I do wonder sometimes.
Two mad gnomes and a big garden. The Veggie Gnome does the edible stuff, the Flower Gnome the pretty stuff.
The heavy rainfall in the last few days has really saturated the ground. Despite the wild and woolly weather, there was not a complaint to be heard. Everybody is just so grateful for all this rain.
The first batch was Lavender/Chamomile lip balm. Can double as hand balm, too.
3 TB olive oil
*The honey may have been a mistake. Either there was too much of it, or it just does not work with honey. It didn't melt into the rest of the liquid. So that's why you can see the honey at the bottom of the little jars. It does taste nice, though. The mixture has a touch of honey. But as soon as you get close to the bottom of the jar, it gets a bit too sticky.
Cut up Chinese Cabbage, throw in bowl, together with any vegetables that you'd like to have in your Kimchi. I added carrots, leeks (home-grown), radish (a big one from the garden), celery (home-grown from Neighbour Gnomes).
Drain. Keep brine. Make spice mixture. Grate ginger, finely chop chilli, onions and garlic. As much of each ingredient as you like.
Add spices to drained veggies. Mix thoroughly.
Squeeze into jars. Tightly pack jars until juices come up. Or add a bit of the brine you kept from the bowl of soaking vegetables. Make sure the brine covers the vegetables. Get some clean jars (filled with some water) that fit into the jars. Push into the jar with the vegetables. Cover with towel to keep out dust, flies, hungry people.
Let ferment for a week or longer, then put in fridge and enjoy. :)
Now every time the chooks break into the garden, we put them into the enclosure. They have enough water to keep them happy and they can scratch to their hearts' content. The more they scratch, the better. They will dig into the soil, get rid of the grass, weed seeds, bugs, etc. and fertilise the area at the same time. Before it gets dark, we open the enclosure and the gate to the paddock so that they can go back to the chook shed for the night. Tomorrow, we shall play the same game again. Until the whole area is nicely dug over.
I usually surround myself with my 'comfort books':