Rayanna Birtch

There is something ridiculously satisfying about taking a handful of dried beans we grew ourselves and turning them into rows of ready-to-use jars in the pantry. This year I grew Jacob’s Cattle beans and Kidney beans (Vesey Seeds), let the pods dry, shelled them, and pressure canned them so they're ready whenever we need them. Chili night? Grab a jar. Soup? Grab a jar. Tacos? Grab a jar. Before we get into it, dried beans are a low-acid food and must be processed in a pressure canner for...

This creamy zucchini pasta is one of my favourite ways to use up those oversized garden zucchinis that seem to appear overnight. It’s packed with vegetables, fresh herbs, Parmesan, and plenty of flavour — and it’s incredibly easy to make. The zucchini, onion, garlic, spinach and basil all get roasted together first, which gives the sauce a really rich flavour before everything is blended into a creamy pasta sauce 🥒🌿 Creamy Garden Zucchini Pasta Recipe Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 1 hour...

This is probably my favourite part about growing our own food. Taking what we grew in the garden and figuring out how to turn it into something we’ll actually eat all year long. Now, in the past, I usually just froze my extra tomatoes and zucchini, and then whenever I wanted pasta sauce, I’d thaw everything out, roast it and make a fresh batch. And that worked totally fine — but it took up so much space in my freezer, and obviously meant starting from scratch every single time. So this year,...