Author Archives: Transition Town Guildford

Dill Pickles

Posted on April 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

For the long weekend we had a nice relaxing time down in Pemberton, about four hours south-east of Perth. Upon our return I found quite a few cucumbers a good size for making my first attempt of dill pickles! Thankfully today my order from OzFarmer.com arrived that contained lots of wonderful things I needed to make my pickles, so I got cracking!

I didn’t have a huge amount of cucumbers, probably about 15 small to medium, but I didn’t want to leave them on the vine any longer as the plants themselves seemed to have died off with what looked like a while dusting of mold on the leaves while we were away, and I wanted to get some pickles out of them before they died completely. I’ll have to do some more research on what this might be, there did seem to get a lot of aphids and ants on the cucumber plants while they were growing, which I did try to deal with some organic pest control, but it didn’t seem to do a huge amount of good.

This was the harvest mid clean. Not a huge harvest, but still better than none! I had intended on putting the cucumbers in two 1 litre jars, but upon packing found I had too many for just one, and too little for two, so I decided to use the beautiful smaller blue vintage ball jars I ordered and that has just arrived that day. I also used a Kosher Dill Pickle pre-made spice that also had something to make them extra crunchy, along with some vinegar and water and brought that to the boil. Then in it went and back into the boiling water canner for 15 minutes. All three of my jars got a nice loud pop when sealed, so I was happy.

These were the large 1 litre jars packed but not full enough. How annoying. But these things happen, so we persevere! I did have the chance to use all my new fancy canning equipment seen above, which made canning so much easier!

These are the three smaller jars packed with pickles shortly before adding the brine. I think I could have packed them a bit tighter as once the brine was in them they all floated to the top of the jars, so you could see how much space was left in the jars, but a lesson well learned I guess, I didn’t want to over pack them.

Finished product! Three little beautiful jars of homemade pickles! I am so going to get some more of these blue vintage inspired ball jars in different sizes as they are so pretty! Will make storing my canning jars more of a work of art rather than just trying to shove my jars somewhere out of the way! Maybe I’ll put in a high rail all along the kitchen and sit them up there until I use them…. We’ll see what Dave thinks of this idea. 😉

The haul from OzFarmer.com, my beautiful blue jars, enough canning salt to last until the apocalypse, pickling spice and the very helpful book of Putting Food By. New bedtime reading methinks!!

By Steering Member Kim Farnell, first posted on her own blog Barbaloot Suits and Garden Boots. We look forward to hearing what they taste like! 🙂

Bicycle Treasure Hunt fun

Posted on March 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Over 60 people attended our Bicycle Treasure Hunt in Guildford on Sunday to celebrate Cycle Instead Bikeweek. We hope everyone had a fun time riding around Guildford, and that it will inspire people to ride more often, especially to school and for shorts trips around the place.

Congratulations to the winning Adult team ‘Next Stop Paris’, the family category winners ‘Chokoz’ and the ‘Black Swans’, who took out the best decorated bikes award for dressing up as pirates.

Following the event, participants enjoyed yummy refreshments, including buns provided by the Guildford Bakery. Thanks!

Bikeweek is running until Sunday the 24^th of March. To find another free bike event visit www.transport.wa.gov.au/bikeweek

Transition Town Guildford acknowledge the support of this event by the Department of Transport as part of Cycle Instead Bikeweek 2013.

Jetto’s Patch visit in March

Posted on March 19, 2013 | 1 comment

If you were ever looking for inspiration, or just wondering what might be possible on an average suburban block, Jetto’s Patch in Maida Vale has much to make you think.

Dario in the front yard, which they converted from lawn only 18 months ago!

Starting in 1989, but with the newest parts only 18 months old, Dario and Michelle grow something in the region of 500 edible species on their 1482 sq m block.

The Kitchen Gardeners were delighted to accept an invitation from Dario and Michelle to hold their March workshop at Jetto’s Patch. Some of us opted for the advertised potting seeds workshop, where we used some of our collected and donated pots, and made some out of newspaper following Debra’s expert instructions.

Most of us wandered about the verdant paradise admiring just how many plants and the amazing variety of edible plants it is possible to grow in Perth. There are the obvious ones like figs and grapes along with some very interesting ones that you would not expect to find thriving in Perth: arabica coffee, pineapples, cherries, raspberries.