Gloating....

My crazy carrots... never, ever, in my whole gardening life have i ever grown carrots like this!!! And i just needed to share my success with the whole bloggin world :)!!!!!
and my wee Layla May looks pretty happy with the haul!

A is for Apple

Wow we've had such a busy week and I've managed to get next to nothing done! We had a new fire, hot water system and loo (yippee, one that the kids can actually flush all by themselves!) installed, so kitchen time was significantly reduce by the amount of dust and noise inside. Love having the flash new mod cons though, and I did still get a chance to make some goodness to squirrel away for the winter.

Maggie, our extremely excitable, lovable, licking and grossly overweight chocolate brown log... oops dog, this week moved on from eating strawberry's, raspberries and tomatoes, to gorging herself on the beautiful tart cooking apples from the unnamed, very old, apple tree out the back. Although having pretty bad coddling moth, I couldn't bear to see the fruit adding to her rapidly expanding middle (not to mention the numerous #2's happening due to excessive fiber consumption!) so my number one man and I decided on a apple rescue mission.

Reubs, armed with a home made ladder type of thing, and a basket was sent out to collect every apple from the tree. Maggie sat mournfully under said tree, waiting with diminishing hope that Reubs would throw one down for her. Meanwhile I scoured my many cooking/gardening books to find something spectacular to make. Oooohhh and spectacular I certainly did find!

Tah dah....

Apple Chutney and preserved spiced apples. Think roast pork and apple pie and homemade ice cream... Man, I can't wait (note to self...will need to hunt for a good ice cream recipe)!

Here is the apple chutney recipe I used. It says to leave it to mature for 12 weeks before serving... but I had to have a wee sneaky taste and after 30 minutes it was already Divine!

*1kg apples, peeled and diced *500g brown sugar *500g diced red onion *300g raisins *2 Tbs yellow mustard seeds *Fresh ginger, grated... I love it so I use lots ;) *Chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced... again, as much as you like or not at all *1/4 tsp ground cloves *250ml red wine vinegar *salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a large preserving pot. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat. Stir regularly to stop it catching and simmer down to a thick consistency, like jam should be. Pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal.  (to sterilise jars, wash them well with warm soapy water, rinse, dry and put in an oven, pre-heated to about 120-150 for at least 30 minutes. Make sure you sterilise the lids by boiling in a pot of water for 10 or so minutes too...and don't contaminate them again by touching them with dirty fingers!!! Finding your hard work has a whole kaleidoscope of mould growing on top is pretty dis-heartening!)

As for the spiced apples....

Just blanch peeled and diced (or sliced) apples in hot, then cold water for a few minutes before putting in sterilised jars (it helps to stop them going brown). Pour over a syrup made by boiling 1 part sugar to 5 parts water with your favourite spicy things added. I made mine with a few whole cloves, a stick or two of cinnamon and a vanilla pod. Add some to the jars to make it look pretty if that's the way you roll ;)



Zoooooom Zooooommm Possum

Proud moment of the week....

My beautiful wee Eden competing in her Kindergarten

WHEEEEELLLLL-A-THON!

Well done my darling x

Ready... (Strike a pose)

Steady... (make sure you've sussed out the opposition)

Go!... (Make sure you're in the first part of the second half and you've got it sorted)

...Grandad always gives the best advice when it comes to competitive sports ;)

Third, I think that definitely deserves a chuppa chup... Little Lady looks pretty happy with that too!

Thanks to all the family and friends who sponsored Eden. She made $53.00 for Manchester Kindergarten. Awesome work X

Winters wake-up call.

We woke Monday to a reminder from Winter that he's only just 2 or 3 blocks away. Time to drag out the heater, call the plumber about installing the new fire (hopefully this afternoon please!) and prepare the credit card for a thrashing. This is the time of year that i like to peruse the seed catalogs... ah, simple pleasures :) I was fairly restrained this year though, having saved a lot of my own seed from last year and also meeting a fellow friendly gardener at our garage sale who spotted my garden and returned a bit later with some special seeds for me (....not those kinda SPECIAL seeds guys, I'm a mother of 3 remember!...)

So here's what i brought this year from kings seed:
Asparagus Pea
Broad Beans
Swede
Kohl Rabi
Rocket
'Drunken Lady' Fringe head lettuce (teheee...could pass that one up)
Pak Choi
Rhubarb
Carrots
Parsnip
Peas
Beetroot (gonna try in the glass house this winter, i may have withdrawals if i don't have a ready supply!)
Adzuki, Chickpea, Lentil, Mung and Peas seeds for sprouting (de-lish in a stir fry...mmm)

I generally buy punnets of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli every 2 or 3 weeks from bunnings (only $1.27 for 6 plants) and my leeks have been in for awhile now. I also get my perennial herbs, parsley, coriander etc this way and edge each of my plots with them. You can't make a warming winter soup with out them :) Every time i make a hole in the garden removing some of the summer goodies, i fill it back up with something to get us through the winter.

My task this afternoon is to harvest a whole lotta basil and bag for the freezer, make a big ol' bucket full of pesto and something delish and picnicy to take to Edens
'Wheel-a-thon' tonight... Will post some pikkies of that when we get home :)

Super Nan... My hero!!!

I made my Nan's homemade spaghetti today... Yummo!

& a relish with my Green Zebra tomatoes, but that's just relish & Nan's spaghetti is much more fun!

 FUN AS IN : Next time, put the spaghetti in the jars BEFORE you add the sauce

(Just a wee tip for you all!)

My Nana is just possibly the most beautiful, fun, loving and inspiring woman I know. You can all blame her (and my gorgeous late papa) for my gardening madness. When I was a kid, Nana and Papa had an amazing acre in Waikanae in the Horowhenua. They were one of the first families to make this now very popular area there home. Nana was always a gardener, and when papa retired they started sending the fruits (maybe I should say 'Flowers') of their labour to Wellington flower market. I was about 6 years old at this time and lived in Silverstream in the Hutt Valley. Almost every weekend (and all the school holidays) I'd go to Nana and Papas house and follow them around the garden, pick things for the market. Particularly grape hychinths... papa's fingers were too big for the the small stems :) When I was about 7, I announced to Nan that I'd like to be florist... She was pretty chuffed when that happened at age 17. She and I are the greatest of friends. She lives just around the corner from me and I see her 4 or 5 times a week... I never visit a garden center without her. She has passed on so much of her gardening knowledge to me, along with an absurd passion for producing goodness for my family and friends. This is her and I at her 88th birthday last year. Love ya Nan, I think the world of you xxxx

This is her Spaghetti recipe

(probably the same as everyone else's, but mine is hand written by someone special!)

4 or so kgs of Tomatoes (peel if you like but I don't really see the point!)

400g chopped onions

150g sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1teaspoon pepper

Simmer together in a pot for for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook 400g (or as much as you see fit) spaghetti in a pot of salted boiling water until done.

Put even amount of spaghetti in sterilised jars then add sauce (don't over do spaghetti or else you'll be left with loads of sauce) then put 1tsp of citric acid to top of each jar before sealing with lids.

PERFECT!

HOLEY HORSERADISH

Today I learnt that white butteryfly caterpillars like to eat horseradish leaves too... really really like to eat them. If there were anymore holes in those huge green leaves, there wouldn't be anything left! And why is it that when I sneak over with the tennis racket to bash the hell out of them, they all flutter off in different directions and I'm left flapping around after one that I don't have a hope in hell of hitting! Honestly, I'll have to come up with some giant version of the fly swatter you can buy that electrocutes them. NICE, I could even send Adam out to do the deed, I can imagine he'd enjoy that as much as watching me out there with the tennis racket :)

I sent Eden out into the garden this morning to collect the eggs and find something for dinner. Carrots (even a couple of pretty big ones!) and beetroot was the pick of the day. Awesome work little lady! Roast beetroot, rocket and feta salad with a Tomato and beef pie it is then. No pastry... hmmm... have spent weekly shopping allowance... but have butter and flour, phew! Never made it before but it was pretty simple, if a bit time consuming and I don't think it would work out any cheaper that buying the pre-made stuff from the supermarket (Seriously, have you see the price of butter, what's with that!). Nice to know though that I can make it from scratch in the future and actually, it really was Delicious. I reckon lovely husband with be pretty pleased when he gets home from cricket!

My happy moment today... watching the kids standing at the gate with their money box, waiting for the ambulance, police car and red cross to come past collecting for Christchurch...*PROUD!!!!*

Trials and tribulations of tomato growing...

I'm fairly sure that I don't want to see another tomato until next season! I got a little tooexcited when trying to decide what variety and how many tomatoes to plant. And I really must get over the obsession of planting every single seedling as not to hurt any ones feelings (is it odd to give a plant such human attributes as feelings?)
I did battle this year with an odd tomato disease that even the NZ Garden team had a tough time diagnosing, so I Planted more to compensate... Opps!
To date we have:
2 Brandywine in a pot (they look a little worse for wear and the fruit seems to mysteriously disappear... fat brown dog may be the culprit, but more on her another day)
1 Brown cherry plum, 1 Red cherry, 1 Mini yellow cherry plum. (I love mixed seed packets, just like Christmas!)
6 DELICIOUS big red beefsteak type. It was an free unnamed 6pack that came from the lovely ladies at Harrison garden center here in Feilding. (Thank you!)
2 Green Zebra (fun to grow and OK to eat...Don't make sauce with it though, i thought it would come out a gorgeous green but had forgotten that you add malt vinegar and now have ugly brown sauce that the ratbags won't touch!)
2 Yellow Taxi (Also fun to grow, but a bit dry and tasteless)
3 Golden low acid which my beautiful friend Em gave me. (They are just as beautiful as her too!)

Hopefully by the end of this week i won't have anymore preserving to do, I'm all souped, sauced and relished out. But at least when I'm craving summer goodies on a cold winters day I'll be able to reach for a bottle of Delicious homemade yellow tomato soup!