Creative Gardening for pleasure with Christina Symons and John Gillespie

Jan
27

Happy Friday: pucker up!

Well, this has been one hectic week, and we will tell you more about that on Monday….

But in the meantime, it’s Friday! And that means high time for some kale chips and a cocktail. In the summer, we grow a few pots of Meyer lemons and key limes outside and it’s really good fun to use the homegrown citrus in a tipple or two, especially when we have company. In the winter, we move these plants indoors and they kind of pout, fruitless, until next summer.

Not this time. Well, hello there, lovely. Look at you.

I am picking this little sucker at exactly 5 o’clock for happy hour. Here’s what I’m making. Simplest. Cocktail. Ever.

Lemon-up

Place the juice of one half lemon in a glass over ice. Add one ounce vodka (or not). Top up with sparkling water. Add a dash or two of bitters* (plus, a splash of simple syrup or agave syrup if it’s too tart for you… otherwise, pucker up).

Stir. Sip. Sigh.

Happy Friday!

* Bitters are the best. They take a simple cocktail, or even sparkling water to the next level. But I had no idea there were so many kinds to try!

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
26

Deep purple crush

by Christina

I mean, how can you not like Brussels sprouts when they are this freaking beautiful and purple too?

It’s almost a crime to pick them. Almost.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
25

Good wood

D.I.Y.

by Christina

It’s no secret that we LOVE wood around here.

John loves trees, in general of course, but he also has quite the firewood fetish… (ask him about his wood-fired bathtub sometime… it’s right in the garden).

Anyhow, I like wood in the kitchen and on the table best, which has resulted in a rather colossal cutting board collection. The top one (above) we made from salvaged hemlock with our friend Bill, for an Everyday Eden sale. Now I am learning to make wooden spoons… very exciting (seriously).

We’ve been experimenting with a few products to protect our wooden boards but the pure ones are quite expensive to buy, so we made our own. The best concoction so far is this wood “bee butter” in the jar above. It’s made from equal parts food grade mineral oil and beeswax, melted and mixed together. Once it’s set you just rub it into the wood with a cloth. It brings out the grain, looks gorgeous and protects the surface…. plus, it smells like honey.

It’s all good!

Hint: If you don’t have a block of beeswax hanging around, you can always use a beeswax candle. You can buy food-grade mineral oil at the pharmacy.

Update: Well, somebody had to ask : ) So here is the wood-fired bathtub, one of several we have had in various rural and backwoods locations. It is, quite literally, an iron tub with a stone surround and fire beneath it. You light it, let the fire go for a few hours, let it go out and then get in the tub (carefully and there is a wooden rack/mat on the bottom to prevent butt scorching!)

This post has no tag

2 comments

Jan
24

A seedy start!

plants

by Christina

Is there is anything more hopeful and cheery than finding an envelope stuffed full of seed packets in your post? I don’t think so! (Unless it was stuffed with $100 bills, in which case you could buy a lot more seeds, I suppose).

Our Baker Creek Heirloom Seed order arrived (so fast) and we are stoked! But I don’t know what I was smoking when I ordered four different heirloom tomato seeds. Plus they sent us a packet of Riesentraube Red Tomato as a bonus. Oh boy, tomato plants from seed…………… good times on the horizon!

We are geeky enough to put our seed packets on display and these ones are particularly beautiful. I mean holy cow, they are quite stunning actually. They are going up in the kitchen. Stay tuned, I’ll show you.

In the meantime, here’s a sweet video that shows how the Baker Creek seeds are packed and processed. Fun job… overalls too, cute!

But now I want to order even more seeds…

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
23

Happy New Year! Welcome, Dragon….

by Christina

It’s Chinese New Year! We’ll be celebrating by eating noodles and sharing the one-and-only, teeny-tiny amazing orange growing in our studio, later. It’s the year of the Dragon, so we also thought it would be fun to see what kind of seeds we could find to add to our veggie garden plans.

With any luck, this year we’ll be planting, Dragon Tongue Beans, Thai Dragon Peppers and Dragon’s Egg Cucumbers (so cute!)

Also, I think John would really love this. (He just found out he was born under the sign of the Dragon, so he thinks he’s pretty hot stuff today).

Kung hei fat choi! Happy New Year, everybody….

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
20

Off the wall

by Christina

Maybe it’s the winter doldrums, or simply boredom, but I am thinking wallpaper today.

Sadly, the fancy stuff that I love so much is a little out of my budget, but fortunately sample sheets are not. A few high-end wallpaper samples make great shadow box backdrops (as above) or simple book covers for old gardening hardbacks (and new books as well, to protect them if you are taking them outside…. just don’t get the covers wet, or the wallpaper will stick)!

Meanwhile, I am coveting a roll or two of this peony pattern.

Happy weekend!

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
19

Pretty winter bouquet…

by Christina

It always amazes me what you can find, even in the snow, if you root around in the herb garden.

Lately we’ve been making veggie soups and stews a couple of times a week and we often grab a bundle of herbs to toss into the pot. Technically, this is called a bouquet garni, but it’s really just a pretty, sweet bundle, and typically includes rosemary, sage, oregano and bay leaves (the woody herbs are still good this time of year, at least in our coastal garden). If I had some decent thyme I would include that too (note to self: next year grow decent thyme!)

We tie our bundles up with kitchen twine, or if the garden is willing, a baby leek (as shown) makes a flavourful stand-in for string.

When the soup is ready, the soggy bundle goes into the compost. Done like dinner.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
18

Taking cover

garden decor

by Christina

There’s something very pleasing about bringing gardening stuff (like this beautiful glass cloche) indoors during winter. It makes our living space seem all warm and cozy. High time to curl up with the seed catalogues and dream of spring.

It’s so chilly today, I’d like to crawl under that glass myself!

Stay warm….

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
17

Flying off the handle

D.I.Y.,
plants

by Christina

We’re huge fans of the lovely brooms made by hand at Granville Island Broom Company, in Vancouver, as I wrote about in BC Living and TVWeek recently. They look terrific, smell great (I know, weird right? but they do!) and they always make a wonderful gift.

So, you can imagine how I freaked OUT when when I found a lonely packet of seeds from Botanical Interests for growing real live broom corn (Sorghum vulgare).

Now, the lovely ladies at the broom shop mentioned that they have to import their grass because the stuff grown locally is just not sturdy enough…. But I am sure we can grow enough to make a broom or two, just for us…

Heads up, Harry Potter!

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Jan
16

Supereasy soup

food + drink

by Christina

When it’s cold outside, we need soup… fast! This delicious roasted squash and apple soup has just three main ingredients, plus stock and a bit of olive oil. Roasting the apples and squash means no peeling or pre-boiling is required and the roasting process makes the soup rich, caramel-like and extra tasty!

Supereasy squash and apple soup

2 lbs winter squash (butternut, kobocha, Turks turban or Hubbard) cut into 4-inch chunks (seeded but not peeled)

4 – 5 apples, cored and cut into half (do not peel).

1 thumb-sized chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

6 cups of vegetable stock

olive oil

Method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F; line two baking sheets with parchment.

Place chunks of squash in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Arrange in a single layer on the parchment. Repeat with apples, using a separate baking sheet.

Bake apples and squash for about 40 minutes, or until very soft and caramelized on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Release/scrape squash and apple flesh from skins using a spoon, placing the roasted pieces into a soup pot. Add half of the stock and grated ginger and stir. Use a hand-held blender to puree and keep adding stock until the desired consistency is achieved. Alternatively you can use a regular blender to puree the chunky soup in small batches until smooth.

Warm the pureed soup over medium heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley or a sprig of lemon thyme.

Devour with crackers.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Happy Friday: pucker up!

Well, this has been one hectic week, and we will tell you more about that on Monday…. But in the meantime, it’s Friday! And that means high time for some kale chips and a cocktail. In the summer, we grow a few pots of Meyer lemons and key limes outside and it’s really good fun to… Continue reading »

View full post

Deep purple crush

I mean, how can you not like Brussels sprouts when they are this freaking beautiful and purple too? It’s almost a crime to pick them. Almost.

View full post

Good wood

It’s no secret that we LOVE wood around here. John loves trees, in general of course, but he also has quite the firewood fetish… (ask him about his wood-fired bathtub sometime… it’s right in the garden). Anyhow, I like wood in the kitchen and on the table best, which has resulted in a rather colossal cutting board collection.… Continue reading »

View full post