The Daily Reviewer | Pondering the Myriad Things

Week of Wellness: Day 5

Feb 26, 2010 9:37am

It's Friday, the last day of my retreat-style week. There is absolutely nothing on my agenda for this morning and this afternoon, and in fact the electricity is scheduled to go out for the entire afternoon, which will mesh nicely with my intention to start reading one of the...

Week of Wellness: Day 4

Feb 25, 2010 9:01am

Thanks everyone for all your encouraging words yesterday! It's funny how minds will get into ruts they didn't even know they had! Today I'm taking the time to enjoy each moment. After a little bit of yoga, some tai chi exercises and meditation this morning, I'm...

Week of Wellness: Day 3

Feb 24, 2010 8:44am

My mind is playing tricks on me today. It's barely halfway through my week off, and already I'm worrying about how little time I have left. I'm stressing out about what I wanted to do that I haven't done, and I'm resenting having to drive into the city...

Week of Wellness: Day 2

Feb 23, 2010 7:50am

It passed, it passed! Unanimously even!Hundreds of people came to Edmonton City Hall last night to show support for the municipal development plan that now includes amendments that ensures food security issues will be considered in any developments that would impact farmland. Here is a summary of about...

Week of Wellness: Day 1

Feb 22, 2010 6:00am

Ahh....Is there anything better than a week stretching out ahead, to be filled with good and relaxing things? I think not! On today's 'agenda', so to speak, is to do some tai chi and meditation in the morning, look through my seed catalogue in the afternoon, and then...

Something about February

Feb 15, 2010 9:13am

There's just something about February that says Spring is on its way! Just the word "February" itself sounds much warmer and friendlier than January, wouldn't you say? Even though it has been cloudy outside much of the time and snowing now and then, I just feel better knowing...

Week of Wellness

Jan 28, 2010 8:04am

So I have decided to take a week off work next month for no particular reason other than that I need some time off. March and April are shaping up to be extremely busy at work, so I decided that the last week of February will be...

Things I've been doing when I'm not blogging...

Jan 17, 2010 6:09pm

So even though my energy level is at somewhat of an ebb these (many) days, I have managed to do a couple things. Today for example I finally collected seed from the snack pea and radish plants I've had drying on a laundry rack in the basement since September....

Circles

Jan 6, 2010 11:47am

Here is it already January 6th, 2010. I've had this enso circle graphic ready to go for about a week now, thinking surely the New Year would inspire me to write something about the emptiness of the circle, and the potential it represents. How the middle part of...

As Greenpa would say...

Dec 21, 2009 11:00am

...pick and iceberg and start pushing. Turns out Derrick Jensen (author of Endgame) says much the same thing in this excellent article.Also, Happy Solstice everyone! I know I am sure looking forward to more daylight instead of less. When we get to December 21 I know I can...

"World Class"

Dec 14, 2009 11:46am

There has been a lot of talk around Edmonton over the past few years, and particularly the last several weeks, about what it takes to be a "world class" city. Ways to distinguish ourselves in this regard have been proposed in the form of elaborate signposts upon entry...

My Climate Change "Action Plan"

Nov 19, 2009 11:36am

Since it is becoming increasingly obvious that there will be no binding agreement in Copenhagen next month about how to achieve necessary greenhouse gas emission reductions, I thought I would propose my own binding climate change mitigation strategy. Why not, eh? Members of the so-called "developed" world seem...

Garden 2009: Summary of What Worked and What Didn't

Nov 1, 2009 2:35pm

One of the purposes of this blog is for me to keep track of the things I'm doing and learning about sustainability and food security and the like, through my own gardening efforts. I didn't post much about my garden (or anything else for that matter) this summer, but...

Dropping the Story

Oct 22, 2009 11:48am

I don't like making phone calls. I especially don't like making phone calls to people I don't know. My family can verify this - I get nervous about calling for take-out pizza. And back when I was in Grade 7, and I needed a mouth piece for...

Squash Quandary

Oct 17, 2009 6:43pm

Last week was our last delivery of veggies from our organic CSA farm. One of the things we got was the adorable pumpkin on the right. The week previously, we received the two squash further to the left. At first I thought the orange one was also a...

Carrot Bounty

Oct 9, 2009 8:39pm

I just had to post about my bonanza of carrots. I left them in the ground while we were away on holidays in late September/early October. And then we got a really hard frost, and some snow even. And then more frost. But the carrots survived,...

Transition of sorts?

Oct 5, 2009 11:29am

Anyone who has stopped by here lately will know that I've been posting at a much lower rate than usual over the past many months. Partly, this is due to it having been a very busy year, with personal and family health matters impacting the amount of time and...

Frost!

Sep 18, 2009 9:32pm

Darn! One day before I was to harvest everything, we had frost. The chard leaves were frozen solid this morning before I went to work, as were the bean leaves, the carrot tops, etc. I got home after dark tonight, so I didn't see the extent of...

Lessons from a Neglected Garden

Sep 16, 2009 9:33pm

Over the past month or so I have really neglected the garden. We've had a little rain, so I haven't had to water it every day, but I have had to turn on the sprinkler once a week anyway, to keep things from drying out. The weeds are...

"Some people think I'm crazy, but I'm not."

Sep 4, 2009 10:10pm

Warning: Rant Ahead.I am so frustrated I don't even know where to start. Frustrated with myself and the world in general, suprise suprise. Well, how about starting here: two years ago I wrote a post about how I was afraid to look weird, carrying my Green Party...

Solar Oven to the Rescue!?

Aug 30, 2009 10:08pm

This morning, for the second time in about a week, the power went off. The last time it happened it was off for about 90 minutes. That day, I had been up already and had had my morning cup of tea, but Gord hadn't: he wanted tea and...

Thanks to The New Resilient

Aug 25, 2009 8:19pm

Thanks to Ryan and the folks over at The New Resilient, who have kindly published a couple of my gardening-related articles this Summer. It is an honor to have some of my ponderings included with the very informative and practical (not to mention tasty!) materials there. If you...

What's For Dinner? Edible Weeds

Aug 16, 2009 5:00pm

Recently while doing a little investigating into the types of weeds I was pulling from my veggie garden, I found that at least one of them was edible. Lambsquarters, pictured to the right, are apparently very much like mild chard or spinach in flavor, and can be cooked much...

The Upside of Weeds and Weeding

Jul 27, 2009 7:00pm

Over the last couple of weeks I've been doing something sort of different for me: listening to podcasts while doing yardwork. Normally I like to just hear the sounds of the outside when I am outside, but since I discovered this whole podcast thing, I've enjoyed doing some...

Local Attractions

Jul 19, 2009 10:00pm

Yesterday Gord and I took in the "Country Soul Stroll," which is an annual event here in Sturgeon County. It showcases local rural attractions, like llama farms, horse riding schools, plant and tree nurseries, tea houses, artists, craftspeople, and more. There is a lot to see around here,...