I’ve been busy over the last few months with a number of workshops and projects but thought I would take a moment to document some of that here before the experiences escape me.
I did a workshop called “Grocery Store Gardening” at Ladyfest Guelph back in Sept. Here’s the promo:
“Turn the waste from tonight’s meal into totally free, yet extraordinary houseplants. In this workshop you will learn how to grow unusual fruit trees, groovy houseplants, and edible herbs from the stuff that is normally thrown into the compost bin. Participants will take plants home with them at the end of the workshop. Please bring along any of the following items, if you�ve got them: empty margarine containers or old plant pots, left-over fruit seeds: mango pits, pineapple tops, avocado pits.”
The prep work for the workshop was a bit more intense than usual as I had to make a few shopping trips for supplies and prepare some of the plant matter ahead of time but the overall experience was a lot of fun. It was just fun watching reactions to some of the unusual fruits I brought along.
I had to carry my materials on the Greyhound to Guelph which was an experience in itself. I took large cuttings of several pungent herbs including African blue basil minutes before I left and the smell emminating from my person was quite intense.
There was a Bonsai show taking place in the University Centre at the same time as Ladyfest and I must confess that I couldn’t resist and bought a Boweia aka False Sea Onion. It was too crazy to pass up and I’m too much of a succulent addict. Can’t stop the plant mania! Thankfully (or sadly) the Cactus and Succulent Society show & sale was not on. I’ve heard they tag-team it with the Orchid Society show & sale. Temptation like that would have meant sudden death to my bank account.
Unfortunately, I did not take any photos (kind of hard to do in the middle of giving a workshop). However, if you’d like to try your hand at growing your own grocery store plants, I have posted a few articles on this site over the years that delve into the subject. See:
