this morning

This morning a thick envelope of fog hung around the valley. Large drips fell from the roof, likely the result of a heavy dew. Or perhaps a light frost.


I cut myself a few slices of bread, baked late last night. Spread with peanut butter. Put on that necessary morning coffee.


I discovered our little artist has been at it again.


Sadly, I haven't had much time for knitting these school holidays. When I did I made a crucial decreasing error in the dress I was making for Violet. Then I worried that the little dress probably wouldn't be so practical afterall. I unravelled. Almost three whole balls. I was strangely disconnected from the process. Perhaps my heart was never really in that one. So I found a very simple, garter stitch, hopefully school holiday/low concentration friendly top. The 4 seasons jacket pattern.


We were given a huge home grown pumpkin the other day from a friend. A pumpkin soup and a pasta with fried pumpkin (and other vegies) later... and we are still only halfway through it. Savoury pumpkin pie tonight perhaps? I've been saving the seeds. I might put few away for next years seeds and for the others I might try a roasted recipe like this one.


Wishing you all a pleasant day.

the garden now

This is our garden right now. When I haven't been making enough preserves to last the year (or perhaps two?) or tending to the needs of three kids, or cleaning, you will find me out here. I've been trying to make the garden a little higher on the list of priorities right now. It's that crucial time to get some seeds in before the frosts hit with a vengeance.  I missed that crucial time last year, so there really wasn't much going vegie-wise last winter. Just a lot of overgrown silverbeet. This year we're hoping to have carrot, rainbow chard, tatsoi, broad beans, cabbage, broccoli and other cold weather vegies. So far so good.

As the summer vegies die back from the light frosts, the new seeds are emerging out of our first ready batch of homemade compost. Which is really just a big pile of food scraps, lawn clippings, sheep manure and giant weeds behind the garden. I never thought I'd get excited about compost. But it is kind of thrilling to see that end result of beautiful rich compost.

But apart from the hope of providing food, the garden is my little escape from the chaos of family life. A place where I can hear myself think, get my hands into the soil, pull a few weeds and add water. Many watering cans full I might add.

I do think it is one of my favourite places to be.

home life

1. culling magazines... again
2. sisters
3. peaches from a friends garden
4. preserving those quinces
5. school holiday crafting (in this instance castle building)
6. recipes
7. don't wake the sleeping baby
8. oatmeal bread from this recipe.. a long time favourite here
9. 16 months
10. hazlenuts picked by the schoolkids on a local farm
11. italian lace curtains gifted by my mother-in-law

Wishing you all a wonderful Friday!

indoor garden

It seems the gardening obsession has spread indoors. As the days become shorter and more time is spent indoors it seems a good thing to bring a little colour inside.

A visit to the nursery, some op-shopped pots I've had hanging around, and a big bunch of hydrangeas from down the road.

Cyclamen and hydrangeas would have to be right up there in my list of very favourite flowers.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing with this potted plant business. But in order to learn how to do something you have to just dive in and give it a go sometimes don't you?

autumn harvests

 


I had forgotten just how busy this time of year is. For even though many crops failed and planted fruit trees have several years until they are productive, there was and is so much still to harvest and preserve.


 Windowsill tomatoes are quickly ripening. There was more baby zucchini, baby tomatoes, rhubarb and basil that I brought in at dusk last night. We've been having light frosts, and each day it seems a little more of these plants are dying.


This is my second year of preserving and I have to say it really it is a lot of fun. I haven't bought jam in over a year, as there is always a jar in the pantry. It makes a handy little gift to friends and family, and is always well received. Best of all, it's really not that hard. 
 

We've been picking quinces again from the driveway of the vacant house down the road. Armed with a pram, a trike, and numerous bags and baskets it was a pretty fun outing for all of us. But I fear it may be the last year as the house is about to be leased again. I do miss having all that quince jam and jelly lined up in the pantry. I'm thinking this year I might try quince paste too.

We picked apples from a few more lone trees in the village. Many don't look the best, but they taste sweet and tangy. Miles ahead of the sad supermarket variety.

I've been bulk apple pie making (with a good dose of apple and blackberry jam mixed into the apples) with Nigella's rich shortcrust pastry made with butter and lard.

I kicked off the preserving this week with orange and rhubarb marmalade. Not sure if it was supposed to, but it caramelized beautifully.

So this week you will see me busy in the kitchen, and probably not doing much else in the way of making. Knitting and sewing projects have been pushed aside as I'll be donning that apron until that pantry shelf is full again.



Have a pleasant day all x

little easter feasting

We had no real definite plans this Easter. We were going to go away. Then we weren't. Then there was a last minute day trip on Friday to see my Pop, who is sadly unwell right now. Once home I spent the next day or two pottering around in the garden, pulling out massive weeds and sowing seeds into freshly composted beds.

In between all this there was a little cooking. No special occasion roast type feasts, but things like frittata made with leftovers, home grown potato salad, simple no knead bread and bruschetta from our tomatoes and basil. Yes, the basil is still hanging in there despite a few light frosts.

On Saturday night I made up Hot Cross bun dough, from Pip Lincoln's recipe, to be left to rise overnight. This is the same recipe I used last year. Though I suspect that I didn't finish off with the sugar syrup last year. But you have to add the sugar syrup. It's that good! (and yes, I was taking the day off with the no sugar thing). Finished off  with a quick final rise, baked and brushed with syrup the next morning, it made a lovely warm breakfast. Though the buns did flatten after making. But I'm blaming the flour (Woolworths Organic) which has let me down with bread in the past. I also used rapadura sugar in this recipe.

And somehow a few giant rabbits and lots of overly sweet eggs found their way into the house. But we won't go into that.

On Sunday it was corn fritters from this book, bacon, homemade mayo and freshly picked fried cherry tomatoes. I guess you could call it brunch. Something we don't do often here as we are more breakfast/lunch type people. But the slow mood of the day just made it the perfect choice. We didn't need to eat again until the evening. I think we might try the brunch thing again sometime.

How was your Easter? Did you make a few little things?