Sunflower guerrilla gardening day

Its sunflower guerrilla gardening day is tomorrow!!

Get some plants or seeds and look for a perfect secure spot outside your house to plant them.

Earth Day 2013: New Beginnings

' Dharti Maa say piyar ' courtesy Umme Aimen Kazmi

It is a day to sow new gardens, to fill your soul with aroma of life and to become one with mother nature. Its Earth Day!


One can truly connect with the mother nature when he sows a seed, love and nurtures it. That is how the cycle of love and life has continued on this Earth. Its heart warming to meet people who feel the same.

Two of my close friends started their Kitchen gardens this month. Both are from Lahore, Pakistan. I wanted to share their photos and experience so that some of my readers might feel inspired to grow their own gardens.


Umme Aimen Kazmi writes on her Facebook:

Baby M with his plants. courtesy Umme Aimen Kazmi

"Inspired by my friend Zahra Ali Husain (Crops in Pots) I decided to try my hand at gardening. The ideal place to start was the tiny balcony next to my kitchen. Since my only previous attempt at growing something was wayyy back in primary school where they had us grow bean sprouts for a science experiment, I was a little nervous. Rightly so, because the first few plants i got from the nursery started wilting on day 3! *I wasn't watering them adequately* Anyway, after building my courage with a few flowers bought from the nursery I got seeds to grow some plants from scratch! The joy i felt when I saw the first tiny leaf sprout from the soil was indescribable! It was like giving birth to a baby without all the blood and gore! :D :D It's been 2 1/2 weeks since i started gardening and the experience has been wonderful. I love watching the plants grow little by little each day :') Thank you Zahra ! "

' Curious little gardener'  Courtesy Umme Aimen Kazmi

Aimen, I love the way you planted your garden with your baby. I am feeling as excited as I felt when I planted my first seed. Proud of you!

First day of kitchen gardening . Courtesy: Syed Fawad Haider Rizvi

My other friend, Fawad, finally managed to get all the seeds and equipments to start his kitchen garden. All these wonderful images fill my heart with unexplainable joy! Thanks for sharing your photos and love of nature!

Seeds and the seed tray. Courtesy: Syed Fawad Haider Rizvi

Happy Gardening!
Z

Multicolored Adenium

Few years back I made grafts on this pink Adenium plant. Red and white colored flowers were added to the pink one. Result was pink, red and white flowers on a single plant. It took it 2 years to produce all flowers at the same time. This is how it looks now.

Homemade Banana and Almond-Butter Ice cream

 Banana & almond ice cream recipe and image credit : Umme Aimen Kazmi

Nothing beats homemade food especially when its a simple mouth-watering healthy and scrumptious recipe like this one! 

Homemade Banana and Almond Butter ice cream is for you if you know the value of freshly made food that is preservative free and has no artificial flavors in it.  

This recipe reached me through Umme Aimen Kazmi and she learnt it from her sister Ummul Banned Kazmi. I had to post it here! Thanks for the photos that made me drool Aimen and for writing down the recipe for the readers :)

I bought dozens of Bananas to try this today. You should also give it a try. I am sure you will love it !

Ice cream1. Freeze a few sliced bananas and process them in the chopper until the consistency is that of soft ice cream.
2. Add any flavor you want. Honey, cinnamon, cocoa, coffee, coconut, condensed milk, strawberries, Oreos you name it! Process it and freeze overnight. 

Nut butterTake a handful of nuts and process them in the chopper until they become 'buttery'. You can add some oil and salt for a peanut butter like taste or make yummy combos like walnut+honey+cinnamon or almonds and raisins! 
Great tasting, preservative free substitute for regular butter, jams and fattening store bought peanut butter!

A day that begins with homemade Banana-Mocha ice cream and dark chocolate coated almonds sprinkled with dark brown sugar just can NOT go wrong! - Umme Aimen Kazmi

Tip: don't make a whole lot of nut butter in one go since it won't keep in the fridge for longer then a week.