Nirvana Biodynamics

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) ...

One of the things we enjoy doing is playing social petanque. A few years ago Quentin started playing and encouraged me to come out at least to meet new people as he thought I ‘spent too much time working and needed to get out more.’ Although I really enjoy working from home,in my own quite space it is nice to meet different people. So each Wednesday morning we go off to play petanque with the Adelaide Hills Petanque Club down at Stonehenge reserve in Stirling. Quentin takes it more serious playing on Sundays as well as the occasional league games. Wednesdays are very social with around 30-40 people playing. Each week there is a draw to make up teams of 3 or 2. We then play 3 games punctuated with morning tea, laughter, chat, much fun and sometimes a prize or 2... It is from this atmosphere that the Derrick Rowley Trophy, in memory of Derrick is played. A competition that players go into a draw to determine teams. In the past it has been triples but this year because of numbers it was...

Breakfast is always an important time. Like all meals it reflects the seasons. Those fleeting flavours that come and go so quickly. Sure we preserve various things to enjoy latter like fruit to add to the porridge in winter. Although we mainly have some form of oats and fruit and yogurt, pancakes on Sundays and once a week usually Saturdays (This reminds us what day it is) we have a cooked breakfast.At this time of the year it’s Eggs Poached in Fresh To matoes Cover the bottom of a small saucepan with small tomatoes (we use principe bourghese) cook gently till they burst add a couple of chopped garlic cloves and two eggs, poach till eggs are firm but soft. Serve on rye bread.

At Nirvana nothing is more important than producing quality compost to ensure nutrient recycling within the farm system. In natures ’Wheel of life’ composting occurs at the bottom of the cycle, where death processes are turned back into life processes in the form of humus. On the far m or garden it is the deliberate putting together materials to produce quality humus of the right quality to enliven the to enliven the soil .The end result is an even, dark brown/ black, humus rich, hy gienic, living substance with a pleasant smell . . HUMUS is made up of long chained molecules that act like a sponge to increase the water holding capacity. Humus holds 900 times more water than sand. Humus binds nutrients in its structure so it is available to plants and not lost through leaching. Humus is also the home of soil organisms, who on death become fertiliser. IN BIO -DYNAMICS there is NO ONE METHOD OF COMPOSTING within a farm or garden. There may be several different ...