First Sproutlings of the season!

seedy Saturday

Seed Starting Method: use Fisson's Sunshine Mix #5, covered with medium grade vermiculite, watered in with a fine spray, placed in a heated greenhouse. Seeded Feb. 20:white sage x 36; horehound x 6; burdock x 6; Angelica x 4; Echinacea Purpurea by 4; Bergamot x 6; Broccoli x 8; Pak Choi x 8; Khol Rabi x 6; endive x 8; Natalino. Tomatoes, basil,lettuces cucumbers, peppers, etc. will be started end of March, hardened off, then planted out in May.

dandelion greens, mint, and broccoli

It officially feels like Spring today in balmy Victoria - 11.9 degrees! daffodils blooming underneath the porch and rhubarb sprouting leaves-lots of herbs coming on gang busters so I decided to pick a bunch, along with some dandelion greens to add to couscous and lentil salad. Made some Jamaican veg. patties to go with some green tomato salsa I'd made last summer. Recipes: Jamaican Veg. Patties: 2 - 3 T. veg. oil, divided 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion 3 T. jerk seasoning 3 cloves of garlic minced 1/2 tsp. salt 4 cups grated carrots ( I mixed half yam) 2 cups frozen peas, thawed (I added some frozen corn, too) 1 1/2 cups soft breadcrumbs 3 large eggs 1/2 cups milk Saute the onion in 1 T. oil until soft, add seasoning, garlic & salt and cook stirring 1 min. Add carrots, cover, reduce heat and cook until carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas, cook 1 more minute, fold in breadcrumbs. Whisk eggs and milk together and stir into carrot mixture - form into patties (they will be wet, like potato pancakes) Heat oil and fry patties about 5 mins. per side - keep your eye on them as they darken quickly. Couscous and Lentil Salad recipe:cook 1 cup lentils in boiling water with one bay leaf until tender, drain and stir in 1 T. vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool. Pour 1 1/4 cups boiling water over 1 cup couscous, cover and let sit 5 mins, fluff with a fork and add 1/4 tsp salt. and 2 tsp olive oil. Whisk together 1 clove garlic paste (I used my ginger grater), 3 T. olive oil, 2 Tbs. vinegar, and mint. Stir into lentils and couscous, crumble feta over top. I put in some dandelion leaves and broccoli from the garden, but you can use whatever greens you happen to have such as arugula and parsley. Serve with black olives and homemade green tomato salsa.

Seed Saving Zine

Here's a nifty little seed saving hand out produced by the people at Adaptive Seeds.com You may want to print it out, as the print is very small on the screen. Happy Seed Saving! http://www.adaptiveseeds.com/node/12 http://www.seedambassadors.org/pdfs/Seed%20Saving%20Zine%203%20hand%20out.pdf

Spring Update

We have had the 2nd warmest January on record here in Victoria! the daffodils are being picked, the ornamental cherries and plums are budding, the Indian Plums in the forests are blooming and my husband has a banana tree in the nursery where he works that has produced fruit! I am heading out to clean up the raspberry canes - pulling out all the old, dead stalks, and will fork out the biggest weeds, old chard, and wilted veg from the plot. I am happy to report that I'm still getting broccoli sprouts and kale, water cress, and the garlic is up - grown about 4-5 inches high. Soon, I'll be digging under the sheet mulching area, and getting it prepped to grow all sorts of cool beans.

Annapolis Heritage Seeds

black soybeans ready to harvest from Annapolis seeds.com I received 3 beautiful seeds packets in the mail today from Annapolis Seeds: King Tut Peas, Black Jet Soybeans, and Stevenson's Blue-eyed Beans. I also got a nice, hand-written note :-)http://www.annapolisseeds.com/ and they have a blog, too! http://annapolisseeds.blogspot.com/