To add to my skills - making goat cheese!  We are starting with soft cheese but hope to move to the harder cheeses too - should be fun.  Doesn't appear to be complicated but does take patience and time waiting to get the finished product. The Great Canadian Soap Company is hoping to expand in the near future to offering a dairy with goat milk products.  I'll keep you posted.

Here is there Indiegogo Campaign if you could like to contribute...and get some great soap products in the process.  

In 2012 and early 2013 I offered gluten-free cooking classes, where I found a location, took all my equipment, ingredients, etc and set up for a pre-registered cooking class.  They all sold out.  Now this summer I'm offering my classes as part of Annie's Table in New London.  For this fall/winter I'm considering offering gluten-free cooking parties and welcome your thoughts on it.

How I see it working? Someone hires me for a set rate to be determine for a 2-3 hour cooking/educational session on gluten-free cooking.  Location is their house/kitchen.  Invitees can be just the house hiring me or they can add people at no additional charge. Menu of items and ingredients will be determined ahead of time.  Ingredients purchased by host.  I come and provide an interactive onsite gluten-free cooking class with the items being made eaten or staying with the host.

Thinking of charging $100 for two hour session or $50/hour. Menu items can be themed i.e. Middle Eastern, etc. Breads i.e wraps, bread, hamburger buns, etc or pastry like pies, biscuits, etc., breakfast items, snack items, appetizers, etc.

Dandelions are hated by urban green grass fanatics and loved by those that see their real benefits.  As part of my work I often do 'farm calls' and love to talking to farmers.  While on a recent visit we got talking about the 'new crop' dandelions and 'how hard they are to grow!', yes it appears if you want them to grow they just might not.  The new crop for dandelions has a fairly good future market potential with some toting it as a cancer cure - see CBC article on it. So to give you a heads up - this is the time of year to dig them up (or in the fall after the second crop appears and flowers die), clean the roots up (see a clean root and dirty root pictured at left), roast them in a oven and then grind them up to make a tea.  The tea of dandelion coffee doesn't really have much taste and please don't add white sugar as that would really defeat your goal in a healthy drink...local honey maybe...since Canadian honey doesn't have corn syrup added to it, like some imports do.

Uses for Dandelions:
- salad greens (when they are young and not yet budding flowers_
- flowers minus the green leaves for making dandelion wine, jam, etc.
- roots for roasting making into to tea.

Here is  a great website to discuss the Health Benefits of Dandelions: that is really worth the read.  A gift from nature - there for us.

Enjoy some upcoming promotions of three of my four books:

Building a Passive Solar House: My Experience Shared will be free on Kindle from June 15th to June 19th. 

Do it Yourself Press Releases: Helping to Promote Your Organization will be free on Kindle from June 20-24th.

Easy Gluten-free Lunches and Snacks: Simple Cookbook will be free on Kindle from June 25-29th.


Author Page http://amzn.com/e/B005E68KWA

I can't do corn and what is in pretty well all gluten-free foods in the grocery stores - corn.  So did some research and found out that sorghum is a grain related to corn with similar properties for cooking.  I use sorghum in my all in one flour for all my cooking.  Love it and it has nutritional value too.
Now I had heard that sorghum can be used as small popcorn so you will notice I have four different seed varieties of sorghum the Tarahumara popping sorghum for making a smaller popcorn, then there is the white broom corn...that - get this - is used to make brooms....yep worth the $3.00 for a package of seeds just to see what it looks like, I may or may not make a broom.  For good measure I decided to try Sorghum red - red sweet and Mennonite since they both sounded neat.  If they grow - I will post the pictures.  Added bonus on sorghum is the stalks are used to make syrup...maybe I'll try that too.  I'm looking forward seeing the different types grow. 

The vineyard is planted - speaking about grape vines....complete with lavender planted underfoot.  We have pictured at top left 28 blueberry bushes, then 46 grape vines (top right), 5 black currant bushes (bottom left) and about 10 various types of cherries - bush variety(bottom right).  Strawberries, rhubarb, black raspberries, blackberries, aronia berry and goji are in too! The next few years should be fruitful - ha! Then we have our fruit trees - chum (half cherry half plum), Asian pear (looks like an apple and tastes like a pear), paw paw and regular plum so far.  Hazelnut trees are doing well since being planted last year and this year we added two almond trees....really hoping they last the winter.

I think we are finished our fruit planting for this year.

This is my favourite time of year in gardening....when everything starts to grow.  Pictured at the far left are fava beans or some people call them broad beans, great eating fresh and green just like peas, sautéed with garlic and onions or dried and good for making falafels combined with chick peas. 

A new to us crop this year is buckwheat pictured top right.  This is the first time I've seen it grow and it is looking pretty neat so far.  You will notice I have it put right up against the raised bed edge...that is because I'm growing it to keep the wireworms from my carrots, turnips and other root crops.  I'll let you know if this works! Article- Reduced-risk Wireworm Management.

The bottom left picture shows buckwheat around the perimeter, turnip and onions (great companion for turnips) in the centre rows in a raised bed.  Amazing how much you can put in a raised bed. 

Finally, the bottom right picture is our snap peas...envisioning the stir-fries now!  More pictures as more interesting crops show themselves.

Recently opened on Queen Street next to Beatons Wholesale is Minsoo Café & Restaurant - they offer Japanese, Korean & Indian Cuisine. 
We ordered the Indian Cuisine...two choices samosas or Indian Fried Rice with (Shrimp, Chicken, Beef or Vegetarian).  I was interested in Indian so went with the Vegetarian option.  The chef talked to me about gluten-free and was awesome.  The dishes are made as ordered so fresh and custom.  They didn't use the mixes or ready  made sauces so no worries for celiacs there.  The flavour of the main dish was fantastic, truly enjoyed it.  Priced at $13.50 I feel I received my money's worth.  The dish was served with a small salad that had a very tasty dressing on it.  See the picture at the left.  Top right picture is appetizer edamame or boiled soybean....it was my first time having them and they were very good - definitely get those again and the bonus...they are healthy for you packed with vitamins/minerals.  Note: the spring rolls while gluten-free are deep fried with other battered items was if you worry about cross contamination then don't order any deep fried items. For desert a healthy orange.  There were definitely other menu items for gluten-free or celiac diners.  The pricing is reasonable.  The atmosphere is relaxed and well done.  Overall, I would definitely eat there again.  

Every year we try at least one different crop in our garden and this year was no exception.  Pictured at right is a small sample of our 'new to us' crops.  The large picture to the left is Angelica Archangelica, next to that is Astragalus both are herbs.  The top right picture is celery, underneath that is golden flax and the bottom right is goji berries.  The pictures are taken at the starter stage...hoping I'll have full grown photos at the end of the season. 

Salt Spring Seeds  in British Columbia is where I bought the bulk of my seeds this year and so far they are proving to be very good suppliers.

Angelica Archangelica - interestingly is said to come from the Greek word "arkhangelos" (=arch-angel), due to the myth that it was the archangel Michael who told of its use as medicine.  It grows 4-8 feet high as a bush with huge celery-like leaves and large ball-flowers.  Great bee plant. 

Astragalus a perennial, immune-boosting root, growing to 6ft. And according Wikipedia and herbalist "A. propinquus is used in traditional Chinese Medicine for healing and for diabetes. A. propinquus has been asserted to be a tonic that can improve the functioning of the lungs, adrenal glands, and the gastrointestinal tract, increase metabolism and sweating, promote healing and reduce fatigue."

Celergy and flax likely need no introduction and well goji berries are a powerhouse of nutrition - seed purchased from Sask Power Goji Nursery

We have tried a number of other new crops this year and I hope to post them as they develop.  It is amazing what we can grow in Canada.  Happy gardening!