Saturday, September 21, 2013
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.
Friday, September 06, 2013
Wild apple bounty
The past few days have seen baskets and bins of apples piling up on our counters. The wild apple harvest is on, and this year is proving to be an bountiful one. We've taken to carrying extra bags with us everywhere we go, just in case we need to do some spontaneous foraging. We, as a family, have gathered fruit from at least 10 different types of apple trees in various locations around town, all which are walkable or bikeable from our place. There is such abundance hidden in the city, and I love sharing this experience with our daughter. We often meet others who are also wild foraging, including a group yesterday who was picking wild apples for their annual cider-making event.
I just love the different colours, textures and tastes - the red and white striped markings on the apples held in the hand below is especially pretty. Our own big old apple tree is in it's fullest year yet. Most of these apples we use for sauce, since they do have blemishes and are not long-keeping varieties - and occasionally there is a pie. Mmmmmm, pie. That makes today an exceptional day.
I just love the different colours, textures and tastes - the red and white striped markings on the apples held in the hand below is especially pretty. Our own big old apple tree is in it's fullest year yet. Most of these apples we use for sauce, since they do have blemishes and are not long-keeping varieties - and occasionally there is a pie. Mmmmmm, pie. That makes today an exceptional day.
New Fall Workshop Series - Sustainability, Homesteading Skills & Good Food!
Want to hone your skills for simple living, sustainability at home, homesteading arts, and making really great healthful whole food? Consider taking one of our fall workshops here at Little City Farm. These workshops are not only a great way to learn new skills, but also a gathering place for meeting others in the community interested in these topics and lifestyle. Go to our website here for more workshop details and registration.
Exciting topics coming up in the fall:
SAT, SEPT 14 from 1-3 pm - ORGANIC FRUIT TREE CARE
Cost: $25 Limited space - pre-registration required.
With Anna-Maria Schulteis.
This workshop will start with questions from participants about fruit tree care. Then the workshop will move into three main areas. What fruit trees will be successful in Ontario (Kitchener/Waterloo region)? What conditions are required before planting fruit trees (soil, compost, amendments, layout)? What are the most sustainable practices for growing and maintaining healthy fruit trees? Please note this is an outdoor workshop, rain or shine. Participants are asked to dress for the weather.
SAT, SEPT 21 from 1-3 pm - FALL WILD EDIBLES
Cost: $25 Limited space - pre-registration required.
With Jackie McMillan, local wild foods enthusiast.
We're surrounded by plants that are much more nutrient dense than what we can get from a supermarket, our garden, or even an organic farmer. Learn how to identify wild plants (greens, flowers, tubers/roots, bark, berries) that are tasty and easy additions to your diet, how to balance your body's needs with those of the ecosystem, and get some recipes to try at home. Wild food samples will be available for show and tell, and nibbling. Please note this is an outdoor workshop, rain or shine. Participants are asked to dress for the weather.
SAT, OCT 5 from 1-3 pm - BREAD BAKING & SOURDOUGH FOR BEGINNERS
Cost: $25 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Do you want to make nourishing, hearty wholegrain bread at home? In this hands-on workshop we'll talk about using and maintaining sourdough starter cultures, and make a batch of bread using local organic whole grains. Each participant will get a chance to grind fresh flour using a hand-crank grain mill, plus take home recipes, their own loaf of bread freshly baked, and a jar of sourdough starter culture.
SAT, OCT 12 from 1-3 pm - GROW YOUR OWN SHIITAKE & OYSTER MUSHROOMS
Cost: $35 - Limited space - Price includes your own shiitake log to take home.
With Taarini Chopra, local foods advocate.
Grow your own edible mushrooms at home using simple effective techniques. We'll demonstrate growing shiitake mushrooms on oak logs, and oyster mushrooms on sawdust blocks. Participants will learn how to innoculate logs with mushroom spores, how to store and maintain logs, and how to harvest and use mushrooms. Each participant will take home an innoculated shiitake log at the end of the workshop.
SAT, NOV 2 from 1-3 pm - LET'S MAKE PIE!
Cost: $20 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Want to make great pies using organic and wholegrain ingredients? In this hands-on workshop we'll be talking about how to make the perfect healthful pie crust, including vegan and gluten-free options. Each participant will make their own vegan pie to take home, using a crust made with organic coconut oil and local wholegrain organic flour. Participants will get a chance to grind fresh spelt flour using a hand-crank grain mill. Recipes included!
SAT, NOV 9 from 1-3 pm - HERBAL WINTER REMEDIES: MAKE YOUR OWN COUGH SYRUPS & TINCTURES
Cost: $30 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
During this workshop join local herbalist to talk about how to prepare for winter coughs, colds and flu. We'll make several simple effective herbal remedies including elderberry syrup, sage-horehound cough drops, and echinacea tincture. Participant will take home recipes and samples of herbal remedies we make together during the workshop.
SAT, NOV 16 from 1-4 pm - INTRO TO TRADITIONAL SOAP MAKING (workshop full)
Cost: $50 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Learn to make beautiful all-natural healing soaps using nourishing oils, organic botanicals, and pure essential oils. During this popular busy hands-on workshop each participant will make their own 2 lb batch of cold process soap from scratch using recipe and ingredients provided. We'll talk about various soap making techniques, where to source ingredients, and the properties that various ingredients such as clays, botanicals, oils and essential oils add to your soap. Participant will be asked to bring their own soap mold with lid, and a large old towel. More details provided upon registration.
SAT, DEC 7 from 9 AM TO 2 PM - A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME HANDMADE HOLIDAY SALE!
Free annual event! Help spread the word!
Held at Little City Farm.
Drop by our 12th annual Handmade Holiday Sale to see multiple artists and crafters displaying their wares! Previous sales have included organic baked goods, natural soaps, handmade clothing for children, woolen reconstructed clothing for women and children, wooden items, pure beeswax candles, handmade slippers, vegan truffles. More updates coming closer to the date.
Exciting topics coming up in the fall:
SAT, SEPT 14 from 1-3 pm - ORGANIC FRUIT TREE CARE
Cost: $25 Limited space - pre-registration required.
With Anna-Maria Schulteis.
This workshop will start with questions from participants about fruit tree care. Then the workshop will move into three main areas. What fruit trees will be successful in Ontario (Kitchener/Waterloo region)? What conditions are required before planting fruit trees (soil, compost, amendments, layout)? What are the most sustainable practices for growing and maintaining healthy fruit trees? Please note this is an outdoor workshop, rain or shine. Participants are asked to dress for the weather.
SAT, SEPT 21 from 1-3 pm - FALL WILD EDIBLES
Cost: $25 Limited space - pre-registration required.
With Jackie McMillan, local wild foods enthusiast.
We're surrounded by plants that are much more nutrient dense than what we can get from a supermarket, our garden, or even an organic farmer. Learn how to identify wild plants (greens, flowers, tubers/roots, bark, berries) that are tasty and easy additions to your diet, how to balance your body's needs with those of the ecosystem, and get some recipes to try at home. Wild food samples will be available for show and tell, and nibbling. Please note this is an outdoor workshop, rain or shine. Participants are asked to dress for the weather.
SAT, OCT 5 from 1-3 pm - BREAD BAKING & SOURDOUGH FOR BEGINNERS
Cost: $25 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Do you want to make nourishing, hearty wholegrain bread at home? In this hands-on workshop we'll talk about using and maintaining sourdough starter cultures, and make a batch of bread using local organic whole grains. Each participant will get a chance to grind fresh flour using a hand-crank grain mill, plus take home recipes, their own loaf of bread freshly baked, and a jar of sourdough starter culture.
SAT, OCT 12 from 1-3 pm - GROW YOUR OWN SHIITAKE & OYSTER MUSHROOMS
Cost: $35 - Limited space - Price includes your own shiitake log to take home.
With Taarini Chopra, local foods advocate.
Grow your own edible mushrooms at home using simple effective techniques. We'll demonstrate growing shiitake mushrooms on oak logs, and oyster mushrooms on sawdust blocks. Participants will learn how to innoculate logs with mushroom spores, how to store and maintain logs, and how to harvest and use mushrooms. Each participant will take home an innoculated shiitake log at the end of the workshop.
SAT, NOV 2 from 1-3 pm - LET'S MAKE PIE!
Cost: $20 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Want to make great pies using organic and wholegrain ingredients? In this hands-on workshop we'll be talking about how to make the perfect healthful pie crust, including vegan and gluten-free options. Each participant will make their own vegan pie to take home, using a crust made with organic coconut oil and local wholegrain organic flour. Participants will get a chance to grind fresh spelt flour using a hand-crank grain mill. Recipes included!
SAT, NOV 9 from 1-3 pm - HERBAL WINTER REMEDIES: MAKE YOUR OWN COUGH SYRUPS & TINCTURES
Cost: $30 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
During this workshop join local herbalist to talk about how to prepare for winter coughs, colds and flu. We'll make several simple effective herbal remedies including elderberry syrup, sage-horehound cough drops, and echinacea tincture. Participant will take home recipes and samples of herbal remedies we make together during the workshop.
SAT, NOV 16 from 1-4 pm - INTRO TO TRADITIONAL SOAP MAKING (workshop full)
Cost: $50 - Limited space - Pre-registration required.
With Karin Kliewer, from Little City Farm.
Learn to make beautiful all-natural healing soaps using nourishing oils, organic botanicals, and pure essential oils. During this popular busy hands-on workshop each participant will make their own 2 lb batch of cold process soap from scratch using recipe and ingredients provided. We'll talk about various soap making techniques, where to source ingredients, and the properties that various ingredients such as clays, botanicals, oils and essential oils add to your soap. Participant will be asked to bring their own soap mold with lid, and a large old towel. More details provided upon registration.
SAT, DEC 7 from 9 AM TO 2 PM - A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME HANDMADE HOLIDAY SALE!
Free annual event! Help spread the word!
Held at Little City Farm.
Drop by our 12th annual Handmade Holiday Sale to see multiple artists and crafters displaying their wares! Previous sales have included organic baked goods, natural soaps, handmade clothing for children, woolen reconstructed clothing for women and children, wooden items, pure beeswax candles, handmade slippers, vegan truffles. More updates coming closer to the date.
Monday, September 02, 2013
Harvest foods
Now that our Symposium is over and the calendar page has turned to September, it's time to work on finishing our garden harvest, canning & preserving, drying, fermenting & pickling for the winter months. The greenhouse shelves are stacked with drying racks layered with herbs; our kitchen counters are lined with jars of beans and cucumbers that are being lacto-fermented; our counters are covered in bowls and containers brimming with tomatoes, basil, eggplant and beans to be preserved into sauce, pesto and ratatouille.
And our meals these days are simple, but fresh and glorious with the abundant garden harvest - kale, chard, beans, various pestos, tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes every day! Using these veggies on different kinds of pizzas has been a fun way to experiment lately. We were recently at a wedding in Muskoka where pizza was served by All Fired Up, a portable wood-fired pizza catering business. We loved their pear-pesto-arugula-goat cheese pizza, and made our own version of it last night using all these ingredients sourced from our yard (we even have our own pears this year!). Yumm!
Fresh Pear-Pesto-Arugula Goat Cheese Pizza
Ingredients:
Fresh pears, 2 sliced thinly
Freshly made Pesto (our version uses fresh basil, sunflower seeds, olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, sea salt)
Fresh arugula, about 20 leaves (we used Surrey Greens, a spicy arugula-type leafy green)
Fresh soft goat cheese
Roll out thin whole-grain pizza dough. Let rest 15 minutes on your pizza pan, pizza stone, or peel. Spread with thin layer of pesto to cover whole dough. Cover in concentric circles with sliced pears. Sprinkle with arugula leaves, and dot with clumps of fresh soft goat cheese. Bake at 500F for about 6 minutes! Serve hot with fresh arugula leaves tossed on top.
And our meals these days are simple, but fresh and glorious with the abundant garden harvest - kale, chard, beans, various pestos, tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes every day! Using these veggies on different kinds of pizzas has been a fun way to experiment lately. We were recently at a wedding in Muskoka where pizza was served by All Fired Up, a portable wood-fired pizza catering business. We loved their pear-pesto-arugula-goat cheese pizza, and made our own version of it last night using all these ingredients sourced from our yard (we even have our own pears this year!). Yumm!
Fresh Pear-Pesto-Arugula Goat Cheese Pizza
Ingredients:
Fresh pears, 2 sliced thinly
Freshly made Pesto (our version uses fresh basil, sunflower seeds, olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, sea salt)
Fresh arugula, about 20 leaves (we used Surrey Greens, a spicy arugula-type leafy green)
Fresh soft goat cheese
Roll out thin whole-grain pizza dough. Let rest 15 minutes on your pizza pan, pizza stone, or peel. Spread with thin layer of pesto to cover whole dough. Cover in concentric circles with sliced pears. Sprinkle with arugula leaves, and dot with clumps of fresh soft goat cheese. Bake at 500F for about 6 minutes! Serve hot with fresh arugula leaves tossed on top.
Homesteading Symposium!
Last weekend we held our first annual Homesteading Symposium here at Little City Farm! It was a day-long event packed with 15 workshops to choose from, ranging through a variety of homesteading/sustainability skills including fibre arts, beekeeping, chicken keeping, herbal healing, home brewing, wild edibles, pasta making, yogurt making, natural building, and much more! The day brought together nearly 40 people wishing to share and/or further their self-reliance skills.
We are inspired to have met so many wonderful people, proud to know so many friends who are talented facilitators in the homesteading arts, and renewed in the belief that cities are places where we can rely on each other to actively create the kind of ecologically focused homes and communities we want to live in. Here are just a few photos of the day...
We are inspired to have met so many wonderful people, proud to know so many friends who are talented facilitators in the homesteading arts, and renewed in the belief that cities are places where we can rely on each other to actively create the kind of ecologically focused homes and communities we want to live in. Here are just a few photos of the day...
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