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A Season of Abundance

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This season seems to offer a abundance of life.The flowers have been stunning. The chestnuts are heavy in flower and their scent permeates the whole area.Clouds of common brown butterflies form  wavers as they emerge from the cover of the grass to feed on the nectar , chestnuts,buddleias and bottlebrushes are on the top of their menu.The bees are also busy around the same flowers along with hoverflies,wasps and other beneficial insects. All the fruit trees are laden with fruit which really needs thinning if I could muster the time as the berries are keeping us busy, a bumper crop. A bit of a shock after  a number of drought years but 2 average winters have now produced abundance.The Christmas customers will be happy as we can fill all their orders and more. The sugar plum in the goose pen was groaning under the weight of the crop but the rainbow lorikeets  are stripping it , the geese,chooks and dogs compete for the fallen ones but I still cant find one ripe enough to ...

Nirvana Fresh Berries- the taste of summer

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Fresh berries grown in own cool valley are ripening now and available exclusively from our farm shop. Raspberries- red and yellow. Red and White Currants English Gooseberries (mid-late Dec) Black Currants (late Dec-Jan) Mulberries (Jan-Feb) Fruit Vinegars Our fruit vinegars are triple infused to bring out the best fruity flavours.Used as a cordial makes a refreshing drink.Can add zing to a salad, desert,sauce or be used to deglaze. Raspberry, Elderberry, Mulberry and Red Currant. Dried Chestnut Pieces Ideal for stuffing your Christmas poultry or delicious chocolate chestnut cake. 250g makes approx. 700g Elderflower Cordial Try it on a hot day,topped up with soda water and ice. Make it into an ice block for the children. Try it as a syllabub or to sweeten cream. Jams ...

MULTI FUNCTION POULTRY

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Nirvana gardens and orchards are truly poultry heaven where the poultry work together as part of the MFP for the benefit of the garden   Sunrise is heralded in by Robert Rooster Early Morning Calls and after a delicious breakfast of bran and Deb’s mix of special chooky herbs like nettles,rue,wormwood, comfrey and chard its time to concentrate on the tasks at hand in the garden.       On arrival at our r garden you will be Greeted by Honky Tonk Alarms                   And then checked out by the staff of Black Bitch Security Tails Up Mowing and Fertilizer Service are out tending to the orchard ground covers overseen by Black Bitch Security Around the MFP headquarters you will find the Speckley Egg Co operating at full capacity. Red Hen Hatchery has hatched a dividend and they will soon be being trained to be valuable members of the MFP community   Amongst th...

Winter slowly subsides

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After a busy and productive harvest season , my newly rebuilt north facing shed was ready for me to do the internal fit out so I could snuggle up on bleak winter days to create a basket or two. Its payed off, as well as being the greatest way to add another creative element to gardening ,keeping active in winter I scooped the pool at the Royal Adelaide Show in the basketry section with my creations. . Bread n’ cheese won best basket overall Spring happens  slowly here and is often unpredictable but the tunnel house continues to supply food for the table . The fruit type vegetables have, as usual been planted in the propagator (2days before the August full moon.) to get a head start before being planted out on the new moon in October.This winter we enjoyed a regular supply of small red and yellow capsicums. I've found they do 2 seasons well in the tunnel a this summer (2nd season) they will produce the most ripe ones from early in the season til the end.I’ll also plant some new ones...

Berries -Creating food traditions

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Australia being a young country made up of many cultures as an ever changing food traditions.Each region , even parts of regions have very different seasons and range of produce that grow and so develop their own recipes and way of using foods. Unfortunately if you pick up a magazine or heaven forbid see a TV cooking show you can almost grantee  the regional seasonal foods are missing or worse they are among a vast array of ingredients  (usually ingredients that are not in season at the same time)designed to kill off any fresh  subtle flavours. Early Summer here in the Adelaide Hills is usually about berries, as well the orchard produces a wonderful  perfume from the chestnut and linden flowers and waves of common brown butterflies and dragonflies fill the air.The vegies are just starting with an abundance of fresh greens, carrots, beans and the first of the Richmond green cucumbers. When people think of berries they usually think in terms of adding cream, ice-cream ...