It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post but much has happened in my quest to live more organically. Last fall, we prepared for winter, visited local farmer's markets and put our order in for a half lamb. The vacuum sealer and chest freezer were put to good use while we saved gifts from the garden and market, that we are still enjoying. The canning went "okay" as well, and our tomato sauce turned out excellent. The canned carrots on the other hand, not as great. I had increased the salt and vinegar portions out of fear of botulism and well...they are WAY too salty and vinegary...but it was a learning process. The strawberry jam and the Saskatoon berry jam's are carrying us through winter and we are preparing for another spring of growing and gardening.

Our friends Mike and Steff, were kind enough to share some of their first hunting prizes and I have yet to cook the duck that sits in the freezer as I want to ensure I do so well. They are friends of ours that are "on the same page" when it comes to food and environmental concerns and are sharing our quest as well as their access to a family owned piece of land. Our plot however, will be jammed with as much as I can fit on it and I have already been planning for this. Most of the seeds have been ordered and received and I have been mapping out where things will go. The task is to put things where they will receive significant sun, shade and/or protection and where i'll be able to collect quality seeds from them. Seed collecting, which I've been educating myself on, will be a challenge with the small amounts of each variety, but we will do our best to collect as many quality seeds as possible....and yes...this will be another learning experience.

This winter I also read about the plight of the Honeybee which seems to be in urgent need. I learned about how the Honeybee and other pollinators work, as well as the dire situation with our pollinators in "The Collapse of the Honeybee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis" by Rowan Jacobsen. It left me so upset and inspired that I recently registered for an Urban Beekeeping course. I'm not sure if I will actually keep bees here on our property in the city, but need to know more about this. The course will also discuss how to set up your garden to attract and aid pollinators, which will also be useful. I do the course next weekend and will follow it up with a quick post to give you some tidbits of info.

That's where we're at currently. Another year of learning about nature and food! I'm excited to learn more about how I can positively affect the earth and enjoy her gifts without harming her....I'll keep you posted.