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Hobbit Hort

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Market gardening

27/05/2026

Drizzle adding up to a few mm today - lovely picking weather. The kale, branchu, and farmers, were all feeling perky.

08/05/2026

A few years ago we crossed a modern supersweet corn with a cold and drought hardy maize. We were trying to get a sweet corn that is better suited to Tasmania than anything on offer at the time, and we did. We also got some interesting colours turning up in our sweet corn, since the cold hardy maize was a dark coloured variety. The kernels of our new variety can be anything from white to orange, and sometimes have rose tips. Sometimes cobs that have plain yellow kernels have a red core, or husk, or silks. We haven't tried to stabilise the colour - we just take whatever we get! (Pictures taken after they're steamed)

17/04/2026

The cherry tomatoes were such an enjoyable crop, until the rosellas started enjoying them too. Not only do they toss away ripe fruits after having just a nibble, they snip off whole trusses of green fruits with their strong beaks, and just drop them on the ground untouched. Not cute and not funny. Turd birds.

11/04/2026

Another passata making day for Keisha and mummy's team!

15/03/2026

Sue Bailey The Mercury Newspaper has written a big piece on the drought and other issues facing Tassie farmers, including the government's plan to make it illegal to sell leaf vegetables for raw use, (without government accreditation, audits, and fees). She put us on the front page of the Mercury, (Sunday 15th of March)! Thanks Sue, you're a gem.
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01/03/2026

Today the submersible pump that draws water from the main dam for most of our irrigation stopped delivering, and when we went to investigate, this is what we saw. Yesterday was the end of the fourth Summer since the last time we had water flowing in the creek that fills our dams. We have maybe 2 weeks of water left in the main dam, if we are lucky. Still, it isn't our first drought, and won't be the last, and we still have some tricks up our sleeve.

It takes years for a farm to change gears, and in the last 3 years of drought we have already dropped a couple of gears to climb this hill. We might need 4WD, low range, and 1st gear before we are through. We have been breeding new vegetable varieties and developing new crop types, with better drought hardiness. Our edamame crops, for example, (now in their 2nd commercial year), use about a fifth of the water that our conventional vegetables do, and we have bred a new sweet corn that is more cold and drought hardy. While most modern orchards use dwarfing root stocks to save pruning, we have been changing to taller root stocks that withstand drought, and we control tree height with Summer pruning instead. These changes have helped, but they are slow, and are more likely to pull us through the next drought than this one. More than anything, droughts just need toughness. Droughts mean longer hours, less sleep, more physical work, more wear on your body, and on your mind, as you watch crop after crop, that you slaved for, give a fraction of what it should, or fail altogether.

Well at least Joe got to play in the water and mud this evening, digging a new hole for the submersible pump!

21/02/2026

What a delight to have the Foodies, from Tasman District School, at our place on Thursday. Good to see our old mates who came along last year, and meet some new ones. Beau crossed two different vegetables that will give us a new broccoletto variety, (and spotted the pupae of some wasps that had helpfully killed a caterpillar for us), Micah hand-pollinated a crookneck squash to help us save some pure seed, (well, it would have been pure, if not for some bumblebees who thought they were helping...), the lads picked the zucchini flowers, the whole mob informed me that the crab-apples are ready to pick... Thanks for having a go Foodies, we hoped you picked up some useful knowledge along the way!

22/01/2026

Some people like big fat Spring onions; I love to pick skinny little ones because they are more tender. Every morning I chop 2 skinny Spring onions, mix them with 2 of our duck eggs (beaten with some water), some chopped tofu and pinch of salt. Steamed and finished with soya sauce. This is my breakfast every morning.

18/01/2026

Her mains (fried cod and rice) are hidden under the pea shoots, and miso soup as the side. So we covered 3 continents tonight 😉

25/12/2025

The best Christmas gift, RAIN 🌧️! Hope you all have a merry time with family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 🎊 From us, the Hobbits.

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909 Saltwater River Road, Hobart
Tas
7186

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