End of the Season 2015 part 1

It was one helluva gardening season this year.
Well...not really.
I worked at an organic vegetable farm called The Kitchen Garden from May-August.
Here's where I worked...

A small view of the enormous fields at the farm.

Inside one of the hoop houses I helped build by hand.

The big pond I helped dig by hand.

The smaller pond I helped dig...that waterfalls into the big pond.

Working at the farm was an amazing experience but it was incredibly draining.

Meaning that poor husband of mine spent more than his share working our own garden.

I was grateful.

I was also exhausted.

Some days it was just because I'd spent 5 hours hoeing and just couldn't look at another weed.

Other days I had spent 5 hours picking beans...and couldn't fathom picking any more.

We still managed to put away a crazy amount of food.
(stay tuned for more on that)

But the amount of food that we grew that got wasted broke my heart.

I learned an incredible amount as well.
I learned about working smarter...and harder.
I learned about different varieties of vegetables.
I learned how to trellis them and maintain their health.
I learned how to harvest them...and quickly!

Speed is of the essence at a farm.
The margin is so small on vegetable sales.
You work fast...
even if you feel like the heat is
making your body move in slow motion.

I learned how to use hand tools...
something I've never done before.

(Seriously?!  she's been gardening for over 10 yrs now!
How is that even possible!?!?)

Well...we've been doing it by hand.
Literally by hand all of this time.

Sure, we might use a wheelbarrow or a shovel.
But all of that weeding and harvesting was done by hand.


Let me tell you, I have some amazing discoveries to share in the coming year!
No trademarked secrets that only The Kitchen Garden uses.
Sorry folks, that's privileged information...and you'll have to work there to find out more.

What I'm going to share with you are all of the
things that I will be doing differently in my home garden.
Tools, tips and trellising tricks...
and much, much more!

Its all gonna change this year!
Stay tuned...

Apples

So its fall!

At least that's what my calendar is telling me.

I suppose if I were to sit and think on it...

It feels like fall too.

The air is cooler.

(Not so stifling and heavy)

The geese are honking their goodbyes.

The nights are beautiful!

(no bugs)

Not to mention, my calendar says its fall today...officially.

When its fall we pick apples.

Certainly not the first time.

Definitely not the last time.

We have picked apples at local farms too!

What makes this year a little different is that our favorite trees are heavy with fruit.

My sister in law has several GREAT apple trees.

The past few years have been hard on them.

Serious winters, porcupine damage, deer thieves...

These trees hardly stand a chance!

And yet this year they are spectacular!

(and luckily for us, they are right around the corner)

We drove up one evening to grab the apples before the deer at them all.

Owen was pretty annoyed that there was only one picking tool to be had...

So I made him the official apple picking photographer.

At 8 years old...he's not to bad!

Apple picking action!

I remembered the cloth in the picking tool this time...

No I didn't bring rum to pick apples...although...

We also scored a cabbage too!

(Located in the nearby veggie garden))

And in case you are wondering...

Here is a handy post that describes what we do with all of those apples.

And if you are interested...

I have posts on Apple and Havarti Quiche

As well as Parsnip Apple and Brie here.

Both are well worth trying!!!

I promise! 

Apple Picking and other Fall things...

Over Thanksgiving (second weekend in October here in Canada)

we spent the weekend with my mother and her man in Brighton.

Brighton is a fantastic place to be in the fall!

Historically, it's major industry was APPLES!

They have an Applefest celebration in September.

They block off the streets to showcase everything to do with apples.

Naturally, we thought this was the place to go apple picking!

Turns out it was a perfect day to pick apples and

Everyone else had the same idea too!

I love the shapes and colours of fall...every size, shape and colour of squash...

Get them now, for they store really well in a cool room most of the winter!

No hydro required.

The funky blue one is a Blue Hubbard squash...I'm seriously tempted to grow these things!

Of course the pick-your-own farms have the usual silliness for family entertainment...

I do love a good apple pun!

(get it...MACintosh apples...)

We love Macs because they are good for just about anything!

Pies, crisps, freezing, baking or just eating plain.

Cricklewood Farm also offered pick your own pumpkins!!!

But better still...they had PICK YOUR OWN FALL RASPBERRIES!

I had no idea such a thing existed...

So, of course we set out to pick one very large pint!

Super sweet...those cool nights does a berry good.

The last time I was at Cricklewood Farm with Owen, was an equally great weather day.

We did the enormous corn maze which changes every year.

The farm was NOT this busy though...but the staff handled it beautifully.

What a great place to stop and spend an afternoon!!!

Also, a guy showed up driving THIS...I was dying to steal it!

I highly recommend this place if you are even close to the area of Trenton or Brighton Ontario.

Stay tuned on a post dedicated to everything we did with 10lbs of apples!!!

Wonderous White Corn...

We have grown corn for many years.

You might think that makes us experts on corn.

That our corn grows better somehow.

I smile when I hear stuff like that...

Largely because I know that we fail most years at the corn thing.

Doesn't matter where we plant or what we plant...

We suck at corn.

Each year I mainly grow it because I like looking at it.

I also like having free fall decorations...once I've given up and dried the stalks...

Plus, I'm generally an optimist.

I 'think' every year will be different.

Perhaps the 'right' season will come.

The truth is I don't really research how to grow what we grow all that much, 

but I'm sure there is missing something.

The point of all of this, is that this is what our ears normally look like...

Teeny, tiny, wee, little ears...

In my small hand...you can count a handful of kernels...

but you wouldn't ask me to serve you up an ear or two.

Now when faced with a load of wee little corn ears, you might ask...what is a girl to do?

Well, I'm not one for wasting anything!

So while I was happy to have all of these wee corn husks in my compost,

I was actually happier thinking about treasure hunting for actual kernels to save.

It wasn't a bad haul...just labour-intensive.

In the end, I had enough for large freezer bag of white corn kernels for the freezer...

as well as enough to make these jalapeno corn fritters!

While I normally don't subscribe to deep frying as a regular cooking method...

I couldn't resist these puppies!!!!

Here is the original recipe found in the Walmart Live Better magazine:

Whirl one 341 ml can of corn (I used fresh here...obviously), drained,

with /2 onion and 1 jalapeno (both from our garden), seeded, in a food processor.

Add 1 egg (from our girls), 1/4 cup cornmeal, 2 tbsp flour and 1/4 tsp salt.

Whirl until mixed.

Let stand for 20 mins.

Heat enough oil to reach 1 in in a medium frying pan over med-high heat.

Scoop 1/4 cup portions into oil.

Fry until golden, about 2 mins each side.

Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

Serve warm.

I served these delicious fritters along with another homemade burger patty.

This time the burger was garnished with homemade relish, bacon and a slice of lemon boy tomato.

The fritters are topped with a bit of mayo and parsley.

While cooking these fritters...I couldn't escape the smell.

The aroma was like a carnival...or a savory donut shop.

THEY WERE GREAT!

Again, not being a fan of deep frying...this will be a special occasion dish.

How do you keep your harvest?

Beyond the edge...

Lately I've been obsessed with going outside the lines...

Going beyond the edges.

Now when I say 'edges', I mean to say we all stay in the lines.

We all drive on the roads.  Walk on sidewalks.  Work in buildings.

I want to go where only my eye can go.

I want to wander to the other side of those lines.

When I drive in the countryside...I imagine what lies beyond the trees.

Have you ever wanted to park your car and just walk off into the wilderness?

(ok maybe that's just me)

In the springtime, I have heard a waterfall near our home.
I never knew where it was...only where I thought the sound was coming from.
I finally jumped without a safety net.
I walked beyond the edge...

There were shapes and colours, raw and natural.

There was mica sparkling in the daylight.

 

There was the gentle trickle of life-giving water down the hillside.

I found rocks gathering in huge numbers.

I found peace.  I found tranquility.

I was a nature creature in the wild.

I think its important for us, as human animals, to reconnect with nature.

I have posted about this idea before...but this post is more about the feeling of being in nature.

The feeling of being free.

The feeling of us as animals...and not just corporate entities.

Where do you go for peace?

A few of my favorite things...FALL EDITION

The Things I LOVE about Autumn...

Crispy leaves under your boots

No bugs on our hikes!!!

hot apple cider

colourful leaves

mulled wine
the colours red, orange, brown

root vegetables

cinnamon and nutmeg

comfort foods like shephard's pie

Pumpkin, Squash and Carrot flavoured everything

Apple picking

HALLOWEEN!

Ches likes the end of lawn mowing!
Owen loves stretchy mitts.

*********************

The Things I do NOT love about Autumn...

Bulking up on comfort foods...
the end of summer
hay fever

Owen doesn't like back to school.
Ches isn't a fan of the end of our garden.



What do you love about fall?

This years pumpkins went far...

We went all out this year with pumpkins.

Fortunate as we seem to be...we came into a bunch of pumpkins.

FREE!

So this year's haul of pumpkin products feels like gold even more!

Let's start with the initial process...

ROASTING.

You wash the outside of the pumpkin and pat dry.

Using a large knife, slice the pumpkin in half.

Scoop out the stringy bits and separate the seeds into a colander.

Cut the remaining hunks of pumpkin into smaller pieces.

Set pumpkin pieces in a roasting pan, skin side out.

Add a bunch of water to the pan and roast at 400 degrees for about 60 mins.

Take pieces out and place in a big mixing bowl until they cool.

Scoop out the flesh into containers.

Blend in food processor if desired...mainly for texture.

Repeat until the entire veggie is reduced to pumpkin skin resting nicely in your compost bucket.

The seeds can be roasted...

Toss seeds in oil or cut a few pieces of butter and spread around a pan of seeds and some cracked salt.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 mins or until brown and crispy.

The flesh can be used in so many delicious ways!

Here is what we managed to make out of a few jack o lanterns still kicking around...

Pumpkin spice muffins freeze really well and can be reheated in under 30 sec in a microwave.

It is a seriously economical recipe, as long as you already have the spices in the pantry.

Creamy Spicy Pumpkin Soup was an afterthought.

I was spooning the flesh out into containers for freezing.

The inevitable happened...I had a half full container.

So soup it was!

This soup recipe is great...it has a spicy kick due to the curry and cayenne.

I had a tablespoon of cream cheese left over so I added it!

The spicy and creamy were perfect compliments.

I garnished the soup with roasted pumpkin seeds...crunchy!

For even more yummy recipes, head on over to my friend Sam of the lovely Ravels & Tangles blog!

She's seriously obsessed with pumpkin...you'll see...

Pumpkin smoothie, pumpkin earle grey latte and pumpkin mac n cheese!!!

What to do with a pumpkin?

Halloween is over....sigh...

And what are you to do with the pumpkins you bought?

Perhaps they were for the kids to carve out...perhaps just a fall themed decoration?

Well I'm here to help you decide what to do with these enormous squashes!

First you take the pumpkins and wash the exterior of nicely...pat dry.

Chop off the stem and slice in half.

The next part should be easy...gut the gourd just like you would if you were carving a pumpkin!

Reserve the seeds in a separate container.

(To save time, have 2 bins going...one for guts and one for mostly seeds)

The flesh of the pumpkin is soft, but its coated in a slimy, sinuey substance.

Scrape this substance off with a big metal spoon and discard.

The flesh is now ready for roasting.

Place the pieces, inside down, on a deep roasting dish with some water.

Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour or until the flesh is mushy and soft.

Use a metal spoon to carve the flesh away from the deep orange rind.

You can portion the flesh out for future use.

Spoon mush into 1 cup cups and freeze in a freezer bag.

Or you can just spoon the flesh into a large container and freeze the whole thing.

You can opt to use a food processor to blend the mush further before freezing if you wish.

(If you blend the mush, it becomes very tricky to get it to stay in the 1 cup forms until frozen)

Use this mush when ever it calls for canned pumpkin.

Use in baking muffins, loaves or pies.

Whatever you do, it is a very healthy vegetable!  Loaded with iron, fibre, vitamin A & C and actually contains calcium...

If you prefer roasted pumpkin, skip the whole roasting process and cleave flesh from rind raw.

Chop into 1 inch cubes and freeze in large freezer bags.

Roast later with other root vegetables for a great winter side dish!

For a list of 10 intriguing pumpkin recipes, check out this link to Food.com

http://www.food.com/slideshow/seasonal-eats-46/spicy-roasted-seeds-4#./whoopie-pies-1?&_suid=135238663053102653393943930793

A fantastic use for pumpkins is the seeds!!!

Take the container you used for the seeds and rinse the seeds very well.

Take care to remove all orange and stringy bits.

Let seeds soak for a bit in the fresh cold water.

Spread out on a baking sheet or stone.

Add 2-3 tbsp of butter or marg and a bunch of grinds of coarse salt.

You can use parchment paper under if you wish.

Bake at 300 degrees for approx 45 mins (if you use a stone, it will be sooner!)

Just keep checking on them every now and again, giving a stir along the way.

What you have is a great snack that is loaded with fibre, vitamin E and manganese!

You can also adjust the taste of this snack just by sprinkling on a different spice...

Try these:

-garlic powder

-onion powder

-cayenne pepper

-chili powder

-cinnamon & brown sugar

Alternatively, you can also switch up the taste by using other seeds like squash or sunflower.

How do you like your pumpkin?



Take a hike....2012

One fall afternoon...

The air was just right.  The breeze was calling me.

The trees beckoned.

A small bird watched as the thoughts came to me...its time to explore the backyard!

First, start by selecting the appropriate trekking clothing.

Long pants, a must.

Sturdy hiking shoes...that is something that is a personal preference.

I like low riding shoes as I like my ankles to have loads of moving room.

Some folks like the ones that allow the support for those ankles.

If you go for the high top hiking shoes, make sure you were them around a bit to break them in BEFORE you trek.  It will help in the long run, I promise.

I also like to don a long sleeved shirt and a vest of some sort.

Wear shorter sleeves if you dare.

I discovered that we have burrs of several types in our property.

(One type as shown above)

Don't pick your best stuff as they will more than likely get wrecked somehow.

I was enjoying the relatively warm balmy weather of September

when I wrote this post...so don't be asking me why the leaves haven't changed yet...

Most of our leaves have changed colour and allowed the wind to blow them from

their lofty homes up in the tree tops.

Our backyard beyond the firepit is very over-grown and wonderful.

It sparks my imagination in ways that haven't been tickled since childhood.

The days of tree forts and expeditions into the wild.

I'm more cautious now and respectful of nature.

It still gets my imagination going...just in new ways now.

I found plants on my property that need identifying!

There was this one above that stood about 1/2 a foot tall.

It had a tubular stem, grass-like clusters of leaves starting at the base

and a tall collection of orange berries on top.

Some wild plant that looked like cilantro.

The flowers on this one was beautiful!

A tall cluster of dried something!

(By the way, I also wear gloves...just in case something I touch

might cause a reaction...we have scads of poison ivy on our property

as well as some poison sumac here and there)

Not sure if this will be white like poison sumac or if the berries will turn blue like

these other plants on our property.

It also seemed late for either of those things...

The berries were close to the ground stemming from a plant

pictured above.

(You can also see some of the baby oaks on our property

in that pic...wondering what kind of oak we have...)

I also found some of the above pictured

pretty purple wild flowers.

I'm not much one for flowers but I appreciate when nature sprinkles them

everywhere.

I had almost forgotten how the flowers leave us in the fall, only to

have nature give us sheets of purple asters everywhere I look.

Grab a pair of sturdy shoes and get outside for a hike.

Explore your own property.

Inspect the hidden corners you never think about.

Nature has surprises waiting for you...