Foodie Penpals February

Poor Ms Tagalong. She was nearly crying when she was reading all the foodie penpal blogs for February. During her grown up gap year in the UK she had been happily partaking in this penpal parcel pleasure.

Must be withdrawal symptoms. On her return to Australia she has been champing at the bit to start the same programme here.

So Aussie bloggers and foodies– get in touch and let's share some of the wonderful locally made produce with each other.

The wonderful Lindsey at Lean Green Bean and Carol Anne at this is rock salt have been organising this wonderful sharing of goodies. So check out the details on their websites to find out more.

Ms Tagalong could even share some of this wonderful calamondin marmalade homemade in Coomba Park on the shores of Wallis Lake on the mid-North Coast of NSW. But on second thoughts this pot is too precious.

She has even found out what a calamondin is. Think cumquat! Tangy and tart it will grace any muffin or crumpet.

Ms Tagalong is waiting to hear with bated breath.It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.

Growing Community

Coffee and chillies

So why is a community garden so important?

Ms Tagalong posed this question last time she was at the Sunday cafe. Sipping her lovingly made coffee curled up on one of the many comfy chairs strewn around the large deck; she was musing.

But she thinks she got an answer. The wonderful Hewison Street host told me what he had once heard. A definition to die for, in today's parlance.

'A vegetable garden grows vegetables, a flower garden grows flowers and a community garden grows community!'

Well there you have it. With Ms Tagalong's prolonged absence from the garden she definitely feels her growth has been stunted. But never fear, Ms T and Mr Ideasman will keep going to the Sunday cafe to get their injection of community until they are allowed once more beyond the garden portals!

Ms Tagalong has waxed eloquent about this wonderful community cafe before but it deserves more. Quirky décor, community members old and new, the best coffee in Newcastle, kindness, friendship and support. 

Art and craft classes, stitch and bitch, young Mums' support group, the cafe's versatility never ends. Just open a case and take your pick!

It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.

New Ideas!

Ms Tagalong is back and bursting with ideas. She hasn't burst into the garden yet, but just seen it longingly from afar. Won't be long now...

She learnt that sadly two of the ladies (chickens) turned up their claws on that scorching 45 degree day last month bringing the total down to 7.

The fence is complete and the autumn growing season is about to begin.

New ideas? How about Potting Shed Poems? Ms Tagalong saw this idea in Bridport, Dorset part of the Bridport Food Festival and an Arts Centre initiative creating a poet in residence working with schools and the public in writing garden related poems. Lovely!

Ms Tagalong wanted to stand on a raised bed and declaim, but guess what it was raining and was postponed to another time! She did however spot the shed and accompanying poems on another occasion and kept the photos to show on her return.  

Any poets amongst the gardeners?

Ms Tagalong was so glad to be welcomed back into the fold at the Union Cafe on Sunday last and enjoyed some spectacular coffee with Mr Ideasman, Ms Glamourpuss and Mr Mop. How lucky is Tighes Hill to have this wonderful site/house for communal activities. Of course the family that goes with it is pretty special too!

It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.

Czech chickens!

So here is Ms Tagalong in the Czech Republic wanting snow, not finding much, but enough to cover anything resembling a community garden or even a garden.

Vegetables are not the Czech's strongpoint, especially here in Bozi Dar on the remote reaches of Bohemia about 400m from the German border. Sauerkraut and some grilled veg appear if you ask for them but there is no lack of Huhnchen even if it is only on the menu!

Snowy vegetable garden

Walking into Oberwiesenthal the other day, crossing the border with no guards in sight Ms Tagalong, Mr Ideasman and crew made it into the little ski town and sauntered into a few Christmas shops laden with wooden Christmas ornaments. Trees, snowmen, horses, choristers, wooden chalets, musicians, but sadly no chickens.

Another outing to Karlovy Vary, aka Karlsbad, found the female members of the crew oohing and aahing at some of the Bohemian glass and of course you will be delighted to know that they spotted some wonderful chickens.

It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.

Happy New Year - Chickens of 2012!

So Ms Tagalong comes to the end of the year and looks back at all those wonderful chickens she has seen all over the world.

She was lucky to have a friend who sent some beautiful winter chicken photos who feature as Ms January and Ms December. The others were snapped throughout the year.

Ms January

Ms February

Ms March, Ms April and Ms May

Ms June

Ms July

Ms August

Ms September

Mr October

Mr November

Cheeky Ms December

So that was the year in chickens and they all wish you a Happy New Year! 

Des Res - Cluckingham Palace

Some chooks have all the luck. Some are born into royalty or at least aspire to it. These lucky escapees from a battery farm must have been born with a silver leg tag at the least.

This is their home. Cluckingham Palace complete with blue painted shutters and blue and white polka dot curtains. All the better for spying Mr Fox if he comes calling. He won't be huffing and puffing down this chimney though.

Ms Tagalong was very impressed with the set up. The Dorothys, as all the 10 chickens are called, have the run of a large field occasionally shared with a few horses. The slope of the field means that as you come through the bottom gate into the farm they spy you and race down in that inimitable chicken way, wings outstretched, legs akimbo, falling over themselves in anticipation of a delectable snack.

Ms Tagalong did not disappoint, she took the remains of frozen hot cross buns , soft and pappy from a too long stay in the freezer, perfect chook fodder!

Darling Loggins (she again of The World from my Window fame) bakes their egg shells and crushes them into small pieces with a large white pestle to supplycalcium into the diet, so Tighes Hill garden friends remember to bake them hard before you toss those shells over the fence.

And the chickens? Well, their battery days are just a faded memory...

It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.

A community paella

Now that's a big one

Ms Tagalong and Mr Ideasman were in Barcelona recently. They loved the bikeways everywhere and rejoiced in the citywide Bicing for residents. Way to go!  Wandering down through the back of the Born district on Sunday in search of a sunny spot for lunch they spied a square at the end of a narrow road which seemed to be full of coloured chairs and people.

'Let's look here first,' said Mr Ideasman and off they went.

Healthy growth

A sight for sore eyes indeed, or sore feet as they had been tramping all over town that day. A community garden with notices exhorting them to boycot the multinationals and agri-business and return food to locally grown caught their eye. 

As if this was not enough, two giant paellas were being cooked at the bottom of the garden for community lunch!

'How long has this garden been going for?' Ms Tagalong asked in her best Spanish. The lady in the grey hat said,

Alex and crew hoisting the paella

'I'm not sure as I come from another community garden the other side of the city. You should ask her,' and she pointed to a heavily cardiganed figure gesticulating wildly with a large wooden spoon whilst talking to a couple over the fence. 

And the conversation continued and continued and not liking to interrupt Ms Tagalong resigned herself to not knowing the answer. But it certainly looked healthy, even though it was winter and all around were cold.

Enjoying the big lunch

Now this was definitely the place to be! Tables laid into two long rows (the big lunch) and the community out in force.

Alex from Uruguay was not an interloper, he lived there with his Argentinian wife and loved the community spirit.

Feeling very much in their place Mr Ideasman and Ms Tagalong enjoyed a fabulous lunch and added support to the project management community neighborhood centers. Neighborhood organizations together to propose a management of the nearest house, transparent and participatory fun come to know her well that's what the google translation of the Catalan said!

The second one is nearly ready

Ms Tagalong reckoned they had had their little community injection of participatory fun and they slipped off to marvel at the Picasso Museum.

It's great to have some feedback, so please leave me some comments.