Building a food container out of birch bark

At another recent kids workshop hosted here, we learned the new (yet old) skill of turning a piece of birch bark into a water-tight container.  We worked to peel down the layers of birch bark until we had a thin sheet, then dipped it into boiling water so it became very flexible.  It can then be shaped into a round or curved vessel or container, and is water-proof enough to hold liquids.  Birch bark is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so is perfect for storing food.  During the workshop we even learned how it's possible to "cook" in our birch bark containers, simply by adding hot rocks (heated in a fire) to a cool liquid in our container to warm it.  Our birch bark containers were held together by simple natural "pegs" made of dogwood. 

Build a Bird Nesting Box Workshop

We recently hosted a series of hands-on kids workshops here at Little City Farm, teaching traditional skills such as working with hand tools, baking bread, and using natural materials (like birch bark) to create functional items.  In the recent Build a Bird Nesting Box we talked about what kinds of nests the kids had stories about (everyone seems to have a bird nest story), what birds they have spotted in their yards, and what birds we'd like to welcome.  Then we worked on nesting boxes for small birds such as warblers, nuthatches and wrens, chickadees (with the nest box opening 1/8 inch and no bigger) that like to nest in small cavities like hollow trees.  Often these kind of habitats are not available in cities, because dead trees get taken down.  What fun to have the backyard patio filled with a lively eager group of kids (and parents) all working industriously on their projects, working together sawing, drilling, sanding, building - and so proud of their creations at the end.

Calendula Harvest & Salve Recipe

It's calendula harvest time in the garden.  One of my favourite herbs, a general go-to (along with lavender) for all purpose gentle healing benefits - such as skin rashes, baby diaper changes, sun burn, as lipbalm, for  scrapes and minor irritations on the skin.  Calendula is a very easy to grow annual, that readily self-seeds (the seeds are large and obvious, so scatter well in the fall in preparation for next spring's garden).  Calendula officinalis comes in many shades of yellow to orange - but one of my favourite medicinal varieties is the Resina, which has a high resin content making it perfect for oils, salves and tinctures.  Calendula is also an edible flower, the petals are lovely in salads or for garnishing cakes.
 
Here is a very simple calendula salve recipe to try for your own first aid cupboard:

Simple Calendula Salve

You will need:
3 cups olive oil, in which 6 oz wilted (or 4 oz dried) calendula petals have been infused
3 oz shaved pure beeswax (or more)
3 oz cocoa butter (or more)
4 tsp vit E oil
1/2 tsp each pure essential oils lavender (at time of bottling)

Method:
1) Make herbal oil infusion by adding 6 oz calendula petals to the 3 cups olive oil in a clean dry glass mason jar with tight fitting lid.  It's absolutely important that jar and lid are dry so herbal oil does not risk becoming moldy.  Steep in a sunny window for 4-6 weeks shaking jar every few days (this is called a solar infusion).  Or, for a quicker method, steep in a crock pot on lowest setting for about 12 hours.

2) Strain oil, compost herbs and reserve the infused herbal oil.  It should be a darker richer colour than when you started.

3) Add oil to stainless steel saucepan, warm slowly on low heat.  Add beeswax and cocoa butter and vitamin E oil.  Stir gently until all is melted and fully combined.

4) Take off heat, and test with a spoon for proper consistency (i.e. drip a few drops of the hot salve onto metal spoon and when it cools you know what the thickness will be like).  Add more oil to soften salve, or more beeswax to firm it up as needed.

5) Add pure essential oil (we suggest lavender for added healing benefit).  Stir well, then pour into your containers and let firm up.  It will be nice and firm when salve is cooled.  Finished salve can be stored in the fridge (for a really firm salve) or at room temperature.  It's best to use dark glass containers or keep containers out of direct sunlight to preserve salve.  Salve should keep at least 1-2 years if stored properly.

Heirloom tomatoes

Oh, heirloom tomatoes: mountain princess, red zebra, german gold, jaune flamme, black cherry, brandywine, and cherokee purple...our favourites now in abundance!

Rain in the garden

During the latest rain storm...everything was dripping and glistening, the garden became a misty magical place that I viewed with new eyes.

Weeds + Seeds Workshops

Get to know your weeds and seeds! We have two exciting plant related workshops coming up in September.  Check your calendars and let us know if you want to join us.  Registration available here.  Kids welcome to both these sessions.

Seed Saving on Sept 12 from 1-3 pm
During this workshop Taarini Chopra from Seeds of Diversity will walk us through all the steps of seed saving: from planning your planting and isolating varieties, to collecting seeds from plants in your garden, to cleaning and rogueing seeds, and storing your seeds to plant the next year. The workshop will be hands-on, and we will collect and clean seeds from a variety of garden vegetables, as well as tour the Little City Farm property to observe the diversity of vegetable, flower and herb seeds ready for harvest in the gardens.

Fall Wild Edibles on Sept 19 from 1-3 pm
Back by popular demand - Jackie McMillan, local wild foods educator, led us through a delicious spring wild edibles class and will now cover the different roots, barks, leaves and flowers that are abundant in the fall season.  We'll do some tasting and explore what's growing wild at Little City Farm, and also discuss proper plant identification and ethical wild-harvesting strategies.

best applesauce (from foraged fruit)!

Apple season is upon us, the early apples at any rate.  Our old tree out back is FULL, just absolutely full this year with lovely little apples.  They are not pretty by store standards, but they are our free apples, a generous harvest that we gratefully accept each year from this old tree!  The apples taste tart with a slightly sweet tinge if you pick one that is perfectly ripe, but the squirrels seem to know and knock the apples down a day or two before they really are ready to be picked by us humans.  So, I've been gathering the apples from the ground, which really is so much easier than trying to climb up into that huge old tree.  These are just right for applesauce, a ritual we have around here starting every August and continuing on well into October, with any apples we can get our hands onto.  I love to imagine the members of the  who first planted this apple tree, also picking and making applesauce to keep their household well-stocked over the winter.  We love this applesauce on our pancakes, with yogurt and granola in the morning, or simply as a healthy snack.

How we make our applesauce with our gathered/foraged fruit - the simple method:

You need:
apples
water
large pot and lid
chopping knife
cutting board
dash of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pinch of nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla (optional, or try each one)

Method:
1) Core and chop apples, and cut away any parts that you think are overly ripe or blemished.
2) Place apple chunks (with peel on -this adds texture and colour to the sauce) into pot with a bit of water to cover the bottom.
3) Heat on medium with lid on to help steam the apples to soften them.  Stir occasionally.  Add more water so there is enough liquid that apples don't stick to bottom of the pot.
4) Add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, or vanilla - optional, based on your taste.
5) When apples are softened you can leave the sauce chunky, or puree it in a food mill or food processor.
6) Ladle into glass mason jars leaving 1/2 inch space at top (minimum) and store in fridge or freezer.  This sauce can also be canned in hot water bath according to proper canning procedures.

Apricots!

We were gifted with apricots this week!  I didn't realize apricots could grow so abundantly here in our region.  They are tiny, but abundant and so flavourful!  We also had purchased gorgeous larger organic apricots from the Palatine Farm in Niagara-on-the-lake area, through the local food buying group The Good Peach.  These were great for drying and freezing, but the tiny local ones were just right for jam!  They almost made themselves into jam, and didn't need much of either sweetener or pectin to turn out a perfect jam.  We like to use Pumona's low sugar pectin.  Our 7 year old helped me make jam, with lots of fresh apricot tasting along the way, and then wanted her "own" jar of jam so she could decide when and how to eat it (by the spoonful it seems is best!).

Gratitude Sunday

We are grateful for so many things.  Here is what comes to mind from this past week:

~ tomatoes!  Finally, now in full force (reds, oranges, green striped, purple, cherries, pear shaped, pinks, yellows)...

~ freshly harvested and absolutely delicious honeycomb shared with us by our beekeeping friend, tasting of spicy summer blossoms (we did not want to waste a single drop of this knowing how much work of bees has gone into this treat) from a top bar hive

~ pollinators ALL over the property - we noticed 6 kinds of different kinds of bees on site just in one afternoon, not to mention the wasps, moths, butterflies and other insects offering pollination support here.  We usually think of bees when we consider pollination, and bees certainly are good at it due to the hairs on their bodies where pollen can stick and be carried to the next flower, but here are some categories of other important pollinators not to be forgotten:

• Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants)
• Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Diptera (flies)
• Coleoptera (beetles)

~ new friends we have met through hosting them in our bed & breakfast here at Little City Farm

~ momentum developing on our local chicken bylaw campaign - for those of you locally who want to get involved in working to create a pro-hen bylaw for our city please go to the yahoo group for the Kitchener Hen Association here

~ rain this week!  and extremely grateful that the two large trees that were knocked down on our property due to high winds did not fall on any buildings (those of you who know Maya's climbing tree and the cedar with the swings, will be sad to hear they are no longer standing)

~ however, there is firewood for us, and also a huge sunny area of the yard where we can now plant fruit trees, hopefully from our local Whiffletree Nursery which specializes in cold hardy fruit trees

What are you grateful for this week?

Flowers in the garden

Here's an idea of what our August garden looks like - bursting with colour, the flowers are in full force, tucked into every corner, every border, every garden bed, springing up in every bare spot of ground in the yard.  I'm loving all the colour in this early August garden!  And flowers now in our house everywhere, picked for bouquets in mason jars on every table, and included into every meal to top our fresh greens, made into salad dressings, transformed into drinks (lavender kombucha anyone? blueberry sage water kefir?), or to garnish our desserts.   Our favourite edible flowers include lavender, sage, oregano and mint blossoms, borage, nasturtiums, calendula, day lilies, violas, and bergamot. (please note that not all flowers pictured below are edible)