Refried Beans

I got a recipe for refried beans from GrrlScientist - a science writer I follow on the Guardian website. The original recipe is here. I just made a version from my garden produce - and it turned out great!

I used Hidatsa Red beans - an heirloom variety from the Hidatsa people of South Dakota. I bought the original beans from Heritage Harvest and have been saving seed. They even come up as volunteers in my garden, so I always seem to have a supply, even if I eat most of them!

I don't grow ginger or garlic in my garden, but I did grow the tomatoes (Martino Roma), peppers (Black Hungarian), shallots and cooking onions I used. Turned out delicious - and my mom has started asking when I will cook another batch. I make them without chilies for her as they bother her stomach. I substitute sweet peppers for the flavour which adds a lot to the taste of these yummy beans.

Stone Soup 2012

This year's stone soup party is on Sunday, September 23rd, from 2-4 at the garden. Bring something from your garden, Brian will bring his magic stone, and we'll make some great soup to share!

Stone Soup again!

It's stone soup time again at Hummingbird Garden!  Our garden committee has been trying to find a good day for a while - but it has finally come! This Sunday is the day! All the Hummingbird Gardeners are invited to come and join in the stone soup at 2 pm on September 25th.

Bowls, spoons, and the magic stone will be provided.  Of course the soup tastes better with a few vegetables. So if you managed to grow anything this summer, between the early rain, the late dry heat, and the vigorous weeds, bring a little something to throw in for flavour! Bring a lawn chair, too. We have a few picnic tables, but with luck and good weather we hope to have too many people to seat at one table.

See you there...

Another cleanup day at Hummingbird

We have all had to be very patient this spring at Hummingbird Garden waiting for the rain to stop and the ground to dry up enough to work with! It's looking like it's just going to be one of those wet years when we wish we were planting rice.

Sunday June 9 at 10:00 am we will be meeting at the garden for a clean-up day - time to mow, trim, and weed the common areas, and make sure everything is up to date. Everyone is invited to come along and pitch in. We're hoping the rain will hold off long enough to get it all done!

Stone Soup

Well, this blog has been very quiet this summer, since planting season. All the crops got planted, then it started to rain! I don't think the tap has been turned on much all season, and everything is growing just fine.

Now that we are all starting to have good harvests, it is time for our first ?annual? Stone Soup gathering. We'll meet this coming Sunday, August 15th, in the afternoon. Brian and Paulette will provide the stove, pot, magic stone, bowls and spoons. All the rest of us are in charge of providing the vegetables to turn the magic stone into soup.

Before we eat, it's also time for some garden cleanup. All this moist heat is bringing on the weeds as well as the crops - and things are getting a little out of hand. We will gather at 1:30 to share the labour of clearing weeds from the paths, mowing the grass, and generally tidying up. If anyone needs a helping hand with weeds in their plot, this would be the time to speak up too. We have noticed there are a few plots with as many weeds as veggies, so we'll try to get some of this under control too.

If anyone has weed clippers, shears, a mower, wheelbarrow, etc., feel free to bring them along. If you don't need them for your area, someone else might appreciate borrowing them!

At 3:30 Brian and Paulette will put the pot on to boil. Brian has a good story about the stone soup that he wants to share with us also. That will be the time for everyone to bring out all the vegetables they have to add to the soup - after all, stone soup is better with a few vegetables for garnish.

All the other supper supplies will be provided, including picnic tables. If your back won't take the picnic table for long, you might want to bring a lawn chair. And if you plan to stay and visit with your fellow gardeners, a little bug spray might be a good thing too.

See you all this Sunday at the garden, for a little stone magic!

Water update from Doug

Good afternoon everyone, the sun is shining and we are all excited to get our gardens going, right?

Well this week Brian and myself along with some able bodied helpers trenched in some new waterlines for our new plots along with a couple of upgrades for the old ones. We hooked almost all the taps up yesterday, we did find some leaks, so please do not close any holes, we need to do a couple of repairs first. The water system is functional as it is.

All you need to do is turn the RED handle in the main box (located in the south/west corner) this valve controls all the water now, and please make sure that someone is going to turn it OFF. The person who turns the water on is responsible, so if you want leave and someone else is still watering, just kindly remind them to turn it off okay? Thanks so much.

I'm not sure if everyone is on this email so please pass the word around, Brian and myself and other gardeners are more then willing to help you get started just ask someone.

Great thanks for now and happy gardening. Doug

April showers bring...

The first flowers of May - beautiful bergenia in full bloom already. This is the first flower in the perennial bed. Lots of other plants just starting to come up and leaf out.

And the first signs of future crops to come. These are 2 spinach sprouts, planted in mid-April on a warm summery day. Here they are stretching out their seed leaves, and just budding their true leaves after a few days of cold, rain, and even snow. My spinach came up quickly in last spring's cold wet weather too. I think the damp and frost must make them happy!