Edibles August 1, 2019

A few edibles found on a stroll around the food forest. Spring is almost here. Some peaches and plums are flowering.

Amarillo Chili

 Longevity Spinach is still reliable in a spot with some sun. Here Chickweed grows beneath. It is also a useful green edible.

Longevity Spinach with Chickweed below

The Yellow Passionfruit are dropping but not all are ripe.

Yellow Passionfruit

 We have a variety of citrus trees producing at the moment: Oranges, Seville Oranges, Lemons, Kumquat, Sweet Australian Limes, Mandarines, Grapefruit and Meyer Lemon.

Villa Franca Lemon

Video: A winters stroll in the Fernmount Food Forest.

A stroll in midwinter through a food forest on the border of subtropical/warm temperate NSW, Australia. This 11 year old forest has developed a canopy. Some subtropical perennial vegetables thrive under the canopy.

The actual video is less than six minutes.

Winter light is dramatic in the food forest.

Orange Browallia

Donkeys' Ears

Drone Footage of Fernmount Food Forest

This food forest/home orchard has beauty, privacy and productivity. 

Fantastic drone footage by Peter Hardinge

Add caption

Land Title aerial view with approximate boundaries

End of June, Winter 2019

Winter Sunshine

 Winter and Autumn are my two preferred times of the year on our subtropical-warm temperate coast....

...but after four days of rain and cold winds it is a delight to see some winter sunshine and blue sky. 





Some local rainfall reportedly reached 100ml.

Ripening Bananas

 The heavy rain brought down some banana trees but here are two banana bunches ripening in our shed.

Abundant Chaya Spinach Tree in our Food Forest

Our 3m high Chaya Spinach Tree

Chaya Tree Spinach (Cnidiscolus chayamansa) is a fantastic and abundant food. Chaya leaves do need some cooking preparation as do Cassava leaves and Warrigal Greens. Wikipedia states up to 5 raw leaves a day can be eaten but other sources are more cautious. Although blending and drying also seems to remove the toxic hydrocyanic acid substances, boiling for 20 minutes is recommended. The leaves survive the boiling still looking green and attractive. The broth that is left can also be consumed as the toxic substances have been destroyed by the heat.

Cooking in aluminum cookware can result in a toxic broth, causing diarrhea.^[13]

What's there to see in May in the Fernmount Food Forest?

With her stunning photography Bobbi Marchini has captured beautifully this Spinebill in our food forest

May 19, 2019 Its a warm Autumn

Orange leaved deciduous Fuyu Persimmon

Miracle Fruit

It's Autumn, Ignore the not so attractive Australian Sweet Lime, ripened off the tree, but check out the Miracle Fruit berries. Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) so called for its ability to make sour fruit taste sweet after chewing. 

I almost missed this first crop of berries on our 2m bush. 

Why pay $50 for the dried fruit in capsule form when you can grow your own in a food forest.

Why the Fernmount Food Forest can look overgrown at times.

The percentage of nursery and soil improving trees and shrubs can be as high as 95% when a food forest is first established, gradually reducing as food bearing trees and plants mature. This excellent, recent video clearly describes the layers of planting: canopy; understory, bushes and shrubs; herbaceous; and root layers.