February at Siema Organics
After dinner I often go for a walk around the orchard with Kaha, our dog. We end up sitting under whatever tree is fruiting, me gorging while we watch the sun dip behind the Hunua ranges.
At the moment we sit under the plum trees. The trees are heavy with the purple fruit, and we are dedicating time every day to preserve them. We have made plum fruit leather, plum and ginger compote, spiced plum cake, lacto-fermented plums, plum powder, and dehydrated plum halves. We have loved having visitors stop by to share them with.
The summer mandarins are also tasting great. In the fig and mandarin grove, we started establishing a food forest a year ago. We have put minimal effort into this, and it is looking very abundant—the mandarin trees sit among talo, bananas, kamokamo, pumpkin, tomatoes, comfrey and melons. There are plenty of insects and skinks enjoying this diverse environment too.
Katene sold bunches of flowers at the end of our lane a couple of weeks ago and was really chuffed when she sold a few. And Kowhai has been feeding the fallen plums to the pigs ‘Penny’ and ‘Pinky’ up the road.
This will be my last month living and working at Siema Organics. I have loved working here and will miss it dearly. I have many memories bound to this land and its kaitiaki; Gemma, Sione, Katene, Kowhai and Kaha.
Noho ora mai,
Lou
This article was originally written for Kaiaua Compass, February 2020.
