DISPATCHES FROM THE FARM

We are back to gorgeous spring weather - yum! We spent yesterday sowing more seeds to raise basil and zucchini seedlings for our summer crops.We grow loads of sweet basil each summer and always include a purple basil variety (Black Opal) and sometimes my favourite, the aromatic Thai basil. 

  

After a couple of years struggling to source a good quality, affordable certified organic seed raising medium (sandy soil, not too rich not too sandy), we are finally able to make our own using a mix of our own compost with sand. 

At this stage we manage to make enough compost for the seed raising and a certain amount towards feeding the crop soil beds but not yet enough for all our needs (it takes a lot of green waste matter to end up with a lot of composted material by the time it's all broken down). We use approximately 1 part green matter (veg scraps, some weeds and pasture cuttings and other fresh green waste) to 3 parts dry matter (straw for e.g.) and keep it moist (not totally sodden) and Tim turns it with the tractor every few days to keep it aerated so the essential micro organisms can proliferate and do their magic in breaking down the ingredients to eventually form a nutrient rich compost. We rarely add animal manure to accelerate the composting, mainly because we haven't been needing to but also we don't have ready access to it. We have added borage and/or comfrey leaves which do help activate the process. Following this recipe and process, it takes a few weeks to breakdown, depending on the weather and is the slowest during winter. We plan to get into learning about and analysing the compost microbes over time and a friend has a microscope for this purpose. 

Our seed raising mix is comprised of generally 1 part sand to 3 - 4 parts compost but varies depending on which seedlings it is for. Generally speaking the larger seeds require a less rich blend (i.e. less compost) as they carry more nutrients in their shells for getting started with. 

People often ask us why we called our farm "Angelica" organic farm? So, I thought you might be interested to know dear reader? To start with we were after a name that was attractive and fresh with positive connotations and we liked the idea from a business perspective of a name beginning with 'A', (so it shows high up on any list or directory!). We love growing and cooking with herbs and highly respect their healing properties too, so figured there'd be a lovely herb whose name and associated properties would resonate with us and the spirit behind our farm. We didn't get past 'angelica'...

                            

Also know as 'Archangel', 'Master Wort', 'the root of the Holy Ghost' and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the popular Dong Quai , angelica is a highly revered herb in many cultures throughout the ages and is known as somewhat of a panacea medicinally, helping a range of conditions from digestive disorders through toothache, respiratory ailments to women's gynaecological health. During medieval times, it played a role in pagan rites and later Christian festivals.  Folklore suggests that a monk dreamed of an angel who revealed that angelica would cure the bubonic plague. Hence, angelica became known as the guardian angel.  

Angelica's influence is said to imbue a feeling of protection from evil and guidance from spiritual beings such as angels  It's also believed to facilitate a link between the ethereal world,  and the grounded earth, providing in part some of the inner strength and stamina required for pursuing one's life destiny. Funnily enough this rather suited us as we embarked on our life's dream in starting an organic farm!

 

In the kitchen, angelica seeds, stems and leaves are valued. It has an aniseed-type flavour. Most commonly know is that young stems are candied and used for decorating cakes and desserts. Candied stems are also used in liqueurs, including the well know Bombay Sapphire gin. With its celery-like flavour, angelica has a natural affinity with fish and young leaves and shoots have a clean taste and make an interesting addition to salads, as well as court boullion (poaching liquid) for fish. Angelica root is said to be a tasty inclusion in breads.

Now, before anyone asks, no, we don't grow angelica ourselves! As yet, we haven't sourced any suitable root stock but from our research it might also be a bit touch and go trying to grow it in our climate. We'll give it a go if we can get hold of some and let you know the outcome.

NEWS FLASH...

The aformentioned tomato seedlings have started to sprout! Today's count is approximately 30 new babies :)

  

Wishing you a great spring, weekend! 

Yesterday Tim and I spent a whole day sowing tomato seeds...hundreds and hundreds of the little beauties. So, when all of those bare fruit, we'll have tomatoes from "A... to breakfast" as they say! Tomato season is pretty short here and a little unpredictable, also varying in success quite often from year to year. So, excellent, natural, home grown tomatoes are a highly prized harvest when we get them. We have had good fortune with producing tomatoes so far 'touch wood'! 

    

Now we will be checking on the seeds with great anticipation over the coming weeks for the gleeful arrival of our first tomato plants poking their little stalks through the seed raising mix. It's true we get quite excited about this annual event, more so for some reason than with most of our other seedlings (oh except when the garlic plantings begin to sprout!) and once they start, we race each other into the poly tunnels (greenhouses) to do a daily count of new arrivals. That first showing of a wee seedling's 'neck' through the soil (any seedling), even before leaflets appear still 'floats our boats' every year without fail :). 

Last years early tomato seedlings.

Every year we try to master an early season tomato harvest (like by Christmas) but mostly, the variable temperatures and delayed summer conspire to thwart that ambition. The first sign of fruit is just as thrilling for us as the new seedlings! Our first tomato harvest usually starts in February.

We always grow a variety of tomatoes, including the well known Roma and Grosse Lisse but have a penchant for growing (and eating!) the age old heirloom (open pollinated, non-hybrid) varieties. We grow striped, 'black', 'purple', green, yellow & cherry varieties to name some main ones.  

Fortunately a lot of folk share the love of heirloom tomatoes which makes it fun at farmers' markets during tomato season. It's great to be able to put on an abundant, colourful display and we have loads of lovely conversations with all kinds of people about our tomatoes and their tomatoes, sharing recipes, growing experiences and tips. A lot of people, of all ages have fond family memories of growing and sharing tomatoes. It seems tomatoes are a true love of Aussies from all cultural backgrounds and everyone agrees there's nothing better than a proper tomato with real, rich tomato flavour and texture, unlike the tough, tasteless commercially grown varieties most commonly available in shops these days! 

We use green manures primarily to increase organic matter in the soil. The living and/or decaying plant material feeds and increases earthworms and beneficial micro organisms which alternately feed and create new, healthy soil and therefore plants (+ animals and people).  In the process, carbon and nitrogen is increased and as the soil structure is improved and can act like a sponge, improved moisture retention and air penetration is achieved along with better root penetration for the vegetables we grow. 

Our paddock above in the foreground was virtually bare excluding patches of weeds when we first moved onto this land a couple of winters ago, having been mainly grazed and compacted by cows with the odd hay crop grown on it for many years. Improved soil structure, including the increased and deeper plant roots, also stabilises the soil to prevent erosion. Erosion has become a major factor in the degradation of Australia's agricultural lands. 

Currently we are working with our winter green manure crop of oats. Oats are great because they are very leafy and so produce lots of organic matter/bulk and carbon sequestration. This is particularly important for us with our red volcanic soil which is very fertile by nature but also lacks organic matter and so tends to dry out easily during summer. They grow well in the cold and wet. Our oats have gone wild this winter with all the rain we've been getting. 

You can either dig in a cover crop whilst still green for a quick nitrogen boost to the soil just before planting vegetable crops, like we've been doing recently with the oats or you can slash it and leave it a while until the litter and stubble browns before digging it into the soil as more of a slow release, carbonaceous fertiliser, which we'll be doing prior to planting out our tomatoes in a few months. Green manure crops also regenerate the soils and nourish food crops subsequently planted via their ability to bring to the surface deep minerals. The oats' root depth matches their large leaf size and so they are good for mining the deep soil minerals. The increased soil coverage and types of plants used also provide habitat and food for beneficial insects which in turn reduce the populations of soil and plant pests.  

Our preferred summer green manure is cow pea, which is good for fixing nitrogen into the soil being a legume. It also handles our hot, dry summers better than many other green manure varieties. It grows more thickly with regular rain but is drought tolerant which is handy in what have become dry summers for us. 

Just after we plant the new garlic seed stock, our practice has been to mulch, using organic oaten hay. We mulch for a few main reasons: i) To suppress weeds  ii) To moderate soil temperature, regardless of whether it's mid winter and below 0 over night or late spring  and 30 deg. mid afternoon iii) To moderate soil moisture, especially to conserve soil moisture during late spring when we don't get much rain and are irrigating prior to harvest time. The farming tradition of mulching garlic stems from the extreme northern winter climates, from where garlic originated and is still grown a lot. 

                                  

However, each season, we are finding that a lot of weeds grow out of the mulch itself (oat sprouts plus from weed seeds in the hay), so we think we will experiment with not mulching some areas of next season's garlic to see how the garlic (and weed growth!) fairs without it and to ascertain whether the expense and work involved in mulching is truly necessary to maintain the excellence we strive to produce.

Garlic has shallow roots compared to many plants and so doesn't respond well to competition for available nutrients and water from weeds.  We find our winters don't allow for much weed growth until towards the end when the weeds seem to 'feel' spring coming as daylight extends and then they grow like crazy within no time. Recently, as soon as the rain had eased up enough, we invested 3 very full days in weeding this years garlic crop. Tim along with a small team of truly fantastic casual farm workers thoroughly hand weeded every bed of garlic. Hand weeding is the only really effective way to weed garlic and to guarantee the growing garlic roots don't get damaged in the process. Minimising weeds helps ensure good sized, healthy garlic bulbs and therefore cloves.

                                                

                                                

Above: ABC Delicious Article September 2009