Biodynamic treechange (homesteading)

Tasty spring garlic - is there anything better?

As you'd expect, the learning curve here has been pretty steep over the last three years. Sure I'd trained in horticulture and practiced it for well over a decade, and most of that was in other people's gardens. But the world of vegetable growing has opened up a whole new gamet of plants and how to grow them. And then there is how to care for them once they've been harvested, but I digress.

Who's heard of spring garlic? Until a little over a year ago, neither had we. Also often called green garlic, basically it's undersize garlic that is lifted from the beds in spring as they are thinned to allow the larger garlic to reach it full size.

And it's wonderful stuff to cook and eat with quite a subtle flavour when compared to the cured and dried garlic that is usually used in the kitchen.

We've been having it sauteed in butter with asparagus and Near River poached eggs   and now chef Todd Richardson of The Corner Restaurant in Port Macquarie will have Near River spring garlic on the menu shortly too. Todd suggests that "It goes well with twice cooked beef, the Corner's own caramelised onion and truffle oil. The garlic is best slowly roasted. And be quick as the green garlic is only in season for less than a month each year."

This is quite exciting for us as we're keen to develop a strong bond with a couple of key chefs to provide great produce for, and it seems that we are on our way to that happening.

Here's what Stephanie Alexander says about garlic -

"Newly harvested garlic can be used as soon as it is picked. It is a very special treat usually reserved for home gardeners. The cloves are crisp in texture (almost juicy) and the flavour is fresh and pungent. Wrap these freshly harvested heads in a piece of oiled foil and roast for 45-60 minutes in a 180C degree oven until quite soft, then squeeze this perfumed spread onto bread. Exquisite! Even before harvesting the garlic, a few of the green tops can be cut and used as flavouring, snipped straight into sauces, omelettes, soups, casseroles or stir-fries. Green garlic is very pungent and is best cooked rather than added raw to a salad."

I just love finding out about all the new ways to use each of the vegetables and herbs that we are growing here at Near River - so much to learn and experience.

Australian Organic garlic curing on racks

We have about a quarter of our garlic out of the ground, and we are racing against a large dump of rain due at the end of the week. The garlic that is still in the ground then may absorb too much of the water and split, making it usless for anything much aside from compost.

Today's photos show the harvested garlic laid out on our racks to allow it to dry and cure. Then comes the joyous task of topping and tailing each bulb and removing a couple of outer layers of the papery skin.

Be sure to head over to our online Farm Gate Shop and order some garlic now - we will be ready to start delivering by mid December.

 

 

Here comes this season's garlic

A quick post today, as it's been a long day, and the next few are likely to be the same. The images will tell the story.

A heap of rain is expected at the end of the week and we are doing our best to harvest as much of our garlic crop before the rain comes. If you'tre in the area and feel like a few hours work in the sunshine, by all means drop on by.

It is great to see this crop coming out of the ground, with many of the bulbs a very healthy size. Makes all our effort over the last 6 months really worthwhile.

 

The garlic bed                                                                                            One row done, eighteen to go

A selection from the crop

How to fix our food system

Every now and then, something comes along that brings a smile to your face, adds a glint to your eye, and a spring in your step for the rest of the day.

That’s what happened to me when I watched Birke Baehr on TEDx Next Generation recently.

This 11 year old has a real plan for sorting out the ills of our complex industrial food system, and deals with pesticides and GMO’s into the bargain.

And all in a little over 5 minutes.

Check it out.

With people like this guy around, the future might just be in good hands.

Oh and I can relate to Birke – I was 12 when I declared to my assembled family that I was going to be a farmer when I grew up!

This weeks issue of The Current from Near River - 21.5

Rain Rain Go Away ...

Once again I find myself writing with rain falling from the sky in vast quantities, and we're told the end is not in sight.

For the third time in two months, we have a low pressure system sitting almost stationary off the northern NSW coast that is driving moist air onto the coastline and adjoining ranges, and moist air is an understatement! Huey's really throwing it down.

I suppose it could be worse!

For us, the frustrating thing is not the day or two (or three) of inclement weather that means wearing raincoats and overpants, it's the following three or four days that we need to wait before we can move vehicles and trailers around the property, collecting piles of green waste, moving compost materials into place, spreading our made compost and leaf mulch around, and even working the soil in the plots.

At least the ducks and geese get to have some fun!

 

 

Our New Team Member
The most recent recruit, actually our first, young Angus Hawkens, started with us last Monday and has keenly jumped in to tasks that we've set for him. So far Angus has been shown first hand the finer points of garden bed clearing, compost heap building, and seedling planting. His first bed of planting was some leek seedlings, and whilst his effort was grand his execution was a little crooked!! He will deal with the error of his ways when it comes time to weed the rows with his hoe.

Angus will also be caring for our poultry whilst we're away from the farm delivering the produce down the coast and in Sydney.

We look forward to watching Angus develop his skills and interests through his studies and practical work with us.

Seed Collection

One aspect of what we are doing here at 'Near River' is to build up a collection of seeds from plants that we've grown here. We are doing this for a number of reasons. Firstly, by collecting seeds over a number of seasons from plants with desirable traits (large fruit, early fruit, slow to bolt to seed, etc) we can produce a strain that is specifically suited to this property. Secondly, it means we can vouch for the authenticity of the seeds organic origin; and lastly, it is a way of us participating in the preservation of heirloom varieties of vegetable species.

So far we've selected a good strain of silverbeet, coriander and pumpkin. Over time these and other varieties that we save seed from will develop attributes or even an affinity with the precise microclimate that exists here a 'Near River' that will enable them to perform really well.

Garlic

Many of you have been enjoying our fresh garlic, and yes garlic is meant to be juicy, not the dried, chlorine-bleached, methyl bromide fumigated imported Chinese stuff that the supermarkets pass off.

Given the success we've had with our initial planting last season, we intend to make this one of our core crops, and so have planted 3600 cloves in the last few weeks. They've jumped out of the ground, as the shot at right shows, so for now, this seasons crop is off to a good start.

2/3 of the planting (2400 bulbs) will be used as seed stock for the acre or two we intend to plant out next season, with the remainder being stored and distributed through the CSA.

This week's CSA Box

Oranges Navel 6
Lemon Meyer 1
Lettuce Cos 1
Rocket Cultivated    Bag
Pumpkin        Jap            400 gm
Garlic            Bulb            1
Chili            Med        2
Zucchini            1

Radish French 3
Parsley / Dill    Pak

To close this week, a shot of an egg from one of our Rhode Island Red bantams. (It's the one on the right). They have been off the lay for some time now, and this appeared yesterday. When you haven't seen something for awhile, you often forget the marvel that Mother Nature is.

Till next week, cheers.

What's in the box? #1

HI all and very happy New Year. May it be prosperous and abundant for everyone.

The boxes of vegetables that our CSA delivers each week go to the Port Macquarie and Wauchope region on Thursday afternoon and evening, and then Sydney's far north late on Thursday night. The rest of the Sydney deliveries are made on Friday.

We were up before the sun to harvest today, and here is this week's bounty.

Have you heard? - The Near River CSA is having a one-off, mid-season intake. You'll need to be quick.

That’s right, as the headline says, we’re having a one-off, mid-season intake. So you’ll need to leap at this opportunity. Read on for details.

We supply boxes of chemical-free, wholesome and nutritious vegetables each week to families in the Hastings Valley here on the Mid North Coast, and to families in Sydney, four and a half hours down the highway. This will continue through to the end of this year’s season in late June 2009, before the next season starts in September.

The produce is grown by us here on our 22 acre property, ‘Near River’, and by joining our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture, you’ll have a direct connection with who is growing your food, where it’s being grown, and how it’s being grown. And for some of us in this day of global food and beverage conglomerates, supply chains and over processed foodstuffs, this is very important.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is very popular in Japan, where it started in the mid-70’s, in Europe, and in America, where it continues to grow apace with over 2,000 CSA’s listed on various directories.For more information about US based CSA’s and the concept, Local Harvest is packed with details and links.

Here in Australia, CSA’s are yet to bloom, but we think their time has come, and we are looking to lead the way.

You can join our CSA, Near River Produce, by downloading and filling out either the Sydney brochure for people in Sydney’s northern, eastern and inner western suburbs, or the Hastings Valley brochure for people in the Port Macquarie and Wauchope region.

Further information can be found on this site by viewing earlier posts here, here and here, and by visiting the Near River Produce page. Readers from other Australian states who are interested in contacting CSA’s in their local area, can email us at andrew@nearriverproduce.com and we’ll forward you contacts that exist in each state.

And remember, you are what you eat! (Do you want pesticides with that?).

A Truly Most Unusual Panel Pairing

Back in September this year, at a suitable conference, the boffins at Google somehow convinced what I consider to be two of the food industries leading opponents to both join a panel to discuss ‘Creating a World That Can Feed Itself’.

One of these people was Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and CEO of Monsanto, and you can imagine the angle he took in the discussion.

The other participant was Mike Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism, UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and author of ‘In Defence of Food’ and ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’.

I’ve written about Pollan before, and am a keen supporter of most if not all of his ideals. And I’ve written about Monsanto before, and am a keen opponent of most if not all of it’s ideals.

The discussion is most enlivening and interesting. Click below to view the battle!

Our First CSA Harvest at 'Near River'

Earlier this month we started our first deliveries for our Community Supported Agriculture project from our 22 acre property, ‘Near River’, in the Hastings Valley on the Mid North Coast of Australia’s eastern seaboard.

I need to say that it has been a very anxious time!

Not too dissimilar to being expectant parents, but in this instance people had put their trust in us, and parted with money, and now we had to deliver what we promised – fresh, wholesome and nutritious vegetables to their door each week.

So many questions and variables came up; would the produce still be fresh and un-wilted by the time we delivered the boxes to our Sydney clients 12 – 24 hours later? Would the handful of hares and wallabies that have yet to discover our crops suddenly realize what they are passing up? Would our customers perceive the amount in each week’s box to be of value to them? And why are the chooks going broody so often and messing with the egg laying schedule we’d been expecting?

The first Thursday in December arrived, and the harvest began. Up early with the sun to pick the leafy greens first - rocket, baby beetroot leaves, and stands of silverbeet and rainbow chard; rinse, and bunch them and then into the fridge to remove the field heat. Then some onions and leeks, move through the zucchini beds,and lastly some beetroot. Later in the day, the herbs and flowers were picked, and similarly, they were washed and packed before storage in the fridge too.

The night before had been filled with activity, taping boxes into shape, stamping our logo on each side, placing a clean sheet of butchers paper in the base, and then the sourcing of recipes and other material to include in the first of our fortnightly newsletters.

And along the way, take a few photos to share here on the blog!

And the response has been most favourable. It seems we’ll become known for our extra tasty beetroot, and a few clients have suggested that we need a warning label on our extra zesty rocket. The recipes have gone over a treat, and the hares and wallabies are still happy with their grasses and weeds. The situation with wilting silverbeet will be addressed in the New Year with the purchase of a small refrigerated van, and an additional flock of chickens is due to arrive in the next couple of weeks.

But it’s not all plain sailing by any means – will the weather stay relatively cool and moist for this time of the year? Will a seasonal hailstorm set us back a few weeks by wiping out the lettuce and other soft leaf veggies out in the open garden? Will the schedule we are using (‘imported’ from the US) work here in Australia?

So yes, it’s a huge learning curve. Are we enjoying it? You bet. Is it fun and exciting? Oh yeah. Do we want to shut up ‘shop’ and head back to the ‘rat race’? I DON”T THINK SO!

Garlic harvest

Long time followers of Biodynamic Treechange will know that one of the first crops we planted was a bed of garlic.

Earlier posts detailing the garlic planting and progress can be found here, Garlic's Up and here, Is That A Hardneck, A Silverskin, A Serpent, Or A Purple Stripe? Garlic That Is.

In all we had about 35 sq metres (380 sq ft) planted, mostly with a variety that does well here in the Hastings Valley, as well as a few Elephant's and Italian's.

Now we have to learn that there is so much more to this game than just growing plants - the post harvest operation is SO important. Removing the soil from the bulbs to prevent disease, and drying them correctly meant we had the overhead fan going for virtually 4 weeks non-stop!

But the results speak for themselves.

What has come out of the ground has been so inspiring and pleasing.

I'll let the photo's do the talking.