Goji Berries in my edible garden

Summary of post
How to plant your own goji berries (Lycium barbarum). Germinating and sowing your own Goji Berry plants, for those DIY- type people (like myself!).


Goji Berries: A traditional Asian "medicine"?
Being Malaysian Chinese, I've eaten goji berries since I was a baby. Chinese ladies use the dried red berries in soups and other tasty dishes. I love it as is (tastes like a raisin with lots of little seeds like a blueberry has). I also love the flavour it imparts to some of my favorite Chinese dishes. Never really thought of it as a medicine though, much less a 'sexual tonic revered in Asian herbalism'! Goji berries have become the latest health food craze here in the US and apparently can cure a plethora of maladies.

Goji berries in my edible garden
This plant packs a punch healthwise and also aesthetically. Impressive white and purple trumpet-like flowers from early summer, eye-catching fire-engine-red clusters of delicious berries on a lush green bush (max height 8 ft). The plants will fruit continuously till

Asparagus in my edible garden

Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies and there are two feathery clumps in my garden right now. The great thing about incorporating asparagus in an edible landscape is that once established, it comes back every year for up to 20 years. It usually doesn't need watered because the roots go deep, and is low-maintenance (at least from what I read!)

Since I had never grown asparagus before, I read through several articles on how to do this. Of these, I found the extension fact sheets from OSU, MSU and UMN the most informative. A really useful guide on growing asparagus I found free and public domain from Google Book Search was Gardening For Profit, published in 1909 by Peter Henderson. The asparagus shoots in my garden are now quite skinny (smaller diameter than a pencil), so I cut back the spears and

Living Simply

What is living simply?

Simple Living elegantly defined by Duane Elgin is “Living in a way that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich” in 'Voluntary Simplicity' (a classic paperback. Used, for a mere 76 cents here).

Living a simple life is exactly that – simple. It does not mean forsaking all creature comforts and living like a hermit. Rather, you decide what is “enough” for you and do away with the rest. Voluntary simplicity is practised by a growing number of people who wish to tread lightly on our planet and who have no desire to keep up with the Joneses. It is a life that is ‘considered’, not thoughtless.

It is a life of consequence.


What are the benefits of simple living?

Tremendous. By consciously reducing your need to buy goods or services, you consequently lessen the need to sell your time and energy to make money to make these purchases.

The most important choice in living simply is

Can one person make a difference?

I have a thing about plastic bags. An obsession, if you will.

I feel guilty about using them. I feel bad knowing that these handy little fossil-fuel-derived things will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere, never, ever to degrade. Or worse still, be sucked in by a jellyfish and end up choking and killing an endangered baby turtle.

To assuage my feelings of guilt and shame, I resort to one 'inaction' and several 'actions'.

Inaction #1: Don't go shopping. Shopping = packaging. And these days it is almost impossible to purchase stuff without packaging. This “Inaction #1” can be a very difficult thing to (not) do, especially if you are a shopping afficionado like myself. In which case, one must then refer to Action #1.

Action #1: Very carefully pick and choose establishments that purvey less packaging. To this end, I shop at farmers markets and the like. No Styrofoam, no cling wrap, no unnecessary packaging. Yes, sometimes it can be slightly inconvenient but nobody said saving the world was going to be easy right? Besides farmers markets are the best!

Action #2: I carry my own plastic bags everywhere. I am prepared for any occasion. They are like my little security blankets. I keep my stash close to me, not knowing