Last year, apricots came and went and few made it through my door. It's a mystery as to how that happened because there are apricot trees everywhere around here. This year I promised myself that I would get apricots, even if I needed to do some guerrilla apricot...
We have been the happy recipients of cherries! Lots of cherries! We have processed at least 50kg (110lbs) of cherries in the last few days. My fingers are an awful shade of brown-red from all the pitting and chopping. Pitting cherries is messy business and everything...
Earlier this week we picked about 10 lbs of strawberries and 20 lbs of cherries from local u-pick farms. What did we do with all of it? We ate quite a bit of it fresh because it was just so delicious but I did manage to preserve some of it for the coming winter. I...
February is shaping up to be a month filled with citrus and renovations. These two things seem to be an effective remedy at warding off the February Blues. At the moment our laundry room is missing two walls, our breakfast nook table is...
Three years ago, when I was living more northerly, I convinced my husband and brother that it would be a good idea to go around town and pick the fruit from neglected apple trees. Most people were glad to give their apples way, since backyard bears are inconvenient...
Canning pears is a labour of love. It is by far the most time consuming of my canning projects. I do it because we love to eat home canned pears, nothing can compare.How many pears? A quart jar fits about 2.5 lbs (about 1 kg) of pears. To calculate how many...
Last year's plum sauce was good, but this year's plum sauce is better. The recipe is similar to last year's but I added a Thai chilli pepper and made some alteration with the ingredients and cooking. The result is a sauce that is thicker and slightly spicy. The ume...
We are fast approaching our tomato quota. Putting up enough tomatoes for the year takes time and effort, a great deal of both, but seeing the end result is more than worth it. This year I am sharing tutorials on how to can peaches, stewed tomatoes and now tomato...
My home has been filled with guests and tomatoes. Right now the dining table is fully extended to accommodate not our guests but 160lbs of Roma tomatoes while the other 40lbs are still in a couple boxes waiting to be laid out. The last of the 180lbs of round tomatoes...
Homed canned peaches are fabulous to eat when they are out of season. Not only are they less expensive than store bought canned peaches but they taste much better. Here I've provided a thorough guide to canning peaches that should be helpful for both the newbie and...
Peaches are available at our local u-pick and I was thrilled to be out there picking yesterday. We picked about 50 lbs of big beautiful peaches and brought them home to preserve for the coming winter. This morning I woke to the smell of peaches ripening in my kitchen,...
When it comes to making jam the variations are endless. I have comes across quirky combinations like blueberries + basil, strawberry + Thai herbs and plums + cardamom. I made plum + cardamom jam last year and it was pretty good, but nothing can prove equal to the...
Rhubarb crumble and strawberry rhubarb pie are delights to be had while rhubarb is in season. When rhubarb makes its appearance I put some aside for rhubarb relish, a delicious tangy condiment that I discovered a year ago and decided I could not do without. Rhubarb...
[September 2013] Updated recipe: Chinese Plum Sauce 2.0In the last few years I've stopped canning unique foods like chutneys in favour of more basic, versatile foods such as canned tomatoes. Every family has their favourite foods and it takes...
This year all of our tomatoes came from Covert Farms. They were organic and we paid $0.60/lb if we picked them ourselves. This year we picked 200lbs of field tomatoes and 260lbs of Roma tomatoes. It was hard work and most of it I did on my own with the three little...
We eat a lot of salsa in our home. Not long ago I made twenty pints of salsa. I swear it was twenty pints, but now I'm only counting sixteen. Today I summoned the courage to preserve the last box of tomatoes. I scrounged up every last pint jar hiding in my...