Blossom

I was surprised to find the first blossom of the season the other day in the middle July. It's from our lonely surviving Almond tree of a group of nine we planted in winter 2008. Honestly I'm not normally such a bad tree murderer. But that was the summer I was very pregnant with Tess and carrying buckets of water up the hill in that condition in the heat really wasn't going to happen. Not to mention the fact that sheep were in the paddock before I realized that they thought the trees were very good scratching posts. I have learnt from that and if anymore fruit trees are to be planted in that paddock they need protection, when I dare try again, hehe.



In the last week or so it has been soup weather, really it's soup season so have a go they really are quite easy. For the above luscious tomato soup I used the recipe from Tiny Happy which she posted this week and served it with some yummy feta spread on a toasted roll. A very simple but a effective recipe which makes it easy to whip up quickly for an easy lunch.



And this soup I made on a whim just adding different seasoning as I went. I started with most of a pumpkin cut up into small pieces for faster cooking, chicken stock and onions, then I added cumin, thyme, and curry powder to taste (which sweetens it up quite nicely). When the pumpkin was soft I whizzed the soup to a smooth constancy with the stick whizz. And added some frozen spinach, and let this heat though and finally added some sour cream just before serving. You could use yogurt or cream instead, a friend suggested lemon juice which would also give it a lovely zing.

A little bit of vege

This is my tiny bit of a vegetable garden, all that I have managed to get growing this season. It has been quite productive though with lettuce, silverbeet, onions, zucchini and beans to name a few. I am really looking forward to the tomatoes and capsicum, it will be great if I can bottle a few tomatoes since I use so much in cooking.


I have done a little bit of companion planting. With marigolds to repel nematodes and other pests. And cleome, the spider plant to attract the vegetable bug away from the tomatoes. It's lovely to brighten up the vege garden with these flowers and know they have a purpose too.

These red bunching onions have been really good value, they keep multiplying even when you harvest the onions off the side of the plant.

Red Devil

Our little devil is so sweet she loves plums so much that she stole this one straight out of my hands. It was the last of our christmas plums. I think they might Black Doris, its a wonderful old rustic enormous tree. They are so wonderful and sweet with a delicious dark flesh and skin.


She is quite clever feeding herself and I think she knows it. Hehe

Needless to say it took a while to clean up. It is really good that Tessa is enjoying such wholesome food, there is nothing better than homegrown goodness. It is so simple to avoid the awful shop bought baby food, with a little planning of course (I know it not always easy especially at the beginning). I just put aside a little of what we are having for dinner before seasoning it. Then whiz it up with a stick whiz (I think that is what its called) to what ever consistency that baby requires and voila! For example tonight we had sweetcorn on the cob, carrots, potatoes and sausages. So I cut the corn off the cob and along with the carrots whizzed it up. Since I don't really want Tessa to eat sausages (I know they are rubbish but sometimes that all you have) I added half a can of tuna. This turned out really quite yummy with a lovely flavour from the tuna. Tessa agreed and polished off the lot. There was plenty left over so I froze it in ice cubes. This allows you to defrost what you want later for other meals when you are short of time. None of this advice is anything really new but it is good practical stuff for new parents.

A Paper Bag

The simplest things can be the best sort of baby toys. Much better than the plastic rubbish that society trys to push at parents. Tessa was throughly entertained the other day by this paper bag.

It was great for shaking.

And even better for chewing.

Also pretty good for wacking.

Summer

We have had some lovely hot days this week it already feels like summer. To escape the heat Tessa and I spent the afternoon under our trio of big shady trees. A crabapple, flowering cherry and michalia.



Tessa really enjoyed playing with crunchy leaves, the texture as they crumpled feels wonderful, especially in the mouth (woops).

Some lovely cheeky smiles. She is wearing a sweet little op-shop top and a smart little cotton rainbow crochet sunhat.

What big teeth you have my darling and the third one cut through yesterday.

Love the detailing on this sweet top and such a light fabric perfect for toasty hot summer days.

Spring Bonus

I love spring especially in the garden. There is many lovely things about spring the blossoms the new life all around. You can feel everything waking up and warming up.



This one of first irises of the season, very pretty. I love the spring bulbs they give a lot of colour and beauty without much effort.

Even more of bonus is our first home grown asparagus. This was lovely and fresh for dinner and worth the two year wait after planting the crowns. It will be exciting when my other aspargus (of which some are purple) that I grew from seed start producing next year. This the best my vege garden has to offer at the moment sadly I can't wait to get into it soon.