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Kid’s books for gardeners
In honour of my talk tomorrow at the Calgary Horticultural Society Garden Show (How to Make Gardening a Family Affair, 11 am at Spruce Meadows!), I thought I’d post some of my favourite garden-themed picture books. They’re perfect for sharing, especially on a sunny day in the hammock. The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown I…
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Why my garden likes toilet paper and freezers
Despite the snow that has begun to fly again, spring is in full swing at our house. I’ve got two little things to show you that happened this weekend, both ideas for repurposing objects for the garden. I started a bunch of seeds, using plastic salad containers as usual, but I also tried using toilet…
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Of getting at it and being in it
Three weeks from right this minute, I will be speaking at the Calgary Horticultural Society garden show. My topic this year: How to Make Gardening a Family Affair. And I had scheduled today for getting my notes together and starting in earnest on my presentation. I kind of forgot, however, that it is now officially…
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Of spring fever and tempting fate
Even for Chinook-prone Southern Alberta, it’s getting a little ridiculous. I hate to complain about warm weather, but plus 18 degrees in February is a little strange. Nighttime temperatures hovering just below, and occasionally just above, freezing is something we are accustomed to seeing in March and April, not January. Snow stays only in the…
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The dark days
Every once in a while, a word floats to the surface of my memory, a phrase dredged up from the days when I lived and breathed theatre. Waking up in the winter grey this morning, the word in my head was “dark”: a term for a day when no rehearsal, no performance is scheduled. The…
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Why you didn’t get a Christmas treat from me
I live in a tight-knit community. The type of town in which you know your neighbours, newcomers can’t fly under the radar, and you go to church with your rivals as well as your friends. Around Christmastime, there inevitably comes the ringing of the doorbell as friends and neighbours drop off cookies, crafts, candy. Some…
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Poppy day
It’s almost Remembrance Day, and I’m slightly annoyed. Excuse me while I grab my soapbox. The Halloween sugar rush hadn’t even gotten up to full steam before I started seeing Christmas show up in the decor and on the shelves around town. What’s up with that? Remembrance Day has become the forgotten holiday, the little…
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Quick trick for messy jobs
There’s a tip I heard ages ago that I always seem to recall after its usefulness has passed. As I’m scrubbing away at the dirt lodged firmly under my fingernails, evidence of my outdoor labours, I remember that rubbing your nails over a bar of soap before putting on your gloves will make clean up…
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The race is on
Some of you may be aware of the little taste of winter we in Alberta experienced last week. Yes, cold, wind snow, the whole bit. It’s a pretty early frost, and that’s somewhat disappointing (yes I forgot to cover my tomato plants) but there is a silver lining: Some switch seems to have flipped in…
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Writing confessions of an occasional knitter
It’s taken me all summer to get around to a new post. I’d like to tell you it’s because I’ve been wonderfully productive in the garden, but it’s not. I’d also love to explain how I’ve been so completely immersed in writing my book that I couldn’t bother with anything as mundane as a blog.…
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