Next Year I Will

I am famous for thinking I will remember things because once upon a time, I had an excellent memory. I could recall anything.  That day is not this day.

I love the garden. I love to think of all the possibilities, I love to provide for my family, I love to teach my children the importance of where their food comes from.  A garden does all of that and so much more.

As I go through the motions of the day to day work and commitment a garden takes, I think of the things I will do different next year.

In no particular order they are:

1. I will only grow six -- SIX -- tomatoes of each variety.  That's it.  Someone send me to this statement next year when I gleefully start throwing seeds in starter.

2. I will use one container per variety.  Milk cartons turned on their sides work so very well for this purpose.  They hold about six peppers or tomatoes and can be filled to allow for root development. One variety per.  That way you are able to skip the transplanting on it's own step, and go straight to the garden.  Less work means you are more likely to stick with your work and not get tired and let stuff go so leggy.

3.  I will start my hot peppers in February.  Maybe even January.  Late January.  They take a long time to grow.  These peppers take even longer here in Saskatchewan.

4.  I will start my sweet peppers in March.

5. Speaking of that, I will record which varieties grew well for me.

6. I will tag my seedlings with masking tape identifying what variety they are in the containers. I am not going to pretend I will do this in the garden.

7.  I will find some pointy pieces of board for row markers and attach the variety types to that, before I plant.

8.  I will not plant my potatoes 8 inches deep. Whoops.

9.  I will start my onions and leeks in January.  Plant as much of those as I want, and hopefully painstakingly drop little seed by little seed.

10.  Cabbages and broccoli can be started in late January as well.  This is good news, because by January I am so itchy to grow something it is painful.

11. In February, if I can't stand it any longer, I can start a few 90-100+ days to mature varieties of tomatoes.  Because those need the biggest head start, and it doesn't seem to hurt them at all to grow for that long.  Good varieties to try are Brandywine types, or Black Krim.  I will not start any romas until the second week of April.  I SWEAR.

12. I will not put my grow light in my basement.  It is too damn cold down there.

13. Must find area to fit grow lights.

14.  In fall, set in some peas, lettuce, onions, and cabbages so next year we can log and record whether they will come up again or not.

15.  Record, record, record.

I imagine this list shall grow. If there is anything you have decided you will do or not do next year, let me know!

Jackie

Volunteer Bannock

Happy Aboriginal Day, Canada.

I almost forgot. Then my eldest son, Persistent Boy, came home. In the van on the way to his friend's house, he told me that his teacher couldn't make Bannock to save her life, and that he had told the whole class that his Mom makes the best bannock in the world! Compliments like that get your Mom to do stuff for you, even if you have only ever eaten two people's Bannock.

Many of you will know that I lost my Mom almost two years' ago to cancer. It was the worst time of my life.  Her bannock is probably the best in the world. It is a secret recipe. She would be so puffed up that Justin told his class her bannock was the best that she would probably be ok with me publishing the recipe. Probably...  


I know for sure she would not forgive me if I passed up an opportunity to do her proud and making her bannock for his class would make her very happy. So here we go.


Debbie Edin's World's Best Bannock

5 cups all-purpose flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream

Mix together. Make into rounds and prick with a fork.  Bake in moderate oven until golden brown.


There's more to it than that, but that is what the recipe is.  As you can see, this is technically more of a cream biscuit than a real bannock (which would likely have had lard in it) but once you get the hang of it, you will love it.

Start like this:

Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl. Sift them together with a whisk or fork.

 Make a well in the centre. Pour in milk and cream and stir until it comes together.

Add milk and flour and mix to a ragged soft dough consistency.  Take a handful of flour and sprinkle it on a board. Scrape out the dough onto the board. Put another handful of flour over top. Knead fourteen times.

Yes. Fourteen times.  No more, no less.  Why 14? I am not exactly sure if that is the exact amount before the gluten gets activated or what, but that is part of the Big Secret.  The dough will be sticky at first and that is ok. Use your hands lightly and just bring it together.

This is what it looks like after it is done kneading.

Pat into even circles and place on parchment covered cookie sheets. Bake at 400 for about 20-22minutes.

Baked off!

Yum.

Being the mom I am, I am sending some chokecherry jelly I made last summer to go with it. Last time I sent some to the school, it didn't come home until the jar was empty two months' later.

And there you have it.  Volunteer Bannock. Happy Aboriginal Day, and Mom, I hope it tastes as good as yours.

Jackie

New Territory

Well, this is my very first post on what appears to be a blog I set up myself. Anyone who knows me knows very well that I am now mystified by technology, so I hope this isn't too boring or old fashioned.  Unfortunately I am boring and old fashioned so if it is, well, too bad.


My name is Jacquelynne and I am the stay-at-home mother of four crazy and possibly spoiled kids. I love to cook, bake, garden, and when I get a project into my head (right now that project is heirloom tomatoes) I generally go all crazy and obsessive until I figure everything out.  I am wife to the G-Man (haha) and of all the things we are, quiet and calm we really are not.  My children are:  Persistent Boy, almost 10; Sunshine Girl, 8; The Charming Lass, 5 and CrazyWild Son, almost 3.


Unfortunately on the road to motherhood, my writing skills and basic grammar skills got ditched because of sleep deprivation for things like the need for sanity. For example, I just took a break from writing this to teach the Charming Lass unsuccessfully how to snap her fingers. So if I am a nightmare grammatically, please just take it with a grain of salt.


My mission as a Mom is to raise healthy, happy children. I rarely accomplish this but I never stop trying. My family and I are moving to a 480 acre farm in North-East Saskatchewan. My life has been a chaotic mess for the past two and half years, and I am more than a bit interested in ditching the city life and finding my head in the quiet of the country. I believe the space will give CrazyWild Son a chance to burn off all his energy, give Persistent Boy some lessons in hard work, give Sunshine Girl a break from the all too grown-up atmosphere of her Grade 2 classroom, let the Charming Lass break out her Hippie self in full force, and maybe help me find some peace.  The G-Man has never belonged in a city, and like CrazyWild Son, he needs space to exist.


I have always loved Little House on the Prairie, and although the Saskatchewan Prairie has been settled for a long while, this little family is headed out to do some homesteading for the 22nd (???) century that has meaning and far less chemicals.  


This blog may contain a bunch of stuff that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it is my hope that it will be interesting! Stay tuned for baking and cooking entries, garden entries, canning entries, Jackie-learning-to-shovel-poop entries, and all sorts of stuff.


I am super hopeful one of my very first posts will be the much-asked-for recipe for cinnamon buns, with photos on how to make the dough and assemble them.




Thanks for stopping by :)