Eco's Lodge

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by eco4560, Sep 8, 2010.

  1. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    We are totally with you on this one here at Purple Pear Farm Eco. Living with the land has given us a sense of the seasons and the rythmns of nature and to celebrate birth and renewal as we come towards winter does not feel right. We have a St George and the dragon theme at the moment with rightesousness taming the ravages of the world as we settle for the sleep of winter.
    we are planning a harvest festival for the 13th - a little late due to other committments - when the friends of the farm will gather to celebrate the bounty of the summer and look to the winter for quite reflection.Happy Marbon.
     
  2. treetopsdreaming

    treetopsdreaming Junior Member

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    These posts (about upsidedown holidays :)) intrigued me... Like others here, I really wish our imposed holidays were more connected to nature (and to the rhythm of our actual existence) as summarised in the "wheel of the year": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year)...
     
  3. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    They can be - just stop celebrating what everyone else is calling it and get on with it! Start inviting people to your Samhain gathering on May 1.... Any excuse for a get together.
     
  4. treetopsdreaming

    treetopsdreaming Junior Member

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    Hi again, eco. You mentioned seeing signs of spring in your garden. How's Imbolc looking so far?
     
  5. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Very promising.... New buds on my stone fruit and tiny wee baby fruit starting. Flowers all over the citrus which waft down to me when I hang washing on the line (who needs citrus scented laundry detergent when you have this!). Lorikeets and eastern rosellas singly loudly in the flowering gum trees. Broad beans covered in white and black flowers. Bees all over the radish flowers and the pigeon pea flowers.

    And the rain has stopped so it's time to concentrate on getting water into the soil and keeping it there.
     
  6. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    I don't have much to add, just that I've enjoyed digging through this thread. :)
     
  7. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Ta. Since I now spend all my spare time chatting with Ben and Brian I haven't been keeping this updated. Might have to pull out my digit and do something about it.

    The nectarine crop would have been huge but the fruit flies got to them first. I have given the tree a HUGE prune so that I can net the entire thing next year. I'd rather have a small crop of edible ones than fruit that only the chooks love.....
     
  8. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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  9. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    Your shoes are outside? Nice pictures.
     
  10. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    Thanks for sharing, it looks good.
     
  11. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Rick - They are the kids shoes that have been grown out of - filled with compost and growing cacti. It's kinda quirky! Waste nothing….
     
  12. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

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    Thanks Eco for the photos they are great. I hope Ben and Willie get to see them as it gives a wonderful appreciation of our friend Eco.
     
  13. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    we like the shoes too. :) have something similar with old crocs (shoes) loaded up with hens and chicks.
     
  14. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    I'll have to try that next year. :)
     
  15. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I just saw photos of your cabbages & I have serious envy! Mine are looking decidedly chewed & chomped:( I wouldn't dare post a photo of my veggie garden right now- everything looks a bit moth eaten & everything is just bolting to seed :(
    How do you make your Sauerkraut? I did a huge batch a few months ago & as well as it being too salty, I did something else wrong - not sure what - but it turned out a little cloudy & not quite right tasting. It's still edible (or at least I'm eating it & haven't had to go to the emergency room yet) but it was a big disappointment to have all my beautiful, organic cabbages turned into something less than stellar.
    The garden looks great :) It makes me homesick for Queensland. The photos convey that lovely, laid-back summer feel that I always associate most closely with happy memories of Eumundi :) I'm sure you will have something to say about there being nothing to miss about the heat - lol. It's easy to forget when you've been away a long time, & I can't tolerate it like I used to. I remember when I was looking at land out near Childers not wanting to get out of the Real Estate agents vehicle to open the gate. I felt like saying "I changed my mind, lets go back" just so I could stay inside in the air-con :p Is that tongue a "phew!" tongue or a poking out your tongue tongue? I mean a phew tongue anyway :)
     
  16. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Slice thinly and shove tight into a jar with a tiny sprinkle of salt (I'm still over salting mine too). Wait. It's that easy.

    I wouldn't fancy living any further north of where I am now - particularly this time of the year!
     
  17. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I did mine in a huge crock. There was plenty of brine produced from just the cabbage & salt. I put the set-aside whole cabbage leaves over the top, pushed everything down under the brine, stuck a bread & butter plate with a shot glass on top of it on the cabbage leaves & then put the crock lid on that. Then I put a bag of rice on top of the lid to keep it pushing down on the shot glass & therefor the plate & therefore the cabbage. When it was finished the cabbage was not the colour I expected & the taste was a little ... I dunno ... musty or something? It was edible, but not anywhere near as nice as some a friend gave me a while back. I can't remember how long I left it ferment - I'm not good at writing stuff down :)
    So what did I do wrong? Other instructions I've read say to put it in canning bottles with an airtight seal (& to burp them occasionally to stop them exploding) but some also say it's OK to do it the way I did so long as all the cabbage stays under the brine.
    What do you reckon?
     
  18. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    You may just have got unlucky with the bacteria floating around that day that decided to set up home. Did the raw cabbage taste OK? Sometimes stuff can taste odd if your soil is out of whack.

    I've heard the same as you about an open system and keeping it under brine. I did it in Mason jars and burped it just because I don't have a crock.

    And I have to confess - that was the last time I had success with cabbage! Bloody cabbage butterfly has now worked out where I live and keeps getting in first.
     
  19. permasculptor

    permasculptor Junior Member

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    WE do sauerkraut in brine and just keep it submerged it goes a little cloudy but tastes good .if not great turn it into kimchi.
     
  20. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Permasculptor - What's the step that turns it into Kimchi?

    BTW you going to Kin Kin this Sunday? I'm trying to get a few friends who are ALMOST permies to come along with me.
     

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