August 3 – Afternoon boating on the lake! Heat haze, wildfire smoke, and as a grand finale, a massive thunderstorm rolled in just as we were leaving, but the water was oh-so-lovely!

August 3 – Well, I didn’t break any audience attendance records at the Okotoks Public Library this morning, but I had a blast chatting with eager gardeners wanting to learn seed saving basics! Thank you to the staff at this lovely venue and to those who took time out of their busy long weekend to listen to me wax poetic about one of my very favourite topics! 

August 7 – I had the absolute pleasure being a guest on CBC Saskatchewan’s Blue Sky programme this afternoon (alongside the inimitable Dr. Bob Bors, no less!). It was so much fun chatting about berries and fruit you can grow in your prairie garden and share ways to cook and bake with them! Use the keywords cbc blue sky saskatchewan berry season to find a link to listen to the show! 

August 14 – I was actually following a little frog as it bounced into the willow thicket in front of me, then I caught the unmistakable fragrance of wild mint and realized it was everywhere underfoot on the banks of the Highwood. I don’t come across it that often so it was a pleasant surprise. This plant is native to our province but, being mint, is a tad aggressive (understatement – trust me!) so if you decide to order plugs or seeds from a local wildflower supplier, plant them with caution (as in, keep them confined to a container).

August 14 – Predictably, gardening and reading are two of my biggest passions. So what could be better than a library in a greenhouse? This is the Walden Microlibrary, a temporary setup in the community of Walden @yyc. A full-sized library will be built in this new community within the next few years, and this book depository is for everyone to use and enjoy in the meantime. It’s adorable. It contains books. It’s welcoming. Stop in if you are in the neighbourhood! 

August 17 – The rain stopped just in time for #openfarmdays @chatsworth_farm! I had a wonderful time listening to some wonderful music and chatting with a bunch of amazing people!

August 19 – So…while on the river yesterday, I suddenly had the sensation that someone was watching me and judging the arc of my backcast. Sure enough…. 

August 21 – A huge thank you to everyone who attended my Green Living presentation at the Okotoks Environmental Education Centre tonight! I thoroughly enjoyed answering all of your harvesting and preserving questions! 

August 22 – One of our exceptionally fun outreach activities at the library branch I work at involves taking bicycles and a specially-marked trailer out for a spin in a nearby community, to let residents know about a library that will soon be built in their area and to lend books, talk about our programming, and – sometimes – hold an impromptu story time session. Today as my colleague L. and I were unlocking the bikes, I happened to look down at my feet for some reason, and this little one was sitting there! This is a Western tiger salamander, and while I have seen them in the wild before, I’ve never had the chance to get this close to one. I wasn’t aware at the time, but apparently there are some ponds nearby and that’s likely where it came from; I hope it got home safely.

August 24 – I looooooove bench shows, and the one at the Edmonton Horticultural Society’s Garden Festival today was small but hugely creative. The flower arrangements were gorgeous and the tomatoes were sumptuous, but it was this entry in the category of creative use of fruit and vegetables that made me grin with appreciation. When was the last time you saw a Viking longship made from zucchini, rhubarb, scallions, and tomatoes, sailing on a bed of rhubarb leaves? And did I mention that the entrants for this category were between 11 and 17 years old? Incredible!

August 27 – I absolutely love hearing from readers and deeply appreciate all the gardening questions – so, please, keep them coming! Yesterday I received a message from a hobby farmer and gardener concerned about the difference between dock and burdock. When we use common names, it’s easy to make mistakes with ID, and it doesn’t help that those common names may be different depending on where you live! Dock is an older common name (still very much in use) for Rumex spp., what we also commonly call sorrel. There are no Rumex spp. on the Alberta Invasive Species list, and there sure is a lovely one growing in my herb garden so I can enjoy its lemon-flavoured leaves early in the spring! Burdock, on the other hand, is considered a bad guy here in our province, sitting firmly on the noxious weed list, and – please take a look at Exhibit A, below – it certainly looks like it belongs there! Burdock isn’t a Rumex spp.; it’s an Arctium spp.. See what I mean about how fun this is?