I have finally found an effective groundhog repellent. It is readily available, costs nothing and doubles as an effective organic fertilizer. It even pushes forward our mandate to reduce and reuse. Just do not tell the neighbours. My daughter, Marian, … Continue reading
I planted the garden today. This is the earliest I have ever planted tomatoes. It is a risk because chilly weather is expected early next week and then we are going away for five days. However, the alternative was to … Continue reading
This year’s seed potatoes arrived in the mail this morning! I have to pick up some bales of straw and then planting can begin. Last year’s garden gave an underwhelming performance. Drought delayed the tomatoes, cucumber beetles attacked the squash, … Continue reading
This blog’s second-ever most popular post appeared a year ago, on Feb. 1, 2012. In honour of the 32nd Annual Guelph Organic Conference taking place this weekend, and Cathy’s Crawly Composters, and all the nourishment it brought our new vegetable … Continue reading
The Slow Food movement is changing the way people eat. We have heard of related concepts like slow blogging and slow living. Often the best progress is done in tiny steps. So I am experimenting with slow gardening. The … Continue reading
Foraging and slow food have become recurring themes here at Speed River Journal. Yesterday Barb Freda’s blog, Babette Feasts, hosted my guest post, Foraging Nettles: A Bitter Misadventure. It highlights some of the challenges of adapting to locally-available foods. … Continue reading
The more I garden, the more I want to garden. The more I research permaculture, the more I recognize a huge gap in my knowledge about sustainable practises. The courses I might undertake all appear to be prohibitively expensive. For … Continue reading
It was good to be away. It is good to be home. Normally vacations leave me mildly depressed about returning to life as usual. This time I am buoyant with new inspiration for the present, and hope for the future. … Continue reading
If you have followed Speed River Journal for a while you may remember I set up a worm chalet at the end of January (this photo shows it with the lid removed). The red wrigglers have been busy reducing our … Continue reading
A new vegetable garden is a great responsibility. Novices think, “It would be fun to grow our own food,” the same way they think of getting a puppy. A friend of mine, a grad student, adopted a Doberman pup last … Continue reading