The September Home Grown Challenge. Yes, I am still eating off the farm and have decided that when I do this for a year (feed myself only from my own farm) it will be BOREDOM that gets to me in the end. I do have food, but it is the same food over and over again (except I have run out of potatoes and onions). Hilarious really. Tasty. But I am longing for strong cheeses and salami and fish, etc
Then there is The Food Photography challenge to improve my food images. Yesterday I was working on Depth of Field so more of the image is in focus. But not much to show for my efforts yet. Though I do feel a style developing, simmering.
This is my only food shot from yesterday. I am making yoghurt so that I can use it to start a farmers cheese tomorrow. Then I am going to make a pizza so I can take a photo of it!
Do you want to make a pizza too? On Friday? We could have a pizza date and take photos of our pizzas and link them up for Saturday morning. Pity we can’t have a taste test. I don’t know about beetroot on a pizza though! Could be interesting. I will start a fresh pizza sauce today.
And then of course there is the challenge of the daily chores. I am training the piglets who are no longer piglets to graze in a new field. I only let them out when it is almost feed time, so they go out and forage for greens as fast as they can with one eye on my movements over in my feed corner. This way they will not get into the habit of going under theses fences and causing trouble.
In the Comments Lounge of yesterday’s post are some new food photography links plus a few good technical tips from our Mentors. And one comment that is very important is from Roger. He said that the camera does not matter, it is all about the seeing. He is right too. I have seen some fantastic shots taken with a phone. Though not mine, as I have yet to work out how take photos with my phone.
A related post. This post I wrote a few years ago on how to take good shots with an ordinary camera. There are a few nice shots from Route 66 if you feel like a wee look.
Which leads me to picmonkey recommended by Barbara yesterday. I went to have a look and it is great for simple post production. I am looking forward to playing with their gallery feature.
And what were we doing on the farm a year ago today? Our first frost. No sign of that this week though. Nice.
Good morning. I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
99 responses to “Life is One Great Big Exciting Challenge”
My challenged friend: I always love your photographs, no need to change! I know what you mean about needing variety in meals. Could you go fishing somewhere? Stock the pool, so that it was on the farm?
Keep cheerful, it’s a tonic for me to read your posts every day.
It is great, such a good learning experience, and only a few days to go now, then off shopping i will go!! morning Viv. c
Do you have any ground beef left? I could send you my salami recipe..the one I forgot to have you taste pear picking day! I will send it anyhow…it tastes great and is so very easy to make!
no ground beef left, no beef left at all actually, however won’t’ be long before the freezer is replenished.. will definitely be wanting that recipe though!! c
ok. I will try to remember to get that to you soon.
Keep at it Ms. C! And perhaps think about what you can do with pork the next time you have so many piglets? (I like it at the top of the food chain, as you know). Back for a quick visit…back to school is eeping me away from my blog, yours, and everyone elses’s!
Glad that you are busy though. Busy is good! Good morning Natalia.. c
Good morning! Have a beautiful day….
Gosh! How did those pigs get so big?
No need to answer that one 😉
Eggs! I collect 19 eggs a day, they get 12. The pigs are all sleek and shiny from all that lovely protein.. c
Wow you posted very early this morning. I came to look at yesterdays post and here you are already with todays. Your piglets are looking lovely, very good idea to use food to keep them close, they learn so quickly too. The vet comes tomorrow to “do” my boys, seven out of eight are boys. They are growing so quickly. When I made the arrangement with the vet 2 weeks ago he asked if I could hold them whilst he did it. I said yes cos I could then but two weeks later and they have so much more growth I am not so sure now. We will see. It is a big week for them, 1st they lose their mum, now this, I think I will wait til next week before I start the electric fence training!
Nice pic of the very clean pot, I am thinking that as your photography skills improve your dish washing skills need to keep pace, no place to hide smudge marks now.
I have a friend who sits the piglets in the top of a shopping trolley, though yours will be a bit bigger! Hilarious about the smudges. Mad told me the same thing yesterday but it was just luck this one was somewhat shiny, most of my pots are so old they have permanent marks! c
I think you could make a lovely beetroot pizza: skip the tomato sauce and use beets and beet greens and a soft cheese, maybe a grind of black pepper. The local pizzeria makes pizza with cabbage, bleu cheese and walnuts in the winter.
That sounds wonderful, I even thought of using the chutney instead of a sauce, we have to stay within the bounds of the September Challenge though! c
A lack of variety turns home grown into home groan? 🙂
Great additions to a home garden here are cherry tomatoes, avocados and gem squashes.
Avocados! (sigh).. i wish i could grow them. When I see them in the stores here they have traveled thousands of miles already.. What are gen squashes. I shall look them up.. c
I love avocadoes! I was so spoiled when I lived in Cali!!!! 🙂
I’ve had beetroot on pizza! No sauce, add some greens ( I think I had arugula), and the cheese you’re going to make. The one I tried had walnuts on it, and a drizzle of honey as well. I suppose the walnuts don’t fit in to the challenge though.
No but the honey does! and i do have the new greens growing in the garden.. sounds great.. c
I find it interesting that you feed so many eggs to the porkers… do you pickle eggs?? These were one of my favourite foods when I was a bachelor, you always had some on hand to add to a salad be it a green salad or potato salad, for that matter mashed on toast did make for a tasty breakfast… I just found them delicious as a snack when I had a beer… out the jar and into the mouth… keeping to the farmy food can be monotonous and these eggs could even make a tasty change… hell for that matter one could use them on a pizza… (Damn now I’m hungry) .. pickled eggs was one of the foods that I made myself when in the outback for an extended length of time. I just found them so useful in all dishes and certainly made a nice change…
Have you not thought of a small fish farm tank, where you could harvest for yourself?? On our farm we had a small dam that was used mainly for irrigation but it did have bass breeding in it, it was a source of enjoyment for Linda when she felt like a fish dish… (I’m not a fish eater) but so many of my friends have fish tanks with water circulating in which they breed their own fish for the plate… bass, trout etc… sure you would find something ideal for your circumstances on the web…
The eggs are the pigs main source of protein, this is why i have so many chickens, however I would like to pickle eggs, John would love them, can you remember your recipe? c
It was a fair amount of time ago.. I remember equal shares of white vinegar and water, I remember garlic clove crushed some kinds of spices… I’d be lying if I told you I could remember… but I’m sure there must be plenty of recipes on the internet, gonna look quickly…
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-eggs-ii/ this one sounds similar to the one we used…
http://info.pickledeggs.com/3-popular-recipes/ these look even better…
Eggs! Sausages! Liverwurst! Pork Roast with homemade applesauce! Brats in Sauerkraut! Pork chops with Cherry, Habenero sauce! Frittatas!!! Peppers and sausage sandwiches!!! Homemade buns!!! With butter and honey!!! Oh I can think of a kazzillion things to make to keep the ho hum out! Homemade sloppy joes on homemade hamburger buns! Roast beef and yorkshire pudding with a delicious au jus!!! Stuffed pork chops with your own seasoning from the herb garden!!! Flavored butters with chives or honey! I make a delicious cilantro butter! I love pickled eggs and deviled eggs! BLTs with your own bacon and cheese! Yum!!! Are you allowed salt and pepper? Sugar? We have sugar made out of sugar beets out here! We also grow mustard! Homemade baked beans with some of that delicious pork!!! Your own lard!!! No better pie crust than made with lard! Mmmm….I think that you may feel a little melancholy due to the change of sunshine…I love the fall…but I am a little mushkada when I wake in the morning. Used to getting up with the sun. Hang in there! I am really enjoying your photos and posts!!! I think you are amazing!!! 😀 We have stocked our freezers with pan fish! Delicious! Nothing more relaxing than fishing! Until you get home and have to clean them all!!! LOL
and after that I’m as hungry as can be… and I’m not even sure what we’re having for dinner…
Spent six and a half months in the bush feeding myself without a fridge at hand.. so all the food was out of tins… man If I could only remember what I could do with tinned sausages, corn beef and such like… never had a boring meal… made my own bread daily, buns and even baked a cake in a three legged pot… made a stuff up of the icing but who cared it was sweet and full of sugar and covered the cake…
Lovely, I am pickling eggs today Bulldog and Mere you are so enthusiastic which is wonderful, and you have such a range of foods, but i am cooking without any of that meat, we have a little lamb.. that is ALL … until the freezers are filled. Once all the summer produce is in then we will have tons of choice. The exercise is more to live on simple fare really.. and to plan better for next year.. c
So sorry…when do you butcher? Soon I hope!
round one is this week actually..
Great! Will make a huge difference in meal planning! 🙂
Now that is an adventure! Mmmmm…I’ll bet that cake tasted better than any other! 🙂
How cool Celi! I’m at the airport on my way to Paris 🙂 so I will be missing pizza Friday 😦 . But I will take a look an a lot of notes about food photography. My daughter Pilar took her camera with her to the USA and now I only have this tiny camera for my blog, better know how to make better pictures with it.
Have a lovely day
G
Paris!! Oh i look forward to going to paris again. I remember that Pilar used to take your photos, how is she doing in the US? c
She’s wonderfully well 😉 so happy… I miss her a lot, especially her camera! Hahaha. Take care
Daughters are so easy to miss, i still miss mine! have a good flight, give my love to paris! c
Will do!
Noooo, not Fish please …. Fish and spuds and bread are just about all that’s left on my menu 🙂 I stopped eating chicken and eggs years ago when I had some Silky Bantams. I can’t bring myself to read Farmy posts and eat the produce 😦 Hope you have a lovely weekend. Laura
I need to grow more potatoes that is for sure. Fish i cannot grow, though I probably could go fishing.. but the water ways are awash with chemicals around here, nothing like a good feed of fish and chips by the sea. I would find it hard to give up eggs, I eat them every day..thank goodness you haven’t decided to give up bread! I am glad your internet woes are over!! c
Oops, we have a long weekend here, today being a holiday too – in weekend mode here hence the silly last line. Laura
ah, well you have a lovely LONG weekend.. c
I use picmonkey and have no complaints except that the site fails periodically mid-editing, of course.
Of course!! .. c
I understand the word ‘boredom’ with food.
Since I’ve been living on a frugal pension, I can’t afford all my favourite foods or the myriad of ‘extras’ that are involved in cooking an interesting & tasty meal, so I end up steaming 4 veg and cooking some meat or fish in a non-stick pan (or poaching fish in lemon juice & a drizzle of olive oil in the oven) which is getting boring.
I recently made some of my favourite old Indian curries, but each recipe required going out to buy ‘extras’.
I guess the secret is to always have a good variety of spices in the cupboard & fresh herbs in the garden.
I have been drying herbs lately too, which is useful for the winter, but spices are very expensive and the ground ones lose their zing so quickly.. c
I keep my spices in dark jars in a dark cupboard so the daylight doesn’t reach them, C.
I also dry roast the individual spices to make up an Indian curry, so my curries taste pretty good.
I have tried freezing herbs, but when thawed they’re not so good. I’ve only really dried rosemary and some lime/lemon geranium for herbal teas. My lime geranium has been growing like wildfire this year, so hopefully I can go out and gather some leaves fresh all year round…….Vicki
Yep! Mine in dark jars too! I don’t like my herbs frozen. Can’t live without rosemary, sage and thyme!!! I make my own poutry blend! Can’t live without cilantro, parsley, chives, and French Tarragon either for that matter! LOL
I’ll bet Chicago John knows some place to get spices in bulk — they are cheaper that way. You can grate whole nutmegs, and buy cinnamon sticks and cloves and grind them in a coffee grinder. Similarly, cumin seeds. Fresh ginger keeps well in the freezer. If you store spices in tightly closed containers away from light they’ll keep better and when they begin to lose flavor you can bring some back by toasting them. Kingsolver allowed herself spices in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…
Lake fishing out here! I make my own relish and mayo. Together they make a great tartar sauce!!! My favorite frittata is with sliced browned potatoes, onions, garlic, sliced tomatoes on top and then melted cheese! I use a dinner plate to flip mine! Some chives too!!! Really pretty! Sometimes I add some crumbled homemade sausage! I am going to try making homemade hotdogs this winter when I have more time! Hope we get our deer this fall!!! Summer sausage! Delicious!
I had not thought of mixing the relish with the mayo, i will try that! c
Delicious! 🙂
Hi Celi
I’m loving all your interesting info on photography…I plan to buy my first camera next month (I did have a little Brownie camera as a child but none since then)….my life was so busy these last 30+ years I had little time for picture taking but now I’m retired so am eager to give it a try again! All this discussion got me thinking about “the daily view” that you used to always post…..I miss it. Could you post a “daily view” pic soon ? I’d love to see how all the lovely new trees have grown.
It is definitely autumn here…have to wear my warm uggs these mornings and my trusty, wool shawl…my favorite time of year tho so have a lovely refreshing day!
I love my Uggs!!! Wouldn’t be without them! LOL
nancy I sure will .. i will take a pic of those trees right now, and it is almost the one year anniversary of the daily shot, gosh i go so busy it quite fell by the wayside.. thank you for the reminder.. a wool shawl sounds like an excellent idea.. c
I will share my salsa recipe if you like! It is a keeper!!! 😀 Canned 60 pints!
Salsa is terrific on eggs!!! Along with some homefries!! Still have to dig my pototoes. Been digging one hill at a time and using them. Planted organic Elbas from Wood Prairie Farms in Maine! Excellent potato seed company! This variety has an excellent amount of protein! Really nice potatoes. (((Celi))) Feel the hugs? I love your photos!!! They are wonderful!
Thank you Mere, how about you email that recipe to me, that would be great.. we still have a few tomatoes left, but there are only two of us so i might not be making 60 pints! email is celima.g.7@gmail.com
Sent the recipe! We are only two…but we gift them to friends and family! 🙂