The Tilsons

Wow. Its been a crazy week.  I can’t believe it is already Saturday, All Hallows Eve has passed, and November is here.  What the heck have we been doing?

1. We got back home from Linnaea Farm two days late (Monday) because the install of our veggie oil kit took a little longer than expected.  Our poor veggie guy (Bjorn) fell of some scaffolding and seriously hurt his back.  The silver lining in the clouds for us was an extra day at OUR Ecovillage and then just the right amount of time at Linnaea. (where we submitted our applications for the Ecological Farm Program!  Weeee!!!)
   



2. I didn’t get as much knitting done as I thought.  Justin didn’t get as much homework done as he had hoped. I truly thought I would be done the socks, and maybe even more, but no, boarding the Quadra Island Ferry, they looked like this.  You see, I had to rip them back, because I didnt’ put in the sole increases.  For some reason, I don’t know why, I thought that the socks would stretch.  No.  They did not stretch.  Rip back, put in increases.  Even now, I’m not sure that I did enough.
   



3. I finished the socks on the ferry, and then sewed the top when I went to dinner with Beth on Wednesday night.  Meanwhile, Justin worked furiously on his case studies for school.Then I started the toe of the other side (A great way to prevent second sock phobia is to make them for someone else, then you will have to finish them).  Here is the progress so far.



4. After we got back, I spent some time doing actual work, and then Justin and I applied for Bullocks Homestead.  That’s right, we have applied to two places.  Bullocks was lucky, because I found the application online THE DAY BEFORE IT WAS DUE.  Holy cow.  Luck they didn’t need written references like Linnaea.  The difference between the programs is that at Bullocks it is almost completely self directed.  Either program will benefit us greatly, I can’t wait to know whether we have been accepted.
5. Justin left for school the morning after the application scramble, and I finished the back of my brothers Retrofit Sweater.  You remember I frogged it, well after much debate (because it is handspun and not entirely consistent)  I have decided to knit the front and back, fit him with them and if it doesn’t fit, then add side pannels in ribbing.  After that, I will gracefully knit up to the collar, make the sleeves to fit the boy and then WHAM, I will have a slightly customized Retrofit ready for christmas.  I have drafted more fleece, which I will spin today.
   





6. THEN, as if that is not enough to make my fingers numb, last night I started the ribbing on MY sweater, the Nubby Cardigan by Deborah Newton (Knitscene Fall 2008).  The Small size length is 16″ from armpit to hem, and I plan to make it 2-3 inches longer.  Therefore, I have increased the ribbing by 2 inches.  I also plan to put cables in the sleeves… I think all women’s cable sweaters should have cables in the sleeves. Have you checked out Ravelry yet?  Lots of great info and photos there.
   

Yogurt is the first step we’ve taken in learning how to make cheese.  Eventually, we plan on making all of our own cheese and butter products to eliminate some more of our garbage, and to be a little more self sustaining.  Yogurt is easy, and it tastes wonderful. Making your own yogurt is a lot cheaper than buying it, and more satisfying too!

Plain Yogurt Ingredients:

4 C Organic whole milk
2 heaping table spoons organic yogurt (at room temperature) Use organic yogurt that is as non-homogenized as you can.

Directions:

1. We usually make a double batch.  In a pot on medium heat, heat milk until it foams up (the milk sugars will stick to the bottom)
2. Turn off heat and allow it to cool.
3. Test with your finger, when it feels lukewarm (about 100 degrees F) then pour milk into a very clean or sterilized bowl.
4. Wisk in the yogurt.
5. Cover bowl and let sit in a warm place where there is no draft (we use our oven with the light on) for 8 -12 hours.
6. They don’t tell you in the book, but pour off the whey for a thick yogurt, leave the whey for a thin yogurt (save some of this yogurt to make the next batch)  A thick yogurt will be almost the same as the yogurt you bought.

**Recipe “Homemade Yogurt” from The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook p 266.

To make a wonderful lemon desert, add lemon and maple syrup to taste.  Or, for a parfait, try adding fresh, cooked berries alternately with a yogurt and maple syrup mixture, top with nuts and serve.

This banana bread recipe is another delicious way to use your freshly made yogurt. Yogurt makes baking moist and tasty. We love this recipe in particular because there is no white flour, no oil, and no sugar added. Let us know what you think. (modified from the canadian food network recipe)

Ingredients:

1 C (2 or 3) very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain yogurt
2 T apple sauce
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon to taste
1/4 C of chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 C of walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil 2 bread pan (because we changed the sugar to honey from the original recipe, 2 shallower loaves will rise and cook better than making a single full size loaf.)
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and add liquid ingredients. Mix well.
3. On top of wet mixture add flour, baking soda (try not to let this touch the wet mixture until you stir it in), salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Gently fold until just combined.
4. Optional: Add the nuts and chips and fold again.
5. Pour batter into baking pans. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan.

The legend of my mother’s turkey soup pervaded conversation in our house every time we had turkey.  A jeering comment from my dad - “I even tried Ketchup - nothing could make that soup edible.”  He said it in a loving way, like he really was trying to do anything to make his new wifes soup edible. After years of this, my brother or I would even chime in “You aren’t going to make Turkey soup are you?”

The story was that in the first years of their marriage, my mom found a turkey soup recipe, but neglected to follow the recipe entirely.  She made the whole thing, including simmering the carcass, adding all the vegetables and spices in two hours.  Apparently she also forgot to taste it.  She and my dad sat down to eat and nothing could bring it to life - not even ketchup.  Needless to say, she never, ever tried again.

For some reason, I have always felt the same fear of making turkey soup, it was like a curse.  I suppose it came down to the fact my mother couldn’t make it taste good, and I felt that if she couldn’t, then I wouldn’t be able to either!

Turkey is an interesting broth.  It is much lighter than chicken, but has its own special flavour.  There is a certain savoryness about it, less fatty than chicken I think.  This does make it harder to make a good tasting soup, I have found.  One year, during the first months of my engagement to Justin, my mom and I decided to through the carcass in some water for later soup making projects.  Then, a couple of months later, Justin was sick and all I had was the turkey broth to make him a soup.  (Can you hear the foreboding music?)  Read the complete Post.

I have a small fear of canning tomatoes.  It comes from last year’s exploding midnight tomatoes. Recall how I called this experience a canning marathon!  Hah!  HAHAHA! Naive child, so young, so sheltered.  Anyway - to make a short story longer, the tomatoes were the final leg of a canning spree, I was tired, it was midnight, and I was following the book.  Suddenly, BAAM its midnight and there are tomates in the hood of my stove, on my wall and shattered glass and tomato gunk all over the inside of my canner. This is where I procured the fear of canning crushed tomatoes. Read the complete Post.

You know that wretched feeling you get when someone mentions stewed prunes? or Prune juice?  Or Prunes even?  The terrible thought of what we fondly call “plum bum”? Well - forget it all.  (Except maybe the plum bum)  Why?  Because not only are plums the easiest things to can, but they are the most amazing tasting canned fruit, next to canned cherries of course.

My recommendation is to buy them at their peak, but everyone knows that if you canned only at a fruits peak, you would have to get them in jars during their 10 minutes of peak glory, which would inevitably happen in the middle of the night, while you were letting the cat out on a trip to the bathroom, parched and groping for a glass in the cupboard. Read the complete Post.

*Due to a complete lack of energy, the “Fruitapoluza ‘08″ posts have been dated retrospectively.  We appologize for any blogging rules we may be breaking at this time and assume no responsibility for injuries incurred while attempting to “catch up” all at once.

The great canning adventure began with Justin and I poring over a freshly posted ad on Craigslist, stating that a woman from somewhere was going up to the Okanogan and could get fruit of all kinds for anyone who needed it (Peaches, Pears, Plumbs, Tomatos, Apples).  Being that our food outside was staying green, due to the global warming of Vancouver, we decided in a fit of insanity, to STOCK UP.

100 lbs of Plums
250 lbs of Tomatos
200 lbs of Peaches
200 lbs of Apples
150 lbs of Pears… or something like that. Read the complete Post.

Last night we made one of our creative, do it yourself, try something new suppers. This time, we invited our friend Matt, who is about to make himself our new roomy, to share in the experience and get a taste of doing it like a Tilson! On the menu was fresh, homemade pasta with pesto and cherry tomatoes from the garden, a beautiful salad, made by my beloved with kale, lettuce, radishes and beans from the garden, a homemade Italian salad dressing and a homemade blackberry pie with blackberries picked fresh the day before! We were all pretty excited.

My brother gave us an uber Marcato Pasta Maker for our wedding (that we received about a month ago - Thanks Lar!) Who knew it would be so difficult to find a pasta maker that doesn’t use electricity? (In case you are looking, we give this one five stars for quality and usability!) Read the complete Post.

Granville Magazine has spread the urban farming gospel in their latest issue. The online story doesn’t have any of the great pictures that we’re displayed in their print version. I’ve attached it as a pdf for those who don’t have access to a print copy.

The more I dig into the unreported details of peak oil and how dependent our current agriculture system is on petrol the more I see the necessity of vastly expanding urban agriculture to put every sunny piece of ground, grass, balcony and rooftop to use. With our food system 100% dependent on oil for farming, fertilizers, transportation, cooling, processing and disposal we can expect to see food prices inflate as oil prices do. Perhaps it won’t be 1:1 but it will be a significant amount, significant enough to make it prohibitively expensive to maintain the system we have built. The system is already failing and the media is just starting to report on it. If you haven’t started your “victory garden” yet, I think it’s time to dig in.

My good friend Jyoti Stephens recently wrote an article for Shared Vision about locavorism, featuring none other than me (!) and some tips on finding a way to get started growing your own. I don’t know that guru status is warranted just yet but its certainly encouragement to step up.

The picture above is one tray of plants started from seed and grown indoors until they are large enough to stand up to outside life. It includes a mix of salad greens, 3 types of tomatoes and leeks.

Here is a recipe I invented in our endless quest to live without creating any form of waste that can’t be composted or recycled. Since we don’t throw anything that rots in our garbage and animal remains aren’t really supposed to go into residential compost bins I had to figure out what to do with the remains of the occasional organic chicken carcass that we buy. Having roasted the bird in our sunoven and spread the meat through several meals, I was left with a skeleton, some skin, a neck, fat and a bit of meat. I simmered the lot for several hours on low to create a great broth that went into the freezer for a later day. After simmering for so long, the bones have softened to a point where the blender can chew them up. Add enough water to bring the water line up to about 2/3s full. Don’t try this if you blender is wimpy and use pulse! Occasionally a larger bone will jam the blades and you want to be able to stop blending quickly to prevent burning out the motor. Continue blending for a couple minutes until all the bones are ground up and you have thick soup. This calcium rich slurry will disappear within days in an active compost vs. years if tossed in whole. Happy composting!

1. Strain soup
2. Add remains to blender
3. Fill blender 2/3s full of water
4. Blend carefully until smooth
5. Feed to compost!