Garden, Kitchen and Veranda

A Season of Abundance

2011-12-21T18:33:00.001+10:30

This season seems to offer a abundance of life.The flowers have been stunning. The chestnuts are heavy in flower and their scent permeates the whole area.Clouds of common brown butterflies form wavers as they emerge from the cover of the grass to feed on the nectar , chestnuts,buddleias and bottlebrushes are on the top of their menu.The bees are also busy around the same flowers along with hoverflies,wasps and other beneficial insects.

All the fruit trees are laden with fruit which really needs thinning if I could muster the time as the berries are keeping us busy, a bumper crop. A bit of a shock after a number of drought years but 2 average winters have now produced abundance.The Christmas customers will be happy as we can fill all their orders and more.

The sugar plum in the goose pen was groaning under the weight of the crop but the rainbow lorikeets are stripping it , the geese,chooks and dogs compete for the fallen ones but I still cant find one ripe enough to eat.They will soon ripen and there will be enough for everyone.

The Rhode Island Red flock rapidly expanded over spring starting with an incubated batch to be closely followed by plenty of broody hens to choose from. Three where selected to sit so now we have 30+ apprentices scratching around in the orchards, wood heap and mulch pile.One hen brought her chicks down to forage in and around the house garden. They were specifically trained to remove the mulch from the gardens and leave it on the footpaths!

As evening falls all the small bats that live under our veranda come out to forage on insects, they too have experienced a population explosion as observed by them setting out each evening and the amount of droppings left on the veranda.

On the negative side a family of kookaburras have lost their home (no doubt many other species also) to more greed where a bush block (around 3 acres) a few doors up has been levelled including the house, no doubt to be to be replaced by a ‘Mac Mansion’

While the opposite occurs with our neighbouring property which carries a ground fuel load of around 10+ tons per hectare (max limit 4 tons) and they only bother carry out token maintained when forced to by local government, which don’t have the political will to enforce fuel reduction and suitable fire breaks and just accepts token attempts by landholders year after year.So every time their is a major fire we have to have a royal commission and then nothing changes , another fire ,another enquiry nothing happens!!! Meanwhile in a season of abundance the fire risk is also increased. So now everyone has a fire plan? Most will leave rather than carrying out their responsibility to the land, endangering wildlife, vegetation,our orchards and income and other resident and their properties.

Winter slowly subsides

2011-09-09T13:54:00.001+09:30

After a busy and productive harvest season , my newly rebuilt north facing shed was ready for me to do the internal fit out so I could snuggle up on bleak winter days to create a basket or two. Its payed off, as well as being the greatest way to add another creative element to gardening ,keeping active in winter I scooped the pool at the Royal Adelaide Show in the basketry section with my creations.

.Bread n’ cheese won best basket overall

Spring happens slowly here and is often unpredictable but the tunnel house continues to supply food for the table . The fruit type vegetables have, as usual been planted in the propagator (2days before the August full moon.) to get a head start before being planted out on the new moon in October.This winter we enjoyed a regular supply of small red and yellow capsicums. I've found they do 2 seasons well in the tunnel a this summer (2nd season) they will produce the most ripe ones from early in the season til the end.I’ll also plant some new ones for the following year to keep up the supply.

even the wild life are slow at this time of year.

The geese are predictable as ever busy sitting and we expect hatching to begin soon.A few of the RIR hens decided to go broody but where not prepared to sit when given a private residence and clutch of eggs . – So the incubator was cranked up and we will have chicks by the end of the month.

The changeable weather means the many spring jobs have to slot in between downpours. Fitting in the willow house pruning was a bit the same with several attempts washed out. The hills basket group came along with a mini scaffold which proved very helpful and the job was completed. This group’s meetings are one of the highlight gathering of each month. A relaxing , iinspiring and productive day sharing skills, stories, recipes and of course yummy shared lunches.

Deb’s shed

Berries -Creating food traditions

2011-01-31T14:38:00.001+10:30

Australia being a young country made up of many cultures as an ever changing food traditions.Each region , even parts of regions have very different seasons and range of produce that grow and so develop their own recipes and way of using foods. Unfortunately if you pick up a magazine or heaven forbid see a TV cooking show you can almost grantee the regional seasonal foods are missing or worse they are among a vast array of ingredients (usually ingredients that are not in season at the same time)designed to kill off any fresh subtle flavours.

Early Summer here in the Adelaide Hills is usually about berries, as well the orchard produces a wonderful perfume from the chestnut and linden flowers and waves of common brown butterflies and dragonflies fill the air.The vegies are just starting with an abundance of fresh greens, carrots, beans and the first of the Richmond green cucumbers.

When people think of berries they usually think in terms of adding cream, ice-cream or toping a pavlova.(this is what our customers tell us ) a lot of recipe books cook, sieve or sauce thus loosing all those fresh subtle flavours. I prefer to enjoy them as they are usually at room temperature.

Here at Nirvana they form an important ingredient that adds something special to a wide variety of foods.

Raspberries- go well in green salads. add great flavour as well as colour as they are ready long before tomatoes

Red & White Currants- add unique tarty sweetness and colour. go well in green salads, or with carrots. Use in fruit punches or to decorate drinks and cakes

Blackcurrants-are magic in a green salad as they add a real zing.

Gooseberries- add tang and crunch to green salad. they are great on the barbie.Just as the rest of the food is cooked roll on a handful.The skin is quite tough so can withstand the heat.They are ready just as the skin starts to blister.A nice little fruit bomb. Goes well with meat or fish.

Similarly they can be added to stir fries in the same way.

Cracking Good Time

2010-12-17T14:13:00.003+10:30

Growing nuts is one thing, being able to make the most of the bounty and having a good supply for the kitchen needs good equipment.There are many types of nutcrackers some work and others may be total duds and a waste of effort.

While staying with a friend in France, we visited her parents and her mother gave me this great nutcracker. She said it was Swiss made so of excellent quality. (She was Swiss) She was right and its so efficient to use. It does not matter how large or small the walnut or hazelnuts it does a great job.

I have seen similar nut crackers in Australia – they are often promoted as champagne openers. I think there are easier ways of opening champagne.

Macadamias present a challenge. There shells are extremely hard. I used a hammer where as Quentin preferred to use vice grips.Both method were very slow and inefficient so the harvest of macas just sat in storage and where cracked only in small quantities usually only to make pesto. Recently we brought a Queensland made macadamia nutcracker… Wow it works so well. The hinged long handle makes it so easily to crack the macas so now we are using them as fast as they are harvested and dried. In our climate a lot of nuts fall off with the green outer shell still on and uncracked these where a pain to remove before drying but the maca cracker does this job as well. For more info http://www.tjsnutcrackers.com/

November in the Garden

2010-11-13T12:41:00.001+10:30

Now the teaching season is over, the orchard weeding almost caught up I can, weather permitting get stuck into the gardens around the house including the vegetable garden. Its been an ‘average season’ which is great as we have had a several drought years where there was no subsoil moisture. The plants especially the trees have responded well and look lush and happy. The flowers have been abundant as have the bees.

The Elder is abundant with flowers. Yesterday I made a batch of elderflower cordial and next week a couple of batches of elderflower champagne.

In the vegie garden the main seasonal harvest is of broad beans and asparagus. While many of the winter vegies are going to seed (many to be saved) there are still plenty of greens,the last of the carrots, the peas are almost ready, the garlic is looking good as is my crop of rye , planted to make a traditional dough raising basket from the straw and a few grains of rye for the bread as well. The new crops of tomatoes, capsicums, eggplant, cucumbers and pumpkins all grown from seed planted back in August in the tunnel house have been planted out and excess given away. Regular seed planting continues (see sidebar for what I plant). Overall from now til Autumn is regular plantings, harvests and a little watering to provide a majority of our vegie needs. Out in the orchards the fruit set is looking good so hopefully it will be a more productive harvest than last year.

Garlic, Broad Beans , Rye	Broad Beans
Asparagus	November Plantings
Nasturtiums	Herb Garden

SPRING WORKSHOPS TO INSPIRE A PRODUCTIVE HOME GARDEN

2010-07-30T16:37:00.001+09:30

Nirvana Organic Farm offers gardeners a chance to share Deb’s 30+ years of experience in creating a productive landscape in a unique and beautiful living classroom.

COMPOSTING AND MULCHING

Sunday, September 5th

9.00 - 12 30 $45

Principles of composting and mulching, techniques and materials used and how they can be used most effectively on your garden or farm.

ORGANIC VEGETABLESFOR YOUR TABLE

Sunday, September 12^th

9.00—12.30 $45

Practical guide to establishing and maintaining a productive and healthy

vegetable garden.

BIO- DYNAMIC AGRICULTURE

BEYOND ORGANICS

Improve your soils water holding capacity.

A one day course to introduce the practical concepts of the biodynamic methods to farmers and gardeners.

The Bio -Dynamic method is a modern organic method that creates a holistic approach to building healthy soil, plants animals and humans.

The course covers history, concept of a living organism, soils, compost, special preparations that enhance nature and equipment required.

Sunday, Sept 19^th 2010. 8.30 am. -4.30 pm. Cost: $110

Includes: notes, lunch, Membership of Adelaide Hills Biodynamic Group

INTRODUCTION TO MOON PLANTING AND USING THE PLANTING CALENDAR

Sunday, September 26^th 9.00-12.30 $45

Working with the rhythms of nature can develop your skills in fine tuning your garden and can add a new dimension to your gardening experience

ORGANIC FRUIT, NUTS & BERRIES.

Sunday, October 10^th

9.00 -12.30 $45

Practical guide to orcharding. Includes establishment, soils, ground covers, maintenance & pruning.

POULTRY KEEPING.

Sunday October 17th

9.00 pm – 12.30 $45

All you need to know about getting started with poultry. Includes selection, housing, feeding, breeding, pests.

WEAVING A BIT OF MAGIC

Sunday October 24^th

9am – 4pm

$110

.The ideal way to recycle your garden prunings. This introduction to natural fibre weaving will show you the essential techniques, suitable plants & other materials to make baskets, fences, or trellises.

Course includes all materials, lunch, morning & afternoon tea.

To enrol click here or get further Information

phone Deb or Quentin 8339 2519

Winter in the polyhouse

2010-07-05T22:52:00.001+09:30

The winter garden excels in quality and taste . The winter chill produces sweet crunchy carrots, parsnips, turnips, beetroot and salsify all planted in February and March ,all perfect for winter stews, soups and roasts. The range of greens is equally impressive but the cold has slowed their growth to the extent that they are not growing as fast as we (and the chooks) consume them. Crunchy salads are part of most meals even in winter.To ensure a continual supply of crisp greens I move some seedling from the garden into the polyhouse.

It is amazing how a thin piece of plastic can change the growing conditions. Wind chill and cold temperatures outside, inside toasty warm.The polyhouse is 7 x 4 metres and contains around 15 square metres of in ground growing space and a propagating area. The beds are 80cm wide –one goes around the edge and then there are 2 beds in the centre.Between the beds are narrow 30 cm paths made from tiles and pavers. These help define the beds and add some thermal mass as well. Increasing the thermal mass using water storage works well to collect the passive heat when the polyhouse is hot and releasing the energy when it cools.

Gardeners are the guardians of the plants in the gardens they create. In the natural environment of the plant world is created with beauty and purity. In the polyhouse the gardener has to provide the same wisdom to bring about a sense of beauty , develop a healthy ecosystem and reflect order throughout.This is an artificial environment established to grow plants.

Tips to ensure a healthy growing environment in the polyhouse.

The polyhouse is the opposite to the composting area and as growing is the opposite to decaying the inside of the polyhouse has to be kept clean.

All dead plant material should be removed to the compost .
Keep windows and walls clean remove algae and grime.
treat woodwork to prevent decay .
Keep clear of things that do not belong.

WATER Rain needs to be replaced in this artificial environment. Water sustains plant life and combined with light and warmth determines growth rates. Humidity needs to be controlled without developing fungal diseases. Water can be supplied via hoses, drippers , sprinklers or watering can .The garden beds have both a dripper system and a sprinkler mounted on the roof can be a substitute for rain drops. These are mainly used in the warmer weather where as in winter a watering can is sufficient.

Winter watering is best done first thing in the morning and leaves need to be dry by sunset to avoid plant diseases.A good rule is to water every sunny day-as it increases humidity , sunny days increase air temperature and raise evaporation of the soil.

During the warmer months the watering is more demanding and the drippers and sprinkler are both utilized for humidly , temperature control as well as irrigation.

SOIL I prefer to grow my plants in quality soil of good tilth, developed by adding quality humus rich compost. The biodynamic preparations are all used, after all I’m growing our food and to be of any value to our body and mind it needs to be nourished by the earth.

Soil in the polyhouse is a challenge to manage as there is no rain to develop the soil and artificial watering is never the same. The soil has a tendency to compact with artificial watering and hot +30o C cause the soil to mineralize especially if there is not enough moisture available.

Because this is an artificial environment I always add fresh compost to the beds before each crop. The compost has to be broken down to humus as growing is the opposite to decaying.Artificial environments can cause all sorts of problems if the soil is not managed. The soil needs some light cultivation every now and then to counter act the compaction.I use a ho-mi or just my fingers to lightly tickle the soil.

Over summer a heavy straw mulch is required to protect the soil. This should be removed when the weather cools.

USING BIODYNAMIC METHODS IN THE POLYHOUSE. The soil is enriched with biodynamic compost as well the full range of preparations are use . In practice the best way is to treat the polyhouse at the same time as your doing the outside gardens.When seedling are transplanted dilute liquid manure (mostly nettle,barrel compost and casuarina )is watered on for the first 3 days.

In addition use a range of sprays to support and strengthen growth forces.The plants are offered forces inherent in spray materials which work to overcome the deficiency of sun forces in the polyhouse.This results in maintaining plant growth healthy enough to shrug off diseases and undesirable insects.

The sprays are used in small amounts –a light mist spray is sufficient.A weekly spray of either valerian (BD507) nettle tea,camomile tea, casuarina.Each is stirred biodynamically for 10 minutes. I stir a couple of drops in 250ml water in a little bowl and use a simple household spray bottle.

ECO SYSTEM As we are working with an artificial environment it important to develop a balanced ecosystem to overcome weakness that occur. The bigger the diversity of plants the better- always add some flowers.Observe and encourage all forms of life which live in harmony with our cultivated crops, wild life like skinks, frogs, spiders, wasps and other beneficial insects can all be welcomed and given micro environments where they belong. Put containers of water and somewhere to hide like a rock or pipe.

THE GARDENER The plants and their environment is entirely dependent upon the gardener. Good observation of the growing plants soil and fulfilling their needs.The gardener needs to have a picture of quality produce to aim for.

While not growing out of season but by enhancing the conditions and growing the same seasonal vegetables you can have a good supply of fresh green to go with the other vegies growing outside. Working in the polyhouse is pleasant during our cold winter,getting it right is rewarding. Over the years I’ve seen my tunnel garden develop into a productive garden and using the above principles have never had either fungus or insect damage to my plants.

Preparing the Home Vegetable Garden for Winter.

2010-04-28T15:34:00.002+09:30

As the weather finally cools the Summer vegies come to an end its now time to ensure a bountiful supply of vegies throughout winter an well into Spring.The garden has been largely ignored over the past month or so save for harvesting meal by meal and planting as we have been busy with chestnut harvest and relocating the shed.Now its time to harvest the last of the tomatoes, pumpkins, basil ,zucchinis and beans and then plan the winter –spring garden. I also have to ensure there is enough vacant space to bury the biodynamic compost preparations.

Many of the winter goodies where planted as seeds in February and now need to be transplanted into their own space these include cauliflowers,kale, cabbage and broccoli.The tunnel house has been planted with lettuce,mache, chard and miners’ lettuce . On the next new moon seedlings from the garden can be transplanted into the tunnel. Although all these vegies grow outside in the garden it is amazing how much extra heat one thin bit of plastic can provide.This means everything grows faster and sweeter than out in the Adelaide Hills cold. By regularly transplanting vegies a continual harvest is achieved especially for greens. slower growing brassicas also benefit.While out in the garden parsnips,turnips,carrots, beetroot and the rest of the brassicas can develop.

Cultured Activities

2010-03-09T16:40:00.001+10:30

In the early 80’s I always made my own yogurt. I had a dacor yogurt maker, fairly simple an esky with a 1 litre glass jar and thermometer it always made good yogurt and the next batch was started from the previous.We then met up with the folks from Paris Creek Dairy , they where just starting out so it was a good idea to support them so I sold the yogurt maker and we bought yogurt. Over the years we consumed more and more yogurt Paris Creek for on cereals, yogurt cakes,potato salad. Jalana on pancakes,as a cream subistute. One of the problems is all those plastic containers , I know they make good plant labels and my plastic container cupboards and freezer are full of them but at 2 a week they start to mount up , sure you can put them in the recycle bin but I’d rather not have them.

We are very lucky to buy our milk, unparerised direct from the only dairy left in our district. They have a honour system get the milk from the fridge and leave your money. At $4 for 2 litres its dearer than the crappy stuff at the supermarket. You Know most goes direct to the farmer the rest in bottle washing and replacements. It is sold in 2 litre glass flagons that you return when empty (no storage space or bin required ) and the taste, well how milk should taste ,rich creamy and wholesome. The seasons are reflected through the subtle changes in flavour something you’d never notice in supermarket milk.

Since we have such good milk I was thinking about making yogurt again. A visit to Maggie & Bobs confirmed this as we tasted a lemon and rose sparkling drink and milk fermented with kifir and Maggie said she was trying yogurt and had read several tips on various blogs . So I decided it was time to restart yogurt culturing after all it was so easy.

So I made a batch how I remembered , bring milk to boil then drop down to around 40oC, add some yogurt and put in a warm place. I used and esky and put stubby holder around the jars and left them overnight. They worked Ok and tasted fine but were quite runny(made good yogurt cakes) It seemed to me they needed the heat sustained longer so I dusted off the heat pad plant propagator to use but Quentin suggested putting them in with the brewing beer. The beer is brewed in an old solid wooden sewing cabinet that opens at the side and also at the top so the beer can be siphoned out the top . This means the brew bin does not have to be moved so sediment stays on the bottom and does not end up in the bottles.It is also fitted with a light globe that keeps it at 30oC

Yogurt keeping warm in their ‘crows’* stubbie holders**	Yummy yogurt
Home brew area.	Crow yogurts keeping warm by keeping close to bubbling beer.

Lingo for non South Australians

*Crows - Adelaide’s Australian Rules football team. They won the AFL premiership in 1997 & 1998.

**Stubbie Holder-. An insulated cover to keep 325 ml bottles of beer cold and keep your hands warm while holding ice cold beer.

Footballers and supporters have an affinity with beer.

The scientist in me insisted on a trial of different yogurts.I used 3 x 300ml jars .Easy to clean,reusable and useful size for us. I tried Maggies suggestion ( she read it on a blog somewhere.) That you can to freeze commercial yogurt in ice cubes and use it as a starter. I did this with some Paris Creek Swiss Style using I ice cube still frozen, I also used 1 tablespoon of Paris Creek Greek style and 1 tablespoon of Jalna Biodynamic whole milk yogurt. All jars where filled with Pine Heights milk that had been brought to the boil then cooled to 40oC. They where stirred, lids and jumpers fitted and put in the brew box and left overnight. They where left this long as it was easy and we like it tangy.Next morning they where all set nice and firm. Each tasted like their starter. I liked the Jalna best as its tangy where as Quentin liked the Paris Creek Swiss Style with a mild flavour.Now I can freeze some starters and make a range of yogurts anytime.

Tomatoes …a few thoughts

2010-03-04T14:16:00.002+10:30

Every gardener have their own theories and growing methods.I grow mine in the same bed every year (This is the 6th year). This seems a no no according to Adelaide garden experts but I met many older , mostly Italian gardeners who grow them in the same place every year. In small gardens this is often necessary. I grow all my own seeds either from my own seeds or in the beginning ,Franchi seeds in my own seed raising mix made from my compost and leaf mulch from under the camellia tree. Seeds are planted 2 days before the August full moon.Seedlings are planted out on the September new moon into the tunnel house and the October new moon into the garden. the garden is prepared at least 4 weeks in advance with my best biodynamic compost, lime and wood ash.as my compost is sawdust based ‘raw’ in not really an option.During the first month they receive 3 lots of nettle tea. I use cages to grow them in but by the end of the season they are often trailing out of these. The first ripe tomatoes appear by the end of December in the tunnel house and by late January/ early February. This year however the tunnel house was abandoned after the November heatwave cooked everything in there.Harvest extends well into April and sometimes May.

Rudolf Steiner Agriculture

“Now, there is still one especially important subject I want to mention. I would like to ask you to carry out very precise experiments this area, experiments which can also be extended to include human beings, if they happen to like this food. You know that tomatoes were introduced as a food only relatively recently. Many people are very fond of them, but they arc also an extraordinarily important thing to study. You can learn an extraordinary amount by studying tomato production and consumption. People who have given the matter a bit of thought — and there certainly are such people nowadays — believe hat tomato consumption is highly significant for human beings. This true, and it could also be said for animals, for it would be quite possible for animals to get used to eating tomatoes.

Tomatoes have a significant effect on everything that tends to separate itself from the organism and develop an independent organization within the body. Two things follow from this. On the one hand, it confirms the statement of an American researcher, namely, that under certain circumstances, adding tomatoes to the diet can have a beneficial effect on an unhealthy human liver. Because the liver is the organ that works most independently in the human body, when the liver is diseased, especially in animals, it could also be treated in general with tomatoes. Here we gain insight into the relationship between plants and animals. On the other hand, therefore — let me say this in parenthesis — people diagnosed as having cancer should immediately be forbidden to eat tomatoes, because cancer from its very inception makes a certain part of the human or animal body independent of the rest of the organism.

But now we need to ask ourselves, why tomatoes in particular have such a strong effect on everything that tends to be independent, on everything that specializes and separates itself off from the rest of the organism? This tendency is directly related to what tomatoes prefer and require for their own growth. Tomatoes feel most at home when they are given manure or compost that is as dose as possible to the form in which it comes from the animal or other source. They prefer raw compost that hasn’t had much chance to he transformed through natural processes. If you just throw all kinds of scraps together onto an untidy heap, and give the heap no further treatment or preparation you’ll find that the most beautiful tomatoes will grow there. And it you were to use compost made from tomato plants, that is, if you were to let the tomatoes grow in their own compost, they would grow even better. Tomatoes have no desire to step outside of themselves, no desire to step outside of the realm of strong vitality. That’s where they want to stay. They arc the least social beings in the entire plant kingdom They do not want anything from strangers, and above all, they do nor want any fertilizer that has gone through a composting process; they reject all that. This is the reason that they can influence what works independently within the human or animal organism.

And in this respect, potatoes are somewhat similar to tomatoes They too act extremely independently, that is to say, they tend to pass very easily through the whole digestive process and then enter the brain and make it independent; they make it independent even of the influences of the other organs in the human body. From the time potatoes were first grown in Europe, excessive potato consumption has contributed toward making human beings and animals materialistic We should eat only enough potatoes so that our brain and our head in general are stimulated. Potato consumption in particular should not be overdone. Knowing these things brings agriculture into intimate relationship with society in an objective way. And this is what is so important, that agriculture he related to the whole of social life.”

Here is what Carol Williams says about tomatoes in one of my favourite books, Bringing a Garden to Life.

“When there is no more chance of frost, it is time to set out tomato plants. There is more lore about growing tomatoes than about any garden plant I know. I think this is because even after four hundred years of cultivation in the northern hemisphere, tomatoes still have an exotic, magic quality—their fruit so invitingly shiny and scarlet, yet a bit poisonous when green, their growth rampant and wild. Gardeners think they have to trick them into submission.

Tomatoes, unlike other garden plants, can thrive in their own debris. I grow mine in the same bed far several years.. (If I had tomato pests or diseases 1 would move them, but this has not yet happened.) Too much manure will make tomatoes put out many leaves but not much fruit; a little is all right, mixed with half— rotted compost and perhaps some wood ash. The small plants need to be set deeply into the ground, a little at a slant, to grow strong roots. If several pairs of leases have already formed, one can snip oft all hut the top pair and bury the stem it will become root.”

In ‘Growing Bio-Dynamic Vegetables under Australian Condition’ Charley Sievers has this to say:

“A special gross feeder, special in that they like raw manure and tolerate few other plants It really is very bad to plant them near peaches. Besides raw manure they like compost made from tomatoes waste. Give a Valerian 507 seed bath and sow the usual way into seed boxes. Spray 500 after sowing. When planting seedlings into final place make a sloppy mix from fresh cow manure and 500, put roots of seedlings into plant hole, pour in a little of the sloppy mixture, then press soil around roots, so the plant stands up firmly. Give another application of 500 when plants are ready to move and 501 just before the first flowers are expected. Give one or two applications of 500 and 501 combined in late afternoon during fruiting season. Sow on a fruit day. Spray 501 on a fruit day.

Make the bed a fixture outside your vegetable garden and use this year in, year out for your tomatoes.

Parsley is a companion plant for tomatoes and is grown on the tomato bed, but each year on a different spot.

If the permanent bed is in front of a shed or house wall facing north they will do exceptionally well.”

Nirvana tomatoes drying.

Catching Up

2010-02-15T16:17:00.001+10:30

The first part of the year is always busy with harvests, irrigation, pruning, weeding and wwoofer’s on top of harsh weather conditions that often reduces suitable work hours. As well this year I’ve also been busy preparing for our Basketry SA exhibition, ‘Warp on the Wild Side’ as part of the Adelaide Fringe. My pieces are large and finding suitable places to store them has been problematic. Having a small has many advantages but with the spare bedroom being used by wwoofer’s, to the packing shed/classroom is busy packing out berries there is little space to store a collection of large basketry works –time for another shed. As karma would have it , advertised in the local paper there was a shed –buyer to dismantle. It was a hexagon with double glass doors. After purchasing it and checking out the logistics of getting it down Quentin and his mate Steve set off with all the required tools to dismantle it. Unfortunately I could not help as i had been pre booked to give a composting talk at the Mitcham Library. Next morning all the shed bit where transported home to be stored ready to reassemble in the future.

Meanwhile I started preparing the site by re potting the plants I wanted to keep , stacking the rocks and pavers ready for the redevelopment. Woofer’s Niels and Bart dug out the picnic tables so they could be relocated.The joy of the Hills is that nothing is level –so that's the next step.

The vegetable garden has been steadily producing salad goodies. The tomatoes are coming on fast now but the cucumbers are still a bit slow. The beetroot, carrots and beans have been excellent this season . While the garden beds have been busily producing the weeds have taken over the footpaths.The sawdust on the paths have turned to soil . I spent about two thirds of today clearing all the paths and ended up with a large pile of roots and plants to be stored ready for the next compost. My next job will be to add the rotted down sawdust on to the bed and recover the paths with sawdust.

Compost Material

February is the red month, as well as the tomatoes ripening my hand seem to be constantly red from mulberries and beetroot.

Here are a couple of our favourite February red dishes.

Beetroot Risotto

Serves 2 as a main course .

3 cups stock –I use goose but any light stock is good.

1 tablespoon butter

1 red onion-finely chopped -we had a good harvest of these.

2-4 cloves of garlic –finely chopped

2 cups grated raw beetroot

1 cup Arborio rice

salt & pepper

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.

Bring stock to boil in saucepan and then keep it at a simmer. put another saucepan close to the stock. add butter and onion, cook over low heat until it has softened. Add the garlic and beetroot cook for 3 minutes stirring then add the rice and mix well.Add ladle of stock and salt and pepper.Stir until the stock is almost absorbed then add another ladle of stock.Continue until all the stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente,(tender but firm ) around 15 minutes. Mix in cheese and serve.

Mulberry Pizza

This is a sweet pizza and a variation on Schiacciata made with grapes which is delicious also.

500 grams of your favourite bread dough proved and ready to roll out.

500 grams fresh mulberries (or grapes)

1/4 cup raw sugar.

Oil a a flat tray.Divide the dough in half and roll out the first of 2 bases . Place on tray and spread half the mulberries, leaving space between them.Sprinkle with some sugar.Roll out second base and lay it over the first layer like a sandwich, pushing down around the edge to seal it.

Add more mulberries, pushing them in the valleys and sprinkle with sugar.Bake in a hot oven at 220 C for about 30 minutes or til cooked through.Good served hot or cold.

Herbs and more

2009-11-17T09:32:00.006+10:30

One of our greatest joys is going out the back door and being greeted by the herb garden. This vibrant herb garden was transformed from a drab ‘lawn’. This area also provides a great place to sit under the shade of the honeysuckle and share a drink on a hot afternoon.

We are keeping it well watered at present as our bushfire plan includes keeping the 3 sides of the house where the main fire risk comes from green by regular watering. This also has helped keep the house cool during the current heatwave .

The vegies are growing well but the hot weather has made it difficult for the seeds to germinate. Shade is needed to keep the area damp and increase the humidity to allow for germination. The strawberries are producing bumper crops but the asparagus has finished.

The rest of the house garden are also filled with plenty of colour, scents and life.

At least the hot weather allows me to get some sowing done as well as more basketry projects

IT ALL STARTS WITH A SEED

2009-09-16T14:37:00.004+09:30

With its memory of the past
And it’s potential for the future

To celebrate Spring I have made this sculpture for the vegetable garden.

These seeds, when planted in humus rich soil will bring forth abundant food and sustainable lifestyle so long as you tread gently on our earth, seek to understand the earthly rhythms and your part in the cosmos.

Green manure crop

2009-09-06T14:45:00.008+09:30

The green manure crop of oats and peas, planted in May has now been returned to the earth.

Rather than digging it in I prefer to cut it down. I use a brushcutter with a steel blade this gives a clean sharpe cut and leaves the grass long.

By cutting it down the roots are retained in the soil and breakdown very quickly while the tops form mulch which protects the soil, holds in the moisture all of which encourages the earthworms and micro organisms.

It is then treated with biodynamic barrel compost (also known as cow pat pit or ccp) This year I developed a home garden method of making this so all biodynamic home gardeners can have their own supply. To use this I took 20grams of the barrel compost and stirred it (using the usual biodynamic method) in 5 litres of warm water for 20 minutes in the afternoon when the earth is breathing in.

IN THE VEGIE GARDEN

There are still good harvests of cabbage, turnips, carrots, celery, kale , broccoli, mustard greens, lettuce, mache, miners lettuce ,chard/silverbeet, parsnips, swede, chicory, leeks, broad beans tops, endive, fennel,

beetroot, spring onions and arugula.

The garlic and onions are growing well

. Monthly planting occur all year round to ensure a continual harvest.

The herb garden is now well established and looks much better than the 'lawn' it replaced. .

The early seeds of tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkin and cucumbers planted with bottom heat 2 days before the full moon in August are up and doing well in the newly designed propagator in the tunnel house. Also in the tunnel are a couple of capsicums and an eggplant that have over wintered there. They all have new shoots and the eggplant is flowering.

Winter Harvests

2009-06-26T09:36:00.003+09:30

The Winter garden can be quite a challenge here in the Adelaide Hills. The best results are achieved by good planning and this means back in January /February. All those seeds you planted are now providing delicious winter dishes. Here planting continues throughout the year , although the cool restricts the range and growth is slow.Favorites at this time are greens like green wave, a mustard green, miners lettuce, mache, The colours of the chicory are great (as well tasting great) and the purple cauliflowers attracted attention during recent farm tours. Winter also provides time to clean and sort the seeds produced in Autumn.
Click here to see more photos of the winter garden.

From the Autumn Garden

2009-05-16T20:41:00.009+09:30

While being busy with orchard harvests and biodynamic preparations, both making and applying, I’ve also managed to do some maintenance on the perennial gardens raised beds. The main vegetable area has also had a makeover by removing the ‘wild area’ around the edge of the garden. This area had become seriously entangled with kikuyu, couch and comfrey so much so it was starting to invade parts of the garden. It was dug out removing as much of the invading weeds as possible but I know there will be missed bits to be removed for the next few years. I was going to plant a green manure crop but in the end planted onions there- a bit of a mistake and what you get for impatience as now the onions have been swamped by soursobs – oh well a little more weeding required. (It’s a good thing I enjoy weeding)

On the other side of this bed is the pumpkins patch a 10x 9 square metre garden also with kikuyu invading. I’ve now dug this area over removing as much as possible so it’s now ready for the green manure crop of field peas and oats to be sown.
Another project has also begun in an area that was my nursery. As it was used little and propagation can be accommodated in other areas I decided to revamp it as a compost garden as it adjoins the compost area and also where I grow my comfrey, safely fenced off from the geese. So now I will grow a range of plants to use in the compost as well as the biodynamic compost plants and barrel compost.

The vegie garden is providing good daily harvests thanks to regular monthly plantings. A quick wander around to see what’s growing will see beetroot, broccoli, chard, carrots, parsnips, swedes, turnips, lettuce, chicory, celery, miners lettuce, mache, kale, leeks, celeriac black salsify, telephone peas, broad beans, endive, fennel, arugula, cabbage, snow peas, onions, opps almost forgot, the garlic. As well there are some extra special things ‘growing’ in my garden at present. You will find the biodynamic preparations 502,503, 504 and 506 while 500 and 505 are developing down in the valley while in the compost garden you’ll find 3 different barrel composts (also known as ccp or manure concentrate) I’m experimenting with.

...and the harvest continues

2009-04-21T20:40:00.002+09:30

So much yummy fresh food driect from our vegie garden.

TOMATOES

2009-03-03T16:57:00.007+10:30

March here at Heathfield is the time our tomatoes finally reach their peak. It may be a long wait for some but its how our season goes. The seeds are planted with under heat in the polly house in August, transplanted into the garden in October, start to ripen mid January but reach their best by the end of February –beginning of March. This year has been a good season and the flavour is exceptional. Despite all the gardening advice ,I grow the tomatoes I raise from seed in the same bed every year – well for the last 5 in their current bed. They are watered via drip once a week. The bed is prepared each September when winter crop allocated to the bed is finished by digging in my biodynamic compost. The whole vegie garden receives applications of biodynamic 500, Firstly tomorrow as it has rained 36.5mm today so far (First since I can’t remember , maybe October last year.) then again in April, September and December. Over the early growing season it also receives some ccp & nettle spray I make.
Varieties I grew
San Marzano 2, Cuor di Bue- Franchi seed
Principe Borghese originally Franchi seed, now 2nd generation Nirvana saved.
Beefsteak- came up as a self-sown in 2000 has been saved each generation since then.
Franco’s- seeds from Franco’s family tomato brought from Italy many moons ago. Now 3rd generation saved here.
Joy's Dad's Yellow this was the only brought in seedling from Hills & Pains Seedsavers meeting it was grown in a separate bed.

The other major harvest that goes with the tomatoes at this time is the basil which means plenty of pesto using our own garlic and walnuts along with Franco’s Heathfield olive oil. You can’t get more local than that and the taste, just magic.

Well Worth the Wait.

2009-02-17T21:24:00.003+10:30

Due to the heatwave our annual goose plucking, normally done just before Australia Day had been delayed. Last Thursday evening an enthusiastic team of helpers arrived to experience their food from paddock to plate. The tasks at hand where carried out in a party atmosphere and each helper got a dressed bird, livers and fat to take home and enjoy.

On Sunday, I made some pate and Quentin roasted the goose, with his special stuffing ,teamed with heaps of vegies from the garden add a couple of friends, some nice reds, a pleasant evening on the veranda and you end up with a great evening, goose that melted in your mouth and the wonderful flavour- something that money can’t buy! …and we have another 11 in the freezer so look forward to one a month.
I’ve also made lots of stock from feet , gizzards, herbs and vegies as well as rendered down a years supply of goose fat.

Maybe goose processing is not the most enjoyable task but we make it fun and the rewarding meals are worth it. Nothing better than knowing where and how your food is grown and raised. Cheers to life in the slow lane and sharing the experiences.

Here’s how a helpers Maggie and Bob enjoyed their goose.
“We just wanted to thank you for including us in the Goose Party.Well the cook in me would not let Bob just roast the whole bird.I sectioned it and have the wings, legs, neck casing and neck all in the freezer ready for later dishes I want to prepare.The main part of the bird I roasted slowly with a stuffing of cooked rice flavoured with bay leaves, cooked onion, fresh thyme, fresh sage, pepper, salt, chopped apples and peaches. I glazed the bird with cherry jam for the last 15 minutes.The meat was delicious and melted when cut. We have some to try cold tomorrow with I guess peach cucumber salad.The livers we just made into chopped liver with thyme, onion, salt, black pepper butter and whisky.We rendered down the goose fat and that is in the fridge.

Cheers Maggie

I agree with Maggie the goose was absolutely delicious. We were both surprised with the mildness of the flavour of the bird. We learnt a lot about the processing of the geese and now we are learning heaps about preparation & cooking. The whole experience was very rewarding. Thank you both again.

Ciao, Bob “

COOL WORM FARMS

2009-02-07T10:30:00.006+10:30

With the heat wave many worm farms are under great stress as they are usually made of black plastic and are too small to allow temperature to be regulated. Here is a couple of ideas for worm systems that will recycle your kitchen scrapes.

WORM TUNNEL
A simple in ground recycling system that turns your kitchen scraps into fertilizer, aerating & enriching your garden beds on site. You add the food and the worms feed your garden, no turning, digging..
Bury the worm tunnel between half & three-quarters of its depth.
Backfill to 50cm of soil level with a mix of enriched soil & manure.
Add compost worms
Add your daily kitchen waste & a little carbon material. One way to do this is to wrap your scrapes in newspaper & the little packages are ready for the worms to munch or rip some newspaper into small pieces & cover the kitchen waste.
Place a damp hession bag , old door mat or towel on top to keep it dark and damp.
Replace the lid to ensure your not attracting vermin & keeping the moisture in.

This is an ideal system for small households or for larger households you could have a tunnel in each garden bed.

Tips
Make sure that you place it where it’s easily accessible.
To blend the tunnel into garden you can decorate anyway that suits.
Every week add a bit extra carbon type material like torn newspaper or dried grass dampened down.
Once a month sprinkle the food scraps with a little lime or dolomite
Avoid too much citrus & add egg shells crushed up as small as possible.

To make a worm tunnel
Join together 2 buckets or couple of large plastic pot, (If the containers are different sizes fit on inside the other) Join by gluing or screws.
With a hole saw cut a series holes on the side and bottom of the bottom bucket.
Remove the end of the top bucket. Use angle grinder or Jigsaw.
Fit a lid. Terracotta plant saucers are ideal.
Prepare a hole in the garden and bury between half and three quarters.
Back fill with soil/compost to within 20cm of ground level. Add worms, cover with damp straw or similar, and water well, add some vegie scraps, cover with damp hessian. Cover with lid.

WASTE ELIMINATOR
This system is designed to recycle domestic waste and is made from recycled materials. The design is based on the same principles as a composting toilet. The active bin can be placed conveniently near the kitchen. It may take a year to fill. The full bin can be rolled away to the garden and will take some months to complete composting. A new bin can then be made to continue the process.
The process is started by placing some carbonaceous material (eg straw, sawdust, shredded paper) into the bin, along with some active compost or soil, and compost worms. Worms can be purchased from garden or fishing shops. When the bin is set up and ready to go it should be approx 1\4 to 1\3 full of the starter mixture. The starter mix should at least cover the bottom pipe. Food scraps can then be added and covered with a small amount of carbonaceous material each time.
This system allows air to circulate throughout the bin. The oxygen is necessary for the microbes and worms to work efficiently. The sealed container ensures no vermin can enter. The volume of the container prevents drying out and excess moisture can be drained off and used as liquid fertiliser.
When the bin is full it can be left to finish digesting and you can start filling a second bin. If you are planning to build a larger compost heap, the bin can be emptied out to reveal partly decomposed material which is an excellent substitute for animal manure.
TO START A BIN
1. Soak some hay or dry grass in water, drain and place in bottom of bin. (a wheelbarrow is handy to soak such material)
2. Add some compost worms either from previous compost or purchase from garden or fishing shops. Compost worms are special worms that live on organic matter ‘red wrigglers,’ tiger where as earthworms live in the soil.
3. Add your daily kitchen scrapes.
4. Cover with carbon type material e.g. sawdust, shredded paper, dry grass or hay.
5. Close bin lid.

Once the bin is full it needs time to digest, around 3 months (depends on weather/temperature) Its best to have 2 bins, one filling while the second bin digesting.
The bin of digesting goodies can also be used as a store ready to use in your next aerobic compost heap. Tip it out and layer it into the heap.

HOUSEHOLD COMPOSTING Households today produce large amounts of food waste each day, this firstly needs to be reduced. (It will save you money as well)
Food waste needs to be dealt with daily therefore the compost heap in the garden are unsuitable. Since a compost heap is made at once, covered and left to mature. Imagine you were making a cake and you continually opened the oven and added more ingredients! How would such a cake turn out? Since the ingredient is building up slowly each day the heat generated by the composting system does not happen therefore a different system needs to be employed. Systems using compost worms are ideal and there are many to choose from. When choosing a system consider
Size of the unit - many worm farms are too small and don’t have a critical mass and can dry out quickly.
Food scraps attract vermin and flies especially meat and fish scrapes ensure your system has built in deterrents.
End use of compost ie. Do you want lots of compost or a waste elimination system?

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL HOUSEHOLD COMPOSTING
Worm composting still requires balancing of ingredients. As the bulk is moist food waste (high N) it needs to be mixed with plenty of dry carbon material, like paper, sawdust or dry grass. The worms benefit from a little clay and lime.
If the right systems are used, the worm composting system can become a store for composting materials. These materials can be used to add to a compost heap when it is being built. Its value is similar to animal manures.
There are a vast array of small plastic bins available designed to digest household kitchen scraps .These bins require more management than a garden compost system. They don’t produce compost as such. As material is continually being added no heat is generated This process means that high moisture material being continually added and can cause the mix to become too wet and acidic, slowing down the decomposition if carbon materials are not added regularly. As there is no heat seeds will remain viable.

MORE ON COMPOST and still more on compost

You can learn more about composting from Deb at regular workshops held at Nirvana Organic Farm.

Keeping cool in a heat wave

2009-01-30T15:20:00.016+10:30

The days start early with poultry, irrigation, mulberry picking and a general overall check before the morning heat becomes intense and its time to retreat to the relatively cool house. Our 1870’s house usually stays cool with its thick stone walls, thick curtains, high ceilings and well insulated roof. Inside cooling is via a ceiling fan plus a portable fan. We have a routine of opening it up as soon as the outside temperature is lower than outside. In prolonged heat the stone finely heats up and last night it was very late before the outside temperature dropped enough to open up the house. This morning its cool again compared to outside

Here's some highlights of my early morning stroll through the vegetable garden.

Pumpkin patch

Austrian oilseed pumpkin

January plantings

January plantings of winter vegetables

Black Salsify

And the herb garden

Angellica

Artichoke- imperial star

Mexican Tarragon -tagetes lucida

More pictures of the summer vegetable gardens

.....as the heatwave continues

2009-01-29T14:42:00.005+10:30

I am very impressed as to how the vegie garden is looking and proves that all the quality compost and biodynamic methods really pay off big time in extreme conditions.-or maybe they are more noticeable then.
Although the hills are cooler – This week so far 34, 42. 45 today is about the same if not hotter than yesterday with no relief in sight.Actually at present its 44.

Only the January planting have been covered. I use light weight curtains & old sheets over ¾ Polly hoops. They are held on by pieces of ¾ polly cut down the middle. I find this much better than shade cloth which is heavy and needs more supports.

From Jan- March the monthly plantings are usually covered to aid germination & to keep the blackbirds from scratching them up .Once germinated the covers are removed but this week I have been covering during the day and removing them in the late afternoon. They are all looking good.

I have just continued my routine weekly watering program – each bed is watered once a week with micro sprinklers and the watering is spaced out over the week taking advantage of early mornings and late afternoons/evenings, I can do this as we have our own water supply. 10-15 minutes of water for each bed is sufficient for the week- so it is very efficient. Seeds need to be watered twice a day for around 3-5 min until germinated and then daily for the next week, every 2-3 days til established then once a week after that.

The hot weather as helped the tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers power on and ripen although some tomatoes in the tunnel house got burnt (often it takes forever to get things ripe in the garden so we need so in there) I dread to think hot it got in there yesterday.

Majority of the ornamental gardens are never watered in summer save for a ‘green’ zone around the house for fire safety and house cooling. This means the new herb garden is being watered so doing well.

On total fire ban days we stay indoors, listen to the radio and monitor conditions hourly, this includes refreshing all water bowls and birdbaths, checking the poultry and dogs that remain on fox duty as at these times attacks are more likely. Plus checking for smoke.
Today of all days I had to pick up 10 pullets we had ordered, I got them home quickly and installed in their new pen – now they have settled in. Unfortunately last week the large twisted willow that shaded the west wing pens crashed in half with both halves on the ground leaving the pens exposed. I’ve put up some shade cloth and hession and the pens are fitted with misters so they are relativity cool although not as cool as the pens under the oak tree. You really feel the difference when you walk under any of the large oaks.

Lets hope the heatwave passes without too much drama and we can get things done work in the gardens and orchards.

Lunch on the Verge

2009-01-22T09:35:00.004+10:30

The Tour Down Under provided an ideal opportunity to get together with neighbours and friends as our road was being closed for the race. It would pass by our gate 3 times at lunchtime, great excuse for a party. The tables where set up along the verge and we watched a cavalcade of bikes, cars, lots of police motor bikes (we did not know the state had that many!) pass by before finally hearing the whoosh of the race pass by. Time to chat again before it all happened a couple more times.

We enjoyed a delicious range of food plus some of my raspberry wine and Bernard’s home-grown homemade champagne and of course Quentin’s beer.

We have no idea who won nor do we care ....but we had a very pleasant summer’s afternoon!

From chaos to order in a few minutes

2008-11-03T21:19:00.004+10:30

It takes many seasons to perfect your own planting guide to suit your unique garden conditions. Over the years I have accumulated a large collection of notebooks, computer notes and more importantly ‘neck top’ info to call on but there are many ways to make it a simple part of life. So today while tiding up in the garden I had an idea to combine a planting guide and a system of reusing plant labels.
I use plant tags cut from plastic yogurt containers when I plant seeds so as to identify the species, variety and month planted.
When the tags are no longer needed I’d put them in a box – with the idea of reusing them …but.. There are so many to go through I never bothered, just made new ones.

Within 15 minutes of the idea I had fashioned together a system of pockets on my trusty sewing machine. (Actually most of the time was removing the junk from the sewing table)
I now have 12 pockets so all I need to do is put back the tags in their months as indicated on the tag. As plants successfully ripen and taste good their tags will be placed back in the monthly pocket.

Each month on the planting day all I need to do is to get out the tags for the said month and plant out the required seeds. Of course there will always be new varieties to try as well.

Small Encounters

2008-10-07T22:08:00.003+10:30

....are what makes working with nature all the more special.
As well as encountering protective(not aggressive) goose parents and their fluff ball yet fast growing offspring’s ,a day in the gardens can bring many often interesting surprises.
The other day while weeding with Ting we met one of these.

Large & beautifully coloured but would give you a nasty bite if you upset it.
Just before lunch a decided I needed to visit the outside dunny. Hebe beat me in as she new the resident ring tail possum was sleeping in the basket there. All curled up looking very cute.

Latter on, the air was alive with swarming bees, such energy as they move along!

Back at the tasks at hand i.e. weeding the currants, I noticed that a blue wren family had become very noisy and excited, Frank had noticed as well and had gone over to investigate, he barked once so I went to investigate and sure enough there was a beautiful red bellied black snake. We left it to get on and went back to weeding.

Today another interesting encounter. We were sitting on the veranda and watching the activity of a pair of eastern spinebills who were working as a tag team speeding off down the hill and back again in seconds. On return they flew very low into the front garden, then in seconds they were back again off down the hill. We figured they were feeding young and by following them with the binoculars we could see they where getting moths.

Late in the afternoon I was off to the vegie garden to get dinner when I heard eastern spinebill type noises coming from the camellia tree on investigation I saw two fluffy fat juveniles calling out, next an adult arrives feeds one then off again, the other arrives feeds one then off again, They were very busy feeding them but at the same time encouraging them to fly to get there food.

Such encounters make everyday special!

You know it's Spring when

2008-09-14T11:42:00.003+09:30

These guys appear

I have noticed that the flowering bushes and trees are especially vibrant and abundant this year.

Have you ever noticed that in some years the different qualities of the plant world seem to be accentuated? Like a year of blossoms, a year of leaves, good cabbages, a year of fruit, when pumpkins and cucumbers grow to profusion. Or a good root year when the parsnips and carrots grow to perfection. Do these phenomena follow a rhythm? Is it the rhythm of the sun from year to year that influence the plants? What do you think?

A New Garden

2008-07-19T14:39:00.006+09:30

One thing I love about gardens and in fact nature is that they are always evolving, every minute something has changed, not big changes but slow subtle changes in time with the earthly rhythm. Gardeners also change and evolve with the ebb and flow of inspiration. During the March heat wave, I decided that it would be a good idea to remove the lawn adjacent the side door and extend the culinary herb garden

Had the heat really got to me, real madness to start yet another project! Quentin was not keen on the idea as it ‘was his favorite bit of ’lawn’ around here lawn is a loose term describing something green that is mowed. At first I said I’d leave some lawn as a path around the garden but I knew it would not work as I’m the gardener and would be doing all the maintenance. I weeded the adjacent lawn area that I was not removing , and have since reseeded and fertilized it so he still has some lawn(to mow?!!) .
The first job was to sure up the bank at the back as there was a big drop to a lower area and most of the timbers which pre date us where all rotted. The next challenge was to find something to replace it. I looked around for suitable materials but when it seemed I had used up just about every possibility I came across some bits of an old rainwater tank, a quick lesson with an angle grinder and some new beds come retaining wall where on their way. They fitted in nicely, and were then filled with the soil the chooks had piled up along the fence as dust baths in summer , added a spare wine barrel as a pond and hey presto an instant garden! This area would be used for herbs needing shade and extra water.

As I started removing the lawn, I was amazed it actually grew, as just under the grass was a mass of big roots all heading towards the house. The roots originated from some large Blackwoods growing right on our boundary, a good example of poor planning by previous neighbours. These trees overhang the lower level and have reduced the growth of a once beautiful persimmon tree as well as nectarine. For the past 20 odd years this has been a problem area, so now I’ve created another challenge and project to make it more productive, beautiful, low maintenance and requiring no additional water (Except for the shade loving herb area)The neighbors where not interested in removing the trees. Being around 500+ meters from their house they had no impact so excuses like ‘their native’ , ‘not in our budget’ etc where predictable .So Quentin borrowed a pole saw and trimmed all he could reach, we have now also organised a tree removalist , who gets his machines serviced here to complete the job as a barter deal. So it’s now in the pipeline so it will be done sooner or latter.

With that organised the development of the culinary herb garden could begin. The basic shape was established to allow easy access for harvesting the herbs. Working on it for about an hour or so in the afternoons it gradually took shape and selected herbs from other parts of the garden found their new homes there.

To blend with the general rustic, country cottage type gardens and paving around the house plus I wanted it to allow some water infiltration and of course it had to cost nothing, so a path from some slate and other found bits of concrete and the like made the main path, the gaps where then planted with wooly yarrow (Achillea tomentosa). Another path between the lawn and herbs that leads to the lower level was constructed and the gaps planted with various thymes. By this time I had exhausted the supply of suitable paving materials so the final path was made from small rocks I pick up around the place as they usually have one flattish face.
To finish the garden off I’m weaving a fence along the back of the high level. The fence gives the garden form especially until the herbs develop. I’ll wait till the Blackwoods are trimmed before finishing the fence off incase it gets smashed by falling branches.

With all this done it’s just a matter of waiting for the herbs to grow, choosing some more, mainly annuals at the Herb Society’s herb day in November.

Here’s what’s planted so far in the lower garden

Angelica (Angelica archangelica)
Arrowroot (Maranta arundinaca)
Bay (Laurus nobilis)
Galangal
Luksa leaf (Polygonum odoratm)
Lemon Grass
Mint: Peppermint (M.piperita)
Mint: Pennyroyal
Nasturtium (tropaeolum majus)
Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
Water Cress

The Top garden has developed into a great space. Here's what's planted there so far.

Anise (pimpinella anisum)
Borage (Borago officinalis)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasm)
Chives Garlic
Clover Red
Coriander( coriandrum sativum)
Fennel (foeniculum vulgare)
Fenugreek (trigonella foenum graecum)
Hyssop (hyssop officinalis)
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
Lovage (ligusticum scoticum)
Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
Nigella
Mint; Spearmint (Mentha viridis)
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Oregano: Italian (Origanum vulgare)
Oregano: Golden (Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’)
Rosemary ( rosmarinus officinalis)
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Salad burnet
Savory Winter (Satureia hortensis)
Tarragon: French (Artemisia dracunculus)
Tarragon: Mexican (Tagetes lucida)
Thyme: Garden (Thymus vulgaris)
Thyme: Lemon (T.citriodorus)
Thyme: Caraway
Thyme: Creeping Mt Tomah
Thyme: Creeping Orange peel
Thyme: Wooly

Next challenge what to do with the lower level! I have a new idea and project in the planning so stay tuned.

IN THE LIMELIGHT

2008-07-07T14:08:00.006+09:30

Winter is time to harvst many types of citrus like navel oranges, grapefruit, imperial mandarins, tangellos and my favorite limes. The Tahitian limes are just delicious at this time of the year. They have such a vast range of uses savory, sweet, soothing winter drinks, lime liqueur (like limoncello but better) prepared now for summer evenings on the veranda. At this time of the year one of my favorites is lime pudding, its light and refreshing and can be served hot or cold.

Lime Pudding
3 eggs, separated
Finely grated rind and juice of 4 or 6 limes depending on size.
225g caster sugar
1 tablespoon butter
4 Tbsp flour
300 ml milk
Pinch of salt
Beat egg yolks and lime rind together until light. Gradually add sugar and lime juice beating until fluffy. Add melted butter. Gently stir in sifted flour and milk.
Beat egg whites with salt until they form stiff peaks. Using a large metal spoon, lightly fold lemon mixture into the beaten egg whites.
Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (180 C) for 35 - 40 minutes or until it feels springy to touch and a golden colour.
Serve warm.

The Colour of Winter

2008-06-25T14:37:00.002+09:30

Goose , goose and more goose! But with plenty of fresh vegies!

2008-06-18T16:43:00.008+09:30

At this time of the year the harvests are magic, little time is required in the gardens save for a little therapeutic weeding, planting and harvesting. There is no need to water, although there has been little rain the evening dews are sufficient. Yesterday the seeds for June where planted, some in the garden and some in planters in the cold frame, some extras where planted for Laurens new garden. See sidebar for what we planted.

At lunch Quentin announced that I should create dinner out of the left over goose since I hadn’t cooked ‘for weeks’. Yes he had roasted a goose ,stuffed with chestnuts with all the vegies out of the garden on Friday for my birthday, on Saturday we had soup at the Mylor Primary School bonfire and fireworks night, Sunday we celebrated with neighbor June for her 8 years here. I had made a chestnut, chocolate and orange cake. (cakes don’t count ) on Monday he had turned the goose and the vegies I picked into a delicious stir-fry Hardly a week but now it was my turn to use up the rest of the goose.

The cold wind drove me inside earlier than usual, Lauren and I had picked some salad greens and other goodies so now, warm inside I could think about dinner. Firstly got the salad made it consisted of mixed lettuce, chicory, celery, fennel ,miners lettuce, watercress, green wave mustard, mountain spinach, chard, spring onions ,spinach, navel oranges and mandarin. It looked wonderful, next challenge was to create something to complement the goose and other fresh vegies (Quentin calls this doing an ‘iron chef’).
So here my dish
I took a smallish pumpkin and cut the top out, scooped out the seeds and baked it for about an hour. Meanwhile I sautéed some onion, garlic, leek, carrots, fennel, turnips and celery mixed in the goose along with some of the roasted pumpkin. I then mixed a little falafel mix soaked in water, some flour and 3 eggs. Mixed it with the vegies and goose and poured it into the pumpkin, of course it had grown so some was also put in a baking dish. It was then baked for half an hour. It was delicious and there is enough for tonight and probable lunch tomorrow.

Cosy Country Kitchen

2008-05-27T16:41:00.012+09:30

With the weather cooling down it was time to fire up the wood stove. My all time favorite kitchen ‘tool’. It cooks the best roasts, bread, puddings, and long slow stews and just about everything else .Cooking with wood imparts a special quality into the food & the stove chugging away creates a real presence in the house. It can transport you to another time that moved more slowly and in time with the seasonal rhythms.

Our stove is Australian made, (actually Albury NSW.) the Themalux Supreme ticks away always ready to cook something at the same time heating the hot water (very necessary when there is no sun to work the solar panels). The system also has a tap direct from the hot water jacket that provides instant hot water for washing dishes, hands, cold feet or getting the pasta water to the boil quickly which saves the water coming from the hot water service which takes a while to come through hot.

Another plus is that all the wood to run it is grown on our property. We planted a firewood forest back in1987 to provide all our cooking and heating needs.

Firing up the stove also heralds a change in lunches, the aroma of warming soup and wholesome bread greet us and visitors at the kitchen door. The home garden can provide most of the ingredients along with the pumpkin harvest and never forget the
dried chestnuts now that the fresh ones are all finished.

The stove also provides a focal point and is the most popular room in the house being warm, cosy and with the fragrance of something in the making.

Although bread is made all year its always seems more special when it’s cooked on the wood stove.

Deb’s Sourdough Bread

Take starter from fridg e (lunch time)
Proofing the Sponge Put starter in Bowl with 3 cups flour & 3 cups of water, mix, and cover & put aside.
Prepare 2 bowls with 4 cups flour*, 1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon malt. (late afternoon)
The starter should be bubbly & has a white froth. The longer you let the sponge sit, the more sour flavour you will get. Put 1 cup of starter back in cleaned jar. & add 1cup flour & 1 cup warm water. Put lid on jar & store in fridge. **
Divide the rest of starter between the 2 bowls, adding oil & extra warm water to make a moist mix. Cover & leave sit for an hour or so (not critical)
Knead lightly & leave covered overnight.
(Next morning) knead & make into loaf, rolls or what ever. Cover & allow rising. Double in size. ( In winter I put them in the bottom oven & bake after breakfast)
Cut top of loaves, brush with milk & sprinkle w ith choice of seeds.
To Bake Do not preheat the oven. Turn up to around 180oC rolls 15- 20 minutes loaves 30-45 min depending on size. ( in the wood stove I put the bread in a coolish oven and then open up the air to increase the heat)

*I use a mix of 3 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of wholemeal type flour depending on what type of bread I want. Here are some of my favourites:

3 cups flour + 1 cup Rye flour + 1 cup chopped walnuts.
3 flour + 1 rye flour + 11/2 cup chopped dried figs + 2 tablespoons fennel seeds.
3 flour + 1 wholemeal flour+ ½ cup LSA (Ground linseed, sunflowers , almonds )
3 flour + 1 wholemeal + 11/2 cup sultanas (or mixed dried fruit) + tablespoons dried peel + 2 teaspoons mixed spices.

** Care of Starter

The starter can be stored in the fridge for many weeks without being used. A layer of watery liquid, hooch, develops on top when used regularly it is just stirred in. If it develops a dark beer smelling layer, just pour it off & use to make the sponge as usual.

The kitchen also provides space for drying herbs and storing the harvested garlic.

Changing Seasons -The April garden

2008-04-26T19:11:00.008+09:30

The challenge in the vegetable garden as the seasons change is to continue to get the last of the summer bounty harvests while at the same time continue planting to ensure harvest in the months to come. At present I’m still harvesting the last of the tomatoes, zucchinis, capsicums, basil, beans and about to harvest my cardoon. The pumpkins will be harvested in the next couple of weeks meanwhile carrots, chard, chicory, lettuce, endive, nasturtiums, augula, spring onions, kale, red cabbage, celery, parsnips, turnips, beetroot and self sown garlic as a salad green are all being enjoyed.

Veggies planted previously for future harvests include cabbage, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts, leeks, fennel, carrots, parsnips, Swedes, turnips, kohlrabi, spinach & an array of salad greens. The garlic, planted last month into warm soils, followed by gentle rain look wonderful already over 25 cm tall. The romanesco broccoli Kate gave me as seedlings in spring may be just getting around to setting a head or many smaller heads which will properly be more useful.

Most of the seedlings grown in containers in March have been planted out or given away. As usual I sowed my April seeds 2 days before the full moon on the 18^th .The seeds I sowed include beetroot, carrots, spinach, spring onions, peas, broad beans, swedes, turnips, chicory, miners lettuce, mache, a mix of lettuce, Kate’s’ pale spinach.

The other essential April activity now that it has rained a bit is to apply the biodynamic preparations to the garden as well as the farm. Next week I will apply both horn manure (500) & barrel compost (also known as cow pat pit) the garden received both in March after the rains. Each preparation is stirred in the afternoon and applied on consecutive days .In general its recommended to use these preparations once in Autumn and Spring but I have found for the vegetable garden, which is asked to produce year round, that a couple of applications makes the garden sparkle and the produce grown there be strong , healthy, disease resistant and flavorsome. .

Take a photo wander around the April vegetable garden.

Harvest Moon Celebrations

2008-03-24T17:23:00.002+10:30

On Saturday night we celebrated the harvest moon with a pretty typical meal , roast goose (one of ours, naturally ) and vegetables fresh from the garden- beans, 3 types of carrots, turnip, parsnip, beetroot , butternut pumpkin and potatoes. I don’t actually plant potatoes but there are usually a few around to harvest. These ones came from under the kiwi fruit and where growing amongst the nettles.
To start the meal we had delicious fresh figs, a sprig of sage wrapped in prosciutto and baked in Seville orange juice and a little butter. We had no need for dessert as the taste of figs, roasted goose and delicious vegetables lingered long into the night as we slowly enjoyed this delicious meal and chatted.
The harvest moon is important for a couple of reasons here. Firstly the garlic is always planted 2 days before the harvest moon and this time also marks the beginning of the chestnut harvest.
The best part of growing lots of different crops is that you can have lots of harvest celebrations.

FIGS

2008-03-05T05:52:00.004+10:30

Oh its so nice to walk around the fig tree and see ripe figs hanging down ready to pick. That is the difference netting makes, ensuring a good harvest.

Apart from ripe and fresh, warm off the tree,(which is just delicious) I like to dry some for winter celebrations and fig bread. .

I first came across this recipe at the Barossa Slow 2006 orchard tour.

Dried Figs

Figs

1kg sugar

100ml white wine vinegar

500ml water

Prick the figs all over with a fork .Make syrup & bring to a rolling boil. Simmer figs 1.5- 2 hours in syrup .Let cool in syrup drain for 6 hours. Lay out to dry.

Fig Bread

I mostly just add chopped figs and fennel to my rye sourdough. But here’s my simple, quick method

3 cups flour

1 cup rye flour

11/2 cup chopped dried figs

2 tablespoons fennel seeds.

1 tablespoon dried yeast. (Fermipan freeze dried yeast)

1 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon malt. (Either extract or powder)

1 tablespoon oil.

2 cups warm water. (Approximately)

Mix flours, figs, fennel and yeast in a bowl. Dissolve salt and malt in 1 cup of warm water, add to dry ingredients, mix, and add oil and water to form dough. Knead. Cover and leave to rise 60 minutes.

Knead dough until it is elastic, about 5 - 10 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves

Bake at 200 C, 35-45 minutes loaf.

Goes well with cheese or just serve lightly buttered.

One of those Days

2008-03-03T17:08:00.005+10:30

One of the things we enjoy doing is playing social petanque. A few years ago Quentin started playing and encouraged me to come out at least to meet new people as he thought I ‘spent too much time working and needed to get out more.’ Although I really enjoy working from home,in my own quite space it is nice to meet different people. So each Wednesday morning we go off to play petanque with the Adelaide Hills Petanque Club down at Stonehenge reserve in Stirling. Quentin takes it more serious playing on Sundays as well as the occasional league games.

Wednesdays are very social with around 30-40 people playing. Each week there is a draw to make up teams of 3 or 2. We then play 3 games punctuated with morning tea, laughter, chat, much fun and sometimes a prize or 2...

It is from this atmosphere that the Derrick Rowley Trophy, in memory of Derrick is played. A competition that players go into a draw to determine teams. In the past it has been triples but this year because of numbers it was doubles. Quentin and I drew together (some thought was rigged but that’s the way a draw goes) I was actually looking forward to playing with someone I did not know and having a bit of a laugh but playing with Quentin I was bound to take it a little more seriously as it would be good to win a game or two especially since he had been feeling a little down with his hip and being restricted in what he could do.

In round one we drew to play our club president and Australian representive player, Brenton & his equally good partner John. We got off to a flyer and were well in front when we got stuck on 12. They clawed their way back but we finally won 12: 9 .That win would have done me for the day Next round another one of our Australian players & a league player from Adelaide club. We won 13:2 WOW. Next round against 2 league players 13:3 Forth game and we lost the toss, again 2 more league players they chose a heavy piste . This was a short game , all over in 3 ends 13:0 This was amazing I had never won so many games in one day!

Final round, crunch time we were up against A grade league player Jenny and Lorenzo , one of the better Wednesday players they had also won 4 games. This was the best game of the day highlighted with excellent pointing, with carro and counter carro and some good shooting. We where finally victorious at 13: 9.

WE WON the Day and the Trophy and some wine

Quentin can still take it serious and play league & I’ll stick to Wednesday social and a bit of fun.

Breakfast at Nirvana

2008-03-03T16:58:00.004+10:30

Breakfast is always an important time. Like all meals it reflects the seasons. Those fleeting flavours that come and go so quickly.

Sure we preserve various things to enjoy latter like fruit to add to the porridge in winter.

Although we mainly have some form of oats and fruit and yogurt, pancakes on Sundays and once a week usually Saturdays (This reminds us what day it is) we have a cooked breakfast.At this time of the year it’s

Eggs Poached in Fresh Tomatoes

Cover the bottom of a small saucepan with small tomatoes (we use principe bourghese) cook gently till they burst add a couple of chopped garlic cloves and two eggs, poach till eggs are firm but soft. Serve on rye bread.

February seeds

2008-02-19T18:14:00.005+10:30

Today was seed planting day (2 days before full moon) or rather it started off as reseeding some of the January plantings. This time of year is some what challenging when it comes to seeds. Firstly there is the heat that dries out the seedbeds very quickly. In January I put shade cloth over the seeds & covered the area with old sheets. It worked very well with excellent germination. I took away the covers; everything looked great until the blackbirds decided they fancied digging in the damp soil. They dug up and destroyed all the seedlings along one side so I replanted and covered the reseeded area with racks. So then naturally they dug up the other side. Time to get serious so today that side was replanted. The parsnips, some carrots, chard, chicory and beetroot where replaced and now the whole bed was covered with bird netting. If the cool change does not come tomorrow I will cover it during the day with sheets to keep the moisture up.

So now it was time to plant this months seeds. The other challenge at this time of the season is finding space, a bed growing bush beans which had produce early and now on the wane was cleaned up and Lauren, my able assistant/student (University of Life).then prepared the bed and planted the swedes, parsnips carrots, lettuce, kale, spring onions, Earliball cabbage, endive, arugula ,turnips and kohi rabi. The polly pipe frames where then erected and bird netting protection added to give the seeds a good start.

Harvest at present is dominated by beans, bush beans like redland pioneer, amethyst, borlotti, and climbers, I planted lots of climbers, my main trellis is made from a bike wheel and string but I’ve found some of last years plum prunings made neat trellises for the zebra, purple king, blue lake and some small black bean seeds to grow on. But the kings of them all are the scarlet runners they grow so big yet are so tender. The carrots & parsnips are also at their best while the tomatoes, cucumbers and greens are all providing a valuable addition to the daily diet. So much flavour!

Summer Evenings

2008-02-18T06:41:00.005+10:30

It’s nice to get in the swing of regular BBQs again. Our barbie has been rebuilt i.e. a ‘new’ ½ 44gal drum. This one is a good heavy duty one and took a bit of cutting but will last many years and the other half is there ready for when it finally burns out. I love cooking with wood; it has a special quality especially when you grow your own.

The garden provides the vegetables and fresh salads. The meat is usually local and bartered. Last week we had Urrbrae sausages that Maggie & Bob brought along to the wine making. Last night we had Gibberagunyah lamb chops from out at Nairne. Part of a whole lamb swamped for a couple of geese. Not many food miles to our veranda.

Such meals are simple and a great celebration of fresh flavorsome foods. When ever the weather is not too cold we eat in our dinning area on the veranda enjoying the peaceful view and sights and sounds of the birds before the dark takes over.

Last night the moon was extremely bright. The moon is full on Thursday and it also reaches perigee which means it’s closest to the earth for this month. This intensifies the effect of the full moon. Therefore Tuesday is vegetable seed planting day. Especially important for getting winter vegetables going before the cold sets in. The main challenge is finding space for these as the summer vegetables are just reaching their peak.

A Time of Plenty

2008-02-09T10:47:00.000+10:30

Reaping the harvests at this time of the summer is special. This is when the planning, planting & caring for the garden really pay off well. The basket is laden with beans, actually I’ve planted a few too many as I got carried away with making trellises from prunings. These pruning were a result of a program to reducing the hight of some of our mature fruit trees to make netting easier. I had put them aside to use for weaving projects but then thought they would make interesting trellises. So they are now supporting various beans along with the main bike wheel trellis.

Daily harvests of tomatoes, cucumbers, a rich variety of greens, carrots of all colours, basil, deliciously sweet parsnips, and rich beetroot plus when required chard and, the odd cabbage make meals special. This week a friend brought round a rabbit, which was cooked to perfection by Quentin and shared with our neighbour June. Needless to say it was served with a wide selection of vegetables fresh from the garden.

To ensure continual harvests, continual plantings are necessary .I plant 1 or 2 1 metre rows 2 days before the full moon, some are thinned & transplanted in any gap I can find, the rest let develop & harvested at varying stages. Planting 2 days before a full moon ensures quick germination but more importantly gives me a rhythm to work with & ensures I plant seeds each month for a continual harvest. When I transplant seedlings either from the garden beds or pots I always do it in the late afternoon when the earth in breathing in and preferably on the new moon as the earth's least fertile time. This gives the seedling time to settle in and the take advantage of growth period of the full moon.

Garden View from top of Garden Shed.

Bubble Bubble Bloop

2008-02-06T17:29:00.000+10:30

At this time of the summer, as well as harvesting I’m busy ensuring the harvest extends throughout the year. My preference is drying fruit, fruit wines, pickling vegetables, making sauces, jams & chutneys (although some are frozen to be processed on cold winters days on the wood stove.)
The first batch of fruit wine is bubbling away .I wait till the mad rush of Christmas berries are over before starting on the wine. Many fruits are best frozen first, as when the thaw many of the cells are broken & this helps mash up the fruit so as the yeast can work on the fruit. After much trial & error I make only 5 litres of wine at a time as this gives you 6 ½ bottles which is plenty for me & you can make more variety. More importantly the processes can be done on time, Straining, filtering & racking 5 litre takes only a few minutes.
Making fruit wines is simple once you have organised the equipment. The main difference is that grapes have everything you need to make wine contained in the fruit where as other fruits need tannin, acid & sugar and often you add some grape to give body & smoothness. The first wine of this season is mulberry.

Mulberry wine
Ingredients to make 5 litres around 12.5% alcohol per volume
1.7Kg mulberries
380g sultanas
1kg sugar
½ cup strong tea (tannin)
2 oranges.
¼ teaspoon malt extract
1 teaspoon all purpose wine yeast.
Method
Stage 1
Dissolve sugar in ½ litre hot water adds malt & orange juice allow to cool.
Mash berries in fermenting container (I use a 7 litre glass jar) many people use a bucket.
Chop sultanas add to berries.
Add strained tea & sugar syrup. & make up to 4 litres with cold water.
Sprinkle yeast on top, cover & leave to ferment in a warm place for 10 days. Stir twice daily. (I actually swirl the jar, this saves having to sterilize a spoon each time.
Stage 2
Strain through muslin cloth into a 5 litre fermentation vessel Discard solids.
Top up to the neck with cold water
Close with air lock
Leave to ferment to dryness. This can take 4-5 weeks.
Wait 2 weeks after fermentation has finished
Stage 3
Rack wine (siphon to a clean 5 litre container leaving sediment behind.)
Top up to the neck with cold water. Fit a cork & keep in a cool place for 10 months.
Stage 4
The wine should be clear & ready for bottling. Once bottled leave 2-3 months to condition & mature.

Catching Up

2008-01-04T15:24:00.000+10:30

With the main berry harvest concluded it time to spend a little more time in the gardens. The paths have gone a little wild and need a bit of tiding up. I’ve had to replace a couple of irrigation fittings that succumbed to the hot sun after 20 odd years of service. The beans are powering along & the bush beans are producing daily harvests along with a large array of greens, carrots including purple, red & yellow ones The cardoon is growing well.

. The selected leeks & Seymour carrots are developing a new supply of seeds.

The Tomatoes & cucumber are developing slowly although we have tasted a few ripe ones.
Yesterday I weeded the pumpkin patch, which is looking good although the expected crop butternuts seem to be some other unidentified variety.

Over the previous hot spell I got all the garlic braided & hung around the kitchen.

It was also a good time to make some sorbets & develop some ice-cream recipes. By far the best sorbets are the citrus mainly lemon, Seville orange & tangelo. The best ice-cream was the chestnut mascarpone.
Citrus Sorbet
125ml water
250g sugar
500ml freshly squeezed citrus juice.
Grated zest of 2 citrus
Bring sugar, zest & water to the boil. When cool add to juice & churn & freeze.
Use the hot sun to dry citrus peels for winter firelighters.
Chestnut Mascarpone Ice-Cream
2 egg yolks
50g icing sugar
225g chestnut puree
225g mascarpone
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Wisk together egg yolks & icing sugar until thick. Beat in chestnut puree, mascarpone & vanilla until well blended. Churn & freeze.

The hot spell has also allowed time to sort out the harvested seeds .

Garlic Harvest

2007-12-09T09:07:00.000+10:30

Friday’s mornings drizzle delayed raspberry picking so I was able to harvest the garlic. Our kitchen is never without strings of garlic, in fact there are still half a dozen strings from last years harvest & all as good as the day they where harvested. (I put this down to moon planting & harvesting) It’s a different feeling to harvest a whole crop as apposed to regular fresh harvests and very satisfying .Each year I grow enough for us, the dogs and chooks plus 1/3 is used for planting the next crop. The garlic now dries on the veranda until there is time to sort and plait it and then it’s stored in the kitchen. Probably get around to this sometime after Christmas when the berries are all harvested.

Being busy with the berries means the veggie garden does not receive a lot of attention, but there is plenty happening with the selected plants forming seeds, a variety of new veggies developing from the regular plantings. Visits to the garden are generally to pick what is needed for dinner and water. The tunnel house is like a jungle with tomatoes and cucumbers rapidly developing along with some giant silverbeet. The understory of clover is lush and green. The skinks play hide and seek with Hebe using the clover for cover.

This is a special time for the bees, The raspberries are still abuzz but the main action is in the chestnut orchard and the linden, who’s branches reach down to the ground all covered in blossom and a loud buzz of busy bees.

As the day draws to a close there is elderflower champagne on the veranda as the blue wrens and flame robins collect their last morsels for the day. A final, hopeful visit to the white shahtoot mulberry by the geese as the sun begins to fade and they finally take their gosling’s home for the evening.

November Garden

2007-11-30T22:45:00.001+10:30

The vegetable garden is springing to life as the October plantings are developing. Now it is time to plant the seeds of climbing and bush beans, lettuce, beetroot, carrots, celery, parsnips, potatoes, sweetcorn, silverbeet, pumpkin. For best results plant 2 days before the full moon and transplant seedlings of tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkin, capsicum, melons during the new moon phase in the afternoons.
Check the compost heaps are not drying out. Treat them like a living plant - if you water your plants once a week then water the compost at the same time.

DISPELLING THE ORGANIC MYTHS
“Using raw manure on my garden makes me organic” Wrong! All animal manures regardless of age must be properly composted with other materials before adding to soil. When raw manure is used it harms the soil microbes and the worms and causes imbalances in the soil. Sure!, you get the lush quick green growth, just the same as adding urea or soluble Nitrogen. Animal manures have the potential to contain dangerous organisms such as E coli; another important reason for composting all manures. Studies have shown that applying fresh manure over a number of years has no increase, or even a decreasing humus content in the soil, whereas applying composted manures results in a slow but steady increase of humus and organic matter. Same goes for liquid animal manures (an old time favourite of gardeners) where manure, mainly poultry/ pigeon, is steeped in water and then used directly on plants. This is the same as dissolving urea and using it. All liquid types of fertiliser need to be limited to the capacity of the humus in the soil to absorb, otherwise it is leached into the watertable. One of the main aims of organic agriculture is to feed the plants via the humus in the soil. Plants feed through very complex mechanisms. Humus, trace elements, bacteria, fungi, algae all play a part. To feed nutrients through water soluble fertilisers or foliar sprays can cause the plant to take up too many nutrients, to grow lush and sappy and be more vulnerable to pest and disease attacks.
Guidelines for manure use:
· Collect manure as fresh as possible from an uncontaminated site.
· Store manure, covered, out of the rain until needed for compost.
· Compost aerobically with other materials. The best way to add the manure to the compost is to make a thick slurry by adding a little water to a large container and mixing until smooth. This can then be poured over the layers as you build the heap.
· Compost is ready when it becomes an even, dark brown/ black, humus rich, hygienic, living substance with a pleasant soil like smell.

HERBS can add beauty and diversity to the garden. There is a herb to suit all situations.
· Grow herbs as companion plants in the vegetable garden. eg. basil with tomatoes : borage and garlic with strawberries : chives and carrots. and for overall benefit to most vegetables plant yarrow.
· Plant a culinary herb garden. It should be a sunny spot within easy access of the kitchen. It can be as simple as a wine barrel or large pots outside the kitchen door or any easily accessed area of the garden. This way you can snip them off fresh when you need them. A good range would include parsley, chives, oregano, mint, summer savoury , French tarragon or any herbs you are passionate about cooking with.
· Herbs can be grown along a pathway so you brush against them releasing their wonderful fragrances. eg lemon verbena, lavenders, rosemary or peppermint geranium.
· Herbs make great hedges eg lavender, wormwood, rosemary, elderberry, lemon balm. The key to a great hedge is to keep it well trimmed right from the beginning to keep it compact.
· Grow your own fertilizer Comfrey and nettles can be added to your compost or used to make a tea to water around the plants. To do this 3/4 fill a container with herbs then top up with water, leave for 2 weeks stirring daily. When ready dilute 1 : 4 . Comfrey is rich in Potash while nettles are rich in Nitrogen and trace elements and also works to balance iron.
· Set the mood with herbs in you favourite sitting spot . Lemon balm goes well where tranquillity is desired or if insects are disturbing your relaxation try hyssop, pyrethrum, pennyroyal or if ants are a problem try mints.
You could relax with a beneficial herbal tea like peppermint, lemon grass, chamomile or even better since the elders are flowing at present try making some elderflower champagne in time for Christmas.

ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE
no added yeast, non-alcoholic version
20 elderflower heads
5 lemons
150ml vinegar
1.5kg sugar
20 litres water
Cut most of the stems from the flowers. Shake any bugs, dirt etc. Squeeze lemons and cut rind into strips. Add all ingredients to a large container, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Steep for 24hrs, then strain, bottle* into sterilised bottles and seal. Store in a cool place. Keep at least 3 weeks before drinking.
* you can use PET bottles or champagne bottles.

.
Don't forget November is a great time to sit and enjoy your garden. Check out the birds and wonder at the insects and all nature has to offer.

WEEDS IN THE GARDEN

2007-10-30T20:18:00.000+10:30

When I meet someone new and they find I’m a biodynamic gardener the first question I get is “Well how do you get rid of………? The average gardeners go into the garden not with the concept of LIFE but the concept of DEATH. They go out to get rid of things. In order to grow a crop everything else is removed. You only have to listen to the gardening programs to confirm this.

WEEDS - THE USEFUL PLANTS.
The importance of weeds to the gardener is that:
• They tend to be stronger growing plants with more extensive root runs enabling them to gather nutrients at deeper levels of the soil.
• Weeds can provide some protection for your desired plants from wind and rain.
• They can provide alternative food source for problem pests.
• They provide food and habitat for useful predators.
• They can protect land not being currently used from erosion.
WEEDS ASSIST SOIL BUILDING

Volunteer plant (weeds) main job is colonising any bare patch to protect it from the elements. (Wind, rain, sun) This can be used to advantage in the garden when a bed is not being used usually called ‘fallow’ the weeds can be used to rejuvenate the soil.
The weed roots grow down deeply into the soil, and are able to utilise nutrients that have been leached out of reach of the crop plants. When the bed is required the weeds can be either:
• turned as a green manure crop.
• added to the compost heap, composted then returned to the garden.
• Removed, allowed to wilt, and returned to the bed as mulch.
This means that those nutrients and minerals which have been stored in the roots, stems and leaves can he returned to the soil and become available to the plants.
In this way you can see and understand how weeds can be a valuable resource for your garden - providing a means of supplying nutrients, organic matter as well as adding variety to your garden ecosystem. Of course are some weeds which are too invasive to allow free range in your garden e.g. couch or kikuyu grasses.
I have found a large range of plants; mainly annuals that now colonise my garden these include a variety of grasses, clovers, vetch, and herbs such as parsley, borage, dandelion & chickweed. Soursobs, capeweed, milk thistles etc
Alternatively you can seed any fallow bed with legumes and cereals to creative a green manure crop Therefore out competing weeds.
You can also select ‘weeds’ to grow in your garden for its benefit. Select annual plants that can be turned into valuable mulch.

WHAT IS A GARDEN WEED?
· A weed is a plant which covers damaged spaces to protect it.
· A weed is a plant which increases biodiversity- strong wild genes.
· A weed is a pioneer plant that prepares poor soil for other plants to move in.
· A weed is a plant whose growing roots help build fertile healthy soils.
· A weed is a plant that produces mulch from the growing tops as well as roots which remain in the soil and rot down.
· A weed is a plant that provides ingredients for your compost.
· A weed is a plant you have not found a use for yet.
· A weed is a plant that provides nourishment and shelter for insects, birds and small animals.
· Some weeds can bring minerals from their deep roots and make them available to other plants.
· Some weeds can indicate deficiencies in the soil.

A PLANT MY BE A WEED TO ONE PERSON AND A MOST VALUABLE PLANT TO ANOTHER
CLOVER, DANDELION, NETTLES.

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Mulching with weeds
To ensure our gardening activities are truly sustainable we should be aware of any opportunity where we can increase our diversity and provide our own fertility from within rather than importing bulky organic matter. Most gardeners find it easy to buy in hay, straw etc but they need an awareness of how and where it is grown. Maybe this material should be used on the farm it was grown. I’ve had enquiries as to where to get organic straw. No good organic farmer would part with such a resource.
So open your eyes to the possibilities in your own garden. The plants you see as weeds may make you some useful mulch.
Simply pull up weeds, and put the weeds back on the beds as mulch... Mainly annual plants fill in the spaces over winter/spring so they pull up easily. It’s a sustainable way to mulch. I actually developed an even better way several years ago that you may find useful. I used the raspberry rows; the bonus to the method is with competition the perennial weeds were pushed out. Just before the opening rains in autumn I sowed oat seeds on the surface (a bit like a green manure) over winter it grew strongly and in October I used it as above. I used it like this for a couple of seasons THEN the GEESE discovered the grain. Fencing them out was not really an option so now I just use the volunteer plants. I feel it’s important to develop ways of creating your own mulch for reasons like
· Weed seeds. (that’s where most of the weeds on our place came from)
· Possible chemical contaminates.
· Sustainability of the system producing the material. (organic farmers should not be parting with any organic material)
· Distance carted.
.In the gardens the paths as well as the beds provide material for mulch, over the years selective culling as resulted in a diverse range of annual plants that I to turn into mulch.
In the tunnel the paths are planted with annual clover. They grow; cover the soil, seed and collapse forming mulch that can be added to the next crop.
I like also using living mulches
In the orchard a there is a mix of plants that can be mowed. When you observe this material you notice the range of plants, their health and vigour as well as what creatures are living there and the amount of biomass that is being returned to the trees as mulch which normally would have to be procured and put around the trees in a separate operation. Each time the orchard is mowed all the goodness is returned and the orchard becomes self mulching.
You can also set aside an area to grow some mulching materials. Simply cut with a scythe use fresh or store for latter use.

ECOSYSTEMS
The greater the diversity in the garden the more complex the ecosystem the less chance you will have problems with pests and diseases .E.g. in the vegetable garden if their are pests, say snails and the only thing in the garden are your crops then that’s what they will eat. If there were some weeds, flowers or herbs they may have more a choice.
A good way of increasing the habitat is to have wild areas in or around your garden. These could include food plants for small birds – mainly nectar producing, Undisturbed areas for other beneficial such as skinks, lizards, frogs, and a large range of insects e.g. long grass ,logs &: rocks. Add water for small birds. Once you increase the diversity then THE BEST CURE FOR PESTS OR DISEASES IS PATIENCE

Vegetables as close as your Backdoor

2007-10-02T20:35:00.000+09:30

Everyone can grow their own fresh veggies. The Key to success is Quality compost. Deb can share her long experience to help you have a full garden with little need of food storage, thus a empty refrigerator.
COMPOSTING & MULCHING
Sunday, October 7th 9.00 -12.30 $40
Reduce water use by learning the principles of composting & mulching, techniques & materials used & how they can be used most effectively on your garden or farm.

VEGETABLES FOR YOUR TABLE.
Sunday, October 14th 9.00 -12 noon $35 Practical guide to establishing & maintaining a productive & healthy vegetable garden

October in the garden

2007-10-02T20:26:00.000+09:30

The shroud of winter has finally fallen away and it’s time to see what’s happening in the garden.
The green manure or compost that was dug into the soil has been worked over by all the millions of bugs, fungi, bacteria and other ‘biota’. Now it’s time to plant, ready for summer harvest and beyond.
At Nirvana we use raised beds because soil can be built up by digging out the foot paths increasing the soil depth immediately

Raised beds also warm up more quickly in spring; there is more aeration & life via micro organisms and an overall increase in growth activity.
Rudolf Steiner in ‘Agriculture’ described it this way
‘For any given locality on Earth ,there is a certain level that separates what is above the earth from what is inside the Earth. Anything raised up above the normal level for that locale will show a particular tendency to life, a tendency to become permeated with etheric vitality .You will therefore find it easier to permeate ordinary inorganic soil with humus-like material- -or any other kind of refuse in the process of decomposition- if you first build up the soil into mounds. Then of its own accord the soil will tend to become inwardly alive and plant-like.’
You may have noticed this effect in a land slip along the side of a road. Where the earth has slipped there are bigger healthier weeds growing.
If you keep the raised beds to a reasonable size you can reach across them without having to tread on the beds themselves. Smallish beds i.e.; 2m x 1m can hold one crop and be rotated to something else next season.
The best time to plant seeds is 2 days before a full moon on October 26. The full moon is associated with fertility and growth and just as it has a noticeable effect on our tides, the moon helps the seeds to germinate and surge into strong growth.
The best time to transplant seedlings is in the afternoon during the new moon phase at the time of least growth. Transplant during October 4 -11
Things to plant in October.
Capsicum, tomatoes, egg plant. Continuous plantings of carrots, lettuce, beetroot, spring onions, radish at fortnightly intervals will give you a steady supply of fresh veggies for the whole summer. Try involving the family by having a growing competition or ask the youngsters to write their name with radish seed and let them watch as their name appears like magic coming from the soil. It may even encourage some careful weeding.
Life in the garden is rampant this time of the year and unwanted plants can grow just as fast as or faster than your chosen crop. These unwanted plants can be the start of your next compost. Building compost is a bit like baking, because you need several different ingredients and they have to be in the correct ratio to work best. Unwanted plant material make a very good start, but you will need other ingredients like animal manures, dry material like straw or bedding from animal quarters, and mulched up woody material like prunings and leaf litter. If you build your heap by putting in small amounts of each ingredient it will work better and require less pushing, prodding and turning. Remember to water your heap as you build. Get it good and moist. It is very difficult to wet a heap if it dries out. Compost heaps are best built in the one day, so try to stockpile the necessary bits and pieces near the site so that you can ‘bake the best cake ‘ from the stuff you could collect.

The Winter Harvest

2007-09-24T21:09:00.000+09:30

With the coming of spring its time to review the winter season.
This winter we ate very well from our home veggie garden boosted by what grew in the tunnel.
This year I aimed to produce a wide range of veggies that would sustain us over winter. The main challenge is getting the seeds going in the February heat in order to those slow growing things ,cabbage, caulies, swedes going so they can be harvested by mid winter.

The successes

TURNIPS these grew so well I had to invent ways of serving them. The swedes, which I think taste much better were much slower and really need to be planted much eerier.
CABBAGE where slow to develop but a move to the tunnel was able to hurry them along to harvestable size by mid winter.
CARROTS The ‘see-more’ carrots are always good –so sweet in winter.
KALE was excellent and made good soups. Best planted mid-late spring.
PARSNIPS Never enough of these – My favorite roast vegetable.
GREENS winter is a good time for greens we enjoyed them almost every day. Lettuce – all types, mache, cress, green wave mustard lettuce, rocket, parsley (by the bucket full) endive, leaf chicory, and big favorite celery and the juicy miners lettuce.
The beetroot tops and latter on roots were good.
The best part is always having something to choose from in a GARDEN GROWN FOR FRESHNESS
DELICATE, GREEN , FRAGRANT
FLEETING FRESHNESS
Now that spring has arrived its time to plant a new range of vegetables so stay tuned.