Springtime Harvests and home grown Garlic

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.

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 ;)

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. 

Home Made Orange Juice

Springtime specials

 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.

Home-grown Garlic

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.

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.

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.

 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 ;).

WINTER HARVESTS, FALAFELS AND FOODIE FASHIONISTA'S

IN THE
WINTER
GARDEN

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.

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.

R with a double decker tamarillo!

Kale Chips? Anyone? Anyone???

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!

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!

Crispy Kale chips

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.

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 knew, 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!


From Failure to Falafel
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!

                                    How to make a boastfully good broad bean Falafel

1. Grow and dry your own broad beans with pride
2. grind your dried beans in a food processor (we used a coffee grinder)
3. add water, some garlic, a chilli, and herbs of your choice to taste
4. roll the delicious mix into bite sized balls and shallow fry in a pan with olive oil.
5. serve with sweet chilli and homemade yoghurt!



The New Veggie Patch

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.

 

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!

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.

 

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 ;)!



Artichokes 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!

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!

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.

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.

Jerusalem Artichoke flowers in Summer

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.

found one!

the harvest from a single plant

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.

unsuspecting guinea pigs

Artichoke or fartichoke?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Goosberries...going, going, gone

Over April we have been harvesting our first season of Cape-gooseberries! the taste of a cape gooseberry is tangy with a real Zing 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.

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. 

three...

two...

one....

zero

Chapter 34:Tick. Tick. Tick....KA-BLOOOM!!!

Garden Make-over

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."

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.

Our new extended patch

 Slow Seedlings

 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.

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.

Found this little hot house in a local council throw out. Score!

Toilet roll seedlings - super easy

 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.



fancy meeting you here

G and her magic home grown asparagus wand

Jane and the Gooseberries

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.

a cheeky cockatoo staking out the patch

Community Orchard Part 2:

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.

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.

our nectarine tree in bloom

chapter 21: 10 places to hide a goat

 During the week we made home-made cheese. Not only was it easy to make but it was even easier to eat, and we would like to share the recipe with you. Tasting very similar to fresh ricotta, it was made simply with lemons and full cream milk. It was light, creamy and it melted in our mouths, yet it also caused my husband to start acting strangely.

At first, Joe sat quietly on the couch in a brown study. next minute, I saw him outside with his measuring tape, then back indoors and on the laptop. He was up to something. Outside again pacing out the length of the back shed, then the car port, garage, and finally the chicken pen, before rubbing his hands together with seeming delight, and a big dirty grin.

"Darling, what are you up to?" I enquired. At first, Joe seemed sheepish... but on closer inspection, I realised my husband looked far more goatish!

"No way! we are not getting a goat!"

Joe paused to muster the most convincing rebuttal he could conjure whilst pretending to scrape chook poo from his boot. "But darling, it could live in here with the chickens, no one would have to know a thing about it. We could feed it silverbeet and lettuce from the garden, and any clothes that the children no longer fit into. And best of all, we can make more cheese!!!"

"So they eat clothes?" I queried.

"They eat anything!" He said.

Sufficed to say, as this conversation took place directly beneath my low hanging clothes line, I remained even less convinced.

"We are not getting a goat".

How to make cheese

Heat 2 litres of milk to approx 90 degrees, or a rolling boil (not bubbling). Make sure you keep stirring so as not to burn the milk. When heated remove from heat and immediately, but slowly add 5/6 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (We actually used limes). Continue to stir slowly in one direction, and you will begin to notice the milk separating into curds (the lumps) and whey. Continue to stir for about a minute then cover and leave to cool for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, strain the curds and whey through muslin (like a baby wrap) or cheese cloth over a colander. The curds will remain and the whey can be discarded. Hang the cheese in the muslin over a sink to drain completely for another 3 hours.

Now it is ready for a taste test. Yum! You can season with salt, or for that matter anything sweet or savoury to your liking'. This recipe makes a ball of cheese about the size of a shot put, but not as heavy.



If you don't eat it all at once, refrigerate it in an air tight container. It lasts 4 or so days.

We used our cheese in salads and will be making more in a week or so to make stuffed zucchini flowers.



Lavender Champagne (part 1)

lovely bug adding to the mix



Steve spoons in the vinegar

Another little home-made number we had a go at this week was lavender champagne. We got the initial idea from an elderflower champagne recipe but being short of the key ingredient and after some research we found that lavender could make a good substitute.

A bit of bubbly is an essential for any celebration, and with our FFFC now only weeks away we needed a summer time champs to pop at the end of our challenge.

It only takes a few weeks to brew lavender champagne and so it was exactly what we needed. We're not sure if it will work or how it will taste but we are hoping when we pop our first bottle it conjures memories of long lost summers and searches for cicada shells but most of all we want to make sure it is alcoholic! This is why we decided to add more than the recommended amount of sugar, even though there is a strong chance that the bottles may explode due to the pressure. Its a risk we're willing to take.

Champagne anyone?

Lavender Champagne Recipe

Ingredients
100 lavender flowers
2 lemons
600 grams white sugar
250 grams sultanas
6 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
6 litres of water
1/4 teaspoon champagne/all purpose wine yeast

Remove the lavender flowers from the stems. Grate the zest of two lemons. Finely dice sultanas and mix all three ingredients together in a bole. Boil 1 litre of water, pour into a large bucket or tub (we used a carboy). Add sugar, lavender, lemon zest and sultanas and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the juice of 2 lemons and white wine vinegar. Then add a further 5 litres of water and allow to cool until temperature is below 30 degrees. Add yeast, gently stir it in and cover with muslin wrap or carboy lid and airlock.
 Leave for 7 days at room temp then strain liquid into sterilised bottles and cap. The bottles need to be airtight. You could cork the bottles or simply use what we are using, clip lock glass bottles. Store for  a further 2 weeks. Taste and enjoy!

At least that is our plan. At the moment ours is still fermenting in the carboy. We intend to btle it  tomorrow and will let you know how it goes.

Last blog we said we were going to mull over our mulberries, intending to make something delicious from our multitudes of mulberries. Unfortunately our mulberries haven't quite come to the party yet but stay tuned. Instead we are going to take you right back to the birds and the bees and chat about hand-pollinating zucchinis.


pollinating Zucchinis and Pumpkins

 Our zucchinis are well and truly doing their thing and have produced nothing short of very eager flowers just sitting there waiting for Joe and his little paint brush to come pollinate them each morning. Zucchini's, pumpkins and other similar plants of the gourd variety have male and female flowers. In order to bear fruit, pollen from a male flower must travel to a female flower for pollination to occur, and thew fruit to grow. Usually the bees will do this for you, but as they have recently been dropping dead due to excessive mobile phone microwaves (at least that's what the communists want you to think), you may have to do it yourself to get results.

our Turk's Turban pumpkins successfully taking over the yard:)

You will need:

1 paint brush (Soft)

1 sunny morning

to be able to tell male and female flowers apart.

Its actually very simple. female flowers have a bulbous miniature fruit at their base, while the male flowers stand on a long thin stem. inside the male flower is the stamen, which is covered in pollen (when the flower is mature). take a brush and carefully collect some pollen on the end. (choose the strongest, sexiest male flower you can find).  Then transfer the pollen to the female flower, brushing it on the claw looking pod (pistil) in the centre of the open flower.

pollen from a male flower

You will know if the pollination is successful when the fruit bulb starts to swell after a few days. if the female fruit pod turns yellow and shrivels, then unfortunately, its an old spinster.


Time to get busy in the pumpkin patch with your paint brushes.