A Life to Relish

Weekend Domestic Bliss!  Spent Saturday in the garden, harvesting a bed of Chioggia Stripey beetroot, some as big as two hands - proudly organic!  No artificial hormones or steroids there!  Did some weeding (a bit like housework - never complete!), put up some stakes for tomato planting day (usually Labour Weekend, in New Zealand), watched the "Girls" - our Bantam chooks, for some time, changed their bedding to some untreated cedar wood shavings, planted potatoes into an old untreated kiwifruit crate (Mike sourced 2 for $15 each).  I am hoping there is not too much spray residue left on it as they have been sitting unused outdoors for some time.  I spent a while researching best methods for a small garden like ours and even though some "organic" enthusiasts say that stacking tyres are okay to grow your spuds in, I am still not convinced.  Besides, they just look ugly!

Lizzy and Spence are now laying an egg per day!  Wow!  Would be really cool if we ate them!  One more week foraging on this bed and then we will move the chook tractor to the other bed which had beetroots in, in preparation for tomato plants, eggplants and capsicums (nightshade family).  I also got to spray my stone fruit trees blossoms with organic copper spray to stop fungal infestations and disease.

The precious egg-making factory.

One marvels that these wonders of nature pop out of the
 bottoms of such small fowl!
No wonder they kick up such a ruckus when laying an egg!

Spence, the dark, feisty one!

Liz, the little ginger lass.

On Sunday we awoke to the sound of a moderate rain falling on the the roof.  Aaaah, bliss!  For me, rain means a let up of work in the garden.  I am not an all-weather outdoor girl!  I prefer to stay high and dry and warm in  inclement weather.  So, having harvested a 4L bucket of candy-striped beetroot, I needed to preserve some of it.  The rest will end up as beetroot salad, beetroot and feta soup or simply grated fresh into green salads.  Beetroot relish is one of my family's favourites, so with my daughter to help, we cleaned, peeled and grated 2kg of beetroot and set about making the relish.  The strong smell of apple cider vinegar and spices filled the kitchen................. and while it was boiling, taking full advantage of kitchen help, we made ghee (clarified butter for all our Indian meals), a batch of shortbread (which lasted the day) and a batch of apple slice.  We also managed to make a big pot of guacamole and freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice and pumpkin soup for lunch!  Poor Mike spent the day washing and drying endless dishes from our kitchen witchery.

Phew, after bottling 12 bottles of beetroot relish (the colour was a bit disappointing as the lovely candy-striped chioggia don't give that wonderful deep ruby-red of normal beetroot relish - although it tastes the same!), we felt spent.  Time for a cuppa tea and short bread. The Relish recipe is simple, easy and definitely worth sharing:

Beetroot Relish

• 1kg beetroot, peeled and shredded
• 500g onions, peeled and grated
• malt or apple cider vinegar to cover veggies
• 700g sugar
• 1 tspn salt
• 1 TBspn pickling spices tied in muslin bag
• 2 TBspn cornflour

Place all ingredients in large saucepan, cover and cook for 30 minutes till beetroot is soft.  Remove muslin bag, mix cornflour with a little vinegar and stir into relish.  Cook for a further few minutes, then spoon into hot, clean jars and seal.  

Makes about 3 litres.

Great on thin brown bread or cracker biscuits, and cheese.  Great for summer al fresco lunches.

We had at least 4 of these sized beetroot mothers -
the rest were normal to small!

The Domestic Workers slaving away in the kitchen on a rainy day

The beauty of candy-striped chioggia beetroot all shredded 

10 bottles of Beetroot relish - disappointingly brown in colour!

So the day was one of relishing our lives indoors, working to wonderful heartfelt music pumping on the stereo - Kasey Chambers  "Barricades and Brick walls"  whilst singing along at the top of our voices............  Lucky for the neighbours, the rain dulls the risk of instant rock stardom status!