Rain, rain go away

Unfortunately the sunny weather hasn't lasted, and it is raining again.  Bleak. Ian reckons the rain is good as it keeps the house rainwater tanks topped up!  (by topped up, he really means overflowing)  So, what to do when the weather is wet?  Cooking (and eating) of course.

The preserving tradition started with good friends on the West coast is being continued.  Apples so far, and hopefully pears sometime soon.  We also have quite a lot of Davidson plum trees, with fruit dripping from them, and they'll also get the fowlers vacola treatment.  I must say though, it's not as much fun without good friends to share the peeling and conversation.

New culinary ventures include sausages, these are a spicy chorizo pork sausage;

...and Ian was very helpful with these sausage rolls.  The filling is lamb and honey - made into sausage rolls as I didn't have sausage casings at the time;
 

..and cheese.  The waxed cheese is a Farmhouse Cheddar, ready to eat in a few weeks, the one on the left a parmesan style called Asiago, ready to eat in two months. 

I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy (Claridge - that's for you :)) it is to make cheese, and doesn't really take much time either.  Although there is a bit of waiting between steps in the process, that time is easily filled tending the chooks or getting dinner ready.  We've also enjoyed home made mozzarella, haloumi and fetta.  I thought the mozzarella was average, probably more to do with my lack of technique than anything, but the fetta !!  Fantastic !!  Lovely and creamy and salty, and it's easy to control the saltiness by leaving it in the brine for longer or shorter time.  Will definitely be making this one again.  The haloumi was very good and I will make that again, but not significantly better than store bought (unlike the fetta).

Finally a pic or two of the 'brewery', Ian's second (or is that third?) man cave.  The brewing continues with stout, lager, and a low carb beer in stock.  Last week was more bourbon,rum and limoncello (Muscas take note !!)  Cider is next.

Baby it's cold outside

House dam looking back towards house

Winter is upon us.  After quite a lot of rain we finally have clear sunny days, and cold nights down in the single figures.  The days are quite cool too, unless you are out in the sunshine strolling around the vegies or cutting wood.

We've had the fire lit every night for about 5 weeks, gradually being lit earlier and earlier each day.  The days are short and the shadows are long. Although the cool weather is an effective deterrent to rising early, it is lovely to sit by the fire in slippers with a furry cat on your lap. By 5pm it is dark and the hens are on their perch for the night.  The cold weather hasn't slowed their laying too much at this stage, but we are aware that reduced egg output is common in winter.

The vegies are sown and it is now a matter of waiting for things to grow.  A minor setback to the broccoli due to cabbage white butterfly has been rectified with organic methods.  It is now recovered but no doubt the harvest will be later than it would otherwise have been.  Vigilance is required to ensure it doesn't happen again.  The first pickings will no doubt be the rainbow chard - so good in soups, stews and quiches this time of year.  The winter tomatoes are going very well so far, and we are hopeful of bountiful harvests.

Foreground: broadbeans; background: winter tomato plants

There is also an acquisition to report - a Polaris Ranger.  This thing is fantastic.  Safer and more practical than a quad bike but able to go into just as many places.  There are parts of the property that would be very difficult to get to without it (just ask Michelle about her ordeal through sucking mud threatening to swallow gum boots - while Ian drove through high and dry in the Ranger !!).

Steers supervising wood collection.  Note Ian's lumberjack shirt.

The Ranger even has a tilt tray

We look forward to taking visitors on a tour of the property in the Ranger - rug up though !!

Mardi Grass



The weekend of 4 and 5 May saw Nimbin packed to the rafters for the annual Nimbin Mardigrass, which is a cannabis law reform rally with a festivial atmosphere.

In the weeks preceding the Mardi Grass we couldn't help but notice a police helicopter doing a grid aerial search of the valleys and ridges including a low pass over our property !  Outrageous!!.

Being newbies in the area we are striving to absorb the local culture, learn the local history and find our place in the wider community.  So of course, we felt obliged, nay, compelled, to attend Mardi Grass 2013. 

Our trip in to Nimbin on both Saturday and Sunday involved passing through a police roadblock set up just south of town. Most likely this was one of several road blocks on all the roads into Nimbin over the weekend.

Hari Krishnas, Nimbin main street

The weather was beautiful while we checked out all the food and clothing stalls etc and then gravitated to the "arena" where we watched the Hemp Olympics. The MCs for the event were comedians who entertained the crowd with often disparaging comments on the competing (and spectating) athletes.  And to keep the peace, volunteers wearing t-shirts labelled "polite" were in attendance. Spectators and participants came from all points of the compass: Holland, Taiwan, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, USA etc etc.

Major events included:

• Police v Polite Tug o' Peace  (the locals won best out of three);
• Bong throwing;
• Joint rolling; and, our favourite:
• Grower's Iron Person

Athletes competing in the Grower's Iron Person event were required to jump hay bale hurdles and run about 150 metres carrying a  bag of manure, then repeat with a bucket of water, crawl though the Lantana Tunnel of Death, supposedly infested with leaches and ticks, and finally complete the circuit picking up their 'stash' on the way back to the finish line.  All of this on the side of a hill with approx 30% gradient.  We don't use the term 'athlete' loosely.  That would be a hard slog.  We are happy to replicate the course on our property for anyone who thinks it doesn't sound so bad.  Here's some pics of the day.



 



Tug o' Peace

Grower's Iron person (this guy won the men's race)

 



Lantana tunnel of death

There were so few entrants in the women's iron person event that there weren't enough participants for all three placings, so this brave woman decided to enter, knowing that even if she walked the entire course she would be sure to win at least third place.  So that's what she did.  One of the commentators is walking with her.

 

The closing of the festival is marked by a parade through the main street of Nimbin, down to the cop shop, then back to the festival grounds for the law reform rally.  Anyone can march in the parade, with the Gunja Faeries and the Plant'em leading the way.  The permit for the street parade must only be until 3pm, because at 3.01pm the police were actively moving everyone off the street.





Gunja Faeries leading the parade



Banners in the parade

Giant joint, the high point of the parade

A good time was had by all.  We consider ourselves somewhat more local now.  We avidly watched the local news for reports of Mardi Grass.  Disappointingly, the only mention was on channel nine to report the number of cautions issued and seizures made by police over the weekend.

Time to move on