More pie and sugar beet seeds

The freezer clean out continued this weekend with raspberry-apple pie. The apples were (I think) from Operation Fruit Rescue picks and the raspberries were from Roy's Raspberry farm. Very tasty--next is strawberry-rhubarb pie. I also put a bunch of frozen beans and carrots into soup on the weekend.

In the mail yesterday came my sugar beet seeds. Couldn't find any locally but the folks at Apache suggested I e-order from Seeds for Change (which have great heirloom seeds). I put together the minimum $5 order (kale, beans and the beets) and then went to check out and they wanted $22 for shipping (cheapest option)! So I went to ebay and got 500 seeds (plus a random piece of scripture!?) for $11. Come on spring!

Racking off the wine

With two weeks of winey-smells permeating the basement, the fermentation finally finished on our first batch of wine and it was time to rack it off. Fortunately the internet provided answers on just how to do that. The instructions in the kit were a bit too concise--kind of like the 13 words my dad used to explain driving a stick: "punch the clutch, stick it in gear, pop the clutch, hit the gas". Technically correct. Yet missing some of the nuances and, consequently, we sprayed the campsite with gravel as I spun the truck out onto the road. Ah, good times.

The pictures of racking off the wine were not exactly flattering, so I've posted only the "best". We managed to get almost all of the wine into the carboy, with only minor spills (on me) and no contamination. Now we wait another couple of weeks for this to clear. Depending on how much it settles, a second racking might be in order or we may bottle.

We've had nearly 18 inches of snow this weekend (based upon the accumulation on the deck) so gardening is a ways off! But I expect my sugar beet seeds to arrive this week. Now onto cleaning out the freezer and seeing what we'll be eating the new few weeks.

Cherry pie

With Jennifer starting a new job on Monday, I will reprise my role as head cook and bottle washer into the foreseeable future. This sent me to the freezer on the weekend to see what I could see (lots of green beans, as it turns out). Note to self: fewer green beans this spring.

But I also found a bag of sour cherries we picked and pitted this summer. Thus delicious cherry pie. Alas, I was too lame to make my own crust this time. But another pie is the goal this weekend, along with racking off the wine into a carboy.

Fondling the seeds

With sunlight streaming into the dinning room, we hauled all of the jars and enveloped of seeds out from the cupboard today to see what we had and give some thought to what we might plant where. Some of the impetus of this was a gift of seeds from a colleague (hey Mike!) in Athabasca. So we had to figure out where we'd try Italian pumpkins (more of the front lawn must be sacrificed!) and also where we're going to work in his scarlet runner beans.

I packed away a fair number of seeds last autumn, using powdered milk as a desiccant. Seemed to work alight as the seeds look and smell okay. Jess and I had a spirited discussion about whether to plant only one type of potato (Jess loves the blue caribe we planted last year--which yielded huge numbers of potatoes) or whether we should throw in some baking potatoes as well. Since I'm doing the digging, we'll do a mixed patch this year in the garden we rescued from the irises.

The wine is cooking away in the basement (need to rack it off next weekend). In the meantime, I'm going to look into turning some old electrical conduit into frames for beans. I know we're months away from any meaningful gardening (although the soil in the cold frames is starting to soften ever-so-slightly) but it feels good to mull the upcoming summer.

Experimenting with wine making

Spring is in the air today so we went out early to get some skiing in before the snow melted. A bit icy but a fun start to the day.

One of my goals this year is to make some apple cider (meant to do it last year but just couldn't get it together). I bought a wine making kit on kijiji and thought we should get some experience with an starter (i.e., idiot-proof) wine kit before venturing into cider. So today was the day the pinot noir got started.

I was also excited to try out the apron I got at Xmas (which is now suitable stained) and Jess and Jenn both patiently waited for me to muddle through the instructions.

As far as I can tell, we didn't miss any steps or do anything wrong. I suppose we'll know for sure in four weeks.

The cold frames beside the house are starting to warm the soil a bit and there are places where it is thawed down a whole centimeter! A few more weeks and we'll be in a much better place. But the smell of earth is very nice.

Glass on the cold frame

While it is way too early to bother with the garden, the lovely weather and sun of the past two days has stirred me to do more than just fondle seed catalogues. After washing the windows (inside, anyhow), I wandered around the yard and noticed the cold frames beside the house had melted out of the snow.

So I dug out the glass from the garage and dropped the on top. There was a tiny bit of melting and condensation this afternoon which is encouraging. I recall doing this last year in March. The other cold frames are still under 18" of snow.

Now back to reading The Long Emergency with a cup of coffee in hand!

Gearing up for 2013

With the holidays over and a good dent being made in last summer’s harvest, I’m now starting to mull what kinds of garden projects to take on in 2013. Below is a picture of an apple-strawberry-saskatoon pie—inspired by what was sitting on the top level of the freezer this afternoon.

I think first up is a perennial herb garden with space for annuals (mostly basil). I have some room on the south side of the house (so lots of heat and good wind protection). Getting that space ready will likely be job one in the spring.

I’m also keen to try making sugar from sugar beets. I’ve never grown sugar beets (more of a southern Alberta thing) but I imagine they are pretty much like regulars beets. So I need to do some research about varieties and processing.

I’m also keen to make some apple cider next fall. I had a quick explanation from a friend of a friend yesterday and it looks quite manageable. So picking up the necessary bits of equipment seems like a good winter task. It also makes me keen to give Operation Fruit Rescue another go this spring.

A bigger decision is whether to expand the beds in the back by tilling under some grass in the utility corridor to the south of us. I really hate having to mow this huge stretch of lawn. This might be an autumn 2013 task, after I get a sense of what the additional bed I put in last summer means in terms of workload.

Based on what the cold room and freezer looks like, we need fewer green/yellow beans, double the number of potatoes (almost out!) and onions and garlic, and slightly more carrots. I’m going to experiment with a frame to increase the amount of potato hilling I can do to see if that helps the harvest any. First up though will be seeding some spring greens in the cold frames--in about two months or more.

I think we’re about right on jam and apple sauce. My plans to can vegetables seem to have run into a snag whereby flat-top stoves don’t necessarily get on with pressure canners all that well. Of course, there is no definitive answer about that available--just lots of cautionary tales.

An alternative might be another freezer, perhaps in the garage. The power needed to freeze irks me some. But, if we only used it in the autumn to spring, the drain would be pretty minimal (an unheated garage is pretty cold from October to April anyhow!).