Tonight's dinner compliments of .....

...... the vege garden! Yay!! I'm thinking a vege curry. There are heaps more eggplant, but the peas are just about done. The snow peas didn't do much either, but the purple beans liked that trellis so will plant them there again. I am particularly proud of the onion. They take such a long time to grow and we use so many of them, you would think it would be easier to just buy them and not worry, but that doesn't work for me. I want to grow as much as I can and this one will taste much better and be much fresher. The carrots were from a rainbow mix, but orange seems to be the norm for carrots around here. The one on the bottom is lighter than the other two.

The chooks are obviously on a roster system and today 3 had an RDO. The passionfruit vine has produced a bumper crop and we had a steady supply all through winter, it is starting to dwindle now and I guess it will start to flower and the process starts again.

So far so good

I haven't had much luck with zucchini these last few seasons.
At our last house we grew more than enough. Some would get missed for a few days and end up a foot long. We would slice them lenghways, scoop out the middle and stuff them with bacon and cheese and bake them in the oven.
My last few attempts would grow just fine, flower and produce fruit, but as soon as the baby zucchini were about as big as your finger they would start to rot from where the flower dropped off. We eat alot of zucc's so it was very frustrating not to be able to grow one of our favourites. I have high hopes for these little onesthough, they look to be doing great and I have been diligent with regular watering. I have three bushes thriving at the moment, each with five or six little veges on. Looking forward to letting a couple grow oversize to stuff again too!

Mashed, chips, boiled, in their jackets, soup, roasted, gnocchi

So many ways to enjoy the humble spud. I have chitted and planted more potatoes this growing season than ever before. Our last crop was the best so far, and there is no better motivator than success. I really think the secret was patience. I normally go digging and ferretting around to see how big they are before they are ready. (quality control) This time they had definately yellowed and died off.

This time around I am trying my Pop's wisdom (passed down to me through my Dad). Pop's theory was to plant on Ekka Wednesday and dig up Melbourne Cup Day. Two easy dates to remember :-) So into the ground they went at Ekka time and we are now eagerly awaiting November to see how much they have died off. Dig up day might not be exactly on the Tuesday however, my race day hat might scare the chooks and the champagne at lunch time together with the pitchfork is just asking for trouble!

Thanks Poppy Brown - wish I got to know you.

Houston, we have a problem

Being a slightly impatient gardener, I thought I would pull a couple of carrots, purely for quality control measures of course. But there is something wrong, very very wrong with my carrots. They are not even remotely purple as their little tag suggested. Not even a soft violet or a hint of mauve. Not a trace of indigo or plum to be seen. No they are well and truely ORANGE.

Incidently there are no words in the english language that rhyme with either purple or orange.

Wonder how many words rhyme with ripped off?

Peas please

These are very special peas... they are the first ones I have ever grown that turned into something edible. Past attempts have been more bonsai like - oh so cute, but useless. Some plantings never even bothered to show themselves to the world, they just diappeared. I tried all sorts of tips and tricks, placed them in wet paper towel over night, tried different times of year, tried them direct in the bed, tried them in the seed raiser first, sang to them, danced for them (ok so maybe no singing or dancing) but this time the harvest gods were on my side and they have thrived and produced. They are tender and sweet and we are using them whole, after waiting this long I don't want to waste any part of them.

My Indulgence

Just received my parcel from T2 - www.t2tea.com I love this place! Every parcel is packed with love and so much attention to detail ... oh and a little added gift or two :-) The delivery time is also really quick, which is a huge bonus... I hate waiting for parcels.

This time a turkish cherry tea and a HUGE canvas tote.

I tried the mixed box of teas the first few times and now have indulged in my favourites. The melbourne breakfast tea has a smooth vanilla twist, the brisbane breakfast has fresh mango flavour, the french earl grey has a hint of fruit and the red fancy fruit is so refreshing. Looking forward to these each morning makes getting up that little bit easier!

Honeydew Soap

This is the third batch of soap I have attempted and is the best so far. I can understand why it is so addictive!

We decided to try the candle making colour chips and essential oils. The colour chip was supposed to be blue but it came out a pale green, so honeydew it was. This batch was 500g of copha and 1000g of olive oil.

I had read or seen somewhere that you can use loofah to set soap in, so the loofah from the markets was cut up and wrapped in glad wrap.

Cushions too!

At the same markets I found the veges I also found all these cushions for $2 and $4 each. We had been talking about changing the girls loungeroom to purple tones for quite a while. All these were just $22 - and best of all home made. We added a couple of purple candles we found at k-mart for $3 each and a purple shaded lamp and we are almost done.

I should have made the candles - but I wasn't thinking straight after the adrenaline rush of finding the perfect cushions for such a great price.

Market Finds

Almost every other Saturday we drive past a little market. Instead of saying we should stop and look -we did! and how happy am I!

A bag of veges for $13.50. A loofah for $2 (that was still full of seeds) Old Warm Earth mags for 50c each and zucchini seedlings for 50c each. Everything local and even better I caught up with a gorgeous friend I hadn't seen for years.

I have been busy

Outside play

Planted chokos

Prepared bed and planted raspberry canes

Built a chook run

Inside play (inspiration from the blog in brackets)

10 litres of laundry liquid (down to earth inspired)

2 x batches of soap (slow living essentials)

Rosemary hair rinse (slow living essentials)

Citrus vinegar cleaner (just like my nan made) i think?

Quiet time

Countless crochet beanies (slow living essentials)

SOAP The first lot of soap siezed because of a cheap essential oil added at trace - but it still worked out ok and I have started washing my hair with it.

The second batch is cinnamon and oatmeal - after the first attempt I didn't get it quite to trace and probably poured it too soon - so it will take a lot longer to set.

CITRUS VINEGAR All our citrus peels now get placed in a glass jar (big moccona coffee jar) and covered in vinegar to make a citrus vinegar. I have been using this as the final rinse in the washing machine. I also use it in a spray bottle to clean - well everything! I have a shaker of bi-carb that maked a nice cleaning fizz.

BEANIES I hadn't picked up a crochet hook for at least a decade - but was inspired by a post of a cute little girls beanie at slow living essentials to have another go. A youtube tutorial and a dud attempt and I haven't looked back. I have since crocheted at least one a day and on a good day I have made three.

See I told you I have been busy.

A new computer and a recipe for Ali

For Ali at Mud Pie :-)

Morrocan Style Eggplant Chickpea and Pumpkin Curry

(from the April 2009 good taste magazine)

1/4 olive oil

1 medium eggplant cut into 2cm pieces

500g pumpkin cut into 2cm pieces

1 large brown onion finely chopped

1 x 420g can chickpeas

2tbs morroccan seasoning

250 ml water

80g spinach leaves

70g greek yoghurt

steamed rice to serve

(i also added potatoes - because we'd just dug them!)

Heat 2 tbsp oil add eggplant and cook for 3 min - transfer to bowl.

Heat remaining oil and add pumpkin and onion and potato, cook for 4 mins, add eggplant chickpeas and seasoning.

cook 5 minutes or until pumpkin and potato are tender

add spinach and cook until spinach wilts

Stir in yoghurt - serve on rice.

I got a new laptop! hoping this will make uploading photos and blogging easier. The poor old puter got a new sound card and has been on a bender ever since.

More to come :-) I've been very busy!

Pumpkins Galore

A couple of pumpkin seedlings popped up where the chook house had been. A couple more popped up at the complete opposite end of the yard - no idea how they got there! After a couple of false starts due to too much rain and therefore lack of bees and no pollination, we finally got some action from what felt like acres of vine.
It has been very frustrating for the non pumpkin eating male of the house - the vines are rambling and messy and were just taking up a lot of room. They practically met up in the middle of the yard from either end. Yesterday I picked two and admired them all day, today I went for broke and picked the rest. The rambling vines have gotten too much for me too.
I've kept the stalks as long as possible, this should mean they last a lot longer. I plan on storing them in the garden shed. I hope some last until we get a cold snap - pumpkin soup and pumpkin scones will be on the menu.
In the mean time a roast pumpkin and baby spinach salad :-)
roast pumpkin pieces (which I grew)
baby spinach leaves (which I am growing)
crunchy bacon pieces (my dad raises pigs)
pine nuts (ummmm...)
and balsamic vinegar and honey dressing

From Bed to Bottle

It's been a busy time in the kitchen. I have had kilos and kilos of ruined tomatoes to deal with. The rain and wind broke most of the bushes down and the fruit was going to waste. If it's one word I hate - it's waste!
Not to be defeated, I gathered them up and have been furiously making sweet mustard pickles and green tomato chutney. Both of these have green tomatoes as one of the main ingredients. The chutney recipe I found online through a google search and picked the one that suited my ingredients the most. I am very happy with the results. http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/6797/green-tomato-chutney.aspx
Further to the green tomato glut, we have had an abundance of cucumbers. Some days I am sure we get 20 at a time! The neighbours probably hide when they see me with the basket wandering from door to door trying to give them away! LOL Again not to waste any I googled pickled cucumber and found a brilliant recipe here http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/05/16/cucumber-pickles-nqns-mums-recipe/
But wait there's more! Maegen's beetroot were also ready to be picked and we are a bit over the beetroot dip - so we roasted beetroot and cut it into wedges, placed it all in a big jar and covered it with vinegar that had been boiled with some pickling spices.
The pantry and fridge are overflowing and best of all NO WASTE!!!

Next up will be dealing with the corn!