Getting organised

As usual, this year I'm determined to crack the succession-sowing issue. I've resorted to technology to help and have set up reminders in my calendar to sow seeds/transplant things at appropriate points. The calendar then reminds me every Saturday about what I'm supposed to be sowing that weekend ("Sow carrots in the greenhouse" "Transplant onions outside", things like that). Not only that, but I've set up the reminders to repeat every year on the same weekend. So I'll have the reminders for the rest of my life. Or as long as I continue to use that program, anyway.

However, I'm already getting a little irked when the reminders pop up (stop nagging me!), so perhaps this wasn't my most brilliant plan, after all...

I also went through all my tomato seeds and planned out how many of each I would sow this year. Below is an extract from the list I made. Mike made fun of its vagueness, but it actually turned out to be quite specific: 'lots' translates to 25 seeds sown and 'fewer' became 12 or 13. The only exception is 'German Lunchbox', which I received as a free packet. Which contained just one seed. Such generosity! I'm growing 16 varieties this year. Most of them are old favourites of mine, but the German Lunchbox is new to me and so is Tigerella, the first stripy tomato I have grown.

And they're just beginning to show themselves...

Happy New Year!

In England, in years gone by, March 25 (Lady Day) was the day when the calendar changed over from one year to the next. It wasn't until 1752 that the official start to the year became the first day of January. Lady Day was the first of four 'quarter days' when you would have paid your rent and if you were going to be moving to a new farm, you would have done so on this day, ready for the start of the new growing year.

Here in southern Ontario, the ground is nowhere near ready for ploughing or sowing yet. But in the shelter of a greenhouse, it's a different matter. A few days of sunshine have nudged temperatures up and we're starting to see peas and greens poking through the soil surface.

The sorrel, parsley and Tuscan kale has survived the winter in the greenhouse.

I harvested some of the kale and sorrel for my lunch.

The slow warm-up over the last few days has melted a lot of the lingering snow outside. Enough to tempt the chickens back into the orchard again, at least.

I'm hopeful that the slower spring this year might be good news for the fruit trees: they're less likely to be nipped by a late frost. We've lost a few of our young trees in the last year or two, so one thing I'd like to do this year is plant a few more.

Indoors, I've got pepper and eggplant seedlings up and I sowed more than 300 tomato seeds at the weekend. From a gardening point of view, this week definitely feels like the start of a new year, even if the calendar disagrees!

Slow Spring

Still a bit chilly!

Room to roam

These chickens seem to be enjoying reclaiming their orchard space from the snow, even though the temperature is still below freezing.

These ones, on the other hand, look like they're quite happy to stay snuggled up inside with a friend: there are seven of them crammed into four nestboxes. And of course the four boxes on the opposite wall were empty...

More snow is forecast for the next few days. I know I'm being impatient, but at this point some warm weather would be very welcome. At the moment I feel more inclined to act like the second set of birds than the first.

Glimpses of grass

Overnight rain and a lot of melting has made for a day of torrents. The meltwater is carving its way through the ice and snow on the western side of the farm, making some mini-canyons en route.

And, at long last, enough snow has melted for the chickens to be able to go out into the orchard again.

Although only after I walked past it with my camera. Typical.

Gingerbread Pudding

Bread Pudding is one of those names that could trip a British English speaker up, over here. It usually refers to what I think of as Bread and Butter Pudding - sliced bread, spread with butter, layered with dried fruit and sugar and baked in a milk and egg custard and served hot. Bread Pudding in England was similar in that its main ingredients were bread, milk, egg, sugar and fruit, but different in texture and temperature: it is much more dense and is usually eaten cold. In both cases, the dishes seem to have been designed as a way of using up stale bread. And in my current domestic situation, I can't make either, as Child#2 objects to dried fruit.

I've shared my gingerbread recipe on the blog before. Having to use up stale gingerbread is one of those 'never gonna happen' situations, but I needed a dessert in a hurry today and happened to have half a loaf of gingerbread to hand. I turned three large slices of it into a ginger version of bread and butter pudding. But as there was no butter involved, I've had to call it Gingerbread Pudding. Which just perpetuates the confusion, I suppose. But this is definitely a hot pudding, not a cold one.

Ingredients

12 small slices of gingerbread (about 1 by 3 inches)
3 eggs
¼ cup sugar
300ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
(If I'd had any preserved ginger, I would have added that to replace the dried fruit in 'classic' B&BP)

Heat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Arrange the slices of gingerbread in a shallow ovenproof dish. Beat the eggs with the sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture over the gingerbread slices and allow to soak in for a few minutes. Then transfer the dish to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve with custard or ice cream.

Warming up

It may not look like it, with the ground all white with snow still, but this week the weather has started to feel more spring-like. I didn't need a hat, scarf, or gloves this afternoon when I took the dog for his walk and the snow was distinctly squishy underfoot instead of the crispy surface of recent weeks.

It makes walking in it more of an effort, though...

On Tuesday the last of the snow on the barn roof gradually melted off, dangling some lethal-looking icicles precariously over the edge.

And after a month of confinement, the hens are impatient to get back out into the orchard. Maybe enough of the snow will have gone by the weekend to make that possible...

After the storm

 The day after the storm we got another helping of snow: one of those wet, windless snowfalls that leave everything heavily laden.

Afterwards, I noticed strange tracks between the barn and the house. I puzzled over them for a while. What sort of animal could make marks like this? Was it a new predator, trying to get in to the chickens?

 

After wondering about it for a while, the answer suddenly presented itself. The 'tracks' were directly underneath the power line from the barn to the house. They'd been created when the heavy snow on the wire had fallen off as the temperature rose later that morning. Not so mysterious, after all...

Before the storm

There's a storm system heading our way, but today was mainly clear and mild, with snow melting all around. A hole had opened up in the ice covering the stream by the pond, so I dipped my camera down into it and pressed the shutter button without being able to see what I was recording. It feels like you're walking on solid ice, but underneath my feet the camera captured a secret world of ice and water, invisible from above:

The skies have been striking today. First thing, it was all ripples and waves:

By mid-morning, there was an unusual stippled effect to the clouds:

And now it's all going grey as the weather system gets closer. Tomorrow, I doubt we'll see the sun or blue skies at all!

Last of the carrots

I pulled up the last of the 2012 carrots from the greenhouse today. A modest 300 grams, but good to still be getting fresh vegetables in this hungry time of the year. At the weekend I will be sowing peas out there, so there won't be a week of the year when there isn't something actively growing.

Seedy Saturday 2013

I blogged about the first Seedy Saturday event I ever attended back in 2011. This year I was one of the vendors at the same event. How quickly things move on! I got involved this year because I met one of the organisers when I had my farmer's market stall in Wellington last summer. You never know what is going to happen when you take on something new, do you? Always a good reason to try different ventures, I think.

I took along some herbs that I started from seed in late December. All except the basil had got to a reasonable size. I also had a box of home-collected herb seeds and some jars of the marmalade I made last month. I had some eggs to give away too, since we're not allowed to sell them apart from at the farm.

I tarted the marmalade jars up a bit with some cloth covers and twine. I wasn't sure that I would sell any of these (I thought they were bordering on the dangerously twee myself) but they were all gone in the first hour and a half!

I had a great time, talking almost without a break to people with a wide range of gardening experience but all with a strong enthusiasm for growing their own food or flowers. It was exhausting!

Thoughts of Spring

After a hesitant start, the winter seems to have got into its stride now. The barnyard is a mass of ice and is becoming challenging to navigate.

I've enjoyed the sunshine we've had this week but am looking forward to some warmer weather so that I don't have to keep carrying jugs of hot water out to the chickens to defrost their water supply.

Inside, my onions and leeks are emerging well. I'm never going to get tired of seeing those first few green signs of the growing season to come.

I've just finished reading Folks, This Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin. It's an interesting read for sustainability nerds like me, although I can't say that I agree with everything he has to say (and I did feel as though I was being shouted at quite often). On Wednesday lunchtime I read the chapter on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (which was quite enough to ruin my appetite). On my way home I passed these cattle and I had to stop and take a photograph. After reading about conditions in the feedlots, it was so good to see these animals enjoying their hay.

 

Flat as a...tortilla

I do try to resist getting new kitchen gadgets, but we eat a lot of shop-bought tortilla wraps and I thought it might be better to make them myself. Not least because the ones from the stores contain a long list of 14 ingredients, including carrageenan which is under suspicion of being a carcinogen (although the name suggests to me that it is in fact a species of leprechaun (which I also would be reluctant to eat)).

Therefore my birthday request this year was for a tortilla press, because, enthusiastic though I am, I can't face the effort of rolling tortillas out by hand. As today is pancake day, it seemed like a good opportunity to try it out.

It is a very simple low-tech device, made of extremely heavy cast iron. You make the dough (2 cups of flour (half wholewheat, half white), ¼ cup vegetable oil, pinch of salt (I forgot to add that, actually) and enough warm water to bind everything together - I did all this in the food processor as though I were making pastry), let it rest for half an hour, then it's time to play.

You have to encase the dough with plastic to stop it from sticking to the press. I cut a freezer bag open down the two sides and folded it over the lump of dough. Two cups of flour makes about 12 tortillas this size (6 inches in diameter).

Then you shut the top down, press down with the lever, et voilà!

I cooked them in a non-stick frying pan at a fairly high heat for about a minute each side.

I had a couple for lunch as quesadillas, with cheese and slices of pickled pepper inside.

But the true test was in the evening, when I gave the children the same thing for their tea. "You have to make these again!" was Child1's comment, while Child2, who invariably won't eat the cheeseless 'crusts' of quesadillas made with shop-bought tortillas, said "I would eat these without cheese". The dog, who usually gets to gobble down Child2's leftovers, was the only one destined for disappointment.

Not bad for a foodstuff made with three ingredients! I'd love to try making them with proper corn masa harina - but first I'll have to find a supplier...

Digging out

Yesterday was the first snow day that the children have had this winter. It snowed steadily with a strong easterly wind and we were all glad that we didn't have to go anywhere.

This morning is clear and bright, perfect for digging our way out of the house. After a rather self-indulgent day yesterday of comfort food and curling up by the fire with a good book, it was a relief to get outside this morning and do something energetic. I quite enjoyed shovelling the snow from the front steps of the house and from in front of the garage door, the barn door and, finally, the door of the greenhouse.

The solar panels had been caked in snow since last Saturday, as it's been pretty cold this week. Not prairie-cold, but in the minus teens on the centigrade scale, so cold enough!. Yesterday's wind actually helped out with shifting the snow on the panels: there's less on them now than there was before the storm and with any luck today's sunshine (with the promise of some slightly warmer temperatures) will clear them off a bit more.

The weather broadcasters were saying "it's going to be the worst winter storm since February 2008" and I felt quite a seasoned old hand when I recalled that we were here for that storm. The front of the house today looks just like it did back on February 7th, 2008. Well, except that today I cleared all of the steps, not just that rather small passage on the left which was all I'd managed in 2008. I must be getting better at this snow-clearing business!

UPDATE (2pm): As I'd hoped, the temperature has gone up to a balmy -5°C/23°F and with a cloudless sky the snow is beginning to slide off the panels. I love watching that happen. (Yes, I'm very easily entertained.)

It must be Predator Week...

We've seen barred owls a lot this winter: one swooped in front of the car just the other day. I've seen this one near our pond a few times, but the dog usually chases it off before I get a chance to snap a photo. This evening the owl came quite close to the house and I went outside and inched my way towards it, without the dog handicap, taking pictures as I went.

Lovely, isn't it?

Walk on by

Keep going, Mr Fox. Nothing to tempt you here...

Orange, Lemon, Lime and Ginger Marmalade

I haven't seen any Seville oranges yet this year, so 2013's marmalade is a mix of other citrus fruits, with some ginger thrown in for good measure.

Ingredients
5 Navel oranges
2 lemons
5 limes
3 inch section of ginger root, peeled and cut into narrow strips
4 pounds of sugar

I used the boiling-the-fruit-whole method that I first used in 2009 (here's the PDF of the original recipe I followed). I still think it's one of the easier ways of making marmalade, although if you wanted to make it even quicker, you could maybe do the peel-cutting part in a food processor with a slicing attachment.

Thanks to Quinn for her comment about sprouting lentils (she's also blogged about it), I had a go at that this week, to make something green for the chickens to peck at. I hadn't realised that store-bought lentils could be used to make sprouts. I think I'd always assumed that they'd been heat-treated or something to stop them from sprouting. But it works just fine, as Quinn said:

Although it seems that the chickens are quite good at finding new things to eat by themselves. When I went into them yesterday evening to replace their frozen water with a new supply (we've had a very cold week), I found one of the hens happily pecking away at half a dead rat. :-(

How to boil an egg

Well, it's more 'How to peel an egg', to be strictly accurate. I present for your inspection two batches of hard -boiled eggs.

Batch 1:

Batch 2:

Batch 1 was cooked on Sunday, with the intention of making pickled eggs. As you can see, they peeled so badly that they are only fit for egg sandwiches. Batch 2 was cooked today.

The eggs were all the same age: 3 or 4 days old and I cooked them exactly the same way (gentle simmer for 10 minutes then drained and plunged into iced water). The only difference was in the length of time I allowed them to cool. With the first batch, I was distracted by something else and they sat in the bath of iced water for half an hour. During that time the outer layers of the white became firmly glued to the shell and impossible to separate. With the second batch, the eggs went into the iced water and were then peeled almost immediately, as soon as they were cool enough to handle. Maybe this is something that everyone else already knows, but I thought I'd share my discovery here in case it's helpful!

Pickled eggs have established themselves as a firm favourite since I first made them back in 2011. They're very easy to make and the end result is a useful, nutritious component of a packed lunch or a satisfying snack. Here's how I make them.

Recipe for Pickled Eggs

14 hard-boiled eggs
200ml/7 fluid ounces water
200ml/7 fluid ounces white vinegar
1tsp salt
Whole spices to taste, e.g.whole chilli, peppercorns, allspice, cloves, garlic cloves

Bring the vinegar and water to the boil with the salt and spices, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Pack the eggs into a two-pound jar, pour over the vinegary brine and refrigerate. You can start eating the eggs after two days, but they'll taste better after a week or two. They keep for months in the fridge. Or would do, if they didn't get eaten much more quickly than that (I find I'm making a batch of these once a week!).

Root and branch

I forced myself out of the house this afternoon to take a stroll along the edge of the lake. With the high winds yesterday during a rapid freeze, I knew that the water from the still-unfrozen lake would have made some interesting ice-forms along there. It was still well below freezing today and there was a cold easterly wind, but I persuaded myself that it would be worth it. And it was.

In places, trees and branches were welded to the surface of the lake with long columns of ice:

Elsewhere, the ice had formed into delicate combs

The lake is decidedly frozen now, resembling a moonscape or desert with the light dusting of snow which fell today.

In the house, I'm sprouting alfalfa seeds to give myself something that's actively growing to look at, as a relief from all the ice and snow.

Unreliably icy

Yesterday morning the lake had frozen over. But today it has turned mild again.

The stream running down the western side of our property has partially frozen over, making the usual interesting patters in the ice. These bubbles looked vaguely biological: like frog spawn or a diagram of a cell and its organelles.

Up in the woods, the ice was more geographical-looking, with contours forming around the bases of the trees.

There's a dead ash tree in that area which something's been having a good nibble at:

The Weather Network's forecast for next week is for some 'proper' winter weather:

I think we'll be stocking up the house with wood this weekend!