Appreciating the big picture and ignoring the weeds for now... For us vegetarians, the veggie garden is especially heavy on legumes this...

...So busy that I didn't get this blog published last week (time out to plant peas!). Our growing season is so short that plants race...

...just too wet to plan on anything more that two days ahead. Finally we just harvested when we could and made a series of videos for...

OK. We're coming down the home stretch and drying down the rice paddies (draining out the water that has kept the paddies flooded). ...

Watching the rice varieties develop, the colour changes are always amazing as the plant stems "head up" with grainy bloom and then hang...

As soon as the new rice transplants settle into the mud, they begin "tillering" - that is growing new stems just like the clump grass it...

Two weeks after planting and with nearly continuous rain, while our gardens are dripping and pouting, the rice loves it! Echoes of the...

Transplanting the rice seedlings becomes an exercise in teamwork and balance, awareness of the environment (gridlines and a giant...

The recent rain has helped to hydrate the paddy... but we have added a little water from the pond. Because we don't have water buffalo...

The rice seedlings have been growing steadily in their confined tanks. They are getting more hungry for real soil nutrients and...

Off to the sale on a windy, rainy day - plants don't mind the weather! Every corner full of plants. And lined up to transport. For your...

The germinated seeds are sown and sitting in warm water, in tanks covered with insullation board at night. Every morning, we uncover the...

Seven to ten days after beginning to soak and drain, soak and drain the rice seed, the radical (main root) can be seen emerging like a...

The rice paddies don't look very promising this time of year, but spring happens fast here. Stubble remains from our harvest in October...

Hellebores ho! And they will bloom for months. Lots of surprises await a wanderer through the forests and gardens in spring... Despite...

What a winter!!! Trees laced with winter's freezing rain were brilliant in the sun of the next day, but the silence was punctuated by...

While strolling through the gardens and orchards, checking on the harvest readiness of seeds, fruits and nuts, I began to appreciate the...

Autumn means many different things, but to us it's NUTS! Specifically, hazel nuts from our orchards, and peanuts from our fields. But...

Rice is a beautiful plant and wonderful to work with at all stages. From tiny seedlings in the greenhouse... ...to transplants in the...

Sorghum bicolor 'Ba-Ye-Qi' At NIKIAN Gardens, seed collecting signals the end of one plant cycle and the beginning of another. We think...