Emu Island Farm

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Emu Island Farm We are a young family living on the foothills of the Blue Mountains. We are keen gardeners and sustainability enthusiasts.

Follow our journey as we try to integrate urban farming into our busy family lives

Labelling fun! How are you spending your Saturday night?
20/04/2024

Labelling fun!

How are you spending your Saturday night?

It was a busy weekend of candle making.
04/04/2024

It was a busy weekend of candle making.

We have labels!!!
04/04/2024

We have labels!!!

Having a go at pillar candles. They are not quite as straight forward as I had expected, but I'm happy with my first eff...
09/03/2024

Having a go at pillar candles. They are not quite as straight forward as I had expected, but I'm happy with my first effort.

11/10/2023

A behaviour that doesn't appear to have a good explanation - washboarding. Called that because it looks like the bees are scrubbing their laundry with their front legs.
We've never observed this at our hives before and with no known cause, not sure when we will again!

Did someone say LIMES?
14/05/2023

Did someone say LIMES?

Tonight we're enjoying the bounty from our friends' garden.
23/04/2023

Tonight we're enjoying the bounty from our friends' garden.

Look at these colours. Each batch only about 2 weeks apart. After a slow start, the bees are certainly enjoying the warm...
19/01/2023

Look at these colours. Each batch only about 2 weeks apart.

After a slow start, the bees are certainly enjoying the warmer weather

Harvest is finally on!After a very slow start to the season, the girls have enjoyed the easing conditions.
11/12/2022

Harvest is finally on!

After a very slow start to the season, the girls have enjoyed the easing conditions.

The cucumbers the supermarkets would reject.No idea why they are curly, Google's suggests issues at the time of pollinat...
14/11/2022

The cucumbers the supermarkets would reject.

No idea why they are curly, Google's suggests issues at the time of pollination. Still looking forward to watching them grow and eating them nonetheless.

We are experimenting with growing in bags to make use of some dead driveway space.

While we wait for the bees to build their resources so that we can do our first, albeit rather late, extraction for the...
12/11/2022

While we wait for the bees to build their resources so that we can do our first, albeit rather late, extraction for the session, everything else is enjoying the moist soils and glorious sunshine.

From the passionfruit that everyone told me would never survive in that spot to the corn and potatoes. We are looking forward to some bounty later in the season

As with all farming, even with something as tiny as ours, there are successes and then there are the hard times. Today ...
03/11/2022

As with all farming, even with something as tiny as ours, there are successes and then there are the hard times. Today was a bit of both.
Having recovered two unmanaged hives that were inhabiting some animal shelter boxes (elsewhere), we were in the process of transferring the bees and as much of their old home as possible into a managed hive system. As foreign nationals, European Honeybees have to be kept under watch - left alone they can cause all sorts of mischief for our native wildlife.
The excitement of opening the first box and seeing the beautifully straight comb (perfectly sized for standard frames) was quickly dampened when telltale signs of a terrible secret - American Foul Brood (AFB) - a universally fatal disease for honeybees (there is no cure and no management, just a terminal decline). Due to how infectious this disease is, there is only one option. Immediate euthanasia followed by sanitisation of all hive materials that were in contact with the hive either by irradiation or by burning in a fire. Given the box that the bees came in was unusable anyway, the fire option was taken.
The deed done and the girls on a different sort of journey, the were at least honoured with a proper viking funeral - except this time for 10,000 instead of the customary single fallen warrior.
To be extra careful, the week old set of gloves were added to the pyre to avoid any further risk of contamination - something of an offering to hope that that is the end of the AFB journey for our little operation.
The other hive that was recovered has been transferred to a new box, but is in quarantine for several weeks now to observe if they have escaped the curse.
In the mean time, some photos of the perfect comb that we were at least the first and last humans to observe and the fire to which they were offered for the greater good.

My elusive, but favourite vegetable, romanesco.
21/08/2022

My elusive, but favourite vegetable, romanesco.

Being cruel to be kind. Our imperial mandarin tree survived a blow from a falling jacaranda tree earlier this year which...
20/08/2022

Being cruel to be kind. Our imperial mandarin tree survived a blow from a falling jacaranda tree earlier this year which meant that it really needed a reset - a "skeleton prune". While it means we get no fruit for a season, the next season should see it back bigger and better than ever.

Second harvest for the year and over 1kg of ginger to enjoy and some replanted for next year.
01/08/2022

Second harvest for the year and over 1kg of ginger to enjoy and some replanted for next year.

It's lemon season here. Every year I try different ways to use our lemons so we can enjoy them the rest of the year. Ton...
31/07/2022

It's lemon season here. Every year I try different ways to use our lemons so we can enjoy them the rest of the year.

Tonight I'm trying my hand at dehydrating (for those summer cocktails). We don't have a dehydrator, so I'm trying the oven on a low temperature. Hopefully they don't brown too much.

The bees keep on giving even when it isn't their season.
14/05/2022

The bees keep on giving even when it isn't their season.

When we harvest our honey a portion of it ends up heat affected, as we perform the final separation of it from the wax.W...
16/04/2022

When we harvest our honey a portion of it ends up heat affected, as we perform the final separation of it from the wax.
We don't normally sell this darker and runnier honey, as it's just"not the same", but it's great for cooking.
Now that the honey harvest is likely over until next spring, we've been looking at ways to use this honey for other purposes.
So today we're trying honey lemon Taffy. Pure honey and lemon juice, no added sugar, a hint of cornflour to make it smooth.
Turns out, we may have to cook future batches overnight - after pouring the Taffy out to cool, we noticed that a lot of bees were flying around our back door, attracted by the scent of honey.
If this works well, we'll have it for sale shortly.

I'm pretty excited to be fulfilling my first ordersTealights, decoratove traditional beehives and celebration candles re...
22/03/2022

I'm pretty excited to be fulfilling my first orders

Tealights, decoratove traditional beehives and celebration candles ready for a cake.

A couple of weeks ago my boys finished the plumbing of my bench and added a couple of finishing touches for me. I just l...
22/03/2022

A couple of weeks ago my boys finished the plumbing of my bench and added a couple of finishing touches for me.

I just love this bench. It gives me a dedicated place for things and it is mostly made from recycled products.

I think he should have a name. Any suggestions?

A sight I didn't see all summer. Finally, red tomatoes on the vines
15/03/2022

A sight I didn't see all summer. Finally, red tomatoes on the vines

For a garden that is drowning at present, these were a lovely little surprise. More on the way too.
08/03/2022

For a garden that is drowning at present, these were a lovely little surprise. More on the way too.

Honey looking for a good home. $16 per kilo, 7 kilos available First in, best dressed. Reach out to us if you're interes...
05/03/2022

Honey looking for a good home.

$16 per kilo, 7 kilos available

First in, best dressed.

Reach out to us if you're interested

01/03/2022

You may have noticed that we have been quiet lately. The non stop rain has taken some fun away from our little garden adventures. The figs are rotting on the tree, the tomatoes are splitting before they get a chance to ripen. The chickens are really over having wet feathers and the bees are hiding out in the hives.

To add to the joys, last week's storm brought down our neighbours tree. It landed on our manarin tree, so it had to lose some key fruit bearing branches. It will recover, especially now that it has access to a little more sun. In the meantime, we can expect a very light mandarin season. And oh, LOTS of mess to still clean up

While the figs are taking a break from the paparazzi today, let's celebrate another beautiful looking crop. By far, the ...
15/02/2022

While the figs are taking a break from the paparazzi today, let's celebrate another beautiful looking crop.

By far, the largest eggplant plant we've ever seen and months behind on fruiting, but it is making up for it now.

It's raining figs!!!
13/02/2022

It's raining figs!!!

Another busy day playing with beeswax.Today I experimented more with wicks and tea light cups and had a go at making a h...
11/02/2022

Another busy day playing with beeswax.

Today I experimented more with wicks and tea light cups and had a go at making a hand dipped celebration candle. I'll never question why these are so pricey ever again. Not necessarily difficult to make, but time consuming. Having said that, I'm pretty sure they will end up being the only type of candle sitting on top of the birthday cakes in this house from now on.

Visitor
09/02/2022

Visitor

It was another busy day in the garden. 5 frames were harvested in between showers.
06/02/2022

It was another busy day in the garden. 5 frames were harvested in between showers.

A basket of beauty
06/02/2022

A basket of beauty

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