Peter Picked a Peck of Perfect Pickles

Well yes i know there is no Peter on the farm... But there certainly is alot of perfect pickles :P. We have started looking into ways to feed ourselves off the land in the winter, which has ended up in projects such as another greenhouse, root cellar, and our winter garden. Another fantastic way is to Preserve stuff.

We were lucky enough to have a whole bunch of mason jars given to us by my mom's step-mom, Marie. So that was the main insentive to start canning, along with the abundance of cucumbers being produced. So the first day of canning kath wanted to make Garlic Dill pickles, and I wanted to make Mustard Pickles.



So with a little bit of research and some prep work the pickles went off without a hitch, well as far as we can tell because we haven't tried any yet. After market this week we had alot of cucumbers left over (20 lbs. in fact!) so i decided to make another batch of pickles and this time curry pickles were chosen. After all was said and done 11 quarts of curry pickles were produced.



So far I think that is a good start to some Winter Bounty.

What does a farmer do when she/he isn't working in the field???

Well I thought it was about time to dispel the myth that farmers have no life...Ok well maybe it's true but we have gone "out" to a few events in the last little while.

Last night we went to the Grand Opening of a new Nature Trust site. Yipee!

A week ago we went to a benefit show for the Dragonfly center, which is the local Autistic Camp!! For those of you who know nothing about Autism, I will tell you.
Autism is WAY more prevalent today than it used to be. It affects aprox. 1/4 to 1/2 the population. It affects males more than females(not unlike other developmental conditions) "During childhood, autistic children may fall behind their same-aged peers in the areas of communication, social skills, and cognition. In addition, dysfunctional behaviors may start to appear, such as self-stimulatory behaviors (i.e., repetitive, non-goal directed behavior, such as rocking, hand-flapping), self-injury (e.g., hand-biting, headbanging), sleeping and eating problems, poor eye contact, insensitivity to pain, hyper-/hypo-activity, and attention deficits."
From: Overview of Autism
Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.
Center for the Study of Autism, Salem, Oregon

It is an interesting topic that I am only beginning to understand but the woman I have met through the center have been sensational. All very sensitive, loving being with an attunement to what matters in this world. The children they work with live in a different world and sometime they get to be a part of it. Wonderful. We need not search outer space for another world, for it is right here, we just need to see.

In the last few months we have gone over to Terry's(Tony's Sister) house for some live music. She has the perfect setting for it and Luke even played a little piano at the intermission, alright:)


The last of our adventures, which was actually farm related was up to Woodstock, NB for a marketing workshop put on by the Fallsbrook Centre(www.fallsbrookcentre.ca). They are a very cool group of people who do a lot of work on organic food, alternative energy and community projects. Check out the website.

So folks things may sound dull off the farm but that's just 'cause the party is happening on the farm! Our tomatoes are ripening and the beans are coming in! Oh Baby. YUM. Luke and Mike have been working on a green house. Brad's been working on turning the computer into a Linux/Microsoft hybrid and I have been weeding and hanging out with my D-O-G. Hope you are all enjoying warmth and love.

THE GIRL