Ingredients 4 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 85g unsalted butter, softened 1 1/3 cup warm water 2 Tbsp (or more) chopped herbs of choice Method Soften or melt butter on low heat. In the bowl of a standing mixer add the flour, …
The summer gives us a cornucopia of fruit, and as we move into autumn, preserving the bounty takes precedence of mind. I love adding herbs and spices to everything I throw together in the kitchen, and searched for something to do with a glut of …
The midsummer garden… If all went well with your planning and planting in spring, this is the month in which you will be reaping much of the rewards. Timely picking of fruit and vegetables can encourage more flowering and more fruit, and the garden …
This easy to bake pull-apart herb bread is as delicious as it looks. It will definitely impress whenever you decide to serve it up! Great to dip into soups or mop up stews, or at a BBQ, even taken to a picnic brunch too. You …
These are actual images of plants I have grown this season (Spring/Summer 2019) in compost and “veggie mix” bought from a landscape supply place, which I have now no doubt contained herbicides Killer compost is a term given to compost and manure mixes that contain …
Bath fizzies, or bath bombs, are little semi-hardened blocks of good-for-you Epsom salts, baking soda and citric acid – the powders and salts held together with a bit of oil, which can also be a skin healing oil with infused herbs, and water. You can …
First my little black lop-eared pet bunny, Gypsy, whom I loved dearly, died. Just suddenly…
No marks, no obvious anything. She was in good health, really well taken care of, and honestly, in terms of lop-ear lifespan, not old at all... no idea what caused her death.
Then my wonderful new sheep snuck into my orchard in the few hours that there was no gate in the fence. Complete rookie sheep keeper mistake… I (we) naively thought the two sheep would be content browsing the two-foot long grass in the paddock (and the hay I put down for them), and be too put off by the fence around our orchard (magnificent fence by the way that my city-slicker/IT professional husband built with sweat and some blood, and I believe even some tears). The fence was fine, but we lacked a gate, the gate would come in the evening. Sheep are not as dumb as people make them out to be, and although they did cower in one side of their new paddock for most of the first days and a half, getting used to their new surrounds, it seems the moment you turn your head, they easily find a gap and bravely explore. Now I have chomped to the ground day-lilies, horseradish and berry bushes (boysenberry, loganberry, gooseberry, cranberry, and blackberry), and the tree Lucerne, lots of side branches of my new Ebbinge's silver-berries is gone, as well as low-hanging apple and pear blossoms.
Yeah, I well *knew* to keep them out to orchard, that’s’ why we built the fence… our mistake was leaving a small gateless gap for half a day… I know… I know… totally taking personal blame for that one. So we learn.
Then I lost two more baby finches from the aviary too…why did it have to be my favourites as well?
Really getting full now in the aviary too - time to try and sell some finches and budgies.
Then, my other bunny died. The bonded mate of Gypsy, Kaos, died two days after her. Yes, he was pining for her a bit, I’m sure, but he was still eating and drinking… and then I just found him, like Gypsy, lying dead.
And… I’m still finding more and more plants that seems to be affected by my mysterious (suspected herbicide damage) plant problem – besides all the hundreds of heirloom tomatoes, the beans, broad beans and peas in the garden and in grow trays, some of my dahlia are looking horrendous (why the most expensive tubers???), and also I found it on some of the new berries... and the sunflowers, gaillardia, zinnia, even cornflowers don't look like I think they should be looking.
Even the things that aren't downright twisted and deformed (and is said to be not affected by the suspected herbicide) are growing slowly and poorly (kale, lettuce, bok choy, etc.)
October! October! A truly beautiful month. With spring truly sprung, there’s birds chirping, bees buzzing, lambs jumping through dandelion fields, and flowers – including fruit blossoms – popping up everywhere. The growth in my garden has suddenly accelerated in the past week, enough even for …
