Snippets of farm life with a growing family – the highlight kind of snippets. Thereβs quite a lot in between these moments that really donβt look and feel as whimsical π
The majority of the farm work just is plain hard, with not much reward – and we are dancing the delicate balance of doing this on a low budget, while we also sow into our young family. Many would say itβs really not an ideal time to do something like this – but the fruit shows that God has said differently. There has been a whole lot of times where weβve prayed for provision for something weβve needed to keep running our little farm that was above our pay bracket – and every time, miraculously, weβve been provided for. We have all we need for each day in this and we are certainly not a fancily set up operation – but we have seen the fruits of deeper trust and endurance, and our family being brought together in a way we havenβt known before.
Weβve had quite a few people say the phrase to us, βyouβre living my dream!β
It makes us laugh, as most of the time it can feel very far from dreamy. But the dream we are living – and will not trade for anything – is following God and risking saying yes to him, at all costs. It is what has held us here when weβve wondered if itβs all worth it. To live with the One who is bigger than all of this, who owns the story of all time – it is something all of us are invited into.
We are currently sitting in the transition between cool season and warm season – still enjoying the final few weeks of tasty brassicas while busily planting in all matters of summer sunshine foods. Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchβs, corn and many others should be starting to change up our veggie boxes soon. Stay tuned βοΈπ§π½βπΎ
We now have bottles of Manifest Kombucha available for purchase as an optional extra to your veggies πΌ the tastiest kombucha youβll find made with the real stuff, brewed on the same farm we grow our veggies on π
If youβre longing to be one of βthoseβ people who enjoys eating wilted fizzy cabbage and want to make it yourself, youβve come to the right place. (Donβt listen to those haters, sauerkraut is delicious and a party for your gut).
Basic sauerkraut recipe:
Start with a whole, fresh and pretty cabbage
Remove the outer leaves and set some of the cleaner ones aside for your sacrificial leaves for the end of the recipe
Remove the core of the cabbage and chop the cabbage finely, and put it all in a big bowl
Add about a tablespoon of salt, and massage it all with your hands until the cabbage wilts and gets all juicy. Sometimes it helps to beat it with the end of a rolling pin to help it wilt.
Stuff it in a clean jar. Press it down as you go with the end of a rolling pin to pack it all in. There should be juice covering it all at the top of the jar – if thereβs not, add a bit of salty water (you want about a 3% salt content, they call this a 3% brine).
On top, stuff in your sacrificial leaves to weigh it down. Put the lid on the jar, but not too tight. Set it on a plate and leave it on the bench for 5-7 days. It may leak during this time, hence the plate.
It will be ready when it tastes fizzy and fermented. Remove the sacrificial leaves and keep it in the fridge, and enjoy!
This recipe, frankly, is a basic lacto fermentation recipe for any veg. Generally if you stick with a 3% salt content it should work. Warmth helps with the speed of the fermentation, so it’s slower in the cool months than in the warmer times.
If it gets hectic fuzzy mould on top or like greeny goupy purpley yucky mould, it’s no good. Sometimes it can get a white fragile film and this is a certain yeast culture on top, that’s still safe and you can just skim it off the top. But with other moulds it’s probably better safe than sorry.
Veggies fermented this way can last almost for ever in your fridge. I think we’ve found 12 month old pickled radishes or cucumber in our fridge and it was still good to go. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend… but there are stories of people making huge batches of this stuff and that’s their go-to ferment for the year.
We love doing this with radish also, and adding in ginger and chilli and garlic and deliciousness. Have a play and enjoy getting even more nourishment out of your veggies. π
RSS is like a personalised news feed you have control over. You sign up to an RSS reader (https://www.inoreader.com/ is pretty nice) and then subscribe to the feeds you want to be notified of, and you get their content delivered to you! No more AI/big tech/Social Media getting us all addicted by manipulating our cheeky dopamine response. π
Stoked to reveal our beautiful new logo, created and painted by the talented @kayeredmanart π
The beauty revealed through creation is something that is close to our hearts, and it is a big element of why we love what we do. So we are very excited indeed to have this piece of art represent that β¨
Never fear though – the radish wreath profile picture on Instagram will remain in its place π
We have been busy these past few weeks getting plenty of veggies in the ground and getting them growing, all while succeeding and failing and adjusting (and taste testing). This is a whole family affair – it often means progress is a little slower, but far more colourful. Eden specialises in planting, watering, harvesting (peas are the favourite choice) and digging deep holes to call for the worms. Cedar is great moral support showing his excitement with big arm movements and rapid grabbing, and will often taste the soil to check its growing suitability.
Lots of exciting things are being formed, and get ready for veggies boxes very soon π€π₯¦π±π₯
Yewww, our first harvest at the new plot (which we shall affectionately name Marabelle – star of the sea). And what better than the humble old radish? π
Veggies incoming. π
Don’t miss out on this goodness, keep in touch with us below
RSS is like a personalised news feed you have control over. You sign up to an RSS reader (https://www.inoreader.com/ is pretty nice) and then subscribe to the feeds you want to be notified of, and you get their content delivered to you! No more AI/big tech/Social Media getting us all addicted by manipulating our cheeky dopamine response. π
In our front food-forest-nursery-garden we are working alongside nature to produce the inputs our garden requires.
In this case we prune back this epic wild tobacco plant to give the garden a pulse of growth and to encourage the plants around it to start pushing growth and encouraging flowering. Doing so gives them a nice bit of fertilisation both in the soil through root die off (which adds organic matter, changes the makeup of the soil life, and encourages the plant to release growth hormones), and above the soil through the mulch (which creates an amazing microclimate upon the soil) and additional sunlight.