A wander through our Subtropical Veggie Patch The early Winter edition 2015

Hi folks. 
Had a few people ask how things are going in the veggie patch & finally managed to do a "quick" clip on the hoop house section of our veggie patch. Funnily enough our Winter veggie patch here in the Subtropics looks very similar to many friends that are growing in North America, the UK & Europe at the moment.





Am looking forward to harvesting the first of our winter veg like cauliflower & broccoli. Still have a few summer crops that need to be harvested like the yacon, turmeric & ginger as they take a bit longer to mature in our climate.  Hope to post some harvest clips on them soon.
Hope everyone else is having a great season,
Rob.?

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Aquaponic update vlog with lazy fish winter tomatoes

Has been nearly 3 months since the last aquaponic vlog update so here you go folks.
Winter has struck here & the fish are starting to get a tad lazy due to the cold water but the plants are still growing strong.

The tomatoes have had another trim today with a few branches strung up due to the weight of the new fruit forming.
Have noticed that the water level is dropping a bit more than normal so shall be investigating to see if there are any leaks developing on the pipe work. Im hoping that its just just the growth spurt weve seen over the past week or so that is causing the increased water usage.

Best be off & start working in the patch.
Cheers & all the best folks.

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THE CSA WINTER

The coldness and darkness of winter urges us to slow down.  This is the time of year to reflect on our health, replenish our energy, and conserve our strength.  Eating warm hearty soups, whole grains, and roasted nuts helps warm the bodys core and keep us nourished...

 

The first seasonal CSA baskets have been delivered.  Our winter share includes a green forest salt soak and scrub, herbal vapor rub, fire cider, adaptogen elixir, redwood chai, and a potent osha-black seed honey. The focus for winter is boosting immunity, with six medicinal creations that offer prophylactic defense, as well as promoting healthy circulation and warming the system.  Advice for winter wellness; sleep early, rest well, stay warm, expend a minimum quantity of energy. We had so much fun making all these goodies! 
Spring shares are available for order now.  Check out more info here. Many winter blessings and praying for more rain!

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Autumn Winter plans

Exclusion bag on Capsicum..

Pests & rain...
Has been quite some time since I last posted... No single reason, the holidays came & went, School started back up for the girls.. I  think I also became complacent about gardening after loosing most fruiting crops to combination of fruit fly, too much rain & a plague of mini grasshoppers... We still have been harvesting a variety of veggies that didnt get targeted my the grasshoppers or fruit fly..  We did manage to save some fruit by covering them with pest exclusion bags so am thankful for that.. I think we have learnt some valuable lessons & are already planing a defensive strategy to deal with them for next summer...

Plants for the coming months...

    We are looking at Autumn & Winter seasons so have put all the pests & deluges behind us.. We sowed a selection of broccoli, cauliflower, as well as some kale, rainbow chard & tatsoi.. The are also a small tray of tansy that will be used to deter  the ants that love colonising the wicking beds & barrels..  Some roma tomatoes have been planted into one of the top IBC beds & we also have a tray of unknown variety of toms needing to be planted out as well..
Barrels have been selected for this years garlic crop as well as the onions sets we grew last year..
 
 Tadpoles/Froglets & Aquaponics...


We have some movement in the tadpole "ponds" with a few metamorphosing into frogs & disappearing into the garden.. So far we have seen ½ a dozen advanced tadpoles with legs & 2 that are wee small frogs with stumpy tails attached like the little feller to the left..
As much as we love watching them grow & change we would really like the trays free to turn into grow beds for the Aquaponic set up..

The 1 grow bed we have is slowly filling up with strawberry runners which is great as we are looking at trying to build "strawberry wall MKII" in the next month or so.. We still only have the 7 large goldfish & a single Pacific blue eye in the fish tank... We have our name down for 30 Jade perch at one place & have another we still need to check out.. Really want at lest one more grow bed before we put any more fish in just to make sure there is enough medium to filter out the waste...

Below are a couple of the latest clips done of the garden & Tadpoles...

Thats about it for now but will be back a lot sooner this time as we have a few little projects on the go...
Just to finish, here is some of the udumalpet, White & Long Asian purple eggplants we have been harvesting over the past few months...

Have a nice Day!!!


: )»

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Tonics For Winter Wellness

Hey holistic health enthusiasts! Here are some of my favorite easy and effective ways to keep up a strong resistance through the fall and winter seasons.  All of these recipes act as prophylactics against cold and flu. Incorporate some or all of these into your weekly routine and you should notice an increased sense of vitality.  Dont forget your exercise and sleep!  

BEET KVASS

      I am in love with this stuff!  A wonderful liver and blood tonic, beet kvass is a surprisingly tasty fermented beverage made from raw beets, filtered water and whey.  A friend gave me the idea to add fresh lemon and ginger to mine.  Here is a basic recipe. (Definitely reduce the salt as the recommended amount is very salty.)

FIRE CIDER

A vinegar infusion made with organic raw apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, horseradish, ginger, and cayenne pepper.  This concoction is rich with acetic acid, mineral salts and vitamins.  The acidity kills many forms of bacteria on contact and helps aid healing and cleansing in the body as well as fight infection.  Fire cider is strongly ant-bacterial and anti-viral, great for boosting immunity and fighting off sickness, especially when taken close to onset.  It can be taken straight or added to water, juice, etc.  It is very spicy so nice to take with a spoon of raw honey.  Check out my recipe here.

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     GARLIC

     Add raw garlic to everything, fresh or cooked it does wonders for your immune system.

-    SEA VEGETABLES

      Seaweeds like kombu, wakami, and nori make great additions to soups, stews, salads and main dishes.  They supply optimum nourishment, enhance immune function, and revitalize cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, and endocrine systems.  

-    RAW HONEY 

      Honey is anti bacterial and demulcent, meaning it relaxes, soothes and protects tissues.  Honey is also nutritive and mildly laxative.  It is beneficial for relieving dryness in the throat and for treating cough and difficulty swallowing.  Combining honey with a strong infusion of sage is a classic preparation for relieving hoarseness and respiratory congestion.

-    MISO

      This fermented food is rich in vitamins, iron, potassium, anti-oxidants, and live lactobacilli, which enhance your bodys ability to extract nutrients from food.  Miso is easy to make at home.  This is the recipe we use.   

      DARK LEAFY GREENS

      Kale, collards, mustards, dandelion- all do wonders for your health.  Eat daily chopped fresh in salads, steamed with high quality butter, sauteed with fresh garlic and ginger, or add to soups.  These greens will give you your dose of vitamins and calcium, while keeping you looking and feeling youthful and radiant.  

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      MUSHROOMS

      Shitake and reishi are medicinal mushrooms.  Both are adaptogenic, revitalizing, regenerative, and able to directly suppress infection.  Cook mushrooms well (do not eat raw, as the chitin in the mushrooms needs to be cooked for awhile to break down).  Make a strong mushroom tea or broth for a nourishing morning drink.  

-     STOCKS and BONE BROTH

      Chicken, beef, fish and vegetable stocks are all super foods!  Bone broth can be a rich life enhancing foundation to to any meal.  A pot of simmering stock is an essential part of our kitchen.  We also make weekly root immunity soup.  Use the crock pot if you like, add astragalus and burdock roots, potatoes, carrots, garlic, lots of ginger, onions and seaweed. Cook until roots are soft then add miso, tamari, a squeeze of lemon or lime and some dark leafy greens or sprouts at the end.  

      Heres to winter wellness!!

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California Bay Nuts

Coffee substitute?  Bay nut truffles?  If you dont already know, get hip to one of our yummiest native wild foods, California bay nuts. Relative to the avacado, the California Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica) has a myriad of uses from food and medicine, to furniture, flooring, cabinetry, and other woodworking.  

On a recent field trip to Point Reyes my son and I collected a bunch of bay nuts.  I brought them home and sat them in a bowl on the table to fully ripen. 

After all the skins were pretty dark, I peeled off the outer fruit which resembles a tiny avocado.  I then gave them a good rinse in a colander and roasted them in a shallow baking dish for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I let them cool and cracked off the shells which revealed the bay nuts looking almost identical to roasted coffee beans just bit lighter in color. Into the grinder they went (with some cacao nibs for good measure of course!) and whola...my very own roasted Bay nut coffee.  Its pretty delicious, I must say Im hooked, especially with fresh, frothy cream and honey.  Well worth the effort, all natural, hand gathered and without that jittery effect coffee can have.  Now I just need my years supply! Here is the link to a great local video on how to process bay nuts.  Enjoy!

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Start to Finish

Thank you Cocoa!

From May 2013 to February 2014, a cycle is complete.  Gingers first calf, little Cocoa, was born here and lived an easy life.  He was able to grow fat on his moms milk for six months then enjoy any array of alfalfa, vegis, pumpkins, and grain.  He was able to run and jump, sniff and investigate like any calf should. He slept most of the day like babies do and enjoyed many a scratch behind the ears.  

Then when he started to grow up he was even able to express some of his manhood and bully us around a bit.  (The poor goats got bullied around alot!) And at a certain point when he was eating the same amount as his mom and when he was getting just too big to handle safely (with those horns of his), it was time for him to go.

We knew from the start that Cocoas destiny would be to fill the freezer.  Since we dont eat meat it would not be ours. And when all was said and done the whole scenario could not have worked out better. A friend purchased him, picked him up in her trailer, brought him to the slaughter house and then the butcher.

This friend of ours happens to be extremely particular about where her meat comes from and feels its important to face the animals she will eat.  So she sat with Cocoa to the end and watched the complete process to make sure it was as humane a possible. She was even kind enough to bring us back some of the innards for our compost pile so a part of Cocoa could be incorporated into the soil where he was born.

We saved Cocoas beautiful hide for salting and preserving as well.  We say farewell to Cocoa who gave us our first amazing experiences with calf rearing. He was sweet, gentle and of course very stubborn. We are all grateful for the gifts he has given us.

Every part of Cocoa was used.  He was split between four families, meaning he will feed and nourish fifteen people.  Just in case any of you are considering buying a whole animal for meat to share or just for your own family, here is a cost comparison analysis of the beef purchase from the buyer, I thought it was interesting to see the breakdown.  Cocoa was eight months old and approximately 700 lbs.  

Compared to a 6 month subscription from Marin Sun Farms  (adjusted for weight differences) more steak--102% less roasts--32% less hamburger--15% more bones--100% more offal--100%
cost savings of meat per pound (excluding offal and bones)--36% total cost savings--33% final cost per pound of meat (excluding offal and bones)--$5.20

pounds of meat each + 1/4 of the bones and various cuts of offal--46.26

And now, all is quiet here on the farm.  Are you are curious about Ginger??  We have been watching her closely. She seems to have had her few days of wondering and most likely mourning but with all the green grass coming up its business as usual. 

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Starting over for winter

New Garden Layout...

We redid the labelling of the garden  beds to help make it easier to know what bed the other is talking about...
The Raspberry barrel hasnt moved yet as we are waiting for a trolley so it can be moved without to much trauma to the plant...

 Refreshing the Beds...
  
28 bags ½ filled with Mushroom compost were delivered by Greg From Wormtec on Saturday morning along with a Brix meter & small bag of worm cast based fertiliser pellets that he is working on...  Today the fun began with the revitalising of the beds once we did a tidy up...


 Pumpkins...

A decision was made this morning to do away with the Pumpkins as we have had no luck what so ever with them even though we have been hand fertilising the Female flowers as they open each morning... Makes it a lot easier to get around the beds now...


Bed #1...

Bed #1 has been stripped ½ way along... We didnt get around to transplanting all the baby Leeks today so they will be done next week... It has had some Blood n Bone, Cracker dust & Mushroom compost dug through but will have to wait till next weekend to have the Horse compost added then be planted out...
Bed #2...

Bed #2 was completely striped then had Blood n Bone, Cracker dust, Mushroom & Horse composts added... Snow peas seeds were sown under the trellis then 4 rows of Early Wonder Beetroot were sown up the other end... The tray on the bed has seedlings in it & shall be planted out next weekend...

Bed #3...

Bed #3 had the beans stripped from it & the Eggplants had a very radical trim... Blood n Bone, Cracker dust, Mushroom compost & the old bean plants were dug through but will have to wait until next weekend to have Horse compost dug through... Cauliflower will be planted in here next week end if all goes well..


Bed #7...

Bed #7 had Blood n Bone, Cracker dust, Mushroom & Horse composts added... 6 Broccoli seedlings were planted this afternoon... There are also 8 Snow pea seedlings that should be going in next weekend...



Bed #9...

Bed #9 has been a poor performer since the start... From the picture you can see that the soil is made up with mainly sand, some pebbles & the Sugar cane mulch we dug through when the bed was made...
Today I added Blood n Bone, Cracker dust,  Mushroom & Horse composts... The bed will be planted out next weekend with Lemongrass from the a blue Wicking barrel & some Silverbeet that will be used as Chook food...


Beds 10 & 11...
The 2 small beds at the end of Bed #2 had Blood n Bone, Cracker dust, Mushroom & horse composts added... Koos strawberries were removed from Bed #11 as, sadly, they didnt survive the transplanting from last week... They will be replaced with some more when we find some at the market in the next few weeks...
Bed #10 had the Parsley from Bed #1 planted into it as well as a few Beetroot seeds to fill some gaps...

Bed #4 & Barrel #6 were top dressed with Blood n Bone, Cracker dust Mushroom & Horse composts to help them along... The Eggplant in the bed also had a trim... We are leaving a few fruit mature so we can collect the seed for the next generation then that plant will be pulled... It has lasted for 3 years & 3 transplants now so we feel its time to retire the old dear...

Barrel #1 & 2 had the Cape Gooseberries removed, the soil dug out then mixed with the Blood n Bone, Cracker dust Mushroom & Horse composts... They were replanted in the barrels with the reconditioned soil then watered in well...

This was the pile at the start of the day (left) & then at the end (right)...
3 of the remaining bags are to be used on Bed #1.. The last will be mixed with some Horse compost then used as a top dress in the Spice Barrels...
2 of the bags were put straight under the house to see if we can revive the Mushroom plant... They have been placed into a waxed Lettuce box (we got full of leaves for the Chookies) & shall be covered with some seeding mix tomorrow... Hopefully they will start to produce & we will have heaps of home grown Mushies again...


Seedlings...

To get a bit of a head start on some veg we bought a few seedlings from the "store that shall remain nameless" yesterday...We bought Coriander, Common Mint, a punnet each of Cauliflower, Zucchini & Broccoli...
On Wednesday the girls & I planted out some seeds into trays,
4 x Brussels Sprouts
4 x Red Russian Kale
8 x Sugarsnap peas
8 x Melting Mammoth Snow Peas
10 x Sugarloaf Cabbage
10 x White Kohl Rabi


Rescued Produce...
This is what we managed to save from the plants were pulled or trimmed... Will miss the beans but the new plants should start producing in the next few weeks...



Thats more than enough for now me thinks so shall call it quits & stop Waffling on...
Have a great one all...
: )»

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Making wood mulch for Winter crops look at last seasons mulch

Making up some great wood based mulch from weed trees & mango prunings.. The flora & fauna that live in the soil thrive on this stuff & we are seeing lots of humus production as a result :)
We are lucky that we have a few weed trees around & some generous neighbours so can make our own to save a few dollars.. The only cost to us was the power to run the mulcher & $5 for some horse manure..

The next mulch we make up will hopefully be made using  some pigeon pea & other trees we are growing just for this purpose.. We have purchased Neem & Moringa tree to use in the mulch (as well as fro other purposes) so hope that they will bring their own qualities to future batches a year or so down the track methinks.. :)»



We also have a few other clips on Back to Eden/Wood mulching ..
Back to Eden inspired composted tree mulch trial...
Back to Eden compost update & easy DIY worm barrel..


For more regular updates about the patch come visit us at https://www.facebook.com/Bitsouttheback
Have a great one All...
:)»

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