Borage Soup

Recipe: Borage Leaf Soup

Last week I wrote about growing borage as well as my recent forays into using the leaves more readily as an edible staple. While I have found several ways to use the prickly greens, making variations on this soup recipe has proven to be most successful and best-suited to my current diet. As I have

Vegan Popsicles

Homemade Dairy-Free, No Sweetener Popsicles: 2 Ways

A year ago I had to give up dairy, which has lead me to rediscover the many uses for coconut and coconut products. Meanwhile, we recently cleaned out our basement and in the process unearthed an old plastic popsicle mold that hasn’t seen the light of day since we moved here 5 years ago. A

Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie

Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie

I’ve been closely watching the local fruit trees this spring and it looks like it is going to be another, ahem, fruitful year of foraging. We picked serviceberries and cherries in record numbers beginning in late June/early July last year and I expect to glean as much if not more this summer. I’ve got about

Nasturtium Leaf Pesto

RECIPE: Nasturtium Leaf Pesto

The first hard frost is predicted for this weekend, either Friday or Sunday. I don’t know which because the various weather apps I keep on my phone (and check religiously) are giving conflicting forecasts. At this point I am hustling to clean up for Friday, expecting the worst, but hoping for more time. As is

Concord Grape Juice

RECIPE: Concord Grape Juice

I grew up in the Niagara Region, an area known for a microclimate that produces an abundance of fruit. Grapes in particular are kind-of a big deal there, even more-so now that the wine industry has taken off. Even before the industry got big there was an annual festival to commemorate the harvest. The festival

Smashed Cucumber Salad

Recipe: Smashed Cucumber Salad

I’ve been making my own adapted version of the smashed cucumber salad recipe from Silvena Rowe’s, Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean for the last few years, but I’ve never had the chance to pair a few of the key ingredients: cucumber and mulberry. Their seasons just haven’t overlapped well. However,

RECIPE: Cherry Clafoutis

When the sweet, black cherries come into season my brain immediately turns to clafoutis, a rustic French dessert of fresh, seasonal fruit suspended in a custard-like batter. Clafoutis is really simple and quick to make. Just whip up a sweet and eggy batter, pour it over the fruit, and bake. Grapes are also commonly used

Homegrown Coriander

Pickling Flavours to Grow (or Buy)

As promised I’ve made up a list of herbs and spices that can be used to flavour pickles. Many of these can be grown at home! Pickling Flavours From the Garden Basil Bay Laurel leaf Bergamot flowers (never tried it, but would function similar to oregano) Caraway seed Celery seed Coriander seed Dill seed &

Pickled Radish Seed Pods

Pickled Radish Seed Pods 2 Ways

Last week my friend Margaret of AWAYtoGarden.com and I were chatting on Skype and she asked me what is in my pickling spice mix? The question threw me for bit of a loop since I didn’t really know. Unless I am writing a recipe for publication, I rarely pay too much mind to how I

Pickled Garlic Scapes

Garlic scape (aka garlic flower) season is pretty near finished in my neck of the woods and I was sad to see it go. Yesterday I preserved the last of the scapes that I planned to harvest, leaving the rest to mature and produce bulbils that I will scatter about for next year (you can

serviceberries aka sasaskatoon berries juneberries

Serviceberry Jam

Serviceberry season is here! Davin and I were on a staycation last week, and if you follow my social media accounts, you will have noticed that I spent a lot of time foraging for summer fruit. This wasn’t on the agenda, but the season is so short — when it comes you have to act

Gayla Foraging for Edible Violet Flowers

Much to Do with Violets

Violets (Viola odorata) and (V. sororia) are a spring flowering plant that really don’t get their due. In the midst of so many flashy, bold, spring blooms, they’re nearly forgettable. Violets are a “weed.” They pop up in lawns, aggressively claiming space pretty much wherever they want. They’re seen as “common,” and the generally held