gippslandwildharvest

Thanks to all those community members that allow their fruit trees to overhang into lane ways, parks and open community space. It always makes me wonder are they going to use the rest of their fruit trees. Is there such a thing as to register your fruit tree for others to come and harvest- as long as they share with the owner- I would be happy to take away and return some apricot jam or preserves etc.

Here is my first official fruit harvest for the year, plenty of plums coming along and some peach’s- close to being my all time favorite fruit- especially the cling stone, with its smooth skin and somewhat firm flesh- I don’t like squishy fruit, I like crunchy pears, nectarines and firm bananas.

Over hanging Apricots

The veggie garden has started producing zucchini and all sorts of things are incoming. A friend made some fresh strawberry Jam and I could not help myself but to make some scones and have them with cream. mmmmm

Better start taking notice of all this roadside produce and marking it on some maps. gathering season is nearly upon us.

Here are my latest batch of snags- some venison, beef and some old pork shoulder chops. Same recipe- fresh parsley, thyme, garlic, chilli + nutmeg and salts. 30% pork fat, water and BBQ sauce, cheese and bacon!= now that’s what I am talking about- if we are going down with clogged arteries at least I will be smiling.

BBQ sauce, cheese and bacon snags

Things are really starting to take off in the veggie garden, tomato’s, potato’s, zucchini- well everything is going gangbusters. Doing plenty of swapping already.

Sat down to a tea of homegrown Osso Bucco- now theres a meal fit for a king. I am sure not enough people have ever tried this. Its to die for.

Fran made some homemade sausage rolls tonight which are just devine. We used the Venison sausage mince that I made an dsome Beef mince, form my uncles farm. Home grown herbs and Vola

Venison & Beef Sausage rolls cooking- hmmmmmmmm

The recipe is

1kg of Venison sausge mince (made last time we made sausages)

1 kg of Beef Mince

Home grown parsley, tomato sauce & Plum Sauce

pastry, milk, pepper, some flour and thats all.

Venison & Beef sausage rolls

This weekend I am off to make some more venison sausages, having a freezer clean out and using up the veniosn that has not been eaten, some cassarole beef and some pork chops that have seeen better days. We are coming into summer so Snags will get used.

2 Gummy Shark & Flathead

Young 7 Gill Shark

Port Jackson shark

Gurnard

 

Some snaps from the fishing day- nice to put some fresh gummy shark and flathead into the freezer-Good day out- man catching fish for his family  seals swimming around and a small pod of whales just 300 metres away. Thrown plenty back- some for me and some to stay in the bigger system that is feeding me. Will share some with friends- we do some food swapping. Its the greatest gift another human can do for one another- giving up a resource such as food to give it to another person is without pleasurable for both parties.

It did give me a lift after camping at Golden beach for the weekend,not that it was not good but just struggle with the whole rubbish around the camp sites and people leaving rubbish and bottles on the beach. obviously people have no connection tot he natural surroundings and just go about camping without realising what it does for us. If they knew what positives it has on us they might actually think before throwing littler. It has been proven that humans have always thrown away rubbish but indigenous people in the past thrown away organic material its only the material that has changed- we cant change behavior so should we focus on the material or work harder to make the connections to nature.

although spring is actually here, the winter chill still lingers on, we are still harvesting and blanching cauliflower. The deer season is all but over, not that you cannot shoot an animal, the flies would have it done over well and truly before we got it out of the bush. Its white meat time. Yep fishing. Dust off the rods, clean out the boat and get ready to go- now all I need is some calm weather and some TIL accrued with the family and hunter gathera will prevail. Snapper are just around the corner.

strawberries going gangbusters

Trying some batter

Northern Sea star (Native)

Flathead and spotty (Young Australian salmon)

A lot of people don’t eat the salmon, but if its fresh its good, we should not concentrate on only a few species if we are to be truly sustainable

Filleting and skinning Flathead Tail ($40 per kilo from shops)

Well, we still have frozen deer, but whom wants to thaw out some steak when we have fresh Flathead tails and strawberries for dessert?

Holidays to Wilsons Prom was great, camping amongst the wildlife, fun on the beach and letting the office drones dissappear into the waves. Birds and wombats a plenty

This is Mason and myself playing boats at Squeaky Beach.

Fran with Mason on a wildflower walk

Tea, of course, Beef from our friends farm- Scotch fillet to be exact- it doesn’t get mcuh better

A quick stop first to our farmer friends in Foster, south Gippsland

Chloe & Mason on the tractor

Then home to put in the Summer crop of veggies that will feed us for the next 6 – 12 months depending just ho we preserve them. Tomatoes, Pumpkin, Chilli, Capsicum, Squash, Zucchini, Watermelon, Beans, Cucumber and Corn. We still have garlic, carrots, silverbeet, asparagus in the ground.

A tomato frame, that I got the idea of a great gardener- Ditchy at Ballarat

Mason just checking that my tomato frame is ok. Love reinforcing mesh in the veggie garden, seems like an odd pair, but a true veggie garden is built with love and lots of leftover bits. Reo is great for Scythian that climbs and great for tomato frames, I use 2 layers, so I don’t have to stake the bushes- its either through sheer laziness or intelligence, probably the first option. It works great- my mate form Ballarat shown me this artform.

Tomato’s are the greatest gift that the veggie garden can give you as far as products go- fresh, chopped then there is sauce, puree, soup, pasta sauce, sun dried- its such a used fruit. Bring on spring- think I will end up with 4 different types, some for fresh but mostly for the products to follow.

The leftovers waiting to be harvested- its been a good winter season with some really big broccoli giving us plenty of greens. Cabbage has been a real winner and love the softness when its cooked in chicken soup.

The new sprouts of asparagus- what a versatile vegetable, eat straight from the ground, cooked in the fry pan, steamed, boiled- dont care how it comes just get it into you.

Setting up the Bean wall

hmmm- Love Saturdays- especially when we are as a family off to help a friend set up an build some veggie gardens. Then Sunday morning hopefully hunting deer. Freezer is getting a little low and the season is nearly over.

Must start with a Mans breakfast- homegrown eggs and smoky bacon-

Mans breakfast

Macca’s how do you like them apples!

Well it has finally arrived- ebay of course. My very own sausage stufffer. I am almost the complete butcher now. I Have the mincer, chopping boards, sausage filler and of course my butchering knives. Now all we need is some more meat!.

hopefully we can get all the kids involved with this. Its gathering and processing food that keeps family’s together. I have also started planning the veggie garden for the summer crops. Tomatoes, corn, spuds, pumpkin, squash, zucchini, chilli, capsicum…… and the list goes on. I think that processing them into products is just as important as growing and eating them. Thats the real value- growing tomatoes so we don’t need to buy fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato soup, tomato puree, diced tomato, tomato paste……That is the real winning of a veggie garden.