Well, winter days are well and truly here now! Grey skies, wild winds, and squally rain have cloaked and swept and battered the hills lately. And every now and then the sun comes through for a moment or a day, and gives us a glimpse of light and warmth. There has been a pair of swans gracing the dam by the bare oak trees the past few weeks, a lovely sight to see when going for a walk with the dogs, or moving and feeding the cows, and truly puts the ‘Swan’ in the Oak and Swan! We, along with Landcare, have planted over 2000 trees this winter, including fencing off one of the gullies leading in to the dam, where a couple of tree ferns remain from days gone by. Hopefully now that they are safe from the cows and with trees to accompany them, they can grow and flourish. It has been wonderful to get so many trees in the ground.
In the bakery, we’ve been making plenty of Kale and Onion Scones, using local organic onions and kale, our freshly milled flour, and fermented slightly with a milk poolish. Delicious with soup or toasted with butter and cheese. I have on hand beautiful organically grown local citrus, so will be making more marmalade this week, perfect for winter pastries; we will have Lemon & Vanilla Marmalade scrolls at the markets next month.
Winter is a great time for baking with the kids next to the combustion stove, and our oldest is especially adept at stoking the fire in the mornings for toast and tea. We experimented with duck egg pasta for the first time recently; our lovely duck has been laying for us, and her eggs made beautiful pasta combined with some spent starter and whole wheat flour.
Next month sees a special event happening in Mirboo North; the Choo Choo Market, held in the Shire Hall on 25th August. This is the annual fundraiser for the Mirboo North Play Group, and we are very pleased to help sponsor this event this year. When we first moved to the area, the play group was a great source of support and friendship for us and our kids, and I know this is so for many families who go along to enjoy the fantastic facilities and activities in the old station buildings each week. Well done to the amazing committee who are bringing this all together, it is a wonderful makers market with many great stalls, food, coffee, and some workshops.
In the garden is a little corner of colour where some Franks peas from Diggers seeds and some parsnips have self-seeded. I’m fairly certain the parsnips won’t amount to much, but they look great and it’s nice to leave them do their own thing and see what happens! Much of the garden is mulched down for the winter, but we are eating plenty of home grown cabbages, parsley, some carrots, peas, kale, and patiently waiting for the romanesco and purple sprouting broccoli! Keep warm and stay well 🙂 Betsy.
