Bunches of carrots!

I have been MIA for a while now, a lot has been happening.  I suddenly found myself unemployed because of the company downsizing.  I am 18 month off of official retirement age, so am taking things slowly as I look for some part time work.   The first thing I did was to go overseas and spend a month with each of my daughters, one in Europe and one in the US.  Dear hubby stayed home and held down the fort.  He did a wonderful job and when I arrived home I found a bumper crop of carrots in the veggie patch just waiting to be harvested.  they are called red cored chantenay, and I will definitely grow them again - I love the short stubby shape.  Considering I have just been in France, the name also sounds a little exotic!
 My veggie patch did really well, with flowers intermingled with the veggies.  The only pests are the little green grasshoppers.  Surprisingly my kale did very well, and i am still enjoying it, even though the weather has turned hot and humid and here I thought it would only grow in cold weather!
I wanted to do something special with my home grown organic carrots, and so I made ginger carrot ferment.  Ohmigosh it is very tasty.  I had it with some lamb curry.  Of course I also made some carrot cake!

As I mentioned before the weather is very hot at the moment, and the garden definitely needs mulch.  Once before I had purchased hay mulch which is much cheaper and coarser than sugar can mulch, and lasts longer.  I also believe in using something different occasionally as I think they all add different values to the soil. 



I used three bales, and that did the entire garden!

I hope the fires die down soon, it must be horrific to be in those areas,  My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.  

Comments

  1. SamiMon Nov 11, 05:48:00 PM

    Welcome back from your holidays. Not so nice being out of a job when you're 18 months away from retirement, so I hope you get a job soon.
    I had never seen those stumpy carrots before. We also have grasshoppers eating some succulents and veggies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. africanaussieTue Nov 12, 07:31:00 AM

      HI Sami, I think things happen for a purpose and hopefully one day I will look back and see this as a wonderful opportunity to change direction!

      Delete
  2. KathyTue Nov 12, 06:56:00 AM

    What a shock to lose your job particularly so close to retirement. Some things are meant to be and it was so lovely you spent quality time with your children overseas as had the job loss not taken place you probably wouldn't have taken two months off to do this. As upsetting it would have been, the upside was family time. Your carrot recipe sounds good too. Regards Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. africanaussieTue Nov 12, 07:33:00 AM

    iT did come as a shock, but as you say it was wonderful to have that time with my children and grandchildren. Fermenting is my new big thing, next on the list is sourdough!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tropical ThreadsTue Nov 12, 11:19:00 AM

    Sorry to hear about your job. It sounds as if you are already working out how to turn it into a good thing though, which I'm glad for.

    Just wanted to chime in about mulch. We used to use hay all the time! It's fantastic. These days our council has mulch for a very decent price, which I've been using for the last decade or so. It has the virtue of having lots of different plants in it, so plenty of different nutrients etc.

    Also omg the carrots! I didn't know they'd grow in the tropics. And the kale - a friend gave me a cyclamen and it's been flowering right through the build up still (I'm in Darwin) in spite of the intense heat and humidity. I think it's on its way out now, but I'm definitely getting one next year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. africanaussieWed Nov 27, 08:39:00 AM

      Thank you so much for your comment, I have used our council mulch on occasion as well, but do find a lot of weeds come up from it. I think a few changes here and there might be good too. Funnily enough I had cyclamen die on me before and never tried it again. I slowly settling back into a routine and hope to blog more often.

      Delete
    2. Tropical ThreadsTue Dec 03, 01:03:00 PM

      Luckily for me the council mulch is pretty good. But a friend spread horse manure over my garden and it's coming up in patches of cute little salad greens :-D

      I hope you get back into blogging more often too! I enjoy your blog.

      Delete
  5. JoyfulTue Nov 12, 12:53:00 PM

    Welcome back. I hope well see you more often. I'm sorry about the lay off but I'm sure you enjoyed the visit overseas with your children. It is very hard to get away when working or with a reduced income in retirement (not everyone has lower income of course). I love those chubby little carrots. I've never seen them before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. africanaussieWed Nov 27, 08:41:00 AM

      Hello to you! IT does seem as though I have the time or the money to go travelling, but never both together! Right now we are on water restrictions and it is so hot there is not much going on in the garden!

      Delete
  6. KathyTue Nov 12, 03:37:00 PM

    Thanks for your comment on my blog...I hit the wrong button on the comment accidentally so now it won't post it however I did read it..thanks. Kathy

    ReplyDelete

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