LFC News March 8 2023

Mar 072023
 

Thanks to the people who have contributed to this week’s newsletter: Angela Snyder, Carmel Malone, Jan Akeroyd, Nada Cunningham, Tahlia Sleeman, Val Sandeman and Virginia Solomon.

Crabapples – an oft overlooked resource! (by Robin Gale-Baker)

Crabapples are a resource often overlooked by gardeners. There are many benefits of planting a crabapple or two – beautiful flowers and foliage, great for pollinators and, of course, the apples have many culinary uses. Crabapple, like apple, belongs to the Malus genus and the Rosaceae family and is a small to medium tree, though can become sprawling if unpruned. There are around 20 varieties available in Australia.

Crabapples come in many colours in foliage, flower and fruit. Foliage ranges through green, red and purple, some turning in autumn to reds and purples. The flowers range from white to white-pink, pale pink, deep pink, red and purple. The fruit can be red, orange, yellow or purple. Crabapples are regarded as a ‘blossom’ tree in spring and a tree of autumnal colour in autumn. The fruit can last from summer to winter, hanging in winter like baubles, after the tree sheds its leaves and providing winter colour.

Trees can be bought potted or bare-rooted in winter. If space is at a premium, buy one grafted onto dwarf root stock.

Crabapples are unfussy about soil but prefer it well drained. Plant in a sunny spot for best results. Dig a hole large enough that all the roots can spread out, add some compost and backfill, water and mulch. In its first few years, water it regularly but once established it will rarely need watering.

Prune for shape and to remove broken, dead and diseased limbs in winter. Crabapples are such good attractants for pollinators that they are often grown in apple orchards to increase pollination. They are self-fertile so one is enough in a home garden (unless you want more).

Crabapples are often regarded as ornamental trees rather than ‘fruiting’ trees. The main difference between an ornamental and edible one is fruit size. Ornamental trees may have no fruit or only very small, inedible fruit while edible ones have fruit that is at least 3 cm in diameter. The crabapple fruit is quite sour so is generally processed with a sweetener to make it palatable. Having said that, some are sweet enough to be eaten from the tree. The fruit is generally ripe for harvest in autumn.

Crabapples have a very high pectin level and can be made into syrup that is added to other fruit for jam and jelly making. Crabapple jelly is perhaps the best known use for the fruit but other uses include cakes, breads, scones and muffins, as an addition to an apple dessert, fruit leathers, sauces, pastes, butters and juices, pickling and cordial making.

Sally Wise, a Tasmanian author in her book A year in a bottle has a recipe for crabapple lemonade that I have made and it is delicious. The ingredients are crabapples, sugar, lemon, cider vinegar and cold water. The mix needs to sit for two weeks in a food safe bucket before being ready to use. At this point it will be fizzy. Her book also includes recipes for crabapple jelly, jam and cheese.

A new community garden at Willsmere Station Community Garden in Kew

Willsmere Station Community Garden in Kew was established in 2019. It is membership-based, with some communal areas and some individually allocated plots. It has 50 individually allocated plots plus a communal food forest which provides opportunities for harvest sharing, raised plots that are wheelchair accessible, shared wicking beds and a children’s area with raised circular garden beds. At the corner of Willsmere Road and Carnegie Avenue.

The garden’s objectives are:

  1. To establish and maintain a community garden in Kew.
  2. To improve food security and promote healthy eating by providing opportunities for locals to grow fresh, nutritious produce and share supplementary harvest.
  3. To enhance the use of green space in Kew by providing a beautiful and peaceful meeting place.
  4. To increase community connection and reduce social isolation by creating an open and welcoming community garden for individuals of all ages and backgrounds.
  5. To strengthen local neighbourhood dynamics by collaborating with community partners.
  6. To build a strong sense of place by acknowledging the area’s story and heritage.
  7. To reduce their environmental impact by employing ecological gardening principles, avoiding synthetic or harmful chemical inputs, conserving water and providing composting facilities for food waste diversion & soil enrichment.
  8. To encourage local biodiversity and provide a space for the community to connect with nature and the rhythms of the seasons.
  9. To increase the number of locals engaged in, and informed about, sustainable food growing through practical skill workshops and knowledge sharing.
  10. To ensure longevity of the gardening community by using sustainable management practices which are open, participatory and non-judgemental.

Read their page on our website.

Welcome Tahlia and colleagues!

That brings the total number of local community gardens who have a page on our website to 62.

The Really Really Free Market has returned

After a hiatus of 5 years, the Really Really Free Market is back! Every Wednesday, 10am-5pm at the Catalyst Social Centre, 144 Sydney Road, Coburg. If you never went to any of the previous markets in Preston, they are unique events – everything is given away for free!

I’m not clear about the scope of what is being given away. The previous market had all sorts of stuff but the new market is described as a “rescued and donated groceries market“.

Really Really Free Market (RRFM) is a food rescue collective based on the principles of mutual aid, which gathers and re-distributes as much food as possible to the wider community. It aims to shed light on both food waste and alternative models of distributing resources. RRFM is an open organisation that encourages anyone with capacity to join in and help with the collection and distribution on food. Currently, food rescue runs are on Tuesdays – meet at the rear garden of Catalyst Social Centre at sunset.

Why not plant potatoes in Autumn?

Following the advice last week not to plant potatoes in Autumn, a number of you have contacted me to ask why. My understanding is that, whilst they will grow all year, potatoes are essentially a warm-season crop which grow worst in Winter. So, the best planting months are such that the plants are harvested before Winter. So, Spring or early Summer.

Note that our planting guide is concerned with the best planting months, not the only planting months, and that many homegrown vegetables can be grown outside of these months. As Jan Akeroyd wrote in: “I planted some potatoes in April or May in temporary raised beds that I was using to create compost for use elsewhere in the garden. The plants got burnt by our first frost but kind of came back. From then on I covered them when we might get a frost (not often in Melbourne winters these days!). I didn’t water them and the vines died back in late spring without flowering and I figured that there wouldn’t be anything in the beds. When I needed the soil for another garden project in November, I started digging the soil and compost out and discovered a large healthy crop of potatoes. I think the moral is that, whilst there is an ideal time to plant each type of veggie, there is often a lot of wiggle room. Also, whilst commercial growers are looking for the most cost-effective way to do things, home gardeners are often happy to put in extra effort to compensate for less than ideal conditions (like covering plants at night when a frost is likely).”

Do you know?

None of Nada Cunningham’s eggplants are well. Can you identify the culprit and supply a possible solution to the problem? Email me with the answers.

Eltham Farmers’ Market news

A Certified Organic veggie stallholder

Thriving Foods Farm is not a new stallholder but a longstanding stallholder that I have just found out is Certified Organic.

NERP will be at the next market

North East Region Permaculture (NERP) will be at the next market with a stall focussing on preserving the harvest and dealing with the gluts. They will have selected preserves for tasting and a bunch of free recipes, plus their usual mix of free seeds and the odd plant or vegetable to share.

More on vanilla slices

Carmel Malone has written in to recommend the slices at the bakery in Northampton in Western Australia. I will be going and taste testing them as soon as Carmel (or someone else) gives me the relevant plane ticket.

The Nillumbik Nursery newsletter

The Nillumbik Nursery send out a rather lively newsletter once a month. Read their March edition. Read previous editions. Sign up for future editions.

From their March edition, here is a list of the benefits of using compost:

  • Compost is a soil conditioner.
  • Compost improves soil structure.
  • Compost attracts beneficial organisms … not just worms, but also good bacteria, fungi and insects that help keep your soil biome healthy and diverse.
  • Compost improves drainage.
  • Compost improves water and nutrient holding capacity and reduces water runoff; it acts like a sponge.
  • Compost opens up, or ‘fluffs’, clay; gypsum (a clay-breaker) works best when used with compost.
  • Compost reduces the potential for erosion.
  • Adding compost sequesters carbon in the soil.
  • Composting reduces organic waste going to landfill.

Not local but interesting

The Thorpdale Potato Festival

The Thorpdale Potato Festival is on Sunday, 12th March, 9.30am-4.30pm. Thorpdale is in Gippsland. $22 per adult. It will include potato picking, potato races, abseiling wall, face painting, petting zoo, reptile show, shearing demos, sheep shearing demos and stunt bikes.

The Ballarat Begonia Festival

The Ballarat Begonia Festival is on Sunday, 12th March, 9.30am-4.30pm. $22 per adult. It will include a parade, some aerial acrobatics, speakers and lots of begonia in flower.

Lemon myrtle, rosehip and hibiscus iced tea (by Angela Snyder)

[Angela runs The Food School Yarra Valley in Mount Evelyn. They have lots of upcoming cooking classes.]

Making iced tea with lemon myrtle, rosehips, jasmine, and hibiscus is a simple and delicious way to cool off during the summer months. The combination of these ingredients creates a unique flavour that is sure to please.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of dried lemon myrtle leaves
2 tablespoons of dried rosehips
2 tablespoons of dried jasmine
2 tablespoons of dried hibiscus
6 cups of cold water
4 tablespoons of honey (optional)

Method

Place the dried herbs in a large pot and add 6 cups of cold water.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Strain the mixture, discarding the solids, and pour the liquid into a large pitcher.

Add honey to the pitcher if desired for sweetness.

Place the pitcher in the refrigerator to cool for several hours.

Serve the iced tea over ice and garnish with lemon slices and mint leaves if desired.

Which link was clicked most times in the last newsletter?

The most popular link in the last newsletter was Judy’s article about collecting chestnuts in Mt Dandenong.

b33e661f-c100-4ebe-9ffa-847952e0da4e.jpgJoke (or pun) of the week

Submitted by Olaf Falafel: They told me I shouldn’t put jam on my trigger finger but I’m sticking to my guns.

Read more jokes.

 

Regular activities over the coming week

Farmers’ markets

Remember that Carlton Farmers’ Market is now on Saturdays rather than Sundays.

For the time being at least, I am going to include the weekly Really Really Free Market (RRFM) markets as honorary farmers’ markets in the list above.

Food swaps
Community gardens

Upcoming face-to-face events – not cooking

Edible weeds presentation with Adam Grubb; Saturday, 18th March, 11am-midday; free; Northcote.

This workshop will give you all sorts of tips and tricks for safe foraging of local and edible weeds, positive identification of plants, and general inspiration on how to appreciate the less-conventionally beautiful plant life in your own backyard.

Banyule’s Urban Food Strategy – community co-design workshop; Saturday, 25th March, 9am-12.30pm; free; Bellfield.

Banyule City Council, in partnership with Sustain, is developing an Urban Food Strategy. At this second workshop, they will present the consultation findings and unpack the key themes and recommended priority focus areas for action.

Farming for our future (ages 5 to 8); Tuesday, 18th April, 10am-midday; free; Brunswick East.

This workshop for children aged 5-8 years and each child must be accompanied by an adult guardian. Explore Honey Lane Organic Farm and meet some chickens. Make a recycled pot and propagate your own plant to take home.

Farm to fork (ages 3 to 5); Wednesday, 19th April, 1-3pm; free; Brunswick East.

This workshop for children aged 3-5 years and each child must be accompanied by an adult guardian. Explore the CERES market garden and visit the chickens and bees. Learn how to turn food waste into healthy soil for plants with help from worms. Learn how to safely plant seeds into soil and care for them as they grow.

Seed saving; Saturday, 29th April, 10-11.30am; free; South Morang.

Maria Ciavarella, from My Green Garden, will show you how, when and which seeds to save and store.

Edible weeds walk; Saturday, 29th April, at 10.30am-12.30pm and again at 1.30-3.30pm; $30 ($15 per hour); Brunswick East.

What if many of the weeds in our garden were just as edible as the vegetables we tend beside them? What if some of these free, all-too-easy-to-grow uninvited guests were so nutritionally dense that they are just about the healthiest things you could possibly eat? What if many of them also had medical traditions dating back centuries? Well it’s all true! And if you know what to choose, they also taste great. Join Adam Grubb, co-author of The Weed Forager’s Handbook, for a walk foraging for edible weeds.

Home composting for beginners; Saturday, 29th April, 2-3.30pm; free; Edendale.

What you will learn: how to compost at home; simple to follow composting steps; and common problems and solutions.

Introduction to composting, worm farms and Bokashi bins; Monday, 1st May, 1-2.30pm; free; Ringwood.

Learn all about composting your food scraps at home. Learn about how to set up and maintain a compost bin, worm farm and Bokashi bin and how to decide which system suits you best.

In March
In April
Regular events

Upcoming face-to-face events – cooking

Laksa + Hanoi spring rolls; Sunday, 19th March, 11am -2pm; $128 ($43 per hour); Brunswick.

They will show you have to make both laksa and Hanoi spring rolls. You will take home a sample of their laksa paste.

Beginners cheese making class; Saturday, 22nd April, 10am-3pm; $250 ($50 per hour); Thomastown.

What you will learn: how to make hand-stretched fresh mozzarella and create bocconcini; how to make primo sale; and how to make fresh ricotta. What you will get: Italian style lunch; and primo sale and freshly made mozzarella to take home. Organised by That’s Amore Cheese.

Pasta making workshop; Saturday, 29th April, 1-3pm; $55 ($28 per hour); Park Orchards.

Learn how to make a basic egg pasta dough which you will then turn into many different forms of pasta, including linguine, fettucine and pappardelle. Learn how to use a hand pasta machine and the types of pasta you can make with such a machine. Organised by Park Orchards Community House.

Food waste workshop with Open Table; Saturday, 29th April, 2-4pm; free; Carlton.

Learn how to decrease your food waste and innovative ways to make your food go further. Facilitated by Open Table.

Preserving the harvest – then and now; Tuesday, 2nd May, 2-3pm; free; Mooroolbark.

Claire Coutts will demonstrate quick, easy and economical ways to preserve the produce from your garden, using basic utensils and methods.

In March
In April
Regular classes

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