Growing, harvesting and drying garlic

We planted garlic cloves in June - July from organic bulbs purchased at the Fruit Market. We planted a lot because we enjoyed our own fresh garlic so much last year! We found that organic garlic grew much better than the other cloves, so this year we only planted organic cloves. It was fun to pull all our garlic out of the soil last week!

Mercy Joy sat under the shade of the potatoes.

We harvested 26 garlic bulbs, plus at least another four earlier.

We placed these bulbs on the deck in the sun for a few days. They are now in the shed. We are hoping to dry them successfully in order to eat our own garlic year round and maybe even sow our own cloves in July next year.

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Family Photo Christmas 2010

I look forward to having a family picture taken each Christmas. This one was taken on Christmas Eve at our family gathering at my parents' house. Last Christmas we had no idea that we would be blessed with another little person in the picture this year! This year we didn't try very hard to get Elnathan to smile, we were just content to smile ourselves! We love this picture.

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Double Peeled Broad Beans

We have a good harvest of broad beans this year, from two successive seed plantings. We have enjoyed a new-to-us way of preparing them, from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion. Double peeling broad beans is a great way to enjoy them in salads. As you can see from the picture, they have a beautiful bright green colour when prepared in this way.

1. Put water onto boil in a small saucepan

2. Pod the broad beans

3. Boil them for 30 seconds - 1 minute

4. Run them under cold water

5. Remove the outer covering of the bean. I find that giving them a squeeze causes the inner bean to come out well. I just eat the outer shell as I peel them, but if you are a bit fussier about your food you may prefer to compost these! They are not the yummiest things!

6. Add them to a salad and enjoy! We have enjoyed them with tomatoes, lettuce, spinach leaves, olives, and French dressing. I also prepared our own dressing of balsamic vinegar, parsley, chives, 1/2 a lemon and a crushed garlic clove.

Do you enjoy broad beans? How have you prepared them?

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Mercy Joy in her butterfly dress

I couldn't resist taking lots of pictures of Mercy in the butterfly dress a friend gave us.

Eyes open!

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Impossible Quiche

I obtained this recipe years ago from a mother of six, after enjoying it many times at their home. I enjoy making it because it is quick and you can use a variety of vegetables. I have often used fresh garden spinach. It has been even more fun to make it with our fresh eggs, which give it a lovely golden colour.

6 eggs

1 cup self-raising flour

3 cups milk

2 onions

Oil for frying onions

3 – 5 cups vegetables and/or meat (possible combinations: corn and mushroom, spinach and corn, mushroom and tomato).

2 cups cheese

1. Put onions on to fry until clear.
2. Combine the first three ingredients using a hand-held blender or a whisk.
3. Add the cheese, onions and vegetables. Mix well.
4. Pour into two greased dishes of suitable size.
5. Bake for 45 mins to 1 hour at 180-200 degrees Celsius.

Serve one quiche for dinner and put the other in the freezer!

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Babies Don't Keep

Babies don't keep, so it is important to spend lots of time doing things like trying to capture their tiny hands in photos!

Sitting with them just enjoying the soft skin on the back of their heads is also important . . .

and enjoying these fleeting days when they sit quietly for cuddles!

It is a precious thing to have a tiny baby in the house, and I am savouring it more second time around. We both feel like we are enjoying these early days more this time.

These pictures were taken on December 1st.

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Pretty in pink Bumgenius

It was fun to order our little girl some pink nappies! I have found that the new V4.0 Bumgenius with snaps fit a newborn just as well as the velcro version we had when Elnathan was born. Mercy has been wearing these since her umbilical cord stump fell off at about a week of age. It is great to be able to purchase one nappy that fits a newborn and a toddler. Elnathan is now wearing the same nappies he had as a newborn. They are only just beginning to show signs of wear and I need to replace the elastic in some. We have 13 Bumgenius pocket nappies for him and they receive almost constant use as I always choose them above the other nappies we own. Those Elnathan has been wearing would not fit Mercy as the elastic was too stretched around the legs. I will report back about whether the rescue operation with new elastic is a success!

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