This was first published in Sanctuary Magazine Issue 64 You are probably familiar with fruit cordials; perhaps you even have a family recipe that comes out in time for summer. But did you know that delicious drinks can be made using wild floral infusions? Mara Ripani...
What makes one sausage better than another? In most cases it is not an elaborate recipe handed down by an amazing cook nor the artisanal skills of a highly skilled butcher. What makes food taste great is simplicity itself! The kind of simplicity that is incredibly...
How to dry fruit Fruit drying is a rewarding way to preserve your summer harvest. Like many preserving techniques it is simple to do (one of the simplest) and the results are extremely satisfying. By the end of the season, your larder shelves will be adorned with...
One day you may find yourself falling in love with plants and gardens and in the process discovering an entirely new language. Many plant nursery websites have a category called perennials, dedicated to plants that live for more than two years. What you might not...
In the freezer are containers full of boysenberries, raspberries and strawberries. In the winter garden, rhubarb! Pudding like cake with summer boysenberries stored in our freezer. There is a cake recipe that I have adapted to make the most of my fruit harvest. This...
Lard and charcoal soap After five years of making soap I started to get that lovely feeling I get when I know that I have cultivated enough soap making skills to share those skills. This year I launched our first soap making classes. In each class we make two bars of...
Volunteer fairies are back! And I am so happy to have their support. At this time of the year the strawberry harvest is bountiful. We have been drying strawberries on a regular basis. They keep well in glass jars, their flavour a concentrated summer explosion. We are...
Our property is becoming a little more abundant each year. With hens and roosters and geese. Our hens have various homes. An enclosed run with deep litter. And various orchards and paddocks where they can roam. And now geese! Proud and confident, they roam in ORTO two...
New words have travelled and found me, making their home in my minds nest. Popping out clearly at times and hiding at the very bottom of my nest unretractable and reluctant when I need them most. Words new, such as pileus, lamellae, stipe, mycelia and hyphae. Over the...
In March it’s hard not to be gluttonous. It’s hard for me to walk away from a quince tree with only a small amount of quinces. Instead I have this hungry energy as though the tree I have found is the only tree in the world and these are the only quinces I will ever...
It is spring and Madeline is here from Canada. And working with her is a dream. Her pace is calm and focused. Together we are working through various projects on our 15 acres of volcanic soil. In the morning we visit the hens. We place clean water in their heavy cast...
I have hosted dozens of young travellers here at my farm over the past three years. With each I have been privileged to witness the identity search that comes with this age. The question that often arises from my young visitors is 'who am I, who do I want to be and...
I have had a great summer. I must thank all my volunteer fairies for without them I would not be able to do all that I do. No way. There are so many tasks that take hours and hours to complete, such as harvesting herbs, stripping their leaves and placing them in...
I really try and make the most of summer...it is the most productive time of the year on our property. A time to restock the larder and discover new foraging opportunities. During summer I think about water a lot. Every time I harvest, every time I water my trees, I...
In November after the November frost I planted about 70 tomatoe plants in Orto two...Ralf had said 'wait another week after cup day because there is a frost coming'...'great and thank you'...so I waited. The tomato seeds I had sown in mid to late August were now very...
I made soap again, this time with Maria. Maria from Veneto Italy. Maria who makes excellent gnocchi and really simple, delicious pasta dishes. Maria the fantastic pizzica/bio-dancer. Maria who corrected my Italian when I made mistakes. Maria who got a bit impatient...
I have had a really lucky month. I planted dozens and dozens of tomato plants in spring. My plan had been to grow enough tomatoes to make a year's worth of passata. But I had grown far more than a year's worth and after reaching my goal of 100 bottles of passata and...
There is so much work being done. My motivation levels continue to be high. My energy levels rise and then fall. This is a brilliant time of the year, summer is so bountiful I want to make the most of it. I take enormous pleasure from using ingredients growing free...
Are we as a community eating better? Are more of us working towards healthier lives? Is there a growing movement away from fast food and towards food that is cooked using simple, nutritious ingredients. What does the research show? The CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific...
At this time of the year there are many foods to forage, but with summer ending I began to think about my native trees again and how I should get out on the farm to plant more of them. We need wind protection, we need more habitat, more visual green. But then mushroom...
I do a great deal of cooking at home and with that comes a great deal of dish washing. I don't at all mind washing dishes, what I don't like about it, is the detergents. I've tried many, from earth friendly ones to more commercial types. They all wash the dishes just...