Officially, there are two days left before Autumn arrives in Australia.  The Autumn equinox is actually March 21,so we have a few hot days yet to come, nevertheless, we have begun our major planting of the year.  Where we live, it is much easier to garden organically during the cooler months.  Summer's heat brings many insects and diseases that we don't see when it's cooler.  Generally, we plant for nine months of the year, we harvest during Summer, and start all over again in Autumn.

Starting over again always means ripping out the most of the plants still producing, like eggplant (aubergine) and pumpkins, and working around those that will continue on, like the capsicums (peppers) and sweet potato.   Hanno has worked hard on adding cow manure, compost and worm castings to the garden beds, it's been raining on and off for a couple of weeks, so the beds have settled again nicely, and now it's time for the first plants.

Most gardening books will tell you to rotate vegetables and plant those with the same requirements for water and feed in the same plot and although that is how we started out, that is not how we garden now.  We found long ago that if we are to produce food year round, many of the guidelines in gardening books don't mean much.  They are written for short season gardens.  We start off in a very organised way, but as soon as the first crops are harvested, and they don't often ripen at the same time, we fill in the empty spaces with other crops.  So where we started with, for instance, a row of tomatoes, we might end up with lettuces or radishes in the spaces when the tomatoes finish.  

There are only a few real rules we go by: we always grow the vegetables in excellent soil that is rejuvenated every year, they always have adequate sunlight, and we are very careful not to plant members of the solanacae family - tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, capsicum (peppers), in the same soil two years in a row.  We also tend to keep these vegetables in groups and don't fill small spaces with one tomato or one potato.  If we keep them in groups, we know where they've been grown recently.  This family of vegetables are notorious for wilt diseases and soil nematodes and we need to plant them carefully to avoid problems.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about soil improvement  and when we improved our soil here we also started to sow seeds and plant cuttings.  Of course, this is an ongoing task throughout the year, but these and seedlings bought at the market, are what started our garden again. This year I have turmeric and ginger growing from tubers planted a few weeks ago.  They'll be planted out soon.  We also have seedlings of tomato, beans, cabbage, cucumber and bok choy, as well as new parsley, lemon mint, and coriander.

So our garden is planted again, albeit, with only a few seedlings, but it feels like we're back on track again.  In the coming weeks, the empty spaces will disappear and greenery will grow tall and overflow.  Trellises and climbing frames will be secured in the soil for cucumbers and peas; stakes will hold tomatoes steady and firm.  There will be all sorts of lettuces, ruby red tomatoes and radishes, dark purple cabbages and beetroot.  Soon we'll plant potatoes, carrots and baby cauliflowers for our Winter soups and vegetables.  Soon we'll be back to normal.

"We moved into this house a couple years ago and I have been slowly doing different renos along the way. I painted the kitchen walls and ceiling, put up the panels/rod on the sliding door. Just need to fix the other panel and make it into a topper above the sink. We changed out the old lighting and my pride and joy is the backsplash. I did that all by my little lonesome. I like to think it ain't bad.

Still dreaming and making changes as the funds will allow.. Saving now for a new sink and taps. We have really hard water and these taps are ready to explode. Lets hope they don't.

If you would like your kitchen sink to be featured in the current batch of photos, send two photos, reduced in size to about 30 percent, to  rhondahetzel at gmail dot com.

Thank you for the kind thoughts for Bernadette.  We went to chemo yesterday and I'm happy to tell you she was pain-free all day.  Maybe it was your prayers and good thoughts that helped that along.  On the way home we picked up her daughter from the airport and they collected Flora McDonald on their way home.  Hanno drove them home from here because I was tired and needed a short sleep.  What a lovely thing it is to sleep during the day.  I never liked to in years gone by but now I sleep whenever I feel like it and I am better for it.

After my nap I checked the forum, talked to Hanno, and did a few odds and ends.  I bought a large dish drainer yesterday as the one I had doesn't handle our dishes and all the bottles, jars, funnels and spoons I usually have when washing up.  I reorganised the kitchen sink to accommodate the new addition, washed the lunch dishes and the bits and pieces sitting on the kitchen bench, then stood back to admire my new drainer.  LOL!  I am amused by simple sights now - a dish drainer full of drying dishes pleases me as much as anything finer would.  I am looking forward to tomorrow when I can get stuck into the kitchen and give it a good tidy up.

When I'm doing that tidy up, I'll also make some soap.  I gave four bars to Kerry when he was here last week so we only have a few bars left.  I also want to make more liquid soap, and try to perfect my method of doing that.  It will only be my second lot of liquid soap so I still have much to learn, but the product itself is so lovely, I doubt I'll ever be without it again.  I've been using it for shampoo, removing stains, washing dishes, spraying on bugs in the garden and adding a little to my bucket of vinegar water when I mop the floors.  It's a full day job though, with lots of sitting and waiting, so I'll have to start that early tomorrow.

Many of the long term readers here will probably remember that Autumn is my favourite season, so as the days shorten and the strength of light changes, I look forward to those coming  cooler months when we have our vegetable garden back to full production.  Hanno started the planting  (I will do a post on that later in the week) but just seeing him out there in the garden in the late afternoon, reminds me that most beautiful time of the year will be here very soon.  And when I can eat home-grown heirloom tomatoes again and don't have to rely on the insipid pretenders we buy at the shop, I'll be one happy gal.

Growing a vegetable garden gives us such a sense of empowerment.  Those vegetables, along with all the skills we've learnt along the way, help us survive as independently as possible and if there was, heaven forbid, a local disaster, or a transport or oil strike, or problems further afield that stopped the production or movement of oil, we  know we would be fine here for a long time.  I guess we're preparing for the future by relying on the past.

I am going to work today and will be presenting one of my Frugal Home workshops.  I always enjoy them even though it's a bit of a rush in the morning to set up and organise food for lunch as well talk to people as they come in.   But it will be a good day, of that I have no doubt, and the incidentals of the day will be forgotten  to be replaced by the pleasure of sharing what I know with others who are keen to learn.  Sharing knowledge, passing on information, and encouraging those younger used to be a normal part of life, but it doesn't seem to happen much nowadays.  I love the point in the workshop when people realise they really can change the way they live and still be happy and fulfilled.  There is always a point when they see the payoff for taking the time to come along to the workshop.  They have the printed information in their hands but the thing that surprises them is the stirrings of motivation to change.  That is  what I strive to give them.  Information without the motivation to use it is worthless. The quiet people who walk in change into a little group motivated towards change.  When they leave, they hug and thank me.  Often they make plans to come back - sometimes to volunteer, sometimes to attend another workshop or take a bus trip, or to learn how to sew and mend at our sewing circle.  I feel very fortunate to be part of it.

I have always loved books and learned early in my life that books were entertaining, explanatory, trustworthy, and a dependable companion both in my home and when travelling around.  Books are where I go to for my information, even now in the age of the internet, my first port of call when I want to learn something is the library.  I used to buy all the books I read but now that I have reduced the amount I spend, books are a shared experience with others using my local library.  Sometimes though, I'm lucky enough to gather enough points on my Amazon widget to buy a few books, and that is exactly what I did just after Christmas.  Of the three books I bought then, I want to write about A Well-Kept Home by Laura Fronty and Yves Duronsoy.

This is a book that will serve to give you those hints, tips and recipes that you'll never find in a modern magazine or most books on household tips.  This is a gentle look at how we can use old-fashioned methods in our modern homes.  

 Click to enlarge.

This book is familiar to me, it's how I am living.  Some recipes and hints are old favourites, some are totally new to me. There are little treasures in the book like these:

This onion tip will also work by piercing the onion with two toothpicks on either side of the onion. That will allow you to suspend the onion over a glass of water.

And here is a lovely old fashioned recipe from my CWA (Country Women's Association) cook book:

CWA cookbooks are available from most CWA branches.  Mine is about 40 years old but it says inside the cover it's available from The Secretary, Soldier's Memorial Hall Committee, Tandunda SA 5352.  If it's still available, it's a fine book.  There are no photographs in it, which was the custom in those days, just old-fashioned recipes.

And finally today, the recipe for my Buttermilk Apple Cake that a few people have asked for.

Well, some of you realised what I'd done even if  I didn't. I'd spent a rather harrowing day with my friend Bernadette in the emergency room of a hospital yesterday, came home at 4pm, checked the comments, made a couple of notes for today's post, pressed "publish" instead of "save" then shut down the computer. Oops.

So let's go through that list.  After a very busy week, I took time out on Saturday to reconnect with the chooks.  They are always a delight, but occasionally they do something really crazy and I love them even more because of it.  On Saturday I went out to feed them and let them out to free range and found the scene below.  I had to go back inside to get the camera, because it had to be recorded, not only for me, but for you too.  These three girls have been broody for quite some time, although I think Heather is only playing at it because she's often out of the nest too.  She's decided she wants to fly and when I open the gate of the chook pen, she flies out over the others.  So here in the nest, Germaine and Mary sit, sometimes with Heather. They are all in THE nest.  It's everyone's favourite.  Usually they each sit in a separate nest, but not on Saturday!  

While I had the camera in my hand I wandered around the backyard to see what Hanno had been doing while I worked last week.  He's been concerned that the wires he laid over the roots of the grapefruit and mandarin tree weren't protecting the roots enough, so he made these nifty cages.  We still have room to place the mulch around the roots, but the chooks can't scratch the roots.  Citrus have their roots close to the surface and if chickens scratch them enough, it can kill the tree.  But not now.  : - )

We don't have much in the way of vegetables growing now but the fruit still comes.  Lemons are growing well, oranges are coming on for winter, red paw paw (papaya) have grown but haven't ripened yet and a few passionfruit are almost ripe.  We've had so much rain lately, everything in the yard is green green green!  The grass is thick and lush, the crunchy brown grass of early January is a fading memory now.

Yesterday, while I was out with Bernadette, Hanno planted up some seedlings.  I'm not sure what he put in, so that will have to wait for another day.  I do know the time for a main planting for the year is almost here.  We are opposite to most others here in the sub-tropics, here we start our main crops in March (the beginning of Autumn) and plant through until about November (the end of Spring).  That last planting generally keeps us in vegetables until March rolls around again.  Hanno has developed a great system but we're quite unorthodox and we're not burdened by too many gardening rules.  I'll write more about that when I write about the new seedlings.

Another thing I'll write about later, because this post is getting quite long now, is the book I'm reading A Well Kept Home - Household traditions and simple secrets from a French grandmother.      I think I became aware of the book on Ronelle's blog, or maybe it was another, but whereever I found it, it's a real gem of a book.

On Saturday, Hanno and I decided to treat ourselves to a late release movie from the DVD store.  The choice - Julie and Julia, of course.  I'd been wanting to see it for so long.  I like Meryl Streep and Julia Child, but apart from those two people being part of the movie, I knew nothing about it.  It turned out to be about a woman, Julie, who writes a blog!  She worked for a company designing the 9/11 memorial park, and while she was at work, she received calls from really sad people who lost loved ones in the tragedy, she listened to complains and she generally came home each night worn out and depressed.  She decided she had to do something and decided to make every recipe in Julia Child's French cookbook, and then write about it.  The movie follows the life of Julie while she starts cooking and writing her blog until she becomes popular, is featured in the New York Times and they start talking about her writing a book.  Interwoven in the Julie story is the delightful tale of Julia Child in France in the 1950s with all the superb fashions, hats and gloves.  And the butter!  Of course it's in most French recipes and at the end of the film, Julie leaves a packet of butter under a photo of Julia at the Julia Child museum.  It's really touching and sweet and that one scene would have made me love the film forever.  

It also made me think about my own book - the one I've been writing on and off for ages, and whether it will ever be finished.  Julia's book took eigth years!  That gives me some hope.  I haven't talked about it for a long time but I am still writing, I still have my New York agent, and I still hope to have the book published one day.  Watching Julie and Julia made me realise that the self doubt that comes with writing a book seems to be universal.  I do wonder if it will ever be finished, I wonder too if anyone will be still here when, and if, it is.

I have work again today and it's my very long day - 8am till 8pm.  It's the normal work day with a couple of meetings at the end of it.  Tomorrow I'll take Bernadette to have her chemo.  Work again on Wednesday and hopefully, after that, I'll write a few lines for the book.  I am full of enthusiasm for it, it's just time I lack at the moment.  But even though these days are full, the work load is getting lighter and as we settle into our new work building, many new possibilities open up.  These are exciting times for me, even though I'm worn out by them.  I do know that I'm indeed fortunate to have so many opportunities at this stage of my life, and like most things I hope to make the most of them.

I hope this week is a good one for all of us.  ♥

Blue is the colour for this weekend's kitchens - look at this little beauty.  This is Suzanne's kitchen in South Australia.  You can tell when this photo was sent by the Christmas pudding hanging there.

‘This is my little kitchen, we have an old home so our kitchen is walk through with the bathroom coming off of it on the side.

I lack all of what ‘most’ girls have with their new, large spacious kitchens, but it has no effect on the food I cook, only probably the time I spend in here.  I have no dishwasher, so with three children it can get a little cluttered but I have a lovely double sink that was put in a few years ago and I have just got a new oven after about 14 years….lucky me!!

My husband made my bench top, yes I only have one! from jarrah floorboards, and the other little bits and pieces of furniture are not fitted. I love to collect blue glass and blue and white china, and I think this little kitchen shows it all off beautifully.

I will have a new kitchen one day, but for now, I am happy here preparing meals, baking, and using home produce(see my cucumbers and tomatoes on the sink!) for my family………Thank you for the opportunity to share a little piece of my home with you all.’

You can visit Suzanne's lovely blog here.

I am ready to receive some more kitchen sink photos if you want to be part of this series.  Please send two only and reduce the size of them to about 20 percent before sending.  You can send them to rhondahetzel at gmail dot com

 

 

Carla writes:
"Here are some photos of my kitchen. The first one is of the sink and the outlook I have through the window. The blinds are wooden and I have them drawn up so that hopefully you can see it also. It overlooks the patio where we sit to have our cuppas and breakfast. In the background there is my 60th birthday present DH had built for me to hang my greenery. 

Next to that is an old freezer which is choc a block full with frozen garden produce. Inside, the light wood grain Formica bench top compliments the wooden blinds and spice rack on the left On the right the cane shelf with delft blue ware tins that once had Dutch biscuits in when bought from the shop. But in order to keep them with the blue theme I kept the tins to reuse them. They now contain the teas,coffees and sugar. My crocheted dish cloth is hanging over the sink divider. I have a double sink. However I keep the drain rack in the right sink as I never use a tea towel to dry dishes. I always drain and let them air dry. I feel it's healthier, rather than wipe more germs over them with a tea towel that more often than not has been used to wipe my hands. When we built this house I chose not to have dishwasher.

The photo of the whole kitchen shows the fridge and freezer side by side on the left, the walk in pantry in the corner and then my gas cook top stove and electric oven underneath. 

On the wall above it, is my most favourite piece of delft blue ware, the Dutch coffee grinder. To the right on the bench I keep the salt pot, a container with a brush I use for dipping in oil and a spoon rest, again all in Delft blue. It was a hobby of mine to get things to go into my "Dutch" kitchen and follow the blue theme which took a quite some time over the last 10 years before we went on the pension. I'm glad I did now, as this is the part of the house we spend most of our time and it has become a comfortable place to work in amongst my little treasures. It's not a big kitchen but very functional and I love being in there."