The Garden of Many Delights

Some people may be a little tired of my lyrical waxings regarding my garden. Be that as it may, I have trotted forth with my lovely Christmas Camera (thankyou to Mr's Dad and Mum:-) and taken shots of the abundance that is the backyard of our Cottage.

This is an overview from the back porch. Attractive Hills-Hoist lets one know that we are definately still in Australia.

Yeah, it's sideways because I'm am technologically challenged, but it is still my lovely grapevine literally dripping with bunches of yummilicious fruits of bacchus. Not to mention, plenty of leves for homemade Dolmades. Yum.

Kiwis. Apparently (according to my father) the vast majority of Australians have never seen Kiwi's growing. If you are vastly Australian, -here you go. They're only babies at the moment. I suspect about 3 weeks will pass before I can pick and eat these beauties (which I intend to do standing in the shade of the vne with the fruit still warm from the sun). The Housewarming party will have to include some kind of Kiwi cocktail. All recipe suggestions gratefully received....

And oh, the unutterable delight of fresh raspberries from your own canes! I have been a little piggy of late (hence the serious lack of berries in the picture), but I left that one on there long enough to capture the moment. It is now somewhere in my digestive tract.

Plums dripping, ripening, blushing in the cool sunlight, plums to be stewed, eaten straight from the tree, preserved in tall glass jars, packed into baskets for friends and family. Look at those mouth-watering little fellas. Can't wait to pick the first bushel. All orders should come in early...I'm a greedy woman.

Part of the enormous vege garden. The top bed has cucumber (apple and lebanese), scarlet runner beans (sprouting atm), broccoli (sprouting), tomatoes (oxheart and roma), the lower square bed is all celery (I use it a lot )and the round mound seedless watermelon (again, just sprouting). This is all right down the back of the garden.

So there you go. I did not take photos of my ballerina apple tree, my golden and standard marjoram, plain and variegated sage, thyme, pineapple sage, yarrow, parsley, basil, corn/squash beds, capsicum/basil/eggplant/salad greens beds, lavender hedge, pear tree, cherry tree, digitalis, windflowers or newly dug front garden bed (complete with a pink hydrangea named 'Cameron'....he insisted) but you know you're welcome to come up and have a wander in my little eden. Ooooooh I love my garden. I love sharing it with others even more, so just hop on the ol telephone and give me a little warning first.

Makes one glide to be a lav.

The Day that was and will be again

I survived. I am very proud of myself.

Christmas Dinner was quite the thing, it being wintry and suitably English up here yesterday. We built a log fire, drank rose and port listened to the soundtrack of 'Miss Potter' (very excellent indeed) and opened prezzies.

As you can see, I became quite the non-creative Christmas chef and opted for a roast. Vegan, of course. We accompanied all that fatty goodness with a pear, walnut, avocado and rocket salad with lite goddess dressing, and a vegan cheesecake with raspberries, mango slice and toffutti ice-cream.

Pre-dinner nibblies were chilli + garlic rice balls with sweet chilli/sour cream, szechuan seitan niblets and spring rolls.

Lydgate treated us to a lovely dance in the loungeroom clad only in his brand new Oroton undies. Very fetching indeed. Mr and I settled down to an episode of 'Summer Heights High' and a bit of 'Black Books' (too much festiveness needed to be countered with some Bernard-style humbuggery) and Lydgate did Yoga in his PJ's.

All was very fine and cosy until I woke up at 2am and proceeded to hurl chunks until about 5am. That was a fun way to remember Christmas.

Lydgate puts it down to stress and mixing drinks, but as I have assured him,it wasn't alcohol sickness. I may be a bit of a cadbury girl but even I can't get wasted on a light beer, a snifter of port, a snifter of sherry and 2 glasses of wine. Sheesh, that would normally count as a mid-afternoon snack.

This was a mega-xmas-stress stomach event. So, the boys have gone off to Katoomba to see 'The Golden Compass'. I absolutely refuse to do boxing-day movies. Too many children by far. I have stayed home to pack for New Zealand and to do some much needed chilling.

Lots of kisses to the boys though. While I moaned and groaned in bed this morning with a razor-lined oesophagus, the dears did all the washing up and post-celebration cleaning.

They'll be back at about 5pm for an early dinner of Spaghetti Bolognese (which they cooked before they left), then a very early night. Mr and I will be at Kingsford-Smith tomorrow at 7am for an 8.50 flight to Christchurch. Exhausted, excited and blissfully alone, I shall play with my new camera for a while and then check the packing AGAIN.

When I've finished my Nutrition course, I'm going to do a Permaculture course. So there. I am well on the wasy to being a qualified Hippie. Peace.

Ouch in many many ways

Bloody hell. Even with Lydgate's strong arm and fabulous hoeing skills, I am as sore as all get-out after yesterday's gardening efforts. Mind you, yesterday saw the completion of all the really hard garden work. All beds are now prepped and most are planted out. I can now go on holidays in peace knowing that my garden is in proper working order.

Lydgate worked like a man possessed. Oh how I adore that boy today:-)

Apparently, according to some meaningful quasi-scientific facebook quiz, I show and appreciate love through 'Acts of Service'. i.e. don't tell me,-show me and vice-versa. I will cook you a feast in a second, but will rarely say anything 'lovey'.

Following, yesterday worked well. Lots of affection was communicated through soil, food, sweat and mulch. This is as it should be. Hoorah:-)

2 more days of teaching and then holidays! As of friday, I will have the head-space to plan the ultimate vegan Christmas feast. This involves pulling out all my favourite cookbooks, brewing a large pot of tea and pondering at my kitchen table. It would be appropriate at this point for an unusual cold snap to come in and wreath my garden in mist.

Vaughan Williams will be welded to my CD player, soy-milk will be purchased in bulk, and a shiny new pen will be obtained for the planning notes.

Now to find the motivation to teach this afternoon...I know I put it somewhere....

Seafood and sunsets

A long way to go for chips and salad. Lovely sunset, pleasant wine, a bit 'ho-hum' in the conversation stakes. Curiously non-festive for a celebration. Back in my cottage now though and off to my warm bed complete with purring kitten. Lovely.

Halawa is an Arabic sweet usually eaten after meals with warm pita bread. It can also be used as leg wax.
As I have the one dotted with pistachios, I will not use it as leg wax.
According to the site I visited , after making Halawa you can either eat it, or wrap it in glad wrap and store it in the fridge for next time.
I'm sure this is the only recipe in the world for leg-wax/dessert.
oooh, ABC FM is playing the soundtrack from 'Pride and Prejudice'. Time for a bubble bath and a cup of tea.

Kaleidoscope

Lots of different colours zooming in and out like the acid trip I never took.
Last weekend I was bathed in medical white, jungle green, jamaican coffee and the brilliant crystal hues of effortless conversation with like minds. I can't get over how stupidly pleased I was to converse with others about the delights of vegetable gardening. It sounds silly, but it is such a rush when random party-goers share this particular fetish of mine. My feet were frozen while I chatted about the mysteries of men with the inimitable Slamma, my tastebuds were delighted with Cam's first vegan cheesecake, my mind was tickled by a small but impressive medical posse.
The rest of the weekend was green, brown and straw. Mainly due to my early xmas presents from Brett. 5 bags of Cow poo, 5 bags of mushroom compost, 3 bags of bark-chips and 2 bales of fine straw. Best christmas present ever.
I donned old trackies,a light shirt, tons of sunscreen and wandered through the herbs to my vegetable beds. I hoed in manure, compost and straw til the soil was a light and friable delight. The back of the top bed was planted with scarlet runner beans. In front of them lebanese and apple cucumbers, in front of that 3 different tomato varieties and broccoli.
Next bed down has oodles of celery seedlings and a seedless watermelon mound.
Across the path is my 3rd bed that looks a lot like I've buried 10 cats. This is my mexican experiment. According to traditional mexican planting, the best yield and most eco-friendlymanner of planting is to cultivate 'the three sisters'. Corn, beans and squash. You prepare your soil and then create hills (hence the ten cat graves...I have mounds...). The first sister to be planted is corn. When she is 5 inches high you pop beans at her base. They fix nitrogen into the soil and of course, climb up the corn. When the beans have a decent leg-up you plant squash at the base. This effectively provides a mulching effect for the soil and the large leaves encourage water retention. Planting in this way gives you maximum yield for minimum space but cannot be used commercially because apparently no clever mexican has yet invented a machine that can harvest all three crops. It must be done the old-fashioned way.-by hand. I shall relish this immensely I assure you!
Below this bed is the currently fallow nightshade bed. Next weekend it will be hoed and pooed and planted with capsicum, chilli, basil, more tomato and eggplant.

My only issue now is that I have no beds left for onion, garlic, potato and zucchini and I have completely forgotten to set aside space for a salad bed. Brett won't love me very much if I ask him to build me two new beds. Perhaps I will have to revert to my chaotic planting instincts and just slot them in wherever there's space.
When the house-warming party happens (mid to late January I hope), everything should be verdant and juicy and gorgeous and heart-warming. I shall lead people through my eden in a large straw hat and flowing whites and wach their hearts warm at the sight of organic abundance. People who don't think veges are beautiful needn't attend.

Off to Doyle's tonight for a 'Symphony' dinner. I'm not sure why I'm going to a seafood restaurant. My brother's idea. I guess I will try to be gracious and not gag into my salad while fellow humans rip heads and intestines from various sea-creatures and stuff them into their gaping maws. Many cigarette breaks may be necessary just to escape the smell. -Yes, I'm aware of how ridiculous that sounds.