The Olive Tree

The 50 olive trees (Olea europaea) are planted and getting established. We have had decent rain in the past month so almost all are beginning to develop creamy white flowers now and the wind is doing its job of pollination. In Sicily the contadini shake the trees when the flowers are open to help release the pollen so that all trees are cross pollinated. Fruit setting will commence soon and we might get enough for the table though will be two to three years before we get enough to produce Daramalan organic olive oil.
The olive is a small, evergreen tree, averaging 20 feet or more in height. The lanceolate leaves are about seven centimetres long and delicately pale green above and beautifully silver below. The dark purple fruit is about 2 cm long, ovoid and often pointed, the fleshy part filled with oil.
The beautifully-veined pale grey wood not only takes a fine polish, but is faintly fragrant, and is much valued for small cabinet-work.



To eat the fruit the unripe olives are steeped in salt water to reduce their bitterness. The ripe fruits are pressed to extract the oil - Extra Virgin Oil, greenish in tint, is obtained by pressing crushed fruit in coarse bags and skimming the oil from the tubs of water through which it is conducted. The cake left in the bags is broken up, moistened, and repressed. The leaves are astringent and antiseptic and the oil is a nourishing demulcent and laxative. An extremely old cultivated crop and incredibly useful in a number of ways.
Let's hope that we have a bumper series of crops so that we can share the fruits and the oil with our friends

Ciao!!

Daramalan by Droege?

This print reminds me of Daramalan though the landscape portrayed is very much European and the trees are oaks not eucalypts.
The German artist Oscar Droege was born in 1898 and died 1983. As child he took lessons in drawing and painting and he studied at the Art academies of Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. In 1922 Droege was encouraged by his teacher, the count of Kalkreuth, to make woodcuts mainly of northern Germany. Instead of wide open landscapes with fresh colours and clear structures he prefered misty twilight and clipped views. He used daring colours and dramatic arrangements, but the overall impression still is one of distance and reserve.




We have two Droege woodcuts, one of mountain pine trees bent by the wind and one of a storm whipped ocean. Both will hopefully find a place on the walls of the new house when it is finished. Planning to have lots of wall space to hang some of our print collection to create a modern feeling. Might even try to reinterpret some of Droege's works to a more Australian setting.

Ciao!

Views back and forth

One view from the house towards the river and another looking back to the house from the eastern boundary. They are both spectacular views and when the pastures are green it looks awesome. Not always so good though and as we start summer the land will go yellow and brown and the grass will crack under our feet. The house stays cool though with its wide verandahs and there always seems to be some breeze to be had. No doubt we will be in the dam before January's out and discover the yabbies and whatever else is lurking in the deeps.... More news on the olive grove's progress soon.

Ciao

Flowers and fungi

The flowering cherry just starting to blossom while under the silver birch some fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria) came up. Just like the European fairy tale ones, only they are very poisonous. Luckily the dogs showed no interest in them and were more concerned about chasing rabbits in the paddocks beyond their enclosed area.

Elsewhere most of the 200 bulbs came up and we had daffodils, narcissi and tulips in the garden beds. Not yet the Roslyn Floriade but maybe in a few years?

'Fun to be had'

There is plenty of dried tussock grass about the place that the stock wont eat and so when this started - probably from an ember from a bigger fire some way away - it was almost welcome. At least that's how we felt after the event. At the time I was regretting not having bought the fire fighting pump that will arrive next week.




The land is really beautiful and as a friend remarked "there is plenty of fun to be had". After we planted the olive grove last Sunday we collected a ute load of rock for his rockery garden and discussed his organic fertiliser (that's poo to you) requirements. There is about 20 years worth of sheep manure under the shearing shed so no shortage. Nor of wood for the fireplaces and one of the next tasks will be to fell the dead gums around the back of the house and measure up the potential home site in readiness for architect's plans. We want to take full advantage of the views and the 'warm house, cool house' principles to create a sustainable and green haven for many years to come. Feels fantastic to have started the Daramalan journey properly.

More news next month.

Click go the shears

I had not been in a shearing shed for over 30 years and last time was a Berkshire university farm and the wool was extremely dirty and ragged. It was a pleasure to be a particpant at Daramalan's first use of the shearing shed in over 15 years. The two shearers were fantastic and with three or four roustabouts it went quickly. 305 sheep on the day and about 3kg per fleece. Only a few fleeces were poor so all in all a good day.




Next year there will be more sheep hopefully and perhaps even some Angora goats for the shearer's challenge since they did not take us up on clipping the two labradoodles, Angus and Charlie!

Preparing the ground

A big weekend at Daramalan with Saturday shearing and Sunday spent digging holes for the olive grove. Boozer and T-Bone sheared 305 sheep for about a tonne of wool ably assisted by Butch, Cherie, Nipper and me as the newbie roustabout. Amazing to watch two shearers at the top of their game and to realise that whatever amount of beer is supplied it is never enough. Photographs and fuller report to follow later on.

On Sunday we dug over 40 holes, each with some sheep manure and soil moisture retainer, in the house paddock. Even with a petrol powered post hole digger it was back breaking work and the olive trees and stone pines will go in next weekend, hopefully after some rain. We are planting Picual, Verdale, UC13A6, Del Morocco, Azapa and Barouni varieties to get a mix for the table and oil. The new press will get used first for apples next year, then grapes and then olives in 2010.




The boys and I also built an earth oven behind the shed and looking forward to pizza next weekend once the earth has dried off. One day all the ingredients for a pizza Margherita will come from Daramalan soil - can't wait!!



Ciao

Daramalan Google Map

This is the Google map satellite view Daramalan Map

400 acres of Paradise

We would like to welcome you to Daramalan, a 400 acre (160 hectare) property shaped liked a horseshoe within the Tarlo River, 25 km north of Goulburn, NSW. Roslyn is the nearest place but if you're driving you'll miss it on the way to Crookwell, the nearest town.

It's beautiful country - rolling hills, eucalyptus forest and good pasture for sheep and beef cattle. The land is also good for potatoes, olives and fruit trees. We produce wool, lamb and beef and plan to have olives, stone pines, cider apples and a vegetable garden groaning with tomatoes, basil, artichokes and Mediterranean food.

The goal is to have a self sustainable enterprise with solar and wind energy and year round food from the land with surplus to process into added value products. Room for a yoga studio, steam room and artist's studio to help ends meet and feed our souls. Idealistic maybe but definitely achievable.

Check back in a month for an account of our first shearing and some more photographs.