Saturday 26 July 2014

sunflowers :: green tea :: cactus :: shop hours in august

OK, how's this for a mixed bag of news...?

The dog days of summer in southern Ontario bring humidity, mosquitoes, thunder storms, incessant road work... yet all of this is forgiven with the arrival of the sunflowers!
For the next few weeks we will have a few buckets of these summer beauties available.
simple vase of sunflowers


And, after many, many requests and some real sleuthing, I have finally sourced a 
winter hardy cactus!



They bloom, they bear fruit (edible!) and best of all - they withstand being left outside in your garden through our winters.
The cactus are quite young at this point, and should be placed in the garden soon so that they can have time to establish themselves for the coming winter.





And, for something completely unrelated...
green tea plants at i fiori.

green tea ::  camellia sinensis

These are young vigorous plants which are happy indoors, (or can live outside during the summer and fall). 
Leaves can be harvested at any time, dried slightly and steeped into tea.

One method of making green tea from fresh leaves:
- pinch off a few leaves and steam-blanche them for 1-2 minutes, then cool them immediately under cold water
- the leaves will be soft and flexible, roll them loosely and place on an oven-proof tray 
- bake/dry them at a low temperature (225-250 F), stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until evenly dried
- cool and store in a sealed container, or steep 5 -6 leaves in boiling water and enjoy your all-natural, unprocessed green tea.


shop news in August

i fiori will be closed on sundays, mondays & tuesdays for the month of August.
We will still be available for phone orders and deliveries, or appointments - only the shop will be closed. 

And, coming soon... the big reveal of the tile project! Hopefully ready and installed for the August art crawl - I will keep you posted.