Sommaire pour Summer 2023 de Harrowsmith

I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by so many incredible people who have shared their stories, expertise and passion with us in this issue. When I met Lori Nikkel, the CEO of Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue charitable organization, I felt like I had known her forever. Her commitment to ending hunger and reducing the environmental impact of food waste is impressive, and her success in doing this is gives us lots to celebrate. Lori’s optimism and enthusiasm are infectious and I have felt nothing but her kindness and generosity every time we speak. She is making a difference, and at Harrowsmith, we are thrilled that she is sharing her wisdom with us starting with a regular column in this issue. On page 74, find her tips for…

Living Wild: How to plant style your home and cultivate happiness (Ryland Peters & Small) by bestselling ‘plantfluencer’, author, designer and family man Hilton Carter. $65. The Veganic Grower’s Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard (Lantern Publishing & Media) by Canadian author Jimmy Videle. $41.95. Small Summer Gardens: 35 Bright and Beautiful Projects to Bring Color and Scent to Your Garden (Ryland Peters & Small) by Emma Hardy. $27.99. The Flower Hunter: Creating a Floral Love Story Inspired by the Landscape (Ryland Peters & Small) by floral artist and garden designer Lucy Hunter. $65. Garden to Table Cookbook: A Guide to Growing, Preserving, and Cooking What You Eat (Fox Chapel Publishing) by Kayla Butts. $39.99. Chicken Keeping Pure + Simple: A Fun, Friendly Guide…

MAY Mars and Venus are the planets that dominate May evenings, and the moon “washes out” many of the faint stars for the first week or so. By the second week, you will have about 3 hours of dark sky before the waning (getting thinner) gibbous moon rises in the east. In the late evenings, the Milky Way rises in the east. However, you will need a rural sky to be able to see it. Light pollution from the bright LED street lights and house lights will prevent most urbanites from seeing it. But even a neighbour’s unshielded rural lighting can prevent you from seeing it. On May 23, watch for the near-half moon joining Mars and Venus high in the western sky after sunset. JUNE The full moon (June…

PROJECT #1 INVISIBLE TOUCH Cut a hole the size and shape of an egg in the bottom one-third of your clean water bottle, then drill a small hole in the bottom to feed twine through. Secure a knot and then hang it upside down. Fill it the bottle with soil to the bottom of the hole and add a small trailing plant like this ivy seen here. When watering your plant, remove the cap from the bottle so that the excess water can drain. It’s hard not to feel a twinge of guilt when we buy products in packaged plastic and throw away snack wrappers or coffee cups. Personally, I do. Ready to make some changes? I am! Here are some ways we can all make a difference. Audit what…

When it comes to home grown food production, chickens have got to be close to the ultimate. Eggs are an exceptional food, chickens make eggs out of almost nothing, and the birds themselves give excellent meat when their productive lives are over. All you need is accommodation for the birds We've kept chickens on our Manitoulin Island, Ontario place since 2002, and I designed and built this coop with one of my sons. If there’s one thing we’ve learned after keeping backyard chickens for 20+ years is that there are five main advantages offered by portable, modular chicken houses: 1. Simpler to build than a permanent house. 2. Modular housing offers flexibility to add or take away additional coops as needed 3. Portable design makes it easier to keep a…

Corn and Langoustine Risotto Two simple steps distinguish this risotto. The first is the simple technique with which the corn “milk” is made. And the second, which was a “happy accident,” is that the corn milk is added to the stock before it is ladled into the pot of rice. As the stock/corn milk mixture is ladled into the pot, the rice slowly absorbs it. At the same time, the unabsorbed liquid cooks down, creating a sweet, starchy, deeply flavoured corn milk reduction that swaddles the risotto. Serves 6 5 ears of corn 3 cups home-made chicken stock or vegetable stock, or best-available store-bought stock 3 tbsp olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium shallot, minced 2 cups Arborio rice (available in many grocery stores and all Italian food…

I began to garden when I first moved to Cobourg, ON from Toronto in 1973, almost out of necessity: I missed the vast array of vegetables and herbs that were readily available in the city so I decided to grow my own. I started with tomatoes, lettuces and radishes — it seemed no one had tasted fresh radishes back then! My garden literally and figuratively grew as my family did: I had three young sons and wanted them to know what food tasted like when growing it yourself. It became a wonderful way for us to spend time together. Thanks to my parents, I ended up in Northumberland County. They immigrated to Canada from Latvia in 1949 and quickly fell in love with the rolling hills and the simplicity of…

Atlantic Provinces Temperatures should remain seasonable to slightly above average overall. Stormy spells will bring much cloud cover and rain, especially in August. Overall, precipitation should run above normal. Quebec Temperatures should be a little to a lot above normal overall. Expect two to four prolonged heat waves in mid-June, July and August, each breaking with severe storms. Some storms will likely be destructive, and some could produce tornadoes. Precipitation will likely run below average overall, despite some occasional heavy downpours accompanied by strong storms. Ontario Temperatures should run hotter than normal for the season overall. June should start off close to normal, temperature-wise. July and August should be rather hot and humid, as two to four heat waves will likely impact the province. Precipitation levels should remain normal east…

Solight Design’s camping lanterns are convenient. There’s no need to worry about batteries or plugging in your lanterns to charge. Simply leave them out in the sun or tie them to your backpack during a hike, and they will be ready to go! Solight-design.com. Made for the road and ready to go, the YETI Roadie 24 Hard Cooler packs more while taking up less space. It’s built tall to accommodate bottles of wine and slim enough to squeeze behind a car's driver’s or passenger’s seat. Now in Rescue Red, a limited-edition colour that’s inspired by the backcountry first aid/rescue teams from the mountains to the seas. We love products that last a long time and get people outside! www.yeti.ca. Next by Nobis is a programme that allows outerwear enthusiasts to…

In March, I can squeeze in three or four clothesline days. The clothes come off the line mostly dry, chilled, and smelling slightly of dirt. Spring is coming. In April, I can get in about ten between the rainfalls. There are often re-washes needed for clothes that fall into the mud. May to September has the clothesline sagging with everything from beach towels to work coveralls as we holiday and work on repeat, taking full advantage of the heat. Then by October, I’m back to ten or so days (the fragrance of autumn-sun-dried clothes is like falling face-first into a pile of warm leaves), and I know it’s time to close up the garden because winter will be here soon. This is the rhythm of line-drying in much of Canada.…

Solar generators are a hot new item to hit the energy scene, creating modest amounts of backup electricity from sunlight. They’re silent, burn no fuel, and have no moving parts. Typically made to deliver 3000 watts of power or less, solar generators are available commercially, but this article will show you the basics of how to build your own from high-quality components. I’ve helped hundreds of people build their own solar generators with my online courses and workshops, and this article covers the basics of how these things go together. Why Build Your Own Solar Generator There are four main reasons for the DIY approach to solar generators: 1Quality. You can choose high-quality components that meet your needs perfectly. 2Economy. You’ll enjoy a lower cost per watt of output than…

Choose the right tomato for the right job · Use ripe tomatoes in season to slice for sandwiches. · Cherry or cocktail tomatoes have multi-purposes: add them to salads, cook, dry or freeze. · Roma tomatoes last a long time, but for cooking only, they are low in water content. I hope you’re cooking with tomatoes like crazy right now while they’re tangy, juicy, and sweet. But what do we do with the extra tomatoes and fresh produce we’ve harvested or bought at the stores and markets this time of year? I think about this a lot, and I have difficulty wasting any groceries, especially when so many Canadians cannot access the food they need. In fact, this was the impetus for Second Harvest’s world-first research, “The Avoidable Crisis of…

Who loves a good summer rainstorm? Frogs do! Rain is so crucial to the survival of this amphibian species that they literally depend on it. Frogs don’t drink like humans. Instead, their skin absorbs moisture from humid air, and they rely on rain to fill ponds of water to prevent their eggs from drying out. Frogs are so in tune with moisture in the air that they can sense a storm like some humans get migraine headaches when the barometric pressure changes. Unlike people, these little ones are excited by it! Frogs have an instinctive response to incoming storm systems, making them amorous and initiating mating rituals. Studies have found that the number of frogs showing up on rainy or cloudy days can be three times that of sunny days.…

Refreshing Local flavours When Steve Faris, a fourth-generation farmer in Ontario, and Michelle decided to start their own business, they wanted to translate their farming know-how into a high-quality product that they could create crop-to-can. Ernest Ciders’ gin drink, Navy Street, uses 100% Ontario apples grown locally and relies on botanicals that can be grown in Ontario. While not all the herbs are grown on their own land currently, this is their long-term goal, as they have the agricultural experience to make it happen. It was important to the Faris’ to achieve B-Corp status as a certification of how they deeply care for their environment, people, land, and community. It’s a difficult process to undertake, and dug deep into how they cared for their farmland, how they hire and treat…

Harrowsmith: How did you get started? Shawn Hermans: In the summer of 2019, you would describe me as someone who ‘whittled’ wood while on vacation. But that summer, I came across a book at the library called Spoon, by Barn the Spoon, filled with photos of beautiful spoons. I had never uttered those words before, “beautiful spoons,” as I never knew they existed, but these pictures stirred something inside me. I returned to my workshop that week to turn a few wooden spoons on the lathe. As a wood turner for many years, the idea of creating a large cooking spoon had some appeal, but using the machine, with its vibration and dust, was not the experience that hooked me. It was when I picked up my first carving knife…

My mom’s love of good quality, mid-century modern pieces inspired me to refinish furniture. She purchased most of her furniture in the late 60s to early 70s and still uses it today. I loved refinishing things for my home and continually bought unique items from Facebook Marketplace. But I began to run out of space for it all! So about 10 years ago, I started selling them. I had no idea what I was doing: I was taking pictures outside on the grass and at terrible angles. Thankfully I found a great community — one specific group of experts on social media. They taught me the ins and outs of staging pieces properly, photographing them to sell online and the ever-important art of pricing. I am so grateful for their…

One of the precious parts of summer in Canada is that we can enjoy our meals outside — and dining al fresco always feels elaborate, even with a simple menu. For those meals, relish these recipes that are vibrantly flavoured and influenced by the pantries of Mexico, India and Italy. Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad Mexican street rice, or “elote” is a staple of the street food scene in Mexico City. The word elote comes from the Nahuatl word for corn, and this dish is thought to have originated with the Aztecs. Elote is grilled corn on the cob covered in melted butter, mayo, chili powder, cotija cheese, and lime. This recipe is a great place to use the glut of herbs in your summer garden. If you have chives…

Flavoured Oil How to use oil from oil-packed anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and peppers In a pasta sauce. Use the oil from the anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and peppers to create a flavorful pasta sauce. Sauté some garlic and onion in the oil, then add in chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce and your choice of herbs. Mix in the other ingredients and let them cook until everything is heated through. As a salad dressing. Combine the oil from the ingredients with vinegar or lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and a pinch of sugar to create a tangy salad dressing. Serve it over mixed greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers. As a garnish. Drizzle it over soup or pizza, or mix it with your favourite dip like hummus. Chicken Bones How to use chicken…