Evergreen Brick Works Farmers Market and Nature Walk {Toronto, Ontario}

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to meet up with some friends at the Evergreen Brick Works Farmers Market in downtown Toronto. I used to walk Whiskey through here when I first adopted him, but since then it has grown to include a weekly farmers market, art installations, garden market, cafe, learning centre and DIY bicycle repair shop,

I met up with some of my favourite ladies - Eve, Fleur and Ashley. We've known each other since our Queen's University days and I always look forward to getting together with them. We had a great morning exploring the area and talking non-stop.

History of Evergreen Brick Works

Rather than ignoring the industrial roots of this area, Evergreen has made an effort to combine the historical significance of these buildings with the future of a greener city. Throughout the complex, there are great images of how this area has changed over the years.

In the late 1700s, Todmorden Mills was one of three paper mills operating along the Don River. Then in 1882, a young man was digging up fence post holes and noticed that he was bring up clay. Upon testing the clay, they found that it was perfect for making bricks and thus began the Don Valley Brick Works company, which would run for almost a century.

The quarry continued to grow in the early 20th century and became an important part of geological history when workers started collecting fossils. Using these fossils from the quarry, geologist A.P. Coleman showed how the geography of this area was affected during the ice age and  found evidence of two full-blown ice ages.

It's hard to believe that this photo is from 1985, one year after the factory had closed and also the same year I was born. Now it has grown back into this incredible naturalized space with the help of dedicated Torontonians. After over 100 years of brick making, the land was expropriated by the City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in the 1980s. The abandoned factory became a playground for partiers (raves!), urban explorers and photographers. Throughout the early 1990s, Evergreen started to plant trees and wildflower meadows and in 2002 they started to turn the dilapidated buildings into a new environmental centre.

When you look out on the ponds and meadows, it's hard to believe that this was ever a brick quarry.

There are still a few relics of this history of this great space, but I think its that juxtaposition of industrial versus nature is what makes this space work so well in a busy metropolitan city like Toronto.

The Koerner Gardens

Inside one of the many buildings is the Koerner Gardens. This 20,000 square foot space is home to native plant demonstrations and is a showcase for sustainable urban greening. It offers visitors tips, techniques and designs for creating urban gardens. In the winter it is home to a large skating rink, with the heat from the rink's refrigeration system being used to heat the nearby cafe.

It was great having my teacher friend Eve around, as she was quick to point out all the native plants, like those bristly plants that feel like a horse's tail.

The Kilns

This 52,000 square foot building used to house three long tunnel kilns and six single-track drying tunnels for brick making. Now you can take a guided tour through the kilns and explore the industrial heritage of this site. It is also home to frequent art installations and is a popular venue for events.

Frayed Gingham Picnic Napkins

I love using cloth napkins, especially when we're having a fun lunch outdoors. Traditional fabric napkins are great for the dining room, but a more rustic frayed version is perfect for a laid back picnic or backyard barbecue. Frayed napkins have been making a comeback in decor stores like West Elm and Restoration Hardware. They are easy to create at home and are a great beginner sewing project. Wouldn't these make a great hostess gift this summer too?

I found this great red gingham fabric on sale and was able to make four of these napkins for less than $2 each.

Over time, this frayed edge will become softer with each wash. I went with a heavier cotton, which doesn't wrinkle as much as a lighter cotton or linen. A heavier cotton also holds up well to many washes.

The red gingham goes perfectly with the red plates and tumblers that I picked up at Target a few year ago. Everything fits conveniently in my picnic basket, which always reminds me of something right out of a Yogi Bear cartoon.

What you'll need:

• Fabric, such as cotton gingham, linen or muslin
• Coordinating Thread
• Sewing Machine
• Seam Ripper

Wash and dry your fabric, ironing if needed. Then you need to decide how big you'll make your napkins. Most fabric napkins are 20" for a full size napkin and 6-8" for cocktail napkins. Cut your fabric into squares, making sure to cut on the grain. I used a rotary cutter and quilting ruler on a cutting mat, which helped me get perfect squares. The lines in the gingham are also helpful for creating straight lines.

Stitch a zigzag stitch around your square, 5/8" from the edge or as far away as you'd like. For this gingham pattern, I stitched 2 rows in from the edge, giving me a nice medium length fringe. When you reach a corner, sink the needle into the thread, lift the foot, pivot the fabric and put the foot back down. Continue stitching until you've stitched around all the edges. Cut off any extra thread.

You should have a nice zigzag pattern around the edge, which I think adds a little to the charm of these frayed napkins.

Using a seam ripper, pull the thread off the edge. Once you get them going, you can pull them out with your fingers, being careful when you get towards the stitching. This is the part that gets messy - be prepared to have little piles of thread all around you by the time that you're done.

All that mess is worth the end result - a perfectly frayed napkin edge, all ready for a summer picnic.

These red gingham napkins are great for a picnic basket, but you could also easily make these with a nice pastel linen for a dinner party or a rougher muslin version for a rustic backyard party.

This picnic basket was a great garage sale find a few years ago. My mom and I picked up two of these picnic baskets for I think $5 or $10. They were in great condition, with just a few repairs that need to be made to the latch and the handle. I'm hoping to wrap the handle with leather similar to this basket and stop the woven handle from unraveling any further. It's the perfect basket to head out on an afternoon picnic.

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Happy Victoria Day!

We've been lucky and had great weather for the Victoria Day long weekend. Such a nice reprieve after a long winter. The windows are open, the lilacs are blooming (so fragrant!) and the birds are chirping. Summer is here and I couldn't be happier about it.

This weekend I actually went to yoga twice (and I have the sore muscles to prove it), read some more of the book that I haven't been able to touch in two weeks, and even worked on a couple of blog projects. It's been amazing to have a little bit of a break this weekend and just relax. We're looking to have a busy summer ahead of us, so I want to enjoy these more relaxing weekends when we can.

Last night I went with my family to my aunt and uncle's cottage. Seeing this picture made me realize that the picture I posted on Friday was from before they raised it and added a basement. It looks so much different now and the view from inside is that much higher that you can see more of the property. Now they have a great basement space as well, complete with a family room and laundry room.

Inside the screened in front porch is a plaque my parents gave them years ago for Christmas. Hard to believe this cottage has been around for 93 years! I guess they'll need to host a centennial party in 7 years!

After an awesome BBQ dinner, my brother and I headed down to the water. It was so quiet and calm out there.

My little brother, all grown up....in a button up shirt no less. It seems like just yesterday he was running along trying to keep up to my sister and I and now we're just trying to keep up to him.

Beautiful sunset on the water. 

Just as nice back at the cottage too, with the sunset casting light across the cozy living room.

This is the same living room that we used to hang out in when we were little kiddos.

Out in the yard, all of their apple trees were in full bloom last night.

After a long and snowy winter, it's worth it to see these full blooms. All that snow turned into plenty of much needed water for the trees. Hopefully it will be a great year for fruit!

The highlight of the night was getting to see the new paint job my uncle got on his 1955 Chevy Pickup. Its now a lovely shade of Cashmere Blue

Counting Down the Minutes to the Long Weekend

In Canada, the Victoria Day long weekend is the official kick-off of summer. It may not be warm enough to really say its summer yet, but this is the beginning of it all...and I can't wait. We've got a fun weekend planned, including lots of much needed down time.

We're going to hit up the farmers market tomorrow morning for some fresh produce and maybe even grab breakfast at the park while we're there.

Then it's back to the apartment to plant up the rest of our container garden this year. I love how it makes our little porch feel like home.

By Whiskey's request, we'll be taking a hike through our favourite forest and fields. 

Then it's off to my parents' place on Sunday for a little R&R on their back porch with the family.

All my mom asked for for Mother's Day was to have all of us help her dig up her garden this year, but unfortunately we had snow and hail last weekend, so we postponed it to this weekend.

After that, we can kick back on a nice boat ride down the river.

Followed by dinner plans at my uncle's house on the lake.

And finish the weekend off with fireworks.

Monday's plan...is to have nothing planned. Just relaxing at home. Tinkering around with projects at the house. And most definitely have an afternoon nap with Whiskey.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

How to Use Mason Jars With a Blender

After the last post on The Return of the Blue Mason Jar, it reminded me to share this great way to utilize your mason jar in the kitchen!

I'm not really a morning person, so over the last few years I've really tried to streamline my mornings. One of my favourite ways to do that is by swapping out my usual breakfast with a smoothie. They are a great way to make a healthy meal for on-the-go and they just so happen to be delicious too. I load them up with frozen fruit, protein powder and coconut water/milk or make an awesome Mint Chocolate Green Monster Smoothie. I like knowing I'm getting a good meal in first thing, before the craziness of the day sets in and I forget to eat.

The only downside to making a smoothie in the morning is the clean up - washing an entire huge blender just to make one smoothie is not fun, especially when you get protein powder stuck on it. I've tried using a Magic Bullet before, but it never seemed to be powerful enough to blend the frozen fruit. More times than not, I'll just make a quick protein shake (water + protein powder in a shaker cup) and grab a banana. Not very exciting, but at least it's quick.

Then I found out that you can use a mason jar with your blender and make single serving smoothies - and breakfasts just got fun again!

It turns out that the threads of regular mason jars fits the threads of most blenders. Apparently blenders used to come with a mason jar as an accessory for blending smaller amounts, but over the years manufacturers stopped adding them in.

To see if your blender is compatible with a mason jar, attached the blade and twist on the cap. As long as the blades are not touching the inside of the glass and the seal is tight, then you're good to go. You may need to swap out a regular mouth mason jar for a wide mouth mason jar depending on your blender.

A few important safety tips:

• Only use real mason jars - they're made with tempered glass and can stand up to the pressure of the blending without breaking. Don't use old spaghetti sauce or mayo jars, which are often made with thinner, more fragile glass.
• Never blend hot liquids, such as soups. The hole in the top of your blender is there to allow pressure and steam to escape. Since the jar does not have a hole at the top, the pressure might cause the jar to explode.
• Make sure that the rubber seal on your blender is in good condition. and fits properly on the jar. You can do a test using half a jar of water and see if there is any leakage. If there is, replace the rubber seal.

To make my smoothie, I fill up my 1 quart mason jar about halfway, leaving some space for it to blend. I like to add in frozen fruit first (strawberries, bananas, peaches, blueberries, etc.), then pour in the liquid (coconut milk, coconut water, greek yogurt with a little milk) and then add in a scoop of vanilla protein powder. A few pulses and my smoothie is all blended up and frothy. Just the way I like them.

Smoothies are great, but there are lots of other great uses for swapping out your blender for a mason jar:

• Frozen Coffee Drinks
• Salsa
• Guacamole
• Single Serving Margaritas (Everyone can have their favourite flavour!)
• Chopped Onions
• Chopped Nuts
• Alfredo Sauce
• Pesto
• Egg Omelet
• Filling for Chicken Quesadillas
• Grinding Spices

Dig that old blender out of the basement, grab a mason jar and make a smoothie this week! It's a nice refreshing breakfast for the warmer months ahead.

As I was whipping up this morning's smoothie, I seemed to grab someone else's attention. I guess he was wanting to get in on that strawberry-banana action too.

And if you're wondering how he was able to see up on the dining room table...

He went into meerkat mode. 

This is his favourite way to see onto tables, smell particularly high flowers, look both ways at intersections when we cross (drivers always crack up when they see that) or peek over the bed to see if it's safe to jump up for morning cuddles (he waits until we're awake). His little quirks really do make life more interesting.

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