Teepee

The kids were bugging me while I was trying to prune the trees. Kept grabbing sticks and fighting and just plain being young boys. So to redirect that energy I lashed some of the pruned branches together, threw an old sheet around it and voila teepee fun and I could finish my pruning.

Reusable snack wraps

Just wanted to share my funky new creations. Igloo will be starting preschool and to save on wastage I have made him some awesome little snack wraps and pockets. One set of just cotton, one lined with PUL.

He is going to have the best dressed food at preschool.

Burrowing frog

Not really what you expect to find as you dig the veggie garden beds. A burrowing frog decided to make our vegetable garden home. Damo accidently dug him from his slumber. I think he is rather good looking.

Ducks

We have ducks. And some have learnt to fly.

But best of all we have duck meat. It has been a learning curve for us both. Damo has had the task of learning and to slaughter and pluck a duck. Sadly the plucking is just not working out for him so they were skinned. Hopefully we can find someone who is willing to teach us how to pluck the feathers off a duck.

For me I am needing to learn how to cook duck. My first attempt was very touch. My second was so very yuck, I tried cooking it in the slow cooker in some plum chutney. I just used far too much chutney. My third attempt was a roast and it wasn't too bad.

Baby feet

This is just a very quick post to say that I absolutely adore baby feet. They are utterly amazing wonderful tiny little things.

Perennial Leeks

A few years ago we got some perennial leeks online. Like all plants you get online it is difficult to know if it will survive being posted or survive in our garden. They are meant to grow and taste just like ordinary leeks. Instead of saving seed and raising seedlings they grow numerous tiny leeks from their base.

When we moved here I dug up the leeks and brought them with us. Normally they keep growing as usual but this summer they seemed to die down to bulbs which made moving easier. I planted them out in one of the vegetable gardens. The picture below shows some of the leeks I have planted.

Perennial leeks - very hardy

Having never eaten or grown any other type of leek I can not compare them, but these are easy to grow and are tasty. They are very productive and take heavy frost with no worries. If they die down when stressed they should also be able to take the heat here.

As all leeks apparently do, they grow rather slowly. But these ones multiply fast. I have let some plants flower but they have never produce viable seeds for me. By the time a large leek is ready to be dug up and eaten it will have numerous smaller leeks ready to take its place. If you divide the babies off they all grow large and start to multiply, if you do not divide them they keep growing but are much smaller.

The picture below shows a larger leek in the background, with many smaller leeks in the foreground waiting to be divided. As you can see the lack of viable seed is not a problem whatsoever.

Like all the vegetables that I have got online I had hoped that these would do well and would eventually pay for themselves in one way or another. Some things have paid for themselves by reducing the amount of groceries we have to buy, others such as yacon pay for themselves by being sold. The leeks certainly have been hardy and generous plants and have grown and multiplied well. After seeing the prices for leek in the supermarket I know that they have paid for themselves several times over just from what we have eaten.

Since writing this I have grown some regular leeks and have written a post comparing these with perennial leeks here

 I do sell perennial leek plants as well as some other perennial vegetables, herbs and some vegetable seeds, please see my For Sale page for details.

Big boy bike

Isn't he just the most clever little being ever? Yes I am biased but what mother wouldn't be watching her 3.5yr old riding a big boy bike WITHOUT training wheels. He was so brave I am so proud of him.

Apples

The variety you get with homegrown organic apples are amazing. Above is our biggest and littlest apple together. Then just the littlest one to give perspective of size.

It was the cutest littlest most sour apple ever.

We have unfortunately lost a lot of our apples to coddling moth and even fruit fly. It is completely heart breaking throwing out kg's of fruit every day.

We need to try and figure out how to manage these issue organically. Hopefully we can and fast. Once we have chooks and ducks free ranging the numbers of these pests should be significantly reduced.

More preserving with one working hotplate.

Last night Damo and I decided we should sort out the second bucket of plums. The morning saw us fill the 5 tray dehydrator with plums, most of which are ready just the last few still in the machine. Then once it cooled down last night we tried to tackle the rest. With a pot big enough to only fit 5 jars we still had a good few dozen left (plus today's bucket worth). You will notice that there is only one pot on the stove, this is because there is only one working hotplate on the stove. Makes thing difficult and we could only cook one thing at a time and it all just took forever.

But last night we made Plum Chutney it was getting rather late so I did not reduce it enough creating more of a sauce, but it is still yummy and I think will work well in a chicken stir fry. Do wish we had some smaller jars for it though so I could have preserved in one meal quantities. Recipe below.

We also made some plum and apple sauce. Now this one tastes like store apple sauce but with a background flavour and tang of the plums. It is really super nice. Once again tiredness kicked in and we created a chunky sauce as neither of us could be bother to blend it or push through a sieve. We can always do that when we use it if we want. Recipe below. We ended up with about 550g apple and same of plum and used 800g sugar and about 350ml of water. I also threw in a 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (I am just a little terrified of poisoning the family right now). I did cook for less time so it didn't reduce too much as I wanted more of a sauce than a jam, I had trouble finding a simple plum and apple sauce recipe.

Plum Chutney

Recipe Ingredients
900g / 2lb plums
1 large onion
200g / 7oz raisins or sultanas (optional)
450g / 1lb brown sugar
570ml / 1pint malt or cider vinegar
1 thumb / 3cm ginger
1 Tblsp cinnamon
1 Tsp nutmeg
8 cloves
2 tsp salt

Mise-en-Place:
Sterilize the jars and lids with hot water and a kitchen sanitizer spray
(Or the old school method is to wash the jars then heat to 100°C - 120°C for 10 minutes in the oven)
Cut the plums into quarters (or if very large into eighths)
Slice the onion
Weigh the sugar and measure the vinegar
Roughly chop the ginger, measure the remaining spices

Cooking Method:
Place all the ingredients into a saucepan
Rapidly boil until thick (about 30-45 minutes)
Stir from time to time to ensure that the chutney doesn't stick or start to burn.
To test if the chutney is thick enough rapidly draw a ladle across the bottom of the pan, if you can clearly (yet briefly) see the pan's base before the chutney flushes back into place the chutney is done.
If not continue to thicken the chutney by boiling.
Check the seasoning, remove and discard the cloves and sliced ginger.
Pour hot, but not boiling, water into the preserving jars (this is to heat the glass so that it doesn't crack when you add the hot chutney)
Remove the water then pour the plum chutney into jars.
Seal and label.

Adjust:
Its quite difficult to get a real taste of a chutney's flavours while it is still hot. Once the chutney has cooled the flavours will develop and the longer you age the chutney, again the greater the flavours will develop. However if a chutney tastes quite bland when hot, this is an indication that the final product will also be quite flavourless.
Too bland: Add more spices / or salt
Too thin: Continue to heat the chutney until it thickens
Too thick: Add a little water

Chef Tip:
If you don't have a funnel roll up a non-stick baking mat into a cone, then use this to easily pour the chutney from pot to preserving jar.

http://cooking4chumps.com/Chutney%20Plum%20Recipe.html

Homemade Plum and Apple Jam

ingredients

yield 2.5kg (approx)

750 g plums
3 1/2 cups (750 g) apples (peeled and cored)
450 ml water
1.5 kg sugar

method

1. Wash the plums and put into a preserving pan with the apples and the water.

2. Cook the fruit slowly until the skins of the plums are softened.

3. Add the sugar, stir over low heat until dissolved, bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

4. Remove the stones as they rise to the surface (a stone basket clipped to the side of the pan is useful for holding the stones, and allows any liquid to drip back into the pan).

5. Alternatively, the plums may be stoned before cooking.

6. Remove from the heat, skim, pot, cover, and label.

Cooking time 45 minutes (approx)
http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-032o55.html

Cloth Nappying

We discovered a lovely surprise on arrival to Mudflower ..... there is no electricity or water pressure in the laundry.

At what point did I discover this you ask? Well it was AFTER the removalists had placed the machine in the laundry and I went to try and wash 4 days worth of nappies.

Could this pregnant belly and Damo's broken spine move the machine into the bathroom where there is pressure and electricty? Not likely.

So what did we do? We ran an extension cord into the house and bucketed the water into the machine. Not a great deal of fun and this is how we will have to continue with washing until we get things fixed up.

We have had an electrician out to have a look and he will get to it when he can. I think he may just be the farmer across the paddock who does work for those he knows, our other neighbour recommended him. So we will just sit tight on that one. As for the water, the laundry is gravity fed from a small water tank. We need to look into a water pump and possibly a larger tank to fix the water. Something for when we have some money.

If the river water ever comes back on we will be able to fill the machine up with a hose. Fingers crossed something fixes up soon.

But all I can say is, if I can keep using cloth in these conditions so can you. I will no longer accept the excuse that it is too much hard work.

Hit the ground running

We have had the joy of moving into Mudflower with tonnes of rotting fruit everywhere, Damo has been out there with shovel and bags collecting it all up in the 40+ degree heat. Very little fruit is left edible, which is just so sad. But there was a plum tree covered in yummy goodness.


Yesterday I collected a bucket full and turned them into some yummy jam and preserves.



Have collected another overflowing bucket full today that is now in the dehydrator and the rest will be turned into some plum sauce and plum chutney. Will share pictures of those results tomorrow.

The recipe I used was:

Recipe for Plum Jam in the Microwave 7/9/01. Bunty.

---

450 g (1 lb) Plums
Grated rind and juice of 1 small orange
2 1/2 x 15 ml tbsp water
375 g (12 oz) granulated sugar

1. Halve and stone plums, place in a large dish with the water and microwave for 8 - 10 mins on High until tender.
2. Add sugar an stir.
3. Cook on High for 2 mins. Stir.
4. Cook on High for 8 - 10 mins Stirring several times until
setting point is reached.
5. Cool slightly and pot.

I have successfully been making my jam this way since 1982.

From:
http://www.realgardeners.co.uk/archiverecipes/recipe_for_plum_jam_in_the_micro.htm