Chapter 31: Community Orchard Takes Root

The Community Orchard Begins

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.

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.  

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.

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.

Super helpers to the rescue

neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours...

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.

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.

We estimate she will be 5 before eating from this tree

 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.

Our Avocado

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.

On A Roll

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!

Rolls of honour

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.

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.



ready for planting



 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  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.
 
Rain clouds through the looking glass 
  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.

 

Next time, lemons glorious lemons.

Chapter 11: Old man pants to ants-pants and other rants

Since we last blogged many of you would have lit your fires for the first time, worn those tragically daggy yet oh so cosey thermals under your pilly tracky dacks and slipped on a your favourite old crosbys or uggs. Up here in the mountains the colder nights are just starting to set in and Noah experienced his first open fire in our outdoor fire place. We all sat around for the bedtime stories; he and Georgia were thrilled.

What to plant for Autumn
With the onset of  the cooler weather and shorter days things in the garden are slowing down. That's not to say that you can't still plant a few things here or there. There is still time for a final dash to the garden bed to plant a few lazy broad beans, beans, carrots, garlic, Winter Triumph lettuce, onions, Pak Choy, spinach, strawberries, swedes and rocket. Last week we planted lots of beans including 'Purple King' climbing beans which have brilliant purple pods, lots and lots of broad beans, red kidney beans and chick peas. The winner so far is the 'lazy house wife' beans, which is an heirloom variety of climbing bean. If they have plenty of room to climb you will get an excellent yeild. Our aim is to grow and dry lots of beans to store for our F.F.F.C in January.

On the weekend we also started building a small green house. It is half finished and we will post some pics when it is up and running. Our cunning plan is to out-wit winter and see if we can grow our beloved basil, tomatoes and other warm weather pleasures through the harsh and baron mountainous extremes. We have absolutely no idea if the green house we are making will work. Stay tuned.

Painting a feature wall
Anyway time to head inside. We mentioned in the last blog that we were going to show you some of our home renos and council pick-up treasures. When we were renting Joe and I would often redesign our entire apartment whilst huddled on our Ikea couch. But reluctantly we were never able to do more than blue-tac a poster on to the wall in a show of rental defiance. Now that we finally own our own home, we don't have enough money to 'renovate', but sometimes a little paint, a borrowed sander and a few creative ideas can be enough to satisfy your initial renovation urges.

The dear man who built our home did a bloody fine job. But perhaps he had watched too many episodes of 'The Love Boat', and didn't realise that 'retro marina' wooden panelling would date - he went overboard.

The floorboards are wood, the 'feature wall' was ribbed wood, the architraves were wood, the in-built shelving all around the room was wood and even the front door was wood. Wood is nice, but not when it is the same colour as old man pants and reminds you distinctly of the smell you only find in the old man pant isle at Vinnies. As a result we felt like we were living in a giant pair of old man's pants and it was simply time for a 'change'. Joe and I decided we really liked the styles of French Provincial as well as Art Deco, then there were those 1950s retro chic looks...so we decided to experiment with them all.

Seeing as neither of us have ever won a trophy in our lives (yet), the glass trophy cabinet was the first to go. Next we set our sites on the wooden interior wall that separated the living and kitchen area. We went with a 'charcoal' and 'clotted cream' stripe mostly because it sounds better than 'black and white' but also because for us it conjures nostalgic notions of the 1920s.

Next we painted all of the cobalt blue kitchen benches and tiles in a crisp white laminate paint. We took down the cat-hair infested vertical blinds and replaced them with sheer, cotton, full-length curtains. Much better!

Our last two most recent reno ventures included painting the in-built wall-length book shelf with a white undercoat and then we painted our kitchen cupboards in the softest, retro pastel pink...and loving it!

To top it off we purchased some vintage porcelain door knobs from the Victory Theatre antique bazaar in Blackheath, it is one of our favourite haunts for a lazy weekend.  The kitchen cabinets are only half done, as is the book shelf, we still have plenty of ideas to put into practice but we were amazed at how much we could change the look of our place for a few hundred dollars.

Council throw-out day!
As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. In every Sydney Suburb, at least once a year, there is a wonderful phenomenan that takes place. It's called council pick-up. The thought of swerving to the side of the road, hopping out in broad day light and trying to stuff 2nd hand furniture into your two-door hatchback may cause you to hyperventilate with embarressment. The fear of being recognised by passing traffic and labelled ever more as a trash grabbing scab is natural enough, but deep down,  you can't deny the primitive hunter-gatherer rush that council pick up stirs deep within every one of us.... or is it just us?

Well, we got over the shame factor long ago, and have since furnished at least four previous apartments and half a house with other peoples things. Here are some finds that we have been working on restoring lately.

the art deco style chair was snatched from Normanhurst, and the piano stool was pilfered in nearby Hornsby.

This beautiful rocking chair was swindled from a curb in lazy Patonga Beach... at least, we think it was council pick up... anyway... there was noone sitting on it at the time, rest assured. Its amazing what you can find without paying a cent, and the thrill of a good find is hard to beat!

Mind you, some suburbs are better than others. Surprisingly, the most affluent suburbs are the most stingey, and usually only throw out actual rubbish (the hide). If you are a Mosman resident, come on... get with the council pick-up program, and put out something worthwhile.

The best burbs for pick up include Inner-west, Epping, and the Hornsby district. Don't be tempted to to venture into areas like Campsie... its just downright unsafe without garden gloves and a big dog.

The hardest part about council pick up is knowing when and where its on... you simply must remain vigilant.


there we go! another money saving tip before it reaches the tip!


Next week, we head into our retro pink kitchen to cook up ideas for our FFFC challenge week menu! Your responses from last weeks plea were underwhelming! You should be ashamed! If you still want to save yourself a seat at our grand garden party, there may be time to redeem your shameful lack of support and whip up a virtual dish before next week. You know you should.

some tantilising starters may just include Macadamia and blackberry tarts with a side of homemade passionfruit icecream, or potato gnocci with roast beetroot and basil pesto. oooooooooooooooh, so good. otherwise you may end up being the taste tester for Joe's garden escargo sauteed in hibiscus champagne, garlic and parsley. He's not joking... it could be you.

cheerio all.