Thursdays Findings

After what seems like such a long time, the sweet peas have started to flower. There is a real splash of colour heading for the garden in the next couple of days as buds open up.

This photo was taken about midday today and shows the impact the sun showers have had on the garden, it's turning into a jungle!

Even after laying low for the winter the raspberries are greening up and heading for the sky, or the path. You can see a little renegade raspberry coming up through the rocks.

New garden plantings and AP system

After the days and days of sun and rain alternating across the Great Southern the vegetables are really putting on some growth spurts. The corn is taking off and the tubers are doing well.

In the aquaponics system we have harvested the first little crop of snow peas. These were planted some time ago and were one of the colonising plants for getting the system underway.

This garden bed is planted with brahmi and watercress. The watercress has thin fibrous roots that have actually reached down as far as the drain and are all around the plug. Some 25 cm plus from the top. Because of this I will either keep this bed as a watercress only bed or after adding an extra pond to the garden pond system, may put it all in there where it is less likely to cause any root problems.

Watercress is one of the plants that I have wanted to grow lots of due to its nutrient content. Even the plants along the local roadside verges where there is trickling water or damp spots are thriving at the moment and in full flower with their white tops.

Yummy Yummy Fruit salad

My wife made me this beautiful fruit salad this morning and after a few mouthfuls I just had to take a photo to capture the moment. Blueberries, oranges, mango, strawberries. We also made our own granola a few weeks back using soaked oats, nuts and seeds and wheat berries. Really nice along with home made yoghurt.

Those crazy birds

All of our chooks like one particular nest. I have offered alternative nests and nesting sites but to no avail. Usually they take turns during the morning to lay an egg each. Now that Jennifer Aniston is clucky they often will nestle into the nest with her. Much to her disgust however. This morning however as I went into the yard to kick Jennifer off the nest for the day to feed and clean herself - I came upon this site much to my amusement.

It seems there was a traffic jam for the nest box at this time. If you look closely you can still see Jennifers head sticking out of Stella's backside. Sure enough, there were three eggs waiting for us some time later. Not that Jenny has been laying much, the other would have been Clarice's. She must have got in before the rush.

Beet kvass and Bread & Butter Pudding

We had friends call for dinner last night. One had never had bread and butter pudding so before they headed back home today I made one with the rest of the baguette that we had. Just a nice, simple pudding with a dash of lemon juice, some finely diced lemon rind that I had left over and a scattering of sultanas into the mix. It turned out lovely and they were delighted to take it home, if it lasted that long on the car trip.

I have also recently been making batches of beet Kvass. Simply just a few small beetroot or a large one cut up into chunks put into a ceramic bowl with a 1/4 cup of kefir or yoghurt whey, about 8 cups of rainwater and not quite a tablespoon of celtic sea salt. Covered with a plate or muslin cloth and left for two days. I then filter it into bottles and refrigerate, using the left over beet to make another batch, usually just with water and salt as it already has the active bacteria present.

It keeps in the fridge for some weeks and has a really beautiful colour depending on the beetroot variety used. I usually add a 1/4 cup and fill with water. It has a subtle beetroot flavour and is unusually thirst quenching. It is a very popular beverage in Russia and is very good for supplying beneficial bacteria into your body along with the health benefits of beetroot.