SEPTEMBER ENDS

As I have mentioned in previous posts I have undertaken an experiment this year using the Remembrance Field to test the usefulness of a product called SAP. On the first day of June we broadcast this  water soluble polymer as dry crystals across the field and turned over the soil. I knew that whenever it rained these crystals would soak up the moisture and expand into a clear jelly like substance. In dry periods they would act as a water reservoir in the soil allowing plant roots to access the moisture. Although I have been using this non-toxic product in my organic garden to assist with water retention for the growing of vegetables and flowers for three years this was the first time I have added it to the soil of the Remembrance Field. We measured only 23mm (it takes 25mm to measure one inch) of rain in June. The field was cultivated at the beginning of July, which proved to be a dry month with only 3mm of precipitation, yet there was sufficient moisture for the Flanders poppies to germinate. After recording that 3mm there was no more rain for five weeks. Then over three weeks we measured a total of 45mm in six small falls and the poppies grew rapidly.

Spring arrives

During the first week of September we welcomed Tina and Julia, two girls from Germany, who came to us as Willing Workers on Organic Farms. The white and pink flowering peach trees were the first blossom trees to herald the arrival of spring. The girls enjoyed working in the cool sunshine, saying our first week of spring weather was like a mid-summer’s day in northern Germany.

Two German girls

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AN IMPORTANT WEEK

My readers may well ask, “Why is this week so important?”

My reply, “This is the week the Remembrance Field must be cultivated to enable the Flanders poppy seed to germinate thus ensuring the field will be ablaze with red poppies in full bloom for eleventh November.”

Following on from the slashing of the wheat and poppies at the end of 2010 we have this year cultivated the field three times with our little rotary tiller. I rely on wwoofers - Willing Workers on Organic Farms – to undertake this work every year.

The first turning over of the soil is the hardest work and this year that was done by Charlie from Austria.

Charlie had the muscles needed to turn the soil and incorporate the straw. I then allowed the field to grow a crop as green manure. Read the rest of this entry »

AN ABUNDANCE OF SAP

My readers know that I am SAP – as Self-sufficient As Possible. I have also discovered a product, which I have now been using in my organic garden for three years, that is also called SAP – Super Absorbent Polymer. During March I am going to introduce my readers to this product.

The soil of the Granite Belt is decomposed granite. It is granular like sand and porous. The vegetable farmers are obliged to irrigate their fields every third day. I have struggled with this thirsty soil for over 18 years trying to change the texture by incorporating humus to retain moisture and covering with  mulches to prevent evaporation. While these methods work, they require constant maintenance as this decomposed granite is hungry soil which rapidly breaks down the added nutrients. They then form a powder like texture, which acting in the manner of talcum powder prevents water penetration. When we get steady sprinkling rain for a day before a down pour this light topping will gradually become wet and act as a sponge, but if we get storm rain on dry ground the water will only run off. The question in my mind became, “How can I keep my soil moist without watering it every day?”

I am a seeker of knowledge, so I researched the shelves of the hardware stores that stocked garden products. My first discovery was Searles Water Crystals.

Water crystals

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AN ABUNDANCE OF TOMATOES 2

I wrote an earlier post about what I did with an abundance of red tomatoes, one of the summer crops grown by the farmers of the Granite Belt, who generously give me boxes of ripe fruit. I also commented that I usually only grow cherry tomatoes in my organic garden. About fifteen years ago I purchased a packet of golden ripple cherry tomato seed from the Diggers Seed Club and since then I’ve never needed to purchase more seed, nor do I save the seed. Every autumn at Das Helwig Haus B&B, about a month before the frosts arrive, a flock of Satin Bower birds return from the rain forests to overwinter in our garden. They are a fruit eating bird and quickly turn their attention to the fruits of my garden, clearing any remaining figs, picking at the half ripe persimmons and enjoying the cherry tomatoes. The fertile seed of the tomatoes pass through the bird and is deposited throughout the garden. Thus it is that these tomatoes have now become one of my most prevalent weeds. They are easily recognized and transplanted or pulled if found in inappropriate positions. This particular tomato has a tendency to climb or ramble, and would be useful grown in hanging baskets on patios. The photo below shows how one tomato bush has rambled over the tops of roses and up the trellis of the gazebo railing.

Cherry tomato bush in the rose garden.

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MY BOOK IS PUBLISHED

On the 26th February, 2009 I became a published author. My book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine was released on this site http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

My literary agent had presented my manuscript to a number of big name publishers in Australia only to be told they regretted that they were not publishing any books of this genre. Amazingly, it proved relatively easy to have the book published  in the USA. We are now in a global society and people are increasingly using the internet, so rather than have many books printed and on display in stores, we have taken the option of having my book printed on demand.

This is the photo used on the cover, where the dedication reads:To Eberhard, my dear husband and supportive partner in Das Helwig Haus B&B.

The cover of Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

This photo was taken by freelance photographer David Martinelli when he was preparing a feature of the Sunday-Mail newspaper about our Remembrance Field and 11th November observance of the signing of the Armistice Treaty at Versailles in France at the end of World War One.

Eberhard and Fay

The publishers have called Wildflowers, wilderness and wine a Travel Memoir – a genre I would never have considered, yet I hope it will do much to attract travelers to visit the region. Read the rest of this entry »

AN ABUNDANT SUMMER BEGINS.

Is it possible that our Queensland climate could be reverting to the type of summer weather this state hasn’t experienced for two decades? It is shaping up that way with excellent rain on the Granite Belt and a devastating storm hitting Brisbane a few days after my last Red November garden tour. Now my garden is growing like a jungle and the neigbour’s cattle are happily grazing our grass land. The Severn River is flowing and our dams are full.

I set out to take a walk with my camera on Saturday afternoon and met our flock of geese marching home to be penned for the night safe from foxes and other predators. They are always rewarded with a handful of cracked corn to encourage their return, although as a grazing bird their diet consists mainly of grasses and herbage.

Geese coming home.

I was heading down to photograph one of the dams when I began to see the occasional speckle of a white field mushrooms amongst the grass, so promptly returned for a basket and knife. Read the rest of this entry »

FUN OVER FIFTIES

On Sunday 2 November it was my pleasure to escort through my garden the first of three tours this season brought to me by Toni Brennan of Fun Over Fifties Tours. Toni has been bringing tour groups to my garden and to enjoy all the other attractions of Glen Aplin on the Granite Belt in November, for several years.

http://www.funoverfifty.com.au

As with every tour group I positioned these thirty visitors on the veranda of the apartments at Das Helwig Haus B&B where they could overlook the garden while I answered their questions.

Veranda of Das Helwig Haus apartments.

Toni’s tours are punctual and never hurried which means the visitors are happily laughing and have the time to question me in detail as we proceed down through the vegetable and herb gardens. Read the rest of this entry »

PAULA – MY CHEF FOR THREE WEEKS.

It was Eberhard who met the bus from Sydney at Glen Aplin and brought Paula Snow to our home. Paula had contacted me from Boston in the USA and asked if she could come to me as a wwoofer. She had joined the WWOOF organization and discovered that Das Helwig Haus B&B was a host farm prepared to teach organic gardening and cookery skills to young international travelers who were Willing Workers on Organic Farms.

Over coffee, i discovered that she had studied cooking for three years at a culinary school, then worked under a senior chef at an Italian restaurant for two years and then under another senior chef in a  seafood restaurant for a further two years. Both restaurants were situated in the city of Washington.

“What prompted your trip to Australia? I asked.

“My Grandmother died and left me a small legacy on condition that I do something adventurous with the money. After three weeks with you, I’m heading to Cairns to go white water rafting, bungee jumping and scuba diving.”

“And why have you chosen to wwoof with us?”

“I read that you practised self-sufficiency and I want to learn ‘garden to table’ from you.”

Eberhard turned to me and asked, “What are we eating for lunch today?”

I laughed. “I’ve got a cook and a chef in the kitchen and you’re asking me what we will eat? Can’t the two of you work it out?”

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TWO CITRUS RECIPES

It is 48 years since I married my first husband and moved on to a dairy farm to live. I milked cows morning and evening, boiled water in a copper to wash clothes and cooked on a wood burning stove. The only way to gauge the oven temperature was by putting ones hand in the oven and hazarding a guess. Wood was split to different thicknesses, making it possible to regulate the heat by the quantity or variety of wood being burnt. For slow cooking of dark fruit cakes for Christmas only a small amount of wood was allowed to burn and several thicknesses of stiff brown paper was layered around the mixture in the tin, while other sheets of the same paper were placed over the tin. It was generally considered desirable to have the cake cook 3-4 hours, with testing after 3 hours with a straw from a broom to determine if the mixture was still sticky.

Those were days when men joked that they had bought the Missus a new axe for Mother’s day so she could split her own wood. Read the rest of this entry »