Incredible Edible - Town Grows Food

Carrots in the car park. Radishes on the roundabout.The deliciously eccentric story of the town growing ALL its own veg

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[excerpt]
.....raspberries, apricots and apples on the canal towpath; blackcurrants, redcurrants and strawberries beside the doctor’s surgery; beans and peas outside the college; cherries in the supermarket car park; and mint, rosemary, thyme and fennel by the health centre.

The vegetable plots are the most visible sign of an amazing plan: to make Todmorden the first town in the country that is self-sufficient in food.

‘And we want to do it by 2018,’ says Mary Clear, 56, a grandmother of ten and co-founder of Incredible Edible, as the scheme is called.
______________story found by Cate

Pumpkin Carving Diggerdudes

Dear Garden Lovers,

Today at DIGS we carved pumpkins, dunked suckers in hot-chocolate, and had a wonderful time (we even mulched the beds for next week's garlic!)

Enjoy the photos. Click to play full screen slide show.



Best, Jen

Saturday, October 29th PUMPKIN CARVING

ATTENTION GARDENERS: There will be a regular work party this Saturday, Oct. 29 at 10 am. We have garlic and squash to divide and 2 beds to mulch for winter. The Little Diggers will meet at 10:30 to carve their pumpkins for Halloween. We will supply pumpkins and snacks for the carvers. Please bring carving tools for your Little Digger. All are welcome.

What's Up in the Garden?

Dear Garden Lovers,

Just a quick slide-show update of What's Up?
This weekend's photos:



(click to enlarge and for full screen slideshow).

On Saturday this is what we did:
We all mowed the lawn and weed-whackererered -ed -ed,
and chopped and layered compost, and top-mulched with leafy seaweed.
And after turning in the rye grass and looking at all those resting beds, I realized that there were still fruits and lettuces and warmth loving flowers to be seen.
Peer around the DIGS garden and see for yourself.
It's so late in October and we are all amazed.

And the flowers, my gosh the flowers!

Thank you everybody who works to create this magical place!
Jen :>)

This Saturday Oct. 15th

ATTENTION GARDENERS: We will meet this Saturday, October 15 at 10 am in the garden. There is still lots of work to be done to get ready for winter. Members might want to bring a bag to carry home a piece of squash or some extra garlic. A reminder that there is no Little Diggers lesson this week. We will meet later in October to carve pumpkins for Halloween.

And – a request – Anna’s store, the produce stand outside the garden is a place where we put produce from our garden (organic!). But it is not to be used to dump all sorts of material to give away. Please respect it. Thanks so much.

from Marg

Mulch Harvest Munch!!

Dear Garden Lovers,

Today at DIGS we mulched, mulched, mulched, and harvested too.
Now we EAT!! hahahhaa. See recipes for squash pie etc. below.

Everything in the garden looks so beautiful, even as the season comes to a gradual end.
Take a look:



Click to make photos larger, and choose slide show-full screen.

We are storing the squash now that it's "cured" so that every few weeks we can divide them up 2-3 at a time so all the DIGS gardeners can gradually enjoy them. We also prepared several beds for planting, and garlic will be planted (a new variety) in November around the 5th.
The harvested garlic from this year had a bit of a droopy fungoidal problem, so we will divide up the good cloves next week. Soup and pie recipes below!**

The pumpkins and squashes, as you could see from previous photos, were grown right on top of the big compost pile (made with seaweed and leaves), and so now that they're cleared we can wheelbarrow that mulch to every bed that needs to be reinvigorated.
We mulched around the kale, cabbage and broccoli.
All the brassicas have been heavily limed to avoid club-root.

The soil in the fallow beds is seriously like some kind of edible cocoa powder; and it even smells like brownie mix! Incredible stuff

We've done a wonderful thing; we've created live soil!
Amazing.
Thanks to everyone who helped today, and let's sing the mulchy song as it leads to muching! :>)

Mulchy-munchy,
puddin' and pie...


.....wait.
That's not how that goes!

Oh, and Little Diggers will be carving pumpkins in two weeks; stay tuned.
Best, Jen
=========================
RECIPES
=========================

Fast Squash for dinner; no peeling.

Precook the squash in the microwave;
Remove seeds, cut into any sized chunks with skin on.
Place in deep microwaveable mixing bowl with 2 inches water, dash salt.

Microwave on high for 6-10 min. depending on piece sizes.

Drain, score on flesh side, place skin down on greased tray.

Broil 5-7 minutes to brown, topped with:
butter/sugar/maple syrop/honey,
salt/pepper for 5 minutes.

To use up left-over cooked squash or yam:
(peel cooked squash chunks with paring knife, very easy, to mash for pie below**).
________________________________
*Squash or Sweet Yam Pie*
_________________________________
Crust - Julia Child's quick processor crust single 9-inch

1 and 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Whirr until mixed

Add in small cubes:

1/2 c shortening or lard/butter

Pulse briefly, until pea-sized clumps form.

Add:

2-3 TBSP water.

Don't whirr too much at all, just until dough clumps on blade.
You can finish by hand.
Turn out on floured surface, knead once-twice if huge blobs of fat, or something strange ha ha.
Gather into ball, pat flat, roll out to fit pie-plate. Transfer on rolling pin, crimp edge.

Use processor again to make filling. No need to wash it out.

Preheat oven to 375.

Squash Dessert Pie Filling - (from D.J.!)

Whirr in batches in food processor.

2+ cups cooked squash, cooked yam or combination (2-3 cups mashed okay)
1 and 1/2 cups milk/cream/evaporated milk your choice
2-3 eggs
1/2 c white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp each: salt, nutmeg.
1 tsp each; cinnamon, ginger
dash cloves or allspice
Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.

See photo at top of this post.
Made on Sunday for Thanksgiving.


Note: Jack-O-Lantern Bonus!!

When you create "pumpkin scrapings" from thinning the walls of your "jack-o-lantern", you can cook them up in the microwave to make this pie too!
Just use a big spoon to gouge your pumpkin walls thinner, and they illuminate better too.
________________________
Garlic Soup recipe:
____________________________

5 cloves garlic - mince,

gently saute in

1/4 cup butter.

Add to make roux

2 Tbsp flour; cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add and let thicken to boiling

4 cups chicken (or veg) stock

Add:

Salt to taste
Bay leaf
pinch Mace

Simmer 1/2 hr adding pepper to taste at end.

Beat
2 egg yolks in a bowl.

Add a small amount of the soup to the eggs to temper, beat, and then return egg mixture to the soup.
Heat but do not boil.

Optional:

Add 1/2 cup dry red wine
(or some lemon juice, or even cream.)

Sprinkle soup with
chopped parsley.

More garlic soup recipes below:
(I'm still searching for the one thickened with cornmeal...oh where oh where?.....)

Soup 1
Soup 2
Soup 3
________________________

Pumpkin Squash Harvest

Dear Garden Lovers,

Today the Little Diggers harvested the golden hubbard squash (aka space-alien-orange wrinklers) and the pumpkins from amidst the tangle of the largest compost bin. See slide show below.



Click to enlarge and choose full screen for a large slide show.

The excellent and cute tiny diggers also harvested their bean poles, scarlet runners (very large!), golden and green/red tomatoes, while the grownups transplanted two kinds of kale (scarlet and green) and planned spots for more brassicas (cabbage family).
Lots and lots of kale means lots and lots of kale chips! Yum!!
Recipe below*.

The bigger diggers then tried to barter some land from the little diggers (in exchange, as it turns out, for candy on Hallowe'en) in order to find enough space for all the cabbages that are going in garden beds in the next four weeks. Wow, those cabbage-non-eaters drive really hard bargains!!

It was super fun and relaxed today.
Note: The final little diggers lesson of 2011 will be at the end of October for the pumpkin carving!

Other news:
Winter rye has sprouted tall and lushly under the remay cloth (foiling sprout eating birds) and the grapes over the gates are already being nibbled by visiting night raccoons (try yodelling at them if you're a midnight yodeller; just might work.)

Kale Chips - the newest snackfood craze



_______________________
From another good recipe site
________________________
KALE CHIPS Recipe

Quote from above site:These chips are so fabulous you will never need regular chips again. Dried kale is surprisingly filling and these nutritious and rich chips are a meal unto themselves.

Each of the following recipes uses about 1 head of green kale. Ruffles have ridges- therefore curly kale holds the flavor best. Wash the leaves well; do not use a leaf if it has those little bugs that like to stick to the backs of the leaves. Don't use the woody stems. Tear large bite-sized pieces of the leaves into a large bowl and pour a sauce (recipes below) over the kale, massaging with your fingers until the kale is thoroughly saturated.

Spread saturated kale pieces onto dehydrator trays with teflon sheets and dehydrate at 105° for 12- 15 hours. The leaves shrink and should emerge crispy. (regular oven temperatures are suggested below)

No dip needed for these chips, but a side of cherry tomatoes or sliced cucumbers helps wet the whistle.

Hummus Kale Chips Light and lemony. • ½ cup sprouted pumpkin seeds • optional: ¼ cup sprouted sesame seeds • 1 clove garlic • 2 stalks green onion • 2 stalks celery • juice of one lemon • ½- 1 teaspoon cumin • ½- 1 teaspoon cayenne. Grind seeds well in coffee grinder. Chop all other ingredients and blend together in food processor. Follow directions (above).

Sesame Kale Chips Call these Dragon Wings for their fire-breathing Asian flavor!
• 1 cup sprouted sesame seeds • 2 medium plums (pitted, about ¾ cup chopped) • 1 stalk celery • 1 clove garlic • juice of ½ lemon • ½ cup chopped onion • 1 inch fresh ginger root, minced • Cayenne to taste. Grind sesame seeds in coffee grinder. Blend all other ingredients in food processor, finally adding ground sesame. Follow directions (above).

Fat Free Kale Chips You will thoroughly enjoy this amazingly delicious fat free version!
In the Vita-Mix, blend the following ingredients well without water (use the tamper): • 1 medium small zucchini • 1 large red, orange or yellow bell pepper • ¼ cup chopped onion • 2 stalks celery • juice of ½ lemon • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste. Follow directions (above).

More Kale Chip variations/using oven instead of dehydrator

Recipe 2

Recipe 3

Recipe 4

Video 1: Easy low heat Kale chips.

Cute four year old makes red-pepper garlic kale chips: Video 2
____________

Fun was had by all today. What a wonderful garden! Thank you everyone.
Best, Jen

Saturday Oct 1st at 10 am!

ATTENTION GARDENERS: We will meet this Saturday, Oct. 1 at 10 am in the garden. We have lettuce and kale to plant and raspberry cane tie-up to finish. The Little Diggers will meet at 10:30. We have some cleanup to do and, as well, we have to pick our pumpkins. You can pick your own pumpkin for Halloween. All are welcome.

Thanks to all, & winners

From Jim:Our first Fall Fair is now history. By all accounts it was a great success and on behalf of DIGS, I’d like to thank everyone who made it a success ...those who entered an exhibit, the judges, the registrars, the crafters, the book sellers, the race officials, the chauffeurs, the water taxi operator, the bartenders, the tent putter uppers and taker downers, the ribbon makers, dancers, the kids and their parents, visitors to the island and island residents.

Special thanks to the band. Trish, Geoff, David and Rick gave us 3 hours of foot stomping, hand clapping, patient clear dance instruction, immensely enjoyable music!

And the judges, all 8 of them, who gave generously of their time and experience.
And my wife, Margaret, who kept me focused and came up with all the good ideas

Finally, congratulations to the winners! (names used to appear below, but now saved elsewhere.)

Photos from the Fab FALL FAIR!!!

Dear Islanders,
Feast your eyes!!


(double click and choose full screen slide show!)

The Fall Fair was Fantastico!
At night there was DANCING!
It was the most amazing music EVER!!
Thankyou everybody!

More photos from Marg (click to enlarge) of all the folk to thank.

Vendors


Musicians and Dancers:


Wonderful square dancing and "Sasha! Sasha! Un-deux-trois" Ukranian wild stomping and even "Havva Negila"! (sorry about my ethnic-phoenetic spelling problem!)


Racers & Watchers:


Winners:


Exhibits:



Thank you to everybody! We love this whole gardening THING, don't we?

hahahhahaha.

Best, Jen (any more photos, send to us, thanks.)

You've come a long way, baboo!!

From Sept 2011 Digs

Fall Fair Update

We are in the final stretch now...only a week and a bit before our first Fall Fair on Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 17. It’s not too late to put together entries in any of our 16 categories. Who knows? Maybe that jam made from a distant relative’s recipe may bring home a coveted blue ribbon.
The judges for the Baking and Preserves category will be using the Manitoba Food Rules. Click on the link: Standards for Judging Food

See catagories on earlier Fall Fair post below.

There have been questions about the Barn Dance on Saturday evening (7:00 pm at the Lighthouse). Yes, we will be trying some square dancing and, yes, we will have a fiddler and caller but, no, you do not have to wear a crinoline. What we need is raw enthusiasm and a willingness to give it a “go" !

Finally, on Saturday afternoon (starting a 12:00) the doors will be open for the public to come in and view the displays at the lighthouse. As well, local vendors will be selling such things as books, marionettes, hand painted glassware, jewellery, purses and scarves, knitted goods, as well as jackets and totes and other sewn goods such as dolls. Various CD’s from local musicians will also be available.

Apple pressing (to make apple juice) will also be happening on the back lawn of the Beacon Houses and kids’ races will be taking place on the lower field (starting at 2:00)

If you have any questions contact email Marg Harris at meharris@telus.net

Fall Fair Food Judging Criteria

Judging for all the food entries in ourFall Fair (Sept. 16 & 17) will be based on the Manitoba Food Rules criteria. If you are submitting an entry in this category please check out the following link: Food Judging Standards.

Saturday this week!

Attention Gardeners and Little Diggers:
We will meet this SATURDAY, Sept. 10th at 10:00 in the garden.
We have another bed to plant with fall rye and a potato tower to harvest.
The Little Diggers meet at 10:30 on SATURDAY as well.
This week we will talk about fall fairs and discuss what they might enter.
All are welcome.

Sunny September photos

Dear Garden lovers,


The last two Sundays the Little Diggers made veggie kababs, and also harvested the potato tower.
To make the slideshow bigger, click on photos then choose "full screen".

News: Gardening time now switches to SATURDAYS, starting Sept. 10th.No more Sundays til next summer. Come on Saturdays at 10 am instead; all welcome.

Some other bizarre incidents also occured these past two weeks.

Last year's Onion Master (previous winner of the giant onion contest) drove by singing at the top of his lungs that no one could possibly grow an onion any bigger;
a strange pumpkin grew in a strange land;
and a sleepy insect from a magic sky decided to nap on a garden stake.

Have a look for yourself in the above photos(although the Onion Master was too quick to capture on film - he may be back!).

Best, Jen

Fall Fair Sept 16th & 17th!!

Digs Fall Fun Fair and Barn Dance


Plans for the upcoming DIGS Fall Fair (Sept. 16, 17 at the Beacon House) are well underway.

Eight experienced judges have agreed to judge the various categories. All the ribbons have been designed and printed. It's time now to think about your entries.

1. Visual Arts: - best painting/sketch - best photograph
2. Horticulture:-3 vegetables of same size and type - biggest zucchini - 3 fruits
-most unusual vegetable - mixed vase of garden flowers
3. Baking/Preserves: - best pie - best bread - best sweet loaf - best pickle - best jam/jelly/chutney
4. Wines: -best homemade white wine - best homemade red wine
5. Junior Category: - best scarecrow
6. Giant Onions: – single heaviest onion

You may enter as many categories as you wish. Each entry must be accompanied by a $1.00 fee and must be presented at the Beacon House Friday night (Sept. 16) or Saturday (Sept. 17) before 10 am. Judging will take place Saturday morning between 10 am and noon by a panel of highly qualified local judges and ribbons awarded in all categories. The doors of the Beacon House will be open to the general public to view all the entries at 12:00 noon (after the judges have finished evaluating the entries).

The exhibits will remain open Saturday afternoon for viewing by the public. Other activities will take place outside. Also at 12:00 several island vendors will be selling their wares on the back lawn of the Beacon House. Jim H. will be pressing apples and making juice on the back lawn as well. Bring a container and you can take home some fresh apple juice.

On the lower field Veronica, Josephine and Guy will be organizing different races for the kids – sack race, egg and spoon race and three legged race. Outdoor events will start at 2:00pm. On Saturday evening (7 pm)the fall fair “wraps up” with a “barn dance” in the Beacon House featuring a live band complete with a fiddler and a square dance caller. Entry fee is a plate of appetizers for the food table.


Dates:
Friday, Sept. 16 for submission of entries and Saturday, Sept.17 for the public to view entries (from 12:00 noon on), fun and games outside, apple pressing, local crafters selling their wares and a "barn dance" in the evening - all taking place at the Beacon House

As a finale there will be a Barn Dance on Saturday evening starting at 7 pm. (Yee-Haw!)
Admission is a plate of appetizers.
Dress is somewhat farmer-like.
Now is the time to start planning your entry so that you can join in the fun.
Good Luck!

What's up at Digs this week?

Dear Garden Lovers,

Just a quick look at "What's Up?" in the garden.


If you click on the slideshow you can get it to play full screen.

What a lovely place, even in the (welcome) rain! Enjoy!
P.S. Is it just me, or have we got some really good looking veggies?!
Jen

Aug.14th beach minerals

Here is a slide show from August 2010:



What we did today:

This Sunday, Aug.14th at Digs:

Little Diggeroos - Anne M. led the Little Diggers on a geological tour of the beach looking for and identifying various minerals. Totally excellentay!

Weird item of day - Yes, some birds can pierce right through bird-netting with their jet-propelled sharp long beaks. Reports of more birds zooming through like misiles, breaking into the netting, in order to eat berries. Don't doubt it; there have been a number of sightings/witnesses. :>)

Gardener's meet - At this morning's meeting we discussed possible new signage we might need to try and communicate to visitors which beds are NOT TO BE PICKED, because they are family allotments, and belong to the families who work on them

(ie: Please please don't pick family's tomatoes or little digger's giant-onion-contest onions please please!)

Vegetables and fruits that are for people to take will always be put out on the table outside the fence.

New to the Garden? If you need a tour to know where "tasting is encouraged" and where not to pick by accident, come down any Sunday at 10 am or meet with Jane afer 4:30 on M-W-F, and someone will be happy to give you a garden tour.

Harvested some of these today - Bush beans (green/yellow), carrots, (some had split from too much delicious water!) kohlrabi, cucumber, leeks, small onions, dill, and misc. lettuces.

Planted today - Cauliflour and cabbage transplanted into bed no. 1, and winter rye was planted (keep moist) in the x-garlic beds, which are now fallow.
The option still exists to put remay white cloth over the sprouting rye to stop the birds from whooping it up and having a party.....it's the best kind of bird-party-pooper choice, mayhaps. :>)

Other chores - Brussel sprouts got new, doubly attractive stakes, and were tied up to them; tomatoes received some small pruning, and kale and winter lettuce plants were potted up a size.

A fine day for gardening. Thanks to all who come out and get diggy!

Best, Jen

garden maintenance and harvesting ..

for any who are interested .. i will be at the garden monday, wednesday, and friday afternoons, from about 4:30 to 5:30-6:00 .. (just in time for dinner) .. if you would like to join me in maintaining the garden, and checking what's to harvest, please do ..

jane

Drying Fruit & Braiding Garlic

Dear Garden Lovers,

Here are some photos from August 7th, the day that the garlic was braided and the fruit was dehydrated.



To enlarge for fullscreen slideshow, just double click on the pictures, and then choose Full-Screen when you arrive at the web albums.

Brussel sprouts and other cabbage-family members are being moved into their beds.
Note the veggies that are ready for harvest, especially if you love Swiss Chard!

Lots to see and taste in the garden!

Best, Jen

a bed in the park .. tomatoes growing beautifully ..

calendula

i've been slightly remiss in writing about our bed in the park on a 'regular' basis .. however, in spite of this, life goes on .. and tomatoes continue to grow .. i decided that for this post, i will take a more visual approach .. so, here are the tomatoes, and a few companions, as they have grown over the summer ..

from this .. 

to this .. 

to this .. 

and to this .. 

there are many tomatoes forming .. some huge .. some smaller .. and some with ridges .. i think those are the 'polish paste' .. there are even a few beginning to ripen .. mmmm .. can hardly wait to finally pick them .. frank and i shared a small 'early girl' the other day .. she was lovely .. juicy and full of the tomato flavour that only a fresh picked tomato has to offer ..

shiny green plumpness appearing .. 

every two weeks i've fed the tomato plants with a mixture of fish fertilizer and morbloom .. seems to be working .. 

not only that, but the companion marigolds are hearty, vigorous souls that continue to brighten the bed of greens with splashes of yellows, reds, oranges ..

won't be long, though, until these beauties are accompanied by the red hues of ripening globes ..

and, even with being remiss in babbling about the step by step growth of our bed in the park, it doesn't matter, really .. everything just keeps moving along its merry way, to fruition ..

Sunday Aug. 7th garlic braiding

ATTENTION GARDENERS: Gardeners will meet this Sunday, Aug. 7 at 10:00am in the community garden. Lots to discuss and winter veggies to plant. Mike and Andria will be processing our garlic as well as demonstrating how to make a garlic braid.

Little Diggers meet at 10:30 and this week will learn about dehydrating fruits.
All are welcome.

Garden Tour Photos

Dear Garden Lovers,

Here are the photos I took from today's garden tour.
I didn't make it to all the gardens on the map, and I don't actually know the name of the plants in the photos, but WHAT a lovely colourful day!
The end of the tour was at the Community Garden, and finally the Harris garden. Update: Sorry to say that google discontinued Blogger photo albums in 2022.



Click on the above, and then choose FULL SCREEN.

At the very end are some photos from father's day a week ago. The Little Diggers made gift plants. Enjoy.

Note: Get your photos now please!
Oops, ha ha, oops:

I'm seriously running out of space to store photos online in these web albums, so please do download the ones you'd like to keep, thanks. I'll leave the following DIGS slideshows and photos up until, by request, Dec 30th 2011. Then I have to take all these older photos down to leave room for new ones. So please grab the photos you want to keep now. The older archived photos will be stored on DVD and copies will go to the DIGS society archive. (wherever that is, I'll find it :>)

So please use these links to previous garden-year slide shows, to jump to and download your favourite shots. Here are the direct download links below. Please help yourself - free. Lots of nice ones of the Little Diggers Days, and two years of very exciting veggie growing.

Slideshows and photos - Events, plantings, harvestings. Very nice to see how the community garden just grows and grows!!

All DIGS photos from this blog.

ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
Jim's Thankyou Day


Download your favourites today!

Thanks to everyone for the Dessert Auction, Solstice Celebration and Garden Tour.
Simply marvellous!
Best, Jen

Keyhole Permaculture

Dear Garden-lovers,
Cate pointed the way to information on this fascinating food-water project in Africa using keyhole gardens. It looks very do-able and fun, and if we islanders could figure out a raccoon and deer-proof design for our particularly greedy habitat of furry friends, it could be great for transforming a patch of flat lawn using the stones we find all over our properties.
It's interesting that the original pdf of African project instructions mention that such a raised bed needs to be replaced with new soil every five years if intensively productive.
Take a gander at the videos. Fascinating stuff.
Best, Jen
___________________


How to make a keyhole garden to prevent dry,cracked soil and heavy rain soil erosion in mountainous Africa: VIDEO

How to make a keyhole garden step by step:

Pilot Project in Africa:VIDEO
Key hole gardens in the mountains of Africa:




Original African plans and notes for keyholes in pdf.


More photos of completed gardens: keyhole and potato bags:

Keyholes in bloom in African garden
Keyhole & mandala shaped beds

a bed in the park .. planted ..

well .. i see the last time i wrote a post was late may .. now, it's late june and we planted our bed about three weeks ago ..

although there had been many ideas about what to plant in the bed in the park, we finally settled on tomatoes .. it seemed the most likely choice since we use lots, sauce lots and freeze lots .. and the sun that touches the community garden far surpasses anything that we get in our little garden beds in the back yard .. and so it was decided .. tomatoes it would be ..

after planting .. end of may ..

traditionally, the may 24th long weekend is the time to plant, but we've had such a different spring, with cool rainy weather that we waited a few extra days so we could plant the tomatoes into lovely, warm soil where they could just take hold and grow ..

about three weeks later ..

and now, twenty tomato plants are nicely nestled together in the bed .. tucked between them are basil and a few marigolds .. basil because it is a companion plant for tomatoes, and marigolds for the colour and repellent qualities .. ah, yes .. and a number of squash and watermelon volunteers from our home compost .. so many, in fact, that we've had to cull them so they won't take over the garden bed ..

renegade squash amongst the tomatoes

last week we staked the tomatoes and nipped the suckers that were starting to grown at the crotch between leaf and stalk .. pretty soon, i suspect, these lovely blossoms shown below will turn to lovely little green tomatoes .. of course, a little heat would be an asset ..

Garden Tour this SUNDAY! June 26!!

ATTENTION GARDENERS AND LITTLE DIGGERS:
There will be NO work party this Sunday, June 26th.
Instead we will be taking part in the Annual Garden Tour which starts and ends at the community garden.
Little Diggers are encouraged to join the adults and visit all the gardens on the tour.

Also:
Saturday June 25th is our fundraiser Dessert Auction and Solstice Celebration at the lighthouse. Sat. 6 pm - 10:30 pm Music, Fun and Food. Free! Just bring an appetizer to share or a dessert to auction. (see yummy dessert pictures below for more info.) See you there!

After the sugar-rush:
(click to enlarge)

Salad day - sprouting sprouts

Dear Garden Lovers,

Some photos from today's community gardening day:



(click on the photos to choose fullscreen for a big, sprouty slideshow.)
Happy days! Those matina lettuces are so fabulouso we can barely rave enough about them! And don't you just love those feisty sprouts!

And speaking of food and its relationship to our community garden, take a deep sugar scoop, and, I know it's difficult, since we all love vegetables so much, but cast your mind toward desserts!



D.I.G.S. has a dessert auction fundraiser coming up (drool, drool! whooop and holler! music and dancing! appetizers too!)

Here's the announcement from Marg:

COME TO THE DIGS FUNDRAISER
DESSERT AUCTION/SUMMER SOLSTICE PARTY
Where- The Lighthouse.
When- 6 pm - 10:30 pm, on Saturday June 25th

Join your friends and neighbours in celebrating the start of summer, and our culinary skills too!
Entry FREE with either an appetizer for the table
or a dessert for the silent auction.
Eat appetizers - bid on desserts.
Complimentary tea/coffee.
Friendly bartender, Live Music, 50/50 Draw
See you on the 25th!

---------------
Need a new dessert or appetizer recipe?

Desserts

Dessert recipes blog 1
Dessert recipes blog 2


Appetizers

Appetizer recipes 1
Appetizer recipes 2

All kinds of delish-looking food blogs with recipes.


Take a look at these great recipe sites (and send in some more good recipe sites if you have links too!).
You can leave recipes or links by clicking the word COMMENT just below here too.
Any hey, if anyone begs me to, I'll happily put my favourite "Hot chocolate pudding cake" which has the mysteriously very few ingredients, on top of which you float 2 cups of hot water, (I know; kooky!), and it turns into a cake-pudding combo!! Serve warm with cream. EEeeek!
Irresistable. Seriously. Chocolate cake AND pudding; together! Vunderbarrrr! :>D

Slide Show Thankyou!

Dear Diggers, both big and little,

Here is a slide show from three Sundays in the garden.
Update: 2022 Google discontinued photo albums in Blogger. Sorry.


If you want to make it full screen, just double click right on the photos.
That will take you to Picasa Web Albums, and you can click on the name of the album, and then the word: "Slideshow" - Full Screen - F11.
It really looks good full screen. Sorry about the number of steps. Doh!
And yes, I did saturate the colours, just a bit.
Love to bring out the bright colours in the rain.
The photos are from three consecutive Sundays, I think.
We had a plant sale, and bake sale, and it's so incredibly fun.

Okay, yes, the birds ate the peas as they sprouted again!
Eeek.
These birds, who crowd the creekbed just a few yards away are all travelling gourmet Californian health-food types. I can just tell.
They think our island is a spa-spot on their northward migration.
They probably like alfalfa sprouts too. And wheat grass.
Anyway, they took our peas, (again!).

Sigh.
Anyway, don't look at the peas. Just send prayer.
Or hey, tiny postage-stamp-sized prayer flags on little strings could be hung about the existing peas. Follow your own inner-guru on this one. :>)

On the other hand, go down to the garden this week (map below; click on it to make it bigger) and take a big tall look at the raspberries this year! (on the farthest left when you go in the front gate. Bed 11) Holy giant raspberries, batman!




Anyway, thanks to everyone, and that includes the gardeners who appear and disappear silently, like mist on a rainy day.
The garden is just so phantasmagorical, once again.
Thankyou to everyone who makes it so amazingly great.


(click on the above picture of Jim's award celebration to enlarge collage).

a bed in the park .. the last layer before planting ..

here's our bed in the park .. it looks pretty bare at the moment .. but not for long .. this is the big planting weekend/week coming up ..

frank went down the other day with two wheelbarrows full of compost from our yard .. he laid the compost on top of the existing leaves and seaweed that have been decomposing for the last few months, and then dug everything under .. now the bed is ready to accept our tomato plants .. we have 'polish paste' we grew from seed, two 'early girls' and three 'san marzana' plants that we bought at local garden sales, and five mystery tomatoes we acquired earlier in the year .. along with these, we'll plant basil and marigolds as companion plants ..

and then we watch .. and see what happens .. in no time at all this bed will be full to overflowing ..

May 22nd Sunday, Plants & Baked Goods at DIGS!

PLANT SWAP AND SALE
An extra bonus plant swap and bake sale will take place at 10am on Sunday May 22nd, at the community garden.

DIGS FUNDRAISER - 2nd time round -
PLANT SWAP/SALE and BAKE SALE
AT THE COMMUNITY GARDEN

Attention Gardeners: For those who missed our plant sale last Sunday we will have plants for sale this Sunday as well, May 22, starting at 10:00 am. We still have tomatoes, peppers, perennials and other vegetables for your garden. Some baking will also be for sale. In addition, we will still have our regular work party and the Little Diggers will meet at 10:30 to plant their "colour garden".See you there! Margaret Harris

Digs Fall Fun Fair and Barn Dance

DIGS will be sponsoring a traditional Fall Fair this year to celebrate the
skills of our island's gardeners, cooks, artists and wine makers.

The fair will be held on
Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Light House.
Listed below are the categories to be judged:

1. Visual Arts: - best painting/sketch - best photograph
2. Horticulture: -3 vegetables of same size and type - biggest zucchini
3 fruits - most unusual vegetable -mixed vase of garden flowers
4. Baking/Preserves: -best pie-best bread -best sweet loaf-
best pickles-best jam/jelly/chutney
5. Wines: -best homemade white wine -best homemade red wine
6. Junior Category: -best scarecrow
7. Giant Onions: - single heaviest onion

You may enter as many categories as you wish.
Entries will be accompanied by an entry form (available in August at the pub, community garden and island bulletin boards or online at here at the digs blog.)
A $1.00 fee will be charged per entry, and must be presented at the Lighthouse Friday night (Sept. 16) or Saturday (Sept. 17) before 10 am. Judging will take place Saturday morning between 10 am and noon by a panel of highly qualified local judges and ribbons awarded in all categories.

The exhibit will remain open Saturday afternoon for viewing by the public. Other activities will take place outside. Info to follow.

As a finale there will be a Barn Dance on Saturday evening starting at 8 pm. Admission is a plate of appetizers. Dress is somewhat farmer-like.
Now is the time to start planning your entry so that you can join in the fun. Good Luck! Margaret Harris

littler community gardeners ..

it's so delightful to watch the children at the garden .. they get in to lots of different activities .. some made for them .. others of their own making .. as i was puttering around in the garden, this past saturday, i witnessed this impromptu display of community gardening ..(before i go on, i apologize for any misspelled names) ..

 it all began with nicola .. she was helping glen at their plot ..

before i knew it, fay happened by to see what was going on ..

so .. nicola showed fay what she'd been up to ..

pretty soon, along came immogen .. with her shovel .. ready to join in ..

by this time, having got the project scoop from nicola, fay took the initiative to dig ..

next time i looked, lola had brought her shovel, too, and just dug right in ..

 a little later, i passed by ocea, kazaya and lenni, who were hard at it .. it looks like they're taking their cue from immogen ..

 

there was quite the little convergence of small gardeners .. and parents ..

everyone having fun gardening together ..

then .. it was time to clean up ..

'timing is everything' .. it would seem my timing was pretty spot on .. how wonderful to be witness to this burst of spontaneous creation in the garden .. glen and jess and nicola's bed benefitted from some extra kid energy .. and, i trust lynn is pleased with the progress in her bed .. "many hands make light work" ..

so, i invite you to come down some saturday, and suggest that you, too, will witness delightful moments unfolding before your very eyes ..

even little ruxton was eager to help .. in his fashion ..