A Gift from the Garden

A week ago, Juanita dropped by the school with a real treat for the students: a large bowl of fresh carrots from her Tahsis Community Garden plot, and some lettuce garnished with edible flowers. Our Farm to School program is not up and running for a week or so yet, so we scrubbed and bagged up the carrots to hand out to the kids as they went out to see the salmon spawning grounds for science class. The treats disappeared in no time, and the comments reflected the huge difference in taste between local garden grown carrots and whatever you get at the supermarket. The kids were very impressed that this produce was grown right here in Tahsis.

Thank you Juanita!

Canning Seminar

They say canning is becoming a lost art, however, Kim Anderson is fighting the good fight to revive the knowlege of canning and preserving inTahsis. About 15 Tahsis women and one man gathered together for an informational session on canning and preserving.Kim graciously displayed all the equipment needed to preserve fruits and veggies, as well as informational literature,examples of properly canned produce and tasting samples.Needless to say, all the jams and preserved cherries were a big hit, as well as the scones provided by Jean Sanderson.
Kim was selected to represent the Village at a " Train the Trainer" canning tutorial in Prince George , over the Summer. She brought back canning equipment, books and a host of ideas of how to capture the abundance of wild and cultivated food available locally.
Classes will start in October.

rainy day in the garden

Fern's Garden Bed

Our friend Fern reports that she has been enjoying fresh carrots out of her Tahsis Community Garden plot all summer long, and would even like to start them earlier next year! Yesterday she also got a couple quarts each of peas and green beans to enjoy, with more to come.

Farm to School Garden Bed

Today a couple of us went picking peas out of the Tahsis Community Garden Farm to School Plot. Here is some more information about Farm to School.

We picked them, shelled them, washed them, blanched them, bagged them and froze them. whew! Our 1st batch was 12 cups, ready to use in many delicious recipes this school year.

Harvesting Beans

Great to eat fresh, steamed, stirfried, or in a salad, but for a special treat I put up some Dilly Beans. The dill is from my backyard, the beans are from the Tahsis Community garden, but the garlic is from California. Maybe by next year we can be growing more garlic locally too?!

Zucchini Salsa

My Tahsis community garden plot has been producing some hefty zucchinis, specifically planted for this great recipe. Salsa! I cheated and used canned tomatoes, but when serving it, I will dice some fresh into it for that fresh tomato taste. (Thanks for the tip, Elsie!) What a delicious way to use a TON of zucchini. This recipe site has hundreds of canning and preserving recipes to try out.