BLOG: White Enamel Pie Dish

Community Garden mural storytelling of Nundle food culture

What began as an admiration of the botanical artworks of Chef Sean Moran through social media and in Galah magazine led Upper Peel Landcare Group to propose a Nundle Community Garden mural by Natasha Soonchild celebrating the homegrown food and gardening culture of Nundle and Hanging Rock.

Porkucopia of smallgoods and fresh cuts

Over the years we have helped friends with their pig growing efforts, processing, and were well aware of just how good home grown pork could be, but had never tackled the challenge on our own place. Now in the midst of a porkucopia of bacon, pancetta, guanciale, English ham, pulled pork shoulder and fresh cuts that will last us for the year ahead, it’s difficult to understand why we hesitated so long. Our first experience of raising our first weaner pigs was watching them head toward Nundle on the main road after they had breached the portable electric fence on the evening of their arrival. We gently coaxed them back in, and although they would test the tape every day from then on, they never repeated that first glorious dash.

The gift - Ivan Inman, Water Diviner

Dressed in an Akubra hat, long-sleeved shirt, and jeans, 92-year-old Ivan Inman walks in a paddock, a length of metal rod rotating quickly in his hand, a crop duster aerial forcefully flicking through the air, or a steel bolt circling from a short length of frayed baling twine.

Ivan is demonstrating the skill of divining, looking for underground water, to give a drilling team a better idea of where to drill a bore or well, and at what depth.

The term water divining might conjure ‘The Water Diviner’ film directed by and starring Russell Crowe. When his character Joshua Connor is asked how he finds water that seeps through cracks in the earth underground he explains, ‘…well there’s the trick, you have to feel it…’

We walked a marathon

It started as a joke. One of our walking group members, Tash, sharing a social media post back in March about a trek crossing the mountain range between our town of Nundle, and Timor in the Upper Hunter Valley with the comment, "This looks interesting." Tash wasn't expecting actual positive responses ranging from, "I have to check dates" to "I am KEEN!!!!" and "Let's register a team."

Honey Jumbles made with our first honey harvest

Backyard citrus three ways, Orange Cake, Marmalade, and Steamed Pudding

A Taste of Nundle for Tamworth Regional Heritage Week

For the 2022 Tamworth Regional Heritage Week I explored A Taste of Nundle, researching Odgers and McClelland Exchange Stores' collection of handwritten and typed invoices and purchase documents to understand some of the ingredients stocked in the store from its earliest surviving records. Among the documents in our collection is a handwritten sales journal from 1909, giving us a snapshot of what ingredients people living in and around Nundle bought, and prompting ideas of what they may have cooked with them. Consider the contrast in the range of choice of ingredients available in 1909 to 2022. We had previously been part of an Heirloom Recipe project with Sydney Living Museum Colonial Gastronomer Jacqui Newling who visited Nundle in 2014. This uncovered evocatively named Nundle biscuit recipes including Poorman’s Cakes, Waddie's Saddlebags, and Dunkers. These and other local favourite recipes are collected in Lost Delights: Heirloom Recipes and Old Country Favourites.

Tilly's Table's deliciously rich Sunken Chocolate Cake for winter days

Tilly's Table's Sunken Chocolate Cake has been bookmarked in my phone since I saw it on her socials earlier this year. This week we finally had the time and the perfect occasion to make it, Duncan's birthday. Tilly's Sunken Chocolate Cake is the perfect combination of dense, fudgey texture and deliciously rich flavour. As I whipped the five egg whites and folded them into the chocolatey batter there was serious anticipation. Tilly and I met at a Recipe Writing Workshop with Anneka Manning and Sophie Hansen at The Convent a couple of years back. Since then Tilly has created a beautiful webstore of Botanical Linens and Prints and Seasonal Baking Recipes and wrote and photographed a baking story for the May issue of Country Style magazine. I hope you have the opportunity to make this delightful cake for loved ones very soon.

"How do I get into preserving?

This year, more than any other, we've had great interest in food preserving. It's one of our most frequently asked questions..."How do I get into preserving?" If you can slice, and have access to quantity of fruit and veg, empty glass jars, and a large pot, then you can get started with preserving... More than 20 years ago when Duncan and I moved to Nundle, friends were getting rid of preserving gear. We were given a burnt orange 1970s metal Fowlers Vacola preserver and dozens of jars and lids. We added an electric Fowlers preserver to our tool kit, and Mum has since given us their teal green 1940's metal preserver. Some seasons at the peak of the fruit and vegetable harvest they all get a work out. These days food preserving is being revived, with people seeing fruit on trees and vegetables in their garden as an asset not to be wasted.

Raspberry and Chocolate Tart to mark online store 10th anniversary

Friends generously dropped in homegrown raspberries and, in addition to eating them fresh, I made Raspberry and Chocolate Tart. This is the perfect sense of occasion tart to acknowledge the March 10th anniversary of our Odgers and McClelland Exchange Stores online store. In that time we've learnt a lot, worked on improving our photography, and continued to expand what we offer, helping customers across Australia (and sometimes New Zealand) grow food, preserve the harvest, and cook from scratch. To recognise this milestone, for the month of March we will donate 10 per cent of our online sales to flood relief for people impacted by the NSW and Queensland east coast low. Hopefully our donation will go towards helping families get back on their feet after such a blow.