Spring - Nature's Flower Show

Baviaantjies (Babiana) 

Indigenous to this area in South Africa; flowering in the garden

The Bluebells - also in flower in the garden

 Word has it that long ago the - then - lady of the house went on holiday to the UK. 

She fell in love with a field of Bluebells (like the one at Coton Manor Garden)

and smuggled some bulbs back to South Africa . . .

Now we know we have these beautiful flowers scattered all over in the garden

we are considering planting all together . . . the fields of Bluebells are spectacular

~ photo from The Telegraph ~ 

~ photo from Coton Manor House ~

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The annual  Darling  Wild Flower  Show - since 1917

and the Orchid Show  

Visitor

 I had a late afternoon visitor yesterday.

a Cape Eagle Owl (I think)

He sat and watched me from our old barn gable while I was in the vegetable garden.

Remarkable to see it so close to our house (only had my phone with me to take photo)

Made sure Louis the parrot and our kittens were safe out of reach, though

Picked my first Pineapple - Never grown a pineapple before!

it smells SO delicious!

Delicious Monster

Delicious Monster in our Garden

"Monstera deliciosa"

 

                                                                                               The Flowers are so Beautiful!

We have never eaten the fruit.

I read on the Food Blog that one should wait for the hexagonal scales to fall off before you can eat it.

(The unripe fruit is very high in oxalic acid) 

There are several flowers. I cannot wait to taste the fruit. 

Meanwhile we are now eating salad, regularly, from the vegetable garden.





~ Tonight we are having - Lettuce, Pak Choi, Chinese Mustard, Swiss Chard, Fennel, Pansy ~

Citron Tree

Many years ago, on the farm where I grew up, my grandmother had a Citron Tree.

She used to make Marmalade with a mix of Citrus fruit, but I was too small to know if the Citroen was included.

I have not seen a Citron Tree since then; until we moved to

de Klippen Valleij.

Our tree is currently full of beautiful fruit; inedible, it is sour/bitter and also dry with very little juice.

I “Googled” for recipes, see this site for Etrog (Esrog) Jam / Marmalade.










More interesting to me is an old recipe book of my Grandmother’s - brought out by Pyrex. The printed dialect is very old – a mix of Afrikaans and Dutch.

One recipe for “Sitroën Jellie”; the writer claims that it is “the most beautiful of all citrus jellies, because it is as clear as water”.
I’ll record my attempt to make the Jelly

and post it on here if it is a success.

If you have a recipe for something we could make

with the Citron please let us know.

There are lots of

"perfect tarte au citron" recipes

on the internet but are made with lemon.