Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2022 från Harrowsmith

BREATH OF FRESH AIR I was a subscriber to Harrowsmith many years ago and was disappointed when we no longer saw it on the shelves or even by subscription. To view this first one I have now subscribed to is like a breath of fresh air with so many things continuing from earlier days. Thank you for resurrecting it. Well worth the price. Dorothy Wood, British Columbia A DIFFERENT KIND OF WINTER GARDEN Hi Jennifer, Thank you for your “7 Winter Garden Design Tips” article in the Winter 2021/22 issue. Although I loved it, I have to admit that my kind of winter garden is much different. As you can see below, my car sits outside all winter because I had to make place for my winter garden in the…

Growing Figs in Cold Climates: A Complete Guide by Lee Reich (New Society Publishers, 2021) Lee Reich lives and works on his “farmden” (more than a garden and less than a farm) in New Paltz, New York. In his test plots there, he discovered the art of growing figs in cold climates. Full of easy-to-digest information and detailed biology, his book is for gardening rebels who thrive on the challenge to grow outside their zones, and for fig lovers who will stop at nothing to harvest the unique and sweet fruit in their own garden. Offering five methods for growing fig trees (you can do it without a greenhouse!), this 115-page resource is the definitive book about growing figs for novice and experienced growers alike. The Elegant and Edible Garden:…

Not since the era of the Victory Gardens of the Second World War has there been a stronger movement toward growing our own food, and we get excited every time we hear that someone has replaced part of their driveway or lawn to start a new food garden. Whether it’s in the city, the country or the suburbs, people who have never considered food gardening as a use of space or time are giving it their attention. And rightly so, the opportunities for growing your own healthy food right now are so diverse. From berries to fruit trees to nuts, every feature plant in your garden has the potential to produce food, if you plan for it and take advantage of the harvest. What does it mean to grow food…

1 What do I like to eat? Grow what you love best. Plant unusual varieties that you can’t easily find at the grocery store or local farmers markets. 2 Who will care for my garden when I go on holidays? Have a plan for regular watering when you’re away from home on hot sunny days. 3 How much space do I have? Though the seeds are tiny, remember that one tomato plant can get to be the size of a large adult, a pepper plant can grow as big as a small bush, and one pumpkin plant can take up as much room as half of a parking space. This guide of popular food crops and their yield will help you plan.…

Generating your own off-grid electric power is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. I’ve helped hundreds of people to design and build their own off-grid electricity systems over the last few years, and the reasons people are interested are often the same. Some tell me they want the reliability that the grid can’t always deliver. Others want to live an electrified lifestyle on land that’s beyond reach of the grid. Still others are concerned about reducing their environmental impact. Even if you know something about household wiring and electricity, off-grid systems are sufficiently different that there’s plenty to learn. Here are some of the most popular questions I get asked from people looking to get off-grid. Q What can I power with an off-grid electricity system? A…

The generator blew again. No electricity. No hot water in my room. Wind was howling and the waves were pounding to my left and right. Clouds darkened. This was the best all-inclusive I’d ever been to by a mile. Oh, and the tickle was wild. Let me set this up properly. It’s Covid Summer 2021. Now a time of our life and a pandemic in one new word. I felt trapped and needed an adventure. A real Canadian one. I was born and still live in Toronto. It’s known for lots of great things but not really adventure. I love to travel, and if you ask my boys, I love taking high-octane trips vs. vacations. And from time to time, I jump into a solo adventure. My last one was…

The Incredible, Edible World of Magnolia Blossoms A general rule I follow when I am foraging for flowers is the deeper the colour the blossom is, the more pronounced the bouquet and flavour will be. I’ve found that the pale pink and delicate white blossoms are more subtle in taste and fragrance. One of the best edible species is the Magnolia x soulangeana seen here. At the centre of the flower, there is a disc where the stamens and stigma are found, and that is where the flavour is the most concentrated. The petals can be used raw as a punctuating addition to a spring salad. MAGNOLIA CAKE Serves 6 to 8 2 cups whipping cream 2 cups magnolia petals, cleaned and roughly chopped 3/4 cup Magnolia and Rose Petal…

I’m chomping at the bit. It’s mid-spring and I’m in anticipation of a visitor from the south, the Baltimore oriole. Given what we’ve been through with pandemic restrictions, it’s nice to welcome a visitor, even if it is a bird. What a powerful GPS system they have — and with their lifespan of about 12 years, I often wonder if it’s the same birds that arrive each year to my property, or their relatives. The Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) gets its name from Lord Baltimore’s coat of arms, which sports the colours of yellow and black (the female tends to be yellow and brown and the male is bright orange and black). Oddly, it isn’t really an oriole — it’s a blackbird. Orioles are native to Europe, and the North…

a few forget-me-nots twinkle bluely and a lone fritillaria pushes to open its gorgeous orange stink the garden awakening like a heart beautiful and confused tamed and untamable a sky cracks clear of clouds accentuating shades of chlorophyll and dirt April has sighed its way into May dark dread and bright dandelions steady and unpredictable a dying world glitters with life a story pushes from naked ground a heart awakens like a garden rotting compost and flowers weeds and promise Jeffrey Aarles is a yoga teacher, a gardener, a writer and an actor, with different hats (and shoes) for each role. He lives in Toronto. Do you have a short poem about nature or your environment to share with us? Send your submissions to editor@harrowsmithmag.com and your work could be…

How to start seeds indoors Some plants have longer growing times and need to be started indoors in late March to mid-April — 4 to 6 weeks before they get planted outside (or purchased from seedlings in May if you don’t have the time and space to get growing inside). The following vegetables are easy to transplant, so when the time comes to move them outside, they’ll be hearty enough to survive cooler soil temperatures. Tomatoes Peppers Eggplants Broccoli Cauliflower Celery Cucumbers Zucchini When starting seeds indoors, remember to emulate the conditions that the plants will have outdoors. 1. Plant in good soil in small pots or egg cartons that have a drainage hole on the bottom. 2. Provide lots of light from a south-facing window or from the addition…

Hand planes are woodworking tools that remove thin shavings from wood of all kinds, and they’re a highly underappreciated item. Just like a violin, hand planes need to be tweaked and tuned before they’ll make good things happen. But once you get the basics set up properly, a good hand plane will open a door to creativity that can bring a lot of beauty and joy to your life. I’ve used hand planes professionally and for fun for more than 40 years, and there are four simple applications where they really shine. Smoothening Rough Lumber Feel the urge to work with wood but don’t want the noise and airborne dust of machine work? Hand planes can definitely help with that. When I began making wooden items professionally for sale when…

Looking up at the night sky, we can connect the stars to form familiar shapes and, if we have a good imagination, we may “see” human figures and objects. This has been going on for millennia. To put order to the vast number of possible figures, astronomers have settled on 88 officially recognized constellations. Most of these have been passed down from ancient times and refer to mythological stories and events. The dominant spring constellation is Leo the Lion. Southeast of Leo is the head of Hydra the Serpent, with its curving back meandering down and to the east. And high overhead is Ursa Major, the Big Bear with the Big Dipper figure at its centre. There are different versions of the mythologies behind these constellations, and they serve as…

Piri piri chicken is traditionally made with African bird’s-eye chilis, hence its name, which is derived from the Swahili word piri-piri, or “strong pepper.” With your first bite, you taste the tomato and bell pepper in the sauce, then the heat of the chilis kicks in, followed by the racy acidity of the lemon juice and cider vinegar. Since piri piri chicken has yet to be appropriated by a major fast food chain, its unique taste profile is a welcome diversion from the more popular styles of chicken. The beauty of piri piri chicken is that once you have made the sauce, it multitasks as the marinade, the tenderizer, the basting sauce and the dipping sauce — creating a full 360° piri piri experience. 1 whole, best-available chicken, or the…

Healthy soil is the basis for every garden. Nutrients, water and oxygen are all building blocks of plant life that are provided by the soil through the roots. Here are some of the most important things to know before you plant your food garden. What is healthy soil made of? All soil will represent some mix of sand, silt and clay, but the healthy soils are teeming with microbial life and abundant organic matter (carbon). Low till, or no till, gardening is becoming more popular every year, as Canadians learn that disturbing the soil by turning it over (manually or with a rototiller) disturbs important microbial activity in the soil and actually promotes greater weed growth. Should you test your soil before starting a new food garden? Or regularly when…

“The garden is taking care of itself, almost. After more than 40 years of gardening, I spend my time reading a lot of books in the summer.”— Mark and Ben Cullen Do new and seasoned gardeners run into problems with their plants? Yes. This is nature. It will never change, but experience and effort will minimize both the “problems” and the effort required to grow a successful garden. The essence of all organic techniques is to work with nature, not against it. All refuse produced in the kitchen and garden is recycled back into the soil. Organic gardening is a sustainable activity: The soil is fed by the gardener; the soil feeds the plants; the plants feed the gardener. The plants also provide excess organic matter, which is composted and…

The most important thing about hand planes (and woodworking chisels) is that their blade be as sharp as a new razor blade, but this task can be easier than it sounds with a honing procedure called buffing. Instead of using stones to sharpen the blade, hold the working edge against a spinning hard felt wheel on a bench grinder. The wheel is charged with a very fine abrasive that polishes the steel to a gleaming razor edge. In a minute or so, you can go from a dull edge to a keenly sharp one, even sharp enough to shave hair cleanly. In fact, that’s one of the tests I use to see if my work on the buffing wheel was sufficient.…

Every day we make choices in our lives that affect the environment, our climate and the world around us, so now more than ever, it’s time to adopt a few new habits and eliminate some of the things that aren’t so great. To empower you and your family with motivating ideas, we’ve created 22 daily activities to take you from April 1st right through to Earth Day on April 22nd. It takes 21 days to make a new habit, so by Day 22, you will have found the way! Remember that “small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can change the world.” Let’s get started now. 1 Regrow your vegetable scraps to use sandwiches and salads. Urban homesteader and Simple Bites Kitchen author Aimée Wimbush-Bourque shares her top tips:…

Over the last year, Canadians’ desire to travel to unexpected places has been on the rise, and Harrowsmith loves going off the beaten path to take you there. When we try new things, our brain is forced to disconnect from our daily stressors, and by exploring unknown territories and trying new activities, we are giving our minds a mental vacation and recharging our psyche. Visit harrowsmithmag.com/travel to plan your next trip to one of the many unique Canadian destinations we have covered, like these three. 1 Pelee Island, Ontario Located on two major continental flyways, the island is graced twice a year with a visit of thousands of migratory birds and butterflies. This 10,000-acre island coincidentally is home to more than 10,000 treasured species and rarities, like sassafras, hop tree,…

DANDELION-PISTACHIO PESTO Makes 3 cups 1 1/2 cups tightly packed dandelion leaves, well rinsed, blanched and squeezed of excess liquid 1 1/2 cups baby spinach, well rinsed, blanched and squeezed of excess liquid 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 3 cloves garlic 1 cup lightly toasted pistachios 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper In the bowl of a food processor or blender, pulse together blanched dandelion and spinach leaves, cheese, garlic and nuts. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the motor running, add olive oil and process until a smooth paste forms; feel free to add a bit more extra-virgin olive oil if you prefer a looser texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. TIP Because many people consider…

• Like many songbirds, orioles migrate at night. • When they are not eating oranges, orioles thrive on insects. A favourite is the tent caterpillar. • Orioles don’t eat birdseed. • Orioles cohabit with hummingbirds but have been known to dominate them at the hummingbird feeder. • The birds’ feathered enemies are rapacious grackles, jays and crows. • Their sack-like nest (built by the female) is usually in a willow, elm or maple, but not out of reach of pesky varmints like squirrels and racoons. • Oriole eggs are pale grey and bluish white.…