Time to Celebrate: Birch Syrup Season is Done
Shift from birch sap for syrup, to sap for beer. “Oh yeah, beer concentrate is fun and easy, relative to syrup, and the vibe is all beer,”
Harvest
Let the apple harvest begin
A couple of weeks ago, I was stayed in my tracks as I was strolling by one of our apple shelters. They’re coming, my nose told me as the fragrance of ripe fruit wafted out of the open door. I poked my head in. As luck would have it, beneath the laden branches lay a …
Yukon Share: Harvested gamemeat sharing program
After a few years of effort trying to put this plan together, the Yukon is now up and running with a “Hunters For The Hungry” type of meat sharing program. “Hunters For The Hungry” is in place in all 50 states in the United States and a similar effort in about half of the provinces …
Harvest at the Yukon Grain Farm
The giant green machine inches its way along a row of potato plants with the fall coloured mountains as the backdrop. From far away it looks like a slow-moving, peaceful agrarian scene, but this changes as I get closer. First I begin to hear the big John Deere tractor motor running, then I make out …
Haska-What Now?
Raspberries, blueberries, crowberries and cranberries: being on Yukon time means planning your weekends around where to pick once the – dare I say it? – latter part of summer rolls around and hints at fall. There is one berry fairly new to the Yukon scene that is well over and done with by the time …
Great Food from the College Kitchen
This past fall they also did the Government of Yukon Agricultural Branch’s North of 60 Conference banquet and sourced almost 90 per cent of the ingredients for the dinner from local farmers. In the north this is especially a challenge as the conference is in November, so a lot of fresh produce isn’t available and …
That’s a wrap
Arriving home after time away, without stopping by the grocery store, may seem overly optimistic, but I was rewarded by finding the freezer just as I had left it. While the remnants of last year’s harvest are certainly dwindling, there is plenty to keep me going as the new crops begin to poke their heads …
Saving the Harvest
One of a gardener’s goals at the end of summer is to preserve the food harvested. This takes many forms , from allowing a potato to set skin so it won’t dehydrate in storage, to the pickling root crops , to the canning of fruits , to the blanching of vegetables for freezing. One form …
Market Season Ends as the Seasons Change
All good things must come to an end. And the summer outdoor market is no exception. Over the years we have enjoyed getting to know our summer market customers, and the other vendors become like family.So when the last market happens it is often a bittersweet time for us all. It is nice to look …
Get Pickled!
This is my favorite time of year. The harvests are in, and whether you garden or purchase from local farms, this is when you can preserve a nourishing, tasty abundance of food for the winter.There are many ways to do this — drying, freezing, and fermenting retains the most nutrients. Canning preserves minerals, but most …
Fall
Living in the Yukon, people want to enjoy summer to the fullest, “summer” being those 14 to 21 days randomly sprinkled across June, July, and August. Gardeners are no different.The perception of many is that a long, hot summer brings an abundance of produce normally grown in hot houses down south. In truth though, a scorching summer …
Helpers Extraordinaire
A few weeks ago I met a guy from Ontario who asked if it would be possible to help out at the farm. Of course I said, “Yes.” He was wanting to continue our conversation about farming in the Yukon, and we were trying to talk while I was watching our booth at the Fireweed …
Strawberry Fields Forthcoming
With visions of Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Milkshakes — in fact, with strawberries of any shape and size — I got bamboozled into our strawberry escapade on our greenhouse operation. I didn’t know much about growing strawberries, but my husband insisted that they could be grown here, so trustingly I went along with the concept. The …
Plants Helping Plants
One of the more interesting characteristics of plants is that plants are affected chemically by the aroma from leaves, roots and by soil micro-organisms. Knowing which plants like each other and which don’t, and planting these together, is what is known as companion planting. Companion planting is the planting of different crops in close proximity …
Tomatoes: The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few
One sunny August afternoon, I walked into our “Tomato” greenhouse only to find my husband, Frank, yielding a machete (OK, a large knife) chopping off the tops of all the tomato plants. Positive that the heat finally got to him and he’s gone berserk, I yelled: “What the heck are you doing?” The long rows …
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Salvaging a Short Growing Season
It’s been obvious to gardeners for some time that this summer has not been favourable for vegetable gardening. The lack of sunny days combined with cool nights is just not the best for ripening of tomatoes. Outdoor vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower are also very late in forming heads. The hope for these crops …
They’re Not Just Pretty (They taste great, too!)
One of the delights of owning a hobby greenhouse is that that there are many varieties of plants that can be grown in its warm, humid climate. Often we tend to think of growing mostly tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and that certainly was the case when we grew vegetables commercially. There are greenhouses that are dedicated …
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Pass the mint, please …
If you have just one little empty spot in your greenhouse, I would consider planting just one or two peppermint plants. Peppermint does grow outdoors, this is true, but it grows profusely in the greenhouse. I learned this by accident as for years I had planted peppermint outdoors and it did so-so. Mind you, our …
The Young at Heart Are Growing!
One of the delights of consulting and promoting gardening is that once in a while you stumble into on oasis that you did not know existed in Whitehorse. I was asked by our editor to check out what “The Seniors” up by Yukon College were doing, and when I eagerly drove up there recently and …
‘Greening’ Your Greenhouse Garden
Approaching the last six to eight weeks of our active growing season, it’s time to take a critical look at your greenhouse.
Time to Reap What You Sow
I have a few heads of cabbage and broccoli amongst my flower beds, and I check their progress almost daily. One day, recently, I noticed the telltale signs of yellow on the broccoli florets and thought, Uh oh, better harvest these right now before they get over- mature. The next day, one of the cabbage …
Herbal Flavour Well-Preserved
With harvest in full swing, I am often asked for suggested uses of herbs other than drying or freezing. To enjoy your herbal harvest year-round, I like to keep a selection of herbal vinegars on hand. To make herbal vinegar, gather herbs early in the day before the sun has a chance to bake the …
A Pre-Harvest Harvest
Whenever the beginning of August rolls around, I think more of harvesting the fruits of my gardening than the actual gardening. And harvesting has been the in progress for a couple of weeks already. The Swiss Chard has been cut and has re-grown twice now. I just trim the upper leaves leaving about 15 centimetres …
Taking Note of Good Peas
If you like peas, and many Yukon gardeners must for they can be found in most gardens, you’ve had lots of company throughout history. Dried peas found at an archeological site near Thailand have been carbon-dated to 9750 BC according to the Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Information pamphlet regarding fresh produce. Eating fresh peas …
Next Year’s Garden Season Begins Now
Although this year’s gardening season is winding down, next year’s season is just beginning. I heard quite a few years ago, that someone was experimenting with planting crops such as carrots and beets in the fall with the expectation that they would be much further ahead in harvesting than spring-planted carrots. I was too busy …
H2O 101
Now that we are almost at the end of June, I find my plants are growing very fast. I’ve already harvested the first of my Tumbler tomatoes at the end of May, as well as some of the chili peppers. Regarding peppers and cucumbers, I am harvesting the fruit on the smaller side thus giving …
Water and Warm Soil Keep Cukes Sweet and Refreshing for Summer
When I think of cucumbers, I think of the idiom “cool as a cucumber” , which may be based on the fact that even in hot weather, the insides of cucumbers remain cooler than the air. Cucumbers, the second most popular greenhouse crop after tomatoes, certainly do not like cool weather. In fact, they thrive …
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