By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

It has been several years since I was in Prince Edward County Ontario. This is a fertile tranquil bulge of land, almost an island in Lake Ontario. Indeed a ferry takes you to the “mainland” from its eastern coast. I returned a couple of weeks ago to find thriving communities of artisans, wine, cider and cheese makers, small towns with more shops than I remember, offering upscale and folksy fare. There are many bed and ...

<< MORE >>

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

So the castings from my vermiculture efforts in the basement continue to be spread in the garden to fertilize my plants. I am always amazed by how much my worms eat and how little food waste has to go out in the green bin. I do wish all the stuff that does go to my curb was converted into methane gas for use as a really green fuel. But not likely in my city where ...

<< MORE >>

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

Recently at the seasonal pot luck dinner and AGM of the East York Garden Club there was the annual ritual of deciding which lucky person got the table centre. This year the selection was from pet owners. Those of us who kept worms in our basements were not considered pet owners. I remember when I bought my first half pound of Red Wigglers and ...

<< MORE >>

Three years in the making and finally I am looking at the waterfall I have held in my imagination for a long time. The final task was to find the right creeping vines to cover the concrete block shell that circled the back of the waterfall where it rises above ground level. In May of 2009 beginning the waterfall's second season, I planted a Boston ivy on one side and a yellow hop vine on the other. By ...

<< MORE >>

Spring is a time of rituals for me, just like getting up after a long sleep. It was strange this year. The longing to be out in the garden was complicated by the lack of snow evident from my window. I felt I could be out there already. But finally the warmth of the sun softened the soil and it was time. It was the beginning of March and there I was raking the leaves off the grass and breaking off the dried out stems from past year's perennial growth.

A cold snap ... << MORE >>

Savouring a little bit of paradise this March away from the frozen north, I was on the Pacific shores of Mexico in Puerto Vallarta. This fishing village grown to mega resort destination has been a favourite winter get away place for me for many years.

But on this visit I celebrated of my birthday. To honour the occasion we did something we have never done before. We visited the Vallarta Botanical Gardens, 12 miles south of P.V. on Highway 200 - the only road south. It is set amid 20 acres at 1,300ft in the Sierra Madre Mountains and has ...<< MORE >>

Gardens are organic. I don't necessarily mean that to define chemicals or no chemicals, but I mean organic in is constant evolving nature. Every garden has a story that is developing because of the people who touch it. It is like the quantum physics concept that everything that has been touched by a vibrating wave of energy will be forever changed by it.

My garden is like that. I have walked its length and breadth for 22 years now and the past present and future are tied into every rustling leaf, every bird that lands, every cat that walks through it ...<< MORE >>

We planted the apricot tree in our garden in May 1998, a symbol of life's continuation for us. Sue, my partner, was soon to go into hospital for a tracheotomy. This was going to help with suctioning secretions from her compromised lungs. Sue had Multiple Sclerosis and was regularly getting aspiration pneumonia. Her body was dying. She was not ready to go. She still had too much living to do. Along with swallowing problems she could not speak so all our communication was via her head nodding in response to questions with yes or no answers.

Sue survived the surgery and ...<< MORE >>