Fairies Welcome

The Easter Bunny brought my boys a few pieces of fairy garden furniture and a gnome and a little solar light each, and some packets of seeds. Now that it has stopped snowing (hopefully!) we have enjoyed a day outside in the pleasant sun.

A pond, of course.
Located next to the cold frames on the south side of our house

The top pond could theoretically overflow into the bottom pond
via the rock stream. I'm afraid the theory vs the reality is
blowing a 5 year old's mind

Fairies welcome, mate!

A spot for tea

The foot bridge

I don't know why, but I've felt somewhat tentative about getting started in the yard this year. It's been raining and snowing for weeks, which is enough to dampen the most enthusiastic of spirits. But I've been battling a case of the overwhelms, already, at the weed control, the unfinished jobs, and, frankly,the dog poo.

But there is something so delightful about imagining a little garden for fairies to visit while we are not looking. The sheer joy the kids have felt at building a little stream and firepit, walkways and a little door, reminded me that I, too, have a magical space for tea and flowers and pretty things and peacefulness. It doesn't have to be perfect, and it won't be. But it's our little spot to do what we want with, and enjoy the sun and summer together.

Weekly Column: Preserving the season's harvest

Preserving the season’s harvest

Growing your own food is a great pastime because it gets people outside, provides exercise, puts you in tune with the changing seasons, and rewards you with delicious produce in the end. While just a hobby for most nowadays, it wasn’t that long ago that local families relied on their gardens to provide the bulk of their winter food supply. Although not usually a necessity anymore, given the year-round selection in grocery stores, many people still preserve their garden’s bounty so they can enjoy the fruits of their labour in the winter months.

Not a gardener? No problem. Trot yourself down to your local farmer's market and meet the folks that grow good food. You may feel that homegrown food is pricier than that at the grocery store, and maybe it is. But consider the labour that goes into growing, cleaning and setting up for a local sale. Consider that what you purchase has been locally grown and picked fresh within the last day or so. Compare this with grocery store produce that has been picked too early and trucked in from out of the country. There’s no comparison in flavour or quality, and if you would splurge on an ice cream cone don’t deny yourself the healthy pleasure of fresh vegetables. Like the saying goes “you can pay your farmer now or your doctor later”.

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself with an excess of fresh food and aren’t interested in preserving, don’t let it spoil on the counter if you can’t eat it all. Share with your neighbours, trade for other vegetables, or donate the surplus to a food bank so that it can be enjoyed at a free community meal.

Getting started

Even if you’ve never preserved food, there’s likely a method that will suit your tastes and abilities. Check out recipe books at the library or ask veteran cooks for their favourites. Be wary of what you find online: use only trusted sources that follow USDA guidelines. Pickling and preserving is not difficult but don’t take chances with botulism or spoiling your food.

slow roasting tomatoes

The Company’s Coming: Preserves cookbook by local author Jean Paré is a great starting point for novice cooks and don’t forget to watch for cookbooks at used bookstores and thrift shops. While you’re thrifting, keep an eye out for boxes of good quality jars intended to withstand the heat and pressure of canning. Frugal home canners will note that the cost of jars is ever on the rise. At around $10 for a dozen quart sealers, it’s not cheap to start canning unless you can source your supplies more affordably.  You can buy lids and sealer rings separately for a substantial savings over the jars and lids you find at the grocery store at this time of year.

 If you’re cutting back on how much you preserve as you get older, perhaps you can think of someone that would appreciate some of your extra canning supplies. Likewise, if you’ve been given food in jars kindly wash and return them to the source in hopes that you might get lucky twice.

The price of sugar usually skyrockets when it’s time to make pickles and jams. Buy extra when you see it on sale, or even at regular price because it’s bound to get higher all season. Stock up on turmeric, mustard seed and other spices in the ethnic food aisle rather than the basic spices section—the bags are bigger and usually much cheaper.

A healthier option

Many would argue that the process of first growing, then preserving, their own food is of no savings at all once you consider your time and effort. On one hand, this is true. Buying canned vegetables and store bought pickles is quick and easy, and sometimes cheap. But if a person truly enjoys the time spent outdoors working in the fresh air and looks at it as a pastime that prevents costlier diversions, the benefits soon outweigh the costs.

Knowing what goes into the food your family eats has never been more important with chemicals and BPA so prevalent in commercially made products. Home preservation is another way people can take control of their diets and budget. There’s growing interest in the health benefits of fermented foods and the simple pleasure of handling your food from garden to table. Watch for deals on your canning supplies and enjoy the flavours of summer year-round for less.

Are You Sure Martha Done It This Way

Maybe it is this time of year, as the garden explodes and we attempt to make magical summertime memories for our kids at lakes and fairs and parades, but something about July always leaves me rocking wide-eyed in the corner with my arms wrapped tightly around myself.

Oh, at the beginning of the month I have a plan. I have THE plan. My weeds are mostly under control, thoughts of mulch and bountiful harvests dance through my head and I plot inviting the neighbours, all of them, to BBQ and bask in the beautiful space that is this yard.

Then somehow, every July, there is a flurry of travel and cabins and camping and laundry (oh! the laundry!) and when I glance back to the yard, the garden, the rugs, the wind is knocked from me as the reality of all that I have to get done once again takes me completely by surprise.

We have had approximately 7 inches of rain this month. This is unheard of on the prairies. I am a farmer's daughter and I will refrain from complaining about the rains that just keep on coming but
I.
must.
confess.

as thunderheads gather every evening I do feel a curl of hysteria rise in my chest and I have been seen lately sitting at the window with a maniacal smile pointing to the garden that is now completely overgrown with vegetation (both the wanted and unwanted types) and I wonder when, if ever, I shall get the time and a break from the rain to get control of my yard and life.

 I am hosting 4 extra boys for a day and night on Wednesday (do wish me luck that there are no broken bones) and next week we start a week of swimming lessons which will invariably bring an ear infection to my poor 6 year old who is plagued by them.

I am so lucky, so very lucky, to know myself well enough to know when I must, must have a break. It came today, when Husband drove company back to the airport and my sons went to gramma's for a sleepover. After two weeks of company and a flurry of travelling and sight seeing, tonight I got to pull weeds for an hour uninterrupted by rain or kids. And I realize how cathartic my garden is, even as it's riotous growth makes me a bit squirrely with to-do lists. My garden is a reprieve from people, noise, expectations, obligations, appearances, extravagances. My garden just is, and I need that. A lot.

Not every mom has to get home to feed the pigs or can't go on a hot vacation because it is lambing time. These are choices that I have made, and all for the right reasons. It isn't always convenient to have animals and live tied to a piece of land. I realize that I am much more Waylon than I could ever be Martha, and I am so, so okay with that.

Today, in Pictures

It's been busy. It's hard to make time for my regular routine. But it is good to be busy with people coming and going and places to trot off to and get home tired and happy. As busy as we have been out and about we have also been working hard at home and I finally found the camera and the memory cards (woohoo!) and think it might be possible for me to take some pictures for the blog from time to time :)

This is what's happening around the yard today:

Hen and chicks, some of my favorites

My pond. *LOVE* I have not had time to clean it out and put in fresh water,
or get the pump running. But I love it.

Peonies. Possibly my favorite flower. So sad when they are done for the year!

Grape vines are doing great and I am hopeful that we will
actually see some fruit this year. Fingers crossed!

Garden doing well so far. Weeds and all. Yes, that's a thistle
in the foreground!

Parged basement wall and rock on the deck supports. A pile of work!
I'm glad it's completed :)

I plan to put down weed fabric and loads of stones under this deck.
"Next year"

Tomatoes on the vine

Garlic and peas. And thistles ;(

The hound guarding the door :)
 

I hope summer is treating you well!

2016 Garden Plans

I am finally getting excited to work in my yard this spring. Our snow is gone and it's starting to feel like it is time to get planning. My real, overarching goal this year is to focus on low-maintenance when possible. I have a few new areas to plan out and I don't want to spend my summer weeding anymore than necessary. This will mean a focus on mulching and mulching some more!

Because we don't eat many potatoes, and because my mom always has waaaay too many, I've decided to forgo planting spuds and save that garden space for other edibles. I also want to get my raised beds more productive with more compost and the use of plastic window panes I've acquired and row covers to extend the season. So I am hoping for more productivity without too much more input :)

This is technically our third summer here. I am really pleased with how the yard is shaping up. We have a beautiful view to begin with, so I just want to have a natural flow from what I have planted and built to the natural surroundings. There are three main areas where I grow annual and perennial flowers (focus is going to be on perennials) and two main edible garden areas. This summer I plan to start a bigger garden out by our lane way where the ground is more flat (this really depends on borrowing a tractor and my Husband being here to help). This does add a bit to my work load where weeding is concerned, but for this year my focus is on getting the spot worked up with a rototiller and planting root crops for... (drum roll!)....

2016 pigs

Our three pigs! The pigs certainly deserve a post of their own, and soon, but I'm struggling to find time to write with Husband home and all of the work that we have to do. The focus for the new garden area will be weed control, cover crops and root vegetables for ourselves and the pigs to eat.

In other gardening news, I'm just tickled to see some asparagus shooting up already. I also have chives a few inches tall and some strawberry plants have survived the neglectful conditions they are subjected to. Perennial food gardening is so rewarding in the spring. How delightful to already see some growth and anticipate food grown here--so much tastier than what we can buy in a store :)

Second year of asparagus. Planning to eat some this year!

With my focus on low maintenance/ natural looking landscaping, I plan to put some shrubs and flowering trees near the house (but not too near) to disguise how tall it looks perched on this south-facing slope.

My plan is a flowering plum or two and possibly a variegated dogwood
to the left of the deck stairs to "lower" the deck or at least help it blend
into the surroundings. We also need to finish the deck pillars and install
trellis...work, work, work!

Because it is such a nice micro-climate on that south side, we have built some cold frames and I plan to surround them with stepping stones and perennial herbs. For weed control I also want to have creeping thyme grow among the rocks to (hopefully) prevent unnecessary weeding. Here's hoping!

As you can see, the lawn is sparse as we just got that topsoil hauled in
last summer and I hadn't decided what I was doing in that space.

It will be so handy to come down from the kitchen to grab herbs
while I am cooking :)

I have one rock border to finish. I began work on it in 2013 once the house arrived, but it has me stumped. Perhaps I just can't visualize what I want to see there because we still need to parge the foam basement wall. We plan to get that job done soon so hopefully inspiration will strike once I'm not distracted by the ugly wall. Like the south end of the house, I want to grow things of varied height for visual interest and to draw the eye away from that blank basement wall.

Notice the damage our rescue dog has done to our lawn area. SIGH.
We are trying to teach him that the grass next to the house is not his toilet
area. He's doing better now that the snow is gone but the battle is ongoing!

I feel busy enough with animals and kids that I don't want to expand my yard work if possible. Besides the pigs and us expecting baby lambs any day now we are also getting chickens to butcher in the fall. So I feel like I have enough on my plate! There is a lot to learn, most of which can only be done on the job. It's important to me that our animals and birds are well cared for so that will be highest priority. Also, I want to do a better job with what I have--particularly in watering my trees and edging/mulching in the fall so that I don't end up with so much weeding etc first thing in the spring. On the other hand, I don't want to beat myself up because I know I always try to do my best and there's no point fretting about what didn't get done last year. It's a new year and I'm looking forward to recording our progress here!

A Garden in Every Yard

Edited to add: This is another weekly column :)

A Garden in Every Yard

So you are home more these days…perhaps you are looking for hobbies to pass the time but are realizing that a new hobby can cost quite a bit. Or perhaps the high cost of produce has you wondering how you can reduce your grocery spending while continuing to eat healthy. Have you considered a garden?

my very first garden ever

During both world wars, “Victory Gardens” were encouraged as a way to feed the population at home and free up trucks, boats and trains for shipping goods and weapons to the troops that needed them. Whether the small city gardens contributed much to the war effort is a matter of opinion (farmers were already growing most of their own produce, and many still are) but undoubtedly they boosted morale and taught a generation to grow their own food—something the area could still benefit from today.

It’s Not Exactly Free

It could be argued that gardening won’t save you that much money. If you have a south-facing balcony you could have some containers but the pots and soil will cost you. Garage sales, kijiji and second hand stores are a less expensive way to find pots and gardening supplies. You can direct sow seeds or visit a locally owned nursery to purchase seedlings, or purchase an edible mix already planted for you. If you have a yard and an area that you would like to convert to garden space, ask neighbours on the block if anyone is interested in rototilling a spot for you. Whenever possible, barter and trade to find a mutually beneficial reward for labour. If you happen to have a tiller and the time, you might consider doing some tilling for hire but find out where phone lines are buried before you start. Although any other lines should be buried deeper, you might want to “call before you dig” if you decide to relocate fences or start working on a water feature!

Plant A Row

If you are already a gardener, plant a row for the food bank or for friends that would appreciate some home grown food. It would be very generous to offer some of your garden space to a family that would like to have a garden but doesn’t have a yard, but do this very carefully. The idea of a garden might sound thrilling in spring but, when the flies and heat set in and the real work of weeding and maintaining the space become a reality, you may find yourself doing all the work so that weeds don’t go to seed in your garden. 

Discuss your expectations and set some “ground rules” before you agree to such a plan. Although a risk, there is also the possibility that you can help someone learn to grow their own food and develop a lifelong love of gardening. They may go on to help feed themselves and many others with the knowledge that you share. That is a huge contribution to your community and one that should be commended.

Depending on how you go about growing your own food, you may not notice a bunch of savings (at least in the first year). But by endeavouring to grow some of your own food you are removing yourself from the consumerist trend where people are too busy working (and playing) to know where their food comes from. Gardening is a distraction from other costlier pastimes. Rather than a weekend of shopping, clear a spot and get to work. Many people find gardening relaxing, and good exercise. It is also a way to afford organic food, and composting your vegetable scraps eliminates waste. The fresh air doesn’t hurt, and it is entertaining to watch for plants sprouting up. Sunflowers, pumpkins, beans and peas are especially rewarding for little gardeners to grow. Teach your kids that they can grow their own vegetables—it might encourage them to eat more green stuff!

Gardening is a hobby that leads to a healthier and, often, more frugal lifestyle. Visit the library to learn more, and shop locally to source your seeds and plants. Visit local u-picks and greenhouses and take a stab at a 100-mile diet. Learn to prepare freshly picked food, and preserve your harvest whether by fermenting, drying, pickling, freezing or canning. Use social media to share the excess or donate to the food bank. Take this opportunity to learn new skills and visit neighbours while you work outside. Notice how you feel after time spent working in dirt as opposed to a day at a desk under fluorescent lights. Although it might not be for everyone, and to each their own, gardening at home might be the hobby that keeps you busy, entertained and fed all at the same time. Can’t complain about that :)

Don't Waste It

I found this image today, while I should have been doing more important things. It sums up how I feel about food.

foodtangclan.tumblr.com

I have a post planned on the subject of waste...but at the rate I'm going it may never get written. I have a lot to do outside and since I began binge-watching the show Nashville in the evenings I'm finding it hard to get everything done. The show is not my usual style but I am strangely fascinated by it and have more than a small crush on the character Deacon. He can write a love song for me any day, but I digress ;)

I turned 39 on Sunday. I usually try to say something profound or at least meaningful on my birthday, but I just didn't feel it this year. Perhaps I've been mentally preparing myself for the approaching milestone, 40, to the extent that I am numb to it all. Perhaps, and more likely, I am just kind of over the age thing, and look at the passing of the years as another reminder to be grateful, try hard, and take nothing for granted.

On the subject of food I've had decent luck with my little grow light operation. I have a second set of plants under it, the first having been moved to the small greenhouse stand which we set up  in my mom's dining room this year. She has more space and better light.

Yard clean up is underway now that we are getting some nicer days without as much wind. I'm feeling overwhelmed already and that convinces me that the focus this year must be on low-maintenance gardening. Mulch, mulch, mulch, and hire someone to do the mowing if it all gets to be too much. There's a chance Husband will be away most of the summer working and I am not sure how I will get everything done. But I am trying to let go of the expectation that everything be weeded, trimmed and mowed all at the same time. That would be nice, but I have two kids and some animals now and I have to be realistic. Maybe someday there will be time to get everything perfect, but that will mean there are no little boys here to distract me from my work. So I am in no rush for that to happen. Every day passes by so quickly I need to remind myself that we are doing this--raising animals and food--for fun, because we enjoy the work and the challenge and because we want our kids to learn it. I am so fortunate to get to stay home and do all the things that I am interested in. This is an experience that many would love to have but cannot, and I am determined to savour our days together without stressing that I am not getting everything done. Like the sign says, don't waste it!

Checking in on March Goals, and How we Saved This Week

I listed some financial goals goals for the month of March and thought that it's time to revisit them and see how we are doing. In a nutshell:

• Write ourselves each a cheque and deposit them into each of our personal accounts (the plan is to do this every month--March will be my first). One account will be Savings (Christmas, land taxes, a few bills that are coming at us soon), the other will be vehicle and home maintenance/repair fund, kids activities fund, "slush fund". I did deposit to one account, and have a spread sheet done up to track the money--we might close the other account and we have plans to transfer the funds into investments, so an update down the road will be necessary.
• create a spreadsheet for each of these accounts keeping track of how much money belongs to each designated fund and recording any transactions.
• Into the kids' activities fund I will transfer their Christmas money from Grandparents in Newfoundland. We usually save the money for something big for them so this year it might be a camping trip. Likewise, birthday money from my mom is always spent on swimming lessons, and their other birthday and Christmas money goes into their own bank accounts. Once the kids activities fund gets to a certain amount I plan to make a lump transfer to each of their RESPs. The birthday and Christmas money is in the account designated for Kids Activities.
• Repay money from vacation fund that we have "borrowed". The cash from our bottle/can recycling, along with other bits of cash that we end up with, are stashed in an envelope waiting for a summer trip of some kind. Twice now I've taken money from it when I needed cash so need to put $40 back!
• Register the kids for swimming lessons at the pool. I was a few days late registering and we are stuck in the late spring session (when I'll wish I was home working in my yard!) doing our lesson from 5:30-6 pm. Such a hard time for us to make the half hour drive to and from town :( But I can't swim and my kids are borderline afraid of the water (although they have fun in it they won't dunk their heads). I want to keep them in lessons so they are more comfortable by summer when we do lessons at the lake). Going to town at supper time twice a week for 6 weeks is going to be a nuisance but we will have to eat early and have a snack before bed!
• Continue to bake all of our bread, buns and sweets. My kitchen aid mixer has broke down! It's really upped my bread-baking game and I'm lost without it. Today my challenge is finding the receipt and dealing with warranty as it is just over 1 year old :(
• Continue to put $5/week into the egg jar.
• Continue to explore ways to make money myself, without incurring childcare costs. I plan on a bigger garden this year, and more animals which will end up in the freezer. So although not a "paying" job these are ways that I can provide for us without having to pay someone to look after my kids and do the jobs here that I normally take care of (ie housecleaning, yard work etc). My hope is to be able to sell and give away the excess which will generate a bit of income while also contributing to my community. I am also writing a weekly column and investing half of what I earn into my tax-free savings account. 

So, how did we save money this week?

• Husband was home Sunday and we considered taking the kids and their bikes to town and letting them ride the paved paths at a local park (our yard was mostly mud and running streams). The wind was picking up and I suggested we stay home and play games, which was a good thing as we ended up having a blizzard. So we saved the cost of fuel and any possible snacks or treats that might have been purchased. I would have stopped for a few groceries while we were in town, so not going forced me to stretch things until the following week. Also, my parents' power was out so they came over for supper and we had a great visit.
• I didn't do a "how we saved money" post last week, but gravy mixes were on for 24 cents! They are usually $1.68 (which is why I started making my own). I bought 20 of them, for a grand total of $4, when paying full price would have cost me $33.60! I do have enough gravy mix to see me into the next decade, but hey I can't pass up a good deal ;) I also don't think I can make it for that! This is a great example of how knowing the price of things can save you money.
• This week's groceries was a bigger spend as I took advantage of some specials and stockpiled rice and a few sale items. I spent $257.04 yesterday, by far the most I've spent in a week since I started tracking my grocery budget. This puts us near our $600/month limit for the month, probably over it once I add in the extra pet food (see below). But it makes no sense to obey an arbitrary limit when it saves me money to go over once in awhile. The $600 limit is there to prevent my impulsive overspending on food, which I believe is working! The store I shop at had an in-store coupon for a free turkey with $250 purchase so that is now stowed in our freezer. I am also almost up to $70 free groceries there by using the plus card, and almost up to a $20 free grocery purchase with my air miles card. These are being saved for a large sale or Christmas, or an extended period of unemployment. 
• I got new rubber boots for $7.49 on sale, and a new pair of lined winter mitts for $3.99 on a great clearance sale (the boots were regular about $30 and the mitts $12)
• At the same farm supply store I bought extra cat and dog food for a few dollars less. I probably saved $5 on cat food and $4 on dog food, which is very worth it to me especially when I was already at that store (and without kids, woot! woot!) Getting large heavy bags of feed is a hassle at the best of times but especially when dragging kids along to extra stores. I hope to make it to the farm supply every month to take advantage of the lower prices.
• I spent $50 on a small dome mini-greenhouse with a grow light. I always agonize over buying cheap gardening supplies (and believe it or not, $50 is cheap as in cheaply made, small, and possibly junk). My fear is the light burning out right away and not being able to replace it, or the plastic lid cracking etc. But in my excitement at the farm supply I justified it as 1) immediately available without ordering online and paying shipping 2)possibly no worse quality than what I would find at a fancier gardening store 3) a way to immediately begin to grow greens and herbs and cut down on my grocery bill. And it is my birthday present from Husband, as I informed him last night :)

• I purchased all of my garden seed for 2016 (some of which will be left over for following years). I am realizing the expense of gardening (it adds up rather quickly when you are counting pennies!), but it saves us in many ways throughout the year. For one thing, it is a hobby that I practice almost daily for 5 or 6 months of the year and I do not have time or energy for shopping, facials, manicures etc that many women spend time and money on. The input cost for gardening is very low compared to some hobbies (ahem! quilting....!) Never mind that, it provides our family with local, chemical free food and teaches my kids the essential life skill that is knowing how to grow your own food. I think as their generation ages it will become an even more valuable skill. 
• Perhaps most importantly, I met with a financial adviser yesterday. He helped me come up with a plan to invest despite the economic downturn we are experiencing. I can't commit our money to an automatic monthly withdrawal because there are months we don't/might not/ have income. At the same time, with careful budgeting, it is very important to me that we squirrel away money whenever possible. So we are setting up an investment account that I can pay into as though it were a bill payment, but I can choose when I am comfortable doing so. So simple. But without meeting to discuss it I might never have thought we could invest. 

So that's it. It feels like a week where I spent more than usual, which it was. I got tea tree oil at the health food store (my kindergarten aged son has escaped the creepy crawlies that are going around his classroom but I want an extra line of defense. Even the mention of "lice" makes my skin crawl). I got our Easter stuff and (blushing) a new bra. My last one gave up on life last year and my collection of sports bras has sufficed until yesterday when I was in town alone. It is just never going to happen that I take my two kids bra shopping :) I also bought some snacks and juice boxes for a road trip to see daddy this weekend. I've eliminated most of those types of purchases from our usual grocery bill but it is still healthier and cheaper than hitting a drive thru on the road. So how about you? How did you save money this week? And have you made any plans for your 2016 garden?

2015 Tally of Preserves

It has long been my goal to keep better records of what I grow (always too busy planting to keep track of what gets planted) and what I harvest (weighing what I bring in from the garden sounds simple until I am rushing out to pick greens and supper is late, blah, blah, blah). Maybe next year I will be more organized and keep a better record, but for this year I have concentrated on an overall tally of what I was able to preserve through canning and freezing.

I thought that I would include this spring's maple syrup, our first ever. Because it was a novelty to most of our friends we gave away several tiny taste-test size jars and had a couple of half-pints for the kids to have on pancakes and for me to use in bread. I saved 2 quarts in hopes that the weather will cooperate and we can do maple taffy in the snow at each of our son's birthday parties (January and March). Last year we had tobogganing and horse-drawn sleigh rides for both and the weather was nice. I hope we are as lucky this year :)

I was lucky to be invited to pick fruit with a friend in a lovely yard this summer. There we picked enough plums for good eating plus a bit of plum sauce (seriously, removing the pits was so time-consuming!).

My boys enjoyed pitting cherries, though, and were a great help. The wild saskatoons were wonderful this year and we discovered just how many grow right here in our yard.

My garden was a dismal failure by some standards. We had a drought until July and the scorching heat and my inconsistent watering did not enable much that I planted to germinate. Some things came later and I was surprised how much lettuce I ended up with. Pumpkins continued to bloom until frost without ever producing fruit larger than a golf ball--terribly disappointing because I successfully started the plants from seed! If anyone has pointers on growing pumpkins I would appreciate some advice!

Like most years, though, what my garden lacked was supplemented by the generosity of my mom and neighbours. A friend's mom gave me half a box of apples which I split with my mom and made apple pie filling with. I was given cucumbers and still managed to make enough pickles for our winter eating. My aunt gave us carrots and I saved enough to make a treat jar of pickled carrots for Husband to enjoy over the Christmas holidays. In many ways the scarcity of the pickles makes us savour them more and it is always a shame to throw out uneaten ones when you have gone to so much work.
Every year I plan to grow more tomatoes and more peppers for even more salsa, but like the pickles it is a shame to see it go to waste. So this year I have concentrated more on slow roasting and freezing for sauce and know that the salsa I have made for ourselves and as gifts will be all the more special because there is less of it.

So here it is, a tally of what I have "put up" from my garden, yard, and generous gifts from others:

2015 Preserves

2 qt saskatoon pie filling
2 x ziploc freezer bag of berries
2 qt rhubarb/saskatoon "fruit" for our elderly neighbour
3 qt cherries "fruit"
3 qt cherry pie filling
2 qt apple pie filling

2 pints pickled beets
1 quart dilly beans
5 pints hot chili chutney
3 1/2 pints raspberry jam
3 pints million dollar relish
5 1/2 quarts bread and butter pickles
2 qt + 1 pint sweet heat salsa plus 7 half pints of sweet heat salsa for gifts
4 qt hot salsa
6 qt canned whole tomatoes
1 qt dilled carrots
2 qt dill pickles
5 ziploc freezer bags of roasted tomatoes (so far). Tomatoes still ripening in the basement

1 laundry basket of potatoes minus what we ate fresh from the garden. Red potatoes were scabby but large, white potatoes were excellent.

Perhaps most exciting in this year's food production were the two apples that our 2 year old honeycrisp apple tree produced. The fruit was huge, crisp and juicy, and although there were only two apples we watched them grow and shared them as a family. We are very hopeful that the tree will provide us with plenty of beautiful apples in years to come.

Getting Ready

Husband and I are going on a little trip. We will only be gone a few days but I didn't want my mom to worry about covering my tomatoes if it freezes, so I picked the big ones with my little helper the other day. I roasted the ripe ones down into a sauce with some garlic, peppers and onions and froze it.

I am so sad to say that my cucumbers didn't produce this year. I have only had a handful of my own cucumbers. The first planting either froze or didn't germinate in the hot dry weather (I thought some came up but they immediately disappeared. Did they get eaten? I suspect a late frost) At any rate, my second planting was too little, too late, and I am paying for it now. Events like this really help me prioritize for next year: one of our favorite things over the holidays is to crack open some pickles from the garden when we have company. Whether it is pickled carrots, beets or, my favorite, bread and butter pickles with sausage and cheese and crackers, it is a treat that we will really miss this year. I did a couple pints of beets already (did anyone know that sheep love beets? We turned our girls out to graze the other day and they ate the beet tops AND the tops off half my beets!). Since I only managed to grow a handful of carrots despite a second planting, I will probably only do up a quart or two of dilled carrots (the carrots given to us by our neighbour and my aunt). SIGH. Once again, I am grateful that my family does not count on my gardening skills for their survival.

When we return from our little getaway I will begin my season of preserving and cleaning up the garden. Every year I vow to plant more onions and, although I did this year, I think we just ate more and thus there will be no extras leftover for winter. Our neighbour sent over a nice assortment of things from his garden and the size of his onions made me giggle--If I ever grow onions that big I will officially call myself a gardener.

At the moment I am making a half-batch of million dollar relish from Jean Pare's Company's Coming Preserves (this book is a Western Canadian favorite and one that you would probably find in most farm kitchens). The cucumbers we got from the neighbour were large for pickling and we won't get them ate before we go--a half batch is actually just right to get us through the winter and next summer's burger/hotdog season.

Excuse the glare on the cover of the book! I am never comfortable sharing someone else's recipe unless it is in such an obscure old book or handed down by family...I recommend anyone interested in preserving watch for this book and purchase it. You will get your money's worth. The recipes are no-nonsense and tested by thousands of farm women year after year. I am skeptical of some recipes found online (Pinterest!) and when it comes to preserves I think it wise to stick to reliable, published and safe recipes for you and your family.

There isn't much garden produce left to deal with before we go. I better enjoy my time to relax because I will be returning to a basement full of ripening tomatoes and the salsa making will begin!

The Garden That Didn't Grow

We are having a hot dry summer here along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. Today we had temperatures around 30C and had a late afternoon thunderstorm which brought high winds and a bit of hail. Our yard received one inch plus two tenths or rainfall, while 4 miles away my parents had about half an inch. We are glad to have had the moisture and all my rain barrels are overflowing. 

The hot dry summer has had me asking, what would I do 100 years ago if it were this dry and my garden didn't grow? Surely it happened from time to time. Did families go hungry? Absolutely. Were some forced to town or onto the generosity of family? Undoubtedly. Back then if a person in the country could not or did not produce their own stores of food they could not last. Growing and storing enough food for one's family and one's livestock was the real difference between success and failure on the prairies. Nowadays, if you have a total crop failure such as I have had with carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach, kale, SIGH, you might trade with a neighbour for some of the things you have plenty of (so far, that would be onions), try the farmer's market, or you just say to heck with it and count on the grocery store for your missing produce. But this all has me thinking, 100 years ago on this piece of land I would be starting to feel a bit desperate.

There are some factors that would be different, of course. I would likely have quadrupled the amount of potatoes I had planted. I would have relied heavily on crops like turnip, pumpkin, squash and cabbage, and I would have a root cellar in which to keep them all. But here in my 2015 first-world-home, I have an entire area dedicated to water and heat loving tomatoes and peppers. I reserved one raised bed for my children to plant, and I have large spaces that are purely ornamental. My apple tree has 2 apples on it this year and the pear pollinator has died. I put in 10 raspberry canes last year but they immediately filled in with weeds and I have decided if they die it is probably a good thing. Something has eaten the strawberries before I can get to them, and I have 4 or 5 varieties of sunflowers planted for the birds and our pure enjoyment. It is obvious that this garden is not meant to sustain us through our cold 6-7 month long winter. But what if it had to?

Above, one raised bed that has produced nothing besides a couple sunflowers, some nasturtiums, and a couple bean plants. 

Below, sunflowers bent over from the driving wind and rain. I'm sure they will bounce back, but I must rethink how much of my garden is used to grow things not specifically meant to feed this family through the winter. 

I did plant carrots and greens and peas and I reseeded cucumbers, beets and peas when it didn't look good. The carrots and greens seem to be a write-off and there are so far only enough beets for a couple meals. The cucs are up but I am wondering what my yield will be, and I am thinking that this should be my last year of using the grocery store as my back up plan. Next year I hope to have space prepared to plant more and harvest more than I need, with the aim to get my family through the year on what we can grow ourselves. Of course this is not a revelation to many who garden. But for me it is time to step up and grow/harvest/preserve as though it is my only option. I am lucky enough to have the land, I am healthy enough to do the work, and I want to be able to make it happen in case the day ever comes where we must be totally self-reliant. Do you grow your annual supply of any one fruit or vegetable?

Air Quality, and Peony Love

We have had a beautiful stretch of very warm weather (for the Canadian prairies, at least). The trouble for most of us is the weather is a month early and has preceded any amount of seasonal rain. So although we've enjoyed some time at the beach, the 30C heat that we enjoyed all week is actually baking the crops in the fields and turning pastures to dust. If you're a farmer in these parts, you're probably getting worried.

I put the sprinkler on my garden every few days to keep things alive. I am lucky that I don't have to carry buckets of water. But most days I do. I run the sprinkler on the garden to cover more ground but water most of my flowers by pail. We have a couple large totes that I bought from the nearby Hutterite Colony (previously used for canola oil) that I use to catch rain. Then I also have my 3 rain barrels, and they have a bit of water left from the 8/10 rain we had a few weeks ago. Slowly I've used most of it to water my tomatoes and grape vines, and all the perennials near the house. Speaking of those, I'm having some serious love for the peony I planted last year. There are 3 new ones as well, but they haven't bloomed. I was so proud of the hot pink one by my shed....

Until I went to my mom's and saw her pale pink one in all its glory....

I do so love peonies!

It is a smokey, hazy day today--smoke arriving here from fires in northern Saskatchewan. My mind is on my friends there, hoping no homes are threatened and that the fires are soon under control.

It is smokey here, yes, and it is a reminder to treasure the clean air that we normally take for granted. To think of all the people that live in similar haze everyday of their lives...we are truly fortunate to live where we do. How is summer shaping up where you are?

A Garden Update, of Sorts

For some reason I'm having a hard time believing we are halfway through June. I have the odd sensation that we somehow missed spring, but I think I know why. Last year in the spring we had no lawn to speak of, just topsoil, and our driveway had exposed clay in places. We got extra gravel and our lawn grew last year so the mud and mess being tracked in was so much more manageable this year. It felt like the season of mud didn't happen, in a way :) add to that the fact that May was unseasonably hot and dry, and it just feels like spring didn't happen. Thankfully, things are growing although we have had minimal rain. We have our big totes in place to use as rain barrels so we can catch every drop of rain possible for use in our yard. 

I got a 6 pack of dahlias at a greenhouse. They are among my favourites but I've had no luck buying and planting the tubers. We had a touch of frost after I planted them out so 5 of them in the apple tree bed look scraggly and forlorn. But this lovely is on my sittin' porch where I can enjoy it everyday. 

My mom has had some success with her incubator, despite power outages and other mishaps. Unfortunately the day after things started to hatch the cord wiggled out of the incubator and the rest of her eggs were lost, including guinea eggs that we were so excited about. 

Lambo. 

Suzy. Our lambs are in our little pasture here and are a constant source of amusement. 

As for the garden, potatoes and onions are doing great and I planted 4 or 5 varieties of sunflowers that have all come up. It will be so much fun to watch them get taller than us, along with my first ever crop of corn. I started pumpkin plants early and managed to plant them out successfully. That is actually the first thing I've started indoors that survived hardening off and transplanting, so I'm excited to have grown our own jack o lanterns and pumpkin purée. 

My spinach, kale, lettuces and carrots are slow to appear and I dread a year without a fresh supply of beets. Our elderly neighbour plants a big garden and usually offers us part of his excess. This year we may be counting on his generosity:) likewise, I've replanted cucumbers which simply didn't germinate and my next crop has not come up either. It's a bit discouraging but I've had slow starters before, replanted, and ended up with everything coming up at once and being too crowded. So I guess I'll give things more time and concentrate on what is doing well. 

I also planted a row of asparagus and some tiny shoots have appeared in my straw mulch. I'm nervous to keep the weeds out of that row but we have really enjoyed the asparagus out of my brother's garden. It is definitely worth a try to grow my own. 

Last year I planted 5 grape vines and 3 survived the winter. I don't have a picture but I do need to come up with a trellis idea that works. Perhaps a post on grapes will be in order. I am never sure if I should jump the gun and blog about something before I know it will survive. But if I stuck to that around here I may never blog at all ;) how's your garden growing?