Summer Produce

We are really reaping the benefit of all the effort put into improving our vegetable garden - produce coming out of our ears! It is a great feeling to be able to almost by-pass the fresh produce section of the supermarket and to be able to go out into the garden and pick fresh what will be needed for the evening meal.
Beautiful, pungent, glossy-fresh blackcurrants, destined to become blackcurrant jelly:

And aromatic, tangy, zesty tomatoes, so unlike the tasteless object known as a "tomato" that is available in stores. Store tomatoes only LOOK like tomatoes - in no way is the flavour the same as these home-grown beauties! These will be made into tomato relish. I have so many this summer that I should be able to bottle some and make sauce as well.

Random Thoughts On Doing It Yourself

I've always been a firm adherent of a kind of do-it-yourself, make-it-yourself, grow-it-yourself kind of philosophy as far as is humanly possible. I think that is why I am really attracted to the idea of making my living totally from what I can create with my own hands.

I am fairly anti fast food and I try not to buy much food that comes from a long way away. Having said that, I am not obssessed to the idea of total prohibition - I just like to keep my consumption as local as possible and as home-grown as possible. In the past I have kept goats (for meat, milk and hair), sheep (for meat and wool), chickens and ducks (for eggs) and may do so again in future, but at the moment we are growing a good array of vegetables in our home garden. I love being able to pile a plate up with home-grown goodies, that I know have had no pesticides or other nasties applied to them and which have been grown using only organic fertilizers. I also bake......bread, biscuits (the cookie kind) cakes etc.

Together, we also like to make things for our house ourselves from soft furnishings to furniture and we generate much of our electricity from a roof-installed solar collection panels - we have six and we will, in future, add six more. We also heat our hot water with a solar system.
Next plan is to start collecting rainwater.

At the moment, after an unusually wet summer, I am eyeing off the mini-plague of plump little bunnies that are hopping around our yard as bold as brass - a few of those in the freezer might be nice! (To my sensitive overseas readers, you need to understand that rabbits are an introduced pest species in Australia and eradicating them is actually a good thing, even though they are mighty cute!) They are safe at the moment - I have no means of catching them ;-)

OK - long story short - I have three days at home by myself and I decided to try and buy almost nothing and only eat what was fresh in the garden as a little challenge. Here's what I cooked up for myself last night for dinner - all screaming fresh from the garden. It was heavenly, flavoured with fresh herbs and I didn't miss having a hunk of meat on the plate - I think I could almost live without it, actually (bunnies notwithstanding!)

Garden Bounty, Pastime with Good Company and a Finished Doll

I finished my new doll with multi-joints.........I was wanting to dress her in a vaguely Edwardian style, and by some serendipitous effect, the dress pattern provided with "Verity" by Deanna Hogan was an almost perfect fit! Thanks Deanna!........Deanna's patterns are very clear and full, if this Verity pattern is typical and I can't wait to make the doll. (http://www.blueherondolls.com/)

This doll - as yet un-named has taken a fancy to my Susan Fosnot doll, but she can't have it. Might have to make her a small doll of her own.

We spent New Year's Day in pleasant company with some friends for lunch....most of the food we ate came from our garden - it looked so good that I had to take a photograph.

I wish you all Good Things in 2009!