Ruby Tuesday – Autumn in the Garden

I dropped into Ruby’s this afternoon and found her in the midst of preserving her peaches in possibly the oldest steamer I have ever seen! It really looks like it has done some miles, and then some!

Apparently it was bought in a ‘mighty hurry’ as years ago she was preserving some peas when her mothers canner sprung a leak!  Being very serious about their peas and panicking about losing their gardens harvest, a very speedy trip to the shop was made. (And back then things weren’t as easy to come by as the department store shopping we have now!) The shop owner said he didn’t think he had one, but found this copper one out the back! Not thinking twice, Ruby snapped it up and raced home to rescue the precious peas! Clearly it has worked well ever since.

Just before Easter I got out into Ruby’s garden to do some overdue weeding. Its probably the worst weeding job I have done, as to stop the seed heads spreading I simply yanked the tops off as many plants as I could – I will return to dig the roots up properly garden bed by garden bed.  Ruby gets out and pulls out what she can too of course

What I DID notice in her garden was pumpkins

Orange ones –

Pale salmon coloured ones –

Big ones –

And generally pumpkin vines running amok all over the place!

Ruby is a classic for burying peels and food scraps all over the garden, which eventually turn into plenty more random potato and pumpkin plants!

I counted 23 established pumpkins growing – she was a bit surprised when I told her how many she had! ‘Oh well’ she says with a grin and a shrug ‘I like my pumpkins and eat them everyday, so that’s good!’

We went up the back for a look at what needed to be done and got side-tracked picking beans. Ruby got a cardigan full – no doubt they ended up on the plate that day

I finally got around to checking out the broccolini that I had put under one of my vegie nets a while back, and decided they needed a good weeding!  I was amazed at how healthy and sturdy they were looking (not like my poor manky things)

I knew Ruby would have had no idea how they were coming along, as she is nearly blind and there was no way she would have been able to see through the white netting

So cleaned up and mulched with some remaining seaweed, I dragged her back up the yard to check them out. She was so thrilled – I think she is planning her meals with them already!

Her artichoke plants are reaching the sky –

And the new lettuce, despite the oxalis, is thriving.

 

RUBY RECIPES

I thought I may try to share a recipe each week from this crazy recipe book of Ruby’s. As you can see, its a falling apart, tatty old diary that is stuffed full of notes, newspaper & magazine clippings and other collected recipes from friends. It’s a family heirloom in itself I reckon!

Today I will share the “Apple Slump” recipe – some readers from One Hundred Dollars a Month may have seen this already…

Ingredients:

5 or so apples, sliced

1 & 1/2 cups of self raising flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 ounces melted butter

pinch salt

1 cup water

Method:

Slice up your apples

Place in baking dish. I sprinkle cinnamon and sugar between layers

Fill baking dish

Mix other ingredients until smooth

Slowly pour over apples

Put into oven at 180 deg. Celsius

Bake for an hour or until sponge top cooked.

It will ‘slump’ as it cools.

Easy old fashioned recipe – lovely with cream or ice-cream.

Cheers!