June 6- Hat

For the challenge on Fat Mum Slim, here's today's effort for the subject: Hat. I think I will have to try to think a little because I am boring myself a bit with my pictures. Maybe I am just an inside the square thinker, who knows?
Tracy

June 5-Sign

Here is my paltry effort for the topic of the day, sign. When your mind is busy with other things, things that are more important, it is hard to be motivated with something trivial. Nevertheless, I did commit to the photo a day and I have delivered today.

It is very cold today with the bitterest wind gusting. I am now officially taking the rest of today off and I am going to do something just for fun. Can I do that? I'm not entirely sure.
Tracy

"Close-up" in the garden

 June 4 asks for a close-up photo. I couldn't pick just one. We are having the rainiest of weather and I am torn between whether I am loving it or not. I do like to have an excuse for staying indoors and sewing, crocheting,knitting, cooking or reading but I am missing my outside time. In between downpours I have been checking on the animals, feeding the poultry and so far today I even managed to squeeze in about five minutes in the vegie patch.

 There is still one tomato plant that is growing in the garden. I think it is time I picked the remaining fruit though because it is just one good frost away from useless.

 I really like  the water droplets on the flowers. Nasturtiums are a favourite here. I'm not completely convinced on the eating of the flowers (it's the texture) but the leaves are nice in a salad.

Now it was fortuitous that I was down in the garden today. Otherwise these dreaded cabbage moth grubs would have made more of a meal of  the brassicas than they already had. Their appetites are voracious and they aren't welcome here. I often will allow a self-sown plant to get a hold in the garden even if it takes up too much valuable room but bugs begone. We have plenty of birds around and I do all the right things to encourage the predators but sometimes the only thing for it is to manually remove the baddies. At least that way I know they are gone (for now) and that no nasty chemicals have been used.

Tracy

On My Plate

The Photo a day topic for today is "On My Plate". After a dinner out last night, I haven't felt like having anything on my plate all day. That's how it usually is for me when we eat out. The portions are too big and heavy and I am left feeling full and 'un-hungry' for a while. Thankfully Sunday night is our soup night so something easy to digest was on the menu.

 Pumpkin soup with bacon and brie. I rediscovered Laura's blog last week and  Sunday night is soup night at Darroch Cottage too and she shared a lovely recipe last week for Kumara Soup with bacon and brie. I don't have the required kumara or even sweet potato in the house but I substituted pumpkin, as we have an abundance of those, and it was still a good combination. For Hope the non-soup eater, I made some pasta and stirred through the soup like a pasta sauce and she was more than happy with that. So happy in fact that she wants it for lunch tomorrow at school.

It really was perfect soup weather here today. I only ventured outside long enough to do the required chores for the animals and to bring in some wood for the fire.I love this kind of weather especially on a winter weekend when there is nowhere else we have to be.
Tracy

On being social (or not).

Tim and I are heading out to a birthday dinner tonight. It's a rare occurrence to go to a party. I wouldn't say that I am an anti-social being but I am more at home at home and at  smaller gatherings. I usually say no to invitations like this without even thinking about it. But I am trying to be a bit more umm... 'normal' these days and we are going to go out, have some dinner and maybe a dance or two (if I can coerce convince Tim) and spend some time with Tim's work friends. It will be fun I'm sure even if the weather is just about perfect for a night in by the fire. 

I haven't forgotten the photo a day for June already. Today's subject is empty. I had a wee birds nest  that has long been empty in mind but this morning it was nowhere to be found. I think our recent windy weather has taken it far away. Never mind.

Instead I snapped a picture of an empty cotton flower head. The lighting is all wrong because it is just so dismal outside today. But it is empty. I have the cotton inside ready to do with it what I will but that is a job for next week.
Tracy

Pineapple Sorbet

 The first day of winter may seem a strange time for someone to be posting about a summery pineapple sorbet. Especially someone who likes to eat seasonally and locally. I haven't grown my own pineapples(yet) nor have I been to the supermarket to buy some. My parents went to visit my aunt in North Queensland a couple of weeks ago and returned bearing gifts. I did babysit their spoilt chihuahua so I really did earn my reward.

I'm not a huge fan of ice cream but I really like sorbet or a tangy gelato and besides, sorbet is easier to make than ice cream. So with more pineapples than we could manage before they were too ripe, I made pineapple sorbet. Sweet and tangy and very fruity. A little bit of summer right when it is being missed.

Pineapple Sorbet

Ingredients

1 pineapple

6 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup water

Method

Remove the skin and core from the pineapple then chop the remaining fruit.

Combine the pineapple, sugar and water in a food processor and process until it is a smooth puree.

Chill for a couple of hours.

Churn in an ice cream maker.

Enjoy.

Now I have three pineapple tops hardened off and ready to plant with hopes of some homegrown pineapple somewhere in the future. My hopes are not high but I certainly won't succeed if I don't try.

Tracy 

Day 1: Morning

Day 1 of the Photo a day for June from the Fat Mum Slim blog. Mornings on the farm used to start with the rooster crows at 3:30 to 4am but this young fellow doesn't start the wake up call until 6:30am. He is our only rooster at the moment and I would love to swap him for a different, bigger breed, Sebrights are not my thing. Too flighty and truly a little useless except for showing. Of course to those Sebright fanciers out there they are the bees knees. I like a breed of chook with either a bit more meat on it's bones or one that lays a few more eggs per year.