Keeping it all natural

The three rose bushes by the old laundry outlet are still going strong

Ronnie and I planted rose bushes when we first moved to our smallholding to live out our dream.  (The post about that can be found here:  https://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2013/11/welcome-and-anniversary-surprise.html)

Two were planted in front of the house, and the other three at the washing machine outlet outside the old garage (which is now my cottage).

The three stages of my conifer tree seed and pod production

My conifer trees produce flowers which age / dry into small wood-like cones.

I harvest lavender flowers from my bushes when they're flowering.

Venting the excess heat from the dehydrating fruit

  

I dehydrate lemon slices (from our lemon orchard) in my solar oven - that tends to make them a bit dark coloured (as the temperature isn't so easy to control) so I'm waiting for a couple of consecutively hot-enough days and I'll use my solar dehydrator and see if the end result is more what I'm looking for.

   

Slightly darkened dehydrated lemon and gorgeous dehydrated orange slices

 

A local fruit farm has reject oranges at harvesttime and I have arranged to collect some when they are harvesting.

Add some delicious herbs and spices, and what have you got?

The potpourri comes with a small bottle of essential oil 
to freshen up the potpourri if, and when, necessary.

Three different potpourri scents...

Pity I won't be able to simmer these on the Rosie
- but I have tried on my gas hob and they're gorgeous

...and three different simmer pot "flavour" packages.

I don't like using commercial room spray fresheners but, with two (sometimes wet) dogs who sleep inside at night, one needs to be able to freshen up the space a little.  And what better way than by using what nature so willingly gives you?  Just like it was done in days of yore.

A local farmstall has placed an order for both the potpourri and the simmer pot mixtures and I will be delivering this coming week.

A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.

(if you'd like to buy any Foothills Potpourri or Foothills Simmer Pots for yourself, please drop me an email - perhaps I can make a plan to get it / them to you.)

The simmer pot will obviously work on a wood burner and I have searched online for local mini crockpots or mini hot plates for those who do not have wood burning stoves.  They're all too expensive as I would have to import them.  Ditto the glass "simmer pot" pots.  Would've been nice to offer a complete package to those who are eager to try my simmer pot mixtures.

Lets see how the sales go - perhaps I can offer that additional option in future.

Learning something new at my age

I read somewhere recently that one can clear the glass of a wood burning stove with wood ash from the fire.  So naturally, after one of our winter fires left the glass all "smoked" up recently, I had to try it.

Dirty, smoked filled glass

I took a small wad of loo paper (I don't buy or use paper towel in my home) dampened it and dipped it gently in the cold ash of the fire and then carefully wiped the glass.

Just a dab of wood ash on some tissue (loo) paper

Wow - it works!! 😀  It works beautifully.

Previously, as it doesn't easily "rub" off, I had taken a blade to the gunk in order to carefully remove it without scratching the glass.  But this is now a breeze.

Just be careful to use the fine wood ash - not the tiny (or  bigger) chunks of charcoal which may remain in your ash tray.

Leave the "chunks" of wood ash behind and just take a bit of the finer ash

If only I'd know this since 2012 when we first had the Rosie installed and keeping us warm during winter...

The glass in front of the fire pit
is clean again.  Nothing nicer than
seeing the flames of the fire that
 is keeping you warm - it
somehow adds to the warming effect.

P.S.  The "ashed" bit of loo paper went straight onto my compost heap.

Wintry day

Woke up this morning to these wintry views : 

Snow on the mountains behind Swelledam...

It's about bloody time - I've waited ALL winter for these views!  Quite a bit of snow - more than usual - has fallen in South Africa this winter, but this is the first time this winter that it has settled on "our" mountains.  Not a heavy fall, but better than nothing :)

...and snow on the mountains behind Suurbraak

The only thing a day like this calls for is...

... a mug of hot chocolate... (or if I'm honest, a few mugs of hot choccie)

 ... and the Rosie - at full burn :)

Life is good :D

Winter joy

"To everything, turn, turn turn,
There is a season, turn, turn, turn..."

Early morning mists which settle into the stream
 / river valleys

You have to have contrast.  I am not a member of the "I hate winter" club.  Rather, I relish the cooler weather.  I am more mentally alert, more physically active, and more inspired in the kitchen.

Here are some of my favourite things that I love most about winter...

 

Sunrises...

... and sunsets

Brooding, inspiring, breath-taking sunrises and sunsets.

A wood burning fire - which not only heats our entire home, but also gives me access to an oven in which I can bake...

My darling Rosie

...roasted homegrown vegetables, homemade pies and samosas, bread, lasagnas and pizza.

4 ingredient mealie bread - the smell fills the air,
 and the taste is heavenly :)
(recipe here)

Homemade chicken or creamed spinach samosas
 in phyllo pastry (recipe here)

Lasagne, pies, samosas and pizza can't be cooked on top of our two plate gas stove, nor will the latter three be successful in my solar oven, so we go without / my menu options don't include those during the summer months. 

Rain - glorious rain.
I remember it well, and wait in anticipation
of it falling again...

Rain - filling our rain water tanks and earthen dam, refreshing the garden and cause the land around us to go green - as opposed to the dried out, brown appearance during summer :)

Long and short gumboots - for
use when it pelting down with rain which
forms muddy puddles everywhere, or
 when  there is just damp grass

Gumboots (long and short) to keep my feet dry, chunky jerseys and a down jacket against the cold outside air, and a warm bed to sleep in.  I am aware of all those who aren't as fortunate, and know that I'll never take those luxuries for granted.

Two and a half dehydrated pumpkins fit into
2 X 1 lt jars

Eating summer out-of-season home grown produce - which has either been canned or has been dehydrated in my new Foothills DryAway ;)

  

Homemade jams and beetroot...

 

  ...and tomato puree / concentrate

 

Dehydrated herbs and vegetables (which at this stage only

 include pumpkins and piquanté peppers)

Lying in bed in the morning, cup of rooibos tea (for me) or coffee (for RMan) in hand, looking at the snow capped mountains in the distance.

Snow capped mountains in the distance

  Aaaah!  What's not to love about winter...?  :D

Men in the kitchen

The average male, I'm sure most of you will agree, don't do kitchens.  Yeah, RMan is very good - we take turns (more or less) at washing up the day's dishes after our evening meal.

But cooking?

Nope.  RMan will make a scrambled egg, or boiled egg, or allow spitting grease from the frying pan when he cooks his weekly chunk of red flesh (steak normally) to fly everywhere.

Make a salad.  Not bloody likely!  He's more into getting his greens from the green coloured bottle that houses his liquid refreshment (which made from hops which he thus considers to be a vegetable).  The only time he'll eat a salad is if it is diced into small pieces a lá an Israeli salad (why is it called an Israeli salad?)

Alternatively, winter cooked greens will be wolfed down providing he can't actually make out what it is - like a broccoli, pumpkin or pea soup.  Again, there is a caveat - the soup must be accompanied by some sliced wurstchen which is scattered into his soup.

Or, unless the veggies are smothered in a cheese sauce - as in broccoli or cauliflower cheese.

The only veg he will eat happily is carrots which have an added a pat of butter and honey. 

Be that as it may.

Our grandson, Mike, came to stay with us for the Easter school holidays.

Months ago - I kid you not - RMan was with me in the supermarket when we made our weekly shop.  He went wandering off (which is a relief) and eventually arrived back with a box in his hands.  When I enquired what it was he showed me - a box of chocolate cake mix.  Yuck!  There is no accounting for males taste, is there?!?

It turns out he bought it so that the next time Mike came to stay the two of them could make a cake together.

Serendipitously, Mikes visit coincided with our totally out of season March snowfall on the higher peaks of the mountains, which, just because it sounded like cold weather, meant that we lit the Rosie that night.

After dinner I heard rumblings in the ranks.  The men wanted pudding.

Nope - I wasn't in the mood, and couldn't be bothered to start going through recipes looking for something to fulfill their sweet tooth requirements.

Until I remembered the chocolate cake mix that RMan had purchased all those months ago.

Digging it out of my under-the-stairs pantry, I handed it over to both of them.  And left them to it.  Literally.

Cake icing can hide a multitude of sins, can't it :)

This is the result.

Thank goodness icing hides imperfections lol

Don't look to closely - you'll see the raw dough
 at the bottom of the cake

Naturally, because they made it, it tasted outstanding.  Even if it was a tad doughy inside.  It made no difference.  The cake was wiped in it's entirety!!

And, they cleaned the kitchen afterwards!!  (it's surprising how much mess a box of cake mix can make, isn't it?  Thank goodness they didn't get into my containers of flour, sugar, etc...)

Actually, it wasn't bad.  And considering it was their first joint baking session I think they did themselves proud.

They had fun too :)

But, that still doesn't solve the veggie consumption issue...

Vital crop

The one vegetable / fruit that I need to plant, and harvest in quantity, each year is tomatoes.

Last year I was devastated when the mice managed to eat / damage / decimate most of my tomato crop.  The little buggers weren't picky either - sampling this one, that one, any-which-one, and never finishing the meal they started.

What a waste!  Haven't they heard of food poverty?

Thankfully, this year we have seen very few mice in the garden, so I am harvesting enough tomatoes each week to keep me busy in the kitchen over the weekends, when the pressure of (income producing) work is lessened.

Clockwise from the top left:
My new purple tomatoes, golden yellow,
red beefsteak heirloom and cocktail tomatoes

Earlier in January I found a tomato seedling in the local nursery that had me intrigued - so, naturally, I had to buy a specimen.

It was a black (purple) tomato plant.

I have been excited - yes, it doesn't take much, does it ;) - to see what developed.

They are much smaller tomatoes, and really interesting.

A sliced purple tomato

As you can see in the pic above, when they are sliced, the inner edges still retain a touch of that "bruised" look.  I will be saving seeds from one of those I harvest in order to grow my own next year.

I need to make a salad from the different tomatoes I'm growing to show you the different colour contrasts.

A mixed tomato salad with a bit of basil and crumbled feta, sprinkled with balsamic and olive oil - heaven!!

But, the main reason I grow tomatoes is so that I can preserve them.

There are approximately 16 large beefsteak
 tomatoes reducing down in this pot - with 1 single
 yellow one added (it was almost over-ripe and I
 didn't want to waste it).

The must have staple of my pantry / freezer is tomato purée.

Cocktail tomatoes are to throw into a mixed salad.  Only.  I tried preserving them whole a few years ago, but it was a waste of time.  They disintegrated down into an insipid watery mush, and the small jars took up far too much space in my pantry.

Heirloom tomatoes, on the other hand, are invaluable.

My main source of tomato purée is from the heirloom tomatoes -  the beefsteak and the yellow one.  I love the irregular shape of the heirloom tomatoes - it almost gives each one a different character.

(Did you know that perfectly round tomatoes are a result of needing a suitably tidy shaped tomato to put on a take-away hamburger?  Have you ever hear anything more ridiculous?  The bloody hamburger dictates what tomatoes are commercially grown these days - if you can call them tomatoes, as I find them completely tasteless and pasty in colour.)

This is what I mean about a disfigured
 heirloom tomato.  Don't you love the
 uneven appearance of them :)

The heirloom tomatoes around the stem are normally "disfigured" as in the pic above.  I have no idea what causes that, but their taste is amazing, so I don't give a hoot.  The "disfigured" section goes to my worm farm occupants - the worms don't know any different lol

The yellow tomatoes are my favourite, too - and they make the most amazing tomato purée - producing a much deeper colour than that of the beefsteaks.  The purée from the yellow tomatoes seems almost tinged with a dash of turmeric. That is quite a contradiction, as I had imagined, given their yellow appearance, that that purée would have more of a yellow appearance.

I use the purée in a myriad of ways - for pizza bases, in casseroles, soups, dips, sauces, etc.  This winter I also want to try using it in bread, in place of water :)

Recycled plastic containers holding yummy
 thick tomato purée paste cooling down
 before they are popped into the freezer.
1.125 ltrs of tomato to enliven those wintry
 nights.  One of those oval 125ml containers is
 enough for a meal.  I have also water bath preserved
tomato puree in larger Ball jars for my pantry :)

There is something about the luscious redness of tomatoes in winter which, together with a roaring "Rosie" uplifts the cold, dreary days.  The hint of spring around the corner, with the promise of the next tomato harvest...

Moonlight...

... is associated with romance.

But, the other night - during the full moon - the farmers round us were all busy.

When RMan went to the bathroom, he rushed out again to call me to come and see...

...the farmers were harvesting by moonlight.  It was a tad surreal to see the moon, with two "mini" moons below it.

Quite, quite gorgeous.

Our temperature on our smallholding hit an uncomfortable and unseasonal high of 39oC last Wednesday.  It even made the news:  http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/south-africa-sets-earths-hottest-october-temperature-on-record-119

And, tomorrow they are predicting snow to fall on the higher mountain ranges, and our maximum temperature is dropping to 13oC.

http://snowreport.co.za/updated-snow-forecast-01-03-november-2015/

Whaaaaaaaaaaat???

That's ridiculous!

No, it won't be snowing where we are - unfortunately.

And - I am not complaining.

That means I can light the Rosie in order to cook the duck legs I purchased on my brief trip through to Cape Town a couple of weeks ago.

T'will be a fitting meal to celebrate 35 years.  It was raining that day 35 years ago, and t'will be raining where we are tomorrow.

But, we'll be cosy and gemütlich inside - watching the raindrops topping up our dam, and replacing the water we have already used from our rainwater tanks.

Can't wait :)

Winter... or Spring?

Firstly, thank you to everyone who left comments / messages on my last (indulgent) blog posting :)  Funny, thoughtful and thought provoking.  Bless you all.

Back to the subject of this blog posting - even Nature seems confused at the moment.

Scallies - in front of the Rosie

The days are good and cold - now and then.  Not often enough as far as I am concerned.  Scallywag, at 15 years old, is feeling the cold, and can be found in this position whenever the Rosie is lit :)  And even when it isn't - almost as though he is saying, "C'mon guys. light it for me won't you."  (RMan can normally be fond standing in front of the Rosie, too - he doesn't like the cold, and constantly warms his back - much to my annoyance when I am trying to cook 'cos he's in my way lol)

The canola fields from the N2

Driving to town for our weekly shop is exquisite - not only is the countryside green (due to the winter rains) but the canola fields are also flowering.  The contrast of the deep blue sky, the dark green foliage, and the yellow fields - magical!!

Green and gold - apt

I read on someone's blog the other day that they reckon their spring is over - huh!!??  Ours is just starting - our plum trees are in full blossom.  Hopefully the wind goes on vacation so that the blossoms / small fruit aren't blown off the trees...

Plum blossoms - to few to pick a small vase
full for the table, but enough to promise a harvest
this coming summer

... for what would the fruit eating birds do then - never mind us?  I have no plum jam left in the pantry...

The best of all three - plum blossoms in the
 foreground, fields filled with canola flowers, and
 green oats waving in the breeze the background.

The circle of life continues - each with it's own beauty and reward.

But, please - don't hurry away just yet winter - I'm not done with you yet...

Frugal food

I don't know if anyone else battles with deciding what to cook for their evening meal.  Don't get me wrong, I love cooking - when I'm inspired.  And when I have the time.

But, sometimes it is a terrible chore...

Frequently, I can't find the inspiration / be bothered to think at 7 - 8 in the morning what I should take out of the freezer for our dinner roughly 11 - 12 hours later.  It's not as though everything that I take out can immediately be cooked when it is defrosted - sometimes it's easy, but too often it's the main ingredient of a recipe - which requires quite a bit of further attention / preparation in order to prepare the meal.

So, I often wish that I had some ready meals on hand.

Bulk cooking - to save  time and give me
inspiration

Last week I got stuck in and made some homemade ready meals.

Instead of just cooking enough mince for a spag bol (plus the inevitable remnants which hang around the fridge until I can hide them some way so that RMan eats the left-overs) I made 4 times the quantity (roughly 450 gms of ostrich mince).

Spaghetti Bolognaise - plus two portions in the freezer
big enough for a lasagne or two :)

That night we had our spag bol...

2 - 3 ready made cannelloni meals

The next day I took some of the remaining mince and stuffed some cannelloni tubes.

They went into the freezer as they are - and all it will take is opening a jar or two of my homemade tomato sauce, making a quick Bechamel sauce, putting the lot together in a baking dish with a sprinkling of grated cheese, and placing in the oven of the Rosie, and there you have it - an instant meal :)

My kale plants are producing madly...

...so I picked a bunch...

... and shoved them in my steamer.

Some of the mince Dolmades I made

When they were soft and pliable, they got filled with mince and rice - à la Dolmades or stuffed cabbage leaves style.

Whilst the leaves were steaming, I used the base of the pot to cook also steam some gem squash and carrots for our diner that night.  Why waste energy heating another pot - plus it's one less pot to wash lol

So, out of a normal four portions of mince I now had / have:

a  The portion of Spag bol which we ate for dinner

b  2 - 3 future Cannelloni meals

c  2 X future meals of Dani's Dolmades (which will be placed on a bed of kale and sliced carrots and just covered with hot chicken stock and baked for 3/4 - 1 hour, and served with an Avgolemono sauce)

d  2 X future portions of mince which I'll use for lasagnes.  (All I will need to do again is grab some lasagna sheets, open a jar or two of my homemade tomato sauce, whip up a quick Bechamel sauce - layer the lot in a baking dish, sprinkle some grated cheese and place in Rosie's oven.)

8 meals out of an amount of mince which would normally provide only 4.

This pot stand creates a perfect "keep
warm" spot on the Rosie and ensures
that the contents of the pot will not burn
at the bottom.

By the way, I'm loving having the Rosie fired up again, and, although the Rosie has a warming shelf, it is quite narrow height-wise.  Purchasing a simple pot stand, it now doubles up as a keep warm area on the Rosie - and it works perfectly :)