Some would say there is too much going on here. That it lacks cohesiveness. But when I pass by this now empty stretch of concrete (the garden has been gone for years), it feels deadened and lifeless. I’ll take colourful and vibrant over lifeless any day. Don’t ever let anyone tell you your garden is …
In the spring of 2014 we took a second trip to Joshua Tree, California. We had gone on a much larger desert road trip the year before for our 20th anniversary and decided to return to the Joshua Tree area specifically since it was the part of the trip that we found most captivating. Little …
“What if rather than saying, “The garden belongs to me,” you said, “I belong to the garden.” – from my book, Grow Curious I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the years and have picked away at it in big and small ways [see No More War in the Garden]. As a young university …
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 …
I’ve been growing borage (Borago officinalis) for almost as long as I’ve been a gardener, but when I look back, I can’t recall why I started growing it in the first place. Borage is an unpleasantly prickly if not painful plant. It grows scraggly and too tall in my well-cared-for soil and relies on neighbouring …
I did not intend to present you with another creepy crawly post quite so soon. However, in the last one, I briefly mentioned some invertebrates that I have purchased, in addition to those that I have gleaned from the garden. I’ve been waiting anxiously for the first two to moult (shed their old exoskeleton), and …
The creature at your feet dismissed as a bug or a weed is a creation in itself. It has a name, a million-year history, and a place in the world. – E. O. Wilson, biologist and naturalist (see Biophilia) It started with the snails. I’ve been remarking for years that the Banded Wood snails (Cepaea …
This month I will be participating in National Blog Posting Month #NaBloPoMo. I won’t pretend to be able to keep up with publishing a daily post. That’s not realistic for me right now. But I will be able to commit to weekly, hopefully more. I’ve been feeling frustrated with social media lately and realize I …
My friend Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden had me on her radio show/podcast last week to talk on the term “moreganic,” growing leafy greens, wildness, and hydrosols. It’s a packed episode. You can read the transcript or listen to the episode on her website.
“Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.” – Henry David Thoreau Here is my garden this morning, August 15, 2018. This may be the most intentionally wild it has ever been. I use the word “intentionally” here, because in the years I was very …
I’ve just launched a new endeavour producing small-batch distilled, preservative-free, all-natural hydrosols. All are distilled in very small, slow batches by me using plant materials that I have sourced from local, organic farmers, or grew myself using “moreganic” (no chemicals or sprays whatsoever, including the “safe” stuff) methods in my own garden. See All Hydrosols …
Garden season is underway and a sudden burst in activity has prompted a frenzy of posts to my social media accounts. I’ve made several quick minute-long videos and thought I’d share some of them with you here. The first set of videos were shot impromptu from my kitchen counter and are quick little snapshots highlighting …