...where the kiddies and I have disamappeared to, lol.
We're farm sitting again, the same property as last year only this is a longer term engagement. So, a 6 bedroom old farm house on 45 acres of land with plenty of woods. It's pretty great. I biked into town the other day, it's about a 10 minute ride along a winding country road, dirt and gravel, with golden fields, butterflies and caterpillars, stands of trees and the quiet of big open spaces along the way.
Living as we do in the great Canadian north it's not all that easy to stay raw all year round, nor do I aspire to be 100% raw vegan. In the interest of self-sufficiency we've been jarring all manner of fresh, local, organic produce which of course involves cooking. I'm building quite the pantry, it's pretty inspiring providing food for my family outside of the industrial farming and corporate grocery store loop. A bunch of us get together at a neighbours farm house and make a big mess in her giant kitchen, it's a hoot! I've also been dehydrating, blue berries, elderberries, tomatoes, spicy peppers, and an attempt at carrot and almond pulp crackers (they make great dog biscuits, ha ha ha!). The freezer is full of local fruit and the squash harvest is just coming in so there will be lots of root veggies in our future diet.
Friends and I have plans for a large shared garden down the road at a neighbour's plot, maintaining it will be easier if there are more hands involved. There's nothing sadder than seeing food rot on the vine, we need lots of hands and mouths to deal with it all! And what a gorgeous feeling it is to pluck that night's dinner from the earth each day. Lovely.
I'm been setting up a studio space for crafty work too but it's taking a back seat to the foody stuff for a while yet. The holidays are coming up fast though so it's on my list of short term plans.

Miss you guys but not having internet at home has been so wonderful, I can't explain the sense of freedom it gives me not to be tethered to cyber space. I'll stop by here and there to check in. Hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely fall weather. Many blessings to you!

Yes, I have been wondering of late where you've been! Glad you are having fun and being very productive with your food stores.

Sounds like something out of Winnie the Pooh..the 100 Acres

Love,
Prism

That's cool Coco - I was wondering. Sounds like you are having a good time.

Oh Coco, it sounds so idyllic! I intend the same in the (near) future and it's great that you have kindred spirits to work together towards the same goal! And the Internet situation is exactly why I do not get wired up at home or on my person. It's sucks one's soul and I like my soul as bountiful as possible. I wish you would do a blog and share pics of your land and stuff...

coco Wrote:
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> We're farm sitting again, the same property as
> last year only this is a longer term engagement.

There's no feeling like being 'secure' in your home and surroundings. Too bad it can't be a permanent arrangement.
Enjoy!!......WY

We had our annual apple day with the scouts but because of that early thaw in March followed by more frost the farmer who usually donates apples didn't have any at all this year . When my mom drove us into town she was a little perturbed by this so ended up buying bags of apples with our scout leader at the store, yay! So, a good day had by all, many local apples handed out around town, and plenty left over. The scout leader's wife is one of my canning friends so we'll be making all manner of apple goodies next week. The kitchen we use is on land with organic apple trees too so it will really be an adventure getting all the fruit put up. The dehydrator's getting a work out with apple rings and fruit leather. Apple butter, apple sauce, apple pie filling, those are all on the list as well. Not all raw but we'll have fruit of some sort or other through the winter months.

I don't know about a blog, I've let the crafty one I started go. Just no time to take pics of stuff, my hands are always too dirty for holding a camera too, lol. Maybe I can enlist one of the kids, they are ALL more techy than me at this point! We'll see...

Happy fall to you all, happy season of the giving of thanks!

coco ! sounds like some amazing summer an fall adventures .. miss you loads

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Question, Coco: (to be answered in a week when you get to the Internets, LOL)

What are you doing for the kids' edumacation? Homeschooling or public/private school? Inquiring minds...

Since it's Canadian Thanksgiving we're at friend's houses with computers more often this week, lol. The kids go to a small local school, it's not the absolute best but they just won't learn from me so it is the best available alternative. I need the time to myself too, there's a TON of work to do at our place! The floor is enormous, cleaning it takes 2 days (so it's generally dirty, lol, the life of a farm wife ha ha).

JODI! I need your mailing address, I've got copies of that book that show how to build yurts etc .

Ok, today we filled the dehydrator with cherry tomatoes and hot peppers and we canned some hot pepper rings. Tomorrow we'll be making quince preserves and green tomato chutney. I got a bunch of crock pots to do ferments in too so there will be all manner of ferments growing on the counter by the end of the day. I need another fridge for all this food. Or a cold cellar! Oh man, I'd love one of those...

I have heard about quince(s?)...what do they taste like? I imagine apples but not sure. Is that what mincemeat is? I know Canada probably has some English dishes (what few there must be of that cuisine, LOL). I never see quince 'round these parts...

friend of mine made a cold room in their house with an air con in the window and a dehumidifier ... seemed pretty simple

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I want a cold cellar that doesn't need any hydro, I'm getting fed up with paying for power lately. It's getting darker out so in order to get everything done during the day we need lights, and it's freezing so we need heat, but I'm really trying to solution out ways to have these things happen for free.

Quince are HORRIBLE! lol. So tart and dry and mouth-puckery. It's going to take some sweetening for sure. I was wondering about cutting it with apple and reducing it to concentrate the fruit sugars. We'll see...

Got a mountain of green tomato chutney put up. That will be for holiday gifts, save some money and give a little handmadery .

Want to see the food cupboard? Here's a flickr set of my canning adventures, it's been SO GREAT so far. I really love it. Better than the raw produce from a crocery store in the winter any time. I KNOW where this stuff came from and how it was grown at least.

[www.flickr.com]

coco Wrote:
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> Want to see the food cupboard? Here's a flickr set
> of my canning adventures, it's been SO GREAT so
> far. I really love it. Better than the raw produce
> from a crocery store in the winter any time. I
> KNOW where this stuff came from and how it was
> grown at least.
>
> [www.flickr.com]
> ts/72157631861001759/

Wow all that fresh healthy food, the pics even beam a healthy vibe from them.

Sounds like your enjoying yourself Coco .

Take care

Really great to have a stocked cupboard right now as we experience the tail end of that crazy storm that's pummelling the coast. Wow, the wind. It's incredible! The kids and I all slept in together in a big bed on the main floor of the house last night, camping lantern all wound up and ready to go. Everything was fine this morning, just some minor damage to the outbuildings that was easy to repair. We'll see how it goes tonight, batten down the hatches! Hope everybody's ok out there, take care!

Your preserving, etc. is quite impressive.

Coco, what was the MPH of the winds? I am a bit surprised that they were saying it was about 90 in NYC when it was about to make landing. We've gotten that in Chicago in the last few years. A tree right across the street fell on two houses and practically destroyed them both.

Does she give eggs?

OMG, I read your last sentence wrong and thought you wrote: "I'll made compost out of her..."

If you should find the hen, I hope you will put her in a safe place, away from predators. I've seen hawks attack hens and I thought it was a cruel death. Domesticated animals are helpless, and dependent on us to keep them safe.

Hi COCO!

So good to hear from you; miss you on Facebook. And I love those photos of your food cupboard-- fabulous! Sounds like you and the kiddos are doing very well and you're in an ideal place.

Sharrhan:


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