Windy..

Well we've had the downpour we needed and the sun has now come back too. But the one thing we can't seem to shift is this wind! It is so windy here, it is untrue. You can hear it whistling through the air. We've had a bit of wind damage too. The water feature we were going to turn in to the wildlife pond by adding some aquatic plants has been swept off its feet and the top half has smashed in to oblivion. Secondly, I have just seen the apple tree topple over too. Thankfully it is payday today so I am going to buy a huge pot to put it in because it is still currently in the little black pot it came in.

In the veg garden we have the first bloomed courgette flower of the season. It is a beautiful bright yellow and the courgette itself has doubled in size from what I can remember the last time I saw it. There are about 6 mini courgettes now on the tubtrug residing courgettes.

The runner bean plants have really come in to life. Lots of rain and lots of sun has seen these really kick on and they now have been transferred in to their own pots. One of them is now so big that I have put it into it's final growing pot. Remember, these aren't traditional runners but they are supposed to turn out like a small bush. It will be interesting to see what happens to them.

The second sowing of mange tout are now about an inch a piece, so I have just sown a new seed tray full so hopefully we will have a continuous crop of fresh mange tout. I find that spacing out the sowings instead of sowing them all at once avoids a large glut that needs to be preserved, and instead you get a much more steady and continuous flow of fresh produce.

Look how well the first sowing is doing too! They have all now attatched themselves to either the sticks or each other... (typical!!)

We need a new grow bag, so I will add that to my shopping list for later. We have 2 large tomato plants that need to go in as soon as possible, and we also have 6 that have freshly germinated. Again continuous flow as opposed to glut.

The first potato bag has now had it's final covering of soil. We are already looking forward to fresh potatoes in a few weeks and I will start another bag off by the end of the week. We currently have 3 on the go, but simlarly to the runner beans we want a continuous flow rather than a glut.

The mixed salad we sown that were out of a free pack of seeds are almost ready for picking. I think I am going to make burgers again tomorrow so the salad leaves will be lovely with the burger in some homemade bread...

Finally, the strawberry bed/wheelbarrow is doing well out the front. So far we have counted 44 flowers or mini strawberries. The bed is looking quite established already and there are plenty of runners...

I can't wait for my exams to conclude on the 27th because a) we are then going camping on the Monday and b) we can do some more planting and self-sufficient like things like beekeeping, jam making, strawberry picking etc etc.

Have a great Tuesday!

Martin

P.S Over the next few days you might see some 'archive' posts taken from my old blogs to fill the gap whilst I am studying. I will pick out some relevant and interesting ones for you and hopefully you will enjoy them. I will also do some 'photo archive' posts from different topics such as bees, chickens, jam making etc.

P.P.S Don't worry, I will still be compiling blog posts but I like to post every day so the archive posts will fill in where it is not possible for me to compile a new entry!

Check back soon!

Homemade Burgers

I said I wouldn't. But I have!

I wasn't going to make another post today as I didn't want to bore anybody but.. Amy is at work and I needed to make something for tea. Looking at a pretty bare fridge, I turned to the freezer. A few things looked interesting but then I found some frozen minced meat and that got me thinking...

I looked back in the fridge.. hmmmm.... onions, carrots, bread rolls.... BURGERS!

We have just finished eating them but I will gladly share my step by step process with you.

Ingredients:
3/4 of a large brown onion (1/2 diced) (1/4 for garnish)
500g British Beef Minced meat
1 carrot peel (thinly sliced to match the size of the diced onions)
50g flour
2 tbsp water

1) Add the minced meat to the bowl and 'prod' so that there are no large clumps and the mince is fine.

2) Add the diced onion and the thinly sliced carrot. Mix again.

3) Cover the meat, onion and carrot with the 50g of flour and add the 2tbsp of water. Mix again so the mixture binds together. Please note that the concoction of flower and water replaces the traditional need for egg and breadcrumbs in the burger recipe.

4) The ingredients stated should be enough to make 4 large burger or 6 smaller burgers. In this case I made 4. Use your hand to create 4 equally sized balls with the mixture. Then use the palm of your hand to flatten the burger into a traditional 'patty' shape.

5) Put on the grill or in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Make sure you watch the burgers around the twenty minute mark as they can go from perfect to overcooked very quickly. Slice a nice wholemeal bun and butter if necessary. Then add some salad, relish or ketchup and enjoy.

These were the best burgers I have made to date. Third time lucky I think they call it. Let me know if you use any of my recipes and tell me how they turn out. These are all my own original recipes which are heavily based on spontaneity and improvisastion.

Amy was pleased anyway, so it's always good to score extra brownie points. Talking of brownies... That's just given me an idea!

Martin