Summer storms and a new year

 As I type this blog post tonight it is raining heavily as the severe storms that were forecast passed through our area late this afternoon and, according to Weatherzone, 33mm has fallen at the airport. I haven't been outside to check our gauge but will do that in the morning and I think it will be quite full judging by the sound on the tin roof. It has been very muggy here which is not all that usual for us but hopefully our farmers are getting some of this liquid gold. I have been learning how to loom knit and have finished my first scarf which will be donated to the homeless once the cold weather hits this year. 

Growing Pepinos

A few years ago I received some seeds from Fair Dinkum Seeds as I had written a post promoting this family company and among the seeds were Pepinos which I had never heard of before but thought I would give them a try. I had them growing in a pot and only ever saw one fruit which never got a chance to ripen so I gave up on them and stuck the plant in the ground out of the way and watered it when I remembered. Imagine my surprise when I found a half a dozen or so pepinos hiding under the leaves when I checked the other day.

Growing a Dragonfruit

I know a lot of my readers have been following the progress of our one and only Dragonfruit and a few days ago I finally picked it. Dragonfruit is a tropical fruit native to Southern Mexico and Central America and, as we live in a supposedly cool temperate region, I really didn't think we would ever see fruit on our plant. However, perhaps it enjoyed our unusually hot summer temperatures recently and I was quite intrigued as I followed its progress over the weeks since the beginning of February.

Mulberry Cobbler with no added sugar

As we still have heaps of mulberries on our tree I have tried out a couple more recipes by replacing the sugar with dextrose and doing a bit of experimenting. I was very happy with the taste of the Mulberry and Yoghurt Dessert I made last week and we actually had it again tonight. May as well make good use of the mulberries while we have them. Another similar recipe I found was for a Mulberry Cobbler so I changed a few ingredients around and was quite happy with the result as well.

Whole Orange Cake (with no added sugar)

On the Down to Earth Forums we have been chatting about Rhonda's Whole Orange Cake recipe which has been around for a while but new forum members often find the recipe and decide to give it a try so while I was thinking about it I thought I would see if I could make the cake without added sugar as I hadn't made it for a couple of years as I don't bake all that often.

Veggies rule in the new Food Pyramid!

As most of my readers know I have given up sugar in an attempt to bring down my cholesterol level and I often check out 'I Quit Sugar' for recipes, hints and to read about the latest research into healthy as well as junk foods. I found it very interesting to read this week that the Food Pyramid has been updated by Nutrition Australia for the first time in 15 years and it looks like veggies rule!

No Nashi Pears for Nanna!

This is a little story for my grandchildren. I 'discovered' a Nashi Pear tree growing the other day and was hoping to be able to save some from the wildlife by covering the fruit with bags I intended to sew up. However, as you can tell from the story....I was too late :-

Mango Heaven

I meant to write this post when I was still up in Mt.Isa but the poor internet connection and sleep deprivation got in the way. However, I thought I would show you the photos anyway as I know that they might cheer up some of my friends in the Northern Hemisphere who are probably freezing at the moment.

Mango Ice Cream

I was browsing on the Simple Living Toowoomba blog this week and came across the recipe for Mango Ice Cream that Margy our co-ordinator had made at one of our morning teas/swaps. I remember that it tasted very yummy but had completely forgotten about it until I saw the recipe on the blog. 

It's Jaboticaba time again!

Back in June I introduced my readers to The Bizarre Jaboticaba Tree growing down the back which had been there for many years but I wasn't aware that underneath the foliage was all this grape-like fruit growing along the branches. As it fruits twice a year I checked early in October to see if there was any new fruit growing as I wanted to take photos of the progression to show you all.

Family Friendly Mulberry Cocktail

Have you ever heard of a Mulberry Cocktail? No...well neither had I until I was looking for some recipes to use up our mulberries and came across Mulberry Cocktail in the Queensland Country Women's Association Cookery Book with recipes from the original 1959 QCWA Cookery Book. In the Introduction it says 'The QCWA Cookery Book reflects very much the era in which it was compiled. Recipes tended to be hearty and wholesome, nothing was left to waste and recipes of ethnic original were few and far between. The instructions in many instances assumed that the cook knew exactly what to do, as they were often very scant in detail'.

IT'S MULBERRY SEASON!

Once again it is that time of the year when those who have a mulberry tree in their back yard suddenly find their fingers turning purple, stained clothes are being sent to the laundry to get the purple juice out of them and Mr.Google is kept busy trying to find multiple recipes to use up the luscious berries before they disappear again for another year.

Mandarin and Date Slice

Like many other Aussie backyards we have a massive mandarin tree down there which produces far more fruit than we can eat during winter. We have given a lot away and could have listed the mandarins on Ripe Near Me for people to come and pick them but the tree is quite high and it would be too risky to have them climbing ladders and perhaps falling and hurting themselves so I asked the CEO to pick as many as he could for juicing.

Fruit Central

As we have so many fruit trees on our half acre I thought I would do a walk around and record how they are growing in early Spring and note what we need to do to protect them from our infamous Queensland fruit fly as well as other pests.

Jaboticaba Jelly

As I mentioned in my post about The Bizarre Jaboticaba Tree, we had lots of fruit to use up which needed to be used up quickly as it should be eaten within a couple of days of picking. I had a look on various blogs for recipes and it seemed that it was commonly made into jelly, jam or wine so I chose to make up a few bottles of jelly even though I had never made jelly in my life before.