Green Tomato Chutney

This has been the most wonderful success story for me this year. I bought some date tomatoes from our local farm shop in May and liked the taste so much that I decided to try to grow some myself, from seed. So I dried five seeds from one tomato, planted them in potting soil in an old yoghurt pot and once they were strong enough, planted them outside on the terrace where they could get as much sun as possible.

 These are the same plants about 6 weeks later. I wasn't sure if the bees would do their job this year - in the last two years we had very few tomatoes because the bees were so few and so there was very little pollination. So to help them along I brushed the stamens of the flowers with a fine paintbrush. Whether it was I or the bees or a combination - I don't know...

But whatever, it seemed to do the trick and from that point onwards we had tomatoes galore.

I took advantage of a week off work because of a bad cold, and when I was feeling well enough again, I put the vegetable garden to bed for the winter, harvested the last butternut squash (they tasted marvellous, by the way), cleared away the dead plants - we had our first frost at the beginning of last week, and in readiness for snow, which would arrive today, I brought in three of the tomato plants which still had fruit on them, and have put them in a vacant bedroom (sorry Hannah - only while you're away!) to ripen up the last fruits.

As you can see, after two days inside, one is already beginning to turn red.  With the other unripe green tomatoes, I have made green tomato chutney.

 

Made with dates, sultanas, onions and coriander seeds which had been in the cupboard far too long, instead of mustard seeds, because I hadn't any. I have to say that it tastes fabulous.

Canadian Authorities Want to Destroy this Garden

Just another example of ridiculous, draconian, small-mindedness. When we're all being told we should eat more healthily, here's a wonderful example of a couple who actually use the resources they own; their own land, to do so, only to be told that it's forbidden.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177717/Couple-Michel-Beauchamp-Josee-Landry-petition-stop-council-ripping-illegal-vegetable-garden.html


http://youtu.be/aFuCdnT9WsU


The Beauchamps' blog:
http://www.lepotagerurbain.com/

Please sign their petition!
http://www.lepotagerurbain.com/p/petition-potager-cour-avant.html

Just a bit more of my spring garden project... These are parsley, rosemary, basil, chives, sage, something that tastes of garlic but I can't remember its name (it's not wild garlic - it looks like a silvery grass) lemon thyme and lemon verbena on my kitchen window sill. They brighten up our terrace, which frankly, needs it.  

These are three different tomato plants which I bought at the organic food store yesterday. One's called an 'Oxenherz' - 'Ox Heart' - presumably because of its red, heart-shaped fruit, one is a small cocktail tomato (at the front) and the other is an ordinary red one. We're not going away this summer, so I thought I'd risk it and try growing tomatoes on the terrace again. God willing, we'll have more sun  than we had last year.

 Mixed lettuces in one of my 2x4s, with one square of winter portulak and another of spinach. So far, (thank you Lord) the slugs and snails have kept off it. I heard recently though, that old coffee grounds keep slugs at bay, so I'm going to try this out. 

 Because of the ravaging the deer gave my sweet peas last year, I thought I'd try sowing the seeds in window boxes on the terrace. It's far more sheltered than outside in the garden, being roofed with undulating plastic sheets, and I was able to sow the seeds in plastic trays inside in March, planting them out in April. I really hope we'll have a wonderful tangle of colour and scent here in the summer evenings.

Three butternut squash saplings. I sowed these out

a couple of weeks ago. Only one germinated of

those I originally sowed, so I tried another three and two have got going. As soon as the Eis Heiligen are over (May 10-15) I'll plant them out. It would be wonderful to have the trellis which I made last year come into its own this year at last.

What in the World are they Spraying?

 Thanks to  that wonderful blog, 'Down to Earth', which I seriously think is one of the best simple living blogs I have ever read so far, I have been inspired to pull myself together and finish making my sloe gin. I've had a lot of language teaching work in the last three months, which has put a lot of things on hold, but due to some root canal treatment which has meant I've had to cancel teaching for the rest of the week, I have some time on my hands. So having finished preparing all my next immediate lessons this morning, I decided to hit the gin. (In the non-addictive manner, of course. I'm
on penicillin, after all ;))

It's a very simple matter of decanting the gin through a sieve through a funnel into pretty bottles. It has been sitting still for three weeks since I stopped turning the bottle and its contents upside down and right side up for two months, every day. Write and stick nice labels on the bottles (thanks to Lakeland Plastics for those) and hey presto!

Sloe Gin

Went for a walk with a friend this morning to pick some of the last sloes left on the whitethorn bushes bordering the woods at the back of our home. There were just enough to make a whole bottle of sloe gin, for which you need:

1 bottle of gin,

175g sloes

125g sugar

Wash and prick the sloes all over with a fork or something similar. Decant the gin into a convenient jug. Fill the bottle with the sloes and sugar (a funnel is helpful for the sugar) and then pour as much of the gin back into its bottle again as will fill it. Screw on the lid tightly. If there is gin left over, use a screw-top glass jar for any remaining sloes, more sugar and the left-over gin. Screw the lid on well, and turn bottle and jar upside down one day and right side up the next for the next two months. Then once the sugar is all dissolved and the alcohol has taken on a deep red colour, strain the contents through a clean cloth into a bowl, and pour into a jug. Clean the gin bottle of any residue, and pour the sloe gin back into its bottle - or into other clean bottles. Nice idea for presents.

Well, I'm getting geared up for our holiday away - it turns out that it was a good idea not to grow tomatoes again this year - it has been so wet and cool that they would never have ripened on our terrace, as I had suspected, just like last year. I was wearing winter socks and a fleece jacket yesterday! It's a lot warmer today though, and I went out and pulled up the fence around the potato patch and weeded what was beginning to look very untidy. So that's done. The potatoes have died back, so I could start harvesting any time. I'm glad I didn't put them in pots on the terrace. No-one will have to water them for us while we're away. My lovely son Ben helped me put up the poles - I strung yellow washing line up and along them,; I'll make another video shortly, so you can see how it looks; photos don't really show it clearly enough. The Butternut Squash is coming along nicely, but I actually think that I left it too late - we'll see how much it's grown when we get back, but I don't really think it'll have any fruit. I'll just have to try again next year, much earlier this time.

Next year, I'm also seriously considering growing asparagus in the bed where the potatoes have been. It'll take a couple of years before I can harvest it, but that's no problem. Maybe I will be allowed to dig another potato bed - we'll see.

The sweet peas are at last coming into flower - they smell heavenly - a bit like Eau de Cologne, I think!
I picked a big bowl of mangetout this morning, and blackberries too. The plum tree is bearing wonderfully this year - the first time since it was planted -  this is its fifth year, I think, which remindes me of this scripture: “‘When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:23-25). Fascinating. It's absolutely true. It was true for the new cherry tree as well. This year was the first time it bore any quantity of fruit, after it was left for four years.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this beautiful hibiscus flower, below, which isn't growing in the Square Foot Garden, but on our terrace. The label says that it should bloom from May through to October, but its first flower opened this week, and I was so happy, as I've been really looking forward to it. Maybe it just doesn't get enough sun there; still, it's a lovely patch of blue, and I planted a blue hydrangea which I was given last week, underneath it. Thank you Lord, for making so many wonderful flowers!

 

Made some bread this morning, and a big bowl of muesli - with dates and cranberries and pecan nuts. Should keep us all going for four weeks.

Oak Park Gardener Charges Dropped

Here's some good news! All charges against Julie Bass, from Michigan, for growing vegetables in her front garden have been dropped. She says that the attention drawn by her case in the alternative media was what gave her the breakthrough.  See link.

Woman faces 93 days in jail because she grows vegetables in her front garden.

This really took my breath away. Another 'job's-worth' busybody wasting tax payers' money by persecuting a perfectly sensible person for growing vegetables in her own front garden. Julie Bass has had the brilliant idea of using the space in the front of her house to grow vegetables. This not only sets an excellent example to anyone who walks past; it teaches the neighbourhood children the value of growing your own, plus it cuts back on electricity - as she doesn't have to mow the lawn. Why the City of Oak Park wouldn't see this as something laudable, and even encourage other residents to do the same thing, I can't think. After all, in these days of financial crisis, especially in America, one would think that any way of saving money, getting exercise and fresh air, plus providing a source of organic fresh vegetables would be praised. By growing her own, Ms Bass saves car journeys as well. She doesn't have to shop for fresh produce. And, of course, global climate change being the new 'Public Enemy #1', one would think that city councillors would relish the sight of residents reducing their carbon footprint by cutting back on fuel bills.

The bigger issue of course, is the freedom of the individual. Surely, if the land belongs to the Bass family, then they ought to be able to do what they like with it. Or is the City of Oak Park falling foul of communitarian philosophy, where the rights of the individual are now subservient to the rights of the community?
By the way, since when did 'suitable' mean 'common'?  Doesn't the City of Oak Park know how to use a dictionary correctly?  Since when were they given the right to re-define adjectives to their own advantage, and by whom? And they're going to shut Ms Bass away for 93 days? RIDICULOUS. Have they nothing better to do with their time?
 It appears as if they're going to shoot themselves in the foot with this one.
Shame on them.

Quinces

I recently discovered that we were out of quince jelly - the last batch had been made several years ago. I didn't know if or from whom I could get some more, and prayed about it the other day. This morning, our neighbour phoned and asked if I could use some quinces, as her son's tree was covered in them and he was away and couldn't pick them. So they had gone and picked them all. There were so many that they had a lot left over. Would I like some?
Would I???
So we'll have some quince pie and well as quince jelly, I think. Sounds good, nicht wahr, H&B?

Last night we were visiting friends about three quarters of an hour away from here... they're scout leaders and had invited Frank to talk to their youth in the evening. Great time together, but what really encouraged me was that when we were at their place in the afternoon, his wife told me about a talk she had been to where a woman was sharing from a book which she had read by someone in government.
It said that the German government is warning people of hard times to come, and that they should start preparing for them by storing rations, food, grow their own vegetables, even have a bag prepared with emergency items in case one has to leave home suddenly ... (one wonders why...)
Anyway, since I've been hearing similar things on the US alternative news grapeline, this only confirmed my own mind in wanting to become self-sufficient.
My friend is going to find out about the book and tell me so I can read it myself. She told me about her parents' upbringing in Romania and how they produced everything themselves. It was brilliant. She then took me over to her sister-in-law's house, where they had made Sauerkraut last year, (they do it every year) and showed me the cellar there.
There was this enormous green plastic barrel with a little tap at the bottom, (not so sure about the plastic - but there you go) which they'd bought from the local DIY store, over-half-filled with liquid with herbs and bits of horseradish root, floating around on top. A huge stone was keeping some untreated planks of wood held down under the surface of the liquid, and under the planks were the cabbages. Whole, with their cores cut out, into which they'd then poured the salt, packed the cabbages into the barrel, filled it up with water, herbs and spices, and then once the liquid had begun to ferment, it was tapped out and poured on top over again a number of times.

On the shelves of the cellar were lots of large glass jars filled with pickled gerkins, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, preserves of all sorts. Tomato sauce, aubergine, pepper and tomato spread, honey from their own bees, jams.
Amazing.
I've made our own jams, jellies and chutneys (see above) for a long time and we rarely buy our own. (The picture on the right is of our own Elderflower syrup, which Hannah helped me make last year.) I've never thought much of it - have done it for fun, rather than as a necessity, probably because my mother did it, but apart from making piccallili once, I've never been a great one for preserving vegetables. But this has really inspired me. I'm even thinking of preserving meat. Chickens, from the local farm. The confit method sounds scrummy. I like the idea of potted meat too, as well as salting - it's called 'Pökelfleisch' here - I love the sound of that.
I think I'll ask for books on preserving veg, meat, and making my own cheese, for future birthdays.