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Christmas Succulents

November 23, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

The succulent mania continues! (My ever patient husband is sighing in the background..)

This year for Christmas, I’ve decided to pot some up as gifts. I’m starting early, in the hope that they’ll have grown in a little by the end of December.

I began with a $4 terracotta bowl from Bunnings – this one was 15cm/6″ wide. I also had some mini pebbles, potting mix, shells for decoration, and succulents – a couple were bought very cheaply, and the rest were foraged from friends’ gardens…

I began by putting a little mesh over the hole of the pot, and then covering it with an inch or so of pebbles. Drainage is very important to these plants…

The pot was filled with a premium potting mix (this one had coconut fibre in it), and then the cuttings were artistically planted.  Design isn’t my strong point, but these plants are fairly forgiving. I gave the pot a thorough but gentle watering to clean off the leaves and settle in the roots…

Finally, the pot was “top dressed” with pebbles and a strategically placed shell…

A note on costings – I bought the pebbles and shells from Bunnings – a large bag of shells was $5, and the pebbles were $10 for a five kilo bag.  When finished, these small gift pots will end up costing about $10 each.

Here’s my second attempt…

And here’s a larger one that I’ve planted up for my mum…

In our hot Sydney weather, the pots need morning sun and afternoon shade. I’ve been advised by the folks at Hamilton’s World of Cacti to give the pots a generous watering once or twice a week, ensuring that the soil dries out completely inbetween.

Debra Lee Baldwin, a US based garden designer, recommends treating potted succulents as long lasting floral arrangements.  I’m hoping to make one that I can use as a Christmas centrepiece this year!

PS. If you’d like more ideas, have a look at Alison’s archived post at This Blooming Life.

Posted in Frugal Living, Garden | 54 Comments »

Garden Update, November 2012

November 21, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Our garden is pretty messy at the moment.

Over the last month we’ve been both busy and sick, and as a result, we’ve neglected the beds a bit.  Many of the plants are flowering and going to seed (which is not a bad thing)…

The rainbow chard has been the backbone of the garden, and continues to produce a constant supply of bug-free leaves…

We were late planting cucurbits, but the zucchinis have settled well into the old potato patch…

Linda kindly sent us tromboncino seeds, which we planted into the empty space next to the garage…

Pete finally relented and allowed me to plant butternut pumpkin in the same patch…

The new side bed that Uncle Steve built is going gangbusters. The climbing beans have already reached the top of the trellis…

…and we’re harvesting our first snow peas…

The next bed along still has plenty of curly kale, but most of it is now covered in cabbage moth eggs. Interestingly, the moths have been so taken with the kale that they’ve left the rainbow chard and lettuce alone…

The newly renovated back bed is thriving – such a difference to the poor performance we’ve had from it in the past…

The dwarf beans are growing well…

Our purple and pink potato plants are flowering…

The girls have moved onto a new bed, and are trudging through the tall plants like African explorers…

Our mad cherry tomato tree – which has given us hundreds of tomatoes – is producing fruit again this season. We’ve taken off at least another fifty toms since the weather warmed up. The plant looks terrible, and it’s right next to the house, but it’s hard to pull it out while it’s still feeding us…

On the potted front, we’ve replaced our bay tree with a lemon verbena. The bay was always covered in scale, and never grew particularly well…

The potatoes in the laundry tub produced a small harvest, and have now been replaced with Little Gem lettuces and a jalapeno chilli plant…

It’s nearly summer here, but the weather has been quite mild, which has extended the growing life of the leafy greens.  At the moment, we’re eating the last of the beets, rainbow chard and lettuces, and looking forward to our first big harvest of beans and snow peas.

How are things going in your garden?

Posted in Garden | 70 Comments »

The Owl and the Pussycat

November 18, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

By Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

. . .

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

. . .

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

. . . . .

Sharing one of my favourite poems with you this Sunday morning. 

I used to read it to the boys when they were little –
Small Man would dance around “by the light of the moon” as I read it. 

Hope you’re all having a gentle, mellow weekend. ♥

Posted in Musings | 55 Comments »

Lemon and Buttermilk Cake

November 16, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Remember the gorgeous Pepe Saya buttermilk?

It was brilliant in this lemon and buttermilk cake. Adapted (only very slightly) from a prize winning CWA recipe, I’ve been baking this easy treat for years. If you don’t have buttermilk, substitute regular milk with a tablespoon of lime juice.

  • 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter
  • the grated rind of one lemon
  • 220g (1 cup caster sugar)
  • 3 large (59g) free range eggs, separated
  • 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
  • 250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
  • 100g icing sugar mixture (confectioner’s sugar)
  • lemon juice

1. Spray a cast aluminium bundt tin with vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) with fan.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon rind.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

3. Beat in the sifted flour and buttermilk alternately until combined.

4. Beat the egg whites until stiff.  Stir a large spoonful into the batter to loosen it, then carefully fold the remaining egg white in, being careful not to knock all the air out of the mixture.

5. Scoop the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour, until a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean and free of any uncooked batter.  Rest the cake for ten minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. In a small bowl, sift the icing sugar mixture, then add enough lemon juice to create a thick but pourable icing.  Drizzle decoratively over the top of the cooled cake.

Pop your feet up, and enjoy with a hot cup of tea!

Posted in Recipes | 77 Comments »

Milko’s Butter

November 12, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Cousin Andrew has a house cow.

She’s the most placid creature ever, and will stand patiently in the field while Andy milks her.  The general consensus among Pete’s uncles is that she was probably hand raised and bottle fed, which would explain why she’s so completely at ease with human beings.  Her name is Milko.

We were in Mudgee (rural NSW) last weekend for Pete’s twin uncles’ 70th birthday.  It was a wonderful day – almost all of Pete’s maternal aunts and uncles were there, as well as many of his cousins and their families.  My sister-in-laws, brother-in-law and nephew drove down from Orange to join in the festivities. Pete’s mum passed away last year, and any opportunity to spend time with her siblings is eagerly sought and dearly treasured.

I was greeted on arrival by a sharp smack to the bottom from cousin Jono – a somewhat sexist greeting that had Uncle Bobby up in arms. I pointed out that I’d posted a photo of Jono in a lycra Spiderman costume on my blog, so payback was probably due. Having said that, here’s the photo for anyone who missed it the first time (hehe)…

The party was held at Andrew and Rachel’s property, and began with a delicious catered lunch – full credit to the chef who was asked to serve the meal an hour after the appointed time and still managed to keep the beef rare and the chicken tender…

We ate, and drank, and laughed…and drank a bit more…and several hours (and bottles) later, decided to make butter.  Milko’s rich cream from the previous two days was in the fridge…

Rachel dug out her new KitchenAid – notice we’re still drinking at this point…

It took several minutes for the lightly salted cream to split…

The butter was drained and rinsed in ice water, then beaten with a spatula to get the last of the whey out.

Eight hours after the party started, those of us who were still hanging around and refusing to go back to our motels were eating rare roast beef rolls with freshly churned butter and hot English mustard…

We drove back to Sydney the following day, stopping at the Windamere Dam on the way…

The dam was completed in 1984 to provide water to the surrounding areas…

Relaxed weekends spent with family – does it get any better than that?

Posted in Food & Friends | 79 Comments »

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