Garden Share Collective - Preserve

This month I am back into blogging and back into the Garden Share Collective.  I look forward to continuing to be involved with this network of likeminded gardeners and sharing in their experiences each month.  This month's topic is Preserve.

Coming to the end of summer Preserve seems logical as fruits and vegetables are running rampant in the garden and it is time to fill the cupboards for winter.  Apart from bottling fruit and making jam this year I have added a dehydrator to my arsenal.  When we had mushrooms appearing daily in the paddocks I took the opportunity to store some away for hearty stews and risottos.  Likewise my sulphite free dried apricots will be great in homemade muesli bars.  As the apple tree heaves with Peasgood Nonsuch beauties I will be turning to the dehydrator again to make some apple chips and if I can beat the birds to the pears I will try some of them too.

One of my favourite ways to preserve fruits is in liqueurs.  Fill a preserving jar with fruit, add sugar and vodka/gin.  Shake daily for a week, then leave for 6 months.  Strain and enjoy.  I have done some Damson Gin and Vodka this week and have plenty more fruit to do a couple more jars.  Give it a couple of months and I will be doing the same with the Medlar.  I have also made apricot and raspberry jam although I still have Damson jam left over from last year, as well as bottling apricots, plums and peaches.

I had always dreamed of a pantry full of colourful preserves.

Gardening with animals and children can be a challenge at times and preserving my sanity is something I am continuing to work on.  I have finally grown tomatoes so successfully I have more than we are eating!  I made some pasta sauce, and since I was so inspired I made some homemade farfalle pasta to go with it.  Some sauce did make it into a jar as well though!  I have grown a number of Heirloom varieties of tomatoes this year including Black Krim, Green Zebra and Brandywine Pink.  Once the fruiting is over I am planning to save some seeds as well to use next summer.

The glasshouse grown Brandywine dwarfs the outside grown Black Krim.

My forest garden project is coming along nicely with the purchase of a dozen herb plants yesterday.  I am embracing chop and drop mulching, and reading anything and everything I can find related to this.  Watch this space....

Incredible Edible

I was lucky enough to hear one of the founders of the Incredible Edible movement, Pam Warhurst, speak in Geraldine last night.

Pam's Ted Talk has been watched by thousands worldwide and inspired successful offshoots of the original edible landscape of Todmorden.  Her wit and charm make her so easy to listen to, and she makes it all sound so easy.  I recommend you take 15 minutes out of you day and watch her clip.  There are a lot of other videos which repeat some of the original, but eight years after the first kitchen table discussion, Incredible Edible is continuing to evolve so these more recent clips add new information.

Pam is touring around New Zealand so head to the Incredible Edible Geraldine website to find details of where you can see her.  She is thoroughly entertaining and even my non-gardening husband had a few chuckles.

The dream is still alive.

I can't believe it is nearly two years since I last posted.  I guess it is running around after a toddler that is keeping me busy.

A quick update on what has happened since I was last here.

• We are still on our little farm with sheep, goats, chickens and now a cow!  We have been hatching our own eggs and raising the roosters for meat.
• I have completed a couple of gardening courses learning about Permaculture and am working on applying the principles to our block.
• I am in the process of designing a forest garden within my existing orchard.  As this progresses I will share more information on how this is going.
• I have been dabbling with more preserving techniques such as dehydrating, fruit liqueurs, jams, and chutneys.

Goals for this year

• Continue to learn about and apply permaculture principles, including establishing forest gardens.
• Make cheese, butter and yogurt with our raw milk.
• More homegrown meals.

I am looking forward to charting my progress and reading some good books when time allows.  I have Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford requested from the local library and can't wait to get stuck into that.

Let me know if you have any other recommendations.