Every week when I sit down to put this post together, I love the fact that I am recording my journey for posterity and for my future reference. When I want to know what I was doing in the house and garden in September 2013 I know there will be a permanent record of where it all started. Hence, this weekly round up is always my favourite post. I still managed to harvest a few things this week. The green tomatoes I will experiment with later today.
I did a little shop at the Asian grocers earlier this week. Panko breadcrumbs (1/3 of the price you pay at Coles), Cinnamon sticks, palm sugar, indian spice kit and two interesting vegetables...bitter melon and water spinach. $12 for the lot - bargain.
The bitter melon is a funny looking thing and you need to salt it for a while before cooking. It adds a tangy zing to a stir fry and is particularly good with pork apparently.
I sliced it lengthways, scooped the centre out and sliced it for our prawn stir fry. It certainly added to the flavour of the dish and I have saved the seeds to see if I can grow it.
The lady at the grocers said to put some water spinach in a glass of water to shoot. I particularly love this vegetable. It was lovely in the stir fry, just a nice light spinach.
It has started to sprout nicely. Now I am not sure whether to plant it or grow it in water. Will need to research this one :)
Another baby Lebanese melon is on its way. I have been pollinating but it is hit and miss whether something grows or not.
And my favourite Patty Pan squash is still producing.
But sadly the rockmelons did not recover. Will need to learn more about growing them before next years season.
I am very happy with the pumpkins...I counted over a dozen of these today. This one is about the size of an orange.
The female flowers that seemed to take forever to bloom are now everywhere. And I have seen a few bees.
This poor tomato plant has given up the ghost so I have picked the green tomatoes to make a jam or pickle.
A nice grosse lisse, actually two stuck together. Only small though.
Plenty of hibiscus to make tea.
More compost lasagne from the bokashi bin.
And the compost will come in handy for replanting in March.
Found this guy when we took the bins up. Thankfully he is dead. Red-belly blacks are venomous.
I cleared out the other half of the preserving drawer...
...so I can sit my clean, lidded jars in it. Everything I need to do my preserving in one spot.
I checked and labelled all of the jars...26 in total, and adding to it every week :)
Yesterday I made mango chutney and today I made Spiced beetroot and Orange Chutney.
I also started a yoghurt culture which should be ready tomorrow morning. If its a success I will do a post on yoghurt making.
The whey lemonade turned out beautifully. very tangy and with its own fizz. Full of probiotics...and no colours or preservatives. Perfect!
I cleared out a cupboard for all of my cheese making equipment. I am keen to get started on the harder cheeses but need to wait for the weather to cool a little. But I found a cheese making bargain...
My very own cheese cave!! It is a wine fridge I picked up for $50. These are great because you can regulate the temperature and keep it constant, plus the glass door means you can read the temp and humidity without opening the door...once I get my thermal hygrometer that is! It is basically a digital temperature gauge that also measures humidity. So, I am on my way with the cheese making enterprise.
I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. It is just over a week now until we go on our cruise. How exciting!
Do you have any exciting this coming up this year?
