Weeding, Mozzarella, Tomato Puree

Finally a cool day. A steady breeze blew across the valley and with the humidity it felt like a cool sea breeze. Making the most of the conditions the various bean beds received a weeding. Weeding is something we are not good at performing. Not so much the action but the regularity of the activity. The measure of out laziness was the number of barrows of weeds that went into the compost. At least today we got a start with all the bean beds finished and a good watering afterwards. Hopefully this will provide the inspiration to complete some of the other vegetable beds. The problem is that having taken a few days to relax and read a pile of books it becomes increasingly more difficult to venture out and get stuck into the many outside tasks.

Originally the plan for today was to make the cows milk version of Manchego known as Hispanico. But Jean wanted some Mozzarella for a dish in tonight's meal. It is the last supper for her mum who is catching a late night bus back to Stanthorpe. And so Mozzarella it is. I did cheat and read a few chapters during some of the shorter steps but managed to get other tasks finished or started. The recipe followed was from Neil and Carol Willman's book Home Cheesemaking.

 

A lot of Mozzarella

 

Since we are going to have a lot of Mozzarella it seemed necessary to make up some sour dough pizza base to be used in tomorrow nights meal which surprisingly is going to be pizza. Probably the best time of year for pizza since there is so much fresh produce in the garden which is suitable for the dish.

 



Pizza base dough mixed and souring overnight

 

Jean and her mum spent a productive hour in the Tomato bed harvesting enough fresh tomatoes for me to puree and bottle. Getting lazier every year. This time the tomatoes were sliced in half to confirm there were no grubs and stuffed into a heavy based pot on low heat. Once there was some semblance of liquid in the bottom a bit more stuffing occurred and then the mix broken up a little more with the stick blender. The entire batch was brought to a slow rolling boil and the stick blender poked about to ensure no oversize pieces that might block the funnel. The bottles for filling were just a collection accumulated from various sources. They have been processed through the dishwasher for sterilisation and the heat from the sauce will now be enough to ensure nothing nasty happens. We still have plenty left over from last year and this years meagre harvest will have little impact on our stores.

 

One of our best acquisitions many years ago is this simmering pot which has a really thick base and nothing ever burns or sticks

A motley collection of jars but they work and more importantly get used more than once before recycling. Always seems a waste to use a new jar only once or buy jars when so many are thrown out.

 

 

Ramifications of Renovation, Newly Tiled Floors, Weeding and Planting for Autumn, Gordon's Birthday

Ramifications of Renovation

One of the bonuses of renovating is in packing up all the belongings in a room. It inevitably leads to review the need for each item. Our rationalisation saw a lot of books and unused bedding going to the Salvos. Nothing wrong with the books it was just that they were not of use to us e.g. Some Pritikin Diet cook books, many old history texts and technology books. The bedding was for a double bed which we no longer have since upsizing to a King size. The added space on the shelves will enable a better presentation of the many treasures we keep.

Newly tiled floors

The tiler was very quick only four days to completely finish the lounge room, hallway, dining room and laundry. Hardly any inconvenience other than to the dogs who had to be tied up all day and then kept out of the house while the adhesive dried. But what a spectacular change to the feel of the house. So much brighter and cleaner looking lines. Should have been done 20 years ago.

Of course the work only started when the tiler left. The grouting dried overnight and allowed the vacuuming and washing of the floors the next morning before starting the re-assembly of all the furniture. The hard work is in the cleaning of all the furniture to remove dust from crevices and rubbing the wood items with furniture polish. Another tedious task is to sort the books into some type of order on the shelving given their different heights and topics. After two 10 hour days for both of us the lounge and dining areas are complete and the the books are all back.

Gradually over the next couple of days the laundry came together and the skirting boards renovated and replaced. Still to come are the linen cupboards and the welsh dresser. Easily another few days work.

Weeding and Planting for Autumn

With all the effort devoted over the last 6 weeks to renovations the unused garden beds have become overgrown. Because we have been living off the produce from the Summer Tomato bed little attention has been given to anything else. Well now the time has come to clean up and commence planting for Autumn and Winter.

All the weeds and vegetables gone to seed are composted. Most of the area is covered in chicken litter and heavily mulched while a small amount is fertilised with compost and planted with a few cabbage and Kale seedlings. A few more lettuce are planted and a row or two of beetroot. A few weeks ago we sowed some Chinese vegetables to give us an interim crop of brassicae. The radish ready and they were under sown with carrot. The rocket is also large enough to be harvested. And so the transition starts.

Happy Birthday Gordon

Gordon turned 20 on the 1^st of March. Gordon is one of our cats, the last survivor of a litter of five found 20 years ago at the local produce store. Mum had disappeared after being dumped at the store with her babies.

Gordon Full Tummy Asleep on Food Dish

They were tiny back then only an eye dropper could be used to feed them as they fitted into your hand. We guessed them to be 3 days old. The workman at the store was glad to get rid of them. Gordon was very weak and he (the storeman) commented “He won’t last the night”. Well he was very wrong. Gordon outlived all his brothers and sisters. His brother Silva would look after him and play with him in those early days.

The original plan was to raise and then adopt them out. But that just never happened. They grew up with us and because of the early intervention were particularly bonded. Allowing all sorts of handling that cats normally don’t accept.

Gordon is a bit special. He was born with a withered leg which means he cannot hunt. If moving slowly he has to drag his withered paw awkwardly. If moving quickly he has a three legged hop. The nearest thing to hunting is chattering at a blowfly in the window. Sometimes he would use the withered poor as a club trying to beat something into submission (with no success).

When one of his siblings brought home a baby rabbit, Gordon quickly jumped on it smothering it with his body. He looked up with a glint in his eye “look mum I’m a big hunter”.

He is an undemanding little bloke. Always eats what is put in front of him, drinks his raw milk afterwards and loves to sleep on your lap. His favourite food is meat especially in the form of mince and consequently for his birthday he was treated with top grade mince over a number of days. At his age he has a limit to how much he can digest in one sitting.

Now days he joins us for breakfast then sleeps all day until dinner time after which he sleeps again.