We Grew Chickpeas

It was our first time growing chickpeas so the Shearer put in a modest little patch, maybe .75m x 1.5m. He had acquired a packet of seed from a cool climate seed stockist. At worst we thought it would be a green manure crop.

From memory we sowed them in summer, just as we would the beans and they were quite fast growing, becoming little bushes with soft ferny leaves and developing masses of small white flowers. I thought I had taken a photo of the flower stage but couldn't find it. From the small flowers developed soft velvety pods, each containing one or two peas.

We allowed them to ripen and towards the dying off stage we then pulled them and hung them upside down in a shed to dry further. The podding was a little laborious but....

our reward is 1.5kg of our very own dried chickpeas. We could store them like this but I'm a bit of a spontaneous cook so when the preserving season winds down a little I will soak, cook and process in the pressure canner so they are shelf stable and ready for use in a moments notice. We will of course keep some for seed for next years' crop.

We rate this experiment a success and a good yield for crop space and a pantry staple at that.

Another Before and After- Sort Of

This small front strip of garden has had a few stages in it's transformation. Above is how it looked when we first moved in and...

you can read the story of the exciting path find here.

It has since been given a tidy and some planting while other projects took priority. I have planned all along a white garden for this front area and our budget somewhat hi-jacked has priority constraints too. 

Last year I planted 50 white tulips and white daffodils and two Teddy Bear magnolias flanked the front door.

This month I started removing the temporary plants not part of the scheme and laid some weed matting and defined the two beds with some convict bricks. 

Finally I have my long awaited gravel and the front is coming to plan. It's a sandstone colour and goes well with the dressed stone of the cottage. The Erigeron "Seaside Daisy" forms some permanent clumping in the bed and mostly annuals will provide the changing views of this garden. The battering westerly winds would be too much for standard roses etc. 

The plants in this area have to survive quite extreme conditions; westerly sun and winds, frosts down to -7C and low water. We are very mindful of not interfering with the house foundations and the natural breathing of the building.

So for next spring I have planned that white larkspur, wall flowers, and sweet rocket will accompany the white bulbs and be followed in summer by white cosmos and dahlias.

The next part of this project is to paint the windows and front door fresh glossy white and perhaps the front iron fencing too...or perhaps black for that.... 

Help or House Guest

The kitchen is in full swing at our house, late February and March being the busiest time, and any house guests are welcome to pull up a chair, don an apron and select their knife of choice.

We prepped jalapenos and pickled.

Made a simple spinach and cheese filling seasoned with freshly grated nutmeg - oh divine! Rolled pasta sheets and made fettuccine too. 

We have had a pasta maker for years but last weekend at the market we spotted a deluxe pack version of our Atlas machine which included the ravioli roller.

$10 for the lot and used probably once!

With fresh ripe Roma tomatoes avalanching  on the benches, aromatic green basil in abundance and Craig's homemade Parmesan cheese...

Mama Mia!

Be our guest....

Around The Block...

It all started with a couple of buckets of Greengage plums that were given to me as the strong winds gripped Campbell Town yet again. 

"I'm just returning these buckets" I called out to the shearer 

"I'll see you in a minute"

Well Greengage gardener wasn't home so I left the buckets and spied another neighbour on his front veranda, so I stopped for a bit of a netter and next minute...

I had a bag of delicious juicy pears!

Around the next street I saw another keen fellow gardener mowing his lawn and he waved me in...

Next minute....

Ripe perfect plums all golden inside with a halo of red.

Well if I've got this many plums I'm going to need some apples to make sauce and chutney,

So around the corner....

To my next dear and generous neighbour.

We had a delightful time wandering the garden from apple tree to apple tree, sampling and selecting and 

Next minute....

"Don't go without some of these golden cherry plums, they're perfect for chutney!"

My car smelt like the most divine fruit shop and it was certainly more than a couple of minutes later. I had the best time dwelling with my neighbours over small talk and basking in their gardens. I find that the most amusing thing about living in the country, everything is small scale and so close I could walk everywhere but even a trip to the shop,the library and the petrol station takes at least a couple of hours!

The stove has been going full pelt all day and I've bottled pears and tomatoes, made a double batch of plum chutney and a double batch of Worcestershire style plum sauce, all with the help of a 3 year old and thankfully a "Poppy" as well!

Hummus and Seed Cake - But Not Together

Our singing group meet up coincided with Valentines Day this week and with a plethora of love songs in our books I set the mood with hummus and beetroot dips. To create the heart motifs in the centres, choose a wide shallow dish, like these small fluted flans. Place an oiled cookie cutter in the middle and fill the outer being careful not to disturb the position of the cutter. Next spoon in the contrast dip and gentle slide the cutter straight up.

I kept these really simple as one of our group is multiple food intolerant and I really don't think the internet needs yet another hummus recipe but I will say that a point of difference in this batch is that I make my own tahini in the thermomix - easy peasy, Beetroot is ready now in our garden and again, there are multiple recipes you could use. This one is without dairy or cashews. The beet was roasted in the oven, cooled, peeled and wizzed with lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt and garlic. Just a simple puree really.

The Shearer will come home to a custardy carroway seed cake and I have adapted the recipe for the Thermomix and you'll find it here.

I had a little mixture left over and made a few small heart shaped cakes for my work colleagues too.

I offer love to you 

it is limitless

please spread it

X

Original Owners

I've been doing some research on the house here and there, in fits and starts but I've recently had a great find that has helped. We acquired a map of Campbell Town in an antique store and it has original names, lot numbers and block sizes penned which has provided valuable leads for research.

I can see "Daniel O'Meara on our block of land and others in the near area also. Using that information I have been able to find that the land was purchased prior to 1845.

A record of the Census in 1843 reveals that he was living in High St but we cannot be sure that it was in this particular house as street numbers were not in common use then. Also note that Campbell Town is spelt "Campbelltown" and also "Campbellton" in earlier times which makes the research a bit laborious when using search engines of specific words.

Also from the same Census document we learn that the house he was living in was also "unfinished" and that the proprietor was "Mr. Joseph Solomon". I have found Joseph Solomon has purchased land also close by. Was Daniel O'Meara renting from Solomon at this time somewhere in High St? I suspect so as he lists the house as being made from brick and wood, whereas this house is made of stone and brick. This is also prior to the birth of his children.

Daniel O'Meara was born in 1825 and I have been able to find that he married Bridget Mary Jordan and they had five children, two dying in infancy and possibly a third. Daniel died in 1859 and the above image is of his Will. Bridget re-married in 1861 to Charles Blake and seems to have moved to the Deloraine area. I believe their son, William Morgan O'Meara is the gentleman mentioned in the below advertisement placed in the Launceston Examiner newspaper 05.10.1878, almost 20years after Daniel's death.

The stable mentioned in the above advertisement is long gone and only a rough outline of the building with stones in the back yard remains. Using an inflation rate of 3.8/annum, I work the rate of rent out to be the equivalent of $8720.00/year or $162/week in today's money. I haven't been able to ascertain yet what it sold for or who bought it.

It is around this time that there is a record of a William O'Meara holding a liquor licence for the Red Hills hotel at Deloraine and his sister Jane O'Meara held a liquor licence for the Formby Hotel in East Devonport and later in 1898 for O'Meara's Hotel in Ulverstone. The O'Meara families grew and became very well known in the Westbury, Deloraine and Devonport areas. I am speculating that after Daniel's death and the subsequent re-marriage of Bridget, the family seems to have re-located to the central/north west area of Tasmania.

Locals say this is a picture of the house, now ruins. in the bottom of our paddock. This land according to the map originally belonged to W H Fitzgerald. It is now the grandson's "archaeological dig site".

And this is the cottage next to that one, now also demolished. This land was owned by William Pears and I believe it stayed in the same family for all that time. These two latter cottages were obviously built by the same builder sharing many similar features. William Pears was a brick maker according to the Census of 1843 and I have no doubt he was a very busy man and employed full time with all the building booming around Campbell Town in those decades.

Happy Chickens, Curious Calf

You've possibly seen photos of our fowl yard before but there are some particular features that we find are working well. For instance, the foliar spread from two elder trees at the rear of the fowl shed. In summer this provides relief from a fierce western sun belting on the back of the tin shed. In winter it looses its leaves and allows that same sun to warm instead. The shed itself can be divided at times to create two separate areas, particularly useful for the injured or the brooding hens and their chicks in the first few weeks.

Similarly, the yard can also be penned off into two. At this time the mothers are taking their young chicks into the greater yard and we have three new pullets of a new blood line in the smaller yard till they are assimilated into the flock.

The curious calf was very interested in what I was doing as I photographed and he and the chooks were delighted with a couple of dropped elderberry bunches.

Key to the flocks comfort and safety is the quince thicket, providing shade in the summer and overhead shelter from predators winter and summer. 

We have trimmed the area to enable us to move around for maintenance but there are lots of quiet nooks and tunnels. In the background here can be seen the trap door in the outer fence that allows access to the paddock. Most of the time the girls are free to come and go but there are times when they need to be penned so this also gives us greater control.

Curious calf again! At nearly four months he is becoming a very big baby. Naturally attached to us as we got him as a say old but not so enamoured of the hens who are basically food competitors in his patch. They are very happy to scratch and spread his manure though. It's a very good relationship.

The trees provide an easy spot to tie the hanging greens of silverbeet and kale. Should we need to restrict their access to the paddock at anytime, their yard environment still provides lots of mental stimulation and comfort. Most trees will not like the high acidity that arise from fowl droppings so an application of lime every six months may be needed to keep the trees happy. Planting a food tree ensures not only a crop for you but also windfall for the hens and the associated insect population that goes with it.

Curious calf again. He is enjoying windfall apples and crab-apples at the moment and the last leaves of the brassicas gone to seed. Unfortunately he is also trimming anything close to the fence which happens to be a pear tree and my pumpkin vines!

Happy Neil

Happy chickens.