Cowboy Candy

It is funny how we plant more or less the same vegetables each year, yet what does well and what does poorly never seems to be the same. Last year, turnips did incredibly well. We also had heaps of broccoli, lots of beans, and tons of brussels sprouts. The year before that it was the squash that went gangbusters but we could not seem to grow basil or radishes. This year, the raspberries, radishes, carrots, onions, lettuce and basil did amazingly well. However, there were also several things that very simply did not grow at all. Half our broccoli bolted super early and the other half never flowered. We did not get a single cauliflower. Our beets and turnips have been terrible and I will be shocked if we get any squash or pumpkins.

The one thing that does seem to grow consistently well from year to year are jalapeno peppers.  And boy are they spicy! We cannot seem to harvest them quickly enough and so some ripen to red on the vine and get even spicier. In the spirit of trying to use our surplus of jalapenos up (one can only eat so many jalapeno poppers), I stumbled upon something called Cowboy Candy.

Recipe: Cowboy Candy

Ingredients

3 pounds Firm, Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, Washed
2 cups Cider Vinegar
6 cups White Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoons Turmeric
½ teaspoons Celery Seed
3 teaspoons Granulated Garlic
1 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Remove the stems from all of the jalapeno peppers.  Slice into uniform 1/8-1/4 inch rounds. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring cider vinegar, white sugar, turmeric, celery seed, granulated garlic and cayenne pepper to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pepper slices and simmer for exactly 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peppers, loading into clean, sterile canning jars to within 1/4 inch of the upper rim of the jar. Turn heat up under the pot with the syrup and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 6 minutes.

Use a ladle to pour the boiling syrup into the jars over the jalapeno slices. Insert a cooking chopstick to the bottom of the jar two or three times to release any trapped pockets of air. Adjust the level of the syrup if necessary. Process in water bath for 10 minutes for pint jars.

This looks like a winner.  We got started tonight and will finish tomorrow afternoon once honey extraction is complete.  I am looking forward to trying these sweet and spicy morsels.

Good Friends are Icing on the Cake of Life

Some days I feel like I am living the dream.  Do not get me wrong - other days are a nightmare.  But today was one of the really good days.

Part of what makes a really good day is happy kids.  Today was Seamus' first official day of school.  He was ecstatic.

Seamus was thrilled to get on the bus in front of his cheering squad.  Mama, Papa, Liam and Alistair where there obviously, but our wonderful neighbours Mr. George and Mrs. Isabel and our close family friend Ms. Cheryl also came to see him off.  What made it even more special was that Monica the Monarch flew in for the farewell too.  She landed on a branch right at the end of the driveway and fluttered Seamus good luck and best wishes. I have heard that as Catholic traditions intermingled with indigenous cultures, monarch butterflies came to be regarded as the souls of departed ancestors returning to Earth for their annual visit.  If that is the case, then I think Grandpa Derrick might have also been present for this special little boy's big moment.

Seamus had an excellent first day in Kindergarten.  He was happy to have learned a new French word "oiseau" and he said that he is looking forward to going back next week.  What a relief!

In addition to having happy kids, I felt very loved and supported today.  I am certainly blessed to have wonderful neighbours and super supportive family friends who all pitch in to help me achieve my dream of farmsteading.

Ms. Cheryl came by today to help me harvest my CSA baskets during Alistair's morning nap.  With the two of us working side by side we were able to prepare the baskets in half the usual time.  We finished just as Ali awoke! 

Today's CSA baskets included: chard, parsley, carrots, jalapeños, yellow wax peppers, sweet chocolate peppers, a thai dragon pepper, yellow zucchinis, a red cabbage, tomatoes, cucamelons, snow and snap peas, yellow beans, daikon radishes, red radishes, sweet basil, licorice basil, lime basil, green leaf lettuce, kale, a sweet walla walla onion, oregano, sage, pineapple sage, lavender, rosemary, summer savory, apples, and a dozen farm fresh eggs.

This week’s bonus item was a homemade beeswax candle.

Later in the morning Aunt Sue and Ms. Kerry arrived to help me get the honey bees sorted out for Sunday's honey extraction.  I am so lucky to have had their help.  While Aunt Sue occupied Ali, Kerry and I got all the honey supers removed, their frames sorted, and mite treatments applied to the hives.  I am beyond grateful for their assistance.

Alistair and I spent the afternoon making peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for after school snack (Seamus' request) and lamb taco salad for supper (Liam's favourite).

Both big boys were in bed and asleep by 6:30 pm.  This gave Ian some time to work on sorting the hot peppers he harvested this morning

and melting beeswax into saleable discs.

One thing that I love about our farm is that everyone does their part to make all the things that we do here possible.  That we have such kind, generous and supportive family and friends who are willing to lend a hand to help us maintain this lifestyle really is icing on the cake that is our wonderful life here on Gael Glen Farm and Apiary.  Thank you!

Leaping Luna

Seamus and I spent some time today playing with the goats.  Luna has definitely stolen my heart.  She is by far the boldest and friendliest of the kids.  She will leap up onto your lap for scratches even if there is someone already up there. 

Luna and me.

Bishop is also very friendly. The others will tolerate snuggles once you catch them but Luna and Bishop actively seek them out. 

You guessed it - Luna and Bishop.

My goodness, baby goats are beyond adorable.  They really are tiny bouncing bundles of joy.

Advance Preparations

The back to school preparations are almost complete.  Liam is all ready to go.  In fact, he officially started Grade 1 this past Tuesday. He is in Mme. Rachèle's class.

His brothers were excited for him.

Liam has had a good first few days.  He is exhausted when he gets home.  He was sound asleep on the school bus this afternoon, which is hilarious as the ride is only 10 minutes!

Seamus is thrilled to be going for his first day of Maternelle on Friday.  He had his introductory meeting with Mme. Amélie today.  We got to see his classroom and put a few things in his cubby.  Since kindergarten classes are split (half jk, half sk), Seamus is actually joining the class that Liam left.  This is cool because they will have some of the same school friends despite being two years apart.

I must say that from a parent's perspective, starting school with the second child is much less stressful.  It helps that despite his utter lack of french speaking skills, Seamus is ready and raring to go.  He cannot wait to finally be allowed to get on that big yellow school bus at the end of our driveway on Friday morning.

While we have been preoccupied with back to school preparations, I was able to spend half an hour weeding the garden this afternoon during nap time.  While doing so, I took stock of the vegetables that are going to be ready to harvest on Friday.  There are a ton!

One of my CSA families is on vacation this week and have declined their usual basket.  However, I definitely have enough veggies to make one!  This is your chance - if you have ever looked at one of my Friday posts about our epic CSA baskets and thought: "Wow!  I really wish I was the one getting an amazing basket of fresh and delicious veggies!" - it is now or never!  Save yourself a trip to the farmer's market and come by our farm instead.  Send me a message and the basket goes to the first person to reply.  The basket is $50, baby goat snuggles are free.  Baskets are to be picked up Friday afternoon.

Here are some photos of what you will find in this week's basket.

Sweet basil

Heirloom tomatoes.

Yellow zucchini.

Crunchy kale.

Huge, sweet walla walla onions.

Teeny tiny cucamelons.

With both Liam and Seamus in school, this Friday's harvest will be one of the biggest but also one of the quietest yet.  I am so looking forward to a calm and crispy Friday morning in the garden.  Mrs. Cheryl, will you be joining me?  I have some harvesting, weeding and planting to do - all before Ms. Kerry comes by at 11 am to help me with the honey bees and Aunt Sue comes to help watch Alistair.

Even with all my advance preparations, Friday is shaping up to be a very busy day!

Gael Glen Farm & Tea House?

I am fairly obsessed with tea.  I am also fairly obsessed with growing my own food.  This might explain why the idea that I can grow my own tea makes me very excited.

Raspberry leaves, elderberries, chokecherries and black currants in the dehydrator.

I did not grow a tea garden specifically, but after a bit of research, it turns out that I already grow many things that can be steeped to make tea.  This year is going to be a bit of an experiment.  I am going to dry a little bit of a bunch of things to see what I actually like the taste of when made into tea.  Then, next year, I will know what to grow more and keep more of.

On my farm to do list was pruning back both my raspberry canes and strawberry plants in an effort to maximize next year's yield.  I have never tried raspberry leaf nor strawberry leaf tea, both which are apparently a thing.  I picked select leaves post-pruning and am currently drying them.

Pruning my raspberry patch.  This was done while Alistair was swinging which required me to take a break every minute and a half to give him a push.  This set up worked for a solid half hour - just long enough for me to cut the canes but not long enough to clean them up afterwards!

Seamus helping me clip off strawberry leaves. 
I am going to miss my best helper when he starts school on Friday!

Strawberry leaves ready for the dehydrator.

It is also elderberry time of year.  We have made these berries into jam and elderberry syrup in the past but we still have lots of that left so I am going to try using this year's elderberries for tea.

The elderberry patch on August 5th.  Not ready.

Elderberries on August 26th.  Ready!

I am also drying out the last of the chokecherries and black currants.

Chokecherries on August 5th.  Not ripe.

Chokecherries on August 12th. Ripe!

Black currants.

I have peppermint, chocolate mint, and apple mint already dried, so the mint teas are covered.

Peppermint bunch.

I think this is a reasonable start to my informal tea house.  I wonder which, if any of the above, will be delicious?  Any suggestions for flavour combinations? 

I am currently growing pineapple sage.  Does that sound good or gross for tea?  I am undecided.  I am also planning on drying my rosehips but they should be bright red before harvesting, so mine are not ready yet.

I have yet to perfect my tea biscuits, but in the mean time I might substitute in my roasted walnut and cranberry bread.  It was my first attempt at incorporating these particular add ins to my bread and it turned out to be divine.

Now, if I could just get my pond garden cleaned up, I could call it a "tea garden" and finally have a relaxing outdoor place to enjoy a good cuppa! A farm girl can dream, right?

One Last Day of Beachy Perfection

After a busy couple of days on the farm it was time to relax.  We deserved a day at the beach.  Wonderful friends, gorgeous and not too hot weather, and an ice cream pontoon boat pretty much sums up today's perfection.

Ian and Liam might have missed out on our beach day but it turns out that they had one of their own!  After exploring the aquarium in Toronto, they relaxed at the Centre Island beach.  

This was one of the best days of the summer.  Maybe that is because it is one of the last, but who's counting?  It's the most wonderful time of the year....