"There's only two things that money can't buy,
and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes."
-- Guy Clark

"Eat local" may be the current catchphrase, but it is a philosophy well-grounded in good food sense, and one we take seriously. After all, the greatest cuisines in the world are created from local and seasonal food!

With that in mind, we source our food carefully. Most of our vegetables and herbs are grown spray-free in our coastal garden, lovingly tended by Susan. She enjoys experimenting with heirloom varieties, and is always keen to swap seeds.

We strive to source our meat locally, from trusted sources. We definitely can tell the difference between happy grass-fed local beef and shrinked wrapped supermarket cuts, and we think you can too.

Susan's a baker who grew up with the Edmond's Cookbook as her bible, so expect plenty of homemade bread and and other goodies during your stay!

Food News: Winter 2008

The depths of of winter are upon us and the nights are long. But it's a good time to plant out green crops in the garden and coax some seedlings along in the tunnelhouse. We have a marvellous variety of mesclun greens, arugula (rocket) and herbs that are still very small -- sub-micro greens. But what a wonderful thing it is to have the tunnelhouse -- our last tomato plant is still ekeing out a few lovely ripe fruit.

Today I sadly noted our tarragon has finally hit the dust, Simply too cold for those delicate leaves. But I was very pleased it grew so well while it did; other people seem to have difficulty with tarragon. Then again, I can never seem to get basil to grow in bountiful bunches like others do. The garden is still hosting vigorous sorrel, rosemary and oregano, and there's a lovely volunteer flatleaf parsley that's taking over a square metre in front of the tunnelhouse.

I must get my garlic in (shortest day and all that). With only inferior Chinese garlic (the stuff without roots) available in local groceries, it is imperative to plant as much garlic as possible. No comparison at all. And it's soon time to harvest my Jerusalem artichokes. They are such knobbly things, difficult to clean but a divine flavour for soups and roasted. My sister-in-law Wendy has the best ever Jerusalem artichoke pickle recipe (and old Boatwright family Appalachian mountain recipe). All I need is a spare day for harvesting, washing, peeling, chopping, pickling and preserving ...

And the best part of winter: Lemons, and lots of them! On the menu tomorrow is Greek slow roasted lamb with lots of garlic and lemon potatoes, and lemon yoghurt cake (yes, I know, I was taught at cooking school never to repeat ingredients in a meal. But surely one should make an exception for lemons). Lemon tart, preserved lemons, lemon icecream, flounder meuniere with lemon ...

Food News: Spring 2007

The tunnel house went in over the winter, enabling us to grow our own hot weather veges such as eggplant and capsicums, and grow heirloom varieties from seed. As of early October, we're roaring ahead with hot house tomatoes (blossoming already) and various leafy greens. Herbs are a major priority, hence various trays and pots of basil, coriander, thyme, rocket (arugula), sorrel (makes lovely soup), etc. Zucchinis and endive are in, and our heirloom tomatoes (rainbow and yellow plum) are nearing transplant time. And we have tomatillos ... uncommon in New Zealand but they love our local growing conditions. And we love Mexican salsa verde!

As ever in our excellent growing conditions, it's a constant battle against weeds and aggressive kikuyu grass. But with enough mulch and vigorous seedlings, we fully expect to win out! Broad beans are starting to flower, peas (mangetout) will be ready for summer, and artichokes (globe and Jerusalem) should be good producers.

Weasel has just planted out our new 'orchard': Granny Smith apples (for cooking), greengage plums (yum!), regular plums, figs (oh yeah) and a grapefruit, which, if positioned right, should be a good producer. This winter, we really cleaned up the garden area and discovered that our lovely existing peach tree has self-seeded a sizeable young'un. I see pies and crumbles in our future ...