Kiwipilot

July 2022

12/09/2022 12/09/2022

A few chores during the winter season: taking care of overwintering tomato cuttings, organising saved seeds, a few harvests and transplanting self-seeded lettuce and spinach

Homemade noodles with our fresh or stored veggies

Family outing today

Cozy winter time, first asparagus spears shooting

Monday morning

Winter harvest, sweet dumplings with homemade plumbutter

This surfer girl completed 43 laps around the sun

Jingjing Zhou did an amazing job with the doll house, fabulous surfer themed cake by Gab Bakes

June 2022

12/09/2022 12/09/2022

Productive season for miniature brassicas and root vegetables – carrots are easy to pull for the kids but the crop of black salsify had to be lifted with a spade.

Frosty dawn session this am

Some winter fun, fresh veggies, cooking with the kids

May 2022

23/07/2022 23/07/2022

Harvests in the second half of April

Trying to make to most of the lovely evenings lately

Cooking with the last summer crops, sourdough bread and trying new recipes: Dutch pancake, homemade Udon noodles

Leon had a fund afternoon with his aunty

Summer crops are coming to an end and days are much shorter now. Still lots to do, but at a slower pace

Some nice days in the veggie garden before the strong weather hit us

Harvest early to mid May – I moved one cucumber plant in the kid’s playroom, the courgettes don’t seem to be bothered by the dropping temperatures yet

Last , beans and zucchinis finished and space will be occupied by lettuces and spinach. Tomato cuttings are overwintering on the windowsill

April 2022

11/06/2022 11/06/2022

Strike a pose!

Windback to last weekend when we still had summer

Grapes are done now, strawberries are going to finish soon. Tomatoes, zucchinis and green beans still cropping

First autumn cabbages (sideshoots from main heads that were cut in December), and Spaghetti Squash that hasn’t succumbed to powdery mildew

Not my own words but perfectly resonates with me:

Preserving food is a discipline. It takes discipline to do the work of growing food, harvesting it, and preserving it.

It takes planning and sacrifice. When the tomatoes are ripe, they’re ripe. When it’s time to pick beans, it’s time. Ripe food waits for no one.

I no longer travel in summer because frankly, it’s impossible.

I’ve learned to keep my summer calendar open for harvesting and processing.

It’s worth it! Every time I pop open a jar of home-grown, home-canned tomatoes or beans or pickles, I’m grateful.

Grateful for the chance to know this kind of life. Grateful for the discipline it teaches me. Grateful to raise my family this way and grateful for good clean food

Harvests mid April, pickled red onions, cabbage sideshoots grown after the main head was cut last summer

Published in Southland Times, Feb 2022

11/06/2022 11/06/2022

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/127849626/southlanders-stave-off-inflation-with-selfsustenance

March 2022

01/05/2022 01/05/2022

Late summer abundance – we’ve started canning tomatoes

He really loves digging up beaches

Picked broccoli, beans, courgettes and tomatoes for a delicious vegetarian paella the other day, also strawberries for dessert. So far quite happy with the freshly painted window frames in the kitchen – makes everything looking neat amidst the daily chaos

Preserving the taste of summer with our pressure canner

Dancing in the moonlight

Harvesting tomatoes, strawberries, grapes and beans almost every day, but if you look closely, there are up to 14 different varieties of crops on the pictures.

I threw that single artichoke into a paella with other fresh ingredients and worked on the „soccarat “ – a nicely caramelised crust.

Green beans, late artichokes and tomatoes – the taste of summer – beautiful in Paella and as confit tomatoes with herbs and calendula flower petals.

Very happy with our portable pizza oven

My little helper in action – Mila was excited about her fruit and flower basket

February 2022

01/05/2022 01/05/2022

Lots to pick and carry for little helpers

Home cooking with our produce, home baked sourdough bread and handmade pasta

You don’t have to be self-sufficient in everything but this year there might be a surplus of beans, onions and green tomatoes

Busy every day

Our happy place

January 2022

09/04/2022 09/04/2022

Happy little helpers

Plenty to harvest almost every day: last peas, berries, potatoes, courgettes, carrots, leeks, beans, broccoli sideshoots, lettuce, beetroot and a beautiful cabbage

Happy weekend

So happy with the abundance atm – I couldn’t even carry them all : carrots, onions, green beans, strawberries, raspberries, jalapeños, some broccoli, courgettes, snow peas, cabbage and red cabbage

Trying to organise my sowings for autumn and winter

Goodbye window, indoor outdoor flow here we come

Just love how nicely those colours pop lately

When life gives you vine leaves – stuff them! Turkish sarma or Greek dolmades, either way they’re delicious

Every summer I try to grow the fresh ingredients for a Greek salad – last year, the red onions were lacking momentum and this year, all my 45 tomato plants are fruit bearing, yet still green. However, today I spotted the first red tomato and couldn’t wait any longer

Spinach, carrots, green beans, courgettes, lettuce, potatoes and strawberries were delicious as well