Category: My Garden

Being a Bowerbird …

Published on by FJB2 Comments

Here’s what you do when your town goes into a soft-lockdown and you have a list of home maintenance jobs that you really don’t want to do. Find an excuse to do something else …

I challenged myself to make a Bower Box using only treasures found in my garden, and not to buy anything specifically for the project, although I admit to one cheat, the wooden jewellery box which I had already purchased for another project. The idea came from a wooden gift box of gourmet goodies sent to me by my neighbours as a thank-you. I just couldn’t bear to throw it away. The blue paint came from a left over can in the garage and the lichen came from trees in the garden.

Inspiration came from one of my favourite books, Sibella Court’s “Bowerbird”.
(bowerbird –noun informal, mainly Australian a person who collects miscellaneous objects – that’s me!)

Bowerbird inspiration
Gathering bits and pieces
Faux or real?
A favourite read
1871 Bellingen

I’ve never understood why it’s so hard to find a dead cicada on the ground when thousands of them hatch each year.  Surely they can’t all be eaten by birds? Anyway, after much scratching around over several cicada seasons, I’ve managed to find and identify five species.  Maybe this year will bring me a Greengrocer to complete the collection.  I’m almost looking forward to Cicada Season.  Maybe not?

Five species found in my garden
Yellow Monday
Space for a Greengrocer

The pigeon skull came from a brown cuckoo-dove which flew into a window and was thankfully killed instantly.  The rat perished after becoming stuck in a wall cavity.  Both were buried in my compost bin, where the worms and bugs went to work.  They didn’t quite finish the job, so I had to complete the gruesome task.

Rattus rattus
Vintage papers & cuckoo-dove

I wanted to include two nests in my display. One of the nests fell out of a tree on a windy day, the other is a fake.  Can you tell which one?

Pick the fake
Nest with Rose robin feathers
Pigeon egg

We will be under lockdown for another week, so I’m looking for another excuse NOT to clean my windows.

Burnt Citrus Syrup recipe …

Published on by FJB5 Comments

Burnt Citrus Syrup Recipe
(this is a delayed gratification recipe!)

It’s citrus time again.  When friends and neighbours chase you down the street almost begging you to take their home grown lemons, limes, oranges, or kumquats.  The trouble is of course, that EVERYBODY has citrus at the same time!

So here’s something you can do with all that citrus …

You will need

  • a selection of sweet and sour citrus – orange, mandarin, kumquat, grapefruit, blood orange, lime etc – this is a great way to use up ugly, misshapen or blemished citrus.  The more variety the better, but not too much sweet fruit.
  • a selection of herbs and spices, for example – coriander seeds, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, black peppercorns, cloves (not too many), star anise (ditto).  Pick three or four of your favourites.
  • one or two large wide mouthed jars (eg Fowlers or Mason preserving jars)
  • optional – 1 tsp of Citric Acid for each jar – to help preserve the fruit
  • 1-2 litres of sugar syrup – see below
  • a selection of attractive glass bottles for the final product

Step 1 -Burn your Citrus 

  • wash the fruit, chop it into chunks and pile it on to some baking paper in a large roasting pan.  Sprinkle over the herbs and spices.
  • Slow roast it in the oven at 130C (260F) for four to five hours. It will look a bit like a baking disaster but never fear, it’s all good.

Step 2 – Preserve your citrus

While the citrus is in the oven get your sugar syrup ready and sterilise your jars – this can be left until the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

  • Sterilise your preserving jars with boiling water. Be scrupulous.
  • Make enough sugar syrup to fill the jars and cover the burnt citrus. There are plenty of recipes for sugar syrup on the internet. I used two parts sugar to one part water dissolved over low heat. If you use a strong sugar syrup, you can always add a little boiling water to the jar if you run a bit short of sugar syrup.  Warm the syrup when you are ready to fill the jars.

Step 3 – Bottle and wait …

  • Split the citrus pieces, spices and herbs roughly evenly into the sterilised jars.  Fill the jars to around two thirds.
  • If using, add  ½ tsp each of Citric Acid for each jar to help preserve the fruit.
  • Fill the jars with warm sugar syrup and seal.
  • Wait for at least one month. This is the hardest part.
  • Remove the citrus pieces (I throw them on my compost heap) and pour the syrup (which will have turned orange) through a strainer into a jug.  Then into sterilised glass bottles.

Note: this makes a very sweet, unctuous syrup which can be diluted. Prolong the life of the syrup by storing it in the fridge.  If you are scrupulous with sterilising, the syrup will last for several years – I am still using my 2018 vintage!

Uses: pour on ice-cream, make mocktails, or dilute with soda or tonic water.

I’m an exhibitionist !

Published on by FJB7 Comments

I’m very lucky to live in Bellingen.  Amongst its many attractive aspects, is the enthusiastic nurturing of artistic endeavour.  Nobody looks down on your amateurish attempts to produce something that might qualify as “art”.  Even the real artists offer words of encouragement.

Years ago a work colleague commented that she thought I didn’t have a left-brain, and whilst I accept that I am very focused on process and organisation, I thought that was somewhat harsh!

Over the years I’ve tried a few things – painting, sketching, pottery, etc and not discovered anything that grabbed me until I attended an Eco Dyeing course at Camp Creative a few years ago.  I still remember the puzzled looks I got when I told friends that I was doing the course.  “No, I’m not going to crochet my own hemp shroud – that’s dyeing not dieing”.

Paper hoarding

Anyway, I was hooked from the first day, and I’ve been experimenting and hoarding eco-printed paper ever since.  The hoarding was becoming a problem until the lovely Cynthia offered me space in her private gallery, and a joint opening with Leonie another budding artist.  The opening was a huge success – wine, delicious food, great conversation and best of all … SALES!

Cynthia’s Gallery
Some of the guests
My display
My opening invitation
About my work

I was quite hesitant about exhibiting, but I discovered that framing makes all the difference to an eco-print.  Turning it from a scrap of paper to something that you might just want to hang on your wall …

Eucalyptus & iron
Lilly Pilly with Cochineal
Geranium with Cochineal
Lilly Pilly & cabbage
Windfall Eucalypt leaves
Waratah & Tree Fern

So thanks to Cynthia, Leonie and all the friends and acquaintances who attended the opening, and a special thanks to those who bought our artwork.

I’ll be eco-printing more paper soon, but I’m trying to be patient.  I made the decision to use only plants from my garden, and preferably Australian natives, but I fell in love with Cotinus (Smoke Bush) leaf prints, so I’ve been forced to plant one. I’m trying to leave it alone and not strip off all the leaves like I did last autumn

Cotinus leaves
Cotinus imprint

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz …

Published on by FJB2 Comments

It’s winter, and it’s around now that I start to stress a little …

The nights are cold, we’ve had long periods of rain, and the daytime temperature often doesn’t reach 18 degrees.  And 18°C is the magic number when it comes to my native bees (Tetragonula carbonaria).  Below 18°C they stay in the hive and won’t come out to forage, which means they use their stores of nectar and pollen to stay alive.

Is it 18 degrees yet Mum?

Native bees don’t hibernate so the inside temperature of the hive is also really important. Extended periods of cold can kill a hive. I have a mental picture of them all huddled together trying to keep warm, sipping honey and telling tall (or small?) stories to while away the hours.

With all this in mind, I was understandably nervous about splitting my hive, but finally last spring, with the help of a friendly local native bee enthusiast, I felt brave enough to take the risk.  So very early one Sunday morning, we cracked it open and were rewarded with the sight of a healthy, honey and pollen filled hive.

A healthy advancing front
Sugar bags, pollen and honey

We put a new top on the base of the old hive and vice versa and sealed the joins with tape to keep out predators until the bees could seal it themselves.  The new hive is now sitting under the Pecan tree where it will get some winter sun.

New hive under the Pecan tree

Still feeling a bit cowardly, I decided to take the minimum amount of honey, and give the bees the best chance to rebuild the hive and to set aside stores for winter.

Native bee honey is quite runny, and it has a strong complex flavour. Drizzled over vanilla bean ice-cream, I can tell you that it was absolutely delicious!

 

The good news is, that so far after each spell of cold rainy weather, as soon as the daytime temperature reaches 18°C – out they come .  Fingers crossed for the rest of winter.

PS: If you are looking to keep native bees in Australia,
this is the bible , by entomologist Dr. Tim Heard.
Or even better, if you live in NSW or QLD you might be able to get to one of his fascinating seminars or workshops.

This is how I got hooked!

Tim Heard – Sugarbag Bee Events