Oh no! The oven breaks two days before Christmas Eve and we don’t have time to arrange for a new one. Luckily, we can finish cooking at my parents’ house and a few days after Christmas we go to Austria for three weeks. When we get home we go shopping but I can’t bring myself to buy bread, it has become crazy expensive and it is both easy and delicious to make at home. Without an oven, however, the usual recipes do not work. Instead, we make fried bread and my daughter is happy to help! It’s extra fun to bake together!
This recipe is both simple and quick because it is baked on baking powder and therefore does not need to be leavened. It is also possible to vary in several different ways. Here is the basic recipe with some suggestions to spice up the bread a bit.
Frying pan bread
about 6 pcs 5 dl wheat flour (can be mixed with other types of flour to your taste) 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 tsp salt 50 g butter, room temperature if you have time to wait 2 ½ dl oat milk (or other milk, filet or yogurt)
Do this:
Mix the dry ingredients well. Feel free to sift the baking powder because lumps of baking powder are not good.
Mix in the butter with your hands.
Add the milk. It will be a rather sticky dough.
Divide the dough into about 6 parts
Roll out the dough on a floured board. Make them thin, otherwise there is a risk that they will not be baked all the way through.
Heat up a frying pan (medium heat). Fry the bread so that it gets a nice color on both sides and feels well-baked.
Some variations; mix in some seeds in the dough, add your favorite bread spices, fry outside over an open fire (aren’t all foods more tasty outdoors?!). I use vegan butter.
Now is the time to plan this year’s gardening. As you can read about in the post about seed ordering, I have a plan in a spreadsheet on Google Drive. In that document there is a list of what to sow, when to sow, whether to pre-cultivate inside, in a greenhouse or direct sow. I also have some lists about crop sequence, what is good to plant together and general development time to know when it is time to harden and plant out. But so far, there is not much in that list that is relevant.
Begin to sow
In January I have some seeds to plant. Some years I have planted lots in January. I have wanted an early harvest of everything but it doesn’t suit my growing style or location. The plants become far too large and rickety due to poor lighting. The entire kitchen table is flooded with pots of all sizes and I end up having to plant crops that aren’t really ready, that can’t really handle the cold out there. That’s different for everyone, but this year I will sow chili and leeks. I’m also going to try to plant some garlic because I didn’t last fall. However, it is a bit difficult to get hold of good chives at this time of year. The reason why chillies and leeks are sown is that they have a long development time. Other things that are also suitable for sowing in January are aubergine, celeriac and paprika. Of course, it is also possible to sow cabbage to pick small leaves, peas for pea shoots and other small sprouts that are good. It all depends on your time, your energy and your wishes and then the location of course! Next week I will publish a chili cultivation guide. There is all the information to get started with your chili cultivation + a quick guide for those of you who don’t like reading long instructions.
Check your gear
In January it is also a good time to check through pots and troughs and buy or order what you are missing. I reuse everything I can until it falls to pieces and I like to save on old plastic containers for food bought during the year. Important when it comes to the first seeds is that there is good drainage so that the soil can absorb water if you water from below and so water can flow out if you water from above. The small seeds are often sensitive to both drying out and flooding. For me, unfortunately, there will be a lot of plastic pots. I’ve tried cultivating in old milk cartons and in egg cartons but find that it easily molds or that the carton kind of dissolves. I hope to find some more durable material one day but for now it is as it is. I also usually start planning where to put things out in the garden to see if support sticks or netting is needed for the climbing beans, sugar snap peas and crops like that. Tools are also good to check. Right where it is, spring is here and then you don’t want to stand there without a grip or shovel and discover that there is a puncture on the wheelbarrow. It’s always busy as soon as spring comes, even if you forget it before each season.
Tidy up in the garden
I don’t know about you, but my garden is pretty ugly right now. Everything is weighed down by moisture and rain, it’s muddy on the ground and the colors are fairly dull. One of the few things that is nice is that our pond is full of water and that the ground around it is slightly drier than previous years when there was a flood. Another thing is that there is a lot coming out! What is hidden in grass and snow comes out in the thaw! Those rocks I moved from the duck house but just put in a pile waiting for more time are clearly visible now, calling out to me to be moved. The shovel that I didn’t find last summer when the grass was tall is there in full view now along with my daughter’s bucket, rake, ball and shovel. Also, everything that looks perfectly fine in the summer looks pretty awful now. For example, a broken bench that stands by the chicken coop and the two compost bins that look like they were thrown out at random. So it’s a good time to clean the garden!
Sometimes you find leek when tidying up!
Enjoy the winter
I love all seasons! It’s actually true! I used to say I loved summer and hated winter because I love heat but not cold. But now I enjoy all seasons. Spring is wonderful when little flowers surprise you here and there. The birds are chirping and there is a nice tension in the air. A promise and a longing for sun, warmth and life! Summer is warm, light, no heavy clothes, just going out. Many have holidays, it grows and is created everywhere. Tasty berries and vegetables are right outside your door, ready to be picked. And then comes autumn. Harvest time! To take care of everything that we worked so hard for all year. But also to be inside, take out a warm sweater, feel the smell of damp leaves when picking mushrooms in the forest. So one day when you look out the window, it’s here, winter, it’s snowing a little, the neighbor puts up lights in the window, Christmas lights, New Year’s rockets and promises of an even better year, next year. We get to put our fingers in the soil again and feel a slight scent of anticipation, hope for a good harvest, excitement about new plants. To be honest, I’m pretty tired of gardening in November and gladly take some time off to relax. But in January, my fingers start to itch a little and I can enjoy that itch for a while. Sit and dream in front of the fire with a cup of something hot to drink, it’s cold and windy outside, but I don’t have to go out, not now, now I can enjoy inside and tomorrow when it’s a beautiful winter sun, then I can go out in the greenhouse, get out some troughs and some soil and plant my very first seeds for this year. Beautiful, hot, red chilis!
The feeds are overflowing with gardening tips, pictures of already ripe tomatoes and people who have come much further than me in this year’s gardening. Maybe you recognize yourself in the feeds or in me?
Regardless of whether you have already started or if summer and harvest feels very far away, it is actually time to start planning and preparing for those crops that have a long development time. This week I will post a plan for January that I hope will inspire you. There will also be a recipe for a fantastic frying pan bread. The fact that we’ve been making some frying pan bread lately is because our oven broke down just before Christmas and I think bread is crazy expensive to buy and easy to make yourself.
The blog will get a boost this year. I will somehow post both in Swedish and English. There will be a newsletter every Monday with some information about the week. On Wednesdays, a cultivation guide is usually posted, but at the beginning of each month there will be a small to-do list for the month. Fridays will offer a recipe. Sometimes the recipe is linked to the week’s crop from the cultivation guide and sometimes to the season’s harvest and festivities. On Sundays, there is a weekly summary, Weekly report, about what I and we have done in the garden and with the farm during the week.
I hope that this arrangement will provide a little bit of each and I am happy to receive suggestions and requests for both recipes and cultivation guides or themes that you want to delve into!
This week I ordered the seeds for the year! I’m always so excited when it’s time to order! So many hopes and expectations, dreams and memories!
New seeds
There’s a lot of seeds to order every year. As you can read below I’m planning on getting better at growing my own seed, but so far I’m dependent on buying. To get all the seeds I need I have a spreadsheet in google drive where I have written down everything that we want grow. It started with a list of things we often eat and then it has been filled in when we come across interesting crops or crops that is easy to grow in our climate but we don’t eat so much yet.
I started the seed order process by going through what seeds we still have from last year and made a mark in the list. Then I went to my favorite seed store online and ordered the rest. A few new things got into the list. Mostly flowers but also turnip and marrowfat pea.
Part of my spreadsheet. The colors has do to with how I plant the seeds. More on that another time 🙂
Seeds from last year
We have a lot of seeds left from last year. Some are probably even from the year before. Since we are not a big, industrial farm some seed bags last a long time and as long as you keep your seeds in a dark, cool and dry space there’s often no problem. What can happen is that the germination goes down but that’s not a big issue for us. We can always buy new seeds or plant some more if we notice that too few seeds have grown. Worst case, we miss that kind of crop one year and either we don’t eat it or we buy it.
Growing seeds
One of my goals for this years gardening is to grow some seeds. I haven’t done that before except from taking seeds from paprika, chili and tomatoes. I believe that’s some of the easiest seeds to collect. I don’t know how it is with chili and paprika but tomatoes can cross pollinate which means that if you have different kinds of tomatoes in your garden and take seeds from them you don’t know what you will get. Well, it will of course be a tomato! 🙂 I think, even if you take seeds from a store bought tomato you don’t know exactly what you will get. It has to do with the way they cross different kinds of tomatoes to get certain characteristics. It’s a whole science and I’m just starting to learn more about it. Anyway I’m gonna try to take seeds from my beans, carrots (you take seeds the second year so I will replant some carrots we grew last year), peas and squash.
Beans! So beautiful! This year I will save some to plant next year!
The dawn of a new year always brings anticipation, hope, and plans for the months ahead. This 2023, I’ve decided to gaze into the proverbial crystal ball and lay down a roadmap for our garden – one that meets the unique challenges this year brings.
Aref and I will be ushering in some significant changes in our lives, with him working abroad intermittently. The implications? Our beloved garden will need to evolve into a more self-reliant space. While the very thought is exhilarating, it also unfurls a carpet of concerns – dehydration and those relentless weeds topping the list. But as every gardener knows, for every problem, there’s always a solution, or in our case, multiple!
1. Embracing Cover Cropping: For those unfamiliar, think of this as a protective blanket for the soil. By using grass clippings to envelop the ground around our plants, we intend to retain moisture and deter those pesky weeds. It’s an age-old method with promising results.
2. The Magic of Interplanting: Nature thrives in unity. We plan to adopt the technique of growing crops side-by-side, especially those that complement each other. Imagine zucchinis nestling with corn, or butternut squash playing companion to beans. This symbiosis not only keeps the weeds at bay but also ensures the soil remains shielded from the harsh sun.
3. Automating Hydration: Our greenhouse poses a unique challenge. With no rainfall seeping in, we must be extra vigilant. While some of our deep-rooted plants, like grapes, have the luxury to draw water from the outer edges due to the lack of flooring, others aren’t so fortunate. We’re still brainstorming the perfect automatic watering system, but trust that we’ll land on a solution soon.
4. Going Pot-less: To mitigate dehydration risks, we’re bidding adieu to pots this year. Direct ground planting will be our modus operandi, ensuring the roots have consistent access to moisture.
5. The Power of Pre-cultivation: While it’s ambitious to pre-cultivate everything, we’ll aim high! Giving our seeds a head start indoors should, in theory, give them an edge over the weeds.
Despite our best-laid plans, nature, with its inherent unpredictability, will throw its curveballs. We anticipate a few casualties to pests, dehydration, or the fierce competition of weeds. However, the silver lining remains – many plants will not just survive, but thrive. And I hold onto the conviction that our garden will grace our plates generously this year as well.
December means time for reflection! The gardening is paused, at least for us, and we have some time to sum up the year. What went good? What went bad? And what to do next year!
My first reflection, before getting in to the actual gardening is that it is quite hard to find the time to make blogposts in the middle of the gardening season. This is not my job, neither is the gardening. I don’t make any money of of this except the savings from all the vegetables and meat we don’t have to buy. I hope one day this will be my full time job because I love sharing and reading about gardening and I really love gardening!
Now, here comes the most exciting part; What went well in the garden this year? Our fridge is full of zucchini, parsley and basil! Zucchini has been so thankful to grow! It keeps the weeds away and doesn’t need any attention. Well except from harvesting ALL THE TIME! Such a blessing! Between our zucchini we planted sunflowers. They were also amazing, so beautiful and I think some birds enjoyed the seeds in the end of summer. Another thing that went well was the potatoes. It’s almost always easy to grow potatoes but sometimes you get vermin or something, but not this year! We have really nice looking potatoes and since we don’t eat so much potatoes I believe we have for the whole year. Tomatoes went fine in the sense that we eat the last ones yesterday, but we have bought canned tomatoes for pasta sauce, pizza and stuff like that. Leek, just like potatoes went well and I think it will last until next years sprouts are ready to harvest. Onions didn’t go so well so we are using leek instead of onions in lots of our food.
Now to the not so fun part, but the very educative part when you get some distance. What went bad… Well, it feels like a lot… We didn’t get any cucumber, the watermelon was eaten by rats, cabbage was a roller-coaster but we actually did get some nice heads at the end (we also had a lot of pests), the sugar peas dried out, the garlic went rotten and the butternut squash didn’t ripen before the first frost. Thinking of everything that went bad I actually came to think about some more things that went well. We got a lot of nice carrots and so, so much breaking beans! Chili was also really good this year! So much more fun to think about the positives!
Anyhow, we learned a lot this year, as we always do! I don’t think I know another hobby where you develop and learn so many new things every year! And as soon as you think you are pro at some vegetables something happens and the harvest fails. The great thing is that I love to learn about this stuff so even though it sucks when you fail I never think about stop gardening. We always get a lot of pests on our cabbage and every summer and fall I tell Aref that: “Next year we are not growing cabbage!”. But every January when I order my seeds I buy some cabbage… Aref sighs at me but I just cant give up on it, and this year we got one or two nice heads! So you can be sure I will order some seeds for next season as well, maybe a lot of seeds, it seems I can be a cabbage-pro, doesn’t it?? 😉
Hopes and dreams for next season will come in the next blog post so stay tuned!
Every year in the spring I get stressed out because there are always too many plants that need attention at the same time. This week we haven’t done anything in the garden. I went on a little trip to Malmö to see some friends and celebrate an awesome graduate! It was really nice to get away for a moment and leave the stress of the garden behind. It’s not just all the plants that need attending we also had some trouble to get the soil we wanted. On top of that, the cats still likes to go into the garden and mess things up.
I have a few different ways of handling the stress and keep the motivation up:
Lists. I make lists. Lots of them! I make lists of what to do and rank the tasks to know how to priorities. I make lists of what to buy to get everything done. And occasionally I make lists of what lists I need to make.
Focus on the harvest. I also try to think about the harvest. This upcoming week we are really starting to finish up the last of last years harvest. We even made a challenge not to buy any vegetables this week and instead empty the freezer and pantry. It’s really exciting to see how much we actually have left and that gives me energy to continue.
Go to the store. Another motivator for me is to go to the store and look at prices. Most of the time Affe is the one to do the grocery shopping because it’s most convenient due to our jobs. But once in awhile we go the hole family or I go alone. Looking at those prices knowing that I can produce a better product in terms of impact on the environment and without chemicals, that just makes me wanna grow more!
Okej, I hope this was somewhat useful for you. I guess this time of year is always stressful for gardeners. Just remember to take a moment and enjoy the world around you and appreciate what you have accomplished. Smell the flowers and follow the bees and butterflies. It’s only a short period of time when all of nature brings it all to amaze us!
I’m so happy to announce that we now have 4 beautiful muscovy ducks. We bought them from this lovely lady who really loved her ducks and made sure they would have a nice home at our place. It was a bit of an adventure to get them since there was this motorbike-event on the island where she lives. Part of the road was closed and the traffic was standing still due to a police control. But finally, 30 minutes late we got to her farm and could pack the ducks in the car. On our way back we saw more motorbikes than I have ever seen in my life!
Well back home we put the ducks into their new house. They were a bit scared of us but after two days they started seem more comfortable. For now they only have a small outdoor cage but on wednesday we will let them out in the bigger area where the new pond is. Hopefully they will like it there and not fly away. It’s a bit nervous but exciting!
All this weed…
There are sooooo much weed right now. We’ve had perfect weather with hot, sunny days and rainy nights. Great for potatoes and great for weeds… 🙂 I have not had time to take care of it all week but finally yesterday I got it all done. Even though the past week was perfect for growing plants, the weekend was very hot and dry, prefect for weeding. When we rake of the weed we really want it to die for good and the best one for the job is the sun. The roots of any plant, and especially new and small plants are very sensitive to dry out so putting them in the sun on top of the beds are perfect. It dies there and then it will become green manure and also it helps to cover the soil.
Will we get any soil?
This weeks big question has been “will we get the soil?”. We have a lot of plants; pumpkin, chili, beans, watermelon and many more that needs either new soil or to get planted out in the garden. Everything is longing for that final place to grow and set fruits. We were planning on reusing the soil from the pond but it was full of stones and a bit sour. Our neighbor was going to help us to fix it but he hasn’t had time this past week. Instead we got some soil mixed with horse and cow manure. Since we got it yesterday and we need a top layer of pure soil we still haven’t planted anything yet. I’m a bit stressed out about it but there’s nothing to do. Today was Sweden’s national day so the place that sell soil was closed. But hopefully we will be able to get soil during this week and plant everything this weekend. If you are interested in how we made our beds from scratch there will be a post about that soon. Sign up on the front page to get a notification every time we post something new!
It’s starting to get really warm now and it feels amazing and a little stressful, lots to do! The lilac is blooming and the cuckoo has started to gala. That’s signs of early summer here!
The grass has really started to grow which is great since I’m using it to cover the open soil in the garden. I hope to cover most of the rows to save on water and keep weeds out. But I won’t use grass on all of them, we don’t have enough and also it’s not necessary. In some rows I will plant pumpkin that will cover the soil and for example with potatoes I don’t want to add anymore manure. Anyhow I started to cover my garlic and onion. I was so excited for my garlic this year. Last winter I planted a lot of it and hoped that we would be self sufficient from this fall on. Unfortunately a lot of it has rotten because of the very wet winter we had. Better luck next year I guess…
Gardening isn’t always beautiful. We continued with our pond and hopefully the ducks will arrive this week. Our super nice neighbour came to help us with the digging. It went great except for a little mishap with our raspberry. A long branch snapped, luckily we were able to take some cuttings from it so hopefully we will get a lot more raspberries in the future. It’s my second time taking cuttings from raspberry and what I do is I cut the green sprout just under a pair of leafs clean the stem from almost all the leafs and put it in moist soil. Then all you need to do is keep the soil moist and wait. I hope to build this pond without using a rubber mat and just use some sort of clay instead. I’m looking into how that works and will make a post about it if we decide to go that way.
This chili makes me so happy! I just had to share its beauty! It’s called Blue Christmas and it starts with fantastic, beautiful small, small purple flowers that turn into purple fruits and the more the fruit ripens it shifts to red and when it is completely red it is ready to be harvested! It’s like the chistmas tree of chilis because fruits are in different stages and therefore in different colors at the same time.
I don’t know if it’s particularly resistant to lice. But we had other plants next to it that got lice and neither of our two plants of blue chistmas got it. I have heard that chili can be a bit sensitive to lice so maybe it’s a resistand kind or we just got lucky! Anyhow I’m very excited to try it when the fruits are completely ready!
Grounded gardens 