Throwin the Nasty Out With the Nappy

A word about baby poop.

Like most middle-class North Americans, I was first taught how to change a baby’s diaper using a disposable.  The procedure involved removing the wet or dirty diaper, wiping with disposable wipes, and fastening a new diaper on the fresh clean baby.  The diaper was then folded up tightly into a nice [...]

Home-canned Baby Food

Better late than never.

The best time of year to make baby food is late summer or early fall.  Peaches, followed by apples and pears, reach their peak at this time, and these flavours are always well received.  If you are new to canning, then making baby food is a good way to learn the basics.  [...]

Polytunnel Panic

I was worried that my beautiful greens might take a wee bit of a hit tonight (-2 predicted), so we rigged a temporary mini hoophouse over the garden bed.  It was a very last minute decision – made at about 4pm – and I think we did well.

We happened to have several yards of 3/4 [...]

A Tickle Trunk for Everyone

Growing up, my family always had a Tickle Trunk. It was a big black old-fashioned thing with metal hinges and clasps – both my cousin and I could fit inside it. It had some really interesting costume pieces in it: old wedding veils, a couple of wigs, old shirts, ties, skirts, high heeled shoes, scarfs, [...]

First Foods

Babies are usually ready to start solid foods by the time they are six months old.  A few babies will thrive on just breastmilk until their ninth month, and others will be eager for new tastes and sensations at five months.  Try to wait as long as possible.  There is no danger in delaying the introduction of [...]

Apple Barley Pancakes

In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients.
In a second small bowl, whisk egg yolks with water until frothy.  Add rice milk and applesauce and whisk again until well combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir quickly until just mixed.  There should be loads of tiny bubbles on top.  Let batter sit 5 to 10 minutes, [...]

Tomato Paste

In my experience, it is almost impossible to boil down pureed tomatoes to a consistency that can accurately be referred to as “paste”, and yet, that is what the published canning experts tell us to do. Here is a much better alternative:

Peel tomatoes and puree them until smooth. For every 4 cups of [...]

Salsa Verde!

I have 6 jars of green tomato salsa in the canner. I’ve never preserved green tomatoes before. Usually, at the end of the season, I cut down all the remaining clusters of tomatoes, leaving as much vine attached as possible, and spread them in a single layer between newspapers in the cold cellar. [...]

Salsa!

I canned five pints of salsa today. The tomatoes were a mix of Amish Paste, Roma and Hungarian Heart. With night temps back up into the “teens” all this week, the rest of the fruit will have a reasonable chance to mature. I may be in full canning production by Saturday.

Find Your LEGS

I think if we can learn to LIVE Green, EAT Green and GROW Green, then ultimately we will SAVE Green, which is good for our pocketbooks, and good for the planet.

Zunuksuk

I also have a love/hate relationship with recipes that promise to “put a dent in that zucchini harvest”.