our small harvest......

I have a community garden plot with my partner Kelly and we tend to it lovingly and watch it grow daily. We have had our challenges with the rabbit and the deer that like to come and visit and nibble on our lettuce, beans, beets and peas. We have decided that these plants won't be able to be a part of our garden next year as they are food for the animals and we never get to have much of a taste. The lettuce are the only plants that we have been able to harvest from. Our tomatoes are fine as are our carrots and radishes. It's been a learning curve for us but that hasn't kept us from enjoying a tasty salad!

I am also on the committee for the community garden and we held our meeting at the garden site last evening. After the meeting I picked some lettuce and basil and took it home to share on our table. It's just the best thing to be able to pick your own food and have it fresh to eat. From garden to table is the best way. I do wish I had a larger garden and I wish it was at my home, but since I live in the city my yard doesn't allow for that. Next year we will have some containers on the deck that we will use to grow the plants in that the deer seem to love. We will simply work around the deer problem.

Here is a pic of my harvest from last night.....I just love it!

Red leaf & oak leaf lettuce as well as basil...

And I just couldn't resist sharing this pic! I just think this cabbage is a thing of beauty!!! It's not from our plot, but it's awesome looking!!

I hope your garden is growing and that you are enjoying yours as much as we are. Ours is only a small 10 x10 plot but we love watching it grow our own food! 

Blessings to all,

Maggie 

simple pleasures.....

I have decided that in my quest to eat for my wellness, that I will make my own dressings for our salads. It is easy enough to whisk together a mix of oil and vinegar and add some herbs from my small kitchen garden that I have on my deck and voila!! ..... I have a delicious dressing that has only real ingredients in it! It is usually just enough for our dinner serving of salad and so there is nothing to keep that would require all the preservatives that manufacturers put in them. Given that I make my own dressings I love to have different vinegars on hand and there is a gal at our local market who makes them! I love to see what she is going to have on hand for my pantry each time I go to the market. I have had garlic vinegar, herb vinegar and recently she had chive vinegar. I had access to organic chives and I thought I would try to make my own. I happily plucked the chive flowers from the tops of the tall chives and began my journey into vinegar flavouring. It was truly an easy thing to do and I love being able to make my own. There is great satisfaction for me in making my own food and ingredients to cook or bake with. I love looking into my root cellar and seeing all that lines the shelves. Funny to think that this is something that brings me such joy. It is a simple pleasure for me! So this morning I realized the final product and bottled my first batch of chive vinegar. I was proud and pleased to say the least!

Here's what it looked like as I made it and the final product!

I started with the chive blossoms and an organic white wine vinegar.

After it was bottled in a mason jar and stored in my root cellar for a couple of weeks I strained it and it was ready to bottle. 

And here it is folks! My finished product! I just love the pink color that it came out as....so pretty! I can't wait to make some delicious vinaigrettes  to drizzle over our salads this summer and the seasons to follow although I don't think it will last into the winter ;)

My Instagram photo !

So I think my first attempt at a flavoured vinegar was a success! I think lemon verbena might be next on the list of flavours to come! 

Blessings to all,

Maggie

P.S. if you want to follow me on Instagram my user name is 'maggjoy'....have a great day all!

backyard life.......

It's hot and steamy Monday morning and I did a bit of work in the backyard before heading inside to the cool air. I live in the city but manage to have a garden that I love to sit in and find my zen. It's a flower garden with trees and shrubs and on our deck I have a small kitchen garden in a planter. This morning I watered the flower pots since they dry out so easily being that they are clay. I felt dreadful last week when one of my pots was looking rather sickly after it dried out from the hot sun. I soaked it well and kept checking on it all day to see if it was going to make it.......and it did! So nowI make sure that I water daily if not more, so that they can show their beauty each and every day!

My grandson is over this morning and he helped out the best way he knew how with his little watering can in hand. It was mostly the garden river rocks that were watered by him :). Just before we went inside we picked some lettuce from the small kitchen garden. It's just big enough to hold some lettuce, basil, thai basil, lemon verbena and a sprig of oregano that is giving its all to stay alive! I must say it's nice to hand pick some lettuce for a salad or sandwich or quickly pluck some basil to whisk into some oil & vinegar for a salad dressing.

Here's a peek at my kitchen garden planter ........ I just love having it right outside my door!

My grandson proudly holding this mornings harvest!

Lemon verbena for my morning tea!

A beautiful small bouquet of lavender from the garden......

I hope that some of you are able to enjoy a garden whether it be a vegetable garden or a flower garden! It truly will bring you pleasure! 

Blessings to all.....

Maggie

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