The Canadian Food Experience Project: Round Up Twelve

The Canadian Garden

My Urban Canadian Prairie Zone Three Garden was posted later than the challenge at the onset of Spring this year, but the season was odd. We were traveling and I have been working at forgiving myself for not meeting this deadline. But gardening? Oh, I live for this short season on our Alberta prairies each year. Absolutely smitten and grow a lot of edible food  on my urban lot!

Christine at Manning Canning from Scarborough, Ontario, “believes that her vegetable garden is a safe place to experiment and that there is no such thing as a gardening failure. Each year she tries something new and doesn’t take it personally when sometimes it doesn’t quite work out as planned.” In other words: take risks in this sacred space!

Dana McCauley, an inspirational speaker and the Catalyst for The Canadian Food Experience Project writes about her Canadian garden on her Facebook Page dated May 7, 2014.

Tiffany at Eating Niagara from the Niagara Region in Ontario has spent eight years as a daily news reporter with most of that time devoted to covering agriculture. Since leaving daily reporting, she continues to feed her love of all things food and farming through freelancing and with her website. She was getting her book editing and revising done, do did not garden this year. Darn!

Sarah at Delish in a Dish from Victoria, British Columbia claims she doesn’t have a green thumb so writes about her version of a Canadian garden: heading to the Farmer’s Market, a seasonal highlight, as she discovers lovely fresh veggies. She concocts a hummus and olive tapenade dip covered in fresh veggies that look like they’re just in from the garden. Click over for a peek!

Barbara Mayhew at My Island Bistro Kitchen from the gorgeous city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward island (that I finally visited this past April) pays a visit to Vesey’s Seeds in York, on the island.  This is the 75th Anniversary of this Island seed company that markets and ships over 700 varieties of seeds known for their ability to grow in locations with shorter growing seasons which is a perfect fit most regions across Canada.

Dale at EatsWritesShoots from Ottawa, Ontario, writes this about gardens: “As a child, I hated the family garden. It represented work. It represented indentured servitude. It represented poverty.” His story doesn’t end there. He writes how the cultivation of herbs ultimately changed his perspective … and how the early arrival of chives inspired a post dedicated to both spring and his love of gardens. “Now, as man who has lived, lived without the land, lived away from the land, I now understand that my garden represents pleasure, represents freedom, and represents abundance.” Want to taste the emotion of his discovery? Dale provides his latest creation, Spring Tarts which showcases the pure pleasure of spring flavours and his early-to-arrive chives.

Jessica at Jessica Inside Out from Ottawa, Ontario, made some delectable Strawberry-Mint Shortbread Sandwiches and says, “my garden inspiration was container gardening and the gorgeous scent and taste of fresh herbs. I was inspired to add fresh mint to one of my favourite treats as well as some playfulness and uniqueness. The smell of these cookies is truly divine!”