Couscous balls

I needed a quick filling lunchtime meal for the cherubs as they have a club tonight and we always get back late so have a form of cold 'picnic' before bed.

I am also trying to use up leftovers as I hate throwing any food away, even if it's being recycled by the chooks, I like to see what we can make of it first.

So today I was presented with leftover couscous...

The cherubs are not mad keen on the friable texture, a bit like trying to shovel sand onto a fork!

So I mixed in a good couple of tablespoons of fig syrup - left over from making my fresh fig preserve and a couple of tablespoons of ground almond.

I then took about a heaped teaspoonful of the mixture and rolled into small balls before cooking in the oven at around 190 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, until they had browned a little.

Delicious!!!

There was a nice texture to the bite and they hold their shape really well so are going in snack boxes too.

The most important win - the cherubs ate them!!

No gray and no spray......

The rain has passed, the sun is out and the sky is a glorious blue....

We are slowly reclaiming parts of the property for garden and veggie/fruit growing. Flowers are done mostly in pots as the moment, until I get around to preparing areas of ground for them to flourish 'au naturel'.

The land has had it tough in the past, ex-dairy farm and so quite intensive 'off-site' inputs into the land and lots of output. We are not looking to get certification but we are aiming at managing our land with a sensitivity to nature's order, so spray-free and reusing material from one part of the property on another. However, in these early days we are having to bring in potting soil and garden mix to have any medium in which to grow the veggies.

Just recently we dismantled 4 compost heaps we had set up when we moved in and had not really tended to - we simply added to them with peelings, cuttings etc. and turned when we remembered (and had time). Well, nature got on with it and we had enough homemade compost, full of worms, to set up four or five no-dig beds for a more concerted veggie growing effort this year (partly spurred on by the fact that the cherubs are less needy and a little more helpful in the garden and in amusing themselves).

We didn't set up borders to the beds this year, I might do that next year with old sleepers. This year we simply reacted to the successively maturing seedlings in the greenhouse! So the first bed was laid out so that I could get the squashes and zucchini in and then it was corn, then tomatoes....

So we simply did newspaper, straw (actually recycled old hay from the property), compost and seedlings. We have weeding to do, but actually the crops have grown so well they are outcompeting the weeds, which I shall pull out to try and reduce seeding. Irrigation is important but the set up does hold on to moisture really well and the plants have survived being left for two days in heat when in the past, plants straight in the ground would have perished on the first day.

This is definitely the way to go for us on this land.

We not only see the benefits in the environment by going spray-free and growing things more naturally, but the more we read about pesticide residues in food the more we believe in the benefits to our own health and especially the health of the cherubs. We aren't perfect, we don't always use organic growing material, we live close to non-organic farms and so drift and leaching will impact on our land. However, we do what we can. We buy organic when possible and we grow spray-free and we hope to reduce any negative impact on the environment and on our bodies, targeting the dirty dozen as we can.

The no-spray strawberries were a hit this year. We didn't have huge crops everyday but a steady trickle that allowed the cherubs to taste their deliciousness almost every day and even provided enough for a couple of pavlova and a jar of jam!

Happy New Year and here comes the harvest!

Well it's been a while. Mostly I was busy getting trees planted, seeds sown, seedlings watered, kiddies to school and the usual jazz that any SAHM might have on a daily basis.

Spring was nicely wet and so was the early summer so we have not reached the horrible dry conditions I find very difficult just yet, although I am sure that is to come.

We have a pet lamb now and our lone calf born in October is doing very nicely. Mum is doting as is Auntie and the three are enjoying the slowly increasing shade from the trees we are getting going around the property.

The lamb is a proper pet lamb, actually he's not sure if he's a person or dog. He gets on very well with our larger, younger dog who is able to hold his own against playful butts. He also likes to 'just be with us' when we are in the garden doing our jobs - I guess in his eyes we are part of his flock.

However, as much as the lamb (he'll always be a lamb to us no matter how ridiculously big he gets!) is great company he is also a driver for us to get on with some more heavy landscaping tasks such as fencing.

We have ideas about fencing and 'cutting' up the garden (which is still reminiscent of its paddock heritage) so that we can have pathways leading to secret corners and more truly garden like features. These ideas are being finally put into practice, albeit slowly, as the need for protection from a dry-grass weary lamb becomes immediate. He does keep the grass down around the property and helps us not have to mow as much (long term plan is to get rid of grass and plant up with cropping plants/trees and natives), but he's quite partial to variety! Who can blame him hey?

So, slowly I am getting post and rails up, using a hand borer and re-acquainting myself with the composition of our soil and the improvement in worm count since we moved onto the land.

The zucchini, squashes and cucumbers are growing prolifically and I am having to become a tad more adventurous with my use of these in fresh recipes as there is only so much preserved produce one wants in their store cupboards. I have opted for preserves that have shown themselves to be favourites of the children - otherwise we end up throwing excess to the animals or giving lots away and even neighbours have a limit for pickled zucchini!

 

So I have made some piccalilli, curried pickled zucchini, rhubarb and apple chutney and am making tzatziki on a daily basis (a very simple chopped cucumber, garlic and yoghurt mixture - takes me back to holidays in Corfu, just delicious).


I went all out on trying zucchini recipes from the BBC Good Food website and my go-to girl, Nigella Lawson. I can heartily recommend courgette fritters, courgette and mushroom bread and courgette loaf cake.





 We all loved the courgette filo pie, my version of Nigella's courgette and chickpea recipe. Letting it cool a little, it sliced beautifully and was just as tasty cold the next day with salad.

I am also starting to turn my hand to cheese making. It's going to be another slow burn project, but having satisfied myself that I am competent in Ricotta, Labneh and Mascarpone making I tried making Halloumi - spurred on by a cheese-making kit I got for Christmas. It is produced by the Country Trading Company in South Island, NZ and contains a beautifully constructed Feta/Halloumi wooden frame/press. The method was simple enough and it worked! My blocks of Halloumi rose up in the whey and we had delicious fresh 'squeaky' cheese for our BBQ supper that same night.

 

 

 So the New Year is off and running - busy, busy. Gardening, construction, baking, cooking, preserving, craft bits and bobs as I can fit them in (there have been a few woolly hats and sundries made during lazy evenings with a glass or two of a warming red wine).

 

All the very best for your endeavours and I shall keep you posted periodically on what I get up to......