Month: June 2015

Crazy Day colour …

Published on by FJB4 Comments

The last few weeks have been drizzly and dull – sort of what you’d expect as we approach the middle of winter.  So Crazy Day was just the tonic that Bellingen needed.

What’s Crazy Day you ask ?

Well, on the third Saturday of June, Bellingen traders offer crazy discounts and set up stalls in the main street …

Nigel from Sweet Bellingen
Nigel from Sweet Bellingen

And as Crazy Day coincides with the monthly community market, talented people come out of hibernation to sell their creations …

Funky felt hats
Handmade felt clothing
Little princess dresses
Mandala moneyboxes

A gaggle of women friends from Goosey Goosey set up their stall to sell their quality hand-made art and crafts …

Goosey Goosey wares
Trish’s pears
Lyndley & Trish

Of course, nobody goes thirsty … there’s even pedal powered organic sugar cane juice on offer, and it tastes a whole lot better than it looks!

Sugar cane & ginger juice

There was an abundance of delicious (and mostly healthy) locally produced food.


The crowds came from near and far, the sun shone all morning, the children  were entertained with camel rides and a bouncing castle, and a fabulous day was had by all.

Best gelato in New South Wales!

Bee Housekeeping …

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Winter is here and my native Aussie bees have decided that it’s time to snooze in the warmth of their hive.  But being neat and highly organised creatures, they have to do the occasional spot of housekeeping, so now and then when the daytime temperature climbs to 20C they bring out the rubbish.

Their rubbish consists of a disgusting sticky mess of hundreds of little bee poos and the occasional dead body, all of which they throw from the entrance of the hive.


And while the native bees are sleeping on the job, their cousins the hardy European bees are still hard at work on viburnum and early apricot blossom.

Much more picturesque …

European bee on apricot blossom
European bee on apricot blossom
European bee on Viburnum
European bee on Viburnum

Braving a Weed Salad …

Published on by FJB2 Comments

Last night I ate my first weed salad and obviously, I lived to tell the tale.

My bravery didn’t extend to a full sized bowl, just entrée size, and I took the precaution of texting a photo of the ingredients to a friend with the instruction …
“If I don’t text you back in four hours – call an ambulance”!!

So, first I collected a selection of weeds from the garden, then using my Weed Foragers Handbook I sorted them, only keeping the weeds that I was 99% certain were edible and discarding the rest. I ended up with – farmer’s friend (cobblers pegs), sow thistle, dandelion, chickweed, nasturtium, ribwort (plantain) and a solitary Indian strawberry.

To boost the size of the salad, I added baby rocket, parsley, lime mint, berries & cream mint, common mint, chives and a few clover flowers that I picked whilst en-route to check the letterbox.

Then I added some lightly toasted spiced pine nuts and sunflower seeds and dressed it with an oil, mustard and local organic honey dressing.

Conclusion – individually the weeds tasted a bit “unusual” but the combined salad was really very tasty.  The Indian strawberry was a total non-event.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but … I was actually slightly disappointed that I didn’t find more edible weeds.  I particularly wanted to find some oxalis* flowers. When we tried them on our herbal exploration day they were like a little burst of sherbet (due to the oxalic acid I assume)

My new bible
Toasted spiced pine nuts & sunflower seeds
Salad possibilities ?

* Note: Oxalis is not a house or garden plant in Australia – it is a pesky weed.