Dear Jennica,

Whew! What a hiatus!

I am back, inspired by nature again.

First, urban foraging!
its recyclying day on my street, which in my new town of Montreal means haphazard green boxes on the sidewalks outside our 3-storey brick apartment buildings and a blur of sweaty men going by, taking up the whole one-way street and shaking things up on a big truck. that rumbly sound was money in the bank today for me and i'll show you how!
Spoils of the day:



and a lettuce spinner! just what i needed to be a domestic goddess this summer... and i only looked at recycling boxes on 3 blocks! IMAGINE how wealthy i would be if i had had a bigger bag and a desire for more stuff!

now, Part II of this blog is also about the fabulousness of recycling other people's unwanted crap, but in a different way. this summer i have a balcony garden and an accompanying shortage of pots! so, here is my solution:

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and, you know those boxed, washed baby salads that have become wildly popular in the last few years? yeah, the ones with salmonella issues. well, they make alot of plastic garbage, and i intend to benefit. me and my garden to be more precise:

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they make fantastic little greenhouses for potted vegetables, which is great when you live in a northern climate with a short growing season like where i am here.

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on my small balcony i am growing these things this summer:
peas cucumbers
green beans mystery squash
radishes nasturtiums
lettuce (5 kinds)

and just to prove anyone can do it,
total investment:
seeds $1
soil $2.50
pots free
lettuce babies $5

taaadaaah. i am feeling pretty good about myself! this is year two of urban gardening for me, and i think i learned some important lessons last year which reflect in my choices of crop this season. i am only planting things that have high grocery store value- lettuce especially, and am using WAY more soil this time. bigger pots, better soil and i plan on watering with 'worm juice' from my vermicomposter, which is like the best free fertilizer ever. so hopefully i get more than my overwhelming 2 tomato harvest last year. :P

so, like, whats up with you Jennica?