Nirvana Biodynamics

With the weather cooling down it was time to fire up the wood stove. My all time favorite kitchen ‘tool’. It cooks the best roasts, bread, puddings, and long slow stews and just about everything else .Cooking with wood imparts a special qualit y into the food & the stove chugging away creates a real presence in the house. It can transport you to another time that moved more slowly and in time with the seasonal rhythms. Our stove is Australian made, (actually Albury NSW.) the Themalux Supreme ticks away always ready to cook something at the same time heating the hot water (very necessary when there is no sun to work the solar panels). The system also has a tap direct from the hot water jacket that provides instant hot water for washing dishes, hands, cold feet or getting the pasta water to the boil quickly which saves the water coming from the hot water service which takes a while to come through hot. Another plus is that all the wood to run it is grown on our property. We planted...

The challenge in the vegetable garden as the seasons change is to continue to get the last of the summer bounty harvests while at the same time continue planting to ensure harvest in the months to come. At present I’m still harvesting the last of the tomatoes, zucchinis, capsicums, basil, beans and about to harvest my cardoon. The pumpkins will be harvested in the next couple of weeks meanwhile carrots, chard, chicory, lettuce, endive, nasturtiums, augula, spring onions, kale, red cabbage, celery, parsnips, turnips, beetroot and self sown garlic as a salad green are all being enjoyed. Veggies planted previously for future harvests include cabbage, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts, leeks, fennel, carrots, parsnips, Swedes, turnips, kohlrabi, spinach & an array of salad greens. The garlic, planted last month into warm soils, followed by gentle rain look wonderful already over 25 cm tall. The romanesco broccoli Kate gave me as seedlings in spring may be just getting around to setting a ...

The seasons are changing; summer is slowly making way for autumn. In the air there are still clouds of common brown butterflies & dragon flies, the flame robins look fat & happy and the eastern spinebills are keeping me on my toes as they mimic our customer beeper. My boots repel the heavy dew that glistens in the morning sunlight; the leaves rustle as I walk through the orchard. Picking chestnuts means eyes to the ground , as well as chestnuts & their burrs around my feet I see new ant hills, spider holes, worm castings, freshly germinated clover and a multitude of fungi. My mind drifts off wondering about these interesting fruiting bodies that started off as a spore. When the spore germinates it produces tiny threads called hyphae. When mattered together, these hyphae form mycelium before they appear above ground as fungi. There are many types here but wouldn’t it be nice if some where edible, may be a truffle or morel or chanterelle even a field mushroom (actually there ...

On Saturday night we celebrated the harvest moon with a pretty typical meal , roast goose (one of ours, natural ly ) and vegetables fresh from the garden- beans, 3 types of carrots, turnip, parsnip, beetroot , butternut pumpkin and potatoes. I don’t actually plant potatoes but there are usually a few around to harvest. These ones came from under the kiwi fruit and where growing amongst the nettles. To start the meal we had delicious fresh figs, a sprig of sage wrapped in prosciutto and baked in Seville orange juice and a little butter. We had no need for dessert as the taste of figs, roasted goose and delicious vegetables lingered long into the night as we slowly enjoyed this delicious meal and chatted. The harvest moon is important for a couple of reasons here. Firstly the garlic is always planted 2 days before the harvest moon and this time also marks the beginning of the chestnut harvest. The best part of growing lots of different crops is that you can have lots of harvest celebrati...

Now that the weather is more like autumn it is pleasant to walk around the orchard harvesting chestnuts. As your always looking at the ground there are always lots of life to observe. Spiders of various sizes scurrying around, ants busy moving things , small skinks russeling in the grass. Today this little feller was sunning himself. It's always good to see the orchard provides so many homes for these often forgotten creatures.

That is the sound of footsteps in the orchard as I harvest the chestnuts. Everything as gone crispy under foot and in the air, a strange cracking sound came from an uphill chestnut, I looked up expecting to see a flock of Adelaide Rosella in the tree but no, it was the sound of dry leaves breaking from the tree and landing on the dry grass. Such as been March so far. The record heat wave has hit this valley hard, just at the time when we should Be riffling through damp leaves in the morning drizzle. Throughout the hills orchardist are facing this force as they try to harvest apples and pears. Since the beginning of March this is how our temperature reading has gone. 1 29 C Max 10C Min 2 33 & 10 3 35 & 15 4 37 & 18 5 38 & 19 6 37 & 19 7 38 & 22 8 40 & 23 9 39 & 24 10 38 & 17 11 36 & 16 12 38 & 28 13 39 & 24 14 37 & 19 15 37 & 22 16 38 & 23 Today’s temperature is predicted at 39 C. The March average temperatures 22.8...

Oh its so nice to walk around the fig tree and see ripe figs hanging down ready to pick. That is the difference netting makes, ensuring a good harvest. Apart from ripe and fresh, warm off the tree,(which is just delicious) I like to dry some for winter celebrations and fig bread. . I first came across this recipe at the Barossa Slow 2006 orchard tour. Dried Figs Figs 1kg sugar 100ml white wine vinegar 500ml water Prick the figs all over with a fork .Make syrup & bring to a rolling boil. Simmer figs 1.5- 2 hours in syrup .Let cool in syrup drain for 6 hours. Lay out to dry. Fig Bread I mostly just add chopped figs and fennel to my rye sourdough. But here’s my simple, quick method 3 cups flour 1 cup rye flour 11/2 cup chopped dried figs 2 tablespoons fennel seeds. 1 tablespoon dried yeast. (Fermipan freeze dried yeast) 1 teaspoon salt. 1 teaspoon malt. (Either extract or powder) 1 tablespoon oil. 2 cups warm water. (Approximately) ...