Lehman's Country Life

We have all been there. Our little garden produces great big yields, more than we can use. You have canned all your pantry (and you) can handle, and given away enough that your family and neighbors hide when you come to their door with vegetables. Do not let that last fresh produce spoil! Donate it to your local food bank!

Call your local food bank and ask if it takes fresh produce donations. If so, find out on what days and times. If not, ask if they have the number of a local charity that does. Times are hard all over, with prices rising like they are, and we can each do a little to help. Believe it or not, it adds up and can truly make a great difference in someone’s life.

Pick your produce fresh the day you plan to deliver it. Wash it well. Pick through and discard spoiled pieces or parts. Place your produce in containers that will be easy to lift and carry. If you can leave the containers, it will save time for the charity volunteers and you. With a permanent magic marker write your name, address, and phone number on the bottom to identify your baskets. Many food banks will hold onto your containers and give them back empty when you stop in again.

Get and keep a receipt of the estimated value of your donation, if you want to use your donation as a tax deduction.

Washing and packing your produce garden-side make for less mess and easier production. (Using a wire mesh hod is a great way to do this.) Remember that tomatoes, cabbage, beans, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers and squash are all prolific producers that can help those in need.

Don’t think of this as charity to those who do not try to care for themselves – the need of help in feeding our families can strike any of us in the blink of an eye. With job lay-offs, skyrocketing food costs and high fuel prices, we can all help our community with the gifts our garden provides for us.

Do not wait until the holiday season to take part in the canned food drives – take responsibility and help those in need today!

Here’s a helpful link to find food banks in your area:
Feeding America – Food Bank Locator

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We’ve passed the autumnal equinox and now the light in the evening is dimming at an ever-quicker pace. Even though there may be more golden days, these past couple of mornings there has been a light shimmering of frost and a crispness in the air that is just a tad on the sharp side.

Artisan Wood-Burning Cookstove

This is when the cast iron casseroles and earthenware bean pots come into their own season. With our log burner glowing my appetite is ready for putting some ‘flannel’ around my own ‘lites.’

In Italy they have reinvented the antidote to fast food with the Slow Food Movement. This season is perfect for doubling up on using your heat sources. So if you have a wood cookstove like an Aga or Stanley, then the low oven is perfect for casserole preparation. You can leave, go out to work and come home to the yummiest, most soul-satisfying dinner. (A slow cooker suffices, too, but it won’t heat your house as nicely.)

Bearing in mind that cattle add to our CO2 emissions, it’s worth considering reducing the amount of meat from cattle we eat. This does not mean that you need to go vegetarian! But to lower your carbon footprint you need to consider supporting your local beef, pork and lamb producers. You can have your meat and eat it too if you reduce food mileage. It’s also important to support local food production from an economic point of view. The more we support local producers and spend money in our local communities we expend less in terms of CO2 emissions from our journeys to market globally. So look for local labels or patronise farmer’s markets where you can be confident of your food’s providence.
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Connie haying

Here at Ash Lane farm, we don’t have many animals to care for. We have about fifteen chickens at the moment and two sheep.

The barn was, when we moved in, a junky building that had been designated the “tear down building.” Then I discovered, after moving some junk, that there was working electricity and running water. We decided that the building could be renovated with a lot of work, but that it would be easier to work on this one than build a new one.

So we cleaned the barn out. There was a day that my brother was here; he helped me move about a dozen old, decrepit bicycles from one end of the barn. None of them were even close to being able to being recovered for riding, so we took them to the metal recycling place to get rid of them.

We got four hens and a rooster that winter to start us out with farm-fresh eggs. Now, I’m here to say that I do NOT eat eggs, for the most part, but I love everything else there is about eggs – the hens, gathering eggs, looking at nice brown eggs in the fridge and cooking with them.
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October is Work and Family month, and as a working mom some days are easier than others to get a nutritious meal on the table that works with everyone’s schedules. This is the time of year I love to pull out the crockpot and get a main dish going in the morning so  when I get home at night all I need to do is add a salad or side dish and we are ready to eat.

Soups and stews are a great way to lower fat in your diet, extend the protein and save money! Recipes can easily be altered to include more vegetables and less meat and not lose flavor. In addition, high fiber items like barley, couscous and dried lentils can be included to increase the nutritive value. Remember, to make your dish as healthy as possible, refrigerate the finished soup overnight in a shallow container (no more that 3 inches deep) which will cause the fat to rise to the surface and solidify, making it easy to remove the unwanted fat.
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September 28th  2003 hurricane Jaun tore through parts of Nova Scotia  hitting hard in Halifax . Weather forecasters warned the public the hurricane was coming but most people didn’t take the warning seriously. Present generations had never experienced a hurricane. Certainly it couldn’t be any worse than many wind storms experienced here. One restaurant owner even planned a hurricane party at his water front establishment!  Few people boarded up windows or moved  and secured pleasure boats. Others planned to ride the surf so they thought. One American visitor in the area was horrified having experience with hurricanes.
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