Long time Canberra gardeners all head to Pialligo for a bit of the rural life when summer turns to autumn. On my recent visit it was the first day to buy Gala apples from the orchard at 4 Beltana Road where I've visited Bert Hauptmann for decades. Locals, staff from Rodneys' Nursery, were also in the orchard shed buying apples by the bucketload.
So on I went, past the grazing alpacas, to Rodney's Plants Plus for a browse. On the shelves was a product new to me, Major's Mulch lucerne pellets. Agronomist Sarah Curry invented these nifty little garden treats and the mulch is sustainably produced on the family's farm at Quandialla, in the central west of New South Wales. The lucerne is processed by a stock feed company in Cootamundra and Young and is packed in biodegradable bags that can be re-purposed to insulate pots or line vegie crates, act as weed mat or go into the compost.
Major's Mulch was launched in September last year at the Australian Garden Show in Sydney. I bought a small bag and, so far, have spread the pellets on pots containing my citrus trees. It is weed-free.
They have also released pea straw pellets grown on the farm and complete compost that is lucerne hay that was ruined in a flood so Sarah blended it with sheep manure and wheat straw and composted it for four years.
Sarah is a fourth-generation farmer from Tullibigeal where her family ate what was in season from their farm and garden including lamb, milk and eggs. Fresh fruit and vegetables came from her grandmother's rambling garden that was filled with grapes, passionfruit, huge old citrus and stonefruit trees grown for shade and fruit. Young Sarah used to collect native quandongs that her nana used to make delicious tarts.
In 2006 Sarah and Josh Curry of Major's Point were married under an Australian kurrajong (Brachychiton 'Bella Donna'). The Pearse family, the original settling family in the area, had planted the tree.
The family property covers 3200 hectares on the rich, fertile, sedimentary floor plain of The Bland. Sarah says the house yard at their farm has a range of soils from sand to heavy clays. The garden suffered losses during the long drought of the 2000s and, before replanting, they prepared beds with a thick layer of compost and mulch and let them rest for more than six months.
Their raised vegetable beds are filled with half topsoil and topped with farm-produced compost into which they plant vegetables. Curry uses seed and cuttings exchanged at the local garden club and from neighbours' gardens but also orders once a year from Lambley Nursery Catalogue.
Currently they are harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, squash, chillies, capsicums, eggplant, asparagus, strawberries, peaches and watermelons. Water is a huge issue and grey water is used on the garden. Recently a bore was introduced as backup.
With Josh's parents, John and Janet Curry, they run 2000 South African meat merino sheep, ewes and their lambs, which graze dual-purpose crops and pastures and are sold into the fat lamb market. A tiny portion goes into their home freezer.
The Curry children, Ted, 5, Cate, 4, and Jimmy, 2, help in the kitchen and take interest in what they are growing and eating. Ted's job is to let the chickens out every morning and collects the eggs and they all love picking something fresh for dinner each night. It was in 2009 when Sarah had a "big baby bump" that she realised pulling apart lucerne bales was labour intensive and dusty work so Major's Mulch was also born.
Josh's aunty Margie Charlesworth has written three cookbooks about using fresh farm produce for families and friends. Tea Pots & Tractors is full of the family's everyday favourites such as Vogue chicken. Sarah uses Donna Hay and Maggie Beer's cookbooks but The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander is her "bible" because it shows how to use or preserve seasonal produce.
With at least two fresh zucchini to harvest each day, a favourite recipe is from Sarah's nana.
Stuffed roasted zucchini
2 medium to large zucchini, halved and hollowed out
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 rindless bacon rashers, finely diced
1 tsp flat leaf parsley
parmesan cheese
Halve zucchini and hollow out the flesh into a large mixing bowl and add the capsicum, onion, bacon and parsley. Mix and season with salt and cracked black pepper. Fill the zucchini shells with the mixture and bake in a hot oven (200C degrees) for five minutes, remove and grate parmesan cheese on top and place back in the oven for a further two minutes until crispy on top. Delicious with lamb chops and smashed roasted potatoes.
Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.
