Glad to finish off the mosaic today, filling in the gaps between the tiles so I don't slice my foot open! The path is all done so I can walk all the way to the compost heap without getting my feet muddy - or my ugg boots, depending on the weather. You can see the progression of the mosaic here and the garden path here.
Oh all the goddesses, it's been beautiful warm day in sunny Victoria, which is a bit weird to say as it's late May and should be freezing. We need rain, but things are doing well with the damper weather, especially the vegetables. Here you can see the mint going gangbusters, the brassicas doing well, the snowpeas (mangetout) busting out of the soil, marigolds, the artichokes recovering from last season and the summer heat, silverbeet and rogue self seeded beetroot which I'll use for the tops.
Gardening is totally punk for me. I love the way I can refuse so many of the products on supermarket shelves and just duck out into the garden for dinner. Tonight is what I called garden rice, which is basically vegetables I've found in the garden - beetroot tops, silverbeet, spring onions, garlic shoots. I then stir some brown rice in there, and I'll garnish it with some home preserved lemon, some marigolds, and some toasted pepitas on top - it's really nice with a splash of Worchestershire sauce too. It's the kind of meal I make a lot in winter when there's not a lot of produce going on in the garden and it just feels really satisfying having grown everything myself (bar the pepitas and rice). I've got a jar of last year's olives left too so we'll eat that on the side as they have pips in.
I'm also pretty pleased with how my cactus carpet under the birch tree is coming along. It's actually a good substitute for mulch. Speaking of which, does anyone know how to kindly get rid of bloody blackbirds, as they seem to think it's totally fun to dig up my mulch so it goes all over the garden path. Not happy! I do love birds but wish they'd bugger off and be nuisances somewhere else!
It's been a pretty productive day. I really love how getting your hands dirty and getting out in the garden can invigorate your soul and give you a sense of achievement, especially when all that hard work is not just beautifying the environment but feeding the household. We also went mushroom foraging - no luck, but did get some joy finding teeny weeny ones poking up from the dampening soil. Also filled the house with the beautiful smell of sourdough made out of biodynamic flour - you can find my rave about it here!
Mum also dropped over a big basket of lemons. Our lemon tree didn't do too well in the frost last year, which I found devastating - need to transplant it maybe into a more sheltered spot. I'm making a fresh batch of preserved lemons, which are great in Morrocan food and can give the most boring meal a zingy salty pop.
They're actually lacto-fermented, so there's some good probiotics in there for you as well. Enjoy - let me know if you give them a go. Oh, and @mountainjewel? I'm not putting lemons in my ears.
Preserved Lemon Recipe
1 kilo of lemons
¼ cup sea salt
Cut the lemons into quarters and pop in a bowl with some salt. With clean hands, mush that salt right into the lemons, as if you're giving them a massage. The rinds should start to soften and the lemons will release their juice.
The lemon juice combines with the salt to create a brine that should be great for making that beneficial bacteria that's so good for you. Some people add a splash of apple cider vinegar or kombucha to the mix as well to really get it going. If you'd like to know more about lacto fermented foodstuffs, @mountainjewel was getting into it and you should read about that here.. There's such a wealth of knowledge on Steemit, and I always think we should be referring to others work to support and acknowledge their amazing work.
Place in a jar and squish down so the juice rises above the level of the lemons. You might need to weight them.
Ferment at room temperature for about a month. They can be kept for 1 or 2 years, and will go far - you only need a small amount of them in any dish.. They are really nice in a stir through pasta with zucchinis, olive oil and basil, or in a couscous dinner with roast vegetables and chickpeas and cummin.
Believe me, these things are a splash of sunshine in the colder weather. Have you ever tried them?
I'm also totally honoured to be a passenger on the #ecotrain - check out this hashtag for some pretty amazing posts permaculture to meditation, environmental issues to food forests - I highly recommend checking out this tag as you're guaranteed of sweeeetness!
Ended up beautiful your mosaid Kylie, I'm glad I saw it first hand hihihihh feeling important.
"I'll just pretend I have to go to the toilet and he'll forget about it." HAHAHAHAH you sneaky! I laughed 'cause I do the same with dad, I just scape and run to the mountains hahahaha
And I love your recipe idea, I'm interested about ways to preserve food, very important if one day I end up living in a sailboat.
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They would stop you getting scurvy!!!
Haha yep I know all the tricks. 'My back hurts' is another one...💗
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AHAHA you know, dad usually brings lemons from our ranch, love putting them inside the mixer and drinking right after cycling, refreshing.
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a little bit of good salt and some honey in there and you've got a really good electrolyte drink - better than your Coke! haha..!!
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Right, right! I'll stop drinking coke after cycling long distances. You and @twowheeledmonkey won. hahahah
xoxo
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They are a really bad company too!
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I love this project and getting a sense of the land that you live on.
Also really beautiful that you chose to use a dragonfly for the mosaic, any special reason for this? I know they have a pretty cool 'medicine' according to the first nation people of North America
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I would really love to know more about that.
If you click on the link in my post itll lead you.to my dragonfly contemplation which might explain why i chose a Dragonfly. REALLY appreciate your comment... off to find out about Dragonfly medicine!!!!
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I was just wondering what to do with my lemon harvest, running out of Corona ;) thank you for that recipe. I am not sure though if any bacteria will survive in the lemon juice/sea salt brine, I bet any bug there will be killed within 5 minutes.
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That's what I thought... but go read the literature on it ... you may be surprised. As I was!
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OMG, @riverflows, you are definitely my kind of read! So passionate, artistic and organic gardening lover! I am so excited to read more from you and thank you for leaving a comment on my post! I still always amazed how many really great people we have #ecotrain! Be blessed for all you do and your efforts for a better future!
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What a beautiful comment!! Thankyou!! Xxxx Looking forward to interacting with you more!!!
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Awesome the path is finished. I don't like those black birds either as they dig and undermine everything in the garden.
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They never used to be so bad, but they are like chickens fir making a mess but i cant keep them.out!!!
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Nice to read about your day! I can imagine you get annoyed by a bird spilling mulch over your path, when you have som many other things to do then sweep it again! Maybe it helps just to remember that though it may seem that the bird is messing up your path, your path is actually in its natural habitat and it is only doing its natural thing. xx Amazing dragonfly by the way!
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You and me must be totally in sink then because just after u finished making this mosiac I posted about totem creature the dragon fly. Transformation must be in the air.
But looks like you in Australia so as I'm going to bed, your day is just beginning, and looks like u have a beautiful plot of land for u to enjoy there!
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I do indeed! It's chilly today though and I'm doing indoor stuff then have to go to work for a few hours.
I noticed that. It's funny how you end up syncing with STeemit. It's happened a few times this week - I'd be about to post something and someone would post something similiar (i.e was half way through writing a post on comfrey fertiliser and the @laundrylady posted a great one!) and a few other merry coicidences. Sometimes I think it's like this big pulsing hive mind of connection!!
Gone two days without posting, literally just posted hten, should get off Steemit and enjoy my day now!! Sleep well. x
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So much good stuff in here ( both produce and info )
That must be awesome indeed :>)
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