I was wandering out to my swale to see what impact 46.5mm of rain had had on it, when I noticed my fig tree had purplish, drooping fruit. Ooh, a pleasant surprise! What was even more of a surprise was how delicious this fruit was. Seriously just like eating fig jam it was so sweet and luscious. It wasn't until later that I really appreciated the reward I was just given. Stores can't provide this quality fruit. Fruit that is plucked from the tree when fully ripe then put straight into the mouth to enjoy, has to give the best flavour and nutrition. A great reason to grow your own food. Even if you only have space for a few pots of herbs - they will be the best herbs you can get!!
I didn't spend too much time in the kitchen this weekend but did manage to throw together an excellent Farmhouse Rooster Stew. It was delicious combining onions, garlic, a heap of my ripe tomatoes and a variety of kale with the recently harvested bird. I'll be publishing a separate post on rooster recipes down the track (should be equally as good with a standard chicken) so watch out for that one!
Also in the kitchen, after further reading of my amazing fermenting book, I threw together a bunch of herbs (chives, basil and oregano) with some garlic, whizzed it up in the food processor then put it under brine. I'll leave this to ferment for a 5-10 days before storing in the fridge. This mix makes it quick and easy to add a great herby flavour to soups, stews and even salad dressings without having to venture out the door. Also adds that extra probiotic goodness if not heated!
An update on my pumpkin harvest saw two more pumpkins added to the tally. I hadn't been a hundred percent confident that I'd located every pumpkin in my patch as it was so overgrown but the busy clean up crew quickly uncovered these two beauties hiding in amongst the foliage. I pulled them out and add them to my pumpkin drying zone that I've set up under the eaves of the house. Bundled them up in a fine net to hopefully stop any mice from turning them into a meal. Anyway, hopefully it discourages them!!
What a rainy weekend we've had. As I wandered around to inspect my water flows I was pleased to see the property handling all the water as planned. The swales were holding back water which gives it time to soak in and fully hydrate the berms, which in turn will give the food forest trees increased access to water over time. Other than in the swales there wasn't a lot of water standing around having soaked quickly into the ground. It's been fairly dry for the last month, so great to have the landscape nicely soaked once again.
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