Two farm tours, a workshop and an extraordinary dinner!

Wanna come over for a tour and some dinner?

Check out: http://www.kawarthaecologicalgrowers.com/blog/

Are you outta your cherry pickin’ mind?

From the country…

Back during the first of July, we travelled to the Niagara’s (Grimsby, to be exact) and stopped at 2 Century Farm for our annual cherry trip, in which we brought home sour cherries to preserve for the winter months. We also picked some sweet cherries for fresh eating (a little too fresh they were devoured before we returned home...) This year I decided on 10, 7-litre baskets of sour cherries, which is ultimately too many cherries for a family of four (and growing…). I was literally drowning in bright red cherry juice. I canned, pitted and froze, baked, made cherry preserves and ate the sour suckers until the very last basket was finished, it nearly broke me, but alas the deed was done and the first of the spring fruit put away (the tally being sour cherries, strawberries, and some raspberries thus far).

Bring on the peaches, pears, plums and blueberries!

Picture This: Raspberry Jam

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

Road tripping to the berry patch

Three hours of picking equals...

...20 quarts of raspberries.

Our Simple Ingredients:

raspberries

sugar

wash berries

Mash berries

Cook 'em down

Filling our sterilized jars

Top 'em

Hot water process for 15 minutes

Done.

CSA Share #6

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

woah. I'm easily getting behind here these days. Blogging as proven itself more challenging than I thought it would be. Here's my share from last week:

1 bulb fresh garlic (which didn't make the pic)

1 bunch carrots (which simon ate half of)

1 quart red new potatoes

1 pint ochre

1 bag beet greens and swiss chard

1 bag salad greens

1 small cucumber

1 quart cherry tomatoes

1 orange pepper

1 dozen eggs

2 bags of all purpose flour which made the bread

My recipe this week is a vegetarian vegan red lentil curry with potatoes, ochre and carrots. It's pretty delish. You should probably make it today for dinner.

Red Lentil Curry

• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 cup red lentils, cooked but not too mushy
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 medium new potatoes, washed and cubed
• 3 small ochre, thinly sliced
• 14-oz. can coconut milk
• 2 hot house tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs. curry powder, preferably hot
• 1 tsp tumeric
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• dollop of yogurt to garnish

Saute onions and garlic. Add curry powder and tumeric. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add carrots, potatoes and ochre and mix well. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, coconut milk, bay leaf. Cover and cook until potatoes and carrots are soft (15-20 min).

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with rice, cilantro and a dollop of yogurt. Best served the next day but really, who can wait that long???

Farm Picures!

From the country (after a long, sweaty hiatus...)

white borage flowers just starting to open...(which are a wonderful and beautiful edible flower)

a sunny calendula flower that will be used to make a balm....

a baby pepper being born...

the first tomato from the hothouse (Stupice an early variety)

the first of the garlic harvest... and already I am pleased as punch!

a sea of purple basil...

a sea of green basil....

a delicate Purple Ruffles basil...

a prolific bush basil...

and all the while a bunch of curiously beady eyes watching my every move.

CSA Share #5

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

My CSA share this week:

Stir fry greens

2 cucumbers

1 quart currants

1 bag basil

1 quart snow peas

1 bunch garlic scapes (sadly the last of the season, on to fresh garlic for us!)

2 heads of lettuce

1 dozen eggs

1 purple pepper (which Simon ate all of before I could even have a bite)

1 large pork shoulder

Small town living is goooooooood. I've been having the best time these past two weeks totally relaxing and spending lots of time with fam, both mine and Simon's. Its these times that you really have to, not to sound like a total cheese or whatever but, cherish. We really do have the best families.

The last two weeks in my life have consisted of:

• swimming at least once every day
• mini road trips to see family
• playing cards in the sun
• big walks/hikes
• waking up on our time (never with an alarm clock because I think that it is one of the worst, most unnatural things to do ever, but we also never sleep past 8 am because we've really started to enjoy the cool early summer mornings)
• gardening
• playing with our nieces and nephews who are wonderful and adorable and exciting and fun and exhausting all at the same time
• cooking
• eating
• baking pies
• picking raspberries
• going to the farmers market down the street
• eating dinner all together
• being part of a family book club/reading in the shade in the hot afternoons

I know right...it totally pays to take summers off, just not monetarily of course.

So I had big big plans to make pulled pork sandwiches. My SIL sent me her amazing recipe, I had the ingredients, I had the ambition, I was ready to go. Then I got side tracked. Simon said, "let's not cook, it's too hot, let's order pizza tonight instead" and so, knowing my weakness for things doughy and cheesy I ditched the idea to make it. Something similar happened the next day. So instead I roasted it and it wasn't nearly as good, still delicious but definitely no pulled pork. So I say, if you buy the pork shoulder, don't get lazy, don't listen to the ramblings of a certain someone, make the sandwich.

Here's the recipe if you prove to be a better person than myself.

Pulled Pork for the Slow Cooker/Crock Pot

1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. ground mustard
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt and pepper
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 pounds(ish) pork shoulder

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker, add pork. Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

I still did manage to eat most of my share last week. We had amazing salads with a basil vinaigrette, sauteed garlic scapes, scrambled eggs with leftover ham and stir fried greens with soy and sesame sauce.

Basil Vinaigrette

1 cup olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 bunch basil

salt and pepper

Puree the whole mess in your blender, bullet, food processor or whatever other fancy tool you have on hand.

"a little of what you fancy does you good"

Fish Sandwich

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

Yes please, don't mind if I do.... (tilapia sandwich)

Here's a review and some even better pics. If you're in T.O and itchin for a fish sandwich (burrito, burger, pizza, salad) you should probably go.

p.s we're having a heat wave right now. I think it was 34 today. My clothes are sticking to me.

CSA Share #4

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

So as you can see, I've been picking up a little of the blog slack lately. Laura is as busy as a bee on the farm working hard and I, let's just say, have a little more time on my hands.

Here's what I got in my share last week:

1 quart strawberries

1 quart cherry tomatoes

1 bunch garlic scapes

2 bunches of beets

1 bunch spring onions

1 dozen eggs

1 bag of salad greens

1 deliciously amazing roll of summer sausage (which we have easily eaten half of)

Our lunch pretty much all week.

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

1 large bunch of beets

2-3 cups beet tops washed

2 large spring onions

1/4 cup goat cheese

Olive oil for drizzling

Balsamic vinegar for drizzling

chopped italian parsley (optional, only if you like it)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a baking dish add beets and a light drizzling of olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

When beets are cool, peel them and set aside.

In a pan, saute finely chopped spring onion. Add beet greens, cover and turn off the heat.

In a bowl, combine beets, greens, parsley, goat cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix well and enjoy!

Simon and I ate this salad for the better half of the week and it really is quite delicious.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

So my M.I.L had some of her gal pals over for a celebration dinner the other night and I totally used it as an excuse to make a pie. I love making pies. I never do it because it's just Simon and I and we would literally eat the entire pie in one night and not even think twice.

It was a pretty easy decision to make a strawberry rhubarb pie because all that good stuff is in season. I also had three bunches of rhubarb from my CSA share that needed to get used up so this seemed like a pretty great excuse.

Perfect pie baking music

This is my favorite pie crust recipe! It's a pretty basic pastry recipe but if you've ever made pie you'll understand that pastry is kindda like a fine science.

If you over work it, it gets tough

Measure everything perfectly (you can't eyeball pastry)

The ingredients need to be nice and chilled

Touch it as little as possible

Make sure to let the dough rest at least an hour after you've made it.

p.s I love the pioneer woman.

Thank you Sylvia!

Note: this recipe contains Crisco. Now I understand that true pastry makers are gonna scoff at this recipe because it doesn't contain butter (...cough Laura cough..) but the Crisco makes it a little less sensitive, cheaper and much easier to pull off. I use half butter, half crisco so you can still get that nice buttery taste. Do what you wish, no judgement here.

Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 1-½ cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening)
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 whole Egg
• 5 Tablespoons Cold Water
• 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

Separate the dough into thirds. Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using it immediately it’s still a good idea to put in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.)

When you are ready to use the dough to make a crust, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. On a floured surface roll the dough, starting at the center and working your way out. (Sprinkle some flour over top of the dough if it’s a bit too moist.) If the dough is sticking to the countertop use a metal spatula and carefully scrape it up and flip it over and continue rolling until it’s about ½ inch larger in diameter than your pie pan.

With a spatula, lift the dough carefully from the surface of the counter into the pie pan. Gently press the dough against the corner of the pan. Go around the pie pan pinching and tucking the dough to make a clean edge.

Pie Filling:

4 cups (1 L)

chopped rhubarb (1 inch/2.5 cm)

2 cups (500 mL) quartered strawberries

1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour

Simon bogarting my pic..yet too cute to not include.

In large bowl, toss together rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and flour; scrape into pie shell. Moisten edge of pie shell; cover with pastry top. Trim, leaving 3/4-inch (2 cm) overhang; fold overhang under pastry rim. Seal and flute edge. Whisk egg yolk with 1 tbsp (15 mL) water; brush over pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut 4 steam vents in centre.Place foil-lined baking sheet to catch drips on bottom rack of 425°F (220°C) oven. Place pie on rack above; bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F (180°C); bake until golden and filling is bubbly, 55 to 70 minutes, shielding edge with foil if browning too quickly. Let cool on rack.

Before

After