STRAWBERRIES HAVE MANY USES

On Friday I went to the market, as usual, and was just getting some avocados when I overheard a stall-worker call out to the boss "What shall we do with all these other strawberries?" I was pleased when I heard the answer "Later on we'll sell them for $5 a box". Could I possibly not begin to re-arrange not only my full trolly and 3 carry-bags , but my entire afternoon ? There was barely time for me to draw breath before I heard myself say "If I can have a box of strawberries now for $5, I will take one". The deal was done and the bloke loaded me up with more stuff than a camel could surely carry and I was off home, feeling apprehensively skippity-doo.

The apprehension was due to previous, less than perfect jam-making sessions when, amongst other disasters, I managed to boil the strawberry jam over the pot and all down the cupboard doors and out across the kitchen floor where the dogs were happily licking it up before I realised what was going on ! Another notable and, I thought, successful session ended abruptly a few days later when I realised the plum jam had set so hard that I couldn't even get it out of the jars and had to throw it away - jars and all !This time it went so well except for the fact that I couldn't find my trusty recipe and had to ring my mother for help.

Now it was time to do the washing up and I looked closely at the 15 empty plastic punnets, each with 4 small holes in the top of the sort of hinged lid. Bingo - turn it over and you have a perfect little seed-raising box. So, today, I headed outside to sow some various things I had been meaning to sow lately (I know, the moon's all wrong) and here is the result. It is a perfect solution to the problem of how to have some things in my seed frame covered in plastic and some things covered in cloth, to cater for different stages of growth. With pieces of plastic ice-cream container cut to fit inside the punnets you can happily sow 4 seeds and their roots will be separated from each other. Fiddly for a big job but great for a few seeds of this and that.

BROODY CHOOK

There I was, telling someone that the Isabrown chooks rarely go broody, and the next thing one of mine has. All day she sits on the eggs laid by the other chooks in the nesting box and, after I have removed them, she just keeps on sitting. She doesn't lay any eggs herself and causes disagreements when the other chooks want her to get out so they can lay their eggs. Obviously she is not finding this a pleasant experience as she growls at me, like a dog when I lift her out and then she gets even more angry and pecks at my legs and shoes in a rather nasty way. (Rather like how I have sometimes felt being a mother!) Time for treatment. Well two of my Wednesday gardening friends have chook varieties that are more prone to this crazy behavior and I have seen how they manage it. Although the length of time and the severity of the treatment differed, the gist of it was this. Put said chook into a wire bird cage, without any luxuries, hang it in a tree for 2 - 5 days and it will be cured.

Sally lent me her cage and now there is a lull in the hot weather I decided yesterday was the day. First up I put the chook into the cage and then looked around for somewhere to hang it. Woops, not much in reach since we cut down the cootamundra wattles. In an attempt to reach up and hook the wire onto a rather thin branch of another wattle I had to balance the cage down on my bent leg. For some reason I was doing this in shorts and t-shirt and the blasted chook attacked the skin of my leg through the bottom of the cage. Lesson number 1 : Assemble the cage before putting the chook in it ! Now, this chook is, even at the best of times, the least friendly and has never liked me touching it. So it was too late for that as I knew that if I took her out I'd be running around all afternoon trying to catch her again - something one learns to avoid.

There were a lot of harsh words spoken to this crazy bird, including various killing and cooking methods appropriate for oldish chooks! Eventually I did get it hooked up and went to get the hose to fill the old, plastic butter container Sally had previously wired onto the inside of the cage. That done I stood back - I thought I had won that little battle and I left her to settle in. She had been growling and clicking her beak at me but now she started shouting out in a most unfeminine way, sounding more like a rooster who had lost his lover! I imagined our less-than-friendly neighbours calling the RSPCA and me being hauled away, amid the paparazzi, and appearing dishevelled and broken on that night's TV news ! However, worse was to come as next she expressed her dissatisfaction with the whole situation by flapping madly and breaking the water container.

I was tempted, briefly, to leave her to die of thirst but then the neighbours really would have something to complain about. So I found another dish to use and headed back to the scene, amid the chaos and noise of one silly chook. I then realised I would have to put my hand inside the cage to get the old container off and then to attach the new one securely on. Once bitten, twice shy. Lesson 2: full armour. I went and changed to a heavy, long-sleeved shirt and rugged gardening gloves to prove that I was indeed smarter than a chook. This worked like dream and she pecked my hand and arm crossly and harmlessly over and over until she got sick of the whole thing and calmly stood watching.

Walking away and leaving her to it she started yelling again but, as it fell on deaf ears, she soon stopped and was on the way to recovering from her bad temper and broody behavior. Hopefully she will send up the white flag in a day or 2 and I will be able to let her rejoin the other chooks as a happy and grateful member of the flock.

Tony Scarfo's black turtle beans won the race to the top of the bean frame.

Roger mulched all the bark that blew down on Friday and now it makes a nice new layer on my vegetable garden paths.

ps have you noticed that 'anecdotes' is now at 45 while the next closest label only rates 31. If you read or see or hear something you would like to share, write it here. It doesn't have to be long or fantastic but I will love it and you for having a go. Not everyone wants to rave on like me, I know, but I think you will find its fun to contribute once in a while. Make it your Christmas present to me.

WHAT ON EARTH...

I was looking for a blog that Maggie recommended when I cam across one with potential. The first item read:

"It is my mission this Christmas not to peel a single vegetable"

I thought that was a good idea - I never peel vegetables and this person was going to try it too. Then I looked at the accompanying photo - it was of a woman holding up a tin. Oh no....she meant that everything she was going to cook for the 14 family members was going to come from a tin ! Yuk, how shocking a thought. Mrs. David would have told her off quick smart! In fact that blog was English - looks like Mrs David was right in her criticism of English cooks.

I have a nasty snarl on my face now and I will have to go to Deb's blog to read something sane before I go on with the day.

MRS DAVID'S SUMMER COOKING

I have read less than a dozen pages of this book that I bought yesterday and already I want to tell you about it as it is the most forthright and entertaining cookbook I have read in ages. It was first published in 1955, in England, and I am surprised it sold there at all because Mrs David (Oh how proper) is scathing about English cooks, English cookbooks, English housewives and English food writers !

She holds some of my own views : She criticizes people for buying frozen, out-of-season food at high prices when in-season fruits are at their best and so cheap. As she is writing there are fresh and cheap South African pineapples available "...yet people are crowding round the deep freeze in the same shop, paying 4 times as much for a few strawberries in a packet. As soon as strawberries and raspberries are in season they will be clamouring for frozen pineapple..." Mrs David goes on..."I am not unappreciative of modern marvels, and in its way the deep freeze is an admirable invention, but let us not pretend that frozen green peas, beans and strawberries are as good as fresh.(as evidently was claimed in a recent newspaper article of the day) They may indeed be quite adequate but is it necessary to eat all this food out of season?....The deep freeze appears to have gained over the minds of the English housewife and restaurant keeper a hypnotic power.."

This is only the introduction to the book. Stay tuned for more of Elizabeth David's views on summer cooking !

PRUNING TOMATOES

Here is an extract from a timely article I found in the Messenger, written by the amazingly knowledgeable Malcolm Campbell:

...." The question of pruning tomatoes comes up every summer and the answer depends on the plant type. Removing the axillary laterals from all indeterminate tomatoes - the tall ones that need staking, such as Mighty Red will foster more trusses and fruit. But leave the laterals on all determinate types, such as Romas, which do not need staking, as their trusses form within the bush. Also refrain from pruning vine tomatoes such as cherry, grape and pear varieties, compact types and most heritage tomatoes. For more details on this, see the book-length article under "digging deeper" at http://www.greenfingers.com.au/ "

Now I don't know what to do because I have planted all heritage varieties and he says "most" shouldn't be pruned. I have never pruned any before but just this year I thought I would give it a try. I wonder what Tony Scarfo's were - does anybody know? He was pruning his and then there is that Italian man at Fern Ave, his are pruned but what are they?? I will go and read Malcolm's "book-length" article and see what I can learn.

UPDATE: Now I have read all the info there I know that all my tomatoes, except for the Romas, are the pruning type. Prune and stake I will, until I get sick of it or they grow too fast or I go away. If you too are unsure read what Malcolm has to say about all the different varities.

SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS

I have 1/2 hour before I have to go out and I often wonder how long it takes me to write a good anecdote - it seems like minutes but it must be quite a while, I think. Some may say they are never good, but...

Today has been a real diamond for me because things happened unexpectedly. After a lovely morning gardening at Sally's I continued on up into the hills to water a friend's garden as she is away. There is nothing so beautiful (oh, shut up, I hear you say, there are plenty of 'more beautiful things'. OK.) as nosing about in someone else's garden when they are not there. Truly, there should be more of it. This one is especially lush and productive as it is watered using rain water - lets not get onto that topic now... and, as I stood there on a Wednesday, watering away as much as I thought necessary (and probably a bit more because it was a rare treat) I wished I had the camera. The bees, for one thing, were everywhere - amongst the flowering new crops like tomatoes as well as the old ones like Kath's broccoli. There is a border of ornamental flowering plants around 3 sides and I was quite spellbound (whatever that means) by the beauty and total tranquility. I don't mean silence but rather it was a mental thing - alone, at peace, and also having no ultimate responsibility for this garden or any of my surrounds, just enjoying the tiniest details and spraying gorgeous amounts of water frivolously into the air over the lettuce and bean seedlings. (That's 15 mins)

Eventually I left, in a kind of meditation, and down the road came across a sign saying 'loganberries for sale'. Having nothing to hurry me along I drove in and out came an old man. Old, very old. His wife had sold the last of the berries, he told me apologetically, but I spied a pretty big vegie garden off to one side and immediately that I told him I grew vegies too, I knew I would be invited in to have a wander and a chat. Ever so slowly we walked the paths, him telling me about the area, his seedsaving, his love of good plain vegies - none of the recipe stuff that he reads in the papers from time to time. He pulled up a mighty fine white onion and told me to eat it for dinner. I asked him about his beans - gourmet stringless, about his beetroot, and a myriad of other good English vegetables - nothing ethnic there. I felt so privileged. He said to call again next week as he would be picking some more berries by then, and gave me 5 lemons. What a gem, we could learn so much from him, not just about his vegies but about life in the area. I offered him some seeds but he said he had everything he needed and I think he was right. Eventually, if we are lucky, we get to that stage where we have everything we need and I felt pretty close to it today too. (28 mins)

Just down the road there was another sign advertising cherries for sale. I bought 2kg of the most beautiful cherries from a very jolly lady and continued on my way. I took the turn-off to Piccadilly as I love driving along and seeing all the vegetables growing right up to the edge of the road - no fences or barriers of any kind. Adelaide must still be a nice place if blokes can grow things like that. There were leeks and cabbages by the acre and, of course, that relatively new pest of the hills - grape vines, using up all the space and water meant for growing food...a topic for another day. Just near the Mt Lofty Botanic gardens is a little shop I have been meaning to go into for years. The sign is rather ambiguous but it has old books and some antiques. Feeling very relaxed with life I thought today a good day to go in so I parked in the shade of the gum tree to protect my onion, lemons and cherries (and a couple of things I couldn't resist picking from my friend's garden!). I really couldn't concentrate and wanted to get back outside but I did find 2 old cook books by Elizabeth David, which I bought. (I feel another blog title coming on, again!)

Back home I sat down on the driveway and spent ages threading string through the bottom of the bird netting around the peach tree - a job perfect for my late father with his amazing patience but not generally something I could enjoy. However, today I had that kind of calm that is very rare for me and I actually almost relished it as it slowly brought me back from a world very close to perfect where kindness, sharing and care of the earth form the cornerstones of humanity.

When I started writing this I was going to wrap it up there, but after dinner a special friend of mine rang and made me feel that maybe that world is closer than I think and maybe it is possible to overlook all the bad when one person's words can mean so much. (70 mins)

FERAL FOOD

There is a great new stall in the market called "WILD OZ". I would re-name it "FERAL FOOD" because, apart from kangaroo meat, it sells only feral animal meat. This is perfect for me as I don't like destroying the earth so I can eat, even if it is organic farming. So far I have tried the various cuts of goat, pig and deer and soon I hope they will have camel. It is all great and pretty cheap, especially compared to farmed organic meats. Now I just need to find a feral alternative to chicken and my footprint on the earth, in relation to the food I eat, will be very little.

(Look at all these feral goats in the Northern Territory. Imagine the damage they are causing.There are 2-3 million feral goats in Australia. http://www.invasives.org.au/home.html)

If more of us did this, we would not have to be destroying more and more of our native bushland to feed ourselves. There will always be people to buy the food our hard-working farmers already produce, but we could stop the spread of agriculture and even send some of our excess product to feed starving people or homeless local people.

Next time you need meat, think about going to the market and buying truly free-range feral meat. Why buy cows and sheep when you can help control feral animals and thus allow our precious native animals to regain space to live. If only fox tasted good then eventually our little bilbies could come back. I say 'bring back fox fur coats' and help the little wild mammals of Australia.