Smashing beans!

Ms Tagalong has never had a penchant for broad beans, their floury texture and rather bland flavour has not inspired her to incorporate them into her diet. But maybe Neil Perry can convert her?

His springtime appetizer, featured in the weekend edition of the Sydney Herald, of buffalo mozzarella, smashed broad beans and ricotta salata on bruschetta sounds very appetising indeed.

He also mentions how good they are over freshly made egg noodles. For those of you who know that Ms Tagalong has recently made fresh pasta perhaps she will be even more adventurous and try the egg noodles sometime. Sometime soon, she thinks, as the broad bean season doesn't last forever. So take Neil's advice, after podding the beans blanch them in boiling salted water then refresh in iced water and drain. Then here comes the tricky part, peel the beans and just use the innards to mash with a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper. The addition of 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and parsley finishes of the smashed mix nicely.


Spread on toasted bruschetta, top with buffalo mozzarella and some ricotta salata. Now if you don't know what that is, join the club. Ms Tagalong had to look it up. It seems you can make your own but maybe that is a stretch too far for most of us.

So now the broad bean glut has been taken care of, Ms Tagalong must comment how good it is to see no black flies/aphids on the beans. It has been her earlier experience that broad beans and black flies were like the proverbial horse and carriage.

Talking about smashing; the rain at the weekend, whilst thoroughly watering all the garden, did knock a lot of the new seedlings about. Ms Waatif (What-are-all-the-initials-for?) arrived with replacement seedlings this evening and was happily planting while Mr Ideasman was putting a few minor design faults to right with the pizza oven.

And finally, what you are all waiting for, the latest news from Ms Mova at her permaculture course -sorry to disappoint, no news as of yet, but do look at where she is and what wonderful things she is going to learn.

Community Garden Visit - Number 2

Ms Tagalong was, as usual, wandering two steps behind Mr Ideasman. This time it was through Moruya markets, when she spotted a small stall with organic produce.
'Is there a community garden in Moruya?' she eagerly asked.
'Oh yes, are you interested in joining?'
Sadly we declined but agreed to go and have a look at SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture & Gardening Eurobodalla) an enviable acre and a half just outside the town centre. Eat your heart out Treefrog Permaculture! Just the size for a city farm.


Sage has the aims of increasing the quantity of locally grown food and 'growing the growers', returning this area to the market garden production it was known for. Using sustainable farming practices and the co-operation and assistance of TAFE (mm, could be an idea for us) the 'garden' is still in its developmental stages.

We admired the rather grand crop of marrows and wandered around some of the smaller plots which the lady at the markets had explained were individually tended.


The market had run out of basil to go on the lovely fresh tomatoes so Ms Tagalong was hoping to glean some and had just picked off the tips of some flowering plants when a striped lady strode purposefully towards us.

Ms Tagalong clutched her illicit basil guiltily behind her back hoping the clinch wouldn't release too much of that undeniable basil smell.
'We're from Tighes Hill Community Garden in Newcastle,' we smiled.
Mr Ideasman talked and we found out that like most ventures, there is a dedicated core. About 15-20 participants regularly attend the working bees on this most fertile flood plain beside the river.


'We are lucky,' Ms Stripes said, 'some of our members are semi-retired landowners who have the machinery to keep this under control. We have just had so much rain and everything just grows and grows.'

Mr Ideasman and I admired a prolific unknown crop and enquired as to what it was.

'Oh it's just a weed', she said,'the whole place was covered with it at the beginning. I think there's a potato crop underneath.'

Standing nearly 1 ½ metres high with light blue flowers and fruit something like a cape gooseberry it was certainly most impressive. Pity it was a weed!

We spotted a solar-driven bore, a skeleton for a herb garden and an orchard.

Once Ms Stripes had gone with her lunchtime lettuce we gleaned a few more herbs and a very small lettuce, honestly it was very small and they were all threatening to go to seed!


Tiger prawns, fresh Italian bread, tomato and lettuce salad garnished with the purloined basil – a lunch fit for visiting community gardeners!

Let's connect with food

Ms Tagalong recently attended a Fair Share Festival. Did she take some of the abundant produce from the garden you may ask? No she didn't but she and Mr Ideasman came back with produce of another kind. She came back with some interesting ideas on Food Connect which certainly had us thinking that we should really be investigating some of the box services available here in Newcastle to supplement the veg we grow here in the garden. Beanstalk also had a representative there, so check them out and let's see if we can give them some business.

We also had the pleasure of meeting the two young lads who run Tree Frog Permaculture. Keen,enthusiastic and irrepresibly cute they are very interested in coming to our garden to offer a workshop offering up some of their knowledge to the local yokels. Expressions of interest are requested so that we may make it worth their while. They did say that they had plenty of friends who could come if we didn't have many people!! So come on uni students in the area unite, friends invite friends and let's generate a wonderful experience.

So how did everyone enjoy the rain? The tanks are filling and the tap is not leaking. Be frugal of course and let's hope for a good growing season. Look at those cucumbers grow! If you don't they might be exquisitely drawn by Ms Botanical who is carefully nurturing them.

Ms Tagalong will be otherwise engaged next weekend to be able to blog. I like the expression, very a propos, actually she will be unengaged. Ha ha!

Have a great couple of weeks and keep those chickens happy. One scruffy one is enough!

We are growing!

Ideasman was amazed at all the new visitors who wandered into the garden last week. New residents to the area, lonesome schoolchildren, sons and daughters of community members, couples interested in fresh vegetables, organic produce and the community spirit. Well, we have plenty of that here!

We have plans too, plans for the next year of the garden. Naked calendars for fundraising are so passe, but I must admit, Ms Mova and I shook around the idea, canvassed the gardeners and thought of some lovely prospects but dismissed it for some other outstanding, original idea. Just what that is, I am not sure, necessity being the mother of invention or whatever.. We are in the process of arranging a series of workshops to coincide with the working bees. Tricky planning! You must come to the workshop and oh there just happens to be a working bee on the same day! I mustn't malign our wonderful membership; we have a very willing cohort of gardeners turning up on those days. I am sure you have read about our working bee exploits over the year and can attest to how much we have accomplished. So we are thinking of a chicken workshop (rest easy Ms NimbleFingers, we are not showing you how to ring chickens necks, pluck them or cook them) but how to ensure that they keep laying. I am glad to report that one or two of the new ladies seems to be beginning to perform. But that was said in a whisper, just in case they hear and decide not to!

Ideas so far are workshops on herbs, weed identification and maybe a series of workshops from the wonderful treefrog permaculture group working locally. Let us know what you think but I can feel my teaching hat is firmly on and it's time for education folks!

Paint Pot Pat has been busy too. The wooden table looking very much the worse for wear has been transformed, dipped into cinammon chocolate, very smart. Mr Ideasman has fixed the bottom piping to the three water tanks, beautifully flowing from one to tother and we have a tap at the end! Ms Tagalong has to get a move on and chase up the promised reticulation system from our lovely local sponsors who won't get named until it is installed!! I saw a small sink in our pile of stuff to work with and thought how good to install that off the top tanks as a hand washer when working. Careful, Mr Ideasman, Ms Tagalong might become Ms Ideaswoman. Oh, I forgot, that is happening soon isn't it?