leeks n things

have done a seedling tray of leeks.  have always been scared of them .... always fail.  but love them and the taste that they add to everything so have to give it another go.  did some research and when they are ready to transplant will put them in a broad bed where i can just leave them .... and forget them for a while in hopes that the ignoring will allow them to bloom where they are planted .... <g>.

on the other hand my snow peas, broad beans and potato's are coming up a treat right now.  comfrey is trying (for the compost) and the parsnips have shown their little heads now too.  and am about to plant out seedlings of cauliflower and brocolli.  looking forward to what stewy wintery soupy dishes i can put together with this stuff!

now if i could just get my husband to get his head around keeping chooks for eating as well as eggs .... then i could start thinking about completely home grown soups for dinner! <g>

The Challenge-Build A Tourist Establishment By Christmas !!!!

Last year I read about the funky frontyard farmer's friends challenge for themselve to survive a week on their own produce. While a week might seem a small time, it is not when it comes to producing all your own food! Of course the frontyard farmers succeeded , and in style ,by the looks of the photos. This family's journey appealed to me because they were doing something special, just changing the world a little at a time. They were also doing what I like calling  'throwing your hat over the fence' ... meaning that by throwing your hat over the fence  even though you can't walk any further , you push yourself to go further anyway because you must get to your hat.

For our family , we have set up our challenge over a course of many years, starting on our honeymoon 15 years ago where we said to each other , 'Let's have a bed and breakfast on our farm...' , we have been building ever since,with breaks when things like  babies were born and cattle prices were low. We never gave up though because we had published our decision in our hearts and it was all we ever talked about with family and friends as this dream developed.

 As time has gone on , our idea has changed as we have changed .Our 'bed and breakfast 'idea evolved to  become a place where people could learn to be self sufficient,where the stress of day to day living vanished, where children could find the joy in nature and maybe ,just maybe..... a  place to change the world a little bit at a time.

The thing is though , once you get to the finish line of something like this , it starts to get a little scary . You start wondering how it will go , will people like it , what if we  burn the breakfast etc...? We needed a challenge to get us to the homestretch . And now we have one , we have asked Jo and Joe to come and be our very first guests at 'The Little Black Cow Farmstay' in the beautiful Hunter Valley. So our challenge is to have our farmstay ready (we hope!! ) by the Christmas holidays and not burn their breakfast.

So in our posts over the rest of the year, you will see the last parts of the building, the creation of a perpetual vegetable garden , and little ideas that we might toss around and ask our funky frontyard farmer's friends to comment on to see if they would work. For instance , I keep telling my husband we should really get a duck....but he thinks 10 sheep,a pet cow, a goat, 2 ponies ,2 dogs ,4 chickens and a rooster and 2 rabbits are really enough for a farmstay.Don't you think we should get a duck???

From little things....

Up here in the mountains things are pretty chilled out. The beautiful, crisp Autumn days are fresh and invigorating. Maple leaves are turning the most brilliant shades of orange and the nights are getting chilly. Tonight we are blogging by our deliciously warm fireplace and we are thrilled to see that all of you guys are taking up the challenge too in your neck of the woods.

In the garden we've been planting broadbeans, garlic, carrots, cabbages, 5 colour silverbeet, beetroot and shallots. Yesterday we also planted some Dragon's Tongue beans (very groovey purple and white stripes) as well.

One of our potentially more exciting ventures that continues to be an issue of debate between us is aquaponics (growing fish combined with hydroponics), there are a few aesthetic and safety concerns that need ironing out before we proceed. We are also preparing to launch a community orchard in the laneway besdie our house, which is exciting, now we just have to confirm what trees will be most possum proof.

 Maggie we have been totally slack on the pickiling side of things, we have dabbled in it...and jam making too, but 2011 is our year for this...we have been collecting recipes and jars...and we would love any recipes and advice.

Hope everyone has warm toes,
cheers, Joe and Jo


our Macadamia nuts have just started to fall this month



Taking up the Challenge

Hi Joe & Jo.

My Family; Dad (Chris), Mum (Claudia), and kids Liv (8) & Tom (1.5) are from the Hunter Valley, NSW. We read your blog all the time and find there are always lots of helpful tips and funny stories for our enjoyment. When we saw that you were issuing a challenge to your followers, we couldn't help but be intrigued. We are just starting out in the veggie patch business and of late our garden has become very sad looking. Not ones to back down from a challenge we have decided to start again! Hopefully, we can have some produce before the challenge ends. If all goes well with the new garden, we are hoping to complete challenge 1 - one meal! Wish us luck!

Back at It!

Well .... have been overseas for the past week and a bit .... so just resurfacing.  Ready to face the onslaughts of an autumn and winter garden!  So far i have cleared out most of the front patch .... gonna put in my pea's there as soon as my diggers order arrives.  And too, i put in some comfrey for the compost today as well as some spinach.  Next will be more broccoli and parsnips.  gotta get the broad beans in as well.  trying a different spot this time in hopes of keeping them smaller and more bountiful.  have two tomato plants left ... hope they give me something .... but not counting on it.  saw a great recipe to pickle your green tomato's on the milkwoodpermaculture.net web space ... so i am thinking about trying that.   preserving and pickling seem to be something that will assist in the development of the winter larder .... do you guys do it much?