Kohanie_gardens in Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia | Home improvement

Kohanie_gardens

Locality: Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

Phone: +61 404 366 784

Address: Mt.Charles 7140 Lachlan, TAS, Australia

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25.01.2022 Tulips.... One of my favourite flowers! These frilled mauve lovelies are putting on a very pretty show at the moment. My mum and I planted them back in April, mauve being mum's favourite colour. 10 to the pot. I didn't realise until now that tulips have multiple flowers per plant, or at least these ones do. I always thought they just produced the one flower.

25.01.2022 This Spotty Dotty is fast becoming a favourite of ours. Planted last season it has really begun to look lush since we put in the soaker hose. It definately likes its feet wet. It's Botanical name is Podophyllum and it has just developed these dark, red flowers which hang from beneath the leaf canopy, flowers almost 10cm in length. See the third photo. It's a stunner!

24.01.2022 Today we started to lift the level of the soil in the garden bed in the conservatory. Recently, Philip had cemented in the bubby block edge which we later will plant out to create a neat (hopefully) border distinguishing path from garden. This meant the soil level also needed to be lifted as well as some resident plants whose bottoms were now sitting too low. If there is one thing we have learnt about gardening it is, finishing one project creates another! There is always plenty to do and new jobs emerging.

23.01.2022 Winter sun.... Finally got to rake up all the leaves off the lawn and give it a good cut! My happy place... @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

22.01.2022 This photo was taken a few weeks ago and I hadn't got around to posting it yet. Unfortunately this flowering red currant is not planted in the best of spots in our garden, overcrowded by a rhododendron and a climbing vine, it is a bit lost. However it still puts out the most beautiful flowers and brings us joy. Is there a lesson for us in this?

20.01.2022 Good morning Kohanie...

20.01.2022 Another belated shot of our cherry plum tree amass with blossom. Cherry plums are the first fruit trees to blossom here in Tassie and as their pips (stones to be more accurate ) tend to get cast out the window of passing cars, the roads are dotted with them everywhere. A cherry plum is a plum tree not a cherry but the fruit is about the size of a cherry, deliciously sweet.

19.01.2022 Despite being busy and it being frosty and foggy, there is always something to see in the garden, liked these spider webs glistening in the bare branches of our Laburnum trees by the gate. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

19.01.2022 Our little lemon tree has set myriads of lemons! I know it will probably drop some but there are numerous clusters of about 15 lemons! See the second photo. It is doing its darnedest to give its best and I love it for that! So too are the little yellow pansies! Bless their little hearts.

17.01.2022 Slow cooked Lamb Shank Rogan Josh

15.01.2022 So last week was all about apples! We had so many! and we have never really preserved apples before other than bottles of stewed apples so I let my fingers do the walking and searched the net for recipes which took my eye. This was the result of my first find. Spicy apples - good for quick tarts, crumble or pure ice-cream. Slightly different to the old-fashioned stewed and not overly sweet which we like. The copied apples were packed into jars, covered in a spicy, sugar syrup and left to soak in a water bath to cook the apple. Who doesn't like a good soak in a hot bath?!!! @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

15.01.2022 The last of our golden delicious apples have gone into a large batch of apple and ginger jam. The colour is deliciously golden and paired lovely with chantilly cream and these golden scones, just what we needed on this rainy, wintery day. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

14.01.2022 Apple Cider - 4 days on Once we have extracted the juice we take an SG reading (specific gravity) to establish how much natural sugar is present in the liquid. This reading can be later used to determine the percentage alcohol of the cider. We then add campden tablets to stabilise the solution. This kills any unwanted wild yeasts which can hijack your brew and ruin your final cider. After a further 24 hours we add a recommended cider yeast as well as some yeast nutrient to en...sure the fermentation process gets off to a good start. The airlocks keep the solution free from further contaminants as the fermentation process continues. We have been making cider every season now for at least 5 years. Each brew is different and we have experimented with many different apple blends but lasts year's was the best so far! Personally we like quite dry cider so we choose not to add sugar but recommend from experience to only use sweet red apples. We have tried the traditional 'cider' apple varieties too being traditionalists ourselves but personally, after tasting the goods, I think they only made cider out of the apples that they didn't enjoy eating. We have found cider from red apples much more enjoyable!

13.01.2022 Well that's a great job done...or is that undone? 27 bottles of apricot wine bottled this evening... then unbottled and sampled. A definite bouquet of apricots, long legs on the glass, full bodied flavour and a warmth to the throat... What more could one ask for except a best friend to enjoy it with. "Hurry up honey, the bottles almost empty!"

12.01.2022 What an awesome night we had last night!!! After sooooo long it was nice to socialise with a small group of family. Philip fired up his pizza oven for the first time (even though the project is not quite finished yet) and made crackin' good pizza!!! Way to go honey! So proud of you! Then we lit our bonfire. It was a surprisingly mild evening for the last day of May, perfect. Then we capped the night off with coffee and cake. It was a great evening to say the least. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

12.01.2022 The thing with apples is that in processing them all you end up with huge amounts of peelings and cores! Recently a friend of mine planted the idea of making apple cider vinegar in my head and I found a great step-by-step instructable on Wikipedia which said it is best to cube the apples to expose more surface area to encourage fermentation. After making cider this made a lot of sense. It also said you can make vinegar out of all the peelings and cores? I really liked that idea so I thought I would try that. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

11.01.2022 This weekend Philip weeded around the base of Ezra's tree (Dawn Redwood). It is bursting with buds! Can't wait to see this baby grow this season just like we can't wait to see our grandson Ezra grow and enjoy our garden this season as well.

10.01.2022 Two pots of gold in our backyard this arvo but couldn't be bothered digging in the rain for them. I think I will just sit here in the conservatory and enjoy the sunshine...... And yes we often have rain here while the sun is shining!

08.01.2022 Preserved chillies. This is a bit of an experiment. I first got the idea off my niece whose Italian friend gave her a bottle of the same. Unfortunately, I didn't have a recipe and all the recipes online seemed to preserve them using a pickling solution. These chillies are not cooked at all and are preserved in salt, then stored in olive oil. So far so good but it remains to be seen how long they preserve for. I used birds eye chillies, you know the little red hot onesso they pack a bit of a punch and are not for the faint hearted but I am hoping they will be a great addition to the pizza and focaccia toppings come warmer weather when we crank up the pizza oven.

08.01.2022 Winter mornings cometh here at Kohanie. Our first real frost for the year, fog lying low in the valley and the promise of clear skies! You have to admit, that while it bites at your fingers and toes and makes you shrug deeper into your jacket, it is beautiful!

07.01.2022 Our camellia...now in full bloom! @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

07.01.2022 Bluebells! A gentle drift off blue beneath the ash tree. A little googling tells me they are of the same family as asparagus! Who would of thought?!

06.01.2022 Spring is whispering sweet promises at last! Our apricot tree has just begun to blossom and while I don't believe the cold weather has gone it is certainly wonderful to be experiencing some deliciously warm sunny weather. It makes one just want to venture out into the garden. Maybe we should make it a ritual to break open the first bottle of LAST year's apricot wine the day we pick THIS year's apricots.

04.01.2022 Beyond those trees lie a whole valley..... the world! A sign of the approaching cold season is this fog. Often lying in the valley sometimes till midday but rarely at our house this fog is a reminder winter is on our doorsteps! The great thing about fog is above it there is always crystal blue sky so when it shifts it usually gives way to magical sunshine. Many times I have left home I in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt only to freeze in New Norfolk while shopping under the fog. We are lucky here at Kohanie that as it lifts the mountain breeze usually carries it up and over the mountain dispersing it quickly so the sun can do its thing. Bring on the sunshine!

04.01.2022 On days when we are both working on a gardening project , I love to have something special baked for afternoon tea , just to make sure we don't burn too many calories! Today, I stumbled across this Lemon and Pistachio Loaf in an old Fresh magazine, one of my many! If it has inspired you to bake something delicious why not give this a try! It was light and soft and fresh! Heres the recipe: Photo 3: Cream together 125g unsalted butter and 1 cup Castor sugar Photo 4: A...dd 2 eggs one at a time Photo 5: Mix together 1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and zest of 1 lemon; then mix this into the cream mixture alternately with 1/2 cup milk (Photo 6), just til combined. Photo 7: Bake in a loaf pan at 180 for about 55mins. Cool 5mins in tin before turning on to wire rack to cool. Photo 1: Ice with lemon icing (a mix of just icing sugar and lemon juice) sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Photo 2: Eat after working hard on the garden with your bestie and share with friends. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia See more

03.01.2022 This morning I had to drive my husband to work in the city. This provided a great opportunity to share the difference between living in the valley and living at Kohanie. These two photos were taken just 4mins apart! The foggy paddocks are located on the valley floor and you will recognise the top photo by now, taken out across the valley from the front of our house. What a difference a few hundred metres higher makes! Enjoy your cosy fires valley people's and we will enjoy our sunshine, blue sky and frozen grasses!

03.01.2022 Autumn...... fallen leaves while pretty tend to quickly make a mess of lawn areas but I have found a quick easy way of mulching them... Simply mow over them!!! Forget the rake! The mower lifts them straight into the catcher and chops them up! It can then be dumped under trees and on gardens to mulch, deter weeds and return the goodness to the soil. There is nothing more peaceful in my book then sweeping lawns and large trees! @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia

03.01.2022 Recently we had a huge amount of rain in just one night! We suspect around 300ml!!! While it did quite a bit of damage to the road up here it did wonders for our little causeway on the bottom pond. You just gotta love the sound of running water!

03.01.2022 Pomegranate Ginger Syrup Cake Just love the way the pomegranate seeds burst with juicy sweetness against the depth of treacle and the warmth of ginger. The cream's not bad either. One of my favourite cakes I make once a year when the pommies hit the shops. Plenty left over for visitors but don't leave it too long. @ Lachlan, Tasmania, Australia