Monthly Archives: March 2013

Bountiful Basil

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Basil is a mainstay in our household. It works as a bit of flavouring in many dishes, raw or cooked, and can even be the key ingredient to dishes like bruchetta or pesto. I always sow a lot of basil … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Garden | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Sweet Chilli Sauce Recipe

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Sweet Chilli Sauce is one of those things that we always have on hand in the fridge. It can spice up any number of dishes. Recently we ran out and decided that, since we constantly have more chillies ripening in … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, Recipe | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Silverbeet Tree

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Back in March or April I sowed some silverbeet seeds. The seedlings ended up in a bed that had silverbeet in it from the year before. I’ve been harvesting great quantities of leaves from all these plants non-stop for months … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden | Tagged | 11 Comments

Happy Anniversary Girls

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

I don’t know when my chickens were born. I’m guessing it was on or about December 2, 2011, but that really is a guess and the exact date doesn’t matter all that much to me. The date that does matter to … Continue reading →

Posted in Chickens, Sustainability | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Propolis

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Propolis is yet another magic product made by bees (as if honey, pollen and wax wasn’t enough).  It’s a resin that bees collect from plants – sap and such – and mix with whatever they think best (I believe wax is the … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature | Tagged | 26 Comments

*sigh*

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Honestly, there’s no point in being anything but resigned to reality. The painful truth is that critters like home-grown vegetables. My garden had a good pest-free run. It had been ages since a possum raided my avocado tree or a … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, Nature | Tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments

Stuffed Eggplant

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

I’m so happy that my few surviving eggplant plants (is that the right phrase to use?) actually are producing eggplants. I know most people just expect to sow eggplant seeds, wait a bit and then harvest eggplants. That’s not been … Continue reading →

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Return of the Broccoli

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

My sole remaining broccoli plant reminded me a bit of one of those rare sequels where the 2nd movie is actually better than the first (no good example comes to mind, but surely there has been one). I harvested all … Continue reading →

Posted in Chickens, Garden, Nature | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Rearing Queen Bees

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Frank and I attended a workshop last weekend on queen bee rearing at a really cool property that’s owned by The Wheen Bee Foundation. This is a small organisation that exists due to the generosity of its benefactor, Gretchen Wheen. … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature, Sustainability | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Zucchini Pollination

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

I’ve been getting a lot of insy winsy zucchinis off my plants. If I tried to wait until they became respectable zucchinis, their ends withered and they rotted on the vine when they were about the size of my index … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Garden, Nature | Tagged , , | 12 Comments