Garden Art

We find ourselves right in the middle of summer and the garden is lush and productive.

Vegetable gardening as an art form? 

There are several of our gardeners who are showing off an artistic flair with their pretty beds. 

What's for supper?

Recently a friend of mine brought me a new cook book called "Make it Paleo"

There are some delicious looking recipes, including one for a noodle-free lasagne, which Glyn used as inspiration for our supper, after coming back from the Tahsis Community Garden with some fresh vegetables.

He made a lasagne using our yellow zucchini instead of noodles and swiss chard instead of spinach. It was fabulous.  Everyone has a favourite lasagne recipe, and when you have fresh produce from the garden it tastes that much better. 

Make your favourite red sauce (make it on the thick side, since there's lots of water that cooks out of the squash), with or without meat, layer it with chard, zucchini sliced lengthwise, cottage cheese, parmaesan, mozzarella, fresh herbs, whatever ingredients you like, (that paleo book recommends avoiding dairy, but we used lots of cheese) as many layers as you prefer, bake at 350 until cooked and melted, brown under the broiler to get that nice top layer, let it sit for 15 minutes to firm up and cool off a bit and then dig in.  

Even better on day 2 cold out of the fridge.  Comfort Food!

PS.  The yellow zucchini is so sweet, mild and buttery, it reminds me of avocado when eating it raw.  Homegrown for the win!    

  

Slugfest 2012

Tahsis Days has been alot of fun this year, and one of the highlights for many people has been the SLUGFEST event at the Tahsis Community Garden.  Many people worked very hard to make the garden's involvement in Tahsis Days a success, Catherine, Traci, Kim, Debbie and her daughters, Tena, Alisa, Roger, Sarah, Silvie, the younger kids, just to name some of them, and many of these same gardeners worked so hard on our Tahsis Community Garden Float for the parade, as well.  We did come in 1st place for our beautiful float!  Our FLOWER POWER themed float was gorgeous, and the kids who rode the float with Traci had a blast throwing out daisies and giving away homemade beaded necklaces, with the Jimi Hendrix blaring out the stereo.

Slugfest attracted children of all ages to our garden and the scavenger hunt organized by catherine was very challenging and fun.  kids were running around finding "something fuzzy/something for the compost bin/something to make tea out of/something smooth, etc etc etc.  One of the challenges was to try a piece of durian melon, an unusual delicacy to be enjoyed by adventurous people who are not deterred by odd smells and unusual textures.  The general consensus was that it was good, very sweet, like a cross between pumpkin, custard and banana.  The kids, who have had their horizons broadened and their palettes educated all school year by Silvie and her wonderful Farm to School program, rarely hesitated to try something new.

Local families and visitors to the garden this weekend commented on the beauty and success of our space.  It truly is a wonderful place, and all the people involved in our garden are part of this positive, healthy, remarkable growing spot of community spirit. 

And then there's the slugs, the bags and bags of slugs.... i didn't do a final count, but i estimate we collected up about two hundred slugs yesterday afternoon.  After the festivities, we brought the bucket over to Juanita's duck pens and without describing the brutally swift scene of carnage that followed, i can say that the 6 ducks greatly appreciated the feast.

The winning float!

Durian Melons

Scavenger hunt

Tena and Catherine

Traci and the kids making dream catchers

These guys found DOZENS of slugs

Visiting friends from the Produce Availability Initiative

Bags of slugs

Puddle stomping

slug hunter Ellen

Andrea and Marion on the float

     

TAHSIS DAYS CELEBRATION

TAHSIS DAYS

Bull of the Woodstock

July 20-21-22

The Tahsis Community Garden Society

Presents the 2^nd Annual

SLUGFEST

Free activities for children of all ages include a craft table, a scavenger hunt and the great SLUG hunt competition. 

Have fun and win prizes!

Saturday, July 21, 2012  4pm – 5:30pm

At the Tahsis Community Garden

For more info please call Catherine at (250) 934-6303

Childrens' Summer Garden Program

Day one and everyone had alot of fun!  When I dropped in they were all throwing their hand made "Seed Bombs" in the field behind the garden, and plotting where to throw the extras they were all taking home.  The kids were also munching on the herb chervil to try something new and tasty.  They tell me it has a bit of a licorice flavour.  Thank you so much Traci for running this program!  

LEARN ~ CREATE ~ GROW!

LEARN ~ CREATE ~ GROW!

Have you registered for the CHILDREN'S SUMMER GARDEN PROGRAM yet?

This is a free program for CMESS students 6 and up, preregistration required as class ...size is limited.

Runs every Wed starting July 11th to Aug 29 from 10 - 12 noon at the Tahsis Community Garden.

Outdoor activities, environmentallly friendly arts & crafts AND garden fun.

Msg traci.ann.berg@gmail.com for more info.

July in the Garden

 I believe this is some sort of fancy kale?

Sophia, the garden girl

After bugging her dad to spray her with the hose, he obliged

Some Tahsis-themed "flower pots"

Looking very lush

 The foxgloves are lovely and really draw the bees to our space

Tomatoes in the greenhouse

Gareth standing next to the garlic he helped plant last fall

The garlic scapes are so beautiful

The Farm to School bed is really filling in

I can't tell if this is one of "our" bees, but there are lots around right now!

The colours in the garden are amazing right now

Squash blossom

Cauliflower

Make sure to pick a berry or two for a little treat next time you drop by!