January! (and a backlog of photos for future posts)

Its been a good and beautiful busy time for us, and I'm excited that I have made a list and checked it twice... putting "write a blog post" this week. AND ITS HAPPENING!

We are deep into Winter here in Niagara, with the beginning of January leaving about 8 inches of snow. NO missed days of school. (SK was home for the holidays)... and we spent lots of time shovelling, building forts, and generally being a typical Canadian family.

Our tenant moved out after Christmas, leaving us with the two rooms downstairs again. After some calls, I managed to extend out home to 2 lovely Korean homestay boys for 7 weeks. We are one week into their visit, and we are all getting comfortable with one another. Still learning our home rules, and to speak English only while home, but... hey. These two boys are doing really really well, given that they are so far from home, in a new country, eating new food, time zones, culture, etc. I cannot complain at all.

SK lost his first tooth as well. Very exciting, as this little gem held on for a solid month before finally wiggling free.

We have been very mindful of his sensitivity, and have been working to be compassionate, mirroring parents. His ability to communicate with us, emotionally, is outstanding. I am very proud of him. He knows himself very well. Its actually pretty incredible.

Jennifer Kolari, who wrote "connected parenting" is heading up this change in our parenting skills. As everyone, we are life long learners, and I am thankful our son sees that we are imperfect, and always learning how to be better parents. He is incredible with his sister too. Their bond is so beautiful.

HK is budding her first teeth, and we are still wading into the waters of baby-led weaning and solids introductions. Lots of advice from lots of friends and professionals, so we are sifting. She is not able to sit-up unassisted quite yet (so almost there), but LOVES family dinner time, where she perches herself on her daddy's lap and is socially enjoying the table. We've got a VERY busy little lady. She wants to be involved in everything, and takes LOTS of opportunity to express her personality.

I am so thankful to our friends who have our best interests in mind, and I am SO thankful for God's grace in to many areas of our lives. More to come on the holidays, new traditions, some back-blogging from this last summer's harvest (incredible abundance in our garden this past summer.... must post!) and more international-student adventures.

I also did get around to putting those bottles to use (a blog from before) and I used them for this years canning exchange. Will blog about that too. :)

Gardening for Canning and Freezing

If you are planning on starting a garden for the purpose of being able to can and process much of your bounty... here are some suggestions I have on what to grow for a season in your front or backyards.

Humble Beginnings in 2011

Keep in mind, I live in Canada... so for those of you what are in the USA, you may be able to grow other foods (like kumquats for example) If you have access to local farmers markets, be sure to weigh out the pros and cons to growing your own versus buying from a local farmer. Sometimes a plant takes more effort, money and energy than they are worth when you are doing smaller scale, backyard gardening. Here is a lovely link for working out the logistics for space, cost and time too.



 I know that the following few that we have grown and loved are GREAT for canning and freezing:

Veggies:

Beans - for Dill Pickle Beans, plain canned beans, or flash-frozen
Green, red and yellow peppers - freeze well for stuffing, can well for salsas, chutneys, corn relish, etc.
Cucumbers - for obvious reasons! PICKLES! RELISH!
Asparagus - keep in mind that this stuff takes 2 years to establish from crowns before you can begin harvesting. It's an "investment" in the backyward garden, best grown along a fence. Once it is done (very short season) you can plant low-rooting things like salad greens where it was... and them make sure you heavily mulch before the winter comes to protect the area. Makes DELICIOUS dills though.
Legumes - for drying and soaking/cooking later on. You have LOTS of choose from, and I wold say these are ONLY worth is if you have LOTS of space.. otherwise, they are cheaper in the grocery stores.
Onions - You can grow from seed (start NOW!) or sets (later)
Corn - a heavy feeder for those of you with backyard gardens... and it takes up quite a space of room to get a decent amt... but if you have the room... I say go for it.
Beets - Hello beautiful colour. We use blood bull beets from the seed savers exchange. NOM.
Others... if you want to "grow there" - pumpkin, squash, cabbage (for sauerkraut or Kimchi)

Fruits:

Tomatoes - hundreds of ways to use these babies. Make sure you get a variety that say sis processes well... or one that you love. One bush can yield 10-50 lbs of fruit too... so tomatoes are a MUST in this girl's garden

Ground Cherries - These are a staple in my garden from now on. Simple to grow. See my bog about them here: GROUND CHERRIES, and I snapped a photo of the back of the seed pack for your enjoyment. PS... they are apparently perennials too! PSS. I can't say enough about these babies!

First Berries 2012

Peaches, pears, apples, concord grapes, raspberries, blue berries, strawberries - all amazing for preserves and such. Just make sure you think about how much space the plants take up, and how long the plant takes to product a harvest. I would say that strawberries are a great place to start, but make sure you get the established trailing ones if you want a harvest this summer. Raspberries can be invasive, but also incredibly rewarding. Growing them at the back of your property along a fence is good.

Herbs:

Dill from Dedo's Garden in Innsifil, ON

Dill (for pickles)
Garlic (for pickles, pesto, etc.) - see blog post here about my little garlic helper :)
Basil - for pesto
Oregano
Thyme
Sage
Lemon Balm - for tinctures, flavoured liquors and simple syrups
Mint (lots of varieties) - same as above for purposes  also great dry for teas and homemade bath soaks
Lavender - same as above :)
Cone Flower (Echinacea)

Ready to Harvest

Made July 18th 2012 - used them as Rx this last winter and gave as gifts

Garlic

We planted garlic a few weeks ago. I am very thankful for my gardening friend. He is always eager to help, and I find it easy to give him jobs. He is strong. Loves hard work. This guy LOVES shorts too... I believe we planted on October 28th... trooper!

They are all mulched up now, and will spend the winter tucked into the maple leaves. Once spring comes, the juicy garlic shoots will break ground. Always a lovely sign of Spring!