Tomatoes and other plantish things

Well, eight days have come gone since Tammex with their promised 3 day delivery got my money. I guess that's a lesson to me. I hope anyone else buying software or anything else to do with computers reading this picks another company to save you from learning the same lesson. Posting my daily bit has been a lot more awkward as a result, which as it hasn't been the wild week of excitement is not the end of my world. I have cooked up 5kg of tomato pulp - call it 8kg to start with, as I got rid of the skins and the juice. Life's little lessons: grow bigger tomatoes. The Stupice have done very well and are a lovely tomato, but there are a lot of them in 1kg, to slit skin and seed. The roma shape ones I have are actually more rewarding because they've got a good pulp to seed ratio. They also dry beautifully, with a sweetness and tartness balance. Oddly the little rubbish-for-salad pear shaped yellow coctail tomatoes are next best. Their texture isn't great fresh, but they dry well. We're supposed to get rain today, and if it happens, I will have to get some winter planting done. The island's downside (which is also an upside) is that sitting in a great big radiator - the sea all around us, our temperatures are skewed - we warm up later, and cool off later. Unfortunately no-one told the day length or the solar input. So you have very confused plants and now in autumn when they ought be being hoiked out to make way for the winter planting summer crops limp on, producing - my zucchini - just enough that it worth keeping them on, despite the straggly plant taking too much space.

A few days

Life ran away with me for the last few days - not only has the book finally been trotting if not galloping, I'm off to Melbourne for a few days next week, to help a friend pack up, and that took some organizing, and the summer produce has started arriving en masse. I've dreied more apple, nectarines, prune-plums, and of course, tomato. The dryer has worked non-stop and I've got about 5kg more tomatoes to go in. Some will have to be preserved in other ways. And we had Scottish dancing on Thursday night, with more than 20 people - a bunch of cyclists over for a week's tour, and everyone had brought a friend or two. It turned into something of a romp, with strip the willow leaving quite a lot of people very dizzy.
Then we had board games evening last night. I tell you, we are wild to dissipation here on the island.
Barbs has re-mutated our Zimbabwe cold. I fed it chili instead, which has so far worked. Anyway I went to help her prepare the holiday house (one of her various jobs) and cleaned windows and did a lot of ironing. I didn't appreciate the the training the SA military gave me, but I do now.
And now to slice more tomato.

Dismembering 'roo and the great salt disaster

Well, I am getting better at deboning a wallaby. Still not good but better than my first inept fumbling where I rather expected to find fingers in the meat.

The salt-making experiment due to my impatience ended in disaster - the level wasn't dropping (due to laziness on my part, not carrying it into the sun and too fine a weave cover.) So I transferred it into a couple of large pots and reduced the water on the combustion heater. Unfortunately it picked up a metallic taste from the pot. So we start again. There goes a lot of effort and getting wet. Oh well, we learn.

I've put out some more tomato plants and the Siberian watermelon, and a pumpkin. I'm having variable results with plant outs. My zucchini still are not thriving. I know. Suddenly they'll all grow.

I've made some home-made blue bait - with salted mullet and fish oil. Still have to test it.

herbs and the value of people

Kate has flown off to Brissy and it was rather interesting going to the little airport... only on Flinders would you end up meeting and chatting to 4 sets of people (I think there were 3 people there we did not talk to or know) when seeing off a friend. It was an interesting view of the dynamics of what makes the island work. It is its community. It is a very fragile social environment and is actually enormously dependent on the general goodwill and 'mate-ship' of a relatively small number of people. Any society has its share of bludgers who put in as little as possible. Shrug. Those we have with us always. It's the others that matter, and the island is lucky to have a good few of them - but unlike the city, that's a fairly small and very finite resource. The Doctors and their son, who have managed to bind into the community, were on the plane out. So was the vet. So were some of the island's small population of children. The knock ons to three of the community things we belong to just from that handful are dire. The children are leaving and that is dreadful for the school, the others, to my relief, will be back. But it does remind you that this is an island, an isolated place on the edge. People have value, the way that they do not in the city, or even the mainland.

We went and made 'tea' AKA lunch for a sick friend (yet another person the island simply has no replacement for), and then took up an invitation from Peter to come see their place - which is off grid, powered by a wind-turbine we can see from here. Dave spent the afternoon being hopelessly envious of the tools. Sigh. We're a long way up from nothing (like when we started) but a long long way from where I need to be. Their house on the hill is beautiful - made of solid double-tongued cedar... from Canada. Ah well. One day. I will say that their wind-turbine is quite loud. That hadn't occured to me. And then they gave us some rosemary plants which I hope will establish. We've now got rosemary, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, lavender, parsley (moss curled and italian) tarragon and fennel growing. Obviously we still need basil and a bay tree, but fresh herbs are making strides. Garlic chives might be another experiment. The tomatoes are growing from seed in my study, but I have had no other major seed-growing experiments come up yet, but you can see spring is stirring.

Cat-upmanship and preparations

Robin has taken to coming into the lounge and mewing pitifully when she sees Bat is already on B's lap. She misses Clare in nice soft jersey. B calls her and she goes and stands like a rejected flower among the birthday cards on the half-moon table and sulks. On hte other hand SHE is queen of B's computer-chair - which she does circuits up the back (claws out) and then bumps across the keyboard, onto the floor and up again.

My first tomato seeds have germinated, Grosse Lisse, Black Russian, and Rouge Marmande. :-)

My bloods results came in... 0.1 up - fractionally higher total cholesterol. Yeah. Wallaby, fish, shellfish, fresh veg - So much for diet. On the other hand the proportions had altered substantially, which is good - my 'good' cholesterol had improved and my 'bad' gone down a bit. Only the Good had gone up ).1 more than bad went down, raising the total. Dr Biren asked about family medical history and told me to keep an eye on it, but not to panic. The rest of the stuff as all good.

In the meantime I am trying to prep for the con, and trying to think what to read! I am reading, and on 3 panels (should be on a 4th but I have flown out).

Anyone wanting to meet up - This is where I'll be:
Thu 1500 Rm 201: Signing
Thu 1700 Rm 216: The imaginary zoo: creating fictional wildlife;
Fri 1300 Rm 207: Reading;
Sun 1000 Rm 207: The problems with first contact;
Sun 1600 Rm 204: Where do elves come from?;

I recommend the signing as time to chat, as I expect it'll be quiet. And I'll happily sign your programme or whatever.

This all means our blog post will be erratic to non-existant for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'll TRY. But I am not sure what if any access I will be able to get.

skweeee! A lot of seeds!

So following a tip off (thanks!) after my comments about veg-seed in Tas I went to this blog... http://nonsuchkitchengardens.com/wordpress/ (which is very worth reading especially if you're into plants or kitchens) and followed the link to http://www.thelostseed.com.au/index.htm
Sigh. I could order the entire catalogue :-) They have Scorzonera (I have wanted forever). Radicchio! Collards (never tasted -I was only just talking to o'mike about them theis morning)Melons I have never even heard of (and melon with my salami or proscuitto is just magnificent). New Zealand Yams, Purple Dragon carrots, and white Belgian carrots... The only thing that dread is just how much money I could spend on this catalogue, without even trying. Sigh - here I could buy roma, I think 3-4 varieties of red salad tomato (determinate and indeterminate), coctail red (jam) a coctail yellow pear. And that's IT. Forget black or large yellow or... I counted 101 varieties! help Advice?;-)

The only disappointment was the luffa... (I assumed it was a logga, and stirred its coffee with its thumb) tch. Loofa! Luffa humph. and everyone knows they are mined from loofite in the midwest.