We be JAMMIN'!! Field to table #1

Hello Monday!!  (And happy Memorial Day to my friends in the USA)

I just love instagram.. I've connected with so many interesting people and have gotten so much inspiration.  This weekend the inspiration came from Northern Ontario - a very neat lady that was making dandelion jelly!!

Before Derek got too carried away with the weed-whacker/whipper-snipper/edger.. whatever you want to call that lawn care tool that tears down weeds, the girls and I got out to collect some dandelion heads.

I read over Pinterest and found a few different recipes for Dandelion jelly.  I gave one a whirl.

Now remember what I said about me in the kitchen??  Recipes are only a guideline, I do not measure.

Boil...  Steep... Mix... Jar...

But when my first batch didn't set I realized maybe with jams and jellies accuracy is required and I broke down and took Derek's advice.  I measured and I timed EVERYTHING!!

And (tongue in cheek, not admitting he was in any way right) I had success.

I won't share the recipe here - like I say, there are many different ones out there but its a very simple process (when you follow the directions... *sigh*)  Here are some tips though:

Make sure your dandelion crop is free from pesticides and other chemicals.  Get help with removing the dandelion petals... it is the slowest part of the process.  And get ready for black thumbs.

Test when you have boiled your jelly long enough.  Derek found this trick - a cup of ice and a chilled teaspoon.  Using the cool spoon, spoon out a bit of jelly after the final boil and set over top of the ice. If your jelly is ready, that spoonful will be set by the end of one minute.

Use a timer!!!

Final tip, remember to save some of these delicious blooms for our bees.

So just what can you do with this jelly?  We've eaten it on scones and bagels.  I'm told it would work nicely as a glaze for chicken or pork!

Canning is an art form.  I love when I hear the seals popping letting me know they are all set.  Whew.

 I have really enjoyed this little taste of canning and preserving and I am looking forward to doing more!

Oh!  And I have a few tupperware containers of our dandelion jelly in the refrigerator which will keep for a while if any friends close by would like to try some!

Jeanette

Friday Farm Update.. Barn Roof Complete? Check!!

Happy Friday All!

I am thrilled to be able to share another completed project here at home.  The barn roof has been moved from the TO DO list to the DONE and CHECKED OFF list!  Yay!

Derek began work priming and painting the roof the weekend of April 23rd.  Great progress was made and the end was in sight...

...until just one more quart of paint was needed to be ordered in.  May 4th - Check!  Ready to go...

And then a whole week of on and off again rain... and snow and hail in the middle of May.  Seriously!

Finally the sun was out and the ladder was back up!  One evening and the roof was complete.

I think it looks pretty fantastic, wouldn't you agree??  :)

Jeanette

**even with a homemade jig to stand on, no Schnicks were harmed in this project.  :)

What BIG TEETH you have! {{WORDless Wednesday - May 25, 2016}}

It has not ceased to surprise and amaze me the wildlife we spot around here.  Last Tuesday I thought I was seeing our mainecoon cat cross the lawn by the road... it turned out it wasn't;

Just a friendly little beaver passing through...

Okay, so not so very little and not so very friendly either.  Yikes!

Jeanette

My Mother's Day gift...

Happy Monday and a belated Happy Mothers Day!

**(Hello to Tuesday - this was supposed to go out yesterday, but Blogger wouldn't upload my pictures yesterday... and they're very cute lamb pictures!!!)**

I think my family sometimes struggles with me and happy occasions.  I don't think I am an easy person to buy a gift for... I don't wear a lot of jewellery; I'm happiest finding books at a discounted used book store and I don't have a lot of home decorations on the walls.

I do love receiving handmade gifts from my girls (especially the funny non-rhyming poems the littles create) and I do love receiving gifts that make me laugh...

A few weeks back, Derek had been very delayed in getting home after work - he had stopped at a yard sale that looked to have bee hives for sale.  The bee hives were not for sale, but the retired couple selling their items made the stop a memorable one for Derek.  :)  On Mother's Day, as I unwrapped the gifts he had helped put together with the girls I burst out laughing... the kitchy 'yard sale' feel to the items tickled me.

While chatting with this yard sale couple he had spotted some chicken items - rooster salt and pepper shakers and a hen napkin holder.

He knew that they would make me smile and they did.  I proudly display them on a kitchen shelf and roll my eyes every time I think of Derek's stories of the random people he meets.

Now the week before Mothers Day, I had spotted an ad for lambs born to ewes that were going for slaughter - these little boys needed a home and a bottle.  This got Derek and I talking about animal plans around the homestead.  Goats were on the list but the fencing required to keep them in and their habit of chewing everything had us a little cautious.  The idea of a few sheep for wool and milk was appealing to us.

Later that day Derek found another ad for a little female lamb that needed bottle feeding and love.  In a few short emails we were loaded into the van (the entire family!) with an empty chicken brooder making our way to meet Todd and his orphaned lamb.

Todd was very knowledgeable and helpful when it came to our sheep questions.  He has a flock of forty dorset-charolais sheep at his farm but unfortunately had a pair of twins who's mother was an older ewe and did not make it through the lambing.  He had been bottle feeding the twins but was finding it a bit much.  The other little lamb had been adopted and we knew we couldn't leave without this little one in the van with us.

So... my Mother's Day gift came a week early and with a bottle.  The girls named her Jessie (though had she been a boy they were set on the name "Jean-George").  Jessie is very sweet and very attached to us already, following me down to meet the schoolbus and even trying to get into the chicken coop when I go in to feed or clean.

She has quickly become a special part of our family.  :)

Jeanette

Candlelight Walk 2016

Hello!

Every year on May 5, children in Holland decorate the graves of fallen Canadian soldiers as a way to remember their sacrifice and to give thanks for their help in the liberation of Holland during World War 2.

Here in Canada, candlelight walks have begun to take place as well to remember our veterans and our lost Canadians...

Last evening in a silent tribute walk, Erin, Sammy and Krista walked with the Girl Guides, laid a candle at the Cenotaph and gave a paper tulip to veterans who were present.

Nicole marched with her cadet troop, laid candles and saluted the veterans. Nicole also spoke on behalf of the cadets and recited a poem called "The Train Whistle".   I was teary eyed before this moment and a complete mess during her reading.  My pride in my daughter overflowed as did the gratitude for the life that I have been blessed with.

The candles stayed lit all through the evening and night hours.

May we always remember the high cost of conflict and find paths of truth and peace instead.

xo
Jeanette

Veggie patch dreams...

Howdy!

Two months back our little patch of paradise was looking like this:

Cold and icy.

But indoors, things were green... green with thoughts of a vegetable garden full of delicious food to eat!  The idea that we could have a veggie garden that you could walk through!  A veggie garden that you could feed your family meals from really were thoughts that brought us excitement!  Before our move we had a cucumber plant, a bean plant, a tomato plant a few pepper plants in our container gardens.  A great way to dip our toes in but also a taste of what we knew we really wanted on a larger scale!

Last autumn we had chosen a plot and covered it with manure.

As the snow blew outdoors we set to drawing up a garden plan and making a list of seeds to order.  How happy we were to see this box in our mailbox only days later!  (Thank you Vesey's seeds for the speedy delivery!)

As we are trying to use the idea of companion planting, designing a garden layout was an evening in itself.  Figuring in the furrows and walkways we decided we needed to make our plot just a little bit bigger.  :)

When we were happy with what we were seeing on paper we turned to the real life outdoor garden patch.  All of last fall's manure was pulled back; cardboard was set down and the manure laid back on top of the cardboard layer.  The cardboard will keep down any grass/weeds as well as retain moisture.. AND it will naturally decompose!  Layered on top of the manure was some clean fill - mostly sandy soil from the tree line that Derek has been clearing behind the barn.  The last bit to go before seeding will be some nice dark moist topsoil.

All hands on deck to help.  Our hens were great at turning over dirt in the garden as well as turning over the manure in the manure pile...

 What a place to dust bath??!!

Though it feels as though winter will never let go and the last frost may still be weeks away, we began our celery, peppers and tomatoes indoors.  Nothing happened for almost two weeks after we planted them!  Then a lucky trip to TSC found us in the clearance section where electric heat pads for seed starting were on sale.  Within days we had sprouts and now a few weeks in, our plants are well on their way to being ready to be planted outdoors after Jack Frost's departure!!

 Green thumbs up!  :)

Jeanette