NO SHOW AND A TALLY CATCH UP

Sorry I have been a no show on here! The last few weeks of pregnancy were an exhausting few, with many chores that needed to be completed before we brought our new little man home. And then when I thought I had at least a week to go, my waters broke 1 week before my due date! I will post our birth story in the coming weeks.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD JIREH SAMUEL BORN 14TH NOVEMBER AT 2:37AM WEIGHING 2980 GRAMS OR 6 POUNDS 9 OUNCES AND MEASURING 49.5CM IN LENGTH

23/9/13 - 1/12/13

64 eggs
347 grams onions
1235 grams leeks
2315 grams silverbeet
344 grams parsley
10506 grams broad beans
113 grams capsicum
11 grams thyme
295 grams loquats
507 grams artichokes
163 grams chili
2082 grams rhubarb
337 grams celery
321 grams carrots
947 grams beetroot
3010 grams garlic

TOTAL 64 EGGS AND 22.533 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY HARVEST 35 & FOOD SWAP

Spring has definitely sprung! The garden has become lovely and productive. I have been able to go out everyday and pick something to include in that night's dinner. I am looking forward to summer so that we can have more variety and more volume of produce! This week I also went down to my local food swap so I could swap some of my excess greens for things that I haven't grown.

16/9/13 - 22/9/13

12 eggs
279 grams onion
1396 grams leek
161 grams sage
319 grams parsley
56 grams thyme
9 grams chili
47 grams broccoli
742 grams silverbeet

TOTAL 12 EGGS AND 3009 GRAMS OF FOOD!

To the food swap I took, parsely, sage, thyme, chili, and

yellow silverbeet.

In return I took home this lovely aloe vera plant.

This huge fig tree.

Some oranges.

A large bunch of lemon myrtle. This is an Australian native - bush tucker food. I searched high and low for some earlier this year and it was only when we were in byron bay on holiday that I found some at a little organic shop. So I am thrilled to have some in it's natural state and not pre ground. The great thing about lemon myrtle is that it has anti microbial benefits. Much like tea trea except this is edible and not just topical. 

While we were in the garden we went on a snail hunt and this is half of our bounty. Squiz had a lot of fun helping collect and squash the offenders. 

WEEKLY HARVEST 34 & GARDEN SNAPSHOT

The weather is turning and we are starting to see some gloriously sunny warm days and cool but not cold evenings. Oh how this motivates me to get out in the garden!

9/9/13 - 15/9/13

626 grams parsley
14 eggs
221 grams celery
667 grams broccoli
810 grams silverbeet

TOTAL 14 EGGS AND 2324 GRAMS OF FOOD!

The cabbages are coming along nicely, and I just spotted a sneaky snail hiding!

The broad beans have come along nicely from last week, they should be ready to pick within the next week!

Looking forward to harvesting my garlic in early November when the leave start to turn yellow.

At the end of the tomato season I had a couple of seedlings spring up, I left them in over winter and this is the sole survivor. I wonder how it will perform this summer?

My tomato seedlings are coming along nicely, hopefully I will pot them up into bigger pots in the next couple of weeks. 

WEEKLY HARVEST - NUMBER 30

It wasn't super productive in the garden this week but I had a great time supplementing our harvest by swapping my excess greens for citrus of all sorts at my local food swap.

12/8/13 - 18/8/13

14 eggs
255 grams of lettuce
28 grams of thyme
375 grams cauliflower
125 grams parsley
874 grams silverbeet

TOTAL 14 EGGS AND 1657 GRAMS OF FOOD

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST & A FOOD SWAP.

And so another weekend is here, and my hubby is required to work it, so there will be yet another week of no progress *sigh* I think that makes 3 weekends in a row now! The drainage is still half done, but at least the flooding issue has been resolved. And the house is still upside down, when everything is going to get finished I have no idea, lets hope it is presentable in a couple of months time!

But this is not all bad news, it means I get to go to another food swap. It's been hard for me to get to one lately as I have been so wrapped up in house renovations, I just haven't had the time to spare, a couple of hours is a big deal when you are trying to get stuff ready and renovated around the house and only have one or two days to get it done in. I am looking forward to being able to attend in summer when the weather is glorious and the produce is varied. In winter there just isn't the same amount of variety, but it is still lovely to catch up with fellow gardeners who are passionate about growing their own food.

This is the produce I took to swap:

A couple of bunches of Rubin Lettuce.

A couple of bags full of Lollo Bionda Lettuce.

Three bunches of Lemon Thyme

Four Bunches of Flat Leaf Parsley.

Five bunches of yellow silverbeet.

This is what I brought home:

A lemon

Yellow Limes

Some oranges

Some kumquats

A couple of kiwi fruits.

Some grapefruit.

Some kaffir lime leaves.

A couple propagated grape cutting.

Some seedling trays.

And some large trays to house the smaller trays.

All in all I think I did pretty well swapping my excess produce for things I don't grow or have!

WEEKLY HARVEST - NUMBER 29

This week was quite a successful one, I had a bit of a clear out of some of my greens, as they were  getting overgrown. Hopefully they can get some more light and produce bigger leaves. I picked nearly a kilo of leaves from one silverbeet bush and it didn't even look like it had been touched! 

5/8/13 - 11/8/13

11 eggs

2616 grams silverbeet

431 grams parsley

155 grams capsicum

68 grams peas

19 grams chili

1 grams bay leaf

TOTAL 11 EGGS AND 3290 GRAMS OF FOOD!

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 28

I am a bit behind posting this week, as we started off with some computer issues. But things are picking up in the garden and this week marks the start of tomato sowing season. I think I will start to sow some on the weekend and pop them in the green house, so we can get ready for the bumper summer season, and the arrival of new life. This summer is set to be a busy one. The renovations will hopefully be over by the time bubba Will arrives, but the veggie patch is a daily task with the warmer weather, encouraging things to flourish! Hopefully I can garden when bubba sleeps, and lets hope he sleeps like his brother did (sleeping was NEVER an issue for us!)! And Israel will as always love any excuse to get outside and get his hand dirty. We are thinking about our summer vacation, keeping in mind we will have a one month old. I don't want to go somewhere too hot, but the reality is that it will be an Aussie summer, and it's always hot. So I was think Tasmania as the averages there are always 10-15 degrees lower than mainland Australia. But by then we would have spent all our saving on renovations so it may be unrealistic in us getting there. So I think the verdict is somewhere closer, and possibly in the hills where it is a bit cooler. But I digress and onto the tally we go!

29/7/13 - 4/8/13

7 eggs
684 grams cauliflower
20 grams parsley
2 grams bayleaf

TOTAL 7 EGGS AND 706 GRAMS OF FOOD

Israel loves to collect snails when we go out into the garden! There was no shortage on this day! 

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 26

Life continues to be hectic around here. Time is slipping by way too fast! We only have 17 weeks until bubba Will graces us with his presence. That means 17 weeks to finish half a house worth of renovations. I also want to get all my summer veg in before November. I think by then I will be too big and too tired to get out and garden as I would be 38 weeks pregnant! We still have my son's 3rd birthday and our BaByQ to host in those 17 weeks as well (after my husbands 30th this weekend)! So I am taking advantage of this cooler weather where my veggie patch has slowed down to completed my kilometer long list of chores. This is how my harvest has been this week.

TALLY 15/7/13 - 21/7/13
7 eggs
1298 grams cauliflower
42 grams parsley
397 grams silverbeet

TOTAL 7 EGGS AND 1737 GRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY TALLY - 23 & 24

The garden is growing nicely and has welcomed the winter rains over the last couple of days. Life is still hectic renovating our tushies off, and unfortunately the garden has been put on the back burner. Luckily it's not growing great guns like it would if we were in summer so it can go days and days without me popping my head in. This week I will be harvesting my first purple cauliflower of the season, so I am very excited about that!

24/6/13 - 7/7/13

26 eggs
31 grams lettuce
441 grams silverbeet
96 grams celery
2 grams bay leaf
114 grams parsley

TOTAL 26 eggs AND 684 GRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 21 & 22

My small winter harvests are seeing these weekly tallies actually being fortnightly. Although things have picked up over the last few weeks with more and more silverbeet and parsley thriving in this cold wet yet sunny weather. I also have quite a few purple cauliflowers that are starting to head and in a few weeks they should be ready to harvest. Looking forward to some more cauliflower puree, which we use instead of mash potato when we have too many cauliflowers. It is lovely and sweet and lower in calories which is  always a bonus.

10/6/13 - 23/6/13

50 eggs
360 grams capsicum
15 grams chili
579 grams silverbeet
201 grams parsley
10 grams peas

TOTAL 50 EGGS AND 1165 GRAMS OF FOOD

One of my purple cauliflowers growing nicely! 

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 19 & 20

I haven't meant to be slack - really!!!! Life has been full and busy. We are preparing for the arrival of our little one in 23 or so weeks and have half a house to renovating so we are getting busy preparing and finishing off a few little jobs before the big stuff happens. So all that has taken away from my free time to blog, even though I have wanted to keep you all updated on my garden's progress. I haven't been able to spend much time out there, just every now and again having a wander through seeing if anything is ready to harvest and pulling out the odd weed. So this harvest is a couple of weeks worth of harvesting...

27/5/13 - 9/6/13

30 eggs
148 grams lettuce
222 grams parsley
2 grams bay leaf
4 grams rosemary
2 grams marjoram

TOTAL 30 EGGS AND 178 GRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 18

There has been a little more variety this week, but still a small harvest compared to what I was getting in summer. At least the chickens are laying again, not as much as they were in summer but at least I am getting a couple of eggs a day. The winter veggies are coming along nicely which you can see here. Hopefully the beautiful sunshine today gives them a nice little boost before the rainy week to come.

20/5/13 - 26/5/13
12 eggs
239 grams lettuce
464 grams parsley
54 grams bok choy
7 grams bay leaf
421 grams capsicum
3 grams chili

TOTAL 12 EGGS AND 1188 GRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 16

The garden is growing well with a few more things ripening to be picked soon. Good news I found a couple of local food swaps, which I will be attending in the next couple of weeks with blogs to follow. I have been looking for food swaps for quite a while and then stumbled across these. Basically you take your excess produce and swap it with other peoples excess produce!

3 eggs
143 grams parsley
230 grams capsicum

TOTAL 3 EGGS AND 373 GRAMS OF FOOD

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 15

Everything is on strike. The chooks barley laid an egg and the garden is busy producing plant and not fruit. You may have noticed that I have been a little slack and that is because of the bun in the oven. The garden has really been neglected over the past few months and yesterday I was able to go out pull out some weeds and sprinkle some seeds around.

TALLY 29/4/13 - 5/5/13

4 eggs
11 grams parsley
4 grams bay leaves

TOTAL 4 EGGS AND 14 GRAMS OF FOOD!

A FEW TO FEED SO SPAGHETTI ALLA PUTTANESCA IT IS

I thought I would start this post by telling you how much I HATE HATE HATE furry disgusting salty dried fish things that people call anchovies. But I bought a jar of them a few weeks back to make this dish. Everyone else who came to dinner that night also weren't anchovy fans, some of them hated them as much as I do! But in this......mmmmmmmmmmm....you can;t taste then or feel there texture. This is a delicious dish which is easy to make, great on the wallet and very tasty! This is from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. I have re-written the recipe because he does a few things at once and I'm only giving you the recipe for Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca. I served this with garlic bread and a green salad.

INGREDIENTS

500 g spaghetti
200 g tuna in oil
30 g anchovies in oil
2 clove garlic diced
1 tbs capers
1-2 fresh red chilies diced
hand full pitted black olives
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper
2 tins of diced tomatoes
Handful of fresh parsley
1 lemon

Put water onto boil for pasta. Pour some of the oil from the tuna into a hot pan add garlic, anchovies and capers and fry for a few minutes breaking up the anchovies so there are no lumps left (very important to do this especially if you don't like them). Add chilies and chopped parsley stalks. Chops the parsley leaves and put to one side. When garlic mix is starting to get some color add the tuna and break it up. Then add the olives, cinnamon, pepper and tomatoes. Simmer and taste for seasoning and adjust. Add the juice of one lemon and the parsley leaves and then add the drained pasta and toss. Serve.

INDIAN CARROT SALAD WITH WHOLEMEAL FLAT BREAD

I made this recipe a couple of years ago, but tonight have added some twists to suit what I had in the house/garden. This is the original recipe.

This is my version.

INGREDIENTS
600g premium mince beef
3 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sea salt
500g carrots
2 tbs sesame seeds
small bunch fresh parsley
DRESSING
1 tsp ground cumin
1 small red onion finely sliced
1 1/2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Fry mince until crispy and add garam masala and salt.

Grate carrots (you're supposed to shave with a vegetable peeler but i couldn't be bothered - the end result though is texturally fantastic). Add onions and parsley and carrots in a bowl. Mix all dressing ingredients together and pour over salad. Serve with flatbread.

WHOLEMEAL FLAT BREAD INGREDIENTS

2 C wholemeal flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried yeast
1/2 C warm water or more until you get a smooth dough.

Combine all ingredients and mix until you get a smooth dough. Allow to rise for 2 hours. Divide into 6 and roll until very thin. In a dry frying pan and medium to low heat cook for a couple of minutes on each side until you get some colour.

SPRING GARDEN SNAPSHOT

My spring garden is doing really well! I thought I would share some pictures with you.

red cabbage

yellow silver beet

potato

growing seedlings

carrots

sprouting broccoli green and purple

garlic going to seed, nearly ready to harvest

celery, has been so productive but i think it's life is nearly over looks like it's going to seed.

strawberries coming into flower and some little ones starting to grow!

peas have been so productive!

parsley

Rhubarb

coriander

Thyme

Tomato's already flowering!

blood orange in bloom

bay leaf

broad beans

savoy cabbage

Happy gardening!