Happy Canada Day everyone! I hope you all had a good one.

Sadly, I have had to return back from Tofino early. Yes, I had a crazy surfboard incident. 11 stitches on my forehead. If you’d like to see the stitches, click here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! So it’s back to work for me.

Pictures from Tofino coming up soon.

So yesterday, instead of surfing and being on the beach, I spent the day with Allan and my Dad in the garden and in the kitchen for Canada Day. We made hamburgers, garden vegetables, spring salmon, and potatoes. Yum!

My Dad has been meticulously taking care of a garden for as long as I can remember. When we lived in Australia for several years, I remember eating oranges right out of our garden. It’s been a long struggle for our family to make ends meet, but somehow my Dad has always found time to take care of the garden in the morning before work and after working 12 hours a day. I remember helping out in the garden when I was growing up, and eating fresh vegetables and fruits throughout the year.

Here’s just a sampling of pictures from our garden from yesterday, and the meal that we cooked up:

Freshly picked veggies and fruits from the garden: HUGE raspberries (my favourite), boysenberries (they are basically large and juicy blackberries), new potatoes, peas, basil, mint, and cilantro.

A view from one side of our garden, click to see where everything is located. Click All Sizes to see the large size.

The view from the other side of our garden, again, click to zoom in.

I used to have a rooftop patio in the west end but had to move all my planters to my family’s house when I moved into Allan’s apartment with no patio for a couple years. Fortunately, our new place has a patio so I’m planning on moving my planters over soon so I can start gardening again.

Lilies…

The blueberries starting to come out…

The plum tree, still green… but they will be ripe and juicy soon!

Fuji apples starting to ripen…

Tomatoes starting to get ready!

Garden-grown garlic drying out (shame I didn’t get that bug in focus!)

Green grapes starting to form on the vine…

Dill! I love eating herbs straight from the garden.

Flowers in the garden…

Our family’s secret recipe for hamburgers! Lots of fresh herbs and onions from the garden, and lean organic beef.

Hamburgers all cooked up from the charcoal BBQ with hickory smoked chips.

New potatoes and fresh garden vegetables (all except the broccoli)..

Grilled spring salmon (just caught last week) on the BBQ and grilled zucchini from the garden! Yum!

Yes, we definitely enjoyed some home grown and home cooked food yesterday!

How did you spend your Canada Day?