Our garlic harvest was pretty modest this year. Considering the neglect it had to put up with I’m surprised we got any at all, let alone harvesting more than we planted. Next planting we’ll definitely do better but here are a few lessons we’ve gleaned: Prepare the bed well. Don’t just turn over some sod [...]

Our rural road is about 5km long and has many “wild” apple trees growing along the roadsides. Presumably over the decades, children waiting for the school bus have dropped their apple cores and some have resulted in apple trees. While it’s unclear who actually owns the resulting apples, they do seem to go to waste [...]

We arrived home with three weaner pigs this afternoon. They are destined to be bacon, ham and salami in about six months. Names haven’t been decided on yet but they will be suitably food-related so we don’t get too attached. Tonight they will stay in the stables (in their little straw house) and tomorrow they’ll [...]

Back in October we planted some raspberry canes. A few months on they are doing really well – we have some small fruit forming and the plants are sending up new canes. We were originally concerned we’d have to lift the carpet to let new shoots up but it seems the carpet has rotted enough [...]

The easy way to preserve your best blackberries when they are fresh and juicy is to freeze them. Spread them out on an aluminium tray covered with baking paper and put in the freezer. Within a few hours they should be frozen solid and will easily go into a plastic bag. Free-flow berries can be [...]

This is our own recipe based loosely on the DYC vinegar recipe with some extra (not so) secret ingredients. Lifeboat Farm BBQ Sauce 1 onion, finely chopped 2 tablespoons of cooking oil 2 big tablespoons of caramelised onions 1/4 cup malt vinegar 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce 1 cup of tomato [...]

The best shortbread recipe I know is in the Edmonds Cookbook. Shortbread 250g butter, softened 1 cup icing sugar 1 cup cornflour 2 cups plain flour Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift cornflour an flour together. Mix sufted ingredients into creamed mixture. Knead well. On a lightly floured board roll out to [...]

This was my first crusty four seed bread in the wood range – it managed to get to 240 degrees C without too much trouble (although I think we boiled the hot water cylinder in the process). Although it is the same recipe I use in our electric bread maker, the taste and texture is [...]

Our friend Neil across the valley has a large patch of blackberries so we spent a couple of pleasant hours this afternoon picking berries. With most of a bucket full we’ll be making some jam, chutney etc very soon.

Tonight we tried pizza in the wood range for the first time. The oven did a fine job and while it took a bit longer to cook than the electric oven (5 minutes versus 3) the end result was just as tasty. Since we got the oven in December, the only time I use the [...]