Another Edible "Weed".

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By chance this week, we discovered another edible "weed": Purslane.

It turns out a lot of the weeds we have been pulling from our raspberry rows are actually an edible plant. Also referred to as "Little Hogweed", Purslane is not only a tasty annual succulent, but also a very healthy one. Loaded with Vitamin E and Omega-3, every part of this plant is edible from the leaves to the stems and its flowers.

Purslane (or Little Hogweed)

Not only is this a fine edible, but by retaining moisture in the soil, it is also a good companion plant.

It was then up to me to challenge Chef to introduce this green to the menu. It turns out this was easily done.

Ryan has been using the Purslane in salads, as a green addition to our cheese plate, but also on his Pizza di Paese.

Pizza di Paese: Tomato Sauce, fresh Sweet Corn, Paradiso Cheese and ...Purslane

On the farming front, we were quite lucky to have our friend (Alois Dober) from Switzerland back in town. Being a Swiss forester, Alois has been a tremendous help in clearing the brush on the front portion of our land. In the process, we've discovered a small grove of Butternut trees.

Clearing land and discovering another potentially useful crop: the Butternut (or White Walnut)

I also have to report on our grape propagation experiments. We were actually quite pleased that after just one week, some of our cuttings are already leafing. Things actually look quite promising.

Our grape propagation is already showing promise: the Concord cuttings are leafing

On another front, we have discovered a new pest. For some reason, we found that quite a few of our new golden raspberry leaves were damaged (basically eaten).

Leaf damage on golden raspberry canes

The culprit turns out to be a nasty scarab: the Japanese Beetle.

The Japanese Beetle feeding on a raspberry leaf

We have not yet identified a suitable organic spray to be rid of this beetle. There are pheromone based traps available, but we have heard that these can have nasty consequences (basically attracting more beetles to our site). As such, we have basically been picking them off and killing them by hand (apparently the scent of dead beetles can repel others). So far this has been somewhat effective and their counts are rapidly declining.

In the meantime, we have also continued our Melomel (fruit Mead) experiments. The first, based on a Pyment (Mead with Grape Juice) and Purple Raspberries, was ready to be racked.

Our first Purple Raspberry Melomel...ready for racking

We filtered the berries and placed the wine in a carboy....of course we could not help getting an early taste of the results. It turns out that the Pyment did pick up the flavours of the raspberries quite well. With all sugars turned to alcohol, we ended up with a reasonable wine. However it is dry and very tart as a result of the raspberry juice. Once racked, we decided to add a bottle of our raspberry cordial in an attempt to mellow the wine a touch. We will see in a few weeks if things work out as planned.

I close this week with the photo of a small visitor. Alois had left his shoes outside overnight and we were quite surprised when Dean (the tiler working on the house entrance) discovered this little critter crawling out of the shoe.

Adidas: a new home for a small bat

We placed the shoe under the veranda where we know some bats our nesting. But this little fellow would have none of it and crawled right back into the shoe. I don't think Adidas ever had this in mind for the use of their shoes.

Going right back to bed.

One Year In

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It's actually already been one year since our first blog entry. It is hard to imagine how much has happened in this time frame. I guess it is time to perhaps reflect on some of the things that we have learned from radically changing our family's lifestyle.

1. Country living provides a much greater sense of community. People living in the bedroom communities of large cities may live physically close to each other but never really develop the relationships of folk in the country.

2. Farming changes your concept of time. Whereas in most of my business life, actions were measured in hours, days, or perhaps weeks. Working on a farm requires patience and results may occur in weeks, months, and often times years.

3. Although we now have no one to report to, there is still one Big Boss: Mother Nature. She now dictates what we can do, when we can do it, and how we might be able to do it...no matter what our plans are.

4. We have lost a complete sense of time. Our time is no longer measured by the days of the week or the days of the month. We are now more focused on the seasons and the weather. In a way, it seems to me that time flows....quickly when much has to be done (spring, summer and fall) and perhaps more slowly when it is difficult to accomplish things (winter).

In the end, I think we've all developed an incredible respect for the small farmer. This is not a "get rich quick" career opportunity, but a lifestyle that demands patience, perseverance and passion. The people we met that have dedicated their lives to growing good food are intelligent and adept at whatever task is necessary of them. They must be biologist, veterinarian, economist, marketer, broker, mechanic and engineer...all in one package. Kudos to them all...they are highly under-appreciated.

For us, we continue to learn and this we get to do every single week. What more can you ask for in retirement!

So to celebrate our one year anniversary, we decided to carry out an official opening of the Ridge Berry Farm market and tea room. We did this with the gracious help of Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn. This lead to a fun and relaxed evening with everyone present.

Ribbon Cutting. From left to right, Jeannine Scholaert, Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn, Chef Ryan Beck, Councilor John Durley, Christine Scholaert and Hugh Scholaert (photo courtesy of Roy Timm)

All this fun however did not preclude us from working and this week was difficult. With the Humidex taking temperatures well above 40 degrees C, I almost felt as if I was back in Malaysia. This made work extremely difficult. The fruits and vegetables however simply seemed to love the experience.

On the Purple Raspberry front, the girls were bringing in record volumes...to the point where we just had to freeze or process them as rapidly as we could.

The Purple Raspberries are reaching their peak.

In fact, we've had to develop new uses for them. One idea was Raspberry Cordial...and now it is on the menu in the Tea Room along with a rather luscious Rhubarb and Purple Raspberry Pie.

A new addition to the menu: Purple Raspberry Cordial

This week at the farm we have also turned our attention to the old grape vines we discovered last fall. We are now not certain that these are Concord. Given the size and shape of the leaf we suspect another North American "labrusca" variety called Catawba. We intend to verify this with local experts.

These are doing phenomenally well, despite our rough pruning job. In fact a few areas show significant grape production.

Beneath some very large and broad leaves are beautiful grapes

Having said this, the weeds are quickly gathering around these rows so it was time once again to clear the area.

Before: Our grape vines being invaded by weeds (in this case Staghorn Sumac)

After: Beautiful, healthy grape vines uncovered from weeds.

Knowing these grapes were good table and juice grapes (based on last year's experience), we also decided to do a propagation experiment. We decided to take some runners and cut them, trim them of their leaves, cut them to three nodes, and plant them (scarring the end we plant in the pots). To promote root formation we decided to use a tea of willow leaves.

Our first grape vine propagation experiment (Concord or Catawba and Niagara grape cuttings)

The vegetable garden has also provided us with a few surprises. The tomatoes are so healthy that I fear we planted them much too close to each other. These plants are not only loaded with fruit but are starting to reach 5 feet in height and growing beyond their intended cages.

The tomato plants have turned our raised beds into a lush vegetable garden

Even the heirloom Zucchinis reported on earlier surprised us by rapidly gaining in size.

Our heirloom Cocozelle Zucchinis have gone beyond their "recommended" size

On the foraging front, our discovery of Lamb's Quarters last week inspired Chef to create this weeks special at the Tea Room: Lamb's Quarters Canelloni (made with Upper Canada Ricotta Cheese). This was definitely another success in my book.

This week's special: Upper Canada Ricotta cheese and Lamb's Quarters Canelloni with Bechamel and tomato sauce.

I will leave you this week with a piece of history we cleared from the fields. Our tenant farmer Bryan had left a few years ago a piece of equipment which his grandfather had acquired: a corn binder. These machines were used to bind stalks of corn (primarily for decorative use now).

This machine was in the way of our intended planting plans and had to be cleared. Bryan assures us he can get it working again...and to me it really seems to be a worthwhile project.

Among weeds (Golden Roads and Wild Grapes), an old corn binder

The Black Raspberry

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Until this summer, I had actually never heard of the Black Raspberry. It turns out that many of the wild berries I had presumed were Blackberries were in fact Black Raspberries.

These berries mature in early July and can usually be picked for a period of 3 weeks. With this short window of opportunity we decided to gather as much as we could.

Wild Black Raspberries

Most of the berries were relatively small although a few strands produced some rather large specimens. The berries are sweeter and milder than the standard raspberry and produce an excellent jam.

It turns out that everything we picked or preserved was rapidly sold. It really does seem to be a favourite and is certainly not readily available. Perhaps recent research in the berry's properties have aided in their gaining popularity. Researchers have been studying the Black Raspberry in the treatment and prevention of certain cancers (in particular esophageal, colon and skin).

As such, we've decided that come the fall, we will attempt to transplant and replicate some of these wild varieties in order to grow them and nurture them to their larger size.

This week we've continued to harvest and process all of our berries (in particular the Purple Raspberry). Our regular mode of operation is to pick in the morning, sell them fresh in our store during the day, and process all unsold berries in the evening (we have been producing our own jams, dehydrated berries and even freezing them for future use).

Our store shelf is slowly filling with berry products

Since our jams are made in small batches with minimal sugar, we actually have a difficult time keeping up with demand.

Of course our jam and berries also find their way into Chef's kitchen for the Tea Room operation. One of the things he has been working on is a rum pot.

This is a great idea that anyone can start this time of year. The best way to begin is by combining equal weights of rum, sugar and berries....any berries. We started with strawberries. Over time you simply add berries to the pot as you find them.

By the end of the process (around Christmas time), you end up with a great fruit sauce that is wonderful over ice cream or sponge cake.

Since most of our new plants (Red Gooseberries, Black and Red Currants) are fruiting...but not sufficiently to harvest, we have been adding the berries to our rum pot.

Chef's rum pot.

I have not reported on this for a while, but we are also continuing with our wine/mead making experiments. With the Purple Raspberries producing well, this week was a milestone in our first production of a fruit wine.

We used a Pyment to start (a Mead made with grape juice). Now that it has been fermenting for 4 weeks, we added a large volume (1 to 1) of Purple Raspberries to start our first Raspberry Melomel or fruit wine. We should be able to report on some results in another four weeks.

Adding fresh raspberries to pyment in order to produce our first fruit wine

Now that the Juneberry season is coming to an end, we decided to take the opportunity to start clearing the plants we discovered this Spring. We know there are at least two rows but most of the trees were obstructed with  Wild Roses, Wild Grapes, young Black Locust trees, and to make things worse: netting.

In this mess reside some productive Juneberry trees

It seems that at one time, a nylon net was placed atop these small trees to prevent birds from eating the fruits. The result is that this mesh has become more of a death trap for birds and small animals while getting completely entangled in the branches of the bush and the weeds that surround it.

The nylon mesh adding to the mess

After a couple of days of seriously hard work, we eventually began to uncover what we knew was there: two beautiful rows of productive Juneberry plants. The only thing we left among the Juneberries were a few mature Tulip Trees.

Tristan working on the finishing touches to our Juneberry rows.

With the rows clear, next year we suspect we may be harvesting ten times what we were able to pick this Summer.

Our foraging also never ends. This week, we discovered another pervasive "weed" which is actually a major food crop in India: Bathua. More commonly known here as Pigweed or more appetizingly Lambsquarters, this is a very edible plant which can be processed pretty much like any other leafy green such as Spinach.

Lambsquarters: a delicious edible "weed"

Recipes abound on the Internet for this plant. What is particularly interesting though is its long standing history as a crop in most parts of the world, including the Americas. Its grains are actually a close relation to Quinoa and rich in protein, making it a very versatile source of food.

In the vegetable garden, things continue to progress. This week it was a real treat to begin harvesting our Zucchinis or Courgettes. The variety we planted was the Cocozelle Zucchini.

Our first Zucchini harvest.

Never having been a big fan of Zucchini, I was shocked when we tried this freshly picked summer squash. Simply raw, it was outstanding. Chef has now been using these with his Fettucini special.

The other part of our harvest has been our pickling cucumbers. Chef has started a batch of pickles using a lactofermentation process (ie. no vinegar). As we gather small cucumbers, he has been adding to his batch and already they are starting to ferment and taste wonderful.

Our lactofermented pickles are progressing well

Finally this week, we have an important announcement. Candice (our oldest daughter) will also be marrying next year to Jordan, a young talented lawyer with a passion for tractors (what more could we ask for!). This means two weddings for the family in 2014. 

Jordan with the Bush Hog

The Purple Raspberries are Back

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We hope everyone has had a great Canada Day and 4th of July this week.

For us, the main event was the return of the Purple Raspberries. Almost a year ago, we arrived on the property to collect our first harvest...and these beautiful berries are back with a vengeance. We're not sure why, but this year we are finding more and larger berries, to the point that a lot of the canes are breaking under their weight. Perhaps it is our weeding, perhaps the incredible amount of rain we have been having. In any case, they are living up to their reputation: tart, sweet, and very juicy.

The Purple Raspberries are back.

Since it looks like we will be picking quite a few of these over the next few weeks, we decided it was also time to process some. Now that we have a professional kitchen at our disposal, it was a pleasure for me to begin "jamming".

We started with the Juneberries (they are coming to the end of their season). It turns out that a half and half mix of Juneberries and Rhubarb make a wonderful jam. We also discovered that Juneberries have an incredible amount of pectin. In an attempt to crush the berries, we used a food processor....and every time we used a food processor, the berries instantly jelled! In the end, it turns out that it is important to be gentle with these berries.

In the process, we managed to produce some interesting combinations of jam: Juneberry/Rhubarb, Arctic Kiwi/Cyser (yes our mead experiments are turning out well), Purple Raspberry/Bacot Noir Wine and Purple Raspberry with Juneberry.

We're back to making jams

Our work on preserving our fruits and adding value to our crops has not stopped with preserves. We finally took delivery of our dehydrator. The first fruit to go through the process were the raspberries of course and the results make for a great healthy snack. In fact everyone is already coming out with all sorts of concepts for their use, from cereals and oatmeal to trail mix.

Our first batch of dehydrated berries

Of course Chef has not stopped conceiving of recipes for both our crops and the vegetables in our raised beds. This week's success was a phenomenal Juneberry pie.

Simple and delicious: our home-made Juneberry pie

As a matter of fact, Chef is lucky we still do not have a kitchen as our home is undergoing renovations. Every morning, he has been stealing just about everything he can find. In fact, for a couple of novices, Tristan and I have been quite lucky with our vegetable endeavours. It seems everything is growing.

Chef taking advantage of our raised beds

Our only major failures have been: the bush beans, the water melons  (I really have no clue why these did not take) and a good portion of our herbs (only the dill and parsley worked out). We have been picking Broccoli, Peas, String Beans and Zucchini flowers for a while now. Along with these we see great progress with our potatoes (we've started to harvest new potatoes); our Cabbages and Cauliflower; our Zuchinis and Squashes; our Radishes, Rutabagas and Beets; our Lettuce and Fennel; our Cucumbers and Tomatoes; even our Artichokes!

We're really proud of how far our garden has come. To a large extent, I credit the sandy loam soil we have on our property. It seems to me, we can grow anything.

The raised beds when we started last year

The raised beds today

Our foraging work also continues. It turns out that this week, the wild Black Raspberries have matured. So I sent our students to collect as much as they could. It seems that these berries are very much in demand (perhaps because they are being researched for the treatment and prevention of various cancers). We just cannot keep them on the shelf.

Amanda, Julianna and Hannah gathering as many Black Strawberries as they can

I will finish this week with the last installment on our preserved Black Walnuts (until the nocino is ready that is).

For those following this blog, I noted lasted week that the Armenian preserved Black Walnuts needed to be soaked for a few days. We did this for about nine days changing the water every so often.

Once this was done, we drained the nuts and pricked them with a fork. At this point, they had completely lost their distinctive Black Walnut scent.

We then took these nuts and let them simmer in a simple syrup (half sugar, half water). At this point, the syrup and walnuts turned a deep black. The end result are nuts that resemble black olives.

Once cooked (we did this slowly over a 2 hour period until the syrup thickened), we added some cinnamon and the shredded rind of a lemon.

Armenian preserved Black Walnuts

Technically we should jar, cook and store these for a few days before tasting....but I could not wait.

Surprisingly the fleshy outer part (the green fruit surrounding the nut) was very good. It reminded me a bit of iced chestnut.

The interior however was a disappointment. It was dry with a hint of bitterness and tannin. It also was a bit reminiscent of the Black Walnut scent.

We'll now wait a few days to see if things have changed. If not, I think next time (next year I guess) I may boil these nuts first....before simmering them in the sugar syrup.