If you look closely, seeds are as endlessly fascinating as flowers are pleasing. Love In A Mist (top) and Sweet Pea (bottom) have cunning ways of ensuring they live on. Not that we are by any means botanists, just appreciative observers of some of nature's finer and more curious details. The first's miniscule black seeds are held tightly in folds until the seed pod drops to the ground or disintegrates enough to let them fly on the wind to find renewal. And the second, has, in comparison, enormous pea-shaped seeds that become twisted inside its drying pod. As the pod continues to dry in the summer heat it tightens like a spring until it eventually cracks open with surprising energy, releasing the seeds to the ground. If you've saved your Sweet Pea seeds, you will know that March 17th is traditionally the day to plant them, ready for a fresh new crop next Spring. We packet our saved seeds and some are for sale in our hilbarn country store & nursery, 1065 Pipers River Road, Karoola.
Some things are just a matter of time and the best things in life ripen slowly. Our neighbours' wedding on Saturday offered space for such contemplation as well as the promise of peace and support from real friends.
"Loved the carrots and coriander in the box today, so much so that I decided to give the muffin recipe a whirl... I twisted a few things around + Mother & I have been munching on them with a smear of tzatziki and a Gin & Tonic." Thanks to Sophie for sharing her recipe (and photo) with us.
We were stocking our local produce roadside stall, making a sign, and doing a bit of shuffling in the new vintage store, when a photographer stopped his car (having noticed our "Fresh Stuff" sign) and asked if he could take some photos. Chris Crerar is another refugee from city life - a former deputy picture editor at The Australian in Sydney, he's now back living and working in Launceston, and commissioned to take a series of photos of the Tamar Valley Wine Route. This one (left) was for us. Thanks Chris, and good luck with the project. You'll find more of Chris' work on his blog site: www.blinkphotoblog.tumblr.com
While the season's first prize apples - early Gravensteins - are available on the East Tamar Highway, our trees still have a little way to go. They've been beautiful all summer offering an umbrella of shade on these hot days made for lazing...
It seems like months ago when we planted the first capsicum seedlings in the hilbarn hothouse. In fact, it was. When you see roquette grow from seed to crop in under a month, neither of us appreciated quite how slow it could be to grow capsicum. True to nature, just as we were beginning to think our capsicum days were over, there it was - the most surprising crop of green peppers! Huge bell-sized shapes on every plant. In the end, a case of 'less hope, more patience'.
Some good people just love sharing what they grow in their gardens with friends. Our crop of blackberries, featuring for the first time in today's hilbarn box, came from growers in nearby Turners Marsh. But we found these ones (photographed) on our doorstep this morning: a precious gift from a generous friend. During our deliveries this morning, it was blackberries that put smiles on young faces too - just as appealing as a jar of gob-stoppers! It's one of life's special pleasures: seeing how children react at the front door when we drop by.
They are a force of nature. How can it be that when the ground is at its driest and hardest (tough now for even the strongest of men to dig dirt) that Naked Ladies should be at their prime? Rising seemingly out of a faded paddock as hard as concrete, their power could match that of any post-hole digger. They may be beautiful, but, like black snakes, beware of beauty. The Belladonna is also poisonous.
Breakfast this morning was spent in the garden, cutting fresh stems of Vietnamese mint (or Laksa plant) for today's hilbarn boxes. They looked a little perkier after last night's thunderstorm: maybe they danced in the rain like everyone else! More please, as Oliver would say.
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Enjoying the spoils of their first hilbarn box are Toby and little brother Jasper. Thanks to mum Amy for sharing their sweet discovery in this family photo. "We've really enjoyed the boxes," writes Amy. "Especially our two boys who love discovering what's in them (especially when it's blueberries or apples!) After pulling everything out, Toby (he's 4) told me he was so excited that he had "real farm mud" on his hands from the potatoes!" Thanks for the great snap guys!
Our juicy plums are ripening beautifully in Karoola, although not plentifully enough for boxes as yet. Our fresh produce will be sold in small quantities in the hilbarn store (see January 23rd post).
Another superb northern Tasmania morning spent harvesting the plentiful fruits of summer. Among the spoils for this week's hilbarn fresh produce box: while Hil picked blueberries in Lebrina, Barn helped pick these plump tomatoes with Bruce and Rowan at their family farm in Lilydale. Get ready for February - a great month for making sauce, chutney and passata.
Hilbarn, Karoola is now open.
We picked the blueberries in this week’s hilbarn box ourselves. They’re from neighbouring Crestview orchard in Lebrina not far from Lilydale. It’s blueberry season, and after one of our wettest winters, this is one of the best: so much fruit, each branch laden down like huge eyebrows touching the ground.
Featuring in today's hilbarn box is the leaf vegetable Chinese spinach. It was a mystery ingredient to us, too, until we started to know our Asian greens a little better. Chinese spinach has lots of cousins (including red amaranth) and can be eaten raw in salads or stir-fried (most commonly with garlic, ginger, oyster sauce and chilli pepper). It's earthy, packed with vitamins and good in curries too. Notice the way growers harvest it roots and all.
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