Sunday 31 May 2015

The last day of May

A foggy mist across the valley this morning as I headed out to collect some firewood.


The leaves have almost finished falling from the Glory vines and Manchurian Pear trees. I love this time of year and am ever thankful that I'm not bothered by leaves. Occasionally the leaf rake gets waved around when little plants are suffocating, but there's nothing quite like kicking through a pile of leaves when walking from the house to the paddock.
I never take this place for granted. The morning view of the house always makes me feel so grateful to be here.
 



An abundance of lemons and limes so I whipped up a few jars of marmalade to put in the Farm-gate stall. And for spreading onto home made bread, toasted, with lashings of fresh butter. (sigh...)


The recipe I used is from "A Year on the Farm" by Sally Wise
After borrowing this book from our local library, I knew I had to have a copy in my kitchen to keep, so it's one of the very few books that I purchased in its new state.
Now it's covered in sticky notes and bookmarks so I can quickly find cheesecake recipes, marmalades, jellies, cordials, chutneys and lots of delicious preserves.
I especially like the way she makes small batches so that nothing takes a monumental effort to achieve.  I remember in the early days of my married life, planning well ahead to make the yearly batch of chutney with 20lbs of fruit which took all day. The entire house, and everything in it, smelled of chutney for days after.
The Sally Wise recipes are simple and can be whipped up in little time. I wish it had been around twenty years ago.
Hardly a dent was made in the huge bowl of citrus perched on the dining table. While I ponder my next methods of using them up, the room is wonderfully fragrant.
I'll definitely make more citrus cordial for use in summer, as well as lemon butter and a lemon tart or two in the coming weeks.


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