Father's Day Picnic

We had a lovely Father's Day picnic with some friends on Sunday at our favourite spot on the new block. The big kids loved playing hide-and-seek in the bush and the the edge of the canola. Emme loved the freedom of the bush and spent the afternoon rolling around in the grass and looking at trees (and eating rocky road).

Playing duck-duck-goose

Having marshmellows in sticks

Emme enjoying her rocky road

Pizza Scrolls

The basic idea for these came from the latest Donna Hay Kid's Magazine. They were really quite simple and very yummy. Also a good one for the kids the help with. I didn't have any buttermilk so simply used a cup of milk with a big spoon of natural yogurt in it.

Dough

2 cups plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder sifted
1 tsp salt flakes
1 cup buttermilk or milk with natural yoghurt

Place dry ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour in the milk and mix with a butter knife until combined. Turn out onto a floured bench and gently knead until smooth. Roll out until about a 30cm square, fill with your favourite filling and roll up tightly. Cut into about 10 even pieces and place in a lined baking dish. Bake at 190* for about 45 minutes or until cooked in the middle.

I filled mine really simply with tomato paste, bacon and a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I really liked the simple dough, it was very soft and really easy to work with, but next time I think I will use a basic pizza dough and use tomato, salami, olives and some roasted peppers with cheese!!

Did have a nice pic of the kids having their pizza scrolls for lunch, but it doesn't look like Blogger wants to play the game today!

Seed Potatoes

I received the seed potatoes earlier this week that I ordered from Tasmania a little while ago. Being in Western Australia it is often difficult to get tubers or bulbs from interstate for the vegie patch. I am yet to find somewhere that stocks more than one or two varieties of seed potato in WA so was very excited when I found Tasmanian Gourmet Potatoes with a huge variety list that can send to WA. I settled on 5 varieties after much deliberation.

• Kipfler
• Red Norland
• Sapphire
• Up-to-date
• King Edward

After I ordered them I just happen to stumble across some Royal Blue and Delaware seed as well so I grabbed them too. So far Lyssie and I have planted the Kipfler, Red Norland and half of the Delaware as they had already started to grow. The others have been put in egg cartons on top of an old meatsafe to chit- have never worried about this before, but as it is so early in the season here I thought I would give it a shot.

This is the new garden bed for all our potatoes this year that Ian made us a month or so ago out of some more old sleepers.

New Garden Bed

Here is our new garden bed, the first thing you see as you come up to our house. It is not new entirely, we have just put the sleepers around it to build it up and define it. We pulled out lots of big shrubs and were just left really with roses and agapanthus and a lovely crabapple tree. (Forgot to take a before picture!!) I want this garden to be a low maintenance garden that really just needs a good chop and some compost each year with minimal changing of plants.When I have had a chance this week I have been transplanting bits and pieces from around the garden that will hopefully do a bit better than they have been. I have moved lots of irises that have been overgrown by shrubs- I can't wait to see what colours they are, will probably have to wait for next year to find out.Ian hard at work

We are very lucky that living on a farm useful resources are easy to come by. The sleepers use to be part of old pig yards that are no longer used, the steel rod was picked up at a clearing sale and we have oodles of compost made here on the farm from the pig shelters. I acn't imagine the cost of such a project in an urban area. Just little things like saws to cut the wood and steel weren't even a thought.

A good opportunity for Lyssie to ride her bike out on the 'road'.

Marinated Olives

500 grams meaty green olives (with pips)
a cup extra virgin olive oil
a few cloves sliced garlic
fresh sprigs of rosemary
splash of balsamic vinegar

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and warm through gently. Sit for a few hours at room temperature and warm again before serving.

Simple but delicious, I think the balsamic vinegar gives them a little kick and makes then stand out from other marinated olives.

Seed Raising Experiment

Potting on some corriander and rocket- I think if they were planted now now the slugs would have a field day

I always grow plants that have big seeds such as pumpkin, peas, corn etc direct in the ground as well as some plants that have smaller seeds such as carrots, beetroot and radish. Plants that require to be planted out as seedlings usually end up being bought as seedlings. Over the past 5 years or so I have started many small seeded varieties including various brassicas and tomatoes in seedling punnets with only limited success- until now! I have been using jiffy pots that come as little pellets and swell when put in water- they are amazing.

Tuscan kale, curly kale and silverbeet potted on- this was taken a couple of weeks ago, they are ready for the garden now

Earlier in the year I did a little experiment as I was unsure if the extra cost of jiffy pots were really worth it. I started some kale and silverbeet in both jiffy pots and seedling punnets with a good seed raising mix. The jiffy pots germinated in half the time, developed their true leaves rapidly and were planted out into the garden weeks before the others were ready. They may be a little more expensive, but the results have spoken for themselves. I can't wait to try them out on some fun varieties of tomatoes and eggplants later in the year.

Part of my little experiment- jiffy pots definately work better for me!

Pasta

My fist attempt at home made pasta- very pleased with it! Just have to work on having somewhere to dry it out of the children's way. I turned some plain sheets into cannelloni which the kids loved as well. Nice to find a simple dish that everyone will eat!