Sunday 'jamming' - grapefruit marmalade

before i start turning these 'locally grown' grapefruit into delicious marmalade, i did some research for recipe ideas. 

there are hundreds and thousands of recipes out there. some suggests that you slice the whole grapefruit before boiling, some suggests boiling it whole - skin, pith and all before slicing it, some suggests peeling the skin and discarding the white pith and some suggests soaking the peels overnight etc. 

apparently, the more pith you leave on the grapefruit, the more bitter your marmalade would taste. after reading all the different recipes, i decided to use the same recipe as the cumquat marmalade i made last week except this time i peeled the skin of the grapefruit and cut them into strips. i also cut away the thick white pith before cutting the grapefruit flesh into chunks and i added 2 lemons to it too.

after 2 hours of medium simmer, the peels finally soften and the chunky flesh becomes a pulpy mess. 

i added 8 cups of sugar and let the marmalade simmer away stirring it occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning. i watched as the colour of the marmalade went from light yellow to orange and finally, a deep amber. 

2 more hours of medium simmer later, the marmalade is finally ready. it definitely tastes different from the cumquat marmalade i made last week. it has a deeper flavour with a distinct bitterness to it. it is definitely an adult taste. 

i managed to bottle 6 jars in total and i gave one away to Myfanwy when she came by for afternoon tea today. i kept two for ourselves and the rest will be gifted. 

Jim is having them with some toasts tomorrow. 

setting up a worm farm - part three

we've got worms!! 

last weekend, my patience ran out so we finally bought a box of worms and added them to our worm farm. 

we bought the smallest box we could find which came with approximately 500 worms. most website suggests that we start with 1000 worms but i'm not confident with this new worm farm of mine so we decided to start with a small amount of worms. 

before i added the worms, i added another layer of shredded newspapers, some food scraps and a layer of cow manure. 

the worms have been in their new home for a week and i haven't fed them any food scraps apart from the two layers i added to their bedding when setting up the worm farm. i've been checking on them almost daily. some of them were hanging out on the top layer on the first few days because i could see them as i lifted the hessian to check on them. towards the end of the week, most of them have moved into the lower layer as i could hardly see one when I lifted the hessian. this is hopefully a good sign?!? 

i hope the wormies like their new home and will start munching on the food scraps in no time. according to the box which the worms came in, i'm now an 'enthusiastic environmentalist'! ha! 

// no worms in sight as they burrow deep into their new home //

// all snugged under the hessian blanket //

setting up a worm farm - part two

so last weekend we bought our two containers and Jim drilled holes at the bottom, the sides and the lid of one of the containers. 

we also found a spot for the worm farm in our backyard where there is no direct sunlight and the containers would be raised from the ground. 

i shredded some newspapers and scattered them at the bottom of the container (the one with holes). then a layer of veggie scraps are scattered over the newspapers. i sprayed the bedding with some water so that the newspaper is moist. the last layer of bedding to prepare before i add the worm would be some dirt but i don't wanna use those from the garden so we set off to bunnings to get me a box of worm and also a bag of compost/potting mix/whatever they recommend. 

we got our box of worms and asked the store's horticulturalist what type of soil/dirt i should get to add to my worm farm. he said i don't need anything. all i need is about 10cm of compost material and a box of worm. he suggested that i accumulate enough veggie scraps/compost material first before buying the worms or they'll just die if I put them in my current worm farm. i was wondering to myself, isn't 10cm of compost/veggie scraps too much food for the worms? 

so off we went, with no worms. 

i did more research and the current bedding i've prepared seems to be fine but most worm farm experts do recommend that i wait 1-2 weeks once the bedding is ready before introducing the worms to it. 

now, patience is not one of my strongest virtue and i really want to get this worm farm up and running already. yesterday i checked on my worm farm with no worms and found lots of fruit flies. i'm not sure if this is expected? 

what i'm planning to do now is to add another layer of shredded newspaper and another layer of veggie scraps i've accumulated throughout the week. one of the worm farming gurus suggested that i freeze and thaw the veggie scraps before adding them to the worm farm as they would be easier to break down. 

to get my box of worm this time, i'm going to the local nursery instead. now the question is, do i wait another week or shall i go ahead and get them worms this weekend??  surely, worm farming is not rocket science?!? 

setting up a worm farm - part one

i've heard great things about a worm farm and setting one up at home has been on my mind for awhile. 

generally, avid gardeners/home veggie growers set up worm farm in their garden to help produce fertiliser/feeds for their garden. while i'm not an avid gardener nor do i have a veggie patch, i do like the idea of a worm farm. it feels like if i have a worm farm, i'm reducing my carbon footprint and my chilli plants, lemon tree and herbs can really do with some fertiliser. 

another reason why i finally decided to look into worm farming is our compost bin is broken and i think the rodents have been helping themselves to my veggie scraps. the last thing i want is a rodent plague in my house! in fact, our compost bin has not been working properly for some time despite my best effort to do my bit for the environment by composting everything i can. so i decided it was time to set up a worm farm.

a ready made worm farm would set me back $85 and this does not include live compost worms. then i looked into diy worm farm and after three youtube videos, i think i managed to grasp the concept of a worm farm and i think i should be able to build one (with Jim's help) from scratch without a ready made kit. 

we found two 54 litres containers from Kmart today, one with lid and one without, $19 for both. now the next thing is for Jim to drill some holes on one of the containers, to find a spot in the garden for the worm farm, a box of live worms and some veggie scraps!