Calendula Oil

Many moons have risen and set since I last posted on this blog. Still  here I am again.

Check out how pretty this Calendula Oil is. The warm oil is draining on my bench ready to be made into hand cream at a later date.

First I picked my Calendula or Marigolds, I'm not very clear which I have or what the difference is. Just the petals go into the oil so I just pulled them off the plant. Then I put them into a glass jar and sat in a warm place for a week. I didnt think much of the oil so following Google's advice I gently warmed the oil and petals for 10 mins over a very low heat on the stove.

Finally it was ready. So lovely looking ...but it smells of nothing. I see now that when making handcream most people add orange essential oil. I think this is totally neccessary to improve the experience.

On Bees and Pony Poo

My blog has not been at the forefront of my life.  But life has been continuing onwards, with all the usual bumps in the road.

Recently an amazing local from the internet delivered a huge pile of shit (well, pony poo) for FREE.  In return I gave them tomatoes, capsicums and whatnot from the garden.

They said I can get a trailerload a week!  This will really help to improve the quality of our soil. Our land is on a river plain, and is full of stones which means it is very free draining, and when it is hot the stones heat up and everything dehydrates very quickly.

Poo will add texture and nutrients.  I just need to get it all spread out, which is quite a job with the wheelbarrow.

I started by shovelling it round all my fruit trees, in preparation for the wet we get in the winter. Water will soak the nutrients down, and hopefully not burn the roots.


Bees have arrived at Winderose House. Over the mid summer we caught 6 swarms. Three of them have survived and are thriving, much to my delight. My neighbour has empty hives and I have the will, so between us we have managed to get them up and going. It's been an exciting learning curve. I now have a bee suit. Cue the silly picture of me looking like an astronaut.

Rogue comb full of bees, made before we knew what we were doing They made this in 1 week!

Lemons Galore, and the Water Rush

Here's a bucket of Lemons! gifted by my friend, Stacey.  She was trimming her tree, and this is only a small portion of what came off it. I won't even mention what she left on it, gazillions of lemons still.

Apart from all the usual suspects, I am also going to try a few new things. I heard about peeling the skins and dehydrating them, then blitzing in the blender, to make lemon powder. I reckon that could be pretty good for popping into muffins, cupcakes and drinks.  Maybe even the odd salad dressing.

Some will be juiced and frozen into cubes.

Hopefully none will rot on the bench (generally happens when I run out of puff at the bottom of a glut).

We are having the best Spring we've ever had at our house.  No drought here.  It has rained every week, and we've had the odd major drenching. Combine that with many fine, warm days and you have the perfect recipe for a great garden.

The vege patch is going mad with asparagus and the raspberries are fruiting up nicely.

Water has always been a major headache at our place. If you've read my blog posts before you might know this. We run out. We save washing machine water, shower water, sink water and more. Some years we've only just made it through without everything dying. Well...big revelation! there was a blockage, probably a stone, in our intake pipe.  I won't bore you with how this happened, suffice to say, it's been like that since we built our house 6 years ago. DANG. Double DANG. Turns out there's also been a slow leak under our concrete (cue big hole now cut out), which has been a contributing factor.

Roll on better, watery years!

Stocking the Shelves with risotto

It is late Winter, and not a lot happening in the gardening but net mending, digging over and putting on compost.

So I have been stocking my shelves.

First I made French Soup and pressure canned it.

Then I made 11 packets of risotto.  The packet risotto is a family favourite for whipping up on lazy Saturday afternoons. Or as an easy side dish on nights when it's hard to russtle up something more exotic.

Here's how to make it.

Into a jar or self sealing bag (I vacuum packed mine) put:
1/2c Orzo  (pasta in rice shape)
1.5c White Rice
1 crumbled oxo cube in your flavour choice
1t garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1t dried parsley
1t dried chives

If you had dried onion flakes or a packet of dried mixed vegetables these would go in well.

Mix the whole lot together and write instructions on the outside.  "Brown in 1T butter, add 4c water, simmer 15mins).

I made 8 Beef and 3 chicken. 

For my 11 finished packets I used 2 packets of Orzo pasta.

Orzo pasta 500g was $2.39 per packet.  I didnt have dried parsley or chives, but bought it. I now know to make some during the summer!  I bought WW garlic powder which was $2.00 and I used half of the jar.

It works out at $12.30c for the 11 packets, or $1.12 per EACH.

Asparagus Spikes

Spring chores begin, spreading compost - this stuff is 2 years old. It was scrapings from where we feed our cattle and sheep consisting of silage, soil and cow poo all mixed together and left to rot. Isn't it beautiful!

We've also had to do a little irrigation with the warming weather, but in consolation the beginings of vege growth begins, as usual, with the first spikes of asparagus showing!

Spring, Glorious Spring!

 

Teaching my son to cook - One Pan Fish

Hey Hamish, here's a dish that's easy for one person.  Made it myself last night.

Fish and veges in one pan...

You need a frying pan only, but make sure its one with a metal handle not plastic, as you are going to put it under the grill.

One whole Flounder (I got one for $4.82 on special, usually about $6-7)
Left over mashed potatoes
Frozen Peas
Salad
Some butter

Heat the butter in the pan till frothy, add the fresh fish, eye side up (here's looking at you, kid!).  Mix a couple of handfuls of mashed spud with a handful of frozen peas. Form into 2 patties.  Put them in beside the fish.

Assembling ingredients

Cook the fish about 10 minutes, the flesh goes white when it's cooked. Put a knife in the thickest part of the fish and check for white flesh. Check for brownness underneath by lifting carefully and looking.  Do not turn over.

Heat the grill up.

Turn the patties once or twice as required. 

When the fish is just about done, take out the patties and keep warm.  Put the frying pan under the grill. Grill about 5 mins till the fish is browned on top.

Slide the fish onto the serving plate,pour over the butter.  Add salt and pepper. Put the mashed spuds beside.  Arrange salad. Voila!

Celebrating Autumn

Autumn Colours In The Garden - BEAUTIFUL

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Teaching my son to cook - Risotto, Chicken and Mushroom

Hi Hamish, here's another lovely recipe from your wonderful, dedicated mother.

This time it's RISOTTO, unctuous (look that one up, it means fatty, greasy, full of unction), and cheesy.

Best of all it's cheap and easy to make!

Today we are making Chicken and Mushroom Risotto, this will serve 2 or 3 people

You will need
1 Chicken Breast (I got one for $1.72)
about 5 mushrooms, fresh or dried (I can post you some dried ones if you want?)
1c of Aborio Rice, this is the ingredient you may not have in your cupboard.  It's a variety of rice which is full, thick and sucks up the yummy flavours you are going to add to it
2c Chicken Stock (not the cubes which are salty, but the stock you buy in a carton if you have not made any yourself.)
1 Onion
1/4c Olive Oil
1c Grated Cheese, any type you fancy
2T sour cream if you want
Parsley for garnishing

Chop the onion up into small cubes, (dice it).  Put the olive oil in a saucepan, a high sided one is best, but anyone will do in a pinch.  It looks like a lot of oil, but do not be worry!  Bring to a heat and add the onion.  Saute gently, do not brown the onions, just soften and sweeten.  Chop the chicken piece into small bits and add to the pan, cook till they are just done.  Then add the mushrooms, sliced.  Cook about 2mins then add all the stock.  In the old days we would have added the stock bit by bit, but its a faff and not worth worrying about.  Put the lid on the pot.  Turn the heat down till it is just simmering, no more.  Let cook about 10 mins, till when you test a piece of rice it is done, and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Stir in the grated cheese, and the sour cream if you like. Garnish with chopped parsley and eat!

It's mushroom and grape season

Autumn is always a rush. There's picking to be done everywhere you look. I madly pick berries, cut cabbages, dig up spuds and pull carrots.

The grapes have been patiently waiting for me.  After Himrod, our wonderful eating grape, all got eaten by the birds before I could get the nets on, I have been keeping a watchful eye on the other vines.

Finally I picked, and now I am making juice.  Last year we made wine, not particularly successfully.  Initial tastings of "Albie's Feet" were not pleasant.  Sharp and acrid. Not sure if a few years will help that along or not?

But I made some jars of juice which we have loved. So this year I decided, no wine, just juice.

I destalked the grapes, cooked them till the skins were soft and the juice ran, sweetened them a little with sugar before packing them into empty wine bottles.  Finally I processed them in a water bath for 10 minutes. Grapes are high in acidity and so the water barth doesn't need to be very long.

So far, I have done the Pinot Noir and the Pinot Gris.  Only Sauvignon Blanc to go.

Packed bottles after processing in the waterbath

You can do all sorts of fancy things to remove the cloudyness like putting the cooked juice in the fridge for 48hrs then straining off, etc, etc.  But this will be just nice enough for us, thanks!

My poor flat smells of mushrooms, which isn't as nice as smelling of wine. I have been drying my pickings in the oven and the dehydrator.

Mushrooms growing in our orchard

What will I do with all these?

And more from the roadside!

Teaching my son to cook - continued - Steak/garlic butter with Tabouleh Salad

Hamish, try this!  This is my favourite salad of all time - Tabouleh.

When I moved to Australia at 18yrs old a whole new world of food was opened up for me.  Having come from Dunedin where the extent of takeaways was Chinese or Burgers, and eating in a restaurant meant steak and chips, Sydney was a revelation.

This includes steak, but pairs it with the first salad I learnt to make in Australia.

Tabouleh- traditionally made with cracked or Bulgar wheat, it is just as nice with Cous Cous and way simpler to make.

- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Mint
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Parsley
- 1 chopped tomato (finely diced)
- 1 cup Couscous or Bulgar wheat, cooked
The couscous has to be made according to the packet, it takes about 5 mins, but then you have to let it cool.  So follow the very easy instructions an hour or two before making the salad.  If the couscous is hot the fresh mint will go black and revolting.

Mix everything together in a bowl, and then squeeze over the juice of a lemon.  You might like to add a little olive oil to soften the flavour, but I like it sharp!  so use your own judgement there.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper and it's ready.

Steak: Use rump or my favourite, ribeye.   Heat the pan till very hot, add some butter (a small knob) then the steak, cooking hard till it browns well and blood rises to the upper side of the steak.  (about 5 mins) then turn over.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook another 5 mins or so.

While its cooking make Garlic Butter.  Chop one clove of garlic finely and mix with about 2T butter.  Roll in some tinfoil and leave to cool in the fridge.

There you have it, Steak and Tabouleh!

Shopping List
Garlic
Butter
Fresh Mint
Fresh Parsley
1 Tomato
Couscous
1 Lemon
Oil

Hope arrives in the Garden

It has rained! and rained, and rained.  We have a rain gauge attached to the fence, and it collected 20mm of wet water.

The 'grass' can hardly believe it and has put a few green shoots out overnight,, tinging our lawn with hope.

Because of our family situation I have not been here to look after the vege garden, or the rose garden for that matter.  Today I drove up to spend the night here and I have worked in the vege patch all afternoon weeding, collecting rubbish, and even harvesting a few things.

Measly onions, great blackberries a few veges, and the first of our grapes

Ah, life feels so much better after rain!

Our first ever Apple harvest

I am so proud of my apple harvest this year, meagre though it is.  This is the first time we have had apples that look like edible apples.  Large, juicy, almost like something you would find in the shop.

Few in number, but they fill my heart!

New Roses

With such an extensive garden I'm always looking at planting, what I should put where, how big it will grow and how expensive it is.

Lately I've been trying to take cuttings and grow from layered pieces of existing plants.

I travelled up to Motueka last week to visit my parents and while I was there we visited Tasman Bay Roses.

What a display in their growing paddock

The sales area, this was the best kept bit

 So many varieties, and colours, and fragrances! it was a pity that the yards were not better kept, for if someone had whizzed round with a weedeater it would look better.

They have rows and rows of roses as a "garden", which was unfortunately neglected.  The roses needed a prune, deadhead and a weedeat.  There didn't seem to be any order to the rows, with roses of different colours and types just lumped together.  No labelling had been done either, or pricing, which was a great disappointment.

I could not resist though, and bought a "Jude the Obscure" and something else which I can't bring to mind right now.

We also visited the Memorial Rose Gardens in Motueka, which were looking lovely.

The Year of the Berry

Last year was the "Year of the Strawberry".  We picked kilos and kilos of them, in fact our freezer still has a few bags waiting to be used.

This year is going to be the "Year of the Berry".  Boysenberries, Raspberries and Currants.

Just over 3kg of Raspberries

over 3kg of Boysenberries

Getting ready to cook jam

Jam in progress

33 jars of Berry Jam, Done!

Last week I picked 8.5kg of fruit and made it up into jam, yielding 33 jars of mixed berry jam.  Enough to have one every fortnight for a whole year.  I can think of lots of things to use it for, jam flan, Bakewell tart, jam donuts and more.  Hmm, must get my pinny on.

Those pesky birds!

I have started netting to deter birds.

Despite my earlier post with pictures of christmas decorations in Cherry trees, I have bitten the bullet and started netting.  As soon as the cherries went red the birds started.  There is such a good crop of cherries in the tree that I am pretty desperate to keep them so we can enjoy eating fresh ones at Christmas.  It's only one week away.

When we first moved onto our property it was just two enormous paddocks of broom. I remember noticing that there were no birds, and I thought it was because it was too hot and dry.  But as soon as we started planting trees and flowers the birds came.  We have starlings, thrushes, chaffinches, hawks, sparrows, oystercatchers, skylarks, yellowhammers, the odd fantail and even the other day I saw our very first NZ Falcon (v. exciting moment).

The boysenberries have also suffered from attention by the birds, so, on went the netting too!

In my trug today

There were also Raspberries but I had put them into my Rumtopf before thinking of a photo!

"Willow" talks!

Check out this cute video I took of Willow after milking one morning.  She was hanging around enjoying a scratch and a rub and she said "Hi" to me!

https://www.facebook.com/amazing.rosebud/videos/10154108249512336/

On "Inviting Abundance"

There was a TV show that I watched avidly through a couple of seasons, "Agent Anna".  (Not just because we shared a name!) A bitter-sweet comedy about a real estate agent who's husband leaves her.  The resulting mess as she gets a job and navigates her way round the adult world on her own made me laugh.  In particular there was a time when she went to "Inviting Abundance" classes - a bit like Yoga but with some New Age fluff thrown in for good luck. Lots of "Ohm"ing and sitting in yoga poses whilst asking the universe for abundance in love, life and jobs.

I haven't tried that method, but abundance came anyway.

In the form of Poppies

and Milk from our lovely Willow - here is fresh Caerphilly

and beautiful green, lush, viridescent, verdant, grassy, grass!  Never before in the four years we have lived here have the paddocks and garden looked so naturesweet!  Our shrubs and trees are shooting away by the foot, and all our hard work finally looks sumptous - just how I imagined it would.

No wind, no bad frosts, no storms, and lots of beautiful soft, dripping rain.

Abundance forever!!

No rest for busy people

Labour Weekend, the day we celebrate a 40hour working week.  Freedom for everyone, in the evenings, and on the weekends, to get involved in fun activities with their family and friends.

In our case, planting the new berm by the pool.  (Hopefully minimising both wind misadventure and gaining a little privacy from visitors).

 

Our latest Wwoofer, Anne, a lovely German girl, mowed the lawn and said it was the best day of her life!  She really enjoyed riding our mower, practicing her driving skills and she made a lovely job of the property.  

Anne has been working hard in the Vegetable garden, inspiring me to get our strawberries and asparagus sorted out.  I was super excited to find tiny little fluffy feathers of bright green, which I identified as baby asparagus plants, self seeded. I hear tell that asparagus doesn't grow very well from seed, but I will give these a go and see what happens.

Anne mowing the lawn

Self seeded Asparagus

I'm now off to plaster some more of our pool...maybe I'll rest later on in the week.