Remember all those tomatoes............?

Well we gave up weighing them, there were just so many !!  We have satisfied ourselves that they are definitely worth growing again.  Especially the giant tree tomato variety.  Conservatively, we estimate the yield as 10kg per plant, and we only planted seven of them.

So, what to do with all the tomatoes once the jars run out?  Well, we tentatively made enquiries about selling the excess at the local market.  We refused to see them go to waste, and we had noticed an absence of tomatoes at the markets, and they are unusual varieties.  We were thoroughly surprised and encouraged by the response from the market organisers "oh yes, a couple of boxes of tomatoes would sell really well, and you must have other things you could sell, if you are good at growing tomatoes..."

In the end we rolled up to the Blue Knob Market with four boxes of tomatoes, jars of homemade tomato chutney, tomato seedlings (which Michelle had readied for a summer crop) and bunches of rainbow chard.  Ian's words, just prior to trading, were sensitively spoken "now you won't be upset if we don't sell anything.."  "No, I guess not, but I really would like to move the tomatoes, even if we don't sell anything else." was the reply.

We needn't have been concerned, we sold all four boxes plus about 1/3 of the chutney and several seedlings and bunches of chard.  And even better, we had a fun time doing it, chatting to the locals, exchanging tomato lore, by the end of the morning Michelle had become known as the 'tomato lady'.  At the start of the morning our first sale was a jar of chutney to a lady selling samosas, who needed an accompaniment.  Later in the morning we had people coming to buy the chutney they had just eaten with the samosas !!

We thought the chutney was pretty good ourselves, but since there are now third party endorsements, we've included the recipe below.  Enjoy !!

Tomato Chutney

2kg tomatoes - finely chopped
500g onions, finely chopped
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tblsp salt
2 tsp mustard powder
3 tsp curry powder
500g sugar
3 cups white vinegar
2 tblsp cornflour
1/4 cup vinegar, extra

Place all ingredients except cornflour and extra vinegar into a large saucepan.  Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved and continue to boil until reduced by approximately half (at least 2 hours).  Stir occasionally to ensure it does not catch.

Mix cornflour to a paste with extra vinegar, add to tomato mixture and stir until thickened.

Pour into sterilised* jars and seal immediately.  Eat at once or store in a cool, dry and dark place for up to 1 year.

* to sterilise jars, ensure they are clean and dry; place cold jars into a cold oven, heat to 100 degrees Celsius for approx. 10 minutes.  Bottle hot chutney into hot jars and seal immediately.

Storms & new additions

A stormy night last week, Ian was BBQing and providing entertainment
The hills in the background are lit up by lightning.

You will no doubt have seen on the news that SEQ and NSW are copping some big storms at the moment.  We have been fortunate to have some decent rainfall, after about 3 or 4 months with no rain at all, and recently we have also had some cracking storms here at Seven Springs.  Ian has been looking forward to the storm season, and so far it hasn't disappointed.

Ian providing further entertainment (note the gum boots).

 The biggest so far at Seven Springs was yesterday (Sunday) - about 15mm of rain, golf ball sized hail, and the temperature plummeted by 10 degrees in under 1 minute down to 16 degrees Celsius.  Here are some pics.
 

In truth the photos do not do justice to the intensity of the storms.  It is impossible to hear a spoken word even at close quarters the rain and hail is so heavy.  Fortunately no damage was sustained at all to any one or any thing, just a little anxiety  :)

New Additions 1 & 2
We've mentioned to a few people that we now have roosters, so here's a pic of them dutifully guarding the hens.  They really are quite sweet - they will sound an alarm if there is danger (eg: eagle) and usher the hens to a safe spot; they also call the hens to wherever they have located a particularly tasty morsel and let the hens eat first.

However, the red rooster is suspicious that Michelle might not be as friendly as she pretends to be (with her garden scraps and her warm morning mashes) and has attempted to chase her out of the chook enclosure a couple of times.  Michelle, of course, will not put up with this behaviour and stands her ground, making sure he knows that he is not the boss.  The ultimate demonstration of seniority by Michelle may well occur in the coming weeks.  We'll let you know how he tastes.

New Addition 3 - Foxy
We finally have a lovely puppy dog to add to the menagerie.  Her name is Foxy, and she is 20 weeks old.  Foxy is a ridgeback / shepherd / kelpie cross, and we obtained her from a local animal shelter.

She has a lovely temperament, wants to say hello to and play with everyone and everything, including the hens if she were allowed. 

The cats aren't convinced Foxy is a worthy addition to the family.  Didi is quite tolerant, but Gigi is a little toad and will hiss, spit, growl and swipe at poor Foxy when all she wants to do is make friends.

Didi and Gigi pre-Foxy - relaxed Queens of the Castle.

Gigi post-Foxy - en garde !

Foxy already has a play date with the dog of some friends of ours that live down the road, so hopefully that will go well and Foxy can run off some of her youthful vigour.

There's lots more happening at Seven Springs, so look out for our next blog entry.

Winter crop yields

Some, but not all, of our winter tomato harvest

This post is an update on the winter veges.  We particularly and enthusiastically mention the impressive yield of tomatoes thus far.  Regular blog readers will remember that we planted particular varieties of tomatoes supposedly suited to growing over winter.  They got in a little late, and we weren't sure how well they would go.  Well!!  Thus far we have 19kg of Giant Tree Tomatoes, 13kg of Stupice and 8kg of Ox Heart with probably as many more to harvest. 

Giant tomatoes, with Stupice in foreground.  Can of coconut milk included to attempt to show scale.

The Giant Tree Tomato variety certainly has lived up to its name:  growing about 2m tall and cropping heavily with giant sized tomatoes, so heavily that Ian has had to cross brace the trellises.  These tomatoes are very tasty (as home grown tomatoes generally are), and you can see from the photo have quite a lot of flesh, whereas some varieties have quite a lot of seeds and pulp.  Michelle has been cooking these into passata.  Only another 20kg or so to go.

The other hugely successful variety has been Stupice.  These are plum size fruit on a bushy mid size plant, and very sweet.  Perfect for salads, or eating like an apple; Michelle has used these for tomato sauce (the kind you put on hot chips) and tomato relish.  The remainder may well end up as passata though, as we are running low on jars.

More tomatoes to harvest; garlic in bottom right corner.

We haven't sprayed the tomatoes at all.  We did dust with tomato dust, probably twice, when they were fairly young and then when the first fruits were beginning to form, as we noticed green caterpillars were present and we feared an infestation.  Both varieties have proven generally disease resistant, with some yellowing of lower leaves only now starting to be evident, no doubt attributable at least in part to growing them in the cooler months.  We always put a handful of potash around each tomato seedling when planting, and have fertilised with home made comfrey tea.  We estimate losses of only about 1 or 2%, due to either grubs or falling / touching the ground and rotting.

Cross braced tomato trellises.

Not expecting quite such a successful crop, there are 35 San Marzano and 40 heirloom mixed variety seedlings ready to plant out for summer.  San Marzano are reputedly the best variety for bottling and sauce making (according to Diggers Club) so will be interested to see how they crop and taste.

Tomato seedlings awaiting planting.

Broad beans and peas are long finished, and we had good harvests, although did not weigh these.  Celery, chard, kale and carrots are still being picked as needed.  Onions are starting to mature.  Garlic still has a couple of months to go - there seems to be mixed results with the different varieties planted, will give a more comprehensive update when it is harvested.

Potatoes are all dug up and in total we harvested about 28kg.  Varieties we planted were Nicola, King Edward, Pink Eye, Kipfler and Dutch Cream.  Unfortunately some of them have hollow heart (a hole in the middle of the potato) which we believe may be caused by inconsistent watering.  A little disappointing, but they are still very tasty.

Spuds

We had to dig them a little earlier than we would have liked to due to a resident bandicoot (at least that's what we think it is) digging up the potatoes.  When we set up the vege gardens we were conscious of keeping out birds and wallabies, but bandicoots were not on our radar at all.  So some remedial works are required or all the spring / summer seedlings will be uprooted.

All in all we are calling our first season in the vege garden a success.  It is certainly very satisfying to put together a quiche or frittata using all your own home grown ingredients.

Almost forgot to mention - I am saving seeds from the Giant Tree Tomato and Stupice varieties, if you would like some for your own garden just let me know and I'll be happy to post you some.