Kirsty's Patch - August 2012

A bitterly cold day, it was snowing on the Mountain and raining at our house. Melanie took this beautiful photo shortly after vegie group.

A good day for eating cake


http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/LEMON-POLENTA-CAKE-5308 (Nigella's image)

and

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12803/orange+poppy+seed+biscuits

Orange poppy seed biscuits  (mine had no icing)

 Munching on cinnamon sugar on fruit toast

And eating pumpkin and feta muffins (which I noted with great pride contained home grown pumpkin, chives, spinach and parsley).
http://www.marthagoesgreen.com.au/pages/recipes.html
I thought chewing would be the main form of morning exercise.

But, after much nagging from a very keen little boy "When are we going outside?" we braved the mud and cold.

 Excess newspapers from the news agency, and a magic pudding pile of mulch.

My fruit trees are now beautifully mulched and weeded. Great to be locking in all that moisture and improving the soil.

Parking on grass is a perilous affair this month, it has never been so wet, poor Melanie fell victim to the swamp. A little mulch and pushing saved the day.

Kirsty's Patch - May 2012

 The youngest woke up saying, is it Friday? She squealed with delight knowing vegie group was at our house. I spent the week preparing.  10 bags of horse poo jammed into my boot in 2 loads. A giant pile of mulch and sawdust delivered (actually one of these has been going since Christmas).  Papers picked up from the news-agency (they keep some out the back if anyone ever needs them). Someone commented that we looked like a nursery supply yard. We even have the free sleepers we picked up from the railway line. Seedlings of cauliflower, bok choy, violas, brown and white onions purchased. Diggers garlic and lots of forgotten garlic bulbs to transplant.

Because I am a dag and I like lists, here is one on our blackboard.  It is really great not having to repeat yourself and people can pick whatever suits them. I am also very forgetful, and need some cues amongst the chaos.

The biggest daughter helped with preparations and made a zesty citrus slice - one pack of Morning Coffee biscuits (or Marie), lots of rind, a tin of condensed milk, 1 cup of coconut.  Mix and flatten into a tin.  Ice with lemon icing. It's tastier than it sounds.

I also baked Zuchinni and Apple Muffins and made Christine's Waffles.

I did a little house cleaning - gathered up all the junk on the kitchen bench and put it in a laundry basket - tossed it downstairs to deal with later.  Ironically, I then had everyone come downstairs to choose parrot prints to take home with them ( they are painted by Jacques Barraband for François Le Vaillant's Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets for anyone who is interested - also if you missed vegie group I have more). I don't think anyone would really be too surprised at my mess these days but I definitely need the kitchen space for a visit from vegie group.

  Gathering up the summer harvest - picking tomatoes and the last of the zuchinnis.

 The nursery supply yard

I had a seriously cute helper who whipped himself into a potato digging frenzy, helping me to fill a huge crate full of potatoes.  This is my Peter Cundall potato bed that has already been bandicooted many times yet keeps on giving.  I'm definately sold on this technique.

 There were potatoes where the cauliflowers are but I'd moved them on to make some space for these cauliflowers - the fastest growing cauliflowers I've ever had.  I think they liked all that manure.

My favourite, the purple congo. the vegie patch provides us with so much laughter.  Apparently these have the same good stuff in them that blueberries do. 

I love it that vegie group is a place we share things - stories, worries, food, love.  Tash very kindly lent me this so I can do some dried and bottled apples more easily - awesome. We've been snacking on dried apples today, they're sooo good.

 The pile of pulled out summer produce.

 Freshly manured and  planted beds

 The winter patch all filled

 The last of the summer harvest

An experiment, strawberries (that were pulled out from our paths) planted into potting mix and horse poo.  The tree roots were always a problem in this spot so it will be interesting to see how the clam shells go - they have holes drilled in them.

 The footprints of a dozen lovely ladies, freshly sawdusted paths.

 And a new barrier between the raspberries and the garlic.

Thanks everyone, it all has had a good water in over the weekend and looks wonderful.

Kirsty's patch - in the beginning

Beth, Kate (L) and I started the vegie group after having one of those never ending meaningful chats at school pick up, where all great ideas take place. We all had young boys and wanted to get them together and also fulfil our love of gardening and desire to grow more of our own food.  The roster was pretty easy to construct back then, we decided to meet once a week at each others houses after dropping bigger kids at school. It wasn't looking like a sure thing in the early days, we even dabbled with the idea of meeting every second week when we were slogging it out in the dead of a cold winter.  You felt terribly guilty if you couldn't make it as two people doesn't make for much of a working bee.  We kept at it though, gradually growing in size as we kept telling others what we were up to.

Today we really fill a room and easily bowl over a big garden's work in a couple of hours, leaving plenty of time to eat cake and chat.  After a Friday I feel nourished in so many ways.  From chatting with dear caring friends, from having my hands in the earth, from seeing the delighted smiles on our children's faces, from watching a garden flourishing - my own or others and of course from eating delicious cake.  I learn so much from those around me and love sharing the seeds, cuttings and harvest.  I love doing the garden tour, seeing the changes in each others gardens over time and getting new ideas for my own. Vegie group is really the highlight of my week, my little boy cried when he discovered that going to school meant no more vegie group but still delights in the social network we have created and celebrations we share such as a bonfire for winter solstice.   I hope we continue for years to come and that we inspire others to create their own groups.

Out the front I have one fallow patch, one green manure patch and one compost patch - waiting patiently for September and the summer crops to come.  The compost patch contains silverbeet, rocket, and celery that all came up in my compost.  I have also planted peas to grow up the old corn stalks where the beans once grew.  My one productive patch contains onions, spinach, a variety of peas and broccolli.  I am still getting the odd chilli and broad bean but the tomatoes have finally finished - I made 8 jars of green and red tomato relish.

Abi has found the broccolli out the back and enjoys munching on it.

 The green manure is a mix of peas, oats and vetch - Diggers Autumn Mix - even the crop planted in May is going well. I have found the digging in bit hard work as the dug in plants keep resprouting - hopefully it will all be worthwhile.

fruiting spurs on cherry (I think)

fruiting spurs on pear

Have lots of fruit pruning to do - those upward growing branches just keep on returning

While the suns shining and Abi's sleeping think I'll try and get these in, do like a big leek even though the perennial leeks are abundant - could keep talking vegies all day but not as fun as growing them.