Terre Madre Day...tommorow !!

A Family Friendly Celebration of Local Food. Click here for more information on this free event celebrating local food.

So, so much..

From the country...

It has been an unforgivable amount of time since us sistas have written a blog entry. Life has gotten the better of us and farm life has swallowed me whole. So much has happened, many highs and some lows but life keeps on truckin’ that is for sure. I am writing from my kitchen, looking down at a belly full of baby, yep that’s right, kid number three is on the way (February to be exact) and my lovely sister, Amelia is not too far behind with her first due in March. Oh yeah, and her and Simon tied the knot on 10/10/10, it was a beautiful warm, sunny autumn day.

Photo credit: Megan Ward

Lets just call this the icebreaker blog where I attempt to explain the total time warp that happens when kids and farm life blur together.

The farm is finishing up. The weather this year was great, my ambition on the other hand lost to the whirl of being a tired, sick momma. Some successes have managed to pull through the fog though; it has been a great season for certain produce. I had a bumper crop of green house poblano peppers, green zebra tomatoes and just finished pulling in the last of the most beautiful heads of raddichio that I have ever grown. The zucchini’s were free flowing in their prime and the basil was picture perfect. The turkeys have grown beautifully into adults and I am excited to continue breeding them for next year. Looking after a rafter of turkeys is a part time job though, those suckers can really fly! Some turkeys are finishing up to be sold just in time for Christmas.

The chickens are maturing as well with the new hens laying their tasty pullet eggs and the roosters have begun the start of their journey into maturity with their incessant crowing, fighting and the like. I will keep a rooster of each variety and try my hand at breeding chickens next year. I have already started thinking about next season and which direction I will steer the farm, keeping in mind that I will have three children next year and one will be a newborn.

I just got back last Tuesday from Terre Madre, which is a large Slow Food conference in Turin, Italy where I was a delegate from Canada, the Toronto Slow Food Chapter to be exact. It was a whirlwind 5 days in which I met some inspiring like-minded people in search of change when it comes to food. I was lost a little in translation and being a traveller with a belly maybe didn’t suit me, as there was a lot of walking and lack of sleep. I am glad to be home though, every time I go away it just solidifies where I was meant to be. I ate some super yummy tangerines, salumi, gellati and cheese! I love that Europeans LOVE food, the support for quality food almost brought me to tears. So, so much food culture is lost on us in North America, where the majority of our population choose commodity over artisanal/sustainable products any day. Italy opened my eyes to see an unabashed love for food. No calorie counting or “lite” products here. Just a prociutto that melts in your mouth and a wedge of parm cheese cured eight years. I attended seminars on food policies, setting and communicating fair prices, women’s rights and the right to land, amongst others. I am still trying to wrap my head around that. Like I said, it was a whirlwind and I am just shaking the last head nod of jetlag. It was indeed an eye opener, but was it necessary for hundreds of people to be flown into Italy? I question whether it was the most sustainable choice to educate people.

Well, I will let you chew on this entry for the time being. Hopefully this was the kick in the butt I needed to get back on the blogging train!

Woodstove warmth to all, as the weather turns and winter starts to settle in (at least here in the Kawartha Lakes)!

Finally the home to farm fair!

From the City...

Well two weeks ago now (shesh, slacking on the blogging) Laura and I helped in the kids room at Slow Food's annual Farm to Home Fair. It was another great slow food event with lots of good food, people and information for those interested in supporting local.

We also used the event as an opportunity to promote our blog by handing out little bags of goodies including basil seedlings and seed potatoes.

...a little fun in the kid's room! I didn't manage to get a good pic of it but Laura and I had brought in a couple bags of soil, some shovels, toy tractors, assorted plastic pigs and cows and a handful of beans and potatoes for the kids to 'plant'. It was pretty fun.

...deliciously beautiful bowls of goodness.

...Our friends from KEG were also there doing a maple syrup tasting as well as giving information on their very popular (rated number 1 by Toronto Life Readers 2009) CSA box, which Simon and I are so excited to be taking part in this summer!

...music was provided by the super talented Toronto band, The Strumbellas who fit the venue and the crowd perfectly (photo credit: Megan Ward).

All in all it was a pretty great way to spend a Saturday right here in the city...

Slow Fish Sunday

From the country...

On Sunday I slogged myself over the slushy ice with my Dad and the kids in tow on Lake Simcoe for the annual Slow Food fishing trip. This is a trip that Mark coordinates every year with chefs and foodies alike to venture out on a frozen lake in hopes of bringing home some fish for dinner.

This year executive chef, David Chrystian from Victor Restaurant(http://www.germaintoronto.com/en/victorrestaurant.asp), chef/ owner Mark Cutrara from Cowbell Restaurant (http://www.cowbellrestaurant.ca/), Paul Decampo, Convivium Co leader of Slow Food Toronto (check out http://slowfood.to/ locally or http://www.slowfood.com/ internationally) were the guests along with the usual ice fishermen, My Dad, Mark, our friend Brent and his fish wise father Norm. And then there was the boys and I. I am not a fisher woman by any means; actually this was probably the 2nd time being out ice fishing.

I am not a risk taker or a thrill seeker and the thought of me going down through a pressure crack on a four-wheeler to an icy cold death scared the hell out of me. And bringing the kids along for the ride didn’t help either. I was assured repeatedly that it was fine that the ice was ultra safe and there were no worries. Trust is not something I issue out freely but I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I was laughed at when we arrived at the hut because over the down filled winter jacket of my youngest, I had secured a bright red life jacket. This was apparently not proper ice fishing attire. I didn’t care though if Lucas were going down through the whole in the ice, at least he would bob on the surface.

It didn’t help that as we were slowly driving out on the four-wheeler through super slushy snow, I spied a truck up to its headlights in slush slowly sinking into the lake. The whole time we were out on the ice, he just stood there helpless wondering whether he would be going home driving or walking. I felt a ting of remorse for him but that was quickly replaced with the question, what was that guy thinking? Had alcohol impaired his judgement and now he just had to hope and pray that someone could help him. That a tow truck from the shore could pull his truck out of the rut and slowly bring in to land? Is it still there today or did it sink?Anyway back to our day. We had a great time out on the ice fishing for Perch. From what I learned, Perch swim in schools and if you have a school come your way, you’re in the money (or rich with fish anyway) and not to blow my own bugle or anything, but yours truly caught the 2 largest fish of the day. The boys caught some fish, which kept them entertained, and in the end over a hundred fish were brought home to fry. Now lets talk about the meals. On the ice, David brought a super yummy curried goat stew with some fresh Bratwurst and chorizo sausages, heated on a camping stove and a hunk of baguette. Mark had made some corn nuts by frying our hominy for snacks and there were some really beautifully sweet/tart blood oranges that Paul brought which were sampled. We left early, all in all only staying a few hours. After Lucas’ 2nd fit, it was time to hit the road. I came home, made a loaf of bread and whipped up a peach blueberry crisp with fruit from the freezer. When everyone else arrived they began the tedious task of cleaning the perch and after cleaning 100 perch fillets Mark placed them in the prepared beer batter and hit the hot oil. Along with the splendid fried perch fillets we had red cabbage coleslaw, homemade preserves (mustard pickles, pickles and pickled garlic scapes), Black River aged cheddar with Evelyn’s Currant in the Rye crackers (http://www.evelynscrakers.com/), and fresh bread.

The perch were the shinning star though with its delicate flavour and crispy batter. Everyone left the table feeling satisfied (with David Chrystian as the exception because he is deathly allergic to fish…). There is nothing more gratifying than pulling fresh fish out of the lake in the morn and devouring it in the evening. It was a long day with the last bite being taken at ten thirty at night, but the flavours and the journey made it taste so sweet and memorable.