too many tomatoes?

Posted on April 24, 2016 by kathy

This is for all of you who planted tomatoes in summer, nurturing the young plants, giving plenty of water through the warmest, driest summer on record. The excitement when the first ones ripened.

The first batch of tomato sauce, tomato soup, the second batch, then the third as the little darlings turned red before your very eyes. Gathering momentum as the weeks pass, you give them to friends by the kilo until this point where you just wish they would stop! And so do your friends.

3.tomatoes

I want to share a very special find with you. A recipe for the most sensational jam – yes, tomato jam. You can’t go wrong with a Sally Wise recipe and here it is:

1kg (2lb) tomatoes

1.5kg (3lb) sugar

juice of one and a half lemons

Chop the tomatoes, I left the skins on and they ‘candied’ in the mixture. Add the lemon juice and bring to the boil. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved. Boil fast till setting point is reached (I use jam making sugar to speed things up).

4.jam

This recipe made six jars and it is delicious.

The tomatoes are still coming so I guess I’ll be adding to my already ample stash of Pomarola and Roasted Tomato Soup in the freezer.

the wild west

Posted on April 22, 2016 by kathy

The small settlement of Arthur River on Tasmania’s west coast is home to less than 50 permanent residents.

1.looking back

Named after the only Tasmanian river that is completely wild – never logged, never dammed – the mouth of which empties into the mighty Southern Ocean.

2.river meets ocean

The winds of the Roaring Forties combine with fierce ocean currents and travel from Argentina, 15,000km away, across the longest uninterrupted expanse of ocean in the world. I tried to capture the power of the waves breaking over this solitary rock. I didn’t succeed.

3.rock1 4.rock2 5.rock3

The washing machine effect of the waves, combined with the river flow, carry five hundred year old forest giants of Tasmanian Oak, Blackwood, Myrtle and Sassafras and heave them ashore as if they were twigs.

6.flotsam1 7.flotsam2

Just south of Arthur River is Gardiner Point…..The Edge of the World….

8.the edge

Written by Brian Inder, a Tasmanian tourism pioneer, he describes exactly how it feels to stand on the rugged coastline with nothing but ocean beyond.

9.shoreline1 10.shoreline2 11.shoreline3

fencing fun

Posted on April 9, 2016 by kathy

Last weekend we completed a project that has been on the list for years. The fencing along the driveway was atrocious but we had to build the retaining wall (see “wonder wall” post) before we could fix it.

1.before

We started by putting in extra posts.

2.posts1 3.posts2

Some of the old ones came out easier than expected

others needed a bit of encouragement.

7.post4

Our old drill had finally retired after 15 years, no more swearing with the new one.

8.drill

After running two lines of straight wire, we rolled out the wallaby.

9.wire1 10.wire2

It comes in 100 metre rolls so we had to do it in two sections. We held it loosely upright on the posts

11.wire up

and secured one end

12.fixing

then strained it tightly and fixed it to the posts.

13.hanging

Then to the other end. We strained the bottom

14.straining bottom

then the top

15.straining top

until it was nice and tight. Fixed to the posts, three more lines of straight and clipped the wallaby to the straight lines.

16.strained

We then tackled the fenceline at the entrance to the property. Barbed wire is dreadful stuff, it should be illegal.

17.before

We dug in some new posts

18.hole digging

took the old wire down and soon had the new one up.

19.wire up

We are very pleased with our new fence but a little sad because it is probably the last fencing we will ever do.

20.new fence

Grandvewe Cheeses

Posted on April 1, 2016 by kathy

While travelling with my sister, we made the wonderful discovery of Grandvewe Cheeses.

About 40km south of Hobart at Birch’s Bay, Grandvewe is the only sheep cheesery in Tasmania. We were greeted at the door by a special family member.

3.dog

We fell in love with the gorgeous sheep

4.retirement village 5.sheep

and the lambs were adorable.

The Grandvewe dairysheep have been especially bred to withstand Tasmanian conditions.

The produce is amazing. As well as delicious cheeses, they offer Whey Vodka, an interesting Vanilla Whey Liqueur and Sheep Ice Cream. The Pinot Paste, made from the marc of the pinot pressings, is a fabulous alternative to quince paste.

15.produce