The garden in August/ September
Every little tour of the garden gives us plenty of food.
August and September means harvest and preserves. So I have started the canning of the tomatoes
It is lots of work and surely not cheaper than buying ready-to-use produce BUT I do enjoy that little moment in the kitchen preparing our healthy food products for the winter months.
While I was at it, I tried canning beans. You will ask me why? Because it means cooking 10 pots in one go instead of cooking beans every time I need them. I soaked red beans and chick peas for 1 night. The following day, I finished my canning batch cooking them for about 1.5 hour. I filled each jar 3/4 with legumes and covered them with salted water (20%). I did add a bit of citric acid to lower the Ph and increase my chances of success.
This summer have been really hot and dry. We had weeks at the time with 35-40 degrees. Unfortunately I forgot about our solar dryer and did not made profitable use of it..... how quickly I forget about those super handy things.... too busy with other things I guess.
Nevertheless, I did dry the tomato peels I had accumulated while canning and it made a beautiful product.
Super crispy and tasty. I have turned the dry peels into a fine powder and will use it as condiment, for example on white rice combined with a bit of chilly pepper and a bit of fresh garlic.
How to preserve dried food products? Well this has been a question we have been asking ourselves. We could invest in a "sealer" machine but this involves lots of plastic bags which I am not too found of. Mike has been researching this theme for some time now and a year ago, he bought a vacuum gauge gun and a whole instrument set in order to remove air from Mason Jars. Since Mason Jars are not available in Europe, Mike have invested in 4 jars. What an expense!
This is what it looks like :)
Our own seeds:
Every year, I keep seeds for the following planting season. This means that my seeds are getting more and more adapted to our surrounding, our soil, our weather, ... it makes them more resilient, a bit like us ;)
Keeping seeds also mean "sharing" them with friends / neighbors / associations, ... or producing more plants than needed and giving them away as gifts.
I have chosen 4 varieties of "cocktail" tomatoes.
For each variety, I take a small dish where I will be able to place the seeds and cover them with water. After about 3 days of "fermenting", the water is covered with a white film, kinda mouldy. Lacto-fermentating the seeds removes the germination-inhibiting substance that coats the seeds. Fermenting also kills certain seed-borne diseases which helps promote the health of seedlings and the vigor of mature plants.
Using a small strainer, I wash the seeds under running water and I let them dry on a piece of towel paper. After 2 days they are dry and ready to be stored.
Seedlings for the coming season:
I am a bit late in my seeding schedule but our weather might permit this late action for the winter crops. I have turnips, beets, kohlrabi, kale cabbage, spinach, salads, lamb's lettuce and many more ...
Apples: harvest and storage
This is the first year we can harvest apples and we have a nice harvest of 3 wooden crates. I don't know the name of this apple variety but I can eat those apples without experiencing swelling of the lips nor the throat. what a beautiful experience to bite into a fresh apple again !!
For the moment, I am keeping the apples in the container as this is the only "cool" place we have at the moment. But it is not optimal because storage should be done around 10-12 degrees and the container lies more around 20.
The renovation goes on
Between everything else, Mike keeps on working on the renovation of the apartment above us, something we will be able to rent by the night, the weekend or the week as B&B. This will be pretty soon a new experience for us. I am looking at ideas for breakfast menu planning while Mike is mudding the walls.
Every detail is important to make this space worth while for tourism.
Very soon, I will have to be back at pointing the stone wall.
Our front entrance is finally finished. When we left Apeldoorn, Stephan, one of our neighbors, gave us floor tiles for outside usage. Five years later, the tiles have found a purpose. Mike's design used the Occitan Cross, the emblem of the region we live in. It makes the entrance a bit more Royal ;)
The chickens
The chickens have found a way to keep cool even with weeks of 40 degrees and more. Foot bath have been quite popular :)
But this means also changing the drinking water more often to ensure clean water especially for the little chicks.
At the moment we have 8 little chicks and 6 eggs under the last broody mom.
Visitors from the Netherlands
Ton and Jacqueline are motorcycle riders, friends from the Netherlands. Every year they travel various European roads during their holidays. They also make 3-4 days weekend when possible. They just love motor riding! This year they came to Spain. On their way back they have offered to stop for a short visit (2 nights). We did enjoy seeing them again because our last meet was 5 years ago! It was like nothing had changed between us, and they were able to appreciate all the work that had been done here. They are now back home, safe and sound, back to work but also back to babysit the grandkids. Thanks a lot for this short but well appreciated time together.
Preview of the next blog:
Squashes and luffa zucchini's
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