All posts filed under: DIY

Tapping for Maple Syrup

Hobby Farm Inspiration: Tapping Maples and Hunting for Truffles

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I’ve achieved my adult goal of owning a farm. Now comes the fun part of deciding what to do with five acres of potential. I recently attended the Pacific Agriculture Show. I was so excited and inspired I lost count of the texts I was firing off to Shanna and Nikkey. They must have thought I had gone off the deep end. Suddenly I was going to hunt for truffles, tap Big Leaf Maples for syrup and grow amazing garlic! For a mere $90.00 I had access to three days of the tradeshow and as many of the 100 seminars as I wanted. By the end of the weekend I had to really to rein myself in. I only have five acres. There is no way I am ever going to live long enough to do it all the things, never mind be physically capable!!! Now as I relax by the fire with a warm cup of tea I would love to share with you some of the highlights of what I learned in this first …

Pumpkins

Our Favourite Pumpkin Crafts

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Whether you bought your pumpkins at a grocery store, garden centre, or stomped through the mud at a local pumpkin patch we’ve got loads of fun ideas for what to do with your lovely orange squash. Pumpkins are the quintessential fall and Hallowe’en decoration. Some of my best childhood memories are of my sister and I on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin then making a huge mess in the kitchen while we carved our faces and Mom baked the seeds. Food Pumpkins are firstly a food source loaded with all kinds of goodies such as fibre, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, all while being low in calories. Canned pumpkin is a great option for convenience, but of course fresh and organic is best. The seeds can be scooped out and roasted with an endless combination of spices. My favourite is chilli lime. The flesh can be roasted until soft then used for pies, muffins, cookies AND can be dehydrated into all kinds of pumpkin spice fruit roll up deliciousness. Another unsuspected use of pumpkin is …

Growing Sprouts Indoors

How to Grow Sprouts Indoors

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We spent our spring renting a basement suite while waiting to move into our farm. I found myself longing for a garden and was suffering terribly from garden withdrawals. Today I’ll share with you how I beat the basement doldrums by growing my own sprouts. No garden, no problem! So much of my time is normally spent outdoors so our new living situation was not agreeing with me at all. It really was more about growing anything not just my own food but anything green. While shopping at an organic food market one day I came across some seeds for sprouts and a solution to my withdrawals. I purchased a bag of sprouting seeds found some random glass jars, cheese cloth and I was back in business. You can find sprouting seeds at organic food stores and larger garden centres or order them online. There are so many varieties to choose from now and some packages even have mixes which take that old green salad to a whole new level. Sprouts are very good for …

Herbs in Upcycles Containers

Getting Started with Herbs

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Imagine the flavour that your own home grown herbs will bring to your cooking and Mojitos! These super cute, unique herb planters make the best Hostess Gifts ever! Just the convenience of picking the right amount and not having to run to the grocery store for your herbs is worth a little effort. You’ll be amazed at how easy herbs are to grow. Herbs in containers Live on the edge and do something different, don’t be restricted by the same old plastic pots; herbs are fun and they deserve some fun containers. Do make sure that whatever you use has proper drainage holes to avoid over watering. A beautiful old tea pot is super cute, old ceramic mixing bowls even your old shoes or hats will work for a season or two. Use a good quality potting soil mixed with a little bit of compost or Sea Soil to add some organic matter. Never use soil from your garden or your poor herbs will likely meet a horrible death which we don’t want. Watering and …

Green Gift Wrapping

Gift Wrapping Au Naturel

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I need to start off by saying I hate gift bags. It is time to stop relying on those cheesy store purchase bags and start using beautiful compostable, reusable materials. Not only is it eco-friendly but you will look like a gift-giving super star. Step 1 Cut a previously used paper bag to the size you need to wrap the gift. Need a box? Have a look in your pantry and use a cracker box or any box that is almost empty. When using boxes from your pantry make sure the person you’re giving your gift to knows it’s not food. My nephew once put his gift in the pantry because he thought I got him a box of cereal. Wrap the gift in the plain brown paper and tie a piece of used garden twine around it. I save all my used garden twine for this purpose just be careful not to pull on it too hard as it loses strength. Step 2 Go out to the garden and see what you can find. You don’t need much …

Rasberry Stalks

Prepare For Rasberry Season

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Not sure what to do with the mess of all those Raspberry canes and shoots jumping up all over the place? It’s easy and important to do the necessary pruning and thinning; this ensures good air circulation, better production and bigger berries. TOOLS NEEDED: PRUNERS  |  LOPPERS  |  CRAFT BEER   Look closely at all the canes just above the soil level; you will notice some are large, others are thin and some will be dead Remove at soil level the largest canes and the dead canes Now remove any canes which are growing in a weird direction, crossing or rubbing on other canes and any that are pencil size or smaller in diameter You should be left with lots of healthy, straight canes ranging in size from the thickness of your baby finger to your thumb as long as your thumb is not gianormus. Now have a good look at the canes that are left and you should see good spacing and a whole lot fewer canes. If you have more than one cane about …