One of my favourite tastes of the summer. And there are SO many. The Heatwave Smoothie. Designed and named by my friend Elaine in Australia who knows about the heat and nutrition. After I passed out last summer with a wee bit of sunstroke I am careful to ensure my body does not get too hot. Now I have my cold, cold smoothie at lunchtime. Every lunchtime. And I try not to work out in the midday sun.
Yesterday’s smoothie had frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen sliced banana (slice, freeze, bag ), walnuts, freshly picked swiss chard (silverbeet) and a good big fat dollop of home made ice cream sweetened with honey, and covered with milk. I freeze the fruit specifically for my smoothie then I don’t need to add ice but you can if you want. Using my stick blender, buzz, buzz… drink, drink. Perfick.
At the Old Codgers yesterday we discovered that his apple tree had lost a limb. So we gathered the apples and John will cut up the branch for apple wood charcoal. The apples are just short of being ripe but I am hoping to make a few apple pies for the freezer and a couple for the eating. My friend lent me a few of his precious egg baskets to cart them home in. Years ago he and his family raised Leghorn chickens and they collected the eggs in these baskets. Aren’t they just superb? Imagine collecting that many eggs at a time in beautiful simple baskets that have lasted for decades.
And yesterday my hay man and his sons came. The boys played with the dogs while their Dad cut the hay. I am to rake it on Friday and he will bale it on Saturday. He is very pleased with our stand of hay. It grew all by itself, I said. If all goes according to plan I think these bales will be the best we have brought in. I will stack them in a special pile for feeding Daisy after she calves.
Good morning.
Today I will be watering and weeding. ( As well as the usual chores.) As the vegetables are picked and the beds cleared I am planting the autumn garden, though a few areas are put to bed early with a cover crop. This year the cover crop might be oats, last year was buckwheat, though I really want Daikon radishes (they go deep). I need to see what is left over in the seed bags. I just need something that will grow fast, add nitrogen and be ready to dig in by spring. So even though it will die at the first frost it will cover the soil for the winter and add nutrition. Green compost. Good stuff.
Have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
68 responses to “Heavenly Heatwave Smoothie”
Some surprises for me: I thought the third cut would come quite a bit later! How wonderful! And daikon radishes as a cover crop? Oh my, they are precious eating for me if i can access them 🙂 ! And I DO love the look of that smoothie: just my kind of lunch . . . but that you as an ex-drama teacher should forget your Noel Coward, tut, tut, Miss Celi . . .
great minds – I was thinking the same thing about that Coward line 😀
(Laugh) Ah, but I am neither Mad nor English and hopefully not a Dog so i just borrowed a teensy bit of it!! Poetic License,( though nor am i a Poet!!) Morning my darlings. c
🙂
@ Mad Dog . . . methinks a penny dropped as I was actually doing my evening ablutions after . . . . 😀 !
Another colorful and inviting post from you! The smoothie looks yummy—-I usually have one for my brekkie and I usually freeze my fruit to eliminate the need for ice, too. Mine are usually banana, strawberry, blueberry,chia seeds, mango and spinach or kale. Yummmmm! Those tomatoes look fabulous.
I have never had chia seeds, must try them one day! Morning Beth. c
Full of great things!!!! Or so I hear. 🙂
I was wondering where you found those marvelous old egg baskets! I have one that was long ago lined with windowscreen mesh that I use to harvest…well, everything. Mine came from an antiques fair, though.
Have a good day!
If I ever saw one of those for sale i could not resist! they are glorious baskets.. morning marie! c
That smoothie is very tempting! Never thought of freezing bananas – must do that. I have frozen raspberries and strawberries. Do you lay them out of a try to freeze individually first?
Got most of my autumn crop n now, apart from the brussel sprouts which seem to be forever getting to a decent size in my greenhouse. Thought of putting more lettuce in, but to be honest without the fresh picked cucumbers, tomatoes and spring onions a salad is just not the same in the autumn/winter, so will give it a miss.
Hope your hay dries out good – we have rain and storms forecast here today. Also very hazy, which they say is the smoke from the fires in the west(!) – unbelievable that is could travel all the way to Virginia.
I slice then lay the banana out, then freeze it as chips, (tho they are never frozen more than a few days) the strawberries I throw in dry, and wash them when I pull them out.. I really should grow rapsberries though, they look easier than strawberries.. but can I have a raspberry daquiri? I will look into it. smoke in the air.. hmm, those fires must be enormous.. c
Raspberry Daiquiri is delicious! And raspberries are so easy to grow. Plus if you get the right kind, you get fruit in the spring and a second load this time of year. Don’t get to freeze too many of mine as I eat them too quickly LOL
Well! I am going to seriously look into them then, maybe I can plant them this autumn. What is the right kind? Will it grow in -10? c
Yes they should be fine as they go dormant in the winter. Maybe throw a load of straw on them to help (a bit like I do my strawberries). I got mine from Miller Nurseries four years ago (not sure what kind they were ) if you google them I am sure you will find them. And Autumn is the perfect time to plant them!
OK here is the link: http://www.millernurseries.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=27
They are Heritage Ever Bearing Raspberries
love the idea of freezing bananas! I love my smoothies cold, but don’t use ice cream or ice so this is the perfect idea. 🙂
Morning Lisa, i am going to have to pop over today and see what you are up to!! c
Fall sown buckwheat is great for your (and any wild) bees. It provides a good source of late season goodies that help them stock up for winter and the dark honey they’ll put up is higher in vitamins and minerals (I’ve been told…) so extra health boosts for them throughout the winter.
Yes, you are right the bees do love it, we have grown it the last few years. Even under the grape vines. I need to get some more seed. They do need those late flowers. Excellent thinking! It would be a good double wammy for the fall and it flowers fast too.. c
Never thought of putting chard in the smoothie- will try that!
The egg baskets are wonderful. Isn’t it funny how beautiful some of the “old” practical farm things are.
I know raking is hard work, but there’s something nice about it …at least for the first few minutes – wishing you some shade/cooling breezes for that process.
Lovely tomato picture – the smell of tomatoes in the garden: that’s summer.
Do take that midday break – summer’s heat is hanging on a bit longer
Summers heat has only really just arrived here, So i am hoping for weeks and weeks of it. i don’t mind the heat at all. the Cold out here HURTS! morning Mouse.. c
Fabulous lunch Celi. I was going to ask about those baskets and before I could, you told me about them – gorgeous!
Have a happy farmy and nice hot summery day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Apple wood is very good for smoking meat, such as ham, bacon and sausages 😉
One day we will get into smoking, at the moment John makes his charcoal out of mulberry or fruit wood (I love the cherry!) but smoking sounds like something we really should get into.. Not my department though, Mad!! c
It’s very easy and can be done with an old fridge or leaf burning dustbin 🙂
Not a wheelbarrow then? You keeping that for The grill! Love that idea too. I have an old tin dustbin in the shed.. The old fridge is an interesting idea, where did you see that done? .. We have all that pork coming you know!! c
Love the colours of the toms..and the smoothie looks, anf l bet tastes…fantastic
It is always a little bit different, but always good.. morning honey.. c
I’m thinking of Daikon radishes for a cover for my small garden, too! Have you done this before? My only full sun area has crappy soil – even after loads of compost.I need deep roots to break up my hard clay down below. Though, how does one resist pulling and pickling the daikon… I’m may mix it with red clover or maybe mustard. This means I’ll have to grow my fall beets and carrots in pots and my kale and broccoli will be planted in shadier areas that will get full sun once the leaves drop.
So many decisions!
I haven’t used the daikons before, though am also considering them as a conditioner for the fields, it is finding them in enough quantities that is the problem, they will cost a small fortune in the tiny packages.. I am not sure you should put clover into your vege beds though? It may be that the clay is acting like a pan and mitigating your drainage, and a good deep double dig might be in order. However this is why I like the idea of the daikons, they force themselves quite a way down if they have enough time.. c
Check some of the permaculture sites http://www.permies.com/ and there should be references to bulk seeds. I was told that tillage radishes smelled horrible as they decompose, the person I was talking with compared it to a septic field that had gone bad. His recommendation was to not use them anywhere near your house.
Oh dear, well we shall see! here they will be frozen so maybe they will smell in the spring.. Hmm!! c
Great score of apples, will you post your recipes? I much prefer to eat my fruit, the fibre is supposed to be better that way, but my nephew loves to make smoothies.
My apple pie recipe is a non recipe as Mandy would say. Not terribly special. I am sure you make a better one!The best part of mine is the home made ice cream that comes with it.. c
Good Morning, Cecilia!
Linda
http//coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Morning Linda, darling! Are you away on your all day trip yet? c
Good afternoon, c, and summery greetings to the farmy.
I have never had a smoothie. Perhaps it’s time that I did?
Oh Miss Misky you are in for a treat, it is like ice cream through a straw but FRUIT! I am putting a peach in mine today! c
Sounds delicious, c. 😀