Need some help completing the #31daysofyeg challenge? In addition to a weekly Storify, the blog team — updates this week from Elyse Williams and Catherine Szabo — is busy with their own adventures completing the list. This is the last week of updates, but previous recaps of weeks no.1, no. 2 and no. 3 can be found in our blog archives.
No. 2: Grow your own food this summer — in your yard, balcony or community garden!
Basil galore in the patio planters, and soon-to-be juicy tomatoes plumping up in my planter at Urban Eden Community Garden. Will make for some great sauce to enjoy this winter! –EW
No. 8: Find some plants that are native to our river valley and consult local plant expert Robert Rogers on its many potential uses.
Learned about a million new things about plants in our river valley on the medicinal plant walk with Robert Rogers. Going to try cooking Canadian Thistle stems soon — apparently you can cook and eat them like you would asparagus. –EW (Editor’s note: watch the blog next week for a recap of the July plant walk.)
No. 9 (updated): Edmonton is known as a festival city. Take advantage of our thriving summer scene. Attend a festival and share your favourite thing about it.
Devoured so many amazing treats at Taste of Edmonton. Especially intrigued by Padmanadi’s “chicken” skewer with peanut sauce.
Checked out some shows at the Edmonton Street Performers Festival. As usual, loved the creativity and spirit of the performers. –EW
No. 11: Share a picture of our night-time sky — we often have beautiful sunsets and clear starry nights. Bonus points if you visit the TWOS observatory or the U of A observatory to learn more about the stars and constellations we are looking at.
Since I didn’t make it to either observatory this month, I’m interpreting no. 11 in a bit of a different way — enjoy Edmonton’s summer nights, where it’s warm enough to sit outside but cool enough to enjoy it, and the lack of mosquitoes! Ideally, I’d be able to unplug too, but I took my laptop outside both Sunday and Monday nights to do a little bit of work, and, in the case of Sunday night, watched the intense thunderstorm roll into downtown. –CS
No. 23 (update): Visit an art gallery and discuss your interpretations of the art on display. (Don’t forget about the great art walk through the 124 Street neighbourhood.)
Went to Latitude 53 for the first time! I enjoyed seeing a mix of art forms come together in a low-key, friendly environment. –EW
No. 25: Shop at a local independent grocery store and share the recipe you make with the products you buy there.
Again, some interpretation on my part. A farmers’ market is a local grocery store, right? I completely missed the rhubarb last year, and so have been picking some up at the farmers’ markets for the last couple of weeks. Solstice has been selling ice cream and sorbet at the 124 Street market on Thursdays, which inspired me to turn my own rhubarb into ice cream. Disclaimer: it seems impossible to be able to find a good rhubarb ice cream recipe online. I ended up boiling down the rhubarb with sugar and adding heavy cream. That’s it. I think I added a bit too much cream, because some mouthfuls taste more like rhubarb-flavoured whipping cream than rhubarb ice cream, but I’ll let it freeze a bit more and hope for the best. –CS
No. 27: Take a day trip from Edmonton and consider how different it feels from being in the city.
Visited Ellis Bird Farm in Lacombe County. I think more people should spend their weekends visiting the communities in central and southern Alberta, rather than always heading to the mountains. The people are amazing, the sky is big and the pace is relaxing. –EW