Autumn Harvest

A lovely workshop last weekend. Everyone worked really hard, cooked, cleaned, laughed a lot and ate well. I had my rangehood and a nasty kitchen cupboard cleaned by the girls trying out the cleaning properties of lemon...maybe they would do windows this week, or is that pushing my luck?

This weekend we are into a bit more hubble bubble for the second half. An all girls group this time, we will be heating the cauldrons to create hand cream and other treats. There will be more food too.

Here’s a recipe that everyone loved:

Five Minute Lemonade

1 Lemons or 2 limes

50g Sugar

Chop the whole lemon into 1 cm cubes and place in a heatproof jug.

To each lemon add 50g of sugar / rice syrup or honey, adjusting to suit your taste.

Add boiling water to cover, put a plate on top of the jug and leave for 5 minutes.

Process with a blender.

Add  500ml cold water.

Strain through a sieve into a jug half full of ice.

Drink immediately.
 In winter, make this with honey and add hot water and drink while hot.

There is rarely time to take a rest in the garden. In the gap between the workshops the quinces have been thumping to the ground. Massive things that would brain one of the chickens that so generously fertilises it all year, demanding to be rescued from the parrots. Four crates ready for sale and three basketfuls for us...and the figs are coming on too.

Better get back to the kitchen!

Sticky stuff and spooky scenarios.

Our long hot summer has bought on an abundance of figs. The tree is alive with silver eyes and twenty eights.

Picking figs in my nightie one morning, I caught a glimpse of two red eyes watching...very spooky! I pin pointed where they were and went to get my camera. After bashing my way through the branches, chasing the red eye balls, I I had fig sap in my hair. Okay, soap and hot water will fix it. Well, the goo turned to something that closely resembled varnish, my hair knotted and sticky, worse than when I had started! I had visions of having to cut a great hunk out of my golden locks. I decided I needed some radical treatment.

Heading for the essential oils, thinking sticky, I selected trusty old eucalyptus .I often use it to remove stickers, bitumen marks, gum and stubborn labels from jars. I sloshed some on a paper towel and rubbed at the goo vigorously. After rinsing in cold water, my hair was free of tangled and sap, lovely and soft. Magic!

I was left pondering if it was the hot water that set the sap and what other properties fig sap might have? Mrs Grieves Herbal recommends fig sap for wart removal (but warns it may raise blisters on normal skin as it creates inflammation.) Fig leaves can be used to produce a natural yellow dye when used with alum as a mordant and it turns out that they belong to the same family as the India rubber plant, ficus elastica (isn’t that a great name?)

It turned out that the eyeballs were the work of the silver eyes who had eaten a cave into the sunny side of the fruit with two little pecks facing me. A few interesting photos and a mystery solved. I took my unsticky self and my basket of figs off to breakfast. - another day of amazement in the garden! 

Bees, bluebells and blossom



freesias



geranium

The first warm days of spring have bought out the blossom on the fruit trees, the bluebells and Dutch  iris. The jasmine and honeysuckle sent out pungent puffs of perfume as the sun tops the trees. The bees busy everywhere. The roses are suddenly thick with new red leaves and tiny green figs are visible as the first leaves unfurl on the fig tree. Walking at the beach this morning we found a patch of fairy orchids only metres from the ocean, their faces all turned to the east.



bluebells



This  quickening of life calls me into the garden.

So until the next rainy day, here’s  some photos.

Enjoy,

Fairy orchids

nirala



protea





  

spikenard



fig





Living with wildlife

With the rain come the pests. Baby snails are hiding under the soft baby leaves and the the larger snails are doing rude things on the footpath early in the morning. The parrots are fighting over the olives, the last of the figs and the ripening apples. It’s obviously a time to revamp my defences.

Snails

The first line of defence for snails has always been picking off by hand. This is fine if you have time or grandchildren you can pay per snail collected. They are then fed to the chickens, who adore them. Don’t be tempted to tread on them as it is said that their eggs will survive if they are squashed on a damp surface. This could be an old wives tale.

Two years ago I made snail ‘peppers’, a witchy Bio Dynamic preparation involving snail cremation, the grinding of ash and the making of a homeopathic tincture when the planets were in certain positions. I won’t go into here, contact your local BD Society for precise explanations. I will say that in a year when the snails had reached plague proportions (I had been ‘picking’ up around fifty every day) it made a stunning impact. After spraying twice, the snail numbers reduced dramatically and haven’t been seen in huge numbers since. It is really worth the effort.
The easiest, most time efficient and safe way I have found to control them is with bird and pet safe snail pellets. These contain a small amount of iron chelate which the snails ingest. It binds them up and they die of constipation. As the amount is very small, other creatures are not affected.  Scatter about two pellets per square metre, in the evening. They seem to work best on damp soil but dissolve in the rain. Two or three applications should keep them under control. You need to store these in a tin as rats and mice love them. I tried a glass jar but they soon discovered that a jar can be pushed off a shelf and smashed. I have to lock my dogs away when spreading these as they will seek them out and eat them one by one.

Parrots

Twenty eights are the main hassle here, they will taste and try everything in the garden from green olives to under ripe almonds and rose buds. If they don’t like the taste, they simply throw it away and try another one, just in case it tastes different. I am sure they destroy some plants just for fun.

The only way to totally keep them at bay is to net everything. I don’t use nets as they are impractical in a small garden. The last time I netted a tree a caught a snake, which died and a hawk, which I had to rescue with the help of a strong man wearing leather gloves.

These cheeky vandals are fearless.  Nothing works for long, so the plan here is to change methods all the time.  In the olive tree, I have a disco ball and a swinging CD and the fig has a shiny set of wind chimes. Last year I had plastic shopping bags rustling in the branches but as these are not environmentally friendly,I try not to use them. Christmas tinsel, owls on sticks with glass eyes, balloons, hawk kites, dogs trained to see the parrots off - I tried them all at different times. The new addition to my arsenal is Mr Scary, made by my grandson, Christopher. He’s been out there a couple of weeks now and the parrots haven’t been seen landing on him – yet! He certainly scares me when I pass him at night!

It is possible to protect some fruit by bagging. I use paper bags tied with string as they are biodegradable. You can mad bags that last with net curtains or shade cloth. Plant clips or pegs can be used to close them. If the weather becomes wet, check for mould and mildew on your fruit, especially grapes.

You can get one step ahead of the parrots with fruit that will ripen off the tree, like quinces, by picking them when the first parrot damage appears.

Tree house

Dwarf and young trees can be protected by sewing a cube of shade cloth with one side left open. Measure the height of your tree, adding 15 cm to allow a little room and cut 5 squares of shade cloth. Sew together with a bodkin or upholstery needle, threaded with string or nylon knitting yarn, using a simple running stitch.

Hammer four stakes in a square of the same size into the ground around your tree, carefully avoiding the roots. Slip the shade cloth over so the corners of the top rest on the top of the stakes. If the cloth doesn’t reach the ground, hammer the stakes in a little more. Weigh the bottom down with bricks or timber or peg with loops of fencing wire. This will keep rabbits out for a while too.

My worst strategy ever was to provide the birds with extra food. Every parrot for miles arrived to squabble and screech outside the window. They lost all fear of people, seeing them as a food source. As the feeder was next to the chicken pen, they soon noticed there was food to be had there too and began to steal wheat from there as well. With the black cockatoos flinging gum nuts to land like rocks on the tin roof on the other side of the house it was like starring in a Hitchcock movie.

The truth is, I can be a bit lax about controlling pests as I am rather fond of all the wildlife in my garden, even the twenty eights. The fact that they are here, with the beetles and praying mantis, the frogs, the blue tongues and the gecko's mean my garden is a safe haven for everyone. Before we build the front wall we used to have kangaroos visiting too The reality is that we grow more than we can ever eat, why shouldn’t they have their share too?

Lessons on the river and in the garden

It's hot, its been hot for quite a few days in a row now. The gum trees, and some of the deciduous trees around us have responded by dropping copious amounts of leaves that soon build to a fire hazard if I don't rake them every couple of days. The garden is suffering, what hasn't been scorched has been attacked by mildew and fungus.

I went with some trepidation to look at the fig and the olive tree who grow near the back fence and receive little or no water all summer. They were thriving - it was near perfect conditions for them! Big juicy figs that you can barely get your hand around and branches beginning to bend with the first pickable crop of Kalamatas.

They were planted six, maybe seven years ago but were always overshadowed by the neighbours Marri trees. Sadly, last winter they cut down all the trees on their block, changing the conditions and the views for us. Azaleas and hydrangeas, clivias and violets all shrivelled in the bright and exposed conditions but the two slow and sickly trees began to pick up.

I had been planning to write about drying figs today but as the story of the trees emerged my mind began to think about the effects of change. Two days ago I stood on a barge and watched Nerys' ashes float downstream accompanied by a flotilla of roses. I stood with Nerys' eldest daughter, she had lost her Ma and I had lost my best friend and mentor. Everyone there was missing a huge part of what made them who they were.
It's always hard to grow up. How much harder is it when we lose our wise elders and have no magic touchstone when we need direction? We become the older generation so shockingly suddenly that we feel totally unprepared for the job. What we need to treasure is those facets of them that we have admired and take them for our own. We can call on the wisdom we know they would have applied to life and help each other remember.

Still, thanks to the neighbour who let the light in, the figs are ripe. Thanks to Nerys and my mother, and all the wise women in my life, I know how to pick and preserve them and how to cook with them too. I know about sticky fig sap and itchy fig leaves and what happens when you eat too many. This I can pass on to my grand daughter and hopefully I can learn to become her wise elder as we grow up together.


nirala

Christmas cake through a straw

Happy first day of summer.

It’s raining here and I have just baked my Christmas cakes. As usual, I have far exceeded the amount of alcohol stated by the recipe. I have also changed the types of fruit, nuts and cooking time until it looks nothing like the original. I have tried to convince myself that the first time I make a recipe, I will follow it to the letter, but it’s like ‘breaking up’ - hard to do. I always feel that if I just tweaked it that little bit…. usually, everything is fine although there have been a few spectacular disasters over the years. Here is my recipe for Christmas cake, it has gone through many incarnations but this is not the version that we had to drink through a straw!

NIRALA’S CHRISTMAS CAKE

I included some pitted and chopped prunes and figs for their sticky factor and some red and orange fruits for colour as well as the sultanas and currants. This year I have lots of home dried plums which add a lovely purple colour and some finely chopped crystallised ginger to zip it up. The choice and proportions of fruits are up to you but please chop the larger pieces to no larger than a raisin.

1C each of brandy and sherry or fruit juice Use a LITTLE more if you need to (see below.)
1.5kg dried fruits
125g butter at room temperature
½ C brown sugar
4 eggs
¼ C strong espresso coffee, cooled
¼ C marmalade or jam
1 C plain flour
1 C self raising flour
1 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp nutmeg
2 C pecans or walnuts

Soak the fruit in the juice or alcohol in a bowl covered in plastic wrap until you are ready to bake. Stir once each day.
On baking day drain the fruit in a colander over a bowl. If all the liquid has been absorbed, pour a LITTLE extra over the fruit and save the delicious brown, sweet and sticky stuff that ends up in the bowl. You need about 2 tablespoons.
With butter, grease a large round spring form or two smaller pans and line with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar till pale in colour and stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined.
Mix the coffee and the marmalade and stir this in too.
Sift the dry ingredients and stir in two lots until combined.
Finally add the soaked fruit and call the family for a stir for good luck.
Pop into the pans and level the top. Decorate with whole blanched almonds at this stage if you don’t want to ice them later.
Bake in a slow oven, 160 C if you can. If cooking more than one cake, put them all on the same oven shelf so they will cook evenly.

A large cake will take from 90 minutes to 2 hours. If it is becoming too brown on the top, cover with foil. I make 3 small cakes and they usually take about 50 minutes. The cakes are cooked when a bamboo skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

Brush the tops of the cakes with the reserved liquid while hot to form a nice sticky glaze.
Cool in the tin before wrapping in plastic wrap and storing in box or tin with a tight fitting lid.
These will keep for three months if you hide them really well. Some recipes tell you to pour a little extra alcohol over the cake after baking but I prefer to drink mine or save it for the Christmas pudding.

Happy baking

nirala

Food for Seduction

Watching cooking competitions on television is my form of armchair exercise. I scream, yell and abuse the umpires like the best of footy fans. Last week, one challenge was to create a menu from Moreton Bay Bugs, oysters and strawberries with the theme of romance. It wouldn't have worked for me. I don't find seafood sexy, hate oysters and strawberries remind me of the Melbourne Cup and champagne hangovers.

The aphrodisiac qualities of food can be imaginary, magic or just plain hopeful. A few have some scientific evidence to back them up. (You didn't think they really meant ROMANCE, did you?) There are lots of suggestions about what works.

The absolutely obvious are those who are suggestive in appearance and supposedly resemble seeds, fertility symbols, genitalia and other body parts. Think asparagus, bananas, figs, snails, oysters and peaches. Stranger still are the body parts of animals. Although they are not usually served for dinner they could be slipped into a pre dinner drink!

Some are tricksters - chilli can make you hot and sweaty and increase your heart rate. Although this could be useful if you need to 'fake it', the risk of chilli ending up somewhere it shouldn't is rather risky.

Bananas, chocolate and honey provide various nutrients that can help the metabolism of hormones, increase stamina and increase serotonin levels to bring on that happy mood. If you added ice cream and a few nuts you could make a banana split - how easy could seduction get?

Honey also has an historical link to fertility. Couples were encouraged to drink honey mead for a month leading up to their marriage. It was a 'honeymoon' to build up their stamina before the big day.

Of course, sexy food will always be a matter of personal preference. Here are a few tips:

What ever you choose for that special meal must look, taste and smell wonderful.
Check for allergies before planning your menu to avoid disaster as emergency rooms are not sexy!
Add some soft lights, gentle music and a beautifully laid table with flowers.
Bribe the children to go out and give the dog a large bone.
Nutritious, small, tasty morsels will titillate the palate.
Eat lightly and drink in moderation. A roast with red wine and steamed pudding will soon find you both snoring on the couch.
Plan on a dessert that can be served cold or at room temperature - if the main meal works its magic, you may not need it until later.

My favourites are a man in an apron cooking for me and sharing something messy. (I also end up snoring on the couch quite a lot!)

I believe that any meal that is planned with care, prepared with love and served to some one special is one of the loveliest gifts we can give each other.

Maybe its time I went back to the kitchen..its less than six months to Valentines Day.

Nirala