Urban Gardening - Chineesy Stylo

Well it's been a week now and the kids are diggin' the garden. We've been planting flowers, using the compost and planning new vegetables for the future. I wanted to go Chinese in our plot so Angela and the kids picked up some bok choy seeds which they planted and marked out with stick and string. Hopefully, we'll see some bok choy sprout from the ground in the near future. In order to be totally enviro in our house (because it's so fuckin' cool to be enviro now) I've brought back the old family tradition of organic liquid fertilizer, a special Chinese blend of fresh and readily available nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.

Growing up my father instilled in us a sense of responsibility and connection to our planet through the food we ate, which he dedicated himself to growing and harvesting in our concrete pad of a backyard in downtown Toronto. I was most aware of this connection during the growing season when we were forced to practice the thousand year old tradition of peeing in a bucket. Every morning, as I awoke and stumbled into the bathroom the sharp smell of urine would remind me of my duty as a loyal son to pee in the red bucket beside the toilet, you know, the one with the recycled wood plank for a cover. Yes that's right folks, the family pee was the secret behind our liquid fertilizer. A farming tradition passed on from generation to generation, which as far as I was concerned, put us in the F.O.B category of immigrants.

The end results, however, were proof that our ancestors knew what they were doing . The vegetables that came out of that garden were the best darn vegetables I've ever eaten. Back then there were no Asian aisles at the local super market so Dad grew everything - bitter melons, winter melons, peas and a variety of Chinese cabbages; my favourite a red version of the bok choy, which mom would cook in a soup. All these tasty treats thanks to our ancestors simple approach of not over thinking things, being resourceful and reusing everything.

Taoist believe that the harmonious flow of Qi, life energy, between people and nature is vital to our health and well being. Our connection as children to my father's urban vegetable garden was as harmonious as it could be, connecting our Qi (or is that pee) with the earth and thus, making the circle life complete.

Thanks Dad for instilling in us a true grassroots eco-Taoist lifestyle - Doh je ah Ba!

Boys let the peeing begin. Honey, did you hide my bucket?