"Raw Zucchini tastes sweet?"

Why would I post a picture of the kidlings at the beach for my Summer Harvest, you ask? Well, it would seem that this is the last time I was able to use my camera before Master S. threw it into the sand. Therefore I have no pictures of our beautiful harvest, and very few of our new little Master E, born in the beginning of July. We now have two girls and two boys - it's almost like we planned it that way!

There is a general consensus in Tofino that it is next to impossible to grow food here. This past summer, a group of people got together to prove the mentality wrong by organizing a garden tour in Tofino, showcasing random gardens and how they are producing food. We were on the garden tour as "a true example of how to make the most of a small space". Our garden is small. The picture in the last post really is it. We had a steady stream of people come and walk through this little patch of land and comment on our first year's bounty. Gerry selected a random bunch of veg from the garden and arranged them nicely in a basket so that people could actually see all that was all nicely growing underground. He also made a beautiful Borage herb-lemonade for people to sample. I wish I had photos to boast.

Our small patch of land has produced a number of nice meals for us. I suppose that is the whole point of Bio-Intensive gardening practices - small space of land = rich boutiful harvest! I'm not sure that we accomplished the rich bountiful harvest part, but we are on a steep learning curve and will make some changes for next year. We have managed to save a bunch of money by not needing to buy tomatoes, greens, cucumbers, potatoes, beets, cabbages or parsnips. We are learning to savour the delicate, yet full flavours of each little vegetable that comes out of the garden, knowing how much work went into them. Our continuing harvest is best summed up by Miss E., 7 years old: "I never knew raw zucchini could taste sweet like this?!" She has been our garden connoisseur this season, eagerly testing and subsequently melting over everything from the garden. Emphatic remarks like "I don't like beets!" has been replaced with "I love our garden beets, zucchini, radishes, lettuce, beans...etc!"

Food, Family, Faith... hmmmmm.

Why Bio-Intensive in Tofino?

Wikipedia states, "The biointensive method is an organic agricultural system which focuses on maximum yields from the minimum area of land, while simultaneously improving the soil. The goal of the method is long term sustainability on a closed system basis."

I like this definition as it pertains to life. Particularily the use of "maximum yields" from "minimum" resources. This gives me hope. Biologically, life is intensive. It's hard work. We work the ground to grow our own food. We work the food to get beautiful, delicious, nutricious meals. We work hard to raise our children so that they can give something better to the world around them. We work hard in our own lives so that we can cultivate something better to bless those around us while also benefitting ourselves and growing spiritually.

Tofino is not very generous to the average gardener. Our weather is never very warm or cold and we get a lot of rain. And I mean a lot of rain. Tofino is in a rain forest where the annual rainfall is often reported to be more than 3 metres (approx 10 feet)! Which means a lot of nutrient depletion in our soil. This is why we (read: mostly my husband, Gerry) have decided to try to implement this system of gardening. We like our food to be local and nutricious. If we were to try to stick some seeds into our clay, I mean soil, and ask it to grow, we would be lucky if anything were to come up or have any nutritional value. So we have created some raised beds with trucked in soil mixed with our own clay/soil and a bunch of other things we read would benefit our little vegetables, and dug about 2 feet down to make a lovely, loamy, light and fluffy soil. We have all been given strict instructions to not step in the garden so that the roots will happily grow long and soak up all the good vitamins we have added by digging in lots of seaweed from the beaches.

We have been delighted to discover many earthworms happily living in our gardens and little tiny baby weeds with 6 inches of roots! This is an interesting point, because the garden-center owner laughed at us when we said we were digging 2 feet down and asking us what in the world we planned to grow that would require such deep soil. We looked blankly back and decided to continue on with our "double digging" plans because somehow it just seemed right. This is where I must put in a big credit to my wonderful husband. He spent a lot of time double-digging the garden this year, while I spent my energies growing our 4th baby (due to be born anytime). So, simply put, we are delighted to begin seeing the benefits of our hard work.


Our family is growing. As mentioned, we are soon to meet baby number 4. We really enjoy our children whom we love to see develop into who they are meant to be. We feed them and nourish them and show them what we know to be right, and hope they will turn out to be great people. People who are free to be who they are and to bless others in that. In our mission to accomplish this, we feel that the best way to is to school them at home. Periodically we get glimpses that it is working out, so we continue on. Miss A. has just turned 9. Miss E. is 6, almost 7. Master S. is working his way to the terrific 2's and we eagerly anticipate Miss/Master ?????