Mangoes On My MInd

I am very lucky that both my parents and a cousin of mine have mango trees growing in their backyards. My parents inherited theirs with the house and over the last few years it has been incredibly fruitful. The result for me has been about 15 beautiful, juicy mangoes in recent weeks. There is no way I would have gone out and bought that number, so it has been a real treat.

I love a mango lassi so a curry might be on the cards in the next few days. I think that would be a great way to end a hectic week.

Signs of Life

Over the weekend I managed to get some seeds planted and to my complete surprise, this morning I saw the first signs of life sprouting their way through the soil.

It is such a buzz seeing those little green shoots get bigger and bigger. They have even grown noticeably since this morning. I need them to get a little bigger so that I can see what they are. I know that I planted Bok Choi, Pak Choi, Tatsoi and Coriander but with my limited gardening knowledge, I need to see the mature plant to be able to identify any of them.


The bags of sheep manure are still sitting next to the front vegetable garden beds. Fingers crossed that tomorrow this job will get crossed off the 'to do' list.


Take care

How does your garden grow?

Mine is looking very sad at the moment.

We have had a fairly hot and dry summer here so not much has survived. The weather has also caused my enthusiasm to wane. It certainly is time to pull out the remnants of the vegetables and prepare the beds with some of our lovely homemade compost.

In the meantime, I was recently given a stirfry kit and with a burst of motivation felt it was time to undo the box and get planting.

Although it is not the right season for all of these seeds, patience is not something I am know for. The little seed packets contain enough for a year's worth of growing so a quarter of each packet went into the planter.

As with any seeds that are planted around here, I eagerly await the first little sprouts to break through the soil.

My next job is getting into the front vegetable beds. A much bigger job requiring a lot more motivation. The Gardenate email will certainly get me going in the right direction.

What are you growing?

Take care

Super Easy Apple Cake

Following an abundance of apples earlier in the week, I came across this super easy, super yummy apple cake recipe. No creaming of butter and sugar necessary. Just melt the butter and add to the mix. I did make a few alterations once I realised that the apples I had put aside for the cake had been eaten. Late last year I was lucky enough to win a box of organic peaches that had a bit of bird damage so could not be sold at market. At the time, work was too crazy for me to do anything to them apart from wash, cut and freeze. These came in very handy as I added some of these to the one remaining apple. Also, I halved the sugar as the fruit is already super sweet.

The house smelt amazing and the cake tasted very fruity. I didn't even notice that there was half a cup less of sugar.

I would love to get some suggestions of other super easy, super yummy cakes.

Take care.

Baking is On My Mind

I am really enjoying the On My Mind project being run be Rhonda over at Down To Earth.

Today I am looking forward to having another go at a recipe I tried on Wednesday. I love being able to serve my little kiddies a lovely homemade afternoon tea on the two days that I don't work.

Come back over the weekend to see the results of my labour.

Enjoy your Friday.

Take care.

Boobook

My in-laws are avid bird watchers and know a lot about the local birdlife. They called me early this morning to see if the kiddoes were awake as there was a surprise in the tree out the back of their house. We threw on some clothes and jumped in the car for the very quick drive to their house. Sitting quietly in the tree outside their lounge window was, what we think is, a Boobook owl.

It is so lovely to see these birds still around suburbia. My in-laws said that they thought there was a cat in their yard as the wattle birds were making a racquet. When they looked in the direction of the ruckus, there was this gorgeous bird.

Have a listen to their beautiful call.

Take care.

A Beginning Knitter

I by no means consider myself a knitter. I can knit a line. I can purl a line. If I am really concentrating I can knit 1 purl 1. Don't ask me to increase, decrease or slip stitches. Even with my incredible basic knowledge I must say, I love it. Perhaps it is the 'nanna' element that is so comforting. And of course, a cup of tea is an essential accompaniment.

I was reintroduced to the art of knitting by one of my best friends a few years ago after she decided to get back into it. Her mother had always been a veracious knitter and was always known to have a project or to 'on the pins'.

With my limited skills comes limited projects. Scarves are always good, and with careful choosing of a thick wool can be completed relatively quickly.

On my quest to stop buying things that are thrown away after limited use I've been knitting up a few cotton dish cloths. It is so relaxing and doesn't involve a lot of brain power. Once I get into it, the process seems to become fairly automatic. There are no embellishments or fancy patterns. Just knit a row, turn it over, knit another row.  I would certainly like to make my way up to something like this, but at the moment the super basic version does the job just right.

Take care