Home-grown eggcitement

The concept of the “3000-mile Caesar salad” has always perplexed me some. Between shipping costs, seasonal differences and a general lack of support for local farmers, the entire construct seems both irresponsible and completely unnecessary. It’s with this in mind that I can very proudly (and gratefully) say that there is a grand total of 20 feet between our eggs and my frying pan.

Paul was the first to discover our very first egg. I wasn’t there, but he insists that the noise he made was far louder than anything that has come from the chickens thus far. Somewhere between a gasp and guttural moan, I imagine.

The eggs, at least at this stage, are still quite small. A size you would never see in your grocery store, if I’m honest, but there’s really something so special feeling about plucking a still-warm egg from your backyard coop – regardless of how hungry you may still be afterwards. A little wash-up and a lot of excitement later, and we were ready for our first taste. We gathered around a very buttery pan, cracked Baylik’s spherical bounty, and all waited with wide eyes for the white to go opaque.

Initial impressions are that you really can’t match this level of freshness. The yolk clings very tightly to the white (normally after a few days, the yolk becomes easier and easier to separate), the color is a bright yellow, you almost want to swig it down raw, Rocky-style. The yolk is rich and coats your mouth with a mineral-ish taste, the whites basically taste like butter, but the general consensus is that they have a “warm” texture, very viscous and molten.

For the first while, Baylik was the only one to lay anything for us, because she is the older hen. More recently, however, a trip to the coop yields contributions from Hebsebah as well. Equally delicious, equally exciting. Jacob and Paul have even started stamping the eggs with our blog address.

Frequently asked questions:

How are you getting eggs without a rooster? We don’t need one. We’re getting one a day from each hen, roughly, they’re just not fertilized.

Can they fly? No, but they will give a flappy jump if you hold a worm in front of them.

Do they have personalities? Oh yeah. Baylik is a total rebel, usually the first to explore things, and will be the most fervent out of the gate when you open it. Hebsebah is a little more tame, but a bit louder. This might be due to younger age.

Long story short, the eggs are delicious, and they come from very happy chickens.

Grandma's Sorrel Soup

The best part of vegetable gardening has to be eating the fruits of your labour. Produce from ones own garden is more fresh and satisfying than anything that can be found at grocery stores or farmers markets. For me, enjoying veg from the garden doesn't get any better than using my Grandma's sorrel plant to make her fantastic sorrel soup. If you remember one of my past posts on the blog, I transplanted my Grandma's sorrel plant to our garden from her backyard in Scarborough.

Last week the sorrel plant yielded enough sorrel leaves to make a big pot of soup and go to her new assisted living residence to enjoy it with her. I got the sorrel soup recipe from my Grandma along with about a thousand other recipes she has accumulated in a black book throughout her lifetime. The sorrel lends a delicious citrus flavour to the soup, and once combined with the cream has a smooth velvety texture. My Grandma enjoyed it a great deal, but I must admit that I still have some work to do before It's as good as hers. I also didn't have any of the beautiful edible flowers that used to be her signature garnish.

Gambling With Cold-Frames

Using cold-frames is a good way to get a jump on the season and have your hot weather loving plants in the ground well before Victoria Day weekend, the traditional day to transplant these vegetables. My introduction to cold frame gardening came as I was wandering the streets of Little Italy and noticed all sorts of plastic coverings placed over planters and some directly on the ground. The "cold-frames" that made me most curious appeared in gardens all over the neighborhood. These were 2 liter pop bottles with the bottoms cut out and placed over top of plants. Thinking that all the vegetable gardeners in Little Italy had gone completely insane, I asked a lady who was working on her pop bottle covered plants what she was doing. She explained that the pop bottle creates a miniature green-house that traps in the heat from the day and prevents frost from landing on the plant at night.

Realizing the brilliance of these simple green-houses I went home to do some research so that I could construct my own cold-frames. After a little research in a readers digest book called Back to Basics, I learned that cold-frames can be as simple or as complex as you want, ranging from a simple pop bottle to a walk-in green-house. I decided to construct something in the middle.

The Back to Basics article that I read suggested the best material for cold-frames to be old windows. This gave me an opportunity to perform one of my favourite activities, riding my bike around and rummaging through peoples garbage to find thrown out treasures. Eventually I did find a set of great old windows which I attached together so that it could run overtop of the tomato plants. For the cucumbers I made a simpler cold-frame, constructed out of clear plastic sheeting and wires bent to shape.

I put both of these cold-frames in place just before the last couple of frosts and have been worried about whether the plants are going to make it. I raised the tomato's and cucumbers from seed and don't have a back up set of plants if they die, so there is a bit of a gamble here. But if it is successful we could get an extra two weeks of production out of the plants.

Holy Shiitake, Thats A Lot of Mushrooms... And Other Garden Updates

Mushroom logs are something that I think are really cool to have in a garden, and are perfect for small lots, as it doesn't take up much space. They also take very little care to grow, since you don't really need to water the logs, a single soaking at the beginning of the growing period will suffice. To grow mushrooms all you need is a recently cut log of Oak, spores of the mushrooms of your desire, and an inoculation kit to inject those spores into said log. Or you can do as I did and purchase already inoculated logs from FunGuy Farms, which is the more practical and cheaper way to do it if you are looking to cultivate only a couple of logs.

Growing your own mushrooms does provide a significant amount of savings, especially if you grow high end mushrooms like Shiitake's that will often fetch between 10 and 15 dollars a pound. The inoculated logs cost 25 dollars each and will produce about 8 pounds of mushrooms. After this most recent rainfall I noticed a ton of mushroom caps poking through the bark of the logs, and two mushrooms that were already big enough to pick, though we have yet to eat them.

The rest of the garden is looking great. The early crop of radishes, spinach and lettuces that were sown a couple of weeks ago, have sprouted nicely and are near ready to eat. The Hops plant has come back to life and is providing some beautiful green shoots of leaves. I'll have to build a trellis to train it to soon, or else it will take over the entire garden. The Sunchoke sprouts have also started to poke through the soil, and I've heard that once this happens it's very little time before they are 8 foot tall flowers. The Cabbages are also coming along great, as long as we can keep our two hens from eating them.

At long last, cheese.

This afternoon it became too much to bear. I had to try some cheese.

About a month ago I started a batch of Gorgonzola style cheese with some blue mould from my trip to Glenngarry in early March. The recipe calls for at least another 30 days of aging, but not to worry. Using some curd left over from making three wheels of what will hopefully turn out to be that tasty Italian blue I haphazardly pressed a little experimental wheel.


























Hoping to end up with a crumbly, Stiltonesque cheese, I tried to get a good amount of moisture out of the curd. I pressed the curds with a moderate amount of pressure for 24 hours then let the resulting wheel sit at room temperature for the mould to take effect. It was with surprising speed that the pale blue veins crawled through the little cheese wherever a crack had formed. I waxed it and threw it in the back of the fridge with little hope of an edible result.


So it was with low expectations that we sliced open the little orange wax covered wheel early this afternoon. The firm curd inside is still moist with little veins of blue mold. Creamy in texture it has a pleasant acidity and very mild blue cheese bite. We agreed over bites of the hamburgers on which it was crumbled that the outcome was very tasty indeed.




In the spirit of Paul's beer making, lets call it "Beginners Luck Blue".

Fowl: Making a Home for the Ladies

No, this is not a letter for the penthouse forum, the ladies I speak of are from the galiforme species. As discussed in my last post on chickens we had decided to construct the coop based on plans recommended by the blog Toronto Chickens. Toronto Chickens is a fantastic blog that works to promote the legalization of backyard chickens in Toronto as well as provide people interested in raising chickens with useful information.

Two types of coops are recommended by Toronto Chickens. One is the Eglu, which is a ready made coop that comes in a wide range of colours. Though these coops may be a great design they are expensive. The prices range from 500 to 1300 dollars, and the one sized to our needs is in the 1300 dollar range. The much cheaper, and better suited option, was to purchase plans from a company called Ready Coop.

The price tag to buy the plans and all the materials for the coop was 270$. Not only was the coop affordable, but the way the plans outlined the steps of construction made its assembly very easy. I took advantage of my Dad's wood shop to do all the cuts, and then transported all the pieces to the farm for construction. The transportation of wood nearly broke my bike trailer and garnered me some strange looks. Both of which are bound to happen when you strap three 4x8 sheets of plywood to the back of a bike and fly down Christie hill. Once I arrived home, having all the pieces already cut to size made constructing the coop almost like putting together Ikea furniture. The process of building the coop also gave me a much more satisfying feeling than I think having a ready made coop, such as the Eglu, arriving in the mail could have.

The coop provides an area large enough for 6 hens to roost, and has two laying boxes for the hens to share. There is a short case of chicken stairs so that the hens can traverse down to their run. This is where the feed and water are kept and there is 16 square feet of room for them to stretch their legs and peck at the soil. A door in the coop allows the hens access to the rest of the yard so that they can hunt for little grubs and slugs and have a dirt bath. The coop seems really secure from predators, especially with the addition of a chicken wire skirt we attached to prevent raccoons from digging under the coop walls. It would take a particularly clever raccoon to break into the coop and do any damage to the chickens, and if one is capable, it probably deserves its dinner.

The completed coop looks great, and Jacob's suggestion to paint it a barn red makes it even more bad-ass. The place is starting to look more like a legit urban farm everyday.

Larder: Building The Big Smoke

Paul: I think a quantity of nice smoked bacon is worth its weight in gold.

Jacob: Agreed. And legitimately smoked cheese - not that liquid smoked junk - is a real treat. Even many boutique dairies and cheesemakers have trouble finding the resources to smoke their own product.

Paul: It was with this spirit that we started our most wing-nut project yet.

Jacob: We were five or six home-brews in, and reminiscing about Norm's Smokehouse, in Haliburton.  We've taken day-trips to his old-school smokeshack whenever we're at the lake.

Paul: You had also done a few smokes last year.

Jacob: Yeah, last year, we did a few bacons, some duck breast, and whole whack of ribs using a rickety gas barbecue on our three square foot balcony. But smoking meat on a barbecue isn't really all that practical.

Paul: With all of our dist-stink-tive projects, we've become pretty used to strange odors floating around the apartment.

Jacob: Yeah, but perhaps smoking meat on a 'balconette' directly connected to our living room was not the best idea.

Paul: But the results were tasty.

Jacob: So, with succulent pork product in mind, and alcohol in blood, we began our foray into the world of smoking.

Paul: After a solid 10 minutes of poor internet research, we decided that we were experts on all things smoke, and started acquiring building materials the next day.

Jacob: You mean, you "borrowed" bricks from a demolished house the next day.

Paul: Yes. Actually, it was pretty funny - Dave and I were walking up and down the street, with batches of bricks across 2x4 planks on our shoulders. One construction guy said, "What, the pharaoh's got you building that damn pyramid again?"

Jacob: Dave's penchant for, "winging it", and "rigging up"  meant that we proceeded without any plans. Not exactly an expedient process...

Paul: Dave's constant assurance of, "it'll all come together" was not always re-assuring.

Jacob: But, it did. And despite our total lack of bricklaying experience and terrible roofing skills, we soon had most of a smoker assembled, ready to lift onto the brick foundation. The thing was about five and a half feet tall, sitting on the deck.

Paul: It looked like a reasonable size, and seemed light enough to pick up.

Jacob: At first. By the time the last shingle was attached, it required four skinny men (and a full case of beer) to move onto it's moorings. And once it was assembled...

Paul: ...It was HUGE. The thing is eight feet tall. We did not anticipate that.

Jacob: Damn right. We started to get a bit nervous - we had told our landlord that we would be assembling a, "small barbecue structure", not a mammoth-sized outhouse. That being said, actually having something material to look at, dreamed up by us, and actually followed-through to completion: very cool.

Paul: Well, that's not to say that it was a complete success. Our first smoke was... touch and go?

Jacob: More go than touch. Perhaps bringing a wooden structure up to 350 degrees fahrenheit was not the best idea?

Paul: That thing was hot. And leaky! Smoke pouring out everywhere. And despite our "expertise", more extensive research would have shown...

Jacob: And by "extensive research," you mean Jenny looking at a Reader's Digest for five minutes?

Paul: Exactly... would have shown that we needed a baffle, a grease catch, and a much smaller source of ignition.

Jacob: In our enthusiasm, we had decided that a 65,000 BTU burner would be sufficient.

Paul: Sufficient for NASA.

Jacob: Right. Anyway - Brick; Wood; Fire. Smoker: Done.

Paul: Well, not really. We still need to fill the holes, deal with the indirect fire-box...

Jacob: DONE.

Vegetable: Poaching Perennials

The response received since starting this blog has been overwhelming. Not only from the people interested in following and reading the blog, but more so from the enthusiasm people have to become involved in the farm, and offer their own gardening tips,and experiences. What's been even more surprising are the number of people who have contacted me to offer plants to be put in our garden. Particularly since my mention of lacking perennials.

The first offer came from someone very close to me, my Grandma, who having just moved out of her house and into assisted living had many plants on offer from her former garden in Scarborough. The plant I was most enthusiastic to get my hands on is the main ingredient in her incredible soup, Sorrel. I was sure to transplant a portion of this amazing perennial before the house was sold so that I can continue to enjoy this soup with my Grandma.

While the gift of sorrel from my Grandma was a given, with or without the blog, the rest of the plant donations have come from people who may not have known this project existed had the blog not been made. One very exciting new perennial is a Gold Hop plant from a friend named Alex Jarvis Squire, lead singer of the Whole Entire Universe. Alex is a horticulturalist by day and has an amazing garden. Fortunately for me he felt the Hops plant was taking up to much space. When he offered the plant to me I jumped at the opportunity to grow my own Hops to be used for flavouring my home-brew. Having just undergone a transplant the shrub is looking a little bit sad, but hopefully, with some tender loving care, will spring back to life.

One of my favourite perennials are sunchokes. Franka provided me with some really good advice about growing sunchokes through a horror story of hers. Franka suggested that when planting sunchokes I create some sort of barrier around them to prevent them from spreading throughout the garden. She learned this the hard way when the root system of a sunchoke plant spread under the grass of her lawn, only to be torn up by squirrels in search of the tasty tuber. Franka was particularly adamant that I take this advice because of the proximity of our sunchokes to her garden. To create this barrier I used the old recycling bins with the bottom cut out. Franka was pleased with my ingenuity and rewarded me with a couple of chive plants to accompany the one that I had left from last year.

Another plant that we hope to be giving a home to is a raspberry bush from a friend who lives up the street from us named Krista. For this plant I am having considerable difficulty finding space. As much as I love raspberries, sunchokes and loads of other perennials I do find them challenging to incorporate into the garden because of how large they get. WIth a garden as small as ours it becomes difficult to incorporate these plants without having them take over the entire plot. One good option for the urban gardener to enjoy things like raspberries and blueberries is to forage them wild, which I hope to do this summer.

Hopefully getting these plants in the ground and taking care of them will stave off my desire to get an early jump on vegetable planting before the recommended May 24 weekend. Also, soon there is going to be enough sorrel for a delicious sorrel soup.

Vegetable: Preparing For an Early Crop

Regrettably I didn't grow many perennials last year. Being a renter, and not a home-owner, means you don't necessarily know what your living situation will be every year. Not knowing where I will be from year to year prompted me to resist planting perennials, and particularly plants that you have to wait several seasons before a nice crop appears. So this spring I will look on with envy as farmers arrive at the markets with asparagus and strawberry and other delicious seasonal treats.



Without these first signs of the growing season in our garden, I have been increasingly eager to get something sprouting that we can enjoy fresh from the yard. The beautifully deceiving weather that we have had recently has increased my impatience to start working in the garden. The only thing that has been holding me back are Franka's warnings that these deceptively warm days are followed by cool nights, that often bring a frost. Franka tells me that if I were to plant my seedlings now they would rot and die. She stresses that I need to maintain my patience, and wait until the Victoria Day long weekend to transplant the seedlings into the ground.



Feeling dejected I had come to the conclusion that I would have to be satisfied with the seedlings in the living room, until I received an email. The Stop Community Food Centre sends out a "Gardening Tip of the Month" in its monthly newsletter. For the month of April the tip is to plant crops that are resistant to frost, and will actual grow best in cool temperatures. These are crops such as spinach, arugula and radishes. Having received this tip we wasted no time in getting outside and double digging the soil in the front yard. The front yard faces the morning sun and so will provide the best environment for early crops to grow. Unable to wait for nice weather, Chris and I flipped the soil in the rain and cold. While digging we received several warnings from neighborhood Nonna's that we should go inside unless we want to catch a cold. Despite the warnings we dug on and were able to plant seeds once the rain passed, and now have spinach, lettuces and radishes beginning to sprout in the front yard.

The backyard is much bigger and required a few more hands, a case of beer and some nice weather.

Curd: 'Wheying' in on Curd

I love cheese. I have always loved cheese.  As a kid, I loved things that resemble cheese, but no longer consider cheese. I used to eat American cheese slices out of the little plastic wrapped packages as an after school snack. Yes, I am ashamed. In interim years, I have discovered such wondrous creations as French Munster, Italian Tallegio, and Spanish Valdeon. More recently, the delicious local cheeses of Monforte Dairy, and numerous other local and small-scale producers, have made me think that maybe this is something that I could do myself.

I finally decided to make cheese at home after watching the process on the BBC's the Victorian Farm, a great documentary series that recaptures daily activities of our recent ancestors. Seeing the simple, relatively inexact conditions under which the researchers worked, inspired me to try my hand at cheesemaking. My first attempt was a pressed ‘farmhouse’ cheese from Gramma's copy of Joy of Cooking (see Paul’s earlier post). We used buttermilk as a starter, dried rennet tablets, and a very questionable pressing method. The result was not great.

I have since received some help from the fine people at Glenngarry Cheese. They are located in Lancaster Ontario, where I recently visited.  I was expecting to purchase some quality bacterial starter, liquid calf's rennet (that’s the good stuff) and a cheese mold. When I arrived, they greeted me with such inspiring enthusiasm, and a whirlwind of information and encouragement. They were thrilled to hear that I had decided to join the ranks of the cheesemaker.  We talked for over an hour about the major do’s and don’ts that a first timer should watch out for. They also had all of the key ingredients that I could not find elsewhere. Thank you Glenngarry Cheese.

With the completion of the cheese press, and all the proper ingredients we decided to make one of my favourites, Traditional Cheddar. We won’t know how it tastes for another nine months (it's meant to be aged), but it definitely looks like cheese, and has a an aroma that I can confidently say, smells like cheese. I’ll keep you updated.