Pages

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Sustainability



Aim:
I want to find out how to grow a sustainable garden.

Things I need to consider:

  • Can the plants grow in our climate?
  • What plants can grow when you plant them in September?
  • How long do they take to mature? when can they be harvested?
  • How many mature plants will fit into my garden size?
  • How can I water them during the holidays?
  • How do I keep pests away?
Research

Look at some websites that you can find some plants that don't take long to grow
http://www.gardengrow.co.nz/zones/New%2BZealand%2B-%2Btemperate
I would like to grow

  • Beetroot, be ready in 7 - 10cm days, needs 7 - 10cm
  • Tomatoes, be ready in 60-120 days, needs 40-60cm
  • Silverbeet, be ready in about 50-85 days, needs 30-40 cm
  • Carrots, be ready in about 65-90 days, needs 5-30 cm

Drinks Bottle Watering Spike
This system will have holes in them and will let the water come out slowly.
http://www.allotment-garden.org/store/equipment/watering-and-irrigation/self-watering-systems



Glass Cloches - I need these!   The greenhouse effect. Four attractive glass covers in varying sizes to protect seedlings and young plants from insects and the cold. They look lovely in the house too!

https://nz.pinterest.com/faffects/plant-protection/

This will cover your plants to make sure pests don't get in, you can even use bigger bottles like milk bottles or more.

Equipment:
Scissors
Seeds
Plant area
Garden tools
Dirt
Sting
Stakes
Bottles/water
Measuring tape
Fertilizers

Instructions:

  • Measure out the space your using
  • Make sure there are no weeds and make sure theirs a good amount of dirt
  • Mix your dirt with the fertilizer and spread out
  • Plant your seeds









Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Making Biltong (Beef Jerky)


Aim: I want to find out how to make Biltong (Beef Jerky)
I want to find out how to prevent bacteria from growing on food


Method: The equipment I need to make biltong
Raw steak
A bowl of salt
Spices
String
Knif
A sheet of news paper

Instructions


  1. Set out your equipment
  2. Cut the raw meat into strips about 1-2cm wide
  3. Put some salt about 3 pinches all over the steak and push it in to the steak
  4. Repeat step 3 add salt and keep pushing it into the steak (you don't want it to be to covered in salt but you need quite a bit of salt you still want to be able to see some of the steak colour)
  5. Tie the string at the top of the steak with about 1-2cm to the top and tie it about 2 to 3 times (the string was about 50cm long)
  6. Tie the string up to a place that has some air flowing around the meat and make sure the meat is hunging down do it like a strip
  7. Make sure there is something under the meat because the meat will drip
  8. Leave the meat for about a week or maybe a few days more but make sure u leave it for at least 1 week depending on how thick your meat is but 1 week is good.

Explanation: How does salt prevent the meat from rotting? Salt absorbs water, so when you put it on food it absorbs the water from the food and the bacteria. So when the bacteria get de-hydrated they either hibernate or die. Cause water is essential for bacteria to live.





I see dark brown, hard, the fat has gone white and is hard but squishy, it still has a little bit of salt on it. The centre is dark brown with a slight red
I smell lamb chops that gets all over your hands, but it doesn't smell like raw meat so that's good.
It taste like a mouth full of salt, I don't really like it but its pretty good for first time

Discussion Why did we salt the meat? So that it could collect up the raw blonde so it could dry the meat so it wont rote and kill the bacteria
how do you kill bacteria? salt dehydrates meat in which bacteria needs water to live so the bacteria will no live and wont be able to live in the meat.