Whilst many of you may be sweltering in a northern hemisphere summer, it’s mid winter in NZ, which means I’m out and about in boots, scarves, warm jackets and yes leg warmers!
Winter is also an excuse to make some hearty soups which taste even better with crusty bread dipped in our very own olive oil, open jars of homemade pickles & chutneys and slather on cheese, and savour hubby’s roast chook (no not one of ours either) with my preserved lemon.
Winter sunset – Muriwai iPhone
Beach walks
As you can imagine given the generous supply of fruit from our orchard over the summer months, there is an array of frozen fruits stacked in our freezer. Plums, peaches, lemons, feijoas, figs and there are bags and bags of them. Oh and we can’t forget the divine bottled stewed peaches, plums and cider pears.
Frankly any excuse to make a fruit dessert with a macadamia and white chocolate crumble sounds good to me!
So while winter may bring on the blues, nothing to do with the rain of course … all is trucking along nicely at Frog Pond Farm. The gravel still gets washed down the drive when we have serious rain, the odd chook still gets out and sneaks into the veg garden.
There are the usual holes in my brassicas, shame on those damn slugs and snails. This means night time trips to the garden with my torch and a bucket of warm soapy water … and it’s not to give those slimeys a wash either by the way.
Needless to say, the 4 legged vermin are also digging up the pickled bokasi food scraps which I religiously bury in my garden, knowing full well it is just a matter of time before they are dug up, tossed around the garden and savoured.
We are munching on the usual herbs, spring onions, juicing beetroot and admiring the array of lettuce we have growing which strangely enough are devoid of holes! The broad beans are looking good, slightly nibbled but nothing will stop their vigour when they finally hit their straps.
Egg production is up – which is by no means surprising given all the good tucker those girls get fed. The sheep should be on diets but aren’t so nothing much has changed there.
Oh it is nice to be posting again. I hope you enjoy the jumble of pics
I’m a texture fan