MAKING A DIFFERENCE

My family and I left Britain to start a new life.  It was an exciting challenge moving to Italy with two young boys (5 and 7) no language skills to speak of and a dream of living a different life on a small olive farm and growing our own food.

Well we did it and our shambolic house which had no windows, electricity or running water is now comfortable, all on a tiny budget so heaps of imagination was required. Our wood for heating and cooking is all gathered from a local woodland and our electricity is solar powered.

We now need a second hand tractor as all dreams have to have some reality! An olive harvest by hand   Bringing in an olive harvest by hand is hard work, but if we can pull it off will give us a small amount of income to help sustain our lifestyle.

If you would like to be part of this dream read.....

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and?ref=live

THREE HUNDRED YEAR OLD TRADITIONAL YORKSHIRE PUDDING

For this recipe and others follow this link.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and

Now I love cooking, but these big beauties always seemed beyond me.  The Yorkshire Puddings always came out flat and not at all like the picture I am about to post.  Then I met and married my lovely husband, who is a Yorkshire Man!  The secret to a great Yorkshire Pudding was revealed and it is my absolutely pleasure to share the secret with you.  We are making these today as we do every Sunday.

INGREDIENTS

 

This makes around 12 of these lovely puddings.

 

4 oz flour

Pinch of Salt

2 Large Eggs

10 Fl oz of milk

Oil for Cooking

 

Mix the flour, eggs and salt together with a fork to a smooth mixture.

Add the milk and continue to mix in until smooth.

Now you have to get out your whisk and whisk away, the mixture will form a set of bubbles.  Set aside.

Every time you walk in the kitchen, give it another whisk until bubbles appear.  The more times you do this the lighter your Yorkshire Puddings will be.

Heat the oven to around 220 centigrade.  Put a drop of oil in each section of a pan similar to the above.

Put in the oven and heat until when you pull it out the oil is so hot, it is SMOKING!  This is the difference between a flat Yorkshire or a great big light and fluffy one!

When you are happy that it is hot enough, fill each section about a third of the way up.  It will sizzle as you put it in, if it does not then your fat is not hot enough.  Put straight in the oven, middle shelf and don't be tempted to look for at least 20 minutes (unless of course you have a glass door, then you can enjoy every moment).

Usually they take around 45 minutes.  Turn out and enjoy.

For this and more fantastic recipes get our recipe book for only £10.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and

 

A MAN OF METTLE'S NETTLE SOUP....

This fantastic recipe costs virtually nothing to make and is absolutely delicious.  The first time we made it for our boys, they were really scared as they were convinced it was going to sting their mouths.  Still makes me laugh when I think of it!  Now it is a regular at our dinner table.

For other fantastic recipes visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and?ref=live and for only £10.00 you can have 60 recipes from around the world.

What you will need

1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 potatoes
2 handfuls of cabbage
2 handfuls of nettleheads (young bright green!)
1 handful of chives
Salt and Pepper for seasoning
Vegetable Oil
1 litre of stock (veg or chicken stock cube)
1/4 pint single cream (for the swirl effect)

1  Peel and chop the potatoes, onion, garlic and fry them for 4 minutes in a large saucepan.
2. If you think you can do it, IF YOU ARE A MAN OF METTLE! squeeze the nettles with an iron grip, strip off the leaves and wash thoroughly.  Best to wear a pair of washing up gloves I find.  Add to the saucepan.
3.  Chop up the cabbage and chives, toss these in as well.
4.  Make up stock cube with a litre of boiling water.  Add to saucepan.
5.  Boil it all together until the potatoes are cooked then liquidize!!!!
6.  Return to heat and season with Salt and Pepper.  Make it a masterpiece with the cream.
7.  Enjoy

This recipes is thanks to Jessie Ryan Buchholtz who certainly was a man of mettle!!

FOR ALL YOU FOODIES OUT THERE

This is a brilliant opportunity to get your hands on our recipe book.  This book genuinely contains fantastic recipes handwritten by people who have visited our farm from different countries....... So we have everything from how to make absolutely excellent egg fried rice, to a beautiful tomato Indian curry and a traditional Yorkshire Pudding recipe, with all the secrets to get the biggest Yorkshire Pudding that will melt in your mouth.

The book is available on line, and can be yours for just £10.00

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and?ref=live

The above link will give you all the details..... and for a taster

VALENTINES

A GREAT VALENTINES IDEA

So come on all your romantics, what have you planned for Valentines Day?  We think we have come up with the perfect gift idea, you don't even have to leave your computer, house, or bed if you choose this gift.

Its a simple idea, we own an olive farm in Tuscany and our Valentines suggestion is to have you and your loved one's initials carved into one of our trees with a heart.  We have 600 trees and once they have a set of initials carved no-one else will share your tree.  It only costs £10 and you will be helping us aswell.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and?ref=live

The above link has all the details and what could be more romantic?

Great Valentines Gift

For only £10.00 you can have your initials carved in an Olive Tree on our Tuscan Farm in Italy.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900916787/tuscan-farms-very-first-olive-harvest-tractor-and?ref=discovery

Look at the £10.00 kickstarter reward for details.

Chick Chick Chick Chick Chicken, lay a little egg for me!

Chickens finally arrive at Tuscan Farm

It's funny, but the first thing I thought we would get when we moved to our olive farm in Italy were chickens.  I had this romantic view of them padding around our groves and clucking away.  Laying eggs every day, which at Easter would of course be hatched and turned into little perfect chicks. 

The cock would roost away, letting us know that all was well in the world and the sun would shine.

After a couple of months I went to see our neighbour, who had chickens and ducks (hadn't thought of ducks) how exciting!  Andrea gave me the low down on how to set up my coop and run so that my chickens would be safe and happy.

Not such an easy task, with no money and a lot of foxes to eat my livestock, this was serious stuff. 

With a house to renovate and 600 trees to prune, vegetables to grow and a whole list of stuff we hadn't even thought of, our chicken coop kept going on the back burner.

We did manage to make the enclosure, with chicken wire, buried around 6 inches under the ground to stop any predators getting in.  Then we looked around the coop and realised there were around 6 trees that a fox could easily climb and jump in.  We covered the top with olive netting.  The coop was built out of pallets, all recycled and the nesting boxes.  All taking time and effort. 

This Christmas we went to collect our Christmas tree from the farm up the hill, we always go there as they sell trees in pots, we put in the house for Christmas and then plant afterwards.  Lovely memories and we are building a fair collection of trees now.  Anyway, the guy had chickens.  They were beautiful and I said to Chris, I want chickens, how can we still not have chickens?  He smiled and said, 'it will happen, don't worry'.

Christmas Day finally arrives, all excitement at the presents, Henry had made me a chopping board, Erik a Spaghetti Measurer and the ball through the hole game.  Beautiful, made out of Olive Wood, from our own olive trees, beautifully crafted by my two little men and my husband.  Then Chris goes outside to 'get some more wood' and walks in with a big red box.  There was a definite scuffling sound, could it be...... I opened the box and there they were, at last, Tuscan Farm's first two chickens.  Now when will they lay eggs?