February, sunflowers, bees and zucchinis!

Despite a horrible dry Summer we have all managed to grow an abundance of zucchinis (see below or Recipe page for Christine's zucchini pickle recipe) and the sunflowers have been very happy this year- so of course the bees have been too! Our very first harvest of honey from our hive and the Rooftop Honey folk was so spectacularly delicious that Alistair and Marijka are plotting to get another hive so we can have MORE honey, and there's been lots of debate about bee-keeping methods and how to go about it.
We had a good turn out for our last working bee and it was lovely to have Heather and Rebecca the Younger (to quote Marijka) back from their overseas adventures.
Now it's time to start thinking about Autumn and Winter crops- and wishing for some rain!

Christine's Zucchini Pickle

1 kg of them small over-abundant zucchinis

2 medium onions

1/4 cup salt

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

1/2-3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp celery seeds

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp dry mustard

slice unpeeled zucc and onions

put them in bowl and cover with water, add salt. stand one hour and drain.

mix remaining ingredients and bring to boil, pour over veg, stand one hour

bring mixture to boil and cook covered 10 minutes

stir gently to prevet breaking the zucchinis

bottle and seal.

Posted by Rebecca the Elder.