Winter Days

Today is Monday 23rd June and winter seems to have arrived at long last with wild winds and lashing rains.The weather has been so mild  so far and everything in the garden seems to think it is spring. I saw the crows tearing the soft bark off the paperbark trees and flying away with beakfulls of the stuff. Then I noticed a magpie collecting the dry mulch of grasses and stems from the front garden, so they too are building nests.....and the thrush is singing its beautiful song in the morning....

Our last Willunga Artisan Market was on a cold day also and our numbers were down. So the young  coordinator suggested a different way of setting up our stalls.

It made no difference to our sales sadly, but the economic climate ( don't you just love that phrase....) is against people seeing value in specially handcrafted pieces.

Speaking of handcrafted pieces, the anamatromic creature on the right, was made out of an old teddybear and bits and pieces by a young friend 

 who is showing prodigious artistic talents. The goat moved and opened its jaw and had flashing eyes as well. It is amazing what the young are now encouraged to explore and so create. She is also a budding sculptor and musician as well.
The rocking horse, appropriately called Bucephalus belongs to her mother who is also an artist and an avid collector of ancient fabrics.
It is always a pleasure to visit them in their lovely old cottage filled with interesting art works.....

 The jonquils have started to flower and that is early too. The little white snails which have suddenly appeared ( where do these pests come from when you haven't seen a one for years?)
I have had to put out snail bait and more snail bait and more snail bait.... at least we have managed to save the kale and leek seedlings from total decimation. Our daffodils are being chewed by slugs and so we have baited them as well. (Not an organic gardener then....?)


Our lemon tree is a delight as we have tried so often to grow one and at last we have succeeded by growing on in a tub. I love their golden fruit and have filled a few jars with their preserves......

More Bird Visitors & Strange Fungi

Our pond seems to attract a lot of different birds at times. At the beginning of last week we were delighted by the sudden arrival of three Kookaburras. They were busy under the olive tree but I am not sure if they were eating olives or finding crickets. Probably crickets, as Kookaburras are carnivores the experts tell us, while Magpies are omnivores. I have seen the Magpies eating the olives which had fallen off the trees.

The Kookaburras stayed for about three days and left, we think, because our trees are too young to have hollows in them for them to nest in. I think the Willy Wagtail was pleased to see them go as the Kookaburras are a threat to young Wagtail chicks...
When I came into the kitchen a couple of days after the Kookaburras left, there was a Chicken hawk sitting on the statue by the pond.I tried to leave without the Hawk seeing me but of course their eyesight is so acute, it would have seen me

back out to get the camera. It had flown into the figtree and I managed to take a photo of it through the kitchen window. Not a very good photo but still a record that it was here for a brief moment looking for prey in the Holm oak. I must say there have not been any more sparrows around the tree for which I am very thankful. Spoggies are my least favorite bird. They shriek and have absolutely no music in their soul at all.

It is interesting to see too, that the Rosellas have found the few apples I threw on the path and are happily eating away at them. They too, will eat the olives in the front of the garden but they are difficult to photograph there as the moment they see you they are off with the speed of jet fighters.

There have been no mushrooms in the garden this year despite the fact we had rains while the ground was still warm.
When we went to Mt Lofty Botanic Park a few weeks ago I found all these orange fungi under

the trees but I have no idea what they are. I noticed in a friend's garden in Willunga that there were these same orange fungi and they were growing on the woodchip mulch.
Then on Sunday at d'Arry's, we noticed this amazing fungi ,like an old fashioned big shower rose, growing high up in the tree on the trunk.
A lot of the time Nature has this wonderful way of surprising and delighting us.....
Don't forget to click on the photos if you want to see the subject matter closer up

An Epicurean Weekend

 How empty the house is
    after the departure of a favored guest......

We had a lovely weekend following Epicurus' principles of eating moderately but well, drinking the local wines, sampling local, handcrafted beers and having interesting conversations.
On Friday night we dined at the Altar Bistro. The food there is always freshly prepared and we sampled the new winter menue. The duck was superb and the slow-cooked beef equally delicious I believe.
On Saturday morning we started at the Shingleback winery as the sparkling shiraz which was tasted the night before, held great appeal.From there, we went to Kays Brothers winery which has stunning views across the hills to Kangarilla almost. They were firing up an outside oven to slow cook pork for the dinner being held there that evening.

In the afternoon we went and investigated a micro-brewery near Middlebrook. It was interesting to see the owners were growing hop plants in wine tubs and we must go back in summer to see what they look like growing up the trellis over the outside tasting area.
In the evening we went to the Barn, that dear old place which was about the first restaurant in the area back in the 70ies.The tasting platter we had was very good but unfortunately we all chose kangaroo and that was not very hot when it arrived.

Sunday we arrived at d'Arenberg to join in with the Bohemian Oasis fantasy which was organized by d'Arry's Verandah restaurant and promised to be full of Persian delights.
The Marquees they have these days are simply amazing, so big and well set up inside with heaters and movable curtains to keep out the wind which can be pretty chilly on that ridge.
The red sash of course was very prominent.
For nibbles we had Sumac pita chips with marinated olives
(nearly as good as mine only much smaller) and Hummus.
They were very good indeed and we were happy nibbling these while waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive.
When mostly everyone was there, the Temple dancing girls started weaving their way slowly around amongst the tables, intending to create a somewhat exotic atmosphere.
The Entree was Harissa prawns with Date &preserved Lemon Cous Cous cake which was delicious.

Everything was served to our table and arrived hot and beautifully presented. The Main course  was Bamieh of d'Arry's Dorper lamb with Spiced yogurt & Eggplant Pickle and a variety of roasted vegetables. The lamb was delicious and cooked to perfection.We had a Footbolt shiraz with this which complimented it very nicely.
Meanwhile the Temple dancers had inveigled some of the diners to join in the dancing and everyone was having a great time. We just watched.... Dessert was nougat Kataifi with Halva and Turkish delight and was a great way to finish the meal.......

To bring us down to earth after this Epicurean
weekend, I have inserted a photo of our miserly pumpkin harvest. Each season for the past five years I have had this wonderful fantasy of Queensland Blue pumpkin vines covering our half acre front garden (well, it used to be a garden till the water restrictions killed most of it)
with dozens of pumpkins of great size ripening in the sun, but ,no, they will not oblige me at all.
They refuse to grow vigorously nor allow themselves to be fertilized by bees ,so I have to go out with a paintbrush and hope there is a female flower amongst the dozens of male flowers, it is all too much......