Photos by Frans

Frans has been experimenting with his new Nikon camera that he got for his big Five 'O'. He has joined the local camera club with our friend John. He gets up early to photograph sunrises. He stays up late to photograph the moon. Whenever he gets a moment to spare you'll find him snapping away to get the perfect shot. Here are a few of his latest pics that I like.

The beautiful moon. It looks like a giant white orange.

This is an early morning sunrise taken from our dam at the bottom corner of our property. The house is behind the big trees to the right of the photo.

Kookaburra sits on the electric wire....

Apples apples apples...

It's Autumn. That means it's time for the apple harvest. The stone fruits all matured around Christmas, but the apples have taken a bit longer. We didn't cover the apple trees with netting until a few weeks ago. The branches are heavy with fruit on some of the trees. We have five apple trees and all of them are bearing fruit. The only challenge is working out what variety they are. We have a Granny Smith. That one is easy. Glossy bright green skin and very tart! The rest of the apples are also green, but some have a pink blush on one cheek. I'm still trying to work out the rest.

A visit to the library once every three weeks or so is a great source of information. Yes, we can use 'Google', but that requires satelite time and it's costly. It's quite satisfying browsing through reference books and making new discoveries that answer questions we might have. My library basket weighs heavily after each visit. This week I've found a number of books on apple trees, olive production and poultry care.

The small orchard behind the house.

We are planning to add a few more fruit trees in this area. I have a fig tree sapling that has been nurtured by Stephen's grandfather. He took the original fig tree cutting from a house they lived in about five years ago. The fig tree gave deliciously sweet green figs. He has successfully grown another tree from the original cutting at their new house. Now I have a cutting from the cutting! I hope I don't kill it.  It will be planted close to the apple trees. On our last visit to Melbourne, Nonno had saved three beauitul figs for me. He is very proud that his new tree has had about 20 pieces of fruit this year.

So back to the apples.....

We were treated to a lovely week of laughing and good conversation when Frans' Mum, Riet and Frans' sister Pauline came to visit. Being Dutch, Riet loves her appelmoes. That's apple sauce. She's the queen of peeling apples. On her very first day she insisted we start dealing with the fruit hanging on the trees. So out we went into the fine Otway drizzle and picked a couple of baskets of fruit.

It took three full baskets to make 10 litres of juice.

One of the comments Riet made was that she was surprised at the different shapes our apples have. They are not perfect round spheres like you buy at the supermarket. And they don't have little paper stickers on them! And they're not as shiny. Our apples are all shapes and sizes. They do not have a waxy gloss sprayed on them to make them look appealing! They have a few spots here and there. Some of the apples have been half eaten by birds or insects. But we know that they are 100% pesticide free and good for us. We still have plenty on the trees. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to harvest them before they all drop off the branches and get put onto the compost heap. So if you want some apples, come and get them! You probably have a window of opportunity of about 10 days.

Oma happily peeled and chopped for days on end. Sara arrived half way through the week and stepped up to help with the preparation. What will we do with all this fruit?

We've cooked the apples and frozen them in plastic bags. When you lay the bags flat in the freezer you make good use of the space there. This applies to freezing tomato sauce too.

We have made appelmoes and bottled it. Then used the Vacola barrel to preserve the jars of sauce. Apple sauce is great on muesli for breakfast. And of course you can enjoy it with your dinner too.

And then we've decided to give apple cider a go. We're starting off small. Let's not get carried away. Filling a 10 litre bucket with freshly squeezed apple juice is a time consuming excersize. This task required all hands on deck. The girls peeled and cut the fruit while Frans squeezed the juice in our old trusty juicer. You know the one.... it's the appliance you buy and use a few times and then it gets relegated to the back of the cupboard. Well, this one has come out of retirement. Let's hope it can cope with all the action that is required of it. I needed to buy a few bits and pieces for the cider (yeast, sugar etc) and rang a supplier in Melbourne. He advised that the best thing to do when using a domestic juicer is to give it plenty of rest between squeezings. Good tip. We now have a bucket of juice sitting on a chair in the sunny alcove off the kitchen. We will wait a couple of weeks and then we will bottle the juice. Hopefully we'll have our first organic cider. We'll see.... 

Riet, (aka Mum Hillege, Oma, Maria) and Sara

Mum in her element!

           

Frans, not sure if he's in his element.... I suspect he'd rather be swining a chain saw than pressing apples!

Sometimes the kitchen is home to a hive of activity. On this day besides peeling apples for cider, I was making sushi and Frans was gleaning the last bit of honey from a bucket of wax he has been resting.  

               

Friends have asked us many times if we miss the bustle of city life. We can say with confidence, NO. However, there are a few little treats that we do miss. One of mine is sushi. It's not difficult to make though, so I make it occasionally. Frans loves it and has even learned to eat it with the required wasabi paste and pickled ginger! It does mean that when we do go to Melbourne, we will treat ourselves with a visit to a sushi bar.

 

Not too many afternoons left where we can enjoy the changing light. The days are becoming shorter and cooler. We have started lighting the fire more often. A sure sign that winter is on the way...

Living off the land

Our neighbour Graham has a few sheep. Last week he had six slaughtered on his property. He offered us one. We jumped at the offer. What could be better than knowing where your food comes from?! In fact, the sheep graze in the paddock close to our big old shed. So paddock to plate is around 200m.

When we lived in the city we would walk into a supermarket or butcher and pick out a packet of meat wrapped in plastic, resting on a polystyrene tray. That's how you buy it in the city. You have no idea where the meat came from, or even what breed. Having the opportunity to buy some of our meat direct from a grower is a treat. Frans and I have tossed around the idea of keeping a few sheep, but our neighbour says 'no'. Too many hassles. Fences have to be sheep proof, and ours arn't. It's easier to pay for one when Graham does his twice yearly 'paddock shopping'.

A young butcher came to do the first part of the job. He slaughtered the sheep and they then got hung in a mobile cool room for a week. The cool room stayed on the property. A week later, the young fellow returned with his very competent butcher mate and a girlfriend. They brought their own tables, saw and knives. The three of them expertly cut up the sheep to our specifications. "What cuts do you want?" I was asked. Think quickly.. Ok. I'll have the hind legs as roasts. The shoulders deboned for stew, or in our case for a big potjie for Sara's 25th birthday coming up, chops, cutlets, ribs and mince. Done. Nala also did very well from this excersize. We minced up a heap of offcuts for her. You may be wondering how much this excersize cost us. Well, we paid Graham $150 for the lamb. Well, it was a bit larger than a lamb. Probably more like a two tooth. That's ok. Slow roasting will deliver a delicious meal. We ended up with around 15kgs of meat after all the fat and bones were removed. So it means we paid around $10 a kg for an organically grown lamb. And there was not a white polystyrene tray in sight. Not a bad deal I would say.

The two young butchers and the girlfriend. Our neighbours Graham and Lorraine. Frans and Graham watched from the side lines with a beer in hand while the young fellows wielded sharp knives! The cool room. Frans picking out which sheep we were to have.  And a 'blokes' truck. Complete with whip arial, spotlight and dog cage.

Once our sheep was cut up, we loaded the meat into a washing basket and headed home. Out came the Kenwood mincer and Frans started cutting up the 'bits' for mince. We minced some of the meat for ourselves and the offcuts for Nala. It was a late night. But a fulfilling one. Next time it will be a steer. Our own. We'll need to be very organised so we can make sausages, biltong and mince on the day of the cutting up.

More chickens

Some time ago a friend of Stephen offered us some chooks that belonged to the friend's grandfather. The grandfather was going to a nursing home and a new home was needed for the chickens. We were happy to take the chickens. So this past weekend we went to Melbourne and picked them up. Nala went with us to Melbourne and on the way home she had to share the back of the car with the chooks. When we got home, Frans and I tagged the newcomers so we could identify them from our original brood. There is no problem with identifying them at the moment. They are a mangy looking bunch. Half of them have missing feathers. They've obviously not had much attention the past few months. So we're hoping that a diet of good food and fresh greens will sort them out. We're not sure if they're still laying. Time will tell. If we don't get a rise in egg production in the next month, then we will need to consider which ones will become chicken soup!  

Nala and the new chooks. Frans tagging a new girl, one with a fair amount of skin showing! Now we have 11 new chooks. Here they are after we put them into the chicken annex. They rushed to the food and seemed at home in no time at all.

This week I bottled dried tomatoes. I have a small tomato bush growing randomly under the netting where some of the vegetable beds are. It self seeded from last season no doubt. I know I didn't plant it there. This bush has been amazing. I have picked many many mini romas from it. I decided I'd try drying some and bottling them in olive oil. I cut the tomatoes in half, sprinkled them with castor sugar, salt and pepper, then laid the halves cut side down on the drying trays. It took around 12 hours to dry the tomatoes to a leathery feel. I then heated some olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar in a pot then poured the hot mixture over the tomatoes. It seems like a lot of effort for two jars of end product. But I'm sure we're going to enjoy them!

And this was sunrise this morning. Proof that winter is on the way. A couple of months ago this would have been 5.30am. This was taken at 7.20am.

Have a happy week.

Summer days

When we first moved to Otway Fields, I sat down and made a list of all the vegetables and flowers I wanted to grow. The list was long, and probably a tad unrealistic. So I set about planting seeds and seedlings that would give us food first. Flowers took a back seat. The vegetable garden beds have taken priority. However, Frans did have one request. He wanted sunflowers. We created a long garden bed along the north facing wall of the old barn. We used the easy ‘cheat’ or ‘no dig’ method. First lay down a row of flattened cardboard boxes. Then drive the trailer to town and pick up a meter of three way soil. (Sand, compost and something else… I forget). Give the cardboard a good soaking with the hose and then shovel the soil onto the board. Give the soil another water and plant your seeds. Sit back and wait. I planted the sunflower seeds in early December when the ground was warm. It has taken a little while, but we now have a dancing row of beautiful sunflowers lining the old barn wall. It’s a welcoming sight when you come home and drive down the long drive. In the meantime, the cardboard has broken down and the earthworms have moved up through the cardboard layer and are now doing their job of keeping the garden bed healthy.

The bees are loving the flowers too.

The north facing wall of the old barn.

 Many years ago I was lucky enough to see one of Van Gogh’s Sunflower paintings  at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Last year, Frans and I visited it together. This picture is of the painting we saw. Somehow these blooms always look happy.

An update on the paving project. It is 'almost' complete. Frans slotted the last brick into position last week. We've left the cement to settle. There is a little finishing off to do around the edges. This weekend we should be able to put a table and chairs onto the bricks. If the weather holds, we'll be enjoying a BBQ tomorrow afternoon.  

Why a fly net you ask? Well, some days the flies just won't leave you alone. We live in the country and there are cows around us. Say no more! The challenge is keeping the flies out of the house. I'm collecting plastic bottle tops to make a South African style door curtain. A bit like the one below. So if you don't live too far away from me, please save your plastic bottle tops. Any size. I'm not fussy. And it would be great if someone drinks milk with red tops. I don't have any of those yet!

I found this image on the net. Ref: Rosa Pomar

INJURIES

Some days we should not get out of bed. I think this is what Frans thought on Wednesday morning. He went to the chook shed to feed the chooks as he does every morning. One of the ducks had found a piece of string, who knows where, had swallowed one end and the other was dangling from its beak. Frans went to grab the string from the duck's bill and lost his footing. He fell backwards and put his elbow through the very dirty chook shed window pane. He administered some basic first aid to himself and then proceeded to drive himself to the emergency in Colac. I was in Melbourne and our neighbour wasn't home either.

The window Frans fell into.

A respectable scar!

After a few hours in hospital, Frans left with a newly stitched arm, internal and external stitches. He is a bit sore and tender. He won't be doing any digging or physical work around the farm for a few days. However, this little injury didn't stop him from climbing a 22ft ladder this morning to fix some loose sheeting on the old barn!

And if it's not bad enough having one injured person at home, I managed to get myself stung on Tuesday morning by something as I was watering the garden. We're not sure what it was. It could have been a wasp, hornet or enormous bull ant. Whatever it was, the sting felt like fire. The insect crawled up my pants leg to above my knee and stung away merrily. My leg swelled up to the size of a dinner plate. The area was red and hot. Huge big blisters formed on my leg. It was like a burn. It's been a few days and the site is still itchy and red. I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done to prevent some accidents or incidents. It's just a matter of soldiering on!

DRIVING... 

Last Saturday we drove down the winding road to Apollo Bay to the weekend market. We were hoping to sell some of our daffodil and earlicheer bulbs as well as some of our crafty bits and pieces. It was not the best weekend to be down near the sea. The wind howled and it was hot. Very hot. At 9am it was already in the 30's. Frans and I unpacked the car, then set up our table and stock. The wind whipped the table cloth about and hair accessories flew about the market. We looked at one another and decided we didn't need to be there. So we packed up in a few short minutes and took to the road. We headed down the Great Ocean Road. Driving in air conditioned comfort was far more enjoyable than battling the elements outside. We took a few detours down interesting country roads. On one of the roads driving towards the Cape Otway Lighthouse, we were lucky to see a number of koalas in the wild. We stopped numerous times to photograph these slothlike creatures. A day that was frustrating to start with turned out to be most pleasant.

Australian wildlife and scenery. Beautiful.

A quick produce update......

It's all about apples at the moment! Lots of them. Sara helped with the preserving last weekend. We're looking forward to homemade apple pies this winter! We filled a number of Fowler jars and heat treated them in the Vacola boiler.

Geoff's Geraniums. When we lived in Melbourne, Sara used to visit an elderly couple who lived around the corner from us. Geoff gave me some cuttings from his garden. I've managed to get the geraniums growing in our new garden. This week I picked a few of the flower stems. The red is incredibly vibrant. Lovely. This past week Sara and I visited Geoff and he gave me a few more plants that he has been nurturing in pots along the side of his delapadated little weatherboard cottage. Geoff is almost 95 now and his memory is fading. He says it's not as good as it was when he was 85! He had trouble remembering our names but he knew who we were once we'd been there for a while. 

Nala is getting old. She'll be 14 years old this July. We had to take her to the vet this week to get some medication for her. Hopefully we can keep her well for a while yet!

And lastly, here's an early morning pink sky that Frans captured early this week.

Have a wonderful week!

At this time of year, it seems that everything that can give fruit is doing just that. We have 3 or 4 different apple trees that are heavy with fruit. A couple of the trees have not fruited. The same goes for the pear tree. Nothing on it this year. The Nashi pear tree has a respectable amount of fruit. The peach trees did not produce anything, however one of the nectarine trees did it's bit for our taste buds. The sweetness and smell of the nectarines took me right back to my childhood, where fruit was fruit and you ate it from the tree. In a way I'm not too concerned that some of the trees did not bear fruit this year. We're still new at this farm stuff and I've learned that by wanting to live off the land demands a special type of commitment. That commitment requires you to drop everything that you're doing or had planned to do and deal with the harvest when it's ready. Now!

My preserving learning curve has been fun. I've been using this book for lots of good information.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Melbourne for a few days to be with Sara. We took a drive down to Devon Meadows to see a friend and pick up a drying unit and a bottling unit that she was no longer using. Thanks Helen! When I got home I headed straight for the zucchini patch and picked a few of the big runaway squashes. I sliced them and sprinkled them with rosemary salt and set them to dry. The result was not unpleasant. The 'chips' are a little chewy, but rather tasty. A very healthy alternative to crisps.

There is a lot of shrinkage in drying. The large slices of zucchini shrank to less than half their original size

The Fowlers Vacola unit was next in line to be tried out. The previous owner had left around 30 jars in the shed for me. I needed lids and all the bits and pieces that went with them. So my trusty source Ebay came to the rescue. Within a week I had all my equipment gathered and I started preparing plums. No, we don't have a plum tree, but our neighbour does. We picked a huge bag one hot afternoon. I've kept some of the plums to turn into plum sauce, and the rest of the fruit has gone into jars. These plums are lovely eaten with muesli and yoghurt. I also used a jar in a French clafoutis. Delish.

And this week, coming down the pipeline are these lovely babies. Apples. Lots of them! How many ways can I preserve them I wonder?

This basket is getting fuller every day. Frans collects the fallen apples. We'll need a few more baskets when we start picking!

HERITAGE FESTIVAL

A couple of weeks ago we spent an hour or so at the Heritage Festival, held at the local show grounds in Colac. It was well set up. There were all sorts of old fashioned displays and demonstrations. There were some displays that are still relevant today. Sheep shearing, wool classing, spinning (I had a little lesson and have decided that this winter I'll give it a go), cart pulling and the list goes on.

I was most impressed by this young girl sewing on the hand crank. Her mum was baking gingerbread cookies on a wood stove. This kitchen would have been top of the range in the early part of last century.

I won't complain about having to do the washing again!

Lovely old wagons

And finally, a little donkey love between mum and her foal.

Have a happy weekend!

Family

My brother Lionel and his family live in Brisbane, so we don't get to see them too often. They came down to the farm for the Australia Day weekend. It was a treat for us as we got to know my little great niece (yes, we're getting old!) Leilani. She's 14 months old now and is a delight. My lovely niece Genevieve is a wonderful young mum.

Gen and Leilani on the grass at Lawn

Sara. Doing well and looking great!

Sister in law Adele and her little grand daughter. Leilani is an independant little girl. She'd rather walk!

And here's a peek inside the old cabin. We have plans to renovate/upgrade/demolish/rebuild this little dwelling. It sits at the edge of our property and looks over the Otways. The location is perfect. In the mean time until we have fixed it up, we use it for our overflow accommodation requirements when we have a full house. It is comfortable and dry. We can't guarantee you won't have a headache in the morning from the loud paint job in the main bedroom though.

Stuffed zucchini with zucchini flowers

Well, our zucchini glut continues. I have mastered a dozen different methods of preparing these green and yellow tubes. Some days a zucchini can grow from being 5cm long in the morning to 20cm long in the afternoon! So imagine my surprise some mornings when I’m confronted by a zucchini monster!

Here is a Stephanie Alexander recipe from her Kitchen Garden Companion that is currently a favourite in our house:

The stuffing is sufficient to fill two large zucchini. Once you have cooked the zucchini, cut and serve them in thick slices as part of an antipasti platter or a side dish to chicken or meat.

Note my groovy new compost and chook bins. I picked them up at Ikea a few weeks ago.

Ingredients:

2 x 14cm zucchini or 1 x 20 – 22 cm zucchini

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for drizzling

½ onion, finely chopped
6 male zucchini flowers (if you have them) chopped
1 free range egg
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs, plus extra for scattering
25g parmesan, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180 deg

Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions till soft and golden. Tip into a large bowl.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. With a sharp spoon gauge a channel in the flesh so that all the seeds and some flesh are removed, then chop removed flesh and add to bowl with onion. Brush a baking dish with a little extra olive oil and place zucchini halves inside, and then set aside.

Add chopped flowers (if using), egg, thyme, parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs and parmesan to onion/zucchini mixture and mix together. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Fill hollowed-out zucchini with stuffing. Scatter over extra breadcrumbs and drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Bake for around an hour or till the tops are golden. Leave to cool a little before cutting into thick slices.

This dish keeps well for a few days. It is best served just warm.

Paddock to plate

One of my wishes in embarking on this new life in the country is to appreciate where our food is grown and nurtured. We had decided early on that we would keep chooks for eggs and meat. However, the meat part was probably more of an idealistic dream. The egg part is easy. We have been collecting eggs (varying degrees of production) since early September. However, we’ve not ventured to act on our second goal yet. So enter the ducks. As I have written before, we had three ducklings that Sara and Stephen in their kindness brought to us when we first arrived on the farm! We fed them and cleaned their box till they were ready to go into their own cage outdoors. We had hoped that we would have two females and a drake. But…. There were three drakes. From a production point of view they were not much good to us. They couldn’t give us any eggs.

So our neighbour Graham suggested a swap. We gave him one of our Pekin drakes and he gave us three of his Muscovy females. It was a pretty good swap as far as we were concerned. We put the new girls with the two remaining drakes and left them to it. A few days after the newcomers joined the males we noticed that the girls spent most of their time on top of their cage where the boys couldn’t reach them. (the girls could fly and the drakes couldn’t as we’d clipped their wings). Every time they needed to get down for water or food the drakes would attack them with gusto. It was horrible. The poor girls were getting battered from all sides. We separated the ducks from the drakes and put them with the chickens in the chicken pen. There a new pecking order had to be established too, but the ducks could at least fend for themselves a little better.

This left us with a dilemma. What to do with the drakes. We decided that we would have to do away with one. The drakes were too old to roast so I chose a Chinese recipe and created a soupy type of dish. My brother Lionel, Frans and Stephen had the unpleasant task of despatching the drake. A big pot of water was put on to boil while the bird was sent to duck heaven. After allowing the bird to bleed for a while, it was dunked in hot water and then plucked. There was only one way to do this. Get comfortable on some cane chairs in the wood pile shed with a glass of wine. The feathers flew everywhere. Finally the bird was cleaned and gutted. The liver was the only offal we saved. I created a divine duck liver and mushroom pate’ with brandy and sage a few days later. The bird was left to rest for 24 hours before it was skinned (didn’t need the fat) and cut into portions. Note: Stray duck feathers are sharp and can cut your finger!

I cooked the duck according to the recipe I had used once before very successfully on a chicken and hoped for the best. I had no idea if the meat would be tender or tough as the bird was a good 5 months old. The result was sensational There is something decidedly special about caring for your food and then eating it. . Would I do it again? Well yes.

Chinese Chicken with soupy rice, ginger and spring onion dressing (I used our own home grown organic duck)

Serves 4

400g (2cups) jasmine rice, rinse well

Chicken in broth

1 chicken (1.5kg) or chicken pieces

500ml Shaoxing wine (you get this at Asian shops. It’s about $2 for a big bottle)

20g (4cm) piece ginger1 piece dried orange peel (or I just slice some skin from a fresh orange)

1 cinnamon quill

2 star anise

20g sugar

Sauce to serve on top

4 long red chillies, finely chopped (seeds included if you like it firey)

¼ cup thinly sliced spring onion finely sliced, plus extra to serve

½ cup chopped coriander

4 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons Vietnamese dipping sauce

1cm piece ginger shredded

(taste test. Add a little more soy sauce or fish sauce if it’s not salty enough)

1.   Put chicken in big pot. Add broth ingredients. Top up with water till chicken is covered. Bring to boil.

2.   Cook for around 45 mins or until chicken is cooked. Season with extra soy if needed.

3.   Remove the chicken from the broth and shred the meat from the bones. Return the meat to the broth.

4.   Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the ‘sauce’

5.   Cook the rice. (750ml water. Boil. Then simmer and reduce heat. Cook covered till rice is tender and fluffy. 10 – 12 mins. Remove from heat. Cover with a tea towel and allow to stand.

6.   To serve, put rice into bowls. Add chicken and stock. Then drizzle with the chilli/sauce dressing.

7.   Scatter with thin slices of spring onion.

Enjoy.

Paving progress

Paving progress….

One cannot expect DIY projects to flow smoothly or quickly. There is always a tricky situation to resolve or a change of plan to take into account. Before we embarked on the great paving spectacular, we had a smallish garden bed sitting in front of the kitchen windows. It was bushy and overgrown. We did not have an area close to the house where we could set a long lunch table and while away a sunny afternoon or a balmy evening. So I suggested to Frans that we pave the garden bed. It won’t take much I said. We could do it in a week. Such optimism….

With the craziness of Frans’ birthday celebrations behind us, our friends Michelle and Michael came to stay for a week and got stuck into the garden. Frans and Michael ripped out bushes and started defining the area. At this point there was definite ‘scope creep’. The area kept getting bigger! Once M&M and left us, it was down to Frans to keep going.

We had days of bad weather where it was just not possible to work outside. The temperatures hovered in the high 30’s some days and some days it rained. Slowly, little by little Frans got the preparations done. Many trailer loads of crushed rock, river sand and cement were ferried from the building supplier in town. A ‘whacker’ machine was hired to compact the base. Then it was crunch time. Lionel (my gorgeous younger brother) arrived from Brisbane with his lovely family last weekend. He provided a few solutions to a number of tricky issues that Frans was facing. The boys got to work. Lionel left and the next stage was ready. The outside brick border had to be laid. Our friend John who lives just through the forest came to Frans’ aid with the supply of a concrete mixer. This made life a whole lot easier!

Some of the many stages of this 'small' project

Frans and John

The outside edge is now complete. Practise makes perfect. The fourth edge is an exercise in perfection. Frans is fastidious to the point of driving us lesser more impatient mortals a little spare. But we cannot fault the finished product. We’re now ready for the middle bit. That will hopefully be completed this week. We are looking forward to a ‘christening’ of the paving area next weekend. Weather permitting!

Happy Australia Day!

Welcome to Otway Fields

We are expecting the arrival of family from Brisbane later today. This afternoon we'll throw a few lamb chops onto the barbie, crack a few tinnies and settle back for an evening under the stars.

Australia has been good to us. And yes, we do believe it is still the 'Lucky Country'.

We hope you all have a great Australia Day too!

Otway Fields - Summer

We have had a wonderful summer on the farm so far. At this point we are midway through the hot season. This is an anomaly as we have lit the fire twice in January so far. However, it is summer, so we celebrate when the days get to 25 degrees and above. The aim is to get into the swimming pool as much as possible. Frans is keen to shoot holes into the walls and get rid of the money hungry monster. So when there is a warm day, we have to take a dip. This can be quite a challenge as after a few cool days the water temperature dips significantly and we hover for minutes before sliding into the cold water ,usually on a dare or threat of a dunking.  I am trying desperately to convince Frans that having a pool is a good idea.  So if you’re in the area this summer, please stop by and have a swim!   

We had guests staying for 23 consecutive days over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. Now everyone has gone back to their homes and to the regular hum drum of city life. We are once again getting stuck into farm chores. Believe me, they don’t let up! There is always something to do.  

The water pump drama. There was plenty of advice from the side lines!

Over the Christmas period we had our fair share of domestic problems. Firstly the water pump packed it in a few days before NYE. We had 12 people staying over that night.  We were rationed with water and were not allowed to shower! The men were encouraged to water the lemon tree as we could not flush any loos. A new pump purchased the following day had all the waterworks back to normal.

Then we’ve had the water treatment plant drama. The previous owner of  this property had never had the treatment plant serviced, and it is over 8 years old. We thought we’d better do the right thing and get the service fellow out to do what he had to do. The company that services the treatment plant is based on the Eastern side of Melbourne, a good 3 or 4 hour drive for the service agent.  He came out promptly and did the service. All good. Then the following day the plant ground to a halt. So what is the old saying? “Don’t fix it if it’s not broke!” We had to arrange another service call and the same fellow drove out again. This time it was the pump that had given up the ghost. Coincidence? We had to fork out for a new pump. Going to the loo is an expensive exercise! It was a relief to have all our pump issues solved. But wait… there’s more. Last Monday a magpie flew into a power line near Colac, 20 kms away and knocked out the entire electrical grid of the Colac area. Unfortunately we are in the same grid. A power surge caused the power board on the water treatment plant to blow. We had to make that call again to the Melbourne service office. The same poor fellow drove out for a third time and replaced the electrical circuit on the water treatment plant. A few more dollars!  We now have a new water pump, a new water treatment system pump and circuit board, new fire pump and a generator. Surely that is it!

The vegetable gardens are thriving. All the seeds and seedlings I planted in spring have been giving us a bounty crop of vegies. We’re enjoying a wonderful selection of heirloom carrots, beetroot, silver beet, zucchinis and many more lovely vegies. So far I have managed to grow these vegies without the use of any sprays or chemicals. It is our aim and philosophy to abstain from using any artificial chemicals, pesticides or herbicides on our produce. We wish to grow our produce using 100% organic principals. My first season of growing vegetables has been a huge learning curve.

A zucchini monster! This one will be used for the seeds. No good for eating.

Our friend Richard posing with the gardan giant!

This is a South African Gem Squash. It is a delicious squash. You cut it in half and boil it in a little salt water till the flesh is soft. Remove the seeds. Place a little butter, salt and pepper in the hole left by the removed seeds. Mash the flesh in the little skin cup, and eat with spoon. Delicious! My brother Lionel gave me these seeds. Thanks Boet!

 

Here are some lessons I’ve learned in this first Summer.

Don’t plant zucchinis too close together. You can’t get in between the plants to harvest the fruit. It’s probably a good idea to follow the instructions on the seed packet! If you plant them too closely then you have to do an amazing balancing act as you climb between the tender leaves and burrow into the garden bed to find the hidden fruits. Note: picking zucchinis can be painful. Wear gloves and long sleeves if possible. The leaves have sharp little burrs on them. They stems will scratch your arms and you’ll itch for ages.  Been there, done that!

Don’t ignore little potato seedlings that pop up where you didn’t plant them. They grow into HUGE plants and smother all your other vegetables. Make sure you clear a garden bed properly if it had potatoes in it the previous season.

Keep an eye you your seedlings. Most of the seedlings raised from my huge selection of tomato varieties have not done very well. Slugs and snails will kill off your precious little plants!

Don’t plant zucchinis in a green house. They grow to giant proportions. Going into the green house at the moment is like walking onto a movie set of ‘the day of the triffids’!

Keep the greenhouse for tender vegetables and salad leaves, and of course tomatoes. Getting the tomatoes going in the green house will give us a head start in this temperate area of Victoria.

Plant seeds in succession. Keep planting beetroot and carrot seeds every couple of weeks.

Don’t overdo the radish seeds! A little goes a long way.  I had soooo many radishes. The chooks loved them!

A basket of produce

And then there’s the question: What to do with the excess harvests?

I have a few strategies. Firstly I try and cook the produce I pick for our own use on the same day that I cook it. There’s nothing more satisfying than eating something you have grown and picked the very day that you need it. The flavours are intense. The chemicals are zero. The food miles are around 50m. Human interference is zilch. (well, besides watering).

Secondly I give away fresh produce to family and friends. I’m completely averse for instance to  buying imported garlic. Almost 90% of all garlic sold in Australia is imported. Imported garlic is treated by nasty chemicals to comply with quarantine regulations. No thank you. Not for me.  Our garlic harvest leading up to  the 21^st of December was not huge, but it will keep us in garlic for a year, at least till the next harvest. My intention is to plant up a huge area of organic garlic. Hopefully we’ll be able to sell some of this at the local farmers markets next summer. I’ve plaited up a bunch of these pungent bulbs and hope to make up a variety of plaited products next year.  

Carrots, beetroot, beans, zucchini, a giant asparagus spear and our first two tiny tomatoes!

Thirdly I preserve the produce. I’ve made jams, pickles and chutneys. Some crops have given us a bumper harvest and I’ve gathered jars and spices and got to work in getting them pickled. The berries picked just before Christmas enabled me to make half a dozen jars of magnificent jam. We’re about to start picking our fruit. There are apples, nectarines, peaches and pears. Canning jars are being unpacked, washed and organised.  We need to be ready. It will be all hands on deck in a couple of weeks when we will settle ourselves under a fruit tree with an empty basket or two. Filled baskets will need to be processed. We’ll make jam, chutney and preserve the fruit whole.  

Zucchini bread and butter pickles. Gem Squash resting in the foreground.

South African Green Bean Pickles

 
Beetroots in many colours. Deep red, pale pink and gold. All turned into pickled beetroot. A favourite method of preparation is to simply peel and roast the beets in a bit of foil. Sprinkle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and ground black pepper. Add a sprig of thyme. Easy and very tasty.

We were blessed to have our friend Michelle and her man, Michael come and spend 5 days with us after the craziness of New Year. They had expressed their desire to help us out with a project, whatever it may be. Well, did we have one! We had an area outside the kitchen window that was a large unkempt garden bed. There were a couple of worthy rose bushes and a native or two. But that was all. Our idea was to get rid of this garden bed (hopefully save the roses) and pave a small area so we could place an outdoor table and chairs in the spot.  What can be more enjoyable than sitting outdoors on a balmy evening or for breakfast on a sunny morning?

Michael and Frans had many planning discussions and then got to work. They wielded crow bars, spades and shovels. They needed to move the heavy stone step from the back door and used the age old technique of leverage; rolling the stone on round logs of wood. The Egyptians were not the only smart ones! Frans did however manage to jam a finger under the heavy stone. To say he squashed his finger is quite accurate. We feared that he may lose his digit. But thankfully it seems to be healing, even if it’s quite numb and a funny colour! Looking back to the morning before the men started their heavy lifting and moving, Stephen made a comment: “Your safety is in your hands”. How prophetic.

By the time Michael and Michelle left us, the area for the paving had been cleared and was just waiting for the stone and sand base. Frans and I drove into town and chose the bricks, placed our order and returned home to shovel rocks from the trailer onto the area.  Our little paved area is not going to be so little. It kept getting bigger as the men started clearing bushes and old garden beds. We’re at the point now where the area is ready for the next stage. The bricks were delivered on Friday. This coming week my brother Lionel is visiting with his lovely family from Brisbane. They are spending the Australia Day weekend with us. Lionel said he’d be happy to help out with a project. Funny he said that…….

And to finish off this week's blog I thought I'd throw in a few random photos. Here's Frans on his favourite mode of farm transport! He uses the bike to get from one end of the farm to the other or to pop over to the neighbour. Nala is always a close shadow!

 Here is Frans at the cattle sales last Monday. He took his new camera for an outing!

And Sundays are for relaxing. When we get the opportunity! This is where I've plonked my chair. Under the willow tree. Bliss. 

Our baby calves are getting bigger.

And this is Roxy. Stephen's dog. She came to visit over Christmas. Her favourite spot to rest was IN the garden bed.

Autumn is not too far away and I’m preparing for a seasonal shift in the garden. We have a lot to do. Many plans. Stay tuned…