This past Sunday was the 7th Annual Seed Fair at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. I guess I missed the first six editions so I was happy when my friend Marc asked me to join him for this one. I always save some seeds each year so I was glad to have the opportunity not only to share my seeds with other eager gardeners, but also to get my hands on some of their seeds. The event would also help remind me that spring and summer are not too far away, especially since there is supposed to be a snowstorm today that will defecate about 20 centimeters of snow on the city of Montreal - that’s 8 inches for you non-metric Americans.

Marc, besides being a friend, is my gardening partner. Together we share a plot in one of the city’s many community gardens. The city of Montreal has approximately 100 community gardens containing over 8000 plots, which I think makes it one of the biggest community garden cities in North America. I wanted to type “biggest . . .in the world” but I haven’t done the research to back it up and I would hope that most countries haven’t gotten to the point where they need to have the politicians give permission to have a garden.

The seed fair, called “Seedy Sunday”, was organized by Action Communiterre in partnership with Seeds of Diversity Canada, and les Amis du jardin botanique de Montréal. I have never been to the botanical gardens, mostly because I can’t bring myself to pay 10 or 12 dollars to see a bunch of flowers, especially in my own city. On my way to the gardens, I passed by a store that sells bulk organic and biodegrable cleaning products. I had heard about this store but didn’t know the name or location of it, so I quickly snapped a photo as I passed it and Googled it once I got home. It turns out they have their own website which looks pretty promising, so I will definitely be checking this place out soon. I also noticed that they have a link to their new website, which I hope they are still working on because the English version (which you get to by clicking on a British flag - welcome to Quebec!) is in a sad state. Don’t they know that English speakers also care about the environment?!?

The event featured a series of lectures and workshops but the real reason most of us were there was the opportunity to hang out with other gardeners and to get some seeds. There were booths selling organic heirloom seeds, a room for the seed exchange, and also a bunch of exhibitors representing gardening and other various sustainable agriculture initiatives. Marc and I bought some seeds for the garden, which I think may have been large-leaf cilantro, some bicolour cherry tomatoes, parsnips, and Hungarian hot pepper seeds. The seed exchange room was not well-planned out, which resulted in several people standing around with their seeds and no way to share them. I was one of those people, so my seeds remained unshared, but I did score some yellow cherry tomato, ’sasha altai’ tomato, and endive seeds.

While wandering around at the fair, we ran into Valmond, the vice-president of our garden, who has probably been gardening since before my father planted my seed. We discussed the coming season and even organized a dinner next week to further hash out our plans. The event inspired me to suggest that we hold our own intra-garden seed exchange, because our garden membership is made up of an equal number of senior citizens and couples in their thirties, both groups who can learn a lot from each other.

Here in Montreal we have to start our seeds indoors because the ground isn’t ready for growing until May or June. I usually plant some of my seeds in March, on my windowsill, and only transplant to the great outdoors in early June, when it is warm enough for the plants to survive. For some plants, like tomatoes, you have to plant your seeds this early (and indoors) or you are left having to buy young plants at a market and then transplant them to your garden. I am usually limited in my selection, but it looks like this year will be a banner year for my garden. I will be posting more about the garden once we break ground.

Detox update:

Noshette and I are now at the tail end of our cleansing detox program, and I have to report that I’ve got mixed feelings about it.

I am glad I tried it, but am not sure I would do it again. I had no problem with the fasting, but I got really sick of THE DRINK and also feel that this cleanse may have been unnecessary for me. After reading a zillion blogs and web-pages, and talking with dozens of peers and professionals, I have now developed my own basic theory about cleansing. I’m not a doctor or a scientist, so don’t take this out if context — it is my opinion and not the opinion of this website or an opinion you should necessarily take to heart. I did this cleanse because I thought that there would be tons of weird stuff building up in my colon that needed to be expelled — but in the end nothing surprising happened.

I’ve been eating pretty healthily for the past few years and maybe that is why I did not have any strange alien objects jettisoning from my bodily orifices. I now feel that perhaps this type of cleanse may benefit some people while some others may not need it. Unfortunately, I think that the people it would benefit the most are the type that live a basically unhealthy lifestyle and will never try a ‘cleanse.’ The people that are doing all the cleansing and detoxing are generally health-conscious folk who are probably taking good enough care of their bodies that a cleanse just isn’t necessary.

I may be wrong, but either way, I am really looking forward to eating again. I have spent the past two days fantasizing about what food tastes like. I bet it tastes fantastic. The fresh-squeezed OJ we had this afternoon was amazing, and I can’t wait for more. I just got back from the store and am cooking up a vegetable broth from local beets and carrots, organic onions, collards, squash, turnip, parsley, and great northern beans. I added a little salt and nothing else. It smelled great, but I am waiting for Noshette to get home before I drink any broth. Tomorrow we will have some more broth and also eat the vegetables from the broth. Each morsel of food that I put into my mouth will feel like a new discovery, and I will try to avoid unhealthy foods for as long as possible, but I make no promises when it comes to chocolate.