Resting on Our Laurels 2014

Wishing everyone all the best for 2015

David, Anne, James, Tatham and Andrew

A picture of "The Laurels" taken by a travelling photographer around 1906. In those days "The Laurels" was a boarding house with several buildings and a tennis court.  The horse and buggy collected visitors from the Cables sidings railway station. George Johnson, the man who originally owned the property, is relaxing in the wicker chaise lounge. Unfortunately this house was completely destroyed by fire in the mid 1930's.
The photo is from a postcard held in the Australian National Museum and discovered in 2013 by Penrose historian Keith McNemony.

Below are some photos of what we have been up to at "The Laurels" this year.
All the photos were taken in their respective month. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on the image. Descriptions are clockwise, starting at the top left of the picture.

JANUARY  

A Gang Gang cockatoo samples an apple growing in the old orchard. 

Maygold peaches, ripe for the picking.

Redhaven peaches, freestone fruit, very sweet and juicy.

Angelina plums, dusky, dark skin with sweet yellow flesh.

Veggie pick for the day: tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum, silverbeet.

Japanese plums with red/green speckled skin and tangy yellow flesh.

Narabeen plum with bright red skin and firm, yellow, flesh.

Cleopatra apples protected by a green snake decoy to scare away birds. 

Pickled peaches, (centre) infused with star anise, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. 

FEBRUARY

Blueberries, sweet and juicy with a dusky blue blush.

Cleopatra apples, rescued from the birds and brought inside to sweeten up.
Golden zucchini, easier to find in the foliage than its darker cousin.

Satsuma plums, delicious steeped in red wine vinegar with scant sugar to make Plumbrillo.

Fern glade, (centre) a shady spot beside the dam. 

MARCH

Autumn pickings, a day’s pick of blueberries, lemons, grapefruit, tomatoes, hazelnuts.
Quince, soft yellow globes ripening on the tree

Hazelnuts, roasted and shucked ready to be dipped in chocolate.

Turks Turban, an heirloom variety of Buttercup Squash with a distinctive green and gold pattern.

Yellow pear tomatoes, (centre) picked green and ripened slowly inside. Perfectly ‘paired’ with fresh basil.

APRIL

Garden path, meandering under the grape arbour and along a border of brilliantly coloured pineapple sage.

Daily pick from the garden of radish, tomatoes, eggs, salad greens and herbs.

Lime, the first fruit from our new tree.

Pineapple sage, with vivid red flowers that attract honeyeaters.

Last of the tomatoes: Yellow pear, Kumato, Tarago round and Torpedo, picked green to ripen inside after the temperature dropped to 3 degrees overnight.

Cleopatra apples in background

Australian star fuschia, (centre) a native Correa used for soil erosion control with delicate pink star shaped flowers. 

MAY

Kiwi fruit, with over 40kg of fruit picked this year it was a bumper harvest.

Kiwi, skinned and sliced and ready for drying and preserving.

Brown Turkey fig, ripening on the tree.

Roadside apples, picked and juiced for a taste test prior to making cider.

Medlars, picked slightly under ripe then simmered in mulled wine and dipped in chocolate to make comfits.

Autumn leaves from maple trees in the background.

Pineapple sage, (centre) flowering for the last of the season before hunkering down for winter.

JUNE

Scotch bonnet chilli, a gift from a Sydneysider that survived our cooler weather and rewarded us with some very hot seeds.

Persimmons, picked when ruby red and ripened inside till the aromatic translucent globes are soft enough to scoop out the delicious, sweet flesh.

Strawberry guavas, with fruit that taste like strawberry with a dash of allspice.

Pomegranate, with ruby red pearls of fruit that melt on the tongue.

Water chestnuts, (centre) iridescent crunchy red corms used in stir fries and salads.

JULY

Garden path, under the walnut and copper beech and past the bunyan pine and rowan tree.

Anniversary harvest: a selection of FRESH veggies picked for a meal to celebrate 23 years of living at “The Laurels”: silverbeet, pomegranates, persimmons, beetroot, leek, hazelnuts, salad greens, calamondins, grapefruit, cape gooseberries, chillies, kiwi fruit.

Winter Jonquils and snowdrops blooming near the tulip tree and brightening up the garden.

Anniversary harvest 2: extras picked for our celebratory dinner: prickly pear, ugni, strawberry guava, nasturtiums, kale, herbs.

Lemon sorrel, (centre) defying the cold, with its tangy, lemony, brilliant green leaves

AUGUST

Magnolia, welcoming the spring with a heady scent and drift of pink petals. 

The Courtyard, with a miniature windmill, bird bath and wooden benches; a shady retreat in the hotter weather.

Violet, is an old fashioned variety with heavily perfumed flowers that make an attractive garnish.

Gum tree in the old apple orchard beside a small dam filling with water for the first time this year.

Alexanders, flowering in a bed of snowbells and adding a crunchy celery flavour to soups and stews. The dark black seeds can also be ground for a spicy pepper.

Blueberries, (centre) the rarely seen delicate, pink, bell shaped blossoms that develop into blueberry fruit.

SEPTEMBER

Cherry laurel blossom, the honey-sweet scent of the flowers and the drone of buzzing bees is a heady promise of spring.

Plum blossom, showers of delicate white and pink flowers bursting from trees in the home orchard, looking down towards the dam and the windmill.

Plum blossom from an old variety rootstock tree in the home orchard.

Lavender flowers, attracting bees with numerous bushes dotted around the home orchard and providing a blaze of healing purple all year round.

Grove of cherry laurels, over 100 years old; a perfect picnic spot beneath the heavily laden, honey-scented blossom.  

Wood anemone, (centre) cheerful daisy like flowers emerging from the ground every spring.

OCTOBER

Garden view from beneath the box elder and looking north towards the walnut tree, and the house. A lovely shady place to sit and enjoy afternoon tea.

Bluebells, planted in cheerful clumps around the Cleopatra apple tree, and with windchimes above. 

Browsing bed 1, bursting with salad greens and bordered with the edible flowers of calendula and sweet rocket.
Browsing bed 2, with lettuces, cress, rocket, parsley, mustard greens and mizuna smothering the soil and ready to be picked.

Garden seat beside the honey bush (melianthus major) and next to the path leading through the food forest.

Broad bean flowers, (centre) with their white hoods and black throats are an attractive addition to a salad and taste just snow peas. 

NOVEMBER

Globe artichoke, with its architectural beauty of tights heads supported on long thing stalks.

White yarrow, attracting hoverflies and bees, easing bleeding and a great compost activator.  

Walnut, with fruit slowly emerging from the flower. The nuts will ripen in autumn, if the cockatoos can be distracted from attack.

Pink climbing rose, tumbling over the pergola in the courtyard.

Grapevine with grapes and apple trained against an Espalier fence.

Oyster plant and Wedding bells, flowering in unison. Blossoms flutter to the ground like confetti
Strawberries, (centre) freshly picked from a wicking bed that protects them from snails, lizards and birds.

DECEMBER

Frog pond, where the sound of mating frogs on a hot summer’s night can be quite deafening.

Apricots, swelling in the summer sun and usually ripe just before Christmas.

Grapevine and espalied apple, looking down towards the dam.

Raspberries, sweet, juicy and irresistible.

Maygold peach and Black Walnut, with the walnut steadily growing towards being at the top level of the food forest canopy. 

The Dam, after a rescued tortoise was released into its cool, deep depths.
Marionberrries, (centre) ripening in time for Christmas and in considerable quantities.