Watch out for Garlic Breath at our house

Albie and I processed our garlic today.  I have been drying the garlic on the veranda, and today seemed like a good day to clean it all up, being the last day of the holidays, and one which I declared "computer free".  He and I cut all the roots off, and rubbed off the dirty outsides.  Wow, what a lot of garlic we have got to be stored away, I hope it keeps well!

You can see, I started plaiting, but actually just bunching them up was much easier, so I ran with that!

Lisa's Chocolate Sludge Cake

Today being the last day our kids have off school, we have decided to make a few things for the freezer for school lunches.  I'm not sure if this will make it as far as the freezer, because it is so damned delicious.   It's an easy, one mix (no creaming) recipe, the only thing you might not always have in your cupboard is Sour Cream.  But it's kind of a staple in our household.

Lisa's Chocolate Sludge Cake
3cups Plain Flour
3 cups White Sugar
3t Baking Powder
3t Baking Soda
3 Eggs
1.5 cups sour cream (I just use one 250ml pack)
1.5c cold coffee
.75 cup cocoa powder
2t vanilla essence
1t salt
Mix it all together well.  Put into a large cake tin, lined with baking paper.  40 mins @ 180C (350F)

It's very nice with Raspberry Sauce (if you missed out buying raspberry canes off us this year, wait till next year, we will have more available then), or with Chocolate/Vanilla icecream.

Thanks for the great recipe Lisa!

A new Merino Jacket - done!

As part of my "make it now for winter" theme that I have going on at the moment, I have just run myself up a new jacket.  Made from Merino, heavyweight, I am so pleased with it.  The material is not boiled wool, but it looks like it, and in fact is a bit stiffer than boiled wool, so it has kept shape well while I have sewn it.  

The front

The back

I used a current jacket I have in boiled Merino from Lucy Laws.  I cut the pieces, but made the back and front longer by about 3inches.  I do love the current jacket, but wanted this one to be different.  Then I used very modern sewing techniques to whizz this up over 2 days.  The edges are only overlocked, and the overlocker has been very busy with facings etc.  I made an asymetrical front.

I am particularly pleased with the zip closure, even tho the zip is brown (no black open ended zips available in my local shop), it seems to add some interest.  And I love the fact that the collar stands up, the facing helps it to do that.

The fabric came from here

A new facelift for the garden

We spent a bit of Saturday vamping up the garden soil in a couple of our beds, and moving a few plants.  If you have read my blog before you will know we are river flats, with a large amount of stone.  There is nothing wrong with the nutrition of it, things seem to grow well enough, but working with it is desperately difficult.  When I weed, I have to take a bucket with me and pick out stones at the same time!  So we decided to add some lovely store bought topsoil to a couple of our beds.  It has made a huge difference.

The tractor comes in handy!

Freezing Butter Beans

It's a funny thing, seasonal eating  I remember writing the exact same post last year, how to freeze beans.  And here we are, another year on, and the beans are ready again

Cut the tops and bottoms off the beans, blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute, then cool and bag up.  Freeze for up to 6 months.

Cupcake morning

Here is a link to instagram photo of kids decorating cupcakes this morning

News from a wet garden

It's raining!  yay, our water gauge measured 4mls so far today.  This might not sound a lot, but it is so needed and a relief from dry weather.   We have such stony, free draining soil that water is not retained in the topsoil at all, and it is a constant battle to keep the garden looking good.

When it rains, water from our roof is collected into an underground tank, and when that is full it's pumped up to a "bank" of water tank for use later.

In other news,

Aubergines in the glasshouse are going great guns

We still have a glut of capsicums

Basil needs a third harvest

Corn has had a bashing by the wind

A second planting of peas might make it to fruition

Whole vege patch is looking very productive

Hamish has put weedmatting and stones round the last of the beds, finishing of the paths