Winter is here, Good time for Pea and Ham Soup

Well the days are getting shorter and shorter, it is cold and.....wait for it....it is raining.....yep it is winter!

I thought I would share a recipe I made for Pea and Ham Soup Which turned out delicious. It is super easy and doesnt use anything to fancy.

Here goes.....

Into a slow cooker put some peeled and chopped potatoes, and a couple of peeled and chopped carrots (I put about 4 potatoes, and 2 carrots) then out in a bacon hoc, then around the edge of that put in soup mix (I discovered that I didn't have any soup mix left in the cupboard, so I put in what I could find in the pantry, a pour of red lentils, a pour of yellow split peas, and a pour of pearl barley) then fill up the slow cooker with water and turn it on.

In my case I had to go in to work, but by tea time it was lovely. Big chunks of meat had fallen off the hoc, the peas and lentils had cooked through to make a lovely thick soup and the potatoes and carrots had cooked enough to still be a bit chunky.

On a cold wintery day which we even had rain it was very much appreciated, and all for very little effort. Much easier than doing it on the stove top and forgetting to keep stirring it and ending up with that lovely burnt flavour though it.

Rain, Rain, Lovely rain

Its a long weekend here (Queens Birthday) and as I sit here writing this the rain is starting to get heavier, in yet another shower that is passing through.

It has been raining steadily since Thursday afternoon, stopping for yesterday afternoon long enough to do a load of washing and hang it out to dry before starting again last night. It has been truly wonderful a nice soaking rain, not enough to cause the yard to flood but enough to ensure the ground is wet for more than the top couple of mm's (the usual thing around here).

Checking the rainwater tank yesterday (cant convince myself to go out today and brave the wet and cold today) it is at least a third full and I think after today's efforts should be pushing the halfway mark if not more.

Now if only it would stop long enough for me to get the natives (mostly eromophilas) that I bought this week into the ground. I managed to decide which ones were going where, dug the holes, and filled the holes with water (before I knew there was rain forecasted) but didn't get around to planting them so they are sitting in there pots, in their holes waiting for the rain to stop so they can enjoy their new home.

Some pics

I just thought I'd share some pics of what is happening in my garden

I haven't been spending much time in the garden lately and it was a lovely surprise to go for a wonder and see that after a few mm's of rain a few weeks ago things have suddenly sprung to life and I even have water in the rainwater tank.

This is something that greeted me last week in the native garden an Eremophila Maculata in flower

The Acacia Argyrophylla (Golden Grey Mulga) growing new shoots

The veggie patch which is struggling along, and I think I have decided that in the future I'll grow most things to seedling stage and then put them in the bed, It has been very difficult to try to work out what is weeds and what is a plant and then there is the elusive rocket thief which has left me with 1 rocket plant out of a row (decided that the two leaf stage plants were irresistible)

From left to right, there is rows of silverbeet, ruby chard, rocket, broad beans, beetroot, and carrots, and that bushy thing in the back is a pepino.

This is something I noticed this morning, one of the succulents in the front garden is flowering

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, the weather here is just wonderful, the nights are getting chilly but the day today is sunny with blue sky and just warm enough to lure you outside into it (which is why I am going to sign off and enjoy it while I can).

A visitor

Well I havent been around in blog land for a while, life has taken over a bit, but that sort of thing happens every so often.

A few weeks ago I got a visit from this lovely bird. I think it is a Grey Falcon. I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and heard something crash into the fence and then saw this guy fly up into the tree, realising it was the wrong colour to be a magpie I got the camera and went to see what it was. He was just sitting there not fussed by me at all until I walked around by the fence to try to get a photo from the front of him, and from behind the gas bottles a blackbird took of (frightened by me I guess) and that was it he was off after it, definitely a bird of pray. Just lovely.

And a close up.