Mother's Day, four days after my mother passed away

me and my mother
summer 1973

me and my mother
29 February 2012

Sunrise

Resources for School Gardens

Healthy Eating Makes the Grade ~ a Thunder Bay initiative

"The Healthy Eating Makes the Grade project involves a variety of sectors interested in improving student nutrition, from youth themselves to school staff, food producers and suppliers, and community organizations concerned about healthy eating. These partners have joined forces to increase support for school gardens, more healthy choices within and close to schools, and youth-led initiatives to encourage healthy eating."

For more on this project: 

Thunder Bay District Health Unit - Rescources

and HEMG on wiki

Three great teacher resources from wintergreenstudios.com: Three Sisters Gardens, Victory Gardens, and Spaghetti Gardens

From organicschools.com.au: everything from nutrition and germination to worm farming to seed saving and taking cuttings

Canadian Wildlife Foundation ~ Wild About Gardening

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation provides funding for environment and wildlife initiatives in schools across Canada such as compost programs, tree planting initiatives, school gardens, education programs for children, urban renewal projects, wildlife rehabilitation, and environmental clean-ups.

Wild Edible Plants of Northern Ontario

from the garden bookshelf

January is a good month to curl up in a sunbeam and read garden stories. This is also the month the gardening catalogues start filling up my mailbox. Filled with inspiration by the time March comes, I'll be ready with my early seeds.

Reading now: a little lore and history and the garden science of garlic  ..mmmmmmmmgarlic Not only is garlic my favourite fender of aphids, but I eat it daily. There's nothing like walking down Algoma Street when The Growing Season is cooking up something delightful - and the aroma of warm roasting garlic fills the street. 

In Pursuit of Garlic: An Intimate Look at the Divinely Odorous Bulb

Liz Primeau 

Greystone Books 2012

978-1553656012

A couple of reference books arrived in my stocking this year. I can't say enough for illustrated garden reference books - everyone should have them. These two include interesting sidebars of lore and historical notes.. which I always enjoy.

Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants

National Geographic 2008

978-1426203725

A Visual Dictionary of Herbs: A Comprehensive Botanical A-Z Reference to Herbs

Jessica Houdret

Anness 2000

978-1842150733 

For the Culinary gardenerd: a Shakespearean cookery. I really love this one. I'll have a lot of fun with it over in my food blog (when I feel like eating again). :)

The Shakespeare Cookbook

Andrew Dalby and Maureen Dalby 

British Museum Press 2012

978-0714123356

first  arrivals 2013

Waverley Winter

Waverley Park
4 January 2013

Bazinga!

Named Euglossa bazinga by biologist Andre Nemesio, it is a species of Brazilian orchid bee that has fooled scientists by it's similarity to other species. The recently discovered bee was named for everybody's favourite supernerd, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, and is in headlines everywhere. 

The Big Bang Theory has kept us laughing this past year - many, many afternoons spent at my mother's condo watching the dvds, getting our nerd on. (I wonder if this bee news will help my mother appreciate the Bazinga snuggie we gave her for Christmas? The only response I've had is an eye roll - even after I pointed out it could be worn like a cape..) 

A quick Google image search for the Bazinga bee brings up a page of Sheldon and bee appropriate photos (all but the horses in the snowy mountains?)..It's beautiful blue and green bee... I'm wishing I could be there to photograph it too.

published in
Zootaxa
December 2012

A Bright New Year's Day

1 January 2013
10:58:03 AM

It's a new year, a new beautiful blue sky day in Thunder Bay. I should be outside soaking up the most of it, but my holiday hibernation switch hasn't yet been turned off. I see no reason to get dressed today. Flannels & slippers #ootd

Now is as good a time as any to update this blog.. I've been feeling a little embarrassed since the January 2013 issue of The Walleye was released and the reader survey gave it a number two 'Best Blog' mention ...knowing that I haven't even looked at it in months. So, being that resolution time of year I'm going to add 'update blog regularly' to the list. ...but really, I say that all the time. For years I've been putting off finishing my glossary here, and somewhere along the way I stopped listed my book wishlist, which I miss.. this passive aggressive blogging behaviour needs to change. Today feels like a good day.

In the last twelve months I've carefully watched #TBay Tweeters, images in Instagram, and followed the 'Thunder Bay' Facebook feed full of photos - all the historic print & postcards and countless current shots of sunrises over the Sleeping Giant- it never gets old - ...it's been fantastic to watch and read the pride. I've met some brilliant Thunder Bay people through Walleye assignments, everyone so humble, ready to share, grateful for the paper's nod. I can't tell you how much it means to be a part of something that spins such positivism.  

fruit & popcorn strings

hung for winter birds

at St Paul's on Waverley

I see good things ahead in 2013. Our neighbourhood is full of fun people, thriving local businesses - walking distance to everything we need, friends, food fine & diner, anything we want. I'm surrounded in parks, outdoor skating rinks, and some of the City's tallest trees. I've never been happier about where I live.

My camera and I have big plans for the year ahead; not sure exactly what, but we're pretty comfortable with each other now so it's time to take our relationship to the next level. I'm still constantly amazed with what the iPhone can produce, and the photo app experimentation is endless... makes it too easy sometimes. Instant sharing has sucked a little quality time away from this blog. 

Collecting photos of favourite trees has been an ongoing project that requires better organization - especially now that I see that so many of my photographed trees have been turned into stumps. (This should definitely be the year I join that citizen pruner program...) I never get tired of roaming the city with cameras; there's so much to see when travelling by foot (or bicycle), slowing it down, taking shortcuts through parks, recreational trails & downtown river walks. 

I am smitten with this new tree on St Paul Street at Red River. 
It is so full of potential - I can imagine it years from now, 
dressed up in lights with ornaments for the birds. 
What a nice addition to downtown. 

It makes me want to breathe a little deeper. 

As for a gardener's resolution or two (or many more)... the list is long, kind of like the gardener's to-do list. That's nothing new, not even in a new year. R commented (complained?) the other day about the tulips and daffodils suddenly available at Safeway, "It's still December!" he said with an eye-roll. I was preoccupied with photographing the spring blooms and checking out the new 2013 gardening magazines already on the racks to think there was anything wrong with daffodils in December. My Christmas loot included a few new titles for the garden book shelf, putting me in the mood for spring planting as of Christmas morning.

Here's to 2013 

to a healthier life, to family & friends and to the best of Thunder Bay, Cheers!

Cedar Grove Community Acupuncture

The community acupuncture model is such a perfect addition to Thunder Bay's medical system - in a city with so many without a family doctor, and a top cancer care program. This inexpensive accessible therapy is there for everybody, for countless reasons. Alternative effective treatment for ailments like chronic pain, auto-immune disorders, headaches, digestive disorders - complaints that congest our hospital's emergency room every day and feed the narcotic problems that plague so many.

The Walleye's January 2013 issue is available now in print and online. In it - an introduction to our new community acupuncture clinic.

The community acupuncture model was established on traditional principles, and allows practitioners to provide accessible and affordable treatment in an atmosphere of healing and collective positive energy. The movement to integrate acupuncture into the North American healthcare system began in Portland, Oregon in 2002 and has expanded with vigour with hundreds of clinics opening up across Canada and the United States, with Thunder Bay now demonstrating this progressive thinking toward control of one’s own health care.

“Imagine the impact of acupuncture seeping into every corner of our 

dysfunctional health care system: 

quietly relieving pain without pharmaceuticals, 

reducing stress without psychotherapy,

inexorably changing the way people think about health and illness 

by providing an ongoing testimonial to people’s ability to heal themselves.”

Lisa Rohleder, Acupuncture is Like Noodles

Cedar Grove Community Acupuncture is the result of four local practitioners passionate about patient care. Sarah Watts DTCM, Carrie Johnsen DAc., Tracy Cook ND and Jessica Carfagnini ND. have established this community clinic to provide the best possible care for patients, and reach more people by breaking the barriers to receiving treatment.

Acupuncture’s enormous potential is best realised through a series of treatments over time, but often treatment rates are expensive. Cedar Grove Community Acupuncture clinic operates on a sliding scale of $20-45 per visit, which is determined by the patient; and treatment is done in a group setting, using points from the elbows and knees down. Patients choose a comfortable chair in the treatment room and rest with needles in for as long as they feel is necessary. In this setting friends and family can receive treatment together.

“Acupuncture is understood 

and proven effective by Western medical standards, 

bridging the gap between Eastern and Western medicine.”

Dr. Jennifer Atwood, MD

Fort William Clinic

Complimentary to Western medicine, acupuncture is effective in relieving a myriad of disorders from chronic pain, digestive and hormonal imbalances, allergies and injuries, to easing the discomforts of chemotherapy. Individual protocols are determined by talking with patients in private consultation: understanding the history, current complaints, and long-term health goals of the patient. Open communication between patient and practitioner plays an important role in finding the right path to healing.

Cedar Grove Community Acupuncture 

is located at 219 Algoma Street South

next to the Thunder Bay Naturopathic Clinic.

Visit their website at www.communityacupuncturetbay.ca

807.286.0118

Find them on Facebook: Cedar Grove Community Acupuncture Clinic

For more on the community acupuncture movement: www.pocacoop.com 

POCA - People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture

I wandered home from my first acupuncture appointment 

unable to describe what I was feeling. 

I still can't find the right words. 

"An energy" sounds sort of corny, 

qi isn't widely understood - whatever it was it was different, 

familiar, something lost found again. 

Something was better than it was before, 

and with each appointment 

the feeling became more and more apparent. 

The unsettling feeling of needing to know why 

became less important than continuing to feel better, 

and with wellness came peace... 

Poinsettias

Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) like bright natural light, in a spot out of the direct sun. You can extend your poinsettia's flowering time by keeping it at an even temperature, away from drafts and ducts; and they should not be exposed to cold temperatures. Though only toxic if ingested in great amounts, place your poinsettia out of reach of children and pets. When the soil surface is dry, water thoroughly, and discard excess water.

(back-dated post, needing editing & updating...)

Sweet Autumn Ride

Big Boreal Adventure

Big Boreal Adventure

There are 35 of these cedar posts around Thunder Bay, each topped with a plaque designed by a local artisan depicting relevant nature-based images. Refer to your free guidebook (available at Thunder Bay Public Library locations) to learn more about each location, as well as clues on getting there. Guidebooks also include blank pages for rubbings at each post.
This is such a clever way to encourage people outdoors, and to explore the incredible nature trails within the City. It's sort of amazing that these places exist between the lanes of Thunder Bay traffic - between a place filled with lousy drivers and ignorant "specials," but it does. Tranquil is one word, a deep breath is a feeling. Sometimes I wish more people around here appreciated these places as travel routes, ...but most times not - for as well travelled as they are they are still underappreciated, even unknown, to so many in #TBay.
They've also now included geocaching - with GPS units available through the TBPL - something perhaps I'll rope in T & W to explore in. ;)

The new trees along the McVicar Creek recreation trail are amazing, simply amazing. Imagine this path in a few years when those maples gain a little weight. I walked this path every day to and from work for years year round; my love changed and grew in so many ways every day.

If there is anything in Thunder Bay that people need to appreciate more, this is it. How lucky are we to live here, and to have this steps away from home? Peace in the City.

more trees

another favourite Waverley  Park tree

Favourite Trees of Waverley Park I

24 September 2012

locked out

Dear Blogosphere,

I have a Blogger question for you:

Over in my food blog I have somehow set my access to it as author only, unable to edit layout or pages. Without having access to the settings - how do I get my admin access back? 

Thanks in advance. :)

Amy

why I garden

#favouritetrees #urbanforestry

Birch Point Park

Boulevard Lake

Dear Garden Diary,

my one and only sunflower
and Thunbergia

Lately when I spy on Laura's garden two fences away I am spied on back by dozens of sunflower faces. They're incredible and I'm more than a little garden-jealous. I have one - one sunflower ...I know I planted more seeds than one. That's just the way a garden grows sometimes. 

Laura's flowers have had me thinking..., next year's garden is going to have more spring, late summer & autumn flowers. Considering the seasons of garden we enjoy the garden most - planting season and fresh returns, and later reaping the harvest, the lushness of mature plants and vines gone wild....

I'm not going to spend too much time on mid-summer plants, little reason seeing as we're not here - but plan for when we return. In pots the ivy still looks nice long after annual blooms have faded, and the Coleus container is still brilliant. In the garden I have plans for a big cull; as sad as it makes me, I have to reconcile my desire for every favourite perennial and use the space more wisely. The delphiniums just have to go...somewhere, maybe the west side, maybe into the back lane...but as much as I love them, they are just too big. I had considered moving them to the little micro-climate garden by the back porch, but I have plans for tomatoes there next year - and delphiniums are too prone to mildew to have close to the tomatoes. I have some 'Crazy Daisy' Shasta Daisies also needing a better home - so we'll just have to see where the shuffle takes them. Also moving, (even if just a few inches): the Crimson Knautia, that weird mystery rose from Creekside that never really grew - to make room for the Monarda to shuffle over a bit. Once they're all moved and replanted (which I will do some time in October) I'll add in some spring tulips - a rainbow of colours and kinds dotting the east side perennial bed.

I wish we had more space. Every zucchini and cucumber we have grown (and still are growing) has been put to great use. I've only given a couple away... We've eaten a lot of zucchini (soup, bread, cake, muffins, more soup, grilled, in frittata, tossed with pasta... and you know what, I'm not even tired of it and excited there are some nice ones still coming. The cucumbers are the best I've ever grown - sweet, juicy, huge. I've made more tzatziki than we could consume, and the dogs have had their favourite treat fresh from the garden for months now. Sadly, with frost nearing I'll let them enjoy today's rain, and harvest soon..

Precious Claire waits patiently for a fresh bean treat.

The beans (also loved by the dogs) are so tasty, and have grown into a sturdy wall. Even the Grape Tomato is using the bean wall for support. The other tomatoes have suffered a bit from crowding and smothering by wild zucchini. As unmanageable as they can be, we can't have a garden without cucumbers and zucchini. Next year we're simply not going to plant so many vegetables. I know, I know...I'm the worst for it - working in greenhouses doesn't help. A plant addict to the end, R's not help either. I'm always so convinced I can find the room - and though I still stand by my claim that if we were here for the garden during the major growing period in July & August we would be able to train it to survive the crowd, the fact is we leave ...and a garden doesn't like being left.

It's easy enough to supplement through flexible CSA programs, I have to remember that. Our garden's size is perfect for a seasonal kitchen garden - not great for large guys like Brussels sprouts and potato plants. I could leave them out for more space and not miss them much. More use could be made of containers, sacks, and balconies, but again - unattended pots in a ridiculously hot back yard don't have the best survival rates. I leave spinach to the local farms also..I never have luck with spinach *shrug* 

Our leeks are beautiful, and even though the beets and carrots are few in number they're still pretty. 

Garden Soup
leeks, zucchini, kale, onions & beans from our garden
local carrots & Ontario celery

The Thunbergia has reached the railing of the back balcony, at more than 15 feet it's glorious and so reminiscent of what I've seen decorating Californian freeways. It seems indestructible and I think it scares my family. At ground level it is creeping in every direction, tendrilling up posts and hooks left around the garden, attaching to the nearby pots trellises. I'm not stopping it. I can't imagine not having one of these again next year - just too fun.
The micro-climate garden by the porch has only a few permanent residents: John Davis, some crazy chamomile, garlic chives and whatever thyme & lavender survive (they always get replanted if winter snuffs them out). Snowbirds include herbs rosemary, tarragon, and sage, mint in pots, this year some lemon verbena too. I can see a Thunbergia becoming a regular too.
This year is was home to ten foot tall peas. Next year, I'll plant only two tomatoes in the space - early (...with R's construction skills we're planning a removable greenhouse contraption), and keep the rest of the space for tall autumn cutting flowers. We can add basil between, and with all the other herbs I think that would make the space quite nice this time next year. :)

what's on your plate?

harvest

11 September 2012