I’ve had people reassure me that food waste thrown in the garbage will simply break down at the landfill. While I wish that were true, it is not. NatureMill does a good job of addressing this issue:
Food and paper decompose by themselves in nature. They are, however, the two largest components in landfills, accounting for nearly 50% of all municipal solid waste. There is more food and paper in landfills than diapers, styrofoam, and tires — combined. According to the US EPA, food waste is the #1 least recycled material.

Landfills are layered deep and saturated with water. No oxygen can penetrate. As a result, even "biodegradable" waste will remain embalmed for centuries to come. Landfills produce methane, a harmful greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and leach toxic chemicals into our air and drinking water.

Just think – we avoid all this when we compost – and we’re boosting our gardens to boot!

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Above: Perfectly good but slightly lumpy compost after three days in the indoor composter. We've since started blending it in a food processor for a more pureed result.

We all have our dreams and one of mine has been to find the ultimate compost system. Let’s be honest: for all its environmental and garden-boosting glories, compost can be a big hassle! How many of us have opened our outdoor compost bin to come face to face with a mouse or rat? I have, and even came to the point where I got into the habit of using a very long stick to propel the lid off the compost bin, hoping any visiting rodents would make a dash for freedom before I came close. At some point, I became super conscientious and kept a large pile of drying leaves and another of soil handy for lasagna layering: compost, carbon, soil, compost, carbon, soil. The rewards were rich: only an occasional mouse came to visit, and we had worms like I have never seen them before, literally hundreds in every shovelful. I felt like a glorious giver of life to our earth.

Of course, once I had it all figured out in our bear-less neighbourhood, we moved to bear country two years ago. What was a good system once was now was tantamount to baking a compost pie for these roaming beasts living in the forest immediately behind us. Attracting them was dangerous for us, and even more risky for them, as a bear conditioned to seeking food from populated areas poses a risk to humans and may need to be “eliminated.” Trench composting, where one simply buries kitchen waste in trenches, is also a no-no, as bears can sniff out food many feet down.

Throwing valuable vegetable and fruit peelings into the garbage had me in a terrible funk, so my husband took it upon himself to solve the problem. For Christmas, he ordered me an indoor compost bin and a thrilling gift it was!

Made by Nature Mill, this compost bin came with many promises. It would turn over 120 lb. (55 kg) of kitchen waste, processing vegetables, fruit and even dairy, fish and meat scraps. And while there was a slight odour, it would be reminiscent of “damp wool, sourdough bread, or mushrooms.”

Above: To get the indoor composter going, you need kitchen scraps, baking soda, a little dirt from your garden and sawdust (or the sawdust capsules that arrive with the composter). We started ours in our basement to test it out prior to moving it to the kitchen. In the end, we opted to keep it in the greenhouse.

Let me say that while I wouldn’t be without my indoor composter, there were days when “damp wool” was not a fitting description for the stench emitted from our bin. I’m willing to admit, though, that our compost may have been off-balance, needing more baking soda or sawdust, or perhaps containing too many citrus-fruit scraps during mandarin-orange season. It seems to be a matter of getting the right chemistry. Also, with a family of five and a heavy emphasis on fruits and vegetables in our diet, I know we demand a lot out of this little machine.

Above: Inside the indoor composter.

Again, perhaps because of these abundance and balance issues, we have also have had some trouble with fluid overflowing from the bin. Admittedly, this is worse during those weeks when we go through a couple of watermelons and add the rinds to the compost; still it was enough for us to make the decision to move the composter outdoors to our greenhouse, where we could simply spray off the floor with a hose when there was leakage.

Above: In the greenhouse, our slightly warm indoor composter is a great place to rest a growing plant or tray of germinating seeds.

Actually, positioning the composter in the greenhouse has worked out very well, as it provides a warm surface for a tray of germinating seeds, and it takes up very little room.

Another limitation with our NatureMill composter was that it would jam on occasion. When it did, it was usually just a matter of waiting it out until the machine worked through the difficulty. Nevertheless, to speed up the composting process and eliminate jams we decided to chop all our kitchen scraps up in a food processor. This works beautifully, as within three days we now have steaming “chunk-free” compost ready to be dug into the garden!

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There have been a lot on bear scares in the news lately. Not long ago, I was asked by a reader how to compost without attracting bears. Since moving to “bear country,” and attracting one to my outdoor compost bin despite efforts to compost responsibly, I have given up on composting my kitchen waste outside and am now using an indoor composter… but more on that shortly! First, I wanted to share with you what Lisa Waldie of the Bear Aware program in Sechelt has to say about how to discourage bears from our yards – definitely in our best interest and also theirs.

“Compost is indeed one of the major bear attractants,” confirms Lisa. “What you can do is ensure that no food scraps – bones, eggshells, rotting fruit, cooked food or fats – go into an outdoor compost bin. In areas where bears are a concern, we recommend you include only garden waste in the compost. Keep an indoor compost (using a worm bin) if possible for food scraps. Having said that, if people are already keeping an outdoor compost and it hasn’t been attracting bears then they should continue, ensuring that it doesn’t become smelly. Sprinkling lime onto the compost pile will help to reduce odour.

“Our message to people is that a fed bear is a dead bear. Eliminating non-natural food sources is a very simple thing to do – it is just a matter of people understanding the consequences of leaving out bear attractants and cooperating to ensure the neighbourhood’s safety as well as the bears’. By eliminating access to non-natural food sources, bears will move on. Some people allow bears to feast upon their fruit trees thinking that it is harmless. What this does though is basically encourage the bears to come in the yards. And this in turn, makes the bears think that residential neighbourhoods are “safe” to hang out in and gobble up the fruit and garbage. This is what causes “problem” bears. Neighbourhoods that have unsecured garbage cans or ripe fruit and windfalls not picked are seen as a smorgasbord in a bear’s eyes. We certainly can’t blame the bears for coming in our neighbourhoods for this reason. They don’t know the boundaries or the fact there is a “line” between forests and residential areas. It all comes down to not allowing the bears to have access to non-natural food sources (garbage, fruit trees, pet food, BBQs, compost, and birdfeeders). Like I said, once those are contained, the bears learn that there is no food available in neighbourhoods and move on. It is a community issue and will take the whole community to solve the issue. That’s why there is a Bear Aware program in place. “

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The beauty of a garden extends not just to the growing of it, but also to the capturing of it.

And there are few who do a better job of that than Motoko. Recently I had the pleasure of savouring a cup of green tea with this very gracious Pender Harbour artist while we relaxed in her studio and gallery.

“One of my first memories was the desire to create art. I couldn't explain it, even to myself. I just knew I had to do it,” says Motoko, who nevertheless trained to be a dietitian as a young woman in Japan out of respect for her parents, who were concerned that she be able to earn a living. Immigrating to Canada in 1992, she decided the time had come to rigorously pursue her dream. Strictly self-taught, she now paints fulltime at her busy studio, selling her art across Canada, Japan and the United States.

Motoko’s first works were as a representational artist – often featuring floral inspiration or local landscapes.

“As my understanding of art progressed,” she reflects, “I took a deep interest in using colour, shape, line and texture as my tools to express the essence of that beauty. I allow these forms and lines to take their own course, resulting in a truly non-constraining and intuitive expression.

“I believe art is something that should allow all of us to be truly creative and free. If an artist can evoke a viewer's deep emotion through her art, it is a true privilege. My goal, always, is to be such an artist.”

Motoko's annual exhibition and sale of her new work will take place September 20 -28, 2008 (except Tuesday) at Motoko's Fine Art Studio & Gallery in Garden Bay. For details, visit her website www.motokoart.com

And for those planning to attend this year’s Pender Harbour Jazz Festival http://www.penderharbourmusic.ca/jazz/ (and, yes, you should – it’s a great event!), she invites you to attend the concert by sensational jazz vocalist Sibel Thrasher in her gallery garden this September 20 from 11 am to 1 pm.

Above: Hand Gold-Foiled Water Lily
“This is one of my first pieces, a true time of bright colours and passion for me,” says Motoko. “Water lilies have an amazing ability to dazzle the onlooker, preying on an artist’s mind to capture and recreate the beauty. I believe that is why the water lily has been a very popular subject for many artists, myself included.”

Above: Casablanca in a Midnight Garden
Says Motoko, “Midnight is said to be a magical time, made even more intense with the seductive fragrance of the Casablanca lilies. With the moonlight the background, the gorgeous white petals seem to mysteriously glow with radiance. Romance is equal to Casablanca in a midnight garden.”

Above: Celebration
“This piece is probably the most important to me to date. In Japan, the country where I was born and raised, it is traditional to give a daughter a Kimono and Obi on her 20th birthday, to signify her turn into adulthood. My parents gave me this beautiful Obi on my 20th birthday. To me, it represents my parents’ love and devotion, and I will never forget the day I was no longer a child, but a woman.”

Above: Peony in the Morning
“This magnificent flower, larger than life, is stunning to see in full bloom. Surprisingly, it is also one of the most delicate. One rain can utterly destroy the peony, showing us how life can be held in the balance of something as small as a raindrop.”

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“Often food banks carry non-perishable vegetables that do not contain the same quality of nutrients as a freshly picked apple,” says Colleen Matte. She runs Harvest Rescue in her hometown of Nelson, which coordinates volunteers to gather fruits and vegetables that would otherwise become compost or bear bait. Homeowners keep some of the pickings, while the remainder fills the community Food Cupboard. “Having fresh produce available for those in need really impacts their well being.”

Arzeena Hamir agrees. She is passionate about the Richmond Fruit Tree project, which over the past seven years has “rescued” 110,000 pounds of fruit for people living with poverty. In fact, her group “wanted to do more,” and took on six allotment gardens to grow vegetables. “Food banks primarily provide dried and canned goods, with carrots, potatoes and onions as the only fresh produce, so we try to grow nutritious leafy greens like Swiss chard and kale.”

The Richmond Fruit Tree project has been so successful that the city has donated land for more garden space. One acre is now being planted as a community apple orchard to combat a recent decline in tree-fruit donations – most likely due to a loss of fruit trees as older homes are replaced with high-density housing, says Arzeena. “Plus, no one is planting fruit trees anymore.” A joint effort with Kwantlen University College’s Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, the orchard will serve as a place for the community to come together and learn the art of growing food.

In Victoria, where many women report that they go without fruits and vegetables and are unable to properly feed their children, the LifeCycles Fruit Tree Project team has transformed backyard trees into a valuable source of food for the community. As much as 35,000 pounds of produce is gathered every summer, says Renate Nahser-Ringer. “We share the fruit we pick between the volunteer pickers, homeowners, food banks and community agencies and the project. People love our project – it is a win-win-win-win!”

If you can share your harvest of fruit or vegetables, you’ll be making a big difference to people in need.

HARVEST-SHARING PROGRAMS

NELSON
Harvest Rescue
201-182 Baker St.
250-352-6011 ext. 17
http://earthmatters.ca/ongoing.php#harvest

NORTH VANCOUVER
Edible Garden Project
225 East 2nd Ave.
North Vancouver
Heather Johnstone
Project Coordinator
P: 604-987-8138 X 209
www.ediblegardenproject.com

RICHMOND
The Richmond Fruit Tree Project
7 – 13400 Princess St.
604-270-9874
www.richmondfruittree.com

SUMMERLAND
Summerland Fruit Tree Project
Box 988 9117 Prairie Valley Rd.
250-494-9722
www.youthbc.ca

VANCOUVER
The Vancouver Fruit Tree Project
2-261 E. 17th Ave.
www.vcn.bc.ca/fruit/

VICTORIA
LifeCycles Fruit Tree Project
521 Superior St.
250-383-5800
http://www.lifecyclesproject.ca/initiatives/fruit_tree/

PLANT A ROW, GROW A ROW
For details in your community:
1-877-571-GROW
www.growarow.org
Find Plant A Row, Grow a Row programs in all these BC communities, as well as throughout Canada and the United States:

• Bella Coola
• Campbell River
• Castlegar
• Chilliwack
• Comox Strathcona
• Gabriola Island
• Grand Forks
• Kamloops
• Kelowna
• Nelson (Nelson Food Cupboard)
• New Westminster
• Revelstoke
• Richmond
• Sicamous
• Summerland
• Surrey
• Vancouver

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"All around the world people are questioning why a food chain that used to depend on sunshine for energy is now so overwhelmingly reliant on fossil fuels -- a practice obviously unsustainable for us and our planet."

Eight years ago, Carolyn and her family moved to an acreage on Vancouver Island to create their own self-sustaining oasis. Now she is poised to share her hard-won knowledge and passion for growing with others. Beginning this March 15 and extending into October, Carolyn will be teaching the "12 Steps to Sustainable Home-Grown Food Production -- An Organic Approach to Greater Self Sufficiency," Saturdays at Glendale Gardens in Victoria.

Class participants will take a hands-on approach to creating a stunning edible garden from the ground up. Those not lucky enough to participate with Carolyn can still join the adventure right here on GardenWise Online, where the 12 steps will be revealed one week at a time on Carolyn's blog.

As Carolyn reminds us, it's time to join the "Grow Your Own" movement!

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As many plants fall quietly into autumn dormancy, the purple spikes of my anise hyssop refuse to give up, all the while drawing bees and resisting browsing deer. Native to North America, it has been used through time by aboriginal peoples to treat fevers and colds; certainly, the leaves make a delicious and comforting tea.

Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is a self-seeding perennial hardy to zone 5. It is easy enough to grow from seed, albeit slow to start.

What I love most about agastache is that when I walk through the garden I am tantalized by its licorice-mint bouquet. Nothing is more relaxing than a “scratch and sniff” garden full of soothing scents.

This past summer, when I planted up a container for the Vancouver Garden Show Container Contest (Edible Ornamental category), agastache was one of its mainstays. I can testify that this many-layered combination of scents will have you savouring spicy fragrances with every passing breeze. Or collecting its leaves for a pot of tea!

Here is my spicy container-garden recipe. Put the taller plants toward the centre and allow the creepers to flow over the edges of your planter:

• Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop)
• Foeniculum vulgare ‘Rubrum’ (bronze fennel)
• Mentha x gentilis (ginger mint)
• Mentha piperita (candymint)
• Nepeta cataria ssp. citriodora 'Lemony' (lemon catnip)
• Ocimum basilicum (cinnamon basil)
• Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ (golden marjoram)
• Perilla frutescens (shiso, britton)
• Salvia officinalis (tricolor sage)
• Thymus citriodorus (gold edge lemon thyme)
• Thymus citriodorus ‘Archer’s Gold’ (Archer’s Gold thyme)
• Thymus x ‘Doone Valley’ (Doone Valley thyme)
• Thymus vulgaris ‘Aureus’ (golden thyme)

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Recently, my neighbour Jackie Grant invited me to drop over and spend some time in her garden where she and her husband, Ian, have done a gorgeous job of tucking in plants among all the stunning rock in their yard. Here, again, I noticed creeping raspberry, a plant that offers wonderful coverage and seems too good to be true. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of this plant it and it had me curious.

Could it be an invasive similar to that nightmare Lamium maculatum (dead nettle), which I continually tried to wrestle out of my previous garden? All reports to date, though, claim the opposite – that although creeping raspberry is quick to grow, it’s also easy to contain and is perfect for hot and dry slopes or ditches where the soil moisture fluctuates from wet to dry. In fact, it’s suggested as a safe alternative to invasive English ivy.

Jackie says she found creeping raspberry (Rubus pentalobus) slow to start but once it got going it provided a very dense and weed-suppressing coverage. Creeping raspberry doesn’t claim to be very cold hardy, but Jackie’s garden is in a windy spot and certainly chillier than the recommended zone 7.

According to The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which awarded this plant a gold medal in 2005, “creeping raspberry is a fast-growing, evergreen groundcover imported from Taiwan. It spreads 3 to 6 feet in all directions. As the name implies, creeping raspberry creeps along the ground by forming runners – much like strawberries – which root at their nodes and establish new colonies. Although it is aggressive, creeping raspberry is not invasive. It doesn't climb trees or smother nearby shrubs, and it can readily be controlled with mechanical edging.”

Of course, being an edible-ornamental plant freak, one of my first questions to Jackie was “does it bear fruit?” So far, Jackie says there has been no sign of any. My research tells me it can fruit in favourable conditions, but not to get the jam jars out. According to The University of Georgia, “Although the fruits are tasty and edible, they are tiny, so don't expect an abundant harvest for your breakfast table.”

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As we enter cabbage season, here’s another recipe from edible-garden extraordinaire Sharon Hanna.

For anyone interested in growing their own bed of edible delights but not sure how to get started, Sharon has teamed up with business partner Karen Hodgson to launch HotBeds, a consultation and installation service for people wanting to grow their own food at home. Feel free to drop her a line at growsomefood@telus.net.

Says Sharon:
Here’s a recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine in 1969, oddly named “Men’s Favourite Salad" Women find it rather tasty, also!

One cabbage, about 2 pounds
1 medium onion, cut in half, then very thinly sliced
as much parsley as you feel like chopping finely!
2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Slice the cabbage in eighths, then shred finely as if you were making coleslaw. Or, use shred blade in the food processor.

Toss in a large bowl with all remaining ingredients, mixing lightly.

Ideally, chill for about an hour before serving, but a minimum of about 20 minutes for sure. The next day it’s different, but still tastes wonderful.

Serves 6 – 8!

The Veggie Venture blog/website has innovative, wonderful recipes for cabbage (and everything else – this is a site you’ll want to bookmark!) in “Alphabet of Vegetables”: A Veggie Venture.

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It’s a shoo-in as to what my favourite planter is – my much-beloved pair of gardening and walking shoes that I wore forever until the upper and sole separated and started “flapping.”

My husband finally suggested a new pair might be in order, but I admit to suffering from shoe-separation anxiety and after several weeks of ignoring his advice, he dropped a bigger hint by letting me know he had added my shoes to the trash can.

You’ll be relieved to know I promptly rescued them and have since proudly displayed them at our front door, planted up with that dry-shade and deer-resistant stalwart Geranium macrorrhizum.

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