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”
Pizza Friday sounds great Celi, we’re going to the cottage but it’ll be fun baking it on the BBQ! I think I even have one of my NAAN doughs in the freezer so it’ll be perfect. Not sure if I’ll have a chance to blog about it.
That copper pot is absolutely fabulous! Several years ago we changed out all of our pots to the enamel cast iron, I would have loved to have copper but it was just too many pennies for us at the time. Now, I’m kinda glad because cooking with enamel cast is a workout in itself!
My son makes his pizza on naan bread all the time, very tasty, I would love a copper pot that big but alas that is just the reflection on an ordinary pot, all my frying pans are cast iron too, I love the weight of them! and they literally last forever.. c
You had me fooled! I have the best Naan dough recipe, it’s easy and it’s chewy without being too thick and did I mention it’s so easy?
How did I miss it? I will come over and find it, we are eating quite a few unleavened breads with our dinners lately, it kind of suits our ingredients.. c
Hi Celi, this is the best recipe I’ve ever made! I usually make it at least once a month but I always freeze one ball for the cottage. http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/draft-indian-dinner-party-naan/
Excellent Eva! Thank you.. i shall try it this friday! and post the results on saturday when you are away.. c
I look forward to seeing the results.
Yes, pizza Friday…brilliant! Homemade pizza is one of my most favorite foods! Do you make pickles at all C.? If you do, when the pickles are gone…pop a few hard boiled eggs in the jar and let sit in the fridge for awhile! Dave says they’re great! 🙂
Your photos of Route 66 are fabulous C.! I love the one of the donkey and the young woman…is that your daughter? I would say, you don’t need to fine tune anything…you take beautiful photos now but I know how you love a challenge and are always looking for ways to improve on things!
I cannot believe how big those piglets are already…it’s all that lovely, homegrown farmy food they get!!
I do make pickles, we love them! And yes that is my beautiful daughter and the tatoo that is never mentioned!! c
I know…three of my daughters have tatoos! One daughter and I say noooooo….needles? Noooooo!!! LOL I wish they didn’t have them, but they are adults and married. I wonder what they will say when they had daughters? Yikes! LOL
have daughters! Ooopsie! 😉
I have admired your September challenge, but admit I’m looking forward to what you’ll bring home from the store on the next grocery run and I must say your food photos always look wonderful to me. You have made me hungry for pizza, though. I will have to take a look at what we have on hand and see what I can come up with. Lately we’ve been doing them on the charcoal grill, and they’re not always pretty, but they are tasty, no matter what toppings we’ve used. 🙂
grilling them does make them tasty, hmm.. gets me to thinking.. c
I will try to do a pizza Friday with you! Saturday is Greg’s birthday so we may be having pizza then instead…. Pizza two days in a row…? We’ll see. My tomatoes are blush red on yellow and so make a very creepy looking tomato sauce!
Do it on Saturday then , there are no rules!! You don’t want pizza twice in a row! I tried to make a relish with those yellowy tomatoes once and it looked dreadful.. tasty though! c
Try a nice tomato jelly! Delicious! An old world favorite on the prairie!
If you are interested— take wonderful pears and fully submerge in a jar of vodka. Store the jar in a cool, dark place until the vodka is infused —I would do a month. When ready decant and serve chilled.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
fantastic, yes i am interested, sounds just wonderful.. c
Lots of garlic and herbs can work magic with most things, however seemingly dull! I have a pile of garlic drying out in a makeshift sunhouse down on my allotment. It should last my family the winter, keep away the germs, but hopefully not keep away my friends!
Like you, I’ve just run out of potatoes and onions D: We’ve loads of spinach, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, and chillies just now, although I’m still a bit reticent about testing out just how hot those chillies are. They are very bright red, which means they might make anyone who dares eat them bright red, as well.
Those hot peppers really boost the chicken soup during cold and flu season! Warms you right up!
uh, we are learning how to make cheese right now and i would be very interested in knowing how you make your yoghurt and cheese. i promise to post soon how we do it.
here is how we make yoghurt: http://wrappedtroubles.blogspot.co.il/2013/09/making-yoghurt.html
Ha…I take it she did not consult you first on the tattoo…you have to admit, it’s quite colorful! 🙂 Yes, try the egg in the pickle juice and see how you like it! I make refrigerator dills..no processing and they are wonderful…with quite a kick from the jalapenos, garlic and tiny red peppers we add! 🙂
Oh what beautiful beets and the greens! I love cooked beet greens. Cook them like you would any other green – they don’t take as long as mustard or collard greens however. Or roasted greens in the oven with salt and oil. yum.
Frost? I don’t even want to think about that yet.
I love the photo of your pot! Matter of fact, I thought it was copper too & the color with the reflections is outstanding.
Pizza Friday sounds like fun – it’s a date.
Love the tat, very nice, daughter!
She is a wonderful daughter, I miss her terribly.. c
Know the feeling, my daughter is in Ohio, plus all my grandchildren, me in Aus! Hard when daughters…and sons…are far away.
Want to think about it or not – I was in snow yesterday in CO high country…..(will post pix shortly)
Pizza fridays sound great
NO!!! not the Snow! It is still so very summery here! c
It’s me. I show up in Sept and it snows…people have stopped laughing at that.
Still hot and humid here
No snow for me either!!!! I am just not ready for it! Along with it comes the 30 to 40 below temps! Not ready…no no no…pizza on the other hand? Yes…yes…yes! I’ll have some of what she’s having! LOL
well except for the mornings. (sulk). c
Frost? Wow. I can’t wait till we get some signs of that in Chicago!
not yet i hope! c
Golly gosh, one does receive a lot of good ideas coming in so late 🙂 ! Don’t know whether dry herbs and spices allowed and how much you keep, but those could transport your meals from country to country and make them less ‘same, same’! And could not believe how many eggs the piggies got either: no wonder they look so great ~ but how many more will be sold and how many are for the freezer when? Daresay the meat chooks have doubled in size also . . .
All these will be raised on the farm, though two now belong to two other families.. and the other two are for our families freezers… the meat chooks are also very healthy and hearty, growing like crazy, there are a few pics tomorrow of them but it is hard to see how much they have grown. I need to find an old link for us to see.. c