New house!

I've been making a bit of a habit of these monthly posts lately, but life has been in a bit of disarray, making it hard to find the time and equipment to actually post anything! Since I last posted, a few things have happened. We have bid our first house farewell, and are now living with a VERY generous friend, who has taken Paddy and myself, Max the dog, Fang the rabbit AND the entire contents of our house on as guests. Unfortunately, many of the things I wish I had access to, became packed e.g my camera cable... This makes it tricky to share photos of the lovely bunch of peonies I have sitting in a new hurricane vase in the lounge (one of my favourite flowers) and a perfect Crown Lynn swan, rescued by my dear friend from life as a drip-catcher for an overflowing gutter.

But, what I can share is a picture of our new house!!

Isn't she cute? Settlement day has not yet been decided but I can't wait to get in there and get stuck into the garden! With a massive (for us) 678 square metre section, the possibilities for my vege garden, dwarf orchard, bees, chicken house, cut flower garden and compost heap are endless! Not to mention all the lovely things we can do inside the house too. So, watch this space for lots of exciting developments (just as soon as I've tracked my camera cable down...).

Mung Bean Salad in Wholemeal Tortillas

Yum yum yum, I am still licking my lips after tonight's delicious dinner. Inspired by a recipe I found here, I was very excited to try out something new with mung beans. Usually I only sprout them, but now I have found out they are delicious and easy to cook, and make a fabulous base for salads. The recipe called for a vinaigrette, but I decided to use a lemon tahini dressing, as I had some tahini in the fridge that needed using up. Any dressing would be great on this salad though, so use whatever takes your fancy! I wrapped my salad in wholemeal tortillas, with homemade tomato chutney and some salad leaves. Delish!

I have had a busy afternoon, visiting the garden plot I have a share in for the first time. We will be documenting our adventures on a communal blog called Tenderfoot, so be sure to have a look see to keep up to date on what we are doing. I was pleased to come home to an easy and relatively quick dinner, and now I am cooking up a storm, making five seed sourdough, homemade cream cheese, homemade muesli and roasted pumpkin hummus. Now, who is on the dishes...

Mung Bean Salad in Wholemeal Tortillas
1 cup dried mung beans, soaked overnight and cooked until soft (about 15 minutes)
3 spring onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
10 black olives, diced
Large handful of greens, chopped (I used pea shoots, but anything would do)
Handful of fresh mint, chopped

Lemon Tahini Dressing
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp rock salt
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp olive oil

Wholemeal Tortillas
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
About 1 cup warm water

Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. For the dressing, mash garlic cloves with salt in a mortar and pestle to form a paste. Add the remaining dressing ingredients and mix until combined. Toss warm salad in dressing and leave to marinate while you make the tortillas.

For the tortillas, place the flour, salt and oil in a bowl and slowly add the water and mix to form a soft dough. Place dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth. You can leave to sit for a while at this point, or just forge ahead with making your tortillas. Split the dough into eight pieces, and roll into balls. Flatten into circles with a rolling pin. Cook in a very hot pan until brown and bubbling on both sides.

To compose, place a tortilla on a plate, smear with a spoonful of tomato (or other) chutney, add some lettuce leaves and a good spoonful of mung bean salad mix. Wrap and devour.

Tomato Challenge - The Final Weigh In

I don't feel like talking about the earthquake at the moment; maybe I never will. I don't really feel like talking at all, actually. So in the meantime, I have a few posts saved up that I feel like I would like to publish. Trying to find normality in the chaos and devastation is important here at the moment, so this is my way of doing that. Hope you are all well. Much love to you and your families xxx

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Well, here it is. My final weigh-in for the tomato-growing challenge Clare, Ella and I decided on months ago. My competition plant was an abysmal embarrassment and only managed to grow me a pitiful crop, compared to previous years. But oh well, I gave it a go!

If my maths is right, which it often isn't, I managed a total of 1.5 kgs. Not my best effort but still, the pride and delight in growing my own food is yet unsurpassed, and you can bet these tasted better than anything I could have bought from the supermarket :)

Sunday Harvest

This is what Paddy and I picked from the garden this afternoon. We didn't weigh anything but this bounty includes carrots, beans, red and green tomatoes of multiple varieties, zucchinis, a scallopini and some cos lettuce. Not too bad from a tiny suburban garden, huh?

Now, don't ever think you haven't got room to grow your own food!

Tomato Challenge - Weigh Two

Weigh-in number two of the challenge! My plant is looking utterly revolting (I would post a photo but I'm actually too embarrassed), but still has a few more of these babies left on it yet! All of my tomatoes are ripening at the speed of light lately, this hot weather we have been having is great for them! Most of my tomatoes have been going into to-die-for tomato pasta sauce, but I will soon start freezing them for a late batch of red tomato chutney, and hopefully there will be a few greens one around for my famous and much sought after, green tomato chutney!

Tomato Challenge

Finally, something to offer to the challenge! A wander around my garden this evening provided me with quite the bounty, and among them, the first of my rippened black krims! The plant is looking a bit sick, blight I think, but in the face I competition, I have decided to let it keep going. Despite it's illness, it has quite a few green tomatoes on it! Fingers crossed they are enough...

The First Peach

I grew peaches! In Christchurch! And they taste amazing!

 So very proud of myself right now. Oh, and my wee tree. Didn't she do well! 

 I can't wait for the other eight to be ready! Not sure what the praying manti are going to do once we have eaten them all though, they have been having regular meetings on the peaches almost everyday...

Cherry Bounty

We have a 5 year-old cherry tree of unknown variety (although I hypothesise it's a Stella) in our teeny tiny garden. It has the potential to be a full-sized tree, but is planted in a root-restricting bag, in a wine barrel. This, in theory, means it will stay small, but time will tell...
This year we harvested 1.3 glorious kilos of cherries, ready, as always, on Christmas Day. I have been a bit remiss with this post, as we flew up north to see family on Christmas Day, but now seems like a good a time as any to show off the harvest! It's safe to say these cherries were eaten on the plane, and, all gone by lunchtime! Now we sit and wait patiently for next year...

Spring Garden Update

Unfortunately, it's a bit overcast today so these photos are looking a bit drearier than I would like! But, as you can see, things are thriving in my wee suburban patch. We are awaiting the first ripe cherry with bated breath, and I am excited about the progress my peach and nectarine are making! I have a shrub of coriander which I am hoping to harvest seeds from. I only hope it's sooner rather than later, as it sure is taking up a lot of room in my small garden!

Broad Bean, Pea, Orzo and Mint Salad with Avocado Mayonnaise

Oh boy. This salad is amazing! Just like every Sunday, I sat down to plan my meals for the week, based on what I have in the fridge and the garden. Following a delivery of a very large bag of fresh peas from my parents, some organic broad beans from the farmer's market, and a recent binge on mayonnaise making, this salad was born.

Ingrediants
Salad
- 1 cup broad beans, podded and peeled (if you have the patience!)
- 1 cup freshly podded peas
- 1/2 cup dried orzo pasta
- 4 rashers of bacon, fried until crispy
- crumbled blue cheese, to taste (I used a beautiful, raw New Zealand blue from our cheesemonger- divine!)
- handful of fresh mint, finely diced
Croutons
- 3-4 slices of fresh, grainy bread
- olive oil to toss
- salt and pepper to taste
Avocado Mayonnaise
- 2 whole, fresh, free range eggs
- 1 Tbsp vinegar (I used 1/2 balsamic, 1/2 white)
- 1 tsp whole grain mustard
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup oil (I used 1/2 EVOO, 1/2 canola)
- 1 past-it's-best avocado
- squeeze of lemon juice
- grind of black pepper

1. Boil the jug, and pour boiling water over the beans and peas to blanch. After they turn bright green, drain and run under cold water. Fry in a pan with some butter until they start to brown ever so slightly.
2. Cook orzo as per packet instructions. I boil mine like pasta, and keep a close eye on it, as it goes from cooked to soggy quite quickly! Drain and run under cold water.
3. Dice cooked bacon into small pieces.
4. Chop bread into pieces, toss in oil and seasonings, and fry in a dry pan until crispy. Set aside.
5. For the mayonnaise, place eggs, vinegar, mustard and salt into a blender and blend until foamy. Add 1/4 cup oil and blend until combined. Continue to add the oil in batches, blending until combined after each addition. At this point I took half of the batch out to have as plain mayonnaise for later. Then, to the remaining mayo I added the avocado, lemon juice and pepper, and blended again until well combined.
6. To assemble the salad, place peas and beans, mint, orzo, blue cheese and bacon into a bowl, and toss with the avocado mayonnaise. Serve with a side or crispy croutons and enjoy!

This salad was delicious! If you were vegetarian, it would be easy to exclude the bacon. This was filling enough for us as a light dinner, but some grilled chicken or BBQ-ed zucchini would also make a delicious addition. The avocado mayonnaise is a divine treat, and I bet would taste amazing on a BLT. Mmmm, lunch today, I think!

Spring Garden Salad

Two of the things I miss most about living away from home at the moment, is my garden and kitchen. I love to cook, and I especially love to cook with ingredients from my own garden. I have been sitting on this salad recipe for a while, and finally today, all the stars aligned, and I was able to give it a go. All ingredients were picked fresh from my garden, except for the apple, which was from my local Farmer's Market.


 Spring Garden Salad (serves one)

- a handful of spinach
- 1 small beetroot
- 1 small fennel bulb, save some tips too
- 1 apple
- mint leaves
Dressing
- equal parts of plain yoghurt and mayonnaise (about 1 Tbsp of each)
- drizzle of mint syrup
- squeeze of lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste

Chop apple, beetroot and fennel into bite sized pieces. Finely shred mint and fennel tips, and rip spinach leaves into a desirable size. Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake; dress salad. Serve immediately.

This was the epitome of fresh, crispy, seasonal flavours, I loved it! I look forward to more meals cooked from my garden, in my kitchen, throughout the rest of spring and summer!

Spring is Here

Second only to autumn, spring has always been a favourite season of mine. After a long, grey winter, there is nothing that makes me happier than seeing blossoms, daffodils, lambs, and extended hours of sunshine! I love how blossom trees look different almost every day, as they put out petals with an exponential enthusiasm, rapidly changing the landscape with their beautiful pink fingertips.

I am currently enjoying a beautiful display of spring blossoms from my cherry and peach trees, with the nectarine and apricot hopefully not too far behind!

As I mentioned previously, I am currently living in Dunedin for three months. I am lucky to live close enough to home to come back most weekends, and I feed very restful writing this post from my own familiar table. Paddy is taking very good care of the house, rabbit, and most importantly, my plants. I planted out several punnets of seedlings before I left, including the ever-important tomato seeds. I like to tell myself that by the time I am living back in Christchurch permanently, it will be about the perfect time to plant out all these babies into a pre-prepared garden.

Here are my wee seedlings growing happily, and with an alarming amount of vigor! They get bursts of time outside in the sun, and are tucked up warm and safe inside at night, protected from any remaining frosts that make strike.

Just before I left I dug in my green crops (broad beans and peas) to add extra nitrogen to the soil. This is a double-bonus, as it gave the more dank patches of my garden something to do over winter. These are breaking down nicely now, and I plan to add a dose of compost to these same areas soon. I don't use a lot of compost in my garden; once a year seems to be enough, and along with regular doses of worm tea and seaweed fertiliser, my soil and plants stay happy and healthy. I have also pulled out most of my leftover winter plants, and am starting regular sewings of root crops such as beetroot and carrots. I also threw in a new batch of chives (both garlic and normal).

The only problem I have with bugs in my garden is black aphids, which seem to love my alliums. I tried a homemade (and potently stinky) garlic and chilli spray last year, but this wasn't strong enough to get rid of the nasty creatures. I ended up pulling out my chives last year as they were unusable, absolutely coated in black. The onions survived, but required a lot of rinsing before they were de-bugged enough to eat. A green-fingered friend of mine told me that plants only attract bugs where they are stressed or unhealthy, so this year I think I may focus on the overall health of the plants and soil, which will hopefully drive away (or not attract in the first place) any nasty, unwelcome bugs.

Here are some spring moments, captured from my own garden this weekend; hopefully there will be many more to come!

Spring Garden Planning

What a busy week I've been having! I've recently found out I'm moving to Dunedin for 3 months for the final clinical placement of my degree. How exciting! In only 14.5 weeks I'll be a qualified Speech-language Therapist!

But, with this move not far in the distance, I've got ALOT to get organised. From accommodation to car servicing to assignments, and of course, I'll have to be super on to it with my Spring seed planting! I plan to come back for a few weekends to see Paddy and my garden (and I can't miss mine or Paddy's birthdays or our 5 year aniversary!) but I need to have all my seeds ordered and planted before I head off. I'm always slow off the mark with seed raising, but this year I hope to be different.

So, I've spent the last week perusing the King's Seeds catalogue, and creating a strategy for how I am going to fit it all in my teeny tiny garden! Where there's a will, there's a way... trust me.
So here we go, the plan (sorry about the picture quality, click for a better view)...
 

With the addition of my new fruit trees (including another this week, a double-grafted dwarf apricot!) I am going to have to move outside the gate and onto the driveway... Not ideal, as I like to be able to keep an eye on my babies, but unfortunately necessary. Luckily it's actually one of the sunniest areas of the house, and I know the trees will love it.

In my list, there's a lot of regular, tried and trues- my favourite bulls blood beetroot and chantenay carrot, as well as a few new varieties of old favourites, such as slowbolt coriander, genovese giant basil, and a new black coral zucchini. I've also branched out,  including in my order some medicinal flowers, inspired by my much-loved 'Grow Your Own Drugs' books, as well as some new and exciting tomato and chilli varieties.
I find in a small, mostly concrete-surrounded garden, getting bees in can be a problem, so I'm always sure to stock up on bee-attracting flowers. Last year my borage, phacelia and nasturtiums worked a treat, so I'll be sure to plant plenty of those, as well as a few flowers for cutting.

At this point in winter, I start to get a bit down by all the grey days and persistently cold weather, and it always makes me feel better to plan my garden and focus on the upcoming Spring. With the addition of my wonderful new fruit trees, I am even more excited than ever to watch my garden grow!


And, just to make me feel even better, I'll leave you with some photos of my garden from last Spring. So much to look forward to!

Mid-winter Garden

A snapshot of my mid-winter garden...

Broccoli (my first successful head ever, and there are two more!)

Coriander

Silverbeet, turnips, cavolo nero, spinach, beetroot

New blueberry plants

New rhubarb plant

Sorrel

Fennel

Broad bean flowers. No bees around to pollinate them unfortunately. Hopefully come summer they will pod up. The green leaves are good to eat though, for both humans and bunnies.

Parsley

Cherry tree buds

Just arrived this morning! Much daydreaming and planning to be done...

What is in your garden at the moment?