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......

Sunset on Summer......

The clocks went back this morning and I almost got a lie-in...but the cherubs had other plans.

The whole family made the most of the beautiful weather and spent the morning at the beach with the dogs, it was glorious. Blue sky with voluptuous white clouds scattered far and wide. The sun now warming but not scorching, the cool southerly breeze bringing a sense of the changes to come.

We love this time of year. Tell the truth we love Spring and Autumn the most in New Zealand, the months of moderation in temperature, UV intensity and rainfall (on the whole) - grass is green, the ground is semi-firm and plants grow. The summer can be, and has been, scorching, riddling the ground with cracks and making being outside in the daytime a chore. The winter can be excessively boggy and very, very grey. Don't get me wrong we actually love aspects of all the seasons, for the changes they bring....but there is something lovely about Spring and Autumn.

And so, as our garden winds up it's summer harvest and the preserving is almost at a halt, I was looking around to see what I should really be making the most of and our second crop of tomatoes were on my hit list. They are not ripening now and the bugs are beginning to settle in and take over, so rather than lose them all I decided it was time to pull the plants out, give the ground a rest and some tlc with worm tea and the like and deal to the green tomatoes in the kitchen.

They are such petite bunches of scrumptiousness.

 

 

I decided to make my 'Sunset on Summer' green tomato chutney. A fitting curtain fall to the end of our summer harvest. Using the last of our fresh apples, the last of our tomatoes and almost the last of our peppers.

 

As with all good chutney recipes.....it is super easy.

 

3lbs chopped green tomatoes

1 lb chopped, cored red apples

1 lb chopped onions

3 mild green peppers, sliced thinly

Juice and shredded rind of half a large lemon

2 cm piece of ginger grated (fresh, root) - about 1 oz

1 Dsp ground cardomom

1 Dsp ground cinnamon

12 oz raw sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

 

 

 

Throw it all together in a large preserving pan

Add 300mls of cider vinegar

Doesn't it look just lovely - even before cooking!! I love my preserving spoon - one of the culinary aids I brought back from my travels to South America.

 

Now gently heat until the sugar dissolves and then boil until the mixtures softens up and thickens up. Pack into sterilised jars and seal.

 

Let it mature a couple of weeks then....Enjoy!