Spring has Sprung!

I've been a bit quiet when it comes to posting but that's just because I've been so busy cooking, entertaining and finally, GARDENING!!!

I scored a major luck while running through my neighborhood on Monday evening - a building site was chucking out a few hundred plastic plant pots and big seedling trays. I went back to fetch them and it looks like I'm sorted for seed planting for the foreseeable future!!

The garden is starting to take shape: the veggie boxes have been moved to where the trampoline used to be (we've kind of outgrown it in the family...!) and the troughs have been cleaned out ready for strawberry seedlings when they finally become available again. 

I may have cheated a little and bought a few seedlings the other day (they were just sooooo tempting when I went through the nursery I couldn't help myself...)

Comfrey - it's coming up all over the place. I'd previously planted it as green manure
which the chickens got hold of and I thought it was gone so emptied the soil out of the
boxes where it was growing... Needless to say, wherever the soil ended up I've got baby comfrey plants jumping up
and now I'm JUMPING for JOY!

Mint - ready for Summer Mojitos!

Mint and pots of peas

Potato Plants in tyres

New growth on the Rose Bushes

Rosemary ready for Lamb Roasts

How awesome are these seedling trays?! 

Seeds planted and labelled - I can't wait to see the little green faces!

Tomato Seedling - unplanted! They came up where last year's ones were growing!

Cheat seedlings from the nursery :)
Tomato plants in the back box, new Lemon Tree in the pot
and a raspberry plant to grow up the wall.

It's been a while....

Matilda

So much has happened since my last post and it gets to a point where I feel so overwhelmed about posting I procrastinate indefinitely :( 

Anyway I'll  just pretend that my last post was yesterday and be normal!

I added a new member to the farmyard a week ago - she's wiggled her way into our lives and hearts in record time (think girls and puppies and you'll get the idea!) The only relationship that isn't going to work out is that between Matilda (or Piggity as my mom insist on calling her so as to avoid naming her and dealing with the consequences surrounding the naming of a 'farm' animal.......)






The other thing I've done is ban boring salads. Now by boring salads I mean a typical greek salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, etc.). The consequences of this decision have been entertaining :) We've gone from a teenage lad who had to be persuaded to eat fresh greens to one who, if left unsupervised to dish up, cleans the salad platter before anyone else can get a look in...

Roasted Tomato and Feta Salad

Today's salad to go with a mid winter braai for mom's birthday - as usual there are many people at this table!


I've got a very simple yet impressively tasty recipe:


Cos and Iceberg Lettuce (I find the mix is way nicer than a single leaf choice)
Rosa Tomatoes
Feta
Pine Nuts (Toasted in a nonstick pan - but don't let them burn or they'll turn bitter)

Cut the lettuce in manageable chunks and spread on a salad platter (not a bowl as this salad doesn't want to be tossed!) Toast the pine nuts in a pan (if the oven is on for something else you can roast them instead). Set aside in a bowl. Put a little olive oil in the pan and toss in the tomatoes - roast them until they're soft but not squishy (experiment with what you like here). Add the feta and stir in to melt a bit. Pour this gooey yumminess over the leaves, sprinkle with pine nuts and dress vinaigrette just before serving. 

Vinaigrette Recipe

50ml vinegar (you can use pretty much any vinegar but the better the vinegar, the better your dressing!)
150ml Olive oil 
1tsp sugar
Fresh parsley (or any herb of your prefeerence)
White pepper
Salt

Mix all the ingredients in a glass jar and allow to stand for an hour for the flavours to develop. Super simple. Super yummy!

Authentic Farm Experience

I'm not normally one for promoting stuff through my writing but it may just happen this time :) This is mainly because I had such a great experience that I felt I just had to share it!

Prompted by uploading photos from my camera (I have this nasty habit of forgetting to upload them as I have 6 massive memory card's which I swap in event by event...) I was reminded of an absolutely fabulous day we spent on a very special farm. Aunty Karen (coming from an Afrikaans family this just happens...) and Oom Michael have been family friends for many years - they used to live in Cape Town before they moved to Lelieblom Farm in Darling. Karen has an amazing sense of style and has translated this into a farm restaurant. We spent Father's day being spoilt rotten with the yummiest of plaas kos (potato and bacon soup with homemade bread for starters, roast goat meat with sweet potatoes, pumpkin fritters and veggies for mains and an amazing chocolate mousse and coffee for desert). The menu is decided based on what's fresh on the farm (yes, the meat is from Michael's goat herd) and in the village.

Lunch was a lazy affair - don't for a moment think you'll stop by for a quick meal! In the country there is no such thing... After lunch Michael decided to test my horse riding skills (he says I'm OK for a city girl!) and we were shown around the extensive property before being plied with yet another cup of coffee... The potbelly pigs get the lunch leftovers at the gate which was fun to watch and chickens free-range through the garden (they've been banned from the dining room!) The restaurant is open on a booking only system and Karen and her daughter Nicolette buy and cook accordingly. They're open every Sunday and are more than happy to open during the week for functions - the farm would make for an amazing small, exclusive wedding venue. All in all a fantastic day and a truly authentic farm experience. 



Check out Lelieblom Farm here or call Karen on 082 573 7736

Since starting my green journey a year or so ago I have learned much. The biggest lesson I have learned is that we really don't know all that much! There is a wealth of information on the internet which is the most accessible information - it seems there are many experts on every concieveable topic. This has proved time consuming but very interesting.

I have successfully grow bags and bags of sweet and juicy beans (these get eaten by the handful by everyone who visits so I didn't even bother to cook them!), about 20kg of tomatoes which my Ouma helped me to bottle most of them for sauces and stews (very easy to do and absolutely delicious!). I have struggled with growing potatoes (they died while the tubers were still only the size of marbles) and gem squash (these plants succumbed to leaf mould which I was unable to get rid of)...

I have tried one last planting of gem squash in a brand new bed which I am hoping doesn't have any disease in the soil so we can have some healthy squashes... holding thumbs!

I got my dad to help me make some raised veggie beds. We made boxes that a 1 sqm and 0.4m deep. This box is on legs that have the top of the boxes at 0.8m off the ground. It's a little late for planting beans but I have given it a go anyway - I planted beans in one row at the back of the boxes and planted carrots in the front 3/4 of the boxes. These are year round crops so they should be fine still.

I've been cultivating a few sweet potatoes in my pantry for planting out the vines. This is done by putting the sprouting sweet potato into a bowl of water and topping it up regularly. There are probably 20 vines coming out of each potato which are 50cm long - perfect for planting in my newly prepared beds... This will hopefully happen tomorrow.

I am training my domestic worker to use green techniques in cleaning (she's of the school that uses a whole container of handy andy and domestos a week...) which has been a true challenge but I am hopeful that we'll get this right! I have stopped buying harsh cleaning chemicals which has been met with moans and groans about the new stuff 'not cleaning properly'... However, now that we're following the directions on the pack we're doing much better!