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Last week was so hot....most people would've heard about the dreadful bush fires in Queensland. Queensland doesn't have wild fires like that normally - totally unprecedented! We have wet summers so don't tend to get the wild fires like the South does. They have wet winters, so when summer comes everything is very dry, and then fires start. This recent episodes were sparked (pardon the pun) by the drought and the incredible heat. Fires in those conditions are so dangerous - you just hop out of the road!
Don't get me wrong, we do have fires, but they are usually manageable. I used to be totally against any sort of burning but recently Kim read "The Greatest Estate" by Bill Gamage (I think that's the name of the book). I knew that the Aborigines did burn, but I wasn't aware to the actual extent that they managed the landscape with fire. We need to start doing that again and that will go a long way to prevent future bush fires. The burning regime undertaken by the Aborigines was to prevent these crazy wildfires and to protect the land - it was part of their farming style, and there lives depended on it.
The reason I decided to write this blog was because in this awful heat, I realised how important trees are - well they are very important for many reasons, but this is just one that I was reminded of. They keep everything cool - the land, the grass and the animals. I had to go to another paddock to get my milkers in, as I'd "bushed" them last weekend so they don't overgraze their house paddock. It was hot and then I drove into the anabranch paddock and it was cool - I thought it was just because I was driving along the actual annabranch with running water, but then I rode up on to the flat above and it was still cool. This area has trees, not a lot, but enough to keep the temperature down. The grass was green still too, especially right under the trees.
Where as, one of the paddocks near the house that has very few trees has really browned off. Our grass in the paddocks close to the house is quite short and because we've had good rain recently has been starting to grow and was quite green until a week of 40+ degrees heat.
So the moral in this story is, we need more trees! Trees have so many functions in our environment and this is only one. In saying that, too many trees can be a problem and that's another thing the Aboriginal burning did, it kept the tree thickening down, but that's probably another story for another time.
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This has been the mildest October we've ever had I think. We've recently had a few really hot days, but for most of the month, it's been quite pleasant with lots of storms around - albeit not lots of rain in those storms. Some rain has meant that our grass is greening up a bit.....as usual though, we need more. I shouldn't complain, we've had almost 60mm for October and still looking like more storms coming.
Bush Lime season again, so we picked heaps and made a huge batch of cordial. I did make a small batch in the thermomix first up and then Edmund decided that it was so good that he would pick more for a big batch. I made about 5 litres of cordial and have also frozen some limes to make more when that lot runs out. It does have a lot of sugar so I don't tend to drink it, but Edmund is young and works very hard, so I don't think it hurts him too much!
The bush lime tree. The limes themselves are very small - about the size of a pea.
After the first burst of rain, we did get a few mushrooms. I ended up picking about 3 basket fulls. Some we ate some fresh, but most of them were dried. I can add these to soups or stews or the ground powder can be added to just about anything for some extra flavour.
I've been buying lots of tomatoes lately from the markets so have made a huge batch of tomato sauce. I got this recipe of a friend and it has been my go to sauce recipe for many years. I do change it up occasionally and will give some options for that too. I've included the apples in the recipe, but I never do any more. I have used green mangoes when I have them - I think they are just a filler/thickener.
Tomato Sauce
6kg tomatoes
1kg green apples (optional)
1/2kg onions
1 litre vinegar
125g salt
1kg sugar
15g each cloves, ginger, allspice, white pepper
125g garlic
Pinch Chilli
Cut the vegetables up. Place all the ingredients int a large saucepan, stir well, especially the last hour. Boil for about 2.5 hours. Bottle and seal while hot.
N.B. As mentioned, I don't use the apples, so it may be a bit thin - either keep boiling until it thickens or thicken with a little flour mixed in vinegar. The original recipe said to strain. I don't, but if I had a stick blender, I would give it a good whiz to make the sauce smoother. I use the thermomix to cut the tomatoes and onions and because I don't have a stick blender, I do process them fairly fine. You could peel the tomatoes if you don't like the tomato skin. I couldn't be bothered with that. Reduce the amounts to make a smaller batch. Eg by doing a 1kg batch of tomatoes in the thermomix, just divide everything by 6.
Variations: swap the spices with coriander and cumin and increase the chilli for a spicy version. Or swap them for ginger for a different flavour.
I've been doing quite a bit of preserving of foods lately, including a batch of tomato pasatta, which I was inspired to do after reading the Milkwood Book. I'll have to do another post about some of my other preserves that I've done in the last little while. This is a very old Fowlers Vacola Preserving pot, which I was given by my Aunt. I've misplaced some of the bits that go with it, including the thermometer that goes down the outside of the pot in the slot you can see. I've bought new lids and seals in recent years, but the jars are original. I've got a lot of jars, that I don't use, but I really would love to do more of this type of preserving. Time.......