Flowers and Berries and Veggies

I think that it’s been many years since I’ve worked as dedicatedly as I have these last several months on an art project. “I’m Not The Only One” (last two blog stories) took every spare instant of time that I had. I’m realizing now that it’s already July and I have yet to share any pictures or stories about my gardens. So, that’s what I’m going to do today…

For the last several years I’ve really enjoyed being able to share my garden photos with my friends from around the globe on Facebook. This pic was created as my album cover for this year. It looks nice, but it’s hard to see how much time went into creating this image… it took almost an hour – fiddling with sizes, art media effects and so on. Notice the size of the flowers in the immediate background? Very tiny…

This is what this garden looks like today! These are called Day Lilies and they got this name for a very simple reason – the flowers last for only one day. You may think that these flowers would complete their flowering rather quickly, but their flowering season lasts for almost an entire month!

In this photo you can see the many stems that grow so tall. Each stem is filled with many buds that take turns blooming.

Here’s a zoomed in crop shot of those same flowers. It’s now easy to see how these flowers continue to brighten our days with so many wonderful colours and shapes for so long during their flowering season.

Day Lillies also come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. I used my computer to help me create this interesting ‘arted’ image of a yellow Day Lily that grew near my Blueberry patch, several weeks ago.

Each species of Day Lily probably has its own unique name, but I don’t know what they are – I make up my own simple names for them. I call these ones my ‘Wine Day Lilies’ cuz their burgundy colouring reminds me of a glass of red wine.

During the springtime, my berrybush garden looks rather empty, so I’ve planted a few Daffodils and Tulips to brighten it up until the bushes and berry canes grow and fill the area in. These were my first flowers this year.

Even if an area only has one or two flowers you can still find ways to get in really close to take interesting photos. By fiddling with different computer effects a stimulating image can be created to please any eye.

I’ll often visit an area of photographic interest many times over the course of a day or two, to find the perfect light, shade, dryness or wetness from the rain to compliment my compositions. Sometimes, inspirational lyrics from songs get added to my photos to share simple ideas – simple ideas that may be a little more complicated than, at first, they may appear.

This fun series of pics shows how my Blackcap patch has filled in to produce a rather large amount of berries for my family to enjoy as well as my next door neighbours, who received several small bowls during the height of the season.

Like most fruits, Blackcaps taste best when eaten straight from the vine. I find that keeping them in a refrigerator changes their taste and texture, so I’ll often find myself picking these berries several times during a day so that their taste is the freshest!

This year’s berry harvest was so successful that I’ve even managed to freeze a nice sized bag to use in making jams – I’ll be adding these Blackcaps to my Black Currant and Wild Cherry recipes sometime very soon. They also blend with Maple Syrup very nicely to make a sauce for pancakes or French toast!!!



I’ve always found that having a garden – whether it’s a flower, fruit or veggie patch – is the simplest and most rewarding way to understand the importance of life’s miracles here on planet Earth! It boggles my mind to try to understand how a little seed can be filled with so much information and motivation to want to reach for its Creator – our sun! How does a plant know how to or where to put its leaves? Or branches? Have you ever watched the tiniest of buds – smaller than the head of a pin – grow to produce a colourful flower larger than your hand? How does that work?

Yeah! Yeah! We know enough to fill books on this subject and if I was interested to learn about all the strands of molecular growths and movements I’m not sure if I’d feel satisfied. To me, it’s a great mystery. A mystery that I have no desire to solve. A mystery that makes me feel content to leave as a mystery, so that I’ll forever be amazed by all the complexities that are life!



Now, I’m definitely not saying ‘Live life in ignorance’ cuz that’s a completely false appraisal of my attempt to define the word ‘mystery’.



My desire to learn about the things that grow in my garden is great - I’m learning new things about these plants all the time. My garden if forever being moved around as I learn about what a plant needs to flourish and I try to provide that personalized environment.

By reading a book about how to prune berry bushes and berry canes I was able to produce this beautiful arrangement of fruit. These are Red Currants and they’re always a little on the tart side. I grow them cuz they’re easy to grow and care for and the fruits are very useful.

I grew up with these berry bushes in my parents’ garden, but I’ve never known them quite as intimately as I do now. Because of their tart taste, we store these berries in our freezer. The freezing process seems to bring out a richer, sweeter taste in the berry. We’ll just use a ½ cup or so of the berries in our muffins and pancakes that we bake. Very nice!



When I eat a berry – especially one that I’ve just picked – I can’t help but to think of the sun! Because of the sun we have life on this third planet of nine, hurtling through space, simply spinning in infinite surround! There’s this great gaseous inferno blasting all of space with its energy and warmth and here… in my garden… a simple man touches the sun… and enjoys the freshest of berries!!!!

It’s been a really hot and dry summer… and then there was an accident of some kind that burst apart a major water pipeline that keeps London wet! We were under water rations for several days!!!

My veggies were just starting out and they were struggling because of the non-winter we had (creating no ‘snow-pack’) plus the lack of rain in the spring. Joanne came up with a great solution! We started using Devon’s bath water on our gardens. That – combined with the way I shape my gardens for water conservation – allowed my potatoes, carrots, eggplants and tomatoes to grow to their potential.

It’s good that humans have the great capacity to be able to adapt to ever-changing conditions. As each of us strives to live life more simply – cutting back on fast food dinners ( C’mon, now!! Let’s not just cut back – let’s stop supporting factory farm fed industries altogether!!!) – we’ll begin to appreciate, on a deeper level, the value of our food and water. Then a new kind of change will occur… humans will begin to work together in new ways, planning a future instead of merely adapting to a decaying present.



Normal, evolutionary adaptations have always been fine throughout the history of our species. This is because these changes occurred over thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of years. The last three hundred years (a sliver of time by comparison) have seen such a swift and massive change in humankind’s ability to dominate global natural environments that our ecological support systems has been threatened with extinction… simply affecting every living organism on this space marble of ours. This time, our greatest abilities to adapt could never be enough to overcome the obstacles we could soon face. The time to plan was 100 years ago… but the time to act is now!



Ohhh – the problems!!!!! Yet – all the glory as we reach our true instinctive potential to bring peace and balance for all life forces to this breathing Earth of ours!



Having a garden brings these ideals to life!



So… I should end this story on a lighter note and so I will share a few more lovely photos taken in my gardens this year…

These are my chives in flower. The density of the purples tingles the senses in my eyes. Not only do they look gorgeous but they add a nice tongue sensation to my bbq’d ‘taters!

I just love this photo. These Blueberries are soon going to fill out and change to the deepest blue hue – it’s so nice to seem them at this young stage in their lives. Some people may say that I really missed my shot by a week or so cuz all the baby blue Forget-Me-Nots have already flowered and have turned to seed – only a few flowers remain in bloom, but I think the timing of this photo was perfect. It captures the whole ‘cycles of life’ idea with the end of one species of flower and the birth of a new one. Also, if all the Forget-Me-Nots were in bloom then the background would have been a simple wash of only one colour and texture instead of the many presented here.

And finally, the other component of any great garden… the rain!!!! I just love rain storms… except when they are moving at such a rapid rate that the sneak up on you and send a blast of lightning that you are close enough to hear to your left side followed by the loudest thunder you could ever imagine deepening the distance between your ears – LOL!!! – making your heart miss a beat. That scared me to one step closer to death!!!



Ha! I’m alive to tell about it… so I guess it was all for the good.



Jim

My Own Foodstock!

Last Sunday’s Foodstock event in Honeywood, Ontario was a great success! Over the last couple of days, people have been sending me photos from their experience at this event cuz they knew that I was unable to attend.

My sister joined in the fun and had a plate of food for me! Thanks Sandra!!!!!

CBC radio had been promoting this affair and I’m sure that they were there to get some first hand interviews from the many who were there to enjoy all the great food as well as to learn more about what can be done to halt the destructive plans to turn my homeland into North America’s second largest open-pit mine!

Here’s a story from the Toronto Star newspaper – http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1070839--foodies-unite-en-masse-to-oppose-land-excavation#article

The struggle to halt this quarry will be continuing over the next year or so, I would suspect, and be assured that I will do my best to keep you updated.

Foodstock was a celebration of the land and the food that this land provides. Since Joanne and I had to stay close to home cuz our son could be born at any time now, we decided to have a Foodstock of our very own! A celebration of our own small peace of land and the food that we grew this year…


… like this pumpkin! This was just one of the eight pumpkins that we grew this year and the best thing about this is that if was free!! In the spring, I emptied our composter onto one small patch of our garden and all sorts of free food started growing from it.


The first thing to do with your pumpkin is to cut away the top centre stock. Make sure your knife is very sharp.


Using the same knife, cut your pumpkin in half, lengthwise. I find that an ice cream scoop is the perfect tool for scooping out all the seeds and innards of the pumpkin. Later, these seeds will be towel dried and sprinkled with a dash of salt and a drop of oil and using cookie sheets, we’ll bake them until golden. What a great little snack!!!


But, before we do that, the pumpkin halves are placed onto the cookie sheets and baked at 350 degrees for a little over an hour. When we first started learning how to cook squashes, we would steam the squash instead of baking it. We learned that a baked squash is much more flavourful and that it retains a lot more nutrients.


We let the baked pumpkin sit and cool for a couple of hours and then I use the ice cream scoop, again, to separate the pumpkin meat from the skin.


You can do quite a lot with just one pumpkin. As I mentioned, we grew eight of them this year, so you can imagine how much of this yummy stuff we’ve got in our freezer to enjoy over the cold winter to come.

I read that a baby’s first solid foods should be vegetables that are coloured orange and yellow. So, along with the many bags of pumpkin that we’ve stored in our freezer, we’ve got yellow beans and carrots that also grew in our garden, ready to be mashed into baby food.


To prepare a creamy pumpkin soup that will warm your house as well as your spirit, begin by sautéing 3 large onions and lots of garlic. We used a super tasty wild garlic that I stole from my mom’s garden several years ago and transplanted into my garden.

Once the onions become translucent – just before they brown – add 900 ml of vegetable soup stock and let simmer for 30 minutes. Then you add 4 cups of the baked pumpkin and simmer for another 30 minutes. Toss in several generous tablespoons of Rosemary during the last few minutes of this process.

I find that the Rosemary really seals to deal for this soup recipe. I’ll have to add this herb to my veggie garden next year cuz I love it so much!


We use a hand-held blender to create a nice even texture for our soup.

Now you remove the soup pot from the heat, add 2 cups of a light cream, stirring thoroughly and you are ready to enjoy!!!!


I love it when Jo’ makes this soup even better by baking a loaf of Beer Cheese Bread to go along with it!!!! Super Yum!

Our freezer now has many a container filled with this simple yet delightful soup and we’ll be enjoying these flavours throughout the coming winter!

I’m glad to share this recipe with you and I hope that I’ve inspired you to think about planting your own vegetable garden next spring.

As our societies begin to understand that humanity must undergo many profound changes over the years to come to ensure a habitable planet for future generations, the first questions that we all ask is, “What can I do?” The simplest step is learning how fulfilling it is to take care of our most primal need – food! After that, most other actions for change seem to just fall into place.

Jim

Foodstock

Wow! What a view!! Considering how flat the land looks in this photo, one may think that this image was taken from a plane or a hot air balloon, but that’s not the case. This photo was taken somewhere along the edges of The Niagara Escarpment.

This natural phenomenon was created during the last ice age and it stretches from the southern portion of Ontario to very far north. While the surrounding lands remain hollowed out by the receding glaciers, the escarpment reaches up to some extreme heights.

Just a few minutes from where I grew up, in the valleys and hills of the escarpment, there is an area where one can see the night lights of Barrie and Toronto at the same time! This peak is thought to be the second highest landmark in Southern Ontario. This is my backyard!

But, lately the views and vistas have been filled with images of a different concern…


Ahhh – yes… the mega-quarry! Many of you may have read my detailed blog about this issue earlier this summer -http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2011/06/dufferin-county-jobs-and-destruction.html . I’m not going repeat myself with all of the reasons why this proposed quarry will be the demise of this region, affecting six major rivers that flow through the Toronto and Niagara region of Ontario, cuz I already did that. I’m going to continue this story sharing the many things that the citizens of Southern Ontario are doing to preserve these lands for future generations…

It was mid July, in Orangeville, Ontario and I was going to a rally to support the halting of the mega-quarry. It didn’t take me long until I saw the first signs…


… telling me I was in the right area!!!


Just behind the town hall, groups of people were gathering to learn more about this issue and to find ways to help local organizations gather strength to challenge the American Industrialists who want to reap profit from Canadian soil.


It was a hot day, and many people found a small corner of shade to stand in while speakers took the stage to share with us.


I was extremely impressed with the caliber of all the speakers. We listened to farmers retell the stories of how they were tricked into selling their farmland. We listened to environmentalists detail the impact that this quarry will have on this land as well as neighbouring areas. We listened to local government officials as they encouraged us to continue fighting to preserve these unique lands.

I was most impressed with one of the speakers who told us that his goal was not to put a halt to just this quarry, but to set legislative precedence so that future proposals of this nature will require the environmental assessments that are now non existent. That’s right! This proposal to create North America’s second largest open-pit mine does NOT have to prepare an environmental assessment! That’s just wrong!!

There were booths where one could purchase signs of opposition to post onto front lawns, to help spread awareness. There were booths filled with petitions that were signed by all attendees. And there were booths filled with local chefs who had simple foods available for the crowds, to highlight the crop diversity from this region that would become spoiled if the plans for the mega-quarry cannot be halted.


I liked how the chefs had arranged a unique way to get the hungry people involved in making their own food. This is a bike-powered flourmill! If you wanted a homemade soft-shell taco for lunch you had to dedicate a few minutes of your time to grind the flour that would be used to make your taco shell!! Everyone thought that this was great!


It sure would have been a boring event if all we did was stand around and listen to people talk all day, so a variety of local musicians took to the stage between speakers. Coming from an area that has annual fiddling events, we were entertained with a few fiddlers, and a short while later these drummers entertained us.


Another event that happened this summer was the ‘Paint In’, which was hosted by The Artists United Against The Mega-Quarry.


30 artists had gathered to create a unique series of paintings depicting the beauty that these landscapes have to offer. Now that this issue had been building so much positive publicity, many people came to view these dedicated craftsmen in action!


Sandi Wong is the person who I’ve been in contact with to learn more about these art events. This is one of her creations. Absolutely gorgeous!


Just two weeks ago, Sandi organized the first of several art exhibits that will be taking place over the next year. Her paintings highlight both the rolling hills of the area and the ‘big sky’ that fills our heart while strolling along these country sideroads. I’m hoping to create another original landscape over this winter so that I can personally support this cause.

Sandi is compiling a large email list to keep interested people up to speed with these events, so if you would like to learn more please visit her website - www.sandiwongartist.com


Over the years, I have created many landscape paintings inspired this region of Southern Ontario. This painting was also the inspiration for a song that I wrote about a walk through the hills during a Thanksgiving visit to my parents’ - who still live in this area.

This region has always been an inspiration to me – it is the most beautiful region in all of Southern Ontario. I grew up here. This is the place that I call home! It will be interesting to see how my ambition to save my homeland affects my future art creations depicting this area.

So… these are some of the events that have happened in our recent history.


Now… I want to share one event that is going to be happening this coming weekend. I would love to learn that this blog inspired some people to visit this area and attend this event.

The following has been edited from an article appearing in the Toronto Star newspaper…


Chef Michael Stadtlander is the driving force behind Foodstock, an Oct. 16 fundraiser in support of the movement to Stop The Mega Quarry. He's in the potato field of Dave Vanderzaag, who is one of four farmers who didn't sell to an American-backed company that wants to develop one of Canada's biggest rock quarries. JASON VAN BRUGGEN PHOTO (from Toronto Star)
Activist chef Michael Stadtländer is spearheading a farm-based food protest and hopes 20,000 people will join him.

The Oct. 16 event is called Foodstock and it’s a pay-what-you-can culinary and musical rally against a proposed limestone mega quarry on prime agricultural land next to the Niagara Escarpment. The project’s opponents fear for the region’s water, farming and quality of life.

“We have to protect land that can grow food,” Stadtländer said Thursday. “We’re just at the dawn of localism, and after seeing the drought, hurricanes and floods that have happened in the United States, I think we had better secure where our food comes from.”

Most of the chefs are from southern Ontario, but at least three are coming from Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. Each will create a dish using locally grown or procured items like potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, apples, smoked lake trout, beef and pork.

“In a way, you will taste the land that is in jeopardy,” promised Stadtländer, a longtime supporter of organic food and localism.

The article continues to mention that some prominent Canadian musicians will also be in attendance. Wouldn’t it be the coolest thing to spend the day winding your way through these hills at the height of the Autumn colours before settling down to the greatest meal you’ll ever have and while your on your way to the donation jar you shake hands with Jim Cuddy or Sarah Harmer!!!!?

Last Friday, I was at a library, researching news articles, and checking my emails for more information for this very blog, when a ‘chat’ bubble popped up on my Facebook page. It was from someone who used to be my neighbour. Jeremy Taggart asked me if I was going to be attending this event. I told him that I would love to go but since my wife is due to give birth to our son near that date, I just couldn’t take the risk.

Later, my wife joked and said that if we did go, and she did have our baby that it would be like Woodstock!!!

By this time, I figured that Jeremy was going to be there and I asked him about his plans for the day. He told me that he was to be the host for this event. Very cool, indeed!

I haven’t seen Jeremy since we were teenagers, right about the time when he decided to go out into the world to become the drummer for Our Lady Peace! It would have been great to see him again, so I could give him some of my peace Stik-ers to share with the band!!!

So… there ya go! One day! 20, 000 people! 70 Canadian chefs! And a handful of Canada’s finest musicians! Let’s make the Canadian government witness our united effort as we make a glorious stand to preserve our food and our land for our children and theirs!!!!!

‘Nuf said! I’m hungry… where does the food line start?

Jim

Can’t make it to Foodstock – then keep up to date on the ‘No Mega-Quarry’ Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/no.mega.quarry?sk=wall