Chive Blossom Vinegar + a little garden update

When I started this blog (nearly 9 years ago!) we had our little veggie garden going in the backyard of our first house. We grew as much as we could in the 3 small raised beds we had. Then we moved to Western Australia, and in the 5 years we spent there we tried our hardest to grow what we could, but that sandy soil and extreme heat meant most of what we grew didn’t flourish. We had the odd thing that survived, Thai basil and strawberries grew almost year round in our little former flower garden in the rental we lived in for most of the time we were in Perth. But it was all pretty token really, just enough to keep the spark alight inside both myself and Si (my husband). What we’ve longed for was a piece of land big enough to grow en masse and a deep desire to live off the land in the way my family did when I was growing up. We’re not there yet, but we do now have our dream land, and the space that comes with that, and we’re slowly chipping away at that dream.

Previous owners created a netted veggie garden out the back of our property, netted to keep the pukeko, wild turkeys and free-range chickens (both ours and our neighbours) out. It wasn’t in good shape when we moved in, but we’re slowly and lovingly restoring it. Patching up holes, replacing rotten wood and giving it all a general spruce-up. There’s not a whole lot we’re picking at the moment other than courgette (zucchini), salad greens, chamomile/cornflower/viola/calendula flowers, kūmara leaves (you can eat them like spinach), herbs and gotu kola. But within the next month, we’ll be picking bucket-loads of tomatoes daily.

Along with our main vegetable garden, we have a row of tomatoes growing along the outside edge of the enclosure, blueberries and blackcurrants dot the garden bed out front, Lebanese and telegraph cucumbers grow in a new raised bed Si purpose-built along a wall near out water tank, (more) tomatoes grow along the fences near our chicken coop, along with a couple of passionfruit… who are struggling to thrive. To the far right of our land you’ll find a huge pumpkin patch, growing wild alongside the blackberry bushes who are hoping for more rain to fatten their fruit. To the far left of our land, alongside the little forest you’ll find more pumpkins growing, well… trying to grow. The pukeko have taken a liking to eating the tiny swollen pumpkins before they have a chance to grow big and strong. You’ll also find another cucumber down there, this time an apple cucumber variety.

In our newly planted orchard we have baby pears, quince, Luisa plums and nashi forming and also blood orange, lemonade lemons, pineapple guava, peach and feijoas trees taking hold. In our chicken coop the fruit trees planted by previous owners are currently laden with baby oranges, mandarins, feijoas and figs. To the side of the coop grows 3 large kiwifruit vines. Last year we feasted on both yellow and green fruit, but this year strangely only the yellow are forming, though I’m not complaining! To the side of the big oak tree we have 5 grape vines, recently planted, stretching their vines out along the fence. We’re hoping to be eating grapes this time next year… We also recently planted 3 avocado trees, though we’ll be waiting many more years before we’re eating our first.

Today’s recipe is for all my fellow gardeners out there, or those of you with access to blossoming chives, which are abundant at this time of the year. I love chive blossoms and often pick them to put in a vase on my kitchen bench, but I also love to harness their flavour in apple cider vinegar to add that little something special to salad dressings. It really couldn’t be any easier, you just steep chive blossoms in apple cider vinegar long enough for it to not only perfume the vinegar but also turn it the most beautiful shade of dusky pink too. I’ll be back with a recipe real soon using this fragrant vinegar, so get your chive blossom vinegar brewing today and stay tuned…