[DIEGO]

Ok, Tending is producing, big time, the tender tending to the tending garden is bearing fruit, giving us back potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, lemon grass, basil, cucumbers and more to come (see this promising watermelon!)

One important aspect of gardening is that when you have an abundance of harvest, you need to preserve it.
So here I am, with a bunch of great, organic, healthy, free cucumbers, and below is the responses to my task of finding out what to do with them.

From Facebook:

while Lucas chimes in on Flickr:

bilateral added this photo to their favorites. (2 days ago)

bilateral (2 days ago | reply)

ok, here’s a recipe for making those pickles, boss:

www.flickr.com/photos/bilateral/364425028/in/ photostream/

and a pic of the results, when i made them a few years ago:

www.flickr.com/photos/bilateral/364420890/in/ photostream/

these days, i reckon i’d slice em more finely.

do you need any jars?

YUM!

[LUCAS]:

Hot lazy days. Gardening gets you away from the computer. The smells of earth, compost, straw, fresh basil and tomatoes. Visits by Maria and Aanya and young Rufus from Balmain. Gilbert from Dulwich Hill arrives with a bike trailer, self sufficient, intent on scent. Installs a curry tree, a lemongrass border. Surprises: sunflowers growing themselves. Diego takes to the mowing. Some sort of animal helping itself to the tomatoes. Too many radishes, thin them out. Watermelons starting to emerge. Mustard greens gone to seed, shake them in a bucket, gather the seeds, plant them again in old cardboard toilet rolls. A new blackboard for local communication.

[LUCAS]:

This week, in the lead up to Christmas, we were delighted to have a visit from our young friends Isaac and Myles (and their folks, Damien and Kylie).

The tops of our potatoes had begun to die back, which was perfect timing. To keep the youngsters entertained, we pointed them in the direction of the subterranean spuds and watched them go! It’s such fun to rummage around under the soil, discovering a fresh harvest with your fingers. What a great harvest (and it’s only the beginning!)

Damien also discovered the first tomato of the season (which he pinched from Alex’s very lush mini-garden bed).

We had it sliced on fresh bread for lunch.

Soon after lunch, Alex herself arrived, with a cohort of “bull-ladies”. This was a sculpture which has just been exhibited at the Sydney College of the Arts end of year show. It seems that Tending is to become its new home. How odd!

Later, we rediscovered (via our visiting 5 year old) that a hose is not just for watering plants. Here’s Damien, victim of underage hydration torture:

And here’s Damien, torturing us all back, by removing most of his clothing. (In the background you can see that crazy bull in-situ).

[Thanks to Lisa for this hilarious photo].

Thanks for a great first six months, Tenders! Happy new year, I leave you with another small harvest for this week, a ‘mini-cabbage’:

[LUCAS]:

This map was drawn by Aanya, who rocked up on Thursday to inject a bunch of new energy into Tending. Aanya, many years ago, did a permaculture course, and she has that great casual confidence that comes from years of gardening experience. Her garden, in Balmain, is not quite big enough for her to realise her dirty dreams. Luckily Tending can accommodate her needs, and harness her enthusiasm!

Aanya set to work, laying out cardboard to keep down the grass, raiding the compost bin for good soil, and planting a bunch of seeds she brought along with her.

In the meantime she set Diego and Heather to work, pulling up an abundance of green stuff from around the courtyard to act as a nitrogen rich base for her new bed.

More soil, donated by our friendly Callan Park gardener on top…

Watering it all in:

…while I supervised (the hammock is actually an artwork by Alex, one of Tending’s regular student enthusiasts):