Winter Solstice party 19th June

Saturday sowing

Thanks to the volunteers who turned up last night to the garden.  You may notice when going passed that we removed more of the tomatoes to a big pile on the foot path.  These will be removed in the next week, but in the meantime you may be able to forage plenty of ripe toms still in the pile.  My two helpers also dug up all (we hope) the potatoes.  Some are Dutch Cream or Cream Gold, the others are a purple variety.  They can be used just the same as white potatoes but turn mauve when cooked.

Because we got side-tracked and dug the spuds, we didn't get around to sowing root crop seeds.  I have prepared some of the beds so plan to go to the garden in the morning at 10am to get in as many as possible.  If you can spare half an hour or so then, I would love some help and company.  Many hands make light work!

Hope to see you there.

Lee-Anne

0412 106085

Farewell to Winter

Dehydration demonstration

Autumn in north east Victoria has to be the best time of year, and Saturday was the perfect day for Neil Padbury to share his experience with us, with another way to make the most of your bumper crop. 

We looked at two methods for dehydrating produce - using an electric dehydrating unit and traditional natural dehydration with the help of the sun and the wind.  He also discussed the different ways to keep the colour in the produce such as lemon juice or sulphur dipping. Compare the two jars of figs in the bottom right hand corner photo. The jar on the right is completely natural, while the one on the left has been treated with sulphur - such a difference.

Remember we have dehydration units for garden members to borrow, and its a great way to try before you invest in your own unit. If you are interested in more details on hiring the dehydration, preserving or passata kits, get in touch via the Contact Form on the "Contact Us" tab or send an email to yackandandahcg@gmail.com

Preserving demonstration

What a perfect day we had to spend time at the garden yesterday.  Neil Padbury was giving us his tips and tricks to creating show winning preserves, using the "hot pack" method and the Fowlers kit. Better watch out Neil, you may have some competition at the Myrtleford show this year!

The next workshop at the garden will be a Dehydration Workshop on Saturday morning 28th March. If you are interested in coming along,  pop into YCC, get in touch via our facebook or blog pages, or drop an email to yackandandahcg@gmail.com.au

Preserving Demonstration

Come join us for a demonstration of how to preserve your extra produce. Neil Padbury will be using the Fowlers equipment purchased with a grant from Into Our Hands Foundation, and now available to borrow by garden members. All the details are on the flyer below.

Passata Day 2015

What a fantastic day we had at the garden yesterday!

Some people think that a community garden is about "the garden", but yesterday we showed what "community" can do with around 120kg of tomatoes turned into 200 bottles / jars of passata and chutney. We had a mix of garden members and non members, locals and non locals, and even a couple of visitors for morning tea.

There were a couple of hick ups, but solutions were quickly found and we went home exhausted but happy. If you are keen to come along next year, pencil it into your diary. We are sure to have another Passata Day next year.

Take a look at how the day went:

Beautiful produce from Greenwood & Grogan, Arnolds and our back yards.

Washing & sterilizing the bottles and jars

Lots of chopping and not one bandaid required!

The chutney smelled sensational cooking away on the BBQ

The passata machine made short work of the tomatoes - brilliant!

 

The bottling line in full swing

Using old and new preserving methods.

A fantastic day at the garden with great company, perfect weather and yummy food - perfect!

seed saving

Are you interested in finding out more about how to save seed from your garden, so you can grow again next year? Come along to our workshop this Saturday morning. If you can't get to the garden, don't worry, Neil has some fantastic information that you can read below.