Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Jul 29th, 2008
You never know who’s going to steal the show on a Spadina Saturday. Or for that matter, you never know who’s going to show. It’s been a bit like a potluck, a really good one. For the record, the first thing our youngest crew member did after signing her waiver was head straight for the [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Jul 24th, 2008
But let’s hope we all get there for Saturdays at 11:00. Because there are likely to be more Red Astrachan [as-truh-kuhn, -kan] apples for the picking. And possibly a few Transparents. Gooseberries and blackcurrants too.
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Jul 20th, 2008
We picked our first of the season in the Spadina orchard on Saturday. Red Astrachan apples. Tart, tiny and great for pies. Perishable. Sometimes called Abe Lincoln, Red Ashmore, or American Red. Once common on local farms, now a seasonal rarity. Not your average Red Delicious. There were a few new faces at our market [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Jul 14th, 2008
Spadina Saturdays at 11:00am have begun. Drop by, bring a friend. Enjoy. We did. This week we had our first few Early Jersey Wakefield cabbages, some fabulous fingerling potatoes, summer turnip (not a big seller, but a favourite of mine), leeks and snapdragons. And mulberries for everyone at the market to sample.
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Jul 6th, 2008
Up until last week we were so distracted by starting up our residential fruit tree project that we hadn’t harvested anything from Spadina, but this week that all changed. We harvested arugula, rhubarb, green onions, mint, parsley, sage, and summer turnip. And best of all, we tried our hands at picking the serviceberry tree. Serviceberries [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Oct 7th, 2007
Two new volunteers came to help out this week: Suzanne and Geir Arne. The former lives in the neighbourhood and the latter is visiting from Norway. He’s in Toronto for the world championships of rock, paper, scissors as the President of the Norwegian Association for Rock, Paper, Scissors (aka Stein, Saks, Papir). They were such [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Oct 7th, 2007
I picked soooo many carrots today, as many as I could possibly transport! I was able to pick two rows before my panier and backpack were full to overflowing, each row of a different heirloom variety. The many-pronged variety, shown here, sold faster than the skinny and straight ones. I think most market-goers are excited [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Oct 7th, 2007
On September 15th I headed to Spadina House in case any volunteers showed up to help harvest. But a few factors told me that I really should have stayed in bed all day, drinking echinacea tea and resting. Nobody else showed up (maybe afflicted with the same fall ills?) but since I was already at [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Sep 18th, 2007
I was the first one to arrive today, and spent the first little while browsing the aisles of the garden, seeing what was ready to be harvested. I had a few visitors, like the hummingbird that enjoyed sipping from these beautiful red flowers. With so many tall and diverse flowers, the garden can support a [...]
Posted in Spadina Saturdays (and Sundays) on Sep 16th, 2007
Spadina House – the house of apple action. Well, actually, all the action happens outside. The gardens are set up in a rectangle split into four, with vegetables hiding behind tall flowers in each quadrant. It’s a very hierarchical set-up, with Victorian flowers ruling over vegetables. Some veggies – like squash and turnips, referred [...]
