Backyard gardening

I want to start a garden in our housing cooperative´s backyard. We have lots of space which is not used for anything. The location is the not the challenging, but very close “relationship” to a busy car road and some passing through walks gives its own limit. But I think it is worth trying. I applied to become the coordinator in the local area for urban gardening in backyards and so. Now I only have to get my idea pushed through in the housing cooperative´s council which is getting together next week. It is really not expensive to start a plantation. Few meters of wood planks are needed and people who can nail them together to form a box where the dirt can be  folded. Where I´m gonna need help is the plantation and taking care of and watering the plants. And what might be the biggest cost is the water. Would our household society provide the water. I hope so. The price for the water in the end would be a green blooming garden with some self grown herbs and veggies. I wish I can talk the people, parents with their kids into this project. I just know it´s gonna be fun! Dodo, a environmental organisation, organizes these projects – getting the material so that private people can get their own gardens started. The page has some great and inspiring pics for little foretaste before we get our own project running.

Why to do the green, eco and near produced food groceries in the chain stores when you can get your own greens from “your” garden!

Here are some local projects which are running in western Europe. You can find the backgrounds and locations from the article I borrowed the pics from http://kaupunkiviljely.fi/kuvagalleria/?album=all&gallery=8&nggpage=2

 

Memories vol.1 Ukkopuisto

Just a quick post. Went to visit my grandparents last weekend and took a walk in the neighborhood were we played as kids. I was surpprised  that city of Kuopio has saved two of my childhood favorite rides: Ukko and sieni. There they are – well maintained and working brought together from two different parks. Two (g)oldies from the 80´s bathing in the October sun together.   Sakke and Katja hoi, re-union in ukkopuisto, anyone, no-one, dust?

Going nuts

I´ve been a lazy ass what comes to recycling glass jars. I´m really good at storing them but today they came really handy. I went nuts in the nut and fruit store and collected all delicatessen for baking and making own muesli. The small baby food jars are perfect size for spices especially the organic spices from ekolo which have nice and colorful etiquettes.  Looks so organized what can´t yet say about the rest of the kitchen. Although I´ve been trying to label and administrate our foods in the kitchen but my nature just won´t keep thing on their dedicated places..I find sugar when I remember where and when I used it last time. So it does not really help that the sugar can´s lovely animal label says sugar if the whole can is missing. Anyway it is nice to have a kind of a feeling that you are in charge of the mess and life. It makes living much more tolerable :).

The wildest wine bine

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The bine makes an autumn. Suddenly you can see it everywhere and it makes the dullest houses look like they´ve been dressed for a party. Well partly truth too. Unfortunately there is not one climbing up on our walls but  our the neighbor´s garden seems to be taken over by one. It looks so pretty. I think I´ll try to grow one myself too and try to make it survive indoor life – wouldn´t it look great to have one climbing in your bedroom wall..like you are sleeping in leaf hut. Might need to discuss about it still with my kotipunkkari.

Anyway I have heard that bine slowly and gradually eats your wall´s plastering. I don´t know how long it takes, but seems like this plant can grow everywhere and some sees it as not wanted weed plant. I think it would fit perfectly as an urban plant besides its look it would also suck CO2 and other chemicals from the air in the city centers when thinking that it grows so fast and well this up north too. Why hasn´t it been used more widely to depress the cities carbon print? There are many cool attempts to make cities more green in energy use, carbon foot print and in visual sense too. If the walls can´t handle the plant let´s plant it on the roofs then. City of Toronto has their own green roof project but planting on roofs can also be found as a creative way to interact and “do interesting things with the city space” says Dusty Gedge  a well known green roof campaigner in BBC Gardening blog. When do we get one dystygedge to update this city´s sustainable house and roof gardening plans into a next level.

Lemon pie

This is a stolen recepie from Time of the aquarius blog. But I have made this pie already twice this week so I think it tells a lot about my sugar teeth and how good the pie was. And it is so silly simple too.

Make the bottom by mixing 150 grams of butter with half a dl of sugar and 3 dl of flour (you can also add little bit of vanilla sugar if you want to). Press the dough in to a form and bake it for 10 min at 200 C degrees or so. Mean while whisk three eggs with 2dl of sugar together and add half a dl of lemon juice (I used juice from one lemon) and grade the lemon skin and add it to the egg foam too. Spread the topping on the half baked pie and bake it for another 12-15minutes, until the pie is solid and wont stick on a fork when tucked in. That´s it. With this pie I think you can earn some points for a massage..at least it is worth trying to.

Rhubarb dreams

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Summer is over. I used the last pieces of our own grown rhubarb for a delicious pie which was glaced with meringue.

It was again super easy to make even though recepies involving whipping egg whites always requires a clean pot..meaning more dishes.

For the bottom you need:

150 grams of butter

3 dl flour

3 spoons of water

1 spoon of sugar

4-5 small rhubarbs cut in small pieces

and for the meringue 2-3 egg whites and 3 spoons of sugar.

Step one: Pinch the bottom ingridients together and trample it into a form. Layer the cut rhubarb pieces on top with a little bit of sugar and bake it in the oven at 220 C degrees for 30 minutes, until the bottom dough starts getting nice and brown and the rhubarbs soft. Then it is time to whip the egg whites whit three big spoons of sugar. I used three eggs, but you decide and know better how much meringue you are in. So then just whisk the whites and sugar together until you have this nice white shining not flowing foam. Spread the foam over the pie and cook it a few more minutes until the surface of the pie looks like the pictures in baking and cooking books. Hope you had already invited someone over for five o´clock tea otherwise do it now. It is alright to eat it with a man returning back home from work.

Devil´s jam

We got hand fulls of our own tomatoes and some chillies. Some of the tomatoes are still green, but my mum hinted me about to get them ripped in a paper bag. So let´s see if I get to serve something else later on than fried green tomatoes (such a great movie though). Friend of mine once shared the recepie for this marvelous spicy jam but I accidentally flushed it into the drain with some laundry before trying it out. Here is a kind of my own pilot version of it..need to probably adjust the amount of sugar for getting more like jam texture, but it tasted really GOOD with some grilled pork last week.. Food really often tastes good when someone else sweats while making and serving it 🙂 

For the jam:

250 grams of tomatoes

250 grams of peppers

2 chillies

4 gloves of garlic

4 big spoons of vinegar

salt and pepper

2,5 dl of “jamming” sugar

Step one: Cook the veggies in a pan so that they get soft. Step two: Squash them and add the vinegar and the sugar. Let the jam to boil for some minutes and pour it into two medium sized washed and boiled jars. Let them cool down and put them into a fridge or put a fire on into the grill and eat it straight away!

Harvesting time

Summer has turned into autumn and after a hectic and sweaty period it is time to get back to indoor life. That can also be called computer centered life if the weather is not going to treat us Finns well if earlier experience is to be trusted. Could be that this project “motherhood” is also to be blamed if outdoor activity won´t hit a record. Anyway, this is a new become of my virtual appearance for you close here and more further away to follow what´s up.

We had this sack plantation close to the cit center on this half abandoned land in Kalasatama. Urban management dream blog has some great photos of the project. Two weekends ago it was time for us to do harvesting there. We have been shamefully busy not to take better care of our sacks but somehow the nature and the summer had treated them well (also big thanks to gardening neighbors there for watering). The soil still has an overload of nutrients in it from the proportional biodegradation of sewage water resulting something jungle like tomato plants and beetroots.

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Such a great spot and hobby. I know, getting old and middle age raises its head..posting pictures of flowers  and getting siked about storing the summer in jars. Who cares, we have a freezer packed with spinach and parsley!