Success! First Season's Fruits

Hello all!
We have had a lot of success with our gardens. Here is a photo of some of our garlic. It was enjoyed along with the onions and other veggies harvested.


The chook pen shown here was over the top garden for about a week and over the bottom for a month. We hope that the chook droppings and the turned up dirt will help the overall production for our second season.

Little Plotters

The Children have really taken to gardening as well and most of them have there own little plots of land, an example of which is shown here


They all love watching there little seedlings pop up and grow. The above garden has Capsicum seedlings (courtesy of David Grubb), lettuce, Pak Choi and Rocket

New Chook - Tractor/pen

We recently acquired a new chook-pen/tractor to house our 3 chooks. It is 2/3 fenced with the other 1/3 colourbond. If anyone has any idea whether there are any cheap ones in Queensland, could you please leave a comment on this post. Any feedback will be appreciated. (To leave a comment, click on the "(#) comments" words at the bottom of any post). Here is a photo of it:

"Top" Garden update

An update on our "top" garden: Everything is going well and we just had our first harvest, Radishes. Here are some Pictures of our flourishing "top" garden:

The yellow flowers in the photo below are Pak Choi, an Asian vegetable that can be found at most supermarkets. There are 2 types of Pak Choi, Green and White. The green tends to grow tightly where as the white variety grow more loose leaf and go to seed easier. The variety we have in the "top" garden is white but we have the both green and white in the bottom garden (see "Hi! I'm back!"). A similar vegetable is Bak Choi, but don't get them mixed up!

Radishes are a good plant because they take up a very small amount of space and are good for children with little patience as they sprout and grow quickly. Here is a photo of one of our first Radishes:

Hi! I'm Back!

Hello, Hello! Sorry I have been so taken up with my Gardening I forgot about letting all you know! As a result I now have heaps of things to tell.
OK. Firstly We started a new garden, the "bottom" garden, with more Pak Choi, Onion, Garlic, Peas and even (something new...) Capsicum. Here are the photos of this garden:

Sourdough Culture and Bread

A friend of mine asked for the culture and bread Recipes for sourdough so I thought I could put it up on the web to make it easier to access for others.We have found many different variations but this is one that we have used and it has worked.

SOURDOUGH CULTURE

1 cup flour, wheat or rye
2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix together and put in a earthenware or glass container. A lid that has some holes in it is good as this allows the mixture to pick up spores from the air. keep in a warm place for 20 - 30 hours -- it varies with the weather. (It works faster in warm weather). The mixture should form a sponge and smell yeasty or sour. If it smells bad, throw it out. This may happen if the mixture is left to long or is allowed to get too hot. Keep the prepared culture in the fridge. I may be kept in a sterilized glass jar with a lid. The jar must be cleaned about once a month.

SOURDOUGH BREAD

400 ml warm water
4 cups flour
2-3 tablespoons gluten (optional; use if flour is low quality)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup culture

In a large bowl (not aluminum) mix the above ingredients, using enough flour to make a soft, kneadable dough. mix all together till kneadable stage is reached and then shape into loaves and place in well-oiled (not aluminum) trays. Cut several slits across the bread, brush with Liquid Lethicin for best result -- this keeps the crust soft and gives a golden colour.
Cover (you can use a disposable shower cap pulled up in the middle to allow the bread to rise).
Leave between 3-5 hours (less on hot and more on cold days).
Bake at 170-190 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 1/2 hours. After about 20 minutes baking, when the bread has a nice light brown crust, cover with brown paper, then alfoil. When cooked, remove from tins.
ENJOY!

Other Blogs: David's Nature Photography Gallery, The Big Byte

Cheesecake

This Recipe is a delicious all raw cheesecake.It is available at Liam's Recipes

Other Blogs: David's Nature Photography Gallery, The Big Byte

Garden plan

This is a plan of our Garden drawn up by my son Liam. I will put it with my future photos of Garden development if we have planted any more vegies. for more info on what is in our garden see "Current Vegies in our Garden" panel on your Right


Other Blogs: David's Nature Photography Gallery, The Big Byte

Oatmeal Breakfast

A good Idea for a breakfast on a cold winter morning is Irish Oatmeal with Honey or Sugar. Click here to go to the Recipe. For more great Recipes visit Liam's Recipe Blog.

Other Blogs: David's Nature Photography Gallery, The Big Byte

The benefits of high cholesterol

I have been reading about Cholesterol and other health related issues. It is always interesting and sometimes frustrating to hear opposing sides to the "one" story". Click here for information on the benefits of HIGH cholesterol.