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Summer Canning

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I don’t normally can in July or August. It’s just too darn hot to have the stove on that much. Most of my summer preserving is done with the dehydrator on a table outside. One day I will find a man handy enough and who loves me enough to build me a solar dehydrator but until that day I use the electric variety.

However this year has been unseasonably – um – damp, which would make solar dehydration a little bit tricky. A conversation with a friend revealed the fact that I have never had canned cherries. (more…)

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Bokashi – the movie

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Bruce Mol is a friend of a friend and I was introduced to his inspiring project the other day. Last year at the Armstrong IPE they introduced a bokashi pilot program of sorts where they collected the food waster from the fair over 5 days in 45 gallon barrels. All in all they collected 1 ton of organic waste that they then shredded, added bokashi mixture, sealed and let ferment for three weeks. (more…)

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Best Idea Ever

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My kids are getting older and while they aren’t exactly staying out all hours of the night or anything they can do a lot of things for themselves. One of the things my son in particular likes to do is play music. He frequently pops in a ‘Little People’ CD and cranks it. Which after one too many renditions of ‘Wheels on the Bus’ got me to thinking he needed some new material. Enter the cassette tape. (more…)

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The Value of Art in School

I posted this in a Facebook group to inspire some conversation on the subject. The arts are being threatened with all sorts of cutbacks in my country for some strange reason people put little value on it. They forget that without artists their lives would be far duller. Art inspires, it entertains, it encourages and nourishes the very essence of what is human in us. We are unique because we can experience and appreciate art in all it’s forms.

Throughout ancient and to an extent modern history artists may have been forgotten but their work lives on. In some cases it is our best insight into the inner workings of that society. Periods and timelines are often distinguished by their art. Historically great works of art were reserved for the wealthy however even peasants frequently owned relics (often of a deity) that were crafted by an artisan. (more…)

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Saving Seeds.

Around this time of year many communities now celebrate Seedy Saturday a local exchange of seeds collected by backyard gardeners and small scale farmers. Only a few short years ago I remember Seed Saturday being a tiny gathering that likely meant a long day cooped up in some tiny community hall (the packing house in my hometown) with grandmothers who gardened to save on the grocery bill before it was the ‘in’ thing to do. Today it’s a highly publicized, busy event that hosts workshops, demonstrations and seeds from all sorts of people.

It is encouraging to say the least. Sort of. (more…)

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Daylight Savings

Tonight we all lose an hour of sleep, the groundhog saw his shadow and I got a notice in my mailbox yesterday that said it was time to clean up my yard all of which point to one very exciting fact: spring is in the air.
And as I go through my notebook and review the list of goals I sought to accomplish I am pleased to be able to put a great big checkmark next to most of those things. On to the outdoor goal list.

Living in a trailer park I realize that it is going to be even more difficult to push the boundaries than if I were in your average subdivision or even back at my great little place downtown. (more…)

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Dear Crayola…

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Please stop making gimmicky felts that my children lose interest in almost immediately. It’s wasteful and makes me sad. Stick to what you are good at and cardboard containers only please. Thanks.

These include the felts that are ‘invisible’ except when you draw on special paper, the felts that you ‘twist’ up to color with instead of putting a cap on, the felts that you press to another felt inside that makes it a different color, the felts that change (more…)

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Celebrating Solstice

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We celebrate the Winter Solstice in our house. It is a tradition that I find has been a lot of fun and the kids have really gotten into it. The best part is that they’ve learned things by doing it! Ha ha I tricked them. The main things we do are to decorate a ‘winter tree’ and turn out the lights.

During the day of the Winter Solstice I will pop popcorn and fetch some dried cranberries which the kids will then string onto short threads that we can droop over branches of random trees in the yard. In past years we have also done toast with peanut butter and bird seed and various other bird feeder type crafts. The popcorn and cranberries is a pretty constant one though. (more…)

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Frozen Food Anyone?

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We had a bit of a cold snap here this past week. It got more than a little frosty (-20ish C ) and while I am in a new place I was also out of my home during much of the cold weather and neglected my food storage situation.  I have been using a covered porch that has been closed in as additional storage and a mud room. The room was pretty much just as cold as outside but not as exposed to the elements. I should have known better but alas I did not and much of my food froze. (more…)

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Chutney & Rootbeer

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I have taken a step back from canning in recent years in search of less energy intensive ways to preserve my harvest. However that simple life I was looking for got a little complicated over the summer and I wound up putting an entire tree of apricots into the freezer.
A couple years ago I discovered that my friends Garden Curry Spice Blend mixed into a jar of apricot jam made what was quite possibly the tastiest chutney ever. (more…)

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Read more about the article Dehydrating Greens

Dehydrating Greens

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This past Tuesday I helped a friend of mine with a bit of an experiment. She harvested all of the greens from her mother’s garden and instead of freezing them she is going to try drying them to store instead. We have a lot of the same mindsets when it comes to food storage. The main one being that we would like to rely less on our deep freezes and more on our pantry’s or cold rooms. (more…)

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