Happenings in the Greenhouse

At the end of summer i took cuttings from some of my fruit trees to see if i could get them to root over winter in the greenhouse. I removed the bottom leaves, soaked the stems in water for a few mins and then dipped each one in rooting hormone and popped them into the grow pots.

Sunny Lemons

Today is all about Sunny Lemons, we have a small lemon tree in our vege garden area and it is full of fruit. I love anything lemon especially if its very tart. 

Drying lemon peel and what to do with it.

 First off i scrub the lemons with a small nail brush to remove any dirt. The water in the green tub will be tipped onto the garden when im finished instead of going down the drain.

I use a sharp knife to peel the skin off the lemon, you don't want too much of the pith [the white]. As you can see above most of the pith still remains on the lemon.

If the slices are too long cut or tear them so they sit flat-ish on the dehydrator tray. I ended up with 5 trays of peel from 16 lemons. When using your dehydrator you use the same amount power if you do 1 tray or 10 trays so if you can, fill up the other trays with other items.
This day i added one tray of parsley, one of pac choy and one of bread so all 10 trays are full. Those trays will go on top as they will finish drying quicker than the peel.

As you can see above, i also did two trays of orange peel as well.

Six hours at 55 degrease Celsius and this is the result, crispy hard peel. 

The peel was then put through my Tribest Personal Blender [i will do a review on this another day].

What do you do with all this peel you may ask, well it can be used in biscuits, slices, cakes, pies, ice cream just about anything you might like a lemon flavour to. 

Now i have 16 lemons that need to be juiced, some of the juice will go in recipes and the rest will be put in the freezer for future use.

Stay tuned for lots of lemon recipes.


Linked here Homemade Monday #91
and here Farm Blog Hop
and here Homestead Barn Hop #169
and here Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop #84
and here Homemaking Party
and here Maple Hill Hop #41
and here Backyard Farming Connection Hop #91
and here Tuesdays With A Twist #69
and here Home- Making Mondays #11
and here Homemaking Party

Tree to Table

theses green beauties came from one of our plum trees down in the chook yard. thought we would give ripening them inside a go as the birds are very greedy & don't like to leave us any.

wiped them all with a damp Flannel cloth & then placed them into paper bags to ripen. about 3 weeks later they were nice & ripe, ready to eat. after 2 weeks check them every day until they are ready.

Plum Upside Down Cake


50g Butter
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
125g Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Almond meal
1 1/2 cups SR Flour
Plums [i used about 13 or 14 it will depend on the size of your pan]

Grease your pan & line with paper on the bottom [no need to do the sides]
Melt the 50g of Butter & pour over the lined bottom
Sprinkle the Brown Sugar over the melted butter set aside

Beat 125g Butter, Sugar & Vanilla until pale & creamy [or not so pale if you have fresh free range eggs]
Add Eggs & beat well
Fold in the Flour & Almond meal

Halve your plums & remove the seed, place skin side down on top of the brown sugar until the bottom is covered
Spoon mixture over the Plums & smooth with the back of your spoon
Bake 40 to 45 mins
Stand cake in tin for 10 mins before turning out
The paper should be left in the bottom of the pan when the cake comes out
Serve hot or cold with Cream or Ice Cream or on its own with a dusting of Icing Sugar

 

Green Shake Combos all with spinach

Banana & Strawberry
Banana & Rockmelon
Banana & Pineapple
Raspberry & Strawberry
Banana &; Blueberry
Orange & Pineapple

Tiramisu 


1cup Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1pk Cream Cheese
1 3/4 cups Cream
1 Tbl Coffee
1 1/4 cups hot water
1 pk Lady Finger Biscuits
1 cup Dark Chocolate chopped

Beat Sugar, Egg Yolks & Vanilla for about 1 min.
Add Cheese & mix until smooth.
Place in the fridge for about 1 hour

Whip your cream & then fold into your Cream Cheese
Place back into the fridge for 1 hour
Add Coffee to the Hot Water & leave to cool in a bowl

Dip Lady Fingers into the coffee one at a time [don't leave in the coffee or they will fall apart]
Place a row of fingers in the bottom of your chosen dish
Sprinkle Chocolate over the fingers then spoon a layer of Cheese mix over that
Continue until your are left with the Cheese mix at the top of the bowl add the last of the Chocolate
Place back into the fridge until needed
Best made one or two days before served

i usually make this in a glass trifle bowl but we were taking it to a BBQ so i made it in a glass dish with a lid, much easier for travelling.

This time with the left over Egg Whites i made single serve mini Pavlova's

Fruit & Visitors

we have four orange trees, the oranges here are from the orange tree at the top of the orchid, they have thin skin that is easy to peel & oh so sweet. lots of tiny seeds but you don't really notice them when you eat them. the colour is not a trick of the camera they really are this dark orange colour, i have never seen a bought orange this colour [not including blood oranges].

for anyone who does not know what this is, its a Blue Tongue Lizard.

when frightened they hiss & puff themselves up big to scare off who ever comes near.
we have 3 of these, two that live down the side & the other one lives out the front.

Miss Sally Girl does not like them in her yard & will bark at them until they go where she cant see them.
the only reason she is lying down here is because i told her too, but as soon as i go inside she will be at the barking again.

we have tried putting them over the fence next door but they just climb back over again. this one is the small one the other is quite a bit bigger. when Sally Girl fist found it we didnt know what it was at first cause it was in the bushes & when it kind of jumped up & out i first thought it was a snake but thank goodness it wasn't or it would have bitten my Sally Girl. snakes are the only thing i am frightened of & im always on the look out. for anyone who does not live in Australia we have the most poisonous snakes in the word oh & spiders.

Veggie Garden

with no work i have plenty of time to get things done, esp all the things that keep getting put off

yesterday A' & i finally finished off the fencing around the veggie yard now miss Sally girl cant get in well fingers crossed.

i pretty much worked all day 9 till 4.30, needless to say i am a little tired now.

first up i built a trellis well not first as i had to cut the branches first & play tug of war with Sally Girl, she loves it when we prune the trees. sooo much fun to be had.

bed #1 is half purple beans & half yellow zucchini & down the centre because it likes shade is 2 rows of english spinach.
bed #2 is two types of beetroot
bed #3 is spring onions then globe onions & at the end is bok choy

bed #8 along the fence was just a huge pile of dirt that i moved today & is now home to sunflowers along the back. at the right hand end are 3 types of carrots, then 2 types of cucumber that will climb the flower stalks as well as attach to the wire fence & right at the end are the only 2 strawberry plants that are left after Miss Sally got a hold of them.
there are 3 trees in front of bed #8 a fig, peach & a lemon.

Yard Work

two days of yard work, yesterday it was just Sally Girl & i, 'A' joined us today. pruning mulching & planting, needless to say im now had it so a leisurely afternoon for me, but first some pictures
ok no pictures blogger wont let me, so maybe later

two orange trees, one is a Lanes Late & the other is a Valencia

the people next door pulled all the jasmine off the fence so now they can see all the way down our yard from their back veranda, to say im not pleased is an understatement so i have started to plant agapanthas along the fence & the first of a row of Grevilleas, far enough away that they cant cut them from their side.

these are the Lilliypillies i planted a while ago they are full of new leaves, they are down near the compost bays we put in when we first moved in. i am hoping to grow them to fence height.

Garden Notes

Garden Notes
20kg of Potatoes dug up 

these are just a few that were drying in the garage

Sweet Corn coming on a treat


we have had a lot of rain here in the last few weeks, its good & bad. good because rain is always welcome, bad because a lot of my fruit has rotted & gone moldy before it was even close to ripe.


2 weeks ago i planted out another 2 rows of potatoes & they are already up to knee hight, thank you rain :o)
we have a load of granny smiths on the tree this year [mmm apple pies]


the Rhubarb has gotten out of control 


a couple of months ago i bagged up the fig tree & now i have figs just about ready to pick plus a whole heap of babies just coming on


looking out my window i just counted 47 white cockatoos down the back, they are truly a pest of a bird, they eat all of our fruit & make a huge mess, not to mention the cones they drop out of the pine tree down the back [look out below]


our two giant blood plum trees did not get any fruit this year but a small one in my front garden was loaded, we managed to get a few before the baby magpies finished them all up. they were small & super sweet.


for those of you who know about our solar panels you might be interested to know that our first bill was $123.86 & our second bill was $3.25
that makes you want to worship the sun :o)

Seasons & Soup

Seasons & Soup

Autumn has come & gone i spent some of my bits of time admiring all the autumn leaves, even bringing some inside but alas as the house is so warm from the fire they only lasted a few hours before they crumpled & died. a stem of crumpled leaves in a glass jar still sits on my table mmm
from Autumn we now meander on into Winter the lovely cold season of woolly hats, coats & scarves, hot hearty meals, fresh home made bread.
most of the beautiful colour has been stripped from the trees leaving behind the bones.

as sit here looking out my window on a cold rainy day i see piles of leaves ready to go in the compost bay, a few determined leaves clinging to their branches on the maple tree, their beautiful colours warm my heart.
out of all the trees in my yard, my favorite has to be the giant blood plum trees standing guard with their winter arms swaying in the breeze, green lycan clinging to the bark.
these trees are beautiful in all seasons, the end of winter is marked with the first buds showing themselves as they spring forth with new leaves & spring finds them covered with blossom & buzzing bees, a hammock between the two gives me somewhere to relax, read & think.
summer the flowers turn to beautiful dark purple fruit that is sweet & juicy.
as the weather starts to cool again the last purple leaves fall, the hammock is stored away & winter is here again.

on this cold winters day i think a recipe is in order pumpkins are ripe & bringing visions of a thick orange soup with a crusty sourdough loaf
whether you grow your own or pick some up at the green grocer they are super cheap,
this is a very easy soup to make it just takes a bit of time [you can spread it over a few days as i sometimes do when time is limited]

Pumpkin Soup

this recipe is not exact as im not big on measuring
choose the type of pumpkin you like best
for me i like either butternut or jap
this recipe will make about 4lt of soup [ i make a lot more so i can freeze individual portions for lunches or quick dinners]

3 medium butternuts or 1 medium jap [ about 31/2 to 4 kg ]
chopped into about 2 inch chunks
1 large full head of garlic [ russian is best as it has large cloves ]
1 tab oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1/2 tea nutmeg
1 tea cumin
course salt & cracked black pepper to
taste vegetable stock powder No Salt Add [depending on how thick you like your soup]
extra oil
oven 190 Celsius

place chopped pumpkin & whole unpeeled garlic cloves into oven pans,
drizzle with the extra oil toss to coat bake for 20 mis or so until garlic is soft, remove the garlic [dont over cook]
bake the pumpkin until its soft & has some black caramel bits [adds to the flavour]


place all pumpkin into a large mixing bowl squeeze the garlic from the skin into the pumpkin
heat the oil in a large pot over a medium heat cook the onion until it is translucent & soft
add the nutmeg, cumin, salt & pepper cook for 1 min stirring the whole time.

make up your stock using boiling water 2 or 3lt at a time
you can use a food processor but as i dont have one i use my blender
place a small amount of pumpkin plus the onion mix into the blender with some stock blend until smooth & pour/scrape into your big pot
continue until all the pumpkin is blended

your soup will be thick so add water to thin it down to your desired consistency, heating it on a low to medium heat
[we like ours thick so it sticks to the bread]
serve with a crusty bread

freezes well/defrost in the fridge

Quick Walk

Blood Plums

Almonds

Blogtoberfest day 5

Its been raining here since friday afternoon & with Sally going in & out all the time im fighting the muddy foot prints, luckily we have the kitchen blocked off.
went for a walk down to the chook yard, umbrella in hand & my Sally girl by my side.
went in & said hello to the girls & checked for some eggs { five in hand}
headed on back toward the house checking on all the trees & to my surprise i have found out that 2 of them are almond trees {mmm nuts}.
so my fruit/nut tree list is as follows so far

2 Almonds
2 Blood Plums
3 Figs
3 Oranges
1 Mandarin
1 Grapefruit {Yellow}
1 Lemon
1 Raspberry
1 Loganberry
1 Apricot
1 Hazelnut {need to get another as Sally kindly ripped out the other & chewed it up}

there are a few more that need to be identified, i think there are at least 2 peaches & 2 nectarine's & maybe a pear as well.

its pouring down rain again & the water is flowing out of the full water tank, its such a waste.
we really need to get a couple more water tanks, mmm but one project at a time

Changing Seasons

it seems like i can only manage to post once a month
well i was on a wireless & everyone else in the house had cables, mine dropped out every 5 mis or so . impossible to get anything done, now i have a cable so yeah ha no more drop outs.

looks like its time for an up date

on National Tree day we went up to Blackheath Market & picked up 2 Hazelnut Trees that i had ordered, an Ennis & a Halls Giant, also 6 bails of straw for $10 a bail.
planted out my two new trees down the side near a fig & 4 other miscellaneous fruit trees.

i spent an afternoon taking the sides, floor & roof of the green chook house & the 2 boys & i had a hard time moving it from the driveway down to the chook yard, when i say hard time we had to lift the frame over the side gate {the gate is just over shoulder height} swear words & bruises all round, even tho it was just the frame it was still quite heavy. into the chook yard it went. now it is home to the straw bails.

we have lots of fruit trees some of them we know what they are & others we will have to wait till leaves & fruit appear, these 2 photos below were taken 2 weeks ago, bare winter branches



now my yard is full of beautiful pink & white flowers

these 2 large trees are Blood plums, full of white flowers & thousands of busy bees

last Sunday afternoon we hung the hammock between the 2 plums, where Sally & i spent a good couple of hours whiling away the afternoon