Pressure Canning Workshop

A few weekends ago I attended at Pressure Canning Workshop at my favourite organic farm, Everdale. I found out that I am totally screwed in the canning department. While I had fun and could see myself attempting some concoctions at home to compliment my water-bath canning and freezing preservation techniques, I am not sure I can participate.

Meet my nemisis:


A glass top range that came with the house. I never had any particular liking to glass top but would take it if it was here. This is not good. Not if I want to pressure can. I learned that glass tops are not sturdy enough to handle the weight of the canner and filled jars. Pooh!

I could purchase a hot plate, but I am afriad even that would damage my glass top or counter tops. The instructor suggested I use a concret garden stone to place the hot plate on but again I am worried about my countertops.

Had I known I would have saved our oven/range from the old house (instead of selling it) and stored it in the garage for use when I am pressure canning. Hindsight is always 20/20. So this project must go on the back burner (ha!) until I can figure out an alternative.

In the meantime I have this lovely soup as a reminder of my class. It looks almost too good to eat...almost.

ARCHIVED: Freezing Summer Fruits

Busy time of year. Here's a refresher on how I freeze fruits for my family in the summer to enjoy them all year long. The process is the same for all summer berries.

Enjoy!

Archived Post:

We've been busy the last few weeks, picking, canning and freezing strawberries and raspberries. Blueberries will be ready soon.




By August my freezer is always packed with numerous frozen summer berries. We use them in cereals, yogurt, pies and my personal fave, smoothies!

I use the flash freeze method for berries. Using a cookie sheet you pile on the berries in a single layer and place in freezer uncovered. Once frozen, pull out the cookie sheet and place all the berries in a large freezer bag. This method keeps the berries from clumping together allowing me to remove only as much as I need at one time.



Be very gentle with the berries, raspberries especially are highly delicate. Next up, blueberries!

Apple and Pear Trees

Today we planted our three apple and two pear trees. About two weeks ago my local garden store had these trees on sale. The first thing I did was scope out which trees they had in stock and then came home to research whether those trees would fit my needs. Most fruit trees need a pollinator, another tree of the same species (apple to apple, pear to pear) and they must bloom at the same time. However you may also want to make sure your trees give you early season apples, mid-season apples or late season apples.



Making sure you have the same blooming times and the right harvesting time can be tricky. I did however find some useful info in my book, The Farmer's Wife Guide to Fabulous Berries and Fruits. I also found a few websites that helped to chart which blooms when and which trees they would be compatible with. In the end, I choose Granny Smith for their good baking and ability to store over winter, Spartan for their excellent eating and Cortland, another good baking and storage apple.

My husband and children love pears so they twisted my arm into getting two pear trees. We got a Barlett and Bosc variety. I plan to use some for storage and can the rest.

Trees need to be placed at least 10 feet apart but no more that 100 feet since they need each other for cross pollination. We can help the bees along by keeping them fairly close to each other. We spaced them out in their pots to visualize and measure. Once we decided where everything should go we got to digging.

To plant an apple tree you must dig a hole as deep as your pot but twice as wide. Loosen your tree from the pot and break away some of the dirt around the base of the tree. After you refill the soil around the planted tree, water the base of the tree with at least a watering can full of water.



John Seymour, author of "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" said the best way to ensure a tree reaches it's maximum potential is to "bury a dead dog underneath". I can see the use for good decomposing matter but I just didn't have one on hand. So barring that, I used some plant food supplied by my garden nursery who would guarantee the tree would live for an extra year (over their standard 1 year warranty) if I used it. What the heck? They'd give me a new tree if these ones ever died.

I also added a layer of mulch to the base of the trees to keep the moisture in the soil since moisture is essential this first year.

Here's some tips for Planting Apple and Pear Trees:

- plant in spring to give the trees a full 3 seasons to mature before winter.
- Apples do best in colder climates because they need a bit of winter chill to ripen correctly.
-do not plant them near a pond or wooded area as these places attract frost which will cling to your young apple trees and kill the blossoms.
- do not plant at the bottom of a hill. It is best to plant in high ground as frost tends to go to the lowest part of the landscape.
- add compost to the base of the tree in the fall.
-water each week if you have not received at least an inch of rain.
- prune in fall when required.

Before planting you must contact your local utilities to get what's called a "Locate" this is where they go around your yard and mark where the water, gas, hydro, phone lines are so you don't accidentally damage something. You could be held liable if you dig without doing this homework. It also gives you an accurate picture of where your plants will flourish and not get it's roots tangled in anything down below. Most areas have a One Call company that handles this for all the utilities. You can see in my one picture where there is red spray paint (water-based, lead free). I had to wait a week before I knew where the power lines were but it was worth it because in the end I did not have to worry.

Seed-sational!

I have been eying seed packages for a while now and just today put in my first order. I am trying something new this year and deciding to use only local, certified organic, heirloom seeds.

Heirloom varieties are plants and seeds that are original, traditional and unmodified. They have not been genetically engineered or altered like hydrid seeds, the standard seed found in garden stores. Those commonly found hybrid seeds are the result of years of engineering by seed companies to produce a mono-cultured plant. These plants do not produce viable seeds. You simply eat the resulting fruit/veg and buy more seeds next year. This keeps gardeners coming back year after year.

Heirloom seeds are varieties that were used by our ancestors centuries ago. There is far greater variety in colours and flavours of the resulting fruit. They tend to be hardier, better suited for natural gardens. By planting heirloom seeds we are encouraging genetic diversity and protecting our seed resources for generations to come. If we only ever planted one variety of corn and then a disease developed targeting that variety we as a nation would be in a hard place to produce enough food for the hungry. By planting a genetic variety we are diversifying our success.

The genetic diversity of the world's food crops is eroding at an unprecedented and accelerating rate. The vegetables and fruits currently being lost are the result of thousands of years of adaptation and selection in diverse ecological niches around the world. Each variety is genetically unique and has developed resistance to the diseases and pests with which it evolved.

-Seed Savers Exhange

I found an Ontario-based heirloom seed company called The Cottage Gardener. They have such an array of choices it was truly hard to choose. For my first foray into heirloom seeds I decided to keep to the basics.

Broccoli
Carrots
Melon
Peas
Pumpkin
Paste Tomato
Tomato
Parsnip

I also will be getting lettuces, corn, cucumber, radish, spinach, beans, onions and peppers from another local source.

Urban Homestead Day of Action

Show the Dervaes that we won't be bullied and told that our way of life is copyrighted.

Urban Homestead Diaries

"Show your Urban Homesteading pride and unity by tweet, blog, and update with the words urban homestead and urban homesteading in the title.
Be sure to put the words in the title of your post so they show up on google searches."

Tis a Gift to be Simple

Becoming an Urban Homesteader

It's been a few years since I embarked on this journey and this spring has got me truly excited. I have so much more sunny land to work with. There are so many more possibilities.

I want to concentrate on Organic Heirloom Vegetables and Herbs. I want to start seed saving and conduct experiments within my little suburban farm. We have an acre of land with a sprinkling of trees. I need to remain mindful of our septic tank. All in all though I have an excellent blank canvas for living work of art.



I started planning out my raised bed. I plan to construct 10 inch high borders and fill them with compost, peat moss and soil. I wanted to make the configuration of my raised beds interesting, unique yet functional.



The three rectangled beds in the centre will be permenate installments for plants like strawberries and herbs. The outer L-shaped beds will operate on a rotating basis. There are 3 foot aisles all around, but that may change depending on the width of my wheel barrow or wagon that I want to use.

This design has over 400 square feet of gardening space. But I am not finished there. I would like to construct another set of raised beds at the back of the property for vine plants like pumpkin, cantaloupe and maybe watermelon (one of my planned experiments). And I would like to make a larger herb garden for things like Chamomile and other medicinal type plants on the opposite side of the deck.

All in good time, all in good time. The trick will be to slow myself down at this point. Watch out...I'm an urban homesteader!

Chicks in the City

I decided to contact the local townships to see what was permissable on certain land with specific zoning. We have been looking at properties in four different townships, all with various sizes from 3/4 of an acre to 33 acres. Obviously the size of our plot with determine the operations we can undertake. Laws seem to vary from township to township without much rhyme or reason.



In one township I was told chickens, even just three or four, are only permissable on land zoned agricultural. Agricultural land around here is hard to find for under $1 million, and that's just slightly out of our price range... okay fine, that's TOTALLY out of our price range! I asked about clothes lines as well, just double checking what I already thought to be law, that townships in Ontario could not regulate whether certain neighbourhoods have clotheslines, apparently I was wrong.

After laughing at me (literally) over my chicken request, the lady on the phone said "clotheslines are a concern for health and safety."

What?!

"The township has valid fears about decapitations."

Excuse me? What did she just say?

"It can happen. That's where the term 'clothes lined' comes from."

You have got to be kidding me!

On to the next, hopefully more sane, township. This township will allow chickens and other agricultural uses on rurally zoned properties over 5 acres or more. Good. Now I am getting some where. How hard can it be to find 5 acres with a house that isn't falling down and/or needing $1 million in renovations?...hard, apparently, really, really hard.

Methinks I shall be getting acquainted with local authorities, and short of begging on hands and knees, I shall have to make them see things my way. Chickens are a wonderful addition to organic gardens by keeping down pests and raising the nutrients in the soil. Not to mention the added bonus of eggs from happy chickens. Lordy, lordy, I really hope I don't have a big fight on my hands because man if I get ticked, feathers are gonna fly!

Homestead Blessings Review

Well, they finally arrived, my two DVDs from Homestead Blessings in Tennessee. I was so excited to get started I watched both in less than 24 hours. I ordered The Art of Dairy Delights, and their newest addition, The Art of Quilting. Since I purchased these videos with my own money instead of having them gifted to me, I do not feel obliged to give a review filled with false praise. Many of the reviews I read prior to placing my order practically gleamed with how wonderful and informative these tutorials are. I must disagree. These DVDs, although sweet, leave a lot to be desired.



The Art of Dairy Delights is a one hour instructional DVD that walks you through the basic process of making your own butter, ice cream, yogurt and mozzarella cheese. I am fairly proficient at making my own butter and I have been experimenting with making my own homemade ice cream for a while. I still thought these DVDs would delve deeper. I wanted a bit more like the DVD case description suggested. The description says "the process of making scrumptious ice creams, smooth and tasty butters, rich and creamy yogurts and delectable cheeses." Notice the plurals? It lead me to believe the was more than just the basic vanilla ice cream and plain yogurt, I mean they did use plurals when describing what processes were included. No, I was wrong. I felt sourly disappointed at the end, wondering why I hadn't just borrowed a book from my library instead.

The Art of Quilting held a lot of promise also. It was a step by step feature on cutting and piecing together a standard square block quilt. I have been quilting for a few years now and am a little beyond those basics. Again I expected more. I had visions of learning new techniques, maybe the best way to salvage some worn out clothes. I wanted to learn quilting from a homesteading perspective, and thought this DVD would give me some more insight into keeping quilting simple. Aside from the vintage treadle sewing machine used, I wasn't impressed.

These videos are far too basic for a homesteader like me. The skills I have learned over the last few years were acquired from library books, Youtube videos and first hand knowledge from others. And barely cost me anything. These videos carry a much higher price tag and I doubt I would have purchased them knowing what I know now. For wannabe and seasoned homesteaders these DVDs use up resources (money) that can otherwise be directed to their farms. Some other bloggers who have feature the videos as giveaways were overly generous with their reviews, and after reading some of them again, now that I have seen the videos, I wonder if they had even watched them before promoting them so blindly.

I am sorry dear readers, sorry to say that I must give this series a thumbs down. While I am enthralled with anyone who chooses this lifestyle, and giddy at watching how others go about their homesteads, the atmosphere was not enough to make me enjoy these DVDs. After spending over $40 for the videos, shipping and border duties, I realize now I should have just went to the library and paid $2 for parking.

Red Fruit of the Gods

We went strawberry picking Tuesday. We filled four baskets full but I don't think that will be enough for all the canning and freezing I do. I will have to get some more next week. We go to a local berry farm, where they grow strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. They also have a lot of fresh local produce but it's too early in the season for most things. I was eying the new potatoes but simply must wait a few more weeks. Right now they resemble the size of ping pong balls!

Stealing a taste! Nothing beats the sweet taste of a strawberry fresh from the field. These strawberries were perfect for homemade juice!

Homestead Blessings

I order this today from Homestead Blessings and I simply can not wait for it to arrive. I also ordered, the Art of Quilting.



I came across these neat looking videos about a year ago. I have been biding my time, contemplating which ones to buy first. I was at a homeschool curriculum fair a week ago and one of the vendors actually had the whole set of DVDs for sale. I waffled, returned to the table a few times before ultimately walking away. The next day I regretted it.

It always seems to be the way. The times when I buy impulsively I almost always regret it before I even hit the parking lot. The times when I talk myself out of it are the times when I wish I had behaved impulsively.

I will write a prompt review once I watch them.

Culinary Arts of Years Past

I had a wonderful opportunity this weekend to partake in a Historic Cake Baking class, at Fort York. The fort is the original military garrison that helped established what is modern day Toronto. The museum has focused its programs and activities around the period leading up to and during the War of 1812. While attending a homeschool group sleepover a few weekends ago, another homeschool mom and I noticed posting for a class in historic cake baking.



The day was wonderful. Using period recipes we mimicked the process of making baked goods and baking them as they would have been when the fort was active. We made Derby "Short" cakes, Portugal cakes, Lemon cake, Gingerbread cake and Rout cakes. We had cakes baking in the bake oven, over the hearth, and in a special pan with coals on the top and bottom which made a nice, efficient oven.



When we arrived there were two fires blazing, one in the hearth, the other in the bake oven at the side of the main fireplace. I had always thought the bake oven was heated from a fire underneath. When the bricks inside the bake oven turned white, we removed the fire and close the small door to keep the heat in.

One thing we learned is that baking in a historical manner is not an exact science. A cake one day could take an hour to bake, while the same cake another day could take four hours, depending on the temperature of the oven.

Another interesting thing about historic baking is that there was no baking soda or easy way to leaven a cake (leaven is the rising agent). Leavening had to be done with readily available ingredients like eggs. For each recipe the eggs had to be separated (yokes in one bowl, whites in another). Whites were always placed in a round bottom copper bowl. And then both bowls are whipped using a hand whisk. Each bowl needed 15 to 20 minutes of whisking to get the desired consistency. Our arms were exhausted!



The sugar as well would have been cone shaped, and hardened for transport to Upper Canada from far away locales. Cooks were required to use a mortar and pestle to smash the sugar into the form we have readily available today. This was another time consuming and physically taxing task. The nutmeg and ginger as well needed to be hand grated. Everything was measured by weight on a balance scale. And measuring cups were tea cups, a standard teacup being equal to 8 ounces (1 cup).





Historic recipes lack descriptions. It was assumed anyone worth their salt would know their way around a 1812 kitchen. Reading historical recipes can be difficult for a modern cook not knowledgeable in period cooking techniques. Even now historians are experimenting with different techniques and ingredients to piece together the foods that were once the staple of our young nation.




I find it all very fascinating. I know my way around a modern kitchen quite nicely. I rare rely on modern conveniences and electronic helpers but even I had a learning curve in this historic kitchen. It was a wonderful experience.

Starting Seeds

The weather has been a boon this year and I am grateful for it. The garden beds are ready now, I finished preparing the large 12 by 14 foot garden yesterday with my hubby's help and now we are "a go". All we need to do is wait for the last frost of the season which should arrive sometime around June 1 for our area (a borderline Zone 5 and 4).

I started some seeds a few weeks ago, some lettuce and broccoli. I did not sow all the seeds. I am going to stagger a bit this year so it is not all ready at once.



I also decided to use these neat newspaper pots instead of the plastic ones I normally used. Since we thought we were moving, I recycled all my old ones last September. Now of course, you all know, I am not moving just yet. Rather than buy a whole bunch more I decided to make my own. The newspapers can be planted directly in the ground with the seedling. So cool!

I found the tutorial at Natural Kids. I make them while in front of the television or when I have few moments. I need a lot so it is far better for me to do a few here and there then do them all up at once.

I am on the look out for biodegradable tape that I can use too, which presents a challenge but I figure a bit of plastic tape in a whole lot better than a bunch of large pots that can crack and become useless. A bit of "sweat equity" on my part helps keep emissions down when making and transporting those pots to a store. And newspapers get dropped off at my house without me even asking for it, so I am using what I have.

Making Butter

It's really quite simple and oh so satisfying. Nothing tastes better than homemade butter on homemade bread. Simply divine! Yet another thing to check off my self-sufficiency list!



Start off with heavy cream, the heaviest you can get a hold of. In my neck of the woods, the heaviest available is 35%, commonly known as Whipping cream. A lower cream content can also be made into butter but it takes longer.

Whipping Cream recently went on sale in my area so I pick up some. I am using 500 ml of 35% cream and two 500 ml mason jars.

Fill jars half full and place on the lids. And now shake! You don't have to shake vigorously, just keep the liquid moving.




After about 10 minutes the cream gets thicker.




And then it will almost solidify. At this stage it becomes hard to shake and it really feels like you aren't doing anything because the cream is stuck to the outer edge of the jar and then...puff! The whey separates and you have a big lump of butter in the middle splashing around.



We kept shaking for a few more minutes before emptying the whey (cloudy milk) and adding ice cold water. Shake around again. Pour out, add more ice water. Keep going until the liquid is pretty clear. Pour out remaining water.



Then put your butter on top of a cloth. I used a cheesecloth in this picture but the fibers were too far apart. A linen cloth would be best. Squeeze the cloth around the butter and let the remaining whey drip out.



It's important to get the whey out or else the butter will expire pretty quickly. Then remove cloth, and place butter in your desired container and refrigerate!

Since I was doing two jars my daughter volunteered to help with one. We had a shake off, to see who's would turn into butter first. She won by the way but only because I was stopping to take pictures.

You can also make butter using a blender or food processor or a mixer. To get directions for this method check out Down to Earth

My 500 ml ( 1 pint) yielded almost two cups or one pound of butter. Let's forget about self-sufficiency for a moment and look at the numbers. At the regular price of $3.59for whipping cream, this process hardly makes it worth it when pre-made butter costs $2.99 but when whipping cream is on sale for $1.99 it makes financial sense. It certainly can provide a nice treat at a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast!

Daily Bread

It occurred to me that I have never posted by bread recipe. It's an odd thing considering I endeavor to make bread at least once a week. Bread is a true staple around here. I somehow manage to incorporate homemade dough into just about everything.



I learned to make bread from my grandmother, affectionately called Nanny. I suppose it's an old Newfoundland tradition brought over from Europe to call your grandmother Nanny. I can't tell you how many times someone has assumed when I said Nanny they thought I meant a care provider Nanny. I guess in these parts Nannies are reserved for well to do families, something we are certainly not. But I digress.

My Nanny is such a sweet woman. She has made it her life purpose to take care of people. The eldest of five children, she was a care provider at an early age. When she married she had one son, my father. Considering her maternal instinct is so strong, you would image she would have more children but like me (who also has a strong maternal instinct) that was not to be.

Much of my homemaking prowess is due to her tutelage. We bonded early on and she often remarks how I have surpassed her in some ways. The bread I make it very different from the bread she taught me to make but the principles remain the same. The way I knit is very different from the way she knits. The recipes I cook are often things she would never desire to learn. But that's not the point. She planted a seed in me and allowed it to flourish. She never scoffed at my efforts or discouraged my desire to learn more. She has supported my desire to stay home and seems to understand my need to make my home for a living.

Whenever I make bread, my hands wrist deep in flour and water, the sticky dough clinging to my fingers, I think of my Nanny and wish I could just drive across town to bring her a loaf. She lives two and a half hours a way now and we can no longer connect as readily as we used to. But the knowledge is still there and the connection will never fade.



White Bread

2 cups of warm water
3 tsp of dry active yeast

Place the above together in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix:

6 cups of flour
4 tbsp of margarine or butter
2 Tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of salt

Mix with hands while adding in water/yeast mixture. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl with your fingers to release all flour. Turn and knead until dough pulls together in a nice round mound. Knead for five minutes then place in the oven with light on.

Let rise for 30 minutes.

Knead again. Let rise in oven with light on again for 30 minutes.

Form into loaves. I make long baguette like loaves for my bread but you can also use bread pans as well. If you are making baguette loaves make sure to cut diagonal slits along the formed dough before the final rise.

Let rise once more in formed loaves then bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes for baguettes, 30 minutes for bread pans. Let cool for 10 minutes...Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

This time of year is so magical. It is the time when the crops are in, stored away for winter. It's the time when people come in from outside and spend more and more time beside one another.

I have always had reverence for autumn but this year for some reason my wonder is so much more pronounced. I have put more up for winter than I ever had in years passed. I have canned more, blanched more and prepared more than ever. It feels good to have a stocked freezer and pantry.

I am more thankful for what we have now that we have pared down our lifestyle. I am grateful for the time we have. I am aware of the many blessings in my life today. I can not say things are really all that different from the way they were last year. We still live in the same house. We still hang in the same circles and we still enjoy (endure?) the same level of income.

I feel my new found gratitude is rooted in my increasing self-sufficiency. I have more control over our successes and failures than ever before. I am finding my true self, (my authentic self if you will allow me to be entirely cliched).

For all these things I am giving thanks.

The 100 Mile Diet

Has everyone heard of the 100 Mile Diet? When I first heard of it a little more than a year ago I thought it was another crazy scheme to loose weight, you know something like the cabbage soup diet or grapefruit diet. Turns out the authors of the book, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, meant DIET in the traditional sense, the make up of what we eat.



You'd be surprised at the amount of food that, although grown right down the road, is being brought in from other provinces or states, even other countries. My family and I, well actually I mostly, have been shopping the last year with this in mind. I noticed a massive display of strawberries in my regular market. It was the height of strawberry season here so naturally I thought I can enjoy a summer delicacy without much guilt yet when I looked at the package I noticed all plastic clam shell packages had been imported from California. There is a fairly large berry farm right down the road and I knew their fruit, picked fresh from the plant was sweeter, redder and would last longer.

It angered me to think that my local grocery could not support our local farmers, save the environment and our taste buds. Locally picked produce is so much better when picked in it's prime and eaten shortly after. Even my 9 year old daughter notices the difference between store bought strawberries and the ones we pick ourselves from the field.

I have known for a long time that I wanted to exert more control over where my food comes from. I am a locavore at heart but have fallen short of actually sourcing out all the local food until recently. My resistance to actually taking on the diet is purely financial. If money was no object it certainly would be nice to rely solely on the food produced locally but let's be honest, local food and local farmers can not compete with the large agribusinesses who's profit margins matter more than animal well being. Local food is expensive and my inner tightwad has been sabotaging my efforts to live completely from food produced here.

On some things I have had to swallow back my Ebenezer tendencies but in others I just can't. I can not see paying $5 for a dozen eggs even if they are organic (in my house local trumps organic considering how many hoops small farmers must jump through around here to get an official designation).

I came up with a plan, not an excuse but something my family and I can better live with while making the transition. We're calling it A Whole Lot of Local. It's a combination of Whole foods (foods closest to it's original source, without processing) with a lot of Local. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot... 75 per cent local is a number I have in my head but we will see how the winter goes.

We kissed Tim Horton's goodbye with one last shabang. We've been traveling around checking out farms and farmers markets sourcing out our food. Even my daughter has reminded my son that we can't go to McDonald's "because it's not a 100 Miles"... he thinks the diet means we have to walk a hundred miles before we can eat anything, got to love kid logic.

Certain things we will allow. Sugar, for the time being while I source out conversions to honey or maple syrup sweetened recipes. Black tea for my husband, who has also promised to give herbals another try. Yeast for my baking, and a small amount of lemon juice for canning. We plan to treat ourselves with a box of clementines at Christmas like the pioneers. There will be other exceptions I am sure but let's face it, so much of the world economy is driven by international trade that many places in Canada that would have produced flour or yeast have migrated down south. One of the points of this diet is to keep what we have alive and thriving here in Ontario and perhaps encourage more producers to give it a go here as well.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to give local eating a try. An entire meal can be prepared using only locally sourced ingredients. Even if most people don't think an entirely local diet is not for them, making small local purchases can go along way to help the bigger picture.

Happy Thanksgiving Canadian readers!

Apple Harvest

We went apple picking at a local farm and truly enjoyed ourselves. My husband found this lovely gem among all the apples we picked (a bushel) and presented it to me. "I must have picked this one for you." He can be so sweet.

I usually make 10 apple pies and 10 apple crisps and put them in the freezer unbaked. We bake and eat them throughout the winter. Last year we barely got through them all so I think I will only make a few of each. But I still wanted to pick a whole bushel with a plan to store the rest.

Since I have a rather large sack of potatoes in my back room (our pantry) that space is a 'no-go' for my apples. Apples and Potatoes don't get along well, you see, and I would hate to have rapidly ripening bushel. So I stashed them in my linen closet up stairs. The hideaway gets no light and there is no nearby furnace vents which keeps the spot relatively cool. We have no basement and the temperatures in our attic vary so greatly I would not trust anything to survive up there.



There are a few things to worry about with apples: Bruises and close contact with other apples. These two things can wreak havoc on an apple harvest. To combat this apples must be sorted. Any fruit with breaks in the skin, bruises or soft bits should be used for pies right away. All reasonably 'perfect' apples can be wrapped in newspaper (not the coloured paper) and placed in a container. The apples are kept from touching each other so if one does decide to decline, apples sitting around it won't degrade as well.




Apples should stay firm for a good three to four months if stored like this.

Foraging

The idea of foraging for food is an old one, but one that is almost frowned upon nowadays. Somehow our society has equated foraging with scavenging or dumpster diving. While pockets of people are still passing on these age-old skills a lot of people without a mentor to guide them are hesitant to start.

What plants are edible? What if I mistake a poisonous plant or berry? Some people are sure that the work they expel while hunting down food is too much, especially when a supermarket, just down the street, is filled to the rafters.

While intrigued with foraging, I am one of those who does not have a mentor and so it was one of the things on the bottom of my skills-to-learn list but I did know I wanted to learn.



The kids and I got a crash course yesterday when meeting up with friends to hike a local trail. Right at the start of the trail I spotted two trees with bright red apples on the branches. The trees were hidden by smaller trees and bushes all around. Looking from the trail you would not have noticed there were apple trees without looking up.

My daughter was sure they were "crappy apples" but I didn't think so. After our walk the kids were hungry but I didn't have anything besides water, so I joked about them climbing the apple tree for a snack. And they did! My daughter was the first one to bite in and she said they tasted so sweet!

We spent nearly an hour picking apples by any means necessary. Both of the trees were so densely covered with neighbouring plants one trunk could not be accessed. Left to their own devices the trees have grown gnarly, and their branches were high. There were thorn bushes as well but getting threw that was half the fun.



The kids climbed as far as they could, they began using sticks to nudge apples from the spots and eventually when all that were in reach were gathered they began throwing the sticks and collecting whatever fell.

We gathered enough for an apple pie, I am sure. Even though some are a bit scabby it will peel and the fruit inside is quite sweet. In the end, it was such a good day and I was so happy coming home with my backpack full of 'found' apples that I felt closer to self-sufficiency.

The Deceitful Nature of Tomatoes

Tomatoes look so unassuming on the outside. Their harvest is usually plentiful leading the harvester to image a plethora of wonderful products to make. Don't be deceived my friend, nothing is as great a disappointment as the deceitful tomato.

In order to prepare tomatoes for anything really, they must be peeled. The best way to peel a tomato is by cutting an X in the bottom and then blanching (boiling) them for 2 minutes before plunging them in cold, cold water. This process makes the skins loose and easy to peel...it also makes them slippery, slushy and that's not the half of it.



After they are peeled they must be seeded. The ideal tomato variety for canning is the Roma tomato also known as Paste Tomato. Roma tomatoes have far less seeds and juice than other varieties but still be prepared to lose half their bulk once peeled and seeded.

A large basket of tomatoes can quickly turn into barely enough to complete a recipe. I planted 24 seedlings this year and have harvested about about 25lbs. The first harvest last weekend garnered 2 freezer bags of diced tomatoes (for chili)..yup you heard me TWO!

I have another full basket here that I hope will be enough for a few jars of salsa, but I doubt it. I will need to find another source but given the massive amounts of rain received this year such a feat may be easier said than done.

Harvest Time

Even the worst gardens have triumphs and here's mine. My carrots and tomatoes arrived with great abundance. I felt rather giddy digging out my carrots, not caring that most were smaller than my smallest finger. No matter. What ever they lacked in size they made up for in quantity. I am not sure why I was so surprised at their success. I planted parsnips last year and had a bumper crop. My soil here must be good for root vegetables.




My tomatoes also prospered, despite a bit of blight from overcrowding (my fault) and far too much rain (Mother Nature's oversight). I spent the summer on constant suspense thinking at any moment we could get word that we would have to vacate our rental house while my husband was still finishing up school. Such a turn of events would have us homeless and nearly penniless so needless to say my mind was elsewhere... what's Gaia's excuse?

Because of our external woes, I found myself lacking "umph' in a lot of projects around here. My flower beds are completely over run with weeds, and my vegetable garden did not fare much better, although anything which gave us sustenance seemed to get more attention than things that survive purely on looks (do you see any parallels here?).

But all's well that ends well. My husband graduated school two weeks ago and started work at his new job yesterday. We have been permitted to stay another year which gives us more than enough time to shop around for our homestead (yet another step in the right direction). And I now have oodles of tomatoes to make salsa.



My garden is a parallel to my life it seems. This summer started off with a future of uncertainty, about the same time that my brocoli, cauliflower and lettuce were eaten by unknown sources (without my permission). Now that everything has panned out for us off the 'homestead' it seems our homestead has been generous enough to provide a few delights as well.

Just goes to show, happiness is truly homemade.