October Unprocessed 2018

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

 

Once again we are taking place in the October Unprocessed challenge this year in 2018.  Its honestly not that hard to do on the farm and with our lifestyle.

https://eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed/

The “Kitchen Test” Definition

The first question I’m always asked is, “How do you define unprocessed?”
Obviously there’s a wide range of implications in that word, and we will probably each define it slightly differently for ourselves. My definition is this:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients.

I call it “The Kitchen Test.” If you pick up something with a label (if it doesn’t have a label, it’s probably unprocessed), and find an ingredient you’d never use in your kitchen and couldn’t possibly make yourself from the whole form, it’s processed.

It doesn’t mean you actually have to make it yourself, it just means that for it to be considered “unprocessed” that you could, in theory, do so.

It does limit us on a few things in terms of eating out.. Its very hard to eat out and truly stay to the unprocessed meal plan. Something little will slip in on what seems like a dish that would meet the requirements.

We are currently on day 8 and other then our cold meds we have both taken, we are firmly on yes! we are being successful! I will update weekly only on the challenge, we are going to be focused more on fall idea’s.  I will try and do one unprocessed meal recipe per week for oct.

And I am already one week behind lol..

Posted in October Unprocessed | Tagged | 3 Comments

Fall Green Harvesting

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

The part of the yard that was exposed after all the tree’s came out has had a total regrowth..  there was clearly a spot where birds where sitting after snacking in the garden,

as we had a number of tomato, ground cherry plants come up. We have no idea at all on what kind of tomato they are, but they are starting to bloom, We are going to put a moveable hoop house over them to keep out the frost till I can at least figure out what kind of tomato’s they are ideally. as for the ground cherries, not sure what I can do about them.. they are such a large plant.

we also had wild mustard, wild violets that are growing like spring and are in bloom. Baby horse radish greens and burdocks are coming up in droves. So as strange as it seems, at the start of oct, I am harvesting and drying greens in the house like its spring.

Given we had such a poor spring (it went from cold to high heat) its lovely to get a longer extended fall here on the farm! I just wish I had been able to plant more things at the regular timing in aug (but the ground was dry dust at the time LOL) so that didn’t happen.

Topping up jars of dried greens is a very good thing.

So how is your fall this year? are you like my dear friends and family in the west.. early hard cold winter has arrived (in many cases before the crops have been taken off) or are you living in a more moderate climate and your fall garden is going well?

Did you get your typical fall rains? We did not..

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Overwintering Cherry Tomato’s Slips or Plants

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Fall has fully arrived on the farm but some of the tomato plants are still going thanks to the permaculture planting styles used on the farm, the cherry tomato plants are still producing in the main garden, they are quite sheltered. We often think of tomato’s as a annual but if the weather works right, its very much a perennial. With a little care we can overwinter a few in the house and then taking slips at the right time, start lots of wee babies that will give us a huge head start in the spring.

Today was a perfect day to go get slips, two off the best plant and one off each of the other two next best plants.. only take slips from your best producers. Each slip was cut on a angle with a clean blade and then all the bottom leaves/stems taken off and any flowers also removed off each stem.

This one is a touch long, I will shorten it up one more nod now that I see it in the picture 🙂 I got a nice piece of young willow and cut up a few stick of willow to add to the water to help with the rooting out process for the tomato’s. Once I have roots, I will pot them up with rich potting soil from the store to make sure I do not bring in anything for the winter bug wise.

I placed it in the glass jar so I can keep a close eye on what is happening and its in my bathroom which is warm with nice indirect lighting.  I have tried potting up bigger tomato’s types and I have found over the years that while you can keep one or two of the bigger ones for slipping in the spring.. they do not get enough from the winter light to produce the same way that the smaller cherry tomato plants seem to.  It might be different in your zone.

Are you going to be bringing in tomato slips? this fall, will you be overwintering any tomato plants in your house? Got a story about a plant that has been alive in the house for many years. I went to one ladies home, her whole living room window was covered in the most amazing cherry tomato plant that she had for many years.. I can not remember how old it was, just that it was a long time and she just pruned it to keep the shape and to keep it producing.

 

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Apple Pie Recipe

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Fall has arrived and the apple tree’s are filled with lovely apples, some for fresh eating, some for winter storage and some for baking.

Freshly made apple pie for Canadian Thanksgiving is a treat!

You will need Premade pie dough (homemade is awesome) Follow the blue link to a detail pie pastry dough blog post.

Apple Pie Filling

Peeled, cored and sliced apples (it took five large local apples to fill this pie

2 tbsp. of flour

1/2 a cup of sugar (you can go as low as 1/4th)if the apples are on the sweeter side

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/4th tsp of all spice

1/4th tsp of ground ginger.

In a bowl mix the apple slices/flour/sugar and spices together. Pour into the bottom unbaked pie shell, Top with a unbaked pie shell.  Brush with cream and sprinkle sugar on top of the dough if you would like.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for approx. 45 minutes

Serve Warm with ice cream or excellent cold with whip cream, ice cream or sharp aged cheddar Cheese.

 

 

Posted in Baking | Tagged | 4 Comments

This and that Post.. Family and Gravel

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Wow, its been busy.. Dear Hubbies mom flew in from Alberta and its has kept us running pretty much since.. she headed home yesterday.. and I am back on the blog.. Whoot!

Our home was the center, as his mom has fragile health and limited mobility at this point, so we have lots of family come visit over the time she was here, some for the day, some for a couple days at a time, our guest rooms and beds were full 🙂

Its fair to say that the dogs are missing all the company, they loved all the pats, cuddles and play times. Lots of lovely meals was made and served.. I did a smaller finger food for when we have more folks and little ones around, so that it was easier  for everyone to get different choices., Everyone got sent home with fresh buns and farm eggs

Then the other thing that happened was that our gravel arrived to redo the drive way, it needs a touch more work done with the rake but it looks amazing! It really needed to be done.. The laneway itself took 27 tons and we got a second load for the front parking area and the side walkway by the house.. so great to have that done before winter hits. Lots more packing it down to go yet.. I will drive up and down the drive with the truck and help it get packed down.

I will be doing a full post on it coming soon but I have been faithfully doing October unprocessed again this year. I was so pleased that we were able other then one single meal, (and not in oct) we were able to totally prepare all our meals on the farm. Its harder then it sounds to get folks to not just want to stop for fast food lunch or lets go out..

Everyone enjoyed the meals and we have a early thanksgiving dinner (Canadian) for his mom with all her favorite trimmings including her asked for apple pie. The hit for everyone was this little wee girl.. They adored my farm dogs but the wee Paris never lacked a lap LOL

Everyone have a great day!!

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | 6 Comments

Zucchini Fruit

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

I love Zucchini canned fruit..  This is often called Mock Pineapple and I have talked about it before on the blog. I have done it a number of different ways, my grandmother made a version of it with lemon’s.

Dear hubby loves it with mixed fruits, including peaches or even as the base of a fruit cocktail..  However this batch.. It’s perfectly done plain and I adore it!

Take large over grown zucchini and skin and gut it and cut it into cubes.

For every 6 cups of chopped zucchini I added one cup of sugar and 1/4th cup of lemon juice to mix though the fruit. The sugar is needed to help create a light syrup to can the fruit in but just as important it pulls the juice out of the fruit. The lemon juice is to increase the acid in the recipe.  Once you are done as much fruit as you are doing. Over and let it sit at room temp for six to 12 hours..

At the end of that time, you will see the above, it will have pulled enough juice to create the syrup, if for some reason your’s are drier then normal, you can make a sugar syrup on the light side per your canning fruit book.

Bring this to a simmer and simmer the fruit till the fruit turns clean and golden yellow in color. Test your fruit, it should be firm but have NO crunch left to it 🙂  Put into your washed, cleaned and prepped for water bath canning jars and lids.  Leave half a inch head space, water bath can 15 for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.  Store in a cool dark place, will last a year in storage.

 

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Salsa -End of garden harvest goodies :)

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Just another day on the farm


With the frost warnings, I said to hubby, better pick the peppers and so this big bowlful came in, as did tomatoes. I have been keeping up pretty well on the tomato’s for sauce making so I went.. Salsa!!!

Equal parts prepped diced peppers and Roma tomatoes with half the same amount of diced onion. I fall harvested grated horse-radish root, salt, black pepper, a tsp of keen mustard powder and vinegar

I did a tea baller full of pickling spice, I love my steel bags so much compared to cheese cloth, such a better reuse item in my canning.

Cook for 30 to 40 minutes and then into hot cleaned and prepped canning jars and 15 min in water bath..  Fresh yummy salsa for winter..

Dear hubby does not like “hot pepper heat much” so the mild heat in this salsa comes from the black pepper, horse-radish and keen mustard power 🙂 its zippy just in a different way 🙂

 

Posted in Canning | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Permaculture Hedge Row Garden Overview 2018

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Spring build this year 2018..  the link in blue will take you to the blog post that is talking about putting this bed together. The video above is once it was fully planted out with the pre-started plants.

This one is eight weeks later after the first video above, you can see the crazy growth on this bed. We were already starting to get peppers, fresh eating ground cherries and squash, along with cut and drop comfrey.

This video is the fall one, it is pretty close to another eight weeks to the day to the mid-summer one, the bed is overflowing, the yields have been very good. We were under warning of a hard frost on the weekend but it did not happen.  Forgive my moment of not being able to think of powdery mildew LOL just laugh with me..

We only watered this bed twice in the whole year, we had drought, high heat, crazy high winds, early frosts and it just keeps on trucking and producing. What do you guys think of it so far?

 

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

King Ram 2018

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes we make choices that we regret to a point, I like King my new ram, he is a good boy, but I miss both Horny and Whiskey. I should have kept them for more years.  I liked that both of them sheer out their wool coats on their own, where King lets some go on his back but still needs to be sheared on his sides and front.  Whiskey was a total suck and loved his cookies so was so easy to catch.. King is respectful but he is not friendly.  Makes catching him a lot harder. I need to get a collar on him to help as he is a VERY large male.

This year is our first year with him as a new flock ram and he gets high points for easy of lamb to be delivered, he gets high points for strong active lambs, great growth rates, good depth of loin and nice meaty rear’s on his babies.  I am greatly looking forward to see what he passes on in terms of milky traits.

Over the past week, I have seen three ewes breed by King and I will mark it down on the calendar.  I did not see any breeding in Aug, so that puts my first lambs due in Feb, unless someone slipped in there last month that I didn’t see.. its possible..

However I am leery on this.. you see on average in a rough way, sperm is started being made about 3 months before its needed, and when sperm in pretty much any stage is over heated, it goes.. NOPE and that’s just that..  If it’s overheated by a mear 4 degree’s compared to normal, you will have a run of sperm that is Blanks.. the boy’s are breeding, but they are not swimming.

So the question for me is this? was Kings low hanging boys in our major extended heat waves in Late June/ July/Aug going to have an effect on his boys. These times were hot enough that it was clearly stressing the sheep, they hide in the shade, they panted and they dug into the soil to lay on it in shade, they hide in the barn during the worst of it etc.

I am not sure that I am going to have good sperm till late Oct or early Nov given the year we have had.  The only way to even have an idea on if I am right is to watch the girls, I have the three females that are in heat and have been breed marked down and if they cycle again in another 21 days give or take.. then they didn’t catch and they are all proven healthy mature females that normally catch well.

I know that the heat has effected the fertile rates of my eggs and my hatching rates from my different fowl over the summer. I certainly did not want or need more babies hatched. I have lots of babies as it is.. however that does not change the fact that there is a noticeable different in our hatch rate with the heat waves.

We will see how it goes.. but if I am right.. Then my girls will most likely catch late and be lambing in April 2019. Time will give me the answer.  Have you seen fertile rates being effected by higher than normal temps?

 

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Ottawa Tornado EF-2 Storm 2018

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Just another day on the farm


A tornado ripped through parts of the Ottawa-Gatineau area Friday afternoon leaving two people in critical condition and more than 170,000 people without power across the region.

The twister touched down in Dunrobin — a rural community in Ottawa’s west end, where multiple homes were severely damaged — before heading east across the Ottawa River toward Gatineau Park, according to Environment Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-gatineau-tornado-1.4834216

Muglia said however, the damage is serious, nearly as bad as the 1998 ice storm.

“This is the worst storm that we have dealt with in the history of Ottawa … at least since 1998.”

The storm “tracked for quite a significant distance,” said Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.

“We know for sure that there was a tornado in Gatineau because we have colleagues of mine who actually saw it.”

Based on damage reports, the tornado was likely an EF-2, which have sustained winds from 179 to 218 km/h, he said.

Dear Hubby had a late meeting on Friday and was on the last bus for commute home, he snapped a photo of the sky and storm moving his way, he quote said, wanted to show me the dark area of the sky, once home and blown up, he in fact took picture of the tornado moving forward west to east in direction, while he was located to the south.

I was nervous waiting for news and was so glad when he pulled in the drive, we got winds and so very minor damage, my heart goes out to those that were in the tornado’s path. 100,000’s of folks without power.

this is climate change in action, we are going to see more and more extreme weather events. Thankfully my friends in the dunrobin area were missed but so many others had damage, had a friend on the Quebec side who was missed by a mear 500 feet in the path and lots more with minor damage..

Posted in At the kitchen table | 10 Comments