A New Gardener

I wouldn't saw I'm an avid gardener. But if my mom passed on one thing to me (or twenty), it would be the love for growing things. 

This year, I did a little 'apartment' gardening. I grew one pot of various herbs, a giant pot of cherry tomatoes, and a few flower pots. 

It's a little bittersweet to rip out all these plants at the end of the year. The ones I've struggled to keep from dying for the four and a half months that growing season is. But, I got a tiny little harvest, and I'm here to share my successes! And a few of the failures too. 

I tried to keep all the tags in the pots when I planted them, because that's way more helpful to remember my favourites at the end of the season. Of course, I lost all the flower tags, but the herb pot tags stayed put! Here's how growing went:

1. Lemon Cherry Tomatoes: If you want a super sweet and delicious fast growing tomato, go for this one! They turn a beautiful golden colour, and literally taste like candy. I was a little lenient in my watering diligence, but overall, it was a healthy plant, and got me about 20-30 tiny, sweet tomatoes.

2. Mint and Basil: Both grew really well beside each other in a pot! I used the basil the most, picking it as I needed for pesto, seasoning, and baking. Both of these grew back really quickly after being picked. 

3. Dill and Cilantro: I love both of these herbs, and they grew super quickly. And super tall! I first used these herbs early in the year, and they died shortly after. But were nice while they lasted! 

4. Rosemary: My lovely little rosemary plant also didn't really grow, but it was sparingly used. And stayed alive! 

 5. Lavender: I saw this at the greenhouse and decided to try and grow it, inspired by Jenni (It was one of her wedding flowers! So pretty). I'm sorry to report that it didn't really grow...at all. But it stayed alive!

As much as I don't remember which blooms I half-kept alive this year, I do know that my dusty miller leafy green flourished! I had it in two different pots, and it always looked healthy. This pretty leaf was in my wedding bouquet last year, so I was happy to see it grow well. Jenni, maybe lavender will grow for you instead?

My favourite bloom was this little guy. Name that flower? Mom?

How does your garden grow?

 Hope you all are having a wonderful thanksgiving weekend! 

A Common Creative: Roxanne from Tonic

Creatives are everywhere. We love meeting them! Roxanne is someone I (Kristen) have been seeing around for years, shopping in her stores, but only recently gotten to know. Roxanne is a wonderfully talented lady who owns a fashion boutique with two locations in Saskatoon called Tonic, as well as the online store Farminista. Jenni and I both love Tonic, and the true prairie spirit it brings to fashion. I was happy to bring some of the beautifully curated prairie fashion back to Jenni when we visited Vancouver in August. We loved the pieces Roxanne picked, see our post on the Farminista blog for details on the fashion end of things!

We love hearing how other common creatives get their inspiration, and we were happy to have Roxanne tell us a little bit about her world! 

What brought you to the fashion world of Tonic and Farminista?

I've always been interested in being an entrepreneur. My grandpa had a general store back in the good old days, so I grew up playing store and reading small business magazines. I always had extra racks and displays around, so when I found a small space on broadway, I sold vintage furniture and accessores as well as bags I made. That was called the stuff store. I outgrew my first location and ended up moving behind Lydia's on Broadway and adding vintage clothing and locally made items. I slowly added new clothing until we outgrew that space and ended up moving to a huge space downtown and called it Tonic! So now we have 2 locations ( the 2nd being back on broadway).

What is the best part about running your own shop?

I like the creative process. I like to see something I love in a store in Europe (or any other place) and finding that style to bring back home. Now with farminista, our online store, it's a little reversed at times. We have local styles or designs that we send to our regular customers who have moved away and can't shop regularly at tonic like they used to.

Where do you find inspiration for fashion trends?

Every where!! I always notice something different and that's what we order for Tonic and Farminista. We do like to get a lot of our brands from Europe. We think they are just a little bit ahead of us in the risk taking fashion- so it's always unique and special!

What is the biggest lesson you've learned in running your shop, thus far?  

It's a ton of work. Fashion is always changing and so are we. We change all of our stock every season as well as the layout and decor of the shops- new paint and wallpaper to match the trends. 

Can you name your greatest success?

Staying open and having a family. It's a shock to have a baby and even more shocking to keep running a demanding business- nevermind not getting maternity leave! I feel very blessed to have staff who went above and beyond their job requirements to run the store so I could have 4 babies!

What is a day in the life of your job?

Well, I like to start at the Broadway location to see what they need restocked ( and to have a latte with the manager who happens to be my sister). That location is small, so we restock almost everyday. Then, I go downtown and go through the stock. We have to be careful not to take out items we just loaded online. Our downtown Tonic is our warehouse for our online store, so we keep those items online downtown. After we load up boxes for broadway, we go over new items to put online. We also go over social media, like Instagram and Facebook, to show our customers whats new. Then, I go over what's sold out and order more items if we need. In between all of that, we help girls find outfits or assist with the never ending search for the perfect dress!

What advice do you have to new businesses starting out?

It's a lot of work! 

How do you keep your creative mind going? What do you do to rejuvenate?

My family and friends. It's good to just be silly and do fun things for a few days. Then I find I'm full of new ideas!

Thanks Roxanne for letting us prairie sisters indulge in some prairie fashion on the west coast! And thanks so much for a glimpse into the Tonic and Farminista lifestyle. We love what you do! If you are in need of the perfect dress, or beautiful clothes for everyday, check out Farminista online! See our blog post there for outfit details. And now, just because, here are some silly shots. Because we can never stay serious for too long.

Sister Love

2 weeks since our last post? How did that happen! Jenni and I have been busy spending time together (yay!) and with family. It's been lovely having her here in Saskatchewan.

Just wanted to write a little post about Jenni, since it's her birthday today! And I really couldn't let her outdo me. (She did the same for me about a month ago!)

Jenni is a true artist. If you haven't seen her art on her own personal blog or Etsy shop, you are missing out. Take a look, she paints with a whimsical, nostalgic feel (self described!) and I love that. Jenni reminds me to take things slower and enjoy life as it comes. I know I often jump into my days full speed, doing as much as I can with the time I have awake. Jenni's artistic, thoughtful mind is a wonderful thing, and I love having her as a sister! As middle sisters in a family of 4 girls, we have to stick together! Writing a blog with her has been such a fun project!

(A sunny snapshot from our visit in White Rock a few weeks ago)

Happy Birthday Jenni! Love you lots, and glad I get to see you lots this summer!

Summer Meals

I'm longing for summer weather. There have been too many rainy days and chilly mornings for it to really be June! To make things a little easier, we've been getting into Summer meals. We can't eat them all on the patio yet, unfortunately. But we are barbecuing, farmers market shopping, and plant watering in order to make the summer come eventually!

I tried making a recipe based on these Rainbow Spring Roll recipe I found. Full of colourful veggies, fresh herbs, wrapped in rice paper wrappers, and dipped in a sweet and sour sauce, they are so light, summery and delicious!

I think the first time I saw rice paper wrappers in all their beautiful glory (other than a restaurant setting) was the summer me and Jenni lived together. I had just recently started cooking for myself, and Jenni made something similar to this recipe and stored them in our shared fridge. I was a bit impressed by her culinary skills, I'll admit. The rice papers looked so delicate and thin! Little did I know they would be so easy to use...and really quite durable. Oh well. Jenni, you impressed me!

I adapted the recipe a tad. Here's my version.

3/4 red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 carrot, cut into thin strips

shredded cabbage

spinach cut into strips

1 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tsp fresh basil, chopped

6 rice paper wrappers

Place about 3-4 Tbsp of this mixture in each rice wrapper, soaking the rice wrapper 15 seconds in warm water before filling.

I absolutely loved the sauce for these bundles of goodness. The base for it was originally oolong tea. I used a ginger jasmine tea, and it was fantastic. Here's my version:

1/3 cup of orange juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup strongly steeped ginger tea

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp gluten free soy sauce

few drops sesame oil

pinch red pepper flakes

1 tbsp corn starch

Bring everything but 1/4 cup of tea and cornstarch to a boil. Add cornstarch to reserved tea and make a slurry, add to boiling mixture and reduce heat until it becomes a thick glaze. 

We added a little prosciutto wrapped asparagus on the side, cause it's just so good!

What are some ideas for light summer meals that you have in your repertoire?

Kristen