It's Officially Corn Season!

After what has felt like non-stop rain and cool weather this spring and summer, we're excited to announce the return of Dorisdale Farm Sweet Corn on Wednesday, August 2, 2017.

The weather means that our early planted corn did not have quite the germination we hoped for. That means corn supply will be limited to start but in a week or so, it looks like we'll have consistent supply until well into September....if things all go according to plan!  (It also means that first cut hay has been a challenge but that's another story....)

Peter just remembered a discussion with a long-time customer last summer about when corn and veggie sales (plus eggs, raspberries, pumpkin, squash, gourds etc) started at Dorisdale.  The customer was certain that he first purchased farm fresh goodies here in 1971.  That means we're pleased to be starting our 47th season!

As we set up the corn table tonight, it was natural for us to think of past seasons at the picnic table. Gerald and Bernadette loved what corn season meant - visits with neighbours, meeting cottagers and tourists and sharing their love for hard-work and locally produced food...before local was "trendy"! We're so pleased that our kids continue to show an interest and how they always hear a near story about their grandparents at the corn table!

As the saying goes - time flies when you're having fun!  This season marks our 18th garlic harvest here at Dorisdale and our 19th corn season. We hope to see you at the corn table this season!  Check back regularly for updates and news.

Year End Garlic

Since the calendar says it's officially (almost) mid December, it's time to be focusing on Christmas preparations.  It's been a very busy fall here though, so instead of baking and decorating, today is garlic day!

Earlier this fall we planted garlic cloves and put them to bed until spring.  It's always amazing to see garlic starting to pop through once the March sun starts shining.  It's certainly one of our favourite first signs of spring!

But.....we still had a couple of baskets left from our incredible 2016 garlic harvest sitting in the kitchen for more than a few weeks needing to be dealt with.  Today is the day!

You know we like experimenting with our home grown food so after a quick internet search, we decided to give freezing garlic a try. We're hoping this means we'll be able to extend the season and have garlic cloves until we're ready to harvest again in July 2017.

First off we needed to figure out an easy way to peel the individual cloves.  Here's our tip - shake, shake, shake!

We just put heads of garlic and cloves in a glass jar and shook and shook and shook.  The result - pretty good and a lot less peeling than what we started with!

After lots of shaking and peeling, here's the end result - a big pile of cloves (and a very garlicy smelling kitchen!).

After a quick rinse, we placed the cloves into clean jars for easy freezing.  We're hoping the jars contain the garlic smell a bit....or else Christmas baking we tuck away in the freezer might appeal to different senses this year!

We'll let you know what we think over the next few months.  #loveONTfood #lovelocal