What's New

I've had loads of produce to put away for the winter, so after the success of my tomato relish I made recently, I decided to make tomato sauce as a good way to use up tomatoes, onions, garlic, and apples which we have had loads of. I used this recipe here but tweaked it a little by adding a bit of curry powder to it, just because we like it.

The finished product sealed in sterilised bottles. I've used the bottles I usually bottle my citrus cordial in so I will have to seek out more when it comes time to make cordial again.

This is the book I have been reading lately. It's SBS's Gourmet Farmer and its about his trials and tribulations of a townie moving out to country Tasmania in search of the wonderful food that we produce here.  Excellent read and good recipes.

Yesterday was our photography day, but alas it poured with rain, so the group decided to go out to lunch instead. The bearded wonder ordered a seafood basket and we were amused to see it served up in a tiny chip fryer basket. Very cute and on all reports, very tasty. It cost all of $13.50 as well, so a bargain. Even more of a bargain is the meal pictured below: Everything on the plate, except the cheese, cost nothing, as we grew it all and the flathead was bartered for our eggs. We ended up with 4 meals of filleted flathead which is very tasty, I must say

 

Remember this monster tomato plant!!!

Well that one Gross Lisse provided, 48kgs 420gms of tomatoes and that was with me chopping off the rest of the flowers and 2 more metres of tendrils on each branch, last week as I didn't think they would have time to produce before the cold weather came. Besides, my freezer is full of passata, I've made semi-dried tomatoes in oil, plus the sauce and relish.

We have had sweet bites, moneymakers and the whoppers, gross lisse. 

Other news:
* One of the roosters hatched in August began crowing this morning and will be dispatched to a neighbour who wants some new chooks. I will probably give him some of my hens at a later date if I have too many layers. 
*  The bearded wonder was supposed to have had his open heart surgery last week but needed urgent dental work, so now we are waiting for a new date (hopefully next week)
*   We spent the weekend up north visiting my daughter who is renovating a house and the bearded wonder helped paint one of the grand daughter's bedrooms while I entertained the kids and the dog.
*    We are getting another water tank (12,000 litres) installed tomorrow to store the excess of recycled water we collect over winter (we already have 10,000 litres), so we don't have to be so frugal with water for the gardens over summer. Our fresh water (33,000 litres) is for household use only. We don't want to have to buy water and when it rains here, its often very heavy so we figure we must have the catching and storing capabilities.
*     Our solar panels have been working flat out over summer and our power bill came to the princely sum of $49.15 for 3 months. Good one! Thanks sunshine.