Friday, October 14, 2011

Preserving the Harvest

Do you can, dehydrate, freeze, or stow away any of your garden or farmer's market bounty?

Ever since I moved to the Orchard House, I've tried to preserve as much as I can. I always wish I could do more, but the harvest season is so fast and full that something always gets left behind. This year was apricots and pesto.. Perhaps next year?

It's fun to find inspiration in old cookbooks and canning magazines (I find them at antique malls or online), and I even have a Kerr Magazine framed on my kitchen wall that says "You'll be glad you canned with Kerr!"

However, the experts remind us that although those old recipes may look tempting, they may not have enough acid in them to can properly. I must confess though, that I use two old family recipes every year without fail- Great Great Grandma's Chili Sauce, and Grandma's Dill Pickles. Both recipes have lots of vinegar to keep them on the healthily acidic side.

Below is a quick video of the results of an afternoon canning session.


Thursday, July 7, 2011

Victorian Farm Repeats on TVO

Ruth, Peter, and Alex are back again on the telly, chasing pigs, cooking tongue, and learning all about farm life in the Victorian Era! If you live in Ontario, TVO is replaying the original Victorian Farm Series every Monday night at 7pm.

If you haven't seen this fantastic reality television series, I highly recommend it. The presenters are historians and archaeologists that are jumping into it with both feet- a nice change from previous reality TV series where the families involved often complain and bring in a lot of modern life into the experiment.

Ruth is my favourite of the presenters, she always seems to be having so much fun... she would make a wonderful old-fashioned living mentor!