How to Grow Sweet Potatoes

Step Number Two

FACT: Sweet potatoes are a great source of antioxidants.

 

Hello followers! What a beautiful day!

Well, it's been exactly 7 weeks since I started my sweet potato slips and as you can see, they have done very well! The second step in growing sweet potatoes is to pluck the stems off the top of the sweet potato and to put them in water. Now the slips will grow roots, the final step before planting them in the ground.

I really hope that you've been following along and I cannot wait to see how the roots will look next week! Till then, my sweet potato lovin' followers!

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day Menu

Hello followers! Ontario produce is starting to be seen around town! To keep track of which locally grown goodies are in season, make sure to check Foodland Ontario's Availability Guide. Eat local, eat seasonal!
Well, Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday and I thought that putting together a simple and seasonal menu was a great idea! The recipes for this three course meals are a collection from blogs gone by. Don't just limit yourself to these ideas, though! Search through my Simple and Tasty Recipes page for many more menu options.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there! Bye for now, but I'll be back very soon!

Ontario Mushroom Soup, Gluten Free

Roasted Salmon with Herbs, serve with new potatoes and Ontario asparagus.

Stewed Ontario Rhubarb, serve over vanilla ice cream, Greek yogurt or pound cake.

 

 

Springtime in Norfolk County, Ontario

"The world's favourite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May." Edwin Way Teale

Hiya followers, are you all enjoying the outdoors this weekend?! If you're in the Burlington area, make sure to head over to the Royal Botanical Gardens for all of their great spring time events!

Also, I have started up my own little business! Check out my website and sign up to a cooking lesson today!

Well, earlier this week the family got together and headed out to one of our most favourite places, our 10 acres of land in Norfolk County, Ontario. My parents purchased the property six years ago and we absolutely love it! Five acres of the property are split into two woods, lovingly referred to as the 'big woods' and the 'little woods;' the other five are a former soy bean field. When we first showed up, the soy beans had been harvested the previous year and the land was left baron, looking more like a dried up old river bed than a piece of farm land. So, with a couple of phone calls to the local arbour society and to a farmer with a larger spreader, a few hundred indigenous trees were planted and a few hundred pounds of pasture mix were spread over the old soy bean crop. A few years later, we had successfully turned that five acres into a tree lined beautiful meadow. Since then, we have also cleared a plot for our experimental garden, planted four fruit trees (two apple and two pear), purchased an R.V. (our home away from home! Ha!), a John Deere, built a shed, put together a picnic bench and dug out the ever important fire pit. We are happy to say that we haven't used any kind of chemical, poison or pesticide on the land since we moved in six years ago and with the two types of clover we introduced, we like to think we have a bit of a safe haven for bees, birds, animals and the like!  Needless to say, all our family and friends love the piece of land my parents bought and we all enjoy it from early spring until late in the fall! Hopefully one day we will build a home up there but until then, exploring, gardening, relaxing, camping, hanging out in the R.V. and simply sitting at the picnic bench with a cold beer is more than adequate for us!

 

Our Five Acres of Woods



 Our Five Acres of Meadow (including the garden!)
 

 

 

McIntosh Apple Buds

 



Four year old asparagus, ready to pick! Finally!

Asparagus trench

 

 Snap peas
 

Garlic patch