Oh summer garden

After four days away from our farm, we jumped out of the car eager to explore the kitchen garden and the changes we had missed in our absence.

In winter, four days' growth might not be so obvious; plants generally sit still in the cool soil like they do in the fridge. But in hot, bright sunshine-filled days, things move quickly. Plants blossom and grow tall and fill out and make fruit overnight. Blink, or go away for a few days, and you'll miss it.

We returned to our garden yesterday afternoon. We dug deep and felt the moisture in the soil, we tied up droopy limbs, pinched out excess foliage, commented on amounts of growth and harvested some greens. 

The rocket we had planted a few days before we left has burst forth from the soil to create a vibrant green spiral. The tomato plants have grown tall and filled out and are flowering madly. There are green bulbs of fruit on some of the earlier varieties, but bruschetta time still feels a while away.

The onions, possibly the only veg that me and my farmer boy disagree on, are finally bulbing right up and looking ready to harvest. All spring long he complains that they are taking up valuable garden space and should be planted down in the farm's market garden where the longer term plants grow. 

But to me onions are worth their weight in gold. An onion is the starting point of every hearty meal. If we can grow good onions then we have taken care of one of the most important staples. I am happy to patiently wait for the onions. I am pleased to give them space and time to grow. I adore watching their bulbs form and fatten up. 

The second succession of carrots is coming along nicely after the first didn't have such a great strike rate. We laugh that I planted this lot so terribly thick, but I know that thinning them out will be a delicious job we'll all enjoy in a few weeks' time.

The basil in the ground, and the basil that has yet to go into the ground is growing huge and bushy and calling for the first pesto of the season. Can you smell it? Mmmmmmm summer...

And the peas and beans are still fruiting madly, rewarding us with their crunchy fresh burst of flavour whenever we pass by.

Miss Pepper's sunflowers are still squished up closed but look just about to burst into bloom above our heads at any moment. Just as the potatoes nearby are doing their thing under our feet. 

And the lettuces...oh how I adore the summer lettuces. Salads for two out of three meals a day, green leaves poking out of sandwiches and leaves cut off and gobbled up right there on the spot.

Oh summer garden, I feel like I've been waiting for you all year.

Deeeeeeeeelicious!!

How does your garden grow at the mo?
What are you planting, harvesting, noticing, eating?

Wishing you the most scrumptious weekend.

Bye!

One fish, two fish...150 fish!

Yesterday we woke our girls early for an adventure. They weren't super impressed at being woken on a Saturday, but we were going somewhere that would close early because of the grand final. So we hurried them along and set off.

Our morning excursion was all about tiny little, fingerling fish. And we were excited.

We were excited because we would be stopping at the interesting looking building and grounds we have driven past and wondered about so many times over the years. We were excited about visiting and exploring and supporting a part of local Ballarat history, The Ballarat Trout Hatchery. We were excited to chat with some of the volunteers who work there.

And most importantly, we were excited about taking home 50 brown trout and100 rainbow trout with us.

And while the hatchery proved to be a dark, modest little set-up, it also felt quite magical and filled to the brim with history. And we spent our time there walking up and down the fish ponds, admiring all the fishery relics, trying to take photos on the lowest aperture I could hand hold, admiring all the fishies and chatting and asking questions of the lovely, volunteers working there and running the joint.

Yesterday afternoon we brought two big bags of fingerling trout home with us to Daylesford Organics. We left them them in their plastic bags in the house dam to acclimatise. And then after a while we opened those bags and let them swim free. And as they did we wished them safety, growth and told them we hoped we would see them soon.

Adding 150 trout to our house dam is about introducing a species who will eat all the tiny insects, larvae, plankton, yabbies and other dam life that clog the irrigation filters. It is about creating another level in our dam's food chain. It is about adding to the bio-diversity of the house dam. And it was about  spending time together, learning about another species and having fun.

And of course it was about adding to our self sufficiency.

Give a family a fish and they'll eat for a day - fill their dam with fish and they'll eat for ages.

If everything goes to plan, this time next year you'll find us in the boat on the dam with a fishing rod.

Yippee!!

Some parts of farming really make me quite emotional. The responsibility, the life cycle stuff, the lessons we learn along the way, the working in partnership with mother nature and the way our girls are growing up surrounded by all this stuff. Yesterday was one of these emotional times. It just felt really big and exciting.

Welcome to our place little guys.

So how about you?
Are you a fan of the fishy?
To catch or to eat?
Have you explored behind any new-to-you doors lately?
Is it as freezing there as it is here?

Happy Sunday y'all.
Farewell fishies. x

PS. Blogger, you and your layout issues are killing me.