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Showing posts with the label May

Meal prep - lots of beans

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This Sunday when I did my meal prep it was all about beans.  I had seen a recipe for a black bean burger on minimalist baker  - love her recipes :)  I used ground almonds instead of the walnuts, and added two eggs, and left out the sugar and barbeque sauce.  I processed the mixture in the food processor , and they held together very well.  As you can see the mixture was still a little chunky. I cooked them in a skillet, and popped them straight into the freezer for lunches or dinners during the week. I also had boiled a big pot of chickpeas, so made some green pea curried hummus.  Something different to your normal hummus for sure!  Grated ginger, lime peel and juice, green curry paste and tahini were added along with the chickpeas and green peas.  Next was falafel,  and our local supermarket puts out a monthly magazine. I regularly try their recipes.  I often find regular falafel a bit dry, and loved the cauliflower addition...

The most wonderful time of the year

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This really is the most wonderful time of the year in the tropics.  The weather cools down, and we are still having the occasional rain which keeps the soil damp.  In the side area we now have a roll out awning, which is great as it keeps the open feeling of the garden, but still gives us protection from the rain. I spent some time clearing out the pathway and generally tidying up.  Tropical plants can take over and need to be tamed! The area that you look out on against the fence was looking a bit sparse and uninteresting, so I removed one of the elkhorn ferns from the tree and attached it to a frame on the fence.  The fan palms are growing too big as they used to block the fence, but the leaves are now all above the fence....  I hung a few bromeliads on the trunk of one of them, and planted out a few cordelines.  I also strung some solar lights along the fence so it looks pretty looking out onto the garden at night. Out in the back I am lov...

A little girl busy book

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I showed you the busy book last week that I made for my grandson, and now here is the one I made for my granddaughter.  They are both the same size, a bit bigger than the original one I made a couple of years ago.  She loves to play peek a boo, and giggled when I showed her this page on skype  We keep gathering ideas for a fairy garden, and they have an awesome fairy garden that we visit every time I go over there, so of course I had to have  a fairy page.  the little one doesnt quite fit into the door!  On the opposite page is a branch with little caterpillars that hatch out of their chrysalis.  I might make a few more fairies.  I love the tutu - my granddaughter wears a tutu every week on tutu Tuesday! I also found a very simple teddy bear pattern, but it is still too big for the teddy bears picnic page.   In the end I settled back on this one again - it is such a great pattern and adapts to all sorts of...

Fruit salad alley update

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Fruit salad alley had a makeover!  I had been thinking that the fruit trees needed a little bit of loving care, and when yet another lovely long weekend came around I set to it.  I cut back the passionfruit vine so that it can shoot out some new shoots and produce more passionfruit.  I removed the strawberry pots a while back as they were being swamped by the passionfruit.  They are now in the veggie patch. I wrote about the process and the seed collection has published it on their blog - you can see it here.   I get paid in free seeds, so it is a win-win situation.  Here you can see my lime tree re-potted (and straightened up). All the plants seem happy and there are lots of little green leaves shooting out which makes me happy.

Garden share collective - leaves in May

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I just made the linkup -  check out who else has showcased their lovely gardens here . This months Garden Share collective is supposed to focus on leaves.  Now I could have a happy leaf photo or I could show you my cucumbers.  I was going to take a photo, but it is all too sad. My cucumber was doing OK - little bit of downy mildew which is to be expected in this climate, but I gave it a spray with liquid  seaweed with a little bicarb mixed in and it seemed to be doing just fine.  Then the rains came, and it rained, and it rained.  The highest rainfall recorded in this area in May in 96 years! We had 200ml overnight a couple of weekends ago. I had noticed a little insect damage and sprayed with garlic chili spray, but of course the rains washed that all off, but they still carried on chomping.  I saw a couple of catterpillars, so the whole bush got another spray of garlic/chili, but now the whole bush has died. I also had a lovely bed of tatsoi and...

Green ants nest

I know some of you have been interested in the green ants we find here.  We have been seeing trails of green ants all around the garden and last weekend found the nest up in the tree.  It was about three feet around!  I know they are befeneficial, but that was just too many ants in my little garden, so we cut it down and my brave hubby carried it attached to a long stick down to the creek.  I didnt get any photos, but found this fascinating video that shows how the nests are built. Sir David Attenborough is the best!  Anyone else a fan? http://www.treehugger.com/animals/watch-these-incredible-green-ants-build-leaf-castle.html

Coffee beans and passionfruit

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I harvested the remaining coffee beans this weekend - so they are out on trays drying.  Honey processing, so that means they still have a certain amount of the fruit attached as they dry.  The curly parsley is doing well in the wicking box.  I keep cutting the bigger stalks, and the plants keep producing more stalks.  I love to have plenty of parsley for salads, taboulli, soups, in fact a handful of parsley will improve just about anything. The other things that I have been having success with lately is microgreens.  I will do a separate post on them soon.  They deserve a post of their own.   Here I have radish and kale.  I also took a photo of the passion fruit forming from the center of the flower.  Isnt nature awesome? I am enjoying the slightly cooler weather and pretty regular rainfall.  

Flowers, fruit and tea

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The cordelines are flowering and I think they look quite scruffy.  The bees and honeyeaters love the flowers though.  I thought I would take a closer look at the flowers.  They are quite untidy as the birds go crazy pulling bits off, and they go in all different diections....  Taking a closer look shows how pretty they are though.  They remind me of the flowers on the bromeliads.  At long last my passionfruit vine has flowers, and fruit.  It has taken so long - I am really not sure why.  Fruit salad alley is sure looking productive lately.  Lemons, limes, the odd strawberry and mulberry, and now passionfruit.  It is perfectly place near the front door because you can smell their sweet scent even before you see the flowers.  It is like living in paradise.  I am truly blessed.  Sometimes I experiment with seeds that I am not sure will grow in my climate.  I ordered a bag of seeds specially for teas. Lemon Balm...

Garden Share collective - wrapping up May and heading into June

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Time to link up with the Garden Share Collective  again    No, I haven't fallen off the end of the world, but the last time I posted was last months catchup, other than sharing my chickpea patty recipe..  Gosh, that is bad.  I said I needed some inspiration though, and just in the last week I have got it in buckets. I won second prize in a competition (I didn't want to win first prize - I already live here where the weekend getaway is lol!)   I am pretty excited and this is excellent timing! 2nd, 3rd and 4th prizes:  A  Richgro  Organic & Natural Gardening Pack (value $85). Each pack contains: 1 x Mega Booster Complete Organic Fertiliser 1 x Mega Booster Vegetable and Herb Fertiliser 1 x Charlie Carp Organic Liquid Fertiliser 1 x Beat-A-Bug Naturally based Insect Spray  ā€“ 1 Litre Ready to Use 1 x Beat-A-Bug Naturally based Insect ā€“ 1 Litre Concentrate 1 x Beat-A-Weed Naturally based Weed Killer ā€“ ...

Curried Chickpea stacks

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I entered a recipe into the Grains and Lentils competition and am now in the top picks. So exciting! Check it out  http://www.glnc.org.au/recipecomp/tag/top-picks/ I just love cooking with chickpeas and found that these patties and the rice mix freeze very well so have been awesome for lunches.  I hope you like this recipe. There is still time to enter if you are quick.

Garden Share collective May - better late than never!

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Here we are already halfway through the month and still no veggie garden catchup.  Hubby sent me a photo of the veggie garden to show that he was watering as requested, so I thought since I have one photo I will be able to give you a run down of how things are going in my veggie patch. It is most unusual for us not to have any rain, and I must admit that the garden has been struggling. I just never seem to find the time to water. Luckily the fact that I now have quite a bit of shade from the Barbados cherry the soil is not sitting in the hot sun and those shady areas seem to be doing just fine.   The long green beans are going crazy and have gone right over the top of the Barbados cherry.  There are lots of beans that I miss and then only notice once they are dry and wrinkly.  Oh well I now have plenty of seeds to share around!  They are pollinated by green ants which can cause a nasty bite, and so it is not always pleasant picking them and avoiding the ant...

Garden share collective June 2014

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Once again another month has rolled by and it is time to link up with  Lizzie at   strayedtable  for our monthly collective where we share what has happened in our gardens for the last month and what we hope to be working on for the next month.  Wrapping up May and heading into June. Last month I wanted to work on: Seed tape .... I did make seed tape, and did a tutorial on the processs - you can see it  here.   It was fun, and worked well, expecially with kids. Mostly though I see a space and throw a few seeds in.  I can see myself doing it at the beginning of a planting season. Worms . .... I have been adding a little of the worm castings every time I plant something, and as a side dressing when plants seem to need a bit of a boost.  It does seem to help. Sitting .... plenty of that - I like the new (original) location of the swing where we have a long view of the garden. - veggie garden is just around that corner.... Eat veggies ...