Preserve Me

I don't often recommend a book, and gain nothing by doing so - apart from the pleasure of sharing something that I really like. 

With that stated, I can't wait to tell you about this latest find.  I have been searching for a book on preserving food for ages, and even went so far as to purchase "Preserving the Taste" by Edon Waycott, which was recommended on another blog.  I was disappointed with the book.

So the hunt was on again.  I happened to be "over the mountain" at a shopping mall and popped into the bookstore there.  Shelves and shelves of recipe books - and I didn't have enough time to do them justice.  I gave the shelves a quick once over - and fortuitously my eyes came to rest on exactly the section that I needed.  In bold, rather garish, print I read: "The Preserving Book" by Lynda Brown. (Click here to see it on kalahari.net or here for amazon.com).   I grabbed the book with my free hand, put down my shopping bags in my other hand, and began to hastily page through it.

I couldn't believe my eyes - it was absolutely perfect!  I had just won the preserving book lottery!  I was so excited that I shouted out, "That's it!".  (I only realised that I had vocalised my thoughts when I noticed heads turning my way LOL).

I am going to try and give you a glimpse of what is in this book, but it is so full of fresh and amazing ideas that I hardly know where to start.

It begins with information on exactly what equipment is need for which method, and even suggests which containers would be suitable for each finished product.

It provides a chart, and details, on 29 fruits and 42 vegetables and advises which is suitable for preserving via:

natural (leaving in the ground, clamping)
dehydrated
frozen
jams
conserves
jellies
fruit cheeses (intensely flavoured fruit preserves) butters and curds
marmalade
crystallized fruits
chutneys
pickles
relishes
bottled produce
cordials / syrups
ketchup and sauces
preserving in oil
salting and curing (vegetables/fish and meat)
and brewing and wine making!

The pages are jam packed (LOL with or without the pun) with information and incredible photographs / illustrations.  Hopefully, without infringing on copyright, here is a taster of what the book contains:

There are so many details, and delicious recipes in this book - I couldn't wait to start.  But it was near the end of the day.  My eyes happened to fall on an absolute gem - "Bottled whole tomatoes".  Easy peasy - just wash the tomatoes, sprinkle salt and sugar and lemon juice over them - toss, ram into your preserving jar, seal and cook via the hot bath method.  Brilliant!  Even this novice could do that.  I did :-)

I used some surplus baby tomatoes which I had harvested on Friday.  The recipe is easily convertible for cooking in the solar oven.

The tomatoes "shrink" whilst they are in the
hot water bath - producing a delicious juice :-)

Lynda Brown even provides storage times for your preserved goods - for instance she says that the tomatoes prepared as above will keep for 12 months in a cool, dark area.

It is seriously the most comprehensive, informative preserving book I have read and has now got it's own spot on my "treasured recipe books" shelf.

It is the type of book that one can use over and over again and then, when one is too old to continue preserving, pass it on to a daughter or son and it will still be applicable in 50 - 100 years time.

Now - all I need to do is get to the local market and purchase all those fruits and vegetables which I am unable to grow but would like to preserve...  I now know how!

Where do bees go in winter?

I was wondering through my garden this morning and noticed that a couple of self-seeded tomato plants are popping their heads above ground.  That led me to suddenly think - is there enough time before autumn / winter for these tomato plants to be productive - tomatoes need an temperature or 21 - 27oC (70 -80oF) in order to germinate and be productive.

But it was not only that, I suddenly thought - the tomatoes would need bees to pollinate the flowers - there are no bees in winter - well, none that I have ever noticed.

photo from http://www.sabeekeeper.co.za/

But bees don't migrate like birds - do they?  So what happens to them?

So I decided to google "where do bees go in winter", and came up with the following three sites:

http://www.satweb.co.za/bees/bees.htm

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1699/

http://www.bees-online.com/Winter.htm

Basically, the worker bees create a "laarger"*.  Every worker bee in the hive (except for the drones and the queen bee, naturally) is involved in ensuring that the centre of their hive stays cool enough in summer and warm enough in winter.

To air condition the hive in summer, bees will gather on the outskirts of the hive and fan it madly with their wings in order to create a draft in the hive, and in winter the bees will cluster round around the queen bee in order to keep the center temperature at around 27oC (80oF). The worker bees rotate from the outside to the inside so that no bee gets too cold. The outside edges of the cluster stay at about 8oC (46-48oF). The colder the weather is outside, the more compact the cluster becomes.

So... I learnt something today.

The bees are still around in winter - they're just busy being useful to their hive.

Busy, busy bees indeed :-)

We really should take care of them better - for they are all our futures.

They are mainly attracted to purple and blue flowers, followed by yellow and orange.  Aubergines have lavender coloured flowers, tomatoes, squash / pumpkins and marrows are yellowy-orange - I've decided that I am definitely going to have at least one of each of these plants in my garden each summer - if only for the bees sake.  And strictly organic vegetable growing - for the chemicals in pesticides don't help anyone or anything one iota.

And I'm going to check each morning that my bird bath is full  - bees need a drink too.

Without them we would have no pollinated crops and no seeds for the future.  And I would surely miss not being able to grow my own tomatoes, aubergines, peas, beans, squash, pumpkins, strawberries, etc.


*A "laarger is a circle formed to protect the internal area of the circle.  The name is derived from the dutch settlers who travelled this country in ox wagons - at night they would create a laarger with the wagons, in order to protect the members of their party from wild animals / indigenous people.

Vegetable growing advice

I need some assistance from anyone who has successfully grown sweetcorn.

My sweetcorn experiment has had mixed results.  I have had some sweetcorn, but I have also had the following:

Exposed cobs with no silks...?

Now I know that I grew them in an unconventional way (on the retainer wall) but I have harvested a few - I would just like to know why this happened to some of them?

I would also like to share an idea I got from another blog (sorry, can't remember the blog address - that's a bad habit I have - reading someone's blog, seeing something I like and writing down the details, and then forgetting to note who's idea it was - my sincere apologies.  If it's your blog, please write to me so that I can correct this posting).

It's to do with creamed sweetcorn.

What you do is this:

Peel, and remove the silks from the head of corn.

Cut off the corn kernels - leaving a small amount of the kernels on the cob

Angling the knife almost perpendicular to the cob, drag the knife up "squashing" the remains of the kernels as you remove them, thereby releasing the sugars and creating corn with a sweet creamy texture.

Either freeze or use immediately - heat gently in your solar cooker for 30 minutes or in a pan on the stovetop.  Do not allow to dry out, otherwise you will loose the naturally sweet, creamy texture.

Serve with a knob of butter.  Absolutely delicious!

Finally, can anyone tell me why my 3 pumpkin plants aren't producing female flowers?  Plenty of male one's, but no females...  Very frustrating!

Invaded


At 7.15 pm last night we received a telephone call from our neighbour, Roy. Whenever he visits his farm, to make progress on his building, he always goes walkabout - to check on everyone else's property. Eyes and ears - we all do it for each other.

However - the call was bad news.

Between lunchtime last Sunday and last night someone had broken into our little house.

Fearing the worst, RMan and RSon rushed up to the farm, arriving at 11.30pm.

The thieves had broken a small window at the back of the house, by our kitchen door. This space had enabled a very small child to enter, who then went to the one big windows behind the kitchen sink and opened it, allowing his accomplices to forcefully remove the two lowest burglar bars. Through this opening they proceeded to remove:

All, but one, of the baskets containing dried / tinned food, including every scrap of food in the house, as well as all the cutlery and kitchen implements, all the crockery / glasses / mugs and thermos flask, as well as all my casserole dishes, were taken.

My beautiful baskets which worked so well...

My singing  kettle...

They did not take the bedding, the cushions / pillows, camping chairs, nor the pots and pans ... and a lot of other things we were expecting to be gone.

After spending until 2.00 a.m. this morning cleaning up the worst of the mess, but still leaving vital evidence / fingerprints intact, RMan and RSon had the police there this morning and they reckon it is the work of kids ... there was a trail of sweet wrappers leading to the back fence.

It could've been a lot worse and the place could've been ransacked and cleaned out!  Children who are deprived of an education due to their parents poverty, who are bored  and who sniff glue / take drugs and drink, get up to a lot of trouble.

Hunger and unemployment also figure in the equation.

But, for us, the worst thing is that once you have been broken into, the thieves know how hard / easy it is, and they will be back.  So RMan and RSon have spent the day trying to fortify our burglar proofing, etc.  Not a nice situation - and one which I know is going to give us sleepless nights.

This is just another result of the world-wide recession and it's lingering consequences.

We are now going to have to replace whatever was taken, and that, when times are already so financially tough, is an added burden.

Thankfully, though, we were not there when it happened and were therefore not in any danger, and secondly none of the theives seems to have been hurt - there was no visible blood on the broken window - although RMan could, he said in his first reaction to the news, very happily have shed some had he caught anyone...  I somehow doubt that - he is a gentle man and a gentleman.

Update:

Point of entry - broken double glazed toughened safety glass window
and 2 X burglar bars removed

Farm visitors

We had some (unexpected) guests on our last visit to the farm.

We have seen some fallow deer in the fields surrounding us, and came across a baby one at night.  We have also had a large hare escort us home along the dirt road one evening - right to our gate - before he hared off in another direction.

And, whilst we were putting in the foundations (in Dec 2008 / Jan 2009), we came across a snake skin which had been shedded - which made us pause for thought...

Then last year RMan came face to face with a Cape Cobra - I don't know who got more of a fright - RMan or the snake.

However, this time the visitors were a little less harmful...

Firstly, on our return walk after viewing our neighbours wind turbine we came across this little feller...

A little field mouse taking advantage of our grey water reed bed

Scampering up the side of our (unfinished) reed bed

It would appear that this little feller has made his home in our new wood pile.

The we spotted some tortoises.

Naughty, naughty, naughty - is he hitching a ride...

I would hazard a guess that this is a male and female
with the male being the redder one

or is he making whoopee.....?

Whatever - these guests are welcome in the garden... anytime.

Keeping cool the eco-friendly way

I'm going crazy with the solar recipe book - please bear with me a couple of weeks more...

We have been experiencing very hot weather in Cape Town, and I thought I would share with you how to remain cool as the outside temperature rises, without resorting to using electricity via your air conditioner.

At my back door I hang a plain sheet, which I have converted into a simple curtain, on a rod which is held in place by two small cuphooks.


A close up of the simple hanging method

When the mercury is shooting through the roof I remove the sheet (with rod in place), dip it in a bucket of water, and with the minimal of squeezing, I re-hang the sheet / curtain. The draft blowing through the wet sheet acts like an airconditioner. This could also be used on any curtain at a window (and encourage a late spring clean :-) ).  Simply wash the curtains and hang them straight from the washing machine.  If you go the 'dip in the bucket" route you would just have to squeeze the curtains a little more so that the water doesn't drip on your floor / carpet.

Secondly, when travelling in your car, have a wet towel with you. (keep it in a plastic bag until you require it.)  Open the car windows about 2.5 cms and ensure that only your fan is on (not your airconditioning) then drape the wet towel round your neck or over your legs. The damp towel will again act as an airconditioner as the air moves through it. You will thus use less petrol whilst driving (as car air conditioners increase your petrol consumption) whilst still being able to remain cool under the collar when driving :-)

A very refreshing break

We left Cape Town on Boxing Day - by we, I mean RMan, myself, NGirl, MKid and WGuy - RSon joined us 3 days later.

Surprisingly, there was very little traffic so the trip only took us 2 1/2 hours.  Naturally, we had to stop at Dassiesfontein - NGirl wanted to show WGuy all the goodies available there, and RMan (finally) bought himself a hat to wear whilst working on the farm - very necessary for those hot, sunny days.

Talking of sunny days we had nothing but overcast skies for the entire time we were there - drizzling now and then, but only producing 4mm of rain in 8 days - just enough to rinse off the leaves.  But the overcast skies were perfect for getting out onto the land and getting some work done.

Before RMan pulled a shoulder muscle using the pick, we managed to plant and lay irrigation to : 5 tiny Eugenia trees (as a wind break) 1 conifer which had been slowly dying of thirst in a broken pot at our home in Cape Town, 5 tiny lemon trees (grown from pips last year) and three avocado trees - also grown from pips - in the compost heap - LOL.  I think I have heard that avocado pips do not produce fruiting trees - time will tell...


We created a small wind break - to help the lemon trees along -
the wind blows something awful there...

We also lined the 5 individual pomegrate trees we have planted with a square mtr of Weedguard (a permeable ground cover for the prevention of weeds and the evapouration of whatever water we give the trees) and then we laid a continuous strip where we planted the lemon trees - we're very interested to see which method works better!

The renosterveld which has sprung up in the three months since we last able to visit were terrible - RMan, RSon and I climbed in and cleared the area where we planted fthe first of my lemon trees, and RSon also cleared the driverway - which was becoming completely overgrown.  We also gave the grape vine area a good weeding and installed some wire supports - as well as creating a border round them - it would appear as if some sheep and cows have had access to our property - not too sure how, for we can't see the fences broken / changed, and the new growth on the grape vines has been "pruned" - but we can see their droppings...

Believe it or not - weeding this area took RMan and I three hours - boy, is that ground hard!

Weeded and fenced - now the grape vines may have
a chance of survival against the heat and the cows / sheep


MKid just had to go to the closest thicket of wattle trees to build a "Survivor" shelter with WGuy - Cubs is obviously rubbing off on RKid - well Cubs, Ultimate Survivor / Ray Mears and Bear Grylls (can't stand the latter personally)  :-)  RKid wanted to sleep in the shelter - until he saw a large-ish spider and a couple of beetles walking round in it.

I'm very impressed with what they achieved though - using only branches - no twine or string at all - and it survived a night of hectic wind too... 

MKid had an absolute ball and is now the Official in Charge of All Fires - nothing he likes more than lighting the fire (with adult supervision, naturally) for the evenings braai (barbeque) - yes - we did manage to braai our dinner every day - and very cosy it was round the fire even when it started to drizzle slightly.

This was WGuys first exposure to anything eco - and I am very pleased to hear that he is trying to convince his parents to follow our example - he has, apparently, even gone so far as to start researching wind turbines, etc.  Very chuffed I am - hope the enthusiasm doesn't wear off as he becomes submerged with his normal working / daily life.  He was very impressed that our total energy use was 95 watts at any given time...

A simpler life is possible without too much loss of comfort - we are providing proof!

But the most exciting news of all - a neighbour of ours has recently started developing his piece of land, and has put up some temporary living structures (sleeping area and bathroom).  And he has put up a wind turbine!

What a thing of beauty it is.  It was spinning madly when we arrived - and continued spinning (even on the gentlest of breezes) for the entire time we were there!  I sat, transfixed at the sight of energy being produced with nothing other than the wind!

We took a walk there on the last morning - as the skies were clearing.

Naturally I had to get a closer look so we took a walk to see it - not only is it gorgeous, but it is also whisper quiet.

I am a shade of green - and it has nothing to do with being eco-friendly!  Ah well, we'll get ours when finances permit...

BUT - we have proof that a wind turbine is the route to go - not that I needed any - I have always been convinced that that will be the solution to our power requirements.

I can hardly wait J.

Orange rain

There is so much I want to share with you - but I need time to gather my thoughts and do it logically.

So for now - here are two photographs of a stunning sunset on our second last night on the farm...



Facing west towards the sunset - the orange / red / pink rain
is falling in the left half of the photo - I never knew that rain could take
on the colours of the sunset.

 I was spinning on my heels constantly - the sunset was happening both in the east and the west simultaneously - I couldn't decide which one to focus on



Facing east towards my favourite little valley. 

 What a gift from nature - watching this happen I felt blessed, uplifted and at peace with the world.