Is Good!!

Anyone remember that advert for Don sausage - which simply says "Is Good". Well I'm not sure about processed meat being good unless its a great Chorizo or home made sausage, but life can be so good when simple pleasures like eating your own food are a priority. We complicate our lives too much I think, in this material world, so it a good reminder to relish what we grow and be aware and conscious of the mourishment we get body and soul as we eat it. After a pretty meagre winter, the garden is now giving up its bounty as the weather improves and rapid growth is happening. Today I will honour Mother Nature and enjoy the life spirit in the foods I picked today. Breakfast of strawberries, lunch of Cos, Buttercrunch, Tatsoi, Salad Burnett, Cress with some assorted herbs and aromatics; Marigold, Mint, Borage leaves, Chive buds, Thyme flowers, Sage flowers, Coriander. Add a rich and fluffy omelette from the Spice Girls, it doesn't get much better!



Oops - should have cropped the middle photo so you could see the remnants of my coffee in the sink!

Amazing!

This morning we were again visited by at least 30 black cockatoos. I managed to be awake enough to get a few shots, but this one gob-smacked me when I realised there was also a wattle bird defending its nest in the shot. She was willing to take on all comers by the look of it! Click to enlarge the picture and see how fast her wings are going.

Life's Garden

These pictures are for my sister in Bradford.

There is no better garden to grow than the garden of life. Here is baby Hannah Isobel with my beautiful daughter. I can't believe its five months since this little tyke came into our world.
And here she is with her brothers Ethan Micah and Liam Nathaniel at story time.

Moon Gardening - October 25th to 31st

Iris Goddess of the Rainbow

This week begins as the moon continues its Descending journey influencing root growth as sap is slow to rise in the stem of the plant. North node crosses the equator bringing adverse condition particularly for root vegetables, even on a descending moon and an earth sign, so Sunday is a better day to attend to fruiting crops up to about 6 pm AEDT.

Weather
Monday sees Apogee as the moon is at its most distant from the earth coinciding with first quarter so an ideal time to thin root vegetables and other seedlings so long as you can get out of the wind. When Apogee occurs at the same time as 1st or 2nd quarter the winds increase and we get a warm to hot dry spell. Deep water later on Sunday or before 10 am AEDT. Weather continues warm to hot until Friday when thundery showers are likely. Moon is crossing the equator and brings showers for three days.

25th, 26th, 27th - Moon in earth, good for root vegetables except for the warning above. At 1st quarter, thinning weak seedlings will give better results later on in the growing cycle. Don't feed and nurture plants that are not going to thrive as they will crowd out the better quality ones.
28th, 29th - Moon in Air signs ; good for flower reproduction and entering Waxing Gibbous phase which is ideal for feeding flower type crops such as cauliflowers, herbs and broccoli to improve on the health of the roots ( while the moon descends). Venus Jupiter trine on Thursday is especially good for berry fruits and will improve flower production on those fruits, if fed now so give your strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc a foliar feed or side dressing of cow manure.
30th and 31st - as mentioned some rain about, but these are excellent days to feed leafy greens. Moon opposes Saturn on Saturday 31st - I always add a side dressing of potash when this occurs, this time to leafy greens.

A stroll around the garden today while the north node motivates himself to pull out weeds shows how fast growth occurs once spring arrives. Here in Tasmania, growth is so fast we soon catch up with out mainland counterparts! Here are a few pictures of things to come - click on them to enlarge.

Slow Food

The 7.30 report on the ABC will feature a segment on the "Slow Food" movement. My hero chef Georgio Locatelli first made me aware of this movement a long time ago, before River Cottage promoted it as a life style. The movement is said to stem from a response by local restauranteurs in Rome when a McDonalds was built near the Spanish Steps. The movement is a large organisation but there is nothing stopping anyone adopting the principles and applying to their own backyard. I realise that many of the bloggers with whom I am linked also espouse the movement ( even without realising it) so if you watch the segment, it will be interesting to hear your comments.

Moon Gardening - October 18th to 24th

I always like it when my reports start at a new moon - this means that the next 4 will synchronise with the phases. This new Moon occurs in Libra, the sign that is associated with air and flowering crops including flowers generally. Flowering crops include broccoli, cauliflower, beans, herbs like yarrow, angelica and parsley. So these are going into my garden/hothouse either as seeds or transplants tomorrow. I've got out some seeds of romanesco and calabrese broccoli ready to sow and will be heading out there after 4 pm to sprinkle them.

Weather
This should be a calm and particularly pleasant week. There are no major cosmic happenings so we should see spring at its glorious best in the southern areas. The moon peaks at its southern declination on Thursday 22nd and promises a warmer period after that although the nights can still get cold. South Australia can expect a few hot days around then. The crescent moon occurs the day before, in the water sign Scorpio. Southern peaks from now on will give us warm spells, gradually getting hotter as spring and summer progress in the southern hemisphere. Southern peaks means cold conditions for those in the northern hemisphere. This is the first southern peak of spring in the Antipodes since the equinox so is an opportunity to observe.

Sunday 18th, Monday 19th, Tuesday 20th - New moon occurs at 3.34 pm AEDT, leaving its 'dark period' and drawing up seeds planted during the last few days. If you have been despairing about germination of seds sown recently check them and see the happening thing over the next three days. This is a great time to plant flowers and flowering crops, subject to your local conditions.

Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd - Crescent phase in the water sign of Scorpio influences the growth of leafy vegetables. With the exception of a Mercury Jupiter trine on Wednesday 21st which is adverse for root vegetables and root growth, the warmer weather promised over the next three days will see rapid growth occurring. Give your salads a boost of liquid fertiliser ( seaweed based) on Wednesday.

Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th - sees the moon in the fire sign Sagittarius where it will remain for most of the daylight hours on Sunday 25th so this looks like being a very good weekend for tomatophiles to either plant more seeds, transplant, feed and care for all fruiting crops. Chillies, capsicums, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, tomatoes, fruit tress in general are all under excellent growth vibes, so what are you waiting for! Make plans for a busy weekend next weekend.

Well it nearly happened again. On Friday at 1 pm as the moon entered earthy Virgo I took the risk and put out carrot seeds. Those who know me know that it is a fatal error for me to plant carrots as I bring on the rain. A clear blue sky, I took the risk, only to see, half an hour later, a thunderous malevolent black cloud developing. Looked like Zeus bound on revenge! Yikes I said but not quite yikes - quick lets get some cover on these little buggers. A quick slash here and there with a Stanley knife and a strip of carpet over the carrots - just in time as the heavens opened and 9 mm rain fell in just a couple of hours. Carrot rain it shall be known as! Check my almanac and yes, the moon was crossing the equator.

Rainy Daze

Back to winter the last couple of days. Bob got bored so I showed him how easy it is to blog when bored. So he now has his own place to ramble instead of complaining! Link in the blogroll - Robertybobsblog. Now I'll show him Facebook in case he gets mega bored!

Things are looking good!

Tomatoes are potted on - we have put 10 varieties of indeterminates in the hothouse hoping to get some tomatoes by Christmas. Each has it's own friendly basil plant for company. Duplicates still in pots on the ground will be planted outside to extend the season.

Carmen checks the some determinates and dwarfs that will also be planetd out once the frost danger is past.

Here we have Tatsoi, Salad Burnet and Meslcun - sown two weeks ago, ready for cropping in a few days. The next successive sowing will happen later this week. This gives us a constant supply of leaves for salads in addition to those growing outside. I will be planting several other interesting varieties as we go.


Not a lot of colour yet, but the leaf growth on the roses and other plants is accelerating and we have masses of buds. This shot shows the wall is still standing even after all the rain!

Coca

This is a favourite lunchtime food. They are a Spanish recipe and simple as to make - just use your normal pizza base dough but substitute 1/3 cup flour with 1/3 cup polenta. I base mine on 1.5 cups flour, 1.5 tsp yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 cup good olive oil and tepid water, knead for 10 minutes. Let rise until double. This makes 6 substantial size cocas but Carmen managed 2!
The essentials for the topping are one large red onion, fried with lots of garlic, some fresh marjoram and a large tablespoon of Spanish Paprika. When sauted, add one sliced up Chorizo sausage and allow mixture to cool. After the dough has doubled in size, knock down and divide into 6 and roll out 'shoes'. Top with your choice ( here we used ricotta blended with a spoon of tomato paste, chopped red capsicum, lots of fresh basil, cherry tomato halves and finally the onion and sausage mix. Leave about 3 cm around the edges to rise. Sprinkle your cooking tray with a little polenta and leave for another 15 minutes to rise slightly, then drizzle a little olive oil around the edges. Bake for 12 minutes @ 200c fan forced 220 not.

Moon Gardening - October 11th to 17th

This week begins at the last quarter phase. This is a good phase for thinning seedlings, transplanting, potting and taking softwood cuttings where it applies in your location. Later in the week hand pollinating activities are favoured. This is also a good phase for grafting if you are into that.

Weather
The weather this week promises to be reasonably calm now that those planets that were crossing the equator at the same time as the moon, are now progressed in their passage. There may be light rain on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th as the nodal crossing coincides with perigee and a hot day on Friday 16th with possible thunderstorms in some areas. As the sun now gives us longer daylight in its passage to the next solstice in December, conditions are warming up towards what looks like being a hot dry summer so start your bushfire and water conservation measures now. There are no major indicators of severe weather this month as the moon's three pivotal points are now spread evenly over the month, so enjoy the next few weeks as spring burgeons.

Sunday 11th, Monday 12th, Tuesday 13th South node crossing together with Perigee ( moon nearest to earth) occur in water signs. Not favourable for leafy vegetables so avoid these days for planting, however leafies will benefit from thinning and insect control now.
Wednesday 14th , Thursday 15th the Moon is now in its Balsamic phase. This is a phase I like for planting seeds and I have found that they emerge more quickly and are less leggy as the moon is in the final throes of waning.
Friday 16th Saturday 17th The moon is now entering its dark phase, when excellent germination can ocur. The dark phase is also a good time for cross pollinating. These two days favour fruiting plants so sow your cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins etc and those who are in warmer climes can look at pollinating those fruiting types.

Disaster Averted - Fingers Crossed!

Remember the bags of potatoes I carefully created? I have added compost each time any shoots appeared but with the wight of the material and the growing( hopefully) spuds, cheap and nasty bags, we noticed that there was a major leak occurring in each of the bags and they were flopping over too.

So, using the wire netting I was going to use for tomato cages, we made a large 'tub' around the bags, lined with weedmat which hopefully will keep the bags under control as they continue to disintegrate! When I get my breath back I will pack the gaps with straw so in effect we will have a large bin in which the potatoes might continue to thrive.



This is what it looks like from the outside.

I'm not game to add too much more compost in case it falls over, but will see how it goes in the next couple of weeks. Hoping that we've saved the spuds. The idea of growing in hessian bags might sound OK but in practice, it didn't work for us!

When we renovated our bathroom, we had a towel rail left over. I now have a tidy place for my tools.


I must say a couple of warm days and I am quite energised - giving it another two weeks for the new moon and I'll be digging and delving again. This has been a long winter but at last all the house renovations are done ( once the rest of the carpet goes down tomorrow) and we won't have to do another indoors thing until our dotage!

October Moon Gardening

I wasn't able to post on Sunday because the severe storms that hit Tasmania resulted in us being without power for 36 hours. I've posted the forecast for the first 10 days of October in the sidebar -> so that I can get back into synch with Sunday posting and also to allow for being without a computer as we re-carpet the house!

I have managed to pot the tomatoes on into bigger pots, potted the capsicums and some still very small eggplants and chillies for hothouse growing, but the ground is still very soggy so we're avoiding outdoor planting a bit longer - apart from the celeriac, spinach and silverbeet which seem to like the wet conditions. The Spice girls are in full lay as they approach their first birthday and mother Rosemary is back broody. Because we weren't sure about the survival of the Spice girls as day old chicks, we bought six and five of them survived and are now laying. This means that we have about three too many so if anyone in Tasmania needs healthy, friendly free range backgarden chickens, please contact me.

Happy Equinox

At 7.18 am AEST today, the 23rd September we in the southern hemisphere experience the Spring equinox and those in the northern hemisphere experience the autumn equinox. The actual equinox isn't just a moment in time. It happens over a period of about 3 days so the time and date given is the central point. There are a few additional factors going on this year. Over the same period, this year, the planet Mercury is also crossing the equator ( 12.02 pm 23rd September) and its influence on weather is all about air flow, high pressure and turbulence. When the two bodies cross together, we anticipate high winds. We certainly had that yesterday and today. The dust storms that have crossed the continent are attributable to these two bodies cross together. Mercury seems to boost the turbulence that is always around at the equinox.

The equinox is cause for celebration of nature. It is the time for new life, new plantings, new beginnings. Although much of the traditions around equinox are centred on the Northern hemisphere seasons, by viewing celebrations and traditions from the March dates in the north, we transpose the festivals. While the north marks Mabon, we mark Ostara. It is said to be lucky to spot a hare at this time, but all we'll get are darned rabbits I bet.

Interestingly, Old Rosemary chose this time to go broody for the first time since she raised the other spice girls. The seeds I planted at new moon have all shown their first leaves today.

I'll be doing an astrological forecast for the coming months for Australia, which I'll put in the Zodiac garden if anyone is interested in social and political astrology.

Moon Gardening - 4th Week September , 2009

I've put the data at the right side of the blog so that it doesn't get lost if I do any more posting this week. Please take your own time zone and local conditions into account when using the guide. This is a particularly fertile week, with the moon passing through some fertile areas of the cosmos and spring equinox happening mid week.

ps - Please visit http://ouroldcottage.blogspot.com/ and read what is happening to the frogs in these lovely people's garden.

Shades of things to come...........

The tomatoes have germinated and have their second leaves. So have the Eggplants and Jimmy Nardello. All the herbs are in pots this year, so as to be accessible to the kitchen, so I've transplanted sage and thyme and sowed seeds of several others. Spinach, silverbeet, celeriac all going well in one of the beds, the peas and beets got totally wiped by the rain, so later this month we'll sow more. Still a bit cool for some seeds to germinate but once we get 12 degrees at night, I have a heap to plant.

It's still pretty soggy out there but we've rough sorted the compost ready to mix up potting mix to grow tender things in the hothouse. The rest will go on the veggie bed. We have a few remaining leeks - my word they have been excellent. Planting in Autumn has given us a great crop and plenty rain has been of great benefit. The natives we planted seek to like it and hopefully in a couple of years will give us shelter from the easterlies ( which will probably ot blow once they are up!) Next job is the make a concrete path where the strip is between the rose garden and the long veggie bed and join up to the path to the hothouse. This will make it safer to walk to the hothouse and get rid of a silly grass path that isn't wide enough to mow. So I'd better get my concreting arm ready - thought I'd done enough of that when we built the wall!

Moon Gardening - 3rd Week September , 2009

Things are speeding up now as we approach the equinox and the real spring begins.

The moon is waning this week and we get the New Moon next Saturday 19th. Generally speaking, it's best to wait for sowing and planting until the new moon starts the waxing phase. But this week sees the Moon Ascending, drawing the plant sap upward into the stems and leaves so you should start to see germination of the root crops you planted earlier.

Sunday 13th and Monday 14th Moon begins the week in sidereal Gemini - this is good for beans and peas and flowers, if you are warm enough to plant them. Beans and peas are outside the rule of thumb of planting on a waxing moon. The ancient apothacaries and hebalists always suggested planting either at Full Moon or as 2nd quarter to balsamic ( dark) moon.

Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th sees the Moon in watery Cancer with the nodal crossing and perigee on Wednesday. Not good days for planting despite the fertility of that sign because both these events are destructive, so leave the gardening and use this time to hunt down the slimy critters.

Thursday 17th and and Friday 18th see the Moon in its Balsamic phase in fiery Leo. I have found that a balsamic moon favours seed planting, it is approaching the 'dark of the moon' which symbolically augurs new growth and I'll be planting seeds of fruiting plants then - capsicums, tomatoes, chilies, squash, pumpkin etc.

Saturday 19th sees the New Moon in earthy Virgo. As the Moon occurs very early in the morning, if its not raining too heavily, this is an excellent time to thin out germinated root veg seedlings or sow more.

The Weather
Late Friday the Moon crosses the equator and the New Moon occurs at 4.45 am Saturday. Weather wise , we should have had a warm, breezy week but a change occurs now. New Moon and the Equatorial crossing usually brings about three days of rain or cloudy conditions with the possibility of thundery showers.

A little reminder to make up your potting mix if you plan on growing in pots. So much can be grown in either the hothouse or outdoors where you might not have suitable soil. This is my tried and true recipe for pots. The recipe can be found here - So you don;t really get time off on Tuesday and Wednesday as these would be good times to make up your amendments as pathogens don't thrive during perigee and nodal crossings.

Moon Gardening - 2nd week September

As the weather starts to become slightly more bearable it's time to dust off the cobwebs and think about spring planting. We are poised on the brink of the season change when the Equinox occurs on 23rd at 7.18 am. This pivotal point sees the earth's tilt begin to favour the southern hemisphere as the sun's rays begin to hit earth for longer periods. There are some interesting seasonal trends coming up for spring which I'll write about later in the month.

Sunday 6th starts in the full moon phase ( 5th at 2.04 am) This gives us 2 days when the Moon is in the very fertile sign Pisces. This encourages leafy vegetables up until Tuesday 8th, so get the seeds out or transplant into the garden now. However, the optimum time for leafies this month will be 23rd and 24th so don't worry if you don't get them in now. This is also a time when snails and other slimy critters start to lay eggs in dark places so look for snails trails and do whatever you do to reduce the population. Moulds also thrive now and damping off can happen with seeds.

Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th are suitable days for fruiting type plants, although the optimium time for these will be later in the month on the 26th and 27th when the Moon will be waxing. However, those who are contemplating their summer crop of tomatoes and chilies could start seeds now. The Moon is in its descending trend all this week and this encourages good root growth, so while a waning moon is not always the best phase, the descending phase is helpful in establishing the roots that will support the plant later. Don't be surprised if germination is slow as the roots develop.

Thursday 10th and Friday 11th are ideal times for planting root crops. If you soil is warmed up a bit ( mine isn't) you could sow carrots but beets, celeriac and any other root food can be started now. The trend is still descending, the phase waning gibbous (disseminating) all of which are very favourable for roots Moon in the constellation of Taurus is highly fertile. Northern peak occurs on Saturday 12th so get those roots in this week.

Weather - Full moon and equatorial crossing on 6th so expect showery conditions on Monday and Tuesday with a change in wind to more easterly weather. A milder but windy Wednesday and Thursday with less rain, Friday quite mild but windy with alternating sunny periods and heavy showers on Saturday as the 2nd quarter moon occurs at the northern peak.

Moon then begins it's ascending trend, favouring the stem and leaf growth of all plants. Seeds sown now will get leggy. Hang about until after New Moon on 19th.

Colours of Spring - Not.......

While the Camellias suffer from the constant rain and frequent hail, I console myself with finishing Hannah's Quilt, which I have named "Colours of Camellias". This is a rather large quilt for a three month old baby! Here is some detail - click to enlarge - including the quilting of hearts and bubbles - I get all my quilts professionally quilted these days.
Today, since it's raining, I'll plan the next quilt!

ps - not sure why the walls came out pink too! They are cream.

Bag O Spuds

This year we are cutting back on the amount of potatoes and also the amount of digging. Each of these 4 bags contain 5 Kipfler spuds and we'll do 4 more Dutch Creams and Nicola. The bag will be filled with compost as the shoots emerge. Right now they have a base of rotten chicken poo, compost and soil and straw to top it off. About 1/5th full.

Gourmet Sausage n Mash - an oxymoron? ....

Yes, they can be gourmet.

8 chipolata sausages or you could use normal sized ones.
2 medium sized onions - sliced into about 8 wedges each
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbps brown sugar
12 leaves of basil
6 sprigs thyme
about 800g canned diced tomatoes

Saute onions in oil and butter until tender about 5 minutes, add sausages until browned, then add brown sugar, herbs and wine and vinegar, stir, add tomatoes and cover and simmer until sauce thickens and sausages are done.

Meantime boil your potatoes for mashing - Kennebec's are good. When mashing add milk and 200g grated tasty cheese, whip until shiny. Put potatoes on plate, make a hollow and fill with sausages. Recipe serves two, calories don't ask.

Lovely Visitor

We had a friendly close encounter with this lovely fellow, all decked out in bright colours to attract his lady love! He is an Eastern Spinebill. Click to enlarge the pictures and look at the size of that beak! No flower will be safe from him. The birds are getting ready for nesting, the moulting chooks no sooner lose their feathers than they are whipped away. We also had a fly-past by a big Wedge Tailed Eagle and the Welcome Swallows are starting to swoop around. Spring can't be far away.
I made a start ready for seed planting by putting punnets and small pots to sterilise in a big tub in the hothouse. The mice seem to have left the building. It got too cold with the wind and hail from the south east, so I gave up trying to sort the bigger pots out. Tomorrow is another day. We got 5 of the trees planted and demolished the arches for re-use elsewhere, so all in all not an unproductive day. ( plus I nearly finished Hannah's Quilt)

New boots for old.

We habitually keep a pair of slip on shoes at the back door for forays into the garden. Unfortunately the current ones are canvas and Bob has regularly complained they make his socks wet ( I don't care 'cos I don't wear socks) because they soak up the moisture.

So here is a solution.

Take one pair of old gumboots from back of shed, complete with muck. Using a guide, carefully cut a bootie-clog shape (Bob followed the contours of the boot). Turn over and cut from the other side to match.


Separate the two halves and you have easy slip on waterproof cloggy things.


Waste not want not - The tops of the boots can be worn when whipper-snipping or grass cutting to protect legs from flying stones and stuff.


And because gumboots are notoriously hard to remove even when intact, these are snug fitting but easy to remove - simply rotate when finished and pull the tab to get them off!

New Trees

Regular readers of this blog will remember we removed several huge Macrocarpa trees two years ago and have let the ground rest for a while before going out to buy some nice native species that will tolerate the salt winds and clay soil. We are lucky in that we have a great native nursery here at Oldina where Jim McLeod has forgotten more than most nurseries would know about natives. So here are the new babies ready to be planted. All are trunking types, tolerant of everything, bird attracting and carefree.

We have a Coastal Banksia for the black parrots, A Red Flowering and Pink flowering Gum for the Wattle Birds, A Swamp Peppermint for the Honeyeaters, Banksia Saxicola for the Wattle birds, Grevillea Silky Oak, Hakea Elliptica for its wonderful shape ( I planted a tiny one in the front garden 5 years ago and it is already 5 meters high and beautiful) a Smooth Barked Apple Myrtle for the frangrance and can't go past the good old Tasmania Blue gum for the parrots.

On the way home we drove past our old farm, Papplewick Farm, where 20 years ago I planted a 200 metre fence line with Red flowering Gums. They are beautifully grown to about 10 meters and look lovely. Nostalgia, I do miss having space around us, but the aging process takes its toll. So our little micro-farm will suffice.

Seeds for Spring

I have sorted through the seeds store and decided to plant ( at various times) th following which should see us self- sufficient in veg for this coming year.

Basil – Greek Mini | Genovese

Beans - Borlotti | Butter | Cherokee Yellow Wax | Climbing Snake bean | Mostoller Wild Goose| Scarlet Runner

Beetroot – Early Wonder | Bullsblood | Golden

Broccoli – Green Calabrese | Romanesco

Burnet - Salad

Cabbage – Tatsoi | Wong Bok

Capsicum – California Wonder | Jimmy Nardello

Carrot – Amsterdam | Red Core Chantennay

Celeriac – White Alabaster

Chilli – Ancho | Habanero | Jalepeno| Birdseye

Coriander

Corn Salad

Cress – Curly

Cucumber – German Pickling | Lebanese |Marketmore

Eggplant – Early Long Purple| Florence Round Purple | Redskin

Fennel – Florence Bulbing

Garlic – purple | white

Kohlrabi

Lemon Balm

Lettuce – Cos Verdi |Mesculin | Oakleaf | Parris Island Cos

Oregano

Parsley – Curly | Italian

Parsnip

Peas - Massey

Potato – Dutch Cream | Kipfler | Nicola

Pumpkin – Long Island Cheese | New England Pie

Purslane – golden

Radicchio – red Verona Dragon

Silverbeet – Fordhook Giant

Squash – Gem| Golden

Summer Savoury

Sunflower

Tomato – various

Thyme

Zucchini – Blackjack |– Round

Have I forgotten anything? I usually do and have to run and get seeds at the last minute!

Finished!

Finished! A wet week has its rewards in that I was able to put in hours on the sewing machine and not worry about the weeding, cos it's so wet out there my chooks are turning into ducks. Here's the finished product off to the quilter today. Click pic to see it in more detail.

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Gardening in the doldrums what else is there to do but look at seed catalogues and eat. That small amount of fenugreek came into its own with Methi Chicken featured here - this was most delicious - sublime in fact.
Himself went back for thirds so I didn't get any seconds which is probably a good thing because I'd have to have had more naan bread. Since the fenugreek leaves have to be fried I don't see why dried leaves couldn't be substituted so I'll try that next time, as this recipe is destined to be a favourite. Go light on the chilli to get the full methi (fenugreek) flavour.

Recipe is enough for 4, halve it if there's just two of you although we had no problems eating most of this quantity.

600g chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces
1 large or 2 medium onions
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp good yogurt
1/2 cup chopped fresh fenugreek leaves
1 and 1/2 tsp crushed ginger
1 and 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp birdseye or kashmiri chilli
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup cashew nuts - pounded into rough pieces
salt to taste
oil for frying.

Fry the onions until the start to caremelise, add the sugar to make sure they brown. Put into mortar and pestle and add the yogurt, pounding until you have a paste. Set aside.
Heat oil in pan and fry off the fenugreek leaves until they start to crisp, remove and set aside. Now fry off the garlic and ginger adding turmeric, cumin, chilli and garam masala. Add tomato paste followed by browned onion paste and fry for 2 minutes, add the chicken pieces with salt to taste and cook on a low heat covered until chicken is tender. Don't overcook.
Grind cashews and add to chicken just before serving along with the fenugreek leaves.

So now for the ridiculous. Somehow I must have read, seen, heard or fantasised about corned beef hash and you know how something gets stuck in your head like a silly tune, by Sunday night I had to cook it. I haven't had this since my childhood and when we were first married and living on a shoestring - we would have used tinned corned beef then - not knowing any better - so I guess the piece of corned silverside in the fridge evoked a memory I couldn't resist.



Cube 1 large potato in 1/2 inch cubes or less and parboil. Meantime chop 1 large onion and fry until browned adding the cubed corned beef - also as small as possible - until it is heated through. Drain potatoes and add to mix, mixing thoroughly with 1 tbsp HP or other barbecue style sauce. Put into a shallow dish and pour over a mixture of one egg beaten with 1/2 cup milk, some fresh thyme leaves ( most important) and chopped sage leaves, salt and pepper Make a 'nest' or two and add an egg to each. Bake in oven until eggs are set. Ours got a bit overdone because they were fresh laid and the whites took ages to set, then they set suddenly, cooking the yolks a bit too much. Ridiculous as it sounds I think the tinned corned beef, once you take off the fat would probably do as good a job.

At Last!

While rearranging the chook fence, on our first sunny day for yonks, I came upon a little patch of feral fenugreek! Despite the rabbit plague, the chicken love of all things fenugreek, the wallabies who prefer it to poppies and the assorted sparrows, this small crop survived. We had dinner out on Saturday and Amy had Methi chicken which just has to be made with fresh fenugreek - so I was delighted to find this. Methi chicken here I come! That's the cropping done for July!

Out and About

Just got back from Hobart where we spent a decadent ( for us) 4 days dining out and visiting family and friends. I was mighty cold - I'll add to our travel blog, but in the mean time here are a few pictures of winter in Tasmania. Click the pictures to see the results of the lovely rain we've been getting.

The Meander River at Deloraine in flood for the first time in 7 years. The day before this was taken the water was twice this wide.

May hedges at Longford resting before they burst into bloom in September.

South Esk River at Woolmers ( National Rose Garden) signs of spring with a few small buds on a Horse Chestnut tree.

A rare sight - Green grass in the paddocks each side of the Midland Highway! Good rain transforms the island! More pictures soon on the travel blog.
We did manage to get some celeriac seedlings so I'm excited that we'll soon be able to start planting. Also managed to get some hessian bags so this year the potatoes won't be such hard work as we plan on planting them in the bags to save space and also for progressive planting.

More Work in Progress

Lots of rainy days and I've made headway with this stage of the quilt. Click the pictures to see larger images.

First I cut out the squares, then traced the two different flowers and cut them out of 3 different reds and 3 different purples. The next stage was to applique them in place.

Each square then got a blue outline border and I measured and cut out 80 little triangles from two gold and 4 different greens. There had to be carefully put onto the shadow boxes, and pieced together so that the golds and greens were in the right order. Eureka - I got them all right.

This why the golds and greens had to be in the correct place to create a pattern within a pattern.

Close up - once the squares were joined in strips and then stitched to the body of the quilt. This is probably the most nerve -racking point because the strip of joined squares has to fit exactly or the quilt become cock-eyed. Eureka again! It fitted exactly, so the quilt should continue to be square.

Two more rounds to go. The most complicated part of the quilt is now done. The next two rounds are not so 'busy'. Had to stand on a table to get the shot! I've decided I hate triangles - I was dreaming about them last night!

Grandma's Garden

Just so you don't think I've been idle over this cold and wet winter, here is the project I began a couple of months back. It is probably the most challenging quilt I've ever made but since it is for me - finally I get one - I figured I'd do something special. This is just the centre - about 1/8th of the work. It is a work in progress as the next round will be little 3" shadow boxes each containing a flower to match those in the centrepiece. Lots of piecing, applique and measuring for the coming week. Click on the picture to see more detail. The background varies as I'm using about 8 different caramel coloured fabrics to add even more complication!