Onions blooming, artichokes reaching and stretching out their long leaves, technicolor poppies scattered over the hillside, a splash of chartreuse chalkboard paint on the milk fridge, kale-collards-mustard greens-broccoli-potatoes, grapes leaves unfurling, bees buzzing to and fro over the borage flowers, and a green grassy hillside that calms the mind and soul. Spring has sprung, beauty hangs on every dew drop. All around us life is anew.
Eight little bronze turkey poults entertain us while our chicks in the brooder get bigger by the minute. Spring planting, lots of new laying hens, lazy pregnant goats and milk coming out of our ears. The farm is bustling with activity keeping us sore, tired and so busy we can barely take a breath. But somehow its all worth it! These times are unforgettable...the best times of our lives!
Finally got around to harvest the ginger from the aquaponics yesterday. It smelt so sweet and fragrant I had to use some in dinner last night so made up a quick veggie dish on the spot.
Posted a picture of the meal to our Facebook page where a friend ask for the recipe (Cheers Sarah) so thought Id share it here too.
The dish was made using all home grown ingredients except for the oil, garlic, sugar and mountain sauce. The rest of the ingredients included some freshly picked snap peas from the aquaponics as well as a carrot and a lemongrass stalk from wicking barrels. Some leftover cauliflower and broccoli harvested on the weekend were also used.
Some of the measurements and cooking times are just guesstimates as I tend to add things as I go but am sure theyre fairly close to the mark ;-) It was enough to give us 3 adult and one child serves. 1 lemongrass stalk, chopped VERY finely as it can be very stringy
1 thumb size piece of ginger, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, crushed 1/3 head of cauliflower, broken into small florets and stems sliced
1 large carrot, sliced 3mm thick 2 Tbsp Thai Golden mountain sauce (soy or Ketjap manis would work well too) 1/4 - 1/3 cup of chicken stock
About 1 tsp of raw sugar or honey (I find a bit of sweetness helps to bring out the flavour of the lemongrass) 1/3 head of broccoli, broken into medium florets and stems sliced
A few small handfuls of snap/snow peas
Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in hot wok then add garlic, ginger and lemongrass, stir for 2 minutes
Add in cauliflower, carrot and sliced stems, stir fry for 2-3 minutes
Add in sauce and ½ the stock and cook for 2-3 minutes while stirring
Taste sauce in bottom of wok (careful not to burn yourself) and if it needs sweetening add sugar/honey to taste (probably wont need any if using Ketjap manis)
Add in in broccoli and peas, Stir and add in more stock if wok is drying out
Cover for a few minutes to lightly steam broccoli and peas
Toss veggies through the sauce in the base of the wok and serve.
The fresh flavours of the lemongrass and ginger together make a fantastic combination. Must say that I impressed myself with this one and will be making it again very soon. The one stand out flavour that was missing for me was Thai basil. The girls have suggested that I add some finely sliced beef and chopped green onion stems to the next batch too. Would love to know what you think if you have a crack at making this yourself. Cheers and have a great one. Rob.
On the downward slide.... As much as I love rugging up & getting comfy on the lounge with the family I really am a Lizard at heart... Have had a few mornings at 0°C or below without to much damage to the Veggie patch... **Knocks on wood** Only a month & a half to go before I can start to thaw out... Potato Harvest... I have been dying to get into the potato bags & in a weak moment the other day we emptied one....
Not the biggest harvest but they were the best tasting spuds we have grown... They went down well in a Chook, Mushroom & kohlrabi casserole... The rest of the bags are being left as I fear we havent been keeping the water up to them enough for the spuds to mature properly... That has been rectified now as they have been fed with some worm cast tea & now will be watered every second day...
In the patch... Not much has gone on in the patch except for harvesting the Snow & Sugar snap peas as well as the purple Kohlrabi & other assorted leaf veggies... A clip from the 4th of July with a catch up on the beans, Beetroot & some more Carrots...
Left is a shot of the tiny Mushrooms from the Video as of yesterday... The Peat is starting to look a bit feral with some green mould moving in so I think it will be retired & we shall chalk up the $ lost as part of the learning curve...The other box hasnt produced any fungus as of yet even though we have been keeping a close eye on it...
The black worm farm still hasnt been harvested as of yet... We should get around to it next weekend I think... Will be able to use the "Handy Dandy" Worm Harvester on it hopefully as this batch is a bit dryer than the last few... Right is a shot of todays pickings, just under 800grams of Sugarsnap peas a few carrots we are going to blanch & freeze...
Aquaponics...
We made a start on the Barrelponics system on Monday...
Left The main frame for the bench is made from a frame of an old lounge, bits from a recycled futon lounge along with some recycled timber & bolts... Right One ½ barrel was found i a park after the January floods & the other was purchased at a 2nd hand store for $4... The black barrel was bought from a local Produce supply store... Koo has had heaps of fun helping with the build... The girls are using the Barrelponics as part of their science lessons so that should be fun...
Very annoyed with myself we the stuff up & will definitely be erring on the side of caution from now on... Feel really bad for what happened to the fish.... Thats abooot it for now so Have a great one all... : )»
Not a lot of time spent in the garden this weekend other than Mowing the lawn... I spent Saturday cleaning out under the house so I can organise my tools/work area properly & doing a trip to the dump... Sunday we collected a small garden shed that was given to us by B?s parents that they no longer need... It was an easy job to break it down but the fun will be deciphering my runes to reassemble it..... We will be using a borrowed cement mixer to lay a small slab for it to sit on & will be giving it a paint job so it can blend into the garden a bit better... It will be big enough for the lawn mower & the hand tools as well as the Chook food...
A little door for feeding scraps directly into the Chook pen was installed... This will please our youngest as she found it rather frustrating to force food through the fence & wants to be able to put the scraps in all by herself...
Had a nice little smile moment today... I was pruning the lateral shots from the Tomatoes & noticed that the little Mutant Zuccumpkin looks to have taken !!!!! **Does happy Dance ** Shall be interesting to see how big it gets as the Butternut is covered with Powdery Mildew despite the watered down Milk treatment it has been getting...
This weeks harvest.... Beetroot leaves, lettuce, Zucchini, Beans, Kale, Silverbeet, & Last of the Honey Snap Peas/Cabbage... We also got 3 eggs a day..... Rain.... We have had a very wet week, 105mm, & all the dams are overflowing... This is a good thing, For now.... I have heard that we can expect a fairly wet summer which could lead to the possibility of major flooding.... Hope it doesnt happen but will be prepared anyway...
Had a great weekend in the yard doing some jobbies, socialising with ADULTS& playing with a family heirloom that has been "lent" to me...
BBQ, Good Friends & Spuds... My farther has passed on custodianship of the family BBQ to us... He built this BBQ for APEX outings before I was born (40 or a few less years ago) & it is still going strong with a few minor alterations like the tin side panels being replaced with Stainless steel & some Aluminium covers to keep the plate clean when stored & not in use... It had been out of service for the past 10 or so years as family gatherings had migrated to other relatives places so it needed a bit of TLC... The plate needed a bit of a touch to remove a bit of rust build up as well as replacing the regulator & lines just to be on the safe side... Not as flash as a newer model but we know it will last another 40 or so years if looked after.. I like that we can remove the burners & use them to boil the presure cooker (when we get one) for canning our produce in the near future...
We got to use it for the first time on Saturday when we had friends visit for a bit of socialising... Was a great day & got a bit of help in the yard... We needed to harvest the 4 potato bags from around the side of the house as the stalks were all dying back so the young kids all got a go at digging through the soil to see what they could find... Wasnt the best yield but we are still learning with spuds... I think the mix we used was to free draining & it was a struggle to keep the water up to them... Also got a bit of a hand with the framework to finish off the AP site... Can set the fish tank & other grow beds up now... Thanks Guys & Girls...
Fertilisers... We bought a couple of bags of fertiliser last week from Safe Fertilisers as we are starting to run low on the rock dust & have a few beds/barrels that need to be revitalised before they are plated out.. The last batch we got was an all rock dust blend but decided to try a "BFA Certified" "Enviro Blend" this time.. CBM Chicken manure, blood & bone, and minerals. This 100% organic blend provides the full spectrum of macro and micro elements. N 2%, P 2%, K 0.4%, S 2000ppm, Ca 8%, Mg 2%, Fe 1.4ppm, Mn 370ppm, B250ppm, Cu 55ppm, Zn 120ppm, Co 10ppm, Mo 40ppm, Se 3ppm, C 20%, Si 5% Not the most pleasant smelling blend but should help kick things on a bit... Will still be using the horse manure & worm castings as added organic matter to the beds/barrels, this is just to help add a few nutrients that were used up in the last crop or just not there... The main crop of Beetroot is not preforming as well as the others planted out at the same time & it was suggested to us that it could be a boron deficiency so they will get a nice top dress of fertiliser too...
Harvesting & Planting out... Have been picking a fair of Kohlrabi, Carrots, Spring Onion & Mangle to turn into coleslaw lately & it has become a bit of a favourite... 4 bas of potatoes were also harvested (see picture above) as well as the garlic that is in the clip below... The stems went a bit soft on some & others had already dried out but were missed amongst the Onions so we though it best to harvest the lot.. The Silverbeet/Chard & other leafy greens are still being used to supplement the chooks diet.. They now look forward to their morning/evening treats & come running as soon as they see us in the patch... Below is a list of what was planted out last night to take advantage of the full moon... Carrots, a mix of Nantes (Johnsons seeds- organic) & Dragon (Eden seeds) x 2 rows in Bed #1 Carrots, Mini Round (Diggers seed) x 2 rows in Bed #1 Carrots, Heirloom mixed (Diggers seed ??) x 2 rows in Bed #1 Tomato, Broad Ripple Yellow currant (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed... Tomato, Wapsipinicon Peach (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed... All but the Nantes & Dragon Carrots were from the gift we received from from our You Tube gardener friend Watsamadoing last week... Thanks again :D»
Garden walk through Clip... Bit of what was said above & other natterings...
Weather... It will start to heat up here a bit by the weekend we are told, hitting about 29°C by Friday, so we are thinking about putting up some of the shade structure to try & stop some of the Broccoli from premature bolting... Will be trying to incorporate the mesh we got to try & keep the White Cabbage Moth/Butterflies from getting to the Brassicas & depositing their eggs...
Left is a shot of the tiny Mushrooms from the Video as of yesterday... The Peat is starting to look a bit feral with some green mould moving in so I think it will be retired & we shall chalk up the $ lost as part of the learning curve...The other box hasnt produced any fungus as of yet even though we have been keeping a close eye on it...
We made a start on the Barrelponics system on Monday...
Sunday we collected a small garden shed that was given to us by B?s parents that they no longer need... It was an easy job to break it down but the fun will be deciphering my runes to reassemble it..... We will be using a borrowed cement mixer to lay a small slab for it to sit on & will be giving it a paint job so it can blend into the garden a bit better...
A little door for feeding scraps directly into the Chook pen was installed... This will please our youngest as she found it rather frustrating to force food through the fence & wants to be able to put the scraps in all by herself...
Had a nice little smile moment today...
