Hebdomadal Sustenance

Hebdomadal Sustenance, doesn't it sound fancier than Weekly Menu. Sort of like when a restaurant menu says local organic asparagus pan fried in lemon butter and seasoned with freshly cracked pepper and Himalayan sea salt it could also read cooked asparagus. But doesn't the first sound much tastier than the second? I've been thinking about another name for Weekly Menu, sometimes I need change, even if it's a silly insignificant change. So until further notice, or until I realize how silly Hebdomadal Sustenance really sounds (which could be very soon) that's what I'll call the Weekly Menu (grin).

Tuesday - Brown Sugar and Bourbon Ribs with lemon asparagus and potato wedges. This rib recipe uses apple butter, apple cider and apple cider vinegar, all of which we have a stash of from last year's apple harvest.

Wednesday - Mexican Pot Roast Taco with salsa, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and Mexican style rice.

Thursday - Coconut rabbit with potatoes. This recipe comes from 660 Curries. The original recipe calls for chicken but we don't have chicken...yet...

Friday - Rabbit Noodle Soup. I use the carcass from the rabbit and make a soup out of it. When you raise your own food, wasting any of it seems such a shame.

Saturday - Wareneki. From Mennonite Girls Can Cook. I try to plan the more labour intensive meals on the weekend when my husband is home.

Sunday - We are fortunate to live by both our families. While I don't count on going to eat at one of their homes, more often than not it does happen. So to avoid food waste I don't plan a meal for Sundays. If we stay home there are usually enough leftovers to eat for dinner.

Monday - Monday is often a meal made from the pantry. A lentil soup, bean soup or tuna casserole.

Sweetpea was excited about all the balls she'd found.

Tips for Camping with Little Ones

My parents brought us camping often and my siblings and I have many fond memories of our camping adventures together. So, it has become one of my missions to pass these cherished times on to my children. My husband also did some camping but his family had an recreational vehicle. This, my friends, is not camping in the truest sense. I believe that camping must be done in a temporary and uncomfortable space: a tent. I will admit, however, that my hostility toward these gas guzzling road snails has diminished (a little) after our recent weekend camping trip.

Camping with little ones is an adventure, not a holiday, but I think that it's worth while thing to do. The time spent together as a family exploring, learning and working together can be intense but it is a special time. I want to share a few tips I learned on our recent weekend camping trip. I'm sure there is still much to learned, and if you can think of other tips to share please post yours in the comment section below.

Tip #1 - Consider how you will clean. Bring a plastic wash tub. It is very useful for washing dishes, faces, hair and bums (not all at once!).

One of the things I failed to check was whether our campsite had showers. There were no showers. Now this isn't the end of the world just as long as you bring a plastic wash tub. I didn't bring a wash tub. We emptied a small storage tub and used that instead. It is also helpful to bring biodegradable soap, dish cloths, face cloths, dish towels and bath towels.

Tip #2 - Consider how you will cook and check all your cooking gear before you leave on your camping adventure.

The next thing to consider is how you will cook your food. We borrowed my parents' well used Coleman stove. Luckily it came with a propane tank and all the appropriate attachments. Although, we did have a moment of panic when we couldn't find the attachment the first night.

Here are some basic cooking items to consider bringing: coleman stove, propane, matches, stainless steel pot with lid, stainless steel frying pan, small cutting board, knives (serrated and non-serrated), wooden spoon, ladle, flipper, forks, spoons, knives, plates, bowls (or plate-bowls), mugs and stainless steel water bottles. Also consider bringing a chair or Bumbo to sit you littlest one in to eat (another thing we forgot).

Tip #3 - Consider the toilet. Bring a potty!

When picking a camping spot it's nice to be close to the toilets but not so close that you can smell them. A respectable distance is what you want. However, running your three year old down the path every time "pee or poo is coming" can be somewhat stressful. Bring a small plastic potty to make toddler elimination stress free. We used the potty for pit stops on our way to and from our camp ground and once there we showed Monkey where the potty was and he had no accident the whole weekend. It's a little gross to clean out but better in the potty then in the pants.

Tip #4 - Consider bringing clothes for all seasons and lots of it!

Unless you're going for a long camping trip and plan to hand wash or launder your clothes, bring a lot of clothes for the little ones. Pack some toques for nightime and suncaps for the day, rain gear and swim gear. Don't bother organizing it too much just toss it into a big bag or laundry bin.

Tip #5 - Consider packing a good first aid kit and medicine kit.

My family pokes fun at me when I remind them to bring ibuprophen, acetaminphone, throat lozenges and dimenhydrinate (gravol) when they go camping, but you never know when you might need them. On our three day trip my Husband hurt his back and got a sore throat, Monkey got blisters on his toes, Sweetpea started cutting teeth and I was having sinus issues. Some campgrounds lock down at 11pm and don't open again until 7am. If there is an emergency at night they'll let you through but I'm not sure a sore throat or sore gums would be considered emergent.

Tip #6 - Consider how you will make a fire - bring an axe, wood, newspaper and matches or lighter!

We forgot our axe and our wood. Luckily for us the campground manager made a mistake with our reservation and gave us free wood to make up for it. Yes, in many camp grounds you have to buy wood if you don't bring your own. Wood at our camp ground was $8 a bundle, enough for a few hours of fire. Also, an axe and some newspaper make starting a fire much easier so don't forget them.

Tip #7 - Plan your meals and don't forget the marshmallows.

The menu doesn't need to be complicated but it is so much easier to plan ahead.  Making multiple trips to a grocery store from the camp ground can be time consuming and much more expensive than back home. This is especially true if you are camping in touristy areas like Banff or Jasper.

Some foods items to bring are fruits, veggies, eggs, butter, milk, cheese, meats, crackers, cookies, bread, salt, pepper, sugar and marshmallows of course! Pack any perishable foods in a cooler with ice.

Tip #8 - Consider the sleeping arrangements.

For our camping trip we borrowed a tent from my parents. The tent is huge and sleeps 6-8 people. I call it the fun house because you could have a party in there. It is so big we could easily fit all our clothes, sleeping bags, mattresses and Sweetpea's Peapod inside with room to spare for another two adults. Having a large tent is great for space but it isn't as cozy during the night. With all the space we had we only used about 1/3 of it when we huddled together at night to keep warm.

Happy camping! I hope to share more tips over the summer.

A Surprise Book! Mennonite Girls Can Cook

I love surprises. When I went out to water the rabbits this morning there was a box leaning on my door. My sister has been ordering books from amazon.ca and picking them up at our place. I figured it was another one of her books... until I looked at the name. It was my name on the box but I couldn't remember putting in an order to amazon. I opened the box with glee. The moment I saw the cover of Mennonite Girls Can Cook I knew who it was from - thank you Jo-Ann you are such a dear friend!

Even in the midst of my crazy packing for our camping trip I managed to take a peek inside the cookbook. I have yet to thoroughly read it, but I can already tell that there are a lot of recipes that I want to try, especially the Wareneki recipe on page 90.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook also have a blog. Check it out. Once you wipe the drool away you'll want to start cooking; their recipes look delicious!

Yarn Along (no.25): Designing

Since the last yarn along I finished the Milo vest for my friend's daughter and a hat for my dad's birthday. Just recently, I've stepped in uncharted territory, literally. I have decided to design a skirt for Sweetpea. Thankfully she's small so this won't be a huge projects. The problem is, I'm mostly a product knitter, and not really a process knitter. Sure I enjoy the feeling of yarn pulling of one loop through another, but it's the product at the end that makes my heart flutter. So, designing something on my own has been quite the adventure. I cringe every time I need to rip out a row. But, I'm determined to give it a try.

As inspiration for my design I'm using Knitting Block by Block: 150 Blocks for Sweaters, Scarves, Bags, Toys, Afghans, and More. Hopefully, I have more to show you by next week.

What Happened to the Weekly Menu?

My husband has been out of town most of the last two month. I've really come to realize how influential his presence is to my planning our weekly menu. Also, my regular shopping day hasn't happened in over a month. Other than Hubby being out of town, it seems two things have affected this change: the pick up day for our raw milk has changed to Fridays (at least temporarily) and we've started frequenting the Saturday farmers' market again.

So I've been wondering, should I start posting my weekly menus again or should I post recipes instead? I'd love to hear your ideas about this.

Pickled Fiddleheads

Yesterday was a day of firsts. It was the first canning of 2011, the first time I pickled fiddleheads and the first time I used my Tattler canning lids.

Fiddleheads are baby ferns still in fetal position, or all curled up. They have a very short season. One week they're at the farmers' market, the next week they're gone. Fiddleheads come from the edible ostrich fern. They need to been cleaned and cooked properly before being eaten and should never been eaten raw. Health Canada has some food safety tips about fiddleheads that are worth reading.

I came across the idea of pickling fiddleheads over at Well Preserved; they used this recipe. I'm always careful about using canning recipes from the internet. It's so important to use recipes that are safe and from reputable canning site, like those over at the National Center for Home Preservation. So after some internal debate I decided to use the pickled fiddlehead recipe from The Complete Book of Pickling and made a few (safe) tweeks using the other recipe as inspiration.

Lemon-Pepper Pickled Fiddleheads

Adapted from The Complete Book of Pickling

Makes about 4 pints (500 mls)

3lbs fiddleheads

1/4 sugar

2 Tbsp pickling salt

3 cups white vinegar

1.5 cups white wine vinegar

2.5 cups water

1 lemon, remove zest and cut into 1/4 inch strips and juice lemon

whole black peppercorns

1. Prepare canner, sterilize jars and heat lids according to manufacturers directions.

2. Trim the woody ends off the fiddleheads. Rinse the fiddleheads in plenty of water and remove any remaining pieces of husks.

3. Heat a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Blanch fiddleheads for 1 minute in batches. Plunge the blanched fiddleheads into icy cold water, switching the water if it gets warm. 

Blanched fiddleheads

4. In a large pot combine the vinegars, lemon juice, water, sugar and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and dissolve sugar and salt. Drain the fiddleheads well and then add them to the vinegar mixture. Simmer until heated through.

5. Remove the hot sterilized jars from the canner and add 1/8 tsp. of whole black peppercorns to each jar and add a few pieces of lemon zest strips. 

6. Pack jars well with fiddleheads leaving about 1 inch of headspcae. Ladle in vinegar mixture, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Release bubbles. Wipe the rims and place lids onto jars following the lid manufacturer's directions.

7. Place the jars into the canner and return to a boil. When boiling, process the jars for 10 minutes, more or less depending on your altitude (12 minutes here). Turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the water for 5 minutes. Transfer jars to a towel line countertop and let stand for 24 hours. Check the seals on the lids before storing the jars. Any jars that did not seal should be refrigerated.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Most gardening books have a chapter, or at least a page, about gardening styles. The cottage garden, the formal garden, the zen garden.... I like something about each style so I have a difficult time committing to one. I would consider myself to be an eclectic gardener.

Tulip

Perennials are my plants of choice. Here in the North the growing season is short. It's three to four months at best, unless you have access to a green house or lovely Southern window (both of which I don't have). Annual flowers are pretty but I find it hard to justify buying them when they won't be around for long. Now perennials come back every year, often bigger and better as the years progress. After a while they can get too big or too old and need to be divided or removed, but that keeps things interesting. A done garden is a dead garden after all.

Lady's Mantle - Alchemilla mollis

The trick to growing a lovely perennial garden is to know a few perennials gardeners. I worked on a perennial farm during a summer off university. Almost every other day I returned home with perennials for my mom's garden. Now when I visit my mom we take regular walks around her gardens. She shows me what she's planted, what she's removed and offers me a piece of this or that perennial. Trust me, if you make friends with a perennial gardener and it won't be long until you become one yourself.

Johnny Jump Up - Viola tricolor

Vegetable gardening is something completely different. I treated my first vegetable garden like I did my perennial garden. But instead of my veggies growing healthy and vivacious like my perennials, they bolted, shriveled, got infested, grew limp, went to seed and died. I think I did something wrong. Maybe some regular watering and a little fertilizer would have helped. This year I'm sticking to herbs and leafy things like lettuce, arugula, sorrel, swiss card and kale.

Leopord's Bane - Doronicum

Country Chicks

The chicks are three weeks old. Where did those cute chicks go and who left behind these ugly things? Sometimes I wonder if these chicks are part robot, something like a cyborg. They're so crazy! When I walk in to feed them they get so excited, but they still have food in their feeders. I think it's strange.

This morning when I went to feed and water the chicks I noticed something strange. There was a balding chick hopping around. Unless this particular chick is aging abnormally fast, I figured that there was something amiss. I took a closer look and saw this:

Pecking. Clearly it was time for their final move to the country. Unfortunately, our Papa carpenter is still in Florida. He was supposed to return Wednesday, then it was going to be this morning, which got delayed again to Saturday night. Let's just say it wasn't just the chicks who were feeling a little peck-ish after hearing this news. The chicks had to move but the coop wasn't finished.

With some poly plastic and insulation we managed to get the coop ready for the chicks. It took us two hours and we finished just as the rain started to come down. They seem much happier with all the extra space. I just hope that they'll stay warm enough at night.

Gearing Up for Canning

Winter has finally ended, but she left behind chilling reminders of her long stay. This past Saturday I went to the outdoor farmer's market. One of produce farmer I spoke with lamented the long winter and the slow start to growing their produce. I did find some delicious fiddleheads. I'm hoping to buy more this Saturday and try pickled fiddleheads.

As produce comes in season (What's In Season?), I have plans to preserve the bounty. Last year I preserved food by water-bath canning, dehydrating and freezing. This year I'm going to focus on canning and I'm getting all geared up!

Canning

Over the last couple years I've spent a lot of time with my water-bath canner. I have many memories of our steamy summer days together in the kitchen. That steam did wonders for my complexion and gave my body a thorough sweat cleanse. Water bath canning is perfect for high acid foods like fruits or pickling.

Here is my Canning Recap for 2010. Anybody want pickled beets? I have enough to last me years.

But this year I'm putting the pressure on. My Hubby bought me this lovely pressure canner for my birthday. Some women would be appalled to receive something like this for their birthday but I was beyond thrilled. I still need to learn how to use it and figure out what I'm going to do about the warning label:

I believe the warning has to do with the burners switching on/off because of the heat sensors. If the heat isn't constant the food won't be preserved properly and can be potentially hazardous to eat. Looks like I may have to use this thing at my parents' place; they have a natural gas stovetop.

[Update 19/05/2011] All is not lost! My Husband directed me to the All American Canner website where they explain that the canner shouldn't be used on flat top stoves because the weight of the canner can cause the glass or ceramic stove top to break. Apparently they have this same warning for water bath canners too which I've consistently used on my flat top. Also, my husband explained to me that the heat or pressure should remain constant even if the burners are swishing on and off. So, I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.


Funnel

I've also got a new stainless steel funnel. For the last couple years I've made do with a plastic funnel and then a silicone collapsible funnel (not a great idea with scalding liquids).

Canning Lids

One of the reasons I can food is to avoid the toxin BPA (Bisphenol A). BPA is found in the resin that lines metal cans. This liner prevents corrosion of the metal by the food. When heat is applied during the canning process BPA leaches into the food. There is a lot of debate about what levels of BPA are considered to be toxic, but this toxin has been shown to cause reproductive and early child development problems. It's not something you or your little ones want to be ingesting.

What I didn't realize, until last year, was that the metal lids used for home canning have BPA in the liner. It's true that contact between the lid and the food is limited, especially when the right headspace (gap between the lid and food) is used. But, I imagine there is still contact during the processing.

Unfortunately, there aren't many BPA free canning lid options. I decided to order some reusable plastic BPA free canning lids from Tattler. The shipping to Canada was expensive but I split the cost by ordering a bulk amount of lids with some fellow canners. These lids are supposed to last many years and I really hope that they do.

For those of you who are interested in stepping into the world of canning feel free to read my brief post on canning food. 

Yarn Along (no. 24)

I'm working on another Milo vest. This vest is a gift for my friend's daughter that just turned one a few weeks ago. These days I find myself knitting mostly in the evening after the little ones are asleep. I knit while I watch Merlin on Netflix. I enjoy fantasy type shows and books. I just picked up book three of the Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier, Child of the Prophecy, and I'm itching to start reading it before her next book is released.

There's a huge stack of books in my room. It's overflowing from the night stand, to the floor, to under my bed and to the various laundry baskets scattered throughout my room. I'm currently going through a the stack on my night stand which comprises mostly of sewing and knitting books. It's a big job marking all the different projects that I want to do... someday. I want to make a pair of Quick Change Trousers from Handmade Beginnings and a Pretty Little Purse from Sew Retro. Then there's all the socks I want to knit from Country Weekend Socks and the slippers from Knit a Dozen Plus Slippers. When I'll do all these things I have no idea, but it's fun to dream.

To see what others are knitting this week visit Ginny's Yarn Along.

Spring Time

Today was the warmest day we have had this year. A sunny 21C (69F)! We walked around in shorts and soaked in the rays. After all my complaining that winter was too long, I feel like springtime has arrived at last.

This past week was a busy one. We celebrated three birthdays and our anniversary. Hubby was out of town so I was on my own with the little ones. I moved the chicks into the garage. The chicken smell which was oddly welcoming at first had become overwhelming. Our house smells normal again and they seem much happier with the extra space.

The baby rabbits are changing colours, from black to grey. The oldest litter is eight weeks already, so butchering isn't far away (another 2-4 weeks). We've also discovered a new way to cut our grass - hungry rabbits! I have a plan to make a portable rabbit run in the near future.

My garden this year will be mostly herbs. Today I planted some thyme, sage, oregano, tarragon and parsley. I'm hoping we don't get any severe frosts in the next few weeks. I'm pushing my luck by planting before the May long weekend. Hopefully my mason jars will protect the plants during the night.

Brooding Chicks and Building a Coop

If you walk into our home you'll be greeted by a strong waft of chicken - and no I'm not cooking. We currently have thirty-five chicks hanging out in the basement. I've never raised chicks, or chickens for that matter. Monkey and I picked up the chicks a week and a half over and they've already triples in size! They're meat birds. I guess the point is for them to grow fast. They've outgrown their brooder and I'm making plans to have them moved to our garage tomorrow.

Our chicks on the first day.

Eventually they will go to my parents' acreage to a fancy chicken coop hotel! My papa designed the coop on the spur so it turned out a little different than what my maman had imagined. I guess that's what happens when you don't draw out some plans. We worked in the coop this past Saturday and hopefully it'll be done sometime next week.

The chicken hotel being built.

Way better than watching Bob the Builder.