When we are focusing on our own backyards it is easy to forget that there is a zone 4 (permaculture concept) out there that is full of abundance if you are willing to look for it – even in a semi arid zone.
We are always looking for ‘free food’ beyond our borders.
This week Michael found mushrooms on the opalfields; they popped up after the rain. He is so careful about brushing them to make sure we don’t end up with gritty lunch. I pan fried them in butter and had them on some homemade chia and buckwheat toast = coupled with greens from the garden and it was sensational!
There is so much to forage and make use of in the zones expanding from our homes. Firewood. Sticks and posts for using in the garden. Wild fruits and plants. Around Lightning Ridge we often pick ‘snottygobbles’ the fruit from the napan tree – tastes like a passionfruit. We also harvest wild oranges and I used to know of a secret grove of quandongs but I think the drought might have heavily impacted them. There is the wild spinach too – the warrigul greens. There are fish from the river (our freezer is FULL of Murray Cod at the moment from several fishing adventures by Michael) and if you have permission, wild game like kangaroos, emu eggs and rabbits.
We often stop roadside and pick apples or peaches from trees that have popped up along the way.
Keep your eyes peeled. Mother Nature provides for us in abundance and it’s there for our harvesting; mindfully and always allowing for regeneration too, of course.
