Crunchie Test

I haven't made crunchies in absolutely ages... I seemed to remember them being a bit of a mission to make. Not so at all! It took all of about 3 minutes to mix the ingredients (excluding the rush to Pick'nPay when I realised I had no coconut and nothing apropriate to substitute it with!) and the first recipe I tried baked for 15 min (which I decided was actually too short - see the lighter crunchies) and the second one 20-30 (I left them in for 30 which turned out to be a little too long and the edges burned a little)



This is a pic of the banana loaf that was made and consumed last weekend... the banana bits were really big when I usually mash them finer and this resulted in burned bits around the edges. It tasted delicious anyway!

Some things that put a smile on my dial today

Apart from the fact that it's the most stunning day in Cape Town (enough to keep you smiling all day!) I have taken a few photos of some other things that have made me happy... you'll soon relise just how much I miss my growing garden when it's cold and rainy and way to muddy to venture out :-)


The peach, plum and nectarine trees gushed blossoms overnight!


The bees are back and loving the new food...


The orange trees are taking the oppotrunity to send out new growth (they produced the sweetest juiciest biggest naval oranges a couple of months back!)

Quilting Project

Growing up going to a Waldorf School and having a grandmother who owned a boutique and made everything beautiful you can imagine has inevitably resulted in my becoming infected with the hand-work bug! I remember tackling a hexagonal quilting project with Ouma a a little girl but I don't remember much about it and never saw a finished project (I think Ouma was protecting me against major disappointment!!!)

I recently saw the most divine quilt in a home magazine... I've seen a few in some stores too but lets just say that my credit card would melt beyond recognition even after a great month :-) Got me thinking and inspired though... I headed out the next morning into retail bliss - a fabric shop in Salt River and bought the most gorgeous coloured Taffeta, some crushed and some normal.

Here's where I'm at so far:

Each piece of fabric was ironed and pinned to a paper template before being hand stitches into rows. You'll never believe how many pins it took to make a king sized quilt! (I headed back to the haberdashery store at least 4 times to restock and I was never stingy!)

Once the blocks were all sewn together I cut a piece of backing (lining) and batting (the stuffing part). Next task is to sew the three layers together and then sew around each block. The outside edges can be done on my machine but the quilt is too big to all fit through the machine... I guess it'll stay truly hand-made :-)

Strawberry plan

It's time to plant out the strawberries which have been carefully looked after in their seedling trays (all of the established plants had to be taken out of the garden beds as the chickens eat the leaves and scratch them clean out of the soil when they're looking for grubs and taking a sand bath!) There are still about 30 strawberry plants in pots and troughs that for some reason have decided it's time to start making fruit... I'm so sure this is way too early and as a result of the very warm winter weather we've had in Cape Town. Holding thumbs that it doesn't negatively affect the plants through their proper friut season!

I have been racking my brain for weeks now as to where and how to plant out the new plants... I can buy hanging and wall baskets from the wholesaler but at a great cost (you have to spend a minimum of R2000 which is one hell of a lot of strawberries that could be bought at Woolies at R40 per punnet!!!). I have some in troughs at the moment which work quite well and am trying to get my very able and generally willing dad to build a stand for them so they can be off the ground (that is, away from the chicken's beaks and claws!) and into a better sunlight position... But this only solves the problem of the strawberries already in their "final home" :-)

We had a guest to visit last weekend who came to see the chickens (I am very proud and tell everyone about them!), when he saw all of the strawberry plants in trays he suggested building an A-frame and attaching plastic gutters all down both sides to put the plants into as they don't need very deep beds and the narrowness of the guttering means that the berries will grow over the side and not lie on the soil... I love the idea!!! I unfortunately don't have enough space to use an A-frame but I've spent the weekend identifying potential walls that I can attach multiple gutters to. I've checked to see how much direct sun these walls receive as well as the visual impact of having gutters on said walls.

I have a great big wall that can have 4m long gutters and if I space the plants 20cm apart I can fit 18-20 plants in a level. This should deal with the 150 plants waiting to be planted out! I feel like this is a success already ;-) Tomorrow's task is to buy guttering from the hardware store , put ends on, drill holes in the bottom for drainage and attach them to the wall. Tuesday is reserved for planting out of all plants. Smiles all round! I can't wait for summer and yummy fruit and Jam and Daquiries and, and, and!!

Planning for Spring

There are many things I look forward to but I have to say warmer weather is probably that which makes me most happy!In the meantime, the fruit trees are all completely naked and the garden looks bare... There are still some veggies in their boxes but things are looking like I've taken a big holiday. I used the weekend to start idying p the garden in preparation for spring planting and this week's tasks include pruning the rose bushes and planting seeds indoors so I can move them out once they're established.

Planting will be done in a very orderly fashion this year, having established over the last two what gets eaten and what gets forgotten in the fridge! Its time to start planting potatoes and I am going to do this in a big way and over a few months: we love potatoes! We eat baked potatoes, potato wedges, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes and with anything you can think of... We're espacially fond of sweet potatoes and I've discovered that you can cook them in all the same ways as normal potatoes rather than the standard sweet mash (which we also love!), they make a great savoury potato wedge too.

The beans are always a hit so I'll be planting a fair number of these. I'm due to plant some more carrots as the last ones are near ready for harvesting and the animals love the tops

Summer in the Middle of Winter!

After a week of miserable, rainy and freezing cold weather (my car said it was 3 degrees C the other morning)I woke up late to find the most glorious day! Helped a little by the fact that it was after 8 (when I'm normally up at 6), it was warm enough to venture into the garden and feel the soil... Maybe I'm a little soft!



Making the most of the warmth I cleaned up the strawberries - all 60 plants ready to be planted out - and decided to give the carrots, onions and beetroot some seaweed fertilizer. I have to brag a little as I'm so very proud of my carrots :-) In 2 square meters we've had carrots galore... I was overzealous when I planted my seeds so I've had to thin them out substantially. The rabbits and chickens go crazy for the greens and the baby carrots taste amazing raw and in a basic root veggie roast. I have harvested carefully more to thin out the veggie box than clear it so each time we have carrots they're a bit bigger.

Once I finished pottering in the garden (cup of tea in hand!) I tackled the box of guavas I bought on Friday. I've discovered that if I'm brave and have a plan, I can buy large quantities of fruit or vegetables that are in season from the hawkers outside the Epping Market (Cape Town Fresh Produce Market) for less than half of what they cost in any of the commercial shops. I ended up with 8kg of guavas which were ripe enough to stew today.

Stewed Guavas

4kg Guavas, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups sugar
15 whole cloves
10ml ground cinnamon
rind and juice of 1 lemon
3 cups water

Dissolve the sugar in the water along with the cloves and cinnamon before adding the guavas. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. I have messed this step up twice already - the pot boils over in a second, even once it's turned down so be very careful! The mess is super sticky and the syrup burns on my gas hob... Not ideal. Allow the mixture to simmer until the fruit is soft. Pour into hot, sterile jars, clean the rims with a clean cloth and screw the lids on lightly (as the jars cool a strong vacuum will form). It's a good idea to wash the jars under warm/hot water at this point or else the spilled bits dry and you never get rid of the stickiness on the jars. Makes 4 x 750ml jars.

Serve with bulgarian yogurt and honey.

I've added these jars to my preserve collection - I've tried to can fruits and veggies in season rather than buy expensive out of season imports that have lost much of their flavour. The tomatoes from the garden that my Ouma helped me bottle are the tastiest, juiciest addition to so many great meals (and can even be eaten like sweets!). Since the tomatoes I've done truckloads of apples and pears but there's a mouse in my house that eats them with his breakfast as fast as I can make them... Time to visit the Epping Market again I think!

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!