We've had a busy month canning, picking, freezing and getting things ready for winter. It's also been the forst time in a long time that I've not had children at home during the day. Somehow though the days just continue to fly by. I've got paperwork to get caught up and of course every mothers nightmare...the laundry mountain!
We're planning on moving some time in the next 6 months so the beginnings of organizing outgrown clothes and unused items is beginning. The plan is to rent the local community hall in November or December and have a whopping garage sale, and I mean the sale to end all sales! It's going to take a lot of prep work though and the time to start is now. I'm sorting each load as it comes out of the dryer and hopefully it will mean better organized drawers and closets in the near future.
One of our Silkie hens hatched a chick, yes, just 1. So a little fuzzy ball is cheeping and following mama all over the yard. He's so cute and we named him Chicklet.
Our meat birds are scheduled for the chop on Oct 13th, seems like an ominous day doesn't it :) and we'll take in our excess roosters at the same time. That's if Steve can let them go, he's gotten quite attached to them. This should give us approx. 18 chickens for the freezer and 6 to sell. Or there abouts. I'm toying with the idea of raising one more batch before we move but honestly I think it might be time to concentrate on other things.
We're looking at buying a house in Whiskey Creek with our mothers. We'd have the basement and half the yard so it would give us about a half acre to play with and also a greenhouse and a workshop. It's got 2 wells and also a greenbelt behind the property with a creek running through it so Steve is happy. Now we have to work on the financing end of it and get jobs for Mum or Joan so that they can sell their house in Calgary and buy here.
Read a good quote on the Mormon Messages channel on YouTube I'd like to share with you:
"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy".
Just a thought for this cool and beautiful Sunday.
The garden needs cleaning up quite badly and the winter veggies are of course still in. I'm planting the seedlings into the greenhouse today.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Chicks and Beans
Yes, it's that time again! Chicken time! That is...time to raise a few more meat birds for our winter meals and time to think seriously about the roosters that are wandering around the yard. Their days are numbered...to about 9 or 10 weeks.
Kiwis and grapes are starting to swell in the garden and it's about time to get more winter veggies in the ground so today we're heading into town to finish pulling up the beans that are finished and plant peas and other cool weather veggies in their places. I'm on the look for some turnip seeds too. The owners of the place where we have our garden have told us we're okay to have it for the rest of the year and into the Spring so now comes our planning for winter meals and we're very grateful!
I promise pictures will be coming soon!
Work is picking up at Nova Appliance so that's good. Still lots of family time. The boys are working on building a boat so I'll have to get more info for you later...but now off to pick beans and re-plant! The weather is now cool so much more pleasant working in the garden! That week of 40 degree weather was killer!
Also heading into town to do some back to school shopping (yuck!)
Check out the appliance repair advice and tips at novaappliance.blogspot.com or visit our website at novaappliance.com
Kiwis and grapes are starting to swell in the garden and it's about time to get more winter veggies in the ground so today we're heading into town to finish pulling up the beans that are finished and plant peas and other cool weather veggies in their places. I'm on the look for some turnip seeds too. The owners of the place where we have our garden have told us we're okay to have it for the rest of the year and into the Spring so now comes our planning for winter meals and we're very grateful!
I promise pictures will be coming soon!
Work is picking up at Nova Appliance so that's good. Still lots of family time. The boys are working on building a boat so I'll have to get more info for you later...but now off to pick beans and re-plant! The weather is now cool so much more pleasant working in the garden! That week of 40 degree weather was killer!
Also heading into town to do some back to school shopping (yuck!)
Check out the appliance repair advice and tips at novaappliance.blogspot.com or visit our website at novaappliance.com
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Recipes for Zucchini
It's that time of year again....Zucchini time! Yes I can hear some of you groaning!
This is the time of year when your friends and neighbours say things like, 'you can come over as long as you don't bring anything green with you'. Or, when you get a knock at the door and when you answer it there's nobody in sight but a beautiful zucchini is waiting for you on the step. Does any of this sound familiar?
Would you believe I actually don't have this problem?
Here's the number one tip for having less zucchini.....GROW LESS! Yes indeed, if you don't need much then 1 plant is all you should grow. Now granted, the 1 plant I've got growing in town has gone nuts. It's about 5 ft. tall, 8 ft. wide and is currently producing 3-5 large fruits a week. Yes that's right, from flower to fruit in 7 days and we're not talking little fruits either. I do have other plants at home and in the greenhouse but I limited their root space by planting in pots so they bear more slowly and fewer fruits.
Still, if you find yourself with a glut here are some ideas:
Easy Choc. Zucchini Muffins- Grate finely one medium zucchini with the skin on. Prepare a choc. cake mix but leave out all the oil/butter and add the grated zucchini instead. Mix well, bake as usual, freeze or eat within a few days (not a problem in my house).
Fried Zucchini- wash a zucchini and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Heat some oil/butter in a pan and add zucchini. Sprinkle with any of the following: garlic, pepper, salt, chili powder. Fry until brown underneath then flip over and continue cooking for a few more minutes until both sides are done. Serve hot as a side dish.
Relish. I won't list the recipes here as everyone has a favourite and there are hundreds online but relish is easy to make, quite inexpensive if you already have the zucchini, onions and spices on hand, and is a good way of storing your harvest into the winter. It will keep for at least a couple fo years in a dry, dark, cool storage room if you properly process and seal the jars. Oh, one note, if you're going to be canning this year and I assume you are, remember to check all your jars a couple of days and a week after storing them just to make sure that the seals are still good. If nto you'll have to put the offenders in the fridge and eat right away. Just a hint that seals can sometimes hold for a week or so and then give out so it's always a good idea to check the lids periodically to avoid surprises. :)
Marinated Zucchini Salad
Stuffed Zucchini Easy
This recipe is good for any size zucchini, especially that monster you just discovered hidden under a leaf. Cut a zucchini in half lengthways and clean out the seeds, leaving a nice empty spot for your stuffing. Use your own recipe or make up 2 packets of cornbread stuffing mix. Place into zucchini mounding it so the top will fit over. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect. Wrap in foul and bake for 1 hour at 350 or wrap in plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes. Zucchini should be fork tender when done. Unwrap, slice and serve.
There you go. A few ideas to get you started.
There are loads of delicious recipes for zucchini. You can use it lasagna and mousakka. Parmesan cheese seems to be very complimentary as do many of the spice blends you can buy in the store like 'garlic plus' and Mrs. Dash sort of things. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you go to recipezaar.com and type in zucchini you'll find loads of fantastic recipes. So enjoy your green harvest and maybe look upon your neighbours as actuallt giving you a gift worth having. And you can always repay them with one of your jars of relish.
Well, I'm off. My son is getting back from Pioneer Trek today and we have to go to Port Alberni to collect him and his friend Corry. Also trying to find my stash of diapers for a friend in need and think my sister has them...hmmm. Time to tidy out my closet you think? Also work continues slow. Hopefully there will be response to the advertising we are doing for Nova Appliance.
What are you up to?
Elizabeth
This is the time of year when your friends and neighbours say things like, 'you can come over as long as you don't bring anything green with you'. Or, when you get a knock at the door and when you answer it there's nobody in sight but a beautiful zucchini is waiting for you on the step. Does any of this sound familiar?
Would you believe I actually don't have this problem?
Here's the number one tip for having less zucchini.....GROW LESS! Yes indeed, if you don't need much then 1 plant is all you should grow. Now granted, the 1 plant I've got growing in town has gone nuts. It's about 5 ft. tall, 8 ft. wide and is currently producing 3-5 large fruits a week. Yes that's right, from flower to fruit in 7 days and we're not talking little fruits either. I do have other plants at home and in the greenhouse but I limited their root space by planting in pots so they bear more slowly and fewer fruits.
Still, if you find yourself with a glut here are some ideas:
Easy Choc. Zucchini Muffins- Grate finely one medium zucchini with the skin on. Prepare a choc. cake mix but leave out all the oil/butter and add the grated zucchini instead. Mix well, bake as usual, freeze or eat within a few days (not a problem in my house).
Fried Zucchini- wash a zucchini and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Heat some oil/butter in a pan and add zucchini. Sprinkle with any of the following: garlic, pepper, salt, chili powder. Fry until brown underneath then flip over and continue cooking for a few more minutes until both sides are done. Serve hot as a side dish.
Relish. I won't list the recipes here as everyone has a favourite and there are hundreds online but relish is easy to make, quite inexpensive if you already have the zucchini, onions and spices on hand, and is a good way of storing your harvest into the winter. It will keep for at least a couple fo years in a dry, dark, cool storage room if you properly process and seal the jars. Oh, one note, if you're going to be canning this year and I assume you are, remember to check all your jars a couple of days and a week after storing them just to make sure that the seals are still good. If nto you'll have to put the offenders in the fridge and eat right away. Just a hint that seals can sometimes hold for a week or so and then give out so it's always a good idea to check the lids periodically to avoid surprises. :)
Marinated Zucchini Salad
- 1 lb zucchini, washed, sliced paper thin (or comparable squash such as crookneck or pattypan)
- 1 large lemon, juice of, more to taste
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and cut in half
- 1-2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh basil or fresh parsley, chopped
It is your choice to peel or not peel the zucchini, I personally like the extra vitamins and minerals. Toss the thinly sliced zucchini with the lemon juice, garlic halves, olive oil; salt and pepper to taste. (If I think about it, sometimes I add a bit of finely grated lemon zest, too.) Remember to use a non-reactive bowl for marinating ie. glass. Cover bowl and refrigerate 4-8 hours, stirring occasionally.Once you are ready to serve the salad, remove the garlic cloves. Save one garlic clove, finely minced and toss back into the salad along with the fresh herb of choice. *Important*: stir in the fresh herbs with the zucchini mixture just before serving and no before.
Stuffed Zucchini Easy
This recipe is good for any size zucchini, especially that monster you just discovered hidden under a leaf. Cut a zucchini in half lengthways and clean out the seeds, leaving a nice empty spot for your stuffing. Use your own recipe or make up 2 packets of cornbread stuffing mix. Place into zucchini mounding it so the top will fit over. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect. Wrap in foul and bake for 1 hour at 350 or wrap in plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes. Zucchini should be fork tender when done. Unwrap, slice and serve.
There you go. A few ideas to get you started.
There are loads of delicious recipes for zucchini. You can use it lasagna and mousakka. Parmesan cheese seems to be very complimentary as do many of the spice blends you can buy in the store like 'garlic plus' and Mrs. Dash sort of things. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you go to recipezaar.com and type in zucchini you'll find loads of fantastic recipes. So enjoy your green harvest and maybe look upon your neighbours as actuallt giving you a gift worth having. And you can always repay them with one of your jars of relish.
Well, I'm off. My son is getting back from Pioneer Trek today and we have to go to Port Alberni to collect him and his friend Corry. Also trying to find my stash of diapers for a friend in need and think my sister has them...hmmm. Time to tidy out my closet you think? Also work continues slow. Hopefully there will be response to the advertising we are doing for Nova Appliance.
What are you up to?
Elizabeth
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Bounteous Harvest
Gardening continues. New rows of peas are in as we speak and I'm doing my winter veggie starters this afternoon. Our garden in overflowing! I'll have to take some pictures as soon as I can find the charger for my camera (or borrow my hubby's). It's insane, you'll see nothing but a colossal wall of green. You'd never know that there are 18-24 inch spaces between rows.
We are currently picking peas, spinach, carrots, beets, zucchini, leeks and raspberries. This week we'll add beans to the list.
The pumpkins and squash are going nuts though the watermelons aren't really doing anything, it's odd. Cantaloupes seem to be doing something but not sure what as they've been covered by the pumpkins. Speaking of which, I'm going to build a series of saw horses to raise the pumpkins off the ground because they're seriously squashing everything around them (no pun intended).
Today Chris has his final kayaking lesson and his exam to see if he can pass the Paddle Canada Level 1 course. He's really apprehensive about doing the eskimo rescues because he says it goes against his nature to deliberately capsize his kayak and stay under the water waiting for somebody to rescue you. He'd much rather just release his skirt and wet exit or better yet not capsize in the first place. I'll let you know how it goes.
Today in the garden I've got to water in the new row of peas and just see what else needs some work. The peas and beans are producing so fast that I'll probably need to be out harvesting everyday next week so I should stock up on freezer bags.
Work continues to be slow. Really have to get advertising in a hurry. Something to work on this weekend. The website is at least working though and is almost finished as far as content goes. It's at www.novaappliance.com so check it out!
Gotta run!
Elizabeth
We are currently picking peas, spinach, carrots, beets, zucchini, leeks and raspberries. This week we'll add beans to the list.
The pumpkins and squash are going nuts though the watermelons aren't really doing anything, it's odd. Cantaloupes seem to be doing something but not sure what as they've been covered by the pumpkins. Speaking of which, I'm going to build a series of saw horses to raise the pumpkins off the ground because they're seriously squashing everything around them (no pun intended).
Today Chris has his final kayaking lesson and his exam to see if he can pass the Paddle Canada Level 1 course. He's really apprehensive about doing the eskimo rescues because he says it goes against his nature to deliberately capsize his kayak and stay under the water waiting for somebody to rescue you. He'd much rather just release his skirt and wet exit or better yet not capsize in the first place. I'll let you know how it goes.
Today in the garden I've got to water in the new row of peas and just see what else needs some work. The peas and beans are producing so fast that I'll probably need to be out harvesting everyday next week so I should stock up on freezer bags.
Work continues to be slow. Really have to get advertising in a hurry. Something to work on this weekend. The website is at least working though and is almost finished as far as content goes. It's at www.novaappliance.com so check it out!
Gotta run!
Elizabeth
Friday, June 26, 2009
Summer is here
After a long cold spring we finally got over 4 weeks with not a drop of rain. It got hot some days ie. 34 degrees which is practically unheard of here this time of year but now has settled into a quiet summer weather wise.
The kids are finished school.
The chickens are setting.
The ducks are grown.
And the garden is growing like mad. It's time to replant many things like beans where the spinach was and winter cabbage where the lettuce was. I know it seems weird to be talking about winter gardening in the middle of summer, but this is when you plant your seeds for winter and spring harvest. I'll talk more about this in my next post.
How are your gardens? Had any surprises or learn anything new? I sure have!
Work is good. I'm so grateful we have such wonderful customers at Nova Appliance. Please don't hesitate to call us if you need us. We service Nanaimo to Bowser but if you're really having a problem finding a good honest technician in your location we'll do out of area calls too as time permits and for an additional fee to cover gas. We're at novaappliance.com if you need us!
Kindest Regards!
Elizabeth
The kids are finished school.
The chickens are setting.
The ducks are grown.
And the garden is growing like mad. It's time to replant many things like beans where the spinach was and winter cabbage where the lettuce was. I know it seems weird to be talking about winter gardening in the middle of summer, but this is when you plant your seeds for winter and spring harvest. I'll talk more about this in my next post.
How are your gardens? Had any surprises or learn anything new? I sure have!
Work is good. I'm so grateful we have such wonderful customers at Nova Appliance. Please don't hesitate to call us if you need us. We service Nanaimo to Bowser but if you're really having a problem finding a good honest technician in your location we'll do out of area calls too as time permits and for an additional fee to cover gas. We're at novaappliance.com if you need us!
Kindest Regards!
Elizabeth
Thursday, April 30, 2009
crazy days!
Hello. It's been so crazy around here for the last month. Gardening, chicks, friends, family, Easter, work...boy the list goes on!
I've got the website pretty well finished for Nova Appliance Service. Now we just need to get all our old customers back from electro services and Stephen will be happy. I think he misses some of them. And it's so hard to find us as we don't have a Yellow Page Ad. yet. Still, we're working on getting the old phone number from Parksville linked to ours this week which should help.
Our website is www.novaappliance.com
Our e-mail is elizabeth@novaappliance.com
I'll get everything else updated later today as far as the homestead. it'll be a LOOOONG post!
Best Wishes!
Elizabeth
I've got the website pretty well finished for Nova Appliance Service. Now we just need to get all our old customers back from electro services and Stephen will be happy. I think he misses some of them. And it's so hard to find us as we don't have a Yellow Page Ad. yet. Still, we're working on getting the old phone number from Parksville linked to ours this week which should help.
Our website is www.novaappliance.com
Our e-mail is elizabeth@novaappliance.com
I'll get everything else updated later today as far as the homestead. it'll be a LOOOONG post!
Best Wishes!
Elizabeth
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Nanoose Bay Community Cupboard
Well the first meeting went really well for our local food bank. There were lots of good ideas and information on how we can access resources from Parksville through the Salvation Army and also ideas of how to run our program. I think it will be a case of seeing what the needs are and then meeting them as best we can as a community.
Speaking of needs, I heard a very young couple are in need of a crib. If anyone has one to donate, please e-mail me and let me know. I'll pick up between Victoria and Courtenay. They also need baby clothes and supplies I imagine. Let me know what you've got. And accept my thanks in advance!
Hey, I got those second hand diapers today and I'm stripping them (diaper mom term for "removing soap build-up") but they look to be in really great shape considering their age and price. I got 20 Motherease one-size plus 10 liners for $50, including shipping! WOW! Love them! I'm going to finish making liners out of those old towels I got from the SOS thrift store for $1. I think a hotel donated them, but they're still in better shape than half my own towels! :)
So Spring Break begins tomorrow. The kids are excited, I'm wondering how to keep them busy and fed for the next 2 weeks. They still have a little funding so I'm looking at a spring break day camp if there's room.
In The Coop
We had more chicks hatch today and I'm telling you, no two look the same. It's really fun to see them all sun tanning under the heat lamp or scratching around for food. They're quite entertaining and lively. There may be a couple more hatch tomorrow if we're lucky. The bigger chicks downstairs are growing like weeds and eating like teenagers. Outside in the coop all is quiet.
In The Kitchen
Oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. Lunch was cheese on toast and pistachio pudding. Dinner was liver and onions with gravy, mashed potatoes and peas. The liver is just the regular beef liver (not the expensive calves liver) cooked in a frying pan. I fry the onions first, then move them to a serving plate while I cook the liver. It only takes a couple of minutes per side until done and then just place it on the bed of onions. This is a meal we serve with lots of gravy! The liver is not overcooked so it is tender, not like the shoe leather I've eaten before. Mashed potatoes and green veggies are always good to round out this meal. Total cost was $8 and served 6 generously.
Tomorrow the kids are having a baking lesson so we're going to make biscuits and bread. I might teach them something like bannock so they can make it in a pan while camping. It's easy, filling, hot, and everything tastes so good when you're camping anyway that bannock and beans with wieners is almost a gourmet meal!
In The Garden
Still snow, though it's going gradually. I did treat myself to a pack of strawberry plants at the feed store today...Sshhh...dont' tell Steve. They just got them in and were unpacking them. I bought a pack of everbearing and I'll pick up some June bearing when they come in. Not too many though as I'll pinch out the flowers of half the plants so they produce runners (baby strawberry plants) and not berries. Then I'll be able to take more plants with me when I move.
Strawberries do surprisingly well in pots so that's always another option. If you can't afford one of those expensive barrels for berries, you can just cut holes in a big 11.4l bucket, staggering them in layers, and plant them in that. First make a tube out of some left over chicken wire or something and place it in the bucket after you cut some drainage holes the size of a nickel at least. Fill the tube with gravel. This helps with drainage. Next you fill the soil to the first layer of holes, plant your strawberries, and fill in the soil over the roots that are inside the bucket. The crown and leaves stick out through the hole of course, which needs to be about 2 1/2 to 3 inches across. You just continue planting and filling the holes all the way up until 6 inches or so from the top. On top you plant your last 4 plants so they grow upwards and this helps shade the soil to conserve moisture and looks attractive. Tips are basically these: Use good soil made for a planter box as it has extra water holding capability. Mix a little slow release fertilizer into the soil before planting. Have good drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket. And keep this watered. The tube of gravel will help keep it from getting waterlogged but in hot dry weather all planter boxes can dry out very quickly and take a while to become fully saturated again when you water them, so it's best to check them once a day and water slowly in the evening or earlier in the morning before it gets too warm. Also, similarly to hanging baskets and pots, don't just water them with the hose until the water runs out the bottom because that often doesn't water the entire depth of soil but just runs off. Soil that is very dry shrinks and pulls away from the sides of a pot so when you water is effectively runs down the sides and out the drainage holes. Give some water, move on to another pot and come back again once the first lot of water has had a chance to be absorbed. Better yet, avoid this by not letting the pots get too dry in the first place (yes I know, easier said than done)!
Oh, gotta run! I think my sister is having her baby! YAY!
Best Wishes!
Elizabeth
Speaking of needs, I heard a very young couple are in need of a crib. If anyone has one to donate, please e-mail me and let me know. I'll pick up between Victoria and Courtenay. They also need baby clothes and supplies I imagine. Let me know what you've got. And accept my thanks in advance!
Hey, I got those second hand diapers today and I'm stripping them (diaper mom term for "removing soap build-up") but they look to be in really great shape considering their age and price. I got 20 Motherease one-size plus 10 liners for $50, including shipping! WOW! Love them! I'm going to finish making liners out of those old towels I got from the SOS thrift store for $1. I think a hotel donated them, but they're still in better shape than half my own towels! :)
So Spring Break begins tomorrow. The kids are excited, I'm wondering how to keep them busy and fed for the next 2 weeks. They still have a little funding so I'm looking at a spring break day camp if there's room.
In The Coop
We had more chicks hatch today and I'm telling you, no two look the same. It's really fun to see them all sun tanning under the heat lamp or scratching around for food. They're quite entertaining and lively. There may be a couple more hatch tomorrow if we're lucky. The bigger chicks downstairs are growing like weeds and eating like teenagers. Outside in the coop all is quiet.
In The Kitchen
Oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. Lunch was cheese on toast and pistachio pudding. Dinner was liver and onions with gravy, mashed potatoes and peas. The liver is just the regular beef liver (not the expensive calves liver) cooked in a frying pan. I fry the onions first, then move them to a serving plate while I cook the liver. It only takes a couple of minutes per side until done and then just place it on the bed of onions. This is a meal we serve with lots of gravy! The liver is not overcooked so it is tender, not like the shoe leather I've eaten before. Mashed potatoes and green veggies are always good to round out this meal. Total cost was $8 and served 6 generously.
Tomorrow the kids are having a baking lesson so we're going to make biscuits and bread. I might teach them something like bannock so they can make it in a pan while camping. It's easy, filling, hot, and everything tastes so good when you're camping anyway that bannock and beans with wieners is almost a gourmet meal!
In The Garden
Still snow, though it's going gradually. I did treat myself to a pack of strawberry plants at the feed store today...Sshhh...dont' tell Steve. They just got them in and were unpacking them. I bought a pack of everbearing and I'll pick up some June bearing when they come in. Not too many though as I'll pinch out the flowers of half the plants so they produce runners (baby strawberry plants) and not berries. Then I'll be able to take more plants with me when I move.
Strawberries do surprisingly well in pots so that's always another option. If you can't afford one of those expensive barrels for berries, you can just cut holes in a big 11.4l bucket, staggering them in layers, and plant them in that. First make a tube out of some left over chicken wire or something and place it in the bucket after you cut some drainage holes the size of a nickel at least. Fill the tube with gravel. This helps with drainage. Next you fill the soil to the first layer of holes, plant your strawberries, and fill in the soil over the roots that are inside the bucket. The crown and leaves stick out through the hole of course, which needs to be about 2 1/2 to 3 inches across. You just continue planting and filling the holes all the way up until 6 inches or so from the top. On top you plant your last 4 plants so they grow upwards and this helps shade the soil to conserve moisture and looks attractive. Tips are basically these: Use good soil made for a planter box as it has extra water holding capability. Mix a little slow release fertilizer into the soil before planting. Have good drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket. And keep this watered. The tube of gravel will help keep it from getting waterlogged but in hot dry weather all planter boxes can dry out very quickly and take a while to become fully saturated again when you water them, so it's best to check them once a day and water slowly in the evening or earlier in the morning before it gets too warm. Also, similarly to hanging baskets and pots, don't just water them with the hose until the water runs out the bottom because that often doesn't water the entire depth of soil but just runs off. Soil that is very dry shrinks and pulls away from the sides of a pot so when you water is effectively runs down the sides and out the drainage holes. Give some water, move on to another pot and come back again once the first lot of water has had a chance to be absorbed. Better yet, avoid this by not letting the pots get too dry in the first place (yes I know, easier said than done)!
Oh, gotta run! I think my sister is having her baby! YAY!
Best Wishes!
Elizabeth
Monday, March 9, 2009
Chicks and More Snow
Hi! It's been an interesting day. It snowed about 3 inches of nice wet snow, enough for us to wonder if the van would make it back up the steep hill after Kindergarten. (It did) But on our service calls we found almost no snow in Parksville and none at all in Bowser. So weird that the climate and weather can change here in a matter of a few miles. In Bowser, well Deep Bay actually, we stopped on the spit to look at the boats in the harbour and see all the eagles and seals gorging themselves on herring. It's that time of the year again when the herring come close to the beaches and in huge numbers. The fishing fleet is busy as are the local fish eaters. Watching a bald eagle surrounded by seagulls as she dives down to catch a fish then takes it off to eat is beautiful. Unless you're a fish. The calling of the seals to one another was very nice too. It was a bit windy so a nice surf and as it was high tide you could see all the action up pretty close to the sea wall. This sight continued from Deep Bay some 30km to Parksville. Amazing really.
The kids had a nice relaxing afternoon without mum and dad to annoy them. Chris is however a total basket case. All his term 2 work has to be handed in tomorrow and guess what...he's not done. He's been working like crazy for the last 2 days and he's still got partof tomorrow but I don't think he'll make the deadline. His teacher will give him a little slack, but only if he gets at least 80% of it in. I didn't tell him that yet, I just sent him to bed.
Steve and I went to Chapters to get book 2 by Kristen Britain. It turns out they sell book 1 and book 3 but they're out of stock of book 2 and have none on order for the foreseeable future. How dumb is that? Anyway, I ordered it online with Beekeeping books for Steve and with any luck it will be here late this week or early next week.
In the Coop.
Chicks are hatching! We have 3 hatched today and another 4 pipped I think. We've set up a temporary brooder in the bathroom again with a 75watt spot light in a clear plastic tote. It seems good and comfortable for them so now we just wait to see how many more hatch. We've got 2 Brahma/red rocks and one Silkie. They're so CUTE!! I'll take some pics and post them tomorrow.
In the Kitchen
Veggies and pasta in a garlic sauce for lunch with a can of ham sliced. Nothing fancy but tasted good. $7 Dinner for kids was leftovers. Steve and I went out for a date and blew $50. Oh, and we also bought gumboots for the kids and doughnuts for the family.
In the Garden
Nothing new since yesterday.
I did want to pose a question for you to think about. In regards to house size. Why is it that families live in medium sized houses and yet little old ladies live in huge houses by themselves? Why, when families are getting smaller, are our houses getting bigger? In an age of energy efficiency, shouldn't we be looking at building smaller spaces to heat?
Well, I'm ready for a long sleep. Having the clocks changed takes me a little while to get used to. Hope you are tucked up snug and warm. Goodnight!
ElizabethSunday, March 8, 2009
Dollars and $ense
Do you have any money saving ideas? I'd love to hear them. One of the most popular pages on my original Doula website was our frugal living tips page. All sorts of things, like 100 uses for ziploc bags, cloth diapers, make your own laundry soap for 3cents per load, uses for a 5 gallon pail, websites to find stuff for cheap or free, how to trade and barter with your neighbours etc.
Our local community is starting a foodbank of sorts. So of course I'm remembering all the work I did in Calgary and in Victoria with various food programs and community kitchens and seeing if there's anything useful in my experience. I used to write a monthly booklet with in season frugal recipes and I'm thinking I'll start again. I'd love recipe submissions, but they have to work out to no more than $2 per person, ok? It's ok if your recipe works out to be $14 to make, as long as it feeds 7 people or more. We've got to also focus on 2 things, using staples, and nutrition, so remember, veggies and whole grains are your friend!
I'm thinking I will change this site a little to include a separate recipe section.
On the home front, it's snowing again. Can you believe it? Such unseasonal weather for Vancouver Island. And it's supposed to get down to -10celcius this week too! Brrr. I'm glad we've got the wood stove and a wood pile! Oh, and lots of turkey for warm winter meals!
In the Coop
Everyone's good. The water didn't freeze overnight but this will be a problem next week for at least a few nights. I'm going to close up some of the vents again to cut down the draft but the chickens all seem happy and at night fluff up and roost together so it obviously works for them. I did increase the protein in their food by 1% to 18% while it's cold. We've got breeds of chickens who are good layers in cold weather so we are still getting 4 eggs a day or more. I'm going to put today's and yesterdays in the incubator. Our breeds are Dark Brahma, Red Rock Cross, Silkie bantams and one odd Americauna.
In the Garden
Nothing much is going on due to several inches of snow. Today would be a good day to trim those pesky kiwi vines, but I'd rather stay indoors thanks very much!
In the Kitchen
Today I'm going to make a pulled pork pot roast, just for a change from turkey and because the pork was so cheap ($1.25 lb.) I'll serve it with fresh rolls, seasoned roasted potatoes and frozen veg. (peas, beans and carrots). Here's my dinner bun recipe.
White Dinner Rolls or Loaf
I'm home from church today because of one spotty daughter. It's so quiet at home though, it's weird.
UPDATE: The day has fairly flown by! I made 4 batches of buns and they're all gone! We had pulled pork at lunchtime with veggies, applesauce and 2 dozen buns. Oh and I cut up 6 potatoes, mixed them with 2 tbsp olive oil and some fresh cracked salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven at the same time as the buns. They took 10 minutes longer than the buns of course.
For supper, whole wheat buns filled with pulled pork and the gravy from the pot followed by honeydew melon and hot cross buns (same recipe only 1/4 cup added raisins and 1/2 cup candied fruit and peel. I iced them a tiny bit too. Today has definitely been a "bun" day. Tomorrow will feature roasted parsnips and asparagus.
The kids have done a little bit of tidying up and are now carousing around the house like a bunch of mad men. Hopefully they'll wear themselves out in short order.
I think I'm going to pick up some more of those pork roasts and throw them in the freezer. Today I used 2 roasts, each costing under $3.50 and by the time I made buns, seasoned the meat and slow cooked it on the wood stove, bought a melon etc. Today's food bill came to about $16 for 6 people for 3 meals. I probably should have just made sandwiches for dinner though and saved the pork (some of which is left over) for tomorrow's dinner, but it was SO good!
I am going to finish cutting up all that turkey meat and freeze it in bags for future use. Boy there's alot left though. Speaking of birds, I have our lovebird in the office as I type this. It's 7:47pm Daylight Savings Time (yes it started today) and she's just hanging out seeing what we're up to. Steve has been feeding her paper to shred which is one of her favourite hobbies and now she'd watching me type and preening herself. Meghan has come in asking "How many more days until my birthday"? She just can't wait till August. Apparently she and Kate are doing a Show in their room for us. We'll go see it at bedtime when we have family prayer.
I should get going and clean up from dinner. Hope you all have a great week.
I wanted to let you know about United Mothers, Fathers and Friends, a child advocacy group. They do lots of grass roots kind of advocacy work, choosing to focus on strengthening families, supporting marriage and lots of other good stuff. Their website is unitedmothers.ca Just so you're not surprised, they are against the redefinition of marriage, so if this is something you feel strongly about, don't go there. I just think they are doing some important work on the rights of families, parents and children both, so I thought I'd give them a little plug. :)
Lots to talk about tomorrow. See you then!
Elizabeth
Our local community is starting a foodbank of sorts. So of course I'm remembering all the work I did in Calgary and in Victoria with various food programs and community kitchens and seeing if there's anything useful in my experience. I used to write a monthly booklet with in season frugal recipes and I'm thinking I'll start again. I'd love recipe submissions, but they have to work out to no more than $2 per person, ok? It's ok if your recipe works out to be $14 to make, as long as it feeds 7 people or more. We've got to also focus on 2 things, using staples, and nutrition, so remember, veggies and whole grains are your friend!
I'm thinking I will change this site a little to include a separate recipe section.
On the home front, it's snowing again. Can you believe it? Such unseasonal weather for Vancouver Island. And it's supposed to get down to -10celcius this week too! Brrr. I'm glad we've got the wood stove and a wood pile! Oh, and lots of turkey for warm winter meals!
In the Coop
Everyone's good. The water didn't freeze overnight but this will be a problem next week for at least a few nights. I'm going to close up some of the vents again to cut down the draft but the chickens all seem happy and at night fluff up and roost together so it obviously works for them. I did increase the protein in their food by 1% to 18% while it's cold. We've got breeds of chickens who are good layers in cold weather so we are still getting 4 eggs a day or more. I'm going to put today's and yesterdays in the incubator. Our breeds are Dark Brahma, Red Rock Cross, Silkie bantams and one odd Americauna.
In the Garden
Nothing much is going on due to several inches of snow. Today would be a good day to trim those pesky kiwi vines, but I'd rather stay indoors thanks very much!
In the Kitchen
Today I'm going to make a pulled pork pot roast, just for a change from turkey and because the pork was so cheap ($1.25 lb.) I'll serve it with fresh rolls, seasoned roasted potatoes and frozen veg. (peas, beans and carrots). Here's my dinner bun recipe.
White Dinner Rolls or Loaf
- 1 cup water, plus
- 1 tablespoon water (70-80 F)
- 1 large egg
- 4 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons melted butter (for dinner rolls only) (optional)
Directions
In bread machine pan, place all ingredients from flour through yeast in order as recommended by the manufacturer.
Select the basic bread setting.
Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing, if needed add 1-2T of water or flour. The dough should be smooth, soft and springy. Not sticky or tough so adjust accordingly. You'll find that even if you use the exact same measurements every time your dough will be different depending on the weather, time of year, age of flour etc.
Bake as normal.
For dinner rolls do the following....
Mix in bread machine but use only the dough option.
Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan (I always use a metal pan).
When dough is finished shape into 15 uniformly sized balls. I always grease my hands with shortening to smooth the dough out and it helps keep the dough from drying out.
Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm, draft free place until risen to the desired size.
I let them about double in size.
Bake in a 350° oven about 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
After removing from the oven, brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
Take out of pan and let completely cool before storing, that is unless you're me and breaking one open to slather it with fresh butter...just to make sure they're edible of course! :)
A few notes about this recipe. You can substitute whole wheat flour for half the flour with no changes, only watch the dough to make sure it's not too dry. I don't know how long these buns will store since mine have never been around more than a half a day due to their yumminess and my having children.
I'm home from church today because of one spotty daughter. It's so quiet at home though, it's weird.
For supper, whole wheat buns filled with pulled pork and the gravy from the pot followed by honeydew melon and hot cross buns (same recipe only 1/4 cup added raisins and 1/2 cup candied fruit and peel. I iced them a tiny bit too. Today has definitely been a "bun" day. Tomorrow will feature roasted parsnips and asparagus.
The kids have done a little bit of tidying up and are now carousing around the house like a bunch of mad men. Hopefully they'll wear themselves out in short order.
I think I'm going to pick up some more of those pork roasts and throw them in the freezer. Today I used 2 roasts, each costing under $3.50 and by the time I made buns, seasoned the meat and slow cooked it on the wood stove, bought a melon etc. Today's food bill came to about $16 for 6 people for 3 meals. I probably should have just made sandwiches for dinner though and saved the pork (some of which is left over) for tomorrow's dinner, but it was SO good!
I am going to finish cutting up all that turkey meat and freeze it in bags for future use. Boy there's alot left though. Speaking of birds, I have our lovebird in the office as I type this. It's 7:47pm Daylight Savings Time (yes it started today) and she's just hanging out seeing what we're up to. Steve has been feeding her paper to shred which is one of her favourite hobbies and now she'd watching me type and preening herself. Meghan has come in asking "How many more days until my birthday"? She just can't wait till August. Apparently she and Kate are doing a Show in their room for us. We'll go see it at bedtime when we have family prayer.
I should get going and clean up from dinner. Hope you all have a great week.
I wanted to let you know about United Mothers, Fathers and Friends, a child advocacy group. They do lots of grass roots kind of advocacy work, choosing to focus on strengthening families, supporting marriage and lots of other good stuff. Their website is unitedmothers.ca Just so you're not surprised, they are against the redefinition of marriage, so if this is something you feel strongly about, don't go there. I just think they are doing some important work on the rights of families, parents and children both, so I thought I'd give them a little plug. :)
Lots to talk about tomorrow. See you then!
Elizabeth
Turkey Leftovers
Yep, we're still eating turkey and surprisingly not sick of it yet, though I'm sure we will be soon as there's about 20 lbs left. Here's what we're doing with it:
Turkey Stew We diced 3c. cooked turkey. Sauteed 3 onions in the pot and then added the turkey, 6 chopped carrots and 8 cubed potatoes. Seasoned with poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, pepper etc) and a little salt. Also found some celery (yuck!) and added that to the pot. You can add what veggies you have on hand. Covered the whole thing with just enough water and boiled for 10 minutes, added dumplings, and cooked for a further 15 minutes. Served hot and delicious! One pot served 12 and cost $5 not including the turkey.
Turkey Fajitas Made tortillas (very simple and easy!) Diced 1 tomato and grated 1/2 cup cheese. Made guacamole. Chopped 2 onions and sautéed with turkey (cooked) cut into strips. Added one pack of seasoning mix which I usually have on hand, with 3/4 cup water and added to the turkey onion mix. Cooked for 3 minutes then removed from heat. I'd have added green and red peppers only I was out. We placed everything on the table including some salsa and everyone just made their own the way they like them.
Here's the recipe for flour tortillas. It makes about 8- 8inch tortillas so for a family I'd double the recipe.
Turkey Pot Pie I chopped and fried up 1 onion until soft. In the same pot I made a gravy and simmered 4 cups cooked chopped turkey into it for 10 minutes. Poured it into a pan and added veggies (green beans, yellow beans and baby carrots) and topped with biscuits to completely cover the top. Of course you can make your topping pastry, dumplings or biscuits depending on what your family likes and the ingredients on hand. Bake in a casserole dish or 9x13 pan for a family, until the topping (biscuits) are done, usually about 20 minutes or so. There you have it, another one pot, one dish meal made from turkey. This costs about $4 not including the turkey and feeds 8, or 4 teenagers.
More turkey ideas to follow!
Turkey Stew We diced 3c. cooked turkey. Sauteed 3 onions in the pot and then added the turkey, 6 chopped carrots and 8 cubed potatoes. Seasoned with poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, pepper etc) and a little salt. Also found some celery (yuck!) and added that to the pot. You can add what veggies you have on hand. Covered the whole thing with just enough water and boiled for 10 minutes, added dumplings, and cooked for a further 15 minutes. Served hot and delicious! One pot served 12 and cost $5 not including the turkey.
Turkey Fajitas Made tortillas (very simple and easy!) Diced 1 tomato and grated 1/2 cup cheese. Made guacamole. Chopped 2 onions and sautéed with turkey (cooked) cut into strips. Added one pack of seasoning mix which I usually have on hand, with 3/4 cup water and added to the turkey onion mix. Cooked for 3 minutes then removed from heat. I'd have added green and red peppers only I was out. We placed everything on the table including some salsa and everyone just made their own the way they like them.
Here's the recipe for flour tortillas. It makes about 8- 8inch tortillas so for a family I'd double the recipe.
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup shortening or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
Turkey Pot Pie I chopped and fried up 1 onion until soft. In the same pot I made a gravy and simmered 4 cups cooked chopped turkey into it for 10 minutes. Poured it into a pan and added veggies (green beans, yellow beans and baby carrots) and topped with biscuits to completely cover the top. Of course you can make your topping pastry, dumplings or biscuits depending on what your family likes and the ingredients on hand. Bake in a casserole dish or 9x13 pan for a family, until the topping (biscuits) are done, usually about 20 minutes or so. There you have it, another one pot, one dish meal made from turkey. This costs about $4 not including the turkey and feeds 8, or 4 teenagers.
More turkey ideas to follow!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Irish Elephant Stew
Here's today's recipe
Irish Elephant Stew
1 Meduim sized elephant
1 Field of Potatoes
1 head of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 bay leaves
1/2 ton roux
salt and pepper to taste
2 rabbits (optional)
Secure a very large pot
Cut elephant into bite sized pieces (this should take about 2 months). Place in pot with garlic and cover with water. Cook over a large fire until tender, adding more garlic to taste. Elephant has a distinctly robust flavour, so not much more should be needed.
Peel potatoes or scrub thoroughly and add to the pot. Add roux to thicken gravy then season to taste with salt and pepper. Find and discard bay leaves before serving.
This should serve about 3800 people. If more people arrive, add 2 rabbits. Do this only if necessary - and make sure they are rabbits as most people do not like hare in their stew.
*Please note: This is an old recipe from way back when there were so many darn elephants you couldn't keep them from trampling through your back yard and knocking over your washing line and smushing your flower beds. Now of course we try to protect elephants...but, if one should happen to conk his noggin falling into your swimming pool, and you have no other alternative but the humane one...well, the above recipe might just be the ticket!
Big Bird Is Dead
No Don't worry about the big yellow guy from sesame street, I'm sure he's fine. We went out yesterday morning to let out our chickens and found that our turkey had very recently died of a heart attack. Rather than waste all that meat we decided to try our hand at butchering, rather Steve disemboweled and we decided to just remove the wings and to skin it to remove the feathers more easily. It was hard work but eventually we ended up with a 35 lb turkey in the oven. It barely fit and had to get kind of crammed in there but eventually it was done and now I have a nice big cooked turkey in the fridge.
How long do you cook turkey for? For those of you who think that it takes 20 minutes per pound I would like to offer the following opinion. If I'd cooked my turkey for the 11 hours recommended by this approach, it would have been nothing but a burnt shell. It took 5.5 hours in a regular oven at 325 degrees. A larger turkey does cook more quickly per pound than a little one. Butterball has a handy calculator that you can input how many people are eating and it'll calculate how big of a turkey you need, how much stuffing to make and how long to cook it for. It's found at :
www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/tips/thanksgiving-guide
Of course if you poke a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh you can quite accurately tell too.
Back to chickens...they're all fine and not traumatized from watching us cut up their buddy. I found a very handy chart called the
The ICYouSee
An Alphabetical List of More than 60 Chicken Breeds
Here's the address: www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Not every breed is listed and of course there are regional differences, but it's a very good chart for comparing hardiness, friendliness, egg production and suitability of different breeds for confinement. Go have a look if you're interested.
Eggs yesterday were 3, 4 the day before, and the silkies are still hiding theirs or have stopped laying. Hmm. The first eggs in the incubator are due to hatch early next week. The current conditions in the incubator are 99.9 degrees and 65% humidity. This little home made for $20 incubator is working great. It's just one of those cheap Styrofoam coolers fitted out with a thermostat (the kind found on your wall at home) linked to a light bulb socket with a 25watt bulb as the heat source. Oh, we did adjust the thermostat using the screw inside so that it reads higher since 99-101 degrees are higher than normal room temperatures. Now it's marked out in pencil as to the real temperature but we check it every time we turn the eggs anyway. It cycles more often once you add eggs but as soon as everything's good and warm the thermal mass means it cycles only once the thermostat says it's too cool. Ours is only on for a few minutes to warm it all up again. If you build one, be sure to have ventilation holes because the eggs need oxygen. You'll also need a shelf to keep your eggs on that has a lip so hatching chicks are kept safe and an accurate thermometer that records the temperature at the height of the eggs. Why? Because the air inside your incubator will stratify, that is, divide into hotter layers at the top and cooler ones near the bottom. It's the temperature at egg height that needs to be about 100-101 degrees and 50 % humidity, increasing to 65% 3 days before hatching time. We have a thermometer and hygrometer in there all the time but I double check the temperature by having a little contain of water in with the eggs and I just pop off the lid and take the temperature using a fever thermometer as it's very accurate. Mark your eggs with an X or the date on one side and turn them daily. Some people recommend 5 times per day, some people say once is enough, I turn at least twice and usually 3 times. This stops the yolk from sticking to the shell and causing a malformed chick. Turning an odd number of times means the longest period with no turn (usually at night) isn't always the same side of the egg up.
If you'd like more info on hatching a small number of chicks please look here:
www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI0631.html
In the Coop
All are warm and dry. Now without a big turkey eating their food they'll go through a lot less, about a third less we figure. We will start keeping eggs for hatching again today, store them, and then see if we can get a hatch off before the next swap.
In the Kitchen
I need to bake bread again today so grinding wheat is in order. I should also pick up some white flour as I'm out except for my storage supply. I'm going to bake 75% whole wheat so I can share some with friends. It's also time to clean out the fridge in preparation for shopping as soon as we get paid.
Today's big task however will be portioning out the cooked turkey and making some meals with it. I'll let you know what we make but you can guarantee it'll include stew and pot pie as well as cacciatore. Hmmm...maybe curry as well. I'll make up some meals, mark them and freeze them. I noticed that turkey in the store is a little over $1 per lb. That's a good price and you can really stretch turkey so if it's cheap where you are, you might want to consider it.
I know we talk about buying fruits in season but did you ever consider that meat has a season too? Here on the coast it's most noticeable with things like salmon and shellfish, but the self supporter tends to butcher cows, pigs etc in the late fall, lamb and chicken in the late spring or summer and turkeys around the holidays. So look for your meat in season and freeze it. Meats keep well for varying amounts of time so do check the recommendations and use it before it dries out. It'll also keep better in a chest freezer than the littleone above you fridge. This is due to the drying effect of the automatic defrost feature, and the lower temperature of a chest freezer. Meat also keeps better if wrapped in freezer paper or thick freezer bags. Don't cheap out. I know the good bags cost more but you can wash and re-use them you know. I often portion out large purchases into smaller bags, remove as much air as possible, then label and place several into one large freezer bag. It works well with things like ground beef which I freeze in 1 lb packs or pork chops I freeze in groups of 8 (2 for each adult and 1 for each child). You know how much you use, just do what works best for you. And consider some smaller portion packs for use when you're having company and just need an extra few chops.
Speaking of things in season, strawberries are in season in California right now and they are the same price that local ones are at the height of their season so if you're not worried about buying from far away, enjoy some! If you're waiting for the local ones that's good too. Nothing compares to a fully ripe strawberry that was picked this morning. I'm out of berries in my freezer now except for the few blue berries and blackberries I picked last year. Must remember to pick more, weather willing. I guess that's also kids willing. :)
In the Garden
I'm still trimming grapes and shortened my front garden vine by about 30 feet while Steve was out doing the turkey. I got the roses cut back too as they were straggly and over 10 feet tall. They've just been left to grow so I'm hoping cutting them back severely won't harm them. I collect the hips from my roses for making tea but you can make syrup from them also which stores well and is a natural source of vitamin C. It was cold last night so with any luck I can get some kiwi trimming done to and not have too much sap flowing. The male kiwi vine that we thought was dead has one living branch on it.Yay! Still, if I'm going to take cuttings it's worth having another male kiwi, I can take it with me when I move. I think the one I ordered is due in at the Nursery in a few weeks.
It's almost time to think about planting my soft fruit bushes. Strawberries will wait another month at least but I'd like to get my berries settled as early as possible before they start to break dormancy and put on their spring growth.
Peas and sweetpeas are going in the garden next weekend unless the weather stays unseasonably cold, then I'll wait. Lettuce
Well, it's time to get to work fixing appliances and making bread and turkey dinners. The district science fair judging is today at noon so I'll be gone for that. Wish us luck! Christopher at least.
Have a wonderful day. And remember...KISS.
Keep It Simple Silly or Keep It Self Sufficient!
How long do you cook turkey for? For those of you who think that it takes 20 minutes per pound I would like to offer the following opinion. If I'd cooked my turkey for the 11 hours recommended by this approach, it would have been nothing but a burnt shell. It took 5.5 hours in a regular oven at 325 degrees. A larger turkey does cook more quickly per pound than a little one. Butterball has a handy calculator that you can input how many people are eating and it'll calculate how big of a turkey you need, how much stuffing to make and how long to cook it for. It's found at :
www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/tips/thanksgiving-guide
Of course if you poke a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh you can quite accurately tell too.
Back to chickens...they're all fine and not traumatized from watching us cut up their buddy. I found a very handy chart called the
The ICYouSee
Handy-Dandy Chicken Chart
An Alphabetical List of More than 60 Chicken Breeds
With Comparative Information
Here's the address: www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Not every breed is listed and of course there are regional differences, but it's a very good chart for comparing hardiness, friendliness, egg production and suitability of different breeds for confinement. Go have a look if you're interested.
Eggs yesterday were 3, 4 the day before, and the silkies are still hiding theirs or have stopped laying. Hmm. The first eggs in the incubator are due to hatch early next week. The current conditions in the incubator are 99.9 degrees and 65% humidity. This little home made for $20 incubator is working great. It's just one of those cheap Styrofoam coolers fitted out with a thermostat (the kind found on your wall at home) linked to a light bulb socket with a 25watt bulb as the heat source. Oh, we did adjust the thermostat using the screw inside so that it reads higher since 99-101 degrees are higher than normal room temperatures. Now it's marked out in pencil as to the real temperature but we check it every time we turn the eggs anyway. It cycles more often once you add eggs but as soon as everything's good and warm the thermal mass means it cycles only once the thermostat says it's too cool. Ours is only on for a few minutes to warm it all up again. If you build one, be sure to have ventilation holes because the eggs need oxygen. You'll also need a shelf to keep your eggs on that has a lip so hatching chicks are kept safe and an accurate thermometer that records the temperature at the height of the eggs. Why? Because the air inside your incubator will stratify, that is, divide into hotter layers at the top and cooler ones near the bottom. It's the temperature at egg height that needs to be about 100-101 degrees and 50 % humidity, increasing to 65% 3 days before hatching time. We have a thermometer and hygrometer in there all the time but I double check the temperature by having a little contain of water in with the eggs and I just pop off the lid and take the temperature using a fever thermometer as it's very accurate. Mark your eggs with an X or the date on one side and turn them daily. Some people recommend 5 times per day, some people say once is enough, I turn at least twice and usually 3 times. This stops the yolk from sticking to the shell and causing a malformed chick. Turning an odd number of times means the longest period with no turn (usually at night) isn't always the same side of the egg up.
If you'd like more info on hatching a small number of chicks please look here:
www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI0631.html
In the Coop
All are warm and dry. Now without a big turkey eating their food they'll go through a lot less, about a third less we figure. We will start keeping eggs for hatching again today, store them, and then see if we can get a hatch off before the next swap.
In the Kitchen
I need to bake bread again today so grinding wheat is in order. I should also pick up some white flour as I'm out except for my storage supply. I'm going to bake 75% whole wheat so I can share some with friends. It's also time to clean out the fridge in preparation for shopping as soon as we get paid.
Today's big task however will be portioning out the cooked turkey and making some meals with it. I'll let you know what we make but you can guarantee it'll include stew and pot pie as well as cacciatore. Hmmm...maybe curry as well. I'll make up some meals, mark them and freeze them. I noticed that turkey in the store is a little over $1 per lb. That's a good price and you can really stretch turkey so if it's cheap where you are, you might want to consider it.
I know we talk about buying fruits in season but did you ever consider that meat has a season too? Here on the coast it's most noticeable with things like salmon and shellfish, but the self supporter tends to butcher cows, pigs etc in the late fall, lamb and chicken in the late spring or summer and turkeys around the holidays. So look for your meat in season and freeze it. Meats keep well for varying amounts of time so do check the recommendations and use it before it dries out. It'll also keep better in a chest freezer than the littleone above you fridge. This is due to the drying effect of the automatic defrost feature, and the lower temperature of a chest freezer. Meat also keeps better if wrapped in freezer paper or thick freezer bags. Don't cheap out. I know the good bags cost more but you can wash and re-use them you know. I often portion out large purchases into smaller bags, remove as much air as possible, then label and place several into one large freezer bag. It works well with things like ground beef which I freeze in 1 lb packs or pork chops I freeze in groups of 8 (2 for each adult and 1 for each child). You know how much you use, just do what works best for you. And consider some smaller portion packs for use when you're having company and just need an extra few chops.
Speaking of things in season, strawberries are in season in California right now and they are the same price that local ones are at the height of their season so if you're not worried about buying from far away, enjoy some! If you're waiting for the local ones that's good too. Nothing compares to a fully ripe strawberry that was picked this morning. I'm out of berries in my freezer now except for the few blue berries and blackberries I picked last year. Must remember to pick more, weather willing. I guess that's also kids willing. :)
In the Garden
I'm still trimming grapes and shortened my front garden vine by about 30 feet while Steve was out doing the turkey. I got the roses cut back too as they were straggly and over 10 feet tall. They've just been left to grow so I'm hoping cutting them back severely won't harm them. I collect the hips from my roses for making tea but you can make syrup from them also which stores well and is a natural source of vitamin C. It was cold last night so with any luck I can get some kiwi trimming done to and not have too much sap flowing. The male kiwi vine that we thought was dead has one living branch on it.Yay! Still, if I'm going to take cuttings it's worth having another male kiwi, I can take it with me when I move. I think the one I ordered is due in at the Nursery in a few weeks.
It's almost time to think about planting my soft fruit bushes. Strawberries will wait another month at least but I'd like to get my berries settled as early as possible before they start to break dormancy and put on their spring growth.
Peas and sweetpeas are going in the garden next weekend unless the weather stays unseasonably cold, then I'll wait. Lettuce
Well, it's time to get to work fixing appliances and making bread and turkey dinners. The district science fair judging is today at noon so I'll be gone for that. Wish us luck! Christopher at least.
Have a wonderful day. And remember...KISS.
Keep It Simple Silly or Keep It Self Sufficient!
Monday, March 2, 2009
The Academic Inn
What is this? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's an idea that has lead to the formation of several groups in intellectual circles, based on the writings of Leopold Kohr. You can find it at the following address:
http://www.williamfranklin.com/4thworld/academicinn/academicinn.html
There's lots there to think about and ponder. Yes, it was written a little while ago, and yes the world was different then, but not so significantly that it makes and fundamental difference. I encourage you to read it, and comment on what you found interesting.
As you know, I hold a man named John Seymour as the grandfather of Self-Sufficiency, as do many others. He is very highly respected in many circles for his honesty and integrity to the things he believed in. Now there may or may not have been incidences involving him, a field near his farm containing GMO sugar beet grown by Monsanto, and it's unfortunate digging up by the faeries. I believe that when he was asked about it in court and told by the prosecutor that "Faeries do not wear rubber boots" he replied that they must have been in disguise. Gotta love the man!
He gave 2 addresses at the inaugural meeting, arranged by his good friend John Papworth, of the Academic Inn, London. Here's a grainy and a little choppy sounding recording of his speech. His passion for the African people, traditional farming and his concerns over the sustainability of first world agri-business, mechanization and chemicalization make this a must see speech. It's 23 minutes and very relevant to today, though this speech was given by him in 1983 when he was about 80 years old. Probably the quote that stood out as being the most relevant to me was this...
"What the devil is the good of inventing a kind of agriculture that is entirely dependant on soluble nitrogen when you know perfectly well that your sources of it will have dried up in 40 years time, when you can grow perfectly good food, and enough of it, with good old muck that comes out of cows and sheep and things like that? And us for that matter. What's the good of that?"-John Seymour
The speech is a YouTube video at :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5485958120797215219&hl=en
That's my recommendation for viewing this week.
In the Kitchen today was cereal for breakfast, a mixed up casserole made of tuna, one package of stove top stuffing and 1 cup frozen corn, topped off with home made macaroni and cheese made with wholemeal flour. Sounds weird I know but it went over well and even the kids came from school and finished off the last of it for a snack. Dinner was breaded fish, beans and baby carrots, and buttered rice.
In the coop, all are healthy and happy. The chicks in the basement are eating drinking and digging around in their new home so apparently they are happy. Apparently our local health authority VIHA has deemed it acceptable for us local producers to sell our eggs to restaurants now. That's quite a change and good for many a local farmer. I missed the first swap of the year though I think there was a variety of older hens and chicks for the offering. I'll be sure to attend the next one, hopefully with some chicks to sell. Egg production was 5 eggs today. One silkie egg. Eggs in the incubator are due to hatch starting in a week.
In the garden we had a huge windstorm in the wee hours of the morning that knocked out power to 3000 people locally (but not us) and threatened to take our poly tunnel greenhouse and deposit it the neighbours yard. Luckily it stayed put. I will be going out tomorrow to finish pruning the grapes and kiwi, and sort out what I want to take for cuttings. I will go through the seeds bought and saved from last year to decide what I want to grow, what I want to plant where, and which seeds still need to be purchased. It's March, so time to get things started ready for planting out in May. Peas can go in soon so the garden needs to get turned over this week too. Maybe Steve will help me tomorrow if I'm nice to him. :)
Time to get housework done and then off to bed to plan and dream of the coming spring.
http://www.williamfranklin.com/4thworld/academicinn/academicinn.html
There's lots there to think about and ponder. Yes, it was written a little while ago, and yes the world was different then, but not so significantly that it makes and fundamental difference. I encourage you to read it, and comment on what you found interesting.
As you know, I hold a man named John Seymour as the grandfather of Self-Sufficiency, as do many others. He is very highly respected in many circles for his honesty and integrity to the things he believed in. Now there may or may not have been incidences involving him, a field near his farm containing GMO sugar beet grown by Monsanto, and it's unfortunate digging up by the faeries. I believe that when he was asked about it in court and told by the prosecutor that "Faeries do not wear rubber boots" he replied that they must have been in disguise. Gotta love the man!
He gave 2 addresses at the inaugural meeting, arranged by his good friend John Papworth, of the Academic Inn, London. Here's a grainy and a little choppy sounding recording of his speech. His passion for the African people, traditional farming and his concerns over the sustainability of first world agri-business, mechanization and chemicalization make this a must see speech. It's 23 minutes and very relevant to today, though this speech was given by him in 1983 when he was about 80 years old. Probably the quote that stood out as being the most relevant to me was this...
"What the devil is the good of inventing a kind of agriculture that is entirely dependant on soluble nitrogen when you know perfectly well that your sources of it will have dried up in 40 years time, when you can grow perfectly good food, and enough of it, with good old muck that comes out of cows and sheep and things like that? And us for that matter. What's the good of that?"-John Seymour
The speech is a YouTube video at :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5485958120797215219&hl=en
That's my recommendation for viewing this week.
In the Kitchen today was cereal for breakfast, a mixed up casserole made of tuna, one package of stove top stuffing and 1 cup frozen corn, topped off with home made macaroni and cheese made with wholemeal flour. Sounds weird I know but it went over well and even the kids came from school and finished off the last of it for a snack. Dinner was breaded fish, beans and baby carrots, and buttered rice.
In the coop, all are healthy and happy. The chicks in the basement are eating drinking and digging around in their new home so apparently they are happy. Apparently our local health authority VIHA has deemed it acceptable for us local producers to sell our eggs to restaurants now. That's quite a change and good for many a local farmer. I missed the first swap of the year though I think there was a variety of older hens and chicks for the offering. I'll be sure to attend the next one, hopefully with some chicks to sell. Egg production was 5 eggs today. One silkie egg. Eggs in the incubator are due to hatch starting in a week.
In the garden we had a huge windstorm in the wee hours of the morning that knocked out power to 3000 people locally (but not us) and threatened to take our poly tunnel greenhouse and deposit it the neighbours yard. Luckily it stayed put. I will be going out tomorrow to finish pruning the grapes and kiwi, and sort out what I want to take for cuttings. I will go through the seeds bought and saved from last year to decide what I want to grow, what I want to plant where, and which seeds still need to be purchased. It's March, so time to get things started ready for planting out in May. Peas can go in soon so the garden needs to get turned over this week too. Maybe Steve will help me tomorrow if I'm nice to him. :)
Time to get housework done and then off to bed to plan and dream of the coming spring.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Sunday Continued
Well okay, maybe 4 loads of laundry. :0 Still, nearly caught up.
Inspection went smoothly and the girls were so happy to show off their bedroom. They now just have to get into the habit of keeping it clean. That's been made easier by getting rid of a lot of junk and moving their clothes into a central closet. All the clean clothing gets hung up and placed in my closet which is very large. Every day they go into the family closet and get what they need to wear. Underwear and PJ's are kept in their own dressers in their room. Seems to be going ok so far and it sure does make it easier to figure out what you've got for clothing when it's all hanging right before your eyes. Easier to get rid of stuff you don't need too.
Visited with Nicole, John and Annie and Autumn. Steve and John went out to replace a spark plug in John's Geo Metro, the kids all played, and Annie finally got her birthday gifts from us. Nic and I had a good chat. There's a mixed idea about whether she's having a girl or a boy but I guess she's still got 10 weeks give or take so plenty of time to change our minds. (I think it's a boy)
It's March 1st so I'm thinking about a menu plan for this month. Still no veggies from the garden so it'll have to all come from SPUD or the grocery store. We do still have a lot of food storage so that's good to use some of it and rotate it. Still have 2 chickens in the freezer and some deer meat from Hans. I want to use up some more wheat and beans also. Hmmm. I'll let you know what I decide.
Chris' science fair project is due tomorrow. So of course he just found out about it and is going great guns to get it finished. he built a passive solar collector for heating air which by way of convection could heat a space. Having built a model of a collector, I think he wants now to build a real one and try different collection surfaces ie. aluminum cans, aluminum sheets, rocks painted black etc. Should prove interesting.
Gonna go to bed early so I can get up at a decent hour. Thanks for reading!
The Laundry Mountain
...is now a foothill. Maybe 2-3 more loads and the laundry room will have a floor again! I have a question for all you with multiple children. How do you keep up on your laundry? Doesn't it ever pile up? I often wish I had 2 machines or one of the huge Miele ones. That way at least when you get round to the laundry you can do 2-3 loads at once. Ahhh...dreaming of laundry machines. Steve and I have an agreement that if I get pregnant I get to have a new washing machine. Some people get fancy strollers, vacations, designer cribs etc. Me, I want cloth diapers and a new washer. How very practical! :)
It's 7:30am. I can get maybe 2 loads more on before leaving for church in an hour so maybe it'll be all done before Shiela comes. I hope so. I'm feeling kinda crampy and gross and would like an easy afternoon of sitting on the couch, watching movies and folding laundry.
Breakfast is not on the menu today due to it being fast sunday.
Off to switch loads and tidy the kitchen.
It's 7:30am. I can get maybe 2 loads more on before leaving for church in an hour so maybe it'll be all done before Shiela comes. I hope so. I'm feeling kinda crampy and gross and would like an easy afternoon of sitting on the couch, watching movies and folding laundry.
Breakfast is not on the menu today due to it being fast sunday.
Off to switch loads and tidy the kitchen.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Quick Update
Hi! It's after 11 pm and I'm heading off to sleep soon. It's a nice rainy night and 3c. Glad I'm all tucked up snug in bed. The house is pretty well done thanks to some heroic measures by Steve my husband. The kids room is tidy and organized. The living room is mostly livable except for the bookshelves which are all in a jumble. I can hardly believe we've been here for a year already. How the time flies. Tomorrow morning I've got to get the bathroom mopped and tidy the kitchen before getting off to church. As long as she doesn't have a problem with clean laundry we'll be fine as I think there are 9 baskets full ready to be sorted and put away or given away. I think I'll put on a good movie tomorrow afternoon and get to it.
In the Kitchen
Made Bread today. Buns, 2 loaves (1 for my dad) and a pizza with cheese, sauce and garlic and herbs.
Breakfast was cereal for the kids.
Lunch was Pizza, sandwiches with ham and butternut squash soup. Cost $10 for 7 people
Dinner was cabbage rolls (frozen from the store) and pineapple upside down cake $10 for 6 ppl
In the Garden
Steve had a yard fire to get rid of the trimmings and tidy up from the winter mess of pine cones and downed branches. It's been swept too. Dad announced his plans to build raised beds this spring so we gave him our copy of Square Foot Gardening to read.
In the Coop
The chicks are moved to new digs. A lovely big box with their feeder, waterer and heat lamp. They are the basement in Steve's tool storage room. So far so good. They seem happy and warm and they have netting over the box so they cannot escape and get lost.
Well, time to say "Goodnight!"
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Landlord Cometh
Our Landlady Shiela has decided to come and do yet another inspection of our place. Consequently now we're all stressed trying to clean up. We've got to re-sort the kids room, move the chicks into the basement while she is here, scrub and clean the whole house, get all the laundry caught up and do the yard. Yikes! So, she's coming Sunday so tomorrow is going to be family cleaning day.
Weather is 0 c. Partly cloudy at 10:21pm. Was a lovely sliver of moon hanging tonight very close to Venus. Very pretty!
In the Kitchen
Breakfast was steel cut oats cooked on top of the woodstove. I put them and water in a pot and left them to do their thing for a couple of hours and then we served them with brown sugar and a little milk. Filling, easy and yummy. $1.
Lunch was another cheap one. Ground deer meat (thanks Hans!) fried up until no longer pink, served with red kidney beans I cooked overnight on the woodstove (with lots of extra water and 2 chopped onions) rice, and Naan Bread. Oh, I tossed in the rest of the salsa in the fridge and a large can of chopped tomatoes along with salt, pepper, and some hot and spicy thai sauce that was left. Oh, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Went over well with the kids who said they liked it.
Dinner, same as lunch. Yes, they liked it enough to eat 2 meals in a row. Total cost $3 for both meals, mostly because the beans and rice were bulk purchases dried, and the meat was free. 12 hearty servings.
In the Garden
Nothing new. Snow is mostly gone again. Time for a good cleanup and sweep of the driveway I think but other than that it's quiet.
In the Coop.
All are happy and snuggled up together. They are currently eating about 2 scoops (our scoop is a 2 litre jug) per day. I suspect this is mostly going into Big Bird, our turkey. Same with the 2 gallons of water. Layed 4 eggs. Suspect Silkies may be hiding theirs. Coop is dry and clean. Needs cobwebs removed from ceiling though as they are taking on a life of their own.
Well, goodnight. I'm off to bed early to get some rest before the big panic of cleaning tomorrow. Wish us luck!
Weather is 0 c. Partly cloudy at 10:21pm. Was a lovely sliver of moon hanging tonight very close to Venus. Very pretty!
In the Kitchen
Breakfast was steel cut oats cooked on top of the woodstove. I put them and water in a pot and left them to do their thing for a couple of hours and then we served them with brown sugar and a little milk. Filling, easy and yummy. $1.
Lunch was another cheap one. Ground deer meat (thanks Hans!) fried up until no longer pink, served with red kidney beans I cooked overnight on the woodstove (with lots of extra water and 2 chopped onions) rice, and Naan Bread. Oh, I tossed in the rest of the salsa in the fridge and a large can of chopped tomatoes along with salt, pepper, and some hot and spicy thai sauce that was left. Oh, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Went over well with the kids who said they liked it.
Dinner, same as lunch. Yes, they liked it enough to eat 2 meals in a row. Total cost $3 for both meals, mostly because the beans and rice were bulk purchases dried, and the meat was free. 12 hearty servings.
In the Garden
Nothing new. Snow is mostly gone again. Time for a good cleanup and sweep of the driveway I think but other than that it's quiet.
In the Coop.
All are happy and snuggled up together. They are currently eating about 2 scoops (our scoop is a 2 litre jug) per day. I suspect this is mostly going into Big Bird, our turkey. Same with the 2 gallons of water. Layed 4 eggs. Suspect Silkies may be hiding theirs. Coop is dry and clean. Needs cobwebs removed from ceiling though as they are taking on a life of their own.
Well, goodnight. I'm off to bed early to get some rest before the big panic of cleaning tomorrow. Wish us luck!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Snow On Daffodils
Sounds like the title of a movie almost doesn't it? Well, we got a couple of inches and Nanaimo got upwards of a foot in places so treacherous roads and no school for the kids. Don't tell my kids though...sshhh...they had to go in Nanoose Bay.
It's about -3c at 6:30 pm.
The Chickens
Well the big chickens (and turkey) are all snugged up in their freshly cleaned house dreaming of warmer spring days to come. The chicks have discovered the joys of flight and are flying all over the bathroom floor. Tonight I'm moving them into new digs. We have a box made of OSB that's sturdy and about 2ft by 4 ft. It's 2ft tall and we have a net for over the top to stop escapees, and to keep our love bird out. I'll get it inside and filled with fresh shavings for them after I'm done typing this. They are almost fully feathered out and since they're indoors at a controlled temperature, I'll gradually wean them off the heat lamp over the next few weeks and before the next batch of chicks need it. It's amazing how quickly these guys feathers came in. I must take some pics and post them for you to see.
In The Garden
Snow! So no digging today. Hans cme over with a present for me. A whole trailer load of rotted pony manure. The Young Men shovelled it into buckets and covered my garden 4 inches deep all over with it. Lovely! They were impressed that it didn't smell due to it already being partly broken down. I'll turn it all in next week or the week after. There's no rush. I also put a bunch of fireplace ashes onto it. I will do a soil test before planting to see if it needs any lime but other than that it should be good to go with a good digging of the top layers to blend all the manure, chicken house shavings, ashes, compost and everything with the soil. The kiwi vines are going to feast after years of neglect, last year excluded. They are planted permanently along the edge of the garden so they got a nice mulch of manure.
In the kitchen
Re-organizing. Did you ever have somebody help you move in? The church ladies unpacked my kitchen and I said "no problem, I'll re-organize it later". Well, it's been a year and the time has come to decide what stays and what goes. I've got more dishes than I need, extra pots and pans, and the kids never seem to put the dishes away in the same place twice. Drastic measures must be taken. I'm going to list them on Freecycle and see if anyone needs them. If they're not here, they can't get in the way. If I really want them then they need a home or to be put in storage in the basement.
It's that time of year again when we get food from the Bishops storehouse in Langley. Our branch shares the canner with other church groups (wards) on the island so we are able to buy bulk staples for really low prices and either just use them out of the big bags (like Costco) or seal them in the big #10 cans for long term storage. Like 20-30 years. They sell wheat, beans, rice, powdered milk, sugar, dehydrated apple slices, carrots and onions, pasta, potato flakes, oats etc. Very basic stuff, but it'll keep you alive in a pinch. We also store oil, flour, honey, and extra canned goods that we use on a regular basis like tomato sauce, veggies and tuna. It seems so daunting to think how much food you need even for a one month supply but if you just do a little at a time it adds up before you know it. You notice this most when you have to move house and haul it all with you!
Here's the 100% Whole Wheat Recipe I use. It's from Recipezaar
It's a nice basic recipe with no sugar. Please note that since it has no sugar to caramelize, it won't turn very brown when you toast it. It'll just get hard and warm. :)
Add yeast mix, half the flour and mix for 2 minutes. Add the oil and salt. Continue mixing and gradually add more of the flour until a good textured dough is formed. Watch it, it should not bee too sticky or too dry, just smooth. When the dough is done kneading, run the kneading cycle again. I push stop, and start again and it starts the cycle all over again. At the end of the second kneading cycle let it relax for 10 minutes and then transfer to a greased bowl and follow directions as above from step 7.
Have fun with it. I have another recipe I sometimes use so I'll go scrounge it up.
For dinner tonight we had hungry teenagers and the 6 of us. Dinner in a hurry was 4 onions chopped and fried with 1 tbsp butter and a dash of salt until carmelized. 12 European Weiners and 6 Hot Dogs (from the bulk section) with buns and trimmings. Cost $6.50 for 10 people. Leftovers will be added to beans and wieners tomorrow.
Well, kids are home from their hockey game now so back to work I go.
It's about -3c at 6:30 pm.
The Chickens
Well the big chickens (and turkey) are all snugged up in their freshly cleaned house dreaming of warmer spring days to come. The chicks have discovered the joys of flight and are flying all over the bathroom floor. Tonight I'm moving them into new digs. We have a box made of OSB that's sturdy and about 2ft by 4 ft. It's 2ft tall and we have a net for over the top to stop escapees, and to keep our love bird out. I'll get it inside and filled with fresh shavings for them after I'm done typing this. They are almost fully feathered out and since they're indoors at a controlled temperature, I'll gradually wean them off the heat lamp over the next few weeks and before the next batch of chicks need it. It's amazing how quickly these guys feathers came in. I must take some pics and post them for you to see.
In The Garden
Snow! So no digging today. Hans cme over with a present for me. A whole trailer load of rotted pony manure. The Young Men shovelled it into buckets and covered my garden 4 inches deep all over with it. Lovely! They were impressed that it didn't smell due to it already being partly broken down. I'll turn it all in next week or the week after. There's no rush. I also put a bunch of fireplace ashes onto it. I will do a soil test before planting to see if it needs any lime but other than that it should be good to go with a good digging of the top layers to blend all the manure, chicken house shavings, ashes, compost and everything with the soil. The kiwi vines are going to feast after years of neglect, last year excluded. They are planted permanently along the edge of the garden so they got a nice mulch of manure.
In the kitchen
Re-organizing. Did you ever have somebody help you move in? The church ladies unpacked my kitchen and I said "no problem, I'll re-organize it later". Well, it's been a year and the time has come to decide what stays and what goes. I've got more dishes than I need, extra pots and pans, and the kids never seem to put the dishes away in the same place twice. Drastic measures must be taken. I'm going to list them on Freecycle and see if anyone needs them. If they're not here, they can't get in the way. If I really want them then they need a home or to be put in storage in the basement.
It's that time of year again when we get food from the Bishops storehouse in Langley. Our branch shares the canner with other church groups (wards) on the island so we are able to buy bulk staples for really low prices and either just use them out of the big bags (like Costco) or seal them in the big #10 cans for long term storage. Like 20-30 years. They sell wheat, beans, rice, powdered milk, sugar, dehydrated apple slices, carrots and onions, pasta, potato flakes, oats etc. Very basic stuff, but it'll keep you alive in a pinch. We also store oil, flour, honey, and extra canned goods that we use on a regular basis like tomato sauce, veggies and tuna. It seems so daunting to think how much food you need even for a one month supply but if you just do a little at a time it adds up before you know it. You notice this most when you have to move house and haul it all with you!
Here's the 100% Whole Wheat Recipe I use. It's from Recipezaar
It's a nice basic recipe with no sugar. Please note that since it has no sugar to caramelize, it won't turn very brown when you toast it. It'll just get hard and warm. :)
Ingredients
- 3 cups water, lukewarm (100-115ºF)
- 3/4 teaspoon dry yeast
- 7 1/2-8 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
Directions
Proof yeast in half a cup of the water, with about a teaspoon of flour- let it sit, covered, until it becomes bubbly& active.
Combine the rest of the water with the yeast/water in a large bowl, and gradually add about half of the flour.
Stir the mixture about 100 times in the same direction, until it is well-mixed and strands are beginning to form.
Stir in the salt and oil.
Add the remaining flour half a cup at a time, stirring well, until it is too stiff to stir with a spoon.
Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for about 20 minutes, adding flour as nescessary to keep the dough from sticking to the board.When it has been sufficiently kneaded, cover it with a damp cloth for about 10 minutes and wash and grease the bowl.
After it has rested, knead the dough a few more times (it should feel really nice by now!) and place it in the bowl, covered with the damp cloth, a plastic bag, and maybe a plate.Let the dough rise until it springs back when you stick your finger in it, and it is about twice the size as it was before (this takes about 2 hours; longer or shorter depending on the room temperature- I prefer a longer (cooler) rise, because it allows the flavour to develop more... but sometimes you just don't have time for that sort of thing).
Deflate the dough by punching or kneading it a few times, and let it rise again- this time, it should take about half the amount of time as it did before.
When the dough has risen twice, deflate it again and cover it with the damp cloth again for about 10 minutes (to let the gluten relax, apparently.. it makes it easier to manage if you do this), then divide it into and shape it into loaves, buns, etc.
Let the shaped dough rise on a baking sheet or in a loaf-pan for about an hour maybe- it will rise a bit more in the oven.Slash the top of the bread if you want, so that it doesn't bust open in the oven.
Bake at 400º for 20 minutes, and then turn the oven down to 350º and bake for 20-30 minutes longer, until the loaf is a lovely brown and sounds hollow when you thump it on the bottom.(Buns and smaller loaves take a shorter time).Try to let the loaf cool (out side of the loaf pan, or it will get a bit soggy) before you tear into it.
Add yeast mix, half the flour and mix for 2 minutes. Add the oil and salt. Continue mixing and gradually add more of the flour until a good textured dough is formed. Watch it, it should not bee too sticky or too dry, just smooth. When the dough is done kneading, run the kneading cycle again. I push stop, and start again and it starts the cycle all over again. At the end of the second kneading cycle let it relax for 10 minutes and then transfer to a greased bowl and follow directions as above from step 7.
Have fun with it. I have another recipe I sometimes use so I'll go scrounge it up.
For dinner tonight we had hungry teenagers and the 6 of us. Dinner in a hurry was 4 onions chopped and fried with 1 tbsp butter and a dash of salt until carmelized. 12 European Weiners and 6 Hot Dogs (from the bulk section) with buns and trimmings. Cost $6.50 for 10 people. Leftovers will be added to beans and wieners tomorrow.
Well, kids are home from their hockey game now so back to work I go.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Spring Has Sprung (A Leak!)
Yes, it's raining on the 'wet coast' . +7 celcius. This morning was so gloriously sunny though that I have no complaints. I got my visiting teaching done in record time, found out there was a lien on Steve's van from somebody several years ago and about 4 owners previously (advice to everyone...do a lien search before buying any car!!) Fortunately the people in question are in good standing with their bank and so the lien can be removed with nothing more than some paperwork being faxed back and forth. Phew! That's a relief, I had visions of the bank coming and just taking the van which of course they could do legally. Spent all afternoon on the phone getting it all worked out. Glad that's nearly over though.
My sister Alex is expecting her baby 'Emily Moira Jessie Roberts' any time now, well in the next couple of weeks anyway. She's going to be a big one by the looks of it. My sister and I spoke about cloth diapers. I'm a big fan and she's going to try them out. It'll save her lots of money even if she uses them part time and uses disposables when they are going out. You can see more information in an article I wrote several years ago at www.gabbys.net/zencart/clothdiapers_disposable.php Let me know what you think. I've got lots of experience with cloth diapers of all sorts and am always interested to know others thoughts and advice. Personally I love motherease diapers and found them to be practical and durable. I like Gabby's too. Both are Canadian companies but sell worldwide.
In The Garden
Life at the ol' homestead rolls on as usual. I'm critically eyeing the weather and deciding if it's too early to start seedlings indoors yet. My bare root apple trees are here and will be planted in their boxes in the next week. They are all looking good and many thanks to Harry Burton of Applelucious Orchards. Also in the plans now are soft fruit bushes. Berries. We're going to get blueberries, gooseberries, thornless blackberry (yes we have 3 types of wild ones here but I want to see what a difference cultivated berries make) raspberries and some strawberries. All of these will grace the beds and planters on the deck due to predation from our free ranging chickens. I'm going to try for 2-3 varieties of each plant to see what really works for me. Ones I love can always be duplicated by taking cuttings and since I know I have to move in a year or so, that's more practical. Oh, I also ordered a male kiwi vine to compliment our 2 girls. I still have a lot of trimming to do but I'm going to wait for a cold day so that the sap will drip less. If you cut a kiwi vine in spring or summer it can bleed ie. drip sap for quite a while. It won't hurt the plant and it can usually heal itself in a few minutes but I have had mine go for hours in the spring before. Don't panic. You can use a styptic or wait for nature to heal it. My roses and other perennial bushes are trimmed and I'm just waiting for a chance to get out and trim my grape vines. I'll try to root some of the cuttings again to add to last year's compliment. If I end up with too many I guess I could always sell them.
Chicks.
We had 3 healthy chicks hatch 10 days ago and one who wasn't healthy so she was put to sleep. I think some of the other eggs we put in may have been frozen or over chilled so I was much more vigilant about collecting eggs right away this time. There are eggs in the incubator again and we'll hopefully get more chicks to keep their friends company. The current batch is in a shaving lined box with a waterer, feeder, and heat lamp. They're starting to get out now and explore the bathroom floor so I have to watch out for little mini-poops. Ick! Thank goodness it's tile and easy to clean!
Our Wheat Mill Arrives
I got my Family Grain Mill this past weekend and tried it out as soon as I got home. It is a hand mill that clamps on to the counter top and it makes lovely flour the first time so you don't have to run it through twice like with some other hand mills. And the bread tastes wonderful. To top it all of I'm getting my flabby arms in shape by turning the handle everyday to grind fresh wheat. Yum! For anyone interested, here's my recipe for
60% whole wheat honey bread.
There you have it! It makes 4 loaves by the way so enough for most people for a week. Enough for our family for 2 days at most. This is a good easy recipe to make and for getting your family used to whole wheat. Tomorrow I'll post my 100% Whole wheat bread. Guaranteed to keep you regular so start out slowly eating this if you're not used to it. Oh, thanks to recipezaar for this recipe. :) Oh, one thing I get asked is about consistency of dough, too wet, too dry etc. Lots of things affect that like the season, moisture in the air gets picked up by your flour and if it's a dry winter flour loses moisture. Start out with the freshest flour you can, use good fresh or dried active yeast at room temperature, and judge the dough by feel. It should feel smooth and silky once kneaded. In a bread maker it should feel a little softer than you'd have if you were kneading it by hand. I'll confess that I only use my bread maker for kneading the dough if I'm busy. I'm not sure I've ever used it for baking as I don't like the results I've eaten before. Maybe it's just me though.
All this talk of bread is making me hungry so I'm off to start a new batch. Bye!
5 hours later.....
Well, didn't get bread made yet due to other pressing family matters but did enjoy a nice evening out with my hubby as we had to move date night this week due to our grand-daughters birthday dinner being on Friday which is our traditional date night. We went to the Rod N' Gun Cafe again for dinner. A favourite haunt of ours. Their 4 course meals are $18 per person during the week and the food is scrumptious. Had Antipasto, Tuscan Caesar salad, grilled lamb shops in a fig and balsamic reduction with yellow beets, yellow and orange carrots, red peppers and cheddar chipotle mashed potatoes, with chocolate souffle for dessert. Yum! The kids ate at home (obviously) and had baked burritos (the bean and cheese frozen kind) topped with cheese and salsa plus onion rings. They said it was delicious. It's a good cheap meal if you can buy a large packet of burritos or make some and then just put them in a pan and cover with toppings and bake. We can usually make this meal for $8. Today the cost was $5 and we used up some cheese that was getting a little dry around the edges. Sometimes we top with peppers and onions or crumbled bacon..anything that'll work that's leftover in the fridge. I'm thinking of writing a book including recipes to make on a budget. What do you think? Well, now I've blown my dating budget for the month, I'm off to bed. Got up WAY TOO EARLY this morning so an early night is in order. Just got to turn he eggs in the incubator and check the temperature. Goodnight!
My sister Alex is expecting her baby 'Emily Moira Jessie Roberts' any time now, well in the next couple of weeks anyway. She's going to be a big one by the looks of it. My sister and I spoke about cloth diapers. I'm a big fan and she's going to try them out. It'll save her lots of money even if she uses them part time and uses disposables when they are going out. You can see more information in an article I wrote several years ago at www.gabbys.net/zencart/clothdiapers_disposable.php Let me know what you think. I've got lots of experience with cloth diapers of all sorts and am always interested to know others thoughts and advice. Personally I love motherease diapers and found them to be practical and durable. I like Gabby's too. Both are Canadian companies but sell worldwide.
In The Garden
Life at the ol' homestead rolls on as usual. I'm critically eyeing the weather and deciding if it's too early to start seedlings indoors yet. My bare root apple trees are here and will be planted in their boxes in the next week. They are all looking good and many thanks to Harry Burton of Applelucious Orchards. Also in the plans now are soft fruit bushes. Berries. We're going to get blueberries, gooseberries, thornless blackberry (yes we have 3 types of wild ones here but I want to see what a difference cultivated berries make) raspberries and some strawberries. All of these will grace the beds and planters on the deck due to predation from our free ranging chickens. I'm going to try for 2-3 varieties of each plant to see what really works for me. Ones I love can always be duplicated by taking cuttings and since I know I have to move in a year or so, that's more practical. Oh, I also ordered a male kiwi vine to compliment our 2 girls. I still have a lot of trimming to do but I'm going to wait for a cold day so that the sap will drip less. If you cut a kiwi vine in spring or summer it can bleed ie. drip sap for quite a while. It won't hurt the plant and it can usually heal itself in a few minutes but I have had mine go for hours in the spring before. Don't panic. You can use a styptic or wait for nature to heal it. My roses and other perennial bushes are trimmed and I'm just waiting for a chance to get out and trim my grape vines. I'll try to root some of the cuttings again to add to last year's compliment. If I end up with too many I guess I could always sell them.
Chicks.
We had 3 healthy chicks hatch 10 days ago and one who wasn't healthy so she was put to sleep. I think some of the other eggs we put in may have been frozen or over chilled so I was much more vigilant about collecting eggs right away this time. There are eggs in the incubator again and we'll hopefully get more chicks to keep their friends company. The current batch is in a shaving lined box with a waterer, feeder, and heat lamp. They're starting to get out now and explore the bathroom floor so I have to watch out for little mini-poops. Ick! Thank goodness it's tile and easy to clean!
Our Wheat Mill Arrives
I got my Family Grain Mill this past weekend and tried it out as soon as I got home. It is a hand mill that clamps on to the counter top and it makes lovely flour the first time so you don't have to run it through twice like with some other hand mills. And the bread tastes wonderful. To top it all of I'm getting my flabby arms in shape by turning the handle everyday to grind fresh wheat. Yum! For anyone interested, here's my recipe for
60% whole wheat honey bread.
Ingredients
- 2 envelopes yeast
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 cups whole wheat flour
- 4 cups white flour
Directions
- Dissolve yeast in water.
- In a large bowl, combine butter, molasses, honey and salt and mix well.
- Add yeast mixture and then gradually add flours.
- Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Or alternately place in your bread maker and run it through the first kneading cycle twice.
- Place in buttered bowl and let rise until double.
- Punch down and let rest for a few minutes.
- Divide dough into 4 parts and shape into loaves.
- Place in greased pans and let rise for about an hour.
- Bake at 375* for 35 to 40 minutes.
- My oven cooks hot so I do the following: Place loaf pans on the lowest rack for 30 minutes at 325* Your best bet it to experiment with your oven. A loaf is done when you tap it on the bottom and it sounds hollow. If you can control your oven to have just bottom heat it will prevent the top crust from over browning.
There you have it! It makes 4 loaves by the way so enough for most people for a week. Enough for our family for 2 days at most. This is a good easy recipe to make and for getting your family used to whole wheat. Tomorrow I'll post my 100% Whole wheat bread. Guaranteed to keep you regular so start out slowly eating this if you're not used to it. Oh, thanks to recipezaar for this recipe. :) Oh, one thing I get asked is about consistency of dough, too wet, too dry etc. Lots of things affect that like the season, moisture in the air gets picked up by your flour and if it's a dry winter flour loses moisture. Start out with the freshest flour you can, use good fresh or dried active yeast at room temperature, and judge the dough by feel. It should feel smooth and silky once kneaded. In a bread maker it should feel a little softer than you'd have if you were kneading it by hand. I'll confess that I only use my bread maker for kneading the dough if I'm busy. I'm not sure I've ever used it for baking as I don't like the results I've eaten before. Maybe it's just me though.
All this talk of bread is making me hungry so I'm off to start a new batch. Bye!
5 hours later.....
Well, didn't get bread made yet due to other pressing family matters but did enjoy a nice evening out with my hubby as we had to move date night this week due to our grand-daughters birthday dinner being on Friday which is our traditional date night. We went to the Rod N' Gun Cafe again for dinner. A favourite haunt of ours. Their 4 course meals are $18 per person during the week and the food is scrumptious. Had Antipasto, Tuscan Caesar salad, grilled lamb shops in a fig and balsamic reduction with yellow beets, yellow and orange carrots, red peppers and cheddar chipotle mashed potatoes, with chocolate souffle for dessert. Yum! The kids ate at home (obviously) and had baked burritos (the bean and cheese frozen kind) topped with cheese and salsa plus onion rings. They said it was delicious. It's a good cheap meal if you can buy a large packet of burritos or make some and then just put them in a pan and cover with toppings and bake. We can usually make this meal for $8. Today the cost was $5 and we used up some cheese that was getting a little dry around the edges. Sometimes we top with peppers and onions or crumbled bacon..anything that'll work that's leftover in the fridge. I'm thinking of writing a book including recipes to make on a budget. What do you think? Well, now I've blown my dating budget for the month, I'm off to bed. Got up WAY TOO EARLY this morning so an early night is in order. Just got to turn he eggs in the incubator and check the temperature. Goodnight!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Frosty
A beautiful sunrise this morning. It's foggy up here among the tree tops and you can see tendrils of mist weaving silently through the branches, shot through with oranges, pinks, violets and framed against a soft blue sky. The greenhouse is covered in frost and little puddles are frozen. It's a beautiful winter morning.
One of our silkie hens has decided to hatch eggs. Did I tell you already? Our incubator is full and once they hatch we'll likely raise them indoors until the weather warms up considerably.
Yesterday marked a day that will go down in US history. President Barack Obama was inaugurated the 44 th president, and the first black man to hold this office. His speech was very moving and i was awed that over a million people there watching could be so quiet and enraptured as if they didn't want to miss one word. You truly get a sense that he was born at this time in these circumstances to do this job. He made people hopeful, and personally responsible for their own happiness and told them that if their forefathers could endure war and cold and famile, that they could too. That America became a great nation because of hard work and sacrifice and that this generation need to stop polluting and over consuming and work to build a better country and planet. Amen!
In the Garden:
The apple trees we've ordered are:
Gascoyne Scarlet
Merton Beauty
Bramley
Mallings Kent
Laxtons Fortune
Winter Red Flesh
Belle De Boskoop
They're pretty much all English Heritage apples and represent variety of colours, there are eating apples, storage apples, cooking apples, early apples, later apples. I can't wait to report on their progress over the next several years. These are one year old trees so we don't expect any fruit for several years yet. But that's ok with me. They're a promise for the future. And we have one tree for every child and grandchild under 13. Next I'm going to look at getting a cherry, pear and plum. I might even indulge in a fruit salad tree. I know that Art Knapp, a local garden centre sometimes carries them. If I get a cherry it will be a multi variety graft and I hope it has rainier cherries, because those are my favourite. I don't suspect that the nurseries will get trees in for another 2 months yet. I'd like to get mine all planted while they're still dormant. Maybe I can take some suckers from my existing trees and root them. I'll do more research and see if that will work. Also, while trapsing through the bush yesterday, Steve found a fruit tree burried in the pine trees. Maybe we'll relocate it, if it's possible. Some of our grape vine cuttings took last year and I will take more dormant cuttings in the next few weeks too. It's going to be a busy spring.
Gotta run. There's triple points day and a case lot sale on at the grocery store so I'm off to stock up on canned food and basics. Have a great day!
One of our silkie hens has decided to hatch eggs. Did I tell you already? Our incubator is full and once they hatch we'll likely raise them indoors until the weather warms up considerably.
Yesterday marked a day that will go down in US history. President Barack Obama was inaugurated the 44 th president, and the first black man to hold this office. His speech was very moving and i was awed that over a million people there watching could be so quiet and enraptured as if they didn't want to miss one word. You truly get a sense that he was born at this time in these circumstances to do this job. He made people hopeful, and personally responsible for their own happiness and told them that if their forefathers could endure war and cold and famile, that they could too. That America became a great nation because of hard work and sacrifice and that this generation need to stop polluting and over consuming and work to build a better country and planet. Amen!
In the Garden:
The apple trees we've ordered are:
Gascoyne Scarlet
Merton Beauty
Bramley
Mallings Kent
Laxtons Fortune
Winter Red Flesh
Belle De Boskoop
They're pretty much all English Heritage apples and represent variety of colours, there are eating apples, storage apples, cooking apples, early apples, later apples. I can't wait to report on their progress over the next several years. These are one year old trees so we don't expect any fruit for several years yet. But that's ok with me. They're a promise for the future. And we have one tree for every child and grandchild under 13. Next I'm going to look at getting a cherry, pear and plum. I might even indulge in a fruit salad tree. I know that Art Knapp, a local garden centre sometimes carries them. If I get a cherry it will be a multi variety graft and I hope it has rainier cherries, because those are my favourite. I don't suspect that the nurseries will get trees in for another 2 months yet. I'd like to get mine all planted while they're still dormant. Maybe I can take some suckers from my existing trees and root them. I'll do more research and see if that will work. Also, while trapsing through the bush yesterday, Steve found a fruit tree burried in the pine trees. Maybe we'll relocate it, if it's possible. Some of our grape vine cuttings took last year and I will take more dormant cuttings in the next few weeks too. It's going to be a busy spring.
Gotta run. There's triple points day and a case lot sale on at the grocery store so I'm off to stock up on canned food and basics. Have a great day!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Why grow your own food?
On the Home Front:
Yes, we're busy! The wedding finally happened on November 29th. It went very nicely and everyone had a good time. Christmas this year was much more fun and less commercial than usual mostly due to our lack of money, the global financial crisis which is now getting into full swing, and the fact that we had several huge dumps of snow. This was probably the greatest amount and most long lasting snow event in this regions history. We had no mail, roads weren't cleared, the city ran out of salt for it's trucks to use on the roads. All in all it was very treacherous driving and so we stayed home a lot more. It was nice to have power though, and although we were prepared for a power outage, the only ones we had didn't last more than 6 or 7 hours. We just lit candles, oil lamps and the woodstove and made do. But the kids thought they were going to die with no computers or tv! They've since re-discovered the joy of card games and board games. Stephen and I have taken up scrabble and since I keep beating him, he's going to teach me chess next. Last night we all played uno with a cheap set of cards from the dollar store, and we had fun.
Today's weather is clear with some fog down in the valley and it's currently -4c at 8:30 am.
In the Garden:
The greenhouse has survived all the snow thanks to Steve's midnight forays out there to push all the snow off the roof. It actually got bent almost in half but seems fine now. Pretty much every greenhouse on the island suffered damage from the wind and snow or was destroyed, and yet out little poly-tunnel greenhouse lives on. I've got to move out the boxes and give it all a good sweep before I think about getting it ready for spring. Since it's unheated though, I'll start my seedlings inside and move them out there once the weather warms up in a few months.
The chicks we raised in the greenhouse did really well. The added heat benefitted the plants but the chicks did make quite a bit of dust that covered everything, and they increased the humidity so much it was a problem. Sometimes you'd swear it was raining indoors! We moved them outside in the fall with the other chickens and they had a marvelous time picking bugs in the garden until October.
Steve's square foot garden has been declared a success. Though the veggies got a late start and some were cut down by an unexpected freeze, we'll do some regular season plantings in it and see how it goes. His beds are in the greenhouse, so we'll likely start some early peas and lettuce in there once the average temp is say 7c. The whole concept of gardenign vertically and in less soil is really useful for urban gardeners who have only a balcony or small garden and who can't be lugging big bags of soil. We built our beds out of screws and OSB so each bed cost about $5. They'll maybe last 3-5 years but that's still cheaper than anything else and works well.
There's a lot of talk this year about growing your own food, in large part because people are worried about another great depression and how they are going to feed their families. I think that every family should grow something edible. Why? It not only teaches you to appreciate the wonders of nature, it gives you the experience of eating something fresh. There are millions of families around the world who have never eaten anything fresher than is found in their local grocery store. And that's such a shame! Fresh produce can taste totally different than it's stored and shipped counterparts. ie. fresh parsnips roasted are so sweet it's amazing. Tomatoes...well there's just no comparrison in my mind, and that goes for most fruits and veggies.
So how do we increase our food security (having enough to eat long term) and why would we want to? Producing even a portion of your own food is empowering. You are not reliant of the just in time delivery systems where you live. Go research it. I know it seems like the store has loads of food, but it's an illusion. They wouldn't have enough to last for a week if the trucks stopped arriving. In fact they'd run out of things like water and milk in a few days if there was a dusruption for any reason like a truckers strike, earthquake, snow storm. Think about how many people shop at that store...more than you realized? Yep, your whole neighbourhood.
Growing your own food can be hard work, but it's also fun too, at least part of the time, I for one like eating it!! You know exactly how fresh it is, you know what fertilizers or chemicals went on it or not as the case may be. And it's there for you to eat regardless of what's happening in the world. If you're rich, your garden keeps on growing. If you're poor, lose your job, lose your car, whatever happens, your garden keeps on growing. It's like a living food storage right out there in your yard! Many people have long term food storage in their home and know that it takes up a huge amount of space but never realize that having a garden can mean added fresh food rich in vitamins and minerals outside where it uses no house space until you can or freeze it, and it looks nice too.
We have gotten away from the back yard garden on the past few generations. During WWII there were victory gardens everwhere and for good reason, people needed the food. Now it's so easy to pop down to the store that the work of having a garden has been replaced with a nice tidy green lawn that you mow once a week, and most people don't even compost the clippings. (Best not get me started on that until tomorrow!) Some houses like ours are built in a place that makes gardening all but impossible. We're on top of a shale hillside. No soil here but the stuff the trees have found. So we've got a garden made of imported dirt, we built raised beds, and we compost everything from the clippings, to peelings and chicken manure. It's made a difference in as little as one year.
Here's where I'm at with gardening/self sufficiency.
I'm going to buy my seeds from West Coast seeds this week. Some of them at least. I have some saved from last year and there are a few things I only need a few of so I'll trade with friends or buy a couple of plants at the nursery. I need a new male kiwi vine as the one here is toast. Last year we got lots of kiwi flowers, and not one fruit. I've ordered some heritage apple trees from Applelucious orchard on Salt Spring Island. Harry Burton knows loads about his trees and has been doing it for ages so go look at site (just google it). His trees are wonderful and since we cannot actually plant them in their final locations here, we're going to build enormous raised boxes 4ft square for each one and plant them there until we can buy a place next spring hopefully. We'll then have trees one year closer to bearing fruit. That's the plan.
We will raise another 50 or so chickens this spring and summer. The ones we sell will pay for the ones we eat plus we'll have the manure so that's great. We want to hatch some more layers this year and to that end we have eggs in the incubator right now. one of our silkies is sitting on a clutch of eggs but I doubt they'll hatch due to the cold they suffered, we'll see. One of the silkie roosters is crowing like mad at the moment in his nice tenor voice. I wonder what the neighbours think?
I'm looking around for some garden space to use for the year too for those crops that need less attention like turnips, carrots, potatoes corn etc. I'll let you know what I find. There are no local community gardens but maybe someone has a garden plot they don't use.
Also, thanks to Nicole at Deliberate Life (you've GOT to read her blog) we learned about Spud.ca They specialize in local, organic produce, food and household cleaners and operate a weekly delivery service. They've got all sorts of different stuff and it changes seasonally and weekly. The quality is really good and you can learn a little about who produced your food. If you're interested in signing up, you can enter this code and get $25 off your first 4 grocery deliveries, that's $5 off the first 3 and $10 off the fourth. Here's the info:
I thought you might be interested in trying spud!, the online grocery delivery service I use. Beautiful produce, local dairy and bakery products, as well as a wide range of delicious groceries. All of this and flexible delivery at no extra charge and no commitment. If you'd like to try them out you can save $25 over your first 4 deliveries. Simply go to www.spud.ca and sign-up using promo code CR5-100011293.
They tell you how far your food has come which is interesting. Last year our family had one meal a week that was home grown. Not hard for us as we raise chickens and had lots of salad fixings, beans, potatoes, peas etc. Apparently the Path to Freedom guys (go see their stuff too, amazing what they've accomplished on their urban homestead) had encouraged the 100 mile diet where you get at least some of your food within 100 miles of home, then the 100 ft diet where one meal a week comes from your garden. So, we've been on the band wagon all this time and never knew. We're hip! :) This year we are aiming for 3 meals a week entirely home grown and 3 meals from within 100 miles. It's more of a challenge than I realized but it does make you think about food more that's for sure.
Well, gotta get to work. Happy seed browsing and food buying. Elizabeth
Yes, we're busy! The wedding finally happened on November 29th. It went very nicely and everyone had a good time. Christmas this year was much more fun and less commercial than usual mostly due to our lack of money, the global financial crisis which is now getting into full swing, and the fact that we had several huge dumps of snow. This was probably the greatest amount and most long lasting snow event in this regions history. We had no mail, roads weren't cleared, the city ran out of salt for it's trucks to use on the roads. All in all it was very treacherous driving and so we stayed home a lot more. It was nice to have power though, and although we were prepared for a power outage, the only ones we had didn't last more than 6 or 7 hours. We just lit candles, oil lamps and the woodstove and made do. But the kids thought they were going to die with no computers or tv! They've since re-discovered the joy of card games and board games. Stephen and I have taken up scrabble and since I keep beating him, he's going to teach me chess next. Last night we all played uno with a cheap set of cards from the dollar store, and we had fun.
Today's weather is clear with some fog down in the valley and it's currently -4c at 8:30 am.
In the Garden:
The greenhouse has survived all the snow thanks to Steve's midnight forays out there to push all the snow off the roof. It actually got bent almost in half but seems fine now. Pretty much every greenhouse on the island suffered damage from the wind and snow or was destroyed, and yet out little poly-tunnel greenhouse lives on. I've got to move out the boxes and give it all a good sweep before I think about getting it ready for spring. Since it's unheated though, I'll start my seedlings inside and move them out there once the weather warms up in a few months.
The chicks we raised in the greenhouse did really well. The added heat benefitted the plants but the chicks did make quite a bit of dust that covered everything, and they increased the humidity so much it was a problem. Sometimes you'd swear it was raining indoors! We moved them outside in the fall with the other chickens and they had a marvelous time picking bugs in the garden until October.
Steve's square foot garden has been declared a success. Though the veggies got a late start and some were cut down by an unexpected freeze, we'll do some regular season plantings in it and see how it goes. His beds are in the greenhouse, so we'll likely start some early peas and lettuce in there once the average temp is say 7c. The whole concept of gardenign vertically and in less soil is really useful for urban gardeners who have only a balcony or small garden and who can't be lugging big bags of soil. We built our beds out of screws and OSB so each bed cost about $5. They'll maybe last 3-5 years but that's still cheaper than anything else and works well.
There's a lot of talk this year about growing your own food, in large part because people are worried about another great depression and how they are going to feed their families. I think that every family should grow something edible. Why? It not only teaches you to appreciate the wonders of nature, it gives you the experience of eating something fresh. There are millions of families around the world who have never eaten anything fresher than is found in their local grocery store. And that's such a shame! Fresh produce can taste totally different than it's stored and shipped counterparts. ie. fresh parsnips roasted are so sweet it's amazing. Tomatoes...well there's just no comparrison in my mind, and that goes for most fruits and veggies.
So how do we increase our food security (having enough to eat long term) and why would we want to? Producing even a portion of your own food is empowering. You are not reliant of the just in time delivery systems where you live. Go research it. I know it seems like the store has loads of food, but it's an illusion. They wouldn't have enough to last for a week if the trucks stopped arriving. In fact they'd run out of things like water and milk in a few days if there was a dusruption for any reason like a truckers strike, earthquake, snow storm. Think about how many people shop at that store...more than you realized? Yep, your whole neighbourhood.
Growing your own food can be hard work, but it's also fun too, at least part of the time, I for one like eating it!! You know exactly how fresh it is, you know what fertilizers or chemicals went on it or not as the case may be. And it's there for you to eat regardless of what's happening in the world. If you're rich, your garden keeps on growing. If you're poor, lose your job, lose your car, whatever happens, your garden keeps on growing. It's like a living food storage right out there in your yard! Many people have long term food storage in their home and know that it takes up a huge amount of space but never realize that having a garden can mean added fresh food rich in vitamins and minerals outside where it uses no house space until you can or freeze it, and it looks nice too.
We have gotten away from the back yard garden on the past few generations. During WWII there were victory gardens everwhere and for good reason, people needed the food. Now it's so easy to pop down to the store that the work of having a garden has been replaced with a nice tidy green lawn that you mow once a week, and most people don't even compost the clippings. (Best not get me started on that until tomorrow!) Some houses like ours are built in a place that makes gardening all but impossible. We're on top of a shale hillside. No soil here but the stuff the trees have found. So we've got a garden made of imported dirt, we built raised beds, and we compost everything from the clippings, to peelings and chicken manure. It's made a difference in as little as one year.
Here's where I'm at with gardening/self sufficiency.
I'm going to buy my seeds from West Coast seeds this week. Some of them at least. I have some saved from last year and there are a few things I only need a few of so I'll trade with friends or buy a couple of plants at the nursery. I need a new male kiwi vine as the one here is toast. Last year we got lots of kiwi flowers, and not one fruit. I've ordered some heritage apple trees from Applelucious orchard on Salt Spring Island. Harry Burton knows loads about his trees and has been doing it for ages so go look at site (just google it). His trees are wonderful and since we cannot actually plant them in their final locations here, we're going to build enormous raised boxes 4ft square for each one and plant them there until we can buy a place next spring hopefully. We'll then have trees one year closer to bearing fruit. That's the plan.
We will raise another 50 or so chickens this spring and summer. The ones we sell will pay for the ones we eat plus we'll have the manure so that's great. We want to hatch some more layers this year and to that end we have eggs in the incubator right now. one of our silkies is sitting on a clutch of eggs but I doubt they'll hatch due to the cold they suffered, we'll see. One of the silkie roosters is crowing like mad at the moment in his nice tenor voice. I wonder what the neighbours think?
I'm looking around for some garden space to use for the year too for those crops that need less attention like turnips, carrots, potatoes corn etc. I'll let you know what I find. There are no local community gardens but maybe someone has a garden plot they don't use.
Also, thanks to Nicole at Deliberate Life (you've GOT to read her blog) we learned about Spud.ca They specialize in local, organic produce, food and household cleaners and operate a weekly delivery service. They've got all sorts of different stuff and it changes seasonally and weekly. The quality is really good and you can learn a little about who produced your food. If you're interested in signing up, you can enter this code and get $25 off your first 4 grocery deliveries, that's $5 off the first 3 and $10 off the fourth. Here's the info:
I thought you might be interested in trying spud!, the online grocery delivery service I use. Beautiful produce, local dairy and bakery products, as well as a wide range of delicious groceries. All of this and flexible delivery at no extra charge and no commitment. If you'd like to try them out you can save $25 over your first 4 deliveries. Simply go to www.spud.ca and sign-up using promo code CR5-100011293.
They tell you how far your food has come which is interesting. Last year our family had one meal a week that was home grown. Not hard for us as we raise chickens and had lots of salad fixings, beans, potatoes, peas etc. Apparently the Path to Freedom guys (go see their stuff too, amazing what they've accomplished on their urban homestead) had encouraged the 100 mile diet where you get at least some of your food within 100 miles of home, then the 100 ft diet where one meal a week comes from your garden. So, we've been on the band wagon all this time and never knew. We're hip! :) This year we are aiming for 3 meals a week entirely home grown and 3 meals from within 100 miles. It's more of a challenge than I realized but it does make you think about food more that's for sure.
Well, gotta get to work. Happy seed browsing and food buying. Elizabeth
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