by Krista | Mar 30, 2015 | Autumn
With great delight we welcomed the cooler temperatures of Autumn this weekend. I can’t tell you how lovely it is to not need a fan blowing on me all day just to keep going. I’m a happy camper.
With the decrease in temperature came an increase of energy, and I’ve been working hard putting up all sorts of fruits and veggies for the cold winter months.
Our markets are currently full to bursting with inexpensive boxes of ripe tomatoes, fat apples, and oh-so-juicy pears, and Bear and I happily load them into our car each week to be turned into delicious things.
This weekend I made trays of roasted tomatoes and pureed them into scrumptious tomato sauce that is now frozen and ready for winter pasta dishes and hearty soups.
I hauled out all three dehydrators and have kept them humming as they dry stacks of tomatoes, apples, and pears. The dried tomatoes will be packed in jars with capers and garlic then covered with olive oil. The apples and pears are for snacking now and to be used in dried fruit pies and puddings down the road.
I also did a lot of baking, two dozen whole grain sunflower seed flat bread rolls and a loaf of sunflower seed bread.
Mmm, it smells so good in here.
I ended the baking, cooking, preserving frenzy by making a quick and easy Maple Fig Cobbler using up the last of the figs I picked with my friend Katy a couple of months ago. They’ve been waiting in the freezer for a just right recipe, and this was it. The hearty whole grain cobbled crust was a wonderful accompaniment to the melt in your mouth fig filling. It was a delicious way to end a busy day.
What is your favorite part about the season you are in? xo
Maple Fig Cobbler
Ingredients:
10-12 fresh figs, washed and quartered
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp real maple syrup
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp maple extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (200 C).
2. In large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter and add fresh figs. Drizzle with maple syrup and simmer until sauce forms from the butter, syrup, and fig juices. Pour into pie plate.
3. In medium bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using fingers, work in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add milk and maple extract, stir with fork until soft dough forms. Will be quite wet.
5. Using a tsp or your fingers, cover fig mixture with dollops of dough to create cobbled surface.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is golden and fig mixture bubbling.
7. Serve warm or chilled.
by Krista | Mar 16, 2015 | Autumn
“Anyone who has a garden, park or orchard tree has an opportunity to ensure that it offers protection, brings beauty and bears fruit for future generations.” Gabriel Hemery
When I first moved to our farm in rural Queensland, Australia, I could never have imagined the projects Bear and I would tackle as we turned this beautiful spot into a place where little dreams come true.
One of our dreams was to have our own orchard filled with apples, plums, pears, peaches, apricots, etc. But as owners of a herd of Kalahari goats with fence-busting tendencies, we had to make sure the orchard would be safe from their voracious appetites and sneaky ways. We also had to protect the fruit from marauding birds. We both love watching the amazing birds around here – galahs, cockatoos, grass parrots, kookaburras, and more – but any fruit tree left unprotected is soon devoured by the feathered beauties.
All that to say, we had our work cut out for us to grow and harvest our own fruit.
We’ve been working in stages. First we built one row of fencing of heavy duty wire around the perimeter of the Big Orchard which houses plums, peaches, citrus, and 19 grape vines. Then we pounded in star pickets to anchor the large plastic pipes that would form the base for encasing the orchard in bird netting.
This week we’re working on building an inner fence. The last line of defense to keep out pesky goats, kangaroos, and wallabies.
It’s mighty hot work out in the blazing Autumn sunshine, but over the last day or two some cooling breezes have blown in making it more bearable. Thank. Goodness.
Being out there day after day gives us the opportunity to see the orchard up close and personal. While the plums and peaches are past producing anything, the citrus portion of the orchard is flourishing. Even though the trees are only two years old, most of them are bearing good-sized oranges, lemons, and limes.
A few of them are covered with lusciously scented blossoms. I always wondered why brides in old books wore orange blossoms in their hair. Now I know. They’re pure heaven.
Some of the trees were purchase at rock bottom prices because the labels were missing and the nursery didn’t know what they were. So they’re our mystery trees, and we look forward to finding out what they are.
Working in such hot weather regular breaks in the shade with cold glasses of something to cool us down and refresh our spirits.
Our favorite drink right now is Sima, a traditional fermented Finnish drink made to celebrate May Day. It is lemony and fizzy and not-too-sweet and slightly alcoholic, rather like ginger beer. I brewed up a triple batch this weekend, and it is divine. Those Finns have a good thing going with Sima, and we are very happy to adopt their traditional drink as a delicious pick-me-up on sweltering days on the farm.
Traditional Sima is made using sliced lemons, but I have bottles of bush lemon juice I made last year that need to be used up, so I make it with straight lemon juice and bush lemon zest instead. Feel free to use whatever suits your fancy.
What is your favorite drink on a piping hot work day? xo
Bush Lemon Sima
3.5 litres/gallons of water
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup fresh squeezed bush lemon juice
1 heaped Tbsp bush lemon zest
1/8 tsp champagne or regular yeast
handful of raisins
1. Place water, sugars, juice, and zest in a large pot and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and sit until lukewarm.
2. Pour into glass demijohn (or large glass pitcher), add yeast and stir. Cover with clean tea towel and leave overnight.
3. Sterilize 4 1-litre/gallon bottles with lids.
4. In each bottle add one tsp raw sugar and 5-6 raisins.
5. Strain Sima into each bottle and seal well, giving it a vigorous swirl to help dissolve sugar.
6. Let sit at room temperature until raisins have all risen to the top of the liquid.
7. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This should nearly halt the fermentation process and stop the bottles from exploding, but check the bottles now and then just to make sure. Gentle open tops to release pressure if necessary.
by Krista | Mar 10, 2015 | Autumn
“I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter’s evening,
and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream…
I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts,
make old people’s tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting.”
Mark Twain
I love this time of year, so very much. Though I must confess that the beginnings of our Autumn feel suspiciously like the roasting hot days of the inordinately blistering Summer we’ve just had. Hopefully cooler days will come soon.
In the meantime, Bear and I are basking in the harvests of Autumn, hauling home boxes full of too ripe pears and perfectly crisp apples as we begin our initial forays into cider-making.
Over the past few months we’ve been collecting all the bits and bobs necessary for brewing our own cider, beer, wine, champagne, liqueurs, and anything else we might think of.
Our outdoor kitchen is still in the dreaming phase, so until then, our breezeway is stacked with demijohns and bottles, packages of lids and rubber seals, and the presses and mulcher Bear has been lovingly restoring and adapting to our needs.
Last week we were finally ready for the trial run of our equipment, so we got it all set up and went to work.
Our cider apple orchard isn’t planted yet, so we just picked up a couple varieties from the market and a box of pears to blend them with.
I was in charge of the mulching, getting the fruit chopped into pressable bits. It smelled amazing!! All that gorgeous apple and pear deliciousness wafting around us while we munched on apples as I fed the machine. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, I tell ya.
When the fruit was all chopped up, Bear manned the press, turning the handle and squeezing out every last bit of gorgeous juice into the waiting bucket. Then we filtered the juice into waiting demijohns, added Campden tablets and yeast, inserted the air locks, and set them into the Granny Flat to do their fermenting work.
Bear checks them all throughout the day, excitedly reporting back on the rate of air bubbles, frothing consistency, and whatnot. We’re getting rather antsy to get to the bottling and tasting stages. Oddly enough, we keep getting volunteers eager to help with that whole tasting thing. Such good friends we have. 😉
What is your favorite brew? xo
**If you fancy reading about how we got involved in making cider, pop over to our farm blog to read my hubby’s highly exaggerated account: Adventures in Cider Making 🙂
by Krista | Mar 6, 2015 | Bits 'n' Bobs
I’ve been waiting eagerly for Autumn to arrive. For sweltering hot days to be replaced with cool mornings and breezy afternoons. For markets to fill up with crisp apples, juicy pears, and plump grapes.
It’s finally here and I’m so happy, body and soul. My Canadian self is not cut out for Queensland Summers. As much as I love the sunshine and brilliant blue skies, the heat knocks me flat and mornings are the only time I feel remotely energetic.
So this morning, when I woke to overcast skies and cooling breezes blowing in our windows, my whole being gave a sigh of relief.
Autumn is here.
Bear and I spent yesterday doing a trial run of all our cider-making equipment, processing apples and pears to turn into hard cider today. I’ll tell you all about that soon.
This morning, however, is about resting and basking in Autumn weather and getting caught up on reading and dreaming and planning.
It’s about wandering through gardens to see what’s flourishing and what is on its way out, checking on newborn goats and growing ducklings, and sitting down with a big mug of Lemon Verbena tea to relax before the next big project.
It’s also about studying and researching, for Bear and I have embarked on writing a medieval cookbook together. We are having a marvelous time expanding our current knowledge and experience and putting our discoveries to the test. Our study times are punctuated with exclamations of, “Hey babe, listen to this!” or “Ohhh, we’ve GOT to try this!” We’re both loving it.
Summer on the farm is marked by feverish activity, each day packed with watering, feeding, building, managing, etc. We fall into bed each night utterly exhausted but strangely satisfied from knowing our weariness is simply the result of a job well done.
But Autumn brings a reprieve, giving us time to sit back and be proud of what we’ve accomplished, to work steadily but leisurely harvesting and enjoying what we worked on so hard all Summer long. We’re gathering rosellas and the last of the green beans, plump yellow heirloom tomatoes so sweet they’re almost candy, and the few apples that our fledgling orchard produced.
It’s also exciting as we see the new growth of the few things that thrive in our Winter: citrus trees blossoming and filling out with baby lemons, limes, and oranges, and hardy winter veg gearing up to produce Brussels sprouts, cabbages, and spinach during the cold months.
Yes, I love this time of year and am looking forward to every day.
What is your favorite thing about the season you’re experiencing? xo
by Krista | Feb 13, 2015 | Summer
It’s a wildly blustery morning with a hint of Autumn in the air. I love waking up early and needing a blanket with my morning cuppa, then switching to sundresses and sandals for the rest of the day.
I’ve missed writing here over the last week, hampered first by computer issues, then by illness. But I’m back now and it feels good.
Our exciting news on the farm is the arrival of 12 Muscovy ducklings who are so darn cute they make us smile every day.
I can see their pen from the kitchen window and love hearing their little peeps while I do dishes and make meals. They’re especially sweet when they’re first born, still damp from their shells, laying in the sunshine to warm up and dry off.
They were so tiny at first, timid and easily spooked, but now they’re brave as can be, exploring their pen, splashing in the water, and devouring as much mash as they can handle.
Several times a day I open the lid to their pen just to watch them, grinning at their darling little faces as they crane their necks up to inspect the giant human looming above them.
They bring my focus back from the whirl of deadlines and responsibilities and help me linger in the moment enjoying sunshine on my shoulders, the softness of downy feathers, and the amazing gift of being alive.
There are other good things to be thankful for this week: time to wood-burn new items for my shoppe and a new market next month, being interviewed for my book launch which is being held on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Freestone Memorial Hall, and time to think through my life and goals and talents and figure out my next step.
Now it’s time to step out into the wind and start planting more seeds for my winter garden, check on Bear’s progress in building frames for our beehives, and say hello to the ducklings
What are you looking forward to doing today? xo
