Ep 008 - Self Sufficient Me, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Island Cocktails Featuring Mark Valencia

Before we start Seedy Chats we'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri country, the land on which we garden. Our land's first gardeners and caretakers. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Welcome to Seedy Chats, the podcast where imperfect gardeners, Avril, that's me, and Bernadette, hi, that's me, chat about our favorite topics, gardening and life. So whether you're new to gardening, a seasoned pro or somewhere in between, join us on our journey to be mindful in gardening and life in general. Thanks so much for joining us. Before we start, before we start, I've got a quick story. I don't know if you noticed, we sometimes start our podcast with a little story. I noticed that you're kind of local to North Lakes shopping center. Oh, well I do. I do frequent there. Yes. Yes. I am. Are you ready for this story, Mike? My husband's family are all in that area and I went up there one year for Christmas. I had to get the eyelashes tinted and extended. I don't know if you know what it is, but basically women get the tiniest tears on their bodies and we ask someone to put them in a different shape. And so I was in that shop in the North Lake shopping center. um and you know just just trying to get some air conditioning to be honest and um so i got my eyelashes tinted and they super glue them down on this little piece of plastic in a curled shape and then they permed them and when they did that the fire alarm went off and i'm in the fire industry and i so i do take it quite seriously but i thought what do i do here my eyes are super glued shut What did you do? I decided to sit there and burn to death for the sake of beauty. I just thought, look, if it's a real emergency, the fire is all coming. Give me a bucket of water over your head to help you. Anyway, turns out it was fun. You can't really, I mean, if you move, you run the risk of going into the fire. Yeah, that's true. You gotta wake up. That's true. Wake up. You would have to go by feel, and that would be difficult. And of course I'm trying to, of course the person I'm instantly mad at is my husband because he didn't anticipate that he might need to be by my side. And I'm like where the hell is he? Okay so for our listeners we've got Mark Valencia with us, famously from the YouTube channel Self Sufficient Me. A brief little introduction, you're retired from the Australian Army, so that was 21 years of service in the Army, married with two boys and a passionate gardener. specifically focusing on self-sufficiency. You live just north of Brizzy, which is a subtropical area on a three acre property, but I think I've read that you've got about 300 metres of that dedicated to gardening. And your YouTube channel Self Sufficient Me, which I just, you know, as someone who's followed it for many years, I just wanna thank you for all the awesome content you've put out there in my gardening journey, specifically. I don't think there's anything that I've ever searched for that you haven't had a video on. And there's a lot of stuff that you've done that's inspired me. So I love what you put out there. Even though you've got all that other stuff, all those other achievements, I think what you are first and foremost is a teacher and a dad joke teller. So thanks for joining us on the show today. Thank you. And thank you as well, because I have followed you through Bernadette. So I didn't know about Self Sufficient Me. And it was Bernadette that introduced me. And I have learned so much in the short time by watching your YouTube. Well, thanks for, you know, thank you for inviting me on the show and finding me out and sourcing me and supporting me on my channel because it's still surreal to me. I mean, yeah, you can say 1.8 million subscribers is huge. I thought 10,000 was a great milestone to get to. And so yeah, over a million is just amazing, but you know, I'm still a YouTuber. I'm not like, I'm not Russell Crowe. I might look a bit like him. There is a bit of a resemblance there. Yeah. And so when I get recognized at Bunnings, you know, and I get a selfie, maybe. Bunnings, North Lakes, not Morrowfield. Morrowfield's not as good, eh? Yeah, any bunnings. Any bunnings, you know, or anywhere really. Antifungus markets. I just I just love it. I mean, it's just like, oh, gee, did you did you see that, Nina? You know, my wife actually knew who I was. It's it's still nice for me. It's like in our circles and YouTube, it's a fairly it seems like, you know. you're in it and you're in that whirlpool and a lot of people know you but in reality you know you're just a drop in the ocean and every supporter I find and everyone that appreciates what I do is a real buzz for me and you know it always has been and I think it always will be. I thought a good way to start off with we've touched on some of your intro but I thought a good way to help people understand a bit of your journey. might be to start off with one of the questions that we ask all of our interviewees, which is what's one of your first gardening memories? Oh, gee, that's a good question. Well, it is with my grandfather picking strawberries out the back window. So we would have, they lived in Toowoomba, the street was called Plant Street, and it all comes together, doesn't it? And... where the back landing was very small. It was just a, it wasn't wood, it wasn't a back deck. It was more like a very old style home that had the concrete back landing about two feet high. If you know what I mean? And it was, and it was maroon, painted maroon concrete. Yeah, yeah. Well, that drop down was a beautiful little spot. It was sort of part shaded and in spring and summer, the strawberries just loved it. And you had that volcanic soil. and they would just, my grandfather did no maintenance to them. Year after year, they would just keep on propagating themselves, putting runners out. They do that, don't they? Yeah, it was just this massive beautiful green and I would be out there searching through, you know, as a, well, three, five-year-old, searching through finding these big red strawberries and they were the sweetest, most beautiful thing to gorge yourself on and that's, that would be one of my first gardening memories for sure. And what about one of your first memories in the property that you're in now? Well in 2006 when we moved here I made these square, I just thought, I'd started in ground and that was too hard for me to bend over because even back then I was getting too old. And you've got an old injury don't you? An old parachuting injury. Yeah I've got pieces missing off me and they took my whole latissimus out to replace my forearm that was lost during a parachuting accident. A lot of things went wrong that day and anyway I ended up shattering my arm, I hit the airstrip, broke my coccyx and ankles but survived. But the process of what the damage was done when I went out the door of the aircraft, wrapped around my wrist and I was effectively caught between the aircraft and anyway I won't get too graphic but I ended up it ended up smashing me briefly against the plane as then my arm released but the the spiral fracturing of my forearm munged up that muscle and it was couldn't be saved so they did this fantastic surgery of removing a whole big back muscle Um, and then putting that where the forearm used to be, and then covering that with some skin from my left thigh. And after about 12 months, I got my hand back. And, uh, if I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, you wouldn't know because I look quite dexterous. Yeah. But, but yeah. So where was I going with that? Your first memory of having the, you started in the ground? Oh yeah, yes. So I've made the, so my first memory there is, I thought, well, let's make some raised beds so I don't have to bend over as much. So I got these sleepers and I put them on top of each other. They were 2.4 by 2.4 meters, made this square and then filled it with dirt and realized I couldn't reach the middle. Oh my god that's what I've done here. Mine's three meters by four meters. Yeah that's what I've done and I can never bloody get to anything. I've got these tiny little walkways and I'm always cursing. Yeah it drives me nuts. Well I'm still there Mark. I still yeah I put up with it for years. I don't know why. But I eventually cut keyholes in so that I could reach that centre because that centre was just growing weeds and I've landscaped my entire garden around it. You'll actually you'll actually have to send Mark a picture because there's not much pretty I can do. Mine's four by three and I literally have to dive in like Scrooge McDuck into his coins to try and harvest steady. So now I just grow like sunflowers in the middle. Yeah yeah yeah yeah you could get away with that. Yeah I was I tried a lot of stupid things like putting bricks in the middle and then the grass grew through the bricks. and I couldn't pull it out properly. And yeah, but that was my first big mistake or major mistake. And when I realized, I don't know heck of a lot about gardening as much as I thought I might know. I've never openly admitted it to my husband that it was a mistake, but I guess he'll hear it on the podcast. Cause I was like, no, this is definitely what I want. And you know what, Brenda, he's probably, he knows. He knows, but he's ignoring it. He sees he's going to have to fix it. He sees me struggle. Great, well, a one fantastic memory with the strawberries. And not so good memory. You know what I loved about those strawberries is just the thought of, because strawberries, I know we always go on about it, but it's a bit like tomatoes. The ones you get from the supermarket these days are just rubbish compared to what you would have been eating then as a kid. Yeah, they're big and pumped up. They look nice on the supermarket shelf. but they're a lot of the time hydroponically grown and they're just sort of pumped up with liquid and they don't taste very well at all. And they pick them on point. So strawberries won't ripen off the plants. So they pick them as they're just the red. If you leave them go a bit of a darker red, that's when the plant pumps the sugars in that final stage into the fruit and it gives it that beautiful flavor. A flavour where it actually tastes like a strawberry. Like a strawberry, like used to. Yeah. But unfortunately they don't transport very well because they're a little bit softer. And that's where they, commercially, they've got to pick them on point rather than when they're perfectly ripe and better to eat. And plus the way they grow them. So sad, like how the production, how we, yeah, it's, this is where I get to where I think that we overcomplicate things. Like, let's just not have strawberries unless they're seasonal and great. Like we'd, yeah, but we make it so difficult, don't we? Like just, yeah, I don't know. I'd rather not have them. I know. And some of them recently I've been buying for my children, is that I'm cutting off the tops of them. They're completely white at the top. Oh, exactly. not right. No, they're not. And then I'm sprinkling them, close your ears, with like sugar. Yeah. So they eat them. I'm like, what are we doing? I'm giving them a lolly. Like, it's, yeah, icing sugar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, I hear you. All people put, you know, like strawberries and ice cream always go nice together, but... It seems like you have to now. I know, to get the flavor. Make it palatable. Yeah, yeah, no, you're right. And there is a fantastic farm just outside Sydney called Berrylicious. Have you ever seen them? And they advertise like you can go and pick them. And they probably are hydroponically grown because they're in white lung tubes. But these strawberries just fall over. I mean, it'd be a beautiful thing to do with the kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they probably will be a bit riper than picking them up in the supermarket. But exactly. Yeah, even that would be better. Yeah. I like supporting local. Yeah. And do they do that just typically or is it like at the end of the season? No, they open. Just when they're tired and they don't want to pick the lockers. And lately we don't have any foreign workers like, you know, as an Irish backpacker, I came to Australia the coast and I and I fruit picked and I loved it. It was great. It was tough work and I I made no money. I think at the time I was a social smoker and I think I made one week enough to buy two packets of cigarettes. Winnie's Blues back then, no doubt. Packet 20's. Were you picking strawberries? I did pick strawberries and tomatoes. How hard is it? It's so bad. I've done that. And that was my first job out of school. Really? Yeah. Well, there's a lot of strawberry farms in Queensland, isn't there? Yeah. Yeah. I rode up Mount Kynock. I used to live in Toowoomba, rode my Melbourne Star up Mount Kynock and went to the strawberry farm there. And it would have been nine hours of picking. Did you get one of those skateboards that you scoot along on? That would have been good. Oh, gosh. So you were... Not in those days. I just had a little pair of of nail clippers or nail scissors and you know and a tray. Yep. And I've made, that was my first paycheck in that nine hours I made about $2.70. I know yeah. I wouldn't even buy a pack of strawberries these days. No. No. And looking back now, so I remember when I was picking tomatoes, I worked with, so it was in Tully. And I worked with these islanders. They were great workers and they felt so sorry for me. So the containers were pretty big that we had to fill when we picked the tomatoes. And they used to fill half containers and give them to me. They felt so bad for me. How nice. Well, that's a good strategy. I was so worked out. And for me, it was more it was more kind of help me. I wasn't like that. I mean, I was nervous because there was a lot of wildlife I didn't want to encounter. We had a lot of snakes. There was a lot of snakes and I was really petrified because we have no snakes in Ireland so it's just so alien to me but when I think of those men they were fantastic and I would be up on the back of the ute at like 4 30 in the morning and I'd be thinking why have I done this? I've come to Australia to backpack. What am I doing with my life? But I loved it, it was great. You met so many awesome people. Your mum and dad are like have you seen any wildlife? You're like I was versed really early on with snakes in Australia and rats because then I went to pick bananas and... We call them, well, humping bananas, I think it is. I know, I hope I'm saying that. You hump a banana, so they put it and it falls onto your shoulder. It's just like when you were rooting in your boot. Yeah, a little bit like that. It could be. Is that not a heard term, Mike, to when you're picking bananas, hump bananas? I haven't heard of humping bananas. Really? No. All right, again. Never heard of it, but I like the term. Yeah, and then I, because there were so many rats in the banana fields. It's just giving me a different mental image. When there were so many rats in the banana and they were they were really massive aggressive rats then I moved into the packing shed because I was like I've had enough of that I can't help anymore. Was this up at Tully the bananas? Yes yeah as well. There were massive rats around Tully. Huge. Tully and up north there when we exercised in the army up there yeah you had to be zip your blumen sleeping bag up tight I'll tell you it wasn't snakes it was rats. Yeah and there was the sugarcane fields as well like we I never I never done any sugar cane farming but I could just imagine what lived in there. You could make a movie out of it. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, sorry. That went on about what strawberries there. Shifting gears, a little goal of mine this year is to grow 30% of all the produce that we eat. Yep. just turning out to be most of what I grow is leafy greens. So I've switched gears to potatoes just for a while. Do you know how much of your own produce you would grow for your family? Well, most of the greens, at least, most of the veggies and probably definitely all the citrus very occasionally, like in between a season. So the other day we were gonna have a few cocktails and we... we only had one lemon on our lemon tree. A lot of green ones, but only, yeah, but usually say nine months of the year, you've got a lemon, but maybe three months over this time as that next season flush is growing, you're missing out. It's the same with limes. Limes are usually probably 10 months of the year you've got a lime, but at the moment where the limes are small and... It's been a funny season and I've noticed that lemons have skyrocketed in price too. So I'm wondering if that's the same kind all over the place. Right, yeah, okay. Yeah, I've noticed that. It's been a little bit of a slow start. Yeah, yeah. Although my lemon tree is going really well, but my lemons are only the size of a thimble at the moment. So first year I've had it. I was going to say is that they're pretty new. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But your tree that I've seen on your channel, I mean, it's hundreds of lemons. Oh, the citrus here, love it. It's great too because it's clay soil, so not a lot of trees like that environment, especially like avocados comes to mind. And it's nice if you can find a tree that adapts to your soil and climate, and you also like the fruit, because then you just exploit it. So the citrus here is just incredible. And we still got oranges on our tree, and we're nearly in summer. And we've had oranges from June or so all the way through, because you have the Washington that starts first, then you've got the Lanes late navel that comes after the Washington. And then you've got a blood orange in between that. And then the Valencia, which is a great name by the way. It is. The Valencia hangs on that tree all the way into summer, and then you can just pluck them off when you need them. So you've got. oranges all that time. You've got hundreds of fruit trees on your property. What do you do with all that produce? Oh, we give it away if we can't eat it, or we put it back into the compost. We give it to the hens. Yep. We use it in one way or another. Even I still think letting the excess fruit drop underneath the fruit tree and letting that naturally composting is another way. I mean, I'll not say old days. A modern, I think a semi-modern thing was don't, especially in a fruit drop on the ground because you can just get more fruit fly. I kind of disagree with that. I think that that's still a really good thing to do. And I was listening to a show, can't remember when it was on, but it was a Greek farmer down south, I think it was New South Wales in one of his peach or stone fruit orchards. And he was just letting all that fruit drop underneath the trees. And I asked him why he was doing that. And he said, well, it's just natural. the trees will produce fruit and then that's that natural fertilizer for them if the animals don't eat it. So that's what I do and that's why his orchard looks so great and he saves on fertilizer. Yep. And yeah, so it makes sense to me to do that, but we, you know, don't get me wrong. We try to preserve as much as possible. I was going to say preserving. Yeah. Yeah, we preserve heaps. How do you preserve? Well, there's lots of ways. Freezing is one of the easiest. Freezing, you know blanching and freezing food. Dehydration through just hot air like a cheap dehydrator or using the sun to dry out your food like sun dried tomatoes is a great example. You can freeze you can freeze dry that's more of an expensive option but you can do you have a freeze dryer i do that's a dream it's a dream wow brenna does anyone listening to this podcast that's so cool that's so so do you add anything for them to free because i love freeze-dried fruit no you just put it in the tray put it in the freeze dryer and you don't add anything no no that's it a lot of herbs when you dry them lose their flavour. I do a lot of them just air drying. Yes. Or if you even if you use the dehydrator that heat can take a bit of the flavour away but if you use the freeze dryer it locks in the flavour. I love fruit like fruit. Exactly. I love berries. Oh yeah. In your cereal. Oh my lord. They're amazing, they are amazing, yeah. Yeah, so, but that is a little bit more of an expensive option to do that, but it still is an option that people say, oh, you know, you're spending all that money on that, but you can, you can justify it in a way, if you're a real foodie, and you think that's an investment, that's the way I look at it, like you might get a really nice stove and cooker or cooktop. Yeah, kind of a nice car because you want to be comfortable if you're driving to work or whatever you're using a lot. So if it's practical and it costs a bit and it's a good tool. I don't see the problem in it. Same with a raised garden bed. That's right. And it's going to last. Mark, I saw a jar of, you know, dehydrated. So the dehydrated oranges and stuffing slices is really popular in cocktails at the moment. Lemons, lime, oranges. I saw a jar of them for $38 for this big jar. And I just thought far out, like, you know, it is an investment to buy some of this equipment. But my dehydrator, I think was $40. And I use it all the time. preserve a lot of produce. And when you're talking about just sustainability and carbon footprint, instead of throwing out those apples that maybe you ordered a few too many or they've come off the orchard or you haven't quite got to them, my one-year-old daughter loves them dehydrated and little sized. She loves it. Yeah. Yeah. And I love knowing where it came from and I'd love that feeling when you do something yourself and you pop it on the shelf. That's right. And Bernadette's great at, you know, using your produce and preserving. I have to get a little bit better. I love growing and then I'll just use it there and then and then I'm giving it away. But I need to do and I was I was looking at your video, Mark, for Worcestershire sauce. I was like, I've had so many plums. That's my next one with my next recipe with plums. It's perfect way to use them up. It's great. Like. You know, I got a lot of blowback over that video. Oh, really? Worcestershire sauce, where you're from, is made through anchovy fermentation. Oh. And so- I never knew that. Yeah. Although I do. Because I called it cheekily Worcestershire sauce and made it with plums, people were saying you should call it a plum sauce. But the sauce that gave it to me, See what I did there? Yeah. The source where I got it from. Yeah. They told me that this was their Worcestershire sauce. And I carried that name on. Yes. Even though the hero ingredient is plums. Right. And... And I still stand by it and it tastes like a Worcestershire sauce. I can tell you right now personally, I'd rather the plum originated one than the anchovy one. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, no, I could nearly taste it as you were pouring it over. But that's a good example, isn't it? Sources, apples. when they're dehydrated, they become more concentrated and that sweetness is better. I did that with the boys for school. I was gonna say, what did you find with your boys that they like, that you grew or made? Oh, exactly, all those things. Made your own roll mops. So there wasn't any sugar added. Yep. It's just concentrated. puree, you know, from different fruits that you have in the in the garden, mangoes and all that. Freeze your mangoes and then puree it later if you need to and then dehydrate it, make it into roll mops and they're good healthy snacks. There's no added extra sugar into them and just a simple apple dehydrated and kept in a jar even without an oxygenator or an oxygen thingy in it. It'll keep for weeks or months even without going soggy. And even if they do go a bit chewy or leathery, it doesn't matter. With a cheese board, a bit of a chewy one, I like that. I do the, look it over, there's no mold, we're good to go. It's fine. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Even with the granola. Unless I'm canning things where I'm continuously petrified that I'm gonna give the family botulism, but I just make sure we all eat it together so that we all go at once. If that's what happens. We all go together. Do you can? I didn't realise you can. I do can. Do you can, Mike? Do you can feed? Yeah, yeah, we do as well. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Not meats at this stage, and that's... going back to your original question, that's probably the most things that we do buy is the proteins. Yes. That's what we go hunting for, the proteins and the things that we can't grow or make. But yeah, most of the veggies we do our own, but canning vegetables. Uh, and, and fermentation is another thing that I love doing. Yeah. It's our crowd. And it's so good for you as well. It's, it's good for you. Yeah. Good health and. Oh, for sure. It's, it's, it's almost a necessity these days because our diet can be so processed that we're missing out on a lot of that natural gut bacteria that we'd normally consume, um, and even a lot of sauerkraut that you buy in the store is. heat treated. So it's all that bacteria is dead. It tastes pretty good. Yeah. It makes sense to me because I bought one recently and it like popped off and fizzed. And I read the side of the jar and it said, this is a live sauerkraut. I thought, Oh, what the heck's going on? And that's what you want. That's what I didn't realize that the rest of them that don't. Yeah, that they actually have to state that it was live is worrying. Yeah, right. I actually saw another one of your videos, you were doing kale sauerkraut in your, with your sauerkraut as well, which I love because kale here for us grows really well, but a lot of people hate kale. I don't get it. But that's a really great way to use it because I often say to people grow what grows easily. Yeah, and kale is one of those things that one of the most practiced antioxidant foods you can grow. I mean, I hate Brussels sprouts. I don't think I've grown on them. They're terrible to grow too, that long. I think they're so strange. And they're huge, they took up so much room. They go for ages. Yeah, but kale, yeah, if you don't like it, well then pickle it, because it really changes its flavor and it's extra nice and then extra good for you. And actually, because it is a bit firmer. it would suit a pickle because it still holds that crunch a bit instead of going to Sock City. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Mark, what are you going to have on your Christmas table? Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes. Yeah, you do? And what's going to be on your table? Probably too much. Yes, that's good. That's good. What's going to be on your Christmas table for... Well, speaking of sun dried tomatoes before, that's definitely on there and they look nice and Christmassy too. Yeah, they do. That's a good one. Beautiful. Can you talk me through that? Because of all the things I've done, I've never done sun dried tomatoes because I'm a little bit scared of just putting them out in the weather. I don't know. Flies landing on them. Yeah, use your dehydrator. Okay. Yeah, because especially if it's a humid week or day, because it might take several days. If you're in... Not in Canberra, but we're pretty good. But if you're anywhere else in the world with humidity, that's a good tip. Yeah, Canberra, South Australia might be pretty good to do it outside in summer because of that dry heat. And you could put it underneath some fly screen. And like... People use an old window frame with the window in, if they've done any renos or they get it from the local, you know, dump or something like that or off the whatever. They can, you use that window frame and you can still open that window, but you put a backing on it and some, just some ledges. And you can then put your fruit inside that or your cut tomatoes. bit of salt on them, a bit of basil as well if you want sprinkled on it, but just sun-dried, just tomatoes with a bit of salt on the top. And then you can shut that window up and you have the bottom open and the top open and it creates a draft that goes through and that can naturally dehydrate those tomatoes. The most easiest way is if you just put a bit of a net over them and put them on a table out in the sun. And that's the easiest way they do it in the Mediterranean. I do it in a dehydrator because then you're not worried about flies or anything like that. And yeah, it takes probably 12 to 24 hours on a low, very low heat. Are you cutting them in half? Yeah, usually it depends on the size, but most of the time it's in half. Even if it's quite a large roma tomato, like I had some gladiator tomatoes, they're massive, but I still didn't like, I still cut them only in half, sprinkle them with some salt. and then let them dehydrate, took quite a while, but they dehydrated down to these lovely big ear sized tomatoes. And then what you do is you can put them just straight in a jar of olive oil with some chopped garlic and some herbs in there and they'll naturally flavor up. But if worried a little bit about... bacteria getting in there and still staying in those tomatoes, a lot of people, including the Italians, will make a little bit of a vinegar, part vinegar, say maybe a cup of vinegar, a cup of water, and some herbs and spices, and they will just boil those. tomatoes up for about five minutes or simmer them for about five minutes, bring it to the boil, throw the tomatoes in, simmer for about five minutes, and then pat them dry, put them in that oil mixture. and then you've got no worries about any bacteria. Yeah, right. I am doing that this year. It's a great one for the Christmas table, I love it. Yeah, and it also gives them a touch of that vinegar taste. I'm drooling. Not too much, but just that tad, and it really enhances that flavour. So that's the way we do it, and we've got them ready to go, and I've been saving them for months, actually. Tomato season is still going at the moment here, but I'm just saving this particular bottle. because it'll be really infused and beautiful. And I think the family will just love it. And also I'm doing eggplant, the Italian way. So it's not cooked eggplant, it's not char grilled on an antipasto. It's actually raw, but you salt it, leave it overnight, get most of the liquid out of it. Then you give it a bit of a soak in water so that it's not too salty. And then you just pretty much. add it into a jar of olive oil with some garlic and let that infuse for a few weeks. And that's all it practically is. And the garlic that you're putting into this oil, is it just fresh garlic that you're just chopping up and putting it into the opele? Yes, it's just fresh garlic. Yeah. Fresh garlic and herbs. And that served up with some crusty bread is a big hit at Christmas. We've done that for several years. And eggplants or any other international list is that's aubergine. I think. Yes. Because when I came to Australia, I had to learn. You'll all be familiar with the emoji. Oh yes, it does come up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. There are lovely options. So speaking of garlic, bit of an Achilles heel for you, Mark. Not something that grows as well in a subtropical. It doesn't grow? Doesn't grow? Well, it's a cold, it's, I guess, famously a cold climate. I do happen to have here. Oh, here we go. I did get reserved champion for my garlic in the local horticultural festival. Oh, you champion. Look at that, and she is. Oh, I am jealous. That's something I could never do. She actually wears this to our local shop. Yeah, so you should. Look, it's one of, garlic for me is the first crop that I've nailed. I know when to do it, how to do it, do. What was that for you? What was the first look it's a bit it's probably it probably grows like a weed down here it's probably easier but what was that first crop where you did that now you're like I just know what I'm doing. Yeah I still have failures with garlic if you get a really wet summer no winter sorry because we grow it through the winter and it then it gets some leaf diseases. The bulbs aren't never as good as that could be. But other winters and other seasons, I mean, it's just like normal farming. We, I've made a point, yes, where I know how to do it. And that just comes after lots of practice and trying to work out and also read and other people's experience in subtropical climates on how to grow things that you can't typically grow. I love that challenge. I love trying to grow things that I'm not supposed to, like stone fruits up here, low chill varieties of those things. And other people love it too, so much so that there's actually a bit of a growth in trying to get low chill varieties of things that you couldn't usually grow in a warmer climate that you now can because people have cross-bred them. and made hybrids and made these types of fruit trees that are lower chill than they typically were. There's actually a podcast that I listen to, he's a garlic grower in America, generations of garlic growing and he said when you take seed from, you know, when you've bought seed, it can take three or four years, the bulbs to acclimatise to your area. So sometimes if you plant them and you get a bit of an average crop of garlic, but if to adjust. Makes sense. For sure that's a really good point. That's an excellent point and that might be part of my success with being able to grow it better now because I typically use our own seed. The tenacity of just yeah keep keep trying. Yeah and it's the same with most crops and even tomatoes. We had some works done here we're doing some reno's and we dug up some soil at the back shed because through all this wet weather we were having at the start of the year, my shed was getting constantly flooded in. And anyway, we dug out a whole heap of soil, put gravel down and put in drainage. And all that soil got dumped in the middle of our backyard, just in front of the veggie garden. You don't often see it on camera. Well, I cut that bit out, because it looks too untidy. But it grew a whole heap of weeds and everything on top. But then three tomato plants grew out of that. and they're the most biggest, loveliest, Tommy Toe tomatoes ever. And it's getting into summer and the plants are still going really well. So yes, we've been eating them, but I've taken two and I've put them inside the shed and I'm letting them just dehydrate down slowly and I'm going to save the seed for them because I know that those plants are more acclimatized and I'm going to be reusing them. because they'll perform better than anything else. That's such an important point. So if you do have something that performs really well in your garden, your instinct might be that very best perfect tomato is the one that you want to eat. But actually, that's the one you want to save for seed. It's heartbreaking, right? Yeah. Some people are walking into your shed going, oh. If you had a lettuce that didn't bolt early and all the rest of them did, the one that did what you wanted it to do, that's what you should save the seeds. It's always a good thing. It's a really good thing, a really good lesson. Yeah. Yes. It is. Oh, yeah. I have something written down here, Mark. If you were to go to a desert island and bring some plants with you, what would you bring? What would you grow on that island? Well, tomatoes. Yeah. It's desert. And if I could get it growing, you know, I could do peaks of sun dried tomatoes. I love them. That's what you would, yeah. Anything else? Yeah, yeah. But no, seriously, tomatoes is one of those, you know, foods that you can, you can make all sorts of things with and you can make sauces that goes with other foods. So, and plus that liposine that's in tomatoes is really great for sun protection. It has antioxidants. Yeah. So if you're on a desert island and you're eating tomatoes. Perfect one for our Irish complexions. It is. Yeah. Yeah. So that would be number one, I reckon. Um, so, um, but other veggies, desert. Oh, desert's hard cause it's sand. Probably not a very good. If you were on an island with, let's pretend that you're on an island and there's a volcano and it's got good soil. What is it? What only veggies or fruit trees? Anything. No, yeah. Anything. Yeah. And how many can I take? Five. Five. You're top. Okay. Top five. You're top five. Five. All right. So well, tomatoes, potatoes, part of the same family, but you need that for energy. You really to sustain life. You can even make alcohol from potatoes as well. Oh yeah. Or patching. Yeah, like, yeah. There you go. And oh, you've got tomatoes, potatoes. You've got a Bloody Mary. You do. You do have Bloody Mary. This is great. So you've got cocktails on the beach. Maybe we need some citrus. This is starting to turn into a really good holiday. Maybe we need some citrus so we can dehydrate for the cocktails as well. Oh, yeah. So a lemon or a lime and some mint. And you can make mojitos as well. I think I could live off mojitos or if I could and I'd be happy to die. I mean, it's just something we're thinking about, right? Yeah, yeah. I did a video not so long ago, six foods that would, that you should grab to save you from starving. Yeah. That went really well. I think it's up to nearly two million views now. And potatoes was one of them because of the sustainability of it. But I didn't think about the vodka. The old garlic. I am now. It's something I'm gonna have a crack at. Do you think that video went so well because people are more, I don't wanna say concerned. Aware. Aware of the price of food and limitations with food. Yeah, it's growing. I think that we are living in times where people are getting more concerned about the rising cost of living and also the taste and the... a lot of people still remember when they were children what a banana tastes like and green bananas that you get in the the coals and that I'm not anti big farming or anti-ag or anything I just wish that that they were able to do it when we were kids make bananas taste nice and pick them right like strawberries and like tomatoes like we like we were just saying before. But I think that's a combination of wanting to get that old taste back. And even if they are young, they're getting told by people like us how good they used to taste. And they want to taste that. And when they travel or whatever, they might come across a place that grows them. It doesn't even have to be a third world country or anything. It could be France, where they grow heirloom tomatoes and you see them all the time in the markets. tasting a real tomato growing and ripening on the vine, an old stale tomato, it's just a different experience. And kids are such a good barometer for that. If a kid eats something and they don't like it, but if you grow it at home, they probably would. I have, Callan, my little boy, he's four, and he's my... Awkward eater Ava is amazing. She like she's cave woman. She grabs bones and she loves her vegetables. But Callan is completely different. As long as it's just resembles pasta, he will eat it. But when he's in the garden with me, he picks beans, he'll eat dirty carrots. Let's just wash that first. But I'm like, it is amazing. And the same with strawberries. I mean, he loves berries in general, whether they're shop bought or grown. to him is like he it's so true Bernadette like and it's not just taste to get up on the soapbox for a minute too a hundred years ago food was a lot better for us and we have to eat a lot more of the same foods now to get the benefits that we used to so there's a lot of other benefits to growing it yourself and that's right comes from yeah because you can add in your your your ingredients can't you you know like you're well you've got your quail and Yeah, yeah, that's right. And we don't have the pressures in the backyard that commercial farmers do of producing a massive crop and sustaining that and having it all ripen at the same time so that you can transport it properly. We can have things ripen at different times. We can grow crops that ripen tomatoes, not at all at the same time, but they just ripen at different times. That suits us as home gardeners because we don't want to glut all the time. So we can use organic manures and cow manure in our soil and we can barter and haggle through other people around our neighbourhood and community and get what we need and grow a more organic type of way at a sustainable way because yeah, we don't really have to provide for a supermarket or something like that. So those are the advantages and then you get the advantages produce that's full of nutrients. And the mental health benefits of just being out in the garden. Well, that's a whole new thing. Well, we actually did do a podcast with a pharmacist on the health benefits, but we could sit and talk a whole podcast to you, Mark, about... We could. There was one thing I wanted to challenge you with, Mark, before we finish up today. I don't see many flowers in your garden. That's true. I probably should have more, hey. Yes. like marigolds and that. We do actually grow quite a lot of nasturtiums. Yes, they're beautiful. Yeah, they're great. Yeah. They're edible. You know, you can eat the seed pods. Oh, yes, you can pickle them. Are they like little, they're like chickpeas. They're almost like a paper. Yeah, is it? Because I've just dug loads out of our, because we're community garden together, Mark, and out of the community garden, I've just, and I was thinking, can I eat them? I was thinking, and I normally eat a lot now, I'd love you to grow a flower that you don't necessarily, you can't necessarily eat just for the pleasure of, you know what I mean? They're just a beautiful, maybe for your pollinators or a companion plant. Well, in fairness, at the front of our gate, we grow two roses. Beautiful. And they're totally ornamental. I guess you can eat rose petals. You can, yeah. I put them in my rose syrup in my cocktails, Mark. Oh yeah, back to the problem again. That's what the raisers will be doing this Christmas. Put the petals in the dehydrator and then just in a sugar syrup on the stove. Yeah, I take your point, I take your point. I think you can get a lot of joy out of, you don't necessarily have to be a food gardener to get a lot of joy out of gardening and that's probably was pioneered more so before us food gardeners. I like walking around the food garden for the same reason that a person likes walking around an ornamental garden and gets much joy out of what they've created, out of what they're seeing, out of bringing in nature and seeing all that working together and the animals and that that come in. So yeah, I'm hesitant to poo poo. ornamental gardens, although I do it, I shouldn't be doing it. Like I'll say something like, I'm getting rid of an ornamental and putting in a fruit tree. Whereas, I, it's probably the wrong thing to say. All gardening is good and when you're talking about mental health, I think that it doesn't matter what you're growing, if it's food or ornamentals, if you can get out in the garden and that gives you stress levels down, I think that is a important thing that we should all be doing. Yeah, I I've just been home to Ireland and my dad. So I grew up in a garden store and my dad was always a great grower. But over time, he has just hung on to flowers. So he has this amazing herbaceous border that's constantly changing with cottage flowers. So he doesn't grow anything really to eat, even though I put in some broad beans for him and they'll watch them grow now over winter. But But the joy that he gets out of that garden, that ornament, he has a beautiful greenhouse, but the trees have got over the last 40 years of living there have got so big because it's only it's a small little garden plot like in Ireland we don't have. Well, my parents don't have the luxury of living on land, but it's big enough garden, but he doesn't grow anything now. And I said to my dad, I said, you know what, I'm going to get you cleaner. We organized a cleaner for him because I don't want you in the house. I want you out in the garden. And I said, because you're, I can see that you, he still loves it. Like he loves it so much. But all he grows now is flowers and he loves bringing people in to show. He has, I'll have to send you this picture. I sent it to you, a massive Dahlia with the size of my head. And I was like, I was blown away. I didn't win them at the show. That's always old men. Why are they so good at growing It must be the bulbs that they keep over years. Maybe? Do they have flowers? And select, through selection? And you've got to pinch them out and you've got to start, there's a whole, it's a whole plant. Yeah, and you can eat a daily leaf. You can eat dahlias. You'll eat anything. That's what I was saying. That's what I was saying with those little seeds where they like chickpeas, because I normally do eat anything in the garden. But yeah, my dad, the mental health, and even just growing flowers like his dailyers are outside his front door and people would stop to talk to him about and he'd be like into the conversation. It's yeah the flowers are great. Thank you so so much for joining us. You're a pretty big fish for us and I really appreciate just you taking the time. Oh well I think you guys are pretty big fishes for me. I really appreciate the invite and they get a lot of invites on shows like yours and I think it's a great show and I appreciate that you asked me on to it. Thanks for that. Well, thanks, Bernadette. Thanks, Avril. Thank you very much. How was that? That was fantastic. I am right in high, Avril. That was fantastic. Like, quite a fantastic person. I just and it's just. He's so inspiring and I've said, you know, he's inspired me for a long time, but just. They say never meet your heroes, but he was exactly what I thought he would be. And down to earth and his thoughts. Very personable and his knowledge. I learned so much from him chatting today. Even just about the strawberries and it makes sense. Are you doing sun-dried tomatoes this year? I am so doing sun-dried tomatoes. And I'm not a massive aubergine eggplant fan, but what he described there. I know, I was drooling. Because he's a foodie like us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Seedy Chats listeners, I feel like we've nailed it today. It's awesome. Don't forget to go onto our Instagram account. Subscribe. Follow? What do you do? Subscribe and follow. Leave us a DM. Leave us, oh yeah, send us a DM. Yeah, so direct message for anyone. Cause I know my, you know, I've got a few aunties back in Ireland now that might be listening. So they might, they DM, direct message, Auntie Mary. Well, we hope that you all enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it today. And until next time. Slán láth. Góry mátgup. Slán láth.