It
is a cold misty morning and I am surveying my garden with despair, so much work
to do and it is so sodden! Time to rap
my knuckles! These are the days when you
take stock. I thought about what I wrote
in my last post about planning. I must
not be such a hard taskmaster.
I
realised that I could, if I wanted to, survive off my plot now. I did a quick accounting of what I have
growing – silverbeet (Swiss chard), swede, carrots, celeriac, celery, kale,
yams, leeks, red cabbage, some manky Brussels Sprouts and some tough as boots
turnips. Also some broccoli and spring
cabbage lurking about in the flowerbed by the house! This is not counting the beans (green and
broad), sweetcorn and broccoli in the freezer the pumpkins in the wash house
and a multitude of bottled fruit and jams and pickles. I realize that my problem is that I am
focusing on all the weedy bare patches and that I didn't grow enough potatoes,
onions and that my succession sowing was a bit hit and miss. For example, it is
an ideal time to be harvesting cauliflowers, but I didn't put any in. So, time to stop being negative and
concentrate on the positive. Also, I am
so blessed to be living in an area where we can have a winter garden.
Here
the snow stays on the ranges and we only get snow about once every 20
years. This view is about 500 metres
from my home.
The
mist seems to be dispersing so I am going to venture out there to sow my broad
beans! No peas this year, when I went to the garden centre to buy seeds, I was
told that the Wairarapa can’t grow peas till 2018! Apparently, our area has pea weevil and as there
are commercial growers in our area, they are banned even for home gardeners. The broad beans are seeds I saved from last
year and I think I will sow them in punnets as even the ground that is under
plastic tunnels is so wet, I am sure they would rot. I have a plastic greenhouse that should suit
them, but I think I am going to move it to a more sheltered spot as last week’s
winds tried to make a kite out of it! I
had to tie it to the fence!
Later,
Beans in. .Now some soup – my take on a
Pumpkin Soup. Like all Kiwis I love
Pumpkin Soup - it is almost a national dish.
But I said I was going to ring the changes. So, I am adding Bacon, Potato and some
spices, and a sprinkling of Swiss cheese.
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
800 gm small
pumpkin, squash or butternut approx peeled
200 gm potato
peeled
1 onion sliced
half leek sliced
2 rashers of
smoky middle bacon cut into pieces
clove garlic
crushed
vegetable stock
cube crumbled, or your favourite stock
half teaspoon
cumin and 2 teaspoons coriander both ground.
Salt and pepper
to taste
chilly flakes or
grated cheese for garnish
Fry
onion and leek in tablespoon of oil, add garlic, then add spices and fry for a
minute or so. Add diced bacon.
Chop
pumpkin and potato into small chunks add to pan, stir and then add stock cube
and cover with water.
Cook
at a slow simmer for twenty minutes; do not overcook as you want the pieces of
pumpkin to stay whole. That’s it. You can add cream, or a sprinkling of chilly
flakes or some grated cheese. Serve with chunky home made bread.
Tip: When
cutting up the pumpkin cut into wedges and microwave for a couple of minutes,
it will be easier to peel.
This weekend a friend
visited and presented me with a huge bag of walnuts, my favourite nut, so I
have been cracking them open and putting in storage jars. I will leave half of
them in their shells as they stay fresher that way. I love them, one of my favourite recipes is
in an Apple and Walnut cake, maybe next time I will share the recipe.
That is it for today, so till next time have a great week and thanks for visiting.
Hello Sharon! What a lovely place you have! It's so true that we often focus on what is wrong instead of what is right. Even though it's been a terrible year for our garden, pumpkins have thrived, so thank you for the wonderful recipe. It looks delicious! What a nice friend to bring you all those walnuts. Our neighbor has a heartnut tree and it drops a lot of nuts on our property. We shelled and froze several pounds last year. Hoping to get some more this year. Enjoy your gardening!
ReplyDeleteHugs
Jane