Gratitude Sunday

This week we are grateful for so many things!  Here are a few that come to mind.  What are you grateful for?

- local certified organic non-GMO sweet corn (first of the season for us!) from Organic Oasis Farm Store (it's so hard to find organic corn that this was such a treat, and we brought home dozens and dozens to put in the freezer)

- freshly harvested organic edamame (yummm) dropped off as a gift from our favourite farmer Angie at Fertile Ground CSA  (thank you Angie!)

-  fresh berries in our yard, containers filled every day, especially with loganberries (here is a link to local Whiffletree Nursery where there are numerous kinds of hardy berries, fruit and nut trees available perfect for our growing zone)

- a hummingbird that has visited our yard three nights in a row now (loving Maya's pink zinnias - she is thrilled!) - to attract hummingbirds try planting zinnias, salvia, morning glory, snapdragon, cleome, nasturtium, petunias, trumpet vine...

- bees, bees, bees on goldenrod (I have such a new appreciation for goldenrod and it's many benefits to us, and for fall forage for the pollinators)

- apples, apples, apples - we hope to press our own apple cider this year at Rolling Acres farm and cider mill (the old fashioned way)

DIY Apple Cider Vinegar

It's been apple season for the past month and we've been so happy to stock up on local apples for drying, pressing into cider, pies and applesauce.  We have our own small apple trees, but since they don't produce enough yet we like to supplement our apple eating with wild harvest, go to pick our own at a local orchard, and buy them at the farmers market, but two other good local sources for organic apples are through these member-based food buying clubs Baileys Local Foods and Sustainable 360. 

We try not to waste any bit of the good organic apples we grow/purchase/find, so everything, including the peel, gets used.  Organic peel is perfect for keeping in a pie recipe or adding to applesauce to give it a pinker colour, but another perfect use of apple peels is to make apple cider vinegar.  Apple cider vinegar has so many uses - from healthful tonics, making herbal medicines and shrubs (aka. sipping vinegars), hair rinses (as a great hair conditioner use 1 cup warm water with 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar), adding into salad dressings, and more.  Here is a simple recipe for how to make it at home.

Simple DIY Apple Cider Vinegar
Note: this recipe takes 7 weeks to prepare

You will need:
- large glass mason jar with shoulders
- piece of muslin cheesecloth and rubber band
- organic apple peels
- water
- organic sugar

1) Wash apples.  Collect and save the apple peels as you are preparing your apple sauce, pies, etc.  Pack them into your glass mason jar tightly.  Choose a jar that you can fill right to the top with peels.

2) When your jar is filled prepare a simple syrup.  The ratio is approx. 1 litre water to 1/4 cup organic sugar.  Bring water to a boil, add sugar and dissolve by stirring.  When sugar is dissolved pour this syrup over the apple peels to cover completely.

3) Cover jar with a cheesecloth, secured with rubber band.  Let stand for 1 week on your kitchen counter.  Stir once a day (or as often as you think of it).

4) After 1 week, strain the syrup.  Compost the apple peels, and rebottle the syrup in your jar.  Cover again with cheesecloth.

5) Now let this syrup/juice stand on your kitchen counter for 6 weeks, in a cool location out of direct sunlight.  Try to stir it once a day or so. 

6) Taste as you go along, and when the flavour is to your liking then the syrup can be bottled in another jar with lid and stored in the cupboard.  Usually it is ready by about 6 weeks.

Wine-making workshop

We had a great winemaking workshop here last Saturday! Our friend Alfred, who is an accomplished home winemaker (having made wines from all manner of berries, herbs, fruit - banana!, tea, etc) was here to facilitate the day.

We went through various stages of winemaking:
- pressing the fruit & adding yeast
- primary fermentation which is the first 5-6 days of vigorous fermentation where the yeast cells feed on the sugars in the must and multiply, producing carbon dioxide gas and alcohol
- secondary fermentation which can take 3-6 months as the fermentation continues very slowly and the wine is kep under an airlock to prevent oxidation
- racking which means siphoning the wine away from the sediment into another jug
- checking specific gravity (sugar content) with a hydrometer
- bottling and of course tasting.

We prepared a new blueberry wine from scratch using wild blueberries; then tasted a completed blueberry wine which Alfred had been made a year ago. Next we bottled a sourcherry wine, made from sourcherries picked this summer from a neighbouring yard. Finally the entire group made a hard apple cider, using fresh locally pressed apple cider which comes in the perfect glass bottle to act as a primary carboy. It was such a simple process - basically just adding yeast, extra sugar (if wanting a higher alcohol content), and a pectin enzyme to prevent the cider from becoming cloudy. No sulphites are necessary if the apple cider is pasteurized. If not using sulphites and the cider is unpasteurized, there is a possibility of it turning to vinegar. In a week we rack it into the secondary carboy, and let it ferment for a few more weeks - this is a very quick process and can be drinkable and ready in less than a month as a sparkling hard apple cider. Very tasty!

The tools needed for the winemaking process are not difficult to find. Many you will have around the house, or can find used. Others can be rented from a winemaking supply store for minimal cost.

You need:
- pail (for primary fermentation)
- glass jug or carboy (for secondary fermentation)
- Stir stick or spoon
- tube for siphoning the wine; racking, bottling
- air lock
- hydrometer (useful to measure specific gravity, i.e. potential alcohol)
- thermometer
- corker (can be rented)
- corks and bottles
- bottle brush to ensure bottles are thoroughly clean
- cheesecloth for straining fruit
- plastic and string to cover primary fermenter

All in all, the day helped to demystify the winemaking process. Here are a few good books that Alfred recommended to those who wish to pursue winemaking more seriously at home!

Garey, Terry A. The Joy of Home Winemaking. 1996.
Anderson, Stanley and Dorothy. Winemaking.