S is for Sweet Smelling Strawberries

I picked these straight from the garden today. Nicholas is going to be very happy when he sees this bowl tomorrow...he just loves strawberries :).

Strawberry and Rhubarb cordial

This week, it feels like I have spent most of my time trying to coerce Nicholas into sleeping. I spent the entire week at home working on it but sadly I am still failing. Things were so bad, that there were times that I even reverted to pushing him to sleep in the pram - I didn't even do this when he was an infant. It feels like we are regressing. I even called the Parent Helpline, but sadly, for a helpline they weren't particularly helpful. The women listened to my situation but really didn't have any helpful tips or advice. I guess I'm on my own for this one.

So to take my mind off the fact that Nicholas doesn't like to sleep and I have to spend all day with him, I have been spending the little free time I do have in the kitchen. With all the plums I picked last week I made a massive batch of plum fruit leather, and am soon to make more because I had the opportunity to pick some more plums on Friday :).

With the rhubarb I made Strawberry and Rhubarb cordial again, and Rhubarb fizzy drink. Both thankfully were quick and easy.

Here is the making of the cordial (a bit different from the above recipe):

500gms of rhubarb; 4 cups of strawberries and 3 large lemons

Everything cut up and placed in the pot ready to go.

With 4 cups of water added I let it come boil and then simmer for 20mins until the fruit was soft and mushy.

I then drained the fruit through the sieve.

And to the one litre of liquid I added 1 kilo of sugar and dissolved it over heat, and then added the lemon juice.

I then poured it into a sterlised bottles using a steralised jug and funnel. Done!

Plums!

As mentioned sometime last week, I had the opportunity to pick some more plums at my friends 'mini orchard'. It was wonderfully sunny day, and after having a terrible morning with Nicholas it was great to be outside in the sun.

Nicholas tasting a nashi pear for the first time - yum.

 

I knew I had picked a bit of fruit, but when I discovered it was 11 litres worth I was a bit surprised. 

All the pips have been removed.

Blending it all up

All ready to be dehydrated.

The rest of it went into the freezer and will come out when I'm ready to do another batch of dehydrating.

The final product: yummy mixed plum fruit leather!

Beans and Rhubarb!

I planted some broad beans in spring this year in order to put some nitrogen into the ground where I intend to plant strawberries next year. I was doubtful that they would even grow, to be honest, as I didn't tend to them much and only watered them when I had the chance... but they did. And unlike frozen broad beans which I hated as a kid and refused to eat, these are surprisingly tasty, even raw.

As I couldn't eat all of them in one go, I gave half of them to my mum. I will definitely be planting this super easy crop again this coming spring. 

Mum and I also had the opportunity to pick some fruit from a mini orchard in a friend's backyard today. It was wonderful, and while sitting on the picnic rug in the shade of the fruit trees I had an overwhelming desire to live somewhere with a little bit of land (ideally flat), that had an already established orchard, a veggie garden, room for the kids to run around in, and isn't in the heart of suburbia. I know I have discussed this before, and I know that at this time this isn't a realistic goal for us, but a girl can dream can't she?

I'm not sure this picture really captures the dark purple colour of these beautiful plums, but I tried.

Anyway, from this little excursion Mum and I picked a bunch a delicious plums, some massive lemons, a few nectarines, and a heap of rhubarb. I even saw a baby rabbit. At first I thought it was a snake, and so I pleasantly releaved when I saw it bouncing away.

2.5kg of rhubarb - tied up in 500gm bunches.

I'm thinking I might make some more Rhubarb and Strawberry cordial. Yum!

Here is Nicholas surprised by the size of the hardware store.

Rent a Cherry Tree!

Well, it's taken a week but we have finally finished eating all the cherries we picked from our Rent a Cherry tree, that I won, last weekend, and they were just delicious. The tree was full of massive cherries which were shared between the Jolly's, my Mum and us. It was such a splendid day, even though the weather was a bit overcast, and a real delight to share it with others.

When we arrived we were shown to our tree and given a brief history of the orchard.

Once everyone had arrived we began picking (and eating).

After all the hard work of picking and eating cherries, we sat down for a relaxing BBQ. The orchard provided the BBQ equipment, a table and chairs, and even toys for the kids. All we had to bring was the food, drink, picnic rugs and ourselves.

And the beautiful view from the orchard once it had cleared up a bit.

This, I must say, was the best prize I have ever won. It was a fantastic and relaxing day for all involved, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in renting a cherry tree next year. I definitely I think we will be renting one next year. I'll give it to Daniel as a birthday present :).