Autumn Morning.

What a lovely autumn morning. This is the view from the deck at about 7.30 this morning. Its not cold though ; I'm still in short sleeves.

The weather has been great for the Easter break. It was a sunny 27c here yesterday. A good break from the rain although we're looking down the barrel of heavy showers all next week. :(  The continuous rain has played havoc with the veges, a lot have just split and had to be pulled out.

We've just got a quiet day planned for today.
A couple of fruit trees to plant (orange, lemon and blueberry), some dirt to move, and some mint and lavender to pop into pots. I bought a small hot-house a few weeks ago; just a little cheap thing; and planted some beetroot and snow pea seeds to see how they would go. I also had some garlic cloves left over (I planted approx. 50 in one of the raised beds a few days ago) so I popped them in too. The beetroot and garlic were up in a matter of 2 days  - amazing. They were thriving. Then we got a huge wind on Saturday night and sent the whole thing flying - seedlings and hot-house. I was able to save the garlic but the rest were either crushed or missing. Oh well - we live and learn. It now has 2 besser blocks sitting on one of the shelves to hold it down.

My eldest sons birthday is tomorrow - Anzac Day. He and his partner are coming up and we'll go out to lunch to celebrate. Every year I find it hard to believe how old my kids are. Not because I have a problem with getting older; it just doesn't bother me; but it doesn't seem that long ago they were babies. I guess every parent thinks that. :) My other son has moved for work; about 4 hours away; but he's home for the weekend. Its been lovely so far with visitors and a lot of coming and going. We're even having an Easter egg hunt tomorrow - and no we don't have any small children coming lol. The guys suggested we could trade found eggs for bourbon - now there's a twist. Hmmmm - I can see a lot of frantic activity about the place tomorrow. Lol.

Basil Pesto.

Just wandered out (or should I say waded out) to the garden to pick some fresh basil. We don't have much in the garden at the moment to pick but the basil is doing well. We're having veal wrapped in prosciutto for dinner and I needed some basil pesto to go with it. It takes all of about about 5 minutes to pick it, whizz it about, add the other fresh ingredients and stick it in the fridge!

Basil Pesto. 
      4 cups fresh basil
      4 cloves of garlic
      1/3 cup of olive oil
     salt and pepper to taste

     *** I also add pine nuts and fresh Parmesan which is I guess, the usual way to make it but its not necessary if you're not keen. I do find the pesto a little bland without them though. You can really use most nuts - roasted first for a really nice taste.
Anyway a minute or so of whizzing about, slowly drizzle in the olive oil, bit more of a whizz and there you go!

I like to freeze it so I've always got some handy - just pop some in ice cube trays. Once it's frozen you can pop the cubes into a baggie and just use as needed. I use it in pasta dishes, salad dressing with mayo, mix with cream cheese for a stuffing for chicken breasts (then crumb in corn flake crumbs YUM!), or a favourite -  mixed in with mashed potato. There's a thousand ways you can use it.

First Fig.

The weather has been quite damp the last few days so that put paid to a lot of yard work. The lawn needs mowing but its wet enough for the ride-on to get bogged so that's best left until another day.

We had some more dirt delivered so rain, hail or shine that will be moved and used at the weekend - otherwise the grass will be covering at the mad rate that its growing and we'll have a lovely little hill in front of the water tank.

I was thrilled to discover the first wee fig on my tree this afternoon.

Isn't it lovely?! It has a way to go yet of course but its a reminder that we can have all the best food in the world in our own back yard, fresh and tasting like fruit and veges use to taste before they were popped into a cool room for 6 months.

We're off to a sustainability fair in Gloucester in the Hunter Valley on Saturday. Really looking forward to that. I'm hoping to buy some heirloom seeds there as well as some plants and goodies. Its such a beautiful area; I'll be sure to take some photos.

I've been in and out of the office all day checking the computer to see if the 1911 Scottish Census has been released. Its to be released today but of course the U.K is about 9 hours behind us, so it will be around 6pm tonight here before I think I'll even get a look in. I think that's right. :)) I'm hopeless when it comes to working out time differences! Genealogy is a passion ......ahem........obsession of mine and I've been waiting 3 years for some info I hope will be on this census. My dear daughter is cooking dinner, a lovely creamy pasta thing that she does so well. I must post the recipe (rich but oh so yummy) so I think for me its a nice hot shower, check the chookies are safe and warm, then curl up with the laptop and see if great grandfather Thomas is going to make his long-awaited appearance from 1911 Glasgow!