Bottling Fruit

The bottling fruit with Anne Elliot last Saturday proved very successful. Bottling is so easy!

We went over all the sterilising: first make sure the bottle has no chips or cracks; wash jars, elastic rubber rings and sound metal lids and rinse all well; place in 150 degree C oven for 20 mins; fill bottles with fruit while still warm; Anne suggested using a medium syrup (1 cup of sugar to 2 cups of water)* over the packed fruit; cover and clip the bottles and set in the steriliser (pressure cooker, large pan or special equipment — see below); cook as recommended (different times for different fruits). Depending on your equipment the syrup will be cold (in special equipment, 10–30 mins, see below) or hot (quick deep pan method 2–20 mins; or pressure-cooked, 1–5 mins). There are oven methods too. I advise consulting a book.

*Fruit can be bottled in water, and honey, stevia or golden syrup can substitute for sugar.

Preserved lemons — simply bottled in salt were another delicacy we learned to make. Again, so easy!

Lindsay, in Katoomba Country Brewer, Shop 2, 101 Katoomba Street (i.e. behind Katoomba Street), stocks Ball and Fowlers Vacola bottling equipment, bottles, wax, pectin, etc. Contact him on (02) 4782 3000 or katoomba@countrybrewer.com.au

Bits and bobs...

Funky Front Yard Farmers and Crop & Swap

Along with growing lots of vegetables, Jo and Joe from Springwood have recently initiated a community orchard in their local street (see http://www.funkyfrontyardfarmers.blogspot.com for more about them).

They have also initiated a community food swap, which will begin in November. The Crop & Swap will start on the second Saturday in November at the Faulconbridge Community Hall (see http://www.cropandswap.blogspot.com). See you there.

If you're interested in food foraging, read this article, which recently appeared in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/us/15forage.html

Apple Pruning Workshop

There will be an Apple Pruning Workshop at the BM Organic Community Gardens this coming Friday 26 August, 11am to 1pm Developing a pruning strategy and pruning technique. Cost: $8. Contact Jed for more information: jw99@pnc.com.au

Chestnut Blight

On Friday 19 August the ABC Radio National program Bush Telegraph ran an item in their Food on Friday segment on the chestnut blight. You can hear a podcast, read some brief notes (and find some chestnut recipes) here:

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2011/s3297573.htm

Hazelnuts and Oranges

The BM Food Coop has a lot of locally grown citrus and pecans and hazelnuts in their shells for sale right now, which inspired me to find recipes to use them.

Hazelnut and Vegetable Crumble
(from Rose Elliot's The Supreme Vegetarian)

Turn the oven on to a moderate temperature (180 degrees Centigrade).
Prepare 1 kilogram of several different kinds of homegrown or cheap and fresh in-season vegetables (such as pumpkin) and steam till tender, reserving the water.
Mash one third of the mixed vegetables with one tablespoon of olive oil and some of the reserved water to form a puree, and then mix back into the rest of the cooked vegetables with a vegetable stock cube or other favourite seasonings, and place in the base of a casserole.
Place 75g rolled oats, 75g sliced hazelnuts and 75g crushed* hazelnuts with a grated onion, one crushed bulb of garlic, and some thyme or similar fresh/dried herb into a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Add 50g olive oil and stir to a crumbly mixture.
Cover vegetables with nut crumble and bake for half an hour or so, till the crumble browns.

*I crush shelled nuts by placing them in a paper bag and belting/rolling over them with a rolling pin.

Hazelnut Cake
(from Claudia Roden's The Food of Italy)

Turn the oven on to a moderate temperature (180 degrees Centigrade) and grease and line with greaseproof paper or dust with flour a 20cm round cake pan.
Beat a tablespoon of baking powder into 3 egg yolks. Add 200g sugar, 125g butter/margarine/olive oil, 200g plain flour, and 200g hazelnuts (which have been skinned if you're sensitive to their taste, roughly chopped and quickly toasted in a pan or in the oven), the grated rind from one lemon and 4 tablespoons of soy/cow's/rice milk. Mix it all together well.
Beat the 3 egg whites (which need to be at room temperature) with a pinch of salt till they are stiff and fold through the rest.
Bake for a good half hour, taking out once brown and cooked through.

Orange Granita
(from Claudia Roden's The Food of Italy)

Squeeze enough oranges (or other fresh in season citrus) to make up one litre of juice.
Add either the juice from one lemon or 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water.
Add 4–6 tablespoons of castor sugar (adjusting amount to taste), stirring well to dissolve sugar.
Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.
Blend ice cubes in food processor till a granita texture is obtained, and serve immediately.
Any uneaten mixture can be frozen again.

Pruning

This time of year we have lots of questions related to pruning, which differs in terms of different fruit plants and nut trees. June/ July is a good time for pruning deciduous trees.

The Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food has some great general advice, which can be downloaded, on growing fruit and nuts, and on pruning:

http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_92657.html
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/hort/fn/cp/pruning.pdf

I find referring to some ABC online print and video resources useful:

On grapevines, see:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3262676.htm

For general advice on making fruit trees more productive through pruning:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3279171.htm

On citrus pruning:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3274552.htm

On deciduous fruit tree pruning:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1386719.htm

On apple trees:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1971601.htm

A transcript of a television program, which includes some pruning tips:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2273813.htm

This program transcript includes some tips about pruning. More than that some good words to say about the humble carob and some other handy advice:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2240156.htm

And if you look deep into the program some snippets on berry cane cutting from Peter Cundall:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2432343.htm

More advice can be found here:

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/pruning.htm

Let us know which advice you found most/least useful, so we can improve our resource access advice.

Citrus — Oranges

In the lower mountains we have lots of citrus, which have been or are being harvested. Elsewhere in Australia, there is a glut of oranges so you might get some cheap and use them straight away, store in a cool place or preserve them. Depending on the variety, one orange usually yield 1/4–1/3 cup of juice.

Here are some ideas:

# eat fresh or use fresh juice with other fruits as a salad or compote
# use on grated carrot or beetroot as a dressing
# use orange instead of lemon juice when making hommus or guacamole dips
# use up to a cup orange juice instead of the same quantity of water for every cup of rice you next steam up
# serve with fish (instead of, i.e. as you would for, lemon)
# grate fresh rind and freeze spoonfuls in small packets in your freezer
# pare the peel finely, dry well and grind or chop and use in baking, or as a base for liqueur*
# make orangeade or orange squash
# freeze the juice with a little sugar
# prepare clean segments and freeze in a light syrup or dry pack
# make an orange sauce, e.g. for pancakes
# make orange marmalade
# make orange souffle
# make an orange (instead of lemon) pudding
# make orange muffins, loaf or cake
# make orange ice/gelato

If you have your own tree, or can access orange flowers and leaves, you can use the 'neroli' oil for flavour and scent. Dried petals can be pounded with castor sugar (1:2) and stored for use in sponges and other baking.

Oranges go well with a range of spices (such as allspice, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, mace and nutmeg) and seasonings (such as chives, garlic, mustard, pepper, sage and tarragon).

* In their great book Fruit For the Home and Garden: A Comprehensive Guide to Cultivation and Culinary Use (1985, A&R: 186), Leslie Johns and Violet Stevenson recommend:
squeezing 6 oranges and paring and finely chopping their peel;
blending the juice with 2 cups of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander and adding the finely diced peel;
pouring the blended mixture into a jar and pouring 4 cups of brandy (or some other white spirit) over it;
covering and leaving for two months or so to infuse;
filtering the infused mixture and bottling it.

Apple and Hazelnut Cake

On the weekend I made the following Claudia Rodin Apple and Nut Cake (Apfelnusstorte/Torte di Mele), from her The Food of Italy collection. It proved a success.

Oil and line with grease-proof paper a deep 20–25cm cake tin. Set the oven at 180 degrees Centigrade.

Chop 100g hazelnuts in half (the recipe says to blanch them but I left the skins on). Toast them in a little frying pan on your stove (doesn't take long).

Slice 6 baking apples (6 if they're big Granny Smith style apples, more if they're smaller). The recipe says to peel them but I left most of the skin on and just tossed out the central core.

Beat 4 egg yolks with half a cup of brown sugar. Add juice of one lemon (I used an equivalent in orange juice because they are so cheap and plentiful at the moment). Finally, slowly beat in a heaping cup of wholemeal flour.

Beat 4 egg whites (easiest with room-temperature eggs and a pinch of salt). Fold these into the cake mixture with the toasted hazelnuts.

Pour half of the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Layer half of the apple slices on top and repeat process. Cover top with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter and a sprinkling of 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.

Cover the top once it brown and leave in the oven for up to 90 mins (i.e. 'until a skewer pushed into it comes out clean').

TAFE Outreach course on Fruit and Nut Tree Growing

Introducing the Basics and More! This Blue Mountains College (TAFE Western Sydney Institute) Outreach course on Fruit and Nut Tree Growing in the Blue Mountains has been developed in partnership with our Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network

The workshops will cover:
Establishing fruit & nut trees in the Blue Mountains
Maintaining trees, pests and diseases, nutrition
Harvesting, storing, preserving and sharing

The venue is the Blue Mountains Organic Community Garden, Harold Hodgson Park, in Katoomba

When? Three Saturdays: 15th October, 10.00am—1.00pm; 29th October, 10.00am—2.30pm (bring lunch for a half hour break); and 12th November, 10.00am—1.00pm.

Interested in this free Course No 9070 Statement of Attainment in Access to Work & Training? Register now.
Contact Denise at TAFE on 4753 2039 or email denise.newton3@ tafensw.edu.au, or contact Anitra on 4782 9003.

Boston Tree Party

Amongst hundreds of community initiatives around fruit and nut tree growing is one that Kat (Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens) has drawn our attention to — the Boston Tree Party. Take a look.

Fits is well with Maryanne's idea of a fruit and nut community orchard. Perhaps we could distribute samples of heritage varieties and Indigenous fruit and nut plants in small islands throughout the mountains — just as they already appear in certain places near railway stations and even public parks (see Medlow Bath).

Cheriras Community Orchard

Lucy and Rob are key members of the Cheriras Community Orchard in Mt Tomah. This photo of Lucy and Rob and their little family was taken at the Bilpin Garden Club who invited us to talk about the Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network at one of their monthly meetings earlier this year. Right at the moment the orchard is selling bare-rooted raspberry canes and strawberry plants!

Olives

If, like me, you have some olive trees then over the next few months you'll be harvesting them. You might be interested in hearing about the commercial olive harvest this year (in the 27 May ABC Radio National Bush Telegraph program).

The ABC TV1 Gardening Australia site also has a fact sheet on pruning olive trees, which we'll need to be doing later in the year. You can watch an ABC TV1 Gardening Australia program on grafting olive and apple trees too.

There are olive farms in the Megalong Valley (see post below). Poor soils, well-drained soils and cold winters are the olive's natural habitat. But the high humidity characteristic of Blue Mountains' weather is an enemy of olives. In places, such as the upper mountains, where an olive tree might not get full sun and many weeks of it they will not thrive.

Bare-rooted raspberry canes and strawberry plants

Cheriras Community Orchard will have bare-rooted raspberry canes and strawberry plants available soon for purchase by locals — you can find advice on planting them at the UK BBC gardening site. The BBC recommends Autumn Bliss, amongst others, and this is a variety Cheriras can supply — generally they produce a strong harvest. Another site worth looking at is UK GardenAction. Our link takes you right to the raspberry page.

If you want advice on tending the strawberry plants try the Vegetable Patch site. Also the ABC's Gardening Australia has three items on growing strawberries: a 2003 fact sheet by Colin Campbell; a 2007 fact sheet by Janea Edmansont; and, an item from a 2007 issue of the Gardening Australia Magazine; And, if you're heavily into strawberries or have had problems growing them, consult the Berries page of the NSW Department of Primary Industries horticulture site.

Preserving workshop

The pic says it all — the fruit preserving workshop on the weekend was a great success and will be an annual (if not even more regular) event.

Feral Fruit Melbourne/Blue Mountains?

Take a look at Feral Fruit Trees Melbourne — why don't we make a map like this for our area?

May in the Mountains

Remember that on Saturday 14 May 11.30 am Anne Elliott (Slow Food Blue Mountains) will present a workshop on preserving fruit using Fowlers Vacola equipment on Saturday 14 May in Katoomba. Entry is by donation. Bookings are essential.

Kat Szuminska reports that they've just bulk ordered fruit plants for the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens, also in Katoomba. See their website for some recent activities involving citrus planting: http://bluemountainscommunitygardens.org/ If you'd like to be involved with planting the new stock, contact Kat directly.

The ABC TV program Gardening Australia, which screens at 6.30 pm every Saturday evening, has announced that next week (Saturday 14 May) they will feature the grafting of fruit trees. This is a subject of great interest in our network and we hope to hold a workshop later in the year on it. Meanwhile watch the program — see http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/

Permaculture Day

This weekend there are numerous activities in the Blue Mountains for Permaculture Day. Notable is the Katoomba Organic Community Gardens, which is open 11 am to 4 pm (up to 2 pm for specially guided walks, including through the heritage apple path which features around five to six dozen apple varieties!)

On the SBS website, leading up to our preserving fruit workshop, take a look at the Gourmet Farmer's advice and at Costa's planting fruit tree guide, and the moroccan dressing for a salad of fruit of your choice (local, of course).

Fowler Vacola fruit preserving workshop coming up

On Saturday 14 May, starting at 11.30 am Anne Elliott (Slow Food Blue Mountains) will present a workshop in Katoomba on preserving fruit using Fowlers Vacola equipment. Entry is by donation and bookings are essential.

If you want to find out a bit more about preserving home produce with Fowlers Vacola before registering for the workshop, see a personal view at cartoonist and John Ditchburn's site: http://www.urbanfoodgarden.org/main/processing-garden-produce/fowlers/fowlers.htm

Kookootonga Chestnut and Walnut Outing

It was a beautiful day at Mount Irvine on Sunday when we visited the chestnut and walnut farm that we go to each time this year, to collect and roast chestnuts. Unfortunately, our photographer's camera was stolen after the visit so we have no pics — though last years' best ones are still up (see below).

Last year there weren't any walnuts to collect but this time there were. Walnuts fall inside a fleshy fruit that quickly blackens and becomes slimy. Ultimately, the sun and rain ripen and wash off this thin outer layer but meanwhile there is a tendency for mould to develop and invade the nut. Therefore walnut picking up requires skills in checking the probable quality of the walnut and then scrubbing the dark outer flesh off to leave a lovely shell like those we're accustomed to in shops.

The Australian Walnut Industry Association claim that walnuts grown in our country are free of pesticides and chemical treatments, and fresh, i.e. always sold within several months of harvest. If you go onto the Austnuts: Australia's nut directory site, and click on the walnuts section, you will find masses of useful information, including Perry's Fruit and Nut Nursery Home Garden Cultivation Notes and walnut recipes.

The Austnuts: Australia's nut directory site also has similar information on chestnuts and, of course, other nuts which can grow here in the Blue Mountains, such as almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios.

Fig Preserve

Issue 65 of the Permaculture Magazine (UK) had lead articles in it on 'Transition Trees' and 'Useful Trees in Public Spaces' on networks and activities like ours. On page 14 there is a great recipe for preserving figs, as follows.

Wash and core — or scald and peel, and core — 2.4 kg of fresh figs. Make a syrup by boiling together 500 ml vinegar and 500 ml water with 2.4 kg sugar for ten minutes. Now drop the whole fruit into the syrup and very gently cook for three to four hours. Bottle in sterile jars while hot and seal after cools.

Orange and its fruit and nuts

The annual Orange F.O.O.D Weekis on again in April. Orange represents a great neighbouring bioregion for fruit and nuts and is definitely worth a visit. Find a list of local producers at the Orange Farmers Market site.

Note in the Blue Mountains Gazette this week, that the council is treating blackberries so the advice is to avoid eating spray with your berries by going without when you see berries grown on public land. Also go to the council's website to notify the Noxious Weeds team leader if you need to be put on its Chemically Sensitive Register to be notified when they spray nearby.

BM Food Co-op turns 30

The Blue Mountains Food Co-Op is the easiest place for residents in the upper mountains to share, sell or buy surplus fruit and nut produce. When I browsed on Friday there were blackberries, hazelnuts, pears, apples, and more ... all grown locally.

Now the biggest and longest opening outlet of its kind in Australia, it is located in Shops 1 & 2 Jones House, Ha'penny Lane (under the Katoomba Post Office). Phone: 4782 5890.

Our NFP food co-operative specialises in organic wholefoods, encourages local produce and minimal packaging. There are transparent mark-ups and bulk discounts.

The co-operative will celebrate its 30th birthday Saturday March 12th at Phillip Hall & Park in Blackheath, 10am–10pm. Slow Foods has a stall where you can see BM FNTN flyers and can sign up to our e-list for bulletins about our activities.

Other projects like our own...

If you didn't hear it on the ABC Radio National's Bush Telegraph or Country Breakfast this week, go to —http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bushtelegraph/stories/2011/3145462.htm to find the audio to listen to and the transcript to read. And for more on the Growing Abundance project, see — http://www.cch.org.au/growing.shtml — it's so like our own Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network!

Chutney

With fruit picked at the Mount Tomah Cheriras Orchard (see photos in posts below) I've made marmalade and chutney this week. Given many of you might well have, or have access to, lots of little apples this time of year — too many to eat — I'll share my method for making chutney. You can add chopped up onions, or other delicacies at hand, as you wish, e.g. substitute some apples with windfall pears.

Into a very large saucepan (e.g. the bottom part of a pressure cooker) place 5 cups of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 kg raw sugar. Stir well and then occasionally, as you bring it to the boil, making sure the sugar dissolves. Meanwhile wash 2 kg apples, peel where necessary, roughly chop and add all to the simmering liquid mixture.

Bring back to the boil and, after a few minutes, add 350 gm sultanas, 250 gm of finely sliced preserved ginger. You need to stir it well for the next 15–25 mins as you keep it at the boil to thicken. Make sure your jars are sterilised and pour into 8–10 medium sized 'jam' jars.

Bilpin Garden Club

Last Saturday Rob and Lucy, from the Cheriras Community Orchard in Mt Tomah, and I spoke about our network to the Bilpin Garden Club in the Bilpin Hall. Before we went, we picked blueberries with some other families. I took these photos of the figs and prima apples in the orchard. We expect the figs to be ready in March sometime.

Landshare

See the ABC story on a new national organisation facilitating landsharing, i.e. having other people use your land productively and you working on someone else's land to produce food you eat.

The following is a quote from the Landshare website:

Landshare is for people who:

+ Want to grow vegetables but don't have anywhere to do it
+ Have a spare bit of land they're prepared to share
+ Can help in some way — from sharing knowledge and lending tools to helping out on the plot itself
+ Support the idea of freeing up more land for growing
+ Are already growing and want to join in the community

Great idea and even easier to apply for fruits and nuts. That's happening around the mountains. The Quarry Garden at Blackheath is one example and the Cheriras Community Orchard is another. Think about expanding the idea.

Figs

An update on fruit-picking at Cheriras Community Orchard at Mt Tomah — they have begun harvesting apples outside the large netted area 'due to intense interest from the birds'! Watch out for these apples, which are on sell regularly now at the Katoomba co-op any day of the week or at the Quarry Garden Gate, Connaught Road (off Govetts Leap Rd) in Blackheath, between 10am and 12 noon/1pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays. (Turn left into Connaught Rd off Govetts Leap Road, drive to the end and turn left though the big gates.There is a sign out the front.) For more details contact Deb Hurley 4787 7429

Leura Goodies has fresh-picked (daily) blueberries from Mount Wilson suppliers for sale at the moment too.

This means that the up coming BM FNTN activity will focus on figs: 'the second (autumn) crop should be amazing and plentiful'.
We might get a fortnight notice time but it is likely to be March. Watch this space and, if you are a local to the Blue Mountains, make contact to get on our e-list so you get notified instantly!

2011

It's a new year and Cheriras Community Orchard is the new name for the Cloud Farm Community Collective (see post below, 1 January), where we expect to pick apples and figs once they are ready — probably February. 'Cheriras' is from the French 'to cherish' (chérir) — very cutely Google asked me if I meant 'cherries' when I searched it on the Internet!

Meanwhile Blue Mountains Slow Foods have a series of Summer Harvest Kitchen workshops. The following should be of interest to fruities and nutters:

Good enough to bottle – Tips for preserving using Fowlers Vacola equipment. Thurs 3 Feb, 10 am–1 pm and 2–4 pm @ Cloudlands, Katoomba. Cost: by donation. Bookings: 4782 7376
Learn the simple steps for using a Fowlers Vacola Electric Sterilising Unit. Look at equipment required and take home practical, step-by-step sheets to keep. A hands-on component as well, bottling antipasto vegetables. Light morning/ afternoon tea will also be provided.

Chooks Tour: an excursion to small, integrated backyard chookhouses/runs in the Blue Mountains: Sat 5 Feb, 9.30-2.30pm @ Various Chook yards across the Mountains. Cost $10. Bookings: 4782 7376
Small group visits to 6-8 backyards and talk with owners about their chooks, chookhouses and yards. Finish at Sun Valley Produce with display of equipment and feed for keeping hens, and chickens for sale. (Heavily booked, so contact presenter for date of 3rd excursion.)

Notice too the campaign to save the bees.

I made some brandied cumquat and orange marmalade in November — from our own cumquats, sadly we don't grow our own oranges in our Katoomba garden — and now we're having it on Hominy toast each morning for breakfast — yum!

Cloud Farm Community Collective and Love's Harvest

About 25 people came to the Cloud Farm Community Collective open berry picking day today. It was great weather, but a little hot.

We took photos at the entrance of the one-acre netted food forest (left) and from inside, where garlic and other herbs grow adjacent with fruit trees and berry plants (above right).

Next month there will be other fruit to harvest, stone fruit will be ready in a number of weeks. The apples will take longer. To receive notification of such activities please register your email on our e-list.

On 31 December 2010 SBS screened one of a four-part documentary series, called Love's Harvest, on the experiences of organic farmers. The half-hour part on New Year's Eve was on a couple who established a commercial raspberry patch at Yandoit in Victoria. Especially if you like raspberries, and raspberry growing, it is worth a look.

Hazelbrook–Lawson 100 year old apple tree

On Sunday 20 December Maryanne and Chris and I accompanied Father Eugene Stockton for a walk over an old property located halfway between Hazelbrook and Lawson, which was once the site of an orchard. According to Father Stockton, the apple tree shown in the photos was already an old tree when he first saw it seventy years ago. We think that it is probably over a century old. It fruits every second year and he can testify that the apples are very nice stewed with rhubarb.

Updates

We have a few reports that cuttings of native raspberry (Rubus Hillii) sourced from the Whitton's earlier this year (see pics in post below) are doing well.

Similarly berries sourced from Lizzie Connor, who used to live in Katoomba but is now a Taswegian, have taken.

The Cloud Farm Community Collective at Mount Tomah reported that red currants, yellow raspberries and gooseberries were already ready last week and raspberries will probably be harvested today.

Blueberries, though, look like they are waiting for the Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network to pick on January 2!

Dwarf apples

Did you see the ABC's Gardening Australia program last Saturday night (4 December)? There was a great segment on dwarf apples and although the garden was in Tasmania, all the information would be relevant for us here in the Blue Mountains. They discussed pruning, organic manures, trellis's and the apple's love of dolamite. You can view it here. Please let us know if you have a dwarf apple varieties growing succcessfully in our area.

Best fruit cake time of year

It's that time of year, which is why writing posts has dropped by the wayside. But, here we are again, with my best fruit cake recipe to share.

You will need a large saucepan and a large cake tin smeared in oil and lined with greaseproof paper oiled on the side of the mixture.

Into the saucepan place 2 cups of raisins, 2 cups sultanas, 1 cup currants, 300gm butter (or 1 heaping cup, 300ml, of oil), 1 and one half cups of brown sugar (or 1 cup, 250ml, honey), 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda and 2 cups (500ml) water (or 375 ml if using honey instead of sugar).

Bring to the boil, being careful because the bicarb will froth and foam over if you're not there to regulate the heat. Keep on a brisk simmer, stirring for several minutes, i.e. until the sugar has dissolved. Now leave it to cool, which will take at least half an hour depending on the weather and where you leave it.

Once the mixture is cool preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade. Beat 4 fresh eggs together. To the cool fruit mixture add a couple of teaspoons of finely grated nutmeg or ground ginger and the same quantity of ground cinnamon, and a pinch or two of cloves as well as the beaten eggs. Finally fold in 2 cups of sifted wholemeal plain flour. Don't be surprised at how runny the mixture is, just pour it into your prepared pan.

The cake takes around an hour and a half of baking. I place a lid on it, usually after about half an hour, to make sure it doesn't burn on the top.

We call this the Christmas fruit pudding cake.

Growing your own prevents pesticide exposure

All of us should eat a few servings of fruit everyday. Choice magazine has done several tests over the years on pesticides in fruit (don't think you can wash them all off).

An article on strawberries (29 January 2008) revealed that most conventionally grown strawberries tested by Choice contained pesticides, some relatively dangerous ones. Even though they tested only good specimens, one batch was above the maximum residue limit set by Australian standards, another breached EU standards, some contained traces of pesticides not permitted for use in the source state (the states and territories have different regulations for producers) and 17 contained traces of two or more pesticides, which means consumers risk the often unknown (under-researched) synergistic affects.

Another article (10 March 2006) showed that testing of fruit and vegetables is neither as regular not as rigorous as we might expect — neglecting many (95%) imported products. The conclusion was go organic or grow your own — organically of course!

Cloud Farm Community Collective

Despite the shocking weather last Sunday, ten of us braved the rain and toured the Mount Tomah food forest, hosted by the Cloud Farm Community Collective. This collective was formed to preserve a one acre food forest in a massive netting house.

The collective is 'working for food not money'. One of its aims is to share skills and knowledge within our local community. We will go back in a couple of months to give more people the opportunity to tour and do some skill-building and work there.

John outlined the land's history. (John and Judith Chorley established the food forest and have entered into an arrangement for the collective to manage and benefit from the food grown there.) Rob and Gary, members of the collective, filled us in on other details as to how it functions, with people dedicating work and being 'paid' in a proportional amount of food. It's a beautiful work-in-progress.

Quarry Garden Gate, Blackheath

The crew gardening the quarry site in Connaught Road Blackheath have honey, home made cordial and marmalade — as well as other fresh produce and organic vegetable seedlings — for sale at the moment.

The garden looks wonderful right now, so rock up 10am to 12 noon/1pm one Tuesday or Saturday over the next few weeks.

Connaught Rd is off Govetts Leap Rd. Drive to the end and turn left through the big gates. (There's a sign out the front.)

ABC Organic Gardener Magazine

Every now and again I browse the ABC Gardening website. Today i noticed a great article that I missed when it came out in the July–August issue of the ABC's Organic Gardener Magazine: 'Catching Falling Fruit'.

The article discusses activities, such as our network promotes here in the Blue Mountains, as part of an 'urban orchard' movement.

There was an article in the July issue of the ABC's Gardening Australia Magazine, 'Dwarf Apples', too; many of our members are interested in, or experimenting with, dwarf varieties.

You might want to take a look at the Fact Sheet on Planting and Pruning Berries too.

Lemons and grapefruit

The Blue Mountains Food Co-op in Happenny Lane, Katoomba, is open seven days a week (P: 4782 5890). The fresh vegetable and fruit area includes locally grown produce by gardeners; currently there are lots of lemons (so you can try out the recipes provided in the last post and on 30 July) as well as grapefruit (red and yellow).

We had to cancel Monday's Varuna pruning because of excessive rain, but plan another visit 10 am Monday 18 October (weather permitting).

Fresh lemon sponge

This 'sponge' lasts up to a week. It is a lovely light cake, ideal for serving as a dessert with fresh fruit or a soaked dried fruit compote.
Beat half a cup of corn (or other) oil with one cup of raw sugar. Beat in two eggs, one at a time. Sift in one and a half cups of self-raising flour and a pinch of salt alternately with half a cup of soy milk. Add two teaspoons of grated lemon rind. Pour into a pre-greased and floured round cake pan. Bake in a 180 degree C. oven for three-quarters of an hour, but cover around half way through once the top has browned.
Mix together one-third of a cup of lemon juice with one-quarter of a cup of brown sugar, stirring well to dissolve sugar.
Once cake is 'done', remove from oven and prick all over (say 100 times with a skewer) before gently pouring the sweet lemon mixture over the hot cake. Leave it to cool in its tin and then gently remove.

More pruning at Varuna

Yesterday we pruned again at the Varuna Writers Centre in Katoomba (see photo, below left). This is an ongoing project — we will have another working bee there in a couple of weeks (TBA). The weather is beautiful this time of year. There is some great information about pruning fruit trees at different times of the year for different purposes at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension service website: click here for the page.

The cuttings of the native raspberry that I — and several others — got from Wendy and Tom Whitton's place are starting to establish themselves too (see photo, above right).

There is so much blossom in the air, lots of us are suffering from the allergic affects of pollens. But, the upside is the nurturing feeling of new beginnings.

Olives growing in Megalong valley

The photos are from pruning fruit trees at Varuna Writers Centre in Katoomba on Monday 6 september, an ongoing project of the fruit and nut tree network.

Slow Food Blue Mountains has organised two visits to the Glyn Newydd Olive Grove in Megalong Valley for Sunday and Monday 14 and 15 November. A tour through the organic farm will include information about growing olive trees and harvesting olives. Lunch includes a taste of their olive products — dips, oils etc. (The cost is $35/$39.) Take a look at their website.

Pruning

It's too late to prune many fruit and nut trees now to improve the summer harvest. However, tomorrow we are pruning at the Varuna Writers' Centre because they prefer to see them 'tidied up' rather than worry about the coming crop. Indeed we all prune out of season sometimes when a tree is damaged by the weather, has been attacked by pests and disease, or reshaping is desired or required because of the trees siting.

A book recently published by the CSIRO, Pruning for Flowers and Fruit by Jane Varkulecivius, has many chapters on pruning specifically fruit trees/plants, including the canes of berries (which we covered in the workshop at Lizzie's in May).

The photo shows Paul at Anne Elliot's yesterday, with some preserved kiwi fruit. Yum!

Apple pectin recipe

Here's an apple pectin recipe from Melanie from Bullaburra.
To set one litre of liquid you will need 1.5cl (cl = centilitre; 1cl = 10ml; ml = millilitre) of the following.

Take one kilogram of apples and roughly chop them — don't bother about peeling, coring, or deseeding.
Place them in a pan and cover with water, bring to the boil and cook on a low heat for half and hour.
Sieve by pouring the pulp in a colander lined with muslin over a large bowl and allow to strain for at least 12 hours.
Put the collected juice into a pan and reduce by half.
Seal in sterilised jars.

Citrus workshop

Our Citrus Workshop in the Kihilla (Lawson) kitchen on Saturday 14 August was well attended. Lizzie gave a short talk and led the sharing of citrus experiences, questions and produce.

People brought grapefruit, oranges, lemons and tangellos, including: Frank brought several tubs of citrus — all named — from the lower mountains, Ross brought lemon sorbet and served it in lemon peel cups, Melanie brought a paste and marmalade for tasting and there was a basket of lemons from Gwen (Kihilla).

Frank offered us small slices of a white sapote — a member of the Rutaceae family too.

Kat talked about the cooperative development at Mt Tomah where they have planted many fruit trees, and some nut plants.

Maryanne led a tour of the Kihilla site where the Mid-Mountains Community Gardens is being established — you can join for just $2!

Carob cake

Some have reported growing carob here in the Blue Mountains successfully. Did you know that the carob pods — from which we derive the powder usually used in cooking — are so reliable in terms of similarity in weight that the measure of a carat (e.g. of gold) derived from the carob pod?

Recently I adapted a recipe from Alan Wakefield's and Gordon Baskerville's The Vegan Cookbook (Faber&Faber 1996 edn).

To start with I smeared the inside of a 7 inch (18 centimetre) round pan with virgin olive oil and set the oven to 180 degrees C.
I sifted 1 cup of light carob powder and 2 cups of self-raising wholemeal flour into a large bowl, finally mixing half a cup of sugar through.
Then I added half a cup of oil, a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a heaping cup of warm water to the dry ingredients and beat it all in well.
The mixture was just a bit more moist than dough and so I made a bit of an indent after pouring it into the baking pan.
It took a good 50 mins to cook through, though you will find the size and shape of your cake tin as well as the temperature of your specific stove make a difference. I needed to cover it after about twenty minutes so it wouldn't burn.

Wakefield and Baskerville suggest a topping. We liked it as it was as well as with butter. We dreamed of ice-cream and the kind of fruits and nuts that might match the full and dark richness of its unique taste — dark cherries, figs, apricots and walnuts. I might try mashing an avocado for a future topping.

You can find out more about the carob plant at the Purdue University Centre for New Crops and Plant Produce site.

Lemon marmalade and history

We'd love to hear from people who know about the history of fruit and nut trees in the Blue Mountains, records of:
the pre-settlement Indigenous plants that local Indigenous people ate and that kept them healthy through their medicinal properties;
the early settlers who farmed and gardened to feed themselves and provide produce for small local markets;
twentieth century developments.

In a little tome that is a cross between a volume of local history and a cookery book — The Blue Mountains Olde and New Ways Cookbook by Juliette Palmer Frederick (Katoomba 1992) — there is a recipe for a simple lemon marmalade that follows.

Take four lemons and cover with water (under 600 ml) in a saucepan.
Boil till the lemons are tender and switch off heat.
Remove, halve and de-pip the lemons, then dice or slice them finely.
Return chopped fruit and juice to liquid in saucepan.
Add 500 gm sugar and boil fast for, say 15 mins, i.e. till setting stage is reached.
Place in sterilised jars and seal.

This is the kind of information that we'll be sharing at our next workshop at Kihilla on Saturday 14 August. Hope to see you there!

Organic Gardener Essential Guide — Fruit

The ABC's Organic Gardener magazine has just released a special Essential Guide to Fruit. It's 124 pages and just under $10. Both the Organic gardener website and the ABC website's gardening section have great information on citrus growing (see the ABC on dwarf apples).

Take a browse in preparation for our Citrus Show and Tell coming up Saturday 14 August at the home of the Mid-Mountains Community Gardens at Kihilla in Lawson starting at 10.30 am.

This will be an opportunity to share information, samples and stories of citrus growing in the sub-regions from Meyer lemons in the upper mountains down to grapefruits, limes and oranges and their hybrids in the lower mountains. You can bring produce to share, swap or sell. There will be a mean home-brewed lemonade to taste, and more!

Indigenous raspberry

In the 'Berry Similar Plants' section of the Blackberry page on the Blue Mountains City Council site Weeds of the Blue Mountains Bushland, there is a discussion of some of the Indigenous raspberries found locally. One of them is Rubus hilli. Wendy Whitton potted cuttings of this plant, which grows at their place in South Katoomba, so that several of us can now try to grow it in our gardens. We will share our knowledge of the best sites and soil, and ways to maintain them. If you have some experience, please let us know by writing in the comments box.

Orange preserving workshop

Following the very successful medlar preserving workshop at Melanie's and Alexander's in Bullaburra, our next activity is there on Sunday 18 July — again for a demonstration and talk but this time about making orange marmalade, candied oranges and peel, orange curd and orange cordial!

The orange (Citrus spp. Rutaceae) is one of the oldest fruit trees cultivated by the human species being a hybrid of a pummelo and a mandarin. It is a wonderful winter fruit growing well in the lower mountains. The Seville orange is able to survive higher up where it is colder more often.

We're particularly interested in hearing from local growers of their indigenous plant relatives, such as the Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica). The indigenous varieties seem less susceptible to pests and diseases that bother the kinds brought by European and Asian settlers, and are generally drought and salt tolerant. CSIRO has trialled grafting the indigenous varieties onto the more plentiful commercial varieties. All make very good marmalades and fruit juices, cordials and sauces.

Non-monetary exchange; the way things 'were'

The Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network runs by processes based on 'olde worlde' values that we hope will contribute to new ways of being in a sustainable future world. All of our activities — the sharing of information and skills — are run as much as possible by volunteer workers at no or minimal costs to participants and volunteers.

We try to have activities in locations that are close to public transport or car share. We like to use local community gardens and other communal resources and peoples homes as places for our activities. We promote sharing surplus through exchanging goods and services directly, even if delayed over time, e.g. surplus fruit for value-added jam or other surplus fruit later.

For many of us, when we were young, this is how our neighbours, friends and extended family operated. They swapped and shared, gifting and receiving gifts of garden cuttings, seeds and produce — helping the exchange of ideas and information on growing, preparing and cooking fruits and nuts.

Today the Internet provides a great new means for sharing information. This blog, our e-list and all the links we make with local media — and groups far away, but with the same values and vision of a sustainable future — facilitate and enhance our operation based on traditional values of caring and sharing.

Pruning and bare root fruit tree planting

Lizzie C alerted me to the Sustainable Gardening Australia site, which has a great page describing the hows and wheres of bare root fruit tree establishment and maintenance — Bare Root Fruit is Beaut. As they say there: 'winter is the time to get down and dirty with deciduous fruit trees'.

Another member of our network, Tom P, has sent through advice on pruning red and black currants and gooseberries (a topic addressed at our recent workshop in Lizzie's garden). They need to be planted out during May to September:

'Prune currants and gooseberries when plants are dormant in late winter or early spring once frosts have ended. Remove branches that lie along the ground and branches that are diseased or broken. Fruiting is strongest on spurs of two and three year old wood.

'After the first year of growth remove all but 6 to 8 of the most vigorous shoots.

'After 2 years of growth leave 4–5 of the best one-year-old shoots and up to 3–4 two-year–old canes.

'At the end of the third year prune so that c. 3–4 canes of each age class remain.

'By the fourth year the oldest set of canes should be removed and new canes allowed to grow.

'Each winter shorten long stems that have grown too scraggly. Do not prune after spring growth commences. This system of renewal ensures that the plants remain productive because young canes always replace those removed. A strong healthy and mature plant should have about 8 fruit bearing canes, with younger canes eventually replacing the oldest.

'Prune red and white currants back to an outward facing bud, as is normal for most plants. Prune back droopy gooseberries to an inward and upward facing bud. Keep centre open to air and sunlight, leaving a few regularly-spaced main branches. Cut away any laterals that are crossing, drooping, or otherwise misplaced, and shorten for fewer larger fruits.'

Good pruning!

Medlar workshop

Last Sunday, 6 June, Melanie (and Alexander) ran a wonderful medlar workshop for our network in Bullaburra. The demonstration centred on medlar preservation for the pantry and medlar preparation for the table: medlar jelly, medlar cheese, medlar paste, medlar and apple chutney, medlar tart, and medlar comfit.

Medlars have been described as a cross between a pear and a quince. Lizzie is right in saying they have a texture and even taste like dates, though they are nicely tart in comparison to dried ones.

They have a thin skin, like but even thinner than the skin of a kiwifruit. Similarly, you can scoop out the medlar's flesh to eat raw, but the seeds are large.

Like pears, medlars need to be ripened off the tree. The ripening process of medlars is commonly referred to as 'bletting'. One workshop participant reported making jam and stewed from medlars picked straight from the tree, i.e. in their hard and tart state, and the product was successful.

Berries and more

This last weekend we ran two very successful workshops. On Saturday, we ran one on berry (and more) growing alongside a unique-to-the-Blue-Mountains hanging swamp vegetation (see photo).


Lizzie, who ran the berries and more workshop, loves raspberries etc. because they are such easy plants to start growing and having your own fresh produce is so sweat. if they make it to the kitchen, here are some very easy recipes too.

British cookery book writer Rose Elliot has a raspberry or blackberry coulis (sauce) recipes which goes like this: blend 350gm fresh/thawed frozen raspberries/blackberries with 1.5T water and 1.5T caster sugar. Sieve. Bring to boil for a minute to clarify and give a shine to the sauce. Refrigerate.

Lizzie's favourite is with rhubarb as a lovely caramelised sauce. Place trimmed and cut rhubarb stalks in a lidded heavy saucepan or frying pan with the water it was washed in and a sprinkle of sugar. Dry-fry, by closing the lid and cooking over a low heat for 2-3 minutes, and turning off the heat to finish cooking.

Finally a three-minute loganberry/raspberry/boysenberry jam. Place 5 cups of berries and 4½ cups sugar in pan. Stir to dissolve sugar as bringing to the boil. Boil for 3 mins. Pour into hot sterilised jars. Thickens over the following days.

Share the surplus

Thanks to a donation of two boxes of surplus medlars, which were grown locally in the Blue Mountains, we have a wonderful workshop on making medlar jelly, paste, tart and cheese coming up this weekend.

There are many options for dealing with surplus fruit and nuts. We hold workshops on storage, cooking with and preserving them. We promote sharing through our network too, and email any offers through our e-list.

But you can arrange to give away, exchange or trade through the Blue Mountains food cooperative in Katoombaa, which is open every day of the week, or the Blackheath Primary School Community Market held on the first Sunday of every month (contact Deb by emailing: debhurley100@yahoo.com), or at the Lawson Primary School Community Market held on the third Sunday of every month.(contact Cheryl on 47591823).

If you plan to hold a local stall or regular market opportunity for sharing surplus fruit and nuts, please let us know.

Carob

With winter descending we turn to the kitchen fire, away from the garden with its sleeping bare trees. Besides our workshop on berries, which will include a short discussion of preserving and cooking them, we have had two boxes of surplus medlars donated for a workshop which will be held later in June. Medlars used to be classified in the pear (Pyrus) genus and also have similarities with quinces. They need to ripen (blet) off the tree.

Anyway, this week we're talking carob. A lot of people turn their noses up at carob; they think of it like decaffeinated coffee, i.e. a poor substitute for the real thing (i.e. chocolate). In fact, I think you should get to know it on its own terms. Carob is carob.

The fleshy pods need to be dried out in a slow oven and ground in a 'coffee' grinder! Finely grind powder for a drink. If you use as much as you might cocoa and add the same amount of sugar as you would to make a chocolate drink, I think that you will find it overpoweringly earthy and sweets. You need to experiment. I use around two-thirds the quantity that I would normally use of cocoa and half the amount of sugar. I find it tastes best with brown sugar or honey and with soy rather than cow's milk.

You can make a sweetmeat out of it: place 2 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup of carob powder, 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan. Stir together while bringing to the boil and continue stirring to thicken. Once it has reached soft ball stage remove, add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and beat well. Once it is thick pour into a buttered pan and cut into cubes once cold.

If you must compare it with cocoa (and many cooks do because it can used for similar recipes) think in terms of fewer calories (60% less than the same weight of cocoa because cocoa has a much higher fat content) and its higher nutritional value. Carob has more natural sugars (carbohydrate) and is higher in iron and potassium.

Fresh/preserved fruit cake

Yesterday I made 'breakfast cake' using home garden quinces, which had been bottled in a low sugar syrup, and an old Italian recipe which I have adapted over the years. You need to preheat the oven to 190 degrees centigrade. I like to fill the oven so the energy is not wasted. This one can be placed in the oven alongside baked vegetables or whatever.

Beat three eggs with a spare cup of castor sugar. You can use less and/or brown sugar but it takes longer to become foamy.

Add two tablespoons of virgin olive oil (or another vegetable oil, if you prefer).

Add the grated zest from 1 or two oranges or a couple of lemons.

Add three cups of self-raising flour, cup by cup, carefully and quickly folding in.

Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of orange/lemon juice and some orange pulp with one to two cups of drained stewed or preserved fruit. Our local quinces, pears, apples or stone fruit are ideal. Keep the juice/syrup aside for another dish or incorporate some instead of the orange juice. If you used wholemeal flour you will need to add more liquid anyway. The resulting dough should be relatively stiff, more like a bread than a sponge cake mixture.

If I don't have fresh local oranges or lemons I have used dried citrus peel instead of rind, and orange blossom water and water in place of the juice. If I am using plums I prefer to use plum juice instead of citrus ingredients and like to add a spice such as cinnamon. Once you've made it once and are happy with the result you can experiment.

I usually use a square 20 cm pan or a deep round cake dish but you can place the mixture in two sponge pans, cook for less time, and serve with jam between the two.

It takes around 50 minutes to bake. You usually need to cover it after twenty minutes, i.e. once it browns enough. I look at it after 40–45 mins and see if it springs back to the touch in the middle and remove once it is done.

Fruit and nut trees growing adjacent to a National Park

We live in a treasured natural environment with glorious Indigenous landscapes and vegetation. Our last workshop at Blackheath addressed some of those issues. The second house we visited has all its 'back yard' dedicated to Indigenous vegetation, with a preference for locally Indigenous plants. That's partly because the back deck enjoys wonderful views. Remember that there are fruit and nuts amongst Indigenous plants. You will find a list of local groups that distribute plants and information about them at the Blue Mountains City Council's Sustainable Blue Mountains website. Also, there are areas at the front and side of the house that we visited where fruit and nut trees can be grown and already there are herbs and vegetable plants yielding produce.

At our next workshop 5 June, in Katoomba, we will talk more about the significance of Indigenous vegetation at a home which features the unique vegetation and ecology known as Blue Mountains Hanging Swamp. Find out more about that vegetation at the Blue Mountains Conservation Society website. The Bureau of Meteorology has climate statistics to inform a site analysis for the development, redevelopment or extension of your fruit and nut orchard at home too.

Sunday 2 May workshop

Eight of us participated in the workshop held at Helen's in Blackheath on Sunday 2 May. Helen's garden acted as an example for applying permaculture principles and processes to redesigning a well-established residential site with potential to improve its productivity. We started with Helen outlining her wishes and needs and took a tour round the garden. Our permaculture elder, Lizzie, guided the morning, which took into account other people's interests and questions about their own gardens. That was made easier because we all came from the upper mountains (Wentworth Falls to Blackheath). We ended up round the corner at Christina's garden in the early afternoon, after a shared lunch. We scoped our ideas with Christina who shared home-made dried fruit scones with us!

Fruit and nut trees growing at community gardens

Recently we visited the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens to collect information about what is growing where. The garden has a wonderful apple arbour. This photo of the apple arbour was taken by Anne Elliot a couple of years ago and the trees are much better established now. Sixty-seven different apple trees, including heritage varieties, have been planted along with six crab apple trees.

There are three cherry trees, five quinces, a Japanese plum — and probably more pomes — as well as a row of raspberries on vines runs south to north.

Eight chestnut trees are planted at the entrance (to the south) of the gardens along with white and black walnuts. Six hazelnut trees have been established in a grove (line) to the north of the gardens.

Its definitely worth a visit. Visitors are welcome. A good time to learn more about the gardens is to turn up at the weekly working be on Friday mornings. (See their website for more details.)

From cherries to figs

I've taken a while to put up this post. Besides other distractions, we took out a couple of days to take down a very old cherry tree (see image) to make way for two fig trees, which we plan to get from figs grown by a network member in Winmallee later in the year. We waited till it was time for the council chipper to come round (next week in South Katoomba) and have chopped the whole tree into tidy sections. The wood is beautiful (as is well known by furniture makers). It was a bit saddening. Cherry and plum trees are also known for their dainty yet strong ornamental appearance. The cockatoos loved the tree and we were happy for them to monopolise the over hard fruit it produced in its senescence. But now we will prepare the ground for the figs. The terraced area is ideal as it is bounded by sleepers. These conditions are good for containing the figs's roots.

The latest (April–May) issue of the glossy magazine Blue Mountainslife has half a page on our network in the Mountain Gardening section (see 'Blue Mountains goes nuts on p. 22).

Merry month of May

Two activities for Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Networkers will take place on the first weekend in May in the upper mountains.

On Sunday 2 May there is a free design scoping workshop after a short blackberry pulling out task, 9.30 am to 2 pm (light morning tea provided but bring some lunch to share). The design scoping workshop centres on providing our host with ideas for further developing her fruit and nut trees, among other productive vegetable and herb beds and Indigenous plants in her Blackheath garden. The workshop will allow experienced permaculturists to share their knowledge and provide a learning experience for those wishing to know more about permaculture principles and techniques. Contact Anitra for more details

Also, Wayne Levi and Susan Girard are holding a workshop at the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens in North Katoomba on preventing pests and diseases in fruit over winter on 1 May 2010 (10.00am to noon) They will discuss safe organic treatments etc. For more details contact 4782 5810 — $15 donation (hand lens included).

Chestnut Outing

As planned last Saturday 27 March we visited the Kookootonga Chestnut and Walnut Farm at Mount Irvine. There were about 25 of us, including organisers and children and even one purple fairy! We picked lots of chestnuts and then Anne set up her roasting equipment so half of us stayed and enjoyed roasted chestnuts.

Katoomba Garden Club

A couple of days ago, on the night of Wednesday 24 March, Lizzie Connor and I spoke to a meeting of the Katoomba Garden Club about the Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network. It was great to hear who is growing what and their experiences.

We handed out our new flyer and the following form (the copy below has had the multiple lines removed from after each question 2–5). I thought I'd include it here because local residents can always email me responses through the servantrevolution@gmail.com address. Also for anyone setting up a similar group in their area, this is one direction to go in...

Please fill out this form if you have useful information to add to our database or if you would like to be placed on our e-list for notification of activities etc.

Your name: __________________________________________________________
Your township (include north or south etc.): ________________________________
Email address: ________________________________________________________
Phone number: _______________________________________________________

Please circle points relevant to you and fill out responses below.

1. Please add me to the Fruit and Nut Tree Network e-list.

2. What kinds of fruit and/or nut trees/plants are you growing successfully? Add any points you think relevant about their age or ways you care for them.
__________________________________________________________

3. What kinds of fruit and/or nut trees/plants have you tried to grow but think were unsuccessful because of our local climate or soils? Add any points you think relevant about why you think they might have died or do not fruit well.
__________________________________________________________

4. If you know of fruit and/or nut trees growing on public land, please tell us what they are and their location.
__________________________________________________________

5. If you are willing to share your skills and knowledge about fruit and/or nut growing locally, please identify those skills and knowledge so we can contact you over leading an interactive talk or workshop.
__________________________________________________________

On Orange

Click on the Orange Food Week website, where you can download a program. The festival takes place 9–18 April. The program includes information about the 100-Mile Diet and being a Locavore.

Orange is well beyond the bioregion of the Blue Mountains but their fruit and nut growing is impressive and some of their activities are worth the visit. Besides umpteen wine-oriented events, and a cider-tasting, there is a 'hands-on cider making class', heritage apple walks and tours through a Forest Reef's hazelnut farm. This gives us some ideas for Fruit and Nut Tree Network field visits in the future.

The Orange Food Week website also provides some of Adelaide Harris's great recipes using apples, walnuts and beetroot — all of which grow well in the Blue Mountains. She includes simple apple tart, pickled apple and cabbage, and spiced walnuts recipes.

The photo was taken at the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens, which includes this hazelnut grove.

SLow Fruit National Register

Late last year a campaign started to create a visual Slow Fruit National Register to preserve information and stock about our declining diversity of varieties of fruit and nut trees. Using this information, Slow Food has a plan to work out which varieties might be reintroduced for garden (and orchard) production. The register was launched by the Australian Ark, Food Cultures, Traditions and Biodiversity Commission.
Take a look at their website to collect a form an details about how to contribute information and images of old varieties from the Blue Mountains (slow.fruit@slowfoodaustralia.com.au or mail Slow fruit, Post Office Box 721, Kalamunda, Western Australia).

Note the item about our network on the SBS Hunter and Gatherer website.

Drying chestnuts

Drying chestnuts is useful because they do not store well otherwise. A high moisture content means that they will start drying out, unless in ideal conditions. Even in ideal conditions they only keep for weeks, not months. Dried and stored in a sealed container chestnuts will keep for up to a year.

You will need to soak dried chestnuts in boiling water for 12 hours to cook (boil) them as you would fresh ones for around 20 minutes to chop or mash for for eating. You can grind roasted chestnuts into flour using, say, a nut mill. Apparently they make delicious pancakes. I'll let you know when I try later this month after we visit the chestnut farm (as detailed in blog below).

Chestnuts Australia Inc. advise that: 'Using a conventional oven, chestnut halves should be dried on a wire rack at about 125°C for up to 10 hours. (Fan forced ovens take less time, so test for dryness after 8 hours.)' If you have a drier, you will need to halve freshly picked chestnuts with a cleaver and place on drier trays cut side down. After being at a medium heat for 8 to 10 hours, the shell comes off easily and the pellicle can also be taken off relatively easily too.

Let's know how you go.

C is for chestnuts

Besides the note about our flexible Calendar and Cumquat tree in the blog below, C is for chestnuts and this month, Saturday 27 March 2010, Anne Elliott is leading a visit to Kookootonga Chestnut and Walnut Farm at 247 Mt Irvine Road, Mt Irvine, where we will meet at 11 am. Pickers need to bring rubber/gardening gloves because the chestnuts are picked off the ground and very prickly. The cost is $8 per kilogram. We will car share. Bring some lunch and drinks. Anne will bring roasting equipment and talk about all the uses of chestnuts in the kitchen. Contact Anitra if you want to join us.

'Fruit and Nut Tree Liberation Front' blackberry blitz

We had a blackberry blitz in Blackheath yesterday to free some apple, plum, pear and orange trees of bramble. Our host called our team the FNTLF: the fruit and nut tree liberation front! Our 'carrot' was to harvest blackberries before we started. The photos show Lizzie working and an apple from one of the trees.

C is for calendar

No sooner had we announced a calendar — meeting on the first Saturday morning of every month February to November — than we have found it unworkable. Nature works seasonally and plant (fruit and nut) growth responds to so many factors that our human calendar with its strict and simplistic linear divisions means we could not do activities at the most appropriate time. This month we had a talk and have a working bee for blackberry gathering and eradicating tomorrow. In March we have several activities lined up whereas later in the year we are likely to hibernate with the winter. Watch the top right hand corner of our website for future activities still hatching as I write.

At the moment you will be harvesting apples (as we saw at the community gardens ten days ago), some blackberries have survived the deluges, rhubarb (unless its going to seed, in which case Lizzie reminds you to cut off the stalk asap), and my cumquat tree is so burdened I feel sorry for it (see photo). Many peaches are ready to be picked now too. Beautiful fresh and raw they are wonderful for crumbles, chutneys and rocket salads (with almonds and fennel or spring onion).

Saturday's talk

In the last thee days Katoomba has received 266mm of rain, almost half of it in the 24 hours since 9 am this morning! Fortunately for all the people (there was around 40 of us) who turned out yesterday to the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens — to the talks by Sue Girard, Wayne Levi and Stafford Lowe — it was only raining lightly much of the time. The rain did stop us inspecting the gardens' fruit and nuts trees for pests and diseases and the topic was not exhausted, so we will hold part two of this session at 10.30 am to noon on Saturday 6 March. Even if you did not attend the first session yesterday I am sure that you will get a lot out of the next one.

The session yesterday stressed preparing soils and other conditions for plant growth so as to prevent and avoid pests and diseases and to implement integrated pest management. As well as participants wanting pests and diseases identified, Sue and Wayne brought examples and handed round devices used to get rid of pests (such as sticky paper) and to scare pests (such as birds) away.

Wayne suggested a particularly good book on the topic: What Garden Pest or Disease is That? Organic and Chemical Solutions For Every Garden Problem by Judy McMaugh, New Holland Publishers, Sydney. The book advises on avoidance, organic controls and is structured around an A to Z in the three key areas of 1) plant care, 2) pests, 3) diseases. It has lots of illustrations for identification.

B is for

Before we begin Berries, have you Been to Braidwood (half way Between Bateman's Bay and Canberra)? Of course, it's a long way from our Bioregion But the Old Cheese Factory there offers a great service: you can take apples to be made into juice or cider instead of wasting them! If you produce share 50:50 and assist in the operation it doesn't cost you to have them juiced! Tom Whitton (Megalong Books, Leura) alerted us to this.

Does anyone know of an apple pressing service in our bioregion or a neighbouring one? If so please leave a comment with details.

Now B is for Berries and we have lots of different kinds growing in the Blue Mountains: take a look at the harvest calendar below and please remember that we are trying to update our lists of what is growing where (columns on the left).

Blackberry (Rubus fructuosus) a noxious weed but this time of year, if you can pick some unsprayed blackberries, they make wonderful jams, pie fillings and jellies, especially when mixed with apples. (Including red ones improves the pectin content too.) When you've removed the fruit — you can freeze any surplus — get stuck into removing the canes. However, there are some more contained varieties that you can purchase from suppliers such as Diggers. The blackberry is ancient, a native of three continents and widespread throughout the world today. Ancient Romans used blackberry leaf tea as a medicine. All berries are, in fact, aggregates of drupelets botanically speaking.

Blueberries, like raspberries etc., like sun (filtered, where it gets too hot) and acidic soils (pH of 4.5–5.2) , so they befit from local pine tree mulch. You need to obtain the right species for your location as chilling requirements vary from around 400–1100 hours. Once established they don't seem to require much attention but be sure to net them.

Remember to come to the talk at the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens in North Katoomba at 10.30 am on Saturday 6 February, when we will advise people on other activities coming up in the next few months. The apples in the photo for this week come from the community gardens. The photo was taken about ten days ago.

A is for avocado too

No, the photo isn't of avocados but rather fruit laden branches at the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens, where we will hold a talk on pests and diseases of fruit and nut trees grown locally on Saturday 6 February starting at 10.30 am. The gardens has many apple trees too with ready-to-harvest or already dropped apples.

Now for avocados: I like the idea of growing them from seed. This means propping a stone from an avocado (that was lovely, you know because you just ate it) conical part upwards in a jar with a wide mouth that you have filled with water or placing it in moist sawdust. I love the look of the root and shoot growing. Once that happens you can simply pot it up in organic potting mix. Germination is amazingly simple.
However, problems with avocados grown from such seedlings are legion even though it is possible to do it successfully. You have to make sure that you 'nip' out the central shoot once it has a few leaves and turn the plant to benefit from sunlight in an even way so it grows into a rounded plant. You will have to wait several years, perhaps tenor so, for it to fruit. (Grafted trees will fruit in just a few years.) It might not fruit or it might not fruit well. A grafted tree will be a more practical size (say 8–10 metres); avocado plants grown from stones tend to take up more space. A good compromise is to graft the seedling plant to a good variety.

Fruit and art

Just reading #19 of HEAT (the University of Western Sydney Writing and Society Research Group's literary journal, which you can borrow from the Blue Mountains City Library) and found some wonderful colour reproductions of Robyn Stacey's photographic art works.
On page 117 appears the 'Untitled (Walnuts)' broken and whole nuts with the flesh gnarled like old roots glistening under the photographer's light.
The next two pages feature Mr Macleay's Fruit and Flora: flowers, a bunch of young carrots, cumquat, avocado, passion fruit and stick insect (just like one clinging upside down outside my window as I type).
Further on is another tablescape of flowers, vegetables and fruit — bananas, lemons and olives — and 'The First Cut, after Robert Spear Dunning', featuring an ornate knife sitting deep in the flesh of a watermelon, in the hole where a small triangle of flesh has been cut and sits nearby ready for eating, red and green...

Apricots and almonds

While I was away I bought a copy of Discovering Fruit and Nuts: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of Over 300 Food Producing Plants, a large 480 page book by Susanna Lyle. It was published a couple of years ago (2006) by Landlinks Press, which is a CSIRO Publishing imprint, though its coverage is not limited to Australia/New Zealand.
This book is a useful reference for home gardeners. It has illustrations and general as well as particular details about grafting, layering, pruning and training. In terms of our fruit and nut for this fortnight — the apricot and the almond — the book describes their ancient origins and ornamental use due to their colourful spring blossoms. The apricot is a native of China and it is speculated to be the forbidden fruit that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. Although the almond is a native of the eastern Mediterranean, it too was cultivated in China three millennia ago.
In the BM neither grow prolifically due to humidity because they are both susceptible to fungal diseases.
See the ABC clip of how to prune apricots — http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2009/06/23/2606206.htm. The Almond Board of Australia has provided our images for this week.

B is for Break

B is for Break and ours is right now. But we will be Back in a week. So I will resume the Blog then...

2010 New Year: A is for apple

This year, 2010, I aim to highlight one of the fruits and nuts grown in the Blue Mountains each week. A is for apple, which is the most widely found and bountiful fruit in our bioregion. Apple trees can be found neglected but often thriving in public places and old private lands.
Look out for heritage apples. I used to live in Central Victoria close to Badgers Keep, where pomologists Clive and Margaret Winmill have collected hundreds of old cultivars, which you can read about on the ABC Gardening Australia website, here.
There is an apple arbour at the Blue Mountains Organic Community Gardens, where our first activity for the year takes place 10.30 am on Saturday 6 February. It is a talk about pests and diseases of Blue Mountains fruit and nut trees.
As with other fruits and nuts, the Horticulture section of the NSW Department of Primary Industries has good, downloadable advice on apples (and other relevant pomes, such as pears).
Recently we had guest to dinner who was avoiding many foods, including dairy and soy products, grains with gluten, and sugar. I adapted the following recipe for apple cake, by substituting the castor sugar with carob and the milk with water (though I thought of trying rice milk). I think it would work equally well with pears though I haven't tried the recipe with them.

Oil a 25 cm springform pan, say with olive (or corn) oil. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.
Peel and thinly slice 500 gm Blue Mountains apples.
Separate 130–140 gm eggs (two large or three small ones) into yolks in one bowl and the whites in another.
Beat the yolks with a whisk and fold in 1/3 cup of rice/buckwheat flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder with 1/4 cup of soy milk. Stir the sliced apples in and mix so they are covered in it.
Add a 1 tablespoon of castor sugar and a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat till soft peaks form. (Have the whites at room temperature and make sure the beaters and bowl are clean so nothing contaminates them.)
Fold the meringue into the other mixture, place into the oiled pan and back for around three-quarters of an hour.
When I am baking a cake like this I always try and fill the oven otherwise I feel it is a waste of energy.
Enjoy!

From Medlow Bath to Winmalee

Yesterday we went on a 'look see' of reported fruit trees on public land from Medlow Bath to Winmalee. We found the beautiful big chestnut trees that grace the opening of the Medlow Bath park next to the RFS, which has other commemorative trees, such as cherries.
Many of our stations have fruit trees on public land adjacent to them. Among others, we inspected the trees south of the Leura station, which include apples, peaches, pears, elderberries and blackberries. We noticed the sandwich board outside the Leura Gourmet Deli: BACK AT LAST Local (Mount Wilson) BLUE BERRIES Picked at dusk for sale here next morning. Of course, the Katoomba food co-op regularly has locally produced fruits and nuts as well as vegetables and it is great to see them advertised on the street as well as available.
I have mentioned the local theory that apples seem to have been affected by the dust storms earlier this year. Our tour confirmed that apples in the open seem to be less productive than sheltered ones, e.g. differences in the two apple trees on the steep stepped public land that joins the upper and lower parts of Kundibar Street in Katoomba.
Wayne (Lithgow), who will be talking with other experts at our next talk on the first Saturday of February 2010, says that there are 'several possible reasons your trees and others trees did not set fruit this year: the red dust covered the flowers and interrupted pollination, not cold enough for fruit to set, apples have alternating years of heavy or light crops, no bee activity in and around the area... etc, etc.'

Weekend 12–13 December

On Saturday I went to a berry party. Our host, Lizzie, grows wonderful raspberries, boysenberries and red currants. So we rambled through the netted stalks of berries, eating some and collecting more. Then we had afternoon tea with more berries and fruit scones and dreamt of an age starting in 2010 with garden surpluses and street parties and swap markets galore!

To a vegetarian, television chef Heston Blumenthal's medieval feast with 'meat fruit' was a blast. What you see is a crystal bowl of glistening fresh fruit. Once you eat it you find they are meat balls disguised as fruits! Shock. Horror. And Heston shows you how to make them. Great for the omnivorous, but... Well, now you know why there are insects all over the old Van der Ast masterpiece above.

On 'fruit' and 'trees'

Gardening and cook books often start by using a botanical definition of fruits as containers or walls, formed from an ovaries, for seeds which developed from ovules. Horticulture limits such fruits to edible ones, productive for humans; backyard gardeners and orchardists have narrowed the scope of 'fruit' to a subset which is a culinary, cultural, territory. So, famous fruits, such as tomatoes, do not feature in our list for the same reason that they do not appear in Glowinski's Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia (Lothian, 2006), where only the 'tomato relatives', such as tamarillo and Cape Gooseberries, appear in the Solanaceae chapter. When he comes to discussing what a nut is, Glowinski throws up his arms: 'A nut is whatever is usually considered a nut'!
If we plead common confusions round the meaning of fruit, it is not so easy for our network to explain how our list includes not only 'top fruit' grown on trees but also the lovely soft berries that grow on trailing plants and bushes, as well as fruit growing on vines and espaliers. The problem is we inherited the nominal 'tree' in our name and it has stuck, even though we clearly mean plant. Sorry!

Blue Mountains fruits and nuts

We are collecting lists of the different kinds of fruit and nut trees/plants successfully growing in different towns within the Blue Mountains (Lapstone to Lithgow). On the right hand side of this blog we list locations for all those registered so far. We know that there are a lot more areas that these plants are growing in and more kinds of fruits and nuts.
If you know of plants on your land or public property, please help us by filling out a form or emailing the contacts listed on the Blue Mountains City Council sustainability site: http://www.sustainablebluemountains.net.au
Alternatively, you can contact us directly by clicking in the appropriate area of the Blue Mountains Community Harvest site: http://www.communityharvestbm.net/