Gone to Seed

Seedy Saturdays and Sundays have been blooming all over Canada. In fact, it seems that every town and city here on the Island has it’s own. Nanaimo’s Seedy Sunday is coming up on March 4^th , pretty much one of the last Seedy events for the island. Just in case you can’t make it to any of these, here are some local seed companies that offer online sales. Some of these are local seed growers and they all offer organic, heirloom/heritage seeds and varieties that you won’t be able to find in your retail outlets.

Saltspring Seeds : They have an amazing variety of heirloom tomatoes and other heirloom or heritage vegetables. They also carry a huge range of beans, soy beans, medicinal herbs and grains.

West Coast Seeds: They offer an extensive list of vegetables and flowers. This company is based in Delta, BC.

Garden Path Nursery: This Victoria organic nursery is dedicated to teaching self-reliance and sustain able living. They carry the ‘Seeds of Victoria’ line of organic seeds. Their 2007 catalogue includes a huge variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs. They also put out a great book on organic gardening called “A Year on the Garden Path”

Happy Valley Lavender and Herb farm is just outside of Victoria. This farm carries a wide array of lavender products made with lavender grown right there on the wonderful smelling farm. They offer a range of lavender seeds and are a great resource for the lavender lover.

For more information about organic seeds and supporting seed diversity, check out the Organic Seed Alliance website.

This weekend is the Maple Sugar Festival here in Nanaimo. Between mouthfuls of poutine and sweet treats like maple toffee, go visit the Jam Lady at Golden Maples Farm, Flavors of the West Coast and the Shady Brook Farm table at the Commercial Tent. There you’ll find locally grown products.

Last night, I had some friends over a knitting session and to watch CSI. It was also another chapter in my month long Chinese New Year feast. Instead of the typical 10-course chinese feast, I opted to do several smaller, more intimate chinese meals.

For dinner, I whipped up a local halibut and Chinese greens in a lime black bean sauce with pan-fried noodles. I love Chinese black bean sauce and it’s deep, savory flavor plays well with the acidic tang of citrus, especially in chicken and seafood dishes. It was nothing more than a basic stir fry. I offered wedges of lime on the side so folks could add as much lime juice as they wanted. This way also keeps the lime flavor sharp and fresh.

Of course, we ended off the meal with my homemade egg tarts.

OMG, they were so good. I definitely am going to make these more often. I'm already scheming up different variations like pumpkin, chai infused and maybe even a caramel and creme brule version.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Jen

Nanaimo’s 100 Mile Diet challenge