Winter Veg Potluck

I went up Island today to attend the Slow Food Victoria and Gulf Islands event in Cobble Hill. http://slowisland.ca/item_view.php?item_id=1oDLwQ0jEp1lGgtBeq6cdGLAEYdwFjtFY7b We had a Winter Vegetable potluck, so I was up very early this morning kneading dough for roasted beet bread and making fresh apple, carrot, beet juice. My friend made pakoras with Swiss Chard from my garden. Here is the recipe I used for the bread:http://www.cookingbread.com/recipes/savory_bread/roasted_beet_bread_recipe.html This wonderful recipe was discovered here:http://www.thekneadforbread.com/ There are some fantastic food places in the Cowichan Bay area that use local ingredients : Merridale cidery:http://www.merridalecider.com/ True Grain Bakery:http://www.truegrain.ca/ and Hillary's Artisan Cheese shop: http://www.hilarycheese.com/

Slow Food Great Tomato Brunch at Halliburton Farm

Today my foodie friend and I rode our bikes out to Halliburton organic farm to a Slow Food Event: the Great Tomato Brunch, hosted by Dayle Cosway from Terralicious: http://www.terralicious.ca/ What a beautiful farm, and the weather was perfect. We brought tomatoes from our gardens, I brought my Early Girls - and had a taste test. Some very interesting varieties such as Pink Thai, Green Zebra, Lemony, and lots of heritage varieties with gorgeous colours ranging from almost black to orange. Then we had a fabulous pot luck lunch~ I brought a quinoa tabouli, but there was an orzo heirloom tomato salad from Sooke Harbour House that was fanatastic! Then we had a tour/history of the farm - it is a community farm, situated around a natural water source that is protected by the CRD. It is a wonderfully lush and well-heated area. We visited the greenhouses, chickens, ducks, compost pile, wheat field, seed plant garden. My favourite was the flower garden full of sweet peas, amaranth, sunflowers, and gorgeous colour. My friend won the draw prize of a basket of preserves! Find more Info about Slow Food Vancouver Island here: http://www.slowfood.ca/convivia_view.php?id=29 The next event is a screening of Food Inc. at Uvic's Cinecenta on Sept. 22 7 pm. Here are some photos from our day:

Victoria Gardening Events and Workshops late Aug and Sept

Upcoming in August and September: Heritage garden tours (ongoing) check out: http://www.heritagegardentours.ca/ Seed Saving September 26 at Victoria Compost Education Centre: http://www.compost.bc.ca/learn/communityeducation.htm Hatley Gardens has weekly workshops Sundays 10 - 12 and Wednesdays 2- 4 for $25 http://www.hatleycastle.com/ Aug 17 and 21 : Herbaceous Borders, Plants and Designs Aug 24 and 28: Discoveries in the Wetlands Sept. 7 - 11: Stolen Gardens Sept 14 and 18: Backyard Propagation Sept.21 and 25: Small Trees/ Small Yards Carolyn Herriot offers classes on Saturdays, 1 - 4 through The Garden Path for $45: http://earthfuture.com/gardenpath/index.htm the Zero Mile Diet series is great!

Saving Your Own Seeds Saturday Sept 5th With its unique microclimate, there's no better start for your garden than the seeds saved from it. With impending climate instability, bio-regionally adapted seeds offer greater reassurance for a productive harvest. Learn how to collect, clean and store seeds from your garden. We will have a hands-on seed cleaning session.

Planting Great Garlic Saturday October 3rd Garlic is a health-giving sustainable crop, which reproduces readily and is relatively easy to grow. October is the month to plant garlic so after learning about it, we will plant some outdoors in the garden.

ALM Seed Saving Workshop at ALM Organic Farm:http://www.almfarms.org/index.html SEED SAVING It is important to save your own seed for long term sustainability, to improve the quality of your seed, and to save money. Learn how to select, harvest, clean and store seed from your favourite vegetables, herbs and flowers. Which varieties are the easy save and how do you save those that a little more difficult. Practical and hands on taught by a farmer with 20 years experience. Participants go home with 5 varieties of seed. Taught by Mary Alice Johnson and Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm Saturday, Sept. 12 1 - 4 pm Fee: $40+GST starting Winter veg class at Glendale gardens:

Growing Vegetables In this 2-session course, Philip Young will cover all the basics of growing vegetables. Classroom time will cover theory, including organic methods for fertilizing and disease and pest control. On Saturday morning the garden will cover seeding, pricking out, potting on and planting. Students will go home with winter vegetable starts to plant in their home gardens.
When:	Thursday August 20th - 6:00pm to 9:00pm OR Saturday August 22nd 9:00am to 12 noon Thursday August 20, 2009 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Where:	Classroom - off main parking lot
Cost:	Members: $45.00 - Non-members: $60.00 Just for fun: Medieval Delights Oldfield Orchard at 6286 Oldfield Rd. Presents a four course medieval feast and a medieval performance by a 27 member company. Every Friday night in August from 6pm-8:30pm. Hayrides, archery, costumed song and dance, chamber of horrors, and swordplay. Tickets are $45 for adults and $30 for children. Call 652-1579 (the Orchard) or 595-9907 (Canadian College of Performing Arts), or 384-0332 (Spinnaker’s Pub). Aug. 31-Sept. 2 Vancouver Island Brewery Blues Bash Presents performances of regional and international bands, performing blues and R&B. Free performances will take place in the afternoons at Ships Point, in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, as well as paid admission performances in the evenings at various clubs in downtown Victoria. Contact: (250) 388-4423 or toll free 1-888-671-2112 (from North America only) and of course the Saanich Fair Sept 5 - 7 http://www.saanichfair.ca/

Garden Events

Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary is having a Native Plant Sale: April 18th and 19th: http://www.swanlake.bc.ca/plantsale.htm The annual Swan Lake Native Plant Sale "Gardening for Wildlife" is held at the Nature Sanctuary and features over 110 species of native plants. Presentations on gardening with drought tolerant native plants and developing wildlife habitat in an urban area are included with the price of admission. The plants are arranged in three zones, based on sun requirements. At Uvic, May 6th, there will be a plant sale with plants from Finnerty Gardens. Organized by the Finnerty Garden Friends, the UVic Plant Sale—now in its 32nd year—will include almost everything for the spring garden: alpines, annuals, hanging baskets, shrubs, trees, vegetables and a lot more. There will also be a kids' section and a silent auction. http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=819 And here is a list of classes offered at the Compost Education Centre: http://www.compost.bc.ca/learn/communityeducation.htm