Busy but not like a bee

A busy bee on my mint

Today has been one of those days actually the last two days have been those days. The kind when you are busy chasing your own tail. I have been to the hospital, to the doctor  and we will be back at the doctor tomorrow too . Tim was bitten by a red back spider on Sunday afternoon and although he didn't think too much of it at first, he is reeling a little now. All of the typical symptoms but it his blood pressure which is of greatest concern to the medical fraternity. He has only slept for about an hour since Sunday night and it is terrible seeing him so out of sorts. It is both amazing and alarming what harm such a small being can do. He will be all right and keeps assuring me he will be btter tomorrow but I think it might take a bit longer than that.

On to happier things. I just found Amber's great blog and she is having a giveaway . And although I would really like to win the book myself, I think it is nice to share the chance with my blogging friends. That's what friends do. Even if I'm not the lucky winner, I am glad I have found a new blog to read.

Take care,
Tracy

Easy Tomato Sauce

Amish Paste, Grosse Lisse, Tommy Toes and Yellow Brandywine tomatoes.

 This tomato sauce is easy peasy and is like a tomato ketchup, not a pasta type of sauce. It's a great way of using small tomatoes that you don't want to skin for pickles etc and a few green/unripe tomatoes don't hurt the taste either.

Easy Tomato Sauce

 

Ingredients

1.5kg tomatoes, chopped

250 grams onions, chopped

190 grams sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

30 grams salt

1 teaspoon allspice

pinch of cayenne (optional)

 

Method

Places all ingredients in a saucepan.

Bring to the boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for about 3 hours. Stirring regularly.

After the 3 hours you can seive the mixture and return the strained sauce to the heat to come to the boil for a few minutes.

I usually just puree it with a stab blender and bring back to the boil.

Pour sauce into warm sterilised bottles and seal immediately.

It is good to use straight away or to store in the pantry.

 

This amount makes about 2 litres of sauce.

 

Enjoy.

Tracy

Duck Dealings

I have to say, I really like my ducks a whole lot. They lay a lot of eggs, are great mothers but mostly they are the most entertaining animals on the farm.If you want to see real joy, you only have to give them half a watermelon and stand back. But, when you grow ducks, you can't keep all of the offspring. There would be problems not only with in-breeding but also if there is more than one drake around, the fighting is ruthless. We have our drake, Charles, and he is here to stay and last years ducklings probably have a few drakes in the mix so they have to be sold or as we have done in the past dispatched in other ways. We have given them away before but to then see the receiver post them  on Freecycle because they were over the bother of looking after them, I am trying to be more selective in where they go.

 

Today I had a young buyer drop in and he chose two of my chocolate brown ducks and seems very keen. He didn't want drakes, just two ducks which meant we had to work out their genders. When the drakes are old enough, the telltale curl in the tail will give a drake away but not when they are so young.And not as it happens when they have just finished moulting. Charles the head drake, has lost his curly tale for the time being too. Anyway, the easiest way to tell the ducks from the drakes is when they have that tail curl but you can also with some experience check the vent area for a penis which is just about as unglamourous an activity as it sounds. Then there is the quack. The ducks have a definite quack and to me the drakes sound is hard to describe. Kind of like a ducky mumble. You can even hear some different quacks here which probably makes more sense.

Not an exacting science but hopefully we got it right this time. The rest of last years ducklings are heading out next Sunday.

I have had a few people ask me if ducks are really messy. The answer for me is no but... my ducks have an acre to roam in and they spread their mess far and wide so it isn't noticeable. In a backyard situation it might be a different story. They are messy with their water though. They will dirty any water they find. It isn't the drinking, it's the bill washing and the splashing/swimming.Every water dish ends up with a layer of mud at the bottom after a short while. And lastly, they eat quite a lot. Indian Runner ducks may look slim and sleek but they just shovel the food in. Don't let that put you off though, I wouldn't be without my ducks.
Tracy

Around the yard

 

It seems the heat is back for a while. Not nearly as bad as it was back in January but the temperatures are on the up. The rain we had and the warm days are making everything grow, grow, grow. And the cool nights are making me not just think about but act on my plans to get the wintery vegetables in the ground. Best to do it now before it is too late to plant my own seeds and have to rely on seedlings from the nursery. Hopefully by the time the seeds/seedlings are ready to go out into the vegetable garden, there will be room for them somewhere. I'm not sure why I would even hope it would be different this year, there is never enough room, no matter the size of the garden.

 

 On my turn around the garden this morning in between planting carrot seeds, basil seedlings and some foxgloves, I noticed how pretty the sun shining through the rainbow chard looked.

 The Marina di Chioggia pumpkin has some nice sized pumpkins coming along. They are an heirloom variety and  I got  the seeds from Diggers (I would be more than happy to give some seeds to interested gardeners in Australia when they are ready, just let me know). It looks pretty enough now but as it develops and ages, it does get quite a warty look which some might call ugly but I think it is interesting. The flavour makes up for any lack in the looks department. Sweet and it's a good keeper.

I also had quite a workout turning compost. All three bays needed moving along. The plus side to that is I have a load of compost ready to spread before autumn/winter planting. And an empty bay ready for the next load to be made up.

Now it's homemade pizza as a treat for dinner tonight.
Tracy

 

On my own today

Today was the first time in over two months that I have been truly on my own at home. I miss everyone of course but it was actually a real treat to be able to get in and get things done that I had been putting off. While ever someone else is home, it seems like we are in holiday mode. Anyway, today there was no sign of holiday mode. The Down to earth forums decluttering/ cleaning focus this week is the office/ other bedroom and as Tom has temporarily moved out of the other bedroom/ office then I am giving it a good old clean out. Not too much clutter to remove thankfully but I have been dusting and vacuuming, washing walls and windows and getting a good workout.

 

I spent a chunk of the morning in the garden revamping a strawberry bed. It suffered a bit in the heatwave so I have spruced it up by culling some plants and adding compost. The numerous snails I found in the bed couldn't have been helping it either and they are history now.

 

Farm work was slow today. Just feeding animals in the morning and afternoon which has given me a great opportunity to do some cooking.

 

 

Tomatoes aplenty. They are really producing now and it's tomatoes everyday.

 Enough to make sauce. We have been out of tomato sauce for a while and this one is deliciously sweet and tangy. I will post a recipe if anyone would like it. I'm sure it is better with the seeds removed ( a seive or food mill would do the trick) but I really don't mind them.

 Made zucchini slice for the freezer. There were four zucchini in the garden which were too far gone for anything but grating or stuffing so it was slice and cake to make the most of them. There was a fifth zucchini which Tim mistook for a pumpkin it was so big. That one is too big and bold for cooking.

 And the zucchini cake. This time the chocolate variety and enough for two loaf type cakes. I packaged up into slices for the freezer. Just defrost in the microwave or even toast it before serving.

For lunch box sweet snacks, I made a honey jumble slice. I'm a big fan of ginger in sweets and this is a nice soft slice much like honey jumble biscuits only even easier to make.

 

Honey Jumble Slice

Ingredients

125 grams butter

2tbs honey

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1.5 cups plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

 

Icing

1 and 1/4 cups icing sugar

two drops pink food colouring

enough hot water to make a paste(approximately two tablespoons).

 

Method

Preheat oven to 180 deg C.

Grease and line a square 20cm baking tin.

Combine butter and honey in a small saucepan and place on a low to medium heat until the butter is melted. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Stir in the bicarb and allow to cool slightly.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Add cooled honey mixture and egg to the flour mixture and ix until well combined.

Spread mixture into prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin.

 

To make icing combine the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

Spread icing on cooled slice and allow to set. Cut into pieces and serve.

 

 

Tracy

 

 

Bottling and biryani

Bottling up honey. I'm keeping the packaging and labelling simple because the honey is what it's all about. Besides that, my graphic design skills are non-existent.

Sweet potato and red lentil soup

Our dinner last night , sweet potato and lentil soup. This one certainly ticks the budget meals box, costing about $2.00 to feed four of us and have left overs to stir though pasta for lunch today. Even if sweet potatoes weren't on special at the greengrocers, this would still be a cheap meal.

Tonight's dinner was still on the cheap side but no less tasty maybe even more so. My estimate of the cost is $6 to serve the four of us. Unfortunately this time though, there are no leftovers. It is an easy dish to make too which is always a bonus.



Chicken Biryani

Ingredients

1.5 cups basmati rice

2 and 1/4 cups water

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2cm ginger, grated

1 chicken breast fillet, cut in 2cm dice

1/2 tsp dried chilli

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

150mL plain yoghurt

3 tbs sultanas

 

Method

Combine rice and water in saucepan and cook covered on medium heat for 10 minutes.Drain if needed.

Heat oil in a large saucepan and stir fry onion until softened.

Add garlic and spices and cook for a couple of minutes.

Stir in chicken and allow to cook for a few minutes.

Stir in yoghurt and sultanas and heat through.

Place rice on top of the chicken mix. Cover the pot with a tea towel and then the pot lid.

Allow to cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Remove lid(careful of the steam) and stir to combine the rice and sauce.

Serve with salad (I used tomatoes, cucumber, onions and mint tonight) and a raita.

Wow, that is harder to type than to make.
Tracy

There and back

There and back again. We have driven down to Sydney and back this time with a ram in tow. As we were heading down that way we decided it would be ok to deliver one of our year old rams. He is now safely ensconced in a backyard in the suburban fringe of Sydney until he heads off to his new home on a small farmlet with some ewes to keep him company. And I learnt something, my sheep don't like horses.

 

I only drove half of the trip this time (thankfully) so I managed to make  a crocheted pincushion. I'm not sure what it is about crocheting but I find it quite addictive. It could be that only a little effort and knowledge and skill can have some rather nice results. This one is going to be a part of a Random Act of Kindness parcel from my yahoo quilting group. I have had a real turn around in my craft colour schemes. I have always been one for muted tones and favouring blues but right now, brights are my 'thing'.

Meals have been simple. Tonight we are having an easy soup of sweet potato and lentils with bread rolls. Cheap, healthy and simple. I love cooking and would gladly sit down to the meals they serve up at restaurants or on television cooking programs but I am trying to save a dollar or two and use up what we have on hand. The easy peas fried rice above was made with stir fried vegies from the garden(and frozen peas)- eggplant,tomatoes, spring onion, carrots, corn, garlic mixed with left over basmati rice and ketchup manis to taste. Cost next to nothing especially as the vegies were mostly homegrown.

The worst part of the weekend. We took three children to Sydney and had to leave one behind. Tom is on work placement for university and then it is full steam ahead for second year. I'll look on the bright side, I have my sewing room back (once I give it a good tidy)

Tracy