Construction January 29, 2010

Constructing: a fence along the remaining unfenced part of my boundary. A couple of my friends are actually doing most of the work, I’m just buying timber, following orders and providing food. Not finished yet, but already looking quite different. I must take pictures.

Eating: a few more beans finally. Plus zucchini, silverbeet, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, garlic, lettuce, strawberries, one Ivory raspberry (yum) etc. I’ve managed to keep 2 visitors fed out of the garden this week, and still had stuff to share. I love it when the garden is like this.

Baking: real summer weather today.

Seeds January 24, 2010

Germinating: the seeds I sowed on the 17th are germinating already. The first of them (cabbage and pak choi) had started germinating by the 21st. The benefits of a greenhouse and summer. Not that the last week has been entirely summer, Saturday was more like winter. Again.

Also germinating: the romanesco, silverbeet, basil, radishes and some of the random flowers. Maybe some of the carrots or beetroot, but I can’t remember now.

Giant rhubarb January 19, 2010

Eating: rhubarb. My plant is enormous. I don’t remember it being this big when I grew it before. The leaves are more like the size of a gunnera. I’ve also  got gigantic alpine strawberries, 2-3 times the size I usually get. I put a plant in the corner of the asparagus bed, and it’s clearly enjoying all that compost, manure and worm cast.

Also eating: Dalmatian beans. Only a few, as I want to save some seed and the plants have had a tough season. Still, there are a few beans starting to form now, and the first signs of pods on my scarlet runners. More days like today (24 degrees and nearly windless) would help.

Setting: there are definitely some fruit forming on my tomatoes. I’m still some way from having any ready to eat though.

It’s been a while January 17, 2010

Since I last wrote, winter has been and gone. That’s a bit of a worry, since it has been just over 2 weeks since my last post. The weekend was freezing and if my rain gauge is accurate, I had over 80mm of rain. January is supposed to be a cold month, but only in the Northern Hemisphere. Today was sunny and hot once the thick fog finally vanished. I’m so confused.

Planting: black violas, plus a couple of cucumbers last week (when my modem was broken)

Sowing: (in pots) coloured beet, romanesco broccoli, mini cabbage, pak choi, basil, random flowers

Sowing: (in ground) sugar snap peas, Alderman’s tall climbing peas, orange and purple carrots, radishes, beetroot (not sure how the peas will go, but I expect the rest to be ok)

Germinating: I’ve got broccoli seedlings coming up where I left a couple of plants of my feral broccoli to go to seed.

Weeding: the asparagus bed (seedlings seem to be doing quite well), root vegetable bed, etc

Eating: shallots, garlic, potatoes, cabbage, chard/ beet, beetroot, carrots, zucchini, lettuce, peas (very few left) strawberries, raspberries (Qualicum, the rest are mostly finished)

Waiting: my beans and tomatoes aren’t doing so well, although the Dalmatian beans that I have up against the fence are a bit better – I’ve eaten a couple of less good pods off them, but I’m mostly saving those plants for seed. Some of my tomatoes are setting fruit, but they are well behind where they should be. The plants in the greenhouse and the ones in the windbreak have a few small fruit forming. The few that I haven’t sheltered are really not too good.

Also waiting: for summer to turn up. After 2009 was the craziest weather year on record (officially; coldest May, warmest August, coldest October, and the other months set various records too), I hoped 2010 would be a bit more normal. But no…

Resolutions January 1, 2010

I thought I’d share a couple of my resolutions, one to encourage others to join me and the other because I know some of you have been waiting for it.

First – I’ve signed up the the 10:10 campaign. I don’t think there is anything actually happening with this in NZ – it’s a UK programme. But you can still sign up to the 10:10 Global campaign, and do it.

10:10 is a committment to cut 10% of your carbon emissions in 10:10. Human-induced climate change won’t be stopped by individuals voluntarily cutting emissions, but it will send a signal to governments that we are acting and expect them to do the same. It will also get people used to doing what may well become compulsary or economic necessity later, and maybe we’ll find some of those things aren’t so bad.

Exactly where I’ll find 10% to cut is a tricky question. My insanely long showers are the obvious place to start.

My other resolution is that I’m going to start putting my Antarctica pictures up on this blog, along with the text from my emails and bits from my diary. It’s taken me far too long to sort them out. Here’s a preview…

Neglected garden December 29, 2009

I’ve been away for a week and everything seems to be out of control.

Eating: zucchini, peas, silverbeet, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, beetroot, carrots, onions, broccoli, strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants, blueberries, basil

Weeding: everything. I admit that it is more than a week’s worth of weed growth that I’m pulling out.

Tidying: I cleaned out the greens bed by the steps, including the bolted celery and a couple of carrots – not sure where they came from. There were a few meadowfoam plants, which I left, because I like them – they are pretty and they always seem to have a bumblebee on them.

Planting: I planted the celery seedlings that had been sitting around in pots for a couple of months at least in the cleaned out greens bed. Hope they’ll grow leaves and not bolt like everything else.

Cleanup December 20, 2009

Harvesting: the last of the broad beans, Jersey Benne potatoes (a woeful crop, and half of them appear to be Desiree, which must have resprouted from last summer), silver fir potatoes (just a few, and I haven’t eaten any myself yet), silverbeet, sugar snap peas, rhubarb (giant), cabbage, savoy cabbage. Pulled up the only 2 shallot plants still alive, one was trying to flower. I’m hoping they will dry off and at least keep a month or so.

Eating: as above, plus a few blueberries, currants and raspberries. My whitecurrant is most definitely red. That is the second time that has happened to me – how odd. My O’Neal blueberry is completely dead. The others look fine, but then so did the O’Neal 2 weeks ago. Not sure what is going on.

Planting: another Zephyr zucchini and 2 more yellow cucumbers. A couple more tomatoes, just to get them out of the greenhouse.

Lessons for next year: don’t plant sugar snap peas and shelling peas side by side in the garden. Plant more broad beans. Give them some sort of support, or they will sprawl all over the path.

Droolworthy chocolate truffles December 14, 2009

It’s that time of year again – I’m making Christmas presents. Chocolate truffles tonight.

I started out with the Edmonds cookbook chocolate truffle recipe, but since when do I follow a recipe? With a bit of adjusting, I’ve ended up with a range of variations using the same basic formula. Here are a few of my recipes.

Total Nutcase

50g butter

100g dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cocoa

1/2 cup chopped macadamia and hazelnuts

1/2 cup ground almonds (and a bit more)

1/2 – 1 cup icing sugar

Melt butter and chocolate (I’m sure you are supposed to use a bain Marie, but I just use a heavy pot on the stove). Stir in cocoa, chopped nuts, ground almonds and some of the icing sugar. Keep stirring in icing sugar until the mixture is quite stiff. Shape into balls (not too big, as these are quite rich) and then roll them in ground almonds. Keep refrigerated.

Makes about 30-35, and should keep for a few weeks. But really, what are the chances of them lasting that long?

Jamaican Sun

25g butter

50g white chocolate

1-2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger (I use fresh ginger that has been frozen, but ground ginger will give a different taste)

1-2 tablespoons dark rum

1 cup icing sugar (or might be 1 1/2)

coconut

Melt butter and chocolate. Stir in grated ginger and rum, then add the icing sugar gradually until the mixture is quite stiff. Shape into balls and then roll them in coconut. Keep refrigerated.

Makes about 18.

Arabian Nights

2 tablespoons Turkish coffee (with cardamom)

4 tablespoons boiling water

50g butter

100g dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cocoa (and about 1/4 cup more for later)

1 – 2 cups icing sugar

Add Turkish coffee and boiling water to a plunger, plunge and leave to stand (if you want to, you can make proper Turkish coffee in a pot, but I don’t bother for this recipe). Melt butter and chocolate. Add cocoa and 2 tablespoons of the coffee. Add about a cup of icing sugar. Taste test and add more coffee if you want it stronger. Add more icing sugar until the mixture is stiff. Roll into balls and then roll in pure cocoa. Refrigerate. After an hour or so, remove from fridge and re-roll in cocoa. Keep refrigerated.

Makes 30-35.

A note on ingredients

Good ingredients make good truffles. I assume the opposite applies too: bad ingredients = bad truffles. Don’t substitute butter for margarine in these recipes; it won’t melt and set properly. Use a good strong dark chocolate, although don’t use top quality eating chocolate, because it’s simply a waste to mask the flavour with butter, sugar and flavourings. For white chocolate, use something that actually contains cocoa butter. A lot of the stuff that masquerades as white chocolate doesn’t contain anything at all that came from a cacao tree. Check the label. Nuts are better fresh. I shell the hazelnuts myself, but I draw the line at shelling the macadamia nuts, instead buying them already shelled from my local farmer’s market. If you don’t have Turkish coffee with cardamom, you could probably make really strong, fine-ground coffee and add cardamom, but I’ve never tried that.

A further note about taste testing

Taste testing is essential. One thing that I have found is that flavours usually intensify once the truffle has cooled and sat in the fridge for a day or two.

Last note, I promise

Recipes can be doubled or halved quite successfully. I tend to do a smaller batches when I’m trying something a bit more risky, like rum and fresh ginger (I really wasn’t sure that would work, but I’m very pleased with it).

Happy bumblebees December 12, 2009

Planting: Passiflora antioquiensis, zucchini (Zephyr), cucumber (yellow). All in the mandarin corner. I just remembered now that I was going to net the area because the blackbirds have been doing a huge amount of digging in that garden. Only I forgot.

Freezing: broad beans. I’m at the peak of the crop right now, but they will probably be finished in a week or two.

Sharing: broad beans (ok, I’ve got quite a few). I’ve been sending them over the fence to the neighbour – today he sent back some lemons. That was actually most fortuitous, as I’d used all the ones I had for German Christmas cookies. I wanted to make more, but had forgotten to buy the necessary lemons. So it was a great bonus to get them.

Eating: more cabbage, silverbeet, sugar snap peas, carrots, broad beans, onions, raspberries, strawberries, herbs.

Flowering: borage, Phacelia, meadowfoam, Nemophila, Calendula, chervil, clover, mustard, runner beans, oca, Jersey Benne potatoes… I have happy bumblebees.

A week of firsts December 11, 2009

Today was mostly sunny, but the gale-force winds and the imminent arrival of Christmas diverted me into the alternative activities of shopping and baking.

Eating: blueberries. First ones from my little Southern Highbush plants. I had one or two berries from each (the plants were pretty small so I picked off almost all the developing berries a few months back because I thought they needed to put their energies into leaves).

Eating: cabbage. First one I’ve grown (ever). I’ve got a couple more coming on. I don’t think summer is really cabbage weather,  but the spring was clearly cold enough.

Eating: one gooseberry and one redcurrant. Both the first for the season.

Eating: zucchini. Also first. Not very big, but I’ve notice the plant has really got bigger in the last week, so hopefully some bigger ones will be on the way.

Eating: raspberries. 10 or more a day, mainly from the Waiau, with a few Marcy and Autumn Bliss). I even froze some – the first time I’ve had enough to even think about that. Blackcurrants, although I don’t have many fruit this year. Strawberries, again not lots. I think I need to redo some of the nets.

Eating: carrots, broad beans, peas (mainly sugar snap and some snowpeas), lettuce, silverbeet, onion, “walking onion”, dill, oregano, parsley, thyme.

Last week I bought one bunch of asparagus, same this week. I also bought some potatoes last week. But that’s it. I’m back to eating mostly from the garden, and even having some to share.

Baking: German Christmas biscuits (lemon hearts and cinnamon stars, although they were acutally diamonds as I don’t have a heart-shaped cutter). I also made white chocolate and passionfruit truffles.