SN2N: Day 11

It's been a busy week so far, juggling various jobs about the homestead, office work, preserving, and housework. Let's look at what I've been cooking, how I cleared my shower drain easily and almost for free, what's coming up, and some more hints and tips.

In the Kitchen...

Those who have been checking out the recipes I've posted this week will know that I have made an easy pumpkin soup that will scare away any bugs, a yummy stew which also used up some left overs from the fridge, and I posted a delicious chocolate slice recipe made without gluten, diary or eggs. My 18 yo daughter couldn't tell the difference, and my husband says it tastes just as good as the original. 

Other dinners this week so far have been fairly simple: 
​Spaghetti bologanise on Monday, when I was super grateful I had some left over meat sauce in the fridge and could whip this up quick and still make it to an evening event I had forgotten about, where I got to hear a speaker from Germany describing his low-till, deep mulch horticultural system - very interesting. 
Baked chicken thigh and kumara on Wednesday, along with this totally delicious, incredibly simple dish I made up. It was so good, the chicken and kumara I'd been looking forward to paled in comparision!
And tonight, some roast yacon and new potatoes, both straight out of the garden, a fresh corn on the cob, and a fried chicken breast. Yum! 

I've also done some bottling of applesauce, apple jelly, and pectin, all made from windfall unripe apples, as well as some blackberry jam from berries in the freezer. 

In the Garden....

My tallest sunflower has now surpassed 3m (I can't reach to measure any more) and is starting to form the flower to come. 

Lots of pumpkins and squash are forming in the squash patch. This one is a spaghetti squash. 

The yacon are a couple of feet high now. I dug up part of one plant to share some crowns with someone who asked for them, and at the same time harvested a tuber for my dinner. I could see lots of baby new tubers forming under the plants already!

The watermelon patch is growing rapidly. I can see a few baby watermelons forming - hopefully there will be plenty more coming! The zucchini behind it is finally starting to develop some female flowers, heralding the zucchini to come. 

It's time I started picking and hanging in bags some of the most mature of the carrot flower/seed heads, or there will be self-sown carrots all over my yard! 

The first ripe tomato in the greenhouse has signs of blossom end rot. This happens when there is poor calcium uptake in a plant, which can be caused by a lack of available calcium, or uneven watering. I will give it a dose of dolomite tomorrow, as the plant looks like it could do with some magesium as well, as well as a general plant food. Blossom end rot is common in tomatoes, zucchini and squash.

Around the House.....

My shower drain was running slow. So I used some simple materials to clear and clean it at very little cost and no toxicity. All about how HERE. 

Coming Up....

We're having guests for a meal this weekend - folk who haven't been here before. It will be fun to prepare a variety of dishes for them, mainly from the garden/homestead. 

I am going to be building some new compost bins as I need to make lots and lots of compost for the garden. 

I need to preserve some cucumbers, and am thinking about making some kimchi. I also want to make a batch of tomato sauce soon, and more beef stock. 

I've got some beautiful pink chive vinegar I made to show you all, and will use it to make some salad dressings. I also need to decant the red clover flower tincture I've had brewing. 

It's also time to review the basic materials for homemade natural cleaners, and start making up some batches. 

And I'm going to clean my oven using three simple ingredients. 

Pictures, recipes and more on all this coming soon! 

Today's Thrifty Tips and Handy Hints...

Jumbled towel cupboard no more! Do you have family members that love to dig their favourite towel out of your neatly folded stack, causing the pile to jumble and get messy? I fixed this problem by rolling my towels instead, and standing them upright in crates in the cupboard. That way everyone can grab the one they want, without messing up the rest. I even used two crates, and labelled them "Towels for bodies" and "Towels for hands" - the latter where I put the smaller towels we hang up for drying hands on. 

Baking soda is the number one useful product for naturally cleaning your home (and body). It's also stupidly expensive if you buy it in little 400g containers from the supermarket. ($7.48/kg) Fortunately it's easy to buy cheap in bulk. Just get it from your local RD1 farm store - 20kg sacks are around $20 - or $1/kg. They may need to order them in for you, so call or plan ahead. A sack will probably last you a year - and you can use it for all kinds of cleaning. Note, this is NOT food grade baking soda (as it's sold for use with stock), so don't use it in your cooking; I do use supermarket b.s for that. You will also want a suitable big bin to store your bulk baking soda in, ideally one that is airtight. 

Chicken pet mince is available from the Mad Butcher and is cheaper than canned cat/dog food or dog rolls. It's probably also a lot better for them, not having additives etc! Normally $2.99/kg, it is often on special for $1.99/kg, which is when I stock the freezer. Not for human consumption - contains ground up bones as well as meat etc (good for the pets). Feed a small dog such as a Maltese 1/4 cup pet mince plus 1/2 cup veges (any except onion or cabbage, and limit potato). Our large dog was healthy on 1 cup mince and 2 cups veges per day. A cat can have 1/3 cup mince, but hold the veges for them, as they're obligate carnivores.