Sap boiling day...and fresh oatmeal bread

We decided today was the day.  We've been storing our sap long enough, and the days are getting warmer.  We started out with sap boiling outside, and this went well for several hours.  While boiling we enjoyed the first really sunny spring day, with an outdoor lunch picnic, and planting up the cold frame with lettuce, chard and spinach greens.  Then the sunshine turned into a surprise spring rainstorm...not so great for an outdoor boiling event.  The sap boiling was moved indoors - given we are doing a very small batch this didn't seem so bad to have some of it be done on the stove.  Hoping for sunshine tomorrow to take the boil outdoors again.   And, if we ever do this on a bigger scale we'd set up a proper fire pit and evaporator...some day.

During the boil day we were staying close to the house, so it seemed like a great day for baking bread.  Having it rising while we checked and stirred the sap, and freshly baked when we came in from the cold rain, was perfect!  We adjusted our favourite oatmeal bread recipe to use up this morning's left over oatmeal.  Yum!

Here's the recipe:

Oatmeal-Rye 4 grain seeded bread
2 cups left over cooked oatmeal
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
3 Tbsp butter
2 tsp sea salt

Combine the above ingredients in a large bowl.

2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp quick yeast

Mix the water and yeast in a large measuring cup.  Stir, then let sit for about 5 minutes until it foams.

6 cups unbleached wheat or spelt flour
2 cups whole rye flour
1/4 cup millet grains
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Extra oats and sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of risen loaves

When yeast has foamed, mix this with the wet ingredients.  Then add flour and seeds and mix well.  Knead about 10 minutes to make a soft dough. 

Put dough back into the large bowl that has been oiled, and cover with a cotton cloth.  Let rise 1 hour, or until double. 

Form dough into 3 medium sized loaves and place into lightly oiled loaf pans.  Wet top of loaves lightly with water, and sprinkle with oats and sesame seeds.  Let rise again for about 45 minutes in a warm room (near your stove that is preheating to 400F). 

Bake at 400F for 5 minutes, then lower heat to 350F and bake another 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool before slicing.

First spring garden shoots!

Finally!  There are new shoots and greens, buds and leaves starting to come up in the garden.  In the yard we see the snowdrops, tulips, forsythia buds, crocuses...in the garden there are garlic greens, chives, rhubarb, herbs greening up, and berry buds peeking from the moist cool soil..in the greenhouse we have our fresh young lettuce coming up quickly.  We can hear all the spring birds back, and have seen pairs of mourning doves, starlings, cardinals, sparrows, robins, downy woodpeckers, and bluejays frequenting our yard looking for nesting materials.  Such a hopeful time of anticipation...

Lacto-fermenting workshop

We held our annual lacto-fermenting workshop a short while back.  This is a great workshop to do in the spring or fall, as it is such a great reminder of the simplicity of preserving (and enhancing!) the nutrition of foods through the lacto-fermenting process.  We brought in Jackie McMillan again as our facilitator to guide participants through the basic understandings of the health benefits of lacto-ferments, and how to prepare these delicious foods at home.  Jackie is a local whole foods educator and wild food enthusiast.  As part of the workshop we were treated to all manner of lacto-fermented pickles she had prepared in advance (dilly beans, whole cloves of pickled garlic and ginger root, cabbage kimchi, beet kvass, and more) and then prepared a root vegetable kimchi together using rejuvelac, a salt water brine, and all kinds of great seasonal root veggies that we can still source from local farms at this time of year (daikon radish, beet, turnip, carrot, onion, garlic, red and green cabbage)...

April at the homestead

Such a busy time!  New hungry baby chicks to care for, rows and rows of seedlings to keep watered, first seeds to plant outdoors, the last three of our spring homesteading workshops to host this month, preparations for the May Seedling Sale, and we are still tapping our trees (hoping to have our big sugaring day next weekend!).  We love spring around here, but it sure is a different pace than the winter months.

This Moment

{This moment} - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy.

New spring chicks coming

Our new baby chicks are arriving next week...there is a lot of anticipation around here (and artwork to celebrate the new arrivals).  Spring is definitely in the air now!

Save the date - our annual Seedling Sale is coming on May 18th

Eco craft - egg candles

In celebration of the spring equinox tomorrow we thought we'd share a simple little eco craft idea with you!  We've had some fun making beeswax candles here lately.  We found a great idea in the book The Children's Year for making candles in the shape of eggs, by using eggshells that have been blown out.  They work perfectly - what a fun project for kids to make in celebration of spring, with help from an adult (when pouring the hot beeswax).  Here's how we did it:

You need:
- two large eggs and egg cups to hold them
- small artists paint brush
- olive oil
- newspaper
- old pot (reserved for candlemaking)
- old clean tin can
- pure beeswax
- candlewick
- small piece of plastecine

1) To blow out the eggs - poke a mid sized hole in top and small hole in bottom of the egg using a sharp knife.  Then blow through the smaller hole to push the egg insides out into a bowl.  Wash egg inside, and let dry out.  Then plug bottom hole with small piece of plastecine.

2) Oil the inside of the egg using paint brush.  Do this gently as the hollow eggshell is fragile!

3) Prepare workspace by covering with newspaper.  Then heat beeswax in tin can, set inside the old pot with about an inch of water.  Heat on low until beeswax melts.

4)  Pour small amount of melted wax into eggshell.  Then add wick, hold in place and pour melted wax to fill the eggshell.   Let harden by setting egg into an egg cup, and placing in the fridge.

5) When wax is completely hardened peel off the eggshell.  It should peel off easily.  If not, there was not enough oil inside.  Your candle is complete!  Happy spring!

Cheese Making!

We hosted one of our favourite workshops today - cheese making.  We have hosted several cheese making classes each year for quite a few years now, and still, each time the workshops fill up and new cheese makers are born.  During the workshop all participants get to make their own ball of fresh raw milk mozzarella from scratch, plus yogurt cheese, and we go over making live cultured yogurt, and all the great things to do with leftover whey.  Participants have gone on from here to make hard cheese, goat chevre, sheep mozzarella and more...this workshop is just the start to inspire confidence in the cheese making arts. 

Next on our personal cheese making to do list: try to make farmhouse cheddar and goat mozzarella.  The latest issue of Taproot Magazine also has some great recipes for making ghee, and kefir cream.  Yum!  We want to try it all.

This Moment

{This moment} - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy.