Autumn harvest

 We've been a little busy on the farm over the past few weeks. There has been much picking, preparing, bottling and cooking. I'm giving a quiet little sigh that that summer is over and finally we get to ease into slower days. I have been anxiously waiting for the tomatoes to fruit, and finally, just when I had almost given up on them, they seem to have exploded in numbers around the vegetable patches. There are still many green ones, and I'm watching them closely. I have made a pact with myself that this year I will NOT process any green tomatoes. Why? Because I just don't like them. I know, some folks like green tomato pickles, but I just can't be convinced. I find myself telling our customers 'don't choose that one, I don't like it'. And that's probably not the best way to sell a product. So I will instead cross my fingers and hope these little babies turn bright red so I can make another big batch of Tomato Kasundi and a big supply of our very popular Tomato and Ginger Jam. 

This is Gus, Andre's dog. He likes company. Here he was, keeping an eye on the tomato picking. He eats pretty much everything that is not nailed down, but he's not fussed on tomatoes! 

This is Kasundi in the making. Just look at the amount of spices required for a 2kg batch! I take a deep breath each time I make itas it is an expensive thing to make. But, our customers love it. And so do we. I used some as a curry base a week ago. I added coconut milk and poached some fish in the sauce. It was fabulous. Frans even had two helpings, and he's not crazy about fish. This Indian relish is also great on a little steamed rice and veggies. Mmmm.... 

Green beans climbing high! 

A morning in the veggie patch and Pat is picking tomatoes, I'm gathering beans, zucchini, parsnips, carrots, swedes.... I've cut back the asparagus ferns. We'll look forward to sweet spears in October or November again.  

What do we do with all the beans? I blanched some and froze them for use during winter. Some we just had to eat right away. A favourite South African dish is to boil beans chopped up (like the pic above), a chopped onion and a couple of potatoes together in salted water. When the beans are soft, strain off the water (keep for soup stock!), mash together the veggies. Add a little salt and white pepper and a blob of butter. Delicious!

The apple trees are heavy with fruit. There's apple action at the table most days. Apple & Ginger Jam, Apple & Rhubarb Chutney, Apple Jelly, Apple Sauce... And of course, our famous Worcestershire Sauce made with our very own organically grown garlic and apples. 

We've canned quite a few jars of apples. These will make their way into apple crumbles and roast pork and apple sauce dinners!

Let's not forget the zucchinis. We have had our fair share. We love them roasted, in salads and in quiches Our favourite farm soup of the moment is Zucchini Soup.  Here's our recipe:

Zucchini Soup

2kgs grated zucchini

2 litres stock 

(we use chicken or turkey stock, whatever is in the freezer! Our own birds. Plucking a duck is not a pleasant task, so we make sure we get every little bit of value out of our birds!)

1 onion or a few shallot stalks or even a leek (whatever you have growing that is 'oniony') - chopped roughly

1 potato - chopped roughly

Parsley - a big handful

2 cloves of garlic - chopped finely

2 handfuls of grated strong cheese. I use Parmesan or similar.

Cream. About a cup.

Salt & Pepper

Lightly sweat the onion and garlic. Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook till everything is soft and mushy. Blitz with a hand blender. Add a little cream. Season to taste.

Serve with freshly baked bread. You'll be serving up seconds!

 

You know that the end of the zucchini season is here when you get baby zucchinis that don't seem to grow anymore. It's getting too cold. Pick them. And the flowers! Chop them up and make a delicious stir fry or quiche.

The excess pickings are blitzed and frozen in big zip lock bags. Each bag holds around 2kgs. This is just the right amount to make another batch or three of that delicious soup!

There are some times that we have to take a leap of faith when it comes to eating from the land... Our neighbour brought around a dish full of freshly picked field mushrooms. They pick them in their forest each Autumn. We were a little dubious in eating them. The wrong ones can kill you! These looked like mushrooms. Smelled like mushrooms. No funny colours. Lots of 'googling' and checking to make sure they were ok. We did have our neighbour's word... They were delicious. Served on a grass-fed porterhouse steak. Here's Jayne getting the fungi ready for dinner.

April has been a busy market month. First we had a market in Birregurra, followed by a rained out market in Colac. Then another market in Birregurra on Easter Sunday. On offer were all our new apple products, as well as the tomato jam and Kasundi. 

Like my new little white shelf? I picked it up from an op shop for $6. The can of spray paint cost $12. Andre' sprayed it for me for nothing. Priceless... to me. 

 I love it. 

Easter Sunday Market in Birre.

Sold the last of our lovely garlic. 

This is a short week. We have Anzac Day on Friday.  

We'll be attending the Dawn Service in Colac. This year is a special year, as Frans' brother Andre' will be playing the Last Post for the ceremony. When it's over, we'll all walk down the road to the RSL for a free breakfast. 

Lest we forget.

Rolling on towards Christmas

If you happen to drive down our road on a cool, still morning, you'll most likely see something like this... A group of walkers and a dog. The eldest walker, Granny Pat, is waaaayyy up front. The dawdler is me. If you have to go for a walk, then there couldn't be anywhere nicer to do it. Summer is coming, and with it the flies. Walking now without a fly net is not an option anymore. 

There are some vegetables that I just don't like growing. Brassicas fall into this category. I find them finicky and temperamental. So I kept my planting to a few plants only; cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli. We had success with the broccoli. They grew into beautiful tight green heads, but what an investment in veggie bed real estate they require! After the head of the broccoli is cut off, you're left with this useless stalk with big green leaves. The chooks didn't mind the leaves... much. Then there were the caulies. Fail. Brownish looking heads appeared, all pock marked with insect activity. Gave them the heave ho. They bypassed the chooks and went straight to the compost pile. Then there was the cabbage. And oh my.... what a successful crop we had! The only problem was that we had to pick them all at once. It was then that the great cabbage cook off of 2013 began! 

Each cabbage weighed an average of around 2kgs. After the outer leaves were cleaned up and the odd slug removed, the nice looking leaves were blanched in boiling, salted water.

Some of the heads were shredded for coleslaw. 

Back to the blanched leaves... We stuffed them. Two ways. The first variation had rice, mint, feta, herbs and an egg to bind all the ingredients together. The rolls were gently poached in a little chicken stock in the pan. 

The second option we stuffed with rice, minced beef, herbs and baked them in an Italian style tomato sauce.

The final cabbage selection on the menu for dinner that night was a very simple one. Bacon fried lightly, then cabbage chunks stacked on top of the bacon. A few dabs of butter dotted on the top and the lid placed on and the stove top turned down low. The steam wilted the cabbage and the bacon flavours carried through the leaves. 

The final verdict at the dinner table was that this one, this pale insipid looking dish was the most delicious. My favourite was the rice, mint and feta stuffed rolls. Or was it the other lot? We've been asked by many who knew about the cabbage night if it was windy at our place the following day. Happy to say.. NO. Only a light breeze or two.

But let us not forget the sauerkraut..... Who's idea was it again? I had a lovely pottery crock that was begging to be used for something like this. So we followed the instructions from my preserving book. It all looked quite good. I then popped the big urn in the pantry cupboard where it needed to remain at a constant temperature as it started to ferment and do what sauerkraut has to do. I was starting to get complaints from fellow family members when they opened the cupboard. 'what smells in here'? Finally I dragged out the pot and left it on the kitchen bench. After a couple more days and more complaints, I decided to investigate what was happening. First the water filled zip lock bag came off the saucer holding all the 'stuff' down. Then came the saucer and the muslin. Looked ok. I bent down and took a deep breath, came up and started heaving. Words fail me. It was revolting. Another vegetable that bypassed the chooks and went directly to the compost pile! Epic fail. 

Fortunately not too many flops come out of our kitchen. We've been in Christmas baking mode for a couple of weeks. A few pre Christmas markets have allowed us to experiment and make some fun goodies to eat. We've turned out shortbread, fudge, coconut ice and Christmas cakes!

Market day at Birregurra. Pretty cakes all lined up along with the sweet treats!

Who fancies a mince pie then? Jayne's pies jumped off the table!

It was a great market. The day was lovely. The music excellent and chatting to our local friends and customers was a nice way to spend the morning. We'll be back again in January, sans the Christmas fare. But wait.. there will be more! Our berries are ripening and the picking has begun in earnest.

Sometimes we have ideas to change something on the farm, but we don't have the time or something else gets in the way. Netting the raspberry patch completely with a proper door was one of these jobs on our 'to do' list. Along came Andre', Frans' brother. He got stuck into the enclosure and in a few days we had a fantastic area where no birds could get trapped and we were guaranteed of getting all the berries. Thank you Andre'!

Picking these berries has become a twice a day ritual. 

A full colander holds about a kilo of berries. It's easy to spend an hour in the morning and the evening picking a load like this. 

In between berry picking, digging up garden beds to get rid of the weeds (I should have mulched them earlier!), it's good to stop and enjoy what the garden has to offer. The cornflowers are starting to bloom. And the blue is truly 'cornflower blue'! 

See those red geraniums? I brought a cutting with me from our house in Melbourne. A lovely old gentleman lived around the corner from our house. He's lived in Ashwood for over 60 years. These geraniums have been grown continuously from plants he has had in his yard over the years. Before we left Melbourne, he pressed a few scraggly cuttings into my hand and said to take them with me to our new home. Well,they are thriving. When I look at them I always think of Jeff and Leslie. 

I did say we're doing a lot of pulling out of plants this week didn't I? Here the broad beans are catching their last rays of sun before getting picked. 

I'm letting the Florence Fennel climb right to the sky! I'm no longer interested in the bulbs, rather the seeds. Fennel salad is a firm favourite in our house. More salad green seeds have been sown. Evening meals are a constant feast with salads made from all the different leaves picked from the garden. We're not averse to throwing in a few nasturtium flowers, dill sprigs, raw broad beans and a smattering of raw, sweet peas. Only the simplest dressing is required; a little lemon juice and olive oil or a little aged balsamic vinegar.

The broad bean haul of the day!

A few hours of shelling and we have a little over 5kgs of shelled broad beans. What are we going to do with them you may ask? Soup. Delicious broad bean soup. And we've frozen a lot. When we need them we'll dump them in some boiling water for a few minutes, then pop the soft dark green fleshy bits out of the tougher outer shell. These will be served with lamb chops or smashed as a topping for bruchette. 

It's been a while since I gave you a cabin update. Will all the wedding excitement and start of Summer preparations on the farm, the cabin renovations have been on hold. But this week the work has begun again! Yay! 

Frans and Andre' have plastered the internal walls and the girls helped lift the ceiling sheets into place. It took five adults to do this task, two ladders, two dogs and about an hour of discussion to decide which way was best. In the end it came down to the two boys lifting the sheets with a little help from this girl, and the other two girls, well, one girl and an eighty year old granny, moving ladders and holding things in place. It all worked like a dream. We are just miffed that we didn't film it for uTube. Our efforts could have entertained a few millions!

There are some tasks that are much easier to do if you call in the experts. So the plumbers have come to fix our pipes. Frans' buddy Wayne from the Camera Club and his son Reece (great name for a plumber!) have started plumbing in the internal pipes, putting up the spouting and gutters and preparing for the very big and messy job of digging a big hole for the septic tank.

Looking at the picture above, you can see a 'little' burn off conducted by the DSE yesterday. The seat of that fire is 3kms from us. We're happy to see them burn now before the heat of summer.

As soon as all the outside work is complete on the cabin, we'll start the landscaping around it. 

GARLIC

We pulled a little test bed out of the ground this week. These bulbs are an early variety called Glenlarge. I have to say it's not my favourite variety. It has a tendency to split. But no garlic needs to be wasted. These little cloves will be used in stocks and our wonderful Worchestershire sauce.

Cleaning up the stalks before they get bundled is best done outside, in the shade.

Jayne learned how to plait a hank of garlic. I'm not the world's best teacher. My plaits tend to verge on 'rustic'. 

Strong fingers and hands are required to manipulate the stalks into the plaits.

Ta Da! This little plait will hang for a week or so and then the 'beard' bits will be trimmed off and it will look oh so pretty!

The sunflowers are starting to bloom. I plant them for Frans, the bees and because they look lovely. When they are past their prime, they get dried and the chooks enjoy the seeds.

Bees.... Doing their thing. Wonderful.

And finally.... this is what we have to look forward this week. A stinking day is coming up. I feel a little panic when I see these high temps. I know my lettuce plants, parsley, coriander and half a dozen other veggies are going to bolt! Not much I can do about it, except cut them down short if possible and keep the water up. 

It is only a week to go before we sit down to Christmas Eve dinner. The menu is half planned. We wait for the final touches when we wander through the garden on the morning of the dinner.

Hope you all have a wonderful week preparing for Christmas. 

Remember to enjoy the ride!

Project Kitchen... Done! So let's cook some zucchini!

Remember last week when I wrote about Frans going under the house to connect the pipes? Well, this is where he was meant to go. And he just couldn't bring himself to crawl over that long diagonal pipe you see below. 

So he decided to forget about going under the house and instead of waiting for Stephen, he would demolish a wall of paneling and access the pipes from inside the house. Of course there were beams in the way weren't there?! So he put down his tools and waited for Stephen. In the mean time we had exposed form work to admire and tools to step over till he arrived. 

And to the rescue he came!

Let me just say here that Stephen is a sparky. His usual dirty work happens in roof spaces. He's not a fan of going under houses either. His main concern was 'are there any snakes?'. Of course not. We hoped! This man is a legend. A job that Frans had procrastinated about for three days, took him about ten minutes. The job was not without its challenges. The biggest challenge being the small space, the spider webs and the dirt!

He emerged victorious and impressed his future father in law with his bravery. All that was left to do was for the future mother in law to wash those clothes! The least I could do...

And here's the completely installed and functional hands free hand basin. Neat!

And here is the newly painted wall, filled holes and neatly installed super dooper range hood. We will repaint the kitchen soon. Then the little wooden shelf with get a coat of paint as well. 

And so a newly completed kitchen upgrade required a celebration. The kitchen had been shrouded in plastic sheets with tools scattered all over the table. I had been out picking veggies and was keen to get cooking again. 

STUFFED ZUCCHINI 

In mid September I planted a bunch of squash seeds. I bought a pack with six different varieties. Being so far south, our season seems a little later and shorter than the warmer areas. So it's with great excitement that I've started picking the fruits from these plants. Checking my planting notes I see that it took 12 weeks from seed to fruit. I've planted a few batches since then and I hope that I'll be picking zucchini for a little while longer. The challenge is always what to do with all the fruit when they ripen simultaneously. We have a favourite recipe. It's an Italian Stuffed Zucchini dish. It is simple to make and can be enjoyed for a few days. We eat it warm or at room temperature. It makes a great side dish at a barbecue or can be served as a main with a salad for a light lunch. Served with a chilled glass of something dry and white.

This is my version. I try and use ingredients that I have grown myself; the squash, onions, garlic and herbs. Then there is the egg that I use from our own hens and the breadcrumbs made from the bread I baked. We just planted a few olive trees, but it will be a while before we can press our own oil. So in the mean time it will have to be store bought. Australian of course.

A basket of mixed squash. 

All the ingredients are gathered. 

Zucchini - I used the pale green ones, as well as the round yellow and green.

Roast pumpkin (yes, it's still from those three pumpkins we cut up a few months ago! This is the last packet)

Herbs. I used dill and parsley.

Garlic. Just a few cloves. Chopped or crushed.

One onion chopped.

A cup or two of roast pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes.

Olive oil.

About two cups of breadcrumbs.

A cup of grated Parmesan or strong cheese, grated.

Optional: A few spoons of ricotta cheese.

The first job is to gently saute' the onion in a pan with a little olive oil. Add the garlic cook till the onion is translucent. Don't brown it. 

While the onion is cooking, cut the squash in half length ways and scoop out the flesh. Some of the larger fruit have fairly big pips. You can separate the pips out if you wish or just chop them up with the rest of the flesh. They are soft and sweet and you will not notice them. I kept most of the pips aside. 

The flesh is then chopped up into small pieces. Place into a mixing bowl and add half the bread crumbs, herbs, onion, pumpkin, egg and half the cheese and mix together. Add the ricotta if you're using it. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Then fill the clean, scooped out shells with the filling.

Scatter the remaining breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese on top of each stuffed half.

Drizzle the tops with a little olive oil. Bake in a moderate oven untill the tops are golden. Around 45 minutes will do it.

And what about the pips you ask?

Well, I take a paper towel and place a group of seeds in a pile. I make a number of piles on the sheet. Then I leave them to dry. Once dry, I simply roll the sheet of pips up and store them in an envelope till I'm ready to plant them again. Write the date of harvest on the envelope! Planting these seeds will be around September this year. When I'm ready to plant, I'll just cut the sheet into squares, one pile of pips per square. Then I'll plant the square. I'll let the strongest two or three seedlings remain and remove the rest. 

Seed saving is great for the budget! Collecting seeds is a good way of ensuring your continuing vegetable planting ability without buying commercial seed. I only grow Organic seeds. No hybrids. This way I know my saved seeds will sprout and grow next season.

Back to the baked zucchini. Delicious! What you don't eat immediately, can be stored in the fridge for a few days. The larger halves can be sliced into chunks.  

Summer is a really busy time for us. The veggies are flourishing and the fruit trees are groaning with fruit. This week I'll be picking more nectarines. They are the white variety. Delicious when picked straight from the tree. I like them crunchy. Frans likes them a little softer. 

Two peach trees have fruit almost ready to be picked. One peach is pinkish-red and the other is a yellow variety. I don't know their names. Yet. When I was a kid my Mum made peach jam with yellow peaches. I have a vivid memory of little lumps in golden syrup, with a delicious peachy smell. I'm going to give it my best shot at trying to duplicate it!   

And here's wishing you a very peachy week!