Sunday, June 12, 2011

Wwoof hut nearing completion


After a year or so of sporadic work and wonderful wwoofer's helping we are finally nearing completion of the wwoof hut. This humble little abode will be home to our guests and is a classic Australian rustic and forest experience. It is quite tiny being big enough for a couple of beds and room to move but the little deck boasts a peaceful and green view of the forest..almost like being in a treehouse. The morning sun provides a wonderful spot to relax on the deck and shines in to the many windows. We have several guests stay in the hut already and we are looking forward to the hut growing in character as new guests pass through her.

All the building materials are recycled and either salvaged from other peoples rubbish or bought cheaply from the demolition yard. I have always dreamt about building a whole house in this fashion perhaps demolishing other derelict houses and rebuilding it with the salvageable timber. It does take a lot of work however just simply denailing timber is a time consuming job. For a building the size of the wwoof hut is has been perfect though and I hope that we get to share this special little place with lots of people.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Greens from the gardens


Picking fresh greens from the garden is so satisfying and makes for good food. Silverbeet and spring onions would be two of my most favourite greens to grow. So easy, vigorous and delicious. Fordhook giant is such an impressive variety of silverbeet and planted with rainbow chard makes for a colourful and tantalising display of greens. Spring onions give your gardens beds an interesting dynamic planted throughout. I plant them in every spare little patch I get as they don't take up much space and you can replant the bulb after you have chopped off the tasty greens and it will re shoot. Yesterday we planted out a big bed of Tatsoi, my favourite Asian green... beautiful round dark green delicious leaves, and are looking forward to watching them boom after a night of gentle rain to water them in. The next candidate to plant out will be the tiny broccoli seedlings we have hundreds of. We have been using the nursery bed method where we plant out the seed direct into a bed but always have a thick growth of seedlings so then transplant to other beds in the garden. It can be hard work transplanting such little seedlings but the first lot of pak choy that we transplanted in this method has been very successful. Looking forward to an abundance of more delicious greens.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Green Pawpaw in Curry

Must be time for another green paw paw curry. With the skin removed, chopped and added to any curry it is a fantastic filler. A really good use for those yellow paw paws that don't have the same deliciousness as the red papaya.