Author: Gayla Trail
Seven Things (Plus some extra fun things at the end)
I’ve been tagged for a meme. I don’t typically do memes and i know this makes me a terrible meme not doer, but I swear my reasons aren’t bitchy, just awkward. For example, this current meme requires that I list seven random things about myself. Dear god, the pressure! On the one hand, I do …
The First Plants to Come In
I’ve been bringing my plants inside recently. Some have come in and gone out to coincide with fluctuating temperatures, but the group you see here (photographed yesterday) are most likely in for good. By next week that windowsill will be stuffed with at least 2 more plants. They are (left to right): ‘Variegata’ hot pepper, …
In Search of My Grandmother’s Garden
I am doing something big this winter, something I have wanted to do for a very long time. It has sat inside me for years and years as a wish that I never quite believed would happen. Even now, with some of the plane tickets booked, I can barely believe I am really doing this …
Rubble Gardens
I like all sorts of gardens, no matter where they are made. Here are a few gardens, including a few edible plants, tucked into crumbling concrete crevices in a local alleyway (around Niagara St and Tecumseth in Toronto). Photos taken by Davin Risk. Related: Alley Tomatoes From Out of a Crack… Behold, a Tomato N’ …
Blooming Lithops
I bought this one last week.
Barry’s Garden Open House
I have written here several times about fellow Toronto, Parkdale resident, Barry Parker and his exceptional backyard garden since meeting him this past spring, but I have never shown any wide view pictures. Well, as luck would have it, Barry is hosting a garden open house this coming weekend — those of you who live …
A One-Pot Garden Scraps Meal
Before I came down with the Great Attack of the TIFF Flu 2009 (named as such because the worst part coincided with the Toronto International Film Festival) a lot of our meals looked like some version of this one. They probably looked like this one throughout the flu debacle as well but 1. my memory …
‘Chinese Ornamental’ Hot Pepper
I know it’s been a slow week around here. I’ve been fighting off the worst cold/flu/virus I can remember in recent history and have been in bed all week feeling like utter crap. Today is the first day I have felt confident about sitting up for more than an hour-long stretch or forming complete sentences …
‘Cherries Jubilee’ Nasturtium
With so many options available these days, I wanted to grow a nasturtium variety this year that I had never tried before. I’ve enjoyed these bright blooms but I have to admit that ‘Empress of India’ are still my favourite variety to grow.
Snack Foods for the Apocalypse
This is how I see canning: making snack foods for the apocalypse. Because in truth, with the exception of the plain tomato jars and sauces, many of the items I put up tend to be condiments, pickles, and intense fruit preserves — food I could probably live without. If, say, we were to suffer through …
Let’s Make Tiny Vaginas, Each One Beautiful & Unique
And make our own edible version of Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party! There has been a long and harried internal debate raging in my brain for days over that title. I have avoided making this post, worried that I will offend people by using the anatomically correct word for part of the female anatomy on a …