One of the resident Kereru eating in the overloaded Crabapple tree. I still have loads of Crabapple jelly from last year. Darn! I shall be forced to make Crabapple wine ( jay!).
Category Archives: Seen and Done
Six things Italian Women can teach us about appreciating food
Puffball Mushrooms
We are so privileged that Puffball Mushrooms are growing in our friend’s garden across the road, and even more privileged that they are prepared to to share it with us for a MUSHROOM FEAST every year. So it was with great excitement that they called and announced that the puffballs are up. We went to take photographs today and will harvest them tomorrow for the feast in the evening. We shall report on recipes and results the day after tomorrow!!! How good can life be?
Drunken Apricots
We had the good fortune to be invited to pick apricots near Dunback. The day was clear and sunny and this year the trees were laden with sweet, ripe, pink cheeked fruit. The orchard is organic and amazingly free of bugs, wasps, birds and the like and the taste of the fruit was the best we had ever eaten.
Sheep roam the orchard and once we had explained the difference between sheep poo (ok) and dog poo (not ok) to the city kids, everyone got stuck in, munching and chatting as they picked in the shade of the trees. The baby grazed on whatever fruit he found on the ground until he announced “I don’t NEED apricots!” . When I commented on the meagre contents on Mrs BYF’s bucket she claimed to have eaten at least one tree’s worth and that it should be factored in to her harvest.
We had a great day out in the peaceful countryside. We met lovely hospitable people, drank great coffee and beer, and came home happy and pleased with our haul.
Back in the kitchen, we made jam, dried some, froze some, preserved some, and, with the smallest fruit, bottled them in grappa. We will need some warmth when the Dunedin winter bites so hopefully we will be able to keep our hands off these bottles until then.
Road Trip South with Quails
I had to deliver some quails (among other things) to Gore and Invercargill. Never having been that far south of Dunedin we decided to take our time and make it a two day holiday. On the way I confirmed my suspicion that the very best people like quails! Everyone I met along the way that kept quails were true animal lovers that owned other types of birds and animals too.
The standout meeting was just outside Gore where we met two amazing women who had a huge dairy and also bred small dogs, turkeys, ducks and huge Shire horses, kept tame black swans, parrots etc. Their massive hothouse was also the quail paradise, with the quails roaming freely among the vegetables. All their animals are tame and can be petted and I held a black swan in my arms for the first time. I was impressed by how very hard working they were, with their excellent animal housing and with how well loved and cared for their animals were. We had a lot to talk about and I left feeling that I could happily have spent a few more hours with them.
In one strange coincidence we met a lady with quails, of course, and many other animals as well as a very insistent lamb bleating for milk at the gate. At our next stop we talked about our previous meeting and the lamb, and found that we were dealing with a mother and daughter, neither knew that we were known to the other.
On the way back we took the scenic road along the sea through the Catlins. The scenery was marvelous all the way home! What a beautiful bit of country.
We every so often admired the scenery whilst having very enjoyable picnics.
Back Yard Farmer 