What I've been up to...

OK, so I've been a slack blogger! I'm enjoying our lovely summer and just cruising. The garden is kind of in limbo while I wait for my big crops to ripen (corn and tomatoes) and I've had a lull in inspiration on what to blog about.

So! Yes, we went away camping for 3 nights at the Organic River Festival last weekend. We had a fantastic time on so many levels. This was our 2nd camping trip with both kids (the first wasn't so successful and was a couple of years ago). We went with one other family and her sister and her family were also there. We arrived at the site early (only a 1/2 hour up country) and got a pick of the sites. It was sweltering - just as well for the lovely river for a dip in (I think we had 3 swims that first day). There wasn't any action that day since all campers and stall owners were arriving and setting up.

The next day we were up nice and early and just pottered around the stalls chatting to people we knew (the bonus of attending a festival that was held locally) and just checking it all out.

There were bands playing throughout the days and evenings and it was lovely to just wander where we wanted. We went on several bush walks which was just perfect for escaping the hubbub of busyness and heat. And many swims in the river.

The Saturday night me and my little girl hung out at the stage area dancing till 9.30pm (she's a party girl already!) before I took her back to the tent where daddy was minding Nathan who had a headache from the heat and not enough water throughout the day. I continued on back to the concert for a few hours.

The kids slept amazingly well (with sleep ins as well) despite us being in a 4-person one room dome tent. Not a lot of living or moving space, but a pretty good set up really.

I didn't go to any of the workshops or talks, for some reason I didn't really feel the need to even though some of them looked quite interesting. I don't think I was really in the frame of mind sitting in a hot tent when there were fun things to be doing outside.

So, all in all, it was a great 4 days away - that was our first break away since summer began since Simon's been working all the way through, so I'm pleased it was worth the wait.

Garden update:

Well, today we found a lovely perfect sized courgette (zucchini) waiting for us to pick. I harvested heaps of spinach and silverbeet that I will blanch and freeze. There are masses of lettuce too. My scarlet runner beans are finally taking off, but we're not that keen on eating them fresh with the pods, so I intend on letting them dry on the vine before harvesting and storing (and ensuring we don't get any weevils or beetles eating them so will either freeze or heat to kill off any larvae before storing). I'm hanging out for my tomatoes to ripen! I estimate we will have in the hundreds (and hopefully enough to store over winter through making fondue/pasta sauce) and some dehydrated for pizza toppings. Corn is still coming along nicely, but I am wondering if they're not growing large enough yet are almost detached already...? My garden is overtaken by pumpkin vines despite me lopping them off, but I can't keep up with them! We also pulled some carrots (only a little more than baby size) today too - looking lovely, so I left the rest to fatten up.

So, we've been pretty successful so far, but need to keep up the momentum. I have two beds with seedlings in them, but fear that I haven't kept my watering up with all this dry, hot weather and there are many seeds that have failed to germinate.

My weed elimination project is going well, and the mulched pathways are holding up well and keeping the area looking pretty tidy. It's given me the motivation to carry on and dig out the edges of the entire square now since I can see the weeds starting to creep in again. So once that's done it will be quite a nicely defined area yet still wild and natural with vegetables running over the paths (mostly tomatoes and pumpkins!).

Lookin' forward to this!

Can't wait!

Silverbeet and it's many uses!

Well, I've got masses of spinach and silverbeet on the go at the moment. It seems to be our staple "green" (and I've been including the stalks in my cooking). In the past few weeks I've used it in...

~ pizza toppings
~ polenta pie topping
~ blended into my refried beans
~ part of the spaghetti bolognese sauce
~ pasta sauce
~ sauteed in ginger as a side to other dishes
~ mashed into potatoes
~ sprinkled on breakfast cereal (nah, just kidding lol!)


Basically, anywhere I can add it I do!

(Sorry for the boring blah post, it's been raining non-stop for two days and I'm over it - so are my chickens who are camping out under their shelter).

Summer meal #3

Well, I'm on a roll now. A super quick and easy meal this was AND eaten by the kids.

Pasta of your choice (we buy cheap rice noodles)
2 cans of tomatoes (can't wait to use our own fresh ones!)
1 capsicum
1 onion
Other chopped veges you want to add
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cornflour
1/4 cup of water or wine
1 tsp sugar
Fresh basil

Cook up the garlic, onion, capsicum for a few minutes till soft. Add the tomatoes, sugar and cornflour (premixed in the water/wine) and add the basil towards the end.

Enjoy!

A wonderful New Years day

New Years' Day in New Zealand to me is symbolised by the gorgeous weather. It's time to get outside and enjoy the sun, enjoy nature and being amongst others doing the same thing. It's a day when things seem so much more settled after the up and down weather leading up to Christmas and feels like the start of the real summer holidays once all the hub bub of the celebrations are over.

So a relaxing late afternoon bike ride took us down to one of the estuaries for an impromptu paddle before heading home for dinner.

Musings from a 4.5 yr old...

"Mum, I just love having our own garden"
"Do you?"
"Yeah, I love sowing the seeds and looking after the plants and having chickens"
(all the while he's wandering down the paths checking the growing veges and their progress and plucking a fresh pea pod announcing that it was "plump enough")
"I love it too, and I love that you love it" "Do you know? One of the things I remember from when I was your age was cracking open pea pods and eating the fresh peas too"
"Really??"