Let's make pie!

Who doesn't love pie?  Sweet, savory, vegan, gluten-free, or just old fashioned with real butter...there is a way to make pie work for almost any palate.  We held our first pie making workshop here this morning.  What a delicious way to start the day!  We used a vegan recipe with organic coconut oil, organic spelt flour, sea salt and water - which makes for a healthful flaky pie crust that rolls out easily and tastes great for either a sweet or savoury pie.  The two hour workshop also covered tips about pie making tools (e.g. pastry rollers and pie weights), differences to watch for based on what type of pie pan you are using (e.g. glass, ceramic, tin or aluminum), ways to creatively top and edge a pie crust, and what each ingredient does in the recipe.  For example, the fat creates a flaky pastry but this only happens if it is chilled before rolling and baking.  The water activates the gluten, but too much water can create a tough dough that is not flaky...etc.  We tried to cover all the best tips for creating perfect pie, and in the end there was a table filled with beautiful pies made from scratch and satisfied participant who went home feeling confident to keep on making pies.

Teas now available from Homestead Herbals

Our herbal teas for 2013 are now ready!  For now we have five varieties, including a new delicious Immune Boosting Herbal Chai just in time for winter cold and flu season!  We love these teas, and have tried to create blends that can suit a variety of needs - there is

• After Dinner Tea which is a relaxing digestive blend; 
• Women's Vitality Blend which is rich in iron, calcium and hormone regulating herbs; 
• Sweet Dreams which promotes rest and relaxation; 
• Winter Flu Fighter which has herbs to ward off coughs and colds; and the 
• Immune Chai blend which is a sweet spiced rooibos & immune herb blend

The herbs we use are grown using sustainable methods in our own gardens, ethically wild-harvested, or purchased for certified organic sources.  The teas will be available during our Dec 7 Handmade Holiday sale, through our online shop, and also by pre-order online from Bailey's Local Foods here in town.  Here are some photos of tea herbs as they were growing this year, and the finished product.   What a sweet reminder for summer in our garden when we sip these teas.

Calendula in blossom

Fennel and echinacea in flower

Hops on arbour

Sage in flower

Calendula drying

After Dinner Tea

Immune Boosting Herbal Chai Tea

Sweet Dreams Tea

Winter Flu Fighter Tea

Women's Vitality Blend

Mark Your Calendar! Annual Handmade Holiday Sale coming to Little City Farm Dec 7 from 9 am-2 pm

Featuring 8 local vendors including:
Sew Oiseau - original handmade clothing and accessories from recycled fibres
Your Time Candles - handmade pure beeswax candles
Once Upon A Tree - fine wood turnings (bowls, cutting boards) from fallen trees
Homestead Herbals - natural herbal soaps, salves & botanicals
Recycled bicycle art & jewelry
Eco journals, children's eco toys & handmade dolls
Wool slippers & felted wool ornaments
Organic baked goods & more surprises!

Homestead Herbals Shop back online!

Our Homestead Herbals online shop is back with a brand new look (thanks to our great friend and local designer Taarini Chopra).  We have many of the tried-and-true favourite items back, and we'll be adding many more new products throughout the next few weeks. 

In our shop you'll find handmade natural & organic herbal products such as salves, oils, and loose-leaf teas;  handmade soaps and eco home decor for your whole family.  Please visit us on our etsy store and check back often.  Everything is made in small batches, with care right here in our farm kitchen/work space.We're very excited to soon be offering more new items such as:

~ DIY herbal supplies/instructions for making salves, oils, syrups, tinctures at home;
~ herbal first aid kits;
~ men's beard & mustache oils, and natural shaving brushes;
~ children's handmade eco toys;
~ felted acorns for holiday decorating;
~ handmade rainbow notebooks for your little artists;
~ nature foraging bags;
~ many more soap varieties, and much more! 

For local orders just send us a message through the etsy page and we can arrange a local pick-up at Little City Farm in order to save you shipping costs.  You can also visit us in person at our Little Bird Told Me Handmade Holiday Sale, Sat Dec 7 at Little City Farm. 

This Moment

{A special moment from the week to remember, savour and enjoy!}

Seed saving

Seeds!  Beautiful, powerful, amazing seeds.  Now is the season for saving seeds from the garden.  While we don't save seeds from everything in our garden (it's difficult, given that some of our plant varieties such as squash are too close together so could cross-pollinate), we do like to save many of our favourites each year.  Seeds we do save include unique varieties of tomatoes (those black cherry and Mennonite Orange were so delicious and not always easy to buy), heirloom beans, lettuce, arugula and other greens, kale, sunflowers, and loads of herbs and flowers. 

Then there are seeds we save like fennel, coriander, dill, rosehips and amaranth, where we like to harvest enough seed that we can use some directly in cooking, teas or herbal medicines, as well as having enough to plant again next year.  We also like to leave plenty of seeds standing in the garden for winter foraging for the birds.  Depending on the seed, there are different ways to harvest, dry and store them.  Some can be left on the plant to dry (e.g. some herb and flower seeds, beans in pods, sunflowers, lettuce), but others (e.g. tomatoes) are a little more tricky and need to be harvested fresh from the best quality fruit, then dried out, and stored when fully dry.  For more seed saving tips you can read great information at the Seeds of Diversity website.

Pumpkin harvest!

One of this weekend's projects around here was starting to clean up the garden.  This included the last potato harvest, storage potatoes and fingerling potatoes!  Cleaning up finished zucchini and squash vines, picking the last basil and tomatoes, and harvesting our pumpkins.  The pumpkin project was our daughter's this year.  At the top of her garden list back in January was to grow pumpkins, even if it meant losing space to other things.  She has been waiting patiently all season, watering them, watching them ripen, checking each day in the past few weeks to see if they are ready yet.  She had a nice harvest of 9 pumpkins and felt quite pleased with it!  She had wanted to try "milk feeding" them just like in the book Farmer Boy (Little House on the Prairie series), but that would really only be economical if we had an abundance of milk, which we do not. 

Potatoes and peppers

Potato and pepper harvest!

A little get away

It was time for our September jaunt to the woods - near lovely Georgian Bay and the Bruce Trail, and a chance to catch up with good friends.  Fall is definitely here, the leaves were turning to yellow and red, and the nights camping were cold but perfect for cozying up near the fire!  We also make sure to stop by Harvest Moon Bakery, our favourite stop for beautiful organic baked goods just past Lion's Head as you near the National Park.  Spending time near these ancient rock beaches and dense cedar forests always rejuvinates us.  This little get away was a perfect break from the hectic pace we've been having wrapping up our harvest season.