Apart from stuffing ourselves silly at Ruby’s on roast turkey and vegetables – and double helpings of trifle for dessert – it was a reasonably quiet day.
I did get out in the garden and fluffed about picking what tomatoes remained, a few other vegetables (small pumpkins!!) and half heartedly collected a variety of seeds that seemed ready (Beans, sunflower & marigold)
I love picking stuff!
Pumpkins store well for a long time – in a dry well aired area on their sides.
I am thinking roast pumpkin as well as pumpkin soup
I picked a variety of laterals off my waning tomato plants with the hope I may be able to nurture a few through the winter to get a head start next season. For those of you just heading into the warmer spring weather that have not tried growing tomatoes from laterals – here is a bit of a guide.
New roots shooting off tomato lateral
I am not good at growing tomatoes from seed. I haven’t given up and am saving several seeds from fruit this season. However, I have no trouble snapping a lateral off an established plant and growing a new one.
This season I spent approximately $5 on three new tomato plants and the rest of the 20-something plants came from laterals or self seeded.
First, if you are not sure which branch is a lateral, check the photos below
Leaf branch of the tomatoA lateral starts in the crook of the main stem and the leaf branchA more advanced lateralA good sized lateral to break off to start a new plant
While it is not essential, I put my laterals into a jar or glass of water to watch the process of the roots forming, simply because I enjoy it!
You can plonk them straight in the ground and have the same success as long as you keep them watered.
Waiting for roots to grow
Depending on how warm it is, roots can start showing as early as a week, but not unusual for them to take a couple of weeks.
New roots showing
To me its like magic watching the process! I have found the plants grown from laterals quite vigorous and produce well… don’t forget free, which is about as economical as you can get!
This jar full got packaged up and posted out to another state where they survived and grew for a friend who needed more plants. That’s tough!!
Well – we have a cool night here so the fire is on and beckoning me to go and stare at it! Pip is already snugged up in his sleeping bag
With all the rain, followed by plenty of sun, the grass (and weeds) were shooting up at a rate you could almost watch!
And we were beginning to lose the cat –
Pip
So we did a much needed tidy up of the things that the wind had scattered about the yard and Jeff got out on his mower and sorted it out (I laughed when I caught him driving up to the apple tree to pick a snack for a break!!)
Drive through apples
I picked up all the windfall apples so he didn’t do a yard-size apple puree. Quite a lot of the windfall apples are ok for use –
The good windfalls
But a lot have been nibbled on – probably by our local possums or the single rabbit that has also taken up recent residence –
The not so good windfalls
The chickens had a perfectly lovely afternoon as they are not normally allowed up the ‘house side’ of the property (something about their insistence on digging up my strawberries and herb gardens) So they were thoroughly over-excited at this little extra freedom today.
She thinks I have foodOur beautiful Australorps
Its funny watching them zigzag all over the yard chasing bugs. But then finally they worked their way up into the strawberries and herbs so it was time to herd their little feathery butts back to the other side!
Not a bad herding job! The usually scatter in 9 different directions!
I’m actually trying to “Speed-Blog” tonight as we have to be up at silly O’clock tomorrow morning to get down to the local market and set up. I’d just like to take this opportunity to explain I am not a morning person. In fact “not a morning person” doesn’t even begin to explain how much of a morning person I am not! So tonight I would prefer to be in bed while the clock still says pm for a change
So I picked a few tomatoes –
I managed to separate a large crate of saleable cherry tomatoes out of these
All my jams/sauces are sorted out and other bits and bobs that I need are all in the car. We just have to (ok I am saying “We” here because Jeff still hasn’t fully decided if he is coming along with me tomorrow…) pick some parsley and silver-beet in the morning and shove the last boxes in the car before going. Early.
Goodnight all – fingers crossed that tomorrow the weather doesn’t do a nose dive back into the biblical-level rain of yesterday!
Since there is a market upcoming (although by the sound of the pouring rain as I type, it may be a no-goer) I thought it best to drag some of the umpteen squillion bags of raspberries out of the freezer and make some more jam. Everyone seems to love it. (Except my weird husband who avoids it because he is a sook about seeds in his teeth! 🙂 ) (more for me!!)
Sticky goodness
It was important to test it –
Fresh bread and jam
Tick.
Moving right along to make up that sweet chilli sauce
Sweet Chilli Sauce
Recipe for those who are interested:
You’ll need a long lead time if you want to grow your own chillies and garlic, otherwise its pretty straightforward.
Ingredients:
300 grams chillies (deseeded)
100 grams garlic
70 grams fresh ginger
1.2 litres of cider vinegar
2 kg sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Method:
Put your chillies, garlic and ginger in the Gee Whizzer with a bit of the cider vinegar to puree
Add to large pot with remaining ingredients and boil (keep an eye on it – horrible to clean up if it boils over)
Recipe calls for 25 minutes of simmering but I need a LOT longer (ie an hour or two) to reduce to the desired thickness
Do yourself a favour and DO NOT INHALE while cooking or even washing the pot. Seriously. Your eyes will water for a week.
Pour into sterilised bottles and enjoy.
Drizzle on cream cheese and biscuits (crackers) or very nice with spring rolls
Since I had made meatloaf yesterday I didn’t have much to do to get dinner ready, except trot down the yard to my personal supermarket to pull up some carrots –
Impressed with my carrots that I have mostly ignored all season!
Pick the first of the pumpkins It was so small but the plant has died back so why not try it? Glad we did – tasty!!
Cute teeny pumpkinLooks ok
And a visit to the herb garden for some basil, parsley and oregano. Honestly – have you seen how expensive ‘fresh’ herbs are to buy in the supermarket? Even if you don’t have a garden, grab a few pots and grow your favourite herbs. You won’t look back!
Herb Garden
I also had a taste for some stuffed tomatoes, so while the vegies were baking I prepared a few. Its another great way to make use of your excess tomatoes.
First whizz up some breadcrumbs and add some fresh herbs (or dry) and a bit of garlic salt
Breadcrumbs & fresh herbs
Get your tomatoes, cut in half and scoop out the centre.
Scoop middles
Smush up or whizz up the centres and add them to the breadcrumb mixture then spoon the lot back into the tomato shells.
Top with a bit of basil and a smidge of butter. They will take about 5 minutes under the grill so you can do them last thing before serving up dinner.
Ready for the grill
I have no photo of dinner because I was hungry and ate it – plus it wasn’t that photogenic anyway – but it was fresh and tasted not too bad at all!
I am trying out this whole “Circle of Life” thing and applying it to the household budget, garden produce and grocery shopping thing. I figure I need to make the property pay its way as much as possible, then put those dollars back into things I can’t make or grow myself.
Today was one of those ‘mostly kitchen’ days where I am trying to convert raw food into saleable food, and most of that entails an awful lot of chopping!
First things first, since the day was sunny and breezy I had to do at least some housework related jobs, so two loads of laundry got put out on the line, but I successfully avoided the folding of all the previously washed stuff (that’s why we have a spare room right??)(Altho that pile is getting a bit of a worry as Jeff was complaining about lack of clean undies)(and no – there wasn’t a lack – they were just hiding under some t-shirts)(because you all needed to know that)
Anyway – so, ever hopeful I go and set up my “For Sale” tables out the front in the hope that people may stop and take some tomatoes off my hands and give me some money in exchange.
Roadside Stall
That done, it was time to get the tomato relish bubbling away and chop into more tomatoes. I had been up silly late last night chopping tomatoes and onions so they could ‘sit’ overnight ready for me to do something with today.
Tomato relish cooking
Even with that 6 pounds in the pot and a box of them out the front I was still left with this to sort –
Tomatoes just keep on coming
So chop chop chop, another 6 pounds done and put in the pot with the right ingredients to get some tomato sauce under way.
(See bottom of post for Tomato Relish Recipe)
We eat our dried apples fairly smartly… so its back to apples!
Red DeliciousAfternoon under the apple tree
There is a local market held on the foreshore twice a month. I try to get there to sell off my excess produce, sauces, relishes and jams. People seem to like the fact I have grown and made it all myself – organically – so I do reasonably well.
Local Market
I get to meet lots of people, its lovely and social and the view of the ocean can be pretty good too!
Wynyard Beach – on one of its grouchy days!
I put aside the money from these ventures and it goes back into buying our meat (which we source in bulk locally) and other things like milk, butter, flour, chocolate etc. My aim is to have more money coming in from produce than leaves in supermarket costs. So far this year I failed in January, but succeeded in February! Yay !!
On tomorrows list? Chillies, tomato sauce, corn – stalk mulching (if its not raining) and apples… will be dreaming of apples…
Still plenty of apples left
PS In case you were wondering, my roadside stall brought in the princely sum of $3.50 today!! Hilarious! Best not give up my day job huh?? Hang on – this IS my day job!! 🙂
RECIPE – TOMATO RELISH
Credit to my Nanna!
INGREDIENTS:
6lb ripe tomatoes chopped
2lb onions diced
2lb sugar
3 tablespoons mustard powder
2 tablespoons curry powder
vinegar (I use white to keep gluten free, but malt and cider also work fine)
salt
Cornflour
METHOD:
Mix chopped tomato and onion in a large pot, sprinkle with a handful of salt and leave overnight. Next day pour off excess liquid, then pour vinegar into the mix until covered. Add sugar, mix in and bring to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours. Prepare about 10-12 jars – clean and sterilise in oven (I do mine at 100 deg celcius) and wash lids. Mix mustard and curry powder with a couple of heaps dessert spoons of cornflour into a separate bowl. Add water and make into smooth paste. Pour into tomato mixture and reheat to thicken. I usually let that cook for 5 – 10 minutes more.
Pour relish into hot jars and seal.
Fabulous on most meats – hot or cold. Gorgeous on ham and cheese sandwiches and it makes a delightful pizza base sauce! Enjoy!
When it comes to this time of the year I think I start going just a little bit doo-lally! Just when you get several kilo’s of tomatoes made into sauce, relish or dinner, followed by several more kilo’s chopped and frozen – its time to put more apples into the dehydrator, pick more tomatoes, hunt for runaway zucchini’s and figure out what you want to do with the next armful of cucumbers!
Its kind of a race to try to waste as little as possible as you are wondering if you really did need 25 tomato plants this season (of COURSE you did!!) What doesn’t get eaten, cooked or frozen, often gets sold or given away. When things really get out of control there is a bunch of greedy chickens to peck up the rest.
Seems like there is always relish bubbling awayBlack Russian
This season I only bought three tomato plants – the rest were self seeded or grown from the laterals of the more advanced plants. I have enjoyed trying the heirloom variety “Black Russian” – Such a gorgeous huge tasty tomato!
I also tried one called “Tigerella” simply because the name took my fancy! Its a bit bigger than the usual cherry tomato, lovely tiger stripes and a great taste, although the skin is a little thicker than I expected for the size.
Tigerella – various stages of ripeness!
One year I am going to manage my tomato plants properly. I tell myself I am going to snip back laterals and keep them tidily tied up etc etc. It would take a bit of the fun out of finding all the hiding ripe ones and the self imposed game of twister I have to play to reach out, down, around and through to get to all the fruit!! To be honest I do like my semi-jungle approach.
raised garden bed of tomatoes before they went madMid season in the hothouse
After a very dry season we are now getting gloom and rain. Hopefully the sun will be back tomorrow so I can happily fill up a few more baskets and boxes with tomatoes.
