Keeping Up With Sandy

  9 September 2020 Today isn't meant to be much of a day, weather wise, but to me it's perfect. Not too hot and not too cold - its just right. Look at me sounding like the 3 Little Bears! If it wasn't for the gale force Nor' Westers. I can barely stand up let alone my poor wee chickens hanging on for dear life! And the soil is getting blown into my eyes with each spade full that's turned over. Flag that!!! I have plenty of other jobs I can be doing instead of peeling my eyes out with windblown dirt!  Such as planting some Blackcurrent cuttings... This is cuttings I took in June. It is now 4 months later and the start of spring is upon us. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. Blossom is out on the plum trees and the apple and apricot trees are in bud and starting to bloom too. The new growth on these blackcurrents is pleasing and should be the start of a beautiful high yielding blackcurrent bush. I'll transfer them to big pots and make r...

  Time To Get Prepared. "My GOAL is to tame and maintain my unruly garden and turn it into a edible work of art for everyone to enjoy at next to no cost!" With all this  Coronavirus  stuff happening and the economic crisis I think now more than ever it's important to prepare ourselves for what may come. Already we're seeing the effects of lock down on households and their financial issues becoming more and more desperate. But never fear, we can all do something to help out our situations, being mentally, physically and financially or that of someone else's all by simply putting in a vegetable garden. You don't have to have a lot of ground as there are many compact gardening solutions you can easily achieve all with a simple pot or bowl, bucket or cup. Tyres in particular are excellent for growing potatoes. You can buy cheap and effective glasshouses from places like  Mitre10  or  The Warehouse  (New Zealand). And if you're anything like me and have chi...

  8 September 2020 Great day for gardening today. Spring is definitely here with the warmer days and blossom starting to bud and bloom on the fruit trees. Morning started off with a frost and sun was shining brightly by 7:45am with occasional cloud in the afternoon. Raked all the sticks and straw off the paths and threw the last of the pile of weeds into the compost. Dug a small garden for Courgettes and a new garden, possibly for herbs. Its currently growing 2 Rhubarb plants but my daughter can have them as I already have about 15 of them in my big garden. Before: Looking particularly messy if I do say so myself. After: With a lot of elbow grease and some help from my chicken friends, this area was tidied up over the course of 2 days. Red Chicken is breaking up the small garden for my Courgettes/ Peppers. I have taken to watering the garden at about 4pm when the day is nearing an end so it soaks into the ground overnight as opposed to watering in the morning and have it evaporate ...

  Mince, Mashed Potatoes and Veges Dinner for 2 with leftovers. Ready to serve in 30 minutes. A quick and easy meal that's full of tasty goodness. Ideal to warm the belly on a cold night. INGREDIENTS: 400g               Mince (Ground Beef) 2 Large          Carrots 1 Small          Onion 1 tsp                Salt 4 Grinds         Pepper 2 tsp                Cornflour, heaped 1/2 Cup          Water plus enough to cover mince 2                   Oxo Cubes  OR 2 tsp                Beef Stock, heaped 1/2                    Kumara (Sweet Potato) You can add any sort of vegetables to the min...

  Pikelets Mouth watering Pikelets that are like pancakes, only better. Best served hot with lashings of butter and maple or golden syrup or cold with jam and whipped cream. Makes approx. 12 Large Pikelets INGREDIENTS: 1                  Egg 1 Tbsp       Golden Syrup 1/2 Cup     Sugar 1 Cup         Self Raising Flour, heaped 1 Cup        Milk METHOD: 1. In a bowl add the Egg, Golden Syrup and Sugar. Using an electric beater, beat till light and fluffy. 2. Gradually add the SR Flour and Milk alternately and mix. Add the flour first and mix to a batter then the milk to thin it out. This should help ensure no flour lumps.  Make sure the batter is not too thin and not to thick. It should not be so thin that its transparent when you run it off the tip of a spoon and not so thick that it falls off in clumps. Somewhere in between. You'll soon learn the desired consi...

  Caramel Oat Slice Tray Size: 20cm x 20cm Makes 16 pieces A gooey caramel centered slice with a somewhat healthy base.(it has rolled oats!!!) Topped with a delicious crumble. Ingredients: 1 ½ Cups    Flour ½ tsp          Baking Powder ½ Cup        Dessicated Coconut 1 Cup          Brown Sugar 1 ½ Cups   Rolled Oats 1                   Egg 150g            Butter, melted Filling: 100g            Butter 395g            Condensed Milk 2 Tbsp         Golden Syrup ½ tsp           Vanilla Extract Method: Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm cake tin. Combine dry ingredients. Add egg and melted butter and mix together. Press ⅔ into cake tin. Set aside remaining mixture for crumble topping. To ...

  Fudge Cake Tray Size: 30cm x 20cm Makes 24 pieces A delicious, moist chocolatey fudge cake that's sure to please the taste buds. Ingredients: 400g          Butter 250g          Sugar 500g          Crushed Wine Biscuits 2Tbsp        Cocoa 1                  Egg ½ tsp         Vanilla Essence Method: On a medium heat melt butter in a large pot. Add sugar and cocoa and stir constantly so it doesn't burn on the bottom. When combined and sugar isn't so grainy, remove from heat and beat in the vanilla. Let it cool slightly so egg can be added and mix together. Mixture should be cool enough so when the egg is added it doesn't cook. Add crushed wine biscuits and mix until well combined. Press into a lined  tin. Leave it to set. Ice with any of the following.... Chocolate Icing Cream Cheese Icing Peppermint  Cara...