Before and After

From the City...

Our dinner: before and after

Much to my surprise, my little balcony has provided the ideal growing condition for my greens. I can't seem to keep up with them! Which is pretty great cause Sime and I are now eating at least a salad a day. Sadly, my other little plant babies aren't doing so hot. Something is eating its way through my basil, my tomato looks sad and my herbs are protesting living/growing in Toronto by simply not doing anything. They are the exact same size as the day that I planted them.

I pillaged my sad little basil plants to make this salad dressing. It's really gooooooood.

bunch of basil

about a tbsp of honey

about a tbsp of dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

a good splash of balsamic vinegar

salt / pepper to taste.

I pureed the whole mess in my food processor, dumped it on my greens and then ate my balcony salad on my balcony. Our own version of eating local.

The Brood in the Barn

From the country...





After an observant spring, watching the mating rituals of heritage turkeys and collecting countless eggs, the result is somewhat astounding! I have a brood in the barn of over 100 turkey poults. All these little gaffers came from my own breeding stock!

Hopefully with my limited (4 year) experience raising turkeys and my gathered research, this should be a successful year in the turkey business. Now the job is to raise them up, keep them happy and healthy, and put them out to pasture when the time is right. These birds will once again be available for Christmas.

How can something this fluffy and cute turn into this?

Toronto Life Article circa 2008

From the country....

I thought I would share this picture from an article in Toronto Life magazine. It was back in the spring of 2008. Kind of American Gothic- esque huh? er... I mean the Canadian Gothic version. We don't normally have our pigs hanging out with us on the front lawn, but the photographer insisted and I remember it being a little bit of fun to get them back in their pen. Upon further inspection of said photograph, perhaps we could have smiled or smirked perhaps?

Life as a farmer is pretty grim...just ask the two in the photo.

To peruse the article click here (although kind of outdated)

Photo credit: Nigel Dixon

DELI Duel

From the City...

On Sunday Caplansky's defended their title of best smoked meat here in Toronto. I definitely don't consider myself a smoked meat expert or anything but I like sandwiches, meat and mustard and supporting incredible non profits like The Stop so I went and ate I did.

Caplanksy's (located at college and brunswick) was good, salty but good. The bread was a little lackluster and the meat portion was much smaller than the others making this one easily my least favorite of the three.

Goldin's was definitely the dark horse of the competition. I preferred their bread which was a thinner but larger piece of rye with a large stack of salty, greasy, soft meat and a wonderfully pickley pickle on the side. You can get the good stuff only at the Free Times Cafe here in Toronto, at College and Robert.

The winner for me was Stockyards. It reminded me of really good bacon. Soft in the middle with a crunchy edge. Each sandwich ( I had two) had the most perfect amount of mustard per meat per bread ratio which is crucial for any good sandwich, deli or not.

The winner for everyone else though was Goldin's. They took it handsdown. Good for them.

Late Spring pictures

From the country...







A virtual garden tour! Vegetables CAN be beautiful too.

The Day After Father's Day

From the country...

We typically do not celebrate these days (Mother's day, Father's day, School bus driver's day) because we relish in what we call "regular" days. The normal day when we work hard, enjoy each others company and finish it all off with some really great meals. It drives me mad when I am listening to the radio and hear commercial after commercial insisting we need to buy this and that for our fathers. We do make something special for each other on our allotted days, which is usually in the form of something yummily (yep, it is a real word...) edible.


So yesterday I made a rhubarb fool for the "Daddy" of the house. It was easy to make, I literally winged it together but it turned out really tasty.

Here goes my slap happy recipe:

-Cut up rhubarb and stew it down. I stewed mine with golden sugar and half of a vanilla bean. Season to taste- if you like it tart take it easy on the sugar.

-Once the rhubarb is nice, soft and mushy, take it for a ride in the food processor.

-I then added gelatin to the recipe because I wanted a more pudding- like consistency (optional)

- cool the mixture,whip up some cream, and layer it up! Delish!

You could do a variation of this with so many different fruit (apple, peach, blueberry, strawberry)We did a little ab-lib thing today for Mark and here is what the kids had to say (the writing in italics is what they had to say...).

My Dad likes to wear his shirts 10 days in a row (Nate)

His hair is brown and he has black eyes. (Lucas)

He is smart because he knows almost everything. (Nate)

My favourite thing about my Dad is he has a beard. (Lucas)

If I could give my Dad anything it would be my heart. (Nate)

If I could give my Dad anything it would be marshmallows and chocolate. (Lucas)

(the heart one literally makes my knees wobble.

Happy regular day today and ever other Daddy!

I found the ad lib idea from here.

And a Happy Fathers Day to all the papas out there!

From the City...

...and an especially happy first time father's day to someone at my house. thanks for reading to me in bed and singing to me when I play in the jolly jumper.

We love you.

Theo and his mama.

Pork Loin Roast Heaven

From the City...

I can honestly say that there is nothing better than having farmers in your family. As a christmas present this year, Mark and Laura gave us a meat gift certificate and with this certificate came a gorgeous porkloin roast. The winter was busy having Theo and I also forgot about it tucked away behind all the frozen casseroles and soups but this pass week I finally got around to making it and it was definitely worth the wait.

Seeing as I've never cooked a pork roast before, I wanted to cook it the perfect way so I called up Mark to get a little direction. This was the marinade/paste that he toldme to use on it.

• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp mustard
• salt and pepper

Smear it all over and then let it all marinate. I started it at 400 degrees for the first 5 minutes and then turned it down to 325 for the remainder. My roast took about 80-90 minutes and then I let the meat rest for an additional 15 minutes.

Seriously so good and so tender. We also had lots of leftovers so Simon took it for lunch the next day and I made egg fried rice with pork for dinner. It was literally the roast that just kept on giving.

Never Not Nursing

From the city...

Nothing better.

Our dinner tonight.

From the City...

I frequent this butcher shop near my house called Vince Gasparro's meat market, at least once a week and I just love it. It's completely family owned and run and on a good day you'll see the older generations making fresh sausages (all sausages are made in house). All the meats are ontario grown on small scale farms, grain fed, good quality stuffs and Matt Galloway, a local toronto CBC celebrity, shops there and plugs it as one of his favorite spots in Toronto. Deep down, I also shop there in hopes that one day we'll both order the last sausage and have to share it a la Lady and the Tramp. A girl can dream can't she?

So I bought this incredible 2lb pork tenderloin and found a recipe online that sounded pretty delicious. Here is it:

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

Mince garlic and add to cumin. Rub well over tenderloin.

In a separate bowl add lemon juice, honey and a little salt and pepper. Glaze the tenderloin during the last ten minutes of cooking.

Barbeque tenderloin for about 20 minutes or until just a hint of pink remains on the inside.

I served it with ontario asparagus that I also barbecued with a little salt/pepper and olive oil and a potato salad with avocado (not local but still delicious). Here's the recipe for the salad.

1 lb.Cooked potatoes, cooled and cubed

1 half an avocado

2 tbsp mayonaise

1/3 cup plain yogurt

whatever herbs you have and love, on hand (I had rosemary and chives)

1 clove of garlic

salt and pepper taste

Throw everything except the potatoes in the food processor. Blend and season to taste.

Pour over potatoes and allow to chill in the fridge.

enjoy.

Much too much

From the country...

We have had some long, trying days here on the farm and evenings were we have turned to each other and asked "Will it ever end?". Nights when I wanted to cry along side the baby. Days that have been filled with challenges- so many responsibilities pushing and pulling us in so many different directions. We have 3 children, 2 dogs, 2 cats, a barn full of chickens, chicks, turkeys, and ducks, an old farm house, greenhouses, fields to tend to, and markets to get ready for all in a strict timeline to be able to make a living . This week we had to attend to these everyday tasks with one slight twist- no electricity. A sudden storm left us with no electricity for nearly three days.

So on top of all our regular duties we had a generator to borrow and hook up so we could keep the incubator running, the chicks warm and the meat in the freezers from thawing. We had to drive around to friends and neighbours to beg, steal and borrow water so we could wash our dishes, water our livestock and flush our toilet. We pulled buckets out of our well so we could wash our produce and get it ready for market.

I have people comment on how idyllic our lives must be to be with our children, close to the land, growing food. It is a lifestyle and one that I am proud to own but sometimes I wring my dirt stained hands in pure exhaustion. Would I change this life? No, but I would add a few more hours to the day or make time stand still so I could take a nap and not feel guilty.

I love our life, I really do but sometimes it all feels like much too much. Maybe a just need a better perspective. Maybe I should think about the Victorian times, when all there was was tasks and chores in order to survive. Maybe I don't really even know true hard work.

I do know one thing though, I am dog tired tonight.

For all the kiddies in the crowd...

From the City....

On the hunt for a juicy kids album that YOU actually want to listen to? Well here it is. My husband and two of his bandmates along with our incredibly savvy business woman friend wrote, recorded and marketed this incredible kids album that you can now purchase on itunes!

Here's the link so you can preview and then purchase this album, cause trust me, you will.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/cheeky-monkey-ep/id441772617

Peanutty Goodness

From the City...

Well Mollie Katzen, you've done again. This sauce is incredible, so good and so easy to make and comesfrom M.K's Moosewood Cookbook, one of my favorite C books. I served it with some steamed veggies and noodles and of course cilantro from my balcony. It makes a good two cups so there's a lot.

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 heaping tbsp. minced ginger

1 heaping tbsp minced garlic

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 cup hot water

4 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt (if using natural peanut butter)

Put everything in a blender and puree until smooth. I don't own a blender so I just minced the garlic and ginger myself and mixed it in a bowl. I sauteed my assortment of veggies and cooked my noodles than just mixed everything together in my pan. Garnish with cilantro.

Kinder Gardens

From the country...

Here is a sneak peek at the planter gardens that the kindergarten classes and I put in at the Woodville Elementary School. This is the school that I went to, the school my siblings went to, and the school my children are and will be going to. So needless to say, this school has BIG sentimental value to me. When ever I walk the halls, floods of memories go through my mind and to be able to contribute even just a little bit as an adult, means a lot to me.

So we got dirty digging up the soil, adding compost and top soil donated by our friends over at The Glen Road Organics. Then we transplanted lettuce starts from our farm and planted baby green seeds, Swiss chard and green onion seeds. I think I have found a new passion in life. Planting with children, getting your hands dirty, and talking about growing your own food. It is such a great lesson. One that I am honoured to teach.

Here is a snip it from the Woodville E.S. newsletter written by the kindergarten class:

"On Monday, we planted our garden with Laura, Nate's Mom. We planted lettuce and lots of greens. We are going to eat salad in June!"

Last week the classes picked their first harvest and ate the fruits of their labour (or super yummy- school grown lettuce!)

Balcony Makeover.

From the City...

I'd much rather have a big yard to putter in but when push comes to show, my little balcony here in Toronto gets the job down quite nicely. Here is the before and after.

I now have allof my herbs growing nicely; thyme, oregano, cilantro, mint, basil, rosemary and parsley. Three cherry tomato plants nestled in with marigolds, an assortment of lettuces which are my favorite because I snip them everyday for a little saladand my mothers day jade.

If you really focus on all the green you can almost pretend you don't see your neighbor throwing garbage off her balcony.