The Annual Good Friday Activity at Ballandean.

Every Good Friday, our neighbours, Mario and Rosalie Costanzo, host the locals to a get-together, based around DIY pizzas.
Rosalie makes a huge amount of dough for the bases. 
Mario fires up the pizza oven.
Early arrivals help with the setting up of tents.

The locals have arrived.

Every guest arrives with their favourite pizza filling, plus wine, wine glasses, and chairs.

Everyone takes turns to make their pizza, which Mario then slides into the pizza oven, and cooks.
It doesn't take long to cook, and then it is cut into bite-sized pieces and distributed.
Easy.

The table where the dough is rolled. Our hostess, Rosalie casts an eye back to me!

One pizza prepared and ready for the oven, a second being rolled out. Wine is on the table behind this.

...and into the pizza oven.

The kids also enjoy participating in the preparation.

A pear and blue-cheese pizza coming up.

Our host Mario checking the next pizza.

...and now a new pizza-cooker! An apprentice.

The "apprentice" with Mario, who flours the pizza paddle.

Let's play in the water!

When bellies are full, and hunger is satisfied, there is fun to be had just mucking about on the rocks below the weir.

It is a wonderful time.
We all catch up on one another's comings and goings, drink some really good reds, eat some excellent pizzas.
At this very busy time of year, when most of us grape-growers and wine makers are flat strap picking, and fermenting, Good Friday, when all cellar doors are closed, is the time to relax, and enjoy one another's company.
All this with thanks to Mario and Rosalie.
A great day!

For Emma.....Fig Chutney recipe.

Just for you Emma.....and I am more than happy to pass it on.
And best of all.....it is so easy...easier than making Fig Jam.
So here goes....

The ingredients...

Here are the ingredients...and being the cook that you are, they can be varied to suit yourself.

850g of figs
150 ml balsamic vinegar
100 ml red wine vinegar
300 g brown sugar (it didn't make the above photo...not sure why)
1 lemon.....zest and juice
2 red onions   
2 teaspoon of mixed spice
10 g of fresh ginger OR 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
raisins.

 As you can see, I had no red onions, and also not having any nearby shops to dash to, I substituted white onions.  And I had to use ground ginger.


METHOD:

Quarter the figs.
Thinly slice the onions.

Fry the onion until lightly caramelised.
Add ALL other ingredients, EXCEPT the figs.
Season with Salt and Pepper.
Bring to the boil.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add figs, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Bottle while hot, and add lids.
Allow to cool.



The photos of the process are not very good Emma, but you get the idea!

Before adding the figs....smells delicious despite looking like this!

Figs added.

After cooking with the figs, for 15 minutes.

5 jars of fig chutney (& vineyard in background)

And it is delicious....we have already sampled it. Yum.

Fig Jam.....but please don't call me "Fig Jam"

Yes, I know. I know. It's an acronym for "F*** I'm good. Just ask me" 
So I hesitated, for weeks, truly, before I posted this blog, because I don't think I'm good.....I just enjoy making and eating fig jam.
And  we have 10 fig trees here on the farm (yes, we love figs).

One of our fig trees, with figs in various stages of ripeness.

Two varieties of figs....on their trees ready to be picked.  I have to get them before the birds do!

There is no way that all the crop can be eaten...either as is, straight from the tree,  or roasted with sugar and then enjoyed with yoghurt, or ice cream.

One picking, and ready for jam OR drying OR chutney.

So what to do?
I dry some.   Great as snacks.

These have been halved, and dried...takes about 24 hours. Ready to be packed away.

Or I halve fresh figs & then grill them, with sugar , to make a delicious dessert...eaten with cream or ice cream or yoghurt. Whatever takes your fancy.

I have made fig chutney.  Lovely.

Fig chutney coming up! Ingredients assembled.

And bottles and bottles and bottles of fig jam.
(Is your mouth watering?   Maybe you don't like figs......???)

During the season, which is now, ripe figs are picked practically every day.

For jam, all I do is weigh them, then chop them up, and place in a saucepan.
I add about 75% of their weight in sugar...equal parts figs and sugar is too sweet for us.

Figs cut, sugar added.

Then cook.
I don't add water or any sort of liquid to the pot. The figs make their own juice with the sugar.

Cooking away.       Ready to start testing to see if it's done.

Easy.
Or as Jamie Oliver would say, "easy peasy"

We now have enough bottles of fig jam to keep us happy until this time next year when the figs crop again.

All done and dusted. Another few bottles of fig jam.

And don't you love the way home-made jams and chutneys are in such a variety of bottles and jars?  Can you pick the ex-Vegemite jars from the bottles in the photo?    Yes, the yellow lids are a give-a-way aren't they?.     Waste not, want not, as I was told as a child.

And that's just one session of jam making.....I have many many bottles stored in the wine cellar for use over the next 12 months.

But please DON'T call me Fig Jam will you?

Our three orphans.

Yes, we have three orphans.
What mental images are you conjuring up? 
Certainly not humans.  And grape vines don't produce orphans.
It refers to our last hatching of chickens. (see Blog 23.12.12)





 

When the chicks were ONE day old. The mother is a White Sussex breed of chook.

 
The mother died. We found her dead about 10 days ago.  The hen and chickens had been let out of their safe cage for a few days before this, and were always back in the cage for the night.   
The photo below shows the complete family, when the chicks were about a week old.

One of their early days of "free-ranging". The mother is trying to shield her three chicks from me.

At sunset, on this particular day, the chickens came back to their cage, but there was no sign of mum. We searched, and found her dead, lying in the grass.
What killed her? All we can think of is that she ate something which was toxic, or was bitten by a snake.  We eliminated the idea of a predator, such as a fox, because she wasn't mutilated in any way at all.

So what to do with the chicks?
We found an old soft jumper, and rubbed it over the dead chook's feathers, then put the jumper into the nesting box, inside the "safe cage".   The pheromones must have worked because the three chicks climbed into the box, and snuggled down among the folds of the jumper.

At that time our nights were still cool to cold, with minima hovering about 10 degrees.   How to keep them warm? The chicks were still quite small, and we doubted their feathers would be enough. My husband rigged up a lightbulb which gave radiant heat to the nesting box.
It worked because now the chicks are about 4 weeks old, and thriving.

The three orphan chicks!  Note the light bulb for radiant heat.

They are let out of their cage every morning.
They go straight out onto the grass, where they scratch, and fossick, and disturb lots of insects, which have, presumably, been there for the night. The insects are grabbed in their beaks, and then eaten.

They're also learning to fly.
They can flap their little wings and get up onto a nearby bench seat to snaffle any left-over bird seed, which has been put out for small birds such as finches.

Their mother was a White Sussex hen, but the chicks are showing quite a smattering of black on their feathers, so we are thinking that maybe the Black Australorpe rooster was the father???  As the "orphans" mature we should have a better idea of their genetic background.

Although it looks as if 2 of the chicks are camera-shy, you can still the black feathers appearing.

Summer, & an abundance of fruit, and vegetables..donated.

We are in a farming area.
We grow grapes, and make wine, on our boutique vineyard.
Some of our neighbours also grow grapes.
One nearby grows capsicums.
Another grows stone fruit.
During summer we receive many phone calls asking if we'd like some plums, or apricots, or peaches, or capsicums, or assorted vegetables.
It is the very rare occasion that I say "no thanks".
It is usually "Yes, please"

Early season nectarines from the Zambellis.

Early season peaches.

A bowl of freshly picked apricots.

A bag of crisp beans, grown by our neighbours, the Winks.

Assorted vegetables from Mario.

...and rockmelons from Mario too.

Late season, Yellow-fleshed peaches from the Zambellis

Also from Zambellis...late season nectarines.

Some beautifully crisp capsicums from Sam.

Are you jealous? 
It really is fantastic to be on the receiving end of such wonderfully fresh produce.

What do I do with it?
vegetables are easy to use.....cook them, or use them in salads.
 
Sometimes I make jam from the fruit.
Other times I stew it, and freeze what we don't need immediately, so that we can have stewed fruit later in the year.
And of course, we eat heaps of fresh fruit , but there's no way we can eat our way through a whole box of it....hence the cooking.
 


And what do we give in return?
We can give bottles of wine OR grapes of the neighbour's choice OR eggs OR rhubarb....we have much rhubarb growing. 
It is a "swap system" rather than a barter system....and I love summer for this reason.

A bonus of rural life!

Summer at the farm.

Summer at the farm sees the grape vines growing apace, and the vineyard looking beautiful and green.
The bunches of grapes are growing too.

Visitors arrive for some R & R at the farm.

And what to do?

Ride the ag. bikes (agricultural bikes....used by farmers for quick and easy access to various parts of their farms)    An adult sized ag. bike for my husband is quickly snaffled by each of our sons for riding.
A smaller sized one is for the grandkids to use. So far only the grandsons have ventured on it, and each of them took to it like old. pro motorcyclists.

First time ever on the ag. bike. Receiving instructions from Poppa.

Even great-uncles and great-aunts want to ride the bikes.

Now it's the turn of Elliot's parents.

 

Elliot on small bike, Andrew and Renae on the larger one, heading up to the main house.

And sibling rivalry never ceases....two brothers ready to "burn rubber".    Daniel grabbed the large bike, so Andrew has to ride the "little" bike.

Yes, a family of 4 can get anywhere on two bikes!  Going off for a swim.

Mucking around outside, especially blowing bubbles if the breeze is right, is always fun.


 

Elliot and bubbles.

Swimming in the summer always rates highly, be it in the lap pool by the house, or, more often than not, down in the creek which forms the northern boundary of our farm.  Some summers the creek is dry, and we miss using it, but this summer it has been running well, so creek swims were daily affairs.

Mucking about in the lap pool.

 

The family in the creek....Andrew, Daniel and kids.

Charlotte and her mum in the creek.

And of course games. The kids persuaded various adults to play Junior Monopoly, Connect 4, or Junior Scrabble.

Being a good uncle and playing "Junior Monopoly"

Beating great-uncle Hugh at Connect 4.

 It would not be a farm visit for the adults without games of "Snatch"....a game of anagrams to which our family is addicted.  Fierce competition reigns, with doubtful words like refiltering being challenged, checked in The Chambers Dictionary, and either allowed of dropped. (Refiltering was NOT  in the Chambers) 

Out comes the dictionary during a game of "Snatch"

Drinking good wine, and eating delicious food is also on the farm holiday agenda.  What a life!

Relaxing on the front steps, with a glorious Verdelho in hand.

Andrew, Renae, me and Ade.

Renae's cherry torte.....delicious!

 

A pancake shaped like Mickey Mouse's head....courtesy of Uncle Dan....and a mould from Disneyland!

 
This summer followed that pattern, and a relaxing and fun time was had by all.