tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90426959941707877892024-03-14T15:52:43.218+11:00funky frontyard farmersIn january of 2011, Our family of five (now 6) lived off garden produce from our suburban front yard for one week, and we didn't loose any weight...unfortunately. It was an experience that changed the way we thought about food and the value of a suburban garden. Since then we have extended our sustainable food production beyond our suburban front yard, and into our local community and neighbourhood, beginning a community orchard and local food swap. One front yard just isn't enough! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-20104435526445430072015-08-25T21:16:00.001+10:002015-08-25T21:21:00.334+10:00How Much Food did we Grow in One year?<br />
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<b>One tonne Challenge Finale</b></div>
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Our one tonne challenge is over. For 365 days we have weighed and recorded everything that we have harvested from our frontyard garden. Everything from eggs laid by the chookies, potatoes, apples, artichokes, tomatoes, chillies, garlic, cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins, herbs, salads, lemons and much much more.<br />
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and so.....drum roll please brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum....tiss! We harvested a whopping 380.73 kgs. YAY!!!!<br />
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All of the children have lent a helping hand, picking nasturtiums, strawberry guavas and tamarillos, (some even got weighed before they were eaten!) heading inside, balancing it on the scales, climbing up on the bench and writing it on our wall of blackboard......<br />
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Over a kilo a day from a normal suburban yard ain't bad, and, while we were a little shy of our one tonne goal (which we are still determined to conquer), it just goes to show the value of a regular suburban lawn, if you dig it up and grow veggies instead. We calculated the average price per kilo for our top ten veggies based on the prices of Coles (shudder) and realized that (if we ever shopped there) we would have saved close to $4000 in fresh produce over the year!<br />
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this year our 2 big players, the grapefruit and oranges didn't fruit, nor did our bananas and all of our nectarines were lost to pesky possums and parrots....grrr next time gadget, next time! But our big winners this year have been lemons, sweet potatoes, yakon, potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.<br />
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On the bright side we did harvest over 90kg of pumpkins from just 3 vines! We were also surprised to realise we harvested over 900 eggs from the ladies over the year.<br />
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When we started our one tonne challenge we were only growing in the front-half of our frontyard (about 70 square metres of space). As the year progressed so did our desire to utilise all of the space we have so we covered the bottom drive and the rest of what remained of our front lawn with woodchips and manure to increase our growing space by another 20 sq metres.<br />
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Now that the only lawn we have is a narrow path to the front gate, we feel that we can finally, and in all honesty, call ourselves "frontyard farmers"!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our front lawn...</td></tr>
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After harvesting the pumpkins in the drive we realised it was the perfect space for a polytunnel...well a mini, home-made one. Using bamboo harvested from a friend's backyard, some zip-ties, clear plastic and a few star pickets, we constructed what has been a very handy little greenhouse for under $50.<br />
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So what's next you might ask? We are going to do it all again. With all the new growing space, we are curious as to how close we can get to the illusive 1 tonne. But its not about getting as much as we can from the space that we have, rather its about making the most of it, and making it better than how we found it. In a funny way its a habit, but also we find it insightful and rewarding, to fully appreciate it... the preparation of a bed, improving the soil, planting a seed, watching it grow through the seasons, and finally harvesting it for our family table.<br />
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<b>Putting them to Work</b><br />
Good ol' fashioned, hard work is rewarding. For adults, preparing a bed for planting, trudging wheel barrow after wheel barrow of manure in to your garden or back breakingly planting out 150 spring seedlings - whilst you finish up exhausted, sore and a little more stinky, you're rewarded with a great sense of satisfaction, these days, our daily routines of roaring back and forth to work in the traffic and sitting in front of a computer screen all day rarely leaves us with a sense of satisfaction. It's the same for kids, they thrive on hard work, having a challenge, getting dirty and achieving a daily goal. Not sitting in front of an x-box, an ipad or the tv, these empty things don't satisfy kids.<br />
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Our kids have daily jobs that they do every day, like many kids out there. We have linked these jobs to our family needs on purpose, so the kids know that their contribution is an integral part for the whole family's lifestyle. It's important not to deprive your children from the satisfaction that comes from hard work, no parent sets out with this intention. Our 9 year old son knows that when he feeds the chooks each morning, with grain, greens, scraps, clean water, collecting the eggs and cleaning out the coup, that the ladies will lay and we will get to enjoy their eggs. the smile on his face as he weighs them and puts them in the fridge is priceless.<br />
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Our 7 year old daughter rather prides herself as the domestic goddess, choosing to clean the family bathrooms each morning, wiping the basin, sweeping the floor, changing hand towels, returning tooth brushes to drawers etc, her completed job reinforces tidiness and a sense of each of us looking after each other in our home.<br />
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The two youngest, 5 and 3 year olds, water the seedlings each morning between 6:30-7am. They empty the compost into worm holes and water the entire patch. This means cold fingers from using the hose, hurrying up with breakfast and being responsible with water usage, turning off taps and checking over the garden. By doing their job properly then the seedlings thrive, can be planted and then harvested for our family, they are very aware of this.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">work is bliss!</td></tr>
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<b>Whats growing in the patch</b><br />
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With Spring just around the corner we wanted to test-drive a few new varieties of veg. We're trialing a row of Siberian tomatoes that are already in the ground (mid Aug). These tomatoes are reported to be v tolerant to cool conditions but we doubt they're tolerant to frost, so we're expecting they'll be a good choice for the start and end of tomato season to extend the growing period - we'll report back and let you know how they go.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the new beds, prepped for our Siberian visitors</td></tr>
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The coolest cukes for 2015 would have to be painted serpent cucumbers and Cuca-melons which are actually a miniature watermelon...yum. On the bean front we're excited about growing the Madagascan Lima bean which is a perennial, said to be prolific in its 2nd and ongoing years. They also make an outstanding falafel and are said to be a good alternate to fava beans for warmer climates. Asparagus peas (also known as the winged pea) are next on our trial radar which as they suggest have a similar flavor to asparagus. We've also been growing a range of radish over the winter including Japanese daikon, hailstone (both white varities) and French breakfast. Interestingly enough we've noticed that slugs are quite attracted to the French breakfast but seem to mostly leave the others alone.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawaiian Guavas... wonderful colour!</td></tr>
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An oddity that we're given recently and are also thinking about trialing is a pea bean cross, or Pean, which we think is more commonly known as Hyacinth bean or Lablab. I don't know if the guy that gave them to us was trying to knock us off, but our initial research suggests that they may be rather poisonous, if not boiled repeatedly.... hmmm....worth doing your research! Has anyone else heard of the mysterious Pean? Love to hear from you Pean experts out there.<br />
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Next time, more on Black soldier fly, and some ideas about a virtual community farm in the Mountains.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-82504715880519619182015-03-22T14:56:00.000+11:002015-04-02T19:40:05.590+11:00Grow Your Own Organic Food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>Our Urban 1 Tonne Challenge </strong><br />
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With the end of summer upon us and only 130 days left in our latest Urban food production challenge (to see how many KG's of organic food we can grow on our suburban block of 750 square metres) we have just passed 233Kg of home grown food. Not bad huh?<br />
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Since summer started we have barely bought any fresh produce, bar the occasional bunch of bananas, some onions, and the odd bag of shrooms that have crept into the trolley, but other than that our family have been more than satisfied with what we have grown in our garden. The kids have devoured tamarillos in their lunchboxes every day since school started again and the road-side apples we picked a few months back (they store really well wrapped in newspaper, certainly fresher than most of the apples in the big supermarkets). They've eaten heirloom tomatoes straight off the vine or helped themselves to crispy cucumbers as a snack. In the kitchen we've cooked and prepared seasonal produce; salad greens, radicchio, basil, mint, leeks, beetroot, sweet potato leaves, nasturtiums just to name a few - breakfasts of warm sourdough with a parsley, tomato, basil and nasturtium bruschetta mix, served with a poached egg straight from the laying ladies, is what life is all about.<br />
Now with the cooler weather we are looking forward to roasting, souping and baking this season's produce, sweet potatoes, potatoes, parsnips, pumpkins roasted with our own garlic and rosemary and our neighbour's honey and baking citrus tarts and pumpkin scones for afternoon teas. As a society, many people don't even consider purchasing and eating seasonal produce. Watermelon in June? Coriander in July? "Folks, this ain't normal!" The questions are , where is your food coming from? What's been done to it to allow it to grow out of season? Or how many kilometres has it travelled to be there? And why aren't we supporting local farmers and fresh, seasonal food?<br />
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While we won't reach the magic "1 tonne" (this year) we are still hoping to reach close to a kilo of food for every day of the year... but the quantity of kilo's isn't really what counts. The point of this experiment is to explore what we can do with the space that we have, to get others thinking about how we can boost our local food security by growing our own food, and realising that food is our own responsibility, not that of the industrialized globalised petroleum guzzling, mass producing, off shore food monsters that we have all unwittingly become dependent upon. We say its high time to stick a home grown purple carrot up their bum!<br />
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<strong>The Crop and Swap (Four years old!)</strong><br />
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</strong>In April we will have ended our fourth season of the <em>Crop and Swap</em> (our local food swap with now over 300 registered members). Much of the locally grown food produce this season has been outstanding in quality and variety. Beetroots, breads, brassica's, honey, tomatoes, tamarillo's, turnips, parsnips, you name it, someone has dared to grow it in their backyard this year!<br />
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Not only is the swap still growing strong, it has brought our community together in a way we never really expected. We have made some fantastic friends, learned enormous amounts about gardening, shared plants, seeds, laughs and tears, and collectively shared thousands of kilos of locally grown and home-made food. Beyond even this, we have held countless workshops on chooks, worms, microbes, pests, fertilizers, jams, and even fungi (each by different members of the community). We have held socials, and shared resources. <br />
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The swap has even encouraged the development of new networks between neighbours, starting their own initiatives such as gardening working-bees, sharing firewood, and even pig shares! Oink!<br />
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Bottom line, the Swap has changed us, and everyone else who has shared in it. Its captured local imaginations, and made each of us realise the worth that each person can offer to their community. Some swappers have even taken the brave step to quitting their jobs and moving into the organic food industry... Isn't that amazing? If there is one thing that you can do to really build a sense of community food networking and security in your own community, we would very much recommend that you start your own food swap in your local hood!<br />
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So here's to the Swap, 4 years on, and going strong!<br />
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<strong>Experiments in the Patch</strong><br />
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As always, just when you think you have settled on the best way to set up your veggie patch, you find an even better one, but that's the fun of gardening I guess, and we are always experimenting with new and more efficient ways to grow our veggies. Recently we have come across two concepts that have changed the way we grow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird netting saved most of our veggies after a massive hail storm</td></tr>
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The first is called "SPIN" farming, which stands for "small plot intensive farming". The system is very popular in the States, and basically looks at how urban farmers can make a commercial profit from a small plot of land, growing high value crops in quick succession. The growing rows are about 80cm wide by approx 7 m long. This is so that you can easily straddle the beds and water them with a regular garden hose. A guy by the name of Curtis Stone (not the b grade Aussie celebrity chef (?)) has been making a successful business out of farming people's front yards and backyards, delivering greens to local cafe's. Very cool and worth researching.<br />
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The second concept is "No Till" gardening. This method follows the basic principle that turning your soil ruptures the micro and macro habitats beneath the soil, including the complex networks between worms, insects, microbes and fungi. If you have ever watched "Horton Hears a Who" you will get this principle straight away. Soil that is undisturbed is teeming with life, while soil that is turned and disrupted regularly quickly becomes baron, needing chemical supplements to remain fertile. Many farmers are now moving toward a no till method, and so have we. We simply add organic matter, like compost, chook and horse manure, coffee grounds from local cafes and wood ash, then cover with mulch. the worms do the tilling for us.<br />
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<b>Worm bombs and fish guts</b><br />
Speaking of worms, one of the new things we have been doing in the garden is "Worm Bombing". As you may already know, worms do heaps of really cool stuff below the soil that improves plant growth, like unlocking available nutrient, aerating the soil, improving water retention, increasing good bacteria, eating naughty nematodes, and increasing root growth; so why not add them to the soil as you plant?<br />
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Before planting out our new seedlings, we raid one of our 7 in-ground worm holes and scoop out a good handful of wriggly wormies. With each seedling that we plant, we make a hole (with our trusty upturned beer bottle), drop in a 'worm bomb' (a ball of worm castings and worms) then plant the seedling. Not only have our plants been growing faster and healthier, but the soil is starting to pump with worms. Give it a go.<br />
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The addition of worms works super well with the no dig/till method. by continuously adding more organic matter to the top of your beds, your garden becomes one gigantic worm farm.<br />
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We have also been using our worm wee as a foliar spray for our veg. Worm wee is not only packed with nutrient, but also beneficial bacteria, which improve nutrient uptake and reduce disease in plants. For the brave, who want to get serious about microbes in the patch, and aren't squeamish about fish guts, read on.<br />
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Our mate Craig, from the food swap, makes a brew from old fish guts, kelp, molasses and worm castings. Fear not, he has a background in microbiology and knows his stuff. The first step is to blend up some fish offal and leave it to break down in a bottle with a loose lid (somewhere far, far away from the house). After about 3 months its ready to use. Add a cup of fish soup, a few tea spoons of kelp, a jar of molasses and about 20 litres of water to a large bucket. Add a stocking with plenty of worm castings and a rock or two, so that it sinks to the bottom, then turn on the fish pump and leave it to bubble away for a couple of days. Amazingly, it doesn't smell at all, and is packed with good bacteria for the patch. spray it on the veg or water it on the soil to give your plants a super pro-biotic boost!<br />
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<b>198 seedlings</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">these 198 trays have been fantastic!</td></tr>
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A while back, my bro-in-law gave us a whole lot of seedling trays (for tree seedlings). They have been great, but because they are quite deep, they take up a lot of seedling mix. Having visited a couple of farms recently, the common seedling tray that is used for vegetable seedlings is called a "198", because it has 198 shallow seedling pods, so we got ourselves a few trays. 6 litres of seedling mix is enough to easily fill two trays (396 seedlings), which equates to about 3 cents per seedling for the mix, rather than 120 seedlings that we were potting with out bigger seedling trays.<br />
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In the pursuit of even more veggies, we have decided to say farewell to what remains of the front lawn, and drive way, and put in another 9 rows of growing space, and maybe even a poly tunnel! So the 198's will be getting quite the workout over the coming season.<br />
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<b>Beautiful beans </b><br />
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Who needs diamonds, when you can have beans. These Molly Zebra and Scarlet Runner beans are as beautiful as little jewels; tiny kidney shaped miracles of creation that awaken a sense of child-like wonder in anyone who gazes upon them. We always used to be blasé about beans until this season, when we afforded them a whole bed row unto themselves. Beans (we have discovered) are delicious! There are so many wonderful, and beautiful varieties of beans, and if you can't manage to eat them all fresh off the vine, you can easily dry them and store them for winter soups, or planting next season.<br />
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Although the summer months have passed, we still have plenty of pumpkins to harvest and loads of sweet potatoes, yacon tubers, potatoes, and Jerusalem artichokes, not to mention the winter citrus season ahead. How many more kilo's can we grow in 130 days??? </div>
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Stay Tuned, We are determined to get back to regular posts ;)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-67330378564287726492014-10-12T21:38:00.001+11:002014-10-12T21:48:46.306+11:00Springtime Harvests and home grown Garlic<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lrza-ew3u7w/VDpQ2Is7eAI/AAAAAAAABII/sicThZzQJzE/s1600/SAM_6471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lrza-ew3u7w/VDpQ2Is7eAI/AAAAAAAABII/sicThZzQJzE/s1600/SAM_6471.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a>The heady perfumes of jasmine and wisteria, grapefruit blossoms and bush fire (back burning), have become the welcome and well known intoxicating smells of springtime here in the Blue Mountains. Walking out on the balcony in the morning time, the rich aroma's hold us in a dreamy suspense, and remind us just how good life in the mountains is. The weather is warming, the Kookaburras are sitting plump & content, and it's time to watch the garden grow.</div>
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As you may already have heard we're are doing a 1 tonne challenge! That's right, we are aiming to harvest a tonne of food from our yard in a year..nothing like setting the bar slightly high - that would Joe's fault. However, in the last 80 days we have now harvested 80 kgs! That's a person, and we haven't yet hit peak harvest season, actually Springtime in the garden is the leanest season of the year...so for all the non believers out there (I secretly think we might hit closer to 450kgs) watch and be amazed ;)</div>
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Today we harvested the last of our citrus, the final oranges and lemons, though there's an abundance of new blossoms bursting with potential. We've been citrussy spoilt this last season, massive juicy grapefruits, sweet oranges and perfect zesty lemons. The secret to our success has been building the chook enclosure around the citrus trees and wait for it - sucking all of the stink beetles into beetle oblivion with the vacuum cleaner - the old vacuum cleaner, that whilst retired from domestic duties proudly sports its abilities with Joe at the realm any time the stink beetle population gets, well stinky. </div>
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<b>Home Made Orange Juice</b></div>
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<b>Springtime specials</b></div>
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Over the past weeks the kids have been picking the new season mulberries, cape gooseberries, strawberries and broadbeans. We've also been enjoying loads of Pak Choi, yum, yum, yum and it has without a doubt taken over kale to become our new favourite green. Tonight we enjoyed a noodle, chicken, sweet potato, garlic, pak choi and chilli laksa. Pak Choi can be grown all year round and if it's cooked ever so slightly its deliciously juicy and packs a satisfying crunch with every munch.</div>
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<b>Home-grown Garlic</b></div>
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This year we were determined to supply ourselves with as much garlic as possible. Planting well over 200 bulbs, on St Patrick's day..to be sure, to be sure and now, in the last fortnight we have harvested and feasted on our very own fresh garlic. Whilst the bulbs aren't enormous, the flavour has been beyond compare to trashy, out of date Chinese and Argentinian store bought garlic, sprayed with all manner of nasty pesticides and fungicides...(along with strawberries, garlic is one of the most heavily sprayed post-harvest crops to promote longevity). There's no need to wait 9 months though to enjoy your garlic. We've been cutting the green tops off the plant all year and loving them in our cooking, offering the most flavoursome edge to any dish.</div>
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If you have never tasted it home grown, do yourself a flavor, and plant some at the end of summer. mulch well and keep the soil moist. then next spring, pull up your very own garlic bulbs and try them roasted whole, or finely sliced and simmered with a little butter and olive oil and parsley, served on sour dough.</div>
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Whilst we've been enjoying some springtime treats, we've also been pretty busy in the patch preparing some of the summer heavy weights - pumpkins, zucchinis, potatoes, cucumbers and of course lots and lots of tomatoes. So far we have 12 tomato plants (and expect to plant at least another 10 before the end of summer) in and thriving including some cherry varieties lemon drops, dark cherry, tommy toe and also some orange juan flambe which have all produced well here in the past. We've also potted up some heirloom tigerella tomato seedlings which we're hoping will be as prolific as they were last season.</div>
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Our front driveway has been decommissioned to make way for our brand new pumpkin patch, so if you're planning on visiting you may never reach the front door alive...might be best to come in via the side gate ;).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-9569398821925257962014-08-17T19:18:00.002+10:002014-10-13T06:42:11.722+11:00WINTER HARVESTS, FALAFELS AND FOODIE FASHIONISTA'S IN THE<br />
WINTER <br />
GARDEN<br />
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Finally, last night we had our first decent drop of rain after what seems like months. We took the girls out for a puddle hunt and didn't return until they were sufficiently soaked with muddy water. The water tanks are full again and the vegetable garden is soaking up as much as it can hold. We are 21 days into our challenge to see how much food we can grow on our suburban block in one year, and so far, we have harvested a modest 45kg of fresh fruit, veg and eggs from our garden. We have set ourselves the goal of trying to reach 1 tonne of food production before the year is out, and although it seems ambitious for a suburban block, we're quietly confident that we can at least get close.<br />
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You may be wondering what there is to harvest during winter in the mountains, but we have a bounty of lemons, oranges and grapefruit, tamarillos, and plenty of greens. Shallots, bok choi, nasturtiums, kale, and even dandelion greens have been harvested daily. After reading a great little book on edible weeds, "The Weed forager's Handbook", we have been looking at some of our weeds rather differently. Instead of pulling them out, we have been enjoying them in salads, which makes a lot more sense.<br />
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<strong>Kale Chips? Anyone? Anyone???</strong><br />
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Kale has been enjoying celebrity status in the vegetable isle around the world, it seems, for the past year or so, and all the most chic of herbivores have been desperate to be seen with a bunch of these designer label leafs, preferably wrapped in some rustic brown paper, being peddled in the front basket of a retro bicycle. Scientists have found that Kale keeps you looking healthy, and very, very vogue!<br />
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Not to be left behind in the food fashion world, we decided to grow some this season, so that we too could bask in the Kale haute - couture, of this oh so "in" veg. Yesterday we made kale chips, and were very impressed with ourselves. The feeling of being cutting-edge-cool was almost palpable, until we tried to share them with the kids, who each screwed up their faces and collectively gagged at the taste....philistines!<br />
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Kale chips are actually worth a go. Of course, only a more seasoned pallet will appreciate them. Simply dry off the leaves using a towel after washing them, then toss them with a tiny amount of olive oil. Tear up the leaves into rustic looking bite sized bits, and pop them in a low oven at 130 degrees c for about 15 minutes until they have gone delightfully crispy. <br />
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We sat and ate our high society,all organic, home grown kale chips as we casually flicked through the paper, knowing that, even though no-one could see us, the world somehow just <i>knew</i>, we were bourgeois foodie gods... and then, I saw it, an article in the paper on how seaweed is the new super fashionable green to be eaten... suddenly I felt like a K-Mart end of season sale bin!<br />
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<strong>From Failure to Falafel</strong><br />
Last year, we got all excited about the idea of making flour from our broad beans. We had giddy notions of making our own broad bean bread, and being oh so sustainable... but broad bean flour just doesn't work...at least, not for bread-making. Our one and only attempt at broad bean bread went from dismal failure to happy accident, when we accidentally made... the worlds best broad bean falafel mix!<br />
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<strong> How to make a boastfully good broad bean Falafel</strong><br />
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1. Grow and dry your own broad beans with pride<br />
2. grind your dried beans in a food processor (we used a coffee grinder)<br />
3. add water, some garlic, a chilli, and herbs of your choice to taste<br />
4. roll the delicious mix into bite sized balls and shallow fry in a pan with olive oil.<br />
5. serve with sweet chilli and homemade yoghurt!<br />
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<strong>The New Veggie Patch</strong><br />
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Take a peek at our new patch. With the addition of another 14 square metres, we have loads more growing space for the challenge, and we are very much looking forward to testing it out this summer. Our perennials and fruit trees are grouped together, south of the vegetable patch, where, hopefully, apples, pears, bananas, tamarillos, strawberry and pineapple guava's, sweet potatoes, strawberries, cape-gooseberries, chillies and yacon will all happily grow in harmony.<br />
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We have also updated our in-ground worm-farms. We found that our first ones were too small, so we've added 5 x 20 litre buckets, cutting off the bottoms and drilling with holes. they are working wonderfully under our fruit trees, and the worm population in our patch is getting a real wriggle on!<br />
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Our garlic has also been growing well, so far, despite a few aphids, and if all goes according to our garlicky plans, we should have mountains of garlic to store for the coming year. <br />
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In the seedling nursery we have 8 different varieties tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchinis, basil and shallots all awaiting transplanting over the coming weeks. Today we sowed carrots, beetroot and leek, a bounty that should help us reach our challenge target. One tonne here we come ;)!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-20780233163573146772014-07-28T21:45:00.000+10:002014-08-17T18:09:46.122+10:00THE FUNKY 1 TONNE CHALLENGE BEGINSTIME FOR A CHANGE<br />
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With spring just around the corner, we have been making some big changes to our garden design in the front yard. We have dedicated almost 100 square metres of the front yard to growing vegetables, while the south east side of the yard is now solely for fruit trees and perennials. We have added 3 more apple trees, another pear, two feijoa trees, a 4th strawberry guava, and a plum tree, taking our fruit tree total to almost 30 trees, not including the community orchard.... We're adding some extra "fruity" to our "funky front yard farm".<br />
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This Sunday, after much deliberation, we decided to harvest our giant bunch of bananas, and we were gobsmacked at how heavy the bunch was. It got us thinking... with all the new growing space in the front yard, maybe it was time for a new challenge. I suppose the old question of "How much food can actually be grown on a suburban block" has always remained conveniently rhetorical. Well, not for much longer, as we aim to find out.<br />
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THE ONE TONNE CHALLENGE<br />
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Using a highly sensitive set of rusty bathroom scales and a state of the art set of cheap Chinese plastic kitchen scales, our aim is to see exactly how much food we can produce in terms of weight over the next 12 months.... and diligently record it in chalk on our kitchen blackboard! So, yes, its going to be rather scientific. It shall be known from this day forth, as ....(drum roll) the Funky Frontyard 1 tonne challenge (clashing symbols). Its highly unlikely, but our goal is 1 tonne of home grown food.<br />
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And what better way than to begin our weigh in than with our great big bunch of Blue Mountains bananas! the official bathroom scale weight is 22kg for the Bananas! not a bad start.<br />
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The challenge has officially begun, let's see how many more kilos of produce the Funky Frontyard Farmers can grow over the next 365 days!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-67953067834208601912014-05-22T18:11:00.000+10:002014-05-22T18:11:48.141+10:00Bananas and Bee stings<br />
The Blue mountains is a magical place, filled with mystery and intrigue. Legends of unusual sightings of black panthers lurking in the bushland, and even towering yowies have been reported by perhaps less credible sources. But I would like to announce the recent sighting of something equally unbelievable....but true.<br />
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We have bananas growing in our front yard! (Queue audible gasp of disbelief). But wait, this is where it gets all X files... we have apples too!!!!! (Nooooo, it can't be true... apples AND bananas!!!! I don't believe it!) Doubt no more dear reader, I speak the enviable truth, so please excuse us while we take a little moment to boast openly about our recent success in the patch. <br />
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Most of you will hopefully be adequately envious of our climactic situation. Our hometown of Springwood is said to be one of the most temperate climates in the world, allowing us to grow a very wide range of fruit trees, from cool climate to subtropical trees, and if we are lucky, (and our bunch of bananas survive the cold winter ahead, and aren't eaten by yowies) we may be treating ourselves to a home grown banana or two next summer. As for the apples, they were delicious! <br />
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This season has been one of several firsts with our fruit trees. Our first harvest of tamarillo's has been very popular with the kids, and they are amazingly tasty. I don't know why they aren't sold regularly at the shops on account of their great flavour and ease to grow. We have also planted two feijoa trees that promise some more fabulous flavours in the seasons to come. Our first pomegranates also arrived in the community orchard this year, and of course, our apples...and bananas.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Tamarillo tree grown from seed only a year ago...super prolific - just add horse poo</td></tr>
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<strong>Beekeeping - to bee or not to bee</strong><br />
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Last month Jo and I went on a beekeeping course near Wisemans ferry. the course was run by the Sydney Permaculture Institute, and was well worth its while. the drive alone was spectacular, winding through the rolling green pastures that hug the serpentine bends of the Wiseman's ferry river, but best of all, Gramps was back at home looking after the four kids.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ready for action... oh the drama!</td></tr>
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The course included an induction to bee keeping, the history of bees in Australia, tools and equipment, and so on. Later, it was time to don the white bee suits and venture out to rob a hive. We pried open the hive, and with novice skill, removed four frames of honey comb. The smell was intoxicating and dreamy and sweet... and then I got stung on the ankle... <br />
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Once the lid was back on, we stole away with the frames and learned how to extract the honey. As I watched the incredible golden syrup ooze out, I was sold! <br />
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"Bees! Bees! Bees! What a brilliant idea!" On the drive home I sung their praises endlessly, but slowly I realised that Jo wasn't as convinced. <br />
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"hmm, where would we put them? what about the kids? the neighbours?"<br />
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Why was she asking such annoyingly sensible questions! What could I do to make her see that the one thing missing in our lives...was bees. This would take some convincing. I would have to play my cards carefully.<br />
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We decided to visit a friend who had bees in their backyard. The kids were very excited.<br />
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"See honey! you wouldn't even know they were there" I said to Jo, upon arriving a few feet from the hive. The bee's spun lazy droning swirls around the hive. N was fascinated. "Look dad, that ones going inside the hive, and that one must be a drone...and that one's a worker bee" he continued. I looked at Jo reassuringly, as if to say, "see how much he is learning... bees are good for our children... bees are goooooooood"<br />
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That's when we should have left... on a high note, so Jo could have hopped in the car and looked at me lovingly, and said, "you know what darling, you were right all along. Lets get that beehive!"<br />
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but no, just as we were saying our goodbyes, a bee, seemingly out of nowhere flew straight toward N and stung him...on the eyelid!<br />
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Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I watched as N's eye inflated like a hot, itchy balloon, and inside, my dreams of bee glory deflated. How could N bee so selfish!<br />
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<strong>The Insect Hotel</strong><br />
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N's eye slowly returned to its normal condition, and everyone politely avoided the topic of bees at home for a week of so. My beehive building ventures would have to lie dormant until winter. In the meanwhile, I thought I would try my hand at making an insect hotel. I was inspired after learning a little about the benefits of encouraging native bees in the garden, most of which are solitary insects, and don't live in colonies.<br />
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Insect hotels are easy enough to construct and make a great addition to the veggie patch. the aim is to provide a habitat for beneficial insects such as lady beetles, wasps, native bees and green lacewing to lay their eggs and build in numbers. There are many insects that help out in the garden, preying on pests, pollinating fruit flowers, and so on.<br />
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To build one, simply create a timber frame that is 15cm of so deep. The frame is then stacked with small logs and sticks until it is tightly packed. Small holes are then drilled at various diameters of up to about 8mm. this is where the insects will set up residence. I'm looking forward to seeing who will move in!<br />
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If anything, they look great, and could be used as a feature in the patch, as well as help increase the biodiversity and fauna in your garden. Best of all, it costs nothing, if you can make it from left over timber. It also makes for a good pass time for anyone who wished they were really building a beehive, but couldn't...at least, not just yet.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-8713777544310938672013-12-30T20:19:00.000+11:002014-01-16T20:48:47.552+11:00Veggie Patch Upcycling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This year in the patch we are trying out some new ideas in the ongoing search for ways to improve our vegetable growing on the cheap, so in this post we want to share some simple methods that you can use in your patch on a low budget. we've been up-cycling, recycling and occasionally upside down cycling with things that we have found here at home to make the garden grow even better.<br />
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<strong>In ground Worm farm composters</strong><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the finished worm composter in action</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">prototype 1 - DIY in ground worm composter</td></tr>
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We are rather excited about this little experiment to try and improve our soil by placing in ground worm farms made from PVC pipe throughout our patch. we made these from some left over pipe (20cm diameter) by drilling loads of holes into lengths of about 40cm, then burying them upright in the veggie beds. Add some wet paper to the bottom, a handful of red wrigglers (compost worms) and some vegetable scraps, some more paper and last of all a lid. (just make sure it is sealed off from fruit fly). Even after a couple of weeks it is surprising how quickly the scraps are being digested. <br />
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Worms are like the intestines of the soil. Compost worms tend only to inhabit the top soil layer, breaking down leaf matter and other dead vegetation. Earthworms (the big fat guys) burrow much deeper, and help to transport the nutrient rich humus of the compost worms deeper into the soil and around the root zones of our veggies. What a great team! They are jam packed with good microorganisms that enrich the soil into a bustling micro metropolis of healthy humus... at least that's the theory behind this idea, and I am busting to see if it works as planned.<br />
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<strong>Worm farm seedling tray in one.</strong><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a great way to reuse your water</td></tr>
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I got this idea from a permaculture farm that used old bathtubs as worm farms in their nursery. their seedling trays rested on top of their worm farms. As they watered the seedlings, the water seeped through the wormy tubs and the worm juice siphoned into a storage tank which was later filtered and pumped through their irrigation system. We have adopted the same principle on a micro scale with our own worm farm. We simply removed the lid, laid down newspaper and a folded hessian mat which the seedling trays rest on. Its working a treat.<br />
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<strong>Drip irrigation with Venturi pump</strong><br />
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This spring was very dry, which contributed to the terrible fires that we have had up here in the mountains. To conserve our water use in the garden this year we are trialling a drip irrigation system on our main vegetable patch. Its a fairly simple setup that we connect to a small secondary water tank near the patch. We purchased some cheap black irrigation pipe and punctured it with small holes every 10cm or so, and arranging the lines to run across our grow beds.<br />
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We have also added a simple venturi pump system that feeds into the main irrigation line which allows us to add liquid fertilisers to the water as needed. So far we have been pumping our plants with filtered weed tea, and worm wee and the results are starting to show already. Its important to filter liquid fertilisers to make sure the lines don't get clogged up. We are using some wool insulation in a milk carton to filter the organic fertilisers.<br />
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The venturi pump works on simple suction. As the water runs through the main line, it creates suction, which draws the liquid fertiliser from the milk container into the irrigation line. The higher the water pressure, the higher the container of fertiliser needs to be, otherwise, you will get water going in the wrong direction and back into your liquid fertiliser container. A little trial and error and you'll have it down pat in no time. The pump is very easy to install to an existing irrigation set up. all you need it a t-join, a tap, and some extra hose. you can adjust the flow of fertiliser into the irrigation line by adjusting the tap.<br />
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For the areas in our garden that don't have drip irrigation installed yet, we are making use of our old milk bottles as slow release irrigation units. We are using them on our pumpkins at the moment to give them plenty of juice. Its a simple matter of filling the milk bottle with water, adding liquid fertiliser and whacking the bottle in upside down nearby the roots of the plant. Over the course of the day, the water and nutrients is slowly released into the soil. Its great for plants like pumpkins which are heavy feeders as you can pump nutrients directly to the plants root system. It also means no need for overhead watering, which reduces the likelihood of powdery mildew and weeds. by adding a tiny pin hole on the bottom of the milk bottle, it allows air into the bottle, aiding the water flow. the larger the bole, the faster the flow of water.<br />
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<strong>beer bottles for seedling holes</strong><br />
Being spring time, we have been planting out our new seedlings. We have found that a great way to speed up the process is to use an up turned beer bottle to make the holes for the seedling to go in. Its a perfect fit! Its also a great excuse to crack open a beer before planting out... or maybe 3 or 4, to get the job done even faster. hmmmmm... <br />
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Water the seedlings and the planting site with some worm wee or sea-sol before planting.<br />
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<strong>Chooks and weeds get the (hessian) sack</strong><br />
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We are lucky to have a great local coffee roaster in our community, who has loads of spare coffee bags to dispose of regularly. We have been putting them to good use in the garden as covers for some of our veggie beds. They are excellent for stopping the chooks from digging up the dirt and plants, and also help to keep the soil moist and stop the weeds. Being made of natural fibres, they break down naturally as well. If you are after some sacks, look up local coffee roasters in your area. They will have loads of sacks and may even be happy to simply give them away.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hessian mats a success</td></tr>
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<strong>Our new and improved DIY Black-soldier-fly Composter</strong><br />
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You may remember that last year we experimented with growing black soldier fly (BSF) as a way of composting and generating feed for our chooks. Our first prototype was successful in so far as it attracted plenty of black soldier fly, but when it came to harvesting them, many of the grubs didn't find the pipes to crawl up. this year we improved on our BSF composter by using a plastic 10 ltr watering can. Its cheaper, easier to build, more contained and hopefully works much better. With this design the grubs crawl up the spout of the watering can (there's no where else for them to go) down some hose and into a plastic bottle. We add food scraps by unscrewing the t-bar and put them down the shoot. I used some liquid nails to fix the t-bar in place. The chooks are already very happily eating black soldier fly larvae from our new system.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bsf fly in the t-bar pipe and lay their eggs. Larvae crawl up the spout and into the plastic bottle.</td></tr>
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<strong>New plants in the Patch</strong><br />
Last summer, we planted some tamarillo seeds from some fruit given to us by our neighbour Grant. He has an amazing fruit orchard and edible garden! Our kids loved his tamarillos, so we decided to give them a go ourselves. Not only do they taste delicious, but they grow incredibly fast. We planted this one from a seed last summer (Not even a year ago) and it's setting fruit. Tamarillo's are a short lived subtropical fruit tree, but grow well in temperate climates too.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nearly one year old</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vDftQTPODig/Uq1QHot_gkI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/gW3Tah6yhko/s1600/2013-10-30+12.30.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vDftQTPODig/Uq1QHot_gkI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/gW3Tah6yhko/s320/2013-10-30+12.30.45.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ripening tamarillo's</td></tr>
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We have also planted two feijoa trees (pineapple Guavas) on account of how fantastically delicious they taste, and also to make feijoa wine, which I hear is very easy to swill. If you haven't tasted one of these delicious fruit, do yourself a favour. Another new addition to the garden is a tropical guava tree which has taken the place of our mandarin (God rest its roots) after it was savagely mauled by a heartless and possibly drunk mob of cockatoos. We discovered (albeit too late) that they are terrified of red underpants hung on a pole. We are not sure if this is a universal rule or if it is uniquely my underpants that did the trick. If so, and you are in need of a pair, be warned, prices will be exorbitant.<br />
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Finally our apple trees have fruited this spring, with a bounty of promising small apples hanging on their branches. If they can duck and weave the possums and cockatoo's, rosellas and bush rats, maybe we might even get to eat one in the summer. <br />
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Happy gardening gang.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-67245336010514336562013-09-12T21:10:00.002+10:002013-09-14T08:44:11.944+10:00Making our home-made Pizza Oven!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEzFi5Lao_g/UjGfE8xKHPI/AAAAAAAAA8o/xgwemZDyyJY/s1600/IMAG0623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEzFi5Lao_g/UjGfE8xKHPI/AAAAAAAAA8o/xgwemZDyyJY/s640/IMAG0623.jpg" width="379" /></a></div>
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Joe has a problem, he is Mediterranean... and lurking deep within those Mediterranean roots, emerged the inevitable Mediterranean yearning, that wells up within the psyche of every Mediterranean man.: the need to build a pizza oven. <br />
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"Darling, I've been thinking about that corner in the backyard; You know the one where you wanted the Balinese daybed retreat. I thought perhaps we could go with something a little more... Mediterranean, how about we build a pizza oven!"<br />
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And so it was.....our pizza oven journey began.... and the Balinese daybed retreat with spa and flapping white sails in the cool summer breeze, suddenly ended.<br />
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YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!<br />
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Of course, the yearning to build a pizza oven is not exclusive to Mediterranean stock, and so, its quite possible that one day you may find yourself experiencing a similarly sudden urge, so we thought it only fair to share our oven building experiences with you. <br />
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<strong>Some preliminary notes on building a Pizza oven</strong><br />
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Building a pizza oven with friends can be great fun... (I've heard). Making an oven with children can be a freeking nightmare. But if you are like us and your children have scared all your friends away, then children will simply have to do. In actual fact, we had a great time making it with our kids... ok I'm lying, but they enjoyed it... and it will endure as a lasting family memory, and that's what counts. If you make an oven with your kids, remember, while your hosing clay out of your children's eye, or mopping up hardened clay footprints from your polished floorboards, it will all be worth it when you take your first bite of your delicious home-cooked traditional pizza. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqDnyus_gD0/UjBdv4ibtwI/AAAAAAAAA7I/fvhdXUvxzDQ/s1600/SDC15545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqDnyus_gD0/UjBdv4ibtwI/AAAAAAAAA7I/fvhdXUvxzDQ/s400/SDC15545.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MIXING THE COB... with friends.</td></tr>
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<strong>So, what do you need to make your own?</strong></div>
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The structure of our oven is made entirely from clay, straw and sand. It's what is better known as a <em>cob</em> oven. Cob is a mixture of clay or soil, straw and sand. The quantities of which will vary according to the size of the oven you build. We used approximately 8 bags of powdered clay, a bail of hay, and a cubic metre of sand. <br />
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We also purchased some proper fire bricks for the cooking base, and constructed a platform for the oven using bessa-blocks and railway sleepers. <br />
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<strong>Step 1: Choosing a spot</strong><br />
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We chose to build our oven under cover, to protect it from the weather. This said, you can build it in the open if you like, or even build a canopy for it. <br />
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<strong>Step 2: Making the platform for your oven</strong><br />
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Before you begin mixing your clay, you need to construct some kind of platform or base for your oven to rest on. What you choose to make this out of is up to you, so long as it is able to support a heavy load and is reasonably level. <br />
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Once you have a sound platform to build on the fun begins.<br />
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<strong>step 3: Insulating base layer</strong><br />
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Mix a combination of straw, clay and sand at approximately 3 parts sand to 1 part clay. Add as much straw as you can without the cob mix loosing its stickiness. We placed a tarp on the ground and mixed it with our feet. The kids loved it. It's easiest to sprinkle handfuls of straw on as you go, mixing it with your feet and rolling the tarp over regularly to keep the mix in the centre. Once its mixed, roll it into large balls about the size of softballs.<br />
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Roughly mark out the diameter for the base of your oven on your platform. We made ours about 90cm in diameter. Use the clay/sand/straw mixture to create a base like the one shown below. This acts as an insulating base, keeping the heat in the oven. You will notice a lip around the perimeter, this is to hold a layer of sand, about 5cm deep.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the cob base</td></tr>
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Level the sand and carefully lay the fire bricks on the sand, taking care to make them as level as possible. We cut the bricks using a masonry angle grinder blade. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the fire bricks on a bed of sand, on the insulating cob base</td></tr>
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<strong>Step 4: Sand castle form. </strong><br />
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Using wet sand, it is time to build the form for your oven, by basically making a big sand castle on top of your fire bricks. Our sand mound ended up being about 60cm high. Once you are happy with the shape, lay wet news paper over the sand castle form. <br />
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<strong>Step 5: building the thermal layer</strong><br />
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Time to get mixing again - 1 part clay to 3 parts sand, just like before and rolling into large balls, as before. But this time don't add any straw. Begin packing the balls of clay/sand around the base of your sandcastle form, working around the base, then working your way all the way up to the top in a coiling fashion. The thermal layer should be about 10cm thick. This is the layer that retains the heat and keeps the oven hot. The thicker it is the longer it stays hot.<br />
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We built our oven door beforehand and pressed it against the sand form so that we could build around it as we went. The edge of the door is bevelled to make it easy to take in and out. This is probably easier than cutting a hole out of the cob wall at the end and then trying to make a door that fits. An important note about the door is that it must be 2/3 the total height of the oven interior. This provides the proper air flow for the fire to breath and let out smoke at the same time. We made our door out of wood and we soak it in water before using it on the oven to stop it catching alight.<br />
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<strong>Step 6: Outer insulating layer</strong><br />
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Its back to the tarp for some more mixing, but this time we also added straw again. The basic rule of thumb here is to add as much straw as you can without the cob loosing its structure. In other words, you should still be able to roll it into balls and drop it without it falling apart.<br />
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Mixing with your feet can be hard work and its definitely worth while having some friends to help. It makes it MUUUUUUUCH easier... doing this solo, may break your spirit.<br />
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Once the cob is mixed, its time to add the final layer, much in the same way as before; working around the base first and then working your way to the top. This layer acts as an insulating layer, the straw eventually burns out, leaving air pockets in the dome, which acts as insulation. The smaller the hay pieces, the better. Make this layer nice and thick, around about 10cm.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JlUPmcj1ZG4/UjBieH2Vx0I/AAAAAAAAA7o/I2ecfWUj_Wc/s1600/SDC15565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JlUPmcj1ZG4/UjBieH2Vx0I/AAAAAAAAA7o/I2ecfWUj_Wc/s320/SDC15565.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<strong>step 7: let it dry... be patient... not like me</strong><br />
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We learned this the hard way... and dug ours out after 4 days... <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42O-raLSLeE/UjBI7HVj9JI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/BgGn9Adbpkg/s1600/11-1CD020BE-637872-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42O-raLSLeE/UjBI7HVj9JI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/BgGn9Adbpkg/s1600/11-1CD020BE-637872-800.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LCJtb-Cn5Us/UjBJVslp74I/AAAAAAAAA6g/U_HHuFfbdS8/s1600/11-7B85F470-641181-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LCJtb-Cn5Us/UjBJVslp74I/AAAAAAAAA6g/U_HHuFfbdS8/s1600/11-7B85F470-641181-800.jpg" /></a><br />
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...and yep, it collapsed a few minutes later. I was a broken man, and so was my cob oven. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hdJVeZL9_0c/UjBJtV04eXI/AAAAAAAAA6o/09f61fqmy6k/s1600/11-CBA8E12B-1849857-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hdJVeZL9_0c/UjBJtV04eXI/AAAAAAAAA6o/09f61fqmy6k/s1600/11-CBA8E12B-1849857-800.jpg" /></a>After several days of counselling for PCPOS (Post collapsing Pizza Oven Syndrome), we resurrected our collapsed cob from the ashes. Jo called her brothers on my behalf, and a few other mates, who came around to help with attempt number 2. This time around, we attempted a slightly less ambitious design, opting to go without the chimney, and also slightly reducing the scale of the oven.<br />
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We left it to dry for about 3-4 weeks. We removed the door, cut through the newspaper, and dug out the sand, (which we used to make the kids a sand pit) ... Success, it didn't fall down!<br />
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We had a fully functional, home-made, hand build, authentically Mediterranean (with a touch of Greek tragedy) pizza oven! I hugged the kids, and thanked them for their help, and mentioned that if they even laid a feather on our new, 2nd pizza oven, I would kill them!<br />
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We let it air dry for another week, and then prepared with great ceremony for our very first pizza night with the kids. It was fantastic! We fired it up and let it heat for about 3 hours to get it nice and hot. (about 300 degrees Celsius). The pizzas were Amazing, cooking in under 5 minutes, and tasting incredible.<br />
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In hindsight, we are so glad we made our oven... twice. Since it has given us many wonderful nights with friends and our own little family, and it looks great. So far we've made oodles of pizzas, but we've also cooked our sourdough and slow-cooked lamb shanks for a dinner party for 10... and each time we're more impressed by our amazing cob oven.<br />
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If you are keen on the idea of making your own, there are some good videos online which are worth watching for those finer details.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-3640112131887823042012-11-08T07:34:00.000+11:002013-12-31T11:16:36.048+11:00Funky Bugs: composting with Black Soldier Fly<br />
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Life as a bug in our garden must be pretty good. there would be no shortage of friends and parties to attend, and no nasty chemicals to make you feel unwell. Life would be darned good, in fact, so long as you were the kind of bug that was willing to pull your weight in the garden and do your bit! <br />
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Not so, however, for the slugs and snails whom we introduce frequently to our chookens, nor the uncouth stink beetles that N and G sucked off our citrus trees with the vacuum cleaner (simply the most enjoyable way to get rid of them), nor the white cabbage moth that we use for practicing our backhand, but there are many bugs that we do appreciate in the patch. Worms, bees and lady beetles are always welcome in our garden, doing their bit to pollinate, cultivate and eradicate pests, but we have recently become acquainted with a new creepy crawly of the good kind, known as the Black soldier fly (BSF). <br />
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<strong>black soldier fly (pleased to meet you)</strong><br />
Black soldierfly have a rather short and desperate adult life, with the sole purpose of finding a mate, a pile of rotting compost, and a good pick up line before dropping dead. Somehow they seem to manage. But before this fatally frantic paced lifestyle as an adult fly, they leisurely spend their childhood and teens as ravenous compost devouring larve! <br />
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BSF larvae eat just about any kitchen scraps including meat and dairy, as well as the usual fruit and vegetable leftovers, and can be cultivated in much the same way as composting worms, to break down food waste. A BSF composting unit can be easily built from materials found at your local hardware, and once a colony has been established they can consume food waste at an incredible rate (much faster than worms), but best of all, they make a fantastic feed for chickens and even fish. BSF larvae are high in both protein and calcium, which is perfect for chooks. they are non invasive and do not enter houses or spread disease like other flies.<br />
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Once we got acquainted to this new bug on the block, we realised it was time for us to try our hand at making our very own BSF Composting unit!<br />
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<strong>Our black soldierfly composter</strong><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TA DA!!!! Our Black Soldier fly composter</td></tr>
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Here is how it works. Food scraps go inside and the female BSF are attracted by the scraps. They fly in through the pipe at the top and down into the bin where they lay their eggs (in the hundreds). They like to lay their eggs in crevasses, so some sheets of corrugated cardboard attached to the inside make great maternity wards. the eggs hatch and the larvae fall on the food scraps, and get to work munching it up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the larvae crawl up the pipes and into Jo's Tupperware container... thanks darling...sorry</td></tr>
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Like all good teenagers they eat just about anything until it is time to finally leave home, at which point, the larvae develop the instinct to climb to higher ground. The larvae find their way to the pipes and climb up them, then slide down into the separate storage container, where they are unwittingly trapped to be fed to the chooks. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the larvae hard at work on one of our defiant choko's and watermelon rind</td></tr>
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<strong>But does the composter work?</strong><br />
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In a nut shell, yes. but getting started can call for some weeks of patience. Its best to start a colony in warmer weather when the adult fly is most active. Every few days we have been checking the tub, and after many weeks, we finally discovered some young soldierfly larvae munching away under the scraps. As the weeks progressed and the temperature rose, so too has our colony and the rate at which they are breaking down our food scraps is quite impressive. <br />
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<strong>Make your own</strong><br />
there are a number of DIY designs on the net. we made ours using a clip lock tub, some PVC pipe parts, , some hessian and fly screen, a saw and a drill. The key is to angle the pipes at 35 degrees so that it is not too steep for them to climb.include some ventilation holes and cover with fly screen, and some drainage holes in the bottom, which you can cover with hessian. It takes less than half a leisurely hour to put together and cost us about $40 or you could buy one of the fancy ones online for about $200. <br />
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<strong>the main benefits are:</strong><br />
1. a very efficient method of waste disposal<br />
2. meat and dairy waste can be added to established colonies, unlike regular composting methods, reducing your waste output.<br />
3. the larvae make an excellent source of food for poultry and fish, and can be frozen for later use.<br />
4. they don't spread disease like other flies, and rarely enter the home.<br />
5. they emit a natural repellent to other flies once the colony has been established.<br />
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<strong>Downsides:</strong><br />
The smell can be an issue if you add more waste than they can consume. Sawdust or coffee can help here too. This said, ours does not smell. <br />
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Initially, we had a problem with fruit fly gate crashing the party. but as the weeks have gone on, there numbers have decreased dramatically as the BSF colony has increased. AHa, dear potential BSF composters, do not be dismayed by these minor downsides. we have an organic, effective and easy solution to manage fruit flies in the patch... read on!<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bug eyes and beer goggles - a simple and effective fruit fly trap<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the onset of day light saving and the Spring evenings becoming more balmy, there’s nothing quite like kicking back on the front porch with a home brewed beer or a chilled wine and watching the sunset. But it seems that we aren’t the only one’s who love a beer to celebrate the start of spring. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have been using some of our beer in our fruit fly traps, and we have noticed that they are more than happy to exchange their bug eyes for beer goggles, which is great, seeing as our nectarine tree is laden with new fruit to be.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">got ya succers!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The trap is simple. All you need is a plastic soda bottle, some scissors, and a beer on the balcony. Simply cut the bottle cross ways about a third of the way down from the top. Turn the top upside down and insert it into the lower part of the bottle, like a funnel. Pour an inch of beer (or wine) into the bottle, and if necessary, run some tape around the edge of the rim to keep the trap together. Place the traps around your fruit trees and compost bin, or any other place that fruit flies are being a nuisance. then drink the rest of your beer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The fruit flies fly down the funnel and get stuck. "Oh save me! Save me! I've accidentally flown into a giant pool of beer. what ever shall I do???". After an initial panic attack, they come to their senses and drink themselves to death. What a way to go. It works surprisingly well, as fruit fly are naturally attracted to anything that is fermenting. We have tried a few variations, such as sour dough starter, orange juice, and vinegar, but beer seems to win hands down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So if you're concerned about fruit fly this spring, relax, have a shandy, and make yourself a beer trap or two. </span></div>
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<strong>Our New chook pen</strong><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B0J1SBk2P1g/UJlq2rd-0CI/AAAAAAAAA1w/2JXs_fgVQr4/s1600/SDC14732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B0J1SBk2P1g/UJlq2rd-0CI/AAAAAAAAA1w/2JXs_fgVQr4/s320/SDC14732.JPG" width="320" /></a>Talking about grubs and chooks, we decided recently that it was time to make a proper enclosure for our lovely ladies. Up until recently, their pen has been a makeshift tangle of old chicken wire and odd posts. It was a shabby-chic chook pen (but with more shabby and less chic), and so it was time for an upgrade. <br />
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We decided to build their enclosure around the fruit trees, to give them shade and also to fertilise the trees. The trees have since gone mad with a flush of blossoms, which have smelled divine this spring. the combination makes a lot of sense. The trees are robust enough to handle the chooks digging around, and the poop makes a much appreciated fertilizer for the trees. Meanwhile the hens can rest in the shade and help keep pests under control, such as fruit fly.<br />
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the whole enclosure cost under $250 (about $10 per square metre) . First we dug and cemented in the posts, making sure they were level...most of the time, then connected the cross beams. the wire was fastened into place, and last of all, added the gate.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next blog, its time to go foraging, dabble in some heirloom guerrilla gardening, as well as try our hand at some simple home made wines from our foraging finds. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-5372390866818629532012-11-04T21:28:00.003+11:002013-12-31T11:18:38.014+11:00wild yeast and lavender jellyThis October the Crop & Swap began its 2nd season, with over 80 swappers attending, spirits were high and produce was bountiful. Rhubarb champagne, home-baked triple choc cookies, raspberries, broad beans, oranges, lemons, home-made calico print bags, muesli, sourdough and heaps of seedlings were on show. In the lead up to the opening of season 2 we wanted to kick off the swap with a bang. As well as our regular garden produce we decided to try our hand at lavender jelly and sourdough. They were a hit!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our crop & swap produce, silver beet, broad beans,seedlings, potatoes, eggs, sourdough and lavender jelly</td></tr>
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A few weeks ago, on an otherwise busy Thursday, I ignored the breakfast dishes with half eaten bowls of porridge, I strode over the unswept morning tea picnic left overs under the kitchen table and confidently donned my martha stewart-esqe apron, declaring to my 4 month old "mummy is making lavveeeennnndeerr jellyyyyy! That's right, you heard me, now don't interrupt, its all in the timing!"<br />
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Lavender Jelly Ingredients:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="ingredient">3 1/2 cups water</span><br /><span class="ingredient">1/2 cup dried lavender flowers</span><br /><span class="ingredient">1 50g box powdered <span style="color: black;">pectin</span></span><br /><span class="ingredient">4 cups granulated sugar</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">1/4 cup lemon juice</span><br />
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I successfully started the process using the lavender from our garden that I had dried out and stirred it into boiling water to get the oils and colour out of it. Then I left it to steep for some time, strained it and then added the lemon juice and pectin and continued to stir. Bringing the mixture to the boil and I then added sugar, and when it reached a hard, 'rolling' boil, I left it for 3 mins, stirring occasionally.<br />
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The way to tell if your jam is going to set is to have a glass of iced water, place a metal spoon in it, then put it in your jam mixture and let it cool. If it is thick when cool, it is ready.<br />
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Pour your jelly mixture into prepared hot and sterilised jars.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-noBAKZYIAFY/UJY8HbYYFrI/AAAAAAAAA0c/UBpxf06cY6U/s1600/SDC15080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-noBAKZYIAFY/UJY8HbYYFrI/AAAAAAAAA0c/UBpxf06cY6U/s400/SDC15080.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our lavender jelly<br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed making lavender jelly but have to say I was disappointed with the lack of lavender colour. Other lavender jellies that I had seen were shades of lilac, deep purple and even a gorgeous pink. The initial mixture after steeping the flowers is quite greyish, it is after adding the lemon all of a sudden your greyish mix turns a brilliant .... orangey pink...not quite the purple hues I was planning. <br />
After a little more research I have discovered that ppl sometimes put other ingredients in their lavender jelly to provide the colour, or they use a really rich long dried lavender that must retain its colour much better... either way I have a plan for making more and adding a mulberry or two next time, I figure that will do the trick, Martha and I and even bub (who did interrupt me a lot by the way, thank goodness I have mastered the art of stirring a pot, burping a baby, singing to a toddler, chatting on the phone, making vegemite sandwiches and monitoring glass jars in the oven, all at once ;)...go make some lavender jelly, you'll love it!<br />
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<strong>Chasing Wild Yeast</strong><br />
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after our first season at the Crop & Swap, we came to know a couple who made the most amazing sour dough bread. the crust was crunchy, the inside was soft and the flavor kept us coming back for another slice. We realised that making our own sour dough was something worth doing, and so, we made our own sour dough starter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">date, caramel and coffee sour dough</td></tr>
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<strong>Making your own Sour dough starter</strong><br />
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Sour dough starter is used instead of regular bakers yeast to make the bread rise. It is simply a mixture of flour, water and wild yeast. The process is very simple. mix together about 200g of flour with 300 ml of water and take it for a walk while whisking, for a couple of minutes. We took ours for a walk in the front garden to make it a truly home made sour dough starter. As you whisk the mix, wild yeast from the atmosphere settles on the mix and begins the fermentation process. As a result, every starter will be unique.<br />
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once you have finished whisking, cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave on the kitchen bench over night. By morning, you should notice some bubbles on the surface of the mix. If so, give yourself a pat on the shoulder, you've successfully started your own sour dough starter. for the following week, feed your starter with a cup of flour mixed with water each day. After a week, the yeast culture is strong enough to be used in bread making.<br />
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Each day or two, feed your starter with a cup of flour mixed with water to keep it healthy. store it at room temperature, or in the fridge if you are going on holidays... some psycho's take it with them. by the way, yes, you can pour some out when you have too much... you don't have to keep it all.<br />
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<strong>Making Sour Dough</strong><br />
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You can make it as fancy or as simple as you like by adding other ingredients to spice up your bread.<br />
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Step 1<br />
add 250g of flour, 350ml of water and one cup of your sourdough maker, mix, cover with cling wrap and leave overnight. Alternatively, you could make it in the morning and leave it until the afternoon.<br />
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Step 2<br />
add 300g of flour and a teaspoon of salt. kneed the mixture for 15minutes, sprinkling flour on it as you go if its too sticky. there should be enough dough for 2 loaves. split the dough, shape it, slash the top with a very sharp knife, and leave to rest on a baking tray for an hour or more. we cover ours with a plastic bag. Somewhere warmish is best. If its freeing cold, heat some water in a pot and lay the tray on top of the pot. Just make sure its warm, rather than boiling hot.<br />
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Step 3<br />
place in a hot oven (160 - 180 c) for about 45 minutes. to make the crust nice and crusty, place a bowl of water inside the oven also. once cooked, allow the loaves to air, so that they don't sweat.... or, just eat them hot out of the oven. deeeeelicious!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">olive sour dough...mmm...mmm</td></tr>
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So there you have it, our top secrets for lavender jelly and home-made sourdough. In our next blog we will get grubby with our composting and give the ladies (with feathers) a new chateau...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-50209381534947351362012-09-11T21:34:00.000+10:002012-09-13T19:36:50.939+10:00Choko CricketIt's been too long, many nights have passed where all we've wanted to do is sit with a glass of red, play some cool tunes and write about the latest goings on in our funky frontyard, but alas we have have been faced with an obstacle...a very gorgoeus, totally cute and delightfully distracting obstacle, our latest little baby. Our fourth fabulous little addition to the family and the newest farmer on the block, L, was born mid June. She is a delight, sleeping, eating and growing wonderfully. It is hard to believe that 3 months have passed already, yet with the gentle wafts of jasmine and wisteria that have been floating in the back door, the buds bursting on our citrus trees, the poppies popping up all over the yard and the kids jumping away on the trampoline later each afternoon, Spring has well and truly sprung. <br />
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We are now back in action, ready to fill you all in on the garden and our goings on and excited about the coming spring. <br />
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<strong>All choko-ed up</strong><br />
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Last summer we decided to plant a choko vine. It engulfed the entire side fence and produced an insane amount of choko's throughout Autumn, which would have been great if choko's didn't taste like they were accidentally classified as a food.Is there a truly good use for choko's, we wondered? After some Internet research, I realised the rest of the world was just as desperate for a decent choko recipe's as we were... and they are hard to find.<br />
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We tried Choko chips after a tip off from a sympathetic neighbour, who did his darnedest to make them sound delicious. He and I both knew it was a big green choko-y lie, I could tell by the way that he preferred to stare at the sun than into my desperate eyes, as he parted with the recipe, throwing in the occasional "MMMM... delicious"! I turned to fetch some choko's to repay him for his kindness, but in a murmur and a flash, he was gone. We made the choko chips all the same. The children ate the herb infused batter and left the choko. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">choko chips, mmm....delicious. batter in flour, milk & eggs then bread crumbs and herbs</td></tr>
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We tried blackberry and choko pie with some friends. Everyone agreed it tasted lovely, on account of how the choko tasted just like blackberries, but their furrowed brows of deceit gave away their over enthusiastic praise. Unfortunately, this may be as good as choko gets: they make a great ghost ingredient for under filled pies. They are the "rent a crowd" ingredient, when you run out of apples for a danish, grab some chokos instead.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">blackberry (and choko) pie</td></tr>
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Several chokos still remain in our worm farm after what feels like years, and even the worms seem reluctant to eat them. In our despair, a basket of chokos sat in our kitchen for months, growing tentacles that started to climb the walls...<br />
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I realised one afternoon, while teaching my son a few batting techniques in the backyard that there was only one truly Australian solution for this unwanted Aussie icon. Choko Cricket anyone? Choko's make a great substitute for balls in backyard cricket! Lots of fun...Just make sure your neighbours are not home if you hit a six.<br />
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<strong>Autumn Planting</strong><br />
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Our first wave of brave garlic bulbs have dug in and already springing to action in our offensive on imported garlic. In an attempt to overthrow the tyrannic reign of poor quality garlic flooding our stores, we are trying to grow enough garlic to see us through the following year, and we urge our fellow gardeners to enlist!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">planting garlic bulbs in April</td></tr>
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Garlic is easy to grow, and is best planted in Autumn. Its as simple as planting garlic bulbs bought from the shop, pointy end up, just below the surface of the soil. they will sprout within the week. prepare the soil with some compost or manure and water regularly. Harvest when the shoots start to brown and lay off watering a few weeks before harvesting to prevent fungal diseases. <br />
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We have also planted our largest crop of broad beans to date, including some heirloom crimson red flowering varieties. Between now and next spring they will improve the soil, and provide a nitrogen rich mulch after we harvest them. Harvesting our broad beans has become something of a family tradition in our house, and we enjoy adding them to our meals, but this year we have other plans for our harvest. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">broad bean harvest (November)</td></tr>
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Having 4 children, Jo and I often find ourselves pondering what to do with our spare time, and so we thought we might try drying the beans and grind them into flour, to make our very own home grown bread...just to pass the time. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">earlier this Autumn</td></tr>
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Broad beans have been used to make flour for many years, and often mixed with chick peas to make a gluten free flour. if the harvest goes well and our beans don't get eaten by mice, we will let you know how our broad bean bread comes along.<br />
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<strong>Hard Eggs to Crack!</strong><br />
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You may remember from a previous post that we were having some trouble with our hens eating their own eggs. We even tried planting an egg filled with wasabi to try and curb their terrible habit. We no longer have a problem with egg eating, (but no thanks to the wasabi) and didn't have to give any of the girls the chop. <br />
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After 2 very wet summers here in the mountains, the snail population in our garden has reached its summit! It is not unusual to see snails sun baking on leaves in the morning sunlight, playing a round of Croquet, or throwing obnoxious parties on the south side of bricks. But their slimy reign is swiftly coming to an end. <br />
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Chook egg shells are made of calcium carbonate, as are snail shells, making them an excellent solution to our chookens calcium deficiencies! This morning alone, we collected over a hundred snails within a few square metres, popped them in an old milk container and blanched them with some boiling water, to put them to a swift end, as well as to kill any nasty worms or diseases they might be harbouring. <br />
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The chooks love them, and ever since we have been feeding them snails, the ladies egg shells have become super strong, and egg eating has become but a distant memory. <br />
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Next post, Joe breeds maggots (we'll explain), the chickens get a home reno and our local food and veg swap, the Crop & Swap, kicks off for season 2!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-21493777699969431102012-04-18T08:46:00.003+10:002012-04-22T16:48:27.269+10:00Artichokes and Autumn winds...Although the Summer harvest is over, there are still things to harvest in abundance in the garden during Autumn. The quinces and macadamia's are once again falling from their branches, choko's are hiding beneath their leafy rambling vines and the grape fruit are beginning to turn yellow, but one crop, that has been making itself heard about the house is the Jerusalem Artichoke!<br />
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The humble Jerusalem Artichoke means many things to many people. Some garrdeners rave about its massive yeilds, others warn of its ability to pop up year after year wihtout invitation, but one notorious reputation that seems to reoccur amongst all reports of this fine vegetable is that it causes terrible bouts of wind of inconceivable proportion! <br />
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Impressed by this tubers bad-boy reputation, Jo and I wondered if it really stood up to its name, or were these wafting accusations simply a lot of hot air? We decided to take this trumpeting tuber head on in a culinary test, and see if we'd be blown away, or vise versa.... sorry.<br />
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For those who are unfamiliar with this root vegetable, Jerusalem artichoke is related to the sunflower, not artichokes, and grows as a flowering bush, about 1.5m tall, bearing pretty yellow flowers over summer. The roots develop an impressive amount of bulbous tubers, which look similar to ginger. Plant in spring or summer and harvest the roots after the flowers drop (in Autumn) through to winter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerusalem Artichoke flowers in Summer</td></tr>
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This is the first year that we have grown Jerusalem Artichoke, and we have been impressed by its abundant harvest. From just one plant we dug up more than 5kg of tubers. In our harvesting excitement, we made the silly mistake of pulling up all the tubers at once, which, I suppose, is exactly what any first time Jerusalem Artichoke grower does, out of sheer curiosity. However, they do not store as well as potatoes, and need to be used within the week. Instead, what we should have done is left the tubers in the ground and dig them up as needed. Keeping them in the ground seems to be the best way to store jerusalem artichokes, keeping them fresh for months.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">found one!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the harvest from a single plant</td></tr>
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Consequently, we now have a lot of tubers to eat in this coming week, and will bravely feed them to our children and make careful observation from a safe distance for any evidence of these explosive accusations. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">unsuspecting guinea pigs</td></tr>
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<strong>Artichoke or fartichoke?</strong><br />
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Night one, we peeled and shredded the tubors to make patties,, mixing in some egg, chives and a little flour, and fried them in the pan. served with some sour cream and sweet chilly sauce, the flavor had a pleasant earthy taste. the kids ate what they were given, and no overt signs of bloating seemed to follow. <br />
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Night two, we became more daring, and had an old friend over for tea. We served artichoke again, this time sauteed in olive oil, garlic, bay leaves, sage and diced bacon. This recipe tasted significantly better, and.... no gastronomical blowouts... at least for Jo and I. Our guest, however, seemed a little squeemish... hmmm interesting.<br />
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Night three... We made a J. Artichoke soup, adding some tyme, diced bacon, potatoes, water and vegetable stock.... quite delicious.... and no signs of gas to be heard of. Much to our delight, it seems that we were spared of the said affects of Jerusalem artichoke. I suspect it affects some and not others, which makes this vegetable quite an exciting one to try.... a little like russian roulette. <br />
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As far as our tummy's are concerned, it seems that th J. Artichoke has been unfairly stigmatised, and has nothing on falafels. Be a dare devil, and try some J. Artichoke this season.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-63741826916329024022012-04-17T13:20:00.001+10:002012-04-19T17:21:57.875+10:00Goosberries...going, going, gone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-86dTh8DdCuI/T2waaOW75jI/AAAAAAAAAuU/fzhmVsboRaU/s1600/SDC13871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-86dTh8DdCuI/T2waaOW75jI/AAAAAAAAAuU/fzhmVsboRaU/s320/SDC13871.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Over April we have been harvesting our first season of Cape-gooseberries! the taste of a cape gooseberry is tangy with a real <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Zing</span> </span> of fresh fruity flavour. the fruit grows in thin paper like pods, like delicate little Chinese lanterns, on a vine, similar in growth to a tomato plant. the flesh is yellow both on the outside and in. Ours have been fruiting throughout march and April, and are said to keep fruiting until the first frost.They also grow particularly well in poor soil. If you can get your hands on some seeds or a plant, they are definitely worth while growing in the patch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">the fruit stores remarkably well, for several months when left inside the husk, but around here, they disappear off the vine in no time at all. Our kids keep a constant greedy vigil by the gooseberry vine. I overheard G, yesterday, despairing that she could find only one cape gooseberry to eat! As for mum and dad, we shall simply have to wait until our kids have left home before we can enjoy them without being ambushed by midget gooseberry connoisseurs. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">three...</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-10199061280511279182012-03-04T19:00:00.001+11:002012-03-04T19:02:39.950+11:00Pumpkin soup!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ym0bVZFfE9o/T1MRCIyzLQI/AAAAAAAAAtg/q8NkiykPvRk/s1600/SDC13191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ym0bVZFfE9o/T1MRCIyzLQI/AAAAAAAAAtg/q8NkiykPvRk/s640/SDC13191.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Summer Bummer</strong><br />
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The weather has been miserably wet and dank, and with the summer sun being a no-show this year, there is already a veritable Autumn chill in the air. To herald the start of Autumn, we lit the fire and ventured into the soggy garden to cut some of our wonderful QLD blue pumpkins... it was time to make some home made pumpkin soup and lift the spirits. <br />
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In early spring, we dug in five bags of horse manure to a 2 square metre bed in preparation for our pumpkin seedlings. With all the rain over summer, the 3 little pumpkin seedlings that we planted have since grown into rambunctious monsters spreading over the yard, along the front hedge, down our side fence, and up and over our camellia tree, which now has 2 pumpkins growing in it. While they are a truly unruly vegetable, we love them! Their large leaves make for great hiding spots for the kids, while they look for grass hoppers or snails for the chooks. This year we have around 15 or more pumpkins for harvesting from 3 vines. We hand pollinated most of them this year using a small paint brush. <br />
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Pumpkins are ready to harvest when the stalk starts to go corcky and the pumpkin sounds hollow when tapped. <br />
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Nothing quite warms the cockles like some home made pumpkin soup and hot bread, especially when it is made with your very own pumpkins.<br />
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<strong>Our home made Pumpkin Soup Recipe</strong><br />
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1 pumpkin, 3 cups water, Cumin, Rosemary, salt, cracked pepper, fresh cream, sour cream, olive oil, butter, chives. <br />
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<strong>Recipe</strong><br />
First, cut the pumpkins in halves and scoop out the seeds. Cut the flesh into wedges, leaving the skin on.<br />
Place on a baking tray with rosemary, a little olive oil and grated butter. Roast in the oven until soft and starting to brown.<br />
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once cool, remove the skin, adding the pumpkin to a pot with 3 cups of water, some garlic, 2 tea spoons of cumin, and blend or mash. Allow to simmer on the stove. Add a good pinch or 3 of cracked pepper, salt, and a cup of cream. <br />
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Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top and sprinkle with diced chives.<br />
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Of course no pumpkin soup would be complete without some hot and crispy home baked bread, enjoyed by the fire on the next cold and drizzly day that comes your way. <br />
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<strong>Summer Harvest Highlights</strong><br />
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One of the funnest things to do with kids in the garden is potato hunting. The kids found it as exciting as digging for treasure, and best of all had a good reason to play in the dirt. Many of these potatoes found their way to the crop and swap this year, but we still enjoyed plenty at our own dinner table.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong>Beetroot Beauties</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-5219405157996578272012-02-28T21:46:00.005+11:002012-02-29T12:46:09.371+11:00Cows and Kimono's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><strong>Staying With a Little Black Cow</strong><br />
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Last year we received an exciting invitation to attend "The Little Black Cow" farmstay from one of our fellow bloggers, Kim. She had kindly invited our family to stay free of charge for a trial run of their new farm stay in the beautiful Hunter Valley. Arriving on Friday evening, as we drove our station wagon through the farm gates, packed to the hill with gumboots and our farmiest farm clothes, we were all very excited. There ahead, down the long, dusty drive, past the quaint tree- lined creek sat "The Little Black Cow" Farmstay, amidst paddocks that were peppered with beautiful Angus cattle. Unlike our 750 sq metered suburban frontyard farm, this was the real deal, a real, working farm.<br />
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After meeting our lovely hosts and unpacking the car we donned our farmer's hats and were put promptly to work, job no 1, a trip in the jeep to herd the cattle and shift the electric fence. We've all wizzed past a paddock of cows on the freeway but standing within arm's reach, with only a thin electric cable between you and 50 Angus cows and their two tonne and somewhat territorial bull, can get the suburban heart pumping.<br />
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But in true country style Kim's 11 year old son made light work of rounding them up on his dirt bike sending the herd thundering off into the next paddock... There is something beautiful about a cow, maybe it's the eye lashes, maybe it's the glossy coat or the lazy moo cow stare they seem to give (which is quite different to the way a bull stares at you) that makes them so endearing as they munched the grass a foot away from us.<br />
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As David and I shifted the electric fence, walking through knee high lucerne, I was tempted to ask him a question about bovine that had been on my mind for many years... can cows really explode? Instead, I decided to ask about the growing patterns of lucerne (so as not to reveal my grose urban stupidity). David is a wealth of knowledge, and we learned a lot from him on our trips about the farm on the jeep. <br />
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As the sun set on our first afternoon, we returned to the homestead for a traditional country meal and glass of wine with Kim and David, before retiring to our very comfortable beds. Next morning, Kim and the kids herded the sheep into their paddock, collected eggs from the chooks, and played with the Guinea pigs and rabbits. Kim showed us how to milk Honey the goat, and we each had our chance to show Kim a thing or two about how NOT to milk a goat. <br />
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We had a great time at The Little Black Cow Farm Stay, and it was wonderful meeting Kim and David, who are so passionate about sharing life on the farm and the experiences that come from it. One day soon, we would love to visit the Little Black Cow farmstay again, and maybe this time, Joe will muster the courage to ask David about exploding cows.<br />
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<strong>Summer Rain</strong><br />
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Back on our own enormous 750 sqm metre farm, the relentless wet summer had brought good times and bad in the vegetable patch. The endless rain has brought us gluts to gloat over, and the odd minor gardening tragedy too. This season we have had an especially good crop of tomatoes. Planting a selection of heirloom tomatoes, we have enjoyed the most colourful mix of green zebras, tommy toe, black russian cherry, orange juan-flamme, beautiful yellow lemon drops, and brown berry and other varieties. For the backyard farmer, the smaller varieties are worth their weight in gold. Ripening faster, they provide an ongoing supply and are less prone to pest damage. They taste fantastic and provide a colourful array for any salad. <br />
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Our cucumbers also had a bumper crop, yielding about 60 fruits from 3 vines. Unfortunately though, they fell prey to the dreaded giant extra spotty lady beetle, which devoured the vines in a matter of weeks. Unlike their smaller cousins, the larger variety of lady beetle are not so friendly, and should be squished on sight. They eat the leaves of cucumbers working in circles until their is nothing but a lacy skeleton of the leaf remaining. <br />
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Our crookneck zucchini's could not withstand the powdery mildew without the dry weather and consequently shrivelled up prematurely but still gave a good yield while they lasted. Whilst we are on the topic of tragedies, our store of broadbeans (several hundred) were discovered by a barbaric hoard of field mice and seemingly disappeared over night. Joe was devastated! The little buggers took every single last one. <br />
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But on the upside, we have new cucumber vines fruiting and a new crookneck fruiting as well. Just goes to show its worth doing a second round of seedlings in early summer. <br />
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<strong>New to the Patch</strong><br />
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With our Crop and Swap (food Swap) well under way, we have been discovering so many new varieties of foods that grow well in the mountains, and it has provided us with the unique opportunity to grow some new plants in the patch. We now have loads of Comfrey (from Cath) that we use to feed the chookens, as well as for liquid fertilizer (amazing stuff). Our Jerusalem Artichoke is growing extremely well and looks to promise a good harvest, and we tasted our very first home grown cape gooseberry, which we planted some months ago thanks to Jane and Peter (neighbours that attend the Crop & Swap). Our choko vine is running wild and making light work of covering our fenceline, and our pumpkin vines are doing laps of the frontyard, but perhaps our most intriguing new edition to the garden is a plant called Yacon. <br />
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Yacon is a root vegetable, which grows in a similar fashion to Jerusalem artichoke, although the tubers are high in a sugar known as inulin. It can be eaten fresh, is said to be crisp and sweet, like an apple.The tubers can be grated to extract the juice, which is then reduced to make a sweet syrup similar to molasis. Most interesting of all is that the sugars in yacon are not absorbed by the body, so its sweet to eat, but doesn't contribute any unsightly kilos. Our plant is growing well, and if all goes well, we will trial making some Yacon syrup and let you know how it goes.<br />
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<strong>Crop and Swap Continues to grow</strong><br />
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Our local food swap, the Crop and Swap, is going from strength to strength. Every second Saturday of the month we have been meeting with around 60 other locals who grow or make their own food. Now with our 5th swap on the doorstep it has been so rewarding to see the variety, creativity and quality of homegrown or home-made produce. Although no money changes hands at the swaps, a unique bartering currency has developed. We are able to access items that money can't buy. You can't go to your local shops and buy Peter and Amber's artisan sourdough, nor Miriam and Russel's honeycomb fresh from their hive, or Melanie and Alexander's pink rhubarb champagne. <br />
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Likewise, another benefit for us is knowing that our organically grown potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, eggs, cucumbers, zucchinis and macadamia nuts aren't just enjoyed by our own family, they are being shared amoungst our local community. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our homegrown produce at last months swap</td></tr>
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The Crop and Swap has opened up an exchange not only of goods but ideas, local knowledge and resources. From these exchanges we've discovered local secrets...apple trees down quiet laneways, when to forage for local mushrooms and who to ask for advice on fruit trees. It's conversations like these that have got a whole neighbourhood talking again....it seems though that someone has been doing more than their fair share of talking, as news of the Crop and Swap has reached the shores of Japan...last week we were contacted by a Japanese ecological magazine called Konichiwa who want to write an article about the swap...consequently now that we are internationally acclaimed superstars, Joe refuses to be seen in the garden in anything less than a pure silk kimono...and gucci riding boots... Not to mention a large pair of Audfrey Hepburn sunglasses in case the paparazzi pop out from behind the choko's, or Google earth decide to update their satellite images. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">take that grasshopper!</td></tr>
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A shout out to Brad and Ange... we know youre reading.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-55447708670902118412011-12-07T18:47:00.002+11:002011-12-07T20:36:16.119+11:00Ask Your Neighbour for some Sugar!<strong>The First ever Crop and Swap</strong><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Now that a few weeks have passed and the dust has settled on our very first local community food swap, we can take stock of its success in a more level headed and objective fashion, without getting all swept up in the giddy pandemonium of positive community spirit that might otherwise blurr our judgement.... Objectively speaking, the first ever <em>Crop and Swap</em> was bloody fantastic! Absolutely Amazing! Awe inspiring! and sooooo much fun! </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As we arrived at the community hall to set up, the golden shafts of sunlight were just beginning to warm the cool mountain air, and it looked set to be a beautiful day. Inside the hall we set up the Crop & Swap banner, a registration desk, a circle of hessian sacks on the floor (the swapping circle), tea and coffee, and a resource table (where locals could bring magazines, tools, or any other resources to share). </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We had no idea how many people to expect and thought a modest 25 or so would attend. By 9:30 people started to arrive, and by 10:30am, we had over 80 people in the hall, bringing all manner of home grown and home made produce. Baskets full of garden greens, mulberries, macadamia nuts, mushrooms, seedlings and seeds, beetroots and bread, jams, eggs, honey and even cheese! we met so many fantastic people, and it was fascinating seeing what people brought to swap. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kjMNkVR4PGk/Tt8zGGj2NmI/AAAAAAAAAqo/AUcvYS3ygL0/s1600/crop+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mda="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kjMNkVR4PGk/Tt8zGGj2NmI/AAAAAAAAAqo/AUcvYS3ygL0/s320/crop+3.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the end of a hard days swapping</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Swappers had come from all over the mountains and even as far as eastern Sydney. The atmosphere was honestly electric, and it was simply a pleasure watching others make swaps, get chatting, exchange numbers and begin building a vibrant community network before our very eyes. </div><br />
ok, ok, pass me lettuce leaf to dry my eyes, while I mop up the oil spill of community mojo before someone slips over and blows all our public liability. I'll stop wobbling on and on about how wonderful it was, and get down to the nitty gritty; How did it work and what was swapped?<br />
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After everyone registered, they chose a mat in the swap circle to display their produce, and then grabbed a tea or coffee, had a chat, and spied on what others had brought to swap. At 10:30 the swapping began, and people made swaps independently with one another<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VQTkMbggMaM/Tt3fO06V2II/AAAAAAAAAqI/MN_OwvWcM3w/s1600/SDC13040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>. <br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our own swap mat started with broad beans, macadamia nuts, silver-beet, nasturtiums, two dozen eggs, three bottles of worm wee and bunches of parsley. We brought home a super yummy medlar fruit sauce, baby garlics, snow peas, Thai mint and rosemary seedlings, kefir, heaps of mint, oranges, sage, rocket, dwarf beans and baby spinach. Swapping with neighbours beats shopping at Coles any day of the millennium!<br />
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What is most exciting about being involved in a local food swap is the way it reinvigorates the connections between neighbours, builds local knowledge, and makes a community more empowered by sharing skills, resources and of course, good food, which is a common bond for us all. Just about everyone walked away thinking, "Right! what can I bring next month that is knock your socks off amazing" or "wow, I'm going to have a crack at growing that in my garden", or atleast, "mmmm... that home baked apple tart smelled delicious"...(that's what I was thinking). We all felt motivated to be more resourceful. But most important of all,, was the fact that it gave us the opportunity to share what we had with others, and without getting all mushy, it seems to me, that in a society where we have more than we need, sharing is oddly something we seem to do less often than we should. Its true what they say, that the fun is in the giving. I think this is why the <em>Crop and Swap</em> will hopefully continue to be a success. <br />
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Sorry, pass me another lettuce leaf........</div><strong>Gourd Almighty!</strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C28gcLDVOHM/Tt3bZwGRKHI/AAAAAAAAAp4/WLXoYkclyis/s1600/SDC13046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C28gcLDVOHM/Tt3bZwGRKHI/AAAAAAAAAp4/WLXoYkclyis/s320/SDC13046.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our next Crop and Swap is only a week away, and we have been busy preparing our produce. Today Jo made jars of raspberry and Logan berry jam, and in the garden, our carrots and beets are ready or plucking, as well as potatoes, silverbeet and lettuce. But our prize swapping item for this month is our crookneck zucchini! They look totally out of this world! With yellow warty looking skin, they may at first seem less appetizing than the regular zuke. But they taste great, and are incredibly productive. Crookneck Zucchini are one of the most prolific zucchini's and grow as a bush instead of rambling along a clumsy vine like some uncivilised courgettes tend to do. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the crookneck's in the patch</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo's raspberry and Logan jam</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our beets have been growing particularly well in the raised mounds. <br />
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</tbody></table><strong>The Garlic Wars</strong><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Garlic is glorious! It tastes fantastic, keeps you and your chookens super healthy (just add it to their porridge), and wards of vampires and fair weather friends. But Alas, there simply isn't enough of it grown here in Australia, and we are doomed to purchase foreign garlic from the other side of the world that has been fumed with fungicides, and is months, if not years past its used by date. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-utGyh05IKzU/TtySlE-2uDI/AAAAAAAAApI/AUzz5dWKKFg/s1600/SDC13033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-utGyh05IKzU/TtySlE-2uDI/AAAAAAAAApI/AUzz5dWKKFg/s320/SDC13033.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our hard neck garlic</td></tr>
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</div>I don't know if you have experienced the same, but the store bought imported garlic has recently taken a major nose dive. More often than not, upon cracking open a fist full of garlic, we have found it to be mouldy and rotten. Home grown garlic stores incredibly well for 6 or more months, so it makes one wonder how old our imported garlic is....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well, we have a plan. Our aim next February is to plant as much garlic as our garden will hold, after the equinox, as is the tradition. I became very excited recently when one of our hard neck garlic bulbs went to seed last week. With dreams of replanting the seed and becoming a major global exporter of garlic from our very own front yard, I started to become deluded with garlicky grandeur, only to find out after some research that they rarely grow true to type from seed, and even if they do, it takes 2 years before you can harvest them. bugger!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div> Needless to say, we can still plant the bulbs, and in time, our plans of world garlic domination may one day still become a reality. Garlic is easy to grow. Prepare the soil before planting with compost or manure. plant the cloves about 10cm apart, pointy end up, about 5cm beneath the soil. There are many varieties, but are largely divided into soft neck and hard neck varieties. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We are looking for volunteers to enlist in our guerrilla garlic war. So if you too are sick of bad imported garlic, join the ranks and plant some garlic in your patch this Autumn. Who's with us?!!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-35906743995950023452011-11-10T17:37:00.001+11:002011-11-24T19:07:52.719+11:00Thorny thistles and beautiful berries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eAfWsujsBb0/TsDZuiibaUI/AAAAAAAAAng/13gtu2jqYtw/s1600/SDC12936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nda="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eAfWsujsBb0/TsDZuiibaUI/AAAAAAAAAng/13gtu2jqYtw/s640/SDC12936.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<strong>Beautiful Berries</strong><br />
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As the weather warms up and you prematurely start to hum away at Christmas carols, the simple summer berry is never far away. Fruiting in the garden at the moment we have mellow mulberries, luscious loganberries, bountiful blackberries, sweet, sweet strawberries and last but not least, whimsical wild strawberries.<br />
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Last week we shared our very first loganberry, the taste was amazing. It is similar to a raspberry but with a punchy pomegranate-like after taste, a total wow factor. The berries grow on lazy weeping canes that need some support but their taste is sensational and definitely worth growing in your backyard, (we planted our loganberries last year).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our very first Loganberry</td></tr>
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Our thornless blackberries, whilst not yet ripe, are plentiful. We will have net them very soon so as not to loose them to the birds who keep eyeing them off.<br />
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Last year we lost most of our strawberries to slugs with exceptional taste, however this year those slugs will be sorely disappointed. This year we have hung our strawberries up off the ground in Joe's very ingenious invention - the used milk carton hanger pot. It works too, we are claiming those delicious berries before any slugs...and the taste of home-grown strawberries, well just an experience that needs to be had by all.<br />
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Another little strawberry treat that has been popping up throughout the front garden are the wild strawberries. They are smaller and less tasty but still an exciting little treat for the kids to pop into their mouths as they find them in the garden.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wild strawberries</td></tr>
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I would love to make a frozen berry cheesecake or mulberry smoothies for Christmas day, but most of our berries rarely make it through the door, there is something magical about popping a berry into your mouth whilst standing in the shade of the garden trees... ahh those beautiful berries.<br />
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<strong>Thistle wet your whistle! Thistle beer recipe.</strong> <br />
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Last week, I noticed a very healthy thistle popping up in one of our garden beds, which had sprung out of some old horse manure. Normally, I would get rid of these sort of weeds immediately, but then I remembered hearing of a recipe for <em>nettle</em> beer, and while this Scottish thistle wasn’t technically a nettle, it got me wondering whether or not a brew from thistles was a possibility. But one little thistle wouldn’t be enough for a brew, I thought, and put the idea in the back of my mind with the list of other crazy ideas I’d one day like to try.<br />
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And that’s where the idea stayed until this weekend, when Jo and I took the kids for a bush walk just a few minutes from where we live. As we entered the reserve, I noticed the tell tale purple flower of a Scottish thistle growing next to the track. “Careful kids, there’s a nasty thistle there” I said... and then, in one of those divine moments of enlightenment, I noticed that there were hundreds of thistles popping up everywhere. Suddenly, the beer idea came rushing back to the forefront of my mind again - ahem, and the need to preserve our wonderful bushland from this terrible noxious weed, and later that day, N and I took a large bucket, some gloves and big scissors, and returned to stoically do our bit for bushland preservation against these nasty weeds. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my trusty thistle picking wing man</td></tr>
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After some Internet research, I found some interesting facts (?) about the humble thistle. Apart from being a medieval cure for baldness, thorns aside, it seems that all parts of the plant are edible. The young flowers can be eaten in the same fashion as a globe Artichoke. It has been used to make tea’s for liver ailments, improve memory, make oil. the roots supposedly taste similar to Jerusalem artichoke, but beware, can cause massive bouts of gas. <br />
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With such positive acclamations, it only seemed right that we craft the following (very experimental, and as far as I am aware, World's first) THISTLE BEER RECIPE!!!!!!!!<br />
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<strong>Ingredients</strong><br />
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250 grams of thistle leaves/flowers<br />
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12 litres of water<br />
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4 oranges<br />
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Cream of tartar<br />
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Brewers yeast (or baker’s yeast is ok)<br />
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1.5 kg of sugar<br />
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3 kilos of extreme optimism<br />
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<strong>Process</strong><br />
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Remove leaves and buds from stems (around 250 grams) – use gloves and scissors.<br />
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Bring 12 litres of water to the boil in a large pot<br />
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Add thistle leaves and buds and simmer for 30 minutes (enough to fill the pot)<br />
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Strain through muslin into a sterile brewing keg – the colour was that of tea, and a quick taste test had a similar taste to green tea...or was it grass... let’s say green tea for now. <br />
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Add 1 tbl spoon of cream of tartar, the juice of 4 oranges, and 1.5 kilo’s of sugar. Stir well until sugar is dissolved. You could also add other ingredients here such as ginger etc for flavor. <br />
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Allow to cool to blood temperature (this took hours), and then add the brewer’s yeast (15 grams) – I used baker’s yeast which is an adequate alternative.<br />
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Leave to ferment for a few days and then bottle and leave for a further 2 weeks.<br />
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Whilst we are hopeful of the final result, I suspect that it may be on par with our Mulberry wine. But on the off chance that it does work, it would make for a great way to control the spread of noxious weeds in our local flora, and help improve the liver function and and memory amongst beer drinkers worldwide... on the quiet, we may be about the revolutionise the beer industry and become ridiculously rich, but perhaps its best to keep it under your hat until the taste test.</div>
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<strong>The Thistle Beer Verdict</strong><br />
After 4 or 5 days in the keg, we bottled the batch adding a sugar drop (about a teaspoon of sugar) to each bottle to carbonate - make it fizzy. It only seemed right to try a quick little swig, albeit premature from the barrel. The Aroma was sweet and citrusy, and the taste.... bitter, almost suck on a lemon bitter, almost enough to make me loose any interest in bushland preservation, altogether. <br />
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But there was a glimmer of hope. with the added sugar in each bottle, perhaps it might just pull through. After a few days in the bottle it was time for another taste test. Surprisingly, it was significantly better, with a zesty citrus flavor and refreshing bitter-sweet tang... my interest in bushland preservation was once again restored. <br />
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With a few more weeks in the bottle, I expect the brew to improve further, and I am confident to say, that the thistle beer experiment was a success! If you are inclined to give it a try, make sure you are confident that the thistles are healthy and have not been sprayed with any herbicides. A trusty pair of gloves and scissors are also recommended.</div>
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Our next post will be out shortly, with all the details about the very first crop and swap...85 swappers and counting!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-43457358332676550822011-10-23T20:44:00.000+11:002013-12-31T11:19:48.870+11:00Worms and Wasabi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There are a number of milestones that our 15month old daughter has achieved recently, such as the ability to eat an entire apple down to it's core with only 4 teeth; say the words "happy" and "thank you", hide dads wallet in obscure locations and scream at a decibel that Joe believes has caused him permanent loss of hearing. Apart from her ability to dump any valuable item into the toilet without making a splash sound, her other incredible skill which makes us incredibly proud revolves around the simple broad bean. I challenge you to find another 15 month old on this planet who can stealthily slip out the front door, crawl down the front stairs and into the broad bean patch, then pick, shell and devour our beloved broad beans at a disturbingly ravenous rate. We are so proud! If only she could learn to walk....<br />
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But I guess, on a more serious note, it is something that we really are proud of, that to our kids, eating from the garden is a normal thing to do. We can send our 3 year old to fetch any number of herbs, as she already knows her basil from her rosemary, and sage from parsley. Our 5 year old gets excited at the prospect of pollinating pumpkins, and understands which broad beans to leave for seed saving on account of their healthy growth and high yields. Kids learn at an incredible rate. <br />
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Speaking of children, thank goodness the school holidays are over! Joe has a theory that the wild September breezes have nothing to do with global warming and are in fact caused by the universal sigh of relief from parents all around the world, when their children finally go back to school. Despite the relentless rain during the school holidays we did manage a little fun with a backyard camping session complete with tent, camp-fire with scary storey, marshmallows and two-minute noodles. It was quote - unquote "the best time of my life" , according to our 5 year old son who stoically stayed solo in the tent until brought in by Dad at 9 pm.<br />
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A few days later, Joe and N set off on N's first real hike and camp through the Megalong Valley and camping at the Cox's river overnight. It was an initiation. As a 5 and 1/2 year old N had to carry his own backpack, water and distress beacon (which Mum insisted be collected from the local police station). Before arriving at the camp site N had to cross the suspension bridge that spanned the river, if he made it to the other side alive, he was allowed to light the camp-fire.<br />
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Casting all rational expectations of a 5 and 1/2 year old aside Dad gave him a manly slap on the back and said "I'll see you on the other side". That night after N had lit his very first camp fire, and had talked in depth about his new found fear of heights to Dad, he exclaimed in a moment of campfire serenity, quote, unquote "this is the best time of my life"! Only at the age of 5 can you have the 'best time of your life' twice in one week.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">happy camper</td></tr>
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Egg Eaters Anonymous:<br />
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Each morning Henrietta, Billy Holiday, Thelma, Louise, Noella and Georgie (our chickens) enjoy a very balanced breakfast of porridge, silverbeet, left-overs, nasturtiums, pellets and fresh water. In addition we dig up the soil in their coup to expose the hundreds of worms (great for protein) which happily take residence in the now very rich soil. We also let them out most afternoons for an hour or so to scratch around the garden, eat grass seed, bugs and small pebbles (to help with digestion). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chooky breakfast</td></tr>
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Despite this wonderful life style and gourmet meals, there seems to be something missing in their lives. Lately, we were shocked to realise that one (or maybe more) of our hens has taken to the shameful and disturbing vice of egg eating.<br />
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It seems, from all accounts, egg eating is a heinous disorder from which no hen in living history has ever been corrected, and the only cure for such a fowl act is...the guillotine! the prospect of chopping a chook was daunting, and after some research, we stumbled on an old and less fatal way to correct this behaviour. Step one was to blow out the yolk and white, leaving the shell intact, then refill the egg with ... wasabi. The egg would then be left for the hen to eat it and learn a very nasty lesson indeed! It seemed like a devilishly good idea, so we put it to the test.<br />
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Slinking into the pen with our wasabi laden egg and casually placing it in the middle of the pen, we stood back and watched with giddy anticipation. This will show them, we thought, those deborturous chickens. A little fire and brimstone to set them on the clucky path of righteous non-egg eating. Beedy eyed, they flocked in a sudden frenzy and descended on the egg, tearing it to bits in an instant... then.... nothing.... absolutely nothing... anyone would have thought they liked it! I was devastated.<br />
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Later that night, jo and I discussed the options. It was agreed that one of our ladies must learn the way of the Samurai, and get the chop! If anyone has any other alternative, we would be happy to hear it, time is ticking. <br />
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'Crap' soil<br />
On a more positive chicken note, we have been using the chickens to help out with reconditioning the soil in our front yard one square metre at a time, by swapping the soil from their chook pen for the clay in our front yard. The chooks make light work of digging around the new clay and mixing it with the rich soil in their pen. As they have been in the same spot for a couple of years, the soil is super rich and packed with worms, which also do their bit to improve the soil. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">diggin up some worms for the ladies</td></tr>
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Speaking of worms, our worm farm has been great for our spring garden. We use the worm wee as a natural fertilizer on many of our plants, and the worm castings (mixed with sand) make a rich soil for seedlings. All they need in return is some damp newspaper, vegetable scraps and the occasional heap of weeds.<br />
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Apart from our bumper crop of broad beans our two potato beds are raging and our tomatoes, crooked neck zucchinis and pumpkins are all off to a flying start. We are also enjoying the first strawberries and mulberries of the season, with a promising amount of blackberries and loganberries on the way too. We have been eating loads of silverbeet, parsley, rocket, rosemary and good ol nasturtiums in salads too. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">first strawberries of the season</td></tr>
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With only 28 days to go before our first Crop & Swap we are beginning to see more realistically what we will have for the first swap; plenty of eggs, parsley, broad beans, silverbeet, mulberries, macadamia nuts, nasturtiums, chamomile and some home-baked breads. We have had more neighbours and potential crop & swappers stop for chats and email us, everyone sounds as though they are bringing along some great produce.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-25074317022330865382011-09-11T08:48:00.001+10:002013-12-31T11:22:08.856+11:00Chapter 34:Tick. Tick. Tick....KA-BLOOOM!!!<strong>Garden Make-over</strong><br />
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Recently we had two large trees cut down from our front yard. Whilst it is always sad to see a tree go, it has let in a lot more light, which is always a gardening bonus. It's taken some time to get used to not having the trees there anymore. It has been funny watching our neighbours stroll by then looking around in earnest trying to work out whats different. It's like when a friend has waxed their own eyebrows (somewhat frivolously)...you can't quite put your finger on it..."have you had a hair cut? you look different...what is about you today?...ohhh...did you do your own eyebrows?...(awkward silence) they look greeeat." </div>
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But unlike spent eyebrows, we put both our trees to good use. We chopped one for firewood and the other was chipped and used for mulch in the garden and community orchard.With loads more sunlight on our frontyard, we expanded the veggie patch. Instead of raised beds, this year we are growing straight into the ground. In preparing the new bed we began by laying down a carpet of old newspapers, then barrowed in a layer of woodchips. Bags of $1 horse manure was spread on the woodchips and then we splurged on some topsoil and sugar cane mulch to finish it off...The patch is now 2mtrs wide by 8 mtrs long, and is set for planting as soon as our seedlings have grown.</div>
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<strong> Slow Seedlings</strong></div>
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Eons ago, in the depressing dead of winter, we ordered some seems from Diggers, in the anticipation of Spring...we were getting in early...a head start, or so we thought. </div>
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Our local Thai is ready in 15 mins, hats off, very impressive. You can order a case of wine online and have it delivered within 3 days...if you cared to you could fly to 'Puke' in Albania in under 24hours...or canoe to New Zealand in...I don't know...2 weeks...or 4 weeks with one paddle....or even six weeks with your bare hands. Receiving our seeds from Diggers....wait for it...took 7 flippin weeks, or for you winos out there 16.3 cases of wine later our seeds had FINALLY arrived. You can imagine our dismay when we realised we had forgotten to order the crookneck zucchinis we desperately wanted. Suuurely there was another option... we purchased our crookneck zucchinis from Eden seeds instead and they arrived 3 days later. Diggers have a great variety but they are notoriously slow. Eden seeds in Brisbane also supply a good range of heirloom and non-hybrid seeds and are speedy with their deliveries.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found this little hot house in a local council throw out. Score!</td></tr>
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With all our seeds finally ready to go we chopped our toilet rolls, packed them with damp seedling mix and planted a range of heirloom tomatoes including Black Russian, Tommy Toe, Tigerella, Black Cherry, Lemon Drop, Green Zebra, Black Crim, Pink Brandy Wine and Orange Jaune Flamme...they will be a hit at the 'Crop and Swap'. We also planted Golden Midget Watermelon, Queensland Blue Pumpkins, Lebanese cucumbers, beetroot, silverbeet, Purple Dragon carrots and Lantern chillies. We have also planted German Chamomile, Peppermint, Giant Sunflowers, Basil, Coriander, Thyme, Rocket, Fat Bastard asparagus, sweet purple asparagus, sweet potato, kipfler potatoes, royal blues, Desiree's, dutch cream and other varieties. But it doesn't end there, we have planted chokos, passionfruit, kiwi-fruit (which has bloomed), a Cab. Sav. and a Merlot grape vine and three strawberry guavas.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fancy meeting you here</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">G and her magic home grown asparagus wand</td></tr>
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<strong>Jane and the Gooseberries</strong></div>
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Lately we’ve been spreading the word about the ‘Crop & Swap’, our local fruit and veggie swap starting in Nov has generated a load of local interest. We were chuffed to receive our first piece of mail from a lovely neighbour in our street who also grows her own fruit and veg and is embarking upon an aquaponics venture in the next few weeks. Jane’s lovely letter explained that as a local grower and resident of many years, she has been dying to be part of something like the ‘Crop & Swap’ simply, to be more involved with the community and like-minded gardeners. We visited Jane and her husband, they are delightful and have now invited us to visit their garden and make use of whatever they grow including kiwi-fruit, cape gooseberries (which we have since planted ourselves), calendula, oregano, paw paw, beetroot and parsley. We were equally as excited to find people as enthusiastic about growing food as we are and are thrilled about the possibilities of learning from Jane and her husband in the weeks, months and years to come. So what about the gooseberries...well we tricked you, they’re not gooseberries at all, they are best known as Cape Gooseberries, or Chinese Lantern. They are a distant relative of the tomato and belong to the Nightshade family (potatoes and tomatoes). The fruit grows inside a papery, lantern-like pod (much like a Chinese lantern). Other than the berries, all other parts of the plant are poisonous...whilst we are talking about poison, the red berries on asparagus plants are also poisonous fyi. But back to the gooseberries, they fruit in late winter and apparently are fantastic in fruit salads, adding to jams, dried for meat dishes or just popped into the mouth fresh...we are excited.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a cheeky cockatoo staking out the patch</td></tr>
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<strong>Community Orchard Part 2:</strong></div>
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Speaking of our wonderful local community and neighbours, another 7 trees have been added to our community orchard. Thanks to our wonderful neighbours on Chaseling we planted an apricot, the most exquisite nectarine and a very cool peacharine. We have also planted a Maqui Berry tree, 2 Fig and a Pomegranite tree. The community orchard is now well and truly full. It is great to see neighbours walking through it and checking out the plants. It has become quite the local thoroughfare.</div>
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Next post we will tell you more about the adventures of the 'Crop & Swap', hitting the Glenbrook markets, giving away free seeds and heirloom seedlings, planting our seedlings and some of our latest renos.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our nectarine tree in bloom</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-69955287499109140962011-08-23T20:40:00.003+10:002011-08-28T15:55:07.803+10:00The Crop & Swap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aYI-nZu6Ego/TlODcP6s2AI/AAAAAAAAAg0/MluVe6Ylvz4/s1600/small+crop+swap+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" qaa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aYI-nZu6Ego/TlODcP6s2AI/AAAAAAAAAg0/MluVe6Ylvz4/s320/small+crop+swap+logo.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><strong>The Big Swap</strong><br />
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Our old neighbours in Umina, David and Nancy, are 86 and still gardening. Surprisingly their passion for veggie gardening was only really ignited three years ago when David first happened to hang over the fence and notice our two small raised garden beds. At the time we grew lettuce, spinach, shallots, carrots and garlic...that was it. Unbeknown to us David was incredibly fit and competitive for an 83 year old. Within 2 weeks he had single handedly built 4 garden beds twice the size of ours, researched green manures,planted ten times the amount of vegetables than we did, and to top it off would hang himself by the ankles in his garage to improve circulation...we're not kidding (it was a disconcerting sight to behold).<br />
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Anyway, in time it seemed perfectly normal, and after many gardening tips had been exchanged over the fence and summer was drawing to a close, David had accumulated more cucumbers than any retiree needed and so, handed us a big bag of them over the fence (we have never had luck with cucumbers). It only seemed natural to give him something in return. Later that evening we left a bag of our lettuce on their doorstep, without even realising it at the time, we had made our first neighbourly produce swap. From that point on we became good friends. Just as with any friendship, it's the act of sharing that brings people together.<br />
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Joe and I got talking later that night about how neighbourhoods can be lonely places. We didn't know anybody else in our street after having lived there for a over year and no doubt this is a common experience in many neighbourhoods. A small seed had germinated.<br />
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When my sister and her husband moved to the mountains a year ago we got talking. We wanted to unite our interests in gardening and the community. After many a Thursday night dinner, bottles of red wine and enthusiastic banter, the idea of the "Crop & Swap" was born.<br />
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This November we are beginning a community fruit and veg swap at our local hall. Just as we had done with David and Nancy, neighbours can swap home-grown fruit and veg and maybe even home-made breads, teas, seedlings, seeds and recipes. but more importantly, neighbours can meet each other, make friendships and share those all important gardening tips about varieties that grow in their local climate, or chat over a chamomile or peppermint tea, grown a stones throw away. We are excited to see how the idea develops and hopefully it will grow into something vibrant and positive!<br />
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<strong>The Big Sell</strong><br />
Between now and November we want to drum up as many followers as possible. This weekend we are doing our first covert crop & swap advertising operation. Just like David, we too will be spying over neighbours fences, sussing out who has a veggie patch or a laden lemon tree then drop a flyer in their letter box. Flyer's will be going up in all the cool local cafes, and we are even thinking of putting an add in the local rag. We have already started a ''Crop & Swap" blog (<a href="http://www.cropandswap.blogspot.com/">http://www.cropandswap.blogspot.com/</a>) where people can get more information about dates and details. The Blue Mountains already has a vibrant interest in growing fruit and veg with groups such as the slow food movement, the fruit and nut tree society, the permaculturalists and the seed savers. With this sort of enthusiasm, we're hoping the Crop & Swap will thrive.<br />
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With the Crop & Swap deadline looming we have been busy preparing the garden to have produce ready to swap by November. The front yard has undergone a major garden makeover...we will be back soon to tell you all about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-67595485452506470982011-07-02T09:19:00.003+10:002011-07-04T21:20:31.348+10:00Chapter 32: Sublime Lemon Marshmallows<div style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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The Arctic breezes have been making themselves felt over the past few weeks. It seems as though every seedling hasn't grown for weeks, and so we have had to busy ourselves with other wintery chores such as pruning, fertilizing and various forms of therapy for gardening angst. Its funny how winter affects the avid veggie gardener. We become fidgety and on edge. Any tree that has looked the slightest bit unruly has copped it this week. The Japanese maple, grape vine, macadamia, grapefruit, mulberry, wisteria and even the chili bush, have all succumbed to the secateurs. Pruning has its therapeutic benefits for the depressed winter gardener. Rather than lamenting over slow growing carrots, take out your frustrations on some dormant fruit tree. But sometimes, winter calls for more potent methods to overcome the gardening blues. <br />
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<strong>Winter Basket Case</strong><br />
For the severe cases, there are other therapeutic pruning possibilities that my basket case husband discovered while hacking back the wisteria...that's right, the old school art of basket weaving. Wisteria runners make for excellent weaving. they are extremely strong and flexible. So if you have wisteria and are feeling close to winter gardening madness, give it a try... Joe has made three so far, which is better than rocking back and forth somewhere out in the vegetable patch, in eye shot of the neighbours. We thought they would make lovely hanging baskets to grow strawberries in for the summer months, or just as regular baskets to collect the morning eggs or veg from the patch.<br />
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<strong>Lemon Marshmallows Recipe</strong><br />
As any good domestic goddess knows, Winter is best spent indoors (although I believe less gifted people know this too) doing something thrilling like mending socks, or better still whipping up some lemon flavoured marshmallows for depressed gardening husbands and hyperactive cabin feverish children. Sugar solves everything. <br />
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If you have ever had a glut of lemons, we have a recipe that will bring them back into a high demand. These are absolutely delicious. <br />
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Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups caster sugar, 2 sachets gelatin, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut (we used the longer length coconut), food colouring, one lemon<br />
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Choose a pan/dish/plate and line it with baking paper.Combine sugar and 2/3 cup of hot water in a saucepan over medium heat. cook and stir for a few minutes until sugar dissolves and syrup is clear. Mix 2/3 cup of cold water and gelatin in a jug and add to your sugar syrup. Cook and stir for a few minutes or until gelatin has dissolved and mixture is clear. Set aside and cool til room temperature. Then use electric beaters or we just used our bar mix to wizz mixture until thickened. Add vanilla, a little lemon rind and a teaspoon or two of lemon juice. Wizz.<br />
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Scoop the mixture into separate bowls (one bowl for each colour). Add two drops of food colouring to each and wizz til colour is mixed in. Spread into prepared dishes. Smooth the top over, although don't worry too much if it is still a little lumpy, you can serve it upside down. <br />
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Set aside, at room temperature until set, (about an hour and a half). Lift out your marshmallows and cut them into bite size pieces using a wet knife. Place some coconut in a ziplock bag, add marshmallow pieces and give it a gentle shake. Display on a beautiful plate, choosing one deserving of magical childhood memories and sweet delights.<br />
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Being winter and all, we decided to roast our homemade marshmallows by the fire. The stuff perfect memories are made of we thought...that is of course until G burnt her finger on the fire place door and wailed down the house, and N's marshmallow melted right off the stick. Tears all round. Sigh, the perfect hazy marshmallow memory I'm sure the kids will cherish forever...oh well, at least try the recipe..roasting is optional.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Around the patch</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While things may be slow in the patch, we have also busied ourselves with some frivolous planting ventures. Recently we planted two kiwi fruit vines (male and female), a choko vine, some lazy old carrots and sneaky shallots, and about 150 more broad beans. Our red paw paw, residing in the green house for the winter, is still looking happy, and dare I say, may be ready to bear fruit before the end of next summer. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Our citrus trees have been busy making fruit galore. The mandarin and orange trees are bursting with deliciously sweet fruit and our lemon tree has produced a much better crop than last year. The lemonade tree however seems to have carked it, the lime tree remains beautiful but barren, while our grapefruit, which had a bumper last season has taken this season off. So it got the hack, and a generous mulching. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Chook Tractor Triumphs</strong></div>With the six chooks, letting them free range sadly became something that we could not afford to continue, unless we wanted to live in a barren dusty chook poo waste land, or so we thought. Since the end of summer, the chookens have been kept within the confines of their chook yard, where not a single scerick of greenery remains. Despite our garden once again flourishing, it didn't seem right, and the ladies were stroppy. A compromise needed to be made, so we set about constructing a prototype chook tractor from some poly pipe and chicken wire.<br />
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<img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bEQSkOqbYKE/Tgb1BhL18eI/AAAAAAAAAeU/DX3g4_oWHZ4/s400/SDC12150.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7oOxcU6tpM/Tgb2ixz-NuI/AAAAAAAAAec/ES8uNcmHT0Q/s1600/SDC12158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" i$="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7oOxcU6tpM/Tgb2ixz-NuI/AAAAAAAAAec/ES8uNcmHT0Q/s320/SDC12158.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> It was time to get the girls back onto some greenery and give those thighs a good work out before summer. The results have been surprising! with a diet of worms and leafy greens, the egg count is back up to 3 or 4 eggs a day (in winter don't forget). We have been placing the tractor where ever we intend to prepare for planting, and within a day or two, the chooks have the ground weeded, dug and fertilized. Each morning, 3 lucky cluckies are grabbed and bagged, then carried to the chook tractor, where they are released to spend the day scratching up worms and eating grass seeds to their hearts content. At sundown N and G help herd the hens back to their pen. then by night fall the cage doubles as a possum force field for some of our winter crops. Hi five chook tractor!</div><br />
Next blog, its time to get serious for the big sow. Winter will be over before we know it, and spring will have us springing into seedling action. we have been storing our toilet roles, and soon, our planting shall begin!<br />
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this years challenge is set to be all together different!<br />
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Speak soon. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-49287950455023103372011-05-17T20:44:00.001+10:002011-05-25T20:56:43.186+10:00Chapter 31: Community Orchard Takes Root<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9k8f3yH-6bA/TckL46UIL0I/AAAAAAAAAds/Npa7YZ0a5do/s1600/SDC12043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AKcsk02Rgpg/TckKtmQfLAI/AAAAAAAAAdg/SrNjqGdzP1U/s1600/SDC12022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AKcsk02Rgpg/TckKtmQfLAI/AAAAAAAAAdg/SrNjqGdzP1U/s640/SDC12022.JPG" width="640" /></a> <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Community Orchard Begins</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you've ever watched "The Castle", (" Dale dug a hole. Tell 'em Dale". "I dug a hole".) you too can appreciate the simple satisfaction that can be gained from digging a hole. But there is an even greater satisfaction in digging a hole with a neighbour, and then planting a fruit tree in it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was like looking through a glass of cold apple cider, a crisp, sparkling, sunny Autumn morning. The sun shone through the morning haze and lazy plumes of chimney smoke from neighbours chimney's. It was the perfect morning to start pegging the perimeters of our community orchard in the lane way beside our house. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The previous weekend we did a letterbox drop with the kids, calling all neighbours to bring a shovel, a bag of manure or a fruit tree. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whilst Joe and the kids measured distances and staked out the orchard, the first of our neighbours, Sharon, Grant and Jackie rolled up the avenue with compost, shovels, pitchforks, a citrus tree and a barrow full of enthusiasm. The digging began. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super helpers to the rescue</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours...</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Neil from next door soon arrived with hessian coffee bags (to use as weed mats) and tools, followed by Graham and Margaret with her garden trolley that would have shamed Edward Scissorhands. By 10 am, Barry, Gaye, Kate, Mim, Ben and their kids made light work of planting the 9 fruit trees and taming the burly bramble of Buddleia that had otherwise taken over our nature strip.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl3hQDKboGk/TckC1TmasGI/AAAAAAAAAdM/NhSslZAz1ew/s1600/SDC12022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl3hQDKboGk/TckC1TmasGI/AAAAAAAAAdM/NhSslZAz1ew/s320/SDC12022.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7npmM9KqxrE/TckLmaPoP5I/AAAAAAAAAdo/FbaAZADkjIA/s1600/SDC12044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7npmM9KqxrE/TckLmaPoP5I/AAAAAAAAAdo/FbaAZADkjIA/s320/SDC12044.JPG" width="287" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After the digging was done, we had planted two blueberry bushes, a orange, lime, lemonade, kaffir lime, and avocado tree. A few days later, we were pleasantly surprised to find that another of our neighbours had stealthily planted a small apple tree also! The community orchard had become just that, and the idea was taking root. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We estimate she will be 5 before eating from this tree</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> We plan to have a second planting session in a few months, hoping to add a pomegranate, mandarin and lemon as well as some apple and stone fruit trees, as well as a little wrought iron seat with a plaque to commemorate the 'alderton lane community orchard', will be placed nearby the fruit trees where anyone can stop, pick an orange and ponder the world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you've ever considered doing something similar, go for it; It is actually very easy. The council were quite supportive of the idea and in fact you are well within your rights to plant anything on your own nature strip without council approval. There are some basic restrictions which may vary between different municipalities for example we had to allow 1.5 metres for pedestrian access and as a distance from the road. We had to plant 9 metres away from the corner and 3 metres from the powerpole. We also contacted Dial Before you Dig, a service that contacts water, electrical and phone companies on your behalf requesting info on the location. They then emailed us with reports of anything lurking under the surface, fortunately we had the all clear.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>On A Roll</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Speaking of things lurking under the surface, its time to take a look in your loo... for toilet rolls, that is. We have been collecting ours now for some months, chopping them in half, and stock piling them. Why? because they make fantastic containers for seedlings!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rolls of honour</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Growing your vegetables as seedlings has its benefits. It makes it easier to space your crop properly, choose the healthiest plants, and give them a head start before the grubs, slugs or snails can get their grubby slimy hands on them. Seedling trays are ok, I guess, but they can be flimsy and difficult to remove the seedlings one by one. We have been using our toilet roles instead. they are free, biodegradable and therefore can be put straight into the ground without disturbing the seedlings. You would be amazed how many toilet rolls you can accumulate without even trying. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Simply cut the rolls in half, and pack with a good seedling mix soil. Pop in your seeds and water them. We place ours on trays and keep them in the green house for a kick start. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ready for planting</td></tr>
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With Autumn coming to a close, there is still plenty to plant in the patch. Onions, Garlic, Silverbeet, cabbage, shallots, lettuce, broad beans, turnips, pak and bok choy, and carrots can all go in, and plenty more. <br />
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<strong>Rain clouds through the looking glass </strong><br />
For any parent, the rumble of storm clouds and the pitter patter of rain can raise anxiety levels dramatically. What to do with the kids? Fear not. take one digital camera, one magnifying glass and one or more children. Combine and enjoy a lot of laughs. I suspect the possibilities of this combination are far reaching, and deserve further investigation. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next time, lemons glorious lemons. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-89090197229816114312011-04-18T08:02:00.005+10:002011-04-29T19:18:31.396+10:00chapter 30: Incy Quincy's and Autumn Opportunities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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Hello everyone! we are back on the blog, and ready to get busy again in the garden. In the months ahead, we aim to get a community orchard up and running, investigate aquaponics, and begin a local fruit and vegetable trading co-op at our local markets. We are very excited. <br />
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<strong>Autumn Opportunities</strong><br />
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With Summer well and truly over, the garden is looking a little hagged, and the temperature is becoming more and more crisp and chilly every day. Unpacking our winter wardrobe, Jo and I agreed it was time for a new look. Something to rival the Autumn collection of the Paris catwalks, something that would turn heads, and set the trend for 2011. It was time to go op-shopping! <br />
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If the thought of op-shopping is still a little taboo for you, fear not, this is a natural knee jerk reaction prompted by years of hyper-consumer conditioning. Be brave, put on a pair of dark sunglasses and a wide brimmed fedora, and when no one is watching, slip inside your nearest op-shop. Once your in there, work through every item of clothing. this takes discipline and patience, but amidst the plethora of polarised size 8's and 22+ items, hide fashionable and well tailored gems.<br />
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Joe and I went on a Vinnie's trawl this week, and boy did we clean up! defying all op-shopping odds, I found a pair of jeans that fitted perfectly... that is, because finding a pair of jeans that fit in Vinnie's is a near impossible. Joe, on the other hand, after a 10 year holy grail search finally found a size 32 pair of brown chords, that were so in during the 90's. he was overjoyed! but alas, his waist line is no longer living in the 90's, and that chiseled size 32 now lies dormant beneath a healthy pair of love handles. Blinded by denial, he purchased them anyway.<br />
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<strong>Going Nuts in the Garden</strong><br />
Despite the drop in temperature during April and the garden looking like its still recovering from its summer hangover, one sure fire April delight is finding fallen macadamia nuts each morning before heading off to work. The kids have a competition to see who can find the most and we have gradually filled a basket of them over the past month. This year the nuts are the biggest that we have ever seen them and we are looking forward to adding them into our recipes over the year ahead.<br />
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One of the more surprising successes in the garden has been a red paw paw tree, which we inherited from Joe's Dad, who also inherited it from a neighbour in his street who grows all manner of things edible in his garden. Joe refers to him as the bare footed, googly eyed man, because... well...he is bare footed and googly eyed, but incredibly nice all the same. Amazingly this "tropical" plant has successfully established in our front yard. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6SIn5yzQGM/TarJJDkSlzI/AAAAAAAAAcw/4ww_-A3_zOY/s1600/SDC11954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6SIn5yzQGM/TarJJDkSlzI/AAAAAAAAAcw/4ww_-A3_zOY/s320/SDC11954.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We have placed it under out green house, and if it survives the winter, hopefully we will be enjoying paw paw by next summer. The red paw paw is self fertile, unlike other varieties of paw paw, which require a male and female plant. Despite being a tropical plant, Paw paws have been successfully grown in temperate climates. They also grow very rapidly in the right conditions, and apparently bear fruit within a year from planting. If you live in a frost free area, it may be worth considering as an addition to your garden. We will let you know how ours goes. <br />
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<strong>Incy Quincy's</strong><br />
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Something else that has been unexpectedly dropping in our front yard are quinces. The front corner of our block is an overgrown jungle of jasmine, wisteria, rose bushes and other vines. It is an untamed and rarely ventured area of the garden that only N and G go to play hide and seek. Whilst pruning the overgrown rose bush, we discovered a thorny, caney shrub with leaves that looked very similar to an apple tree. Much to our surprise we started to find small apple-like fruit on the ground nearby. They appeared like a miniature gnarled cross between a pear and apple. Joe recalled earlier in Spring having seen deep pink blossoms on its branches. As it turns out we discovered it is a quince tree, growing in our front yard. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kBKcsIr3PDY/TarJ52J0TmI/AAAAAAAAAc0/H1jEvLP_aEw/s1600/SDC11975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kBKcsIr3PDY/TarJ52J0TmI/AAAAAAAAAc0/H1jEvLP_aEw/s320/SDC11975.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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What's a quince I hear you say? After some Internet research we discovered that the quince tree (other than being a symbol of love and fidelity in Ancient Rome) was once a very common domestic fruit tree in yesteryear.<br />
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Quinces very tart to eat raw, although, if eaten raw, they make for the most entertaining facial expressions. If you have a quince tree and nothing better to do, give one to a loved one (as a symbol of your love), tell them it tastes delicious, then observe from a safe distance. Otherwise, quinces make the most superb jellies, jams and pastes. The first time we'd heard of quinces was Maggie Beer's delicious cabernet quince paste...naturally being the domestic goddess that I am...Joe insisted that I make my own..even though at this stage we weren't 100% sure if that actually were quinces or some other variety of highly poisonous and over-sized native berry... but what the hell, you only live once.<br />
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Oddly enough making quince paste is not that dissimilar to making jam and as you might recall jam making is one of my most astute skills.<br />
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<strong>Quince Paste Recipe</strong><br />
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ingredients:<br />
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1 cup of quinces<br />
1 cup of white sugar<br />
1/2 cup water<br />
2 teaspoons lemon juice<br />
1 cup of cognac (to sip whilst stirring...it takes bloody ages!)<br />
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Process:<br />
Peel, core and chop quinces. Then bring them to boil in water. Once soften, mash into a pulp. Turn to a low heat. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir whilst painting nails and putting hair in curlers (as we all do all day long). Consume cognac whilst waiting for nails to dry...keep stirring. Eventually you will notice the colour turning darker and the mixture appears to be coagulating (thickened). Pour into ramekin and allow to set in the fridge. <br />
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The Taste:<br />
The taste is closest to the zesty, sweet zing of a sherbet stick or possibly the best marmalade you've ever had in your life. Incidentally the word marmalade is derived from 'marmelo' which is the Portuguese word for quince.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bf-8e1fdR7U/TarKlAAbwEI/AAAAAAAAAc4/dDukm7hx-ZU/s1600/SDC11983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bf-8e1fdR7U/TarKlAAbwEI/AAAAAAAAAc4/dDukm7hx-ZU/s400/SDC11983.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<strong>Community Orchard</strong><br />
Speaking of fruit trees we are in the final stages of preparing the launch of our community orchard. After approval from our local council, ourselves and our neighbours will soon be planting between 9 and 12 fruit trees in our lane way. We are lucky to have a very wide nature strip on a quiet lane way. We are considering citrus, coffee, pomegranate and fig. If you have any other possum proof suggestions let us know. The planting day is yet to confirmed but we will be sure to fill you in on how it goes.<br />
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<strong>What we've planted this season:</strong><br />
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St Patrick's day marked the sowing of all things beans. We planted all of our dried broad beans as well as some heirloom dragon's tongue (pink and white) beans which we found for sale in one of our local fruit shops. We've also planted garlic (after the equinox), beetroot, shallots, leeks, onions, orange carrots, lettuce and silverbeet. After the full moon we intend to plant some more purple carrots, beetroot and onions.<br />
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Next Blog, we are making our own marshmallows to roast by the fire, and begin phase one of the Community orchard. Nice to be back gang.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-59901058171687815792011-01-25T21:31:00.004+11:002012-03-08T18:35:19.725+11:00Funky frontyard farmers Challenge Finale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">FUNKY FRONTYARD FARMERS CHALLENGE: DAY 7 </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVug8wc-AI/AAAAAAAAAcE/5dXljZCcVoY/s1600/SDC11650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVug8wc-AI/AAAAAAAAAcE/5dXljZCcVoY/s640/SDC11650.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our final entry for the challenge has been long overdue, and we apologise for keeping any of you waiting. You must be at the point of desperation to know what we ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner on our final day, let alone, what secret we have to reveal for 2011. Fear not, as all shall be revealed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> The reason for our delay, dear readers, is because we were doing what teachers do best; we were taking a holiday. It was nice to get away from the front yard for a while. we took a trip up the coast to our old stomping grounds in Umina Beach, lazing about in hammocks eating thai takeaway and catching up with some old friends. In particular, we visited Nancy and David our old neighbours, who, as you may remember, started veggie gardening at the same time as us 4 years ago. It was amazing to see what they had managed to do with their backyard. At the age of 86, David had transformed a bare and sandy backyard into a bonanza of fruit and vegetables, including some exotic varieties such as fruiting cactus, naranjilla, and other neolithic looking fruit trees from the deepest, darkest parts of South America. I was amazed that a man of his age could be so productive, and still so enthusiastic about something that started off as some neighbourly competition. but then again, growing you own food never ceases to be entirely addictive. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But anyway, you must be wondering how the last day of our challenge transpired. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Day seven, our final day of the challenge, began with an air of excitement. With the party to prepare for, there was little time for a luxurious breakfast, and so, as is the universal tradition, we had cold pizza leftover from the night before. It felt seedy, but good, like left over pizza for breakfast always does.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Lunch</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVxhqUhvRI/AAAAAAAAAcM/e_WRVgFUv9Y/s1600/SDC11593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVxhqUhvRI/AAAAAAAAAcM/e_WRVgFUv9Y/s320/SDC11593.JPG" width="320" /></a> <img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVrgfAG1UI/AAAAAAAAAb8/gtKRfhjih34/s320/SDC11591.JPG" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After cleaning the house, it was time to prepare lunch. We used the last of our broad beans, cheese and macadamia nuts in a delicious summery salad, served with some small bread rolls. This would be the twentieth and final meal made from our own produce for the challenge. It was technically the last meal from our garden, because for dinner, all those invited would bring something of their own that they had made or grown from their own gardens for our "Make your own pizza night". It was time to get busy making pizza bases. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo and the man who shall not be named</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVojzDMWAI/AAAAAAAAAb0/EMaOscHkqyI/s1600/SDC11603.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVojzDMWAI/AAAAAAAAAb0/EMaOscHkqyI/s320/SDC11603.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Our simple pizza base recipe</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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Olive oil, 1 cup lukewarm water, 2 tsp dried yeast , 3 cups plain flour, 1/4 tsp salt<br />
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In a bowl put 1 cup of lukewarm water and mix in a tsp of sugar, then sprinkle yeast on top, cover with a tea towel and put aside in a warm place for about 10 mins. During this time add flour and salt together in another bowl and make a well in the middle. After yeast mix is ready (has turned foamy) add 1 tbspoon of olive oil to it and then pour this mix into well. Mix until combined then empty onto bench top and get busy kneading with your hands. Knead for 5 mins then chop mixture in 2 and place each part into a bowl, cover with a tea towel and place in a warm spot again. Leave the dough til it is almost tripled in size, 10 mins at least. Flour your bench top and rolling pin and roll your dough to preferred pizza base shape. These bases also freeze really well, I just cover them in cling wrap and freeze them on a flat tray.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVnFUnxTkI/AAAAAAAAAbw/6X2keqmNDF8/s320/SDC11599.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lou's lovely carrot cupcakes</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">the party </strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">the party was a roaring success. Joe's sister Louise brought loads of vegetables from her garden, and a strawberry sauce made from her very own strawberries that was delicious on ice cream. Vicki, our wonderful Maltese neighbour, made a delicious egg and spinach pie, using her own hens eggs and her father's spinach. Bug and Steve brought mountains of basil, and Mim made a delicious pizza using her own tomatoes. Everyone took turns in making their own pizzas and shared them together with a few beers and a glass or two or three of wine.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVqCJ-NwLI/AAAAAAAAAb4/1oSR-T5jeX8/s320/SDC11596.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joe and Lou with her garden goodies</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVs_IhT2jI/AAAAAAAAAcA/nku_Htm6-3g/s1600/SDC11625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVs_IhT2jI/AAAAAAAAAcA/nku_Htm6-3g/s320/SDC11625.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo and our lovely neighbour Mim with granitas<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVljmy_fGI/AAAAAAAAAbs/ZCZpcIMCXzE/s1600/SDC11633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVljmy_fGI/AAAAAAAAAbs/ZCZpcIMCXzE/s320/SDC11633.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>steve, jess and pat</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> As a token of our friendship, each guest was also given the privilege of tasting Joe's infamous Mulberry wine bio fuel. They were very gracious and said nice things, except for Nick, who was honest and said it smelled of manure, which left Joe to happily finish the bottle by himself. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVwAKY0KpI/AAAAAAAAAcI/5zldQy_SXoQ/s1600/SDC11663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTVwAKY0KpI/AAAAAAAAAcI/5zldQy_SXoQ/s320/SDC11663.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"i have to say, i really enjoyed this wine" joe...</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As everyone sat together on the front balcony, overlooking the veggie garden, Jo and I felt privileged to share a great night with some good friends.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next morning, it felt strange not having to think about what to cook for breakfast, or forage in the garden for a meal. In some ways it felt almost naughty eating what ever we liked. The kids had yogurt and porridge as they always used to, and as I munched on some dry toast with Vegemite, I couldn't help but wonder whether our challenge had amounted to anything important at all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But it had. We managed to prove that a suburban family could produce enough food to live off, even if it was only enough for a week, and more importantly we had a wonderful and creative time in the process. So much in fact that we will happily do it again, which brings us to our first big announcement. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Who's up for a challenge?</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This year, in 2011, we would like to invite you to become a funky frontyard farmer too, and take on the challenge with us. You have the choice between one of three challenges. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>challenge 1: first time funkies</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you are new to gardening, this challenge may be for you. buy some seeds, make a garden bed and get planting. Your challenge is to make one meal from your very own garden produce. eat it, blog about it and be very very proud of yourself. </div>It may be a meal for one, or a dinner party for 20 that will go down in history as the best dinner party ever hosted this side of your garden. You are allowed 1 bought ingredient to add to your meal.<br />
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<strong>Challenge 2: A Fab and Funky Day</strong><br />
For the slightly more ambitious, try a whole day of making meals from your garden. What will be on the menu for breakfast, lunch and tea? not to mention some in between snacks. Tell us what you are growing, planning on cooking and send in some photos. You are allowed up to 3 bought ingredients to help you along the way. <br />
<strong>Challenge 3: Funkious Maximus</strong><br />
Up for a challenge. try 3 days or more, living off the produce grown from our own home. You are allowed up to 5 bought ingredients to help you along the way. <br />
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<strong>If you are up for the challenge, here's how to join in...</strong> <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We have created a new blog site 'funkyfrontyardfarmersfriends.blogspot.com'. This blog allows multiple authors for you to write about your experiences. We would love to read about what challenge you've chosen, where you're from and what gardening tricks and treats you have up your sleeve. The rules of the challenge and how to become a part of it are on the new blog site, check it out!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the meantime gang we will continue our own blog and update you on our progress throughout the coming year. Some of the plans we have for 2011 include turning the lane way beside our house into a community orchard and kick starting a bartering of produce goods at our local markets. Stay tuned and thanks so much for your support and lovely comments over 2010...now go and eat some vegetables. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042695994170787789.post-55672635523585317542011-01-14T21:59:00.003+11:002012-03-08T18:36:15.659+11:00Funky Frontyard Farmers Challenge: Day 6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">FUNKY FRONTYARD FARMERS CHALLENGE: DAY 6</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_3ptnZ08I/AAAAAAAAAbE/W840zWaKLc0/s1600/SDC11260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_3ptnZ08I/AAAAAAAAAbE/W840zWaKLc0/s320/SDC11260.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Its hard to believe that day six has come and gone already, and that there is only one day left of our challenge. Today felt slightly melancholic, a sense that our challenge week is coming to an end, and yet joyful that we will soon be able to eat chocolate and ice cream again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That isn't to say that we haven't enjoyed everything we have eaten this week. We have voted our favourite meal so far to be the broad bean brushetta and our least favourite were the pide prototypes that we had for lunch today...more on them later. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Over this week we have eaten at least 50 eggs, silver beet, mushrooms, garlic, onions, tomatoes, rocket, shallots, pumpkins, potatoes, chives, zucchinis, basil, parsley, rosemary, blueberries, blackberries, lemongrass, strawberries, broad beans, nasturtiums, sweet potato leaves, blue borage flowers, sunflowers, chamomile, beetroot, carrots, lavender, chillies, grapes, yadda yadda.. and best of all its all been grown on our suburban block. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The ingredients that we did buy for the week of coffee, milk, oil, honey and flour came to a total of less than $45.</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_9trIqmnI/AAAAAAAAAbU/53SC0o_DTqM/s1600/SDC11039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_9trIqmnI/AAAAAAAAAbU/53SC0o_DTqM/s320/SDC11039.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stockings over our grapes to protect from the birds. Works well. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our initial idea for this challenge sprung from our curiosity as to whether or not you can grow enough food on an average suburban block to be self sustainable or at the very least produce a significant amount of your own food from your garden. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whilst this last week doesn't prove anything conclusively, we have gained a great deal from this whole experience and have really enjoyed the week overall, so much in fact that we have every intention of doing this again in the future.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Anyway, lets wizz through today's menu</div><br />
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<strong>Breakfast: hash browns</strong><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_5LWfAMSI/AAAAAAAAAbI/cIAzSt7bdfk/s1600/SDC11524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_5LWfAMSI/AAAAAAAAAbI/cIAzSt7bdfk/s320/SDC11524.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_8Ol3Y90I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/PaA5OlKiFdc/s1600/SDC11542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TS_8Ol3Y90I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/PaA5OlKiFdc/s320/SDC11542.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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grate 6 or so potatoes, add an egg, 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour, and mix well. pan fry in olive oil. and some salt. yum. <br />
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<strong>Lunch</strong>: the shameful pide...we said we'd talk about it later...that's all there is to say.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <strong>Dinner</strong>: <br />
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pizzas... <br />
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1) a spicy egg and spinach pizza<br />
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2) potato and rosemary pizza<br />
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</div><div style="border: currentColor;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTAovj9rJrI/AAAAAAAAAbk/hzMI9QLSxlE/s1600/SDC11565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTAovj9rJrI/AAAAAAAAAbk/hzMI9QLSxlE/s320/SDC11565.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTAnRCyf6CI/AAAAAAAAAbg/JrL8h7Y1jBU/s1600/SDC11561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lQ0FZdk5NDU/TTAnRCyf6CI/AAAAAAAAAbg/JrL8h7Y1jBU/s320/SDC11561.JPG" width="240" /></a> </div><div style="border: currentColor;"><br />
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Tomorrow evening we have invited some friends to celebrate the end of our challenge with us. We will post the final challenge post in a few days time and will fill you in on our plans for the coming year and how they might include you!<br />
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Goodnight Gang...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079297503130568269noreply@blogger.com7