Waikato Foodbasket

The mighty quince

There’s a garden in my neighbourhood with a quince tree on the front lawn. At this time of year it’s festooned with fat golden quinces.

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This week I’ve been enjoying a big bag of Jerusalem artichokes. Readers of this blog may be aware that I’m partial to weird vegetables. I’ve discovered that many people haven’t tried the interesting and delicious Jerusalem artichoke. The artichokes came from my friend...

Golden apples of the sun

Last weekend I spent a sunny autumn afternoon making apple juice with my friends and neighbours Clare Jackson and Tim Newton. I was helping them process some of their 100kg-plus apple harvest. I was very happy to take home a 5 litre bottle of sweet golden apple juice...

A fortnight of marrows

Recently our fridge has been stuffed with big green marrows. My son Tom's friend had an abundance of marrows and we ended up with some of the monsters. Marrows are overgrown courgettes or zucchini. When you don’t check the garden for a few days at this time of year,...

The joy of celery

It’s a great season for celery in the Waikato. Last weekend the Suncakes Gardens stall had piles of beautiful fresh unsprayed celery at Hamilton Farmers' Market. Celery is one of the unsung heroes of the vegetable kingdom. The celery we get in the supermarket all year...

Seedlings of success

It’s the time of year when plants grow like crazy as soon as they’re put in the ground. And, in Hamilton we’re lucky to have a source of great quality seedlings at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. Mark and Nikita from Weathersfield Organics are selling their locally...

Jersey Girls: Cream of the crop

My article about Jersey Girls is in the current issue of OrganicNZ magazine. In a country full of huge dairy farms, it’s wonderful to be able to drink milk from this small family farm near Matamata. Every Sunday I bring home a couple of bottles of Jersey Girls milk...