There hasn’t been any posts on self-sufficiency for ages, so I thought I would share my first attempt at pickling. I’ve tried sauces, butters and jams before, but never pickling. We had an excess of cucumbers, and the most common recipe in my cook books for using up cucumbers was ‘Bread and Butter Pickles”. Apparently the … Continue reading Bread and Butter Pickles
Tag: Vegetable garden
Digging up Spuds!
Months and months ago, I found an old bag of seed potatoes that looked past their best. They were all withered and sending out shoots into the air. Although I didn’t hope for much, I decided to put them in the ground to see what happened. Miracle of miracles, they grew! Yesterday, Richard dug … Continue reading Digging up Spuds!
Vegetable Tales
For those of you who have been following the vegetable garden and our attempts to grow our own food, I’m sorry for the long wait. The truth is, we’ve had more failure than success over the past year. Initially the vegetables planted in the greenhouse seemed to be doing very well. When Winter came, we … Continue reading Vegetable Tales
Greenhouse Cucumbers
Pollinating the cucumber flowers while the plants are locked in the greenhouse, away from insects, turned out to be a non-issue. The plants we chose are self pollinating. That’s pure luck – no forethought involved at all. It’s now possible to see the baby cucumbers growing on the vine. The yellow flowers are a beautiful … Continue reading Greenhouse Cucumbers
Our Greenhouse Vegetables
Our greenhouse vegetables are growing beautifully. We’ve already harvested and eaten the radishes, which were delicious. The lettuce, carrots and beetroot are developing well, and it won’t be long before we begin to harvest these too. Lettuce and root vegetables are pretty straight forward – plant the seeds, water, and wait. However, the cucumber plant … Continue reading Our Greenhouse Vegetables
Setting-up the Greenhouse
Over the last couple of weeks, we have began to use the greenhouse. First, to hospitalise plants that were burned in the severe heat, and then to raise seedlings in punnets. Thanks to family help, we also have one of the raised garden beds filled with soil, and have directly planted it with seeds as … Continue reading Setting-up the Greenhouse
Today’s Harvest
I haven’t written about the vegetable garden for a while, but we are enjoying the home-grown produce so much. After a long time of producing a handful of cherry tomatoes, the tomato vine is beginning to flourish. These small tomatoes are packed with full flavour – so much tastier than the ones available in the … Continue reading Today’s Harvest
We have a Greenhouse!
With the exception of the front door, the greenhouse is now built. To put the door on, we need to dig out the area immediately in front of it – the land rises and prevents it from swinging open. The next step will be to build the raised garden beds inside it.
Getting Back to the Greenhouse
This week, we are preparing to construct the greenhouse. After a busy couple of months, we are finally able to focus on this. The timing will be good as it will allow time for seeds to emerge and take root as we come into Autumn. So far, we have the front and the back section … Continue reading Getting Back to the Greenhouse
A Small Plot
It has surprised me that the path to growing all of our own food has been more difficult than we’d imagined when we arrived. The existing vegetable garden is only small, and when we arrived it was newly planted by the previous owners. An entire half of the vegetable garden is still taken up with … Continue reading A Small Plot
Austracantha Minax (Christmas Spider, Jewell Spider or Six Horned Spider)
Sitting on the twine that supports our broad beans in the vegetable garden was a colourful and (we thought) unusual looking spider. My internet research, verified from several differnt sources, including the Museum of Victoria, tells me that this spider’s scientific name is Austracantha Minax. It seems to have several common names including the … Continue reading Austracantha Minax (Christmas Spider, Jewell Spider or Six Horned Spider)
Fallen Fruit: A not-so-happy story
Here the pictures tell the story. Look at the photo’s I posted last week, and compare them with these. I don’t think we are going to get much fruit this year. The fruit trees are only small. From the sharp edged marks in the top of the pears, I think the culprits were parrots. I … Continue reading Fallen Fruit: A not-so-happy story
Fruit and Vegetables
It has been a long time since I wrote about our vegetable garden and orchard. Partly this is because I became entranced by our birds and began compiling a species list, and partly it is because there wasn’t a lot to write about. Everything had already been planted – mostly by the previous owners – … Continue reading Fruit and Vegetables
Preparing for the Greenhouse
On Friday we had word that the greenhouse is ready to collect from the warehouse. This is exciting news! It comes flatpacked, so next weekend we hope to construct it. During the week, our raised garden beds and greenhouse shelving should also arrive. We’ll need to order crushed rock to form the floor in … Continue reading Preparing for the Greenhouse
First Harvest
We have used some herbs from the garden before, but this is our first vegetable harvest. Sufficient broad beans to make Broad Bean, Leek, Goats Cheese and Mint Pasta. As I didn’t have a leek to hand, I used three of our shallots, and to deglaze the pan when it got too hot, I used … Continue reading First Harvest
Growing Food
Our plans for growing food are beginning to take shape. Eventually, we will have four separate growing areas: 1. Open air vegetable garden 2. Greenhouse for all year round tomatoes, capsicums etc 3. An open air herb garden 4. The fruit orchard. This post documents our starting points for all four areas. See the photo … Continue reading Growing Food
Catching My Breath in Slow Motion
The pace of life seems to have slowed since our move. Partly this is simply because we have passed through three frantic weeks of cleaning, packing and uppacking boxes, shifting furniture into new formations that suit the new spaces, and the settlement on our former home has successfully come to a close. Now we just … Continue reading Catching My Breath in Slow Motion
A Wishlist
Waiting for the property settlement gives me time to dream and plan -there’s seven weeks to go…. I’ve never lived anywhere but in a suburban house before, so thinking about what I could do on 15 acres of land is both exciting and daunting. For some people this probably seems a very small land holding, … Continue reading A Wishlist
Fifteen Acres 