Gumby dog

Late February harvest, peninsula patch

  
First of the season's tomatoes (Siberian) from the Peninsula patch

Well, I was going to post about Costa Rica, visiting the amazing Punta Mona permaculture site there, and growing sandalwood, but there is so much  stuff happening in the garden and kitchen that that is now slated for the next post.

Above are some of the season's tomatoes from the Peninsula patch. This variety is called Siberian and it doesn't require staking. They're bigger than tommy toes and are apparently better adapted to early sowing and to colder temperatures. They've been fantastic producers, although not as sweet as cherry tomatoes, but I forgive them because they're so low maintenance. I've found that they get nibbled as soon as they ripen and I think that this may be partly because they're easy pickings on the ground (looks like bush rats but also caterpillars).

I know from Peter Cundall that its temperature rather than sunlight that ripens tomatoes so I'm following his advice, and picking them at first blush and then putting them in warm place to ripen. It works well - takes only 3-4 days.

 Siberian tomatoes in Peninsula patch

I'm making passata out of them and freezing it, and we're also eating them fresh in salads with cucumbers and sweet basil from the patch. Because they're small and there are so many of them, I can't be bothered peeling them, so I just cut them in half, de-seed them, cook them down, then put them through the moulinex (hand-cranked sieve) to separate the passata from the skins.

Fresh garden salad, with cucumbers, tomatoes and basial, all from the patch, bar the cheese, which is homemade kefir fetta.

The artichoke patch. We were harvesting globe artichokes until late January.

The beetroots also put on a good show, unlike last year. Here they are in a rocket salad, with a kale risotto. The rocket has popped up as a volunteer all over the peninsula patch, ditto for the kale.

In the inner city, I'm converting what was a primarily edible garden to a low-maintenance, native-dominated one. But I'm going to keep a herb patch, close to the kitchen. Here it is prior to planting out with herbs, sown down with mustard seed as a green manure

Green manure (mustard) in soon-to-be herb garden in inner city.

Potatoes from the peninsula patch

I've done well with the alliums this year - onions and garlic from the peninsula patch, which I dried and braided, and which should last us most of the year till the next harvest.

 Onions from the peninsula patch

Garlic from the peninsula patch, dried and braided, and hanging in the entrance next to the kitchen for easy pickings.

I've been going to some of the harvest swaps that have started recently in my area. There seems to be a new one every week. Definitely a sign of the times. I've been swapping produce, preserves and, of course kefir culture.

Log of kefir-cultured home-made butter

I had a go at making cultured butter with kefir and organic cream. It was surprisingly easy, fast and yummy. Instructions are below. Unfortunately I didn't have enough butter to use the bewdiful butter churn that my partner gave me as a present a few Christmases ago. I think I'd need a house cow like the one in this fantabulous post in one of my favour blogs - Aged Cultured and Brewed - about making cultured butter from absolute scratch. This fantastic blogger is also now blogging about sourdough - yay! How fantastic does that ceramic crock look that she's baking in.

I've also started making  kefir-leban (labneh) and kefir fetta with goats milk rather than cows milk. I buy the goats milk direct from a property 20 minutes away - the proprieter has but one goat who is a prolific milker.


How to make kefir-culture butter

1)  In a clean jar, add 2 tablespoons kefir-cultured milk to a cup of fresh cream. Place a clean lid on the jar, but do not seal the jar airtight. Let stand for 24 hours at room temperature. Then seal jar airtight and refrigerate until you're ready to make the butter.

2) Follow the instructions for making butter in food processor shown in this post from the Food Renegade blog, complete with pictures for each step. Just use your kefir-cultured cream instead of straight cream. 

One thing the Food Renegade post doesn't cover in enough detail is how important it is to remove as much water as you can in the final step. Put your cultured butter onto a wooden board put on a slant to let any water left in the butter drain away, and work it, flattening with a flat spatula or if you have them traditional wooden 'Scotch Hands' butter patters to force as much water out of the butter as possible. Work it to form a block of fresh butter or roll it. Then wrap it in greaseproof paper and store in the fridge for up to a week. 

The butter will keep for up to a week in the fridge. It is amazing on fresh baked sourdough.

And to end on a doggy note. Here is our Jack Russell, Pablo, in a pose we have dubbed 'Gumby dog', for its strange jointless quality. We're not quite sure why he adopts this pose, but believe he is warming his belly and nether regions on the sun-warmed deck.

Dirty data

 Soil samples drying for structural stability test

First, a quick warning. This is a fairly technical post, compared to previous posts, so if you're not so into soil science or water quality, skip this one and wait a few days. I'm working on another post with less data and more chat including photos of the amazing Punta Mona permaculture site in Costa Rica, which I visited in December, as well as landscaping developments on the Peninsula property and lots of spring and summer edibles propagating, planting and harvesting action.

In October and November, I was immersed in preparing a property plan for the Peninsula property as the major assignment in the postgrad subject, Property and Catchment Planning. This involved a raft of monitoring, including physical and chemical properties of soil, and various water quality tests.

Soil testing
I began with some desktop research into soil mapping in the area. The most recent mapping of soils of the Mornington Peninsula was conducted in 2002-2003 for the Victorian Department of Primary Industry and the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.

 Soil/landform mapping of the Mornington Peninsula, conducted by Ian Sargeant for the Victorian Department of Primary Industry and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, 2002-2003

Soils occupying the slopes and lower parts of the south central portion of the Peninsula, where we are, are described as belonging to the Flinders Association mapping unit, while the plateau cappings and upper parts are the red volcanic soils of the Red Hill Association mapping unit. Flinders Association soils are classified (Australian Soil Classification) as Brown Dermosols with some Brown Ferrosols; those of the Red Hill Association as Red Ferrosols with Red Dermosols.

Both the Flinders Association and the Red Hill Association mapping unit soils overly deeply weathered Tertiary basalt - basaltic rocks extruded during the Tertiary period between 24 and 54 million years ago).

Physical and chemical properties typical of Dermosols, include:

• plant available water capacity greater than 100 mm (may exceed 200 mm in deeper soils)
• relatively good drainage due to well developed soil structure
• little restriction to aeration
• effective rooting depths are commonly 1.0 m
• susceptible to surface slaking upon rapid wetting, resulting in hardsetting if organic matter is low
• highly variable nutrient availability. Organic matter declines on cultivation
• aluminium toxicity may become a problem if pH levels decline to below 5.5
• good workability but a hardsetting surface will restrict workability in degraded soils.  (From 2001 Australian federal government agricultural audit)

Onion grass (Romula rosea), a pasture weed, at site 4 in SE paddock, elevation 91m

I chose 6 sites for soil testing, representing different slope and drainage positions, and also different vegetation. For example, site 5 is in the woodlot, a block at the most elevated part of the property. Digging down to a depth of 25cm in that site revealed a soil profile much drier than anywhere else on the property, reflecting not only the increased water use by the trees in the woodlot but also the position of the site on the slope.

 Site 6: soil profile to 25cm. Different horizons are represented (R to L): A 0-10, A2 10-15, B 15-20, B 20-25

I didn't find any evidence of Red Ferrosols. At each site I augured a hole to at least 30cm and inspected the soil profile to characterise the horizons. Other soil tests I did were: soil structural stability, field texture, salinity (Ecw and Ece) and drainage.

Soil profile
I found that soil profile characteristics were generally consistent with those given for Dermosols. The change of colour with depth (see how the colour lightens markedly at a depth of approximately 15cm at site 6 in the photo above) indicates the onset of a heavier clay profile, the B-horizon. The A-horizon will generally be the active root zone for most annual plants with maximum water availability and a soil structure that allows root penetration. The heavier clay of the B-horizon restricts root exploration and water availability.

The B-horizon began at approximately 20-30cm on most sites, but at site 2, at a low point on the property approximately 20m from the creekline, in tree belt of indigenous trees planted over 15 years ago by my parents, I couldn't find the B-horizon even digging down to 40cm. So in this area, there is over 40cm of topsoil - most likely a combination of the revegetation and the slope position. At this site, grass root density remained high until approximately 28cm depth. Drainage was also good with drainage of 20 ml occurring in under a minute. This contrasts to the wetter sites, such as site 3 where grass root density tapered off before 15 cm and drainage was 20 ml in 8 minutes.

 Site 1: 2m above treeline, 85 m above sea level. Soil profile to 38cm: (L to R) B horizon (30-38cm), A2 (20-30cm), A1 (0-20cm). Note the difference in moisture between this site and site 6, above.

Structural stability
I conducted a rough structural stability test on soil from all 6 sites. Heavy soils are difficult to work (cloddy when dry, sticky when wet). Poorly structured soils are also often prone to erosion. These problem soils may need special management techniques for crop or pasture establishment.

The structural stability test involves taking a soil sample, air drying it then putting a pea-sized crumb from each horizon into a shallow dish with water (i.e. a jar lid). The dish is then left overnight. The next day cloudiness or milkiness around the base of the aggregate indicates a tendency to disperse. If particles are prone to slaking, this will occur almost immediately. The degree of dispersion will determine the 'stability type' of the soil, from Type 1 where slaking is complete (i.e. reduced to a small heap of grains, losing shape completely) indicating a soil prone to crusting, erosion and poor drainage, to Type 4 where the aggregate is fully stable.

Site 6 soil showed more dispersion than soil at sites 1-5 and so I classified it as Type 3 ("moist aggregates, moderate dispersion") rather than Type 4 ("moist aggregates, slight dispersion")

Drainage 

This is a simple crude test. Take a tin with both ends removed and firmly seat it on soil surface. Pour a given quantity of water into it (i.e. equivalent of 20mm depth) and measure that time it takes for this water to drain into the soil. The rate will vary with soil type and with the moisture status of the soil (i.e. drainage will be slower in soil that is already wet).

The drainage test indicated that drainage, and hence waterlogging, is not a problem. However, at site 3, the lowest point on the property, the B horizon was light grey with orange-yellow mottling. This colouring suggests a poorly drained soil in this area of the property. Planting trees that are sensitive to waterlogging in the root zone (i.e. avocadoes) would not be advisable in this area.

Field texture

This is my favourite test because it involves playing with soil. Basically you are exploring the plasticity or malleability of the soil, which involves assessing its cohesiveness, and are also feeling for texture (granularity). Soil texture is the relative proportion of sand, silt and clay in soil. Moisten and knead a small bolus of soil in the palm of your hand to form a ball and assess what grade you think it is according to the standard chart, based on how the ball holds together, whether it can be rolled into a ribbon as well as the feel of the soil particles.

I assessed soil at all sites to be clay loam (ball holds together, ribbon length 3.8-5 cm, feel is plastic and smooth to manipulate).

Site 4: field texture assessment. Ribbon of 6 cm. 

pH  (acidity)

I used a good old Barium sulphate colourmetric kit, developed by CSIRO and sold at Diggers. Not surprisingly on this property, which has history of grazing on 'improved pastures', all sites had low pH (5). I did an additional pH test on soil taken from directly underneath one of the nut trees on the swale. The soil immediately around these trees has received regular applications of compost, seasol and compost tea, as well as mulching. The pH on this soil was between 7-8, which is not surprising given the soil amendments applied.

Should grazing or horticulture be conducted in future on this property, acidification is likely to continue unless measures are taken arrest the decline in pH. Soil acidification can lower the agricultural productivity of soil in many ways, including reducing the availability of nutrients such as phosphate, or increasing the solubility of elements, such as aluminium, to toxic levels.

Contrast between pH of soil under the trees on the swale (dark sample at left) versus site 3 (two green samples at right).

Salinity
Salinity, a term used to describe salt content in soil and water, is a natural product of geological weathering: some rocks gradually release salts as they weather. While most of this released salt remains at low concentrations, some is stored in the soil profile and can be dissolved and relocated by precipitation or groundwater. It is left behind and accumulates as the water is drawn off: for example through evaporation. Primary salinity is the term given to this salinity that occurs from naturally occurring processes. It encompasses not only salinity from geological weathering but also cyclic salting (seawater droplets carried by wind over the landscape, then evaporate, depositing tiny salt particles onto the ground; or salt is deposited with rainfall).
 
Prior to European settlement, the hydrological system can be said to have been in balance: the rate at which water entered the groundwater system was balanced by the rate of water uptake by native vegetation and by slow percolation into the ground, terrestrial water bodies, and eventually the ocean. Groundwater discharge, as freshwater, mineral springs and occasionally highly saline springs, varied naturally as a part of that equilibrium, responding to seasonal and long-term changes in rainfall.
 
However, farming practices since European settlement have altered the hydrological balance, interfering with groundwater flow systems, mobilising stored salt and causing secondary salinity. Practices that contribute to secondary salinity include the clearing of deep-rooted perennial native vegetation and its replacement with shallow-rooted annual crops and pastures, and certain irrigation practices. Salinity reduces soil fertility and impacts negatively on soil structure and water relations, leading to increased erosion.
 
Although salinity mapping has been conducted by local authorities on the Peninsula, very little shallow watertable and discharge mapping has actually been completed on private non-urban land. So even though there are no salinity areas on the public record on the in my area, this doesn't mean that salinity is not a risk or that land management decisions in the area won't affect salinity in adjacent areas, at the catchment or sub-catchment level.  on the Peninsula. Land uses and management practices in our area may well contribute to salinity elsewhere in the region, due to the interconnectivity of groundflow systems. Also, it should be remembered that the timescale on which salinity is affected by land use changes is in the order of decades.
 
Laboratory soil testing
In 2008, soil at 5 different sites on the property was tested for a range of chemical properties, listed below, by APAL laboratories. Back then, I asked the lab to provide a report tailored to growing of fruit and nut trees.
 

Properties tested:
•    Total exchange capacity (TEC)
•    Colloidal organic matter %
•    pH (water)
•    Anions: nitrogen, sulphate, phosphate (Olsen), phosphate recovery %
•    Cations: calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium (Na)
•    Chlorides
•    Salinity (EC 1:5) (dS/m)
•    Trace elements: cobalt, boron, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, molybdenum, aluminium
•    Base saturation % Ca:Mg ratio, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, other bases, exchangeable hydrogen
 

The report concluded that the fertility was generally low for the purposes of fruit and nut tree growing. The main issues found were low calcium and high magnesium, which, the report concluded “will be making the soil tight, sticky and difficult to work with.” 

Phosphorous and potassium were found to be significantly deficient. In the trace elements, boron, manganese and zinc were found to be deficient. Organic matter levels were found to be sufficient but it was thought that low calcium levels would “limit soil microbial activity”. The pH of soil sample 0-10cm  was 5.4 (water); that of the 10-15cm depth was 5.

Recommendations for soil amendments included lime, rock phosphate, borax, zinc sulphate, manganese sulphate  and sulphate of potash, and boron (foliar). Deep ripping in prospective tree lines was also recommended. Applications of manure were recommended to maintain organic matter levels.
 

Phosphate losses from this soil are likely to have occurred due to:
•    Removal of phosphate in pasture by grazing and cutting for hay.
•    Leaching losses. Plant-available phosphorous exists in soil in the form of phosphate anions, which as they are negatively charged are not retained on negatively charged clays
•    The low pH is a factor likely to have contributed to relatively high rates of loss by leaching in this soil. Phosphate anions in acid soils precipitate as insoluble compounds of iron and aluminium.

Aquatic environments and water resources

The new dam (there are 2 dams on the property) seen from the kitchen window of the new house. Pablo and Luna do not seem to be as interested in water quality as I am. The wild ducks that have taken up residence on the dam are, however, a constant source of fascination, and anxiety, for these two.

The western border of the property follows a tributary a local creek which flows to the south and towards Westernport bay. Over the past 20 years the tributary has either stopped flowing in the height of summer or flowed at a much reduced rate. Flow may also be affected by our upstream neighbour's practice of temporarily damming the tributary in dry times in order to irrigate his pastures (hmmmm).

From conversations with neighbours, I'm reasonably confident that this streamline is spring fed by at least two known springs: one approximately 2 km to the North West; another approximately 100 m to the NE. Both springs are reported to be ephemeral. In the past 6 months, with good rains, the owner of the property on which the second spring is located has advised that it has started running again after being dry for over 7 years. A drainage line on this neighbouring property is the conduit for water from this spring to enter the tributary on our property.

There are two small dams. The first with an approximate capacity of 1-1.5ML. Water is pumped upslope from this dam to:
•    irrigate the small domestic orchard to the east of the original house, the two vegetable patches and the landscaping plantings around the new house
•    irrigate the nut and avocado trees on the swale mound in the southern paddocks  

• fill 2 stock troughs

The second dam, built in 2009, has a capacity of 0.7-1 ML. It is connected to two flanking swales on contour. The swales don't connect with the creek. Water from this dam is not yet used for irrigation. The grey water system for the new house has been constructed so that it can be diverted to the swales but at present goes through the blackwater septic system. Tank overflow from the new house goes directly into the dam.

I did a day's training with Melbourne Water's Waterwatch Program. Karri, a local who has been water testing the Creek under the Waterwatch program with Landcare for years, also helped me with equipment and technique (thanks Karri!). We tested the creek and dam water for:

• temperature
• pH
• electrical conductivity (a measure of salinity) (using a meter)
• dissolved oxygen (colour-metric kit in combination with a Melbourne Water Waterwatch Program Dissolved Oxygen Monogram that calculates saturation as a function of water temperature and dissolved oxygen in mg/L)
• phosphate (colour-metric kit)
• turbidity (turbidity tube in NTU units).

I also took some water samples and did some macroinvertebrate identification, using a Waterwatch Guide and some other internet resources.  Each type of macroinvertebrate group has a grade from 1-10 based on its sensitivity to pollution. The higher the number, the more sensitive the animal is. The assessment technique provides an overall score by taking into consideration the sensitivity of the macroinvertebrates present and their abundance.

"Macroinvertebrates respond to the presence of longer term pollution or changes in water quality as compared to water quality testing which only assesses health, or presence of pollution for that point in time and is highly specific (test for pH, phosphorus etc). For instance, stonefly nymphs are very sensitive to organic pollution such as turbidity, if you have had reoccurring events that cause turbidity, but only sample turbidity once and an event hasn’t occurred that day, you may not know about the usually high turbidity. The absence of stoneflies in a waterway where they usually occur may help you determine that something more long term has been going on. For another example, a higher than normal presence of bloodworms and a drop in other species occurrence could indicate low dissolved oxygen levels as blood worms are very tolerant to low oxygen conditions." (From Victorian WaterWatch manual, biological parameters)

Basically, the type and numbers of different aquatic insects are an indication of water quality - you use a standard correlation chart that correlates types and numbers of particular insects with water quality.

 Caddisfly in water sample from creek tributary. Caddisflies disguise themselves by living within claddings of reeds or other organic material like sticks. Caddisflies are very sensitive to pollution so good numbers indicate that water quality is good.

According to the macroinvertebrate survey, the water quality index of the creek and dam no. 1 is 'fair'. I assessed the water quality of dam no. 2 as 'poor'. This may be because the dam received water pumped out of the tank at the new house during the build. It may also be that this dam has relatively poor bank vegetation compared to dam no. 1, and hence little shade to protect shallow-water organisms from the effects of high temperatures.

Biodiversity monitoring

I also did a survey of existing native and introduced plant species, a big task but helped by pasture and weed identification studies that I've already done as part of my degree. In addition to introduced pasture grasses such as Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), Yorkshire fog (Holcus lantana), we also have some more insidious weeds such as Curly dock (Rumex crispus), and of course Blackberry (Rubus fruticosis).

Curled Dock (Rumex crispus) on the property. Curled Dock is a tap rooted perennial, 50-150 cm high, commonly found in seasonally to semi-permanently wet areas

So what's this all for?

Well, it informs the development of a property plan. Some info about the first cab off the rank - native sandalwood agroforestry - is coming up in the next post. Stay tuned.

Marie Antoinette

Optimism

 French tarragon responds to spring after its winter dormancy

I know spring is nigh because my French tarragon has kicked into gear.

Here are a couple more reasons to be optimistic. The UN has begun advocating policies to support smallholder agriculture as a way to address world hunger. A recent report by the  FAO's (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), 'Policymaker's guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production', talks about a 'new paradigm of agriculture', 'sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI)', described as:

a productive agriculture that conserves and enhances natural resources. It uses an ecosystem approach that draws on nature’s contribution to crop growth – soil organic matter, water flow regulation, pollination and natural predation of pests – and applies appropriate external inputs at the right time, in the right amount. SCPI represents a major shift from the homogeneous model of crop production to knowledge-intensive, often location-specific, farming systems.

Huzzah!

And the UN Environment Program has just released An Ecosystems Services Approach to Water and Food Security. Name says it all really - great stuff.

That's two good reasons to celebrate right there.

Which fetta is betta? 
After much humming and hawing, I finally succumbed to temptation and bought myself a cheese press. My rickety bamboo-steamer-with-large-rock edifice did the job OK on my first few batches of kefir fetta, but the resulting cheese was prone to disintegration once I took it out of the steamer after pressing and placed it in brine.

My old makeshift cheese press:  bamboo steamer with rock

Kefir fetta pressed with bamboo steamer press, brine and kefir whey solution (water 100%, salt 10%, kefir whey  12%). I cut the cheese up into small pieces because the round fell apart upon being put into the brine. 

My new press, the Seesy Cheese Press, is pretty simple to use and simple in construction - if you've got some construction nous you could probably make one at home with parts from the hardware store. Pressing time is reduced, and the fetta holds its form much better. Oh, and it looks more profesh.

Kefir fetta being pressed in my new Seesy Press. No, that's not bird droppings in jar lids in the background, its a soil structural stability test (very technical as you can see).

Round of kefir fetta pressed in the Seesy Press. Bewdiful!

There is not much to Kefir fetta, once you've got your Kefir yoghurt (labneh). I've written about the labneh making in an earlier post. To make the kefir fetta you just wrap the labneh in a clean cheesecloth bandage (I use dressmaking muslin from Spotlight) and then press it. After pressing, take it out and put it in a solution of 100% water, 10% salt, and 12% kefir whey. Kefir whey is the liquid that drains out when you're hanging your labneh. It should keep for up to two weeks in that brine. You can play around the proportions of salt and whey - 10% salt is quite salty. However, too little salt and you might find that the cheese won't keep as long. 

Next on the kefir list is kefir sour cream and kefir cultured butter, recipes courtesy of Dominic Anfiteatro's kefir website. Today I bought a log of Myrtleford salted cultured butter just to see what it tastes like and for eventual comparison purposes. I think I'll finally get to use the beautiful wooden butter churn my partner bought me years ago which even has the two butter paddles for patting the butter into a block. 

I also did some kefir economics recently. Organic fetta costs approx. $3.78/100g from the supermarket/healthfood shop. It costs me $1.40/100g to make organic kefir (from organic, unhomogenised milk). That's a saving of 63% In my kefir multipurposing quest, I've started to use the labneh in cooking in recipes that call for cream or sour cream. It has to be stabilised first, a fairly quick and easy process that requires an egg white and cornflour (or some other thickening flour like potato flour). Here's a simple explanation of how to do it.

Eating from the patches

Water chestnuts - tops browning off

In early August, I pulled the water chestnuts out of the bathtub where they'd been growing happily in pots, with the soil weighed down by small stones. I let the tops brown off and then in late August, harvested the chestnuts. I've actually never cooked with water chestnuts before, but remembering that sang choi bow has water chestnuts led me to one of my favourite recipe sites, Veggie Num Num and a recipe for a vegetarian version.

As regular readers will know, I'm a make-do kind of cook so I ditched the expensive shitake mushrooms. The result was nonethless tasty and the water chestnuts gave the fresh crunchiness that makes this dish pop.

To make the dish a meal, I went out into the garden and grabbed a handful of herbs, including coriander, parsley and watercress, and made some herb pancakes. These are best eaten with sweet chilli sauce. The herb pancakes are too easy, and can be frozen for 'ron. Make a simple dough with water, flour and salt, and let it sit in a warm place for a while. Roll the dough out into a long rectangle and sprinkle with chopped herbs. Roll the dough  up like a Swiss Roll, then chop thin slices of the roll and fry them in peanut oil. If you don't have peanut oil another light oil would do - olive oil won't work.

Vegetarian sang choi bow with herb pancakes

 Apart from potatoes, which always seem to pop up during weeding of the Peninsula patches, I've been harvesting some good looking beetroots. I've invented a tasty beetroot and fetta salad that can incorporate young broad beans when they're in season.

Beetroots from the Peninsula patches

Ingredients:  beetroot, fetta, onion (preferably spanish but you could use white or spring onions if that's what you've got), young broad beans (if in season, if not, you can leave them out), mint. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. 

Method: Put the beetroots into a dish with some water - there's no need to cover them, just have them sitting in the water - and microwave them for 10-15 mins or until soft. Slice them thinly. Shell your broadies and boil them until just tender but careful not to overcook them - a floury broad bean is a bad thing. To keep them tender, you can pop them in ice cold water. Thinly slice your onions. Chop up your mint roughly. Combine beetroot, broad beans, mint and onions in a salad bowl. Crumble the fetta over the top. Dress with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

This year, I haven't bothered harvesting all the jeruslaem artichokes on the Peninsula patches. Instead I've left them in the ground until I need them. Much easier than defrosting and handling frozen ones! I like to eat them raw - sliced thinly and dressed with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Or I put them into risottos, like the one simmering on the stove below, which also incorporates kale from the Peninsula patch.

Jeruslem artichoke, kale and mushroom risotto

 A work colleague told me about Ecocucina, a fabulous blog about cooking with scraps. Sounds dire, but its far from it. The author is a professional chef. How does fennel mousse with sesame seed and linseed grab them gourmet bones of yours?  

Swale loveliness 

On the swale, the pruned tagasastes have turned on a riot of flowers, attracting many many bees.

 Avocado flanked by flowering tagasastes on the west wing of the swale

West wing swale 

And here's the mulberry, mulched with prunings from a tree wormwood.

Spring approaches and there is so much to do. A compost tea application is definitely on the list, as is mulching the garlic and onions, which are going strong.

Garlic on the peninsula patch - jerusalem artichokes to the rear Marie Antoinette

Taming the tamarillos

Aaaaaaaaah . . . I've come up for air after the end of first semester. Doing a fourth-year agricultural science subject, soil management, meant learning basic stats on the fly - an ugly proposition. But dogged determination, and some crazy late nights, got me through and I'm glad I persevered. I understand a heap more about nitrogen and carbon cycling, soil structure and its relationship to tillage practices, soil acidification processes, and the role of organic matter in soils. I'm also closer to being able to interpret soil tests and make recommendations based on them.

Preserving the neighbourly spirit

Tamarillo tree, inner city patch, May 2011.

 

I managed to find time to pick the tamarillos off our tree in the inner city - and my partner made chutney, a LOT of chutney, out of 'em. The process involved boiling them first to split the skins for peeling.

Tamarillos, skin split after boiling

It seems home preserving was in the air, because the day after, there was a knock on our door and I opened it to find a neighbour bearing gifts: preserved olives and lemon butter. The olives he had picked a couple of weeks earlier from the olive tree in our front garden tree, at my invitation, and the lemon butter he'd made with lemons from his backyard tree. Little did he know that lemon butter is my absolute favourite breakfast spread - it was one of the first things I learnt how to make on my own as a child. Of course he got some chutney.

Lemon butter and olives in brine - neighbourly spirit is a fine thing.

Gordon and Gwen Ford's garden

When a friend invited me to accompany her on a visit to this garden in Eltham, on the north eastern fringes of the city, I jumped at the chance. Gordon Ford was a pioneering Australian landscape gardener whose naturalistic bush-like gardens are both monumental and intimate.

Gordon and Gwen Ford's garden, Eltham

His wife Gwen now maintains the garden and is adding her own stamp to it. I loved every nook and cranny of it.

Pond outside Gwen Ford's house, Eltham

Outdoor oven, Gordon and Gwen Ford's garden, Eltham

Bamboo happiness

A nursery worker at Red Cloud Bamboo shows off a stand of (I think) Bambus Oldhamii.

Back in February, I made at trip to speciality nursery Red Cloud Bamboo to pick up a couple of clumping (i.e. non-running) species for the peninsula property. The long term plan is to grow a (very) small grove there - uses would include garden stakes, fencing, and furniture. The shoots of the two species I bought, Ghost bamboo (Dendrocalamus minor amoneous) and Oldhamii (Bambusa oldhamii) are also edible.  Lots of useful info on bamboo silviculture in Australia, including in particular the effect of thinning regimes on shoot and culm production, can be found in this publication by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research: Silvicultural management of bamboo in the Philippines and Australia for shoots and timber.

Australia actually has a native bamboo species, Bambusa arnhemica, that grows wild in the top end. A small number of Australian growers produce edible shoots for the restaurant and gourmet market but not of the native variety (see, for example, www.earthcare.com.au/contact.htm).

Bamboo grove at Red Cloud Bamboo.

Bambusa oldhamii in the inner-city patch

More kefir adventures
After mould developed on my first batch of quick-method Kefir-parmesan, I tried another, and this time it seems to have worked. I've produced reasonably tasty hard, parmesan-like cheese, following Dominic Anfiteatro's excellent instructions in the booklet he gives you when you buy kefir off him. Because I wanted to see whether it would work before embarking on the more involved process of making a proper round of hard kefir cheese, I used his quick-and-dirty method, which involves cutting the as-yet-non-matured cheese up into little cubes and setting it out to air dry. This avoids the need to seal the cheese in wax for maturation.

Kefir parmesan maturing on day 1 (total maturation time approximately 7 days)

I think I'll try my hand at Dominic's recipe for Kefir fetta next. Maybe I'm putting off  making a proper round  of hard cheese because I know it will be the start of an obsession akin to my sour-dough craze.

Peninsula goings on
On the peninsula, the main activity over the past month has been pruning the nut trees on the swale, and pruning back the nurse trees around them. The latter has been a big job as the Tagasastes in particular are fast growing and threaten to shade out the nut and avocado trees. But on the upside they produce lots of mulch, which means less wheelbarrowing of mulch in from elsewhere.

My partner and I also brewed up and applied a late (May) batch of aerated compost tea. We brewed up enough for both a foliar spray and soil application. Pest damage to trees so far is minimal - some feeding on leaves but not significant; no sign of overwintering pest mites such as Bryobia (Bryobia rubrioculus), or Coddling moth (Cydia pomonella) cocooning. But I did spot a Painted apple moth (Teia anartoides) on one of the almonds last weekend, which gave me a fright.

In late June I planted out garlic bulbs, sowed some onion seed, and sowed field peas in the beds that grew corn over the summer. Corn is a nitrogen-hungry crop so hopefully the peas will put some nitrogen back into the soil.

Salt pig from Stonehouse gallery, Warrandyte

 At the 'Canvas and Clay' exhibition opening of my partner's talented mum Sue at Stonehouse gallery in Warrandyte (Sue did the canvases), I couldn't resist buying this handmade oversize salt pig for the kitchen in the new house. Here it is with its big maw open, ready for some sweaty cooking hands. Everyone needs a salt pig, honest.

Marie Antoinette

No quibbles with kibble

Microlaena stipoides seeding on peninsula property

On the peninsula, my partner, my dad and I have tried our first larger scale Microlaena stipoides (Weeping grass) seeding. I've been collecting seed from the indigenous variety that exists on the property. This year, with all the rain and mild weather, the existing Microlaena has really taken off and is now abundant in parts of the property. It's been seeding variably so I've been able to harvest regularly.

We chose a strip adjacent to the back of the dam and ripped planting lines in it at a shallow depth, using a (single-tine) ripper attached to the back of the trusty small tractor. We made two passes for each planting line to try to open the furrow up. Then my partner and I went over the 4 lines manually with picks to open it up more. Then we just dropped the seed in by hand, very thickly, and covered it with a very light layer of mulch (chip from local native trees). We sowed it thick because I want to try to avoid using herbicide, and because my existing seed-production patch, which has been successful, was sown thickly.

Microlaena stipoides seeds sown in a furrow, peninsula property

There are 3 varieties in the lines: the indigenous variety collected on the property; Griffin, harvested from a patch I established using seed purchased from Australian Native Seeds; and Ovens, purchased from Aust. Native Seeds this year.

Nibbling on kibble

Using my new National hand mill to produce wheat kibble
 

Continuing a tradition of giving me archaic presents that may or may not be useful, but are always beautiful, my partner bought me this hand-operated grinder. We tried it on some wheat and it produced beautiful cracked wheat on the first pass. Eventually after 3 passes, we got some coarse flour but that was a fairly slow and tedious process. Methinks the cracked wheat is the go - I incorporated it into a wholemeal sourdough and it adds some great texture.

Kibble is the name given to cracked grains, hence 'kibbled bread'. Burghul, for example, which is the main ingredient in tabbouleh, is cracked wheat. Typically, the kibble is soaked for a few hours before being incorporated into a recipe. You can kibble rye, spelt, buckwheat etc.

Kefir goodness continues

My love affair with Kefir continues. I'm now making kefir-style cottage cheese following the instructions on Dominic's Anfiteatro's site. Its very easy and delicious and has a very similar taste and texture to normal cottage cheese. I add little salt to it as the finishing touch.

Kefir-style cottage cheese draining in my sink

Recently I visited La Latteria, a new cheesery in inner-city Melbourne, and apart from walking away with homemade cheeses and whole (unhomogenised) locally (Craigeburn) produced milk, I chatted to the lady behind the counter, who helps to make the cheeses sold in the shop. I asked her about how she makes ricotta, and it turns out that the process is kind of the inverse of the kefir method. At La Latteria, they heat the whey and add milk until it curds begin to form. With kefir-style cottage cheese, you heat the milk and slowly add very ripe milk kefir until it curdles. Although a brief spot of internetting reveals that there are 101 ways to make ricotta.

She also explained to me why whole (unhomogenised) milk converts more efficiently to cottage cheese than homogenised milk, and produces a creamier cheese. I think I need to get myself this book on the microbiology of dairy - so many more questions would be answered! This accords with my experiences with kefir cottage cheese: if I use homogenised milk I end up with only a small amount of cottage cheese, and whole lot of milky whey and clear whey. When I use unhomogenised milk, I get a lot more cheese for the same amount of milk.

I love the whole ethos of La Latteria. I bought my whole milk in a large glass bottle, which is returnable and gives you a discount on your refill. Nice.


Inner-city patching
In preparation for the move to the peninusla, I've been slowly decomissioning the inner-city patches, which will become a low-maintenance native garden. We're going to keep one garden bed for perennial herbs. I've started the plantings for the native garden with some Myoporum parvifolium (creeping boobialla) from the fantabulous St Kilda Indigenous Nursery Cooperative which has just had a big sale.

 Japanese eggplants from the inner-city patch

The beans turned on a big end-of-season harvest, as did the Japanese eggplants (Solanum melongena, var. Ichiban). Dad pickled some of these using a Claudia Roden recipe from her Book of Middle Eastern Food.  It only took a week for them to mature, and they were so yummy. And I took my first step into pickling, doing a salt pickle of the lebanese cucumber harvest using this recipe from the website of the author of Wild Fermentation, a much referenced book on the topic. The only mildly difficult thing about the process was working out how to weigh the cucumbers down so that they were all fully submerged in the brine. The pickles were delish, especially eaten atop some Kefir labneh on sourdough.

Pickled cucumbers on kefir labneh, atop sourdough

In the city, I've been propagating some plants from seed collected on the Peninsula property, to plant out on the back of the dam there. Success with Acacia vertcillata (Prickly Moses), but no luck with Dianella tasmanica or Indigofera australis, despite following the dormancy-breaking seed treatments recommended by Murray Ralph. After failing to raise the Dianella from seed, I tried just dividing some of the clumps growing near the creekline on the Peninsula and that seems to have worked.

Acacia verticillata seedlings, propagated from seed collected on the Peninsula property

And finally, because there aren't enough rapping scientists in the world, because I'm partial to a spot of David Williamson baiting, and because how can you resist the line "The greenhouse effect is just a theory, sucker. Yeah, so is gravity, float away, motherfucker", check this most wondrous clip out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiYZxOlCN10