Start of the summer harvest

The harvest is starting, but due to the lack of rainfall we're not having the success I'd hoped for.  Still, as our first year in a new district I guess it is to be expected that things don't always go, well, as expected!

So far we have managed to harvest:
1 kg Zucchini
3 kg carrots
6 (good size) leeks
250 grams blueberries
2 kg Beetroot
4 kg potatoes
1/2 kg cherry tomatoes

Mostly it is picking a few bits here and there, but within a few weeks we will be harvesting kilos of tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants, pumpkins and melons each day.  For the moment we're able to use what we pick as we pick.

My wife bought me an early Christmas present, a book called Whole Larder Love. It is a collection of recipes and tips by a former chef who's virtually living off the land from his home grown produce, hunted and scavenged foods.  One recipe he has is perfect for our current produce of eggs, leeks and potatoes Tortilla Espanola.  I've modified it slightly, but my recipe is based substantially on his.

The basic ingredients are 6 eggs, 6 potatoes and 1 onion.  I substituted the onion for leek, and also added a small capsicum.  Once I got it into our frying pan, I also realised I needed more eggs, so I added another 4 eggs, but next time I'll just use a smaller pan.

The first step is to par-boil the potatoes, and then slice/cube the potatoes to fry up in some oil.  It only takes around 7 minutes on a hot stove, plus I added the leek to get it cooking.

After browning the potatoes and leeks, you pour those back into a mixing bowl with the beaten eggs, paprika, salt and pepper.  Then the whole mixture goes back into the frying pan to "set" the sides.  If your pan can go straight into an oven, you can cook it for around 20 mins in the oven.  Ours isn't oven proof, so I mostly cooked the tortilla on the stove, transferring it to an oven tray for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

 The end result: a great tasting Tortilla Espanola!

Happy harvest to all those Down Under!

Dream Holiday Home

I've been randomly dreaming of potential homes and holiday homes as we aim to live in an ever increasing self sufficient lifestyle.  A part of our lifestyle that we wouldn't want to give up is our holidays.

But it got me thinking, what if our holiday could be part of our semi self sufficient lifestyle?  For example, what if we could have a log cabin on a private island?

One property that I found wouldn't suit us now but does show that it would be possible.  For someone living in the Chicagoland area, or realistically most of northern Illinois, a 5 acre island in the Rock River is currently for sale!

I figure with a property like this, only around one and a half hours drive from Chicago, you could visit on a monthly basis especially during summer.  The property would add value in a number of different ways:

Recreation: Five acres of mostly wooded property for short walks, canoeing/boating on the river, swimming (?), camping, fishing, a golf course across the highway, rest and relaxation, TV (well, there is a satellite dish, so it is a potential activity!).

Food: While it wouldn't be worthwhile growing vegetables that would need regular attendance, potentially you could grow a small orchard.  Then during the summer visits, you could be taking fruit and produce "back home" to your permanent residence.

Fuel: Given that it is 5 acres in size, there are probably a few fallen trees and branches that could be used for a wood fired stove, pizza oven or campfire. Just remember to ensure you're replacing cut wood at a faster rate than you are cutting!

Income: I am sure that with the right connections you could rent this property out short term to other city residents wanting a break.  It might only be a couple of hundred dollars for a weekend, but June, July and August you could rent out the island say 9 times (taking into account your own personal use) at peak rates (summertime), another 10-15 times during spring and autumn, and maybe 5-6 in winter.  Hypothetically 30 weekends over the course of the year (you still get 22 weekends, plus numerous mid-week opportunities), could bring in around $6,000 each year.  Not a reliable source of income in itself, but certainly would offset the holding costs such as interest and taxes.

Then all the produce and recreation is "free" to you!

That's the dream anyway.

Growing nicely, thank you!

We've now been in this new house for two months - the time has just flown by!  We've made two trips back to Melbourne, plus with work being rather busy the weeks kind of roll into months and suddenly it is almost November.

The chickens have well and truly settled in and without any issues.  They are now laying 6 eggs a day, so I am having to think of creative ways to 'preserve' the eggs:

• Pavlova -uses 6 egg whites, but only lasts a day!
• Quiche - 3 eggs, but this recipe adds half a pint of cream, plus cheese.
• Baking - a dozen blueberry muffins used 3 eggs.
• Give-aways - a dozen eggs to a neighbour (traded for some greens for the chickens).
• Fresh Pasta - 7 eggs in total for two pounds of pasta.

The garden is also growing really well.  The sandy soil in Western Australia used to really frustrate me, but after four years of working in solid clay the sand is so easy to work with!  I'll have to mulch really well to retain moisture once summer really hits, but for now the plants are growing really well:

Kids Garden

The kids garden has gone well, with the radishes almost finished, and a planting of carrots having just been sown to replace them.  The snow peas up against the house have replaced an attempt at a row of sunflowers - birds and slugs ate those faster than they could grow!  The cherry tomato is around two feet high, almost ready to fruit.

Carrots and onions

The carrot and onion bed is a bit of an experiment of sorts. The oldest carrots are on the left, with a couple of rows of leeks next to them.  This row of leeks has been topped up with some manure and mulch to help keep sunlight off.  As I say, all experimental!  There is then another small row of carrots, a later sowing to try to have them mature at a different time to the first planting.  Then there's another row of green onions and leeks, then parsnips on the right.

Tomato and related plants

The last garden bed in this section is for the tomatoes and related plants.  On the right with stakes are some heirloom tomatoes, then some Roma tomatoes in the mulch alongside those tomatoes.  There is a capsicum/pepper plant along the path, then some salad tomatoes on the left.  Next to the parsnips is a row of chillis (way too many, but I'll make lots of chilli sauce for the year), and some eggplants. Note to parents: when you bury eggshells next to eggplants it reinforces to your kids that eggplants grow eggs!

It's only been two months, but we're already well on our way to a bumper harvest!

Getting ready for Summer

We're only 30 days into the Australian Spring and I'm pretty confident that this is the most prepared I've every been for a summer harvest!  The chooks have settled into their chicken pen, and one has started to lay eggs already.  I suspect it is one of the Leghorns or Isa Browns, but haven't yet caught them in the act.

Chooks lined up ready for the kids to feed them weeds.

Our chook egg on left, shop bought on right.

The kid's patch is coming along nicely.  A few radishes have been picked already, with a bonus that the kids actually like them!  The cherry tomato has had a few flowers blossom, but I doubt that they'll really turn into anything at this early stage.  While the beetroot and strawberries are progressing, the sunflowers have basically just been snail food, and they never get to actually shoot very far before the snails get to them.

Half of the main bed has been set aside for tomato and related plants in a semi-rotational system.  In the photo below are blueberry, blackberry and black currant plants in pots, with tomatoes immediately behind (on the right of photo), and eggplant and chilli behind on left.  The bare dirt between the eggplant and brickwork will be for some Roma tomatoes.  The tomatoes on the right are various heirloom varieties -I figure that we'll end up with cherry tomatoes (from kids and one of my heirlooms), salad tomatoes, saucing/sundried tomatoes (from the Romas) and some green tomatoes (green zebras).  My sister's favourite movie for a while was Fried Green Tomatoes, so I've always wanted to grow green tomatoes just so I can make her one!

The three plants at the back of the garden bed are three of my propogated grape vines.  While I'm not sure which variety they are, a friend works for a liquor wholesaler and he's pretty confident that he'll be able to pick the variety.  Around three quarters of the propogated vines have established themselves, and I've been able to transplant 6 in total to our new house here (another three in pots elsewhere in the garden).  This will be their second season, so hopefully with the warmer weather we will get some fruit this time around!

Time to add a room!

One of the problems with renting a house is that you're firstly stuck with the layout as it comes, and secondly there is not much you can really do about it.

Take this house we've just started renting.  Because of it's age (1930's - 1950's at a guess) it has good features such as high ceilings, a lot of land, great storage in the kitchen and a good number of rooms (especially with the extension of a new master bedroom, second bathroom and another living area.

On the downside, the laundry wasn't built for washing machines the size of the modern era machine.  Not that ours is particularly large, but the placement of the laundry trough doesn't allow us to actually use the laundry as a laundry! So our laundry is outside on the back veranda, but this then leaves it exposed to full sun for most of the day.  And we're not even in summer yet.

The hoses etc are connected OK through the window, which unfortunately is always (locked) open.  Over the fence at the end are the rubbish (trash) bins, with a couple of ropes tied to the bins and the fence so that you can open the lids from over the fence.

We've then tied a tarpaulin to the beams in the roof, which stretches the tarpaulin across most of the back.  There's still a gap on the right to make it easier when you're walking out of the house into the backyard.

The end result is a new laundry (of sorts).  Cost all of about $10, and won't be an issue when the landlord makes their next inspection!

On the move...

With a recent promotion at work, we're no longer based in Gippsland!  I'll keep the name of the blog, since we're expecting to move back eventually, and while in the sunny Wimmera (Western Victoria) I'll keep gardening, preserving and budgeting!

Our new home is a rental but with quite a large backyard.  Most of it is grassed, then there's the old pool area that is now a sandpit and paved area so the kids have got a lot of space to keep them occupied. There are also two largish areas that will make nice vegetable gardens.  Eventually.

The first area is by the clothesline, and with a path down the middle, already divided into three larger beds. This first bed, the largest, will be for carrots, leeks and parsnip on the left, grapevines along the back, and then tomatoes, capsicums and chili toward the right.

The second bed in this section will be for the kids - sunflowers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, beetroot and strawberries. An eclectic mix of foods and flowers they enjoy and smaller produce they'll at least have fun picking!  The third bed is a work in progress and will likely be the herb bed.  Still close to the house so we'll be able to pick fresh herbs to add to our cooking.

The other main area is an unused section at the back of the block.  Under true permaculture guidelines this normally wouldn't be for vegetables, since it isn't near the house.  It is however relatively clear from weeds and in full sun.  As a result I've started planting out potatoes, and will use this for corn and other plants as well that can mostly be left for long growing periods.  The walk to the back isn't a huge burden anyway and I can certainly do with the extra steps!

We are also very fortunate that there was already a chicken run in place, plus a very accommodating landlord that was happy for us to keep chickens.  We've bought 6 in total - 2 Isa Browns, 2 Leghorns and 2 Australorps (only one pictured).  The kids love them, the chooks love the weeds the kids feed them and we should start getting eggs within a few weeks.

Happy days ahead in the Wimmera!

New Brassica Garden Bed

Through the middle of summer I was trying to add a new garden bed.  The overall design of the garden is turning out fairly organically - where there is a little space available, I will try to grow veges in them.  By growing things in that space I also gradually clawback the grass that surrounds that space and in turn grow the size of the garden overall.

One garden bed I was wanting to create was some space for some brassica - specifically Brussels Sprouts.  It is again surrounded by strawberries until I get the space for a specific strawberry patch.  The inside space had some spent compost as a base which I then covered with lawn clippings and a layer of manure.

Then I continued to layer grass clippings and straw with manure and topped it off with a layer of straw.

Finally I added some bagged compost over the straw to plant out some Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts and mixed lettuce.  The seedlings then start to establish themselves in the compost as the straw and manure breaks down.

The level of the garden then allows for the strawberries to send runners into the garden bed and establish themselves.  After these get established, I'll transfer to the proper strawberry bed - at least once I've built one!