What have you been doing today?

[judydawn]

Great advice from cookie & Chookie K Atie, I agree with them.

[K Atie]

Thank you Chookie and Cookie . DD is going to Mannix college and Monash Caulfield! The fan is a great idea and the rooms are small so not sure if there is room for bar fridge , but very help full . DD seems to use her computer for watching anything . I think it will be ok . DD today has been helping with sheep as we are meant to be shearing next week ! Harvesting tomorrow again . DS is back at the boarding house yesterday , was great to see other boarding  parents and catch up . So another school year starts again . Miss my young man but so pleased he is with his other family , all his friends .

[Cornish Cream]

Finished my flower jigsaw yesterday.

Cookie you asked me a question in a previous post about whether I did a lot of reading but I don’t these days, Seeing we are still in lockdown sourcing books is a problem as Library’s are closed and I don’t want to keep buying books. I enjoy leafing through my cookery books.

Still walking Chance twice a day. I’ve lost my cooking mojo at the moment.

[achookwoman]

CC, the lockdown does do funny things to us.  We think we are coping pretty well but in retrospect it was really quite weird.
For a couple of weeks, DD and GC have been coming for dinner on a Tuesday night.  They often bring a friend.  It is great fun.  I prepare the food but they help setting the table and clearing up after.  They even stack the dish washer. I think this regular even is in reaction to the lockdown.

[mab19]

Picked this tomato a few days ago.  It weighed 570g.

[judydawn]

A whopper Margaret, your soil must be good.

[achookwoman]

Wow.  Magnificent.

[cookie1]

Deliciious looking.
CC the lock down must be so hard, I really feel for you. We are so lucky here in West Aussie.

Our tomatoes are flowering but then the flower just dies. There are lots of bees around so they are being pollinated. Not sure what is happening.

[achookwoman]

Cookie, honey bees don’t pollinate tomatoes.  You might need to gently shake the plants if they are not in a windy spot.
More plum cooking. 

[Cuilidh]

Some months ago I joined (or partnered up with, as they call it) with a CSA (Communited Supported Agriclture) farm called Angelica.  In late autumn / winter, they send you an invoice and, in return, your get a percentage of their produce.  The money you pay goes towards seed, development, etc.  Angelica is an organic farm, close on getting their biodynamic certification.

Anyway, yesterday I got the first of my 30 weekly vege boxes ... how are we ever going to eat everything?  I can see this is going to be a weekly adventure waiting to see what goodies arrive.  This week was 1 Fennel bulb (I have never had fennel before and I don't particularly like aniseed, but I am told if you roast them that changes the taste ... I hope so), big bag of garlic, purple heritage carrots, lovely small beetroot, rainbow chard, kale, leeks, parsley, Lebanese cucumbers, coral (or red) lettuce - possibly oak leaf type, not sure and zucchini.

I have found an interesting curried fennel recipe which is on my list for this weekend and I am planning another somewhat unconventional lasagne with the leeks, carrots, and perhaps kale or swiss chard.  I will probably freeze the bulk of the garlic as we only get one portion of that a year (c. 1 kg bag) that, along with a salad of some sort should take care of most of the box, I hope.

... now I am off on my cooking journey of the week.

[achookwoman]

Marina, how exciting.  With the garlic, I put the prepared cloves in the TMX with a little olive oil and zap to form a paste.  I then spoon it into snack bags and flatten it.  I then freeze the bags. I just snap off a bit as needed. Don’t try saving it in oil in the fridge.  This is not safe.

[judydawn]

What happens if your weekly box of veggies is far too much for the 2 of you Marina, can you have them less often?  Sounds great though and it will keep you busy looking up recipes to suit what has been delivered.  Have fun!

[Cuilidh]

I was a bit concerned about that too, Judy, but from the look of this first box I should be able to utilise most of it.  If there is ever anything in there that I really cannot use or do not like there is always the compost or neighbour's hens, I guess, but that is a waste so I am aiming to use everything.

[K Atie]

A quieter day today . DD and DH baled up some wool left from crutching then feed out the sheep . Missing DS , house is quiet an fridge is not emptying!! Hopefully he will be home next weekend! DD keeps asking if I will miss her .

[achookwoman]

Yesterday I spent 4 hours in the veggie garden.  The weather was perfect and my leg is improving.  Today GD is coming to help in the garden. 
Lots of Zuchinni but tomatoes are very slow to ripen.
Still dealing with plums.