Homesteading, a family affair
At an unsuspecting home in Creemore a “greenhouse jungle” is brimming with seedlings ready to go in the ground after all threat of frost has passed. Homesteader Caroline McIntosh says the current crop is only a portion of what’s leftover from a sale she held, an evolution in her mission to share the health and gratification that comes from growing one’s own food.
McIntosh is a busy mom-of-three young children and works full-time as the executive director of a not-for-profit, all while earning her real estate licence, and finding time for her “secret oasis.”
McIntosh said she started growing food in 2012 and since moving to Creemore in 2017 has had an ever expanding garden, even though it is a smaller space. McIntosh admits to rehoming flowering perennials in favour of food producing plants to make room for the ever expanding garden.
The family’s quarter-acre lot is laid out to maximize space and optimal growing locations. Whether it wants to creep, climb or sprawl, they have devised a way for it to thrive.
“I just keep going and going, wanting to grow more and more,” she said.
Her three children – Adair, 8, Griffin, 6, and Miles, 2, love to graze on the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. There’s also a pear tree and a cherry tree.
They had so many strawberries that the children could eat until their hearts content and they still had enough to freeze some and make jam to last the winter.
McIntosh’s partner Matthew Martin, a local builder, is often enlisted to help create structures. Raised beds have helped alleviate the problem of rocky soil and made gardening more comfortable when McIntosh was pregnant with her youngest child. The beds were then closed in to deter the critters from eating everything. A melon arch was constructed for the front yard, where the berries and other sun seekers are growing.
The vegetable plots are in the backyard and this year, McIntosh said she is going for variety. She said they have a lot of success with all kinds of peppers, both hot and sweet, and are known throughout their social circles for their pickled hot peppers. The homemade salsa verde is another favourite, made from their own tomatillos.
There is also dedicated space for herbs, which are included in the list of things that may end up in the dehydrator and made into teas and spice blends.
Everything they grow is started from seed in a temporary greenhouse erected in the backyard in the early spring where the seedlings get a head start, until they are planted in the ground.
She said it starts with getting the onions in, and then trays of tomatoes and peppers, working through the vegetables that need the most time to produce. Later the trays of squash, cucumbers and okra take their place in the greenhouse, which McIntosh describes as a jungle.
The plants require a lot of attention when they are that young, so McIntosh and her children spend quite a bit of time there.
“It’s my little haven,” she said. “I have a full-time job, I am a mom to three and we choose to do as much as we can, as natural as possible so everything is a little more work but it’s the way that we choose to live and it brings us a lot of pleasure.”
She said they are learning a lot about the lifecycle of plants and how to care for them.
Being that this is her first time homesteading in town she is creative in the way she maximizes space but it also has the added benefit of offering a way for the family to connect with their neighbours.
“I’m always sharing seedlings and our harvest with the neighbours and friends, and the things that we make because the community aspect is so important to me,” said McIntosh.
She said growing and sharing, knowing that it’s organic and heirloom and exactly what is going into it, makes it all the better.
McIntosh said she has learned all about gardening from books, a network of people who homestead and a lot of trial and error. She said she is a blissful optimist and had to learn some lessons the hard way, meaning there were disappointments along the way.
“But once something works, you kinda get the bug,” said McIntosh.
Last year, during the pandemic, McIntosh said she and Martin did what they could to encourage and support others who were looking to start growing. They have traded seedlings and bartered, and are now selling them. Each year, the children can be found selling some extra produce in their own little custom-made veggie stand at the end of their driveway on George Street. The proceeds from which are theirs for whatever tickles their fancy, said Mom. Adair’s recent profit of $90 is being donated to the Georgian Triangle Humane Society.
Visit @homesteadycaroline on Instagram.
