The Spring Garden

Aren't these amazing!? I just love the way the ferns uncurl as they open up.

Wedding Shower for Rosemary

There's been so much going on lately, that I haven't gotten to blog entries. Things in the garden are popping out of the ground. The radishes, lettuce and spinach have come up in the garden box. And this afternoon I went to a wedding shower for Rosemary.


We made scrapbook pages of recipes and marriage advice. This is Rosemary's sister, Carolyn, (L) and Melanie (R).

Our two wonderful daughters in law - Melanie (L) and Rosemary (R).

The contestants for the wedding dress competition. Each table was given a few rolls of toilet paper and we had to make a wedding dress which were judged for creativity and style.

The glowing bride wearing the traditional bridal shower hat decorated with ribbons and bows.

Yay! It's Finally Raining!

Yay! It's finally raining! We haven't had any rain for a long time. Hard to believe that in Manitoba they're flooded out. The rain is so good for the garden and the seeds I put in last week!

And the cooler weather came at a perfect time for the daffodils to last longer.

Mission Fest

I spent Saturday morning at Mission Fest, a "trade show" for Christian ministries, at the International Centre on Airport Road. After my shift at our booth I wandered around and found out about some very interesting ministries.

Ontario Christian Gleaners (http://www.ontariogleaners.org/) collects surplus fruits and vegetables from farms and food processing and distribution companies in places like Leamington, Holland Marsh, and the Ontario Food Terminal. They dehidrate the food, bagging it into nutritious soup mixes and fruit snacks, and then ship them overseas to feed the hungry. And this is all from surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away!

I also found out about Christian Salvage Mission (http://www.csmcanada.org/) from Hamilton. They collect used school books, theology books, etc. and ships them overseas to schools and missions. Think of all the leftover books at the end of your school or church's rummage sale! or when your school gets new text books - what do they do with the previous ones? Christian Salvage Mission will find a place where they will be used and greatly appreciated!

The Perfect Day for Gardening!

Today the weather was perfect!!! for gardening, so we spent the whole day outside and got a lot done. At the top of the list was enlarging the flower bed in the front yard (see the rope marking the outline of the enlarged bed). This way it will be easier to mow the lawn. Gerard seems to have conflicts with the cord as he goes round and round in that section. So to solve that problem, I'm quite happy to turn over the sod and grow some vegetables there.

The "before" picture...

Here I am happily turning over more sod to enlarge the flower beds. After digging in some manure, compost and peat moss, I added a few stepping stones and planted forget me nots around the outside edge. Once it all settles in I'll seed vegetables in between some flowers.

The "after" picture...

Meanwhile, Gerard turned over the whole vegetable garden in the back yard.

Time for a sunny crossword puzzle break!

Then I roped off the raised garden box into 1-foot squares, transplanted parsley and onions from another section of our garden, and seeded peas, spinach, leaf lettuce, head lettuce, swiss chard, radishes and carrots. I still have to find some cabbage and brocolli plants and then the whole early spring crop is in. We'll see how this experiment works. If this is the only garden you have, it sure is a tiny manageable little plot! The sticks show which squares already have seeds in them.

It was a productive day! Now all we need is some rain to make things grow.

Mini Family Reunion

Today we went to Listowel for Mrs. Los' funeral. And we met a lot of our family there: Father & Mother, Joyce, Luke & Phyllis, Emily & Derrick, Bart & Rachel & Lane, Carel & Irene, Martinus, David, Maria and Alexa. A funeral like this really makes you think about life and death and value family. Mother and Carel:

Liesje just had the group together (from Chilliwack, Grand Rapids, Hamilton, and Toronto) for a family photo, so I snapped one too.

On our way home we stopped by the St. Jacob's market, but unfortunately we only had about 10 minutes to look around before closing time. The weather was gorgeous and all along the way in the Elmira and St. Jacobs area we saw Mennonite people working out in their gardens, plowing the fields with horses, riding their bicycles along the road or riding in the old Amish horse and buggies.

And when we got home, we found the first daffodils of the season opening up.

Happy 97th Birthday, Mom!

In Memory of My Sister Tina

Here's what my dad wrote this morning:

Dear people,Today it is nine years ago that Tina died. This morning Mother and I talked about it and we thanked the Lord for her. She was a gift from God to us and to many people she knew and cared for. We remember her little blue Toyota truck, her trip to Houston, to New Foundland. Her work in Zenia, Ohio and in Kentucky and her finally arriving in Toronto. She lived her own life and she loved the Lord with all her heart. She married John and became a mother, which was the answer to many prayers for her. We remember her with special thoughts and especially of course the last months of her life, when everything became so difficult. I wanted to share this with you.

May God bless you all. Opa/Father

Raised-bed Gardening by the Square

Yesterday we visited with our friends, John & Beth. Beth was all excited about a raised-bed gardening-by-the-square idea that she had found in a 2004 issue of Harrowsmith magazine. She showed me the box they built the day before and told me about her plans for spring, summer and fall crops out of a 4 foot by 4 foot box. Well, she inspired us enough to commit to building a box too so that we could compare notes and keep each other motivated. Today Gerard built the box from scrap wood we had stored up on the rafters of the garage.

I removed the sod from a piece of lawn at the end of our vegetable garden.

We filled the bottom of the box with a layer of garden waste from the spring clean-up.

Then topped that up by throwing in most of our compost heap and also some manure we had left over from last summer.

There! It's almost ready for planting. The directions in Harrowsmith say to add a bale of peat moss - which we didn't have around the house - so that's the only thing we have to go and buy - plus seeds. For the rest the whole project was completed without spending a penny. Now we're all ready for the "Raised-bed Gardening by the Square" experiment. I'll keep you posted.

The Blessing of Family

This afternoon we got together at Henry & Melanie's and went for a walk in High Park.

Rosemary and Melanie

Chives, Tulips & Pansies

The first edible thing that comes up in our garden every spring. . . chives!

These early red tulips just opened up today for the first time.

(Can't figure out why the chives picture keeps flipping sideways. )

I bought pansies today! and planted them in the barrel just outside our back door so I can enjoy them whenever I'm in the kitchen. Nice and cheerful and springy:)

And . . . I also got some Johnny Jump Ups - my favourite little flowers! They're so cute and friendly looking.

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

A few weeks ago my naturopath suggested that I try a two-week diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and then gradually start re-introducing wheat and dairy products, etc. to see whether I have any food sensitivities. I put it off for two weeks thinking there was no way this was going to work. Every time I ate oatmeal or Red River cereal or yogurt for breakfast I'd think, "If I went on the diet I wouldn't be able to have this!" Or at lunch time it was whole wheat bread with cheese (I love cheese!), or noodles at dinner, or oatmeal cookies or muffins for snack. What would I eat?! Gradually I started thinking, "I love fruit and I love vegetables! So it couldn't be all that bad. Maybe I'll try it." But when? "Sunday is Melanie's birthday party. Tuesday is Father's birthday. Thursday is our staff retreat and we're going out for and all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. Friday is the second day of the staff retreat with a potluck lunch. Sunday is our potluck lunch at church, unless I go to visit Karen and she has promised to treat me to lunch in her dining hall." It was starting to be obvious that almost everything involves food and there would never be a good time to start this diet. So last Wednesday I finally bit the bullet and started, cold turkey. And I've survived just fine for a whole week already. I've cheated just a bit though. It's supposed to be a diet of raw fruit and vegetables, but I've thrown in some cooked lentils, beans, sweet potatoes, or vegetable soup once in a while. So it's still all vegetables and fruit - lots of it raw - plus a few cooked extras. I'm learning how many fruits and vegetables there are. On Saturday morning I looked around in the produce section for ideas. Gorgeous colourful fruits and vegetables. Piles of them! I'm still having reactions to something though, and am wondering whether it could be pesticide sprays or fertilizers or whatever chemicals are used to preservative or ripen produce (if any). So today I started looking into the Good Food Box. We used to get one every other week. Maybe I'll try the organic one. It's starting to be kind of fun and the creativity is starting to kick in. Who knows where this might lead?

If anyone has suggestions on creative ways to prepare raw fruits or vegetables, besides carrot and celery sticks, I'd love to hear them!

Visit with Karen at McMaster

Hi! I'm back. I've been having a pain in my neck lately (literally!). It seems to act up especially when I'm at our home computer, so that's why I have been trying to limit my computer time lately - resulting in less blog entries.

Anyway, yesterday I went to visit Karen at McMaster. The weather was perfect for being outside, which is what we had planned. After lunch at the Commons we went on the nature trail and boardwalk down the hill right behind her residence.

It was so peaceful down there! You could hear lots of birds too.

We sat on the board walk for a while just soaking it all in (the warmth of the sun, the view, the birds, the peace) and then explored some more of the trail.

Later we went to see the house where she is going to live with three more girls next year. The elderly Italian landlord happened to be outside so we visited with him on his front porch in the sun. Back to the dining hall for supper and then off to church with a couple of student friends. It was a great day! One we had been planning for a long time, so I'm glad it finally happened, and that the weather was just perfect for it!