Yipee! My three books have arrived!

I am on my way to making most things from scratch.  My books have arrived:


 Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (www.artisanbreadinfive.com)

This is an excellent book where you can make great tasting bread in a small amount of time.  It isn't exactly five minutes a day but not far off.  This book has recipes for pizza dough, foccacia, fougasse and loads of sweet and other savoury breads.  I always try to have a batch sitting in the fridge.   It means I can have home-made bread on the table within an hour (and it lasts once it has been baked too).
I have some baking at the moment.   I have been taking this book out of the library but realised it was too cheeky to be returning it all floured up.


Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn
http://ruhlman.com

It does exactly what it says on the cover.  Charcuterie has recipes for all types of cured meats as well as sausages and pates.  I haven't really explored the book to it's limit - I think I could be really happy with this if it works.  This is another book I have been taking out from the library but I had to wait so long for it I don't think I could do that again.
I also purchased some hog casings from Bosa (Italian store off of Boundary) so am looking forward to making some sausages one of these days.


Artisan Cheese Making at Home by Mary Karlin
http://www.artisancheesemakingathome.com/

This is a beautiful book.  I just went for it on Amazon but after receiving it I don't think I will be disappointed.  It has the recipes for just about every type of cheese.  Am particularly excited to make Coulommiers and soft blue cheeses.  I am going to have to find milk that is NOT ultra-pasteurized or the cheese will just not work.  I would prefer to use organic milk but this tends to be ultra-pasteurized.  Hopefully there is somewhere in Vancouver that does this.


Also, I planted English peas (Paladio) in the raised beds on Saturday.  Hopefully they won't grow too crazy

Regards,

The First Proper Gardening Weekend

Last weekend was the first weekend we really prepared and started planting the garden.  We had planted a couple of boxes with radishes and spinach a couple of weeks ago to get something going already. 

We Square Foot Garden.  This a method developed by Mel Bartholomew where
He noticed that he was able to grow as many vegetables as he needed in blocks of a square foot on raised beds.  He wrote a very informative book which we took out of the library one day. 
This is a very popular way of growing food in a small amount of space.  There are loads of other people blogging about this. 
One particular blog I like to read is http://mysquarefootgarden.net/.  Emily has great resources on her website and really interesting experiences.

We have quite a large patio out the back of our house and a small front lawn this is where we have placed our 4'x4' raised beds.  We are also going to be growing stuff in various pots about the place too.

POTATOES

Saturday we planted potatoes.  I haven't tried spuds before. We have two fairly large wooden planters that would be perfect for them.  We planted Yukon Gold and Fingerling.  
The lady in the garden centre explained that all I have to do is cut the seed potatoes up so that there was an eye in each section and plant on approx 4 to 5 inches of soils and then cover with more soil.  Oh add some fertilizer to the the soil ( I purchased specific potato fertilizer  - I think the lady saw me coming!).  When the plants have reached approx 6 inches pile on some more soil until there is only 2 inches showing.  The potatoes start growing in the soil.  Keep doing this.  You can start harvesting the baby potatoes from the top in a few months time while leaving the lower spudies to mature.  Am really looking forward to these.

OTHER VEGETABLES

We started the first of our raised beds as well. The plan is below.  Actually the scallions and garlic are a carry over from last year - accidentally - as they grew back as weren't sure how to put the garden away over the winter.

This weekend we planted:
Lettuce - Super Gourmet Blend - a mix of different types that we intend to cut and come again
Gai Lan - Green Pearl
Carrots - Royal Chantenay - our boxes are only six inches deep these carrots grow to five to six.
Beets - Touchstone Gold

I intend to take some photos, however, this being Vancouver it is raining and a bit dull.

I thought I would write about my thoughts and the practicalities of being a lazy Urban gardener and cook in Burnaby, British Columbia.  Like many people, we decided that we would start growing as many vegetables as we could ourselves in the small space we have in front and at the back of our house.  Also I really like the idea of making as much of I can from scratch.
I have big ideas - I am going to make my own bacon, types of cheese, learn how to butcher our own meat (but not kill it), make preserves, make bread and perhaps our own prosciutto.   I would love to keep chickens but, unfortunately, Burnaby City Hall doesn't allow backyard chickens.

How am I going to do this?  I am going to use as many resources as I can from the internet, books, local talks and learning as I go along.  I think it will be fun!


Regards,