Eating Locally and Seasonally

There appears to be an increasing trend towards eating what is produced in one's locality and eating that food while it's in season. This might appear to be a tangent from growing heirlooms, but the distance really isn't so great. In fact, as much fun as we had picking out which heirlooms we would like in our garden and watching them grow, the large decision of keeping an heirloom garden was also dependent, I think, on the fact that we wanted to eat products that were grown as close to home as possible. Even now when the garden is finished, if I want to purchase some kind of produce, I do my absolute best to make sure I am buying an Ontario product. So, you may ask what are the benefits of eating locally and seasonally?

Money - I have often heard from people that buying fresh vegetables is really expensive. In my experience, however, this has not been the case. My sister and I were both attending University in Waterloo for the previous four years, had our own apartment, and were responsible for buying our own groceries. It was the times when we filled our cart up with canned soups, pasta, sauce, and other food items one would find in the aisle of their supermarket, when our grocery bills were most expensive. Interestingly, if we purchased a package of Ontario-grown carrots, a rutabaga, some parsnips, and onions, as well as a roasting chicken, all for around $20-30, we could make a chicken with roasted vegetables one night, eat the leftovers another night, and make a soup the third night that would last us an extra day on top of that. That is four meals in the week that we were able to use those ingredients for and eat very very comfortably. On the other hand, if we purchased a can of soup for approximately $2-4, that would only last us one meal, not be nearly as healthy, or leave us nearly as full.

Shopping from local Farmer's Markets is not nearly so different, because even if the price is a little bit higher, the quality is greater and the item goes further. Living in Waterloo, we often shopped at St. Jacob's Market which sold meat, cheese, and vegetables all produced in Ontario. We would often buy chicken legs at a dollar or two a leg, and these legs were so big that I often couldn't finish eating one in one sitting. In the summer, you could often buy a basket of sweet Bell Peppers from there for $5, whereas in the grocery store, peppers often go for $2 or 3 a pound.

Another Farmer's Market I've been to has been the one at Pingle's Farm which carries terrific corn on the cob in the summer. We were able to pick up a dozen corn on the cob for $5, which might sound like a lot compared to the grocery store which often sells a cob for $1, but they are usually of much higher quality being fresher and sweeter, and not being tampered with by other customers in the store. At Pingle's, when produce is a little more mature, they put them on sale. My sister and I managed to buy some peppers for only 60-70 cents each.

To conclude, based on my experience, even if you think you are spending more money buying local vegetables, usually you are paying for a product that will go much further.

Ecological Footprint - Eating locally reduces your impact on the environment. I haven't done much research on the topic, but what I have is from some limited reading and pure logic. If you choose to eat products not produced in your vicinity, those items require shipment, and by logic, impacts the environment. If you instead eat items produced locally, they obviously won't require that transportation. Not to mention, there are a bunch of other benefits to not having your vegetables sent to you; mainly that you'll be able to pick your vegetables at their peak and they'll be fresher and tastier.

Supporting local farmers - "Farmers Feed Cities" is an excellent opening phrase, because it's the truth. Except that farmers really aren't making the living required for them to keep their farms, and in Ontario, many are selling up their lands to developers. Therefore, if you buy locally, you might also be helping to save local farm land and help a few people out.

Knowing where your food is coming from - The film Food Inc. certainly demonstrated the issues of meat production and the dangers of eating meat produced a certain way. I think that there is a movement, even in grocery stores, to improve this situation, because meat items are starting say things like 'grain fed' or 'no antibiotics'. I think the safest bet would be to find a local farm to pick up your meat, because there you would be sure of where your meat is coming from. I personally haven't made this effort yet, but I have been looking at farms in my vicinity to weigh options. In the next year I would like to at least join a CSA (Culturally Supported Agriculture) to at least get a dozen eggs from a farm weekly throughout the summer. There, I've said it! Now I have to do it.

Taste - Yes, you can buy frozen vegetables and it's said the nutrition level is as high, if not higher, as fresh vegetables. This is because, unlike fresh vegetables, they are harvested at their peak, and then frozen. I don't find them as tasty though, even though this has to be a main option through the winter if we're thinking about eating seasonally too. If you do buy a vegetable locally and seasonally though, it does tend to be much tastier. As I mentioned before, when vegetables are shipped from place-to-place, they are picked just before they ripen so they don't rot along the way. As such, the nutrition level is not nearly as high, and the vegetable is not nearly as tasty as it would have been if it were fresh off the vine, plant, or whatever.

I might preach all of this, but I certainly don't practice it all. I think it's always going to be a work in progress to make all these changes. Megan and I certainly have been growing our own vegetables, visiting local Farmer's Markets when we can, and buying Ontario-grown veggies from our grocery store. Additionally, we do buy our honey locally. It certainly is the area of animal products that we need to work, however, and gradually buy more of our meat, milk, eggs, or butter from local producers.

Jennifer

Megan's Thoughts about the 2011 Garden

It's hard to believe that it is almost a year ago that Jennifer and I first began thinking about growing an heirloom garden. I remember the excitement around Christmas last year when we first thought of the possibility of growing heirlooms, and by March we already had our seeds ordered and delivered to us. Ever since mid-April, we've been growing those vegetables, babying our pepper and tomato plants in the beginning, and actually harvesting things like tomatoes and beets in late summer, and even harvesting pumpkins from the garden at the end of October.

For the most part, I agree with Jennifer's observations about the vegetables. I was disappointed with the patty pan squash as well, but I'm pleased we got at least one, and to be fair, it was probably just a bad year. Next year, however, I would like to plant zucchini in its place. I particularly like the looks of the Ronde de Nice, which you can find on the Cottage Gardener website. As for Jennifer's other observations, I pretty much agree with them all and I'm excited to see what next year holds for us with the growing.


The radishes were another thing I wasn't overly impressed by. Perhaps the most successful radish we grew was the French Breakfast radishes, and they were very pretty too, but they weren't all that productive, even if they grew slightly better than the others. Jennifer and I will be growing these again, just because we still have seeds, but I'm interested in trying other kinds of radishes too. I'm interested, for example, in something like the German Giant radish.


We also grew banana peppers and Crookneck squash, so even though they were just store-bought starter plants, it's worthwhile taking the time to mention them. I can honestly say both plants did very well and I would have nothing against planting them again if we ever have some extra space in the garden again. The Crookneck squash were particularly abundant. I think Jennifer and I might take a break from them though, to make room for some new varieties.

Although the garden is done now, Jennifer and I are going to try to keep up this blog throughout the winter, and keep you up-to-date on what our plans are for the growing season in 2012.

Thanks for reading!

Megan

Jennifer's Conclusion 2011

It's safe to say that by late November in Southerly Canada, the growing season has ended. Megan and I were still getting an abundance of peppers at the end of October, which I did not expect. It's strange how we always think that growing vegetables need super hot weather, but I've found they have their most growth in cooler temperatures.

To take us through winter, it's heartwarming to know we have some preserves set aside, like pickled tomatoes, a fantastic salsa that my sister made, my mother's tomato sauce, and tomatoes that were blanched before freezing.

We also having something even better, in my opinion, to look forward to: A Musquee de Provence Pumpkin! And we're just waiting for the perfect day to make a soup from it. On second thought, it's pretty big, so we might be able to use it for a couple of recipes. Of course, we'll post those later.

What I'm interested in doing in this post is giving some of the highlights of our first year keeping an heirloom vegetable garden, and stating what vegetables we liked or didn't like, and which we would or would not grow again. Our successes or failures may or may not be a reflection of the vegetable, the experience of the growers, or both. These are my opinions alone, so we'll see what Megan has to say!

Biggest Successes:

Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes --> The two plants of these were, without a doubt, the most successful producers of the season (but cherry tomatoes normally are, I suppose). We had approximately 70-80 tomatoes on each plant, and when those were harvested, many more set and ripened so that we were eating these straight into September.

Green Zebra Tomatoes --> We had three plants of these, and they produced really well too. Smaller fruit usually means more of it though, I suppose. Our Purple Cherokees did really well producing as they did considering their size, but I'm not going to include them under our biggest successes purely based on the taste; it was probably my household's least favourite tomato for fresh eating. The Green Zebra, on the other hand, was really tangy and sweet, as well as pretty, which made it one of my favourite things to grow this year.

Biggest Failures:

Patty Pan Squash --> Patty Pans are beautiful little white, almost green-tinged, squash with a frill, of which we only got one. We had a bad start with these anyway, because we planted around five seeds or so in each mound and nothing came up after a few weeks. Bad seed pack? We promptly planted the rest and ended up with one Patty Pan plant. I'm really happy that we got one fruit off it, but I noticed at least one other on the plant and it became soft with rot before it came to a good size. Maybe they're susceptible to rain? We had a lot of that this year.

Purple Calabash and Red Zapotec --> Of course I had to include these mysterious tomatoes I've never seen with my own eyes, because we didn't get any! I'm not going to blame the seed or anything though, because lets face it, their seedlings were just as strong and healthy as the Yellow Pear, Purple Cherokee, and Green Zebra that did make it to maturity. It was purely Megan and I, because we set them out in the sun for too long when trying to harden them off. I guess this is part of learning though.

Paris Market Carrots --> Unfortunately, as tasty as these were, they never really came to size. I know, they're small to begin with, but they should become at least 1/2 inch balls of carrot by maturity. We still have some sitting in our pots that have not reached full maturity, so I'm not sure what happened, but their growth became stunted.

Things That Should Have Been Abundant, But Weren't:

Black-Seeded Simpson, Green Oak Leaf, Cracoviensis, Australian Yellow Leaf, and Red Deer Tongue Lettuces --> The ranking of these lettuces in this category has nothing to do with how tasty they are (they were delicious!), but simply that they did not last for very long. I think we started the seed early enough in April, but by the time they were really starting to produce, it simply got too hot too early in the season and they bolted. Next year, I guess I'll have to pray we have a reasonable and seasonable summer?

Lucullus Swiss Chard --> What tasty, beautiful Swiss Chard, but what a poor producer. Again, I think it was too hot all summer as dark leafy greens tend to enjoy cooler temperatures. It probably doesn't help that we planted it in a pot as well, which may have stunted its growth. Next year, I would like to plant this Swiss Chard directly in the garden so that we can have a better shot at it.

Things To Grow More Of:

Cylindra, Golden Detroit, Bull's Blood, and Chioggia Beets --> I think these beets were amazing, and Megan and I did amazingly well growing them! They were sizable beets, very pretty, and tasted as beets should. My only issue is that every time we harvested, the amount was small, and I think we only had around two harvests in total. This is not the fault of the beets; just the fault of us for not planting enough.

Little Finger Carrots --> I think these grew to be the best looking and nicest size of all the carrots we grew. I just would have liked more of them.

Mixed Coloured Carrots --> I think these would have been really successful too had Megan and I been patient enough to leave them until they reached full maturity. Instead we were picking really tasty carrots all summer that were probably half the size they should have been. As we never got enough to have the mixed carrots as a vegetable on their own, we need to plant more next year, and practice more patience!

Musquee de Provence Pumpkin --> I wasn't sure whether I should put this in the greatest success category, but I decided to put it here, because i think getting one pumpkin off one plant is a pretty good feat. The pumpkin has a mellower and sweeter flavour than other pumpkins and makes such a pretty display for Halloween that we would love to grow more of this though!

Things That Produced Well, But We May Have To Think About:

Jimmy Nardello Peppers --> Beautiful peppers, and lovely red colour for the ones that had a chance to ripen before the frost. They tasted good and sweet when they were fried and even when freshly eaten. The thing I wasn't struck on was the texture, however, as I found them a little on the chewy side when eaten fresh, not crispy as I thought they would be.

Bulgarian Carrot Pepper --> I really liked this pepper, I did. Bright orange, fruity in flavour, yet spicy like a jalapeno. My only issue is that they are a rather large producer and I'm worried that we won't find enough uses for them. I like hot peppers, but don't cook with them frequently enough.

Conclusion:

What to Continue Growing in 2012 -->

The Yellow Pear and Green Zebra tomatoes are givens! Despite us not enjoying the Cherokee Purple's flavour as much, we still have seed for it and will likely use it up. Of course, we have to try for the Purple Calabash and Red Zapotec's again too. We're not quitters!

For greens, we will try all the lettuce and the swiss chard again. I feel it might have been a bad year for them, and as we still have seed, we might as well see if they are better producers next year!

For squash, I would love to grow the Musquee de Provence again. As we likely will not be growing the Patty Pan again, we could take up those mounds with Musquee as well. Of course, I'll have to talk to Megan about that!

For carrots and beets, I would like to scale back the varieties and perhaps plant more of one kind rather than a few of many. Since my favourites were the Little Finger Carrots and the Chioggia Beets, these would be my top choices.

For peppers, we might plant the Jimmy Nardellos and Bulgarian Carrot Peppers again since we have leftover seed. I think I would like to add on another variety to experiment with next year though.

New Stuff -->

Looking at the Cottage Gardener Website, I know I would love to try more greens like Kale, Mustard Greens, or some different kinds of lettuce. I'm also attracted to growing onions or leeks.

Musquee de Provence

We finally harvested our Musquee de Provence pumpkins today. We ended up with two, which isn't that bad considering we only had two plants to begin with. Unfortunately, they are a little bit immature, but being late October, we figured it was a good idea to pick them; there isn't much of a plant left anymore. One of the pumpkins is about the size it should be (10-15 pounds probably), while the other is quite small. The above picture, and the two below are of the largest one.



Unfortunately you can see a few imperfections on the pumpkin, but I still think it's quite pretty.



The two pictures above are of our tiny pumpkin. The ribbing isn't as present here, but I'm pleased to see that it's ripening up. Maybe these pumpkins will get ripe on our doorstep over the next little while, and then we can make pumpkin soup.

Megan

Fall Harvests

The above picture is of a little October harvest we had this week. We are still getting the odd Yellow Pear tomato and there are two Bulgarian Carrot peppers and a Jimmy Nardello pepper there as well. It's kind of funny that even the vegetables you can get out of the garden at this time of year reflect the fall season in terms of colour.

Here is a picture of two Bulgarian Carrot peppers that I picked from the garden today. They are an extremely delicious pepper and very spicy like a Jalapeno. I actually think I like them better than a Jalapeno though, because they have a sweeter taste. Jennifer and I will definitely be growing these next year!

That's all I have to say for now, but stay tuned for a pumpkin post soon.

Megan

Bulgarian Carrot Pepper

It has been awhile since my last post, but the truth is, although things are starting to slow down with the garden (now that it's October), we're still seeing some firsts.

Among these firsts is our Bulgarian Carrot peppers. It has taken until early October for us to get our first Bulgarian Carrot pepper. Unfortunately, the first one was cracked and not in the best shape, but the second one (shown in the picture above) is perfect. We haven't tasted it yet, but I'm sure it's going to be spicy. You can definitely see how it got its name.

We have also picked our first Jimmy Nardello pepper. I didn't manage to get a picture of it before we ate it, but we have another one ripening now, so I'm sure I'll get a picture then to post. The Jimmy Nardellos are really nice and sweet, pretty much like a typical red pepper. They're definitely worth growing again.

That's all the news I have for now, but I believe Jennifer is planning on posting a lovely beet soup recipe we made in the near future. Stay tuned for that.

Megan