Yep, spring means asparagus and rhubarb and lettuce and morel mushrooms—all good things we love, for sure. But for folks in California, spring brings yet another seasonal treat: Maker Faire Bay Area, aka “the Greatest Show and Tell on Earth.”

For those not familiar with Maker Faire, it’s sort of like heaven for do-it-yourselfers, a ginormous festival of all things sawed, hammered, pasted, programmed—and preserved. For the past four years, HOMEGROWN and our big sibling, Farm Aid, have partnered with Maker Faire to present the HOMEGROWN Village, a curated corral devoted to food making, urban homesteading, farming, gardening, harvesting, cooking, and eating. Most definitely eating.

We can’t wait to return to the San Mateo County Event Center on May 18 and 19 for the HOMEGROWN Village’s fifth year at Maker Faire, and we can’t wait to see you there. Whether you live in the Bay Area or are considering making the hike (Do it! Do it!), whet your appetite below. This year’s HOMEGROWN Village comprises four mouth-watering areas, and we’re pleased as punch to point out how many HOMEGROWN members are involved.

NEW THIS YEAR! EDIBLE MARKETPLACE
Curated by Forage Kitchen, a food-focused hacker space in San Francisco, the Edible Marketplace features small-scale food makers, including Bar Jars, Cocoa Collection SF, Happy Girl Kitchen, McVicker Pickles, Oaktown Jerk, Sweet Lauren Cakes, T-We Tea, and more. Are you hungry yet?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW THIS YEAR! FARM & FOOD FILM FEST
Once you’ve picked up a tea-and-pickle snack, head to this screening area for short films on food literacy, sustainability, soil health, farming, and feeding ourselves.

» Let’s hear it for the HOME team! HOMEGROWN member Kala Philo presents FarmShorts, a new web video initiative

» Also from the HOME front: HOMEGROWN member Kristi Stephens Adams presents selections from her documentary shorts series From the Ground Up

» Director in attendance! Don’t miss Symphony of the Soil, featuring a Q&A with filmmaker and environmentalist Deborah Koons Garcia (The Future of Food)

» The award-winning film Nourish: Food + Community traces how food connects to climate change, public health, and social justice

» Also from PBS: Food Forward, a new breed of food TV

» And from VOM Productions: Udderly Direct, a short doc on a raw milk dairy farm near Fresno

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAKER STAGE
Here’s where you can learn stuff directly from other smart folks. Think of it as a buffet for the brain.

» Hey-yo! Another HOMEGROWN member! Nicole Easterday of FarmCurious hosts not one but two talks: Making Fresh Chevre and Making & Infusing Vinegars

» And another! HOMEGROWN member Keri Keifer and her fellow Seedfolks spill the beans—er, seeds—on seed saving

» Lloyd Kahn, author and editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications (as in Tiny Homes!), gives a talk on the Half-Acre Homestead

» More! More! More! Pickling Oddities: Beyond Vinegar & Kraut, from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It‘s Karen Solomon

» Lamb Butchering, with Berry Smith Salinas of Sonoma County’s Meat Revolution

» Waffleology: A Scientific Approach to Delicious Waffles, with Sivan Wilensky of San Francisco’s Suite Foods Bakery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HANDS-ON HOMEGROWN WORKSHOPS
You’ve had a snack—or three. You’ve watched a film. You’ve heard a talk. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your fingernails dirty. This year’s hands-on demos include:

» Making Your Own Moldy Cheese, with San Francisco’s The Milk Maid

» Making Kimchi at Home, with Farm to Fermentation Festival’s Jennifer Harris

» Kraut-a-thon: Making Kraut at Home, with Happy Girl Kitchen

» Shrubbin’ It: Tart & Tangy Cocktail Mixers and Make Your Own Mustard, with Kelly McVicker of McVicker Pickles

» And last but (ahem) not least, Butter: Shake It! Make It! and Seedbombs: The Throwable Garden! with yours truly, HOMEGROWN.org

Have we convinced you? Good! Here’s the fine print: Maker Faire Bay Area runs Saturday, May 18 from 10 am to 8 pm and Sunday, May 19 from 10 am to 6 pm at the San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo, California. Admission is $10 to $35; kids 3 and under get in free—and yep, Maker Faire is absolutely kid friendly. Get tickets.

PHOTOS: (SIGNPOSTS) COURTESY OF MAKER FAIRE; (ALL OTHERS) CORNELIA

As the cacophony of consumerism clangs around us, let’s take a moment to consider gifts with meaning—those that come from our hands, our hearts, and our local communities. Here it is, folks: the annual HOMEGROWN Gift Guide.

MAKE

Everyone loves gifts in jars. Personalize and prettify with fabric squares, ribbon, handmade tags, or a bundle of herbs.

 

PARDON ME…DO YOU HAVE ANY HOMEMADE MUSTARD? A homemade whole-grain mustard is grand—especially when paired with a few unexpected recipes that use said mustard. This recipe from Hunter, Angler, Cook is terrifically easy, while this one from TV food nerd Alton Brown sure would look cute paired with a few soft pretzels!

FLU FIGHTER: Rich, golden, homemade chicken stock—pressure canned for safety—is a welcome addition to anyone’s pantry, especially those without a pressure canner! Robert offers everything you’ll need to know to get a good batch simmering, sealed up, and ready to give in this HOMEGROWN 101.

 

DELAYED GRATIFICATION: Fresh salad greens are one of the easiest things for the home gardener to grow. Give the gift of salad by promising to make a hanging moss salad basket for your giftee. If you are targeting a fellow DIY-er, simply package up the necessary materials, along with suggested planting dates for his or her region! Those in warmer climates can get right to gifting and planting (note: thinly veiled envy, enclosed.)

 

 

 

 

 

LIVE IN A BUBBLE: Yes, they’re all the rage (still)—and, boy, are they dreamy. Make your own giftable homemade terrarium using this HOMEGROWN 101.

 

 

 

BUY

We can’t make it all, so when the wallet opens, here are some suggestions for making holiday shopping meaningful.

LOCALLY SOURCED: By now we’ve all seen the data proving that dollars spent at local businesses means more of those dollars stay in the community. Shoestring Magazine offers suggestions for locally made gifts with a snazzy clickable map. Have any favorites for your state? Let them know, and maybe they’ll add it! New Mexico, you’re looking a little thin: We’re looking at you!

THREE MAGIC WORDS: A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share brings fresh, local farm goods to the table—and much-needed support to local farmers! Depending on the farm, you can choose a winter, summer, or year-round share.

SPOT ON: For $10 a month, a Spotify membership gives loved ones access to all of that new music you’ve been telling them about. Make some custom playlists to start them out!

TURN TURN TURN: A food mill is an indispensable tool for jam makers, sauce lovers, and mashed potato aficionados. Make note of Kate’s tips for finding the best one for you and yours.

 

READ AND LEARN:

Our picks for books to cuddle with over the winter:

• Canning queen Marisa McClellan’s long-anticipated “Food In Jars.”
• Rebecca Lando’s fun and frugal “The Working Class Foodies’ Cookbook.”
• Radical Homemaker Shannon Hayes’s latest omnivore’s delight, “Long Way on a Little.”
• This year is the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s exposé, which is often credited with birthing the modern environmentalist movement. A home needs a copy of “Silent Spring.”
• Every page of nature photographer David Liittschwager’s “One Cubic Foot: Portraits of Biodiversity” brings us closer to our delicate natural (and unnatural) ecosystems.
• We need more new farmers thriving on the land! “Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers’ Movement” provides hope and inspiration for all generations of eaters.

KNOW GRATITUDE

Above all, let’s acknowledge that most of us already have what we need, while some folks are struggling for the basics. Give from your heart—and happy holidays!

Photo credits: Mustard by Chiot’s Run using CC Licensing on Flickr. Chicken Stock by Christene on HOMEGROWN.org. Lettuce by Pete & Izzy’s Mom on HOMEGROWN.org. Terrarium by Joshleo using CC Licensing on Flickr. Slingshot by http://theoriginaltreeswing.com. Radishes by Norm Halm on HOMEGROWN.org. Headphones by Beats by Dr Dre using CC licensing on Flickr. Food Mill by Island Vittles using CC Licensing on Flickr.

We do a lot of canning here, especially with tomatoes. We harvest several hundred pounds every year with most of it being preserved. This year I’ve been getting a lot of questions about canning and tomatoes seem to the most popular.

Tomatoes are the gray area of canning. They’re not quite acidic enough to just straight can like fruit but the right amount of added acid can keep you from having to pressure can them. Here are the basics on canning them (and much of this can actually be used for water bath canning other things like fruit and pickles. This will mostly be for making sauces, paste and juice. Crushed, diced and whole tomatoes can be done in a similar manner but you need to skin and core them first and the process is slightly different. The amount of acid is the same though. Even with pressure canning tomatoes you will need to add acid. If you’re adding other vegetables to your recipe you will need to pressure can because you’ve dropped the acidity too far. But don’t be mistaken, if you skip the acid or add other low acid ingredients tomatoes can effing kill you. Botulism is no joke.

Start with your water bath canner and canning rack at the bottom. If you don’t have a canner and rack use a large pot and put a towel on the bottom or use lid rings on the bottom. The rack/towel/rings serve to protect the jars from breaking. Put jars in your canner and fill with water. I usually will fill until the water is just above the rims to ensure that the water is at least an inch above the top of the jars when they are filled. Heat up on the stove.

In the meantime take the lids (without the rims) and put them in a pan with some more water and heat them up as well. Do not boil, just get them to a simmer. If you don’t have a lid magnet or rack put them in the water alternating direction (bottom up then bottom down) to make them easier to get out.

You can skin and seed the tomatoes before hand but if you have a sieve or food mill don’t bother with the extra step. Cut up the tomatoes and put in a large pot and heat them up. Bring to a boil and then simmer down until the fruit breaks down.

Run through your food mill with the finest mesh. This will remove the seeds and skins while breaking down the flesh. If you’ve already skinned and seeded them you’ll need to run the fruit through a sieve or food mill to make smooth.

Return juice and flesh to the stove and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook down as far as you need it depending on what you’re producing. This is also when you want to add any herbs or spices.

Once it’s boiled down it’s time to can it. Make sure that the water bath canner is boiling. You will be working with one jar at a time to make sure they stay hot while filling them. You don’t want to add a hot liquid to a cool jar because you risk breaking the glass. In addition put a towel down to put the hot jars on so they don’t break when touching a cold surface. Pull out a jar and empty the water out.

To the jar you’ll need to add lemon juice or citric acid. It’s best to use commercial lemon juice which has a known pH level. Never use Meyer lemons because they don’t have a low enough pH to properly acidify the tomatoes. The guidelines are:

• 1/2 pint (8 oz): 1.5 teaspoon lemon juice or 1/4 tsp citric acid
• pint: 1 Tbs lemon juice or 1/4 tsp citric acid
• quart: 2 Tbs lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric acid
• 1.5 L: 3 Tbs lemon juice or 3/4 tsp citric acid

If you want to use salt (it’s not required) the following guidelines are:

• 1/2 pint (8oz): 1/4 tsp
• pint: 1/2 tsp
• quart: 1 tsp
• 1.5 L: 1.5 tsp

Using a canning funnel fill your jars with the hot sauce/paste/juice leaving a 1/2″ of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and adjust headspace as needed. Wipe rim so that it’s clean for a proper seal. Take a lid from the hot water and place it on the jar. Take a band (which should be cool) and screw down the lid to finger-tight. Place the jar back in the canner and pull out another jar and repeat the process until all of the jars are filled. Once the last jar goes in start the timer. The water bath will increase pressure within the jars forcing air out to create a seal. Processing times* are:

Tomato Juice:

8 oz and pint: 35 minutes

quart: 40 minutes

1.5 L: 50 minutes

Tomato Sauce:

8 oz and pint: 35 minutes

quart: 40 minutes

1.5 L: 50 minutes

Tomato Paste:

8 oz: 45 minutes

Turn off canner, remove lid and let sit for 5 minutes and then remove jars. Place on a towel to allow to cool. The lids should start to pop immediately which means they are sealing. Any that don’t seal put in the fridge and use them soon. Once the lids seal remove the rings. This will help prevent rusting and also if a seal breaks it won’t keep the jar artificially sealed, hiding a spoiled product.

As long as proper procedures are followed home canning tomatoes can be done safely. Always err on the side of caution and you won’t have anything to worry about.

*Times will be different at higher elevations.

My friends in college used to call me a Renaissance woman. I was always doing something crafty, creative, or utilitarian. I still am. My focus these days, instead of arts and crafts, has been farming as much of my urban quarter acre as humanly possible. With my husband, we run Dog Island Farm in the SF Bay Area. We raise chickens, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats, and a kid. We’re always keeping busy. If I’m not out in the yard I’m in the kitchen making something from scratch. Homemade always tastes better!