A patch of back-alley land has undergone a decade-long transformation from an underutilized privately-owned plot to a thriving community garden that produces over one thousand pounds of fresh vegetables each year.
“The Milky Way garden is a pretty unusual community garden, because it’s on private land,” explains Joshua Barndt, Development Coordinator of the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust. The plot’s owner, a local filmmaker, was unable to acquire the permits needed to build housing on the plot, and it went unused. About ten years ago, Tish Carnat, an ESL teacher at the Parkdale Library, had a conversation with her students about the costs of vegetables. The students, mostly refugees from India and Tibet, said produce available in stores was “quite unaffordable,” says Barndt. “But they had quite a bit of experience with growing food.” Carnat approached the owner of the plot, and a community garden was seeded.
For the past decade, the library’s ESL students have worked about 40% of the lot, growing vegetables in raised bed. “The class gardens every Monday morning from nine to noon” says Barndt. “Throughout the week, the students who are interested are going there on their own time and taking care of the site.”
This was our last stop on a mural hunt and the first I am posting here due to its size.
It is another collaboration by Nick Sweetman and Elicser Elliot. It is on a long fence around a playground and apartment complex.
Click on the labels/tags under this post to see a lot more of Sweetman and Elicser's works.
Hedgehogs are not native to North America but live in Europe, Asia and Africa (as well as having been introduced in New Zealand where it has no natural predators and is a problematic invasive species).
The robin and the boy are pulling on the same worm!
An excellent article from Toronto Life saying that closing outdoor recreation spots doesn't make any sense. "I can tell you that over 90 per cent of the cases coming into our hospital are from essential workplaces and their households. Just before we got on the phone I was talking to a patient with nine family members who all tested positive, all traceable to one person who works in a trucking plant."
As of Wednesday DoFo has been MIA, claimed he was "exposed" to a colleague who had tested positive and was "working from home".
Weekend chores done, laundry and housework and time to play.
Looking the window on Wednesday to see how much snow we got I see this! According to one of our doormen, the van was stolen at Costco and the police gave chase.
Thursday John felt it was safe to get his snow tires removed. This was the first year he ever bought snow tires (we are "normally" away in the winter) and he didn't need them!
Turtlenecks for John, for cold golfing mornings, WHEN they are allowed to reopen.
New sheets, dish towel and red faux leather round placemats.
I love that they don't come wrapped in plastic, instead they each have a matching drawstring bag.
I finally, gasp, almost have my new sewing machine set up, it took some YouTube videos.
Friday we went for a drive after lunch. We've been obeying the stay at home directive, but had enough. We took the car and didn't interact with anyone.
High Park has closed off access to the cherry blossoms again this year.
As we drove along Bloor St. W.
We were headed to the University of Toronto cherry blossoms.
Then along Bloor and Dundas W for some mural hunting.
We took a couple of short walks and I found a gluten free bakery so I picked up a few things. I also went into Bulk Barn for Virginia peanuts.
Loosely translated, a boulevardier is a man-about-town. A cocktail by the same name was created by Erskine Gwynne, the publisher of “Boulevardier,” a magazine for expats living in Paris during the 1920s. The drink was popularized after it was included in Harry MacElhone’s 1927 book “Barflies and Cocktails.” In it, the author credited the cocktail to Gwynne, a regular at MacElhone’s bar. It’s a tidy story, like the drink it inspired.
1 1/4 ounces bourbon (or rye)
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
COCKTAIL CIRCUIT - TO DATE
Mai Tai with orgeat which is new to us
Tequila Sunrise
Rob Roy required bitters which we had never bought
New York Sours
Gin Fizz
Rusty Nail
Vodka Sidecar
Vodka Cosmopolitan
Negroni
The Perfect Storm
COOKING
Saturday, feeling lazy, pizza. First time done in air fryer, tasted great and took no time.
Sunday ham, mashed turnip carrots and mashed cauliflower and potatoes and Brussel sprouts.
Monday freezer chili I had made back for Super Bowl. I also made some pineapple/mango ice cream the frozen fruit has been hanging around the freezer.
Tuesday slow cooker short rib stew with potatoes, carrots, turnip, celery. I had some leftover vegetables from Sunday that went in to thicken the gravy, also leftover and frozen.
I baked a carrot cake and divided it into three portions and froze two while I made a cream cheese icing for the remaining piece.
Wednesday I was going to make deer battered shrimp wraps, but it got late (video call) so I just sauteed the shrimps with butter and garlic and served them in gluten free wraps with radishes, red onions, cilantro, cabbage and limes along with sour cream and hot sauce. Delicious.
The lamb doner kabab turned out amazing, almost like the real thing. I will publish my version of the recipe this week.
Friday steak fries and clean out the veg bin - cherry tomatoes, green pepper, onions and bok choy. This time John did the chips and the steak at (almost) the same time in the air fryer. We are loving the air fryer!!
WATCHING
We watched a mini-series Rebellion about the Easter Uprising in Ireland. Not well done at all, in fact we didn't even finish it. I know my history but this was so convoluted and confusing to follow. It also had bad reviews.
Eye of the Beholder was peculiar but intriguing although it had awful ratings. It was mainly filmed in Montreal.
We caught up on our mural favourites, The Resident, 911 Lone Star, Top Chef, Top Chef Canada, MasterChef Canada, Blue Bloods.
Friday we watched 1917, the title indicates that it is a movie about World War 1 and depicts the horror of war. The technical brilliance of the filming is overpowering.
For my kitchen watching I am working my way through the Great Australian Bake Off seasons. I am happy with the judges, and liked the hosts in season 1, they weren't silly. But the hosts in season 2 and 3, where I am, annoy me to no end just as the early hosts on the British version.
READING
I never think to borrow magazines at the library but as I was browsing I saw a copy of Canadian Living and thought I would skim through it on my laptop.
It has to be 10 years or more since I bought a magazine.
There was a recipe for shrimp croquettes and earlier this week I had seen a contestant on MasterChef UK make shrimp fritters. So I am thinking I might do that this week.
BTW my laptop moves around the house with me and becomes my TV/Netflix viewer in the kitchen. In the bedroom I will watch YouTube/DailyMotion on it.
On my laptop - Good Veg well laid out and lots of inspiration. We eat a lot of vegetables so I am always looking for creative ways to use them. I am intrigued by the chia jams.
On my phone - I finished Nomadland this is a very depressing book. I think that instead of focusing on "houseless" people it should be focusing on the disappearance of the middle class in America and Canada.
"At one time there was a social contract that if you played by the rules (went to school, got a job and worked hard) everything would be fine. That's no longer true today. You can do everything right, just the way society wants you to do it, and still send up broke, alone, homeless."
It is more like a documentary about Americans who lost everything in 2008 and end up living in cars, cans, trucks and RVs. These people are generally past retirement age who have to take jobs at Amazon, running campsites or picking beets for less than minimum wage. Their average income is $600 in Social Security. No pensions or savings, all lost in mortages and/or divorces.
At one point she is discussing all the blogs that popped up in the early 2000s "promoting" this lifestyle and I realized I knew George and had even met him several times. The George she describes is not the sad person she writes about.
She only ever points out the bad/sad side of their lives.
I discussed this with a friend who also owns an RV and follows a lot of these people online they love this life. She was also a close friend of George, who passed away in 2019. They had known him since 2011. She thought George would not have liked being referred to in this way as it made him sound like a loony toon. Any time we met with George he was happy go lucky, loved to dance and loved Mexico with a passion.
I won't even begin to talk about the big companies like Amazon who suck the blood out of these people....
And this book is written before the pandemic so I can only imagine what the numbers are like now.
It so happened that for Weekend Roundup it was the letter Q and I went with Quartzsite which features in the book.
On my phone - Park Avenue Summer based on a blogger's recommendation. A piece of fluff that I needed after Nomadland. Still interesting as it is set in the mid-60s and is full of fascinating insights into those times. Remember Carnation faBreakfast, runs in your stockings, smokers everywhere, Dippity-do.
