Little City Farm

Eco B&B's

2012-01-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here at Little City Farm we do various things to make our living - urban homesteading projects galore (gardening, preserving, sewing, baking, sprouting, yogurt making); making, selling and teaching about natural soaps & herbals; wood-fired baking; natural building; re-skilling workshops for the community; and we also operate a small eco bed & breakfast using the top floor of our home. We like to see the B&B as a way of sharing our home and our way of life with the guests who choose to stay here, hoping to inspire and be inspired by others along the path toward sustainability and eco-conscious living.

By offering a unique B&B that is very openly about promoting sustainability, we have the great fortune of meeting many wonderful people. This past weekend we were honoured to host a couple, Chai & Andy, who also run their own eco-B&B here in Ontario. The Giving Tree B&B is located near Collingwood, actually situated right along an old railway line that is now a bike path that leads into town! They are on the Bruce Trail, near Georgian Bay, and have a wonderful rustic barn that has been converted into a yoga studio, guest space and sprouting operation. The couple is also involved with the local Transition Town movement, and promote many interesting re-skilling workshops in the community. We were inspired by their story and hope to have the chance to visit them soon.

Seed Starting Schedule for 2012

2012-01-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

It's time to plan out the seed starting schedule. On this past weekend we made our annual "pilgrimmage" to the Organic Conference in Guelph, where we saw many old friends, ate organic icecream from Mapletons (my favourites are chai, ginger and pumpkin), came back with a pile of exciting new seed packages from our favourite Ontario small seed companies Cottage Gardener, Greta's, and Urban Harvest, and were generally inspired by the crowd of farmers/gardeners and other folks who live, advocate for, and grow organically.

Each year we post our Seed Starting Schedule (for zone 5-6, where we need to start plenty of our seeds in advance, e.g. tomatoes, brassicas, hot peppers, herbs)...Here is the link to last year's post regarding our seed schedule, or if you don't want to read the entire post again I will include the summary of our Seed Starting Schedule below.

We also placed seed orders with West Coast Seeds, High Mowing, and Richters Herbs today - in particular, the photos and selection of High Mowing were astounding - we are especially anticipating their specialty greens, edamame, high-resin medicinal calendula, and wild greens (wild arugula, purslane, amaranth, purple mustards, etc). Maya is excited about what she chose for her garden: dragon beans, rainbow carrots, dinosaur kale...she wants to plant a rainbow selection of vegetables this year.

PLANTING GUIDE (based on frost-free date of May 24):
FEBRUARY (the greens listed here can continue to be planted throughout the growing season of course)

Start lettuce, chard, other greens in greenhouse or in flats indoors (to be planted out to greenhouse). Start selected medicinal and culinary herbs by middle of February. Some take 6-8 weeks to germinate!

10 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. March 15)
Start seeds of celery, eggplant, leeks, onion, pepper and flowers like impatiens, lobelia, verbena and perennials indoors.

8 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. March 29)
Start seeds of early head lettuce and flowers like begonia, coleus, nicotiana, petunia and salvia indoors.

7 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. April 5)
Start seeds of tomatoes, hot peppers, and early basil indoors.

6 WEEKS TO LAST FROST(aprox. April 12)
Start seeds of early left lettuce, early cabbages including cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and kale, and small seeded annuals indoors. DIRECT SEED broad beans, carrots, peas, spinach, leaf lettuce, turnips, dill, parsley, and hardy flowers such as alyssum, candytuft, pansies, poppies, snapdragons, stocks, sunflowers and sweet peas. Plant onion sets or transplant onion seedlings outdoors.

4 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. April 26)
Start melon seeds indoors. If desired, start seeds of late basil, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, large-seeded annuals, and flowering vines indoors in peat pots. DIRECT SEED radishes, beets, cabbages, chard, head lettuce, and flowers such as godetia, hollyhock, and mallow. Plant potato eyes and transplant seedlings of early cabbages, except cauliflower.

2 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. May 10)
DIRECT SEED corn, tender bulbs such as glads, and annual vines such as morning glory. Transplant early lettuce seedlings.

WEEK OF LAST FROST (aprox. May 17-24)
Around the last frost date you can finally direct seed beans, cauliflower, cucumber, squashes, heat-loving flowers such as zinnias, marigold, and lavatera. Transplant your tomaotes. If you've got them, transplant cauliflower, squash and cucumber seedlings.

1-2 WEEKS AFTER FROST (aprox. May 31-June 7)
Wait for a couple of weeks after the last frost before direct seedling lima benas, soybeans, melons and herbs such as basil, summer savory and sweet marjoram. Transplant celery, melon, peppers, eggplant seedlings when the night temperatures stay well above 10 degrees C. Plant sweet potato slips. Start second crop of kale seedlings, and reseed spinach and peas for second crop.

Soaps & Herbals!

2012-01-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Many new bars of soap are curing - I cure them in our strawbale addition to the house (also our living room/bedroom one-room-cabin space). The woodstove heat helps to slowly dry the soaps, and they sit lined up on top of a series of wooden shelves. The space smells wonderful - a mix of our favourites: pure calendula, peppermint poppyseed, patchouli cedar, lavender oatmeal goatmilk...We are also in the process of some new designing for our soap & herbal packaging and hope to have our etsy shop back up and running in the next little while...

Yesterday was also the first soap class for this season - I am now in the sixth year of teaching soap making classes here in the community, and continue to enjoy meeting all the lovely participants who take part in our sessions. By now there must be at least 100 people I have taught soap making to - hard to believe! I am excited to say that the new Practical Herbalist series for 2012 is also full. This is one herbal workshop series I have been planning for some time, and am looking forward to hosting here over the summer months.

This Moment

2012-01-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

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

Eco-crafting! A hot water bottle cozy for a cold winter day

2012-01-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

Cold days have come! Today the snow was blowing, we had a fire going in the woodstove all day, made a big pot of chili and got into some crafting....a new quilt is in progress, my friend Michelle's beautiful handspun hand-dyed wool is slowly turning into a knitted hat, I've been sewing play food for Maya's kitchen, and a stack of old woolen sweaters have been felted and are ready to sew into warm things - like this hot water bottle cozy. I sewed this cozy without a pattern because it really is so simple, but then came across a great blog called "Resweater" that is all about reusing wool sweaters and offers a great step-by-step tutorial on making a hot water bottle cozy. The projects on this blog remind me of our local friend over at Sew Oiseau, who is well-known around these parts for her creative use of old wool sweaters - reconstructed into gorgeous shawls, wraps, skirts, kids longies, wool diaper covers, dolls, rugs, baskets, hats, arm warmers, leg warmers - you get the idea - 100% wool sweaters are indispensable!

Herbal crafting with kids

2012-01-17T22:39:00.000-08:00

I have a budding herbalist in my household! Children thrive when given the opportunity for us to trust them with real, hands-on learning projects that they can do at their own speed and with their own style. On a recent evening my 3.5 year old and I made lipbalms together, upon her request (to my delight). She stirred and measured carefully, melted the ingredients on the stove (with supervision), tested the finished product for proper consistency, smelled numerous essential oils (settled on grapefruit), and designed her own custom labels. Then she promptly asked for some paper, and what letters were needed to make a sign for "her store". Follow our simple lipbalm recipe here.

Wintery walks

2012-01-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

We've been exploring the fields, woods and parks in our city, trying to be outdoors a few hours each day to enjoy what comes our way with this unpredictable January weather. I am fascinated by discovering all that is still growing and alive during these winter months...gorgeous golden lichen on tree bark, beautiful red sumac...

January gardening

2012-01-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

It hardly feels like January with the mild temperatures and melting snow...but we know there are still plenty of cold days and nights ahead. The start of the new year, and the slower pace around here, always gets us thinking about our garden. What will it hold this year - which new design ideas can we include, what new (and old favourite) varities will be grown, how can we better reorganize the herb gardens, and most importantly what seeds do we need to order? January is the time for browsing through seed catalogues and getting new ones in the mail (we are anticipating catalogues from Hope Seeds, West Coast Seeds, and High Mowing Seeds as recommended by our organic farming friend Angie from local CSA Fertile Ground) - as well as attending the annual Guelph Organic Conference at the end of this month. As this is the "international year of co-operatives" the conference theme is "seeds of co-operation". We would like to keep this theme in mind for our year as well, as we plan our community involvement and projects here at the homestead.

While we are talking about co-operation, I have plenty of it from my 3 year old helper who was eager to start our winter garden. She mapped out what she wants to grow in her own garden on a large sheet of paper by cutting out photos from an old seed catalogue and pasting them on the garden sketch. It includes vegetables like rainbow carrots, ruby red swiss chard, several kinds of peas and beans, baby watermelon, and corn grown for popcorn! She even drew a stone walkway leading upto a little stump for sitting on, and (to my delight) a herb section with echinacea, basil, calendula and sunflowers in one corner of her little garden outline. This week we did in fact start some herb seeds - the tiny slow germinating ones like rosemary, echinacea and lavender seeds (saved from our own plants!) that grow so slowly. We also have a nice edible "sprout garden" going, with pea shoots and sunflower greens in soil trays, plus micro greens in jars, just to give us that boost of fresh homegrown greens during these sparse months.

Practical Herbalist Series - 4 sessions at Little City Farm this summer

2012-01-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

An exciting unique 4-part series held at Little City Farm this summer, that includes 12 hours of instruction and hands-on learning, plus some "home" assignments between sessions. Workshops will be held on 4 Saturday mornings, from June to September. This series is led by Karin Kliewer, Master Herbalist.

AT THE END OF THIS SERIES YOU WILL HAVE GAINED:
~ confidence and knowledge of growing and using basic medicinal herbs
~ a well-stocked pantry of simple effective herbal home remedies you have made
~ knowledge on where to source quality herbal product-making supplies
~ a collection of herbal recipes, lesson notes, hand-outs and other useful resources
~ a network of other community members interested in natural herbal healing
~ please see below for more details on specific topics we will cover in each session

Limited space to 10 participants. As one goal of this series is to create a continuous small-group shared learning environment, priority will be given to participants who can commit to taking all 4 sessions.

HERBALIST SESSION DATES & DETAILS:

Session 1: Spring Edibles - Sat, June 9 from 9-12 noon
In this session you will learn: herbs for digestive system; wild crafting; basic herb gardening; medicinal herb teas to grow at home; and making herbal infusions.

Session 2: Summer Flowers - Sat, July 14 from 9-12 noon
In this session you will learn: herbs for stress and women's health; drying and storing herbs; making herbal medicinal oils, salves and liniments.

Session 3: Fall Bounty - Sat, Aug 11 from 9-12 noon
In this session you will learn: herbs for respiratory system; seed saving; harvesting and drying medicinal roots; making herbal decoctions; making herbal tinctures; basic herbal first aid.

Session 4: Winter Roots - Sat, Sept 8 from 9-12 noon
In this session you will learn: herbs for the immune system; herbal remedies for children’s health; making herbal medicinal syrups and winter tonics.

Details for registration are posted on our website here.

Sustainability Workshops for 2012 - Now Posted

2012-01-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! We like to start the new year off by finalizing our list of Sustainability Workshops that will be held here at Little City Farm. This year we have topics like permaculture, organic gardening, seed starting, beekeeping, preserving, lacto-fermention, cheesemaking, soap making, as well as a very special "practical herbalism 4 part series". This list has just been posted on the website here, so please check in there for full list of topics and registration details. It's our 6th year of leading workshops, and we've hosted more than 75 workshops and hundreds of participants, and this is continuously both astounding to us and encouraging to see such interest from our local community members in sharing and learning skills, and creating resiliant, vibrant, sustainable neighbourhoods.

This Moment

2011-12-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

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

Holiday preparations

2011-12-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready to celebrate the longest night of the year - solstice. We've made some favourite foods (cookies of course, but also these hearty wintery crackers cut into stars, acorns and hearts), dipped lots of candles to light up the house, and in time for Dec 22 are attempting to create our first ever chocolate yule log (Buche de Noel) with this delicious flourless recipe!

Instead of a tree we've brought in pine and cedar branches, rosehip branches, yellow and red osier dogwood branches, and pinecones - all from the yard - to decorate the doors and tables. The wild rosehips have started to sprout leaves after about a week in a jar of water, which is a lovely reminder of the spring to come. We also have our gratitude tree, a large collection of yellow dogwood branches in a vase where we've hung felted acorns and bird oranments. We added our thoughts of gratitude written on slips of leaf-shaped paper, remembering all we are thankful for at this time of year and hopes we have for the new year ahead. Wishing you all well for the holidays and new year!

Hearty Wintery Crackers
2 cups flour (organic whole spelt)
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, ground finely
1/4 cup each hemp seeds, sesame seeds
1-2 Tbsp millet
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water

Mix ingredients well, and form into a ball. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes on ungreased baking sheets, in 350 F oven. Serve with cheese, apple butter, jams, or soups! Or package into containers to give as holiday gifts.

Pinecone projects

2011-12-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

On our walks we invariably will collect all manner of objects - dried leaves, special sticks, rocks, acorns, and pinecones. We have baskets full of pinecones - so we've been crafting with them. We made a good selection of pinecone firestarters as holiday gifts by dipping the pinecones into melted beeswax. They can be used to help get a fire started in a woodstove or fireplace and work extremely well. Simple, yet effective! Then there are the pinecone bird feeders.

How to make Pinecone Bird Feeders
Gather half a dozen or more full size pinecones. Fill the crevices of pinecones with peanut butter (use a butter knife or chopsticks), then roll them in millet (or other bird friendly seeds). Let dry on waxed paper, and then hang outdoors on a long string in a place where birds can access them, but out of reach of squirrels! We first tied them to our pea trellis, but this was a bad idea! Hung from the branches of a young pear tree the squirrels could also reach. So, finally we hung them off our long clothes line where there are no overhanging tree branches. Success!

Both these pinecone projects were fun and easy for young kids to accomplish with only a little help from an adult.

Animal tracking with kids

2011-12-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

We've recently been told that a fox has been seen in a nearby wooded area - and so we have been going on regular adventures to see if we can spot it's home. With new snow on the ground it's much easier to track animals here in the city, and when we look closely we can find a surprising amound of tracks (the usual birds, rabbits, mice). It's a good exercise in slowing down and honing skills of observation, even better when done with kids who get excited about discovering the smallest details. We did find several nice hollows, logs and burrows, and at each place Maya left a small handful of dried blueberries as a gift (because you never know if the fox might be hungry).

These fox searching walks led to us doing more research at the local library, and delving into other interesting links like this one for making your own fieldguide of your own backyard with kids or this one eco field guide for younger kids and then reading more about the very inspiring Forest Schools that are evolving all around the world, including this one that is organized by people we know who live near Thunder Bay.

Even though we are an unschooling family that lives in the city (on a tiny farm, but still yes, it's in the city) we have a strong leaning toward outdoor nature-based education and hope to be able to tap into something like this with a group of other families locally in the future.

December garden

2011-12-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

December has been a busy month. We've had our craft sale, been preparing for the holidays, watching the days grow shorter (and nights longer), and just winding down. We've taken many wintery walks, and I took a few photos the other day when we were out enjoying the snow in our garden (which has all melted again by today - funny southern Ontario weather!) I think the seeds heads are so beautiful when they are covered by a thin layer of fresh snow. We leave most of our dried plants standing in the garden as birds enjoy these seeds over the winter months. In our cold frame we still have kale, arugula, dandelion, tatsoi, and parsley going strong!

This weekend's craft sale!

2011-12-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

We had our annual "A Little Bird Told Me" craft sale yesterday - it was a great day, with lots of catching up with friends and neighbours who dropped by, and so many beautiful handmade items on display. Unfortunately the photos below don't do justice to how nice everything looked, and once the crowds showed up I didn't have the time to keep taking photos. We had turned out dining room into a small cafe area, with a few tables and chairs where people could nibble baked treats or have a chance to take a break, and it was nice to have this social hub in the centre of the house. Thanks to everyone who came out to support our local vendors! And a huge thank you to all our talented vendors for participating in this year's event.

For the rest of the month we will take a little break from being busy, and wish you all well for the holidays. In the next few weeks we will be posting new workshops and events for 2012 on our website and here on this blog - stay tuned!

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Little City Farm

2011-11-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here are a few comments from us (Greg and Karin) at Little City Farm.

Why we hold the A Little Bird Told Me handmade craft sale:

Little City Farm aims to promote sustainable city living through our workshops, events, and our "living example" of an urban homestead. We also try to create unique opportunities for people in the community to meet, share their skills, and support each other's ventures. Two examples of this are our annual Organic Seedling Sale (the Saturday of the May long weekend), and the "A Little Bird Told Me" handmade holiday sale (the second Saturday in December).

We have been holding the "A Little Bird Told Me" handmade holiday sale since 2007 in order to showcase unique eco-friendly well-crafted goods created by local artisans and crafters. Each year the event grows, and we anticipate it with great enthusiasm. We enjoy the way our little house is transformed, bursting at the seams with the crowd of folks who pass through the sale, and the busy bustle of the festive mood. We love having many of our vendors return and welcome some new ones as well each year. Yes, the sale is open to the general public (so please help spread the word!)

What will Little City Farm be offering at the sale:

Herbals & Baking!

Herbals - We will be offering our usual selection of handmade natural soaps and herbal products (teas, salves, mama & baby items) all made in small batches using pure ingredients and herbs sustainably grown in our garden.

Baking - One of Karin's dreams is to run a small eco-conscious bakery some day -- but for now she is satisfying this desire by providing artisan breads and wholesome baked treats on a small scale for the neighbourhood. At the holiday sale we will have a good selection of these organic baked goods and will be offering them in a tiny cafe-like setting set up just for the day. We use organic locally milled flour from Oak Manor, as well as organic local eggs, dairy, (or vegan alternatives) in our baked goods. We will have fresh wholegrain breads, vegan shortbread, organic fair trade brownies, raw nanaimo bars, organic holiday cookies...also jams and jellies made with local organic berries...to name a few...

Make sure you stop by our cafe room to enjoy a baked treat while you are at our sale!

Read more about Little City Farm at:
www.littlecityfarm.ca
www.homesteadherbal.etsy.com

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Your Time Candles

2011-11-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Carol Kubassek from Your Time Candles:

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale?

Your Time Candles: Artisan Beeswax Candles in a variety of styles and sizes, and natural stone candle holders.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft?

Your Time Candles: I had the fortunate opportunity to learn from a master chandler who, for 15 years, made it his mission to develop new beeswax candle making techniques and put to rest old myths of beeswax chandlery - gone were the days of half burned, inferior quality beeswax candles made with coarse natural fibre wicking that gave off a putrid scent. As a former chef I’ve always been passionate about what I put on your plate - I want your approval so this demands my best offering.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft?

Your Time Candles: I am inspired by quality - I wanted to offer beeswax candles that would burn properly.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft is eco-friendly?

Your Time Candles: Pure beeswax is nature's renewable wax - no chemicals are used in the process. It all begins at the hive. I procure Canadian cappings wax from beekeepers who haven’t scorched or overheated the wax when separating out the honey. Then, in order to maintain the integrity of the wax, with patience, and through a gentle cleaning process, I purify the wax by filtering it down to one micron. When making the candles, in order to keep alive the full bodied aroma, rich yellow colour and texture, the beeswax is heated carefully in small batches until melted then poured into the candle moulds. Next, each candle is fitted with the perfect sized 100% cotton wicking. I'm also very passionate about recycling and all our packaging is very biodegradable made from recycled paper and hemp twine.

Little City Farm: Do you have favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Your Time Candles: Bradfield and Anael.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online store?

www.yourtimeboutique.ca
www.yourtimecandles.ca

Find Carol and her pure beeswax candles at the A Little Bird Told Me Handmade Craft Sale, Sat December 10th at Little City Farm (508 Duke St W, Kitchener).

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Once Upon A Tree

2011-11-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale?

Once Upon A Tree: Food grade salad and fruit bowls and cutting/serving boards in various sizes.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft?

Once Upon A Tree: I've been involved in woodworking for over 15 years as a violin bowmaker and am now making wooden objects for a wider audience.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft?

Once Upon A Tree: The materials I use are really the inspiration for the craft. Domestic local hardwoods and burls present some of the most highly figured and beautiful wood that can be obtained anywhere.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft is eco-friendly?

Once Upon A Tree: All of my bowls and boards are made from domestic species that have grown no further than 50 miles from here. Much of the wood is salvaged from roadside work done by hydro or roads crews, and the rest is purchased from firewood/pallet operations.

Little City Farm: Do you have favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Once Upon A Tree: Too noisy to listen to music with the machine tools running.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online store?

www.onceuponatree.ca

Find Trevor from Once Upon A Tree selling his gorgeous one-of-a-kind wooden bowls and cutting boards at the A Little Bird Told Me Sale!

Winter Tonics : Elderberry Syrup

2011-11-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

We like to prepare our herbal medicine cupboard with teas (e.g. a Winter Flu tea blend, and lots of peppermint), tinctures (e.g. astragalus, rosehip, elderberry, echinacea), and cough syrups (e.g. sage-horehound) before winter. Recently a friend mentioned making elderberry syrup for her kids. They loved it and it was a nice way to administer the healthful benefits of elderberries, without needing to use an alcohol base like a tincture would. Syrups are preserved by honey or sugarand have a long shelf life. So, we made a batch and yes, it is absolutely delicious. It tastes sweet and rich like dense bursts of berries, and is thickened with local honey (we used buckwheat honey which made the syrup even darker). Elderberries are one of the oldest remedies for colds, flu, respiratory infections, and many other conditions. Elderberries are rich in antioxidants, contain 3 different flavonoids and boost the immune system. The syrup can be taken by the teaspoonful (2-3 tsp/day as needed) or added to tea, juice, water, etc. I like to spread it on toast or pancakes. Isn't the best way to create vibrant health simply by "letting food be your medicine"? Where to get elderberries? I would highly advise planting at least one elderberry bush in your garden/yard, as this is such a valuable plant. However, if you don't have a good local source, excellent quality organic dried elderberries can be purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Elderberry Syrup
1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries
3 cups water
1 cup honey (or sugar) for every 1/2 cup elderberry tea

1. Place elderberries and water into saucepan and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Close lid and let steep for another 30 minutes after this. You are making a very strong tea (infusion).

2. Crush berries, then strain the liquid through a fine-meshed cheesecloth.

3. Measure your liquid, and return it to the saucepan. Add 1 cup honey per 1/2 cup elderberry tea. Return to heat on low, stirring occasionally, and let the liquid boil down until you have the desired consistency you want for your syrup.

4. This is a very sweet syrup and can be preserved unrefrigerated. Use 1-3 tsp per day, as needed. Not for children under 2 years old. If you wish to reduce the sweetness you can store your syrup in the fridge.

Make your own lipbalm

2011-11-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

We've been busy stocking up our soaps and herbal products for the upcoming month of holiday craft sales and gifting. A very simple project you can make at home is lipbalm, made with pure essential oils and healthful oils. Lipbalm is a useful gift to give almost anyone, and practical for the upcoming cold dry winter months. I make lipbalm in large batches with my 3 year old, who helps line up the tubes, stir the oils, and cap the lids on tight. Here's our basic recipe (adaptable to the ingredients you wish to use):

Natural Lipbalm
20% local beeswax
25% coconut oil (or other cosmetic grade oil that is solid at room temp)
15% cocoa butter
40% sweet almond oil (or other liquid oil such as olive oil, sunflower oil, hemp oil)
1-5% vitamin E oil (adjust beeswax to get firm consistency of finished lipbalm)
a drop of pure essential oil per tube (e.g. lavender, sweet orange, peppermint)

Melt all ingredients (other than essential oils) in double boiler over low heat. When completely liquified, do a consistency test by placing a few drops on a metal spoon and letting this cool (I put it into the freezer for a few minutes to harden). If you like the hardened consistency then you are ready to pour the liquid lipbalm into your tubes. If it's too hard add more oil; if too soft add more beeswax accordingly. Add essential oils at the very end when your saucepan has been taken off the stove (do not heat your essential oils as this will degrade them).

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Sustainable Cycles

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Lauren and Jenn from Sustainable Cycles:

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale?

Sustainable Cycles: Sustainable Cycles offers soft, absorbant and thin reusable menstrual pads made from organic cotton and bamboo viscose. Jenn and Lauren also make one of a kind clothing, bags and accessories using reclaimed and earth-friendly materials like hemp and organic cotton.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft?

Sustainable Cycles: Lauren's mom did a lot of sewing when she was growing up. She taught Lauren how to sew and when she was 18 Lauren decided to start he own earth-friendly clothing company (then called Down 2 Earth Designs). Jenn had some sewing skills when she met Lauren, but the more they crafted together, the more techniques Jenn picked up as she refined her craft.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft?

Sustainable Cycles: We are inspired by the desire to create empowering, awesome wares, full of love and made with respect for the Earth and all it's creatures. We hope that our art inspires others.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft is eco-friendly?

Sustainable Cycles: We do our best to source the most sustainable materials we can find. We use Canadian companies that carry oeko-tex and organic certifications. We also use reclaimed materials from thrift stores and swaps.

Little City Farm: Do you have favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Sustainable Cycles: Joanna Newsome.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online store?

Sustainable Cycles:
www.sustainablecycles.ca
www.sustainablecycles.etsy.com

Find Lauren and Jenn, and their beautiful wares (or should we say "wears"!) at the Little Bird Told Me sale, Sat Dec 10th at Little City Farm!

This Moment

2011-11-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

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

Roasting coffee - a do-it-yourself method

2011-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

We try to grow as much as we can of what we eat; if now grow then buy locally; if not locally available then buy fair trade and organic. Coffee falls into this latter category. Some would not consider roasting coffee to be a vital homesteading skill, but we have found it to be quite useful (operating a bed and breakfast and having at least one person in the household who enjoys coffee every day). There are loads of fair trade, organic and shade-grown coffee brands available at health food stores, Ten Thousand Villages, most cafes, and even some grocery chains by now, and here in town we also have a few local roasteries that provide freshly roasted coffee beans.

However, we have the do-it-yourself mentality and are always eager to learn new skills, so we set about learning how to roast good coffee (on a shoe-string budget, i.e. without buying an expensive home roaster). Friends who have lived in various parts of Africa showed us the best way to roast coffee in a cast iron pan over the fire, but about two years ago we came across another interesting way to roast coffee - in the hopper of an electric popcorn maker. We promptly found a used popcorn maker at the local thrift sore, and tried it out. So simple, with great results! Roasting coffee sends chaff flying everywere so it's wise to do it outdoors. Depending on the roast you want, it can take from about 5-20 minutes, until the beans are crackling, dark and oily. The smell is delicious! Our popcorn maker takes a maximum of 110 grams of beans, and you need to stir occasionally to even out the roast. Then let the beans cool in a collander, and voila, incredible home-roasted coffee. We buy our beans green through a local friend who is directly involved with farmers in Guatemala through a project called Cafe Justicia. They also sell their coffee roasted and ground, in various places here in town.

First snowfall (a hint of it)

2011-11-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

First snow...didn't last more than a few minutes as it fell to the ground, but the weather has officially taken a shift toward winter now. The garden is now mulched with straw and leaves, only kale and carrots still making a cheerful appearance; our clothing has begun to layer, our hat and mitten basket is full again, woolen scarves hang on the coat rack, and our insulated muck boots as well as winter footwear have been brought out from storage; our bicycle shed is nearly finished, but we'll continue to cycle to our errands around town (we love our children's bike trailer from Wike in Guelph) until the deep of winter is here; winter tonics, teas and syrups have been prepared and our herbal remedies shelf is well stocked up (read more on our favourite winter health tonics from last year's post here); the sky is more often grey than blue, the grass is brown and crackling, the air is chilly with occasional warm spells that surprise us..these are the slow rumblings of winter beginning in southern Ontario. Very different from the brilliantly sunny, heavily snowy, unpredictably stormy Manitoba prairie I grew up in.

Back to soap making

2011-11-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time for soapmaking the past few months - garden and house projects have taken priority, and then I've also been busy teaching soapmaking classes this month (with more new classes coming in January), so it is exciting to get back into making new batches myself in time for the holidays. My eager 3 year old helper was by my side for each of these four batches yesterday, wearing her long rubber gloves, doing a little stirring, sifting herbs, measuring the essential oils for me, and choosing the nicest lavender sprigs to lay on top of the goatmilk bars. The bars featured below: lavender-oatmeal goatmilk; peppermint poppyseed; patchouli cedar and sage; rosemary lemongrass (it's light green from the french green clay, and strong infusion of rosemary tea). Each batch we make uses as least one herb grown in our garden.

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Elena Christy

2011-11-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale.

Elena: Handmade accessories with a focus on using re-worked, second hand and eco-friendly fabrics and materials. Products include:

~ Chunky wool scarves and cowls

~ Jersey knit cowls

~ Laptop sleeves (ready made for mac laptops, pc laptop cases can be made to order as they all come in varying sizes)

~ Cloth napkins

~ Yoga bolsters made with green cotton (cotton that is not certified organic but has not been sprayed)

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Elena: I am mainly self-taught with a few one-day workshops here and there.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Elena: I get great satisfaction out of making something for someone that they will love for a long time. I also really enjoy the process of thinking through how to execute a project. I make all my own patterns and love the creative challenge it offers. I love turning an idea into reality and have a strong interest in aesthetically beautiful yet practically functional things.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Elena: I try to re-work old clothes or use second hand fabric from thrift shops, or fabric people are trying to get rid of rather than buying new. When I do buy new fabric and materials I try to purchase eco-friendly fabrics and materials to make my items such as green cotton or eco-wool.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Elena: Right now I have been listening a lot of Mumford and Sons, Foster the People, Morning Benders, Bon Iver, Wintersleep and a little Broken Bells.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online shop?

Elena: echristy.ca is coming soon…hopefully :)

In celebration of neighbourhood potlucks

2011-11-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

There are so many disheartening stories that make it into the daily news, that is is especially encouraging when you read such a positive one as this - the celebration of community through the simple act of hosting weekly neighbourhood potlucks - read more about the Wednesday night potlucks hosted by Al and Wendy here.

Heirloom garlic project

2011-11-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

We are taking part in an heirloom garlic project with Seeds of Diversity, Canada's non-profit seed saving organization. There are over 200 varieties of heirloom garlic being grown and saved across Canada as part of this project, many on small urban farms or gardens such as ours, as well as many larger farms across the country. The idea is to grow the garlic for two years, reporting on growing conditions each year, as well as saving the garlic to send back to the Seeds of Diversity seed bank. We chose to grow 3 soft necked varieties, as the other garlic we usually grow in our garden is hard necked Rocambole variety that has scapes we also harvest and use. The soft necked varieties don't form scapes, but tend to be longer keepers. We were given varieties called Applegate (a superb mild Artichoke variety of garlic), Early Silverskin (white-pink skin, great for braiding), and Red Toch (another Artichoke variety with a little more heat than the Applegate). We had fun planting about 100 cloves were today, labelling the plots well so they don't get mixed up, and we are crossing our fingers for a good crop next summer. Seeds of Diversity is always looking for more participating in growing their vast selection heirloom varieties of vegetables, so if you are at all eager to learn more or get involved do check out their website.

In our November greenhouse

2011-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

We are still harvesting greens (kale, chard, tatsoi, parsley, bunching onions) from the cold outdoor garden, but in our mini garden inside the greenhouse new young exciting shoots and sprouts are starting to come up. We'll be eating from these over the winter months (some as sprouts, some as full leafy greens) -- kale, chard, mizuna, lettuces, green onions, radish, cilantro, beet greens, spinach -- and we also have pots of herbs, kale, marigolds and calendula, and a few delicious sweet and precious strawberries that are still flowering. Outside we'll put in our grow tunnels (greenhouse grade plastic pulled over a frame that sits on the raised beds), and I have filled a raised box with soil to use as a cold frame under old winter glass. A good standby for winter or cold hardy gardening techniques is Eliot Coleman's Winter Harvest Handbook, or the Four Season Garden.

Herbal order for local midwives

2011-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

We were very pleased to be asked to prepare a batch of herbal post-partum packages for a new local midwifery office - the Blue Heron Midwives located in uptown Waterloo. This beautiful new clinic has just opened and is having their grand opening event in a few weeks: Nov 25 at 2 pm. The midwives that gave me the tour when I dropped off the herbs (i.e. post-partum bath teas and calendula healing salves) mentioned that they are very interested in taking new clients, so this is worth noting for our local readers who may be looking for a midwife. It's often difficult to get a midwife here in town if you don't call right away, so it's wonderful to have another office open up to provide what is obviously a much needed service.

This Moment

2011-11-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

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

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Jesse Robertson Re-Cycled Crafts

2011-11-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale (e.g. materials you use, who your products are geared toward, your process, etc).

Jesse: I collect and recycle used bicycle components to make unique crafts. The pieces are professionally brazed, so are very sturdy. Things I’ll be displaying will include candle stands, candelabras, bottle openers, and more. The candle stands hold tea lights or tapers, and the candelabras hold three of either. Some of the bottle openers include an integrated 15mm wrench, and all have been rigorously tested on a standard ¾ inch beer bottle cap. These re-cycled crafts are great for anyone who enjoys cycling, candle-lit dinners, one-of-a-kind conversation pieces or… well, opening bottles.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Jesse: I’ve been working as a bicycle mechanic for over 5 years, and I’ve always been interested in finding potential new uses for the interesting looking bits of worn out components. The pieces are primarily brazed by a friend, and the rest has been trial and error!

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Jesse: A love of bicycles and their parts, and re-imagining uses for things that would otherwise be thrown away.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Jesse: The components I work with have all lived out their useful lives on bicycles, and would otherwise have been thrown away. No new components are used in the process.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Jesse: Usually something by Tom Waits, but I’ve also been on a pretty serious Leatherface kick lately… or any good anarcho-punk.

Come find Jesse and his recycled bicycle artworks at A Little Bird Told Me Sale on Sat, December 10th at 508 Duke St W!

The great neighbourhood pumpkin patch

2011-11-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

The first ever "great neighbourhood pumpkin patch" was held on our street tonight. Inspired by the great "pumpkin patches" that spring up in neighbourhoods in Toronto and Montreal (and last year uptown Waterloo), we spent a little time organizing for this same kind of event to take place in a nearby park. The idea is simple: people bring their carved pumpkins to display in one large communal patch on the evening after Halloween, offering an opportunity to share creativity and simply give neighbours a chance to meet each other in an informal setting. In Toronto many of the pumpkins on display have been grown in a community garden within the neighbourhood, which adds another layer of community involvement that we love. On fairly short notice, and as a first time event, we think it was a grand success - there were nearly 50 pumpkins gathered and an estimated 75-80 adults and children mingling in the park. We plan to do this again next year, and hope it can become an annual event that brings people from this neighbourhood together.

This Moment

2011-11-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

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

A Little Bird Told Me Official Invitation! Don't miss this handmade holiday craft/art sale, Saturday Dec 10th

2011-10-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Laura's Honey

2011-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Laura Stirling, 4th generation beekeeper, of Laura's Honey.

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale:

Laura: I will offer gift sized jars of pure raw honey as well as beautiful sections of natural comb, presented in a small decorative container. There will also be rolled, tapered beeswax candles as well as the "pillar" variety.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this art/craft?

Laura: I am blessed to be the fourth generation of a family of beekeepers. My great grandfather, Hubert Burke began keeping bees as a profession in the early 1900s. His son, Douglas Burke continued the tradition, expanding the buisness and managing a large apiary. My father Randy Burke, began his own apiary in Manitoba and as a little girl I helped my father in his many bee yards. It was there I learned that bees are a facinating insect, readily approachable and certianly nothing to be afraid of. I enjoyed watching my father work, helping by smoking the bees, as well as stealing pollen from easily accessable pollen traps! I recently decided to invest in my own hive and had a profitable first year. Next year I hope to expand by purchasing additional hives for my bee yard.

Little City Farm: What inspires your art/craft?

Laura: My deep love of the natural world continually inspires my desire to keep bees. It is very satisfying to open a hive and see freshly drawn out comb, filled with honey produced by the bee who harvests nectar from nearby flowers. Not to mention pollination, which allows each of us the priviledge of enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables every year. I love being a part of this natural process.

Little City Farm: Describe how your art/craft is eco-friendly.

Laura: The beekeeper not only harvests the honey, but also concerns themselves with the honey bee's health and well being. I monitor the health of the brood (young) and regularly check for and if need be, treat for disease. This promotes the continued health of the honey bee, which as I am sure some of you know, is under some strain right now due to climate change. Beekeepers are also actively concerned about the use of new genetically modified seed, as some of these seeds are engineered to destroy insects when the fruit is ingested. Bees consume the pollen of these plants and it is unknown whether they are able to tolerate it. In addition to this, over the years beekeepers have been an active voice against the use of pesticides, as any pesticide will kill the honey bee.

Little City Farm: Do you have favorite music to listen to while you work?

Laura: The sounds of the world around me while I work - wind, bees humming and birds!

Find Laura and her beautiful honey and beeswax products at the A Little Bird Told Me Sale, Saturday December 10 at Little City Farm (508 Duke St W, Kitchener).

Enjoying the frost

2011-10-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

We spent the early waking moments of this morning enjoying the frost. It's nearly November and it felt good to see the frost come - it's time for a change of season. We've done our canning and preserving; had our last CSA vegetable pick-up day; we have pulled our zucchini, beans and tomatoes, planted garlic, put in flower bulbs for the spring; we have green tomatoes ripening on our window ledge and new fresh green shoots coming up in the greenhouse (including a few rows of french beans, which our 3 year old absolutely wanted to plant but that will likely not make it in a winter garden!); we've stacked our wood on the porch (even though a new woodshed is still in progress) and are feeling ready to enjoy the coming winter. "What does frost taste like?" our 3 year old wanted to know, so she painstakingly picked frozen water droplets off the kale leaves and tasted them (frost tastes delicious by the way) - and this offered a great chance for a conversation about the water cycle!

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Two Cent Sparrow

2011-10-25T04:59:00.000-07:00

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale.

Two Cent Sparrow: I make stoneware jewellery, mainly pendants and earrings. If I could sum up my designs in two words, they would be earthy and simple. My making process is done in intervals. First I cut and shape clay by hand or throw on the wheel. Pieces are then dried, glazed, and fired to cone 6 (roughly 2300 degrees). Afterwards, the pieces are finished by attaching chord, chain, or earring backs. Last, I pair finished pieces with inspiring words and phrases. I want my work to not only be wearable, but also a source of inspiration and contemplation.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Two Cent Sparrow: I took classes from a few local potters about seven years ago, saved up for my own wheel and kiln, began teaching myself, set up a studio in my basement (which has recently moved to Globe Studios), and the rest is history.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Two Cent Sparrow: I love being able to make something out of nothing. Clay is so malleable and anything you dream up you can do, really. As for inspiration, it might sound cliché, but I’ve always been drawn to natural spaces (the woods, bodies of water, fields) and because clay/glaze is such an earthy medium, it just kind of fits.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Two Cent Sparrow: Making pottery is not as eco-friendly as it might seem. Firing a kiln uses a lot of energy. Ingredients in glazes and clay are mined, and some are toxic in their raw form. However, I have a very low production studio. Most of my pieces are hand built instead of thrown on an electric wheel. I have a tiny kiln (4x4x8 inches) and only fire it about half a dozen times a year. I rarely do a bisque firing, which cuts down on the total amount of firings. Because of this, I don’t use that much energy or go through materials very quickly, and there’s very little waste. Moreover, I work at home or at my studio – which is a walk-able distance from my house. My products don’t get thrown away, and if broken and disposed of, they don’t have a negative environmental impact. The fact that I’m just a little business helps me to be more eco-friendly.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Two Cent Sparrow: It changes over time, but right now it’s Ludovico Einauldi and Zoe Keating.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online shop?

Two Cent Sparrow:
Yes I do! My etsy shop is here:
www.etsy.com/shop/kristenciccarelli

and my blog is here: http://twocentsparrow.blogspot.com

Successful Kombucha!

2011-10-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

We just bottled and consumed our first successful batch of kombucha - it was our second attempt to make this delicious fermented live culture tea elixir that has a long list of reputed health benefits. This time we got a large starter "mother" culture (i.e. a gelatinous mass of bacteria and yeast) from a helpful neighbour (thanks Mike!). It seems that finding this "mother" is the hardest part of making kombucha. After a week of steeping our tea with the starter culture and mother floating on top, it had turned into what we think to be just as tasty a kombucha as any we've been purchasing from the health food store. I think we might be hooked.

Once we have the starter we can keep brewing, sort of the way you keep a small portion of live culture yogurt or sourdough from each batch to start the following batch. We used a wonderful favourite wild blueberry rooibos (called the "Manitoba Blend", a gift from this tea shop in Winnipeg) blended with black tea - here is our method:

Making Kombucha
1 litre water
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp loose black tea
other herbal blend to flavour (if desired - e.g. blueberry, lemon, ginger, etc)
1/2 cup mature acidic kombucha from last batch

Make tea, steep with sugar for 15 minutes. Strain, let cool, the pour into large wide-mouth clean glass jar. Add mature kombucha (save a portion of each batch for the next starter). Place mother in the liquid with firm side up. Cover with fine meshed cheese cloth or cotton muslin cloth, let sit in warm room for 7-10 days. Taste to see when your preferred acidic flavour is ready. Then store in refrigerator.

This Moment

2011-10-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

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

Autumn at our urban farm

2011-10-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

Each change of season has such a charm. We are enjoying these chilly, sunny days as we prepare for the much colder months ahead. These are perfect days for eating warm kale and potato soups, sitting by cozy bonfires, taking up forgotten knitting, air drying laundry outside, clearing the garden, tending compost...and starting to wind down for the start of an annual semi-hibernation time where we incubate new ideas, read, research, play, and rest over the winter.

Garlic planting

2011-10-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

We spent a chilly (but sunny) morning recently planting garlic in preparation for next year - about 150 cloves (about 10 lbs), in hopes of finally growing enough garlic to last our family for a whole year. This work took some time, but was a great job for an eager 3-year old helper - digging holes with a stick, peeling garlic, and dropping the garlic cloves one by one into each hole, then covering the entire bed with a mesh screen (to prevent our pesky squirrels from digging up all our hard work!) Of course, it was nothing compared to the 70 lbs planted by our local Fertile Ground CSA, where they offer their 100 members a small share of garlic during the season. At last week's CSA pick up we all took turns sitting around dividing up garlic bulbs into cloves, in preparation for the planting. I also came across a really interesting idea from the Planet Repair Institute in Portland: creating a community garlic planting co-op using a neighbourhood lot as the large communal garlic garden. Something to try in this neighbourhood next year!

Food Swap!

2011-10-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we held our first Food Swap here at Little City Farm! I had been reading about food swaps taking place in cities all across North America, bringing people together to share their harvests, preserves, and love of local food. Food swaps are opportunities for local food entrepreneurs to showcase their new food products; for local homesteaders and urban gardeners to meet others; for food lovers to share extra preserves in exchange for new varieties; and communities to gather in a unique setting to practice the ancient art of bartering. Food swaps are part marketplace, part food festival, part community potluck, part gathering. Very fun indeed! For our first swap we had 11 participants (plus a gaggle of kids), sharing 32 varieties of food items: everything from kimchi to wood-fired bread; zucchini muffins to strawberry jam; plum wine to freshly harvested honeycomb; herbs to handmade curry paste; granola to freshly squeezed juice; rendered duck fat to pickled diakon radish; yam cranberry loaves to jarred peaches; gorgeous bunches of kale, chard, beets, herbs and lavender bundles to dandelion jelly, etc.

We estimate that aproximately 150 items were bartered in the span of about 2 hours (no money changes hands at a food swap), everyone going home with boxes and baskets of newly aquired items, fully bellies, and happy smiles on their faces. Thanks to everyone who came and made this event the success it was! We'll definitely host this event again - look for it in the spring.

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Taarini Chopra

2011-10-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Taarini Chopra (functional pottery dishes):

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale:

Taarini: My pottery is handcrafted and wheel-thrown. I make functional stoneware and porcelain pieces, glazed in earthy greens, temnokus (browns) and deep blues, and fired in oxidation to cone 10. My Christmas collection will include mugs, tumblers, small and large bowls, pasta dishes, pitchers, and vases.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Taarini: I am inspired by the incredible pottery of Waterloo potter and my teacher Jason L’Abbe. I began learning how to throw several years ago, on a traditional a kick wheel in India, sitting under a corrugated metal roof with the monsoon rains beating overhead. Jason has helped mould the fascination that began there into the pots I am now creating.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Taarini: I love the concentration and focus that throwing demands, and the feeling of the clay being shaped under the pressure of my fingers. I also love the precision and experimentation that goes into creating exciting glaze recipes, in much the same way that I enjoy cooking and baking. Every pot that comes out of the kiln is just a little bit different and I am fuelled by the unpredictability of the process, as well as by the individuality of each of the final pieces.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Taarini: Hand-thrown pottery is perfect for those who choose hand crafted over factory-produced, natural materials over plastics, and who enjoy serving and eating out of pretty and personalized tableware. All dishes are food safe, and can be put in the dishwasher, oven and microwave.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Taarini: I usually throw in silence, often glaze with Lhasa del Sela, and clean up to Bruce Peninsula.

Do you have a website/contact info?

Taarini: I am happy to take personalized orders. Get in touch for more info: taarinichopra at yahoo dot com.
Find Taarini and her gorgeous pottery at the Little Bird Sale, on Dec 10!

Apple Tasting and Fate of the Heirloom Apples

2011-10-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

We love apples - and this is apple season. Inspite of damp, cold windy weather, we held our annual apple tasting today. October is an unpredictable month, so when we were planning for this outdoor event months ago we were uncertain as to what the weather would hold. We lit a nice big cozy fire in our cob oven, and, bundled up with mittens, hats and raincoats, plus a few extra quilts brought out from our house. It was well worth it to get a taste of the 20+ varieties of apples on display! And these 20 varieties are only a thin layer of the vast range of apples grown in our country, even though we rarely see more than a handful of options in the local grocery stores or farmers markets.

Our facilitator from Seeds of Diversity, talked about the history of each apple while passing around plates piled with slices to sample. We tasted everything from the very familiar McIntosh, Red Delicious, Northern Spy, Cortland, and Empire; to the more unfamiliar Snow (possibly the first apple grown in Canada, originating around 1730), Tolman Sweet, Sandow, Greening, Golden Russet, and Wolf River; to the newly developed Honey Crisp (developed in 1991) and Ambrosia (developed in 1980's - actually a "chance" discovery in an orchard in British Columbia). Some better for baking, some better for cider, some for long shelf life, some for little browning when cut, some with crisp white flesh, others with pink tinged flesh, and on it went. Today there are about 100 varieties of apples commonly grown in North America. According to Oregon Tilth, astonishingly historically there have been over 15,000-16,000 varieties of apples (yes, really!) named, grown and eaten in North America. Today roughly only 3000 are available to growers, gardeners, cooks, chefs, etc (and you need to search pretty hard to find them). Our amazingly rich diversity of heirloom apples is in danger of becoming extinct - an estimated 4 out of 5 apples have been lost to consumers and much of this has only been within the past fifty years. It is estimated that 11 varieties of apples make up 90% of what is sold in big box grocery chain stores - the other varieties just don't ship well, keep well or display well enough for what the average consumer has been told the "perfect" apple needs to look like. Read more about this topic at Slow Food USA: Year of the Heirloom Apple.

Last salsa for the season

2011-10-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

This week saw us cleaning up the garden, planting garlic, transplanting greens, herbs and cherry tomatoes into the greenhouse, harvesting our last peppers, zucchini, AND a whole pile of tomatillos! This meant another huge batch of our favourite tomatillo salsa (salsa verde) from Small Batch Preserving - it used carrots, garlic, cilantro, onions, sweet peppers, oregano, hot peppers and tomatillos - all harvested from our own garden. The recipe was written for a small batch, but we needed to multiply to by 6 times to use up all those tomatillos! It will be lovely to pull out jars of this salsa in the winter months and remember our last bounty from the fall harvest of this year's garden.

This Moment

2011-10-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

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

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Michelle Morin

2011-10-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Michelle Morin (hand-spun and hand-dyed local wool, and felted toys):

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale:

Michelle: For the sale, we will be bringing organic wool yarn, homespun and hand dyed, as well as felted animals, rovings and more!

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Michelle: I started spinning about 6 years ago, after meeting our sheep farmer and learning that the wool was all going to waste! I have been knitting since I was a child, and I have always loved the amazing properties of wool!

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Michelle: Usually I am inspired from nature and the seasons, but sometimes just letting the children have a go at the colors is the best inspiration! Children are more free and have less silly rules in their minds, so their dyed wool is always my favourite.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Michelle: All of our fiber is from happy organically raised animals, raised here in southern ontario.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Michelle: Again, happy children playing is usually the background noise in our home!

Find Michelle and her family at the Little Bird Sale, on Dec 10!

This Moment

2011-10-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

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

A walk in the woods

2011-10-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

We took the day off from tasks here at home to go for a ramble in the woods nearby. Even though we live just off the downtown of a busy city, there are lots of hidden gems of wildness still to be found, all within walking distance of where our home is - a little creek trickling over stones at the farthest back edge of a park; forested walking trails with trilliums, oaks, tamaracks and maples; the trail running alongside the Grand River, where we pick wild mint and often see kayaks, canoes, geese, hawks and ducks; the wild flowers we love to see growing along old railway tracks; a hidden storm water pond where a blue heron nests; a sunny south-facing hilltop with a view; the place we know to go for harvesting nettle in the spring, the trail where we have seen puffball mushrooms and fiddleheads; the place with the large wild raspberry patch; the corner of a park where remnants of an old apple orchard are...we try to take time to visit these special places often, to know and appreciate the wildness we still have close by in the city.

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale - Vendor Profile: Sew Oiseau

2011-10-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors. Here is a short interview with Amaryah from Sew Oiseau:

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale:

Sew Oiseau: I make clothing and accessories for women and children, as well as woolen goods for the home. I choose reclaimed materials, predominantly wool because of its comfort, practicality, and natural properties. Recycled wool sweaters are cut and sewn into comfy kid's slippers, individually pieced skirts and sweaters, soft rugs, and floor cushions. Select wool pieces are felted for applique work.

Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Sew Oiseau: I am mostly self-taught but have been helped along by seamstress friends and relatives and a number of formal courses on weaving, felting, and spinning. Before Sew Oiseau, I ran a one-woman book binding press, she weaves!, for five years. I also have a Masters in Adult Education and Community Development and teach specific fibre arts techniques, including needle felting, wet felting, and rag-rug weaving as well as workshops on sewing, recycled crafting, and soft doll-making.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Sew Oiseau: Original fashion; really good thrift store finds; people who get excited about reconstructed clothing; wonderful WOOL!

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Sew Oiseau: My materials are predominately reclaimed. I try to use the least amount of energy possible; ie line-drying after pre-washing or felting.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Sew Oiseau: CBC radio podcats esp. "Dispatches".

Find Sew Oiseau at:
www.sewoiseau.com
www.tomakeaday.blogspot.com

Handmade Holidays - preparing for our annual craft sale Sat, Dec 10!

2011-10-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars! We wanted to announce that our annual "A Little Bird Told Me" handmade holiday sale is scheduled for Sat, Dec 10 from 10 am-4 pm. This exciting sale features a great selection of local artists/crafters who focus on making earth-friendly one-of-a-kind works. There will be something beautiful and unique for everyone on your list!

Over the next 10 weeks leading up to the sale we will be showcasing one vendor each week on our blog, including a short interview and photos - just to let local readers in on what they can expect when they attend our sale! This year there will be ceramic jewellery; reconstructed woolen clothing for children and women; wood-turned bowls from reclaimed local wood; candleholders made from recycled bicycle parts; pottery dishes; holiday baked treats; handmade soaps; beeswax candles and locally produced fresh honey; children's clothing and other eco-sewn goods; handspun and naturally dyed wool and felted toys; handmade cards; yoga pillows; and much more!

This Moment

2011-09-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

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

Winter firewood

2011-09-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for winter. Collecting, chopping and stacking firewood has been top of the list for a while now. Our strawbale living quarters are very well insulated, so we only tend to keep a small fire going most days in the winter months. Still, each year we wonder if we'll have enough wood ready. We were hoping to build a woodshed/bike shed this season, but time seems to have slipped away. For now the large back porch will do. Oh, the hours of enjoyment, with our little eager helper working side-by-side with her papa...

Right now, at the homestead

2011-09-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

This end of week/weekend at our little homestead...
- canning the last bushel of tomatoes into sauce, ready for winter feasts and wood-fired pizza dinners
- bottling the lacto-fermented crock pickles, our favourite recipe from Wild Fermentation, that are now ready, and storing the jars in the cold cellar
- making another large batch of our favourite hemp & maple granola (recipe below)
- planning an apple picking adventure to nearby Avalon Orchards for the last fall harvestings
- stacking firewood in growing piles for winter warmth
- observing the many bees busily foraging in the fall flowers
- preparing garden beds for the coming of first frost, possibly tomorrow night?
- planting greens in our greenhouse for fresh winter harvests, using methods from Winter Harvest Handbook
- reading: Radical Homemakers; Urban Farm Magazine; Playful Learning
- attending our first local homeschooling workshop this weekend, a daylong "living room" discussion with David Albert
-and baking vast quantities of pumpkin pies for next week's CSA pick-up!

Hemp & Maple Granola
12 cups whole oats
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 cup pure dark maple syrup
1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
1/3 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
(other nuts and/or seeds as desired)

Stir all ingredients well to combine. Spead evenly on two lightly greased baking sheets and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Bake until golden brown and slightly crispy. Granola will firm up once it cools. Stir in 1 cup raisins after granola has cooled.

The potential of an acorn...

2011-09-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

What is it about acorns that I find so fascinating? They are beautiful - intricately designed, sturdy yet delicate, each with their own markings, a compact food source, and, most importantly holding the potential to grow into an enormous oak tree given just the right conditions. That's almost magical. So at this time of year we collect acorns on our walks, and have a bowl of them on our table celebrating the harvest, the turn of the season, and the hopes we have for all the potential in a new growing season the next year. This seems to be what thanksgiving should be about. Happy harvest season everyone!

Do-it-Yourself Herbal Winter Medicines

2011-09-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

We're preparing for the coming winter months - preserving the last foods, picking our nearly ripe tomatoes in anticipation of first frost this weekend, and processing our medicinal herbs into immune boosting winter health tonics.

On Saturday I led the annual "herbal winter remedies" workshop here at Little City Farm. During the workshop we talked about the basics of making your own tinctures, tonics, bitters, syrups and lozenges - and then made an immune tonic tincture, bottled a rosehip tincture, sipped herbal immune-boosting cups of chai (see recipe below), and created a sage-horehound cough syrup. In the days leading up to the workshop, I was surprised and pleased to notice my 3-year old preparing her own "tinctures" of herbal leaves and roots picked from the garden "steeping" with water in wee glass bottles in her little play kitchen. I love when I can pass on valuable life skills simply by example.

Making Herbal Winter Medicines:

It's important to start with top quality herbs, fresh if possible (so now is the last of the season to do so), or dried will also do. Tincturing is a great way to preserve the medicinal qualities of herbs for a very long time, making powerful potent medicine, and often extracting constituents of the plant that water will not. Tinctures are extracts made with food grade alcohol, usually 80-100 proof alcohol like vodka or brandy, where the herbs are steeped for 4-6 weeks. Tincturing works well for extracting medicinal qualities of herbal roots and berries, such as the deep immune system/winter health herbs like elderberry, echinacea, goldenseal and astragalus. Once strained and bottled, tinctures will last several years if kept in a cool, dry, dark location.

Herbal syrups, on the other hand, start with a very strong tea (i.e. herbal extracts made with water such as strong infusions or decoctions), then are cooked slowly for a long time with honey to thicken into a syrup consistency. The honey acts as a preservative, but a little alcohol can also be added to help prolong the shelf life. Cough medicines are often made in a syrup form, such as our favourite sage-horehound syrup for healing sore throats.

There is so much more to say, but for now, here are a few recipes:

Elderberry Tincture (following method also good for tincturing other herbs)
(highly beneficial for colds, cough, flu, bronchitis, sinus infection, virus, etc)
1) Chop herbs finely, or crush in blender. Use fresh berries where possible. High quality dried berries will work well too.
2) Place berries into clean, dry jar. Pour in enough alcohol (vodka or brandy) to cover the berries, and continue pouring until liquid covers by 2-3 inches. The berries need to be completely submerged. Cover with tight-fitting lid.
3) Place jar in warm location (e.g. sunny window) and let herbs and liquid soak (macerate) for 4-6 weeks. The longer the better. Shake jar every day to make sure herbs are blending with alcohol.
4) Strain out berries, using a muslin cloth or jelly bag, or a large stainless steel strainer. Reserve liquid, which is now a potent tincture.
5) Bottle and label. Store out of reach from children, in a cool, dark location where the tincture will keep almost indefinitely.
6) Useage guidelines: one measure is to give 1 drop tincture for every 2 lbs body weight.

Immune Boosting Herbal Chai
(serve hot as a strong tea, with warm milk/rice milk and honey)
Ingredients - mix to your own taste - dried nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cinnamon bark, star anise, black peppercorn, ginger root, echinacea root, astragalus root (only a pinch) dried rosehips, marshmallow root, chamomile, fennel seeds, plus spearmint and lemongrass (for flavour).

What is your fibreshed?

2011-09-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

In general, it feels there is a growing awarness of the importance of supporting local farmers and sustainably grown foods. 100-Mile diet, locavore, slow food, bioregional eating, local food challenges, food buying clubs, CSA's (community supported agriculture), community gardens, school gardens, and farmstart and mentorship programs for young would-be farmers, are just some of the options and ideas that have become increasingly available in recent years. And this is a good thing. There is the great quote we see on bumper stickers around here: "farmers feed cities", a reminder not to forget the dependance we in our urban areas have on farmers (and farmland) around us. I remember Michael Ableman, a keynote speaker at an the Canadian Organic Conference in Guelph a few years ago, getting a standing ovation when he noted that farmers should get the same respect (and earnings) as the most prestigious doctors and lawyers. So, the local food movement has slowly brought a little more of this acknowledgement and support to the farmers.

The Fibreshed Project takes this one step further. This project is a one year challenge to wear clothes sourced (and dyed) from fibres grown close to home (within 150 miles) - as a way of raising awareness about the incredibly unsustainable clothing industry (the ecological and social impacts of the clothes we buy/wear); as well as aiming to support local farmers who produce fibres that are largely undervalued (e.g. thousands of pounds of wool discarded each year because of lack of market). If the farming, milling, production, manufacturing of many of our clothes could be done closer to home, this would be a significant ecological and social contribution. Read this beautiful blog, and be inspired to start building networks with your local fibre-producing farmers.

Hooray for kale, kale and more kale!

2011-09-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

We have kale in absolute abundance in our garden - when added together in all the places we've planted it, we have nearly 3 of our raised beds filled with kale. That's a lot of kale. But, we love kale (and our chickens can't get enough of it either), and it keeps well in the ground, long into the cold months that are ahead. It's a pleasure to go out in January, when the garden is deeply buried under snow, and dig out a patch of kale to harvest for supper - still fresh and crisp as if it had been kept in a refrigerator. Yes, kale is likely the plant we grow the most of here (a close race with tomatoes). Crinkly dinosaur kale, red Russian kale, green curled kale, we love them all - and such a versatile plant to cook with - made into potato-kale soup, thinly sliced with tofu in miso soup, or added into chili; blended in fruit smoothies; stir-fried with tamari, or steamed with a little hemp oil; served on toast with eggs, added chopped into pasta; made into a warm kale salad with balsamic dressing and toasted nuts; tossed with tahini-garlic sauce; kale stands up well in most dishes. Here's a quick simple recipe we made up for dinner this evening, using all our current garden harvests - carrots, eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, kale (of course)!

Fall Harvest Kale Stew
1 large bunch kale, chopped
2 large carrots, cut into half moons
5-6 large tomatoes, chopped (we used orange and red ones)
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper and 3 small eggplants, roasted with olive oil and sliced
3 potatoes, diced
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons
8 cups water
2 vegetarian soup cubes, or homemade soup stock
dash of tamari
dash of sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1-2 red cayennes, sliced finely
1-2 cloves fresh garlic, sliced finely
large handful of fresh garden herbs (basil, chives, parsley, etc)

This is a versatile recipe - it's a guideline, but add what you have that needs to be used up in your garden. Let everything cook slowly, simmering for about an hour in a large pot. So simple! Serve this thick stew over whole grains like brown rice or quinoa, or with hearty slices of homemade bread.

This Moment

2011-09-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

Apple Tasting

2011-09-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

We've been trying different kinds of apples from the local farmers market, as well as from our own trees and wild foraged ones. We've made applesauce, apple jelly, applebutter, apple pies, and of course kept lots of apples for fresh eating. I love apple harvest season - there is such variety and abundance, colour, flavour, texture, history. We'll be hosting the annual apple tasting event here in October, for those who live locally and want to come learn the stories of heirloom apples from our region. Or look for apple festivals in your own area.

Figs!

2011-09-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Fresh figs! We've been eating fresh figs from our Hardy Chicago Fig tree for the past week or two. The cool weather of the recent days has meant many more have ripened all at once. It's done well in this climate, and the figs are delicious. Soon it will be time to pack it up for the winter - we bundle it with straw and store it in the greenhouse for the cold season.

Rainy September Day

2011-09-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

A rainy day, spent with my 3 year old - baking bread, harvesting tomatoes, sewing a few small projects, making a cozy pillow fort in the living room, and walking budled up in raingear to look for signs of autumn.

Basic Seed Saving

2011-09-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

The garden is filled with beautiful seeds at this time of season. We've been saving beans, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, orach, peas, coriander, and various flowers and herbs in order to plant our favourites again next year.

This weekend's timely workshop at Little City Farm was on basic seed saving. We were pleased to have the director of Seeds of Diversity here again this year to lead this workshop. Seeds of Diversity is a "national charitable organization comprised of gardeners and farmers who preserve the biodiversity and heritage of Canada's food plants." To get involved, gardeners can grow and save seeds of endangered varieties of plants for the national Seed Library, or grow a rare variety and help document it.

The workshop covered the basic components of seeds (we opened up beans that had been soaked, revealing the seed coat, the inner body of "food" for the seed, and the miniscule bean-like seed inside ready to sprout). We talked about self-pollination and cross-pollination. Good examples of simple garden plants that are self-pollinating (i.e. flowers rightly closed so insect and wind-blown pollen can't get inside to cross pollinate): tomatoes, bush beans, lettuce and peas are great vegetables to start with as a beginning seed saver. For cross-pollinationg plants (e.g. squash, eggplant), with flowers that are wider open, the plants either need to be isolated (by distance or row covers) or by having plants that flower at different times in order to save seeds properly. I was surprised to hear that tomatoes are self-pollinating and have about a 95% chance of getting the same variety as the saved seed (that means, very little chance of cross-pollination). I had always thought that tomatoes needs a large distance between varieties grown in the garden, but their tiny closed flowers make it nearly impossible for insects or wind to transfer the pollen.

A few more tips from Seeds of Diversity for seed saving success:
- grow heirloom plants (not hybrids)
- collect seeds from plants that are mature and free from disease
- keep seeds dry, and have them fully dried before storing
- label your seeds with name and year harvested
- store in cool dark place for longterm storage

Seed photos from our garden from top to bottom: lettuce, and lettuce again, echinacea, fennel, teasel, red orach (wild mountain spinach), and hops.

Turning of the seasons

2011-09-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Has fall snuck up on us this week? The near-frost the past few nights, and cool daytimes have turned the leaves to shades of red and yellow, and brought them down in droves. I love this season of wool sweaters, extra quilts on the bed, and evenings by the woodstove sipping cups of warm tea. Yes, there are still tomatoes to preserve, wood to chop, garlic to plant, seeds to save, and herbal tonics to prepare, but these autumn tasks in preparation for winter have a meditative quality to them that is quite different from the hurried pace of late summer. When it comes to this point in the season, we simply need to put a few of our left-over projects on hold for next year, and this feels good.

Today we collected leaves, as many shapes and sizes we could find around the yard, in order to explore the beautiful diversity of plant shapes - and there was quite a variety when we spread out jagged maple, soft oblong mullein, feathery yarrow, saw-toothed dandelion, large oak-like fig, round scalloped hollyhock, curly kale, heart-shaped morning glory, and so many others.

This Moment

2011-09-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

CSA Farm September bounty!

2011-09-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

No, these gorgeous vegetables were not grown at Little City Farm. They come from the 5 organic acres and the hardworking farmers over at Fertile Ground CSA (just west of Waterloo). Maybe Maya and I can pretend to take the tiniest smidgen of credit for some of the eggplants, because on several of the weeks we volunteered at the farm we did diligently spread compost around each plant at blooming time to boost production. We certainly take pride in "our" farmers. I could not stop taking photos at our neighbourhood market day as the September harvest colours are so vibrant.

Preparing for market

2011-09-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Mondays and Tuesdays are busy kitchen days, as we get our wares ready for the neighbourhood CSA market day - and preserving extra of these foods for our family this winter. This week it was wild grape & rosehip jelly, sweet and spicy pickles, fresh applebutter using a recipe from a new favourite preserving book Saving the Seasons, pies with the last local peaches, cookies and breads of course. Our family's new favourite breads are a rosemary wheat, and a sunflower rye. Mmmm.

Fruit Wines Workshop

2011-09-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

We hosted a "country wines" making workshop here today - i.e. our facilitator covered how to prepare wines using flowers, herbs, berries or fruit (other than grapes). He also generously brought along a nice selection of his homemade wines to sample - rhubarb, damson plum, and dandelion wine. This discussion of course launched into the various kinds of wines and elixirs other workshop participants had tried to make at home, including kombucha, beer with fresh hops, tonics and bitters (steeping herbs and berries in gin, brandy, vodka), tinctures, and dandelion mead (made by a local beekeeper with her own freshly harvested honey). Couldn't have asked for a nicer fall afternoon.

Little break from the homestead

2011-09-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

A little holiday trip that almost didn't happen...life is so busy that it's easy to put off a holiday, much as it is needed. Each year we usually try to get away on a small camping trip in early September. It's the perfect time to go - the weather is still warm enough for swimming, the cooler nights invite cozy campfires, and we have the trails and beaches nearly all to ourselves. So, we decided we needed to go. We madly canned our ripe grapes into jelly and tomatoes into sauce the night before leaving, put our other to-do lists on hold, found a few friends willing to look in at our homestead while we were away, packed simple foods and warm clothes, and headed out to the Pinery (a beautiful provincial park on Lake Huron, less than 2 hours from here). It's amazing what a short break from the everyday routines can do - we walked the forest trails, ran along the sand dunes, swam in cold water, built sand sculptures, had a birthday picnic on the beach, ate smokey food cooked over a fire - the family togetherness was wonderful and now we are back at the homestead with renewed vision for the fall projects ahead.

Swallowtail butterfly

2011-09-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

After 12 days in it's chrysalis, little stripey caterpillar nibbled a wee hole, and out came the most lovely black swallowtail butterfly. We watched it stretch it's wings, and then we gently tipped our glass jar to the side and let it fly out with it's new shaky wings. It rested for one brief moment on Maya's shoulder, then up on a nearby branch in a tamarack tree, and finally made it's way into the sky.

This Moment

2011-09-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

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

We love local honey

2011-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

A friend and third generation beekeeper called this week to see if we wanted to try some of her newly harvested honey. She came by with samples of honeycomb that tasted of sweet spring meadows, and two large jars of the most delicate lavender-scented clover honey - and, best of all, she was interested in bartering her delicious honey for our handmade soap and preserves. She also sells her honey at the Mill-Courtland Community Centre neighbourhood market each week.

Kitchen projects right now

2011-09-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

The kitchen was a lively place this week as we continued to put away the harvest for the coming winter months. The tabletops, counters and shelves have been full, lined with vegetables and fruit waiting to be processed. Newly harvested wild foraged apples made into apple butter, pies and apple sauce; garden tomatoes and eggplant chopped up to be slow-roasted with garlic and herbs in the wood-fired oven for a hearty winter sauce; cucumbers made into crock pickles using our favourite recipe from Wild Fermentation; grapes pressed and made into jelly; basil made into pesto and packed into jars for the freezer; peaches sliced and frozen for winter smoothies; organic raspberries picked at Organic Oasis saved for winter; hot cayennes and jalapenos tied into bundles to hang dry in the kitchen; plums into chutney...

Grape Harvest

2011-08-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

This year's grapes have proven to be bountiful - both the tiny tangy wild grapes we have growing through a tangle of hops vines on the back porch, and the large sweet dark blue garden grapes that are clinging from the arbour at the back of our main garden. The heavy pruning seemed to do the trick, offering both light and air circulation to our grape arbours. I am trying to save most of the grapes for making jelly and juice, but it's next to impossible to walk past the vines without sampling a few of the tantelizing grapes, hoping that maybe this time they will be perfectly ripe. And any grapes that fall to the ground do not go to waste, as the hens love these fresh sweet treats.

Saving Seeds

2011-08-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

It's nearly September and we've started to collect seeds in the garden....and there is lots to be saved - dill, fennel, coriander, basil, echinacea, yarrow, rosehips and various other medicinal herbs, kale, spinach, lettuces, calendula, marigolds, cosmos, red orach, zucchini, cukes. Unfortunately, we can't reliably save our tomato seeds, as tomatoes should be planted 20-25 feet from other varieties of tomato, and even this kind of isolation is not a 100% guaruntee that new plants will be exactly as the original plant.

For those living locally who wish to learn more about the details of proper seed saving, join us on Sept 17 for the exciting annual Seed Saving Workshop with Bob Wildfong, director of the wonderful Canadian non-profit organization Seeds of Diversity, here at Little City Farm!

This Moment

2011-08-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

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

Playful learning - sail boats and sand cakes

2011-08-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Although there is a lengthy ongoing list of projects and tasks to do on this little homestead, we always try to make room for play. Today it was pirates, sand cakes (to celebrate the birthday of our garden worm friends), and sail boating in the pond. We've also been caring for a caterpillar named Stripey, who came from the Fertile Ground Farm fennel patch - she (we decided it's a she) is going to turn into a Black Swallowtail Butterfly, and just last night she wove her chrysalis and started the metamorphosis - exciting! Within a few weeks she should emerge as a butterfly. Our new caterpillar pet encouraged learning about the needs of caterpillars and butterflies, including discovering this useful website called Butterfly School.

We just purchased the book Playful Learning, whose premise is that children are inherently interested in learning and we need only to provide enriching environments to encourage this joy of discovering the world. This book is connected with a wonderful website chock full of activities to engage children of all ages in playful learning experiences.

Garden bounty

2011-08-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's nearing the end of August, and the cool winds blowing today reminded us that fall is just around the corner. We had our picnic lunch inside the tent, not seeking shade (as usual), but instead looking for a little extra warmth!

However, the garden assures us it's not quite ready for summer to end. Tomatoes are still raging, zucchini still sprouting new flowers, cucumbers vining, grapes sweetening, peppers still ripening, and our wee hopeful watermelons still forming. We cut a large amount of herbs for drying, including an enormous basket of basil for pesto, and then headed back into the tomato beds with our harvest baskets to see what was new. Today's prize tomato - a huge Berkeley Tie-Dye, one of the new varieties we grew this year from Greta's Organic seeds - a multistriped oversized beefsteak tomato that is luscious and rich with varied flavours. We may only get a few of these per vine, but their size makes up for it.

Backyard herbal teas, home-grown remedies, and the love of peppermint

2011-08-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

On the weekend we held our annual "backyard herbal teas" workshop. Thanks to everyone who came out to learn about growing, harvesting, drying, storing and using medicinal herbal plants for teas and other home-grown first-aid remedies for your family. We finished with a short herb walk through our herb garden, pointing out 15 or so favourite herbs we are growing to be used in medicinal teas (infusions/decoctions): calendula, peppermint, sage, echinacea, horehound, hops, lavender, chamomile, anise hyssop, red raspberry leaf, rosehips, fennel, red clover, lemon balm, dandelion root, burdock root, nettle, and a few others. There are so many I love!

We had covered several ways to propogate herbs, in hopes of having everyone start or expand their own herb gardens - herbs can be propogated by seed, by root divisions of the mother plant, cuttings from the mother plant (set in water or soil to form new roots), and layering the mother plant under soil (to grow new roots). True peppermint (mentha x piperita) is one example of an herb that can't be grown from seed, and must be propogated by other means as mentioned. Peppermint (as opposed to other mints like spearmint) is generally sterile, meaning it produces no seeds or if it does have seeds they are not true to the parent plant. Peppermint has such a wide range of medicinal uses - there is evidence of it being used medicinally more than ten thousand years ago - that I decided to root a whole series of peppermint plants in order to expand my true peppermint patch next year. Once established, peppermint then easily spreads by roots and shoots. Peppermint is wonderful as a digestive tea, for the skin, for hair, added to other more bitter herbs for flavouring, and is a large nectar producer that attracts honey bees. Every garden should have at least a small patch of peppermint.

Urban wild food - in the news

2011-08-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jackie was in the newspaper this week - front page of the local section! - promoting wild food foraging. Here is the full story and here is a video of Jackie talking about 6 common urban wild foods that make wonderful edibles.

This Moment

2011-08-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

A gardening life

2011-08-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have been savouring my early mornings in the garden, getting up with the sun to let our hens out, and then spending the pre-breakfast hour outside. The mornings around our neighbourhood are quiet, calm, peaceful. Our garden is a meditative place to start the day. My little helper is usually with me, as she's up early with the birds and eager to get going. But the morning air and light create a different mood from the rest of our busy daytime, and we quietly work side by side, tending to weeds, peeking at new vegetables, taking a little harvest into our baskets. Today it was tomatoes. I wouldn't miss these early mornings for anything.

Healthful hops

2011-08-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

The beautiful bountiful hops on our arbour is nearly ready for harvest. Each year I harvest large baskets full, drying the hops flowers (called strobiles) and using them for herbal tea blends. Hops is extremely easy to grow, and is a perennial herb that comes back strong year after year. Hops has a wide range of benefits. For example, offering sedative and relaxing properties so it is a nice addition to teas for insomnia, stress and anxiety. Hops has been known to help women who are going through menopause, hops has been proven to reduce various kinds of cancer, and hops can also be used as a hair rinse to alleviate dry scalp. Of course, hops is also a prime ingredient in making beer - on our bookshelf we have some wonderful books on making homemade beers including The Homebrewer's Garden, but have yet to make a batch using our own homegrown hops. Maybe during this autumn season...

Right now, in our garden

2011-08-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Such a busy time - harvest, preserving, new planting...

From the garden right now - zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, basil, kale, chard, beans, new peas, new potatoes, first sweet lemon cucumbers (my favourite), herbs, nasturtiums, cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, tomatillos, first green peppers, hot peppers...

Today was also Market Day - Saturday! At the downtown farmers market we picked up what we aren't growing at home - fresh local corn, peaches, and watermelon - yumm! After visiting with a few friends and making one last quick tour through the cheese and baked goods aisles, we were gifted with the most gorgeous samples of handmade fair trade chocolate from our local artisan chocolatier, Anna Tolazzi (who happens to live in our neighbourhood!). This morning, before we headed to the farmers market, we had re-read the wonderful book To Market To Market, by Nikki McClure, one of our best-loved authors. Just as this book expresses, we are grateful for the harvest in our own garden, and all the dedicated growers and makers at our local farmers market.

First egg

2011-08-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

First tiny egg from the new hens! How they are growing...

This Moment

2011-08-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

Honouring Great Gobo (burdock root)

2011-08-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Upon transplanting some herbs in the front yard I came across a huge burdock plant that had been hidden from view, growing to it's hearts content. I needed to remove it order to continue my new planting - usually I have had to dig the big burdock roots in order to get them out entirely, but with the ground so dry from little rain this season the long deep root came out easily in one pull. I immediately sliced it into small pieces for quick drying, as once the root hardens it becomes virtually impossible to cut. I will store the dried root slices and use them as valuable medicine over the winter months. Burdock, also known as Great Gobo, can actually be eaten if the roots are fresh and young (steamed, cooked in soups, or stir-fried), but the tougher late summer-fall roots are best dried and used in tinctures or decoctions (i.e. strong teas made of roots). Burdock is extremely health promoting, considered to be one of the superior tonic herbs. It is rich in iron and other vitamins and minerals, great for any skin conditions (eczema, etc), promotes healthy kidneys, and is used specifically for the liver. The leaves and seeds can also be used. Don't bypass this wonderful medicinal plant that is so often overlooked - we all likely have burdock growing in our own yards, or in woods or parks nearby. Often the most common of plants are the best healers.

In the news - appetite growing for local food

2011-08-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Little City Farm had a nice mention in the local newspaper in an article about the increasing interest in buying and growing local food - here is the link: "Appetite growing for local food".

This Moment

2011-08-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

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

Thank you for the watermelon

2011-08-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

On our doorstep this morning, a huge head of lettuce, a gorgeous bag of dark green spinach, and the most beautiful round watermelon. Where they came from, we don't know. Thank you to the anonymous giver, whoever you are! Our own watermelon are still flowering, though not yet showing signs of growing fruits. This was certainly a sweet and unexpected breakfast treat.

Wild Apple Jelly Part 2

2011-08-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

The story of our wild apple harvest continues...over the weekend we did in fact make apple jelly and apple sauce - lots of it! A reader sent me the tip (thank you!) that our unnamed wild apple might in fact be an old Gravensteiner, a type of apple tree that is still commonly found in old orchards though is seldom grown in commercial production due to a short shelf life and variable harvesting period. I love learning the histories of our food and how it originated, so I did a little more research into the Gravenstein apple. It turns out the description and photos seem to match - a small apple with sweet tart flavour, lightly yellowish flesh, and red striped skin, that ripens from July-August. It was used mainly as a cooking apple for sauces and apple cider. This apple is native to Denmark, found and named in the mid 1600's, although it may well have been brought there from Italy at an earlier time. In Canada it was brought to Nova Scotia in the early 19th century, and today is still widely grown across the country, mainly on old farmsteads, or in backyards just like the tree we found. It is considered to be a prized apple, of which was once said "if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple would be needed". In fact, Slow Food USA has declared it a heritage apple and added it to the Ark of Taste, an international catalogue of heritage foods that are in danger of extinction. Wow! This apple jelly will taste all the sweeter, knowing the story of this special apple.

Wild apple harvest - Apple Jelly Part 1

2011-08-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

We have said many a time how we can't pass up foraging for wild foods when we come across them. We were visiting a friend's house today and saw a huge old apple tree, just laden with apples and the ground around covered completely with small semi-ripened mottled apples. We have our own large old wild apple tree that is ready for harvest later this summer, but we couldn't resist these apples. Not blemish-free (as no real food should be), but we tasted a few bites, quite tart yet delicious and perfect for a not-to-sweet jelly or applesauce. There was far too much for one household to use, so we gladly filled our bags with these little apples and started the process of apple jelly making - to be continued tomorrow. Today we washed, chopped, and cooked the apples, mashed them, and strained the juice through a cheesecloth. Tomorrow the jelly gets cooked with pectin (Pumona's low sugar variety) and sugar, then processed in clean jars and stacked on the shelf for winter enjoyment.

Around our little farm these days...

2011-08-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

A nice family weekend around the farm...I love the feeling of everyone working away at their own task somewhere on the property, checking in with each other now and again for some help, or meeting up for a picnic lunch or cool drink in the shade. Right now the garden feels a bit overwhelming, such dry soil and weeds galore, plus plenty to harvest and lots of planting to do for fall, herbs to dry and put away, garlic still needs to be hung up to cure...Then most of the weekend went to working on the new greywater system, which will be an expansion of our old wetland pond system and now will include a river and second larger pond for better filtration of our laundry and bath water. Water has definitely been a theme around here the past many weeks - while the greywater system has been under construction we've been carrying out our bath water since the rain barrels were empty. Finally this weekend we had rain, just a little rain, but enough to fill up our pond and rain barrels again for a few days of use.

Summer picnics - loving zucchini, cucumber & Ontario peaches...

2011-07-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying all the fresh local food available these days - in the garden, zucchini, cucumbers, fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes...and at the market, Ontario plums, apricots and peaches! The fresh fruit is such a treat. For a quick outdoor lunch picnic today: a rustic zucchini pie, and a cucumber-peach salad.

Rustic Zucchini Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
7 Tbsp margarine or butter
4 Tbsp water
pinch of sea salt

Topping:
sliced cherry or plum tomatoes, sliced zucchini (Italian Largo worked beautifully), a drizzle of olive oil, a handful of fresh herbs (we used green and purple basil, oregano and thyme), and your favourite cheese (we used goat feta and local mozzarella)

1) Prepare crust. Roll out into a large oval on lightly floured surface. Place on lightly greased baking sheet.
2) If you wish, brush crust with lightly beaten egg yolk. Then layer topping veggies and herbs in concentric circles or other designs on the crust.
3) Top with generous amounts of fresh herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle on cheese. Roll up sides of crust to form a rustic crimped "pie" edge.
4) Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until crust is golden. Serve warm, on a rustic wooden platter or cutting board, sliced into squares. Serves 4.

Cucumber-Peach Salad
2 large peaches, diced
1 large cucumber, diced
1 tsp sea salt
2 green onions, chopped finely
handful of fresh dill and oregano
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil or hemp oil
1 tsp lemon juice
(1 tsp sugar or honey, if you wish)

Combine all ingredients well. Serve chilled as a refreshing salad on a very hot day!

This Moment

2011-07-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

{This moment } - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy. Inspired by the continued beauty and creativity of Soulemama's blog, where she encourages readers to post their own moments.

Birthday celebrations

2011-07-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Someone turned 3 today! The woodland fairies arrived at our place to celebrate the day: there was a new birthday crown (sewn the night before), favourite stories & popcorn in the tent, then roaming through the gardens, wood-fired personal sized pizzas from the outdoor oven (with our most-loved pizza crust from Feeding the Whole Family), zucchini spice cupcakes (recipe below) topped with fresh local berries (decorated by our 3-year old), and later, dinner outside in the evening with a little campfire. Lovely day.

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes - wheat-free, dairy-free
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 farm-fresh or free range organic eggs
1 1/2 cups light spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
pinch of sea salt
1 1/2-1 3/4 cups shredded zucchini, packed

1) Mix margarine, sugars and eggs in a large mixing bowl, stirring well.
2) Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to the margarine/sugar mixture. Stir until just combined (do not over-mix).
3) Then fold in zucchini and mix again until just combined.
4) Pour batter into lightly greased (or lined) cupcake tray.
5) Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes, until golden and knife inserted comes out clean.
6) Ice with your favourite icing (as cupcakes), or serve plain (as muffins). Variations - add nuts, raisins, chocolate chips to the batter.

How do bees carry pollen?

2011-07-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

My fascination with the incredible world of bees continues. I was watching bees buzzing through our echinacea patch today, and for the first time had the opportunity to really notice how they carried the pollen they were foraging. At first I almost thought we had a new variety of bee in the yard, but it was the pollen heavily laden on the legs of each bee that made them look like they had thick yellow stripes along their sides. I read that bees have a way of periodically grooming themselves which packs the pollen more tightly into the tracts under their hind legs called "scopa", and allows them to bring it back to the hive or transfer from flower to flower. Amazing! I was also reminded of how perfect and beautiful every last detail in nature is - look at the gorgeous symmetry of the echinacea spirals in the last photo here.

First tomatoes

2011-07-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

We savoured the first luscious warm ripe tomatoes from the garden today (an heirloom variety called Stupice)! So worth the wait...