GEG harvest sale!

On September 9th, the Guelph Enabling Garden will be holding our very first harvest sale! Swing by the garden between 2-5pm and chose from freshly picked bouquets and herbs. We will also be selling items made from garden pressed flowers, such as greeting cards and nature notebooks. Community members helped to make these garden goodies, so make sure you come and check it out!
If you would like to help us get ready for this fundraiser by helping us to make things, let me know! Feel free to drop by our public work bee event tonight at 7 pm!

'Firecracker'

Nathan and I experimented with 'land art' today. We found some flower petals that had fallen to the ground. Nathan rearranged them onto a rock. He calls this piece 'firecracker'. I found a great website dedicated to using natural materials to create beautiful designs on the land that we share with all others: www.landartforkids.com. Creating this type of art reminds me that we are interconnected with the earth and our impact on it is felt by all in some way.

Beautiful bouquet

Folks from Independent Living visited their raised bed at the Enabling Garden today and are so pleased with how things are doing. It's amazing that just a few months ago, the bed looked so bare and empty as we patiently waited for the seeds and seedlings to grow and blossom. Now, we have a bed full of Texas Sage (red), corn flower (blue), and strawflower (pink/white). It's getting to be that time of the summer when many of the flowers and vegetables in the Garden are at their peak and ripest. With the humidity down, many people are finding it a bit more tolerable to spend more time outdoors enjoying the scenery.

A bowlful of flowers

Markus spent some time in the Enabling Garden with friends choosing beautifully coloured flowers to press. Can't wait to see how they will be arranged onto the parchment cards we'll be making later on. With all the beauty and inspiration available to us in the Garden, there doesn't seem to be any limit to how we can stretch our imaginations! After collecting the flowers, we spread the petals onto our plant press. Thank you Evie, Barb, Wendy, Markus, and Alena for visiting and helping out with this!

The Organic Backyard

The Canadian Organic Growers (COG) just finished their wonderful guide on organic gardening called: The Organic Backyard: A guide to applying organic farming practices to your home or community garden. It's a wonderful resource and can be downloaded from their website (www.cogwaterloo.ca). A hard copy can also be sent to you for a reasonable price of $10.

Cathy Hansen played an important role in the publication of this guide. She visited the GEG earlier on in the season and had lots of good advice to give us. COG also donated a grape vine that is happily growing up one of the arbors in the spiral garden :)

More Knit Knites

Due to popular demand, we will be continuing our Knit Knites in the Garden. They will be held on the evenings of Tuesday August 24th, Tuesday September 7th, and Tuesday September 21st at 6:30 pm. Hope you can join us! Both beginners and experts welcome :)

A lovely morning for photographing

My friend, Dale Tiller, took some beautiful photos yesterday in the early morning. Check them out!

A great shot of some interactions in the Garden.

This is a butterfly bush. A friend who often visits the Garden once told me that she loves how the flower head (inflorescence) of this plant is formed by tiny individual flowers. She's absolutely right - take a close up look at this plant the next time you get the chance to visit the GEG. She used a metaphor about how as individuals, we as people can get together to make something coherently beautiful, just by being ourselves.

Something about fog on the water gives me this quiet calm feeling, and reminds me that sometimes by slowing down, we can notice more and feel more energized for it.

This is a Red Amaranthus planted in one of the raised beds by Riverside Glen. I've never seen a plant so brilliantly red. Even searching on-line, I noticed that most of the leaves of this species are green, and it's the tassle-like flowers that are red. I wonder if this particular plant will produce a substantial amount of the amaranth grain. Amaranthus grain can be toasted, mixed with honey and enjoyed as a snack. Historically, the flower was used by the Aztecs in ceremonies, and the grain eaten for their high nutritional value.

Hibiscus

This is a close up of a hibiscus flower growing in the GEG (photo by Dale Tiller). A visitor recently told me that it's worth a trip to the Garden just to see this plant in bloom! I'd have to agree.
The flowers don't last very long, only about a day. But thankfully, this beautiful plant will keep producing new blooms until the frost comes. It requires at least 6 hours of sunlight and good organic soil.

Talking snapdragons?!!!

We had a good laugh in the Garden today when Riverside Glen Long Term Care folks came to visit. We picked some snapdragon flowers and made them 'talk'.
The flower can be grasped from behind and pinched, so that the mouth of the dragon opens. Releasing the pinch closes it's mouth. It's so important to play in the garden, no matter what your age!
Of course, we also did some work. Riverside Glen's bed is packed full of flowers and vegetables. We did some tomato pruning and staking, and also harvested beans.
The brilliant red flower in the centre of the bed is amaranth. It can be seen from quite a distance and has been drawing a lot of attention in the Garden. Also growing in the bed is pineapple sage, which we can harvest, dry, and use in potpourri sachets or teas.

Herbal Teas

A group of us celebrated the Civic Holiday in the Enabling Garden enjoying teas from herbs grown in the garden. We sampled lavender tea, great for balancing the emotional system; lemon balm, known to calm anxiety; mint for indigestion; and chamomile to relax and soothe us. It was a really nice way to spend the last bit of the long weekend, preparing ourselves for the week ahead.

The tea leaves are dried and stored right in the Garden's shed. It is best to dry herbs in a dark, warm location that gets a bit of air circulation. Once dry, the tea leaves can be stored in glass jars with tight-fitting lids away from direct sunlight.

To make your own glass of herbal iced tea:
Crush 1 to 2 tablespoons of your freshly harvested herb and place it in a teapot. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the herbs and steep, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Chill for at least 30 minutes and strain. Pour over a glassful of ice and enjoy! Bon appe-tea!