Sirois Family Farm owners tell all on canning

Sydney Sirois, with husband Norman, led the class on canning. (Courtesy photo/SMGC)

Southern Maine Garden Club met recently at the Springvale Library for an informative lecture on the soup-to-nuts of canning fruit and vegetables; and how you can preserve the tastes of your garden all year long - even in a power outage! Mrs. Sydney Sirois, accompanied by her husband, Norman, owners of Sirois Organic Family Farm on Little River Road, Lebanon (one mile off of Route 202-follow the signs); told the members that she has been canning for 44 years and that her children and grands are also continuing in the tradition.

Mrs. Sirois said the trick is to pick in season at the freshest possible point. She walked us through the steps for canning and preserving. She brought along a couple of examples of her favorite pressure cookers, her bible, the "Ball Blue Book of Preserving" and a selection of her canned veggies, fruits and pie fillings. She raffled off the pumpkin pie filling - just add crust - and she sold a couple of jars of vegetables to the members. One of the jars contained dilly beans and this reporter (a former city dweller and recovering flatlander) had never tasted one and to her great surprise - it was delicious and kept her clambering for more. Note, after cooking the fresh green beans, put them in a jar of vinegar and fresh dill and, voila, you have a wonderful treat you can eat right out of the jar if you are so inclined.

The Sirois Organic Family Farm is organically certified for both crops and livestock. They raise piglets, feeder hogs, turkeys, broiler chickens, eggs and vegetables. All their livestock are range feed, grain fed, organically and humanely grown. They sell their meet frozen to order and their vegetables can be sold in larger quantities for processing-canning or freezing. For the winter, their store has limited hours (Sat & Sun 9-4). For more info on when they will be opening for the season, you can contact them at Tel: (207)432-8042 or e-mail - siroisfamilyfarm@ymail.com, Web is: http://Sirois Family Farm.

SMGC meets throughout the year at the Springvale Library on the third Wednesday of every month beginning at 6:30 PM (unless otherwise noted). The public is invited to attend to sample our meetings to see if you would like to join us. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 18^th, at the Library and a representative from Wentworth Gardens in Rollinsford, NH, will give a workshop on planting a terrarium. Note - this is a special workshop that requires an RSVP, and the charge is $10 which must be paid in advance. If you are interested in attending, the phone number for the coordinator of this workshop is: Paula (207) 475-8142. FMI please contact in ME - Mary Stewart-Dore at 207-490-1833 or in NH - Donna Claveau at 603-332-4860.

Donna Claveau writes this monthly column for the SMGC.