WEEKLY HARVEST 35 & FOOD SWAP

Spring has definitely sprung! The garden has become lovely and productive. I have been able to go out everyday and pick something to include in that night's dinner. I am looking forward to summer so that we can have more variety and more volume of produce! This week I also went down to my local food swap so I could swap some of my excess greens for things that I haven't grown.

16/9/13 - 22/9/13

12 eggs
279 grams onion
1396 grams leek
161 grams sage
319 grams parsley
56 grams thyme
9 grams chili
47 grams broccoli
742 grams silverbeet

TOTAL 12 EGGS AND 3009 GRAMS OF FOOD!

To the food swap I took, parsely, sage, thyme, chili, and

yellow silverbeet.

In return I took home this lovely aloe vera plant.

This huge fig tree.

Some oranges.

A large bunch of lemon myrtle. This is an Australian native - bush tucker food. I searched high and low for some earlier this year and it was only when we were in byron bay on holiday that I found some at a little organic shop. So I am thrilled to have some in it's natural state and not pre ground. The great thing about lemon myrtle is that it has anti microbial benefits. Much like tea trea except this is edible and not just topical. 

While we were in the garden we went on a snail hunt and this is half of our bounty. Squiz had a lot of fun helping collect and squash the offenders. 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST & A FOOD SWAP.

And so another weekend is here, and my hubby is required to work it, so there will be yet another week of no progress *sigh* I think that makes 3 weekends in a row now! The drainage is still half done, but at least the flooding issue has been resolved. And the house is still upside down, when everything is going to get finished I have no idea, lets hope it is presentable in a couple of months time!

But this is not all bad news, it means I get to go to another food swap. It's been hard for me to get to one lately as I have been so wrapped up in house renovations, I just haven't had the time to spare, a couple of hours is a big deal when you are trying to get stuff ready and renovated around the house and only have one or two days to get it done in. I am looking forward to being able to attend in summer when the weather is glorious and the produce is varied. In winter there just isn't the same amount of variety, but it is still lovely to catch up with fellow gardeners who are passionate about growing their own food.

This is the produce I took to swap:

A couple of bunches of Rubin Lettuce.

A couple of bags full of Lollo Bionda Lettuce.

Three bunches of Lemon Thyme

Four Bunches of Flat Leaf Parsley.

Five bunches of yellow silverbeet.

This is what I brought home:

A lemon

Yellow Limes

Some oranges

Some kumquats

A couple of kiwi fruits.

Some grapefruit.

Some kaffir lime leaves.

A couple propagated grape cutting.

Some seedling trays.

And some large trays to house the smaller trays.

All in all I think I did pretty well swapping my excess produce for things I don't grow or have!

CROYDON FOOD SWAP

I headed down to my second food swap. I have found 5 in my area and I am heading to them all to see which ones I like the best and when I am in peak production I will try and head to one every weekend to swap some of my goodies. Hopefully I will still be able to do this with a newborn, that is both garden to the extent that I do and head out to swap my goodies and chat!

The one I visited this weekend is Croydon Food Swap which is held at a local primary school amongst their kitchen garden. I forgot to take a photo of this beautiful location but hopefully I will remember next month! It was a lot smaller than the first one but this one hasn't been running as long. Given it is winter as well, a lot of people feel they don't have excess to swap. I found it quite difficult to find out about swaps in the first place and really think the local council should get on board and really help promote these great community groups and events. I met some lovely fellow gardeners and swapped some equally lovely produce!

This is what I took along ~

Zucchini, Maltese long marrow and some pumpkin.

Parsley and some dried chili

bay leaves, green feast peas and broad bean seeds

This is what I got in return ~

Coriander seedlings

Celery seedlings

Finger eggplant

Tiny hot chilis

Kumquat marmalade

Chili

Oranges

Squash