The veggies are looking good.

The beetroot is powering along.

So are the carrots.

And the leeks.

We've been thinning out the beetroot and carrots over the last few weeks, and enjoying the veggies in our meals. Soon they'll all be properly spaced and they can grow to their full potential.

What's your favourite beetroot dish?

Japnut Pumpkins

We had a good crop of pumpkins this year. We saved seeds from butternut pumpkins that a friend of ours had shared with us last season. We saved the seeds as the pumpkins were extra-nice. Very tasty, creamy, etc.

The funny thing is that another friend of ours saved seeds from these pumpkins, too. For the same reason. And she had a fantastic germination rate, so she shared her seedlings with us.

However, we got a cross between a Jap and Butternut pumpkin. Hence our name for this cross - Japnut. But they still taste very nice. No complaints here.

The really funny thing is that the friend whose pumpkins we all loved, went and bought herself new butternut seeds and used those to grow her pumpkins this season. No crosses for her. *LOL*

Beetroot

I love beetroot. It's growing nicely in the garden at the moment. I sowed it quite thickly, but germination was so good that I have to seriously thin it out now. Not much of a chore, as I like baby beetroot even more than fully grown one.

I grow two varieties.

'Cylindra' 

  'Early Wonder'

The leaves and stalks get chopped up as well.

Everything into the pan, where I've already sautéed garlic, chili and ginger with some turmeric. Put the lid on and let it do it's thing until the beetroot is nicely soft.

Serve with a fried egg.

 Isn't that egg yolk gorgeous?! Our girls are doing a great job, don't you think? :)

Tired of mowing and weeding?

Your sheep will be happy to help.
Fence in the over-grown area in your front yard, open gate. And the sheep are already waiting to move in.

Sheep heaven!

 Kikuyu grass is taking over? Treat the chooks to a green feast. Fence in the area, make sure there is a water supply.

Chook heaven!

We had to cover the 'pen' with netting, as the chooks saw even better & greener grass on the other side, and kept flying over. Even with their wings clipped. There's no pleasing some chooks!

Apple 'Cupcakes'

These are not really cupcakes, more like little apple cakes. With tons of apples (1 kilo for 12 cakes that fit into a 12-muffin tin).

The batter is just there to 'glue' it all together. This is a recipe from the June 'Feast' magazine. Very, very delicious! Will definitely make them again. :)

Hungry!

I'm getting rather hungry here. Lunch time is rapidly approaching. Maybe I should make myself a nettle omelet. The stinging nettles are looking very good - new, tender growth.

The girls are laying beautiful eggs. Herbs are in abundance. And there is still plenty of our own garlic in the pantry.

Oh, and I read somewhere that stinging nettles are really, really good for you. Like it has loads of vitamins A, C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. Okay, I talked myself into it. See you later! :)

Safflower...

...dried.

I let these flowers dry in the garden bed, for the sole purpose of getting more seeds. (To grow more safflower next season.) But now I am in a quandary. They look absolutely beautiful. How can I rip their heads apart for seeds?

Chocolate Mint

The chocolate mint is flowering madly at the moment. It has beautiful flowers and attracts tons of bees.

I haven't found a good (culinary?) use for this particular mint yet. Any ideas? What do you do with it?