Seeds, Soil & Sourdough celebration

Despite the snow today, and sleet yesterday! We did manage to have a lovely gathering here on Saturday for the Seeds, Soil and Sourdough! Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the warm sunshine, talk gardening, eat wood-fired baking, make seedballs, and celebrate the coming of spring with us.  I was so busy talking with people that I only got a chance to snap a few photos ahead of time.

First dandelions

The first dandelion blossom picked and enjoyed on our table.  A true sign that spring is now here!

Spring in the garden

There are signs of spring everywhere!  Today: garlic shoots poking up from the soil, kale ready to harvest in the grow tunnel, new seedlings sprouting in the cold frame, bare feet running through the yard, splashing in the back pond, supper on the patio outside, and a night time campfire.  Lovely!

For those who wish to learn more about spring edibles, especially wild spring greens that are going to be ready to harvest shortly - consider taking our Wild Spring Edibles Workshop on Sat, May 10.

Seedlings are starting!

The past weeks we have been working on garden plans, seed orders, cleaning the greenhouse and organizing garden trays and supplies.  Seeds have been planted and it finally feels like spring is underway!   This week we planted some of our favourite herbs & flowers with seeds saved from our own garden last fall - calendula, marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, bachelor's buttons, lavender, sage, summer savory, malva, tulsi basil...(my helper was so ready to start her sunflowers but it's not quite time yet, but she had lots of opportunity to decorate our seed packages instead).  These seedlings will be available at our May 24 Annual Seedling Sale! 

Tapping trees!

We decided it was time!  The days have been warm and sunny, so we got all our maple syrup gear together and tapped our trees this week.  The sap was already running well, especially on the most southerly facing sides of our trees.  To get good sap flow we have noticed that it really makes a difference which side of a tree is tapped.  Given we are tapping here in our yard in the city, we have limited tree options (so we area again tapping our black walnuts and manitoba maples).  We also have  buildings and other obstructions keeping full sun off the trees, but last year yielded several litres of delicious finished syrup, plus loads of learning opportunities - we called it a success!  Funny though, living in southern Ontario, you never really know what the spring weather is going to be like - for example, tomorrow, there is an unexpected snow storm blowing in.  But this is March and the weather can still change every day.  We are hopeful that this snow will melt quickly, and the days will warm up again by the end of the week...we'd like to get back to tapping!

There are lots of great books and websites giving details instructions on how best to tap trees.  Better yet, ask someone locally who has done it (or follow along while they are tapping) to learn hands-on.  We offer a few basic tips that are geared toward the small-scale novice home based tree tapper:

• ideally, tap the south side of your trees for the best running sap
• sap runs when day times are between 0-10 degrees C, and night times drop to just below freezing
• tap above a thick root or below a strong branch
• tap healthy trees (stay away from hollow or diseased trees)
• tap at least 6 inches away from last year's tap hole
• tap approx. 3 feet up from the ground
• when drilling use a 7/16 inch drill bit and drill tap hole on a slightly upward angle
• clean out sawdust from tap hole before inserting spile
• some trees that can be tapped include birch, black walnut, sugar maple, manitoba maple 
• black walnut syrup is made from a ratio of 60:1 (60 litres sap to 1 litre syrup)!
• sap can be collected in food grade pails or containers, but should be kept cold until boiling time
• sap will run for several weeks (4-6 weeks) in a good year
• boiling down takes many many hours, and is best done outdoors do to the high moisture content that is evaporating from your sap (it will make your kitchen quite humid)
• invest in good spiles and hooks, but you can rig up plastic pails instead of sap buckets (if you are on a shoestring budget) - but use some kind of filter or screen to catch residue falling into your sap

The sun today!

All day long we tracked the glorious sun.  From our sunny dining room art table, to melting snow dripping off rooftops, to happy chickens frolicking in the yard, to squishy warm mud and puddles for splashing in!  Spring is in the air today.  Welcome!

This Moment

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

This Moment

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

This Moment

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

Gardening!

It's time to start planting - outside! 

Peas, beets, radish, spinach, chard, lettuces, mizuna, rapini, arugula...

and all the greens in the cold frame and grow tunnel shooting right up!  We've been enjoying our first fresh garden salads this week.

This weekend is our "Wild Spring Edibles" workshop, which is a great reminder of all the nutritious, fresh edibles that are abundant all around us - nettles, dandelion, burdock, clover, chickweed, and more.

Spring in southern Ontario

Here's what spring looked like when we woke up this morning....a beautiful frozen landscape, everything completely encapsulated in ice.  But the nesting birds surely didn't know what to make of it, and I was glad we didn't need to be out on the roads.  This spring weather is so unpredictable.