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Harvest Season Is Upon Us

written by

Sue King

posted on

September 20, 2019

Beautiful Harvest Days Are Upon Us.

 

Grandpa, Grandma and Grand Children picking apples.

Fall has always been my favourite season of the year. It is the season when we are in full swing reaping the benefits of all our hard work of the past many months. 

Way back last December the seed catalogs started arriving in the mail. Any gardener knows that when those colourful catalogs arrive a person drops everything you are doing to dream about your next garden. First you find your old faithful varieties, then you add all the new ones that you want to try to the list. Then the hard part comes: deciding what you actually need and want to order.  

Come February when the strong clutches of winter still surround us, we head out to the garden shed through four feet of snow to pull out your seed starting trays and that special soil that you always use. After slowly trudging back to the house through the snow you start planting those precious seeds. 

HELP, MY HOUSE IS LOST!

 I told our grand daughter to handle the apples as if she were handling eggs because we didn’t want them bruised.

By mid-April you house is overflowing with all the plants that will grace your garden all summer. But, in at 55 degrees north, unless you have a greenhouse, those tender babies can’t go outside for at least another two to three weeks. Fortunately, the days are starting to be above freezing so we carefully move our plants outside for the day, but are quick to bring them back in before that thermometer plunges below 0C in the evening.  

Finally, by the beginning of June those plants are no longer really tender and are ready to plant out in the garden. 

ALL THOSE WEEDS

Then they must be kept weeded. We try to have been through all the garden beds at least once by mid-June. Then we start mulching to keep the weeds that want to keep coming under control. 

Early July is the start of our harvest season. It starts slowly, then as the summer progresses ramps up to full speed ahead. 

By the 20th of August we are anticipating that we could have frost at night. We watch the weather forecast to see if we need to cover all those tender plant. This has been a very unusual fall for us. As I write this it is September 19 and we have not had any frost. But at this time of year you don’t want to become complacent. We have been caught in the past by bad weather. 

 

Being very careful! Special times with special littles.

So the harvest has started in earnest. We started by picking the tomatoes, even if they were green. Thankfully they will ripen inside. Then came the zucchini. They are sitting on the kitchen cupboard waiting to be turned into zucchini relish and seasoned zucchini slices for those cold winter suppers. Next in line are the root vegetables. Potatoes are being dug, washed, cured and put up. Once they are safely put up we will bring in the rest of the root vegetables; carrots, beets and rutabagas. 

Smack dab in the middle of harvesting all those veggies the apples and chokecherries are ready too. The cooking apples are dehydrated for snacks and the keeping apples are stored away in the walk-in cooler (some day we might have time to build our dream root cellar). Chokecherries are turned into juice for making syrup for pancakes and flavouring for smoothies when we have time later. 

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the garden clean up and animal harvest…

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Are you Absolutely Satisfied with Store-Bought Pork?

Are you Absolutely Satisfied with Store-Bought Pork?

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY PORK DISHES ALWAYS HAVE SO MANY SWEET SAUCES ON THEM? For many years this question never crossed my mind. Until we started raising and eating our own pasture-raised pork. But what lead us to start raising pigs?  Neither Larry nor I had much experience with pigs growing up. We started our married life buying all our pork in the grocery store, but then switched to sourcing it from a neighboring conventional pork producer. We were not aware that most of the pork that is available in the grocery stores comes from pigs that have never seen the light of day. They spend their whole life crowded into huge hog barns. They are fed an industry standard diet of grain with no green, living food at all. They are crowded into small spaces with many other pigs where their natural ability to move is restricted. Much to our surprise and horror, we discovered that the neighbor we were purchasing our pork from was raising them no differently than what we could get in the store. At that time, little did we know that eventually Larry would face a digestive issue from this type of pork. After certain meals he would feel sick to the stomach and end up with diarrhea. It got so bad before we clued into the cause. When we quit eating pork these issues went away. Now we had a dilemma. We really like pork but couldn’t eat it anymore. Being the DIY homesteaders we were back in those days we decided to buy a couple little pigs and raise them ourselves. We knew that we didn’t want to raise them in a barn. So outside they went. These were the happiest pigs I ever saw. They were free to roam around their pasture, rooting in the soil and wallowing in the mud while searching for whatever they thought was tasty to eat. We fed them grains from a neighbor, kitchen scraps and milk from our milk cow. When they were big enough to harvest, we sent them to the processor, not knowing if we would even be able to eat this pork. Much to our delight Larry had no adverse reaction to the meat. It was delicious! The meat was firm, not mushy like barn raised pork. It also had a richness to it that we had never experienced before.  No more bland and flavorless conventional pork for us.  No sauces required! We thought that we couldn’t be the only people who had experienced something similar and wished for a pleasurable eating experience. This success started us on a new farming adventure, raising pastured pork for sale. Encouraged by the success we had with our first pigs we decided to purchase our breeding herd. We have tried many breeds of pigs over the years and have settled on the Berkshire breed. They are a heritage pig that matures slower thus producing an excellent quality meat and the best lard fat that I think you can get. I have heard it said that Berkshire pork is the gold standard of pork among chefs. Besides that, they are very personable and entertaining to have around!  And mischievous. I truly believe from our personal experience that all animals that we raise for food need to be able to live in conditions that are natural for them and have the ability to express their God-given characteristics. When we domesticated animals, we became responsible to steward them well. We strive to do just this with all our animals. One of my favorite cuts of pork is the Boston Butt Roast.  It is juicy, tender, melt-in-your mouth meat. This is the cut that pulled-pork is made from. It is an economical cut that we also use to make ground pork and our special gluten-free, nitrate-free sausages. When you purchase our pasture-raised pork you will experience what real pork should taste like. We offer a variety of options when it comes to purchasing our pasture-raised pork.   Individual cuts to suit your needs. Pork Chops, Traditional salt-cured and smoked ham and bacon, Whole Tenderloin, Boston Butt Roasts, Ground Pork, Breakfast Sausages (Nitrate-free, Sugar-free and Filler-free). Coming soon!  Our "1/4 Pork Bundle."  Our newest addition to our pastured-pork line-up.  This bundle is perfect for a smaller family or if you have limited freezer space.  It will consist of a variety of the individual cuts, including Pork Chops, Pork Sirloin Steak, Ham Steak, Bacon, Ground Pork and Sausage. And, last but not least if you want to customize the cuts you receive, we have whole hogs available.   You can find all of these options in our online store. Do you want to try my simple Boston Butt Roast recipe? It’s so simple. I place the roast on a rack in my cast-iron dutch-oven. Add a little water. Sprinkle chopped onions on top (I used my home-grown dehydrated onions) salt and pepper. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 160F. I slice it and serve with apple sauce, oven roasted potatoes and a veggie.  You can purchase our pasture-raised pork from our online store or from us at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market on Fridays or Saturdays.

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