Thursday, June 30, 2011

What's Up with Lawns Anyways?!

The other day I got somewhat perturbed with lawns. Why do we have them? The grass commonly used is not native to North America, and therefore requires a lot of water to keep it green. So why are we wasting all this water on these lawns that do not feed us, do not provide much of any sort of habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects, AND we spend hours mowing them using often gas (do I need to rant about this?) or electrical (not really an environmental alternative unless actually generated using renewable source) mowers.

After having my own little freak-out I decided to research the topic and find out why we have so many of these darn lawns in Canada!

So here it is:

"The lawn" originates in Europe (surprise, surprise), which makes ecological sense because the grasses grow best in less extreme climates. Lawns were associated with wealth, golf and lawn bowling.

Slowly, as the rich and the famous of North America took vacations over in England, Scotland, and France they began to want lawns in North America, mostly so they could play golf and lawn bowling here. So, in 1915, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Golf Association (yes there's such a thing, crazy!!) collaborated to create the right combinations of grasses that would be suitable (with a lot of watering, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides of course) for the North American climate.

But still this lawn business didn't get picked up by the masses till the industrial revolution and invention of the rotary lawn mower and watering hose. These two inventions made it possible for the average Joe or Jill to have there very own lawn, YIPPEE!! However, there was still not much desire for lawns until...the American Garden Club applied the peer pressure. They said that it was one's civic duty to have a well kept lawn...and well we all know how effective peer pressure is. So lawns began to emerge everywhere. And as cities got bigger and people couldn't have their own lawns we created communal lawns called PARKS! I'm not going to get into suburbs though, thats a whole other ball game!

Wasn't that fascinating? I thought it was. Lets make lawns extinct!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Art Junction

I just discovered Craft Heaven for me!! It is called Art Junction! Located across the street from Red River College in Winnipeg this is a haven of creative and usable junk! Anyone that knows me knows that I love making things out of what others would see as junk or garbage but I see as POTENTIAL GOLD! And well, I hit the gold mine! This place is full of scrap fabric, paper, wood, boxes, thread, faux flowers, basically anything and everything! And best of all...its all free!!

Its awesome cuz now I don't have to collect all this "garbage" under my bed, I can drop it off there for others to parooz too! And when I'm feeling crafty, I can just head on over and take my pick!!

SWEET!!!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Birth of a Garden!

A few weeks ago I was hired on to be the community garden coordinator at the University here. Mostly a volunteer position, but still awesome opportunity to learn about gardening! So, before I head over to the garden today I thought I would update y'all about all the little babies in the garden!
So, I have close a limited experience with gardening. I did some woofing last summer, but that was harvesting, not planting! But I go, and try, and see what falls. So far I have planted peppers, tomatos, eggplant, brocilli, green onions, and I think thats it.

I still hope to plant lots of leafy greens, zuchinni, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, beans, and flowers. Today I am going to plant some seeds, so far I just put in seedlings. If anyone has suggestions, please post them! I am very open to help!

Finally, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! Going out to my dad, and all other fathers out there rocking the world and doing there best to be the best father they can be!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Stewed Rhubarb and Banana

You wouldn't guess it, but rhubarb and banana are SOO GOOD together!

All you have to do is chop up 2 bananas, and ~2 cups of rhubarb and combine them with some water (depending on the consistency you want) and 2-4 T sugar and let it stew!! Then take it off when the rhubarb has broken down and serve over short bread, oatmeal, whatever you want.

SOO GOOD! Try it! The tartness of the rhubarb counter-acts the sweetness of the banana! YUM!