organic vegetable gardening courses, growing tips and homegrown recipes.
Here's Tess, once again waiting patiently for Christmas. Gardening has essentially been cancelled for the week due to nearly constant rain and drizzzzzzzzzle. Well we got what we asked for. Fortunately I made an enormous pile of hot compost last week. Worthwhile making plenty now so you'll have something to spread in autumn when the summer crops … [Read more...]
Having grown your own beautiful salad, picked it fresh from the garden and washed it thoroughly* it seems rude to go out and buy someone's inferior salad, often stale, flacid, badly dressed or just downright nasty. I've tried all sorts of containers to take my salad with me but often forget the fork. It's always better to dress a salad just prior … [Read more...]
Chooks and chicks do best on a diet rich in greens, bugs and dirt in which they scratch about. However producing an egg takes a protein-rich diet so most chook owners use supplementary pellets. Chicks also need special chick crumbles. They'll all enjoy some extra wheat or maize for which to scratch in the grass. In Wellington your best options are … [Read more...]
When I first came to Wellington I had a job interview sitting outside Astoria cafe. I chose to eat a sliver of panforte, dusted with icing sugar, something I'd never tried before. It was a poor choice as I nearly choked by inhaling the sugar and the remainder of it was blown down the front of my dark suit. I clearly dealt with these challenges with … [Read more...]
An quick, easy and attactive alternative to savoury scones, these would make a good 'pass-around' and freeze well. You could use olives, sundried tomatoes, corn, capsicum or capers for a change of filling. Makes sixteen. One cup (150g) plain flour One teaspoon baking powder One teaspoon English mustard powder (or you could blend a teaspoon of … [Read more...]
I'm still refining my mince pie recipe since making slow-cooked Christmas mincemeat and favouring mini pies over large. Silicon bakeware takes the stress out of removing them from the tin, washes in the dishwasher and doesn't need greasing - hooray. I used made this sweet, short pastry for one batch and it worked well. I like the fact each pie has … [Read more...]
This lovely fellow hopped gracefully into the seaweed mulch on my potatoes before I had chance to kiss him so I'll have to be content with one handsome prince. It was a drizzly day but it was still a surprise to see him venture so far from our pond. Not one of New Zealand's remaining four native frogs but a welcome visitor nonetheless. … [Read more...]
The reason to cook mincemeat is to stop the juice from the fruit fermenting so it will keep longer. The slow cooker is ideal as it doesn't allow the mixture to burn. You do need a large one for this quantity though (5 or 6 litre). I used mine on low and checked how hot it was getting using a candy thermometer - it reached about 150 degrees C at its … [Read more...]
Nelly, the hen, has just hatched ten chicks out of the ten eggs she was sitting on. Rodriguez is father to them all. Mums are either Plymouth barred rock or Rhode Island red hens. All are now sold but I've got another hen due to hatch chicks next week so email me if you're interested. I was remiss in excluding a cookery book from my last post. A … [Read more...]
Novels, gardening, advice, inspiration and biography. Long and short, light and heavy. More book recommendations here. The Cook's Salad Garden Revisited: A New Zealand Guide to Growing and Preparing Salads The Fry Chronicles: A Memoir The Cook's Herb Garden Revisited Sew What! Skirts What I Loved War Notes from an … [Read more...]
