Archive for October, 2008
October 31, 2008 at 5:29 pm
· Filed under Gardening, downshifting, food, france, housekeeping, permaculture, self-sufficiency, smallholding, veg
It’s Halloween, an appropriate day to nominate the Smelly Smallholding’s Daftest Vegetable of the Year 2008. This is a pumpkin which decided to grow inside a pallet!
Luckily the others where more conformist and have stuck to a classic pumpkin shape. This year I grew a variety called ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes‘ – dating apparently from 1700 and sometimes known as the ‘Cinderella pumkpin’ (its shape inspired the Walt Disney classic), it is also the most commonly grown pumpkin in France.
They have been delicious and very productive (so much so we ate lots when they were small) and the ones I left have grown to a good size, just right for making pumpkin heads on Halloween. All in all a very good variety and definitely one I will grow again.
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October 27, 2008 at 4:18 pm
· Filed under art, christmas, diy, forsale, shop
It’s almost that time of year again, time to start thinking about interesting and eco-friendly ways to decorate the house. I’ve started collecting cones and various objects from nature that will look nice on our tree, and I’ve made some apple pomanders which are drying over the stove.
If you’d like something a little different for your tree, why not buy some of these beautiful, original and hand-made christmas/yule decorations.
They are made from wool felt and stuffed with cotton, with sequin or bead detailing – each measuring 9cm across. They come as a set of 4. Each is hand stitched (no machines!) and the motif is on both sides. They are a beautiful and natural way to decorate your festive tree and will last for years and years.
A set of 4 costs just 20 euros (plus just 3 euros post and packing to anywhere in the world). If you would like to send them as a gift, just ask and they can be gift-wrapped.
Please note colours may vary from those in the photos, but the overall design will be the same.
Remember, they are made by hand to order, so get in quick or you may miss out! Click here to place your order and pay with paypal.
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October 22, 2008 at 8:55 am
· Filed under Gardening, downshifting, family, food, france, housekeeping, recipe, self-sufficiency, smallholding, veg
I was inspired by Stonehead’s latest batch of chow-chow making; but as I don’t have any green tomatoes left I decided to develop my own version of a cabbage-based pickle. I have also grown Stonehead cabbages this year (‘Tête de Pierre’, if you’re French) and they came out very white, really crispy and totally delicious.
So, here’s my pickled cabbage recipe. It’s for hardened pickle lovers – nice and tart – and I’ve added the apples as we’re in Normandy and everyone is giving away unwanted apples!
I’ve also, as promised, started to type up my other preserve recipes and you’ll find them under the ‘how to’ section of the Smelly Smallholding site.
Pickled Cabbage
- 1 large cabbage, sliced
- 2 red peppers, sliced
- 4 large cooking apples, sliced
- 6 onions, sliced
- 1 litre cider vinegar
- 1 tsp each of whole peppercorns, ground ginger, mustard powder
- 8 – 10 oz sugar depending on your tastes
- salt
Slice the vegetables and place in a large pot. Sprinkle over a good tablespoon of salt and mix in. Leave for 3 hours and then drain off the liquid. Put the spices in the vinegar (not in a spice bag) and simmer for 10 minutes. Pack the vegetables into warmed, sterile jars. Pour over the vinegar while still hot and seal. Ready to eat after a week.
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October 10, 2008 at 2:46 pm
· Filed under building, diy, downshifting, france, permaculture, renovation, self-sufficiency, sustainability
I promised a picture of the new fireplace, and here it is!
Obviously it’s not quite finished yet (what project here ever is?!) but we’ve restored the old stone pillars, plonked a gorgeous oak beam on top (locally sourced, well-aged and only 50 euros!) and Ian has been my hero once again and rebuilt the top bit with bricks we reclaimed from the fireplace that was knocked down. It’s not as deep as the old fireplace, and we’ve raised the height of the mantelpiece so that we can fit in our ‘new’ woodburning stove (which has made a dramatic difference to the temperature around here!). It may not be a beautiful stove to many people, but it really chucks out the heat and the way it’s built should last another 100 years!
The back of the fireplace behind the stove and the new brickwork has had two coats of lime paint (see recipe). There is talk of it one day having a top-coat of lime-green, but for now I like the soft-white of uncoloured lime paint so I’m holding fire on that decision.
The yellow wall just visible on the right will eventually get knocked down, and I still haven’t polished up the hearth stones, but we’re about 90% of the way there!
before…
and after…
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October 2, 2008 at 4:44 am
· Filed under downshifting, food, france, housekeeping, self-sufficiency, smallholding, veg
Although we’ve been pretty busy the past few weeks, I’ve managed to get quite a bit done on the preserving front and have turned out a good 60 jars of assorted chutneys and jam. I’m lucky to have a friend down the road with a damson tree and a bramley apple tree (both brought from the UK, as unheard of in France) and he very generously brings over all his surplus.
Our bumper Urbikany tomato crop meant lots and lots of homemade tomato ketchup for the kids (there were so many tomatoes I once found myself preparing a batch at 4 in the morning because I just couldn’t sleep knowing they were next door!). I then launched myself into Green Tomato Chutney, Green Tomato Relish, Damson jam, and our all-time favourite, secret family recipe Apple Chutney.
Here are a few of them temporarily marked in anticipation of pretty labels – waiting for some more of that ‘time’ stuff to come along. You’ll have already noticed I’m not one of those people who’s good at sharing recipes, that’s mainly because I don’t use recipes when I cook but prefer to make it up as I go along and judge all quantities by eye; but all my preserves have proper written-down recipes so I shall endeavour to get them typed up before long.
Next week I shall be trying to get a few pickles done, pickled onions especially and some Torshi, pickled cabbage, etc… for vinegar lovers only!!
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