Hot Orange Beetroot

The afternoon roles around and once again I am faced with the 'what's for dinner' scenario... With a few beets picked the day before and some oranges still remaining on the tree... what can I whip up?

A recipe was sought and this strange combo turned out remarkably well! Even our 4yo shared in the glossy red citrus delight. 7yo showed no interest - but that is typical - he doesn't tend to try anything that is brightly coloured (except icing on your typical birthday cakes).

1. Cut stalks from a few medium sized beetroot. Place in a saucepan with a cup of fresh orange juice, bring to the boil then cover tightly and simmer for about 40 minutes. Remove beetroot, cool slightly and slip skins off (they come off really easy - don't forget to feed these to the chickens or add to your compost).

2. Half or quarter the beets and add back into the saucepan with juice. Add 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar, 1  teaspoon of brown sugar and cook for a minute.

3. Combine 2 teaspoons of cornflour with 2 tablespoons of extra orange juice and add to the beetroot, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

It went fabulously with our lamb casserole and mash potato. This vege is fast becoming one of my favourites. Now, where was that chocolate beetroot cake recipe... 7yo is bound to try that!

Winter Blues

Arghh!! Winter gardening can be a challenge, but only if you let it.

Being away from home for a couple of weeks has given the green light for Winter weeds, plus the bean and basil crops are finished, only having old beans left on the bush - now that breaks my heart that they weren't eaten! The last few basil bush seeds have all fallen off too, so I missed out on collecting them (doesn't matter I have heaps from last collection :-).

It has been a very wet winter so far and fairly mild at around 5°c mornings. So not to despair I ripped the basil bush out, got rid of the weeds and applied some chook poo fertiliser (dynamic lifter) to basically everything including the citrus trees. For the citrus I scraped back the mulch under the drip line of the tree threw in the fertiliser and also watered in some seaweed fertiliser.

Also planted more swede, carrot, beans, radish, lettuce, peas – think that was all. Yes, it is getting a bit late for swede and peas (still good strike rate), but what’s the worst that can happen? They don’t grow, or die, things could be worse.

So, the ol' garden is a bit wet and slow but we are still getting food out of it so all is good! Check out today's harvest destined for the kitchen...

Beetroot, leek, broccolini, tommy toe's, fancy lettuce,
baby spinach and of course, the citrus!

Citrus Trees

It has been a month or so since I have done anything to the fruit trees apart from inspections a few times a week for grubs, scale leaf curl and new fruit!

So time for some white oil, this works a treat as a semi-regular spray every few weeks to take care of most nasties, except for the grubs. I also like to give some potash liquid and trace elements at least once per season (ie 4 times a year).

It has been a great season for the citrus with loads of fruit on these tress that are only 2 years in the ground. I never thought I would have my own lemon or lime tree with so much fruit! But it’s great to have it at our disposal now. Self-sufficient in lemons and limes plus I think there is a good few oranges on as well.

limes - great to use now

oranges - will ripen in winter

lemons begging to be picked