Surprise

I got a lovely pre-birthday surprise today. Hubby sent me these lovely pink roses, my favorite! It was sent with a cute pink teddy bear, too! 

Thank you, Hubby! I love you so much.

Butterbeer at Hogwarts

Finally had butterbeer at Hogwarts yesterday. So sweet! 

Toronto Food Porn

I'm in Toronto, so far I am having a blast. The food has been really amazing. For a sneak peek, here's the pic from yesterday's food crawl with my aunt. 

Yumminess all over. More details to follow. 

Sprouts

I watch eagerly everyday for new growth. 

Beets!

Beets just starting to come up! So excited! It's crazy that I watch the seedling "rack" everyday and see what has come up. We placed the rack in our covered verandah, to protect them from the rain. We get morning and afternoon sun in the area and I thought that we would get best results there. We planted seeds in reusable grow bags using organic potting soil, compost and horse manure. All sourced from FTI weekend market in Bicutan. A bit of a drive but worth it. They like me there because I always buy a lot of planting medium and recently bought additional three trees, a lemon and two kaffir limes for my nephew Jayjay who loves Tom Yum.

We've had a disaster with some seedlings because they were left out in the rain and drowned. Some herbs like sage and rosemary that I bought from FTI also perished in the rain. Anyway, lessons learned. 

Growing Food at Home

Operation "grow our own food" has officially started. Already bought nine various dwarf trees to be planted throughout our small garden. Non-flowering bushes will be replaced with citrus trees, and other fruits to make our garden more productive. 

We already removed much of the non-productive greenery. Some will be used for compost and some will be used for mulch. It's such a shock to see my garden so "naked". But I know soon, it will be lush again with the added bonus of fresh vegetables growing. I kept all the flowering plants because they're pretty when they bloom and the  bees, birds and butterflies love them, too.

Plant boxes will be hung on the garden fence to grow various vegetables. I bought all kinds of seeds and I am so excited to start growing!

We already have some cucumbers growing and some other things that have sprung up from compost thrown at a large flower pot in the verandah.

I also purchased some organic soil and horse manure to build up the soil that we currently have. 

Organic vegetables are so expensive and hopefully by making our garden more productive, we can have freshly picked veggies and fruits right here at home.

I know that the journey will be challenging at times, but I hope with some research, hard work and my housekeeper's green thumb, we can make our garden a productive one.

Wish us luck! 

Aratiles

Mmmmmmmm... My dinner.  Aratiles from the garden center's tree. Yummy! Last I had these was when I was still in school! We used to pick them from trees from various vacant lots in the village. 

Aratiles is a huge part of my childhood. I'm feeling very happy at the moment.