Wednesday; Seville Oranges;

I walked down into the wild garden and saw that the Seville Orange tree was full with fat, round oranges, ready to be picked. Next day Fabrizia and I went to harvest the golden orange bounty.

We filled 2 buckets and she insisted to carry them up the hill,  home.  Her little arms straining, but her stamina  and perseverance did not let her give up, at it is quite a steep way up,  until she had them right at the door. They were standing around a few days as other task were on the menu.   I juiced them and cooked them into Jelly instead of Marmalade.

the big ones weighed 400 g 

I made 2 liters of juice, these were quite juicy, as generally Sevilles are not as juicy. 

The jelly turned out well,  a tart sweetness with a hint of bitterness. 

2 liters Seville orange juice,
1,2 kg white sugar, cooking time about 40 minutes. I think if one used commercial pectin the cooking time  would be around 20 min.
A small bag filled with some pips from the oranges, the pips help to produce the pectin.
The jelly just got the right consistency , perfect....I am amazed myself!


©Text/Photos Ts


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Tuesday; the time has come..

Photo/ Hippeastrums from my garden;


To pick some of these...at this time of year they pop up everywhere in my garden,  velvet, dark red, pink and white, striped and plain, their flowering enthusiasm is enchanting.

©Photo/Text Ts

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Monday; I agree...

Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.

Henry David Thoreau

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Sunday; super lemons;

Lemons from Diane's lemon tree; each weighed 400 g, super lemons! 

Diane said:" The tree had gall wasp infection and had to be pruned and cut down under the graft. Generally  after that the tree produces "Bush lemons" quite rough looking. The tree grew back as a bush lemon with long thorns on its branches, but with these smooth, huge lemons;  a wonder of nature!

I had not made a lemon cake for a long time, so  these lemons came just at the right time to  be used to bake a cake with fresh lemon peel and the juice.

Lemon peel;

The lemon skin was very smooth it could not be grated, but the bamix does it quickly  and finely, as the lemons could be peeled easily without the white membrane clinging to the skin.

I divided the amount between two 18 cm round cake tins and stuck the two together with a light lemony butter cream, the cake was also made "drunk" with some lemon juice and icing sugar.

The cake is very light and luscious, fragrant with lemon juice and lemon peel.

I never use the full amount of butter and sugar, so it is not overly sweet.

The recipe is from an old Betty Bossi Backbuch.

I changed the amount of the ingredients and the look of the cake; the original has no filling  and is baked in a long cake tin 28-30 cm long.

Here is the original recipe with the amount  I used in (  )

"Drunk" Lemon cake;
Ingredients;
250 g butter  (180) 
250 g sugar   (150)
5  eggs           (4)
3-4 tbl sp. lemon juice to make up for the fifth egg)
250 g plain flour
2 teasp. baking powder
1 pinch of salt 

mix butter and sugar until creamy, add eggs mix until light and fluffy, add plain flour and baking powder and pinch of salt. fill a long cake tin or divide mixture in two small round tins. The long tin needs about 50-60 min at 180 C, always check with a needle in the middle of the cake! The small tins need about 30 minutes together in the middle of the oven, also at 180 C.

"Drunk" ingredients
1 dl lemon 
juice
100 g icing sugar
mix well together

Butter cream;  about 100g unsalted, best butter, icing sugar and lemon juice, enough to make a spreadable mix.) 

Make many holes into the cake with a knitting needle and pour the juice slowly over the cake to absorb.
It sounds a lot of work but it is actually easy and quickly done. 

©photo/text Ts

Sepia Saturday 144; many small arms;

As far as I know and I could not find any old family photos of convicts or people with missing heads or limbs in my family album; I admit perhaps the odd one got to much to the  side and  an arm or leg  is missing, but the heads are all there! No  convicts in my family .Many Australians are very proud  to have some, even if the ancestor just snatched a fine hanky she was transported  as the colony needed people! For the men a hanky was not enough, they poached a hare or snatched a horse and the result was transportation for seven years, but for most there was no return!  

I had to settle for some small innocents who were a little bothered by the sun while the photo was taken.Up went the little arms for protection. I think it is rather sweet.

I do not know who these children are.  I don't know who made the photo or where it was taken. The tiny girl  on the right with the spotted dress is Peter's youngest sister, Marianne; it is probably around 1943. There are six boys and two girls, perhaps  Kindergarten in the village.

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Sepia Saturday 144;

Friday; for the birds...

New Grevillias for my garden;

When I planted my first grevillias there were not so many hybrids available. Some last long and some don't.

Yesterday I bought

Yamba Sunshine, an open, tall shrub 3m  yellow flowers,

Lady O,  short red flowers pointing downwards, quite exquisite,  1.5 m,

Sandra Gordon, with long, brilliant yellow flowers tall up to 3m, was always a favourite,

Coloundra Gem, salmon flowers 2m,  hope it will do well,

Honeybird pink, shrub to 1.5 m

When freshly planted they need  to be looked after and watered, once they start to grow well they will be quite drought resistant and just need a little pruning from time to time to keep them compact.

I also bought a Rose  for my tiny rose garden; "Love Potion"  has a wonderful fragrance. I grew this rose before.

A couple of punnets of miniature Zinnias for the herb garden, which will be flowering in the summer's heat  as well, while the Petunias have packed up and gone home!

©Photo/Text Ts

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Thursday; blogging;

Dampiera stricta; Australian perennial; 

Yesterday I met Diane and Bill, blogger friends from some years back.  Link Adventure before Dementia;   We had lots to talk and laugh about. It was so nice to meet you; thank you for this lovely plant.

Today I am going up to Redland to a nursery. I have to replace some of my native plants in the garden. I will get a bigger pot for this one, as it likes to spread its roots! 

©Text/Photos Ts