Made/Learned Today

I was a hyper-productive cook today. Here's the tally of unprocessed goodness:

• granola, 1 batch (this amount seems to last us for a week)
• oatmeal-cranberry muffins, 2 dozen (intended 1/2 for freezer, but too many eaten)
• bread, 4 loaves
• granola/chocolate chip bars, 1 tray = 40 squares (1/2 for freezer); turned out perfectly until I accidentally lit a burner underneath the cooling pan, scorching a few. Rescued in time to save most. This recipe came from the Obscure Canlit Mama blog and so did the recipe for bread--both are foolproof. The kids love the granola bars, except when burned by the resident fool. 
• lasagna, 1 pan

This afternoon my daughter the gardener and I went to the Seedy Sunday event in Peterborough, where we learned quite a bit about organic gardening and composting. Turns out we've been doing a few things right--inter-planting basil with tomatoes, for example. Also, I was heartened when the presenter announced, "A messy garden is a healthier garden" than a grid of weedless perfection. Haven't I been saying so all along? Yay for chaos.

We also learned that our compost needs amping up. Hence the $15 carton of red wriggly WORMS that we brought home in the hope of achieving high-test dirt. Believe it or not, these invertebrates require tending. They are to be kept inside until it is warm enough to transfer them to their new home in our compost barrel. They need watering--not too much and not too little--and if they try to escape, the moisture level is not to their liking. They must be fed (eggshells, coffee grounds, fruit peelings). They have to breathe, too, so my daughter drilled holes in the top of the plastic bin that will be their home until spring. It doesn't bear thinking about. This is not my project.

Seeds purchased:

Tomatoes--Mixed Heirloom (many different sizes and colours) and Stupice ("classic red round tomatoes")
Beans--Gold Rush and Strike
Beets--Mixed Colours (to entice beet-hating youngsters)
Carrots--Scarlet Nantes
Greens--Winter Density Romaine Lettuce and Mixed Mesclun

I wish I had recorded more names of the different varieties, even if we couldn't buy them all. The names are full of promise.