Garlic and Dried Beans

Today Jean went through our stocks of garlic to collect good specimens for planting. We had already put aside good sized corms into paper bacgs back when we harvested in November/December.

 After a couple of hours of work we ended up with 450 cloves ready for planting compared to 330 last year. There was one minor problem with some of the stocks. A powdery residue which seemed to be the result of something eating a few cloves. Next year we will try hanging the garlic rather than use the drying racks.

The cloves are divided into 13 groups. Some are specifically known varieties such as American White and Allsun. Others are varieties collected from retail outlets that labelled them as Australian Grown. We kept each outlet separate even when we collected from the same outlet but on a different date. There is even one bag that contains garlic grown by a friend who is able to keep hers for up to two years - amazing.


13 bags of Garlic

The beds for the garlic were prepared last week and Jean's job now is to get them all in the ground.

Keeping Jean company in the Cave while she sorted garlic it was an ideal time to shell the dried beans that had been collected. This is the first year we have tried growing (and being self sufficient) in dried beans. It most probably will be the last year.

Despite a substantial planting the harvest was small. The Borlotti bush beans were successful. The plants grown in our house yard did well. Although I find bush beans a pain as they fall over and pods drag on the ground.

Borlotti

The Borlotti planted in the outside Tomato/Vine bed were eaten by Wallabies and/or rabbits.

The Haricot beans out there had their base leaves nibbled but survived long enough to have the stand knocked over in a storm. But like their namesakes in our protected garden they grew enormous plants with lots of pods. The pods were mainly empty or had diseased beans. Either something missing in the soil or too much nitrogen or just bad luck. Consequently despite the mass of foliage the result was only a cup full of beans.


Haricott

Miniscule volume of Haricott Beans on the left

We planted Lima beans from dried beans in the pantry. The vines grew and flowered beautifully but there was nothing but distorted tiny beans in the shell. Again, was the problem our soil preparation, hybrid beans or just bad luck?

Front of the Lima/Christmas Bean Curtain with Green snake bean on the extreme right and a Red Snake Bean on the extreme left.

Rear

Christmas Beans were planted beside the Lima. The end result was a curtain of healthy green. With the Christmas beans there was a small harvest but even smaller than the Haricott.

Christmas beans on the right

Strangely though in the same curtain were two Snake bean plants one on the right was a green variety and the one on the left a red variety. These grew perfectly and provided us with a steady supply of steamed green and red beans for the table.

Dried Beans and progress on various projects

We made the decision a few weeks ago to grow beans for drying. We use a lot of dried beans in our meals and have relied on purchasing them from the supermarket. Time to grow our own quality organic beans. There were a number of sections of our house garden set aside and both bush and climbing beans planted. Wanting more variety we looked at the Diggers catalogue and found three climbers that looked interesting (Haricot, Christmas Lima and Scarlet Runner) and were suitable for dried bean use. But where to plant them?

There was a little bit of irrigation pipe remaining in our paddock bed and with the use of the modified metal frame we had a climbing frame and a long section for bush beans.

The recycled metal climbing frame with height extension

Reused baling twine for the beans to clamber up. Note the pumpkins and squash doing well

A section for the bush beans

The beans are taking an inordinate amount of time to arrive. Diggers quotes 7-10 days for despatch plus travel time. They must be very busy or only do orders sporadically as most online suppliers despatch in less than half that time. Anyway it did give us plenty of time to build the bed with lots of cow and chicken manure and a layer of compost.

The Pooless project is just over one week old. I automatically don't reach for the shampoo or soap any longer. A brisk rub with finger tips and rinse of the hair and then the soft bristle back scrub brush rubbed all over the body. The scalp rub with the finger tips also cleans the finger nails. No negative body odours have appeared and I feel quite clean and not greasy. Less time in the shower as well.

The cattle are eating the sprouted grain with gusto and we have started to slowly increase the ration while decreasing the hay. The change in mix is miniscule but steady. With the rain now refreshing the pastures ahead the plan is to sprouted grain feed for a month and then wean them off it (depending on condition of pasture. This should lift their condition a notch higher.

The tomatoes are doing reasonably well but not as good as past years. The suspicion is that the chicken litter applied from our chook pen was not as rich as in previous years because of fewer birds. This is being addressed with the addition of more birds. Three hatched a month ago in the new incubator. Then four more two weeks ago. We have also ordered six sexed, old style laying day old Rhode Island Reds from Barter and Sons Hatchery. They arrive on Friday. This must be one of the few sources of sexed chickens.

The Tomato Bed

Work

Very little progress at home today. Started up both pumps on the dam and watered most of the garden beds again. Gave the pots a good drink as well. Made up some small trays of seed mix and put in three types of beans - Climbing Rattlesnake, Yellow Bush and an Asian climber which tasted good last year. The Rattlesnake is our favourite. 3-6 plants keep us in abundance for months. Not only does it produce prolifically but the beans can be eaten at all stages of maturity and are still tender. As it gets to the end of life the vine produces poorer quality beans as it runs out of soil nutrition but by then you have had more beans than you want.

Pretty much the entire day was spent over the river hauling silage from another property. This silage is made from Ryegrass and won't be ready for 6 weeks as it was just baled but it is very rich feed quality. It could be fed out now but in 6 weeks after it has fermented it will be even better. The round trip with ute and trailer takes about an hour including unloading for two bales. Originally the plan had been to do one trip each day but we decided to bite the bullet and get it over with. It worked out well for the farmers supplying the silage as they were at home baling another paddock and the tractor with the bale handler was ready and waiting.

The disc harrows that were on loan to the property over the river needed a new disc. One which had a crack snapped off over the weekend. Fortunately it was an outer disc and only took a few minutes to remove. A replacement is  now on  order. The missing part has disappeared in the soil somewhere.

The weaners have finished strip feeding the Oats and are now on rougher feed and silage and not very happy about it. A lot of standing around and looking longingly. They will have to put up with what they have for a couple more weeks until some other paddocks have responded to the warm weather.

The cows and calves are in a similar situation as we run out of good quality green feed. They have eaten the last two bales of Ryegrass silage which they devoured quickly and are now back to Kikuyu silage for a couple of weeks. Some of the better paddocks have been irrigated and fertilised and are looking good. Just a couple more weeks and all will be well.

All but 6 cows have calved with two new babies at the weekend. At least one of those 6 doesn't look in calf. In a couple of weeks the two herds will be merged again and paddock management will be simplified.

Looking forward to some rain, green feed and less time managing multiple herds. Feeding out silage to three herds and moving the irrigator twice daily id very time consuming. Wonderful when nature does it all for you.

Sawdust, Garlic, Mower Blades, Camembert, Cucumbers, Beans and Zucchini, Roasted Tomato Chutney

Sawdust

At the beginning of Spring all the sawdust in the chook yard was shovelled out and most of it used to make beds for the tomatoes and melons and some put aside for use in other vegetable beds. After nearly 12 months of being scratched and manured by the chickens it was full of nutrients and well broken down. Finally this week it was replaced with fresh sawdust, 150-200 mm thick. If it is made too thick it forms a hard pan and needs to be chipped part way through the year to ensure it is fully aerated and exposed to droppings. The easiest way to obtain sawdust is from any nearby sawmill by the truck load. 20 cubic metres lasts many years as long as there is somewhere to store it. Luckily in this area there is also a small holder with his own mill who cuts the odd log. He happily lets you take his waste for nothing. He even loads your trailer with his bobcat.

One of the advantages of having a few acres is the space to use a tractor, and one of the advantages of a tractor is its ability to have an hydraulic bucket on the front. One of the advantages of a hydraulic bucket is the ability to move large volumes of sawdust. There is nothing like a little mechanisation to speed up tasks. The tractor has a slasher attached partly to counter balance a full bucket and partly because it is the most used implement. Rather than remove the slasher to tow the trailer of sawdust to the chook run there is a tow ball welded to the slasher. This makes quite a long train moving through the orchard, but it works.

It is also useful to have one end of the chook run opening completely with a large, hinged panel. The panel is large enough to enable the tractor loader to fit through.

Garlic



Garlic in Drying Racks

The annual supply of garlic was harvested this week. Looking at some of the varieties it seems we may have left a couple a little late as the corms had split open. Some of this is due to the wet conditions. There are seven varieties we have collected over the years. Some have been found in supermarkets and some through seed suppliers. Mainly we keep the purple (tinged) varieties because they have higher levels of allicin – the stuff that is good for health. There is some variation in corm size. Since the beds were identically prepared this must be just a seasonal variation. We always plant the largest bulbs to ensure we maximise the end result.

Mower blades

With a property resplendent with rocks no matter how many are removed to a rock repository, more seem to emerge from the ground. These sneaky little beasts cause the ride on mower a lot of problems. Not so much it seems in blunting the blades as in curving the blades upward. The end result is a very poor cutting edge. A simple solution has been to grip the leading edge of the blade in a shifting spanner and twist the blade back to horizontal. A little angle grinding also helps provide an edge. After every mowing, some time is spent digging out newly exposed rocks with the hope that one day they will stop growing.

Camembert

The Raw Product

As an extra treat for Christmas, some camembert was made this week. About 12-15 litres of raw milk resulted in 15 small rounds which should be just about ready in time for Christmas day. At the very least it will be pleasantly edible even if it hasn’t reached that runny stage. Normally the mould spore added would be Penicilium Candidum but just for a change Geotricum Candidum was used. Because of the change, the recipe was followed meticulously. Past experiments have involved using the Brie recipe but the Camembert size small rounds. That blend has worked well for us. However, when trying something new for the first time, past results have shown it is always better to be exacting with the first trial batch before deviating.

Camembert Forms

Once made, the small rounds need a humid environment in which to mature. Refrigerators will dry out anything left uncovered. The solution is simple: place the cheeses on a tray and place the tray inside an air tight plastic bag. Seal the bag with a couple of twists and a twist tie. The moisture in the cheese will provide sufficient humidity; if it doesn’t just put a table spoon of water in the bag underneath the tray. The bags can be cleaned in the washing machine and reused many times.

Under wraps ripening

A nice big slice runny Camembert on some toast, with a glass of chilled wine is a most pleasant experience. Unfortunately, once it ripens, there is only a short period before it begins to get an ammonia smell and then sadly for us and happily for the chickens it is consigned to the girls. Progressively we have reduced the number made and increased the frequency to try and balance this situation. In addition, eating a few just that little bit earlier has provided some longevity in consumption.

Some Finished Product

The cheese fridge is reasonably full at the moment. The door has 7 Parmesans aging while in the shelving there are a few Swiss and Cheddars maturing. As always, a goodly amount of Fetta is in a light brine – this keeps very well and is easily made in large batches. As Summer is with us and tomatoes are coming on, a reasonable amount of Haloumi is on hand. Again, this is one that keeps very well in its brine solution. A short soaking in water removes much of the salt and then fried both sides so that it gets a little golden brown provides a nice topping to thick slices of fresh tomato. It has got to be one of the best Summer nibbles around with the harder texture and saltiness of the cheese balancing against that enticing tomato smell and flavour.

Asparagus weed update

Previously there was a mention of an invasive weed that appears to have held back the growth of the 4 year old asparagus. Well, the non chemical solution seems to be working as far as removing its presence. Initially, a number of hours of thorough weeding were completed, then on successive days much less time was spent going over the bed as a follow up, picking out any roots that were missed. Starting with a daily weeding in the first week, moving to weeding every couple of days for another fortnight, and then once a week. Finally, it is now just casting an eye over the bed for the telltale leaf structure and spot weeding as necessary and carefully following the root down until it is completely removed. The edges of the bed have been closely examined and weeded to depth. It appears this constant harassment has weakened the plant to a point of near extinction. The asparagus has suffered a little with having some roots disturbed and occasional minor damage to the crown. Hopefully it will now be free to grow robustly for the remainder of the season. To ensure maximum benefit no further picking was conducted allowing all energy to go towards plant strength.

Cucumbers, Beans and Zucchini

As always happens at this time of the year, there is a surplus of cucumbers, beans and zucchini. Many friends also grow vegetables, these three are not in short supply with them. Fortunately there are always a few city friends who appreciate a gift of fresh produce. The cattle have developed a taste for fresh garden produce and have no trouble eliminating any bumper harvest every day. So tasty are these vegetables, they’re whipped straight from the hand with a long, snaking tongue. It’s good to see nothing being wasted.

While speaking of cucumbers, it is only fair to mention the Japanese Climbing Cucumber. This incredible plant grows relatively slowly, as does its fruit. The fruit reaches large proportions at maturity, in the vicinity of 400 mm. Until it reaches full size, the seeds are still immature it is delicious and tender.

Tomato recipe

After having made the generalisation that no recipes will be published in this blog unless they are simple and delicious it seems that the very next posting will contravene that rule. But, this recipe is incredibly delicious even if not all that simple. It can be made in large batches and stored in small jars and eaten in smaller amounts to spin out the supply so the memory of the hard work involved fades. It goes really nicely with meat.

The recipe comes from Gay Bilson’s book Plenty.

Roasted Tomato Chutney

2 tbs black mustard seeds

400 ml malt vinegar

5 kg ripe tomatoes

300 ml Olive oil

200 g chopped ginger

20 cloves garlic

10 birds eye chillies

2 tbs turmeric

4 tbs roasted cumin seeds

2 tbs sambal olek (chillies in salt) (or just some ground chillies as we used)

250 gms palm sugar

100 ml fish sauce

Soak the mustard seed overnight in malt vinegar

Peel (we don’t) the tomatoes and roast in olive oil for up to 3 hours at 200 degrees Celsius. Don’t roast too many at once otherwise the steam will stop the roasting process. They should be dark and almost dry.

Blend all the remaining ingredients and simmer the resulting paste for up to an hour.

Add the tomatoes and their roasting oil. Add more oil if necessary.