Heating the Greenhouse. My First Experiments.

Greenhouse heater

One of the decisions I had to make when building our Hartley greenhouse was how it would be heated. Ultimately I decided to go with electric heaters. While not as efficient as gas, I was way more comfortable with the idea of having two electric fan heaters than I was installing gas heaters. The setup… Read more »

What’s It Like To Get A Hartley Botanic Greenhouse?

Hartley installation complete

Let me start off by saying I love my new Hartley Greenhouse. It’s a dream to have something this beautiful and yet, for me, functional. I still have some finishing details – brickwork which could not be completed before winter arrived and landscaping – but the main structure is up and it’s lovely. So how… Read more »

Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest

Not too sweet and the zest gives it a nice tang. Ingredients: 8-ounce package cranberries (225g) 1/2 cups sugar minus 1 tablespoon (100g) zest one orange, chop small, about 1 teaspoon minced juice of 1/2 orange plus enough water to bring to just under one half cup (about 100ml) Instructions: Put all together in small… Read more »

Basic Quiche Recipe – Add Your Favourite Fillings

Quiche is not complicated and I make mine based on one easy recipe then add whatever flavours, meats, vegetables, or cheeses I want (or have in the garden or refridgerator) for a filling. Ingredients: 3 eggs 1 cup cream (half and half or table cream) 1 cup grated cheese (your choice) 1 to 2 cups… Read more »

Creamy Caesar Salad Recipe – Great for Kale Caesar Salad

This is a mayonnaise-based caesar salad dressing that works great with thinly sliced black kale to make a Black Kale Caesar Salad but works equally as well with romaine.  The taste reminds me of Renée’s salad dressing. If you prefer an olive oil & egg-based dressing, try this traditional caesar salad dressing. Ingredients: 1/2 cup… Read more »

Turkey Tetrazzini

This is a traditional tetrazzini recipe I made with leftover Christmas turkey. It made a great boxing day dinner served with cranberry sauce, creamy caesar salad, stuffed mushrooms, and celery bread.  We paired it with an amarone which went well with the savoury flavour. Ingredients: 5 tablespoons butter (1 for pan, 1 for mushrooms, 3… Read more »

Raw Beet Salad

raw beet salad dressing recipe

I love beets. Boiled, roasted, Harvard beets – anything except pickled beets (sorry pickle lovers).  However, all the rain we’ve had this year has meant an abundance of big beets. So, I decided to branch out our beet repertoire and experiment by making a raw beet salad. We enjoyed it, although my younger son likes… Read more »

Getting an Early Start to the Vegetable Garden

Living around the Kitchener-Waterloo area in southern Ontario we have a decent gardening season, but most years you can’t reliably plant vegetables outside until late May and most produce is finished by late September. I’ve read a lot about year-round gardening and have, with limited success, been able to extend our harvest with row covers… Read more »

My Daffodils are Backwards!

Front view of same daffodils

Last fall, with the help of my mom and dad who were up for a visit, I planted a couple hundred daffodils along the edge of my back gardens. Some were the traditional single yellow daffodils, others were white, some multi-coloured. Finally this past week the last started to bloom and they look lovely. There’s… Read more »

Weather Confusion – What Happened To Spring?

March 25, 2016 - ice storm in southern ontario

If it wasn’t April 4 I’d think this was someone’s idea of an April fool’s joke. After a very mild winter, with little snow, old man winter dressed up as a Polar Vortex and decided he’d show up just as spring arrived. He’s not just late to the party but he’s the guest no-one wants… Read more »