Strawberries...quickest season ever...

Well that was fast!

hot dry May + hot wet June = Crappy Strawberry season 2015

We are fortunate that my husband gets the first two weeks of July off.

If we didn't have that opportunity...we wouldn't have gotten any strawberries this year.

Husband and son went to Fruition Berry Farm on hwy 15, north of Kingston.

They came home with a bunch of baskets.

(They even came home with new baskets!

Our old plastic white ones have lasted almost 10 years!)

They even came home with 5 pints of pre-picked raspberries.

The same equation up above applies to raspberries with one exception.

hot dry May + hot wet June = no picking after noon in July

The boys just missed it.

Thank goodness for pre-picked berries!!!

(and the staff that go in the hot field to pick them!)

We froze 4 large freezer bags of whole, cleaned strawberries

and one large freezer bag of whole, cleaned raspberries.

Perfect for smoothies!

We also jarred 8 jars of strawberry jam,

4 jars of raspberry jam and

1 jar of rasp-strawberry jam!

Perfect for the classic...PB & J.

Which is one of Owen's favorite breakfasts...

Since he can't eat them at school.

I heard mixed reviews about picking from other folks at other patches in our area.

Some had it good....others, not so much.

Did you get to go berry picking?

Where and how was it?

What to do with all those Apples...

One bright and sunny Thanksgiving weekend day...

We picked a 10lb bag of apples.

It didn't really take us long...I probably could have picked the whole bag myself in 15 mins.

Seriously...not a difficult task...until you go to store these things!

I know you can store apples in a cool dark place for a few months into the winter.

I just hate the thought of one bad apple in the middle of the bag...rotting away...

So I went straight to keeping as much of the bag as I could with minimal waste or spoilage!

While I've made applesauce before...I've never jarred it for future use.

This was an awesome feat for me!

It usually smells so good when its boiling down...we eat it right away.

3 jars of applesauce now live in our food storage area.

While one can live without applesauce...it is a nice sweet addition to any pork dish.

Owen even likes dipping his potato latkes in applesauce!

Plus no preservatives or weirdness when you make your own...

Another first for me was the apple chip.

Slice thinly and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.

Like the tomatoes,  I tried both the dehydrator and the oven method.

Both worked well...but the apples took over 14 hrs in the dehydrator.

I must have sliced these apples way too thick...so I finished them off in the oven the next day.

Owen seemed to really like them at first!

Then that trailed off....must have gotten a few cinnamon heavy chips...

Frozen!

Ok...anyone with a little person these days knows that movie...

These are peeled and sliced apples in a freezer bag...

perfectly portioned so that all I have to do is pour them 

evenly into a baking dish and add crisp topping.

WAAAAAAY TO EASY....

Dangerously easy...

As nothing gets truly wasted at this house...I present to you...the chicken treat!

Once I had peeled, cored and chopped my fingers sticky...I took out the bowl to the girls.

They loved this sweet treat!

What do you do with your apple harvest?

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!!!

Strawberry Picking!!!

Back on June 30th we decided the time was right.

Timing is everything when it comes to fresh strawberry picking.

If you've been picking as long as we have...you'll see the signs.

Wait for the weather to be sunny with a light breeze.

You'll also want to avoid picking around any rainy days.

The rain will add moisture to the berries...which seems like a good thing, right?

NO!

Moisture on your berries will make them mush by the time you get home.

Another important thing to have is a good hat.

The hat should be well ventilated and have a wide brim.

Owen likes to go berry picking in style...

Most years we just bring the good old white Ontario grows baskets.

They usually charge a nominal fee for the baskets.... 50 cents!

We bought about 12 the first year...but the investment was well worth it.

We have lost a few to breakage over the years...but this year we brought 6 baskets.

This year Owen brought a bucket from the movies to fill.

You can bring whatever size of container you want!

When you bring a container (that isn't a white basket) the farmers at Paulridge Berry farm in Napanee will weigh the basket and mark on masking tape how much the container weighs.

That way, when you go to weight your berries...they will deduct the weight of the container.

I just adored the vintage weight scale!!!

We ride out to the patch on the tractor drawn flat bed trailer.

Darling Son and Handsome Husband all ready to go!

I'm all set too!

Look at the beautiful weather we had!!!

Another thing to note...we bring water floaties to sit on.

We each had a flutter board of some description.

They are perfect for kneeling or just sitting in the rows.

They are lightweight and easy to haul in with you.

(plus you can also use them as trays when getting your baskets back to the car!)

The picking was amazing!!!

Everywhere we looked was a small motherload of sweet berry goodness!

We try to stick with the smaller berries...they have concentrated flavour.

I also have a tendency to pick berries that are slightly yellow still.

I do this because we aren't always able to make jam right away.

Some years we have gotten home and the berries were already jam in the trunk of my car!

If you pick the super ripe ones (which everyone will be tempted to do)

you risk them going all moldy before you get to enjoy them.

You can see some slightly yellow ones on top.

We kept them in the car this time, turning on the AC full blast.

Once we were home, they went straight to the cool basement with a dehumidifier.

The dehumidifier keeps the moisture down and keeps the berries fresher longer.

As soon as humanly possible...make jam!

...or eat them in yoghurt, as a cereal or oatmeal topping, sliced on salads,

as a fruit salsa, in tarts or pies, or try this new recipe:

Strawberry Pinwheels

whole grain tortillas

garlic & herb cream cheese

strawberries

ham

romaine lettuce

-spread each tortilla with cream cheese

-arrange sliced strawberries and ham evenly, top each tortilla with lettuce

-roll up, cut each roll crosswise into 4 pieces to make 16 total.

...and don't forget...dipped in chocolate.

Strawberries are awesome!

Just about missed the strawberries!

We are so fortunate to have a choice of pick-yer-own farms in our area.

Both are great for different reasons.  Both are run by members of the same family.

We decided to go to Paulridge this year, because of necessity.  My mother in law called ahead to see which farm actually still had strawberries left!  We had waited too long in the season to have the luxury of choice.

So off to Napanee we went back at the beginning of July!

(Ideal timing in our area seems to be the middle to end of june for strawberries...but raspberries are later on)

Paulridge Farms is a family run operation that has been going on for years.

They really do have it down to a fine art.  They provide everything one might need for the experience.

http://www.paulridgeberryfarm.com/

Quaint placards display current pricing, wagons to haul your load to the car.  The parking lot is a short hike from the fields...kind of a nice treat to see the exhaust is kept a safe distance back from the food.

Owen shows me he is ready to go with all the tools he needs.

(Lucky for him Mum brings the other essentials like sunscreen, a cushion for your knees or bum and lots of water.)

The driver takes us on a flat bed trailer to the spot that is currently being picked.

Owen moves down the rows searching for the ultimate berry!

Lucky for us it was a hot day with no scorching sun.

Owen still needed a rest in between the rows.  Whew!

We were able to haul out 3 baskets of berries between Owen and I.

Nana picked 3 baskets herself.

We do eat some while we work...but after a while you just want to get out of the uncomfortable hunched over position.  So you pick faster...and snack less.  On the ride back to the main buildings, we snack a bit in sheer exhaustion and bliss.  Behind Owen are the baskets picked by the employees.  Those berries are sold at a premium, as "pre picked berries" at the main buildings.  The flavour of home grown, fresh picked berries but without the back pain.

Paulridge Farm has a play area at the main buildings. 

Its a nice little spot to rest up before heading back home.

We had to wait a little bit as Ches and Noah went their own route.

We decided to divide and conquer, splitting our efforts between strawberries and raspberries!

Ches and Noah picked 2 baskets of raspberries, which is saying a lot!

We have found that filling a full basket of raspberries takes twice as long because they are smaller and the bushes hide those ripe suckers!

In the end the boys were happy with the haul.

Total haul:  6 baskets of strawberries, 2 baskets of raspberries, 4 pints of fresh peas and 1 pint each of green and yellow beans.

It took approximately 2 and a half hours from the start of our trip door to door.

We made a huge batch of strawberry jam along with a couple of raspberry jams.

We rinsed and froze some of each kind of berry in large freezer bags.

Some of those frozen berries will turn into smoothies or be inserted into pies or crisps.  The newest thing for us is thawing a few for a batch of home made raspberry vinaigrette. 

All the tops we cut off the berries when we prepared them will go great in our composter too!

We ate the beans and peas almost immediately.

Eating fresh peas from the pods remind me of my childhood driving from Oshawa to a farm in Bowmanville.

My Mom and I would shell and eat them all the way home.

My paternal Grandma Bell was also big on picking your own when they were in season.

Perhaps that is a peak into her farming childhood or a reminder of the hikes in Selwyn Park in the Kawarthas where her and her husband built a cottage on Chemong Lake.

I just hope that my sons take their children picking berries and the tradition will continue.

Memories are made along the journey...not when you get to the destination!

Apple Pickin Season...

I love the change in flavours from season to season.  Each season has its own unique flavours that just make you think of fall.  Apple cider, pumpkin, squash, all things orange, red and gold.  The leaves change colour.  The evenings get refreshingly cooler, the days get progressively shorter.  When you've had a couple of cold nights that make you think about getting the heaters going for the first time, thats when you should go pick apples.  Fresh crisp apples.  There is usually a farm close by city limits that offered apple picking and its well worth the trip. 

Lucky me, I just go to my in-laws and pick from the 6 apple trees next to their house...

The sunny was so sunny...

I looked for some branches that were loaded with apples.

My in-laws have a apple picking tool! 

(Hubbie says that I should use a towel in the basket so the apples don't get bruised)

Reeeeeach...

(I didn't even think about the towel...I was so excited to pick apples!!!)

Owen realized what an apple animal he is...

He jumped up and climbed the tree to find a big red apple for mum! 

Don't worry...I let my kids play at safe heights.

We just picked enough for me to bring some to Ottawa for snacks.  My personal favorite?  Sliced apples and slices of cheese!!!  A fabulous night time dish.

We have gone picking in our area before.  These spots feature trees that aren't very tall...so no ladders are required.  We wanted to make the most of our trip so we came home with 3 bushels of 2 different kinds of apples.  It was the same day that we figured out a bushel is a HUGE sack of apples.  It took me 3 days to peel and chop the lots for freezer bags.  Be warned, apples only stay fresh-like in a cool root cellar or something.  In your kitchen?  Sure, but it won't be long before the apples on the bottom start to turn to mush under the weight of all the other apples in the bag.

What food do you think represents fall best?  Pumpkins?  Apples?  Squash? 

Let me know in the comments section...

Strawberries!

Its a little bit late, but strawberry season is upon us (although I think its just about done at this point...in our area anyway) 

Our strawberry plants took 3 years to make a decent crop.  Growing strawberries is definitely a labour of love and an act of patience.  I was hoping it would be worth it in the long run, but like anything in the garden, you never know how its going to turn out.  This year seemed to be a jackpot, so I decided to forgo the annual strawberry picking trip and try our hand at home harvesting our load of freezer jam.  Its one of our favorite fishing trip snacks as well as a bedtime snack (PB&J sandwiches) so we go through a lot of it!

In previous years, we have gone to two different pick your own places in our area.  Both were 20 min drive away, so I felt good about not using any fossil fuels to get to our berries for a change.  Fruition Berry Farm off of Hwy 15 and Paulridge Berry Farm north of Napanee on Palace rd are both great places.  The kids have enjoyed both farms for picking.  The one thing I'll say is that Paulridge had a lovely shaded area for the kids to play in...which was a welcome site after a couple of hours in the field under a burning hot sun.  Paulridge is typically not open on Sundays...so that's when we opted for Fruition.  The best part about Fruition is they have THE best teenagers working there.  Helpful, polite and eager...which is a great thing when you have a crazy moment of thinking you can pick berries with a 2 yr old in a stroller...by yourself!  (I clearly didn't think that one through)  Both places run about $8.50 per big white basket.  You can bring your own containers and they weigh them on site.  We purchased the big white baskets years ago...for a whole $0.50 a basket.  It added a bit to the price of our berries, but we've used them every year AND we use them in our garden too.  A good investment indeed! 
 

We picked our first batch and ate most of them, throwing some into pancakes to start.  By the second and third pickings, we had enough to make jam.

Crushed berries (1 3/4 cups worth in a liquid measuring cup), 3 cups of white sugar (I cut down the recipe from 4 cups, as our berries were small and super sweet), 2 tbps lemon juice and one packet of Certo.  Its the fabulous no cook recipe!  Stir the sugar and berries and let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients and let set for 10 min.  

 

Fill plastic containers so that there is about 1 inch left before the lid.  Let stand (covered) on a countertop for 24 hrs.

Freeze in the freezer! 

That's it!  That was all there is to it!!!  We ended up with 6 plastic containers in the freezer, 4 strawberry and 2 strawberry rhubarb.  Now the next sweet berry will be the raspberry.  Blue berries follow shortly after that.  We aren't in a good part of Ontario for peaches or cherries...but one can still hope. 

I have several strawberry recipes that I want to test out this year, but I may have to resort to local picked berries.  Our patch seems to have stopped producing for this year anyway. 

I was so excited to plant strawberries 3 years ago, that I had no idea there were types of strawberries.  I had no idea there was a variety called the ever-bearing strawberry.  Now that I know, I will pass along this piece of advise.  RESEARCH before you do anything...as our plants are now so established...it would be a shame to dig them all up now.  However, the idea of having strawberries for longer than the month of June is almost to much to bear!

Now all that's left to do in our strawberry patch is to keep on top of the runners, which will continue to try and make new strawberry plants until the fall comes.  Its quite a bit of work, but, like I said, its a labour of love.

Are you making any preserves with the sweetness of Ontario summer?  Tell me about it!

Adventures in foraging....Wild Leek Edition

WILD LEEK PICKING

Three years ago, a family friend showed up where to go and how to pick wild leeks.  It was such an amazing experience that we've continued going each year since.  I can't tell you where we go....or I'll have to kill you.  Seriously.  Its a well guarded secret location. 

This was the first year I noticed WHY its such a well guarded location.  The leek crop seems to be less and less.  When I discussed this with my hubbie, we talked about how the conditions were substantially wetter than previous years.  That could be a factor as to why there are less leeks on the hillside than before.  I read an article in Reader's Digest about the foraging phenomenon.  The article discussed the fact that in Quebec, you are no longer allowed to legally pick leeks.  Its actually against the law now, the leek population was in such decline.  We try to leave at least one leek per bunch, just to keep out little secret place going year after year. 

I thought I would blog about our trip this year...so you all know what to look for and what to do with them!

WARDROBE:

Bug protection, long pants, and a bunch of bags.  Thats really all there is to it.   The time of season you get to pick leeks are when the black flies are at their worst and when the mosquitos are just starting to suck blood.  Its not an ideal time for humans in the woods, but its definitely prime for leeks.  The kids always get the bug jackets...just for convenience sake.  If this is your first time picking, you may not want to look this dorky....but trust me...its WELL worth the one-time expense.  Bug spray is key as well.  Sturdy shoes for hiking in the woods are also helpful and proctect your ankles from pesky bug bites.



Owen sports the latest in leek picking fashion

LOCATION:

You'll want to look in an area where you can see trillium flowers.  You know, those white, pink or purple flowers you CAN'T pick?  Yeah, those areas in the woods where the canopy of maples and birch stretch tall and the forest floor is covered with dark mulchy leaf matter. 

Look for broad leaved plants with a small crimson flower bud (as shown below).  I think leeks disguise themselves as trilliums, as I think that's what I always mistook them for.



 

HOW TO PICK THEM:

Brush the leave matter away from the base of the plant...shown below...



Sink your fingers right into the soil...you'll feel some bulb like things under there.  If its too early in the spring, the bulbs will be deeper.  The later on in the season, the closer to the surface you'll find the bulbs!



The earth is loose and moist, so it should be no trouble at all.  Sometimes, we've found leeks growing out from under thick roots or big rocks.  Those we tend to leave behind.  Its not worth the struggle when there are ususally so many more readily available leeks nearby.





Voila!



Another telltale sign you've been picking leaks is the smell.  Shortly after you pull a few wild leeks, you'll start to notice a distinct garlic aroma around you.  You'll wonder if someone just started cooking a fantastic Italian meal right there in the woods.  Its amazing really!  We always bring snacks on our foraging trips, mainly to keep the kids busy when the thrill of digging in the dirt has worn off, but sometimes its because WE get hungry smelling the lovely garlic! 



A gorgeous bag of leeks ready to come home with us!

One of the big surprises this year was finding my first Morel mushroom!  I've never come across one in the wild, but I've done lots of reading about them in hopes that someday I might.  I was so excited!  Its like finding treasure!  (The gold colour helps with the illusion)  My step son was wondering why I was so stoked over a weird looking thing I grabbed out of the dirt.   When I explained that they are expensive in stores because they are so hard to find...his eyebrows went up!  When I told him I'd never seen one in the wild in all my 35 years on this earth...his whole face changed.   Thats when he stopped leek picking and started his adventures in morel hunting.  (hunting...like they're going to get away on you or something)


 

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR WILD LEEKS:

When you get these leeks home, be sure to soak them in cool water.  Snip off the green ends and the root base.  We composted our greens and discovered that our compost bin has never smelled better!





Fresh wild leeks ready for picking and the freezer

I really enjoy taking my kids out on excursions like this.  Its truly an experience I appreciate, coming from a childhood in the city myself.  Exploring the woods is always a good thing, even in an urban environment.  Once you discover the hidden treasures the forest has to offer, you'll never look at it quite the same.

At one point, during our picking session, I noticed Owen became very quite.  I looked around to see what he was up to.  I was suddenly struck by how serene he was.  He was standing on a fallen tree, looking out into the wooded valley.  I could hear a million spring birds.  I could smell the lushness of the forest.  I could hear chimunks, squirrels and other critters telling each other about our presence.  No planes, no cars, no sirens.  It was divine. 

I could tell that Owen was soaking up every second of it.

Next post - the wild and gathered spring feast - BBQ'd chicken breast with fresh asparagus and fried leeks and morel mushrooms.