Tomatoes

The Tomatoes are finally coming on. We harvested a good sample of each variety for seed saving today. Something we do each year. The pulp went into the pot along with a whole pile of other tomatoes and we produced another batch of puree. We've run out of jam type jars but have a surplus of 375 ml beer bottles courtesy of a friend who buys not makes. These are a better size for us than the larger 750 ml beer bottles. We bottle some in the larger size just in case but the majority into smaller bottles. It didn't take long to knock out another 15 bottles of puree. We still have plenty from last year but these things keep for a long time and you never know if one year will be totally unproductive.

Interesting how different weather results in different tomatoes doing better than others in that year. For once the Palmwoods are doing really well this year. They are a more meaty variety and ideal for making slow roasted Tomatoes with Garlic and Thyme. Something that can be eaten immediately or left for the next day.

Palmwoods on the left and Roma on the right

The other compulsory Tomato is Roma. It's not one of those that is exceptional eating. It is however robust. It grows and fruits prolifically no matter what the conditions. Seems to avoid fruit fly right to the very last moment and it will work in salads and other dishes. But its real value is in preserving as puree. You always get heaps from just one or two plants.

We are going through a bout of hot weather and no rain yet again. Our routine has been modified to marry with the conditions. Up early and get things done including a trip to the pool then retire to the house to read or do indoor tasks during the worst of the day and then out again to water any withered plants and get a few odd jobs done. We are having a true holiday in one sense as the across the river the boss is in residence and we only have to worry about our own property.

Mosquitoes, Peanut Butter, Farm Activity, Dogs and Beaches, Oven Baked Tomatoes, Haloumi and Tomatoes, Chillies

Mosquitoes

The trial continues with two dark blue containers on the southern side with water to see if we can break the mosquito breeding cycle. Unfortunately, with the regular rain, the water has pooled in all sorts of places and the mozzies are spoilt for choice.

In the mean time we have tried some short term remedies to prevent night time attacks while we slumber.

Three different types of citronella candles have failed to secure a full night’s rest. The overhead fan on full speed appears to provide an unattractive environment but its use is limited to warmer nights. The most reliable product is the old mosquito coil with the active ingredients being D-Allerthrin and Citronella oil. Hopefully, these aren’t the products used in gas chambers. Rather than sleep with the coil, it is started and waved around the room then left in the bathroom across the hall. Sufficient odour mingles through the house and we rest peacefully.

Peanut Butter

We have a Champion Juicer which can also grind peanuts. The peanuts come from our local wholesaler at a reasonable price in one kilo packs. The first attempt involved roasting them in the oven on trays until the colour looked about right i.e. a light brown. It does need a little stirring for an even roast. The outer edge of the tray cooks first. Just mix the cooked with the uncooked. Unfortunately, the output was a dry crumble which tasted fine although un-spreadable.  The successful method was to mix the nuts with a little olive oil before roasting. This produces an absolutely delightful paste with excellent keeping and spreading qualities. Producing about 2 kgs at a time seems to be a good quantity to justify the use of the oven and the cleaning of the juicer.

Activity on the Farm

Well the peaches are finished. The old style peach, a Cardinal, was the best. The wet conditions produced large fruit although not all that sweet but still very tasty. The tropical peach produces lots of small fruit but not of any quality. Probably wouldn’t bother with it in future. The plums followed on nicely. As always the Pawpaw weathered winter with some loss of leaves but the fruit stayed on and is now ripening regularly.

With Christmas approaching we made a big effort to get the lawns all done and trim around the edges and the trees in the orchard. The place looks magnificent. A lot of work but nice to see it looking so good occasionally.

The chooks are hard at work. One rooster was standing on a large rock and stretching up to pick low hanging grapes. These he dropped onto the ground for his small group of girlfriends. What a selfless male! Another is seen jumping several times at a small fruit tree until he finally managed to reach a spider in the leaves which he dropped to the ground and called his girls. Poor spider, lucky girls.

The Olives may not like all this moisture but the grapevines are groaning with fruit. The two hybrids, Chambourcin and Isabella, tolerate the humidity. The fruit hasn’t changed colour yet, leading us to think it will be a late harvest this year after three years of progressively earlier harvests.

Dogs and Beaches

We are fortunate to live near the coast. About 40 minutes drive away is our favourite beach. Most of the year i.e. outside school holidays and weekends the beach is unoccupied, the sand stretches for kilometres and the water is clear. On the hottest days the breeze is cooling.

Our dogs love the beach. Even when we are still kilometres away they can smell the ocean. They become excited in the car and their heads protrude from the windows with noses sniffing vigorously. The torrent of air passing the car forces their eyelids into slits and they inhale the numerous scents of the no so distant sea. You can almost imagine them singing to each other

 “We’re going to the beach, we’re going to the beach

Hi ho the derry o we’re going to the beach”

We park the car and they tumble out all excited running from here to there with heads down smelling the remains of past visitors to the car park. The narrow track winds through scrubby land and sand hills to the beach. They run back and forth urging us to hurry. Always staying within sight.  At the last sand hill, they disappear then reappear racing towards us all wet and stuccoed with sand, mouths wide open almost shouting “we’re at the beach, yippee”.

Over the next couple of hours they run back and forth, back and forth every now and then launching into the water to cool off before running on again. They love it! The salt water cleanses their skins and they exhaust themselves. What a great experience for them. We also occupy ourselves with a swim to cool off and always carrying an old feed bag or two collect Cuttle fish skeletons for later mulching to mix with shell grit also collected from around the rocks on a low tide. In addition, from time to time, there are plenty of seaweed pieces washed up on the shore after a storm. Storms always leave behind interesting bits and pieces for the interested beach comber: bits of weather worn timber, concrete blocks, shoes, torches, ropes and plenty more.

Later, the dogs collapse in a tangle on the back seat of the car and sleep, exhausted on the trip home. Such a simple adventure provides them and us with so much pleasure.

Oven Baked Tomatoes

With so many tomatoes in season, one easy way to cook them is to halve some that are roughly the same size – smaller ones are better than large tomatoes – sprinkle salt and black pepper to taste on them. Then slice garlic cloves into slivers and place a sliver or two on each tomato half. Sprinkle a good amount of fresh Thyme over each half and add some olive oil, pouring over each half, just a little to moisten. Roast these in a moderate oven – 180 degrees Celsius – for about 45 – 60 minutes.

Haloumi and tomatoes

In July, we had the good fortune to be given some surplus milk. One of the many cheeses made was Haloumi.  This is kept in a strong brine solution in the refrigerator and lasts forever. Our favourite dish is as follows.

Slice the Haloumi into 3-5 mm slices and soak in water for 30 minutes or longer. We find pieces about 35-40 mm square an ideal size. Put a little Olive oil into a frying pan and set the heat at the lowest temperature. Fry the slices until at least one side is golden brown.  Slice a fresh tomato thickly 5-8 mm. Place a piece of tomato large enough to cover the Haloumi very well. Eat this.

Chillies

There are a number of chilli bushes scattered around the garden. The most frequently used is the Birds Eye. The small fruit is about 25mm in length. They are quite hot, needing only 2 or 3 to spice up a dish. During the year we harvest the really ripe chillies and allow them to dry in the drying racks, laying down some newspaper first to prevent contact with the metal mesh. Once a suitable quantity is ready they are processed through the blender until the flakes are consistently small. The dried flakes are easier to handle than fresh juicy berries which have a tendency to leave bits of juice on finger tips just before one rubs an eye or some other sensitive part of the body.

Another preserving method is to puree the chillies in vinegar and store in a glass jar. These keep extremely well and the small amount of vinegar cooks out quite easily, given the small amount of puree used at any one time.

Of the other two chilli bushes one is Cayenne which is very hot. Because of the small quantity it produces, it is easier to puree in vinegar and use sparingly for those of us who feel the heat more easily. The remaining chilli bush produces much larger fruit, about 75-100 mm in length and mildly hot. It is always interesting to try different chillies in dishes and note the effect on the palate.

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.

Cultured Butter, Nuts, Olive Oil Storage, Tomato Ketchup, Buying Wine, Manure, Firewood, Tools and Generosity

Cultured Butter

Most weeks we make a little butter. Because the milk is collected in a 20 litre container and repackaged into one litre bottles, the cream rises to the top after a day or two. All we do is decant the top 25-50 mm into a jug whenever a fresh bottle is opened. Sometimes we pour the entire 20 litres into our 25 litre stainless steel cheese vat and set the spare refrigerator to a low temperature overnight. This facilitates the cream rising and the broad surface area of the vat enables a quick collection of cream.



Cultured Butter



For ordinary butter it is a simple matter of using the electric mixer to churn away until the butter forms. Our Kenwood Chef has a clear plastic cover plate for the bowl which stops splashes making a mess. Once the butter forms, pour off the butter milk for own consumption or feeding to the chooks. Stirring and rinsing the butter in fresh cool water is done as often as needed until the rinse water isn’t cloudy. If the butter is not for immediate consumption, we store in glass or food grade, freezer tolerant plastic containers with a small piece of paper inside giving the date. These keep very well in a normal freezer.

Of recent, we have become devotees of cultured butter. All this involves is a little starter culture stirred in and left at room temperature for 16 hours. Because the cream is still cold when we start we only begin counting the 16 hours from when the temperature reaches about 20 degrees Celsius. The starter culture is from Cheeselinks but any good supplier of cheese making supplies will be able to recommend the appropriate starter.

Cultured butter has an extra dimension of flavour and texture. We don't bother salting as we find the pure taste very acceptable.

Nuts

Chestnut Catkins

Hazel Nuts

Over the last few weeks the various nut trees have flowered and have now formed catkins or nuts. For only the second time we have Hazel Nuts and for the first time Pecans. One of the Almonds has a small crop while the other is bare. As usual the Macadamia trees are laden. These are so consistent that they have become our staple. The chestnuts are producing as well although in past years the fruit has been disappointingly small. Our Winters are not really cold enough for them.



Pecans



500 ml Storage Jars



Olive Oil Storage

When buying olive oil in bulk such as 3, 4 or 20 litre containers, we try to ensure that as little oxygen as possible interacts with the oil. The 3 and 4 litre containers once opened are decanted into 500 ml glass bottles and corked while a 20 litre is decanted into glass flagons of 2-3 litres and then these, once opened, moved to 500 ml bottles. The glass containers are kept out of sunlight. This may seem tedious but it ensures the oil is kept at its freshest.

Tomato Ketchup Recipe

There seems no value in publishing a recipe if it is just mediocre. Unless it’s an outstanding recipe in terms of simplicity and taste it won't get a mention in this blog. Hence with tomato season upon us, here is a recipe which is superb, can be made in large batches, has a long shelf life and all the ingredients apply to the same season. The recipe is sourced from Mike Michaelson's book A Tomato Cookbook and it’s called Fresh Tomato Ketchup. We have modified it slightly to make a chunky ketchup rather than a sieved sauce. It is a delicious adjunct to scrambled eggs or omelettes and many other dishes.

u  4.5 KG fresh chopped Tomatoes

u  2 cups chopped onions

u  3 cups chopped seeded capsicum (red if available otherwise we use green)

u  4 tsp whole Allspice or 2 tsp ground

u  1 tsp whole cloves

u  1 tsp whole black peppercorns

u  1 cup cider vinegar

u  2/3 cup sugar or less to taste

u  2 tsp paprika

u  1 tsp celery seed

u  1 tsp mustard powder

u  2 tbs salt

Cook first three ingredients together in a large kettle, uncovered for 30 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. You can put the chunkier spices into a bag for removal before bottling. We don’t bother. Bring to the boil for a few minutes then bottle in small jars.

Wine $

We love our wine and we love exploring different brands and varieties. In order to show some restraint in our purchases, we set ourselves a maximum limit of $12 per bottle (give or take a dollar or so). Be assured there are an unlimited number of quality wines available within this price limit. However, as with all things there is always one that eludes the price limit, usually an import from a very special region with wonderful health giving benefits or a particular variety which is highly regarded and rare.

To overcome this price restraint has proved not excessively difficult. It is a matter of averages. As most stores offer an attractive discount for purchasing by the case it makes sense to collect a dozen different tasting samples and make good the discount. Given that, with a price ceiling of $12 that sets the case limit at $144. Naturally some of the samples will fall well below the $12. This allows the surplus from each bottle to be accumulated and put towards that sought after rarity which may be winking at you from the $25 shelf. In desperation you can buy two cases or more. This provides some additional surplus dollars should the apple of your eye be significantly higher. So, as long as when you are loading the rear of your car with the purchases you can confidently divide the total spent by the number of bottles and arrive at a number that is 12 or less, you are sitting pretty.

A frugal life does not have to be a life devoid of simple pleasures, whether of the eye or the palate.

Manure, Firewood, Tools and Generosity of Spirit

We normally collect our weekly quota of milk during milking time as it is easier to fill a 20 litre container from the pipe going to the vat than ladle it from the vat a litre at a time afterwards. As part of the visit, it seems only polite to stop and chat to the farmer and pitch in with helping to wash out. The opportunity of company is warmly received and to shorten the milking time with some assistance is always valued. Most small dairy farmers spend a lot of time working on their own and generally they are a social group. It wasn't long before this routine of stop and chat and wash out moved to helping with the fitting and removing cups as the chat extended. This once weekly visit became a valued addition to the loneliness of milking and the dairy farmer reciprocated in kind.

One thing that dairy farmers have a lot of is manure. It accumulates rapidly and usually in places where it is not required. The offer was simple. If we wanted to remove the manure out the dairy yard (a concrete pad at the entrance to the dairy) from time to time we could keep all the manure. Well what a bonus! Endless amounts of manure for the orchard. Each pick up every 3 to 4 weeks resulted in nearly a trailer load. This was dumped in windrows between the fruit trees in the orchard. The chooks were in heaven spending all day scratching and spreading with their legs, showing brown high tide marks by day’s end.


Four Barrows of Manure after two Weeks

And then of course there was the Christmas Bonus ie a share of the sediment pond when it is cleared annually. This provided 3 or 4 groaning trailer loads of soft well fermented manure.

One of the continuous tasks on any large property is the renewal of fencing. On a dairy farm this is particularly evident as the property is broken into many more grazing cells. This farm had been in the family for generations and the farmer is in the midst of replacing grandfather’s fences on the rich alluvial flats. A lot of time is spent pulling and winding up kilometres of rusty barbed wire before removing the aged ironbark posts and in some cases even rails.

We seem to be always on the lookout for firewood for heating during winter and the idea dawned that a trade may be possible to the benefit of both parties. The idea was broached and accepted enthusiastically. In return for removing the fences we keep the very aged timber. In addition, we could use the farm equipment to do the task. This was soon followed by the offer of paid work to assist in the erection of the new fencing.


Fence Posts for Firewood

From time to time we have a need to borrow specialised tools or equipment from friends or neighbours. Usually items which you would only use once in a while and not something to justify a purchase. We always return them promptly and in better working order if possible. A sharpened chainsaw, a little rust removed and paint applied, fuel topped up, some oil or grease where necessary or even some cheese and wine as a thank you. It’s not surprising that these friends and neighbours are enthusiastic about putting their tools in our safe hands. Our belief is that along with the tools comes the responsibility of fixing it if you break it.

We have a strong belief that it is important to be generous with your time and to demonstrate willingness to do a good job and to not have expectations and not want something for nothing. The benefit of having no expectations is that you cannot be disappointed only gladdened when reciprocal generosity is demonstrated.