The Durham Organic Gardeners will be hosting their monthly meeting on the evening of Wednesday, January 25th, and this month’s focus is the annual seed exchange. It’s a great way to shake some of the winter blahs. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, but if you’re in the area and need some seeds, you should definitely check it out. Bring a mug!

(You can also follow Durham Organic Gardeners on Twitter to stay up to date with other organic gardening happenings in Durham Region throughout the coming year.)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to raise chickens in your own back yard? To be able to wander outside on a Sunday morning to root around for your very own fresh eggs to poach for breakfast? An opportunity to learn about how to achieve this is coming up, right here in Durham Region!

On Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011, Lorraine Johnson, author of City Farmer, Adventures in Urban Food Growing, will be joining the Durham Organic Gardeners for a discussion of how to raise chickens in an urban or residential setting. Lorraine has several chickens of her own and she also writes about them on her blog, Edible City. I met Lorraine briefly once before, but didn’t have much chance to chat with her, so I’m really looking forward to hearing her speak next week.

Funky Chicken Afro

The meeting will take place at 7:30 pm at the Durham District School Board building at 400 Taunton Road West in Whitby. Parking and the event itself are free, although a donation to Durham Organic Gardeners of $2.00 per person is suggested.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Sarah B. Hood’s new book, “We Sure Can!—How Jams and Pickles are Reviving the Lure and Lore of Local Food”. Sarah was on hand to chat about preserves and to sign copies of her new book, which, by the way, is filled with tons of recipes and gorgeous photographs.

Sarah also brought with her three samples of the recipes from the book, including Lemon Balm Jelly, Masala Chai Jelly and my favourite of the three, Anise-Hyssop Jelly, made from one of the anise-hyssop plants I gave to Sarah for her community garden plot. An extra jar of it came home with me.

The launch was held at the Leslieville Farmer’s Market, and this was my first visit to the new market, which is held every Sunday from 9-2 on Eastern Avenue just westward across from the McDonald’s in the park that is there. I sure do wish that farmer’s market had been there when I lived in the Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville…what a fabulous place to shop for produce and to get out of the house on a Sunday afternoon!

Sarah’s book, “We Sure Can!—How Jams and Pickles are Reviving the Lure and Lore of Local Food” is available at Arsenal Pulp Press.

Durham Integrated Growers (“D.I.G.”) is hosting and promoting an open day for the community gardens in Durham Region!

The self-guided open garden day will take place on Saturday, July 16 from 10:00 to 2:00.

Participating gardens include:

Maple Tree Garden in Cannington

Valley Plentiful Garden in Pickering

St. Andrew’s Park Garden in Ajax

Whitby Ajax Garden Project

Mary Street Community Garden in Oshawa

Windfields Community Garden in Oshawa

Ecology Garden in Bowmanville

All gardens will have community gardeners on hand to answer questions or provide a little commentary on what is happening in the garden plots. Some gardens will have other events taking place, such as demonstrations or a bake sale.

This is a really great opportunity to check out what local gardeners are doing in the community gardens in Durham Region!

For more details, including the addresses and locations of the participating community gardens, please visit D.I.G.’s website.

This weekend marks the 7th Annual Peony Festival at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens. On Saturday and Sunday, visit the gardens from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm to see the peonies in bloom and to talk to other gardeners in the area.

The Durham Master Gardeners will be on site to host an Advice Clinic, myself included. This is only the second advice clinic that I have been part of, and I have to say that I learn as much from attending these events as the people who come to talk to us about the problems, challenges and joys they have experienced in their own gardens.

This year, the Peony Festival has partnered up with Parkwood Estates in Oshawa as well, where you can tour the historic gardens and grounds, as well as the mansion that was home to the McLaughlin family.

Click to read the full flyer for the Peony Festival.

Canada Blooms is holding a contest for free tickets this year. The venue has changed from its usual Metro Toronto Convention Centre locale to the larger Direct Energy Centre at the Canadian National Exhibition. Here’s how you can win:

Enter our Facebook Fan Page contest! One lucky winner will win four tickets to the Canada Blooms Early Morning Tour on Saturday, March 21. Experience a behind-the-scenes look with a guided tour of the gardens. To enter, become a member of our Facebook Fan Page by visiting facebook.com/canadablooms. Draw date is March 1, 2010. Prize is valued at more than $160.

Tickets to Canada Blooms make the perfect Valentine’s Gift for that special someone. Special $16 discounted tickets are available online at canadablooms.com.

I received this message today from USC Canada, and thought I’d pass it along. (It reminded me that it’s Seedy Saturday season!)

If you’ve had enough of salting and shoveling for the season, get ready to dream of spring and attend the 3rd Annual Seedy Saturday Garden Show in Pickering. The event takes place on Saturday, February 6 at East Shore Community Centre (910 Liverpool Road South, Pickering), and includes displays and seminars with more than 30 local vendors and garden associations and a seed swap.

USC will be there too! Kate Green, who manages our Nepal program and campaigns in Canada and internationally on food sovereignty, will be on hand with plenty of USC DVDs, seed maps, and our new Jottings newsletter. And she would love just to chat about the work of our farmer friends overseas. So while your gardens sleep under their blanket of snow, why not come out for a visit?

Seedy Saturday runs from 10am-3pm on February 6, and admission is just $3. Bring seeds to swap if you have any. There’s plenty of free parking. Find out more about the event from Mandy at 905-683-8401.

Graham and I went to the Orono Fall Fair yesterday afternoon with our friends, Andy and Kelly and their daughter Sophie.  It was a beautiful early autumn afternoon, and since it was Friday afternoon, there weren’t too many people on the fairgrounds, yet.  There were a lot of school groups there, though, with little kids learning about how to milk cows and all about tractors and growing crops.

Pumpkins at the entrance to the agricultural exhibits.  The big white squash on the right was the winner!

One of my favourite things to do at any autumn fair is look at the agricultural displays, including the vegetables that are grown locally and entered for prizes.  There seems to be a real fascination with vegetables that are either freakishly large or just…freakish.

Look at the size of these beets!  They were each about a foot long.

This tomato won a prize for Most Oddly Shaped Vegetable.  It looks a little like a purple calabash tomato to me, a variety that does grow in very strange, “lumpy” ways. (See my purple calabash harvest from a few years ago.)

And finally, here is everyone’s very favourite large vegetable, the giant zucchinis.

To give you some perspective, you can see the giant beets in the background.

I’ve always wanted to enter some home grown tomatoes into the fall fair, but have never committed to it.  Maybe next year!

At the September 2009 meeting of the Durham Organic Gardeners Doug Kennedy, Owner of Green Side Up Environmental Services will present:

NATIVE PLANTS AND GARDENING!

Find our what you need to start a native garden in your yard.

ALSO…prizes for largest green zucchini and largest tomato!

Doorprize, refreshments.
Everyone welcome!

Please join us on Wednesday, September 23, 7:30 p.m.
Durham District School Board Administration Building
400 Taunton Road East, Whitby, Room 2007

I’ve taken a bit of time to update the Events page on this website, so if you live in Durham Region and want to spend some time learning about plants, meeting other gardeners or touring local gardens, take a moment to check out the schedule of gardening events taking place in this area over the coming months!  There are club meetings and talks, garden tours, fall fairs and other great opportunities to flex your green thumb, even as our prime garden season is wrapping up.