Spiced Plum Chutney

This plum chutney is sweet & spicy! Made from our home grown plums and onions, it was  wonderful with our hand picked salad and home made chicken & herb sausage rolls...

Spiced Plum Chutney  Recipe

(adapted from a River Cottage recipe)

1 1/2  kg plums coarsely chopped

2 apples cored and chopped

3 small onions chopped

500g sultanas or raisins

500g light brown sugar

500ml red or white wine vinegar

25g fresh ginger grated

3 cloves

1 stick of cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tspn cumin seeds

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cook for 20 minutes. Cool for a few hours, then bring to boil and then simmer for 2-4 hours to thicken and spoon into sterilized jars. Enjoy!!

Happy hay baling day with no baling out

Last Saturday 18 Jan we finished off loading all the remaining hay bales from our back paddock with help from our wonderful wwoofers Sarah and John, and some dedicated Peace Farm members and friends, Carmen, Andrew, Maya, Kari and Steve.  We had been waiting since early December for the weather to clear for long enough to cut the grass, let it dry and then to be baled up.  This finally happened in the second week of Jan.

Matts team

Until Saturday John and Sarah were working tirelessly on their own to load and stack the 300 odd bales.  Thank goodness for reinforcements.  Two competing teams went down to the back paddock in Matt's and Murray's cars and tried to out-do how may bales could be stacked on.

Matts team were pretty happy with this load.

Maya kept swapping teams, here she is helping Muz's team

 Maya showed her excellent strength and endurance,  helping out both teams with their loads. Murray's team was slower than Matt's team but loaded an unbelievable 34 bales on his little car and trailer (this figure is according to Murray but may be in dispute by other team).  Matt's team was having too much fun and forgot to count, but perhaps only got around 32.

Kari ready to unload the bales

The shed is now completely full of bales

 After satisfactorily finishing the job in a matter of hours it was time for a swim in the dam to cool off and a delicious shared picnic lunch.

Thanks to everyone for helping us, and now help us by coming and buying the bales - $7 each.

Cheers,  Cat

Celebrating Lammas

Lammas is a celebration at the mid point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox.
The essence of this festival is to celebrate the first harvest.

It is a time to give thanks for the Abundance of the Earth, acknowledging what we harvest from our efforts, what gifts we receive from the Earth.
It is also a time of dry heat, grass fire, and bush fire.
The main colours are yellow, orange and red (dry grass, corn, tomatoes...)

Today we gathered in the circle and shared about what we were symbolicly harvesting in our life.

We made some corn dollies from the harvest of our corn and wheat from our mandala garden.

"Corn Dolly" is an ancient craft going back to when it was thought that a spirit lived in the cornfields. To honour and preserve the spirit at harvest time and ensure the success of next year's harvest, a corn dolly was made for it to rest in.

Christmas Crafting at Peace Farm

This Christmas at Peace Farm, we all set a wonderful intention to make or recycle as many presents as possible. In particular, both Cat & I got quite excited by this prospect and went wild crafting.

In addition I also aimed at using materials from nature and locally gathered and these are some of the results....

God's Eyes: created first by the American Indians, God's Eyes have been used for many reasons, including protection from evil spirits and going on shamanic vision quests.

Dream Catchers: were also created by American Indians and have often been used to ward off bad dreams from sleeping babies. The web is said to catch any bad dreams and by the light of the morning sun's rays to dissolve them.

Treasure Pots: I first started crocheting these little pots without really knowing what I would put in them.

I later decided the obvious thing would be flowers!!

Story Stones: I have been dot painting rocks for many years but started to simplify this process (having a very curious daughter) to use a white marker pen. Very important to varnish with matt varnish if you want the design to stay!

And finally, my cards for the year had to be very simple my daughter Grace keen to try everything for herself. This year I focused on using pressed gum leaves accompanied by little sayings or songs.

More nature crafts to come!...
Vicky

New Arrivals at Peace Farm

Last Thursday saw the arrival of the latest additions to Peace Farm, three new cows. They consist of two Jersey cows and a daughter who is a Jersey/ Dexter cross. She was conceived when her mum escaped to a neighbouring property that was home to a handsome, if not a little small, Dexter bull.

We heard about the cows through our hay bailer guy, Roy, who told us that the previous owners wanted to get rid of them after tiring of the calf's constant mooing which was disturbing the guests at their B&B.

I couldn't believe my ears when Travis suggested that we use the trailer to go and pick them up. The owner wanted them gone asap and with no other options, we set off.

I'll never forget the site of the 600kg passenger threatening to burst the sides of the cage as she muscled her hulking form to face the opposite way in the trailer as we trundled down the country lane. I hoped this un-natural sight would not attract the attention of any law men as we traversed the 5 kms between farms with our cargo. By the third run, pulling a cow in the trailer seemed the most normal thing in the world.

The 2 year old heifer loaded onto our trusty trailer. 

 Back at the farm, each new arrival was greeted by the the previous one until all three cows were united in their new home. Wasting no time the trio immediately proceeded to scope the perimeter fence, presumably looking for any weaknesses. Two days later they kindly alerted us to our insufficient gate fastener by removing it and wandering into our vege patch.

Our newest residences taking in the atmosphere.

Having rectified our gate issue, our future plans are to action a cell grazing plan that will optimize the growth phase of the pastures, using the cow's awesome digestive capabilities to enhance soil fertility. We also have plans to start milking and can't wait to enjoy homemade cheese, yoghurt, cream, butter, icecream and of course, milk

Summer Harvest at Peace Farm

What abundance!

It's summer and the mandala gardens have gone wild! We have such an abundance of fresh produce and I have been delighting in cooking and preparing some wonderful fresh salads and chutneys too.
We had am amazing garlic harvest as well as basil & parsley. I have just made some beautiful basil & parsley pesto:

Basil Parsley Pesto:

1 1/2cups flat parsley
1/1/2cups basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients in a processor and drizzle in oil slowly, then, enjoy!

This is one of my staple recipes and one that I have fed just about all of our wwoofers and is great for a hearty breakfast any time of the year and uses whatever vegetables you may have in the garden...

Kitchardi (Indian spiced rice, vegetables & beans):

This is a very wholesome quick dish to prepare and is great for the digestive system and overall wellbeing!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 tspn ghee or other cooking oil

1 cup basmati rice

1 cup red lentils

1 cup of chopped vegetables (eg. potato, sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower)

handful of sultana & dried apricots (optional)

1 clove finely chopped garlic

I knob of fresh ginger grated

½ tspn curry powder

1 tspn cumin seed

1 stick cinnamon

3 cardamon pods

2 cloves

pinch or tumeric

1 tspn salt

Method:

Melt the ghee and add all spices, ginger & garlic, then add chopped vegetables and the rice & red lentils. Mix for a few seconds and then cover with boiling water so that none of the vegetables are uncovered. Cover lid and bring to boil and then turn to the lowest setting and cook for approximately 12 minutes. If it is looking too dry, add a little more boiling water and sit for another 5 minutes.

Serve with yoghurt (optional).

Enjoy!!

First Vege Box

Last week Peace Farm began its CSA (community supported agriculture) box scheme. Anna and Dan were delighted by the value they received in their box and we at Peace Farm were grateful for their confidence in us to produce their families vege needs by paying in advance. This is part of the ethos of the CSA concept where growers and consumers share the potential risks and the abundance of food growing. 

Anna and Dan, the happy recipients
of the first CSA Vege Box

Our first box included an amazing variety including zucchini, beetroots, beans, potatoes, plums, shallots, onions, garlic, herbs, salad greens, beans, turnips and silverbeet. Tomatoes came in this week and next week we look forward to yummy sweet corn.

We're currently providing 10 boxes weekly and welcome expressions of interest from those who want to go on a waiting list.