Elderberry and Pear Jam

Over 10 years ago my parents have taken over an abandoned homestead where my grandmother was born. With exception of a small plateau where used to be three little fields and now serves as goat pasture, the whole homestead is located on the hillside. No matter where you want to go, there will be a steep road leading you there. On the hillside above the old house is an old orchard with heritage apple, pear and cherry fruit trees that were grafted to seedlings and therefore have a very tall growth.Continue Reading

Lemon catnip

You’ve probably heard of catnip (Nepeta cataria) which is loved by cats. During my research of (what I thought to be) an unknown mint variety that is growing in the edge of my garden since the beginning of time I found out that if was actually lemon catnip (Nepeta cataria ssp. citriodora) which is pretty common in Slovenian gardens and commonly mistaken for lemon balm. Unlike real catnip, her lemon sister doesn’t attract cats and has a pleasant citrus-minty smell. While catnip’s blossoms are purple-blue color, lemon catnip’s blossoms are white.Continue Reading

Homemade tomato sauce

This year I was finally able to produce bigger quantities of tomatoes (I wrote a little bit about me growing tomatoes in containers right here). Because I seemed that we won’t be able to eat it all fresh I decided to make some homemade tomato sauce. Because I didn’t really have a tried and true recipe I decided to experiment a bit and I’m very happy with the result so I decided to share the recipe here in case someone else might find it useful. 🙂Continue Reading

Shrek smoothie

And here we go – my first 2€ smoothie recipe. The series is opened by Shrek smoothie which is named after the ogre from the well know animated movie. Shrek smoothie has become one of my favorite ways to disguise spinach for small (and adult) children. Because I don’t have kids I test my recipes on Aljaz who is pretty picky especially when it comes to green vegetables in all shapes and sizes. His comment about this smoothie was: “It great because you have to get through the healthy part (green) to get to the good (gray) and the best (brown) part.”.Continue Reading

Grow Garlic and Braid Garlic Braids

We all know that vegetables are good for us, right? The one that we manage to produce at home and we put our time and effort into it usually tastes even better than the one we buy. Not many vegetables can surpass the garlic in its health benefits. So this post is my ode to homegrown garlic. All my attention and efforts were repaid this past week when I harvested my garlic. Garlic’s health benefits were known long before Google. They were known and written about in the old Egypt and also by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It’s also well known in Chinese medicine.Continue Reading