Holistic Homesteading

Barley Soup in Storage

2017-02-27T00:00:00.000+01:00

Over the last two weeks I have shared my dehydrating journey that leads up to packaging what I have recently dried into some convenient "soup-in-a-bag" meals.

I did promise to share what I put into my bags with you, so here is the recipe for your convenience:

For the veg part I added into each bag some dehydrated:

Potatoes (next time I will grate them)

Carrots,

Leeks

Celeriac

Cabbage

Onion

I didn't weigh them out, and just roughly estimated how much of each I put inside. Perhaps next time I will weigh them out so that I get evenly distributed bags :)

What I forgot to put inside was some kidney beans, but I will add these to the pot this time and next time will be sure to include them in the packets!

I added half a cup of barley to each bag.

This is the finished bag.

I added 3 bouillon cubes, an oxygen absorber, and as I didn't have any silica bags on hand, I added a teabag which has a teaspoon of rice inside for moisture absorption.

To make, I will empty the contents into a pot, add 1 1/2 liters of water and simmer until ready.

Enjoy :)

New Gadget - Soyabella

2017-02-24T00:00:00.000+01:00

As we really like to have smoothies for breakfast in our home, I have been on the lookout for an easier way to make nut milks. The commercial milks available, although they taste good, come with a couple of additives and the price is not too shabby either!

Whilst browsing through Youtube a couple of weeks ago, as you do :), I followed a link which led me to a video introducing the Soyabella.

Of course I had to have one!

I received my new gadget about a week ago and have been making almond milk with it until now.

This is such an easy process, I am thrilled thus far.

To do this, all you do is the following:

Measure out a cup of almonds in the plastic measuring cup that accompanies the gadget
Place them into the sieve attachment and cover with water overnight
Empty the water, fill your soyabella with the desired amount of filtered water
I add 2 destoned dates for sweetness at this point
Attach sieve to motorhead, and mill (I mill 5 times)

The resulting milk is great!

I have dehydrated the leftover pulp and ground it down to make almond meal.

Once I have enough almond meal I will be baking something with it, so watch this spot :)

I will be trying soy-milk soon and will let you know how that turns out!

Do you use a soymilk maker?

Can you tell me how to make rice milk with the Soyabella?

More Veg Dehydrating

2017-02-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

This past week I continued on my dehydrated veggie prep for some soup storage (Meals in a bag)

I dried: grated celeriac, chopped cabbage, and sliced carrots.

All of the veg was blanched and the carrots were also sprayed with lemon juice before heading into the dehydrator. (dehydrated at between 50 - 60°C)

The last veg I need for my soup is potatoes which will be done in the next couple of days, so stay tuned for the recipes which will follow!

Gouda

2017-02-20T00:00:00.000+01:00

Next on my list of cheeses to try (as well as my bucket list for February) was Gouda.

Above you see the cheese fresh out of the brine.

Now what I noticed at this stage is that either the curds did not knit together properly, or that those marks are from my cheese cloth that was a little short and so I couldn't stretch it enough to make a smooth cheese.

As I am a total novice, I am not sure which it is and what the consequences of this might be, so I will soldier on.

What I am guessing is, that it could create air pockets in the cheese over time, or that it will make for a very crumbly cheese which Gouda shouldn't be :(

But, as this is supposed to be a learning procedure, I will go through the motions, and will inform you once I open it as to what happened.

I once again followed Gavin Webber's recipe for Gouda, and as my culture used Flora Danica.

Here is the Gouda before I waxed it.

I put 1 layer of liquid wax coating on the cheese before waxing.

and here it is after my first attempt at waxing :)

I can't wait to see how this cheese turned out, and will share it with you here :)

Baked Beans

2017-02-18T09:15:00.000+01:00

I have always wanted to try and make baked beans on my own.

Not the american kind with bacon, the English kind, the one that goes down a treat with a real English breakfast, or any old time of the day on toast or with mash and sausage :)

I found a recipe on the web and decided that I would let the "Cooking" take place in the canner.

So what I did was to soak the beans overnight, and the next day prepared the sauce, drained the beans and mixed them with the sauce, filled up my jars and pressure canned for 65 minutes (I used 500ml jars).

Here is the recipe I tweaked (I can't remember where I found this recipe as I had so many of them on hand, I do apologize)

500g Haricot beans (soaked overnight)

4 tins tomatoes

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

4 Tbsp Worcester sauce

2 tsp Tabasco sauce

2 cloves

some mixed dried herbs

Fry onion and garlic until soft.

Add tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Drain beans and add to the tomato mixture.

Fill into 500 ml jars (this portion made 6 x 500ml jars for me)

Leave 2-3cm headspace

Pressure can for 65 minutes.

Here is a quick video to show you how they look as soon as they come out of the canner:

I will be tasting them this weekend and will let you know how they turned out :)

Dehydrating for Storage

2017-02-17T00:00:00.000+01:00

Last week I managed to dehydrate a couple of things which is always great!

I am processing a couple of veggies for some soup mixes which I plan to add to storage.

All of my veg gets dehydrated at between 50 - 60 degrees Celsius.

On the first day I dehydrated frozen veg:

And on the second day, I dehydrated the stinkies :) So blanched onion, leek and celery stalks.

Issue I had: Onions, leeks and celery need to be dried on parchment paper or silicone sheets, as they almost dried into the tray :O

I placed all of my dried goodies in jars with oxygen absorbers and will be using them once I have all of the ingredients I need to make the soup mixes.

I will share the recipes with you then, so do stay tuned :)

Farmhouse Cheddar with Peppercorns

2017-02-15T00:00:00.000+01:00

After making the cheddar, I decided to try cheddar with peppercorns.

I am very susceptible to cheese with pepper, so I can't wait to try this cheese :)

I followed Gavin Weber's Recipe which I find very informative and it helps you go through the motions step-by-step.

I used black peppercorns in mine.

The process is a little different to the original cheddar recipe, and quite a bit shorter, so if you are wanting to attempt cheddar making then I would suggest you go with this recipe first.

Here is my cheese prior to waxing on Day 3.

It was nice and dry.

My only issue being that I have so many lovely peppercorns on my surface, which I will ultimately lose to the liquid coating :(

Next time I will be sure to keep the surfaces free of peppercorns.

Here is my cheese, waxed and ready for it's new place in the cellar.

Yummy, I can't wait :)

Stay tuned!

The next cheese will be Gouda.

Are you a cheesemaker?

Have you made peppered cheddar before?

I would love to hear from you below.

Cheddar

2017-02-13T00:00:00.000+01:00

At the end of January I finally took the plunge into the world of cheesemaking :)

I am a lover of cheddar, so I gathered that would be a good place to start.

I didn't add the annatto as I don't really mind what colour my cheese is as long as it tastes right.

The process was a long one.

I am lucky enough to live close to a farmer who sells raw milk and as I had to carry it home I made two trips on two consecutive days.

We were well into a good winter, and as we have a cupboard on our balcony, we figured that the milk would be fine out there overnight.

Well, it froze slightly :(

I didn't let that deter me and continued in the cheesing process.

In mainland Europe, cheese wax is not as readily available as other places, but we do have a liquid cheese coating which inhibits mold growth.

So on Day 4 I coated the cheese.
I coated the cheese with 3 layers of liquid coating.

It is now sitting in the cellar where we have optimal temperatures and humidity.

I can't wait to taste it :)

I will be sure to share it with you here!

Next up - Farmhouse cheddar.

Boerewors Recipe

2017-02-06T00:00:00.000+01:00

My homesickness comes in the form of craving foodstuffs from home.

How do I remedy this - well by making the foods I crave of course :)

Not only do I get to eat some of my favourite foods, but I learn a lot along the way!

Last month I was craving Boerewors - a South African sausage, so I went about finding the ingredients to make it.

Thanks to the fact that we now own a Kitchenaid that came with the mince attachment, I bought the accessories for sausage making and let rip :D

If you would like to try these yummy sausages here is the recipe I made:

1 Kg Pork

1 Kg Beef stew

1 Kg lamb stew

500g fat

2 Tbsp Salt

1 tsp Pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp Brandy

100g casings

Mince meat and mix with all of the spices and liquid.

Let sit overnight.

Fill into casings.

Enjoy :)

Pressure Canning

2017-02-02T00:00:00.000+01:00

Over the space of December and January I have been attempting pressure canning.

To be quite honest it does get quite addictive!

It took me a long time to start the initial canning process as by living in Europe, things are done a little differently here and most things are stored through a water bath canning process.

As I was very interested in adding some chicken and meats to my list of things to store, we decided that there was no time like the present to get on with it :)

At first I just did a single layer of jars (max 5 Jars), I am using the Weck glass jars as they are readily available to me, but I have since purchased another rack and can quite easily can 10 x 500ml Jars at a time, which is a wonderful thing in itself :D

I have decided to mainly use the 500ml jars as this seems to be a perfect amount for our family of 4.

For soups I tend to use a 750ml or 1 litre Jar.

So far I have canned:

Ratatouille (twice - it tastes amazing out of the jar - who would have thought!!)

Peeled, cooked potatoes (not so great, read below)

Raw, baby potatoes (Amazing)

Chicken and Maize soup (Fabulous)

Raw pack Chicken (so convenient)

Ratatouille

Raw baby potatoes (double layered in canner)

Chicken and Maize Soup

Canned Chicken

My only "Problem" that I have encountered so far was with my potato canning.

I had some potatoes at home that I thought I would can, and so after peeling and parboiling them I canned them as stated.

At first everything seemed fine, but after one week the water became milky.

Now into their second month of storage, the potatoes have all but disintegrated.

They still taste fine, and I have been adding them to soups and stews, but now I really only have a jar full of potato starch :O

Anyway, I have had much more luck with the baby potatoes and so I plan to continue canning those in the future :)

What are your experiences with pressure canning?

Our New Helpers

2017-01-31T00:00:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of months we have indulged in purchasing some equipment to make our storing a little easier.

From top to bottom:

Presto Pressure Canner

Kitchenaid

Dutch Cheese Press

La.va Vacuum sealer

I can wait to put all of these goodies to good use :)

2017 Bucket List

2017-01-30T09:14:00.001+01:00

Life has been so hectic lately that I haven't had a moment to spare for blogging!

I hope to change that!!

This year I have decided to attempt various things in an aim to become more self-sufficient.

Not only to become more self-sufficient, but also to try out things that I take for granted because I can fetch them off a shelf in the supermarket!

So as I progress through 2017 I will share my various attempts with you, and hopefully share my experiences, and perhaps tips and tricks with you along the way :)

Here is my Bucket List of things to achieve thus far:

January 2017

Make Cheddar ✔

Make Boerewors ✔

Can Chicken ✔

Bake a sourdough loaf of bread ✔

February 2017

Make Gouda ✔

Make Paneer ✔

Make Farmhouse Cheddar ✔

Make and Can Baked Beans ✔

March 2017

Menu planning for food rotation
Dehydrate ingredients for storage
Can bacon (I am really curious about this one :))
Make Tilsit
Make Edam

I will update April as March progresses :)

All of my January experiences will follow over the next couple of days.

Pickled Gherkins

2015-08-27T00:00:00.000+02:00

I have chosen to make some pickle with the gherkins which we harvested this week.

Here is the recipe I use:

1 kg Gherkins

5 Tbsp Salt

1 bunch of fresh dill or 1 teaspoon of dried dill

1 Tbsp Peppercorns

4 Juniper Berries

4 Bay Leaves

1/2 tsp Fennel seed

500 ml White Wine Vinegar

500 ml water

80 g Sugar

Wash the gherkins and rub dry.

Place in a bowl and add the salt.

Just cover the gherkins with water and allow to stand overnight.

The next day, dry the gherkins and cut into pieces.

Using a pestle and mortar, crush the herbs.

Add these to the canning jars, and add the gherkins.

In a pan, add the vinegar and water. Bring to the boil and stir in the sugar until completely dissolved.

Pour the liquid over the veg and seal.

Place bottles on their heads to vacuum.

Allow these bottles to stand for about 3 weeks before opening.

Enjoy!

Harvesting Rewards

2015-08-26T18:51:00.001+02:00

Our gardening efforts are paying out :)

This is what we managed to harvest yesterday:

Gherkins

Zucchini/Marrow

Beetroot (a rather munched on beetroot)

Green Beans

Black Beans

I have frozen the green beans for later in the year, and am busy drying the black beans.

With the marrow I made a couple of liters of Ratatouille to freeze - this is a loved favourite in our home.

I am not sure what I will be doing with the beetroot, but I guess I will be adding it to a salad.

I will be pickling the gherkins - I will share the recipe with you tomorrow :)

See you soon

Garden Update

2015-08-07T00:00:00.000+02:00

Our balcony produce is growing like crazy!

I think the temperatures in this corner are optimal and the plants are loving it :)

These are our cherry tomato plants - They grew to a height of roughly 3m!

As you can see there is now a plank in front of them as they became too heavy for the pots and keeled over :(

I am hoping we haven't lost to many of them in the process, but only time will tell!

Next up: Our Gem squash:

It too loves it's place in the sun, but so far we have only been able to harvest 3 squashes and I am hoping that we will be able to enjoy many more of them before the season comes to a close.

Here we have pot pumpkin and pot bell peppers.

So far nothing much to write home about, I do hope that will change soon!

In the garden things are growing nicely :)

How does your garden grow?

See you soon

Dehydrating for the Seasons Finale

2015-08-06T00:00:00.000+02:00

As the season is in full swing I have pulled out my dehydrator to get some preserves made and other goodies dehydrated for storage.
(If you would like to know more about our dehydrator you can find my post on that HERE)

I started out by dehydrating some peaches to make Chutney (you can find my Chutney Recipe HERE)

Look at that gorgeous goodness - if you are South African you will know what I mean :)

After the chutney, I dehydrated 2kg of carrots for my storage.

They went from this:

To this:

Yes, this is 2kg of carrots :)
If you would like to know how to dehydrate carrots, I explained my procedure in a post HERE

I have been wanting to try dehydrating some pasta sauce for a while now, so I thought that while I have my machine out I will give it a bash.

We haven't re-hydrated it yet to try it out for taste, but once we do, I will let you know how it tastes :)

Do you dehydrate your harvest for storage?

See you soon
x

Peppermint Sirup

2015-08-05T16:41:00.001+02:00

I was rummaging through the garden last week and weeding it.

Because I let last years garden go crazy so that the bees had a wonderful wild patch to go to, my mint thrived.

So much so that this year it keeps wanting to take over my beds!

We keep pulling it out, to have it all back a couple of days later.

So when I pulled out bushloads of the stuff last week, I thought it would be a real shame to get rid of it all the time, when I could just use it for something.

My daughter had just come home from a visit and brought home a bottle of homemade Peppermint sirup - That was the something I wanted to make!

It is so simple that I am going to share the recipe with you here today too :)

You will need:

Some Peppermint leaves - a good bunch of them (You can see how much I used for each batch in the above image) Remove the leaves from the stems

50g of Citric Acid

3 litres of water

1,5kg Sugar

Mix the citric acid with the water and pour over the leaves.

Allow to sit for a day.

After a day the leaves will have turned a little brown.

Remove the leaves from the water and place the water in a big enough pot to hold water and sugar.

Bring sugar and water to the boil and then remove from heat filling into your bottles.

And there you have it - refreshing peppermint sirup that should last for quite a while in your storage (be sure to fill your bottles to the brim to vacuum them)

Did you try this recipe?
How did you like it?

See you soon.
x

What to do with all that Garlic?

2015-07-16T00:00:00.000+02:00

I find that here in Europe my garlic tends to go off really quickly.

Within a week of buying them they tend to be spongy and not very nice.

If you have the same problem, then here is a solution you may want to consider.

What I do is take all of my fresh garlic, peel and place in my food processor.

I whiz briefly and then add some olive oil and whiz again to combine the ingredients.

Then I fill the garlic into a glass container, pour a little extra olive oil over the stop and stir.

Store in the fridge.

For cooking I gauge about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon for a clove of fresh garlic.

Keeps good for quite a while.
Be sure to keep the garlic immersed in the olive oil, otherwise it can go moldy.

See you soon.

Pinterest Tried And Tested: Key Lime Pie in a Glass Please :)

2015-07-15T00:00:00.000+02:00

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I had to give it a go.

I mean the ingredients - Limes and Condensed Milk - sounds amazing!

I used the recipe from this Pin

It is called Brazilian Lemonade, and I can tell you it really does hit the spot!

Have you made something from Pinterest lately that turned out really well?

Have you tried a recipe that you wouldn't recommend?

We would love to hear from you!

Share your links below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Potjie Anyone?

2015-07-14T16:36:00.000+02:00

We are thrilled!

Our potjies (dutch ovens) arrived last week.

We will be seasoning these babies over the weekend and then will share some yummy recipes with you all really soon :)

Pickled Apricots

2015-05-22T00:00:00.000+02:00

Today I would like to share two really great variations of apricot pickle with you.

If you like a bit of tang and like pickled veggies, you may love the taste of pickled apricots!

Pickled apricots go well with cheese dishes, like our typical winter Raclette (a Swiss Cheese Dish)

First up:

Pickled Apricots

For this recipe you will need:

1kg Firm Apricots, halved and pitted

600ml White Wine Vinegar

500g Sugar

1 Cinnamon stick

(If using more than 1 jar break in half so that each jar will have a piece)

2-3 Cloves

8-10 Peppercorns

Canning Jar/s

In a pot place the water, vinegar, sugar and herbs.

Bring to a rolling boil and the place the apricots inside for 2 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and place the apricots into your jar/s.

Bring the liquid once more to a rolling boil and boil for another 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and pour over the fruit straight away, dividing the spices between the jars if you are using more than one..

Fill the jar with the liquid until just under the rim (if need be boil a little more vinegar to fill jar), seal and place the jar on it's head.

After 5 - 10 minutes turn jar upright and allow to cool.

Check the vacuum once cool (the lid should be slightly concave)

Label and store.

Sweet and Sour Apricots

For this recipe you will need:

1kg Firm Apricots, halved and pitted

150 ml water

300ml White wine vinegar

500g sugar

2 Star Anis

3cm Root ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3-4 Cardamon pods

Canning jar/s

In a pot place the water, vinegar, sugar and herbs.

Bring to a rolling boil and the place the apricots inside for 2 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and place the apricots into your jar/s.

Bring the liquid once more to a rolling boil and boil for another 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and pour over the fruit straight away, again dividing the spices between the jars if you are using more than one.

Fill liquid to just under the rim of the jar (if need be boil a little more vinegar and water at a 2:1 ratio to fill jar), seal and place the jar on it's head.

After 5 - 10 minutes turn jar upright and allow to cool.

Check the vacuum once cool

Label and store for the wintry months, or until you can't bear it any longer and need to try it ;)

I would love to hear your feedback on how you liked these pickles.

Do you make fruit pickles?

Until next time

Apricots a Little Differently

2015-05-21T00:00:00.000+02:00

Apricots are on special at the local store this week, so I bought 4kg of them.

Now, we are not a big apricot jam kind of a family and I only need apricots for a couple of recipes that I have on hand, but I bought these apricots with a definite scheme in mind namely - Winter and Pickles!

The first plan was to add some apricots to our Rum Pot.

To do so, I cut the apricots in half and covered them with sugar for an hour.

I then added them and the sugar to the pot which I started to fill in March

As you can see (if you can, the pot is very dark so the photos just don't come out like I hope :(), the strawberries have lost their wonderful red colour to the rum, but it does smell rather good already :)

Once I added the apricots, I topped the pot up with some more rum to make sure that all my fruit is covered, replaced the upturned plate and then put it aside again.

(If you would like to make your own Rum Pot for the upcoming Winter and festive season you can read how to Here)

Once that was done I went about making the pickles.

Join me tomorrow to find out how to make some amazing pickled apricots to delight your palette over the winter months.

Have you made a rum pot before?
Do you add anything extraordinary to it?

See you tomorrow.
x

Rumtopf - Rum Pot

2015-05-20T17:37:00.001+02:00

One of my favourite things to do, once all the various spring and summer fruit start to show themselves, is to put together a "Rumtopf" or "Rum-Pot" directly translated, which basically boils down to laying fruit in rum over many months. The end result is, well yummy!

I will continue posting about my Rum pot as I fill it up with this and that as the various fruits come into season, so do follow my blog and keep yourself updated on progress and various how-tos :-D

My tip for a rum pot is this: Try to use local FRESH produce in season for the best taste, and if possible organic (I know this is not always possible, so just wash the fruit you are using before adding them to the pot).

The rule of thumb for this recipe is - half as much sugar as fruit, and cover with rum. Simple right!

Okay, so what will you need to start up?

You will need:

A rum pot or a large wide-necked glass container with lid.

A saucer or plate that fits comfortably into your container

(a great alternative is to use a plastic picnic plate which you can cut to the size of your container, it needs to fit snuggly)

Rum - enough to keep each batch of fruit covered

Sugar

Fruit which is ripe, but not overly ripe!

Start by weighing out the fruit you will be putting inside the pot, wash it and cut into pieces. Weigh out half as much sugar. I cut the stems off the strawberries and cut them in half.

Lay them in the pot, and cover them with the sugar.

Cover with rum so that the fruit is fully submersed.

Place your plate upside down on top of the fruit to hold it under the liquid. This is an important step, as if the fruit float to the top of the liquid they can start to go moldy, so totally submersed is the key!

Cover your pot with its lid. I also cover my lid and pot with cling-wrap as my lid does not seal, so for the extra protection.

Allow to stand in a cool area.

I only had strawberries and so I started with them. If you have more local produce available to you at the same time, then you would go ahead and add each of the layers of fruit, sugar and rum until all your fruit is inside and covered with liquid.

Here is a list of fruits that I found via Google which should and shouldn't go inside your pot! I really stick to local here and end up generally adding the following: cherries, plums, peaches, prunes, grapes, and strawberries. I have put in cantaloupe one year and it didn't turn out all too badly, but it was rather a firm melon!

Fruits that work well in the rum pot:

Pineapple (remove rind & core and cut in large cubes)

Cherries (I don't pit mine, but feel free to do so)

Apricots (halves, pitted)

Nectarines (halves, pitted)

Peaches (remove pits and cut in halves, quarters, or slices)

Plums (remove seed and half or quarter)

Grapes (sweet seedless red or green grapes are ideal)

Strawberries (don't wash, just remove stem & leaves). Strawberries will soften and lose their bright red color as the soak up the rum.

Raspberries (don't wash). Raspberries will lose some of their bright red color.

Red currants (removed from stem)

Gooseberries (remove stems)

The following fruits are not recommended:

Blackberries or Blueberries (they can be bitter and can discolor the other fruits)

Watermelon and Cantaloupe chunks (can make the mixture watery)

Rhubarb (can make mixture sour)

Bananas (too mushy)

Citrus (too acidic)

Apples (take on an odd texture)

Kiwi fruit

My rum-pot will now stand in my cellar until I have my next batch of fruit and then I will top it up with the new and again allow to stand. The pot should be filled by autumn where it will once again stand until around Christmas time.

I generally find that I make one of these once every two years and they last just as long. It is absolutely delicious over vanilla ice-cream or just like that after a hearty meal. Wonderfully warming! But do be careful, it can be quite potent!

Hope you enjoy making your Rum pot.

P.S. I originally posted this post on my blog, Marigolds' Loft in 2012 but I felt it would be nice to have it here as a reference for those of you who need it, I have updated it with the relevant extras :)

Sun and Then Snow!

2015-05-15T15:10:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Stefan and I finished sowing the second lot of our two square foot gardens.

We had removed the plastic cover as the temperatures rose to a wonderful 24°C. The seedlings in bed one (on the left in the above image) have all started to poke their heads through the soil, except for the radishes which are well on their way.

We have covered the bigger plants that were being eaten by snails and slugs, with some PET bottles. I think that the snails got into the bed because we had a lot of plants growing up the sides of the raised beds - creating a highway to heaven! We have since removed all of those plants and hope that the covers will help them along the way.

Whilst we were planting in the second bed we noticed that the bees were acting rather strangely - we had a typical "swarm beard" on the front of the hive.

Sensing that this might actually be what they were planning on doing, we quickly reassembled the hive which I removed a couple of weeks ago (I still haven't had a chance to sand and repaint it as the weather has not been ideal ;( ), and they started to swarm inside of it!

Could we be in luck? A new bee family 😀 Tomorrow will tell! #swarming #bees

A video posted by Natalie Buehler (@marigoldsloft) on May 13, 2015 at 10:15am PDT

Today is the last day of the "Ice Saints" being Cold Sofia. The weather forecast predicted temperatures of 8°C today. I covered all my balcony plants but thought that the garden would be okay.

Shortly after lunch the girls called me to look out of the window.

What did I see?

Snow!!!!

Within a couple of minutes the heavy snowfall had covered our beds completely and didn't look like it would ever stop!

The thermometer recorded a wonderfully chilly 1°C and the snow just kept on coming down!

Now I am holding thumbs that the plants will survive it!

As I am writing this the snowfall has reduced drastically and the snow on the ground has almost all disappeared.

As soon as the sun is up tomorrow I will be out to inspect the poor things.

I will let you know how things look tomorrow.
x

P.S. I have just bought my first liter of organic cow milk - I know that sounds really weird, but we have always used UHT because of it's long shelf life. We bought it straight from the farmer, who got it from the cow, LOL!

It doesn't get more fresh than that!

Do you buy local?
Do you buy organic?

Kombucha Revival

2015-04-22T00:00:00.000+02:00

We have been drinking Kombucha on and off for about 15 years.

I don't mean the mass produced bottles filled with no love and human interaction - I mean the REAL thing!

Since relocating back to Switzerland I haven't been able to get my hands on a scoby, that is until two weeks ago :)

10 Days ago I made the tea and laid the baby in the liquid.

Today is the 10th day and she is growing nicely :)

Now to fill up some bottles and restart the process.

Have you had Kombucha before?