nesting

Sunrise and Sunset

The last leg of our dreamy California trip was spent visiting some pals that live near Stanford in Menlow Park, CA. We timed this trip with the Sunset Celebration Weekend. Being the avid Sunset Magazine reader that I am, I was very, very excited to see where all the creative work goes down. A visit to the headquarters was like stepping back in time. A low one level, 50's style building with lots of dark wood and many subdivisions, surrounded by beautiful and abundant test gardens. Every year the folks at Sunset put on a weekend where they invite all of their readers and neighbours to come and enjoy a festive event full of activities. It was a hot one and we had a blast. Some of the highlights were:

1. Checking out the test gardens, lots of interesting veggies and succulent plantings.
2. The infamous chickens that I have read so much about on the one block diet, Ophelia was as cute in person as she is on screen. How I wish we could have a modern chicken coop  like this one.
3. A tribute to the late Robert Mondavi and taste testers from local vineyards and micro breweries. O and Tim especially liked this part.
4. Finding out that my favourite San Fran store Spring had a booth, and was selling the long awaited Lotta Jansdotter prints book.
5. The Eco Lounge. So many great green goods out there now. Especially liked the products featured from Marin Outdoor Living.
6. Yummy cheese samples well worth the wait. Double Truffle Cream Brie, hmmmm!
7. The peaceful courtyard where I imagine the staff take lunch daily amongst the water feature and lavender beds.
8. Seeing what GM had in store for new clean green car options.
9. Meeting some staff and the vendors, discussing the merits of sustainable living along the west coast.
10. Hitting the community pool near by after wards. The local pools in California are so nice, they put our private clubs to shame. Lounging, playing in the water and a siesta in the shade, was a perfect recipe for the end of one amazingly inspiring and chill vacation. Will be back soon enough.

Farms and Farmers Markets

When we were down in Cali we checked out some pretty cool farms and farm stands. California is the best climate for year round growing. Residents of LA and other cities in the state have a year long abundant selection of fresh farm goodness to be found at markets. For instance our friends in Santa Monica have a choice of pretty much any farmers market within 10 k around the city every day of the week. Now how cool is that! Because of this and the growing support for farmers fresh produce, the residents are found mulling about the stalls, selecting their goods and chatting with the fellow community folk- who'd of thought this to be the case in the smoggiest place on earth.

Our 3 major farm visits were en route up the coast highway to San Fransisco. First stop: Ojai, where orange groves and olive plantations grow in harmony. The market gate shop for local cold pressed olive oil was unfortunately closed, but we played in the orange fields and even took a little souvenir for good luck. We kept the precious seeds moist and potted them up when we got home. Here's hoping we have our own little orange blossoms soon enough.

          

After some of the best mexican food ever (known well amongst the locals in Santa Barbara), at La Superica we then checked out Fairview Farm Gardens, in Goleta, where our hero- Michael Abelman secured 12 and a half acres of fertile soil, into what is now a heavenly growing site and  organic working farm. It is straight off a main road, pretty wild, full of lots of natural smells and absolutely divine. School children come daily for educational tours and university interns study hands-on, learning the lay of the land and the business of true farming. A pretty remarkable place to be nestled within this industrial area.

"Since 1950 the earth has lost nearly 1/5th of the top soil from its cropland to wind and water erosion. We are loosing topsoil 80 times faster than nature can replace it"

The other beauty, not far off the beaten path, was in Carmel Valley, commonly known as Earthbound Farms. We just had to see where our clamshell greens came from. This land is further north and a lot cooler (in California standards!). The farm spanned about 1 mile south to the river and another mile east to the mountains. They have a great farm stand where the staff make fresh smoothies from the homegrown juicy berries. We enjoyed our drinks amongst a stroll through the herb garden and wild flower labyrinth.

And just when we thought we'd seen enough, we came upon Watsonville, better known as the place where our winter berries come from. Anytime you have last bought a strawberry in a grocery store, I can bet it was packaged in Watsonville. Picture- concrete jungle, factory after factory and anything other then the above working farms I have described. That's your packaged goods. A reassuring reminder to all of us- read the fine print, visit this land and see where it is those edibles are coming from!

Why Santa Monica Rocks

On our trip to Southern California we had the good fortune of staying in the best part of LA- Santa Monica. Here the air is clean, you are never more then 20 blocks from the beach, the people are healthy and the properties are amazing. Some of our highlights are: Cooling off with the infamous Pinkberry (ooh soo good!), a cruise along Venice beach to see all the crazies, a night at the dodgers game and shops (Floral Art, Heist, Firefly, Vert, Joe's, Topo Ranch) and architecture envy on Abbot Kinney St. Here are some of the fun things we checked out.

 

O looking stylin' in front of Fred Siegel. Just browsin!

Check out the sign.

Obama posters in every window.

 

Renting cruisers along Venice.

 

Just your average house on the beach.

Abbot Kinney Street.

Southern Goodness

For the next week I will be posting some fun insights from our week away. Despite the crazy amount of work that we seem to have these days, O and I decided to take a week off to recharge and revive. So we headed down south to California to visit some friends and check out some gardens and stuff. A bit of research and mostly play- the beauty of running your own business! The trip was absolutely amazing, a little taste of heaven and warm southern sun was the perfect way to get re-inspired from our cold and non apparent vancouver summer.

Firstly let me just start off by saying that wherever your next trip may take you, fly Virgin Airlines. The best way to describe it would be, "a boutique hotel in the air". The interior is a sleek high gloss white, with plush leather seats and soothing purple lighting (yes this was regular economy class!). The staff are young and hip and they even had method products in the bathroom. The touch screen RED interactive system- a personal tv for each seat, (again still in economy class!) was loaded with a variety of tv channels, movies, games and food ordering services. You can even chat online with other seat members through this crazy device! Even the safety video was cool- a retro style cartoon that actually made you watch the how-to's in case of emergency landing. Going back to air canada would be like stepping back in time.

When we got into LA we had booked Toyota Prius Hybrid, which made the stop and start traffic, and most congested city in the world a breeze. This car is so quite and so amazing on gas (we only had to fill up the tank once the entire week driving in and around LA and up the coast to San Francisco!) Move over gas guzzling vehicles this is the way to go!

The first 5 days were spent in Santa Monica with good friends and famliy, lounging by their pool, making yummy farmers market fresh meals, cruising along the beach and taking it all in. So, the plan now- get successful and move on down! More from our visit in Santa Monica next post!

1st Crop

Last week we had our first harvest of the season. Check out these crazy colorful radishes. These seeds were sprinkled in our 'back lane extended raised garden' a few weeks ago. We used Westcoast Seeds 'Easter Egg' Radish Blend. Hence the multitude of colors. Only a few biters through the roots, but overall very tasty and spicy. These bad boys are really good in salads, sliced super thin and mixed with mint and arugula topped with a tangy lemon vinaigrette. Radishes are the quickest growing crop second to some greens like mixed lettuces and such. They are a great seed to do with kids, as they are so fast growing and really easy for little guys to pull at. The growing season has just begun...

Sore Little Hands

Most gardeners by this time of year are feeling the aches and pains through their hands. O's hands, despite the many types of gloves and waxes he puts on prior to work, are hurting bad! Some days they are so rough and cracked that he can barely stroke our cat, Jasmine without taking off a layer of her fur.

These are a few of my favourite creams to sooth after a long days work. Unfortunately most of them are pretty girlie smelling and not up to O's stamp of approval. Any ideas out there from fellow gardeners and workman alike for a good, heavy duty hand cream made for a manly man would be appreciated.

This is my bed time cream, the smell is sweet and soothing and I love the name: 'The Charmer'. I picked this up Anthropologie.                                                                                                                                                             

This is my purse cream, a small tub that goes a long way. I love the healing power of olive oil. Now if only I stocked up more when we were in Italy.

I always associated Crabtree & Evelyn with older ladies, like moms, but this cream is super rich and fresh, and is the perfect cream after a long day in the dirt.

Mothers Day

My Mom is a pretty special person. She is one of those true gardeners. She taught herself, and over years created a garden that has always been a place to come home. It has gone through phases, aches and pains, good years and bad, but it has always remained constant. My mom's work was rooted at home- primarily in the garden. My most fond memories with her was spent in the back yard plotting away in the large vegetable patch. When I was young my dad traveled a lot in summer months, so my mom and I would take refuge in the garden, trying new heirloom varieties, making jams from our raspberries (the same sweet raspberries today that must be at least 20 years old now), and learning the ropes of growing your own greens.

I guess you could say, my mom was the major influence in my pursuit to become a garden design consultant. She raised me on the principals that, if you have land- GROW. In this day in age with the cost of fuel and the scarcity of local food production, this a value I hold very dear. My mom instilled in me the importance of organic growing, and the infinite satisfaction in knowing that you can do this from your own back yard.

My parents still live in the same house I grew up in, and the garden is still very much an important part of my mom's daily life. Busy helping out as a FOG at UBC Botanical Gardens and a very nagging arthritis, we now help tend my mom's garden. I know some days this is hard for her to watch us plot away, with different techniques and theories on how things should be done, or designed or planted, but overall I think it brings her pleasure to know it is in good hands. My mom and her garden have always put things into perspective for me. Her ground is fertile because of the love that she gives it, much like the love she gives to everyone she meets.

So, mom, thank you for all your positive feedback as we plot through life figuring out all that stuff you have to figure out when you become an adult (eek!). Thank you for the values you instilled in me about being kind to the earth and to the people around you. And thanks most of all for making me understand the importance of growing. I love you.

Epic EPIC

Last weekend Aloe Designs participated in the EPIC sustainable living show. And what a show it was. We met so many great people with great stories doing seriously great things. With Earth day past and Spring just around the bend, we are feeling very eco-friendly inspired to share with you the news from the show!

First off we would like to send out a ginormous thanks to all our friends, family and clients who came to support the cause! Without your smiling faces and words of encouragement we could not have made it through the 4 long days, or rather, 4 long weeks leading up to the event. We also want to say wurd to Tanya at Mango Design Co for helping share the booth and ideas in creating such an innovative showpiece. Future collaborative projects to come! Late nights designing sustainable concepts, mid week days of cruisin around town meeting suppliers and 2 very long weekends to build and construct- it all came together!

Some of the highlights and oos and ahhs of our booth were:

1.0 The 'Harvest Table'. Our first furniture piece designed and manufactured by us! Made of recyclable aluminum framing and reclaimed cedar planks, this table works for both indoors and out. The center piece trough can be used for herbs and edibles, candles and rocks, or simply as a holding chiller for that nice bottle of wine. Furniture design and further production for this limited edition piece are in the works!

2.0 Edible Planters. The smooth, modern concrete containers were provided by a local company Souls and were filled with lots of yummy edible herbs that sparked a lot of gardening conversations.

3.0 Accessories. The Bird Feeder provided by Room 6, designed by J Schatz attracts those beneficial birdies to come and hang out among the landscape. Many juicy colors available. The dining table's settings from Provide (the coolest new store in town) worked flawlessly. We especially fell in love with the dish set from Heath Ceramics and may be taking a private visit this June, to their factory in Sausalito, CA. Lucky Us!

4.0 River rock and Slate Entrance. With all the rain we get in Vancouver we wanted to showcase a way in which a small space can look contemporary, and also be good for the environment too. By using river rock throughout a slate walkway you can minimize the water run off that would normally not get absorbed by flat hardscaping.

5.0 Concept Rain Chain System. Our sleek and innovative rain chain plays a larger role in distributing rain water. The chain feeds into a waterbarrel, which then gets pumped into an underground low flow irrigation system, to in turn feed container plants the required water needed.

Due to a dated digital and some bad indoor lighting the images can only shine so well. One of those- should have been there in person experiences, but nevertheless, for those of you who couldn't make it out, some visuals for you to see.  O and I both agreed, EPIC was an amazing experience to be a part of, but no more show installations in the near future. What lies ahead- some seriously cool design projects on the horizon...

Hard Working Dude

                                              

For those of you who don't know us- this is my man, Owen aka O! Husband, Business Partner, Best Friend and Dude of all Dudes. He has been working especially hard lately, so I just wanted to say, a big thanks to him for all that he does. With spring in full swing our gardening business has gone from 0-100 in about a month. While all the bright bulbs with their cheery faces say, "spring is here" the weather sure would make us think differently. And while rain and gardening don't go hand in hand for me, O, well, he never complains.   

Sometimes we get so powered by work and staying on track and working late days and way too many early mornings in a row; we forget to say those special words of encouragement. So while I type away busy with a piled desk and way too many designs to plug through, I thought I would take a minute to say, I couldn't do all this without the hardworking hands and creative mind behind Owen Black. As far as the Vancouver garden scene goes- this guy is the man about town, and I feel pretty honored to share that. Even if you eat your lunch at 6:00, in the hall, with grubby hands... in your skimpies!

   

A clean- up on a sunny brisk sunday in march at the Aloe Test Gardens.

Climbing heights on a rainy weekend building the mock up booth for the upcoming EPIC Show.

Turn it OFF!

Just a reminder to turn off your lights tomorrow night from 8-9 for  Earth Hour. Come and join millions around the earth in a fight against climate change and by showing that you care about our planet. Landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Sears Tower and the Sydney Opera House will also be taking part- very cool!

This will promote awareness to the world about the amount of energy we consume. Plus being stuck in the dark for an hour can be fun- think candles, a blanket, and old fashion transistor radio! If you feel further inspired, change those old light bulbs to energy efficient ones. The big Canadian Tire store on Cambie street has the biggest selection. You will save so much time and energy in the long run.

Fact: if 10,000 households turn off lights tomorrow night for just one hour, we’ll avert the CO2 created by an average apartment in a whole year.- Ideal Bite.