LFC News February 24 2021

Feb 242021
 

Thanks to all the people who have contributed to this week’s newsletter: Brent Collett, Deb Thomson, Fay Loveland, Gemma Elliott, Gina Wilson, Jane Dyer, John Damiano, Joy Frake, Kat Lavers, Megan Goodman, Pam Jenkins, Robin Gale-Baker, Sonia Randhawa, Stuart Rodda and Zofia Di Stefano.

Kat Lavers on seed saving

Kat has written an article for our website on the subject of seed saving. As Kat says in her introduction, “There are many reasons to save your own seed. It is far cheaper and your seeds will usually be fresher and stronger than what you can buy in shops. You can also gradually develop new varieties with the flavours you love and they will become more adapted to your garden’s conditions over time. Finally, we are at risk of losing thousands of open-pollinated seed varieties because they are not commercially valuable so, by saving seeds at home, you are helping to preserve the genetic heritage passed down by our gardening ancestors.” She then goes on to discuss hybrid versus open-pollinated seeds, self-pollination versus cross-pollination, seed collection, seed cleaning and seed storage. She also discusses the characteristics and issues of seed saving for each of the major families of vegetables.

Kat has also made a 2 hour Zoom presentation on the subject.

Stuart’s small hand tool of the week – weeding tools

Weeding tools are used for cutting off weeds or hooking them out of the soil. Many are multi-pronged or have flat blades or a variety of other shapes. My favourite is the V-shaped delta hoe (e.g. see www.forestrytools.com.au/index.php?id=1189) and I have recently acquired a stainless steel one, Japanese made, which is much better quality than my old steel one. It has a sharp point and sharp edges on both sides so it can quickly shear off weeds at or below ground level or hook the tough ones out of the soil. It is best used with gloves on, though it is not dangerously sharp in adult hands. It is similar in concept to the ‘Ho-Mi’ Korean tool (e.g. see www.deepgreenpermaculture.com/2019/04/26/product-review-ryset-ho-mi-asian-hand-cultivator).

Read Stuart’s other articles about garden tools.

Robin on the advantages, do’s and don’ts of wicking beds

Robin Gale-Baker has written an article for our website on the advantages, do’s and don’ts of wicking beds. As Robin says in her introduction, “The price of wicking beds has come down considerably in the last couple of years with the availability of corrugated beds with water tight bases. Corrugated beds do not need a pond liner, which is the expensive component of wicking beds made of macrocarpa, a salvaged wood. And they are ready made, saving on building costs. There are now so many advantages of wicking beds that they are well worth considering.”

Robin then gives 8 advantages of wicking beds, starting with “50% reduction in water usage compared to an in-ground or raised equivalent size bed.” Then 5 don’ts, starting with “Don’t try to build a cheap wicking bed – they invariably fail. Apple crates are cheap construction of unsuitable wood and deteriorate quickly.” And then 6 do’s, starting with “Use a proven design. Water reservoir 300 ml depth, soil 250-300ml depth with inlet at the opposite end to the outlet. This is what works! Recognise that there has been much improvement in design by others since Colin Austin first invented wicking beds.”

Read the full article.

Angelo’s latest article

How to identify and treat herbicide contamination of commercial soil, compost and manure.

Read more of Angelo’s food-related articles.

Yes you did know – where to buy chickens

Last week, Rebecca Haschek asked where locally she could buy heritage breed, ‘point of lay’ chickens. Here are the suggestions of various newsletter readers:

  • Abundant Layers (Nar Nar Goon): australorps, sussexes, hamburgs, orpingtons, araucanas, plymouth rocks, barnevelders, welsummers, wyandottes, salmon faverolles, silkies, pekins, Polish, light sussexes and Belgium d’uccles.
  • John Damiano (Doreen): faverolles, frizzles, vorwerks and wyandottes.
  • Kinhaven Chickens (Kangaroo Ground): polish bantams, australorp, wynadottes, plymouth rocks and pekins.
  • Misty Valley Hens: (Kangaroo Ground): bantams, Belgian D’uccles, orpingtons and wyandottes.
  • Peter The Chicken Man (Preston): orpingtons, brahmas, Japanese bantams, barnevelders and cochins.
  • Yummy Gardens (St Andrews): australorp utilities, silkie bantams, buff cochins, crested cream legbars, cuckoo legbars, French wheaten marans, light sussex bantams and pearl guinea fowl.

Yummy Gardens got the most nominations. As Gina Wilson said: “Greg [Parsons] has been breeding and selling chickens for years, with my latest chicken from him being a crested cream legbar who lay blue eggs (see the dark brown chicken in the photo). He also builds chicken coops, like mine, to suit individual needs and backyards. And he designs and constructs vegetable gardens.” Greg is also a reader of this newsletter.

Volunteers are needed to help grow new seed libraries in Banyule and Nillumbik

Seed libraries are coming to local libraries and community centres around Banyule and Nillumbik from mid-March. If you have an interest in seed saving and can contribute an hour or two per week, consider volunteering your time and energy helping to support one of these new seed libraries. The role involves labelling and filling envelopes with seeds, talking to library patrons about how to use the seed library and organising the seed collections. If potentially interested, contact Fay Loveland by email (fay.loveland@gmail.com) or phone (0405 790150) to register your interest.

Diamond Valley Community Support’s Food Drive

Diamond Valley Community Support (DVCS), who are based in Greensborough, are an emergency relief organisation covering Nillumbik and Banyule. Over the past year, they have seen a large increase in the local demand of food and other emergency relief items. You can help them by sponsoring a food parcel. Alternatively, during February and March, they are seeking donations of breakfast cereals, baked beans, tuna and long life milk. There are three donation points:

  • Greensborough Plaza: Donation wall located on the first floor opposite to Post Office. 7 days per week.
  • DVCS: Shop 378a, Level 3, Greensborough Plaza. Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm.
  • Carenet: 143-145 Parker Street, Templestowe. Tuesday and Friday only.

The 2021 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants are now open

The 2021 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants are now open, with a closing date of 19th March. The grants are worth up to $1,000 each and are for primary schools and early education centres. The possible initiatives include: planting a bush tucker garden; planting a vegetable garden; or running a composting or recycling project.

An extra $500 is available for any project which includes a bee-related component. For example: building and installing a native beehive; creating pollinator gardens featuring plants that attract bees; or pollinator education programs. They are calling this the bee bonus.

Whittlesea’s Culture in the kitchen videos

Whittlesea Council is producing a series of videos where you can learn how to cook dishes of cultural significance and meet some local community chefs. Each episode is filmed in real time so you can cook along. The first two videos featured Serap Durnaglu making the Turkish dish ali nazik and Dalal Sleiman making the Chaldean dish kilecha. Next week’s video will feature Nathalie Mbala making the Cameroonian dish ndole. Watch the videos and read the recipes.

Live in Nillumbik?

Bev Robertson has written in to say that Nillumbik Council currently have a survey open entitled Have your say – our people, our place, our future. The survey closes on 28th March.

Meg’s garden this month

I am finally picking ripe tomatoes and I fill my bowl with a wide variety of colours, shapes and sizes. The scent of the tomato foliage makes me smile as I work. I brush the tops of the Italian large leaf basil for the scent. I think that the herb will pair beautifully with my tomatoes in a salad topped with a ball of burratta and a little olive oil, salt and black pepper. The late summer harvest is finally here and my early morning harvesting is now daily. The tromboncinos, butter beans and sweetcorn Jolly Roger are all performing well. I am now hoping for a few more warm days that may help the capsicums and chillies to start to ripen.

The passionfruit vine is fruiting prolifically and I never know what to do with them all. They fill the boxes that I have placed at the front gate for passersby. We are enjoying the satsuma and greengage plums (as are the birds). The greengages are our favourite. They are greenish yellow and intensely sweet but they are less abundant this year than the blood plums (which really need to join the passionfruit in the boxes at the front gate). I spend time lightly stewing some of the plums for the freezer to add to pies and crumbles when the weather is cooler. I also freeze cut plum slices on trays and then transfer the pieces to bags to store for use in baking things such as this simple clafoutis (see picture). A clafoutis is a traditional custard tart that can be served either hot or cold. It uses four egg yolks, but the whites can be frozen for later use or, while the oven is on, they make beautiful walnut meringues.

Plum clafoutis

4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
100g caster sugar
250ml cream
80g almond meal
2 teaspoons plain flour
about 5 plums, pitted and sliced

Whisk the sugar, yolks and whole eggs. Add the cream, almond meal and flour and gently whisk to incorporate.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased or lined baking dish or lined tart tin and arrange fruit on top.

Bake at 180degC for around 40 minutes until golden on top and just set in the middle.

Walnut meringues

4 egg whites
200g sugar
150g walnuts, crushed
pinch of salt

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks start to form, adding the sugar in small amounts as you go. Gently fold in the walnuts using a slotted spoon.

Place small piles of the meringue mixture onto a lined baking tray. Bake at 175degC for around 30-40 minutes or until just starting to brown on the peaks.

Cool on trays.

Note: you can use a piping bag, but I like the rustic look.

Read more of Meg’s recipes.

What seeds to plant in March

Here is a list (see the planting guide for more detail):

Brassicas

Broccoli
Cabbage
Brussels sprouts  
Cauliflower
Kale
Pak Choy
Other cool season veggies  

Broad beans
Leafy greens

Lettuce
Mizuna
Mustard greens  
Rocket
Silverbeet
Spinach
Roots

Beetroot  
Carrot
Potato
Radish
Shallot
Other

Chives
Fennel
Leeks
Parsley

Compared with February, all the brassicas are now on the list, plus broad beans, rocket and spinach. The best months for planting brassicas are March and April. What I do is plant seeds in March so that, if they don’t germinate, I can either try again in April or cheat and buy some seedlings.

Which link was clicked most times in the last newsletter?

The most popular link last week was Bruno’s video of bees in his cactus flowers..

Proverb (or phrase) of the month

Good egg. Meaning: an agreeable or trustworthy person. The precise origin is not known but only dates back to the early 20th Century. It is derived from its antonym (aka opposite), bad egg, meaning an disagreeable or untrustworthy person, which is of American origin and dates back to the mid 19th Century. The original meaning of bad egg was ‘someone or something that disappoints expectations’ and is an allusion to the disappointment felt when cracking or shelling an egg only to find that it is bad.

Here is an interesting page from the Australian Eggs website about bad eggs. For example: 1. the best before date is calculated as six weeks from the day the egg is packed into the carton and 2. hard-boiled eggs have a far shorter shelf life than raw eggs because the boiling makes the shell more porous.

Neither good egg nor bad egg is related to curate’s egg, which means something which is partly bad and partly good, and which was discussed in this newsletter a few months ago.

Read more food-related proverbs.

Gardening quote of the month

“Gardening is a humbling experience.” by Martha Stewart.

Read more gardening quotes.

Joke (or pun) of the week

Chocolate is vital for our survival. Dinosaurs didn’t have chocolate and look what happened to them. [If you wish, substitute ‘chocolate’ with ‘kale’ in this joke.]

Read more jokes.

Upcoming events – introduction

Website calendars

By type of event: All once-off events, Cooking, Everything else, Free.

There are lots of garden tours coming up in the next six weeks so we have put together a garden tour calendar.

By Council area: Banyule, Boroondara, City of Yarra, Darebin, Manningham, Maroondah, Moreland, Nillumbik, Whitehorse, Whittlesea and Yarra Ranges.

Upcoming events – not cooking

Newly announced
February
March
April

Upcoming events – cooking

Newly announced
February
March
April
In Richmond

 Leave a Reply

(required)

(required)