Inspiring heartbroken hope music dreams quotes stories gardening recipes vegetables friendship dogs love political
Slow roasted pork belly.
Some carrots out of my veggie garden and if you wonder why they look so funny, well apparently it’s got to do with planting seedlings. Rather plant seedlings directly otherwise you will end up with disfigured carrots.
My beetroot done better in the garden. I roasted it with Balsamic vinnigar herbs and feta. Sweet and delicious something different.
O almost forgot braise cabbage and with apple and apple cider.
As a beginner in gardening, I’m still learning as I go. I have read about the benefits of liquid fertilizer and Sue one of my friends encouraged me to try it.
Spring is here and my garden needs some fertilizer. I have worked in compost before I planted my veggies at the beginning of Autumn/Winter. Now it’s almost harvesting time for my cabbages and I already harvested some of my broccoli but not quite to the quality, I would have liked to have. My spinach is also growing slower than what it is supposed to in my opinion.
After reading up on the advantages of liquid compost ( compost tea) I decided this is a good and quick solution get my veggies that extra boost it needs.
One of the benefits of liquid fertilizer that appealed to me is because is the liquid penetrates the soil immediately, plants are given faster access to the nutrients. With some plants, you might even see the results almost immediately. Its Springtime and another benefit of this type of fertilizer are it ensure quick root growth which is a big advantage when you plant your seedlings into your garden. This will ensure that the plants take hold when it is essential to do so.
Maybe the biggest advantage for me is this is a quick but also a cheaper way to get your plants that extra boost it needs. I decided on a few different options, some will take longer than others and hopefully in the end I will be able to see which one works the best for me.
This one looked quick and easy and I needed liquid compost as soon as possible so I opted for this one first because it’s ready in five days.
This sounded like an excellent idea to me because I never prep my garden in any fancy way by placing any plastic ground cover in my beddings and added good quality topsoil and sand in it. So weeding becomes a weekly job for my throwing buckets full of weeds away a week. The problem with this is the weeds might just find there way back to my garden. So this idea is appealing to me its like killing two birds with one stone. The best of all it only takes two weeks and then it’s ready to use.
How did I do it
Step 1
Get a drum with a lid and fill it up with weeds and then add water. Preferably rainwater.
Step 2
After 2 weeks you end up with this slightly smelly tea (or soup), the smell isn’t too bad
Water this liquid fertilizer down 15 to 1 and then water on your plants about once a week
Top the barrel back up when you have finished for the day and it will be back to full strength in a few days
You can change out the weeds about every 4-6 month, the old ones are almost completely decomposed and can now go into the compost
I change out the weeds about every 4-6 months, the old ones are almost completely decomposed and can now go into the compost. Some people might feel its not a good idea to work back the weeds into your compost but I’m going to give it a shot.
Now this one was a bit more difficult for me to decide on what is the best method. There are quite a few different ways apparently to do this. Some even liquidize scraps before they add the water or chopped it very fine. To me liquidizing or chopping up scrapes just seems to much trouble.
Option 1
This is the option I choose
I saved vegetable scrabs in a small bucket. I then cover it with rainwater and gave it a stir. ( Although the instruction said boiling water) I’m not sure if this will make a difference if you use cold or hot water. Next time I will boil my water first before I add it to scrabs. Stirring the mixture on a daily bases is also recomended . It is recommended to dilute the tea to at least 4 cups of tea to 3,8l of water.
Now there are different timelines on how long this needs to stand from overnight up to 5 days even 7 days. Some even recommend not to let it stand for longer than a day and then use it just as it eas.
I’m not going to keep filling this bucket up with water like the weed tea. After I finished using the tea I will place the scrappings in my compost pile.
Option 2
Pour the water, ammonia, baking soda, and Epson salt to a bucket.
Stir the mix thoroughly. Transfer the liquid into a watering can. Give your plants a good soak with this solutions once a month.
Gypsy Heart
This is what the Student GBV group apperently done to a police car.
Now I might step on a few toes here. But I feel I have the right to do so because I am a static of GBV.
Im personally very angry with this group. They high jacket a big protest that was planned weeks ahead.
Then they made it sound like it was something they planned and the bikers just pitch their doing there own thing. Accting unimpropaite that the bikers were out of control. I wonder who did the damage who really anger the police. Who was the ones who did damage to cars and property? Now they acting like victims. SHAME ON YOU.
This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Jesse Brand the protest you help organize did major damage to GBV movement groups. I myself is a static of GBV but at this moment I don’t want to be associated with any of these groups due to your actions and your supporters followers.
Maybe you should have contacted the bigger groups that was organizing the big protest.
Instead you just pitch and acted if it was yours to statert of with. Shouting and screaming at police acting out. I even saw vidio clips were the biker group question your groups actions wondering what you doing there. Now when things got heated you blaming the bikers. Sies man maybe you should have done your homework better.
The way the group acted by placing posters on a police care is disgraceful. Just maybe your group started to aggravat the police and the biker breaking through was the last straw. I saw bikers helping someone of you. You. Forgot to say something about that.
Why did you let children come to a protest were things had the potential to go bad.
Do you rally take this Anti-GBV protes seriously or are you doing it for your own personal agenda?
This blows my mind. Saturday a peaceful protest got met with force from the police.
The police action created a reaction. Blocking the road so they protest could not complete there cycle run. Leading to tension.
The reaction of the biker was a direct action course by the police.
No blocking of streets would have let to no violence. The memorandum would have been handed over and people whould have gone home.
Every action have a reaction.
Today the roads get block as follows
AS RECIEVED
Uber drivers blocking freeways, approximately 15-20 Ubers. The first blockage took place M5 north bound at Klipfontein. Their second blockage took place N1 and N7. The convoy is currently moving the N1 outgoing after the N7 at a very slow pace.
No police on the seen. In convening 1000 of motorists.
Is there different rules for different protest.?
GYPSY HEART
Makes
2 loaves (4 slices each)
Ingredients
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons butter, melted
Additional melted butter
Directions
Combine yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl. Add 11/2 cups of flour, salt, milk and butter. Mix for 3 minutes on medium speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Punch dough down; shape into loaves. Place in two greased 5-3/4x3x2-in. pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Brush tops with melted butter.
I bought English Spinach seedlings thinking that they are the same as Baby Spinach. They look similar and I’m sure they taste the same or similar to me.
It was only when I started reading up on the different varieties of spinach I realized that there are about 25 different varieties each with its own unique taste.
English spinach, is often confused with silverbeet. Spinach, however, has a smaller, flatter leaf and green veins, as opposed to the white veins of silverbeet. Spinach is delicious raw, or blanched, chopped and served with butter as a side, or in frittatas, omelets or pies.
We had one of the worst winters in years in Western Cape with a lot of frost. I presume that the extreme cold and frost played a part why the growth was slow and I did not have a big harvest during colder month. Apparently covering your plant with mulch will protect them and help them overwinter and with the growth of the plant.
It’s getting slightly warmer now and the spinach growth is looking like it is picking up now.
On the upside, I had a few pickings from the garden and this made me very excited. We in Spring now and hopefully I will get a few more pickings before the spinach go to seeds
I will definitely plant English spinach again, I will also plant more this time around. Our summers don’t get too hot here so I will try to do Spring seedlings and see how it goes and again in Autumn for the winter harvesting.
We are a family
They all rescue dogs. Each with their own personality and demands.
2 large chicken breasts, cut crosswise in half and pounded to ½-inch thickness
1 teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic
½ cup basil pesto
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 cup yogurt Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
Prepare grill for direct grilling over medium heat. Spray chicken with nonstick spray and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and ground black pepper. Place chicken on hot grill rack and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken loses its pink colour. Remove chicken from grill and let stand 5 minutes.
2.Meanwhile, prepare Green Goddess Sauce: Mix basil pesto and garlic together. Add avocado, yogurt, honey, lemon juice, vinegar, ground white pepper and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Process until mixture is well combined (there will be visible flecks of herbs).
3.Gut chicken in to paces put some Green Goddess Sauce on the bread some rocket leaves, then the chicken top with a little bit Green Goddess Sauce and place slice gherkins on top.
You can use the dressing the same way you would make a chicken mayo sandwich. Soething diffrend from a chicken mayo sandwich.
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 Bread rolls
Rocket leaves
Slice gherkins
When it comes to gardening I’m still a newbie, many things I do are still with try and error.
This is no different when it came to me planting my wild rocket or this is what I think I bought. When I bought the seedlings it was market as wild rocket but is flowers are small white flowers so not sure if it is wild rocket.
I work as a Kitchen manger and always like the peppery nutty taste of wild rocket.especially in salads.
Firstly I planted my rocket to close to one another. Lucky its an anual plant and can be fixed for the next growing season.
I did cut my rocket down maybe bit to late only time will tell to see if I get renewed growth.
With the next batch of flowering I will leave the flowers to go to seed so I can have a continouse batch of rocket in my garden. Im even thinking of planting some sweet rocket in the garden to.
I used my extra cuttings of rocket and worked it into my garden compost pile.
Fresh: Add to a salad of leafy greens or any other salad and infuse in salad dressings. A pesto of fresh rocket is delicious with cold meats, strong cheeses, and grilled fish or steak. Fresh leaves also add a lovely peppery touch to rice, pasta, scrambled eggs, and omelets.
Cooked: Add to pasta, soups, stews, curries, and sauces or sauté in a bit of olive oil and use as a pizza or baked potato topping.
Some people subtitude rocket for spinach in recipes. In some European countries they eat roket as a side dish as they have done for thousands of years. One way of ding it is by coarsely chop rocket up and braise it with some oliveoil and garlic.
Rocket can also be frozen or you can make a nice thick rocket pesto to spread over pizza or hot pasta or potatoes.To make rocket pesto for the freezer, I puree cooked rocket ( that has had its excess water squeezed out) with enough olive oil to make a slurry, plus a little sea salt. I spoon the pesto into muffin tins, and move the pucks of pesto to freezer bags when they are frozen hard. Great rocket pesto also includes garlic, cheese and nuts, which don’t do well in the freezer. But adding chopped fresh garlic or other ingredients to thawed rocket pesto gives you the makings for many masterful meals.
The stunning edible rocket flower isn’t as well known as the peppery leaves but it certainly adds a sparkle and great flavour to lots of dishes. Because it tastes wonderful and looks so pretty, it makes a lovely garnish as well as a useful ingredient for any meal that needs a little zing.
Colour:Â White, veined flowers
Flowering time:Â Spring, summer and autumn
Ideas for use:Â Salads, pizza, canapes, cake decoration
Crop Rotation Group
Its part of the Cabbage family (Brassias)
Fertile, well drained soil that holds moisture well.
Sun or partial shade. A cooler, shady position in summer.
es, tolerates mild frosts.
Not required.
Grow Rocket near tomatoes, onions, chives, garlic and raspberries where they will enhance each other’s flavour. They also good companions for beans, Thyme and Lettuce
Single Plants: 15cm (5″) each way (minimum)
Rows: 10cm (3″) with 20cm (7″) row gap (minimum)
Sow direct into the soil from early spring onwards. Can also sow in early autumn for a winter crop.
Use a Garden planner to do you planing and persolised it to see when you need to plant and harvest in your area
Harvest in small batches as required. Once it flowers the leaves become tougher and hotter in taste.Pick the fresh leaves regularly to promote new, healthy growth and delay flower formation. Remove the flower heads before they set seed and use in salads. If left to go to seed, the seeds can be harvested and used to sprinkle salads, pasta or grilled steak. When plants become lanky, cut them right down and they will grow back with renewed vigour
Flea beetles sometimes make small holes in leaves.
Wild rocket aids digestion, cleanses the blood and is an excellent source of vitamin C and potassium
Gypsy heart 