Early Autumn Harvest Photos

With two children in our lives, we are finding it difficult to find much time for the blog.  Please forgive the brief  posts, and enjoy the photographs.

Most of the photos are from our Zone 1 gardens to use Permaculture lingo.

This time of year, the peppers are finishing up and ready to be harvested.

Odin is helping to process a Luffa Gourd. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luffa

Shiso has been allowed to self seed and now is growing in most of our vegetable gardens.

Peppers, Aubergines, and Shiso out compete the weeds and taste great.

We have our composting toiled fully operational now and in daily use, creating amazing HOT COMPOST.

Steve and Barbara lent a helping hand this summer and we closed off another section of cleared jungle for a chicken run.  With 30 birds, the first run is a dust field now and needs to be replanted with a Nitrogen fixer, maybe alfalfa for the chickens to eat.

More Aubergines, yum-yum!

Well that is it for now.  More to come as time allows.

Winter Harvest Update

 

We are staying Healthy and Happy and VERY Busy.  Food is everywhere along with fresh air and clean water.  Enjoy the photos, more posts to come when we have more time.  All the photos below are from our farm, except the last one that comes from the nearby Sea Side.

End of Summer Update

Summer has ended and our harvests are plentiful. 

Odin Indra was born on August 28th on the island of Faial.  All went very well for mother and baby throughout labor and delivery.



Tomatoes from around the globe of all different shapes and sizes continue to feed us daily.  Our hot peppers are turning red, giving us a perfect mixture of sweetness with heat.  The Thai Basil is awesome with curry!



Sweet Leaf Basil and Eggplants complement our mediteranean cuisine.  Basil adds a nice aroma to the baby as well.



Butternut squashes with a dab of local butter hits the spot.



Pickle making season is here and we have ample cucumbers and hot peppers to brew up some wicked-tastey medleys.



Solanaceae is one of our favorite families of plants for a good reason. They grow so easily and taste so good.  Eggplants and tomatoes never get boring.

Summer Garden Update

This summer we have been blessed with fantastic Sunshine and ample rainfall to keep all the springs bubbling.
After a dismal Spring and lengthy winter, our gardens are making a fantastic return.

One of our tomato gardens this year has been planted with a German cultivar known as Strawberry Tomatoes. They are meaty and sweet, similiar to a watermelon. Their unique shape seems to keep Blossom End Rot from taking hold, as all the rain is diverted into a single point and allowed to fall free.



Our new retaining wall is planted with LemonGrass, BitterMelon and Congo WaterMelon.



Our Arugala Microgreens garden has Hungarian Wax Pepper and Japanese Eggplant interspersed for late summer harvesting.



Chinese Water Spinach is thriving in our new plot. First we built a stone wall and then backfilled it with compost and wood ash, afterwards we diverted a natural spring to keep a fresh supply of water in circulation.



Magnus and Soraya guard the Black Beauty Eggplant plot. In the distance can be seen the Hot Pepper patch.



Our ButterNut Squash are nearly ready for harvest. It is one of our favorite meals when combined with local Flores Butter and Honey.



More to come as the summer unfolds and time permits.

We Likes Them Raw and Wriggling!

This is what happens when a pregnant woman craves fish.....she eats them raw and wriggling! 

The above fish, alfonsino, is creamy tasting and firm textured.  Excellent for sashimi.  Similar to hamachi or yellowtail.  See http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_menu/yellowtail_sushi.html

This fish is called cavalo, in Portuguese.  It is a mackerel, an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.  It can be eaten raw only right after being caught, being a rare delicacy enjoyed by fishermen, their freinds and family.  The flesh breaks very easily, so it requires a bit of finesse to fillet the fish.  And a very sharp fillet knife. It is known to spoil quickly, so salt it overnight, before curing it.  Konswan´s curing process involves a brine of weak chamomile or green tea, minced garlic, dried juniper berries, fennel seeds, and a bit of lemon juice.  For spiciness, add a bit of dried chili peppers.  The Japanese use rice vinegar to cure the mackerel.    

The fun of sushi and sashimi is the garnishes and sauces.  The rice is cooked with a bit of white wine vinegar, 1\2 teaspooon of brown sugar, and mixed with dried green seaweed or nori.  The brown sauce is made of soy sauce, lemon juice, grated home-grown daikon radish and garlic.  It is similar to a tataki sauce.  The bright green sauce is wasabi.  The lighter green sauce is Konswan´s wasabi yogurt sauce with minced shallots and black pepper.  Edible garnish of cilantro or shiso leaves complete the presentation.



Winter Hot Pepper Harvest

Our wonderful summer weather has ended, but all the awesome solar power is now being harvested.



Konswan has been roasting spicy peppers from around the globe over our wood burning stove, creating wonderful sauces that warm the body from the inside out in these cold months.



Not only do they taste fantastic, they are excellent for the health and entertaining also.

Early Autumn Garden

Our hot pepper garden is thriving under plastic. We have Serrano, Thai, Jalapeno, Habanero, and Hungarian Wax, all turning red now and ready to eat.


Black Beauty Aubergines are getting huge this time of year. One is enough to feed the both of us for dinner.


The Sweet Basil is still producing more than we can eat, and some is going to flower already. We have found the flower heads are fantastic in soups.

Summer Harvest Season

Finally all the hours of preparation are paying off.

Our garden space has doubled since our first year here and now we are supporting our food needs entirely from our garden!

Long Beans


"Susan's Seeds" Tomato


"Golden Hubbard" Squash, encased in plastic to keep the young bunnies at bay.


Thai Hot Peppers

Early Summer Gardens

Tomato and Basil Garden, with a few Jalapenos and Garlic to keep the baddies out.



Experimental Perennial Pepper garden. Already we have several plants making fruits.



Jerusalem Artichokes and Potatoes.



Roma Tomatoes for canning.