Pantry Project the (not quite) Final Chapter

Following the installation of the insulation and vapour barrier, the pantry required some sort of actual wall covering.  This first required that I do a little bit of investigation into actual wall coverings possible for the space.

Drywall was totally out.  It would be heavy and cumbersome and require more professional installation than I am capable of.  Plus there's that whole mud and sanding thing and no WAY am I going through that in such a small space.

I spoke with my Dad and then I also spoke with the guys at Slegg Lumber over in Cumberland and what I ended up landing on was a very thin wall board material that would be somewhat durable and easily painted over, should the need arise.  

FYI - once the room is totally finished, including corner bead and seams, it WILL be painted before I put in the flooring.  That will be a stay-cation project for some time in 2016.  Colour not yet determined, but will need to be very light to ensure the space stays bright.

Anyhow, the hardest part of this stage was the measurements and cutting - and God bless my Daddy for his patience here because the room has some weird angles and no actual square walls!

I didn't take any during pictured because the stuff went up really fast (once the cutting was done) but I got a couple of after pictures for reference.

Look at all that shelf space available!

And here too - so much SPACE!!!

Once this was done and installed I needed to look into actual shelving options. I again sought advice from my Dad and we spent some time looking on Lee Valley' website for ideas and information,  I settled on a couple of options.  For the wall behind the freezer I elected to go with a single shelving unit (and in retrospect, I can get another set of brackets and put another set above the freezer) and for the regular walls - those seen in the second picture, I elected to install some heavy duty lumber shelving straps and brackets.

Yesterday I bought lag screws and washers and went to work. Hm.  I also needed a drill bit large enough to drill pilot holes... so the wall straps and full shelving didn't go up until today, but I was able to install the shelf over the freezer.

Definitely more space for another shelf here

Today I went and bought the needed drill bit. After a nice (but cold) walk with Jasmine, I got to work on putting up the straps, brackets and shelves. I could really put in a couple more shelves (I bought a third strap and 4 more shelf brackets, thinking I would need more bracing, but the wall space really didn't need the extra support. No matter - I will just need to purchase 2 final straps and more shelf brackets for the wall directly opposite the entry door.

I then went to work, moving all of my canning out onto the shelves and voilà - a pantry is born!

Old Mother Hubbard indeed!

As I said, no more major projects until 2016.  I will finish out the shelving for the pantry, maybe even before the end of this year, but for now, I am VERY pleased with the (not quite) completion of the project!

With love across the waters...

Harvest is… Done!

Well, summer’s bounty has come (mostly) to an end now and I am starting to draw back inside and begin my winter hibernation.

The only things still (sort of) producing in my yard are my beans (they are still giving a meal’s worth every few days) and my tomatoes.  The tomatoes, though, need to be pulled (very soon – it is the middle of October here and Jack Frost will not be very far away now) and hung somewhere dry in order to let them ripen on the vine in as much as I will be able to let them.  I really don’t want to lose what is still left on the plant – I have had such an amazing crop from it this year!

The rest of the yard is starting to die back, and the leaves are now starting to fall from my pear, apple and lilac trees. At this point in the season I’m trying to decide “what next.”

“What Next” thoughts include removal of the pear tree.  When all is said and done, I really do like pears, I don’t *love” them – and I have a small yard – which means that I either need to love it or cull it. This will mean cutting it down and then digging out the root ball.  Then I will need to over-seed the bare area with grass seed in order to get it to hopefully take root before the real killing frosts start – all in hopes that I don’t have mass areas of mud in the back yard for Jasmine to have fun in….

The other “what next” thoughts include digging out the aromatic evergreen at the end of my patio (right beside my Japanese Maple) and building another raised bed there.  Oh… and also filling in the pond and flattening the hump beside it. 

Ok – I will just have to admit to myself, and accept, that patches of my back yard are destined to be doggie mud pen areas this coming winter and spring.

The inside projects for the winter will include some more work on my kitchen, some painting and shelf building in my bathroom and maybe, if I can figure out how to do it, some closet reconstruction in the bedrooms… I’m pretty well decided that I will be (eventually) having proper stairs built from the front bedroom into the attic – thus opening up the entire attic space to make it into living space, (well, once dormers and electricity and possibly plumbing have been run upstairs) and what is now the front bedroom will become a small office – I mean properly an office.

Anyhow, this winter’s projects will NOT include stair installation…

For this weekend, though, or rather the one day left of it to me at present, I am going to spend it relaxing and enjoying the rainy days we are having.

With love across the waters…

Garlic is Planted

In spite of being home sick today (I have a head cold that makes me less than desirable to have at work) I managed to get something done,  I dug out the bed I intended to plant next summer's garlic crop in and... I planted my garlic.  Right now the bed looks like a big dirt-filled box, but come spring, it will start shooting up garlic seedlings and then, next summer, provide me with (hopefully) a bumper crop of garlic.

I went in on an order with my Mum to Salt Spring Seeds to augment my planters... the ones Mum gave me a couple of years ago produce marvellous large bulbs with snappy garlicky cloves, but I really did not plant nearly enough.  I planted 21 (all of which provided) and harvested 21 and here I am, a month past harvest, and including what I planted, I only have two and a half bulbs of garlic left! This is partly to do with the gorgeous roasted tomato sauce I have been making and canning, but really, this year proved to me that I needed to plant more!

I used up my entire long bed - and have planted almost 60 cloves!

Yes, that seems like a lot for one person to consume - but consider that next year I hope to have two of the Health Kick tomato plants in and producing - and hope to have at least twice the amount of canned roasted tomato sauce set aside - that speaks to almost 36 bulbs right there! Additionally, if I need to set aside 8 of the biggest for planting, that means that I would really only have about 16 for consumption through summer, autumn and spring - until next year's crop is ready for harvest. I will need to mulch the bed well before the frosts really are upon us - but the maple leaves are still mostly green and happy on the trees across the street, and so I will need to keep my eye on things and ensure that when they really start to come down, I hustle myself over there and collect lots!  I will also plan to pile in all of the leaves that fall in my back yard.  The leaves on the lilac are yellowing and getting ready and the apple and pear trees will not be far behind that...

In June of next year I can make double the amount of Garlic Scape Pesto (and freeze it for summer and autumnal consumption) 

Earlier this week I used some of my home-made tomato sauce in a lasagna - it was heavenly!  Before too long I want to purchase a pasta machine for myself - they are a bit pricey and so have not been very high on my "to get" list, but as I am progressing in my "do more of it myself" journey, I want to be able to start making my own pastas.  I may never have a farm of my own where I can grow beef, pigs and chickens, but I can certainly make the most of what I can do in my small space of the world!

With love across the waters...

Pears!

You may recall that one of the things I did last weekend was pick the pears from my pear tree...

Before the Harvest

Harvested Pears

... and even though I hadn’t planned on it, today I canned (some of) my pears.  Yesterday afternoon I decided to try one out and surprise, surprise – it was ripe enough to eat – which means that it was almost too ripe to can!

ACK!

That meant I had to jump into action this morning and get moving on processing my pears – if, unlike last year, I wanted to can any for winter consumption.  Last year I left things too late and ended up eating maybe three of them and then composting the rest of them. 

So this year I was determined to catch them in time!

With the help of the Simply Canning website, I pulled my act together last night and got a plan in motion.  This morning I leapt (well, more like trudged) into action.  First up was to get the kitchen ready for my efforts.

Everything Out of the Cupboards and Onto the Counters...

Next up was to make up a citric acid bath for the pears to keep them bright - my version was lemon juice and water since I am trying to be as sugar and chemical free as possible.

4 Cups Water to 1 Cup Lemon Juice 

Then to make light syrup.  While I am trying to keep things as sugar free as possible, I recognise that the syrup is something that helps to keep the fruit tasty and preserved… so I opted to try the honey and vanilla option that the Simply Canning site listed… so mine was a dark honey with water and about a teaspoon of vanilla.

Light Syrup

Bringing the Syrup to the Boil

Peel, core and cut up the pears… this happens to be the most time consuming part of the process, and the one that leaves my hands sore and sometimes blistered when done…

First Batch

The pears then go into the syrup to be partially cooked… from there, into the canning jars with just enough of the syrup to cover the fruit, and then into the water-bath canner.

5 Minutes in the Syrup

When all is said and done, I have 16 jars of pears and a now nice and tidy kitchen.

Half Way Done

16 Jars Cooling

Dishes Done!

I find that as I continue my food processing journey I am learning important things – including that I much prefer to work with wide mouth mason jars as opposed to small mouth ones. Not only is it easier to get the larger fruits in and out of without making as much of a mess, when doing sauces, it is easier to get ALL of the sauce out of them.  I do have a couple of flats of small mouth jars that I will continue to use for my applesauce efforts, but solid fruits – pears and peaches especially – are MUCH easier for me to manage in the wide mouth jars… which means that, before I process the peaches that are coming in this week, I need to get my hands on more canning jars!

I do still have some pears left to work with, but with these I will be attempting pear butter… which to me looks like a sort of a preserve that would be good on crumpets (which I plan to learn how to make this winter) and ice cream.

The pear butter exploits will be documented later…

With love across the waters…

This Time of Year

I had been thinking to stop in at my Brother & Sister-in-Law’s house  for a visit today on my way to Mum & Dad’s, but the clean-up at Grandpa’s house is all but done (and there is a showing on Sunday) and so my help wasn’t needed this weekend… as a result I opted to stay home and do some things here… My Sister-in-Law sent me an email this morning – one of the things she said (thank you Carrie!) was “Have fun in the yard- I love the bounty of this time of year; makes life feel so full...”

I know exactly what she means. I have been trying my hand at gardening and canning now for two years. In the 4 years I spent in my house in Ontario, I mostly puttered and weeded in flower beds.  Though I considered putting in vegetable beds, I never really managed it. My house there didn’t actually have any taps outside that would have made watering productive. There was a tap that went into the back wall of the garage, but nothing else – and that meant carrying watering buckets around, or running hoses out windows and through the house in order to water.  Not a house built for anything other than lawn that didn’t require water.

Here in my little lot in Cumberland, I have a tap out the back of the house.  I’d like one out the front as well (I could do more out front if I had the capability to water without running hoses all over hell and back around the house) but that isn’t in the cards at the moment.  There are many other home improvements I need to tackle before I put in a faucet for watering convenience out front. The tap out back makes it possible to set up drip lines that keep the beds alive.  Beans, snow peas, carrots, Swiss chard, tomatoes, spinach, kale and lettuce – not to mention the pears, and plums I have been able to harvest this year - so far. I pulled the peas, kale and lettuce a week to two ago – and am readying those beds to put in a next planting of kale, spinach and snow peas.

Where I was really going with this is that there is a real feeling of security for me in being able to open my cupboard or freezer and see food in that I grew myself, see things that are so much healthier and so much tastier than the commercially made options.

This coming week I will be working on peaches and pears – and then the apples.  The peaches, freestone peaches, are coming to me from the Okanagan – maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday, but then Wednesday night I will need to get started on canning again. I looked in my canning jar cupboard today when I was getting ready to can the tomato sauce, and did some quick calculations… and I am thinking I may need to get my hands on my pint and quart jars… and maybe more cupboard space to store my food.

I love the bounty of this time of year; makes life feel so full...

With love across the waters…

The Russian Blue Potatoes-in-a-Bag Experiment

This year I decided to attempt a potato growing experiment - I read a blog post somewhere about growing potato plants in 5 gallon pails - and thought "I could do that!"

I spoke with my Mum that night and she ended up doing some research herself and found information and a really neat YouTube Video done in Scotland, about growing potatoes in bags - both cloth grow-bags and brown paper bags.  Mum had some left-over weed-suppressant cloth and sewed up a half dozen bags - a couple for me, a couple for my sister-in-law and a couple for herself. Mum's grow-bag post can be seen here.

Being the oddity that I am, I decided that I needed to plant food with colour - and so along with the purple haze carrots I planted this year (not yet ready to pick) I also ordered a small box of Russian Blue seed potatoes from West Coast Seeds... They were pretty easy to plant and grow - I have to admit.  Potatoes are pretty much a plant and ignore crop (they do need water) and I am GREAT with plant and ignore crops! I planted 5 in each bag and, aside from adding soil every time they got tall enough, I pretty much watered and ignored them until today...

The potato bags are in the middle at the back...

Happy Potato Plants

The flowers are actually a purple colour!

Tonight I decided it was time to break up a grow bag and see what I had, well, growing. I started by digging my hand into one of the bags to see if I could root around and find some new potatoes to snag and cook... No luck. I had saved an old shower curtain and went & pulled it out of the shed.  I dragged/rolled one of the bags onto the shower curtain, broke the soil apart a little and dumped the contents onto the old shower curtain.

Post Potato Hunt!

I think planting 5 per bag was too many and will, next time, plant three per container. I think that planting too many per bag meant less crop potential, but I still managed to get some potatoes out.

A Small Haul

Once I had dumped the shower curtain contents into my compost pile  - which, in retrospect, was probably not the smartest thing I could have done (I could very easily incorporated that soil into another container and planted, yes more, potatoes...  Ah well - there is still another bag to harvest) I took my haul into the kitchen, washed the dirt off of them, chopped 'em up and stuck them into a pot to steam.

Ooh - PRETTY! - I wonder how it will taste though??

All chopped up and ready to steam...

Steamed, they lose some of the vibrancy of the blue,
but still have a lovely lilac colour to them!

While I was washing them I found one that looked markedly different from the others - one of them was smaller, darker, and had eyes that were looking to start sprouting. I talked to my Mum and decided to hold that one back and see if I could chit it (that is the technical term for letting a potato sprout on purpose so you can plant it.  the ones that sprout while in the fridge are just an accident ha ha ha!) and if I can, I'm going to plant it and grow more potatoes!  These ones are absolutely delicious and worth a do-over!

The one on the left is what I think should be the seed
potato and the one on the right went into the pot!

I had some with dinner (the verdict is that they are tasty and I will absolutely grow them again!) and set some aside to make a colourful potato salad with.  So far I have steamed yams and Russian Blue potatoes. I'll get some butter potatoes and will also include some chopped garlic scapes for some zing.

That reminds me, my garlic scapes are ready to harvest - Garlic Scape Pesto, here I come!!!

With love across the waters...

Pumpkin Surprise!

The real surprise for me was that I was actually growing pumpkins...  The treat was that when the leaves started to die back there were actual real pumpkins to harvest!

Not many, but when seasoned enough, a couple to give away, and the rest to cook down and enjoy through the winter.

Surprise Pumpkins

With love across the waters...

Harvesting - Already?

This summer has been flying past me in a blur.

 

I took a couple of weeks off in May, a long weekend each in June and July (my August one will be this weekend) and then I have a week booked off in September and another one in October.  Summer's projects included building three new raised garden beds (two done just this past weekend) the near completion of the back fence project and getting ready for some major renovations that will take place while I am away in September.

 

The last few weeks have had me starting to harvest the bounty of my garden.  My Scarlet Runner beans (seeds courtesy of a neighbour of mine back on the Isle of Jersey) have produced some half dozen bags' worth of frozen packed beans for winter consumption (each bag is about two meals.) The Kale is in the process, also, of being harvested and processed for winter consumption (though truth be told, it's a crop that can be left out and fresh harvested all winter long - so I'm not working too hard at cleaning that up!

 

Rhubarb may actually give me one last gasp of fruit for winter processing as well.

 

The next few things that will have me seriously hopping will be the tomatoes and the pears.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen - I've had one already, a second is nearly red and there are a handful more that will be soon ripe enough to eat, stew, freeze or otherwise process. When I was out inspecting the GIANT yellow flowers on my Crown Prince pumpkin (also a Jersey seed)  I tested a pear and they are looking like they will be ready to pick imminently as well.  That will mean that next weekend after my cabin time I will be coming home to pears to process and can.

 

I cleaned off the garlic bulbs yesterday and cut off the roots and leaves - they are in the house and waiting for use in sauces and soups... I'll need to get next year's garlic into the ground pretty quick, come to think of it, but the bed it will be going into next year isn't quite ready for it yet, so I have a little time there.  Plus I need to get my mind wrapped around what I want to put in - whether I want to save and plant from this year's harvest, or buy new stuff...

 

Thankfully, after the pears are done I will have a *little* breath time before I need to worry about the apples... they look AWESOME (if I do say so myself) and then after the frosts come I will start planning the pumpkin plans... I'm going to probably try my hand at canning some of that as well - if I have enough jars when all is said and done!

 

When I was in my teens and early twenties I never thought I would find something like this interesting.  Now in my forties, I have to admit, there is something truly magical to me about being able to put food that *I* grew in my own yard on the table.

 

With love across the waters...

Foraging for Kale

We have been in the throes of a heat wave.  There's been no rain in nearly a month and we've had hot dry sunny weather all July.  Though most people complain about the rain all winter, I choose not to as I know how desperate we on Vancouver Island become during the dry and hot summer months. The garden beds have dried out (and required the installation of soaker lines to keep my poor plants hydrated) the forests have become dangerous (though the true danger is from people and carelessness) and my world had taken on a fine dust covered film. I have also not turned on my oven in over a month.

 

I was able to harvest my garlic and it is curing in my shed for about a week and a half and now it needs to be cleaned off, have the chaff trimmed from it and it needs to be stored for overwinter consumption.

 

Yesterday the skies were gray and overcast almost all day.  My Mum & Dad came up in the morning to bring up Grandma's old love seat, a chair of my Great Grandmother's (on my Mum's side) and Grandma's bed.  We also finished most of the back fence project - the lattice is installed and it looks AWESOME! And finally, after lunch we assembled the bed.  I now have a spare bed and once again I get to do some re-arranging to make things a little more space friendly.

 

Late in the afternoon, after Mum & Dad had headed back down to Thetis Island, I was sitting inside thinking on making myself some dinner and the skies opened up and POURED.  I'm not talking sprinkle, I'm talking out and out pouring rain.  It was glorious!  It rained like that off and on all night and most of today and I could practically hear the trees sighing in relief.  My plants outside look happier and my apple and pear trees (and the little coral bark maple out front) are even looking perkier.

 

As a result of the MUCH cooler day today I even turned on my oven for the first time in over a month!  I baked cookies and granola.  I packaged up and vacuum sealed the granola for future use since I opened a box of cheerios the other day and need to finish that before starting something new, but still, I've not had my own home-made granola in what feels like AGES.

 

Since I wasn't needing to stain or cut or organize anything fence-wise today, I also took some time to harvest and freeze some of my kale for winter consumption.  I had to battle aphids - there was quite the infestation in there - but I won that battle for now... next year I will buy ladybugs (hee hee hee) to eat the aphids for me... after much soaking and washing, I laid out the leaves on cookie sheets and froze them. 

 

Did you know that after about an hour in the freezer kale will shatter if you drop a leaf on the floor?  I didn't know that either.

 

Kale frozen, I decided to try my hand at making kale chips and a kale and pear smoothie.  The smoothie is delicious - though I think next time I will have to puree the kale before adding the other stuff so that there isn't so much to chew on (ha ha ha!)

 

The kale chips are in the oven and I may be ready to try some of them after supper when I watch TV. 

 

The kale harvesting has cleaned out about a third of my bed - I am selectively pulling plants out now as the big ones I am leaving will continue to grow through the fall and provide me with healthy greens through the winter.

 

All in all a good day and a great weekend!

 

With love across the waters,