Lunch time goodness + Recipe = ❒ sprout sandwich ❒

redina lettuce under 90 watt L.E.D

This sandwich is something of a regular mealtime of mine and while it can be eaten everyday, you wouldn't want to devoir this then go on a date. With a whole clove of garlic freshly grated, this sandwich will saturate your mouth with the aroma of 100 Italian meals at once. There is no skimping on taste here, bold basil's and old cheddar cheese, radish sprouts and mammoth dill, Italian parsley and spiced coriander, all add up to a sandwich fit for a king or queen. This is almost a completely raw sandwich besides the bread but Im sure there is a substitute for some type of raw bread if needed.
While this may be to strong for some people, I mainly look at the idea of health and then taste, when it comes to my preparations sometimes health wins out more, so if you think grating up a large clove of garlic and putting it on toast is to much, some of my meals might blow you away.
( tweaking may be needed ) and generally I don't like to give exact amounts, it just seems funny to me, everyone likes there meals with a different variance of certain taste, so take my amounts with a grain of salt and play around to match your liking.
Lets start.




Simply toast the bread of your liking ( we use organic Kamut ), grate up a whole clove of garlic and spread on the bread, add hummus on top of the garlic, ( add sea salt and pepper here ), then apply cheddar cheese of your amount,
layer X amounts of lettuce ( we use redina and black seeded simpson ), add radish sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, red clover sprouts, and canola sprouts ( sandwich blend )→ ( non GMO, we use Mums seeds ), combined with italian parsley, spiced coriander, ruffles basil, + red ruben basil, arugula, mammoth dill.

Optional items ( help mix it up!! )

Jumping jack flowers
chicken
nasturtium leaves or flowers
candied ginger
chives
Hot sauce or hot peppers
Sweet pepper ( we go for poblano, cubanelle, or bell )
cucumber ( for crunch )
smoked paprika
smoked salmon
avocado

redina lettuce close up

Italian parsley + redina lettuce 

redina lettuce under l.e.d + UFO 90watt 

Garlic + Sprout sandwich + Cheese 

My ol'bud Swiss Chalet + Recipes

If your like me and you grew up in Canada, you've probably been to a Swiss Chalet. When I remember growing up, it wasn't Mc Donald's that captured my taste buds, its was the hearty meals delivered from Swiss Chalet.

Freshly made gravy paired with a perfectly done 1/4 chicken, crispy golden skin mixed with a hint of salt, side dishes of fries, coleslaw, poutine, salads, soups and if your lucky ribs, shrimp, or wings
( IMO some of the best wings I've ever tasted!! ).
From my days working as a labourer the one thing I looked forward to was the end of the day soup.
I found out many years later why I loved that soup so much, while the labour jobs came and went I eventually decided to take a crack at the service industry and see if I could get a job working for this beloved organization I had indulged in for so long.
I decided to try a small take out version of the restaurant as I thought it would be a good start, little did I know it was one of the busiest places I've ever worked at. Quite frequently there would be single orders of 250-400 meals leaving any good person dazed  by the intensity and confidence needed to run a business like this.

It was an environment that would show you who could really handle the pressure, It was also the only place I've ever experienced what I believe to be the true feeling of what work should be like. At this particular location, at this particular moment in time, was a job that seemed to have motivation built around every corner, from every employee and even the boss. It was a brilliant way of thinking that brought out the best in the human mind, the food being prepared and the service being given.
If you can imagine a place where employees playfully competed with each other over who can cut the most chickens the quickest, but it didn't stop there, it was who can cut them the quickest right out of the 400+ degree oven while making them look ready for a prime time commercial, who can make the most salads in the quickest time, and win the most awards from secret shoppers, etc,. To this day I am thankful for experiencing that combined group/business dynamic of motivation, for I have not experienced this in any other job after, its quite humorous really, as its not hard to create this atmosphere but without it the product/business potential is nowhere that it could be.
Competition is no new idea, reaching the moon has shown us this, but competition isn't the only quality I found brewing in this business, after many years of moving I grew further and further away and it came time for me to find a new job closer to home, I figured, what the hell, and tried another Swiss Chalet just a few towns down.

This location is actually where I would go for my soup after my long days of landscaping work.
I had the privilege of meting a chef there ( wish I could remember the name now ) that made my soup for all those years,  and while if you where to go into any swiss chalet all you would get is a regular package of soup poured out of a foil packet, this did not stop this man, he added fresh tomatoes, onions, carrots, fresh bits of chicken plus a little extra salt and pepper. Later on I learned there was a special group who would stay later one night of the week and just before closing would glaze up a whole chicken (paid for of coarse) with a jerk rub and create a orange sauce made of orange juice, hot peppers ( in this case it was hot peppers used at Harveys since it was a split chain Swiss chalet/Harveys)
boil this down with a dash of salt and pepper until its thick and BAM!, This concoction will be for the heat lovers as any normal person would smell it and think its citrus napalm.


Last but not least, one of my all time favorite pies, the coconut cream.
If you've gotten your pie and it was soft, you've only experienced half the goodness of what this delectable desert can be.
If you ask the waiter/waitress for a slice right out of the freezer (if available), a lot of time there are some in the back ready to go, but experiencing the frozen cream pie is up there with my best after  dinner deserts.

Sadly after all this is said, I have switched to an organic lifestyle + no GMO
( more then 15 years now ).
I can now no longer visit/eat at this beloved place of mine, If I have no clue what's in the food I can no longer eat it or put my dollar behind it. This is the idea of practice what you preach, and I intend to keep my word.
I only hope that one day I will get the opportunity to eat another 1/4 chicken combo that is GMO free and void of antibiotics, till then, thank you swiss chalet, you taught me so much more then cooking chicken.

Recipes 

1) Coleslaw (no mayo) - fresh cabbage, fresh carrots, salt, pepper, organic vinegar, organic oil, organic raw cane sugar,


Take cabbage, carrots and run through a food processor, take out and place in a bowl adding
vinegar ( about half a cup but this depends on how you like it and how much cabbage is done )
salt (half tablespoon mixed in properly),
pepper ( dash to your liking ),
oil ( 1/4 cup of your choice oil, we use grape-seed for light flavour ),
dash of sugar ( how much is up to you, but it makes this dish when you find the sweet spot)

The key to this is let it sit over night in the fridge, its always best eaten the second day when all the juices and flavours have mixed together. One last thing, if your cabbage taste bad, your dish will taste bad, makes sense right?





2) Shirley Temple ( drink )-

Glass of sprite/7up with a splash of grenadine + maraschino cherry



3) Swiss Chalet chicken-
lather whole chicken in lard fill inside with tablespoon/(or two) of salt. put on spit/rotisserie.


4) special simple orange sauce-

orange juice, Chile peppers, black pepper, salt, reduce to a thicker texture and use as dipping sauce for chicken.

5) Swiss chalet sauce-

No, I haven't cracked the code yet, but when I do I will gladly post it up, and if you have an idea feel free to contribute.

Hormone free meat!!!!!! well...... not really.

Hormones in food - Antibiotic food

Now a days with every agri business claiming one thing after another, the hormone issue is one fraught with confusion. While the government has acknowledged the rBST growth hormone to be of concern, they fail to recognize the implications of other so called "natural" growth hormones used and still  taught to farmers today. The most humorous blogs/websites are put up by the government, filled with hypocritical statements like

there has been no evidence that has shown that animals treated with growth hormones are a threat to human health. 

And on the same page write 

Reducing exposure with your food intake

Although growth hormones and antibiotics are considered safe for food production in Canada, consider the following tips to reduce your exposure to these additives:

• Organic foods have fewer traces of antibiotics than non-organic foods.
• Since beef cattle are the only animals that contains growth hormones, consider choosing organic beef instead of conventional beef when you can.
• Thoroughly wash all vegetables and fruit for thirty seconds under running tap water to minimize the intake of antibiotics.

This is all off of the (eat right ontario) website located here 

http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Farming-Food-production/Hormones-and-antibiotics-in-food-production.aspx

And if you would like to look at the alberta agriculture and rural development page, you will clearly see what is being used and taught to "farmers", why they use it and there so called "benefits" in production.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11691#Introduction

Growth hormones in food

Whether or not these "farmers" are required to state they have used "natural" or synthetic hormones is a whole other question. This should be brought up any time you speak to a farmer, be informed, if you feel any type of pull back or beating around the bush, say thank you and walk away. People who practice good farming methods are happy to talk about what they grow with ( I know I am ).

The old time farmers from the industrial age are lost in a world of herbicides/pesticides/ growth hormones/antibiotics/ and petroleum. IMO This should not be called farming, this is a disgrace to the name. All it has done is wrecked our land, seeds and health, giving rise to corporations like Monsanto and Dow chemical. 

Farmers??  you don't deserve the name.

This post will be more towards growth hormones with a follow up on antibiotic use.

( Salmon disease in Canada ) If you love your country you should watch this. Canada's Government is corrupt and out of control.

Salmon confidential - Canada fish disease

This video is astounding. I use to think we had a well run government, but the older I get, the more I realize/see the thriving corruption that envelops this great country, and the only reason we aren't called on it is because globally, we are known as kind, polite and lets be honest,
in most american eyes -NOBODIES- and out of sight.
This is how we have gotten away with this for so long, no one thinks the Canadians are up to something or  lying .
Well my friends, your sadly mistaken.
I will post all the corrupt acts on this blog to further spread the news about what's happening here, in hopes people will see it and pass it on. If after you read my posts, research and find the same, please pass on this info, I don't care if you plagiarize this page, word for word, give me credit? - don't care.  I just want people to see/understand what's going on here. We need to wake up to the bullshit.

We have such a beautiful country, shame is, its so poorly run that if we allow this to continue it will no longer be beautiful,
and with our government silencing scientists/ covering up health issues / outbreaks/
you wont know what's wrong till its in your own backyard. I believe we need to try a form of direct democracy, having a fast acting way to correct issues immediately. Giving the people a choice to vote instantaneously on topics effecting us now, providing corruption no time to formulate, but if it does, we have a way to see it and vote on it before it gets on out hand. Our court system is just as flawed as our political system by the way, but thats another story.

Im no longer voting , as I no longer believe in the way this country works or the candidates
running. I challenge anyone to find merit in picking a politician of lesser evil. Evil is still evil no matter which way you pick it. Im not saying all politicians are evil, just 90% and the other side that is good is muzzled in fear of repercussions. Until I see someone worth voting for
( and I follow politics, let me tell you )
I refuse to cast my ballet for people I don't trust/ don't carry the same views of (Pot, abortion, GMO,) or play part in a system thats broken. And I've heard the backlashers say, you need to work the system to get change, bullocks!, In order to change the system to a form of direct democracy, it would mean many politicians/law makers/ bribers/ etc, would lose there money and power. To do this, well there is only one way in my opinion, and it doesn't involve voting
( I'll leave it at that ).

The pot is brewing politicians, If you dont fix it now, I and many Canadians would happily get rid of all'you.

Heres the video of what's going on with our salmon, please pass it on, especially over seas.

and if your a fishermen, theres that old saying, your only as good as the company you keep,
Your fish farming friends are being lumped into your category and lets be honest, most of you over fish or have decimating fishing tactics that will bring your whole industry down. Get mad are your cohorts for doing this, your livelihoods are at stake.



http://salmonconfidential.ca/

April harvest - Key limes and calamondins

April harvests

Calamondin + Key Lime

Calamondins and Key limes, what a way to start the day, especially during cold and rainy April. While some curl there face when they eat a cala whole, Me on the other hand, gobble these up like candy at christmas. Key limes are another favourite of mine, in fact, limes, dare I say, are my favourite. Something about there taste sends my brain on a joyride. The smell of a fresh picked persian lime is no less then a oceanic blast of citrus heaven, leaving you unsure of whether or not you want to eat it or smell it all day long. This love for limes has actually lead me to start a few from seed just to see what happens ( red finger lime + Indian sweet lime). I am still in wonder of the finger limes as I have yet to try these little beauties, actually, I have yet to try any of the varieties from Australia due to there tight restrictions on selling live plants internationally. I believe this has changed somewhat as Im starting to see things pop up online. The only way I was able to get the red finger limes was from ebay. It was a year or more now and I have forgotten the seller and the account I used to order,lol. But from what I wrote down, It was the wild red type from the rain forest. One of the only varieties to grow true from seed, with the red colour holding in the inner pulp, even if its not true from seed, the chance of something new is just as interesting and I don't mind waiting 4-7 years to find out, in this case I believe, good things come to those who wait.

If anyone out there has an Australian citrus there selling/trading IM INTERESTED !!

Even if its seeds. I would love to get my hands on an outback lime!!.

So to cap off the night, I figure it calls for a home grown salad with homemade Calamondin dressing and a key lime beer ( HOORAAA!! for MILL ST). 

Good night fellow growers.

Calamondin turkey salad

Kaffir Lime Flowering ✓

Kaffir lime - Citrus Trees - Canada

So I've just noticed our kaffir lime has started to flower/fruit. To think here in Canada it flowers in march/april is quite different (but I could be tricking myself). The strange thing was, I think this was by accident. A while back I brought a few Meyers from our hot sunroom
( 25c+ )  into our greenhouse  ( 13c ) during the winter and almost instantly they started to flower. This same situation/reaction happened with my Star ruby grapefruit. Now after moving our kaffir lime from the greenhouse into the sunroom there was an instant flowering. So I cant be positive of all varieties of citrus but it seems like they are like other species of plants where cold weather signals them to fruit, almost in a dash to save it genes. This is great for growers in canada with stubborn trees that are harder to flower ( To bad this wont work with bananas tho). Try setting your plant out side for a minute  ( not directly on the cold ground or in snow ) this might  stimulate that tricky tree. Please feel free to comment if this scenario works for you or what trees/plants you have found this trick works with.

The kaffir only gets half light but still fruits

We also noticed a friendly new predator spider the other day, while we've seen one like him that's all black with white stripes, this one was much larger with almost a blueish white on the stripes, not sure if its just more mature but I've never seen one this size before.

Natural pest prevention

Attack spider