She cooks, she gardens

Home
Australia
Adelaide, SA
She cooks, she gardens

Growing and cooking food, flowers, kids and chooks on half an acre on Kaurna Land. Adelaide, South A Thanks and happy gardening! x.Erin

I am creating stories about food, sustainability and growing things on half an acre of Kaurna land. I hope you enjoy she cooks, she gardens, please feel to say hi and if you'd like to be notified each time a new blog is posted then why not become a subscriber at http://eepurl.com/robFH (mailchimp).

16/06/2023

Hello! It's been a minute.

I've had a bit of time on my hands recently. I've been doing all the usual things - reading books, sleeping, listening to podcasts, watching old movies ... but recently I've become really interested in the world of AI.

I've been contemplating the idea, parts of it terrify me (hello, skynet?) but there are other aspects that I find really interesting. Specifically, the ability to use AI to streamline some of the more laborious jobs in life.

One thing I've been playing around with is meal planning, and it's crazy useful if you're time poor and, well, hate meal planning.

Anyway, as a bit of fun I thought I'd share this 5 day family meal plan and associated photos - all generated by AI. Full details are in the comments.

I'd love to hear your perspective on AI - good or bad. Let me know what you think in the comments.

04/12/2022

Garden snax 🍓🫐

08/11/2022

So nice to see so many folks out in the streets tonight, enjoying the warmth and looking to the skies to see the lunar eclipse.

I like to think that no matter how advanced or busy or consumed our society becomes, we'll never stop looking up and being fascinated by the moon and the stars.

📸 By my beloved who is not on insta but used with permission.

17/09/2022

Hello! I've been MIA for a bit and now I don't know how to come back. Does anyone else feel a bit like that with socials?

I'm still here, I've been focusing a lot on uni work and the last few months, but I can feel the garden coming alive again and the pull to share it with you all is hard to resist.

In exciting news I've been approached by some friendly people about running garden workshops in the coming months - is that something you'd be interested in? Let me know what you'd like to learn from me in the comments below and let's see if we can make it happen.x

I hope you're doing really well.

03/04/2022

Blue Banded Bee!

We spotted this little cutie roosting on our Xanthorrhea (Grass Tree) in the front yard. We often see these little critters flitting about the tomatoes but have yet to see one roosting like this.

This is a male bee, which roosts outside in the open. They grab onto the plant with their mandibles and tuck their little legs under their bodies to sleep.

The female bee is more sensible(!) and builds herself a burrow in an area where other females are also nesting, they are usually made in areas of soft mortar, mud bricks etc in sheltered positions. Incredibly, they dig their burrows with their jaws!

📷 by Paul.

07/03/2022

Eggplant is in its prime right now, if you're scratching your head trying to think of ways to use it up can I humbly suggest my vegan eggplant curry. ⠀
⠀
A smooth, creamy blend of eggplants and chickpeas coupled with gorgeous spices such as cumin and coriander. It's quick and easy and uses common ingredients you'll almost certainly have in your pantry. ⠀
⠀
Recipe is over on the blog right now. Happy days. 🌞

22/02/2022

You're probably already being bombarded with reminders from everywhere, but if not allow me to provide you with this gentle reminder to start sowing seeds for your winter patch. Lots of lovely things to grow in the cooler months like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, celery, silverbeet and kale, as well as peas and herbs like coriander, parsley, dill and mint. And don't forget your root veggies like carrots, turnips, parsnips, swedes and beetroot, and the alliums like garlic, onions and leek....⠀
⠀
You'll also need to start thinking about your soil, top dressing hungry patches with compost and manure - mulching with mushroom compost is ideal for autumn weather, and clearing away any dead or diseased plants, pruning back perennials and figuring out where to store all those lovely leaves once they start to fall. ⠀
⠀
Gosh, so much to do! It's hard to think about while I've still got tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant in abundance, but the signs are definitely there that the weather is starting to turn. ⠀
⠀
I've decided this year is going to be the year I grow really great cabbages. Each season I like to challenge myself to grow one really awesome crop, and cabbage is it. This will prove interesting as the biggest pest in my garden by far are snails and slugs, which seem to love cabbage like I love chocolate. Fingers crossed!⠀
⠀
Do you challenge yourself to grow one thing really well in a season? What's your winter challenge crop this year? Swipe right to see the best cabbage I've ever grown (hint: there's room for improvement!)

18/02/2022

We just released our 25th Monarch butterfly. ⠀
⠀
I picked up some milkw**d* seeds a while back and grew on a couple of plants in Autumn of last year. In early summer I noticed the caterpillars on the bushes were being eaten by something (most likely wasps) so I decided to bring a couple inside to show the kids the life cycle. ⠀
⠀
We used a little tabletop greenhouse from ikea that we were growing on cuttings in and added a few stems of their host plant in a jar of water. By the end of the week at least another 8 had hatched from unseen eggs lurking on the leaves, and by the end of the following week we had over 20.⠀
⠀
What started as a fun activity for the kids, ended up being quite the chore! 20+ growing caterpillars require quite a lot of food, more than our two little bushes could provide. Feeling a sense of responsibility and concern for my new charges, I located a source of milkw**d growing locally and hiked (yes, hiked) there regularly to fill a bag with leaves which were promptly eaten.⠀
⠀
Soon they were moving into their chrysalis stage and that's when the fun began. Some did as they were meant to and formed their cocoons in the tank, while others were more adventurous and managed to escape the tank and set up camp on our furniture. Over the last couple of weeks we've been releasing newly hatched butterflies into our garden, which is now filled with butterflies. ⠀
⠀
I definitely recommend this as a fun activity to get kids interested in butterflies. We had lots of chats about the life cycle (a 2 year old talking about caterpillars and chrysalises is pretty sweet), the importance of protecting habitat and observing nature. But please make sure you've got enough food! 🦋🦋⠀
⠀
*milkw**d is considered a w**d in many parts of the country so please observe local rules and guidelines before planting. It grows wild in the hillside areas around Adelaide and contains an irritating milky sap, so handle with caution!!

13/02/2022

Full disclosure: I don't prune my tomatoes. I know I'm supposed to but, honestly, I'm just so time poor that it seems to slip way down the list of priorities. ⠀
⠀
Early on in the season, while I'm waiting for fruit to set, I will make space in the middle of the bushes to improve airflow but I very rarely prune out the laterals. I find I don't need to worry about sun scorch as much as the leaves provide enough cover, plus it doesn't seem to impact on yield. ⠀
⠀
They do look a bit of a mess at this time of year though, so that's why I'm entering it into the wildest garden category of the . To see all the other excellent entries you can follow the hashtag. Happy days.

09/02/2022

I am so stoked with how my corn has done this year, the pollination and size is pretty well bang on and the taste just can't be beat.⠀
⠀
This is my fifth season growing corn and I have learnt a lot since sowing my first crop. ⠀
⠀
My big learnings are these:⠀
⠀
- You need sun. Like, all day burn you to a crisp sun. Corn is a C4 plant, which means it is specially adapted to grow in the heat and sunshine. Where other plants wilt, corn will stand tall and happily convert that sunshine to sugars all day long. So if you're not planting in full, all day sun, you're not going to get the corn of your dreams. ⠀
⠀
- You need water. Corn is very thirsty. In order to convert all that sunshine into sugars they need deep watering regularly. I have mine on drip irrigation that runs two or three times a week. ⠀
⠀
- Good, healthy soil is a must. Get your soil pumping with lots of good microbes and food for those microbes. Check out my blog if you want to know more about how to do this. ⠀
⠀
‐ Pollination. Corn kernels grow from those lovely silky threads you can see in the pic above. Each thread is a kernel waiting to happen, and it needs to be touched by a grain of pollen in order to grow. Corn is wind pollinated, which is cool but it's not as reliable as insect or self pollination. Mass planting is best the way to ensure you get enough grains of pollen hitting your silks - I did 4 rows, with 8 plants in each row with 30cm between rows. If you don't have the space for this then you need to hand pollinate. Check out my reel on the grid to see how to do this. ⠀
⠀
I also find growing on my seedlings in trays and planting out when they are stronger prevents rodent and pest thievery, but this will vary depending on the pest pressure you have in your garden. If you're planting seeds and they are not coming up, then try raising in trays first. ⠀
⠀
Anyway, I hope this is helpful in some way. I'm off to eat some corn. 🌽🌽🌽🌽

07/02/2022

Really good chutney is a thing of beauty. A complex, smoky mix of sweet and sour elements. Perfect atop sourdough, with cheese and crackers, on a hot dog or veggie burger, or served alongside that other ubiquitous summer harvest dish, zucchini slice.⠀
⠀
I've been cooking up batches of this over the last few days and thought I'd share my fail-safe recipe that is shelf stable and a joy to eat when the weather turns broody and bleak.⠀
⠀
You can halve or double the mix depending on what you have available, but don't fiddle with the quantities of ingredients as long term storage depends on the right ratios of acid and salt*.⠀
⠀
It's pure sunshine in a bottle. ⠀
⠀
Tomato chutney. ⠀
⠀
🍅2kg tomatoes, chopped⠀
⠀
🍏2 green apples, peeled, chopped⠀
⠀
🧅2 large onions, chopped⠀
⠀
🍇150g sultanas⠀
⠀
🏺2 1/2 cups malt vinegar ⠀
⠀
🍬500g brown sugar⠀
⠀
🧄2 garlic cloves, finely chopped⠀
⠀
1 tablespoon mustard powder⠀
⠀
1 tablespoon mild curry powder⠀
⠀
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns⠀
⠀
1 tablespoon cornflour⠀
⠀
Method:⠀
⠀
Add all ingredients except cornflour to a large pot with 2 teaspoons of salt. ⠀
⠀
Cook on a low heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
⠀
Cook for an hour or so ( until everything starts to soften right up and liquid starts reducing to a thick sauce that coats the back of a spoon. ⠀
⠀
Make a cornflour paste with a splash of warm water and add to the pot. ⠀
⠀
Cook for 10 or so minutes, stirring regularly until you reach the right consistency (jammy with a little liquid).⠀
⠀
Pour into sterilized jars and process in water bath for 15 minutes or store in fridge/ freezer. Makes about 2 litres (4 x 500ml jars)⠀
⠀
*you can add chillies to this for heat. Simply weigh your chillies and remove enough tomatoes to keep total weight at 2kgs.

Address

Adelaide, SA

Website

http://shecooksshegardens.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when She cooks, she gardens posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to She cooks, she gardens:

Shortcuts

Featured

Outside Concepts
National Support Office

Want your business to be the top-listed Home Improvement Business in Adelaide?