One of the (many) reasons we moved to Abbeydore was to grow enough food to sustain us and to be able to share with family and friends. So far we have managed to achieve both, although learning to cook with the seasons has been an interesting and very rewarding challenge. In practical terms this means, … More #wegrowtoshare

I’m not talking children’s clothes here, nor Halloween, but about our two-year lesson in growing pumpkins. And what a success it has been! From a patch that last year produced four very tasty pumpkins, to several patches that produced 28 pumpkins, this time a mix of Australian Butter (10) and Golden Nugget (18). So now … More The Pumpkin Patch

Actually, that isn’t the question because when making bread we now have a killer recipe that doesn’t require kneading at all! We first learned about this recipe for No-knead bread via Moza’s sister who made it for us over the Australia Day long weekend and we’ve been making it ever since. It is a Silvia … More To knead or not to knead?

It’s been the second year of the tomato harvest here at Abbeydore and we’ve been inundated with, yet again, an amazing crop of heirlooms (from Moza’s dad’s 40-year-old seed stock) and San Marzano which we planted specifically for tomato passata. This year we decided to plant enough to use to make our own bottles, rather … More Tomatoes, passata, sugo and the Italian way

This is an experiment in growing strawberries. Moza saw an idea on Instagram and, being the clever fellow he is, adapted it for our orchard – a downpipe strawberry grower! Here’s how he did it (and you can too!): Find an unused downpipe Fill with a lovely mix of soil and compost Cover each end … More Strawberry Fields, forever

One of the best cooking gadgets I ever bought was a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. But, it doesn’t stop there. The attachments have really been a great addition to this incredible machine – pasta maker, sausage stuffer-thingy, along with the food grinder coupled with the vegetable strainer meant we could make our own small batches of … More I-scream, you-scream, we all scream for ice cream

Fresh garlic. Never grown it, never tasted it, never cooked with it. Fresh, homegrown garlic is still a little tough to find in Australia, or so we thought until we moved to the Highlands and came across a few growers via Instagram – Russell, the Good Garlic Guy, just down the road at Kangaloon and … More All things garlic

I must confess I don’t think I have ever tasted a truly fresh egg, well not since my very early childhood visiting our Aunty Win and Uncle Clem’s Shellharbour farm back in the day. At Abbeydore we have seven lovely ladies who (mostly) provide us with an egg each day. The funny thing is that … More In praise of fresh eggs

If you live with an Italian you will soon come across their obsession with all things beans, especially the beautiful red borlotti and the big, fat, green fava (aka broad beans). Several years ago, Moza tried introducing us to the pleasures of fava, but alas, the beans were less than special. The lesson? Freshly-grown is … More Beanz meanz … all kinds of yumminess!