Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Gremination hot box

Today I mentioned to my son that our seeds that we sowed a few weeks ago weren't germinating due to the cold weather. Yes, it's Spring but its still very cold and wet!

He remembered a hot box that we created for our Botany studies last year and put it back together again. He added 4 punnets of seeds today and by the end of today (after they had been soaking up the heat) we saw some of the first shoots appear.



No doubt they were lying below the surface all the time, but it made him feel really good!

All you need is a cardboard box, 10 volt light bulb, electrical attachments and aluminium foil to make this.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Peas - rethink, reuse, recycle

Today I used a principle - rethink, reuse, recycle!

Our peas needed to be staked so we used some old steel rods, chicken mesh, plastic mesh and burglar bars to support them...



Not the most glamorous solution...but it works!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Fennel soup

My fennel has grown so well that today I made my mom's fennel soup for lunch with some oatbread.






Once the fronds were trimmed (and saved for garnish, chickens and compost) they need to be finely chopped.



Fry them with some chopped leeks in a dollop of butter - oh boy! there goes the cholestrol!



Add 4 cups chicken stock.



Blend with 250ml of cream (oh no did I mention cholestrol?) and sprinkle with some bacon bits and fennel fronds. Delicious!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Spring plantings begin

Today we spent a couple of hours weeding, turning the soil and emptying out our tyres from our first potato planting.

We also planted the following:

Corn
Watermelon
Sweet Melon
Sweet Pepper
Chillies
Onions
Lettuce
Cucumber
Courgettes

It was so hot we ran out of energy at lunch time so tomorrow we will plant the squashes and tomatoes as that bed needs an overhaul.

I also contacted out local nursery and they have not yet recieved their seed potatoes and berry canes...pity!

Chicken Update

Our chickens have settled in so well. They have to spend most of their time in their hutch but they range out for about 2 hrs each morning. We are keeping them well fed with greens, corn, sunflower seeds, other scraps and their sweeties (snails collected from our neighbours garden wall!).

They are giving us 4 eggs a day which is wonderful!