Sunday Fundays: In Person Workshops at the Red Barn

 

Red Barn Sunday Fun Day Creating with Garden Materials Demos

Join us for free socially distanced workshops at the little Red Barn at Terra Nova Park

Members of the Victory Gardens for Diversity Team will lead demonstrations out of the Little Red Barn. The audience will be seated outside and must register ahead of time due to social distancing protocols. We will run two workshops for each date with a limit of 10 participants and we will document the workshops on our blog. 

This event is free, but you must preregister through EventBrite. Please wear a mask and dress for the weather.

 Location: The Red Barn 2771 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC

 

Sunday Oct 4

11-noon

Medicines in your Garden with Lori Snyder and Lori Weidenhammer

 

Learn about how you can use cultivated and native plants such as calendula, rose hips and yarrow to make a garden that is a medicine cabinet for you and your family. From soothing sunburn to stopping a nosebleed, find which plants can help you stay strong.

Attendees will be seated outside. Please wear a mask, dress for the weather and bring an umbrella! Maximum 10 people.

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/medicines-in-your-garden-with-lori-snyder-and-lori-weidenhammer-tickets-119430220003

 

2-3 pm

Celebrating and preserving the Victory Garden bounty with Lois Klassen and Lori Weidenhammer. 

 

 

Lois and Lori talk about planning your garden to inspire your seasonal meals and demonstrate some favourite recipes. Bring your own cup to enjoy tea made from our garden beds.

Attendees will be seated outside. Please wear a mask, dress for the weather and bring an umbrella! Maximum 10 people.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-and-preserving-the-victory-garden-bounty-tickets-119431995313

 

 

 

Paper Making and Natural Pigments: Finding and Growing Artist Materials

Part of our residency has included the use of a garden, so it's very satisfying to finally be able to use the flowers we grew. One of the experiments we tried was dyeing handmade paper with marigolds. Catherine Shapiro and Jenn Pearson both use natural materials in their work, but use very different approaches in their work. Catherine began the workshop by showing us some of the plant fibers she has used to make paper, like this banana hemp fiber.

 Catherine has been growing Japanese indigo in her garden, and has been nurturing a fascination for  the colours that this plant yields to dye paper and make paint.

Next, Catherine walked us through the steps of making a piece of paper. The paper made with the marigolds turned a beautiful light yellow-green.

She showed us examples of different handmade paper varying in thickness and texture.

And Catherine showed us examples of how she has used handmade paper, inks, and dyes in her work. For more details on this work--check out her artist talk on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GnWIU6c6WQ

Next, Jenn Pearson showed us the "juices" she's been making out of various local plants. She talked about the importance of keeping a record of experiments with natural colour, so you can repeat them in the future.
 

This is one of the Hopi sunflowers we grew for the seeds, which produce a black colour--a rare hue in natural dyes.

These are the colours Jenn was finding from cooking up the seeds and adding the chemicals to make paints: alum, soda ash and guar gum.

These are some of the flowers we grew for natural pigments. Coreopsis tinctoria is much loved by bees.

The flowers look lovely when they are pressed, and can be added on top of the paper pulp.

These are the dried marigold petals used to dye the paper pulp.

And here's what the coreopsis looks like without being pressed. It's also useful as a fabric dye.

Jenn told us how she loves to wander down back alleys and find material to make art. This pulp was made from some found shredded paper.

We were particularly interested in the blue colour she was getting from "rum cherries" found in a friend's yard.

 Finally, Jenn described a process she is working with: painting with paper pulp onto screens and making these unique pieces.

While Jenn and Catherine were presenting, a painted lady butterfly was sipping nectar in another dye plant: an orange zinnia flower. I'm feeling so grateful for plants that support insects and artists!

Creative Pickles, Sweet Treats and Seasonal Displays

 

Crystal Lee and I shared our recipes for quick refrigerator pickles and encouraged the audience to be creative and mix and match different shapes, sizes and colours of the vegetables available at this time of the year.

Carrots, beets, peppers, chayote, daikon, and cucumbers of varying shapes and sizes make for some pretty pickles to make meals more colourful and nutritious.

This year I tucked cucamelon seeds in with my tomato pots and the vines climbed up the tomato cages and produced the tiny cucumbers that look like miniature watermelons. Crystal described a giant heirloom cucumber she recieved via Bunz (a grassroots barter system ). Can you spot the lemon cucumber and the Armenian cuke?

I bought the chayote from Fresh Roots at the Riley Park Farmer's market, They are experimenting with growing both smooth and prickly varieties.

Don't forget to use the greens from your daikon radishes! They can be added to stir fries or soups.

What a lovely day and a superb location for a workshop!

 

Crystal shared three recipes that she uses to make pickles:

 

Quick Pickled Cucumbers

·       https://www.blessthismessplease.com/quick-pickled-cucumbers/

 

Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon

https://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-pickled-carrots-daikon/

 

 Lotus Root Salad

https://www.storyofakitchen.com/salad-recipes/lotus-root-salad-recipe/

 

 

Meanwhile, I prepared the spicy simmered apple cider: 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 bag apples

1 handful rose hips wrapped in a tea bag made of gauze

1 lime

Maple syrup to taste

1 tbs grated ginger

2 tsp grated turmeric

1 tbs chai spice 

 

 

Core the apples and chop up the lime, cover with water in a large pot.

Add the rose hips in a tea bag made of gauze, ginger, turmeric and chai spices.

 

Simmer for two hours, or until apples are soft. Take out the rosehip tea bag.

Mash the apples against the side of the pot and simmer ten minutes or more.

 

Strain and clean out the pot—put plant material in compost. Put the cider in the pot—taste and sweeten. Reheat and serve warm.

 

Crystal Created a beautiful seasonal display and showed how to make an elegant lantern from the pomelo fruit (the largest fruit on the tray). How many items can you name in this display? She recommends checking out this resource on Chinese Mid Autumn Festival traditions:

https://thewoksoflife.com/mid-autumn-festival-foods/

 

 

I shared a couple of my pickle recipes and also made cookies and rustic fruit tarts. A cold little bumble bee checked out our pickling veggies!

 

Beespeaker Bahn Mi Pickles

 

1 cup carrots

1 cup Daikon

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (I used some infused with horsetail)

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

 

 

These pickles can be used in Vietnamese-style submarine sandwiches, or as a garnish for other meals.

I like to use them in Okonomiyaki—style pancakes. They must be kept in the refrigerator.

 

Step 1: Sterilize jars and lids and put them on a pan or tray.

 

Step 2: Wash and grate carrots and daikon. You can use a grater or vegetable peeler. I used a “spiralizer”.

 

Step 3: Fill the jars with the veggies.

 

Step 4:  Put the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

 

Step 5: Pour the solution into the jars, covering the vegetables.

 

Step 6: Let the jars cool. Put on the lids and refrigerate at least 48 hours before using. (Lasts up to 3 weeks in the fridge.)

 

 

 

Chayote and Daikon Pickled with Shiso

¹/₄ cup sugar

¹/₂ cup apple cider vinegar infused with currant blossoms

3 tablespoons ume plum vinegar

1 tbs seaweed, chopped finely

1 chayote, cubed

1 daikon cubed

7 shiso leaves, chopped

 

Put sugar, vinegar, and salt into a bowl and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

Add chayote, daikon, and shiso to the marinade and stir. Put into jars and refrigerate overnight.

 

 

Brown Sugar Walnut Sesame Seaweed Cookies

by Madame Beespeaker

 

3/4 c AP flour

1 1/4 cup spelt flour

¼ cup toasted sesame seeds

1 cup unsalted butter, softened        

½ c brown sugar  

1/8 cup ground nori

2 rounded TBS ground flax

1-2 tsp fennel seeds

½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

½ tsp salt to taste or top with a few grains of  “fancy salt”*

Cream butter, sugar and salt. Add flours, sesame seeds, walnuts flax, and fennel. Use your hands to combine ingredients and form a pliable dough. Divide the dough in half and roll each into a long with the desired size of cookie. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for a few minutes until the dough is solid enough to slice. Slice into rounds about 3/4 cm thick. Place on pan. If you are using fancy salt, put a few grains on top of each cookie. Bake at 375 for 8-10 min until firm and browned on the bottom.

Makes about 24 cookies. These are actually nice as a cracker with a bit of blue cheese on top.

 

These are the ground cherries we grew at the farm. After removing the husks they kind of look like yellow cherry tomatoes.

Coronation grapes are so lovely at this time of the year, I mixed the grapes with the ground cherries in a seasonal rustic tart. Adding fennel seeds from the garden really boosts the flavour.

 

 

Concord Grape and Fennel Rustic Tart

by Madame Beespeaker

Pastry

½ cup spelt flour

1/8 cup plus ½ cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 tsp salt

½ c butter cut into small cubes

¼ cup cold water.

Filling

About 1.5 c grapes and or ground cherries

½ tsp fennel seeds or more

1 tbs flour

2 tsp sugar

 

 Prepare the fruit: pull grapes off the stems and dehusk the ground cherries

Mix flours together with the salt.

Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to blend the butter with the flour until it makes pea sized pieces.

Add the cold water and knead the dough until the ingredients are combined and hold together.

Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each piece into a rough circle.

Put 1 tsp flour onto the rolled circle and sprinkle lightly with sugar and fennel seeds.

Place the fruit onto the dough and then crimp the sides up to hold in the fruit and keep the juice from leaking.

Bake at 375 Degrees F for about 25-30 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and the crust is lightly browned.

Cool and serve with ice cream, whipped cream or on its own.

 

Feel free to e-mail Lori with your own seasonal recipes: beespeaker (at) gmail (dot) com

An Artist's Garden: An Outdoor Studio Visit with Catherine Shapiro

 I consider myself very lucky to live a few steps away from an artist whose garden is part studio, part living supply cabinet. Catherine Shapiro has been growing her own art materials for years and she's always cooking up something fascinating. She shows me how to make a tea bag of dried marigold petals for dyeing paper pulp. She may have a proverbial green thumb, but her fingers are stained blue with the indigo she grows and transforms into dyes and paints.

The "naughty" Hopi dye sunflower she is growing has reached the ten foot mark and is stealing water and nutrients from the tomatoes planted beside it. We hope the squirrels don't steal the seeds before they mature.

Morning glories glow in the afternoon sun, tempting the hummingbirds that are regular visitors. I see them often from over the fence when I walk by on my way to the grocery store.

Catherine is a dog person through and through and rescues geriatric dogs. She gives them the best care and they have the pleasure of roaming in her spacious garden.

She found some alkanet seeds and is delighted at how much the bees love the small blue flowers. The root is used to make dyes in a range of colours.

This is the variety of indigo she is growing.

Catherine has a very special relationship to amaranth, having researched its history extensively and made art based on her findings.

Catherine grows plants and then makes beautiful paintings of them using watercolour and natural paints.

She discusses the recipes for the paints the way other people talk about recipes for their favourite homemade foods.

These dahlias are infusing to make paint to depict dahlias. (See below!)  Notice the bright yellow pollen that has sunk to the bottom of the jar.

 

Nettles are made into fibre which Catherine spins into twine. Catherine also grows food plants like squash and cabbage and makes paintings of them before they end up in her soups and stews. She is an artists/alchemist making strange brews and delicious food from the plants she brings to life.