Snow peas...

Apparently you can plant snow peas in autumn, winter and Spring and Summer....all year round
This is new for me too...

Lemon Meringue Pie

I know I'm supposed to be on a hunt for healthy sugarfree recipes but one can't resist a good lemon Meringue Pie. Had dinner with a friend and this dessert was served. Absolutely loved it…another great point about this recipe - you use up all the eggs... oh well tomorrow is another day

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Edmonds Cornflour
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup juice of lemon
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Boiling Water
3 egg yolks

Meringue
1/4 Heaped teaspoon sugar
Egg white of 3 eggs
vanilla

Instructions
Mix cornflour to a smooth paste with a little cold water; stir in boiling water.
Boil 2 to 3 minutes.
Add butter, sugar, grated lemon rind and juice; cool; add beaten egg yolks.
Line a pie dish with pastry; add mixture when cool and bake about 30 minutes.
Whipped the egg white and sugar until peaked, put the meringue mixture on the pie
Turned oven off and left it for 30 – 45 minutes
Serve as it is or with homemade vanilla icecream

Think Leeks and Brassicas and peas...

and then sow (seedlings) every two weeks to get a continueous supply. Once you plant a lot of seedlings into the garden sow the seeds for the next batch - it's a good habit to cultivate...a good reminder to myself here...

Still not too late to plant Snow Peas

If you had planted snow peas in autumn, you would be enjoying tonnes of yummy juicy and crunchy snow peas now. Anyway, I sowed about 20 seeds a week ago. They are sprouting nicely and hopefully will survive the slugs and snails attack.

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl cookies

My father in law has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I'm
now on a craze for REAL sugarfree biscuits. He loves his biscuits and
being a good daughter in law, I naturally like to impress....came to the
rescue is www.diabetic-recipes.com with an array of wonderful recipes...

(makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 cup (120 g) butter, softened
2 tablespoons (24 g) honey
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (90 ml) of egg
1 1/2 cups (210 g) organic wholemeal floor
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) baking powder
1/4 cup (60 ml) organic raw milk, warmed to room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 ml) unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Cream butter, honey, vanilla, and egg. Beat well. Add flour, baking
powder, and 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of the milk. Stir to thoroughly mix.
Divide dough into 2 parts.

2. Add cocoa and chocolate extract to one part, stirring until well
blended. Chill both halves for at least 1 hour.

3. Working on a floured surface, roll out each part to a rectangle about 3
inches (7.5 cm) wide. Place chocolate part on top of white part, pressing
together tightly with a rolling pin.

4. Brush the chocolate dough with remaining tablespoon (15 ml) milk. Roll
up like a jelly roll to make a log about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter.
Wrap in waxed paper and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C), Gas Mark 5. Slice cookies 1/8 inch (.5
cm) thick. Place on a nonstick cookie sheet that has been lightly coated
with cooking spray.

6. Bake for 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to
cool.

Per 3-cookie serving: 85 calories (53% calories from fat), 2 g protein,
5g total fat, 8 g carbohydrate, trace dietary fiber, trace cholesterol,
73mg sodium

Diabetic exchanges: 1 carbohydrate (bread/starch), 1 fat

July Meeting

We visited an Organic Dairy Farm. It was an interesting trip learning about the pasturing organic cows and the health benefits of milk from Jersey cows (A2 milk), non-pasturised milk. The facilities is simple but hygine is strictly observed to ensure that end product is at tip top condition for consumption.

May's Meeting

We had some discussions infront of the cozy fire and enjoyed the homemade preserve and jam on crackers, and fresh walnuts. The dicussions revolved around issues relating to sponses not sharing the same passion about permaculture and potential conflicts. We didn’t come up with any concrete answers but it was really nice that as a group we could provide support to each other in this respect.

Tara's Chook Tractor
Over the last 2 months, 3 more of the regular members have made or acquired chicken tractors in various shapes and sizes. One of the topics for June’s meeting will be on chicken tractors, to discuss the pros and cons of the various designs and possibly come up with a more foolproof design(s). And to come up with strategies to integrate the chook tractors into the next growing season.

April's Meeting

The meeting was kicked off by watching the clip "Permaculture in the City" from The Global Gardener.

The video clip features the provision of social needs and food on previously wasted land in big cities such as New York City. Through the use of Permaculture principles, maximized production achieved with restricted space and water supply. Plants are utilized in the design to lower energy input for buildings. Guild plantings are used to reduce malaria problems in Africa. Personally for me the settlement, Village Home in Davis California is my favorite.

It's a settlement designs to encourage both the development of a sense of community and the conservation of energy and natural resources. The principal designer was Mike Corbett. Construction on the neighborhood began in the fall of 1975, and construction continued from south to north through the 1980s, involving many different architects and contractors. The completed development includes 225 homes and 20 apartment units. If only more developers in NZ are expose to this concept. Totally blows my mind away..find out more at http://www.villagehomesdavis.org

The meeting was followed by a sharing of yummy afternoon tea brought by everyone. The unforgettable was the heirloom apple that Karine brought to share with us. Her husband, David, picked them from the Hort Research Orchard in Hastings. I've never seen apples in so many different sizes, colors and taste.

Next, Karine invited us to her place to visit their KUNE KUNE pigs.

Karine, David and their Kune Kune Pigs

The meeting also became a family outing for Tara's children, Max and Abby (my most favorite children ever!!), resulted in an educational experience for them who had never had a close up experience with pigs.

Karine and David "supervising" Tara, Max and Abby while they checked out the pigs!

That concluded our most interesting meeting in April.

See you all in May!!

WOW..that's a super jumbo!

Since we haven't bought eggs for a year, we didn't know that eggs could be bigger than those we got from our chooks. When a new member, Ginger, was introduced into the chook family, we were amazed at the size of the eggs it laid...(Ginger's egg on the left, and Broodie's on the right )


Behold, Ginger, the star

Ded's Cherry Tomato Salad

If you have cherry tomatoes growing out of your ears and not sure what to do with it, try out this yummy recipe inspired by my Thai friend, Ded.

It's one of those recipes that you can get your child to help but watch out for those juice squirting out of the cherry tomatoes...I don't really have specific measurements for this recipe because I keep tasting the liquid mixture until I get the taste that I like...I've put in some measurements for those who need more specific instructions...

Ingredients

500grams of cherry tomatoes (or more)
2 medium red onion chopped finely (depending on your taste prefer, more tomatoes more onions)
a handful of fresh basil (or 1 tablespoons of dried basil)
approx 1/2 cup Fruity vinegar
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Sugar as required
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
rind of one lemon

Squeeze the tomato juice into a mixing bowl. To prevent the tomato juice from squirting everywhere (I literally mean it) use your finger to poke an opening on the top of the tomato where it attached to the stalk.

Next, add the chopped red onions, fresh basil (or dried basil), vinegar, pepper, lemon juice and lemon rind into the tomato juice. Mix it together really well. If there aren't enough tomato juice, add a little bit more vinegar. It should be a liquid mixture at this point.

Add salt and sugar as required and keep tasting the mixture until you achieve the taste that you like.

Next, add all the squeezed cherry tomatoes into the mixture and mix it well, put it into the fridge for an hour before serving.