Tomatoes

Hard to believe the summer is already close to being finished. The strawberry and raspberry seasons are now over and most of the early veggies are done. Though the weather does not seem like it we are already beginning apple season. Soon enough we will open for the early varieties of apples, late vegetables and whatever remains of the raspberries. During this season it is quite easy to find a lot of local veggies things that range from tomatoes to corn. Now one thing that truly disappoints me about Ontario is that in this season, even with some of the best tasting tomatoes on earth available, you will be hard pressed to find a good tomato sauce let alone a recipe to make one. Well there is a lot of truth to the idea of keeping food simple and I have a recipe for tomato sauce that is easy to prepare, simple and tastes fantastic.

Ingredients:

-tomatoes, or a tomato paste ( if you are using whole tomatoes you must put them in the blender and turn them to a paste) 1-1.5 L of paste in total.

-olive oil

-one clove of garlic

-salt

-black pepper

-oregano

-fresh basil

-lemon juice (optional)

This is a personal family recipe; it is simple, easy, and delicious at the same time.

Now in a fairly big sauce pan pour in olive oil just until the bottom of the pan is covered, then turn on stove to low or medium just enough to get the oil hot. Crush the clove of garlic and finely chop it then throw into the pan. Fry the garlic then add in your tomato paste- note : that you must prevent the garlic from burning which can happen quickly depending on how hot your oil is; so add the paste before the garlic burns. Once you have added the paste stir the mixture and male sure the garlic and oil mix in. Next add your oregano, sprinkle it over the top of your sauce, usually I just add what I feel is right but if you need a measurement then add just under a tablespoon into the sauce and mix it in. Throw in a pinch of salt and grind in about a teaspoon of black pepper. Add in two or three leaves of fresh basil( dried basil will not convey the same flavor as fresh). Now if you want your sauce to be a little bit more acidic squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into it, this is optional and depends entirely on what your tastes are. Reduce the sauce until it becomes the desired thickness and enjoy! This is a very basic recipe but has an incredible flavor while being low on sugars and salt. Remember cooking doesn't have to be right by the book try adding in different herbs and ingredients to change the flavor to one you like even better. I hope you enjoy this recipe just as my family has, and until next time good eating!

Summertime Rush

Alright well it has certainly been a while and I do apologize to all the readers of my blog! A few of whom I have met and am pleased to have talked too. As well as a certain few who need to come back in and tell me how the bike ride home with those berries went! 

These past few weeks have been a little crazy and I have found it rather difficult to get to the blog but I am happily back! As many of you know our strawberry season has recently finished and we are currently into a fantastic crop of raspberries. Things around the farm have changed quite a bit, our pigs weigh in at close to three hundred pounds, next years strawberry plants are healthy and doing well and our apples have a relatively large amount of pre-mature fruit on them. 

Next years strawberry crop is currently being weeded about everyday of the week, weeding during the first year of strawberry growth is essential and ensures that the runners currently spreading from the plants, will have a much easier time rooting and therefore increase the amount of bushes for next year. As well if you allow weeds to infest the patch during the growing stage of the strawberries the plants are forced to compete for both nutrients and water, which can stunt the growth of the plant. It is also during the stage that the plants send out what are known as runners. Runners are a way strawberries reproduce by sending chutes out in every direction that eventually root and form new plants. We must 'train' the runners which requires us to move the runners into the row and put a little dirt on the tip so that it will root. 

  By doing this we can make the strawberries form neat full rows that choke out weeds and allow an easy way for people to pick berries. A tip for home gardeners growing strawberries, if you have them in an outdoor plot train the runners in one direction away from the plants to a new spot. Keep it well weeded and let the runners root, then when the new plants gain some size plow under the old ones. By doing this yearly you can literally rotate the strawberries without re-planting. Of course when you plow under the old plants you will want to add compost and perhaps a green manure crop such as alfalfa in order to add the nutrients used up by the strawberries. I hope you may find this useful and if you have any other questions please e-mail them to me and i will do my best to answer them. 

Every weekend we are baking the pies in the wood oven and things are beginning to shape up. The building is coming along though taking a little while longer than expected. I must apologize as I do not have a lot prepared for this week. If you happen to stop by the farm please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the farm or about your gardening at home. The blog should be updated a little more often now, closer to every week. I hope all of you are having a terrific summer and hopefully I will see you all soon!

Cleaning the Market

  The key  to the success of any small fruit farm is to maintain a small scale market that is warm and appealing to your clientele; but keeps the rustic, natural spirit of the farm alive. As I am sure whomever of you visited the farm over the past few years will remember those warm summer days we sold from under the gazebo, and we certainly remember the countless hours spent underneath it; mind you they were quite enjoyable! 

  Recently at organics we have started to construct our market building and bakery, which has required many days of hard labour and countless hours of planning and preparation. We built it in a style similar to that of the barn. It is two stories the downstairs will house the market and bakery with the upstairs still to be decided upon. Though there are inside renovations to be done and it will not be ready for this years season, it has made a wonderful addition to our little farm and it is my family and my hope that you may find it as pleasant an addition as we do.

  The farm is finally beginning to shape up, the front flower beds are weeded and almost done being arranged and planted, all our crops for this year are in the ground, growing tall. As of today I have eaten the first strawberry fresh from the field, it was truly amazing. nothing says summer like local Ontario strawberries, you just can't beat them! Although the amount of work is beginning to catch up with us and we are now working close to seven full days a week, when I tasted that first strawberry the only thing I could feel was that it was all worth it; and for any of you who will be joining us this year, I hope you will too!