After a 2 year wait, an abundance of passionfruit have appear on one of the vines growing against our back verandah. They seem to be appearing out of thin air but an inspection of the base of the vine reveals a trunk of around 15cm girth. The roots are well and truly dug in and on some evenings, there is a frequent drum beat accompanying each fruit drop from the vine to the wooden verandah deck. Some manage to fall and balance on the verandah rail too.
We are at 120+ and counting.
Time for some passionfruit butter.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
water, 70% of everything really
Water. A real blessing and the source of all life, especially in this dry land.
What a difference a few years makes to the recovery of the land following the severe bushfires of 2000 and 2001. A friend visited our block this week after a few months away. He commented just how much greener everything was following the decent rains we've recently gained. We'd noticed this ourselves over the last 5 years too through the worst drought the east coast of Australia has experienced in recorded history.
The wattles seemed to be the first to recover, taking advantage of any rain that fell to shoot up 2 metres in less than 6 months. Not bad for essentially sandy soil without much in the way of nutrients. Almost impassable to walk through. You have to hack your way through like an 18th century explorer. These saplings proved useful for repair of our garden fencing to keep out the wildlife, providing you used them green. A bit of wattle without the daub. Within a few days, they had lost their moisture and their flexibility. The leaves then contributed to the mulch on the garden.
The dam is still maintaining a fairly constant level too despite its minimal incoming drain. This will be improved over the first few months of 2009. The more water you catch, the more you can use and the more that is available for the fauna.
stay green for now
What a difference a few years makes to the recovery of the land following the severe bushfires of 2000 and 2001. A friend visited our block this week after a few months away. He commented just how much greener everything was following the decent rains we've recently gained. We'd noticed this ourselves over the last 5 years too through the worst drought the east coast of Australia has experienced in recorded history.
The wattles seemed to be the first to recover, taking advantage of any rain that fell to shoot up 2 metres in less than 6 months. Not bad for essentially sandy soil without much in the way of nutrients. Almost impassable to walk through. You have to hack your way through like an 18th century explorer. These saplings proved useful for repair of our garden fencing to keep out the wildlife, providing you used them green. A bit of wattle without the daub. Within a few days, they had lost their moisture and their flexibility. The leaves then contributed to the mulch on the garden.
The dam is still maintaining a fairly constant level too despite its minimal incoming drain. This will be improved over the first few months of 2009. The more water you catch, the more you can use and the more that is available for the fauna.
stay green for now
Thursday, January 1, 2009
ice cream bean plant
The "ice cream bean" has been promoted on ABC gardening Australia recently. We have been growing this fascinating large bush for several years and have a few small bushes for sale at $25.00 AUD each plus postage. When the tree fruits it has large pods encasing white pulp, which looks like cotton wool covering black seeds. You ONLY eat the white pulp, not the seeds. The cottonwool -like pulp tastes like ice cream. This tree is a native of Brazil.
Some people refer to this as a bush, but it is more like a spindly sparse tree, with thick drought resistant leathery leaves , which are reddish when young and turn to a darker green. The tree can grow to about 5 metres with a spread of 3 metres, in just 5 years! We find it ideal as a shade tree near windows, easy to manage, allows air flow and hardly needs any trimming.
It has taken a while for the local animals possums and cockatoos to try them out, but now they are eating them all and not leaving any for us! Below are some photos. contact us at sampsms at ozemail dot com dot au.
We have listed this plant on EBay as buy it now.. Hurry while stocks last..
Congratulations! Your item is listed for sale.
View your listing: Ice cream bean plant - 320329154576 listed buy it now to 9.2.09
Friday, August 1, 2008
Country Kitchen Garden is our blogspot name
"Country Kitchen Garden"
is located in Sassafras, southern NSW, Australia
This is where we have our 100 acre Business site.
We hope to share our products with you.
Visit our other site www.freewebs.com/Sassafrassecrets re sustainability and Climate change
Our Portfolio of Products include Unique ARTPhotos which can be used
as Motivational Posters or E Cards, recipes, cooking classes online and remedies etc.
Purchase a tree and help balance your carbon use.
We plant a native tree, from seed, in your name and the oxygen
that tree emits helps to heal the planet. For Just $35.00, you can help to balance your emissions.
We use have a carbon footprint but htat needs to be reduced. for how to measure and then reduce that footprint go to
http://www.megamoneybox.com/cutreduceuseinhome300707.html and click on
http://www.megamoneybox.com/consideroffsets300707.html
This site teaches you about your carbon footprint, you might like to use some of this information for a school project..You may be able to have this as a tax deduction as the climate reduction laws change in the future
Remember, From little seeds, big trees grow! It really is Amazing! Free photo supplied
The original ARTPhotos from our site include rare images of the area when it was devastated by Bush fires.
One Photo shows tree rings of a felled tree with several burn rings, clearly indicating that fire has ravaged this area many times,YET the bush regenerates.
Life not only continues but the fires are essential for some of the flora to set and release their seed.
One of the secrets of the Australian Bush is its dependence of Fire!
Many of the Unique plants NEED the heat of the fire to release their seeds.
Our Art Photos and paintings include native animals and birds of this area,
native seeds and descriptions of Bush foods.
We will also be listing our Sassafras secret recipes and other items of interest.
go to www.freewebs.com/sassafrassecrets fo rother information
Visit our albums, our Money making links page and be ready for our other products from Australia.
Our products are modestly priced and you can order simply by sending us an email
with a copy of the description of the product.
Make sure you COPY and PASTE this email address into your address book.
Admin at mailto:sampsms@ozemail.com.au
It may not be linked yet! If you decide to offset by buying a tree, We will send you an email with the invoice and PayPal Button attached.
Your tree can be housed in an underdevoped country and will help supply food.
Simply review and press Pay and you will be taken to Pay Pal. It is so EASY!
You can also write to me personally at mumclc@hotmail.com (copy and paste)
and don't forget to go to our links
Learn how to be sustainable at http://www.permaculturevisions.com/ 60 pages of free info!
Permaculturevisions teaches practical ways to grow your own food and reduce climate change
We donate to http://www.cbmi.org.au/ go there and help others to see!
kind regards to all.
is located in Sassafras, southern NSW, Australia
This is where we have our 100 acre Business site.
We hope to share our products with you.
Visit our other site www.freewebs.com/Sassafrassecrets re sustainability and Climate change
Our Portfolio of Products include Unique ARTPhotos which can be used
as Motivational Posters or E Cards, recipes, cooking classes online and remedies etc.
Purchase a tree and help balance your carbon use.
We plant a native tree, from seed, in your name and the oxygen
that tree emits helps to heal the planet. For Just $35.00, you can help to balance your emissions.
We use have a carbon footprint but htat needs to be reduced. for how to measure and then reduce that footprint go to
http://www.megamoneybox.com/cutreduceuseinhome300707.html and click on
http://www.megamoneybox.com/consideroffsets300707.html
This site teaches you about your carbon footprint, you might like to use some of this information for a school project..You may be able to have this as a tax deduction as the climate reduction laws change in the future
Remember, From little seeds, big trees grow! It really is Amazing! Free photo supplied
The original ARTPhotos from our site include rare images of the area when it was devastated by Bush fires.
One Photo shows tree rings of a felled tree with several burn rings, clearly indicating that fire has ravaged this area many times,YET the bush regenerates.
Life not only continues but the fires are essential for some of the flora to set and release their seed.
One of the secrets of the Australian Bush is its dependence of Fire!
Many of the Unique plants NEED the heat of the fire to release their seeds.
Our Art Photos and paintings include native animals and birds of this area,
native seeds and descriptions of Bush foods.
We will also be listing our Sassafras secret recipes and other items of interest.
go to www.freewebs.com/sassafrassecrets fo rother information
Visit our albums, our Money making links page and be ready for our other products from Australia.
Our products are modestly priced and you can order simply by sending us an email
with a copy of the description of the product.
Make sure you COPY and PASTE this email address into your address book.
Admin at mailto:sampsms@ozemail.com.au
It may not be linked yet! If you decide to offset by buying a tree, We will send you an email with the invoice and PayPal Button attached.
Your tree can be housed in an underdevoped country and will help supply food.
Simply review and press Pay and you will be taken to Pay Pal. It is so EASY!
You can also write to me personally at mumclc@hotmail.com (copy and paste)
and don't forget to go to our links
Learn how to be sustainable at http://www.permaculturevisions.com/ 60 pages of free info!
Permaculturevisions teaches practical ways to grow your own food and reduce climate change
We donate to http://www.cbmi.org.au/ go there and help others to see!
kind regards to all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
