Batteaux Park Food Forest

Batteaux Park Food Forest is located in Barrie Ontario Canada . It is only a couple years old. The apple trees with their labels still attached to the wee trunks are doing their best. 

Apples about the size of a toonie hang from the green limbs.

Those who feel drawn to permaculture will appreciate the effort that was made to plant and establish this food forest. Yay! Free food for all! 

Does your city or village  have parks or community gardens that provide free food for all?

I applaud the City of Barrie for investing in this ideal and allowing the volunteers to plant the saplings and edible landscaping. 

Peace,

Carla.

Harvest Mullein Stalks and Make a Torch

This is the time of year you can harvest the dried standing stalks of mullein. I found these as seen in the photos in a local park growing happily in a mound of dirt that has been naturalizing for the past few years.

I once watched a youtube video by a lady who makes her own torches in this manner. By the way, she does seem to favour the ¨witchy¨ side of belief systems... so I apologize if the link causes offense. I am not aligned with witch type of stuff, but I thought it only right to give the proper credit to the lady who showed me how to make this in her youtube video)

(https://youtu.be/DEKv9YUwfa4?si=q16eHYbEEvsr2rbv)

For the record...I subscribe to the Christian teachings of the holy bible, with faith in Jesus as Lord.

I am a maker. I love to make things. So ...learning how to recognize local herbs and where and how they grow is a passion of mine. 

So far this year, I am growing the following:

kale, wild raspberries, chives, green beans, marigolds, and parsley. The irises grew extravagantly well this year and I transplanted some lilies that someone else didn´t want in their garden any more. Not sure if the lily will bloom this year, as it is taking some time to acclimate to our yard.

So my adventure will be to melt some candle wax and pour it onto the dry mullein stalks and then let the wax dry and see how they work as a summer night torch. I hope the flame will not be too high!

Hope you are having a good summer so far, if it is summer where you live. And if it is another type of weather season where you live, I pray that you are warm and well fed and protected from the elements.

Peace and joy,

Carla.

P.S. New Update. I tried this ...and it worked wonderfully.

Yes the flames were quite high, so it is not something to do willy nilly and also the flaming piece broke off and fell onto the ground. But I did learn this wee tidbit of info....namely that dried mullein soaked with plain old white candle wax works great as a fire started. Perhaps if I don´t find a good spot to store these I might just break them up into pieces and seal them in mason jars or zip lok bags and keep them for the next time I try to start a fire in the chiminea.

I have watched prepper channels for years and rarely get to learn something new to add to my ¨preps¨....so here today I officially learned a new way to start a fire with low cost items.

By the way, for those of you who want to know...I did keep a bottle of water near by when I tried this experiment to make sure that the flaming pieces did not start random fires where they did not belong.

It´s always a good idea to have some water handy when you are starting a backyard fire, just in case a random spark or blowing piece of paper spreads your fire.

Peace,

Carla.

Eating Gluten Free...Simple Simple Simple

I try to observe a gluten free lifestyle....sometimes more than other times.

Thankfully I am not a Celiac, so the times when I do indulge in gluten-ish foods does not turn into a life threatening emergency.

Anywho, the reason for my post today is simply to talk about things that can be really simple, when you feel overwhelmed with seeking out gluten free foods.

There are some basics that work pretty well....and they are not expensive here in Ontario Canada. 

And so, permit me to share them here.

Basic fruits, such as bananas and apples and carrots and potatoes. All of these are pretty low cost, except perhaps for apples, which can be cheap or expensive depending on the season and the type of apples you prefer. 

Getting into a habit of keeping simple things on hand, can really help you out in a jam....especially when you don´t have time to prepare some kind of ¨elaborate lengthy meal¨. 

I tend to gravitate to things that I can make in less than an hour, even less than 30 minutes if I can.

Just boiling potatoes and serving them with butter and pepper and salt is a grand treat in my gluten free world. Putting a ripe banana in my duffel bag is helpful when I am on the go....and even if I don´t consume it, It´s not going to be a hugely expensive loss if it winds up in my compost bin.

Carrots are good both raw and boiled. Raw and dipped in sour cream or boiled with whatever else I happen to be throwing in a stir fry. Ontario is quite carrot friendly, as our climate is actually good for growing carrots. So the local carrots harvest helps to keep the carrot pricing nice and low in our province.

Other simple gluten free foods that often are a ¨go-to" quick and easy gluten free food are small tins of tuna with the oil and/or seasonings already included in the tin. They have these wee ones which have a pull up tab that are  very convenient and don´t require a can opener. These kind of tuna tins are smaller size portions and work well on the go, as long as you can handle having tuna breath for a wee time out in public.

Eggs Eggs Eggs Oh My! Yes, the humble egg is a good friend of the gluten free crowds. Scrambled  with some salt and bit of cooking oil or butter or gluten free margarine, or prepped in fried form ....sunny side up or over-easy.....yum! A dozen eggs are under 5$ in my part of Ontario and we try to keep them stocked up in our home. Remember how I talked about liking things I can make in 30 minutes or less? Well eggs are perfect for quick gluten free meals at home. You can add some gluten free cheese or mushrooms or your fave chopped veggies to your egg concoctions and turn them into omelettes...Delicious!

Well, that´s all for now. There are more I can add to the list, but for today we shall be content with what I have already listed. 

Enjoy your gluten free lifestyle and keep your chin up. 

NOTE: this post is not intended as medical advice. This post is intended for entertainment purposes only. All medical advice should be obtained by a licensed medical provider.

Wishing you well in your gluten free journey.

Peace,

Carla

Tweet