To Beehive or not to Beehive

We returned from holidays to discover to our surprise and excitement that there was an active beehive on  one of our palm trees in the backyard. A couple of years ago Mr. HRK built a bird box hoping to attract some nesting birds. Well they haven't take up his offer, preferring to nest in our large  Paperbark tree and the Golden Penda tree, however a swarm of European honey bees have moved in, with presumably the Queen Bee happily ensconced in her new home, and the hive surrounding the Bird box continues to grow.  There is probably quite a lot of honey inside already. So we are now sharing our environment with these beautiful, industrious and fragile creatures which we know little about. Bees in Australia are among the  most disease free in the world, however they still face many threats.

With all of this in mind we have slept on our situation for a couple of weeks now, wondering if we should just leave the hive there  so that the bees will fertilise our garden plants and improve our environment, or move them to a hive where we can protect them a lot better and can also enjoy the honey they produce. The risk is that the hive will outgrow our bird box and the bees will move on. We have decided to try and move the bees to a proper hive. After talking to a couple of local apiarists, Mr. HRK is now building two wooden beehive boxes based on the measurements of one he has borrowed, as strangely all the measurements available for building your own beehive are in imperial.

So the bee hive boxes are almost built, and the next stage before the next deluge of rain comes is to move our hive to one of the newly constructed beehive boxes. We will need to order a second Queen bee and have her delivered in the post in a capsule to start the second hive. If you  watched Catalyst, about the Great Australian Bee Challenge competition on the ABC, you might remember that one of the families also needed to do that. So we are busily collecting information, reading all we can about the process, so watch this space. It's an exciting thought to have two beehives in our suburban garden. By all accounts, the bees thrive better in suburban gardens than in the bush, because there are always flowers in suburban gardens, whereas during the dry conditions or heavy rain in the bush there may be nothing flowering for them to feed on.

The second episode of our beehive story is in progress and I hope to tell you about it soon. Life is never dull in our backyard. Moving beehives  a metre at a time is a story in itself and ours is no different. That is the next story to be told.

Gordon, our wise gnome, and a Christmas present from our daughter, is keeping an eye on the situation.

Here a couple of ideas for delicious Summer salads. These were made by Paul, a good food loving friend of ours. He just possesses the knack on how to prepare an attractive salad.

More garden news. Recently our Golden Penda was flowering and the visiting Lorikeets put on a quite a show at our nearby watering hole. They didn't seem to mind that it was just water in there, and they were so noisy and possessive of the bird bath.

Thanks very much to those of you who have sent well wishes already about my mouth surgery. I survived 2 hours of sitting in a comfortable dental chair, in hospital surgery conditions, but saved myself $2,000 by not having it done in a hospital operating room.The dental surgeon and the dental assistants were so caring and attentive. Today I am recuperating with a swollen face, no more bleeding, but not much pain thanks to some medication, so I think it went well. I'll make the most of having a sickie today:) Mr. HRK is being very attentive and cooked delicious scrambled eggs for brekkie. I am still on soft foods, and am looking forward to the ice cream for dessert.

Take care everyone,

Cheerio,

Pauline.

Tasty Turkish-Style Tabbouleh

I made this Tabbouleh with quinoa as that is what I had on hand and it needed to be used, however wholemeal  couscous works just as beautifully. Quinoa is a delicious alternative. It's the time for salads here in the tropics, but then salads are popular and healthy anywhere and at anytime of the year aren't they? This salad choice came about as our Lebanese cucumbers have started bearing cucumbers (our first attempt at these), the mint and parsley are going gangbusters, and Mr. HRK with secateurs in hand, drastically pruned back the parsley so rather than let it go to waste, Tabbouleh came to mind. 

I try to base my meal choices on what we have growing or what is already in the pantry, without needing regular excursions to the supermarket for one or two items.

Home grown Lebanese cucumbers

Cooking cakes and sweets is a different matter. There are some items that just need to be purchased when I run out of them, as a cake recipe is pretty exacting.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup rinsed quinoa (tri-colour for impact if you like), or wholemeal couscous
150 ml chicken stock for extra flavour, (just water will also work well)
1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded and diced
3-4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into 1 cm dice (I used 4 Roma tomatoes)
3 spring onions, green ends only, finely chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, or about 1/2 bunch, rinsed and patted dry
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (not the stuff out of the bottle)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Add a crushed garlic clove if you like, but not necessary
*A large avocado cut into 1 cm dice can replace the cucumber

Method:

If using quinoa:- Place the stock in a small saucepan, add the quinoa and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender to taste. Remove from the heat,and stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and leave it to cool.

If using couscous:- Place the stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl and add the stock to the bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate or something plastic free (preferably), to store the heat, and stand for 5 minutes. Use a fork to fluff it up and to separate the grains. Season it slightly to your taste, and set it aside until cool.

Gather the bunch of parsley, form into a tight bundle in your hand and finely shred the leaves with a sharp knife.

Do the same thing with the mint leaves.

My coriander in our raised garden is still growing well, so a little bit of that went into the salad as well.



Add the cooled grain, quinoa or couscous to the rest of the ingredients, and mix through gently.



Making The dressing:

In a smallish bowl, gradually whisk the olive oil into the lemon juice and garlic (if using) until it starts to thicken slightly and emulsifies. Stir the dressing through the tabbouleh ingredients and season with a little salt and ground black pepper if it needs it. A little salt will really develop the flavours.

Serving options:
For an easy meal, delicious just with a boiled egg
For a more substantial and complete meal if entertaining, serve with hummus, pitta bread and sliced lamb or lamb cutlets

On a nutritional note, eating salads like tabbouleh is a healthy alternative, as the herbs, parsley, and mint are rich in sources of Vitamin K and C, some beta-carotene, folate and flavonoids.  I feel better already.......

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count

And now for some twitching. We've been participating in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count this past week.  I think today is the last day and it's been great fun. It's too hard for me to take photos of the birds at the same time as I am entering the data into the phone app, however we have submitted 8 Checklists, Sighted 22 species, and sighted 204 birds just in our suburban backyard. So Mr. HRK and I take our chairs to the courtyard late in the afternoon, settle in with a cup of coffee and wait for the birds to start their afternoon pilgrimage to the Bird bath and then back to the Golden Penda tree and the Paperbark tree. We've had a couple of challenges differentiating between species, such as the female Australasian Figged and the female Blue-faced Honeyeater but I think we have given fairly accurate statistics of what we have seen which will paint a picture of the birds in our area for Bird Life Australia.

Highlights for us were: 23 Australasian Figbirds, 1 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike,1 Nankeen Kestrel, 1 Whiskered Bulbul, 1 Rufous Fantail, 4 Torresian Imperial-Pigeons and 62 Rainbow Lorikeets. Except for the Lorikeets, these are ones we don't see very often.

A light lunch at home, Tabbouleh, stuffed capsicum, and a boiled egg, the lettuce is coming:)

Have a happy week my friends and keep smiling,

Bye for now,

Pauline

Carrot, Ginger and Turmeric Soup and some Birdwatching

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count

We've been doing some Bird Watching and twitching this week and entering our findings on the Aussie Backyard Bird Count app, which has been remarkably easy to use and a lot of fun. Unfortunately it finishes today. I missed doing it the on first two days, which didn't matter at all and then once I worked out how to use the app it was easy. Mr. HRK is the more knowledgeable twitcher in our family, however this has been great not only for contributing to a better understanding of  the populations of Australian birds and aiding with their conservation nationally, but also increasing my knowledge of the bird population in our very own backyard and frontyard. The watching and counting was done at 20 minute intervals, so armed with our Bird identification book and my phone on which the app is loaded, we sat out in the cool of the afternoon near the bird bath mostly, and managed to identify and name correctly all of the birds we saw. There is also a Bird Identification section on the app however I found it easier to use our book.

The following photos are the ones off the app, from just one of the sessions although photos didn't appear for the Torresian Imperial Pigeon or the Yellow Honeyeater. Each day we identified a couple of additional species and at this point in time in our backyard, we have sighted 17 different bird species, and 111 birds. Throughout Australia, 628 different species have been identified; 1,812,067 birds have been sighted; and 52,602 Checklists have been submitted. What a great effort.

Rainbow Lorikeet

Willie Wagtail

Magpie Lark

Australasian Figbird

Brown Honeyeater

Noisy Friarbird

Torresian Crow

Spotted Dove

It is quite exciting, that we also have the Figbirds, the Magpie Larks, the Friarbirds and the Brown Honeyeaters  nesting in trees in our yard. I'm pretty sure the Willy Wagtails are nesting very close as well. We do our best not to encourage the crows to take up residence, I hope that doesn't sound mean, however the Willy Wagtails ensure that the Crows don't hang around for long as well.



It might seem strange to you that I am also writing about soup as we enter into Summer here in our Great Southern Land. I made this when there were lingering rain showers, and the evenings were really cool. We had also been eating a lot of meat for various reasons, and I felt the need for as many healthy vegetables as possible and also healthy spices such as ginger and turmeric, which I have a lot of in my pantry. As carrots have been in abundance, and I had quite a few carrots still lurking in my frig, this soup came together nicely on a coolish night. This also reminds me of how our neighbours in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing cooler evenings now.

I hope you enjoy it and give it a try.

Carrot, Ginger and Turmeric Soup

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 red or white onion
2 tsp ground turmeric, or a piece of fresh root, about 2cm.
1 tbsp root ginger, chopped, about 35g will give the right amount of heat
2 garlic cloves, chopped (depending on the size of the clove)
500g carrots, thinly sliced or into chopped into 2cm chunks
400ml good quality, preferably homemade Chicken stock
Juice of 1 lime

Method:

Sweat the onion in olive oil with a large pinch of salt in a large pan, for 5 minutes
Add the turmeric, ginger and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.



Add the carrots and stir in the stock.



Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer covered, for about 25 minutes.
If you like a smoother soup and I do, blend the soup with a hand blender  until there are no lumps.
If you think the soup is too thick for your tastes, add the lime juice, more stock and water and then some organic Coconut Milk until it is the desired consistency.
It is nice to finish off the soup for serving with a swirl of Coconut Milk anyway.

Season with rock salt and white or black pepper to taste.
Serve with some chopped parsley or mint.

Best wishes

Pauline

A Peaceful Dove bringing life, hope and peace to our North Queensland Tropical garden at Christmas time

A ready built home for the family, with interior decorating included. Recycling at it's best. She's been sitting on her eggs for a couple of weeks.

A flimsy nest of twigs and grasses in the peg basket. Since this photo, there are now two eggs.

Happy Friday to my friends, and prepare to take a tour of my tropical garden. 

The birds, the edibles, and the ornamentals  bring our garden to life each day. We enjoy our morning cup of freshly brewed coffee on our patio before the heat of the day radiates to force us inside. However, salutations to our very maternal Peaceful Dove who continues to sit on her eggs in the peg basket on our Hills Hoist washing line,  through the heat of the day and the cool of the night. I am so conscious at times of her lying out there exposed to the elements. and I have even at times in the heat of the day moved the washing line around so that she is in the shade of the neighbouring Golden Penda Tree. Neil has firmly secured the peg basket to the washing line to ensure it doesn't blow to the ground during windy weather which happened last year, when she or another Peaceful Dove was siting on her eggs.  She is very used to us now, and doesn't fly off when we walk nearby or do the watering around her. She is now sitting on two eggs, when I took the earlier photo she was only sitting on one egg. It's a beautiful thing really to see her so bravely guarding her future offspring. We are looking forward to the eggs hatching, and hope it all goes well for her.

Yellow gerberas saluting the sun

Beautiful Vanda Robert Smith x Asca Thai Ruby flowering again after a few years. 11 years old. A senior citizen in the orchid world perhaps.

Bromeliads flowering at last like a torch 

Christmas flowering of lush and tropical Heliconia "Kawauchi", a relative of the banana

A miniature rainforest

Flowering Thumbergia loved by the birds

Italian and sweet basil, our future pesto ingredient

Caladiums in harmony with the Desert Roses

Crotons, Caladiums, Pentas in a tropical medley

Potted Oregano adjacent to the purple ground orchids and tarragon

Everflowering New Guinea bottlebrush tree, a haven for the nectar loving birds

Covered Turmeric and ginger patch emerging