We are being held in the moist hand of a humid hot spell. It won’t last long. It is September after all.
But all the wearers of fur and feather and leather coats are panting.
Water is a dog’s best friend on days like these.
Though some are more dignified than others. Ton prefers the gentle sublime.
Not to be out done. I gave the piglets a bath too.
Soon I will have to stop calling them piglets!
The chickens in the Ark drink a lot of water and they are eating so much grass I think I should have put a little motor on the back of the ark, that could chug them along in teensy ever moving increments like a revolving restaurant without the revolve. They could just perch on roosts when they need a rest.
These last few days I have been shifting them four and five times a day so they don’t actually strip and over-fertilise the patches of field they are sat on. They have only another month to go so I don’t mind the extra work.
I made a batch of ketchup yesterday. Ketchup is derived from an ancient Chinese recipe that Indonesia evolved into Ketchup. Ketchup is an English derivitive of the Malay-Indonesian word Kechep. Many of the old Ketchups did not even contain tomatoes. Right up to the 1800’s the Americans believed that tomatoes were poisonous and were slow to trust the fruit. Few would eat fresh tomatoes but by the early mid 1800’s the tomato sauce was a widely used condiment. Heinz launched their version in 1876. Some later producers tried to call it the Anglicised Catchup then Catsup but the word did not catch on as well. In New Zealand we call it Tomato Sauce.
There is a rumour that a food blogging friend of ours is going to be sharing his Ketchup recipe soon, so I am eagerly awaiting that recipe.
Today I am making a Steak and Onion Pie and so I made a spicy Tomato Sauce (ketchup) yesterday to go with it. The kitchen got so hot I put it in the crock pot to finish cooking down.
Eggplant (Aubergine), charred and chopped, became a creamy layer in yesterday’s shepherds pie.
Have a lovely day today.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “From the sublime to the ridiculous, or was it the other way round?”
Those are great pictures of the animals cooling off! I hope you got your chance first before everyone else muddied up the water?
Interesting info on the Ketchup…for some reason my husband will eat anything with tomato sauce & ketchup but I think he must still believe that fresh tomatoes are poisonous. Hard to believe he’s Italian.
I do like the spell of splashing out!
Boo and the piggies are growing leaps and bounds!!
Hello miss c! Here’s my ketchup recipe in case you want to give it a go http://chicaandaluza.com/2011/09/01/up-the-mountain-spicy-tomato-ketchup/ but I’ve love to see yours! Those piglets are getting HUGE now and all the animals look so happy splashing around. My pups are not so interested in water but I guess they’re Andalucian pups so are used to the heat and don’t much like the cold 😉
My mom used to can tomatoes in every way one can imagine. Ketchup was one of them. Your animals do love their water. 🙂
Truly these are the “dog days of summer” or is it the “pig days of summer”. V.
Splash days still happening there!
Great shots of the dogs and piglets in the “pools”. Especially liked the explanation for TonTon’s expression. Poor fella. He just can’t relax with Boo around. I can’t believe you’re making ketchup in this heat. I’ve got jam to make but I’m waiting until the temps fall again. That won’t be long, from what I hear. Have a great evening, Celi!
Your leather and fur covered friends sure have the right idea: iIt’s damn hot and humid but I’ll take it!
EVERYONE INTO THE POOL – ha! – could not resist!!! Happy Week on the Farmy – Stay Cool:)
I love the full-tongue TonTon photo! So cute!
I love these photos!
Okay, you know how much we love dogs, right?
How do you always capture the most beautiful images of your canine crew?
Simply love them all.
I will let you know when we see it posted. I am presently trying to find the old NZ one.