Christmas

Christmas day started off just like any other December day, picking raspberries- the difference being the pager would not beep.. Or would it- Yes someone had forgotten to pick up their order and turned up. Once the order was organized it was back to picking. As is usual my mind wanders down many paths while quietly picking those plump ripe berries, the background is filled with birds getting on and the occasional frog. December is a time when clouds of the common brown butterflies fill the orchards. As I picked, I watched them flutter from tree to bush, stopping to feed on the flowers. Then my mind drifs and I wonder why the world is so artifical when there is so much beauty just outside the door. Soon its all picked ,time to pack and store as we will be opened again tomorrow.





With all the berries picked it was time to relax. Lunch was easy to prepare, a simple affair, fresh greens from the garden including the first harvest of beans and cucumber, sprinkled with blackcurrants dressed with Nirvana raspberry vinegar, A platter of goodies including homemade quince paste, pickled olives, walnuts, gooseberries, jostaberries, cucumber plus a couple of local cheeses and almonds. The highlight was the goose liver pate, one of our specialty celebration dishes served with Deb’s special 4 grain sourdough bread.




Lunch was a long slow affair celebrating all those wonderful flavours while relaxing on the verandah overlooking the orchards.









By late afternoon it was time to taste the chestnut cake. It was delicious, moist, rich, and very yummy. This cake is sure to become part of future celebrations. The recipe came from 'The Biodynamic Food & cookbook' by Wendy E Cook. (Well worth a read)



By this time Quentin had the goose, stuffed with chestnuts cooking. While we relaxed on the verandah listening to music and a couple of Goon shows. The goose was presented roasted to perfection along side equally perfect roast vegetables especially the sweetest parsnips from the garden. We could manage a small taste and look foward to a few more meals featuring roast goose.

All in all an enjoyable day off.

Garlic Harvest

Friday’s mornings drizzle delayed raspberry picking so I was able to harvest the garlic. Our kitchen is never without strings of garlic, in fact there are still half a dozen strings from last years harvest & all as good as the day they where harvested. (I put this down to moon planting & harvesting) It’s a different feeling to harvest a whole crop as apposed to regular fresh harvests and very satisfying .Each year I grow enough for us, the dogs and chooks plus 1/3 is used for planting the next crop. The garlic now dries on the veranda until there is time to sort and plait it and then it’s stored in the kitchen. Probably get around to this sometime after Christmas when the berries are all harvested.

Being busy with the berries means the veggie garden does not receive a lot of attention, but there is plenty happening with the selected plants forming seeds, a variety of new veggies developing from the regular plantings. Visits to the garden are generally to pick what is needed for dinner and water. The tunnel house is like a jungle with tomatoes and cucumbers rapidly developing along with some giant silverbeet. The understory of clover is lush and green. The skinks play hide and seek with Hebe using the clover for cover.

This is a special time for the bees, The raspberries are still abuzz but the main action is in the chestnut orchard and the linden, who’s branches reach down to the ground all covered in blossom and a loud buzz of busy bees.

As the day draws to a close there is elderflower champagne on the veranda as the blue wrens and flame robins collect their last morsels for the day. A final, hopeful visit to the white shahtoot mulberry by the geese as the sun begins to fade and they finally take their gosling’s home for the evening.

Flowing with the Seasons

or REAPING ENJOYMENT
December is awash with red and green. In the shopping centres there is the holly and the ivy, down on the farm there is red of the ripening raspberries and the wonderful contrast of the radiant green leaves. Adding to our living garden are the cacophony of small birds flitting nervously amongst the trees which shade the fertile valley. Other berries are ripening too. Blackcurrants are colouring and the large green gooseberries look almost translucent and ready to burst. There are red currants and white currants under the curved canopy of protecting leaves. The last of the white shahtoot mulberries are ripening

We are picking raspberries every day now and people are dropping in to the farm to buy raspberries. It is nice to stop picking for a few minutes and chat with regulars who enjoy buying directly from the producer. We receive direct feedback and the visitors take away high quality, fresh, biodynamic food. Our produce is available exclusively from here.

On arrival you will be greeted by Deb or Quentin.

as well as Frank

and Hebe

The gardens have developed over the years to provide a cool & relaxed feel to visitors.

Woven fences & screen add to the uniqueness

Apart from the initial shed, the farm shop is constructed from all recycled materials.

and the view! Only from Nirvana. Look forward to your visit.