This afternoon I have been to the lovely couple of acres owned by the two friendly and generous gnomes who have the blog Mad Gnomes. One thing is for sure, they live near the snow-line! Veggie Gnome is originally from Austria, so is impervious to today's icy winds near Lenswood but you would have to be a very special capsicum to over-winter there! Luckily I love the cold and took a jacket so I was very happy exploring every nook and cranny of the vegie patches, the berry patch and the fruit trees, compost bays, sheep field and the chooks. And the view is wonderful; I even got a glimpse of Neighbour Gnome's place down the valley opposite.
I think Veggie Gnome and I have a lot in common because, like me, she loves growing stuff just for the hell of it. There are things being propagated here and there and trials of vegetables in foam boxes - such as in this photo, just because you can.There are native edible things whose names I can't even remember, which is a bit embarrassing since I am, after all , the Australian while she is the Austrian! There are figs and apples and artichokes, there are Asian greens and European things and so much stuff - you would never go hungry there! They have redcurrants and blueberries and raspberries and boysenberries and berries I have never heard of before. 
Flower Gnome grows proteas and leukodendrons and bulbs and little flowers and big flowers and it is all so lovely. There was even big bunch of proteas and leukodendrons waiting for me in a bucket, to take home.
The compost is made on these sheets of corrugated steel so the grass doesn't grow up through it all and this makes it much easier to load up with a shovel too.
This is Chinese Celery Leaf (?). You actually eat the rib of the leaf and it is delicious and sort of juicy and un-Asian like. Very nice. There was also a type of Asian spinach - help me out Please Veggie Gnome!
I am glad Veggie Gnome is from Austria because she made a wonderful apple cake with apples sliced differently to anything I have seen before, on the top of the cake. I want to say here and now how much I appreciate the attention everybody who reads this blog and asks me to their garden pays to the fact that I love coffee and am always hungry and will devour large amounts of delicious food whenever it is offered!
There are lots more photos and I have put them on the photos link. It was very kind of the gnomes to ask me around and I felt like we were old friends, by the time I left. Isn't it great how blogs bring people together. And we talked about all of the blogs we read, scattered around the world, as if they were all our friends and just lived down the road and over the hill.
The back of the car was filled with rhubarb crowns and stalks, artichoke plants and flowers to bring home. Gardeners are such generous people.
I stopped on the way home to catch a photo of the last rays of the sun dipping below the clouds and sending a warm glow across the Adelaide hills and valleys.
As I sit here eating (local) pickled sardines (from the market) on rye bread (Yes, more food!) I want to say thanks again to both of you for your time and generosity. It was great to get to know you both and feel your enthusiasm for the same things that I love to do. Life is good. Get there fast and take it slow.
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4 comments:
Lovely garden and lovely part of the world. So much extra care needed to protect plants from the cold winds.
Great cake!
The Gnomes sound like very gracious people.
That cake is making me salivate.
Great view of the valleys around where you live. Australia has a lot of beautiful countryside. It isn't just all desert and roos.
Thanks for sharing.
Wow I would have loved to have seen the Mad Gnomes garden. Stirling is damn cold too and I'd like to see what they do to extend their productivity.
What a lovely write-up! Makes me want to visit that garden, too. ;)
One thing was the Chinese Broad Leaf Celery. The leaf itself is very peppery, quite strong in taste but the stalk (rib?) is very tender and mild.
The other was Japanese Mustard Spinach Komatsuma. Very mild spinach.
Gardengal, are you in Stirling? I am sure we can arrange a visit for some other time again.
Our garden is a rambling jungle. Work in Progress. We like to experiment and find out what else we can grow around here. It is challenging, but also great fun.
It was lovely to have you around, Kate. Hope the rhubarb and artichokes do well for you. If they aren't, there is more. :)
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