ORGANIC GARDENING COURSE ADELAIDE

ORGANIC GARDENING WORKSHOPS Adelaide Hills

Nirvana Organic Farm offers gardeners a chance to share Deb’s 30+ years of experience in creating a productive landscape in a unique and beautiful living classroom.

COMPOSTING AND MULCHING

Sunday, September 5th

9.00 - 12 30 $45

Principles of composting and mulching, techniques and materials used and how they can be used most effectively on your garden or farm.

ORGANIC VEGETABLES FOR YOUR TABLE

Sunday, September 12^th

9.00—12.30 $45

Practical guide to establishing and maintaining a productive and healthy

vegetable garden.

BIO- DYNAMIC AGRICULTURE

BEYOND ORGANICS

Improve your soils water holding capacity.

A one day course to introduce the practical concepts of the biodynamic methods to farmers and gardeners.

The Bio -Dynamic method is a modern organic method that creates a holistic approach to building healthy soil, plants animals and humans.

The course covers history, concept of a living organism, soils, compost, special preparations that enhance nature and equipment required.

Sunday, Sept 19^th 2010. 8.30 am. -4.30 pm. Cost: $110

Includes: notes, lunch, Membership of Adelaide Hills Biodynamic Group

INTRODUCTION TO MOON PLANTING AND USING THE PLANTING CALENDAR

Sunday, September 26^th 9.00-12.30 $45

Working with the rhythms of nature can develop your skills in fine tuning your garden and can add a new dimension to your gardening experience

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ORGANIC FRUIT, NUTS & BERRIES.

Sunday, October 10^th

9.00 -12.30 $45

Practical guide to orcharding. Includes establishment, soils, ground covers, maintenance & pruning.

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POULTRY KEEPING.

Sunday October 17th

9.00 pm – 12.30 $45

All you need to know about getting started with poultry. Includes selection, housing, feeding, breeding, pests.

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WEAVING A BIT OF MAGIC

Sunday October 24^th

9am – 4pm

$110

.The ideal way to recycle your garden prunings. This introduction to natural fibre weaving will show you the essential techniques, suitable plants & other materials to make baskets, fences, or trellises.

Course includes all materials, lunch, morning & afternoon tea.

To enrol click here or get further Information

phone Deb or Quentin 8339 2519

Posted by Deb at 4:21 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Labels: Biodynamics, Chooks, Compost/gardening, COURSES, Education, Fruit, herbs, Kitchen Gardens, Organic Gardening, Vegetables, workshops

World Kitchen Garden Day August 22nd 2010

Welcome to World Kitchen Garden Day from Adelaide, South Australia.

It is winter here which means lots of winter rain and mild temperatures.

Our garden looks lovely with masses of Asia greens, Italian broccoli rapa, silverbeets, leeks and spring  onions, parsley, fenugreek, coriander and almost every kind of herb you can think of.

We have rocket, rapa and coriander going to seed.

We have calendula's, German chamomile and speckled borage everywhere.

Today we have friends coming to see our garden and then a large afternoon tea at another kitchen gardeners home.

So I look forward to today and I hope you all enjoy your garden and what ever you have planned for today.

Greetings from Adelaide.

Maggie

TIME FOR THYME!

It is winter in Adelaide, it is cold and wet and lots of folks have coughs and colds, so it is time for thyme.

Thyme is a great addition to your medicinal herb garden.

Thyme contains thymol which you will find in toothpastes and throat gargles.

Thyme, honey and lemon make a great soothing mix to sip if you have a sore or dry throat.

Infuse some thyme in green tea, add a little honey and you have a great tasting herbal tea.

Thyme has great antiseptic properties as well as aiding digestion and boosting the immune system.

And thyme tastes great!

Combine thyme with other herbs such as sage and rosemary and the uses and health benefits of using these herbs is amazing.

Thyme is used in equal quantities with sumac to make Zatar which is used in Middle eastern cookery.

Thyme is used with cumin in Cajun cookery.

Thyme, parsley, bayleaf is tied in a bundle to make a bouquet garni which is then added to most French stocks and casseroles.

Thyme is a great herb to include in your cooked vegetable dishes, meat and fish casseroles, soups, baked goods, egg and cheese quiches, veggie and tofu burgers, salads and salad dressings.

In fact thyme goes with just about every ingredient I can think of that you have in the kitchen.

The many varieties of thyme enhance you food with different flavours.

We even add thyme, parsley, sage and oregano to our dogs raw food diet.

School Holiday Activities at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens July 2010

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens has great activities for the school holidays in July.

Check out the online brochure A Season in the Garden Winter calendar for June, July and August program for the gardens HERE.

Have fun, keep warm and enjoy your garden.

HORSERADISH

 

Horseradish grows well in our garden, it establishes itself very easily and will propagate like a weed if you leave any bit of root behind. It is best to leave the roots for a couple of years to get a reasonable size (medium carrot size), but if you can’t wait then by all means dig some up when the leave die back.

Processing is best done in a food processer or with a hand grater and is best done outside because of the extreme pungency of horseradish.

I have an old food processer which I use to grind chillies, horseradish, turmeric and any other pungent or stain producing food stuff.

Once grated I add a teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some apple cider vinegar, just enough to cover and moisten the horseradish. It is good to then spoon the mixture into to small sterilized jars, seal with a lid. Our horseradish lasted for 12 months in the refrigerator, but it started to lose some pungency after six months or so..

The horseradish prepared in this way is great to serve with meat or vegetables. You can add some to whipped cream or herb flavoured ricotta cheese to serve with smoked salmon and melba toast.

Horseradish has amazing health properties and is a great addition to any refrigerator medicine “kit”.

K is for Kale, F is for Fenugreek and C is for Coriander and Chilli.

Picked straight from our Adelaide winter garden, sautéed with some garlic chives and local olive oil and then added to freshly made organic chicken broth.

A real good bowl of healthy fast food.