Nuts!

We started with 14 macadamias, but have since taken out five from the back row to make way for the new vege beds. The nut season is from September through to March. The trees had the most flowers I have ever seen this year, so it will be interesting to see if they produce more nuts. We certainly had more bees! mostly native but with domestic ones too.

Like peeling prawns, it is a a bit of work before you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour. You have to wait for the outer 'skin' to dry and peel back before you get to the nut shell and you need to wait a bit longer before the nut is loose in the shell and ready to crack. Once cracked though, the creamy white nut is worth the wait. We add them to biscuit mix (macadamia and white chocolate!) or to date loaf. Roasted they are just divine, but because of the high oil content you really have to watch them or they'll burn. I hope to share some recipes from the impending bumper crop later in the year.

Saved and Raised :-)

The learning curve continues! I have not only managed to save seeds, I have managed to get them to germinate and now have them in the seed raiser. I let a couple of cos lettuce go to seed, mainly because we had enough of the pick and come again lettuce to keep us going, and so the flowers would attract native and domestic bees to pollinate the other veges in the bed.
I really had no idea what to do, but as the flowers died, I picked them off and under the tiny fuzzy bits were the seeds, hundreds of them on each plant actually.
I stored them in a paper bag to dry out a little more, I even cut the not quite ready flower heads off and put them in the bag too.
I planted them out about a week ago, and today I have tiny little cos lettuce peeking through.

Pickled Radish

Radish are ridiculously easy to grow. We don't even really like radish! We seemed to have a never ending supply from the first planting, so I had to do something with them.
I found a recipe that is apparently quite good with a gin and tonic, I don't think I like gin and tonic either.......

I heated 250 mL each of malt and white wine vinegar in a sauce pan with 200g sugar and 1 tsp of sea salt. I also added 1 tsp of black peppercorns. Once the sugar has dissolved and liquid has boiled you add the radish and let them cool in the liquid before bottling.

They turned out pretty good and are strangely addictive. They go nice and pink in the middle and have good crunch to them like a pickled onion. I am going to tweak the recipe and add pickling spices, more salt, garlic cloves and fresh chillis next time. I might also try just white or brown vinegar.