Holidays

Well I've been on holidays for a week now and feel like I've not achieved half of the things I would have liked to have done. The time has been good though, I've had time with family which is something I always treasure, some time in the garden, and yesterday and today, some time in the kitchen.
We've had two new students arrive from China today. Amy and Rose (not their Chinese names, they take English names to make it easier for everyone while they are here) joined us yesterday and will stay for the next 6 weeks to get a taste of Australian life and learn english. At only 11 years old, it would have to be very scary for them coming all this way and living with strangers. We'll try to make their stay a memorable one.
With some time at home I've taken the opportunity to make some fruit bread today and a batch of yoghurt tonight ready to use in some new recipes I saw on the Food channel today. I was motivated by a recipe for spicy eggplant.


You can see the white eggplants here amongst other goodies harvested late last week.

I just happen to have about half a dozen little round egg shaped white eggplants I picked the other day just waiting for inspiration to strike. It necessitated a trip to the shops for all sort of spices I just don't (correction "didn't) have on hand. It was a joy to buy lots of new goodies, including All spice, Cayenne Pepper, Fenugreek, Black Mustard, Saffron and Cardamon pods. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow. They aren't all for the eggplant, some are for other dishes. I'm not sure if I'll get to try them all out before I return to work, but I'd really like it if I can.
The garden has had a bit of a clean up. Hubby insisted I chop down the choko vines that have not only run rampant through our garden, but also ventured into the neighbours trees. The chokos looked like Christmas baubles hanging off the branches of their palm trees! It was hard for me to do, especially as I was getting such a great crop off them this year, but Hubby is sick of them now, and groans with each new harvest I drag in. I can't complain, he has made heaps of pickles using them, and some Chutney as well. I've smuggled them into all sorts of meals, both savory and sweet, and we have more in buckets that we haven't gotten around to using yet, and they are starting to sprout! Definately a sign that the time had come.


Chokos hanging like Christmas decorations off the fence

Clearing all the vines has let more light into some of the garden beds. One I've planted out with some French bean seedlings and a few broccoli tucked into one end. The other had nothing much except a large old capsicum bush in it (after the chickens had excavated the snow peas for the third time and there was no saving them). The capsicum hasn't been producing well, so it was time for it to go. The beds are usually "made" over by the chickens (we place their pen over the garden, they dig it up and work in sugar cane mulch over a few weeks) but I've been too impatient to wait as they are still working what was the sweet potato bed and will probably be there for at least another week or so. I've mounded it up for the time being, placed some weathered sugar cane mulch into it and given it a top up with some composted cow manure and leaving it to sit ready to try some more peas, or perhaps some silverbeet or chinese cabbage.

You can see the French beans starting to come up around  a wire frame made from old fencing wire that is used as a trellis

There's still more clean upI'd like to do in the garden before my week is out, including pulling out the remaining pumpkin vines that aren't doing much now and tieing up my peppers that have fallen over with the support of the choko vines that had enveloped them. So little time, so much garden...

Joan Grimes

I’m off to collect some new art I purchased recently. The artist is Joan Grimes. My mum introduced me to her a year ago. Joan had done a showing at her home that day and Mum had gone along. Mum was so impressed she asked if she could bring me back when I got home from work. To cut a long story short, I’m addicted. A fortnight ago was her annual showing again and I am about to be the proud owner of more of her work. I love the freedom of her artwork and the wonderful colours. Joan is a wonderful, warm and welcoming lady and her art reflects this.With her permission (I respectfully request that the following images aren't reproduced without the express permission of the artist), I’ve pictured the pieces I’ve bought so far…

This one is called “Tropical Angels”. I loved the fluid lines and the serenity of them. Who would have ever dreamed of angels that looked so curvy?

This one is called “Girl feeding Ibis”. Joan saw a girl down on the beach feeding the Ibis. I love the way she has given such grace to such ungainly and to me previously ugly birds. I see them so differently now.

This one is called Goddess in the Garden. Joan tells me that she couldn’t help it, but it started to look like me, especially the curves. I’m not so sure, but my husband thinks I’ve never looked better.

This one is called “Shoo Birdie Shoo” and Joan was inspired to paint it by a friends grandchildren, twins who chase the birds from their favourite tomato bushes. I loved this one the moment I saw it on the cover of her invitation and just had to have it.

Joan is a prolific artist, and I love that when you talk to her about her art there’s no “technique” waffle, instead it’s the moment of inspiration she talks of, and as she tells you her eyes sparkle. You can see that she is just bursting to get each “moment” captured and that gives you a personal connection to her work.

This is on my mind...

When it came to joining Rhonda's (from Down to Earth, you can see the link on my side bar) weekly Friday "This is on my mind..." photo image this week, this was the one thing that stood out. I'm off for the weekend and I need to do something with it...

We were given this wonderful gourd by our neighbours when we took them one of our pumpkins (doing the neighbourly thing). I was very excited and couldn't wait to cut it open and get the seeds, I had visions of giant gourds hanging from vine that has ascended overhead trees. But what do I actually do with it???? I believe they are edible, but I've never encountered one before, and I have no idea how to cook it. If anyone has some information to share, I'd really appreciate it. I'd hate to see this giant go to waste.

Measuring time in pumpkins

A photo of one of my very early baby pumpkins

Well it’s been way too long since my last blog, almost two months. I was wondering what on earth have I done with the time, where have I frittered it away too?

But I have been doing things, and my garden has kept growing. My pumpkins are now almost all picked. The ones from the footpath were the first to be harvested, but not at my doing!!!! People had begun helping themselves! The first couple to go were just roughly pulled off the vine, so I guess they were walking past and just couldn’t help themselves (they did look fabulous). I wouldn’t have noticed them disappearing except I put little pieces of broken tiles under each one to keep them off the damp ground (last year I lost quite a few to rot, not having known this little trick) and those naked little tiles bereft of their pumpkins stood out! The next ones to go however were very neatly “cut” off, so I imagine someone bought their secateurs with them on their walk, an act of premeditation…so it meant if I wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labour, it was time for picking!



Using broken bits of tile keeps the pumpkins from rotting on damp ground

I don’t like to pick the pumpkins that early. Normally I like to leave them on the vine until it dies back to the stalk leading to the pumpkin and then pick them. I believe that way the pumpkin gets the very last goodness from the vine. So my others within the garden stayed on for quite a bit longer and I now only just have a few left still growing or waiting for them to drain the last energy from their vines. In total I’ve had more than twenty pumpkins ( I forgot to count them all before I started giving them away). They add a feel of autumness inside the little blue shack, with their lovely creamy orange tones. Strangely even though some of them looked like they would turn out as large green pumpkins, and made me wonder how it was possible to produce such a variety of shapes and colours, they all changed to similar colours in the end.

The first made deliciously creamy pumpkin soup, a favourite as we start to get colder. One of course went to my parents, as they are still waiting on theirs. One made a lovely gift for my Nana, with a cheeky red ribbon tied around it’s stem, along with a jar of homemade passionfruit curd. Some have been roasted, and the rest await their individual futures.


Just some of the pumpkins waiting for use

 Well I needed to add an update here, I'm thrilled to say that when we gave neighbours one of our pumpkins,
they've given us some mandarins and a very large gourd in return. Hubby has turned the mandarins into the
most divine jam, (he experimented with our very sour and almost inedible tangerines a week ago, and now perfected it to a whole new level with the mandarins instead) and he's made enough that tomorrow we'll drop the neighbours a jar as a thankyou for letting us access their tree. As for the gourd, I have no idea what to do with it???? So I'm open to suggestions, but for sure I'll keep some of the seeds out of it as it is spectacular to look at if nothing else.





Simply divine Mandarin Jam



This is on my mind...

Success... looks like this today!

It may not excite some of you, but if you've read some of my previous posts you would know this has been a much anticipated event! After hand pollinating at every opportunity I will have home grown pumpkins for my winter soups and roasts. It doesn't get better than that!
It was a puzzle for me at first that I wasn't having any luck with my pumpkins this year. I'd grown them from seeds given to me from a pumpkin bought last Halloween. At first I had begun to think that maybe they'd been bred to be infertile (or something suspicious like that), but it was just a lack of bee activity as my hand pollination has now proved.
And now I wait as they grow and mature, along with all the neighbours who have been watching the progression of my vines on the footpath. I guess it might need to be a communal soup day when it comes!

Autumn and new beginnings

I love that Autumn has officially arrived. Not that it's much cooler, but I was keen to get some new seedlings in, and it seemed fit to do it with the start of the new season. In fact it was a little earlier than the new season (what can I say, I don't have that much patience, and I had new seeds). So in my eagerness I'd planted up some seedling punnets ready to start my Autumn crops off well.
So here's the list of what seeds I planted on Thursday 24th of February:
Snow peas
Peas
Brown Onions
Red Onions
Red Arrowhead Broccolini
Purple Broccolini
Corn
Coriander
Cos Lettuce
Brussel Sprouts Tighthead
Then on the following Tuesday 1st March I added:
Strawberry Alpine
Mini Cabbage
Cauliflower

Kale at 4 days

Rocket at 4 days



English Spinach starting to show after 4 days

 The photos are a little old now, the first of the peas have just been planted out and I've had hubby build a little "pen" ready to protect the Brassicas (cabbage family) from white moths which have been enemy #1 each time I've tried (and failed) to grow these type before.

Taken over by Pumpkins

Last year I grew my first pumpkins. I'd tried before, but I think I always left it too late for them to be successful. Last year I learned that pumkins spread, a lot! They will also grow up things, not just along the ground as I'd envisaged before seeing how easily they'll scale a fence or wrap themselves tight around a lemon tree! My pumkins last year new no boundaries, so this year I've put them in a different garden away from too much other stuff, but they've still taken over.



Pumpkin spread, here it's escaped the garden and heading onto the outside footpath.



This years seed came from a pumkin my mum bought that I'd never seen before. She purchased it around Halloween, so it was probably a special type, not sure. I can say it was large, and not the typical Queensland Blue or Jap I'm used too, not even a butternut. So official pumpkin type unknown, but very round. I struck the seeds in punnets before planting them out, and even gave Mum some too as a thankyou for keeping the seeds for me. The resulting vine looks like it's on steroids!! The vines have giant leaves, and the baby pumpkins that form under the flowers are huge too. But to date, not one has taken. They have all just died and dropped off the vine. And it's not just something unique to me or my garden, Mum's haven't a single pumkin under way yet, and in past years I've been more than a little jealous of their pumkin successes.





Baby pumpkin dies and drops off.



Section of pumkin vine showing female flower  (characterised by the swell of the baby pumpkin below it) forming.



Female flower dies back and the baby pumpkin starts to grow in size below it.



I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Last year, I did learn that they have both male and female flowers, and it's from the base of the female flowers that the pumpkins develop.

 My vines have produced lots of male flowers,

Male flower, I noticed the stamen is quite different on the female flower but didn't have my camera with me at the time.





The male flower is usually on a longer narrower stem and doesn't have the bulge of the baby pumpkin directly under the flower.



especially at the beginning, and have only produced female flowers in the last few weeks. There's not been many bees around the flowers that I've seen so I'm wondering if mother nature needs a hand this year with the pollinating.

I wondered whether the giant leaves are hiding the flowers a little too much, preventing the bees from seeing them?

When I checked Mum's vines today it seemed as though the she had the same, but at least she had female flowers that were still open, so I used a feather and manually pollinated the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers. Hopefully that will give her some success. Now if only I can manage to catch my vines with the female flowers still open. If you have any other ideas what could be going wrong, please help, any advice is gratefully received.

In the meantime, I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope, as these are the only pumpkin seedlings I put in this year. If I don't have any success it will just mean I'm back to buying my pumpkins again.