... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...

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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 13 5:43 am Post subject:

The cabbage pulling happened today and I have managed to recover three exquisite little hearts (the smallest the size of a cricket ball, the other two slightly larger) which are now sitting on the counter about to become dinner (well, in a few more hours).

It was a gardener's lunch today too, with a stir fry of cabbage leaves and bacon. These were a strange looking 'weed' that on closer investigation turned out to be the regrowth on a cabbage stem I had left there after the neighbour's sheep ate the rest.

Tonight's dinner will be the hearts, cut in two and laid on a bed of bacon and apple slices with a bit of cider poured over the top, brought to the boil then left to cook in the heat of the cast iron pot. It might need a dash of cracked black pepper to give it an edge, but it sounds pretty good to me (I just made it up, lol).

Stunning weather, and now they are a more accustomed to their new spot the neighbour's dogs are less inclined to bark incessantly and Shadow is learning to ignore then when we are out in the yard. I will need to escort him on his runs down the back for a few more days, but it should (hopefully) work out OK. One of the less feral kids was there today and we are working on a mutual strategy which will hopefully work (and save the dogs the odd hiding too, as their approach is to give them a belting on the rare occasions they respond at all.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 13 5:44 am Post subject:
yay! finally worked out how to post pix (not that I am slow or anything ...

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 13 7:36 am Post subject:
Like your little cabbages. I sometimes leave a stem and make a cut in it in the hopes that it will resprout. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 13 8:59 am Post subject:
Yes in a good season I get a whole new cabbage (or two or three) around the stem. This year it was just leaves, but then it was a very dry winter ...

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 13 6:30 am Post subject:

Today, with rain threatening (though failing to appear) I decided to bung in some seeds - so there are now some butter beans, sugar snap peas, carrots and beetroot sitting there in the nice moist soil waiting for the promised rain. The butter beans are to be frank, a little ambitious as they are not to be planted until the last frost (traditionally late October, but around here, any time up to and including Christmas -or beyond). I spotted that I have some tomato seeds so will be negotiating a spot in the polytunnel we built for the Community Garden so I can pop some of those into pots and see if I can bring them on earlier than I might otherwise achieve. Gotta get something back for all that volunteer labour and being suckered into being the treasurer for them.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 13 6:58 am Post subject:

Good luck with the butter beans. Can't stand them myself as had too many in school dinners as a child.

Seems reasonable to get a bit of room in the polytunnel if you have been involved heavily in the garden project. My tomatoes are ripening gently in the greenhouse. I always buy in plants as I never seem to manage them from seed. Got some good plants this year and have looked after them fairly well, so ought to get a reasonable crop.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 13 8:50 am Post subject:

The butter beans may indeed have been a little ambitious - they are forecasting snow for next Wednesday - Oh well, there is always next time if it gets nasty. No gardening today - was on a girls day out to some museums, our favourite butchers (the meat practically still mooing (or baaing in the case of my lamb shanks) and home - exhausted on my part - the dog is happy with his spare lamb flap rescued just before it hit the butcher's bucket and mine (also given for the dog) is in the freezer awaiting inspiration!!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15996

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 7:10 am Post subject:
Do you know the translation of lamb flap Cassandra? I haven't come across that. Sounds like a good day. I managed to dig some potatoes yesterday, and we had some of them for dinner. Also included were our own runner beans and onions. Onions didn't grow well, but quite powerful, so make up for it.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 7:29 am Post subject:

It's the lamby equivalent of pork belly - so the last few floating ribs with the trimmed diaphragm muscle and the remaining boneless meat - slow cooked and stuffed with breadcrumbs, seasoning, etc it is a really nice (albeit fatty) meal.

Today I was letter box dropping and tomorrow I am electioneering and Sunday I am doing a delivery run of flyers to the East Coast so not much will be done gardenwise for a few days. But I did manage to water the seeds (we have had drying winds) and do a wander round the orchard - the apricot is just putting out some blossoms (in time to be knocked off by next week's return to winter) and the daffodils are out. The apple trees remain firmly unwilling to bud just yet, but most of the plum varieties are showing a touch of green.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 10:11 am Post subject:
Your Lamb Flap sounds like our Breast of Lamb, Stuffed with proper stuffing with plenty of onions.its top grub.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 10:51 am Post subject:
Especially if you can get the fat nice and crispy ...mmmmmmmmmmm

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 11:22 am Post subject:
I`m coming for dinner,lol.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 11:30 am Post subject:
It'd be colcannon on the side too ... But first it is the lambshanks - slow braised with a few root veges, thyme, red wine ... making myself hungry and I have already eaten...

Boarstall Girl

Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Posts: 75
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 13 9:18 pm Post subject:
How do you get drool out of a keyboard?

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 13 8:57 am Post subject:
Lol Boarstall Girl - with snow hovering around the hills and a day in front of the polling station handing out how-to-vote cards, I had a big incentive to speed up the lamb shanks and that is exactly what I did - photo is in the 'what's for dinner' section, lol. sooooooo good!

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