Seedy Saturday

So I know I still haven't done a "Who am I?" kind of post yet. It's just kind of weird to talk about yourself for very long. (I know you know what I'm talking about.) If you've been dying to know a little bit more, you can check out my new-ish  About page. It's not super mind-blowing or anything, especially if you know me personally, but it will need to serve until I come up with a more exciting post! If you have any random questions, leave a comment on the page and I'll write back with an answer if I can.

Now on with the show!

Last Saturday, Miss N and I went to check out Seedy Saturday Ottawa. I'm glad we went at the beginning of the day because it was crazy busy there! We went early so that we could check out the 10:15 workshop on square foot gardening. Our little veggie garden is laid out like a square foot garden (SFG), in a grid instead of rows, but it isn't really a square foot garden. To truly follow the SFG method, your garden needs to have a closed bottom and you should be using a specific mix of peat, vermiculite and compost. If you google "square foot gardening" you will find TONS of info on the subject. It's really intriguing but I think I need a bigger yard before I start building any raised beds lol   

Miss N growing her own garden while listening to the talk. She was so good and quiet for the whole thing!

I liked the woman who did the presentation. She had only recently switched from "regular" veggie gardening to the SFG method and was able to make lots of comparisons of the two which was nice. Unfortunately, due to some techy issues at the beginning, she ran out of time.

After the workshop, we browsed some of the vendor tables. There were so many seed packets that it was overwhelming. If I ever go with the intention of buying seeds, I will be sure to bring a list! Other vendors were selling everything from gardening supplies to organic baked goods to honey products. We were so busy looking around that I forgot to take some pics *oops*

Miss N making seedy crafts in the kids zone.

Other than the workshop, our main reason for heading to the event was to check out Ottawa Plantcycle's swap table. They have a yahoo group that I've not seen and a facebook group. I had an excess of seeds left over from the packages I got for my winter sowing experiment to give away and there were a few things that I was looking for as well. I want to start growing herbs this year so finding some seeds for that project were my top priority.  We picked up some lemon balm, dill and red garlic. Val, the lady hosting the table, insisted we take more, so we brought home some yellow beans, tiger's eye dry beans, cantaloupe and some dried out onions as well. The onions are pretty well kaput so I'll probably just toss them in the compost. A good haul none the less - esp considering the price! (As an added bonus, a girlfriend of mine gave me even more seeds when I went over to her place for tea on Monday. Thanks A! Who can turn down wonderberry seeds?? I don't know what they are either lol)

Our loot.

We had brought a picnic lunch so we sat in the lobby and gobbled up our wraps and crackers. After that we headed out to catch the bus. It turns out though that we still had lost of adventure to come... There were so many cars in the small community centre parking lot that the bus was blocked in. OC Transpo decided to re-route the bus we planned on taking so that it would start and end farther down the road. Unfortunately, no one could tell us where the bus was now supposed to start. We had a choice between walking along the route or just heading up the hill towards home.

Walking up from the river to another bus stop.

After a long but enjoyable walk, we finally caught a bus and got home just in time for Miss N to have "quiet time". She doesn't normally nap but this time she slept for 2 hours. Plenty of time for me to make some bread and do some garden planning!

Now if only it would be spring already!!

I was going to share a few more items from my making pile with you today but this post is long enough lol I'm still a bit surprised that anybody reads this thing already. I don't want to push my luck with super long posts plus now I have something ready to post next :)

Happy Friday everyone!