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Wild saskatoons are very abundant locally and last year we picked a massive amount of them!

Wild saskatoons are very abundant locally and last year we picked a massive amount of them!

Foraging and Gardening Goals for 2019

January 14, 2019 by Kelsey Fast in Grow, Find
Dandelion leaves are very nutritious and abundant! Consider allowing them to grow in your yard and you’ll have the lowest maintenance food crop ever!

Dandelion leaves are very nutritious and abundant! Consider allowing them to grow in your yard and you’ll have the lowest maintenance food crop ever!

This year I have decided to pare down my goal setting just a little bit. I used to write out ten different goals for each of these categories, but I realized I wasn’t achieving even half of them. I also realized while looking over my goals for the past few years that I would write one or two larger scale general goals, and then the rest would be just about specific plants. While this isn’t a terrible way to set goals, I’ve found so many things - from weather, vacations, family growth, to other random surprises - can derail the search for growing or finding specific plants, and various things in my life kept doing just that. This year I have a new baby coming, and a smaller garden, so I figured five goals for each category would be a much more fulfilling way of going about things! We’ll see how I like that for this year and maybe next year I’ll do something different. Who knows!

The whole point of why I set these goals is so that I have some inspiration for the year going forward, not about the number of things I actually accomplish in the end or not. I hope you find some inspiration from my goals, and maybe you’ll set some of your own! If you do please let me know in the comments below because I’d love to hear about it!


I hear magnolia is edible, but it doesn’t grow a lot here. I’d love to try it some day since I saw so many people posting lovely things about it on their instagram feeds last year.

I hear magnolia is edible, but it doesn’t grow a lot here. I’d love to try it some day since I saw so many people posting lovely things about it on their instagram feeds last year.

Foraging Goals

Learn more from the local indigenous community.

I feel really strongly that to forage ethically anywhere in North America you have to consider the fact that there is already so much history here of people and their relationship - sometimes even a spiritual relationship - to wild plants and resources. I’ve done small amounts of online research in the past, but I’d ideally love to learn more from actual people. if this is impossible I will definitely be seeking out other resources like books and museums. I feel like this is an important step as I continue to respectfully forage and explore in land that is unceded traditional Secwepemc territory.

Mushrooms

You might be thinking that you remember just reading me say that I wasn’t going to include specifics in my goals list this year, and you’d be correct, but I still want to include mushrooms as a goal of mine this year regardless. I’ve included this as a goal in my past lists, but aside from finding someone selling morels at the farmers’ market last spring, I haven’t really done much in this area. This is such a broad category that I have very little experience with, so even if I don’t end up going out and picking huge amounts to bring home and eat, I still want this to be a focus of learning for this year. One small thing I’ve been doing is to photograph and research the mushrooms I do come across, and I feel that has been a really great start. I missed my local opportunity to do a guided mushroom walk last year, so making one of those happen this fall is something I am very interested in.

With the help of the amazing Mushroom Identification group on Facebook, I think this is an old Turkey Tail mushroom that I came across last spring near the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC. Even in its old age it is still beautiful!

With the help of the amazing Mushroom Identification group on Facebook, I think this is an old Turkey Tail mushroom that I came across last spring near the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC. Even in its old age it is still beautiful!

Fishing

I know this one is also kind of specific too, but we actually didn’t get out fishing once last year! I’m not totally sure how practical this will be now that we’re going to be a family of four, but I still want to make sure I give it a try this year. Or maybe it’s something I can delegate to Mr. Forager to go find a fishing buddy and bring back some of the delicious local trout that are abundant here! Either way I’d like to try to make it a priority to go out at least a few times this year.

Wild Staples

I definitely want to concentrate on this one more strongly this year. I am very curious about using acorns, and other plants - maybe even pine bark - to create wild flours. There are also other plans I’ve heard about but have very little experience with like cattails that are so useful and nutritious.

If you don’t want to keep dandelions in your yard consider digging up the plants rather than spraying for them. Every part of these little cheery flowers is edible from root to blossom!

If you don’t want to keep dandelions in your yard consider digging up the plants rather than spraying for them. Every part of these little cheery flowers is edible from root to blossom!

Find more flavours.

This might be a bit of a catchall category, but one of the things that I have loved about this foraging journey I’ve been on is finding the new flavours of these local plants. Last year I got a chance to experiment with Douglas-fir cones, for example, and they turned out to be so delicious, and the cookies and flavoured sugar I made with them were so lovely. I’ve also been having so much fun with sumac in the kitchen, so I can’t wait to get out there and find some more delicious flavours to experiment with this year.


Haskap bushes in my old garden just as they start to get their leaves in the spring.

Haskap bushes in my old garden just as they start to get their leaves in the spring.

Garden Goals

Research container gardening.

If you’ve been following along with my blog over the past little while you’ll know that recently I’ve had to say goodbye to my garden of the past four seasons. This year’s garden will be a balcony one, so I am making it a priority to look into what container garden systems work best. I’ve had to consider a lot of different things so far since my deck is south facing, and there is no spigot for watering. I’ll be posting in a few weeks about the kinds of solutions we’ve come up with, and I can’t wait to share it all with you since I know I’m not the only one who would like to continue producing at least some food with only my balcony as garden space.

Research varieties that work best in small spaces and containers.

This one is very related to the above goal, but I felt it was different enough to be considered its own focus. Not only will my garden be dependent on coming up with a system that works (above goal), it will only be successful if I grow the right plants for my environment. I am actually a little bit excited about my new challenge, because I am going to get a whole lot more sun than I used to in my north facing, shady garden. I am thinking I might actually have some decent success with heat loving crops like tomatoes and peppers, and I can’t wait to see what happens!

Early spring in my old garden.

Early spring in my old garden.

Same view, after a few months of growing.

Same view, after a few months of growing.

Continue to produce food.

This goal is very important to me. I know I’m not going to be able to do this on the scale that I am used to, but I still want my garden to be a way to provide at least a little bit of food for my family. I really like working with food crops - especially heirlooms and other interesting varieties. There will always be flowers in my garden too since I want to attract lots of pollinators and beneficial insects otherwise the food crops on my balcony will struggle.

Look into Community Garden options.

I’m not sure if this is something I’ll have time for with the new baby on the way, but I do know that there are lots of community gardens in town, so I’d like to at least look into it a little bit and see what kind of commitment would be involved. I rented a community garden plot one season, and it really didn’t work out, because of the location. I wasn’t able to get there as often as I wanted, and nothing I grew there thrived. After that experience, I know now what kind of things I would grow in a community plot, and what I would keep at home. I think it might be something I could handle if I was growing garlic, rhubarb, or other things that don’t need as much daily attention.

One of my springtime harvests from last year. Lots of leafy greens!

One of my springtime harvests from last year. Lots of leafy greens!

Grow lots of herbs.

This one will be very convenient to focus on for me, since a lot of herbs do well in smaller spaces, and that’s definitely what I’ll be working with! I also think they will help create a nice environment on my balcony, and help add a little bit of biodiversity to my other plants. This is one of the easiest ways I can still grow things to eat as well, since snipping some herbs from the balcony and bringing them right in to my kitchen is so easy. I’m excited about this goal, and am planning to cultivate a large collection!

Calendula blossoms harvested from my garden last summer.

Calendula blossoms harvested from my garden last summer.

January 14, 2019 /Kelsey Fast
goals, garden planning, musings, foraging
Grow, Find
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Little Forager watering the garden in his awesome swim diaper from  Nuggles .

Little Forager watering the garden in his awesome swim diaper from Nuggles.

Goodbye Garden

November 05, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow

Some of you who follow my Instagram or other social feeds might already know we have moved. Part of this move means saying goodbye to my garden of 4 years, and starting a new life as a balcony gardener. This post is going to be on the photo heavy side, because I don’t really have a lot to say about our change. I’ll continue to garden in this new way, and keep writing about it here although the topics will be even more focused on small space and container gardening. Nothing else about the blog will change other than the “Grow” topic, since I am more than able to continue with the “Find, Eat, and Make” categories that I normally write about.

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We’ll miss our time here - especially the incredible views - but we’re looking forward to settling in to our new place, and tackling the challenges that come with growing plants on a balcony.

I’ll be updating more about our new place soon, and there is also new stuff coming down the pipe for the A Forager’s Home Shop (specifically winter/Christmas related things) so stay tuned here for updates! It’s been a little while since I last updated this blog, but moving has really commanded all my attention! I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of things again now that we are almost settled in.

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Some of these links are affiliate links for which I will receive a small commission from any sale made.  Any product linked here is something I have tried and would absolutely recommend from my own experience with the company.

November 05, 2018 /Kelsey Fast
garden planning, garden, family, musings
Grow
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July Harvest Totals

August 24, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow

Asterisk denotes foraged items.

  • Beets (mixed): 970g
  • Calendula: 7g
  • Carrots (rainbow): 339g
  • Chamomile: 28g
  • Garlic Scapes: 12g
  • Hyssop: 39g
  • Kale (Red Russian): 54g
  • Pansies: 10g
  • Peas (Amish Snap): 131g
  • Peas (Green Arrow): 118g
  • Raspberries: 587g
  • Rhubarb: 128g
  • Strawberries: 19g
  • Tomato (Italian Golden Love Apple): 11g
  • Tomato (Uptown Funk): 57g
  • Zucchini: 84g

Total: 2.6kg

At first I was disappointed to see my harvest totals were so low for this month, but then when I looked back I found I actually did about the same - if not slightly better - than this month last year. We tend to do a lot of travelling in July, so there isn't a lot of time around the house to garden or forage. It's also been rather smoky out with the wildfire conditions, so we haven't been making a whole lot of trips out to gather anything wild. 

Normally my peas do better than this, but I messed up on trellising the Green Arrow ones that normally do quite well for me, and the Amish Snap I was growing out mainly to replenish my seed for upcoming seasons, so I was leaving the best looking pods on the vines to fully mature. It was a good year for berries (although Little Forager gets to the few strawberry plants I have before I can get most of them to the scale) and I am sure this was the most raspberries I've ever picked. We even missed out on the last few due to the timing of our vacations. It was also a sad year for the rhubarb. I'm not sure why but if it does this poorly next year I'm going to try it in a new location and see what happens.

August 24, 2018 /Kelsey Fast
summer, harvest totals, garden
Grow
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June Harvest Totals

July 11, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow

Asterisk denotes foraged item.

  • Basil (purple): 2 g
  • Beets (mixed): 57 g
  • Calendula: 14 g
  • Carrots (mixed): 91 g
  • Chamomile: 50 g
  • Dill: 36 g
  • Haskap Berries: 160 g
  • Hyssop: 39 g
  • Kale (Red Russian): 76 g
  • Lemon Balm: 7 g
  • Mint (Mojito): 5 g
  • Mint (Peppermint): 11 g
  • Mint (Pineapple): 11 g
  • *Orach: 115 g
  • Orach: 96 g
  • Pansies: 2 g
  • Peas (Amish Snap): 84 g
  • Raspberries: 15 g
  • Rhubarb: 37 g
  • Sage: 4 g
  • Saskatoon Berries: 3147 g
  • Spinach: 43 g
  • Strawberries: 21 g
  • Tarragon: 14 g
  • Thyme: 2 g

Total: 4.2 kg

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This June seemed to have less going on in the garden for some reason. Last year I got more peas, more rhubarb, I remembered to pick the wild asparagus, and just overall I got about two kilos more from the garden and the wild. I'm not sure what's going on with my rhubarb - I guess it's having an off year. Last year I harvested nearly a kilogram from it in June, but this year just a a few little stalks! I'm going to give it more fertilizer in the fall this year and see if that helps kickstart it for the spring. It also got pretty choked in with weeds, so maybe I didn't get to those in time.

I suspected the peas would be a smaller harvest this year, because I was very picky about the seed I was saving from the Amish Snap Peas I've been planting and saving for over 5 seasons now. They were starting to look quite a bit different from what I remember receiving from Seed Savers Exchange almost six years ago. I kept only 15 seeds from last year because I only wanted seeds from pods that produced at least three seeds per pod, and looked smooth and round - identical to what I received when I purchased them. I also held off on harvesting some of the most beautiful pods growing from them because I want to make sure that my seed is excellent for the years to come. I can't save seeds from many things because my garden is too small, but legumes, and a few other things are possible so I want to do the best job I can with stewarding those varieties.

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Despite the lack of rhubarb, the berries this month have been fantastic. I've never seen saskatoons, or raspberries the size I've been picking this month. Raspberries were just beginning to ripen, but they were all enormous and so heavy the branches on my little bushes were all falling over! The wild saskatoons this here were also gigantic. Our bowl full of them looked more like cranberries or grapes. I have some cultivated saskatoons in my freezer from last year, and these are almost double their size, when it's usually the other way around!

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There is also a lot of promise still out there in the garden. My tomato plants are getting big, and many have already set quite a bit of fruit which I wait for with great anticipation! I've got loads of sun chokes, the quinoa is about to flower, and the beans are climbing high! I also have a bed of the healthiest looking brassicas I've ever grown, so those are making me pretty happy each time I step out into the garden. All in all it's been a decent month for harvesting, but I look forward to the major bounty that is to come as summer reaches its fullness.

July 11, 2018 /Kelsey Fast
harvest totals, spring, garden, harvest
Grow
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Growing Up - Trellises and Other Garden Structures

June 12, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow, Make

I don't have a whole lot of space to garden, so I try my best to make the most of my vertical space using trellises and other structures. We're also renting our space, so nothing can be too permanent. I've designed my whole garden to be able to be taken apart if we need to move - we'll undo the raised beds, and the grass that is seeded there will be so healthy from my lovely garden soil. I say that as a preface because there are other great options out there, but for us it is most important that they work well, are cheap, and are easy to remove when needed.

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We work with bamboo poles and twine, for the most part. This year we wanted to do some low tunnels over our raised beds, so we bought some PVC pipe and rebar stakes. We cut them too big last year, but that worked in our favour because I am enjoying using their length for trellising. In the above photos you can see my twine and PVC archway (left) that I have peas growing up one side, and cucumbers and squash on the other. In the photo on the right is a square trellis for peas that I made by weaving thinner bamboo stakes (6 ft. length) and leaning it against the wall. You can see it more fully in the photo below.

The above photo is a bit cluttered, but it does show what the garden actually looks like on a day to day basis - not just when I take a beautiful photo for Instagram! You can see my potato tower here, which I am still enjoying using. I've actually added another bin to grow potatoes in this way since it worked so well. I've got some chicken wire for things to grow up, and the long line of poles and twine is something I am trying for tomato supports. I've seen a lot of people use farm fencing for this, so I sort of made my own thing using six foot hardwood stakes, bamboo poles, and twine. The stakes are drilled into the raised beds, and the poles are keeping each tomato plant upright. The twine running between them keeps everything together and strong. 

We're also using plants as trellises - I put in a lot of sunchokes this year, and I've got beans planted below to climb them. I've done the same elsewhere with sunflowers. I'm hoping the corn will grow tall enough to help some of my beans out as well, but I've got some other supports ready in case it fails me again this year.

What are some of your favourite ways to use the vertical space in your garden? I'd love to hear all about it in the comment section!

June 12, 2018 /Kelsey Fast
DIY, garden planning, garden, trellises, garden maintenance
Grow, Make
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