It really has been a fruity gardening week or two here at ACC. We’ve had lots of posts relating to gardening.

And the latest thing on our radar is medlars … have you ever heard of them?

Fairfield neighbour Bernie, who has come along to Preserves Group in the past, contacted us with a donation of some medlars - a fruit that looks a lot like a big rosehip and that tastes quite a lot like very ripe apricot (I think anyway).

Along with the fruit she gave us a recipe to make medlar jelly which, a bit like quince jelly, will have a lovely floral scent. And she also explained the process of bletting - where we have to leave the fruit out for a couple of weeks to go really soft and squishy, just like you would with a persimmon.

It is quite bizarre, because they are ready to eat when they look quite brown and rotten … but the skin peels off easily and they actually taste quite nice. Bernie says she often just eats them with cheese and biscuits at this point, and I can imagine this would be quite delicious.

If you are interested in finding out more about this unusual and ancient fruit, which has been around since Roman times, you can check them out on the bench in room 2 if you are passing by … they’re in some wooden trays under a cloth doing the bletting thing - take a peek.

Or let us know if you’d like to be involved in the day of jelly making … it will probably be on Friday morning this week or next (when the fruit is ripe enough to use).

Email us here if you are keen to join in. And thanks Bernie for the fruit donation and education!

A few* years ago when Becca was still around we had Maria from My Green Garden come along to run an olive preserving workshop here at ACC. And at the end of the workshop we were instructed to put our brined produce in a dark place to do their magic.

Fast forward to today and at our home we are just about to renovate. And so the ‘dark place’ (in our case that being the bottom shelf of the pantry) was emptied. And the olives emerged.

I have to say they don’t look that fancy on the outside. But oh boy, they taste amazing.

I am convinced and now 150% on board with home olive preserving - if you’ve got the space to put them away for a year or two (or five!).

The method we used that I liked the most was a simple 10% salt brine solution, with a sheet of baking paper under the lid and a dash of olive oil on top of the water. One jar I opened also had a scrunched ball of paper inside to keep the olives under the water level. I know we tried a few methods in the workshop and I think Maria may have presoaked some of the olives for 4-10 days beforehand (my jars had notes on the lids reminding me of the pickling process). Others went straight in (note they just take longer to taste good).

I know I’ve been a bit vague with the details … but it was a while ago now … so here is a similar recipe to what I remember and here is another simple recipe from Mount Zero Olives that you might also like to try … their olives are delicious right? This recipe includes some vinegar and a two step process. But still seems doable.

Did you do that workshop too? It’d be great to hear what you thought (and if your olives were as yummy as mine).

*that’d be 2016!

A lovely photo of Anne starting the process of planting up our new garden bed from last week. We’ve got a dwarf lime for the centre of this bed, and then we’re filling it up around the edges with herbs - parsley, sage and oregano. Under the lime we’ll put some shallow root flowers to add a bit of colourful cheer like nasturtiums and alyssum.

The back two beds will have a clump or two of permanent plants like heritage rhubarb (this donation from our friend Mark has struggled along out on the front nature strip) and pineapple sage (ideal for neighbourhood cocktails hey friends …) and then some leafy greens and other crops that we’ll rotate through seasonally - for cooking and salads etc.

Fun hey? We’re also in the process of putting in a little seed raising greenhouse and potting station.

So if you are interested and would like to do something community minded and outdoorsy on a Friday morning - you might like to join us in the garden. Come along from 10am. We’ll reward your hard work with morning tea at 11.30am!

Note this week we’ll be planting out these beds AND spreading tan bark. So all muscled-wheel-barrow-friendly-folk are particularly welcome!

Did you know that Yarra and Darebin have a long standing community relationship along with a formal partnership with the municipality of Baucau in Timor-Leste?

The friendship was established whilst Timor-Leste was fighting for independence back in the 1990s. And it has endured over time. For many years our Councils funded a neighbourhood house in the city of Baucau. This was a wonderful and vital resource for women, children and the broader community as the country rebuilt infrastructure and resources after the devastation caused by the fight for independence. And although the house itself shut down a few years ago, it seeded a number of enduring community organisations - and enabled a number of strong and active local women (in particular, but some men also) to build a platform and profile within the Baucau municipal government.

Darebin and Yarra Councils continue their relationship with Baucau today, and still support grassroots activities via the community friendship group - Friends of Baucau. Over the years this local community group (that meets monthly in Darebin and Yarra) has continued to advocate for the formal municipal partnership, fundraise for on-ground community initiatives and build strong enduring and trusted relationships in Baucau. The focus recently has been on empowering women, supporting education and helping communities build best practise for sustainable agriculture. In the last few years they encouraged Darebin’s neighbourhood houses to visit Baucau (I was lucky enough to go on this trip) to meet like-minded active women’s organisations over there and think about how we could build and grow partnerships at the grassroots level.

So with this personal connection, it really has been devastating to see and hear about the impacts of the recent cyclone and associated flooding on the community over there. Timor-Leste is the poorest country in our region, with people living on less than $1 a day.

And if you are living at or below the poverty line like this, losing your house, your possessions, your bed and/or your crops is devastatingly life changing - and not just immediately, but for many years to come.

So … Friends of Baucau has set up a Give Now page, to support a trusted local community organisation to help out locals across the Baucau municipality at this time.

The funding will help families buy the basics to continue to survive such as food, beds etc. But also help them replant crops. It will also give those most in need 2 goats to grow and sell, helping them to rebuild their ability to self-sustain with dignity once again.

If you’d like to contribute you can find out more here. If you’d like more information about Friends of Baucau you can check them out on Facebook here.

Damage to houses in the municipality of Baucau.

Hi everyone, we’re back on deck today (Monday). We hope you had a lovely Easter and school break. If you sent enquiries through over the holidays that we haven’t answered already, Kalimna will get back to you tomorrow (Tuesday) when she’s in the office.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working on some of the bigger picture things - including working with Lee on our next feature artist for the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery (on the fence), finalising the podcast studio, and getting the raised gardens up and running (I need to head out to Bulleen Art and Garden for a dwarf lime for the centre of the new round garden as a starting point). Also I need to line up a time with Darebin Council to deliver some fresh tanbark for the front garden … and I must order the new cubby house, deck and sandpit to complete the toddler play space out there as well.

Yikes, I feel busy already! We’ve got lots of exciting new plans for term 2 and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you over the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

And don’t forget that we have morning tea on the corner every Friday at 11.30am. Come along for a cuppa and cake and chat. We’d love to see you.

Join us for morning tea on the corner every Friday morning from 11.30am.