Nov 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot • This year, a sharp decline in the bee population in my garden, eerily noted by the lack of the buzz of lively bees, made me quite concerned so I happily agreed to the installation of a Kenya top bar hive (Ktbh). In the process, I am learning about natural bee keeping. Top bars are “slats” to which bees attach and...

Oct 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot • If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make the change. – Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror. Each morning, I start my day perched on a wooden milk stool at the door of my greenhouse. From this perspective, I survey the food garden and take time to contemplate what I see. Birds...

Sep 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot • When I grew up we had a saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” a reminder that it was healthy to eat fruit. Fast-forward to 2012 and the apple’s image as a healthy, natural food is about to be undermined, with “non-browning” GM apples next up on the list of biotech foods seeking approval. It seems...

Aug 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot • Nobody said growing your own food was easy and the way this year started out proved to be no exception. It was another long, cool spring, which we may as well get used to here on the West Coast, as this was the fourth year in a row of long, cool springs. It started out with bean weevils on the favas, one of the earliest...

Jul 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot We are so fortunate to live in a part of the world where we can grow a plethora of winter vegetables to harvest from October to May, a period when gardeners typically leave garden beds empty. You can either allocate garden space specifically for winter crops, or follow earlier crops of broad beans (favas), peas, lettuce,...

Jun 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot One in every 2.3 men and one in every 2.7 women will get cancer in their lifetimes –Canadian Cancer Society. Cancer scientists believe that single cancer cells are continually forming in the human body and that the body destroys most of these before they develop into malignant tumours. After all, we humans would not...

May 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. – Michael Pollan Spring has finally sprung. It’s a time that inspires spring cleaning so why not put some pep in your step and cleanse and detoxify your body? Here are some good plants to help you do this: Milk thistle (Silybum...

Apr 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. – Michael Pollan Mindful eating and consumption can change the world, a practice referred to as eco-gastronomy by the “Slow Movement.” When we aspire to rightful living, we need to be aware of our food miles and whether the food...

Mar 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot According to Carolyn Steel, author of Hungry City: How Food Shapes our Lives, supplying cities with food is one of the most important issues on the planet. Her TED lecture starts off showing how people living in cities in the past used to feed themselves and what happened when cities expanded. As cities grew, food production...

Feb 8, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot • The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. – Chinese Proverb • I often reflect on this wise proverb when thinking about the grassroots community seed shows we introduced to the West Coast over 20 years ago. The intention was to educate people on the imperative of preserving plant genetic diversity...