Generosity In My World

With fresh eggs from her chickens, juicy oranges and macadamia nuts from her abundant trees and delicately scented nasturtiums in a little posy, my friend shared with me some of her garden's bounty. I brought her sweet local strawberries and homemade cake as a thank you. I think we were both thrilled!

Gifts from my friend's garden.

The juice from my friend's homegrown oranges, and the golden-yolked eggs from her happy chickens, went into dozens of orange and chocolate chip muffins. The hard shells of the macadamia nuts have all been cracked open and the creamy, sweet kernels enjoyed wholeheartedly. What a healthy treat! And those pretty nasturtiums graced our table for many days and reminded me of my beautiful friend each time their vibrant petals caught my eye. 

Produce grown just a few doors down from our place.

From one of our generous neighbourhood gardeners, we received fresh lettuce and rocket, picked right there and then from his productive garden. We laughed together as he told me to watch out for a caterpillar or two! I brought his gift home, washed the leaves (no caterpillars😋) and made a healthy salad for dinner that very same day. So fresh and delicious! I plan on reciprocating with a big bunch of homegrown Italian parsley and some homemade biscuits...I think chocolate chip might be his favourite!

Homemade chocolate loaf cake.

Almost every week, my mother-in-law bakes something for her grandson's lunchbox. She brings her delicious baking over on Sundays when we all share afternoon tea together. Over the years, I've been so thankful for the extra biscuits, muffins, pikelets and cakes that she quietly puts on my kitchen bench and that I transfer to the freezer for enjoying later throughout busier weeks.  In return, we send her home with produce from the garden or some soup or some extra slices of sweetness from our afternoon tea. 

Fragrant Vietnamese Mint

Cutting of Salvia Leucantha (Mexican Sage)

Over the past few months, I have gotten to know a fellow gardener who is teaching me about her culture's cuisine and how she grows the food she likes to cook. We've exchanged laughter, ideas and plants. Recently, this sweet gardener gave me a pot of Vietnamese Mint and I have struck cuttings from a salvia that grows in my garden to give to her. We both love salvias!

Salvia Leucantha in bloom in my garden.

These are just a few examples of the generosity in my world; there are countless more.  They rely not on the exchange of money but on generosity of spirit, a willingness to share and a heartfelt thanks for the kindness and love that changes hands. 

Meg

Sourcing Fresh Fruit & Veg

Judging by how difficult it is right now to buy seedlings or to source seeds, there are a lot of people having-a-go at growing some of their own food. I think that's a really positive thing!  I've always tried, with varying levels of success, to grow some of our own produce in our own garden. Homegrown is as local as it gets, we don't use chemicals or sprays in the garden, it saves us some money and it's super-fresh. A store-bought cucumber just can't compete with one picked off its vine, rinsed under the hose and munched on in the garden. 

Eggplant in the veg patch.

Snow pea seedlings starting to grow.

In our garden, there's always lots of herbs like rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley and oregano to pick and bay leaves too from our tree in its pot. This year, the Ceylon spinach thrived once the rain fell regularly later in the Summer. So too the sweet potato vine which is busy twining its tendrils up and around a nearby grevillea at the moment. (I really must get down and see just what it's up to.) There always seems to be spring onion growing happily in our veg patch and I've recently planted lettuce, rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, beetroot, snow peas, two types of cherry tomato and one lone eggplant in with it. There are mandarins on our one-and-only fruit tree (for I managed to extinguish the lemon tree and the avocado didn't survive the dry months before the rain came) but they are nowhere near ripe yet. This all adds up to the promise of some homegrown produce to come, but even if all this thrives (and doesn't get gobbled up by caterpillars or grasshoppers) we still need to source more fruits and vegetables.

Ceylon Spinach growing well.

(The young leaves are delicious in omelettes.)

 A mandarin beginning to ripen on our tree.

Farmers markets are too crowded a place to be during these times of social distancing and a little local shop, where I used to be able to buy some lovely produce closed late last year. Our dear neighbour, who was the most amazing gardener I've ever known and who would share so much produce, and accept my baking and treats in return, moved away a couple of years ago. It was a sad day indeed when the new people turfed over his veggie patch. I mourned the waste of that rich soil and the loss of such a generous and knowledgeable neighbour-gardener to learn from and trade with. 

Self-seeded sweet basil.

So, when I saw the vibrant selection of spray-free fresh fruit and veg that Kathy, over at Our Simple and Meaningful Life, received in her online-ordered box, I decided this might be a good solution for us and ordered one too.  I picked it up on the weekend, from a collection point a very short drive from here, and brought home my spray-free fruit and veg. Just a small box this week, to supplement what we already had left in our crispers, plus a dozen eggs and one sweet pineapple as extras.

 Fresh & Nutritious 

Everything is fragrant and fresh. It's mostly local produce, picked not long before it was delivered and packed without plastic besides the extra eggs in their carton. The carrots are delicious. (Yes, I taste tested them.) I've never had any success with growing carrots. I don't know why but it means I always have to buy them and I'm rather fussy about my carrots. I am not a fan of limp, bitter or woody carrots. Both Sir Steve dog and I are very enthusiastic fans of crunchy, sweet carrots. 🥕 We are both quite content crunching away like Bugs Bunny on the carrots from the box though only one of us sounds like a sloshing washing machine while snacking  .... and it's not me, folks!

Image sourced from:  http://clipart-library.com/bunny-clip-art.html

While the carrots are for snacking, they'll also be grated for salads made with the lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. One of those potatoes was thinly sliced and, together with cream just past its use-by date, made a creamy potato bake for dinner last night.  The other potato will end up roasted along with the pumpkin. The zucchini and the corn will be used up in a zucchini slice later in the week and the large onion will find its way into lots of evening meals. The pears and the apples are for snacks and the pineapple is destined for pizzas.  No waste! Peelings for the compost and the worm farm! 

I'll be ordering another box of fruit and veg soon. It seems to me a good solution for us right now. How are you sourcing fresh produce for your table?

Meg

From the Farmers Market

Once a month, on a Sunday morning, a street in a nearby suburb is blocked off as local traffic makes way for the stalls of a farmers market. 

A local street is closed for a farmers market.

Up the street and back again takes you on a happy, crowded and mouth-watering stroll. There's fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables displayed on trestle tables; their vibrant colours so inviting. (I never feel this way about the fruit and veggies at the supermarket!)

Baskets of fresh Summer vegetables.

(No styrofoam trays and plastic wrap either!)

As well as fruit and veggies, there's nuts, cheeses, meats, breads, cakes, fudge, flowers, coffee and much more. 

Lots to choose from!

There's the wafts of delicious foods cooking as you pass by. Everything from fresh Turkish breads and spicy sausages to hot crepes and little poffertjes (little Dutch pancakes). Following one's nose at the market can often lead to all kinds of delicousness!

Little Dutch pancakes cooked while you wait.

(Soft, hot and drizzled with maple syrup ... Mmm!)

There's the farmers and producers themselves, standing behind their stalls or out in front offering samples of their amazing food. If you ask them, they'll tell you when, where and how it was grown or made, when it was picked or baked or bottled, why it tastes so good! The conversations to be had about food and produce, with the people who actually grew or made it, are one of my favourite things about the markets. It's how to find out where your food comes from and what's in it or on it! 

Tom grows apples in his orchard near Tenterfield (about 3 hours away)

 & his free samples were fresh, crisp and delicious!

And ... just as you go over the railway line to enter the market or just before you cross back to leave, there's a guy wearing a fluro high-vis vest. You can't miss him and for relatively few bucks he'll sell you a copy of The Big Issue with a "Gday!" and a smile. His presence reminds me that there are many in our community who fall on hard times (for whatever reason) and that abundance (in whatever form) can be shared to make someone's life that bit better. 

Lots of fresh food, and food for thought, from the markets.

In my market basket, along with my copy of The Big Issue, there was pumpkin from a farmer who also grows sunflowers too.  Two types of bananas from the grower who helped me choose some that are ripe now and some that will ripen over coming days. There's corn so sweet you can eat it raw on the cob and sweet potatoes sold at the stall that has the most beautiful classical music playing in the background. (I talked about pianos and guitars with that grower, not veggies this time:) Little new potatoes and lettuce and capsicum came home with me as my garden has none of these growing over the Summer. (Try as I might, I am rarely successful at growing capsicums!) An armful of Tom's crisp and crunchy apples made it into my basket too, his free samples were soooo good!

Do you buy some of your fresh produce at a market? If you do, what do you love about your market?

Meg