Around The Garden And Another Delicious Loaf Recipe!

Well the garden is coming along, the seeds are germinating, more seedlings have been planted out, celery is in the ground, the beans are climbing and the weather is getting cooler, hope springs eternal!

In this photo the beans are just starting to climb, and the other plants are lucerne, dahlias and zinnias.

The Capsicums are ripening, and the corn is coming along very nicely. It will be a treat to have fresh corn at the end of Autumn!

I have been thinking it’s looking like a good time to start picking my rosella’s. Begin the process of cooking some lovely jam while they are plump and juicy! Can you see the soilder beetle on one of the leaves on the bottom left, I didn’t realise until I had put the photo up here, what a wonderful suprise!! Another beneficial insect, making my vege garden home : ) Love it!!

The start of our potatoes and garlic are starting to pop their heads up, very exciting!! I have a lot more potatoes to go in. There is just nothing like a eating a fresh potato from the garden, it would have to be one of the loveliest experiences to eat a fresh potato, boiled with melted butter!! Bliss!! I will eventually fill up this trench with the mounded dirt as the potatoes come up, and mulch. If it looks like frost at any stage over the cooler months, my plan is to go down early before the sun hits their leaves and turn the overhead sprinklers on, this will stop ice from forming or melt any ice and prevent the burning of their leaves.

This was another lovely suprise, grown from seed I had saved, planted out as a seedling a week ago and producing already! It’s late in the season to be planting zucchini but I like to mix it up and take my chances with certain things, I guess keep the garden adaptable so that if we have a warmer Winter, I will have food for our table and if we have a cold Winter, my broccoli and cauliflowers etc will grow well. I’ve learnt over the years if I stay too focused on cold Winter vegetables over Winter months, I can get disappointing results. Our Winters vary so the garden and my thinking needs to be flexible and ready for what may come. Farming of any sort is never predictable, so we need to be flexible. Some things will work and some will not.

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums!! A great addition to any garden. They make a great companion plants in the vegetable garden and they are edible. The leaves, flowers and seeds are all a good source of vitamin C. Mine come up every year on their own as the weather gets cooler. I planted seed once and have never had to do it again. My son loves to suck on the flowers and taste the nectar. They are great performers that flower well even in poor soil and attract beneficial insects and pollinators. And well they are just very pretty!

Sometimes I’m just amazed by all the colours in a garden, there are just moments where you really appreciate how beautiful and amazing nature is.

In one of my last posts I talked about trying pellets that are used for horse stables in raising seed. You wet the pellets and it expands, holds moisture and seed germinates in it. Well I have to say it’s not for me. But what I have done is mix it in with some dirt we already had here, which was a little water repellent (courtesy of our cattle yards ; ) I’ve found by mixing the pellets in with the dirt it seems to have a much better water holding capacity and the seed is germinating and doing much better after the initial germination. Another lesson learnt!

The numbers in our hen house have grown recently, I have purchased some new White Leghorns. I’m trying to increase my number of fresh free range eggs. It’s a settling in time at the moment, but I can’t wait to let them out into the paddock! The White Leghorns are known for being great converters of feed to egg ratio. Which basically means they won’t eat you out of house and home like some of the other breeds, and will give you a very reliable supply of eggs. Win, win!! They are known for being flighty, but these seem quiet enough, I’ve even had one let me pat it and hold it! We had a lovely little chat : )

This is so nice with a cuppa, I did put butter on it, but I found it looked nicer in the photo butter side down ; )

This is such a lovely loaf, so good!! And a throw it all in the bowl and mix it one! I baked it for the first time just the other day and I thought this is one I have to share with you! It’s an Apple and Sultana Cake but yes I used chopped up dates instead of sultanas : )

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a loaf tin.

You simply peel and dice 2 apples, chop 1 cup of dates (if using dates) and melt 125g butter.

Then mix all together in a bowl your apples, 1 cup of dates or sultanas, 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, beaten, 125g melted butter and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Mix with a wooden spoon.

Bake for 50-60mins – once mine was out of the oven I put a little butter on the top to melt and sprinkle of castor sugar and cinnamon.

Well I hope this post finds you well, thank you so much for coming and taking the time to visit with me and read my posts. The number of people coming and subscribing keeps growing and it just fills me with so much joy. To be able to share a little of my life here on our farm and hopefully give you something positive to take into your day or even maybe give you a good recipe to add to your collection is such a blessing!! Take care xx