Lamb Shanks in the Jackpot – Africa’s oven

aristonorganic

Ingredients:

Lamb Shanks
Garlic (crushed) 1 clove per shank
Rosemary – chopped
Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon
Balsamic Vinegar – 1 tablespoon
Chilli (chopped) – 1 per shank (optional)
1 Onion – sliced
Water

Method:Combine rosemary, garlic,chilli, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and marinade Lamb shanks for 6 hours.

Place onion evenly over the bottom of a roasting pan and cover with water. Add marinated lamb shanks and all extra liquid.

Cook uncovered over a hot fire for 1 hour. Check water.
Cover, turn your Jackpot off and leave to simmer for a further 2.5 hours.

Gravy:
Ingredients:
Bisto 2 teaspoons
Self raising flour 4 teaspoons.
Mix together adding a little water at a time, ensure all lumps are removed until mixture runs smoothly off the spoon.
Method:
Remove cooked shanks
Boil the remaining liquid on stove, pour in gravy mix mix slowly, stirring all the time until…

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Smaller than a Bee

Between Heaven and Earth – Facebook conversation

Tags

Dietes, Dietes Grandiflora, earth, Echinopsis pachanoi, Flowers, garden, Gardens, heaven, plants, San Pedro, San Pedro cactus, South African endemic plant

Dietes Grandiflora

• Brigid Taylor Jackson I always know that when they flower in profusion that there is a certainty of rain… always make the garden so cheerful, very clever indeed
   
• 
  Herman van Bon Same with the San Pedro cactus. When this cactus starts to flower you can be sure of rain within 5 days…

   
• 
  Brigid Taylor Jackson love them too

   
• 
  Craig Wright OK, so bear with me here, but I do think that Dietes is one of the plants that is a junction between the heavens and earth. I always feel it is lightly touched by the cosmic, like the picture of a host of butterflies that gently landed on some green leaves. Dietes mean ‘two affinities’ and I think that this openness and sensitivity to atmospheric changes is an illustration of this. Thanks for the rain reminder Brigid.

   
• 
  Brigid Taylor Jackson I quite agree with you Craig, as yes they do look like butterflies which have been touched by the cosmic, could also be the perfect balance between the masculine and feminine… yes Craig we need the rain!! Will be nice and cooling

   
• 
  Craig Wright they are supposed to be midway between the irises and the moraeas – possible closer to their actual ancestor – i like this idea of bridging the gap between two things, so yes, perhaps between masculine and feminine – look how masculine the green part of the plant is and how delicate and feminine the flower is…

   
• 
  Brigid Taylor Jackson Thank you Craig, , yes they are always mid-way. Yes the colour is very male and female…

   
• 

  Kris Foster-Phipps I love it because when you are in full bloom, I am in the cold and visa versa…we keep each other in perpetual spring!!!

   

Garden resolutions for 2014

Tags

Beehive, compost, garden, gardening, Home and Garden, home grown, New Year, organic

• Start a compost bin
• Install a rain garden
• Plant more Natives
• Build an edible garden
• Use Natural Pest solutions
• Be more water wise
• Encourage wild life into the garden
• Acquire new bee hives
• Start seed saving
• Up-cycle more
• Relax and enjoy the garden

What are your resolutions?

Giant Winter Leek

May the year 2014 greet you with days as fragrant as roses, as colorful as rainbow, as bright as sunshine and as happy and cheerful as a lark.

 

Square Foot Gardening

Old School Garden

Get planning your veggy plot for 2014!

Here’s a handy guide to the numbers of food plants to grow per square foot. This is a useful technique for small food gardens or containers but can also be used in larger plots to ensure a mixture of veg in smaller quantities, so avoiding gluts.

Old School Gardener

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Pollination

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Globe Artichokes

aristonorganic

 

The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus^] is a perennial thistle of the genus Cynara originating in Southern Europe around the Mediterranean. It grows to 1.4–2 m (4.6–6.6 ft) tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery, glaucous-green leaves 50–82 cm (20–32 in) long. The flowers develop in a large head from an edible bud about 8–15 cm (3.1–5.9 in) diameter with numerous triangular scales; the individual florets are purple. The edible portions of the buds consist primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts and the base, known as the “heart”; the mass of immature florets in the center of the bud is called the “choke” or beard. These are inedible in older, larger flowers.

Artichokes can be produced from seeds or from vegetative means such as division, root cuttings or micropropagation. Though technically perennials that normally produce the edible flower only during the…

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Recycling outside- latest projects

Originally posted on Old School Garden:
Following the popularity of my previous collections of recycling project pics, here is another batch. First,…

Kambro – Fockea edulis

aristonorganic

Fockea angustifolia and edulis, Kambro (San) has a large fleshy tuber below the  ground. Fockea species are restricted to Southern Africa, angustifolia is found mainly in the Kalahari region, while edulis is more in the Southern and Eastern Cape.

The abundant water found in the tuber was of fundamental survival to the  San in the Kalahari, enabling them to survive a period of a few months between the end of the Tsamma melon fruiting season, and the start of the new rains.

The tubers are dug out with a digging stick. It is often necessary to dig up to a depth of 1 meter or more to ensure the tuber is recovered intact.

In South Africa, Kambro species are occasionally eaten, but better know as a source for jam. Kambro may also be eaten as a side dish, either baked whole or sliced and baked in butter, sugar, honey and…

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How Earthworms save the planet

aristonorganic

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