BWOF! Signing up to Burda World Of Fashion

Taunted by constant mentions of this mysterious, wonderous, apparently glorious Burda World Of Fashion magazine in most of my favourite sewing blogs, I've finally signed up to this magazine thanks to iSubscribe gift vouchers from Teresa and Chris & Mike. Thank you, thank you!

I'm so excited. It's produced monthly from Germany, and I am getting the English translated version. If you're in Australia wondering how to get this, you can subscribe via iSubscribe. I once tried to subscribe via the Burda website but just received a couple of letters from them in German, presumably asking me to send money but who knows! I couldn't understand it!

It's not cheap ($190 for 12 months), and no doubt the current exchange rate doesn't help. However, each magazine includes several patterns (am I correct in saying at least 10 per issue?) that you trace and use. And considering that commercial patterns can be anywhere between $8-$16 each, it's good value. PLUS it's up to the minute fashion and I heard that though some of the magazine patterns are made commercially available later, they don't come out til about 2 years after they were featured in the magazine.

I'm trying not to look at back issues online because I know I will want them. I'm just going to sit tight and patiently wait for my first issue to arrive.

And can I also send a shout out to my blogging friend Emily Kate who incredibly is setting herself the task of MAKING ALL OF HER CLOTHES in 2009!  Amazing. I can't wait to see what she comes up with, coz lady's got some SKILLS - look at these hot trousers she made.

Alice + Olivia Vogue 2907 sewing pattern, originally uploaded by ThisIsEmilyKate.

Christmas in Charlie's Garden

This year we spent Christmas Day at ASA's Uncle Charlie and Auntie Lesley's house in Gawler, about an hour out of Adelaide.

This trip back it really struck me how DRY Adelaide is. It wasn't even that hot. I swear the light even looks different there - sharper, brighter.

Charlie, who is in his 70s, grew up in a small village in Calabria, Italy. He was from a big family and his father didn't work, but ran a farm that provided the food for his family. And I guess that's where he learnt his skills.

Charlie and Lesley bought a block of land in Gawler, built a house and have plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit trees, a small olive grove, chickens and pigeons. They used to keep sheep and quail too.

They have plenty of fruit trees:

Small olive grove. Charlie picks all the olives which he grows for oil, and sends them off to be pressed. Home grown olive oil!

Miniature field of corn. This has motivated me to put some Diggers Sweet Corn Golden Bantam in the ground. I loved eating home grown corn last year, so sweet!

Look how tall they are!

Tomatoes in the greenhouse. Notice that Charlie hasn't used stakes. Instead he uses twine - one long one along the top and from each hangs a length of twine and he trains the tomatoes to climb up them. He said in the greenhouse when it gets humid the twine can break down a bit quicker and needs replacing but I thought it was a great idea!

The huge tomato at the top of this post was an Italian variety. He showed us a photo of one about 3 times the size of the one I pictured above, believe it of not. A cross section of it was the same size as a slice of bread! But Charlie said he won't grow that variety any more, because the plant only produces one big tomato per plant and he prefers one that will give more produce for the effort put in to grow it. He raved about the Grosse Lisse which I remember used to always be in the supermarkets when I was younger, but doesn't seem to be around as much any more. He sent us home with some and the taste was incredible, and not very many seeds. Must try that variety next year. So tasty!

Some more tomatoes, these grown outside the greenhouse and staked. And eggplants on the left. Ah, I can't remember what that is down the back there - perhaps broccoli? Does broccoli get that big? Notice how red the soil is!

There were plenty of other tips and tricks we learnt on the day.

Charlie had a great big water tank near the tomatoes and told us his neighbour runs some kind of business that involves in moving around chicken. The neighbour cleans out the back of the truck with water and Charlie pumps the water to his water tank, with chicken manure in it ready to go!

The chickens produced the most delicious eggs - the yolks were such a rich yellow and had so much flavour!

We talked a bit about growing bush beans, and I've just put some in some toilet rolls to grow, a tip I picked up from The Magic Square. Even had some simple recipe tips, storage tips - so much.

I just love talking to other gardeners and picking up tips. I seriously could talk about it all day. Once upon a time all I ever did was talk about music and now I think I talk more about gardening - even with my music friends, we're all gardening, comparing how our tomatoes are going, how we went with the eggplants last year. So funny. Who'd have thunk it eh? Hardly the rock'n'roll lifestyle!

Australian + Kiwi Readers - $10 Book Gift Voucher for you

Hey I have 3 x $10 gift vouchers to give away to Australian readers. It's for Fishpond where I get pretty much all my books these days (see my READ list on the righthand column, down a bit).

If you'd like one just send me your name and email address. And don't worry, Fishpond won't be storing your details.

In the food garden Jan 09

ALL HAIL THE ZUCCHINI  BEAST

There's a zucchini beast in our yard!

If there are any beginner food gardeners out there, I highly recommend planting a zucchini. They must the simplest food plants to grow. Look at this beast! From the minute we put the seedling in the ground it has astounded me daily. I can't believe how much progress it makes each day. Giant zucchinis grow overnight, literally! And oh my, the zucchinis are packed with such sweet buttery goodness.

SQUASH

The squash haven't gone quite as well as the mighty zucchini. We are getting lots of little squashes but I think the might have a bit of blossom end rot, and the occasion ear whig gets through the bottom and eats it from the inside. But last year we only got one squash, albeit a massive one that took us over a week to eat.

POTATO PATCH

Remember our no-dig potato patch? Well we just kept on heaping mounds of hay on it so it would continue growing up and give us more potatoes. We've decided it's probably big enough now wouldn't you say? Yes that's our dog you can see next to it.

Once there flowers are bloomed we will lift up a bit down the bottom and see if we have some potatoes inside. How exciting!

The rest of the veggie garden is looking a bit barer than last summer, mainly because we'd be away for a few weeks. Summer seems to be running a bit late this year though so I'm still going to put a few things in now and just see how we go.

We have 3 tomato plants on the go this summer - an Amish Oxheart and a couple of Tommy Toes. We bought Diggers seedlings from Bunnings and put them in the ground on Melbourne Cup weekend (I've heard Melbournites say to start off seeds on Grand Final Day and then put them in the ground Melbourne Cup Weekend) but I've been puzzled why I have heard and seen on people's blogs, tomato plants falling over with fruit while ours were still just flowering. Anyway we seem to have plenty of green fruit on them now.

Poor things look a little lonely in the beds on their own. There are actually a strawberry plant and a thai basil in there too now, but I am also putting in some bush beans this weekend. I think we overestimated how large the tomato plants would be this year. Last year we underestimated! We pruned them this year, last year when we had no idea what we were doing we didn't prune them at all and they were huge bush green things but we only had mini cherry tomatoes much later. Much more streamline this year.

I gather tomato growing can be a lot of trial and error, and experimentation and experience that can only be gathered over time. So, I'm glad we have started growing now. By the time I metamorphose into an old Italian grandpa, maybe I too will be an expert.

EGGPLANT/ CAPSICUM/ HERBS + LETTUCE BOX

In this bed we have another Tommy Toe tomatoe, an eggplant and capsicum - both of which we forgot to stake, and then were wondering why they were so short! Ah the wind had blown them side ways so, they are actually larger than they appear. Just might need to put something under the fruit once they start giving us some. They really get blown around in this bed, really much get onto rearranging the beds a little this year and planting a windbreak

Also a thai basil - which tastes just incredible. I have been really diligent with picking off the flowers this year. And some lettuce in the styrofoam box. Fresh salad is amazing. Not until we grew our own did I realise that real lettuce is actually supposed to have a flavour! I always thought lettuce was just water and that was it!

NATIVE/ ORNAMENTAL GARDEN

As for the rest of our garden, it keeps on keeping on. The natives have been amazing, they have just looked after themselves since we put in those little tubes last year. I really thought it'd be 5 years til I had something to look at in the yard, but they just hit the ground running.

Can I just give a special plug for the stellar performer, Heliotrope Lord Roberts. It has been flowering consistently since we put it in the ground, and it is the most delightful and handsome of plants. I love the colour of the flowers and the majestic foliage. It's in need of a prune but I'll wait til Autumn now. And I'll be able to use the fabulous Felco secateurs my bro-in-law-to-be gave me, yay!

We were also given a good sized Eureka Lemon tree for Xmas which is in a pot at the moment. We'd like to put it in front of where the water tank will go - which is where the massive potato patch is at the moment. So have to get the water tank in first. Ohhh so many things on our list of things to save for - Bali trip in June, water tank, and of course now... wedding!

New Years Eve In The Mountains

RJ Hamer Arboretum, Dandenong Ranges Jan 2009

PLEASE CLICK TO PLAY:

'Christmas Time In The Mountains' by Palace Songs (Bonnie Prince Billy)

I've decided to work backwards. So, let's start with our amazing week in The Dandenong Ranges. For the non-Melbournites, The Dandenong Ranges are not to be confused with the altogether different location of Dandenong the suburb. Whatever you do, do not go to the suburb of Dandenong seeking luscious greenery and mountain zen bliss. I'm not sure what it is with the people that did all the naming of locations and streets in Melbourne but they seemed to only have access to a very limited range of names, that they reused in every few kilometres alternating whether it was a street, ave, or entire suburb they were christening, just to confuse out of towners.

It only took us about and hour to drive out to the wonderful Olinda, which is the highest town on the mountain.

We stayed at this quaint, dog friendly cottage named Azure Cottage. Highly recommended! We found it through the Holidaying With Dogs book/ website.

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It was more spacious and pretty than it was looked on the website, great size kitchen equipped with everything we needed to cook (as we did several nights) not to mention stocked with tomatoes, bacon and eggs to cook breakfast for our stay. The owners live next door and were so friendly and helpful, it felt like home straight away. Oh and did I mention the double spa?

I cooked up a pre-marinated roast lamb with some delicious organic vegetables we picked up from a store at the bottom of the mountains. I don't think I've ever tasted asparagus so juicy, tender and sweet!

There are countless walks and gardens you can visit in this serene neck of the woods. It's a windy road up the hills, with beautiful trees and lots of ferns on either side. The air was so fresh and crisp, and it reminded me of beloved Tassie.

There are only a few dog friendly gardens so we planned our mornings with a long walk for Elliott, to tire him out as much as possible before leaving him at home for some adventuring on our own. He was absolutely in his element up there.

I particularly enjoyed the National Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda and Alfred Nicholas Gardens (which had a stunning lake).

But my favourite garden of the trip was the William Ricketts Sanctuary. Parks Victoria describe it:

William Ricketts Sanctuary is the perfect setting for the blending of the natural and spiritual realms. It is a place of beauty and tranquillity displaying sculptures of Aboriginal figures set in the natural environment of the Dandenong Ranges.

This Sanctuary is a testament to one man’s philosophy, William Ricketts, who believed that the natural environment is entrusted to us all and by nurturing the earth, we nurture life.

But it truly must be EXPERIENCED. It was a wonderful way to spend my 30th birthday afternoon. Such a serene and spiritual setting.

We spent New Year's Day at RJ Hamer Arboretum. We listened to Ivor Cutler on our drive in and imagined we were in the Scottish Highlands and that Elliott was a hunting dog.

Lots more photos:

• Best Of The Dandenong Ranges


• William Ricketts Sanctuary


• National Rhododendron Gardens


• Highlights from Dandenong Ranges Gardens


• New Year's Day in the quasi Highlands
  


• Azure Cottage, Olinda
  


• Sassafras Creek Walk

All You Need Is LOVE

20/365- All You Need Is LOVE, originally uploaded by Four Symbols.

Happy New Year everybody!

Well it's been an eventful week since I last spoke to you. Let's see... we went up to The Dandenong Ranges, I turned 30... on New Year's Eve... and ASA asked me to marry him! Yes, a big day.

It's funny, over the past year I've spent a lot of time thinking about turning 30 and we've spent a lot of time talking about one day getting married but no matter how much you can think and talk about these things it doesn't completely prepare for when you finally get there - it still really feels a helluva lot different. And scary. But GOOD.

I mean, as long as THIS doesn't happen:

And oh boy, do I have like a BILLION photos to share with you all. We visited so many incredible gardens up in The Dandenongs and also revisited the gorgeous Himeji and Botanic Gardens in our old home Adelaide. Much to share in coming weeks.

xox