It has been so long since I have written. We are nearly half way through Winter and I am reflecting on Autumn.
Where does the time go?
I have to admit, I did spend a lot of that time foraging in a Pine Forest...Autumn brought me the beautiful, world of wild fungi. Saffron Milk Caps to be exact. There are a lot of Pine Forests in the area. The perfect place to find Pine Mushrooms (Saffron Milk Caps) and Slippery Jacks. I spent many hours scanning the forest floor for these gorgeous mushrooms, wandering aimlessly through the forest. I would return with enough for a delicious risotto or fry them up with garlic and butter. Beautiful, delicious Autumn.
Autumn bought us cooler weather too. A time to get the smoker smoking. This year we have had success. We built the smoker to be a cold smoker. Unfortunately we built the fire box too close to the smoker and the heat cooked everything. I tried a slightly different technique this year by building a smaller fire and then basically smothering the fire in charcoals and hickory chips. It worked! Smokey goodness. I cured the pork belly and salmon for a few days. Dried them and then smoked the pork for 7 hours and the salmon for about an hour. We also had an abundance of chillies, so we smoked them and made a paste. Heaven. Beautiful, delicious Autumn.
Autumn also brought us pears, apples, eggs, and the planting of winter vegetables. We planted rocket, kale, broad beans, peas, spinach, silver beet, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, and beetroot.
Beautiful, delicious Autumn.
I think you get the picture....
