Garbage Garden

I have become obsessed with planting literal garbage.

Sprouting garlic? Planted.
Sprouting onions? Planted!
Carrot tops? Hand me the soil!

While the seeds planted for the garden, get the benefit of grow lights this 'garbage garden' has to make due with the little natural sunlight that Yellowknife in March affords but, all things considered, they are doing pretty well.

I've taken to planting #garbage #onion #garlic #carrottops #spring #waiting

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Mar 14, 2017 at 9:40am PDT

The end of my coffee table - the closest flat surface to the window - quickly became full of recycled milk containers and DIY newspaper pots filled with plants. I decided to double down on the 'garbage' in the 'garbage garden' and made a quick drip tray of reclaimed pallet wood lined with dog food bags!

My #garbage #garden got a #facelift by way of a #diy #recycled #dog #food #bag #drip #tray. #recycled #upcycle #stillgarbage #lolz

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Mar 22, 2017 at 11:21am PDT

While not the most beautiful thing I've ever constructed, looking at my 'garbage garden' makes me very happy!

Why plant garbage?
I planted the garlic to eat garlic scapes.
I dream of collecting seeds from the onion bulbs.
The carrot tops make for a beautiful natural dye.

Almanac 84 Mini Zine

It's been about a year since we closed on our 84 acres of land in Manitoba. I have spent a lot of time over the last year developing skill-sets and researching with specific land projects in mind. I managed to put together a mini zine round-up of those skills along with a few short essays.

This small zine is available as freebie if you order Plot 13. 

Or contact me (wingedsnail99@hotmail.ca) if you would like to trade! 

DIY Flower Press

I have been kind of obsessed with flowers lately (Exhibit A) so I decided to spend the afternoon making a flower press. I had one as a kid and always loved the idea behind them - preserving a bit of summer's beauty into the white winter.

Flower presses are nothing more than a bit of wood, a few bolts, and few pieces of cardboard so it did not take me long to finish this project. I enjoy every second of using my manual hand drill so a small project that required me to use boring drill bits was a bit of extra pleasure. I did use my electric sander to do the bulk of the sanding but found the noise distracting so I finished the project by hand sanding it. A project this small would not take very long to sand entirely by hand anyways so in the future I will forgo the use of the electric sander for small projects.  

#manualdrill #handdrill #woodworking #making #diy #fun #afternoonproject #thingstodo #done

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:39pm PST

The completion of this project reminds me how quickly farm related skills develop. Just a few months ago the construction of a bench was arduous and overwhelming but now I can complete a simple project in a few short hours and be relatively stress free while doing it!

And now to we wait until flowers bloom.

Growing and Using Nasturtiums

I've been reading gardening books for as long as I can remember (the fact that 2016 was my first actual garden is irrelevant) and whenever I came across  a profile of Nasturtiums and the often stated "Nasturtium seeds can be pickled and used as caper substitute." I would make a mental note... make sure you experience that someday Sarah!

This winter, researching for my second ever garden, whenever I come across a profile of Nasturtiums I think... those sure are tasty. Make sure to do that again this summer!

I enjoy knowing plants in this way - this way that is specific to growing them. I watched those Nasturtiums grow from the very first day. I watched them bloom. I watched how the seed pods formed. I watched how the ones I did not pickle dry into the seeds for next year's garden. That visceral sense of knowing  - that comes with a sense of ownership - is unique to gardening.

Nasturtium Capers

(This recipe works well but I'll be playing with seasonings in the upcoming season!) 

2 tablespoons salt

1 cup water

1/2 cup green Nasturtium seedpods

several cloves of garlic

Boil salt and water. Pour over seedpods and garlic cloves. Let sit at room temperature for three days. Drain. 

3/4 cup white vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 cloves garlic

Combine ingredients and bring to a boil. Pour boiling vinegar over the seeds and let cool. Refrigerate. 

These nastium seed faux capers are gunna be awesome! Going down to the plot to pick more right now! #nasturium #seed #capers! #garden #harvest #garden2016 #whatveganseat #communitygardenplot

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Aug 20, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT

Review: Garden Design by Alice Recknagel Ireys

This is not something I would normally have picked up as I do not intend to have detailed, manicured garden beds that would include something as high-fluting as a 'garden design' but I found this slim book for 50 cents at my local thrift store and you simply can't bet a price like that!

I enjoyed reading through this book and several of the garden designs caught my eye. For example, "A Garden of Annual Everlastings" offered some inspiration as far as seasonal cut flowers as well as dried flower for winter bouquets. I also enjoyed "A Salad Garden by the Kitchen Door" for its practical inspiration. Several of the solid-colour bed designs intrigued me as well.

Overall this book offered a very approachable viewpoint toward garden design. The information presented in the book is enough for a beginner gardener to make a passable attempt at any of the designs but I would do fair amount of additional research on each plant mentioned before I felt ready to actually put together one of the designs. I like the information presented for each design as a graphed layout is included as well as a chart showing details of the plants included. I think this book is best used by beginners by following a design accurately. There are several general design principles included in the book but they are not detailed enough to allow a beginner to deviate much from the proscribed plan.

Overall, I'm glad I took the risk and spent the 50 cents on this book!