The Ugly Parts

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Well the blackberries are continuing to produce although at a much reduced pace. We're now sending less to market and keeping a whole bunch more to experiment with jams, jellies and cordials (which we hope to eventually sell).

This week has been a loaded with work on cleaning up the "ugly" parts of the farm. The ridge cleaning is almost complete and I must say the vines have at least killed one old tree. All we were left with is one big fat happy toad (or perhaps not so happy).

Although seriously infuriating, The vines have nurtured our "artistic talent"....nothing like whittling  in the evenings (instead of watching TV). There's something "zen" about the whole process. Note: Whittling requires a sharp knife....sharp knives and wine don't mix!

The slow down in blackberry production had us turn our attention back to our purple raspberries. We decided to weed the canes in anticipation of our pruning next spring. Now I know why they call farming "back breaking" work. The grape vines have even found their way among the raspberry canes.

Originally we were not going to grow grapes (there seems to be so much of it here it seems a Niagara cliche). Now, I simply give up. These things do so well in our sandy soil that Candice and I are in the process of identifying a couple of suitable varietals.

What was really ugly on the farm was our small "dump site". The previous farmer did not seem to be a good steward of the land and actually created a mess (in more than one spot). Although we estimated 4 man days to clear this garbage... it took twice that amount. Much of it could not be burned because of the plastics involved. It seems for old farmers "out of site is out of mind" was a policy too often employed. 

The fauna is still quite a pleasure for us and there are many animal species we would still like to record on film. Two are especially elusive. The deer just scamper away by the time you see them, and the hummingbirds are so erratic, you don't even have the time to focus on them....until now!

Christine is thrilled because this week also saw the start to the renovation of the old manor. For this purpose, we decided to hire the services of Sean Young of Sustainable Heritage. Sean is providing us with guidance, direction and expertise along with the historical context. 

The house is proving to offer lots of mysterious clues into its past. It seems that it was actually built on the site of an older home dating to the days of the Canadian Land Grants. Evidence has been found in salvaged parts (doors that predate the house and a large beam in the barn from an older roof structure) as well as the construction (the cellars' stone work and the second floor flooring supported by a roof like structure).

I now have an urge to find out who that original Loyalist land owner might have been. We may be able to do so by searching the archives of Brock University.

With the interior work, we decided to start with one bedroom (hoping to finish our 19 rooms within a year). The following pics show the before and the "now"....with no carpeting, limited flooring and all walls stripped, we all hope the now will be short-lived, although it is rather "cool" to find Victorian wall paper under layers of paint and other paper.

I finish this week with another Sunday project: more canning. I couldn't turn down Ontario Roma tomatoes at $10 a bushel. So we decided to do some sauces (little did I know how much work it would be). Everyone had to pitch in but if things work out, we should have some really good sauces to hold us out for the winter.

Indian Tea

To view the latest from Ridge Berry Farm visit our new blog and site!

Well the blackberries keep coming. We've now decided to send half of what we pick to market and the rest has been set aside for jams, jellies and cordials. This week, our best picker (Christine) had a set back. Her productivity was greatly impaired when she came face to face with a snake! It turned out to be a Brown Snake. These are usually quite small; this one was rather large for its species (...but still a small snake :))

Reptiles and amphibians we have plenty on the farm. In fact we have more frog species than I can identify (perhaps one day I'll get on it).

This week our crops were not limited to Blackberries. It turns out that one of our vines (next to the barn) has been highly productive. Christine discovered these and quickly got half a bushel of fruit. I believe these are Niagara grapes (a local sweet table grape). Since there is more than we can possibly eat before they go bad...I think it's time for us to get a juicer.

I know many who see this blog are from many places around the world and are typically not familiar with beavers. I thought it would be amusing for everyone to see what this Canadian emblem does on his spare time. We've uploaded the following video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTyMJGi3QcU ; it shows two playful beavers (yes we have more than one ...in fact up to three have been sighted in our middle pond).

Now, you may be wondering why I would entitle this post "Indian Tea". Over thirty years ago while trekking through Alqonquin Park, an avid outdoors man told me that the Sumac makes a great trail food. This stuck with me since I could not see how this furry cone could be good for anything. Like most I have always considered it a weed since it is so pervasive in Ontario.

It turns out he was right. This week, I decided to introduce the family to Sumac lemonade or Indian Tea (as the early settlers referred to it). The Native American knew how to use this bush to generate an amazing and refreshing drink. 

What we are referring to specifically is the Staghorn Sumac (identifiable because of its furry shoots). All you do is dip a few cones in cold water (squeeze them with your hands once or twice) and in the matter of no more than an hour just filter the furry fruit and you have "Indian Lemonade"!

With some trepidation, everyone tasted the brew (it can be had with or without sugar)...the result five thumbs up out of five participants! In fact we like it so much it has become our quenching drink of choice (no one is even adding sugar to it). The taste is similar to a lemon ice tea (but much easier to prepare). So would I do this again?....absolutely. Better, easier, cheaper than lemonade....and incredibly abundant.

I believe that these things can be sun dried and preserved for future use...other use include hot tea (once the acid is extracted with cold water) and jellies. I've come to the point where I now harvest them (we can't keep enough of this lemonade in the fridge).

 I will close the post this week with some photos of an enchanting part of the farm, our little piece of Carolinian forest. This type of forest is very rare in Canada and in fact limited to a thin stretch of the Niagara Peninsula. What makes it odd in a Canadian context is the fact that it contains not one single pine tree! The trees are all old hardwood like Hickory, Black Walnut, Maple and Oak. It is always a joy to just walk the paths that traverse our little forest and just marvel at these magnificent trees.

Clearing Land

To view the latest from Ridge Berry Farm visit our new blog and site!

Well the blackberries are still producing and the result is that we've been able to identify our best (and most determined) picker: Christine. Once started, we can't turn her off.

It turns out, we're not the only ones interested in our berries. One morning we found a couple helping themselves to our crop (without even asking for the price of the "pick your own" option). The couple in question had me baffled at first. I thought they were Mallards, but the male just didn't look right (without the tell tale iridescent green head). It turns out they were North American Black Ducks.

Of course, this is not the only wildlife sighted on the farm. This week, we finally captured one of our "landlocked" beavers on camera. We also had a taste of his threatening. I had never heard a beaver flap its tail in the water before, but it is a rather scary noise. It almost sounds like a 20 pound stone being thrown into the water or a very large animal jumping in (perhaps 10x the size of the beaver itself).

Once you know where to look evidence of the beaver is everywhere. In fact, it leaves trails! All you have to do is follow the fallen trees or the remnants of immense lumber it decided it would attempt to fell. 

Wildlife in and around the ponds also provided an incentive for us to try to fish on the farm....long and behold we actually did catch something (albeit small). It seems our back pond has been seeded by birds....the results are an abundance of "sunfish". This gives me hope that I may seed that pond with a more worthwhile catch (like walleye). It has also driven us to make a commitment: Sundays are now fishing days. The Niagara region is actually abundant with trout, salmon, walleye and bass.

I have to add that the warm weather in Ontario has also brought an abundance of butterflies on the farm. They seem to love our lilac. These butterflies are large and encompass many species which eventually I hope to be able to identify.

This week, we also had a visitor from Switzerland, our friend Alois Dober. He brought with him our custom made family cow bell (no real Swiss farmer would be without one!).

I guess having land always gives a man the urge to clear it...and it was no exception with us. Alois being a Swiss forester by trade, turned out to be an excellent additional pair of muscular hands. As a result we decided to clear half of our old purple raspberries (in order to plant new black current vines). Little did we know how difficult it would be to remove iron posts from old trellises. Tristan's tractor and brush cutter turned out rather useful, until he and Alois lost the bolt linking the cutter to the tractor's power take-off!

Another area that needed work was closer to home...just in back of the house actually. We had a ridge overgrown in vines preventing a clear view of our land from our backyard or deck. I have to say that originally I was amused by having grapes growing 20 feet into pine trees...now I am thoroughly infuriated with these things. The grapes combined with Wisteria vines created a jungle like atmosphere that I'm sure even stressed Alois...eventually we decided that clippers or a machete would never be enough and had to take some vines down with a chain saw (their diameter easily the size of our forearms).

The end effect as shown in the before and after photos were all worthwhile!

Before

After

One aspect of a sustainable lifestyle is of course canning or preserving foods (for the winter to come). It turns out it's already the season. Farmers in the area are offering sweet juicy tomatoes at just $10 a bushel just for that purpose. Now we've never done this before, but we decided to get a starter kit and experiment on a couple of basics: pickles (small cucumbers) and beets...we'll see how they turn out in a few weeks.

A quick word on the "Ward Manor" this week. We're finally getting to grips with the restoration work. This week we did a final inspection of the attic (a real crawl space in this house) and the "widow's walk" (the tower in the front of the house). After a few dead flies and spiders all over our faces, we discovered an incredibly tall room which could be turned into an incredible second floor "skylight".

The house also has some very interesting landscaping. For any serious "green thumbs" out there, we'd love to know what these flowers are (someone has already mentioned hibiscus, although I thought it was smaller than that). We have them in a multitude of colours (pink, white and purple) and they get to the size of dinner plates.

I thought I would end the post this week with some of the magical aspects of the farm. The photos below are from my morning walk. This is the fairy tale wonderland of asparagus in the morning dew.