Flu and what-have-you

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 27 September 2011 in growing | 3 comments

So I got myself all stoked up to do stuff and blog about it to get myself back into the swing of things then I got the flu. The only thing that’s been productive around here in the last two weeks or so has been my phlegmy chest. I’m still not running at full steam but I thought I should try to hop back aboard the blogging train before all the carriages race away from me and this metaphor goes off the completely off the tracks ;)

These last few weeks have mostly been spent slumped on one sofa or another, watching a whole lot of films and eating a whole lot of soup. But in my slightly-better moments, I’ve done some sewing after getting a new embroidery book out of the library just before the virus hit (book review coming soon) and wandered down to see the chickens, lamenting about the sorry state of the garden and wondering if things will fruit/ripen before the frost hits.

The latter put me in a bit of a “I’m a bad gardener” slump until I realised that even with all the dead things, the things that won’t quite get there this year, the things that didn’t stand a chance and the lack of any summer sowing whatsoever, we’ve still got at least ten edible things growing in the garden that we can/will eat: achocha (outdoor – will pick soon), tomatoes (greenhouse & outdoor), courgettes, marrows (ok, so they’re essentially the same thing but we used them differently), cucumbers, peppers, chillis (all greenhouse), leeks, pumpkin and swiss chard.

And that’s before we get onto the wild greens/fruit (predominantly nettles but there are also some bullet-like blackberries at the end of the garden and the dregs of elderberries on the trees near the kitchen), the technically-edible-but-I-probably-won’t-eat-them-now things (like the new leaves/shoots on the squashes & the achocha, or the marigold leaves & heads) and herbs (rosemary, lavender & mint still going strong outside, basil & chives inside, and things gone to seed both outside & in that are still usable just not as good as before they flowered, like dill & oregano).

And it’s also not including eggs – the six girls are still kicking out on average five a day, which is nice.

When I’ve got a bit more energy/less mucus, I’ll write more about our growing year here – lots more lessons learnt and things to definitely not do next year – but this has made me feel a little better about things, that there have been some successes as well as the many failures.

What’s still on the go in your garden?

Check out my proper whopper of a propa(gator)! ;)

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 16 February 2011 in growing | 7 comments

Yesterday I got a bit over-excited on Twitter because my heated propagator arrived.

I’d been thinking about getting on for a while but Fiona, the Cottage Smallholder, gave me the final push at the weekend. I got one on eBay on Saturday for £19.99 + £3.95p&p – and was quite surprised how quickly it arrived.

I was also rather surprised at the size – I had chosen one that looked a bit bigger than standard because it didn’t cost that much more and I had a feeling I’d appreciate the extra space – but it turns out that 52cm by 42cm is really pretty big! Thankfully it fits quite neatly onto the shelf in our porch – and conveniently right next to an electric socket too. One of the reasons I was resisting was a worry about the running cost. The heating element in this one is 18W, which, if my calculations are correct, will cost us 3.4p a day to run – I imagine I’ll run it for a week or so at a time, for a few months so not too much overall.

This morning I filled it with its first batch of seeds to nurse – plugs of tomatoes, chillis & cucumbers. (I told myself that I wouldn’t use plugs this year because it means more work but apparently I’m not very good at sticking to my word. The pots are more tomatoes that I sowed the other day, before I’d done a u-turn on my no-plugs rule.) I’m looking forward to seeing them get started.

It was nice to be preparing the plugs in the greenhouse – the sun had been on it for a couple of hours so it was pleasantly warm. Carla-cat followed me inside and stretched out on the warm aluminium staging for the duration. While I was in there, I also started some broad beans in pots – the end of my bought packet & some saved seeds from last year. Possibly a little early but we’ll see.

Desert Island Dinners: Lizzie’s choices

Posted by louisa on Friday 11 February 2011 in desert island dinners | 0 comments

Lizzie from Lizzie’s Home World is the next victim castaway for Desert Island Dinners.

A frugal/simple living version of “Desert Island Discs”, every week I pry into the culinary secrets of someone from frugal/simple living-osphere.

Here’s the full premise if you’ve missed it:

You’re about to become a castaway on a desert island. The desert island will provide you with misc edible vegetation/wildlife and items that can be fashioned into basic pots/pans/utensils — but just before you’re whisked away, you have enough time to grab a herb or spice from your store cupboard; a special kitchen gadget/tool/utensil or piece of equipment; a cookbook; and a packet of seeds to grow on your any-climate island paradise. What would you pick to take with you? And which of your simple/frugal living skills do you think would be the most valuable while you’re there, and why?

And here are Lizzie‘s answers:

Herb/Spice At home top spices are cumin and coriander for a taste of the East, oregano and basil for when we are heading to the Med. Plus of course we love garlic and ginger. I would like to take all of these but if its down to one then it has to be crushed, dried chillies. We eat a lot of hot food and crushed chillies just add an extra bit of depth whenever it is used. I am assuming we would find plenty of vegetable options on our island and maybe eggs and meat, crushed chillies could just bring those tastes up a notch or two.

Gadget Although I do have a few gadgets like my rice cooker and garlic press I can manage most things with pans and a knife. For crushing coriander and other spices then I would need my pestle & mortar but if I am without my spices then it doesn’t have a use. Living in Greece for few years, in one room as we were really just travellers, i learnt to go without most equipment. I can drain pans without sieve or colander, i can crush garlic with a knife or if it needs to be really creamy then using the bottle of a wine bottle and a saucer. If I have a knife already I am opting for sharpener. All food is going to be cooked from scratch, of the first catch your rabbit variety, so my knife needs to be real sharp.

Cookbook Most ingredients wont be available to me so anything too indulgent would be a waste. I think it would have to be something from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (aka, Hugh Fearlessly Eat it all) as he would know how to deal with anything. I am going with Hugh’s River Cottage Meat Book.

Seeds Opting for oregano here as its job will be to potentially bring flavour to a lot of unfamiliar ingredients. I went through all sorts of options but everything I wanted was too complex like raspberry canes, onion set, seed potatoes. I have decided to stay simple and make it manageable.

Skill My main skill would be ability to deal with adversity without being unhappy. I have knife skills and mostly cook from scratch anyway. I have sewing skills (of the patch a clothes rip variety not couture level). I can make do and mend but I am betting the most useful skill is my ability to be happy and still smiling when things get bad.

Very enjoyable half an hour immersed in life on my desert island. Thank you .

No, no, thank you Lizzie! Some great answers as always – I’m a big fan of crushed dried chillis too (they pop up in most of my spicy recipes) because they’re not as prone to going off as fresh chillis and don’t go stale as quickly as chilli powder. I’ve never read anything by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (or seen him on TV) but I hear lots of positive things about the various River Cottage books so I guess I should look out for them! I love Lizzie’s skill choice too – dealing with adversity without getting down is a wonderful skill indeed.

Thanks again for answering the questions, Lizzie. Anyone else want to be castaway?

Cold smoking eggs – first attempt

Posted by louisa on Friday 3 September 2010 in cooking, smoking | 0 comments

Last week I mentioned in passing that I had another go at cold smoking using my fantastic cold smoke generator. We very much enjoyed the cheese so I wanted to do more of that – but I also wanted to try a couple of other things too, namely eggs and chillis.

Following the directions in my smoking book (Home Smoking and Curing by Keith Erlandson), a week or so earlier, I put some of our girls’ eggs aside to age (since super fresh eggs are rather difficult to peel) then hardboiled them to perfection even if I do say so myself. Then they went in my make-do smoke house, with the cheese and the chillis, and the CSG loaded up with some lovely smelling hickory.

Because I was distracted during the day (carrying 1.5tonnes of woodchips down to the chicken coop then by a comic-book-bringing visitor), I didn’t turn everything as dutifully as I did the first time. I think I first turned the eggs after about six hours – they were a peachy orange on the top side but surprisingly still white on the side facing the CSG and the remaining four hours. (The CSG runs for 10hrs, not the 12hrs recommended by the book, but I don’t think two extra hours would have made a lot of difference in this instance.)