Traced Elements

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The Power of Rotation

Sounds like a potential math write up but you’re wrong. (I would never do that to you or myself.) I will quickly remind you that I did well in said subject thanks to my dad but generally I don’t care for it… for the most part I’m a pocket calculator gal. So, let’s explore the awesomeness of rotation in a few other ways through a couple quick examples: the wheels on my bike rotate and take me to all sorts of cool places, my car takes me to work so I can afford a bike to take me to all these cool places and well, we all take a trip around the sun every year (whether we want to accept that it results in aging is a whole other conversation).

Regardless on how you define rotation, the point is – it’s good: a chance to roll past the old and explore the new. Now, let’s apply this mentality to our garden.

When I moved into our current location all that existed was a greenhouse for garden space. From what I could tell the only items that had been planted in there were tomatoes, peppers, basil and cucumbers (basically, all the standard greenhouse lovers). However. Over the last couple years I began to realize that the greenhouse location was kind of shady due to the rise of the surrounding cottonwoods and things weren’t thriving as well as they should be.

Then spider mites appeared last year… they even attacked my marigolds. I mean come on: marigolds! They are supposed to be the shit – indestructible. This led me to realize that change was mandatory. So, down came the plastic walls of the greenhouse late-ish last summer and a ton of Sea to Sky Soils compost added in the fall.

Long story short what I’m trying to get across is that planting the same thing time and time again in the same zone is no bueno. Enter the rotation factor here.

There is a simple crop rotation scheme that follows; legumes-greens-roots-fruit. Of course there are tons of don’ts and cans and “rules” that apply to make it not so simple. For instance: potatoes are considered a root and tomatoes are fruit but because they are from the same family they shouldn’t follow each other, they could harbor similar disease and pest problems for the next crop. AND THEN, if you add in the companion planting aspect it can get real strange. Here is a simple plan I came up with for an assignment that demonstrates what a 6 crop rotation could look like.

My “greenhouse” is now the greenest it’s ever been thanks to my decision to open it up and plant a bunch of greens, roots and legumes. But I think the thing to remember is that well, any rotation is better then none and adding organic matter into your beds is a surefire way to add nutrients back in and no future plant is going to disagree to that.

Stay thirsty for garden experimentation my friends!

July 24, 2018
Time Versus Rurality

July 24, 2018
Soup for a Future Rainy Day – Curried Lentil Cauliflower Soup

We had a cool period for a bit recently and being on the coast, it was a good opportunity to bring out my soup pot. Back into a heat wave so save this one for the next cool spell. I didn’t get a photo of it but it was a hit with some children I served it to as well as adults. Attached is a photo of some beautiful Squamish salal.

Curried Lentil Cauliflower Soup with Coconut Milk and Cilantro

Ingredients:

3 tbs pure olive oil

2 leeks, cleaned and chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 medium cauliflower, chopped

1 cup cilantro, chopped

6 cups chicken broth

1.5 cups red lentils

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

2 tbs cumin

1 tbs curry powder

1 can full fat coconut milk

Method:

Sauté leeks in olive oil on medium low heat until caramelised. Add all other vegetables and cilantro, and sauté until soft and caramelised.

Add broth and lentils and coconut milk.

Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes.

Blend half of soup in blender until smooth and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

July 15, 2018
Save Your Fork
My need to forage continues. This week’s victim: Saskatoon berries. Just try walking past the currently loaded bushes of perfectly plump, deep purple berries – I dare you. Even Shadow comes to a complete skid stop to forage on the lower quarters of these native shrubs. Our mission over the last week was to beat the bears to the berries around our place and hit up a few other spots I’d been scoping. We were more than successful; stained fingers, a full bucket and swelled bellies. I figured the best way to capture these jewels was by channeling my inner Julia Child and baking a pie. So, here we go!

Step Uno: make your crust. Use your favourite double crust recipe or try mine.

2½ cups flour – tsp salt – 1 cup unsalted butter (frozen) – 6 to 8 tbsp ice cold water
- Combine the flour and salt in a medium sized bowl. Then grate the butter into the flour. I cut the butter into two halves and grate one at a time, leaving the second in the freezer until I’m done the first. Once both blocks are done use your hands to combine the flour with the butter by gently rubbing it through your hands. It doesn’t need to be fully incorporated but what your looking for is a bunch of little “butter peas” coated in flour. I’m ghetto and don’t own a pastry cutter but if you have one then small cubed blocks of butter cut in will give you the same effect. I have found that grating the butter gives great distribution in the pastry with a very flaky end result – BINGO! Now add most of the water and blend until just combined. Turn the mixture out onto your working surface and bring together the dough by kneading it into a ball, using more water if needed. Separate the ball into two with one just a bit bigger then other and shape them both into flat-ish discs. Cover separately with plastic wrap and retire them to the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
Step Two: the filling. (Plus turn on your oven to 425°F now to preheat it)

5 cups Saskatoon berries – 3 tbsp flour – ⅓ cup sugar – zest of a lemon (optional)
- Combine everything together, easy-peasy.
Step 3: build your pie.
- Take the smaller disc out of the fridge and place it on a floured surface. Grab your rolling pin and push the disc out to about a ¼“ thick and place into your pie plate. Pour those prepped Saskatoons in next! Scatter a few slivers of butter over the top of the berries. Grab the last disc and flatten it out to the same thickness as the bottom, re-flouring the surface if needed. The reason for the last dough disc being a bit bigger is that the filling of your pie usually makes a mini mountain and you want to ensure you’ve got plenty of dough to blanket the whole hill, and then some. Before layering on the dough topper, wet the edge of the bottom dough with water – this helps them stick together. Crimp, roll or pinch the dough layers together. Brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg and slice a few air holes into the top.
Step Quatro: Bake and wait.
- Place your pie on a baking sheet and into your preheated oven. Bake at the preheated 425°F for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 350°F for an addition 45-60min or until the crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
Step Five: eat now or freeze for later.
- I chose to freeze my pie and savor it later this fall with friends when we’re craving a taste of summer. Luckily, I saved a bit of the filling and had just enough left over dough to make 4 mini tarts. They were consumed quite quickly.
There is a CBC story that recalls a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh to a small town in the Yukon many moons ago. He stops for a meal at a local diner and as the waitress reaches to remove his dinner plate she warmly says to him, “Save your fork Duke, there’s pie”.

Wives’ tale or not the phrase has stuck with us for generations… and this pie for sure warrants saving your fork.
July 4, 2018
Best-Laid Plans

“Do you have any plans for Canada Day?”

I asked, and was asked, this question several times on Sunday while I was at work. Some people were going for hikes or bike rides. Some people were having parties or visiting friends. Some people were going to partake in the festivities at the community centre.

I had zero plans for Canada Day this year. My sister and three of her friends came up to visit and hung out during the day while I was at work, and afterwards I made us dinner, and cake, and we had a lovely visit. I even got to bed at a reasonable time. To be perfectly honest, it was like any other weekend, with no special plans.

I felt a little guilty at first. I mean, it’s a special holiday. We should be doing something to celebrate. But I realized that I didn’t actually feel bad at all. For me, taking a break from planning actually is something special. I’m a chronic organizer. I have to-do lists for my to-do lists. I’m constantly thinking four, five days in advance, planning meals, organizing lists, and arranging errands around my work schedule. I have a whiteboard in my house for spur of the moment rememberings, and an app on my phone to organize my lists when I’m out. I am forever and always making plans.

But I’ve discovered some of the best things can emerge when all my carefully laid plans go completely out the window.

I’m a comically bad gardener. I’ve tried every one of the four years we’ve been in Pemberton to grow a successful garden, and the results have been less than formidable. I carefully plan out my gardens and flower beds. I research which types of veggies and flowers should go where and the conditions they need. I spend time planting, and watering, and fertilizing. And things never go as I plan. Take this picture for example.

This is the container where I planted some flower seeds at the end of spring in a beautiful sunny spot with fresh dirt. Where nothing took root and grew. And yet just beside this perfect container, growing out of nearly straight gravel, is a beautiful flower. Where did this come from? How did it get here? And how is it growing so vigorously with absolutely no attention from me? Does this make me frustrated? No. (Okay, for a brief second, maybe.) Instead I am wondrously amused at how beauty can come out of plans that go haywire.

My best example of this is our arrival in Pemberton. Before my boyfriend Nathan and I moved here four years ago, I had never been to Pemberton. We had plans to move to Vancouver Island once a long-awaited position came available for Nathan, and we were just waiting for the opportunity to unfold. We had carefully laid plans. So imagine my surprise when Nathan calls me at work one day and tells me to start looking at properties in either Squamish, Whistler, or Pemberton because he’d been offered a position based out of Whistler. Less than a month later we were moving, and six months later we found what we hope is our forever home. Did we plan for that? Definitely not. But beauty emerged in the form of this lovely town that we’ve fallen head over heels in love with, and now can’t imagine leaving.

As appreciated as this break in planning was this weekend, I won’t be hanging up my trusty to-do lists just yet. I’ll keep planning, and stay very aware that, as the poet Robert Burns said, the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.

And when they do, I’ll be ready to appreciate the beauty that will surely unfold.

July 4, 2018
Mindful Morning Musings •

This past month I have been thinking a lot about mindfulness and mindful eating.

Anngela Leggett (Evergreen Fitness) and I recently ran the Mindful Morning Retreat at Blue House Organics. It was a magical morning consisting of a beautiful yoga practice with Anngela, raw treats, and a circle of discussion around the way we eat and the way we think about food.

What an amazing experience it is to openly share your experiences with mindfulness and food with a group of unique and inspiring individuals. I was blown away.

I knew I wasn’t going to be delivering exactly what people would expect. I was there as a guide, to show people the ball was already in their court, and help them to discover how they could realistically apply mindful eating to support mental health, to their own individual lifestyles.

As it turns out, I may have learned more from the group than they did from me! I learned new ways to approach mindfulness, I was taught how to be grateful for the action of making dinner for your loved ones, I was taught how to be mindful through your purchases of food, not just at meal times, and I learned just how important these reminders are.

I shared this reading with the group from Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh:

“One day, I offered a number of children a basket filled with tangerines. The basket was passed around, and each child took one tangerine and put it in his or her palm. We each looked at our tangerine, and the children were invited to meditate on its origins. They saw not only their tangerine, but also its mother, the tangerine tree. With some guidance, they began to visualise the blossoms in the sunshine and in the rain. Then they saw petals falling down and the tiny green fruit appear. The sunshine and the rain continued, and the tiny tangerine grew. Now someone has picked it, and the tangerine is here. After seeing this, each child was invited to peel the tangerine slowly, noticing the mist and the fragrance of the tangerine, and then bring it up to his or her mouth and have a mindful bite, in full awareness of the texture and taste of the fruit and the juice coming out. We ate slowly like that.

Each time you look at a tangerine you can see deeply into it. You can see everything is the universe in one tangerine. When you peel it and smell it, its wonderful. You can take your time eating a tangerine and be very happy.”

Lisa Richardson writes for the Pique, and had this to say about the Mindful Morning Retreat:

“They offered to help us connect the dots between food and mood. I went to pick up a few good lifestyle hacks that would help me come away from that moment when I’m standing forlornly in front of the fridge, with a fistful of carrot sticks and a dash of psychic resilience instead of a spoonful of Nutella and a guilty conscience.

Our guide, Maguire, having survived six years of disordered eating and come out the other side with practical wisdom to partner with her science degree, informed us that there is no such thing as good food and bad food. She invited us to replace that hazardous dichotomy with mindfulness. Self-care and slowing down. The Mindful Morning Retreat wasn’t an intervention, a six-step program or even a specific solution. It was quite simply a beautiful morning of yoga followed by tea and treats, and the chance for a circle of people to sit together and make connections—between our experiences and other people’s experiences, between our eating habits and our emotions. It was the welcome mat to mindfulness. It was the reminder that attention, not willpower, will save us, from pathology, addiction, the downward spiral of self-loathing.”

Some questions to ponder:

What does mindfulness mean to you?

What does mindful eating mean to you?

How can you realistically apply this to your own life?

Do you think about food as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

Do you feel guilty after eating certain foods?

Does social media influence how you feel about food?

❤

Nutrition Mind Collective

@nutritionmindcollective

June 26, 2018
RJ

AKA Mr. Moran, Randal John, Miracs or simply – dad.

My green thumb has been inherited through a long line of amazing gardeners. I am just barely starting to scratch the surface of my mom’s flower power, but I’ve been in deep with my dad’s veggie garden sense for longer then my subconscious knows. Most likely my conception is the root of my problem, this gardening obsession of mine.

RJ, as he’s known to most, is a “retired” teacher: one of the best. His forte is math; a subject I grew up hating, which inevitably led to a few tears at the kitchen table over algebraic equations. Overall I did well at. It’s also not a coincidence that my initials are 3 M’s. He is full of dad jokes, he is an athlete, he is highly involved in the community, he landscapes on Lake of the Woods with his other “retired” friends during the summer and he’s always up for a good time.

When it comes to gardening dad is a full experimenter.

Like father, like daughter.

Since being gifted a pocket calculator or I mean cell phone, RJ’s “we’ll see” experimental attitude has become even more evident and I love it every bit of it. (Small back-story; dad used to drill my brother, our friends and I with math problems because a calculator in our pocket was something we’d never have… so, this is a big HA! told you so moment that I’m taking full advantage of.) Really there is too much awesomeness to share and well… perhaps it’s best we keep some family secrets but allow me to enlighten you with a couple excerpts from text messages complete with photos.

“Trying something new grinding egg shells and coffee grounds putting them in the tomato holes.”

“Also tried some with an egg in the hole. Keeping track of which ones got what.”

“Planted some corn and am experimenting with Epson salts on every second row – again, we’ll see…”

“And finally my parsnips from last year that I leave in all winter – so yummy!!!”

Of course, there are the show-off photos. Dad and I have been firing pictures back and forth of what we’re growing and what’s ready to eat regularly. Rj’s last photo was of what he collected for a TRUE garden salad for dinner, claiming that icicle radishes might be his favourite at the moment but he’d like to try growing the spicy purple daikon variety I‘ve got in my plot. I’ve even been able to share video walkthroughs of my garden. Basically, we each get to live what’s in our respective gardens in a matter of seconds even though we are 2,427km away from each other: technology is very cool.

RJ’s TRUE garden salad

Perhaps the best part of RJ’s massive garden is that it’s always open for foraging to neighbors and friends. Growing more then he and mom can eat really goes to show that when you’re passionate about something and you can share it with others you get the best of both worlds.

I already know that I’ll have a lot of vegetables to share this summer as I have planted more than two of us can eat, but I’m happy to carry on this family tradition out west.

After all, I’ve been taught by the best.

June 25, 2018
How do you explain a seed to a three year old?

“Tell me more about seeds,” asked my three year old, way back when. It was spring. We’d been mucking about in the dirt all morning, depositing tiny treasures in the warming earth.

Now 5, even more helpful on the seed front.

A seed is an inkling, I wanted to say. It is its own ambition and instruction book, all bundled into one. It is a packet of information. It is your heritage and your birthright, little man, even though you are inheriting a world in which the control of more than half of the world’s seed stock has fallen into the hands of a few mega-chemical companies. Some people call that bio-piracy. But I don’t want you to know about this yet. Because thinking too hard about these things makes me want to crawl into bed, pull the duvet over my head, and refuse to get up again.

But you, Small, you make me want to sit on my haunches in the warming earth, with some trowels and forks and little packets full of seed. You make me want to cajole a beautiful harvest out of the little square of world I find myself inhabiting, and so, every spring, we start at it, with just a handful of seeds and a fistful of hope.

And by this time of year, I look at the Life Force asserting itself in my garden, and feel it coursing through me, as I pick strawberries, admire the calendula, tug up a radish, measure the height of the sunflowers just by standing next to it and gazing up… Hope. Hope. Hope.

(And weeds. Of course. Let’s not get too precious.)

“Every young person should recognize that working with their hands is not a degradation. It’s the highest evolution of our species. Start a garden. Create a playground in the way you grow food. Save seeds. Cook. Create community. We are not atomized producers and consumers. We are part of the Earth family. We are part of the human family. We are part of a food community. Food connects us. Everything is food.” ~ Vandana Shiva

Thank you to Evelyn Coggins for sharing this video with me.

June 23, 2018
A love affair with coffee

My first interactions with coffee took place on Sunday mornings. My sister and I would fight over who was going to add the sugar and milk to my father’s cup. We’d wait impatiently by the crackling coffee maker only to pull the pot away before it was finished brewing, tiny drops sizzling as they hit the hot plate. I’d sneak spoonfuls of coffee when I thought no one was watching. Always hoping I would enjoy the taste but every time I was sorely disappointed. “It’s an acquired taste” my father would say as I brought him his cup, spilling it along the way.

While finishing school, I took a part time job at a small cafe in my hometown in Quebec. It was, and still is, an adorable two storey house, along the main drag, that was converted into a cafe. There is a lush garden out front, a covered porch for rainy days and the coziest reading nook upstairs. The owner, Cindi, had lived a decade in Vancouver and brought her coffee knowledge and West Coast style back to the shop – passion she later passed along to me. Perhaps it was the environment, perhaps it was Cindi’s deep rooted passion or a likely combination of the two, but serving coffee started to feel like home. There were the regulars who came in each day, like clockwork, each desiring a completely unique rendition of a seemingly simple drink .“Coffee”. You know how some people say dog owners kind of resemble their dogs? Well, this is how I began to feel about people and their coffees.

I appreciated the uniqueness (of both the coffee and people) and began to take pleasure in preparing each customer their individual one-of-a-kind drink. Customers came in groggy and in a rush, and I could see, with that first mindful sip, a calm wave wash over them, almost as though a little light turned on. They’d head out to conquer the day with a little more pep in their step.

When I first moved to Pemberton a little over 6 years ago, my first mission, naturally, was to seek out the best cup of coffee. I had become rather particular over the years in precisely what I was looking for in an espresso. You could say, I had finally acquired the taste. I was delighted when I came across Mount Currie Coffee co. Walking into the shop for the first time, before even tasting the coffee, I just knew it was going to be good. The Synesso espresso machine steamed away and the smell of a finely roasted espresso filled the air. It wasn’t long before I applied for a barista position and became part of the MCCC team, and got to know the amazing Pemberton locals and their drinks of choice.

If you don’t know, coffee is grown in areas within the “coffee belt” or “coffee bean belt” which hovers around the equator, in countries such as Mexico, Columbia, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, etc.

Coffee trees also need an average altitude between 1800-3600 ft to grow to produce a high quality bean.

The bean itself is the seed of a coffee cherry that grows on these trees. The cherries are most often handpicked, processed (a laborious pulping process that removes the flesh of the cherry and dries the bean), transported in large burlap sacks as “green beans”, roasted (which is an art in and of itself), packaged, ground, brewed and finally served to the consumer.

It’s an amazing journey and I’ve always felt privileged to be the last one that gets to put my spin on it before the consumer gets to enjoy it. It’s a lot of responsibility to make sure that bean gets the attention it deserves after such a journey.

A coffee cupping at Pallet

The evolution of a coffee bean being roasted

There is a lot to know about coffee and each step in the process seems to be just as important as the next. It’s sort of art meets science meets farming which are all of my favourite things.

I could nerd out and talk about coffee for days and I don’t even know all there is to know about coffee. How could you? There’s just so much to know! Which is why I am so excited to be taking my coffee knowledge and skills to the next level with MCCC.

Pemberton, there are some exciting new things coming your way in the world of coffee!

Get your travel mugs ready and stay tuned — there’s some buzzing coming from the industrial park.

Whew! All this talk about coffee, I’m off to get myself an italiano (8oz double shot americana). Yum!

June 22, 2018
The Time is Coming Soon…To Pick the First Ripe Saskatoons!

I never liked saskatoon berries when I moved to Pemberton. What was the fuss about? The little things were grainy and full of seeds. I was not impressed although I knew people who adored them. Years passed, and each year I ignored the little purple berries that grew so plentifully around me. Then one day I looked down in my yard and it was covered in little shrivelled saskatoons. They had dropped off the tree and the sun had dried them out. I popped one in my mouth and the flavour was unexpectedly…fantastic. Like a raisin or currant but better. I scooped up all the berries I could and gobbled them up.

The next year I purposely dried a few cups of saskatoon berries in a dehydrator and used them in a cracker recipe with rosemary, substituting saskatoons for raisins. Then two years ago I started enjoying the taste of fresh saskatoons. I will now paw through all the trees in my yard like a bear and cram them into my mouth. Yes, my taste buds really have changed. I eagerly anticipate the arrival of these little berries now.

As a non-gardener (I am pretty much successful with only rhubarb, raspberries, apples, plums and cherries – and possibly parsley and cilantro if I’m lucky) saskatoons are an amazing return on zero investment. No watering, no weeding. My kind of berry!

My granola recipe which follows is adapted from my aunt’s recipe. We share an enthusiasm for a dry granola (not soggy or moist) that stays crunchy in milk. Many granola recipes call for oil which I think is not a good ingredient in granola. After your granola is baked, add a cup of dried saskatoons for a Pemberton treat!

Crunchy Almond Granola with Dried Saskatoons:

2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 cups chopped almonds (almond pieces should be the size of gravel)

3 cups slow oats

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup runny honey (warm on very low heat if hardened)

1 cup dried saskatoon berries

Method:

Preheat oven to 300F.

Combine all ingredients (can use a mixer). When fully combined, add honey. Mix very well.

Spread onto two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, stirring the granola thoroughly every 10 minutes. You must watch granola carefully as it will burn quickly and every oven is different.

Cool.

Add 1 cup dried saskatoons.

Mix well and store in glass jar in fridge for up to several months. Granola and plain Greek yogurt makes an easy, quick, and nutritious breakfast! Enjoy!

June 15, 2018