Flooded in

So much rain!

Over 210mm in the last two days. It looks like we're here for a few days until the water over the road falls a bit.

The water came up about four feet over night. We went out at 5 o'clock to feed the cows at Gumarm and the creek didn't look too high. By 7 o'clock this morning it was a whole different story. The water had come up and the creek was flowing fast.

The cattle are all happy and not at bothered by water all around.

Still, we have power and phone and plenty of food so it could be worse.

I love the autumn

Autumn is a wonderful time at Geebung. Everything starts to move into reds and yellows. The pecans are picked and the trees go from froggy green to a strong yellow on their way to becoming the bare trees that we live with most of the winter.

The cattle start putting on thick winter coats and generally take a lot more interest in us as people who might have something tasty to supplement the tinning supply of pasture.

Last week was our Australian Certified Organic (ACO) audit, which we passed without too much trouble. The ACO audit process is pretty exhaustive but it gives me an hopefully you a lot of comfort to know they're making sure that "certified organic" means something.

The idea is that our product is traceable all the way from the farm through to processing, packaging and retail.

These audit trails give you a high level of assurance that the food we grow is produced without use of synthetic chemicals, GMOs and food additives and with a focus on soil health, animal welfare and best environmental practices, as required by the Australian Certified Organic Standard (available for free via http://www.bfa.com.au/ ).

Our picking efforts
I confess our picking efforts have been pretty modest this year. The cockatoos and demands on our time for other things have meant we haven't picked anywhere near the number of nuts we would like to.

The nuts on the trees a few weeks ago.

Our youngest picker.

The nuts live in these protective outer husks.

Veal from Geebung

Our veal is Angus which is different from most veal you are exposed to. Most of the veal that you eat is a diary industry by-product. In that sense the veal is usually Holstein-Friesian veal.

By taking a higher quality meat breed and harvesting younger we think you get a superior product with better flavour. In most cases our veal is at least 5 months old, usually more like 6.

The calf will have been feeding on its mother's milk for all its early life but has started to eat some pasture. Our pasture is a mixture of native grasses (including kangaroo grass themeda triandra wallaby grass, white top austrodanthonia and red grass bothriochloa macra) , clover, ryegrass, paspalum and kikuyu grass.

We read with concern about the idea that calves could be deprived of feed for up to 30-hours as part of the proposed new Land Transport Standard. For us this is cruel and is not needed nor would we accept that as a way we deal with our animals.

Our calves are with their mothers until they are collected at about 5.00 am then they travel for less than an hour and are usually processed on arrival at the abattoir. We believe this ensures that any stress is kept as low as possible.

The ACO standard on these matters is clear. We always transport our animals in a way that is respectful and designed to minimise stress on the animal.

Generally we are looking for a cleaned carcass, which is smaller than most of the veal that is found in the commercial marketplace but is between 80 and 110 kg. We are looking for a supple texture and extreme tenderness. We think the natural flavours are attributed to having been milk fed as well as from grazing in natural pastures that have been farmed organically over a great many years.

Our animals grow in a stress free environment and are happy and healthy.

The product we provide is of consistent quality we love working with Grant and Laura from Feather and Bone because they are lovely people to work with and because we think we share a lot of values with them.

Nut season

The pecans are getting close to being ready to pick. The air is thick with white cockatoos who are enjoying my pecans!

The pecan, Carya illinoinensis, is a great tree and is well suited to organic farming. Our pecan groves are managed both for nuts and for grazing of livestock. This is called “agroforestry” and involves growing trees on the same unit of land as crops or livestock. The idea behind agroforestry is to derive both economic and ecological benefits two key goals of sustainable agriculture. We graze fat, happy Angus cattle between the rows of pecans.

Looking after pecans
Our pecans are organically grown, handpicked ripe, and then dried. They are not processed in any way. They keep well at a cool room temperature so long as they remain in the shell. Shelled Pecans absorb odours and go rancid quickly, especially in hot weather. Pecans can be frozen, thawed out and frozen again, if necessary. Pecans are great as a peel-and-eat snack and their distinctive taste is a great addition to a salad or to almost any meal. Pecans can be toasted to enhance their flavour. There are two ways to toast nuts: in a hot oven for about seven minutes, stirring them from time to time to prevent burning, or on the stove top in a heavy pan. Toast on medium to high heat, stirring frequently. As soon as nuts begin to smoke a little, they release their aroma and are ready. Be sure to let them cool before chopping.

Native Americans
Long before Europeans arrived in North America Native Americans were using pecans as an important food source. Indeed, the native life and their nomadic existence revolved around the pecan tree and its life-sustaining nut. Archaeologists have shown a major concentration of campsites in the immediate areas of the heaviest native pecan stands. Native Americans came in great numbers and concentrated in the river valleys in the fall to harvest pecans. Hunting and all other activities took place from their pecan valley headquarters. In some communities these Native Americans depended on the pecan as their major food resource for about 4 months of the year.

Many varieties of pecans (there are over 1,000) are named for Native American tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.

Seans Panaroma-Bondi

Neally ate my own calf the other night at a great dinner at Sean's. Geebung veal was on the menu,...opted for the aged grass feed sirloin form Tasmania,....bloody yum.

Our cattle

Our cattle are all Angus they came from an original mob of 30 cows from Adaminaby and they were guaranteed to be good "doers" able to make good on poor country and forage for a feed. Those original 30 cows are now just only 10 but their daughters and granddaughters are all part of our herd. I like the Angus because the cows are great mothers and they are tractable. We source bulls from the local area. The cows have very little supplemental feeding they get by on grass and a few pecans. In winter when the frost and the cold knock the grass around we supplement their feed with organic copra meal. The meal is a by-product of coconut oil manufacture. Coconut oil is extracted by grating or grinding copra to produce the coconut oil - the by-product or solid residue is known as Copra Cake or Copra Meal. Its high oil levels and protein mean the cattle keep condition all year round provided their is enough bulk to keep them happy. Even better they seem to love the taste of it and come running to get it!

Murrays Run

Where is Murrays Run?

It is 15 km southwest from Wollombi and 7.5 kms south west of Laguna Murrays Run was discovered and settled by Europeans in 1822. We are aproximately 350m above sea level. After a prolonged drought in Sydney Andrew Murray, James Milson and John Blaxland combined their herds and made an exploratory drive looking pasture for their cattle.

They set off from Castle Hill late 1822 and headed North. Reaching the Hawkesbury River they swam their herd of 1000 plus cattle across the river and headed upwards through the hill country. Reaching the escarpment they travelled along the mountaintops before descending into the valley. Andrew Murray’s cattle were left in what was to be known as Murrays Run whilst Blaxland’s ere left at Blanxlands Arm and Milson’s at Milsons Arm.

The rich valley pasture sustained the cattle and formed the basis of healthy grazing properties. Andrew Murray was granted title to 1280 acres and squatted on an additional 1280 acres while waiting for the title to be granted. Thomas Mitchell NSW’s Surveyor General and the man responsible for the Great North Road mentioned Murrays Run in 1829, whilst surveying/exploring nearby. The Great North Road was the first road into the Hunter Valley it was built by 3000 convicts under conditions of considerable severity and hardship between 1826 and 1834. Remnants such as stone culverts, bridges and retaining walls remain, particularly in the area between Wollombi and Wisemans Ferry including the Murrays Run Culvert.

The original inhabitants of the locality were either the Darkinjang, Awabakal or Wanaruah Aboriginal peoples, depending on the source. There are a number of historic Aboriginal sites in the surrounding countryside which is thought to have been used as a ceremonial meeting place. There are rock engravings, hand stencils, tribal markings and other images in caves, shelters and outcrops.

Geebung Produce