought this was so funny.

Here's one reason of many reasons why I LOVE Montreal - we've all heard that Canadians are soooo friendly, and I believe that's true - to an extent. I didn't notice that people were all smiles or stopped to hold doors open, or said hello to you randomly. On the contrary, I found that Montreal was a modern and bustling city and people just generally go about their business. HOWEVER, if you stop to ask a question, or show that you need help (story to follow), or struggle with the language, or need a minute to count out the Loonies and Twonies in your coin purse, the Canadians are so genuine, patient, tolerant, and so willing to help. It's a palpable difference in attitude and made me truly melancholic about going back to the US. More on this later...

Montreal, part 1 - excuse moi!

I'm in the super cool city of Montreal. Yesterday I visited the Montreal Botanical Garden (photos to come) and got a real birds-eye view of the city at the top of the observation tower at the Olympic Stadium. The public transportation is easy and really convenient (and you're hearing this from a suburban mom who has been known to drive her SUV 5 houses down the street to pick up a kid). Along the way, I found a great little place for a quick bite at Anton and James. I had coffee and soup (did I mention it's really cold here?). I wanted to take a photo of the flaky croissants and giant muffin tops as a memento, but as I hit the button, a manager sent his teenaged worker running over to tell me, "No pictures!". Now in this day of blogging, isn't that sort of a short-sighted thing to do? I would imagine that any business who is proud of their product, who keeps a clean and attractive storefront, who is creative enough to craft new products, and who is humble enough to want new customers would delight in any free publicity, wouldn't you? I suppose the thought could be that I am a competing baker trying to steal ideas, and Anton and James is good, but not that good. I suppose I could have written a complimentary post with a photo that would make you drool for the buttery, flaky, carbs in the cases but instead, I'm scratching my head at the paranoia and just have one final thing to say to Anton and James - well excuse moi!! ******************************************* In more relevant news - don't forget to dust off your cookbooks. The spring Garden to Table Challenge will be starting in a few weeks! Stay tuned...

I have a new baby!

Whoa! I shouldn't say such things - I almost gave MYSELF a mini panic attack. What I mean is, I've created a new site called Wai Sek that I wanted to introduce to you. Wai sek is a little Cantonese phrase that makes me laugh (it's not truly funny - but I think it's funny). My mom has this cabinet that is always stocked with good snacks. The first order of business when anyone in my family goes to her house is to go stand in front of the open cabinet, just scanning around for something to eat. I thought it was an appropriate title for a site that I hope will be a resource for everything that has to do with Asian food. There will be recipes, an insider's guide to eating out at specialty restaurants, a photo gallery of cool Asian food related sights, a Q&A section about anything related to Asian food, and some garden photos (of course). I'd be thrilled if you could take a look, possibly share with friends who might be interested, and if appropriate, CONTRIBUTE to the site.

And just so you know I'm not just busy nursing my new baby - you'll see my little seedling operation up above. I thought I'd widen the angle so you can see my pitiful but incredibly special, but sparsely-flowered Christmas cactus that I've posted about before, the basket on the right filled with my Keurig k-cups (favorite invention of all time), and behind all the clutter, Shockti-Taka's (our pet sugar glider) cage.

Also, spring blooms and other signs of life...

In the vegetable gardens, garlic and strawberries greening up with life and strength, and a few spears of asparagus ready for picking (more for garnishing than eating at this point!).

COMING SOON - on April 30th, we will begin the Garden to Table Challenge! Read here about the Winter Edition. Where will you find inspiration this season???

Oh deer!

I mean, I get it...but I don't really get it. The hosta is green, lush, healthy, probably has a healthy dose of Sluggo around it...but I don't know. I'm thinking that if there needs to be so much pest protection around it - it kinda takes away from the beauty of the plant.

I try not to be too judgmental. I've written several posts now about how gardening is a subjective art, but yet I did happen to collect all these photos on separate jog-bys throughout the year. The garden above - huge and so pretty with the tall lilies. I was sad to see the entire garden area surrounded by stakes and netting.

The shade garden above was really really pretty. Really. The cell phone photo does it no justice. It dipped down several feet from the sidewalk and was quite a hidden gem. This is in a very wooded area and we do have lots of deer. I'm sure there are issues and I'm sure the gardener was fed up with her garden being the local salad bar. But ugh...the netting...

Above, a perfectly manicured lawn, perfectly kept garden, and perfectly straight (and very tall, I'd say!) stakes.

I don't know. I obviously have no solutions. Look at my hosta above. Look at my day lilies below. These guys were new planted the previous fall. There were swollen buds about to open and I said to my family each day, "Keep your eyeballs on that - it's going to be gorgeous!" But guess what? My family never got to see them at all last year. And guess what? New growth this year has been mowed to the ground. Actually, for a few minutes, I suspected that the annoying kids nearby had cut them down just to spite me because they looked cut with scissors (a curmudgeonly thing to think, huh?).

And guess what? I forgot about these day lilies below on the other side of the garden. I only found them when...

...I found the poopies a couple feet away from them. The nerve. This guy stood 3 feet from my house, eating my day lilies and pooping on my lawn. Probably at the same time.

Oh deer! This dope (see his head?) in my neighbor's yard showed up at the wrong house, nothing but lawn and a big old evergreen there, dummy.

What I have noticed is that my hellebores are absolutely gorgeous and everything behind them is fine. I've read that deer will avoid crossing over plants they dislike, and I think it's true. Perhaps instead of a netting and stake barrier, it might be useful to try edging a garden with plants that deer are averse to. There's got to be a solution somewhere between Fort Knox and The Greenish Thumb all-you-can-eat (and my dad's method of stakes with bars of blue-green Zest soap hanging from them is not what I'm talking about!).

Mud pie season begins today

I love it - the patio is littered with plastic cups, bowls, knives, and garden forks, watering cans, and spray bottles. All evidence that a 6 year old had hours of independent fun while mom got to sow spring veggie seeds.

Tucked into the garden today: baby corn, gai lan (Chinese broccoli), bok choy, atomic red carrots, chantenay carrots, sugar snaps, snow peas, and a lively red spring lettuce mix. French filet beans, edamame, bolita beans, black-eyed peas, red raspberries, and blue potatoes need to go in the ground later. Signs of life in the vegetable garden: yellow raspberries, asparagus, chard, rhubarb, strawberry, and the garlic growing like gangbusters. Around June 15, I'll be harvesting inchelium, early red, ajo rojo, and elephant varieties. Herbs are poking through and greening up: mint (grown in a pot in the ground), thyme, oregano, and I don't think the parsley ever stopped growing all winter. It's now lush and gorgeous.

Indoors - my tiny little orchid that I bought on a whim last year is actually in bloom! These pretty flowers have been open for probably a month. It's shaken my orchid-killer rep and moves me to lovingly care for the orchids I got for free at the National Museum of Natural History's Orchid Show (still running if you're near the DC area).

By the vents and on the heating pads are seeds started last night. Come summer, I will be harvesting: tomatillo, charentais melon, tomatoes (hillbilly, Cherokee purple, isis candy cherry), peppers (ancho, cayenne, jalapeno, habanero), watermelon, and basil.

And my favorite early spring sight - hellebores. How did you spend YOUR first day of mud pie season?

Sleep, Dormancy, Hibernation, Rest...

I'm referring to this blog - and the three precious little pigs of course. Though this blog will be in sleep mode for the next couple of months, I will not be. After putting my thoughts in writing in yesterday's post, and then reading the thoughtful comments following, I've decided that the project I am working on really needs to be the focus of my attention right now. I'll spare you my trite metaphors and just direct you to the photo below.

When I sign back on in a couple of months there will be seedlings under the growlights, tulip photos to share, the Spring/Summer/Fall Garden to Table Challenge will be up, the Asian Vegetable Series will be resurrected, and the preliminary stage of my project will be complete. The only thing lacking will be the 15 pounds I plan to lose as well!

So as I publish post for the last time before my little sabbatical, I thank everyone for reading, encouragement, positivity, empathy, and insightful and thoughtful commenting. Can you feel the love ?

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I also need to reconcile the Garden to Table Challenge contest. I looks like the diehard winter posters were Char's, Holly, Ricki, and Meemsnyc. Meems, as the jackpot winner, came closest to collecting the GTTC letters. However, I'm going to send 2nd place prize seeds to Charlotte, Holly, and Ricki as well. Seeds are of my choosing - all veggies. I think I have everyone's address except for Holly's - can you e-mail me with your address? If I left anyone out (who linked a blog entry specifically for the GTTC and referred back to the GTTC in the original post), please e-mail me and let me know. The Garden to Table Challenge will return when it's sunny and warm!