Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Dr. Oetker Goes Organic?

The one and only cookbook my mother owned was one by Dr. Oetker. It contained basic recipes for lots of good old-fashioned German dishes, none of which (as far as I can remember) my mother ever prepared (my mother really didn't like to cook - I suspect the cookbook was an underutilized wedding present). Anyway, when an email arrived in my in-box that included a link to a contest sponsored by Dr. Oetker, I actually read the email instead of deleting it...
It turns out that the contest has some prizes that even I am tempted to try to win - so I visited the Dr. Oetker site, jumped through the hoops and signed up, hoping to perhaps be so lucky as to win a trip to Italy (some of the lesser prizes are pretty good, too - check them out here: Dr Oetker Adventure Romantica Contest...) Lo and behold, I found myself stomping virtual grapes in a silly online game, trying to earn more chances to win... After I'd exhausted my fingertips stomping on virtual grapes, I actually visited the Dr. Oetker website proper, checking to see if they are in any way responding to growing consumer interest in organic products. The organic product list is short, but it is there and, presumably, if enough people support the line with their shopping dollars, it will grow.

Note - the contest is only open to Canadians - sorry everyone else!

If you happen to win the trip to Italy, take me! Take me! I would take you... seriously, I would!

Monday, January 4, 2010

sticks, string, gers

Around here we love to build things with sticks and string... but these folks build whole gers with not much more than those fundamental components...

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Saving Seeds - Start Planning Now!

One of the great pleasures of gardening is the annual winter tradition of studying seed catalogues. I love flipping through the pages of the old-fashioned paper catalogues, but the internet brings a whole slew of new possibilities right to my desktop. Here are some of my favourites (lots of heirloom, open-pollinated varieties):
Seed Saver's Exchange
Salt Spring Seeds
The Cottage Gardener Heirloom Seed and Plant Nursery
West Coast Seeds
Annapolis Seeds
Let me know which seed suppliers make you particularly happy and I'll add the to the list... Happy Garden Dreaming!