Tomato Heaven...

I have already got seeds from the Black Krim and Orange Blossom tomatoes for saving. I am getting two or three tomatoes everyday but still not enough to do much with just yet. Both are sweet tomatoes and very tasty but the Black Krim does seem a meatier type. So far I am very pleased with the results of these two so saving seed is a given. It is so hot here at the moment I have to make sure everything gets a good watering because the soil is getting quite dry. They are loving the heat we are getting though!

 

I planted beetroot, baby carrots and long keeper onions in the small garden the other night and I put spring onions,  green cabbage, flat and curly leaf parsley, coriander and snowball cauli seeds into trays. The trellis I was using to keep the chooks over the other side of the house has seen better days and has started to pull apart so those pieces I have been using for name tags and other garden bobs.

One of today’s jobs was tying up the tomatoes that are wildly climbing the stairs. I have left a few bits sprawled across the steps but most are growing up the balustrade now which looks very cool. I also planted the strawberry shoots which will give me some more plants to replace the ones someone ate, hmmm. The tamarillo and passionfruits have been put into much larger pots and I have about ten dragon fruit plants sitting in a sheltered part of the porch. All of my sunflower, corn, bean and pea seed have finished drying and are sitting in brown paper bags, waiting to be stashed away.

The new garden has been dug over and more little runners been removed. It is actually looking quite neat and I am busily contemplating what I will plant in there. I still haven’t finished the last bit of the bamboo fence so I will need to do that soon but the tepee’s from the small garden have been shifted over to the bigger garden which will give me more room to plant and harvest and provide some crop rotation as well. Despite her many escapes (only to find her lounging in the garden nibbling on my Amish paste, green sausage and zapotecs) Sugar did not completely wipe out the tomatoes in the new garden. Even if I get a decent seed supply I will be contented but it would be fantastic to have enough to make some relish or sauce with.

Pickles And Plums...

Here is an update on the plums so you see how they turned out. Four trays of plum halves loaded up in my dehydrator (which is a Harvest Maid with a thermostat of 35-60) looks like this at the end, take away a few for tasting as they dried and I ended up with one small and one large Maccona jars full. They did not last long!

I also opened up the first jar of pickled vegetables. While I enjoyed them and the taste is quite scrummy, I did find they were a little too sweet for my liking so next time I make the spiced vinegar I will just reduce the sugar so I will end up with more of a bite. We had them with some deli meats for our lunch. Haven’t yet opened the pickled onions but they are in the fridge chilling.

Today I put another load of apples in, once they were half dry I condensed them onto two trays giving me two spare trays. One I have filled with tangerine slices and the other lemon slices with a ginger sugar syrup basted on them. Because some things can stick to the trays, I have only basted one side at a time.

The dehydrator I am using is fantastic compared to the cheapie I had years ago. The adjustable temperature is fantastic and though I dream of having my own Excalibur one day, I am very pleased with the results I am getting from this one. I will probably try to get a few more trays for it soon so I can do more at a time. This type heat from the bottom and not from the back which blows the warm air across the food and that is why most people who love dehydrating look for the more expensive ones. I find that leaving my dryer going so to not lose much heat and shuffling the trays around quickly works fine for achieving even drying times. I also turn the food over once or twice during the drying process so the tray shuffle can easily be done then.

A Hundred Out Of Ten...

That is what my score was for dinner and dessert on Saturday night and not a crumb was uneaten. Lamb hotpots (tomatoes, fresh and dried, chick peas, red kidney beans, celery, onion, garlic, coriander and cumin) with a slapping of skin on - smashed potatoes and a sprinkling of grilled cheese. Dessert was Raspberry Plum jelly with a generous dollop of French vanilla icecream.

I also loaded up the dehydrator with apple slices again, slightly thicker slices this time and got a large jar from that lot...they are just so damn yummy and far too easy to eat! The stewed plums were a hit for breakfast too.

Icecream In Bed...

I just sneaked out, grabbed the cat and snaffled a bowl of French vanilla icecream to devour whilst lying here in bed. It seemed a great idea at the time but everything seems so noisy when you are trying to be quiet and the icecream had frozen solid which meant tense moments, trying to desperately chip away at the solid frozen dessert, in the dark, without waking my favourite little house guests who are sleeping in the lounge. Getting caught at midnight by a 6yr old and an 8yr old with a bowl of icecream is not a good thing.While I desperately dug into the icecream for what seemed like an eternity, I did get a twang of guilt that I haven’t made my own yet so maybe next time it will be homemade blackberry icecream?

An Orchard Has Exploded In My Kitchen...

There are jars and fruit everywhere! Last week I traded a jar of blackberry jam for a bag of plums so I decided to stew them and put them into the freezer for crumbles or toppings on yoghurt and custard. I got four containers worth so three went in the freezer and one in the fridge for snacks. Then someone offered me some grapefruit and lemons which I wanted to make some marmalade, so I thanked him with a jar of my tangy mustard relish.

While I was there he offered me some jars so I took the chance to increase my jar collection and then I don’t have to give away all my special ones (yes I have special jars). My enthusiasm quickly diminished when I got home and realised that while some labels peel off easily after a little soak...others have glue that could only be compared to cement. Why they need to use something so potent to stick a paper label onto a jar completely baffles me but I persisted and finally won the battle. I now had a bench full of gleaming glass jars. Me 1, Glue 0.

Now while some of the grapefruit didn’t look very pretty, inside was the most juicy, sweet flesh. After giving them a good wash and picking the best ones I sliced them thinly and removed as many pips as I could. I wanted the slices to be thinner this time because the last lot I made, although delicious, was a bit too chunky for my liking. And it’s all about making things to taste isn’t it? 

When it was all sliced up, I gave it a rough weigh to see how much I had and then put them in a large pot, covered with juice and water to sit overnight. I used more juice and less water because I thought it would give the marmalade more flavour. This afternoon I got busy sorting lids and jars then put the fruit on to simmer. While my marmalade was cooking I washed, halved and stoned another bag of plums to put in the dehydrator. Those plums I traded for another jar of blackberry jam and I ended up with four trays loaded with the most beautiful sweet plum halves. If you want a really lovely plum tree for your backyard then try the “Hawera” variety. They are so tasty and very easily halved and stoned...one that is definitely going on my wish list!

Now back to the marmalade, I got nine jars in total which I thought was quite good from just over, give or take, 1.7kgs fruit. All my lids have popped and it has set nicely so I am quite happy with today’s efforts.

Tonight I was able to sort out all my seeds that have been drying under the veranda. There are quite a few corn and more sunflowers to come so I will have a reasonable stash and hopefully a good strike rate. It’s such a nice feeling to know that this year I won’t have to buy any of these seeds as my seed bank is growing, especially seeing as these are ones I absolutely want to grow again. It was lucky I grabbed them when I did because Sugar got into my smaller garden and cleared it out, needless to say, I am keeping one step ahead of that mischievous she devil now. 

 

The tomatoes are starting to colour now and I discovered the one I have been eagerly awaiting, ”Zapotec Pleated” just look how funky this little fella looks! I can’t wait to tenderly pluck him from his stem, carry him gingerly into my kitchen, and proceed to butcher him with the sharpest knife I can find for my lunch *evil laugh* Just to see the unusual shapes and colours will be fantastic. 

Well its time for me to toddle off to bed, hope you have enjoyed the latest post.Any hints or ideas are always welcome, just message me for a chat, subscribe or follow to get regular updates.

*waves goodnight*