Agrestic Grocer in Orange

This is one of our favourite spots to go during the weekend, especially in winter has they have a log fire blazing and live music on Saturdays and Sundays between 12 - 3pm.

The Agrestic Grocer has formed a restaurant in the former packing shed, offering great locally sourced produce with an interesting and ever changing menu. 

We always try to book a table as breakfast is very popular, my most favourite dish is the Croque Monsieur with Trunkey Creek ham, caramelised onions and gruyere cheese - it tastes as naughty as it sounds! The fresh pressed apple juice is also delicious with fruit coming from the owner's orchards.

Things also get busy most lunchtimes so it is worth being organised and booking a table to avoid disappointment. The ploughman's platter continues to be a hit and is excellent for sharing with friends.

The restaurant is licensed so you can indulge in a nice glass of wine or try some of the Badlands Beer which is brewed on site. They even do tasting paddles which are good fun and mean you get a little sip of all the beers produced on site. There is both inside and outside dining so dependent on the weather you can take your pick.

After dining, we usually head into the farm shop where you can pick up all kinds of amazing fruit from the owners' orchard and lovely fresh veggies grown locally. 

As if this wasn't enough, the Agrestic Grocer also do fruit and veg boxes which you can order weekly for your family.

The Agrestic Grocer, is not afraid to try new things and are currently running music nights on Tuesday evenings which are selling out. I'm off to a Paul Simon tribute night in June - so will let you know all about it first hand in a few weeks.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Plum Time in Orange

We are feeling rather plumtastic at the moment as our plum tree creaks with the weight of hundreds of super juicy plums. This year sees a bumper crop and you really need to eat them outside as the juice squirts everywhere as soon as you take a bite.

The huge amount of rain we received over the weekend has caused some of the fruit to start to split so it is all hands on deck to pick as many plums as possible. As usual it is a battle with the birds who are having a field day in our garden this year.

We actually don't know what to do with all the plums and I am getting pretty fed up picking up the dropped fruit off the ground and composting it all. I could barely drag the compost bin out to the road for collection yesterday, it was so full.

Dog A L'Orange has a really penchant for ripe fruit and trots around the garden eating everything both on the ground and on the tree, frequently giving himself a severe upset stomach in the process. We then have the joys of dealing with his chronic diarrhoea through the night and half eaten plums scattered all over the garden!

There are only so many plums that you can eat and I seem to lack inspiration when it comes to dealing with this overwhelming amount of ripe fruit. I've resorted to driving around Orange dropping off bags of plums to anyone and everyone I know (plus random strangers) as getting anyone to come over and pick wasn't producing results.

I've also organised for a big bag to go to Orange Food Care for their weekly programme, better they go to someone than end up going to waste.

Hope you have all have a fabulous week.

Summer Garden in Orange

Happy New Year! It has been ages since the last garden update so thought you would enjoy a peak at the progress in the Life A L'Orange garden.

Front garden bed all grown from cuttings

It has been a really hot few months, so fed up with losing half my plants each summer, I've implemented a full on watering system to ensure nothing else is lost - so far, so good! All the trees, shrubs & flowers are thriving although the veggie patch seedlings got wiped out in a super hot spell.

Apricot jam and apricot chutney are fantastic.

The fruit tress have been laden to the brim with apricots, plums, nectarines and peaches. After several past jam disasters, we've realised our preserving skills are completely rubbish and best left to the experts.

Plenty of juicy plums for everyone!

The nectarines and peaches are still ripening up but are almost there, as usual it is a battle to beat the birds, however this is the most fruit we have ever had on the trees.

We have given away most of the fruit but luckily our friends are also exceptional cooks and in return drop in a jar of jam or chutney or something they have in excess in return.

Lemons growing on our little tree - should be ready in May

Over the last few months we have been very fortunate to receive lots of cuttings from friends and random gardeners that live near by. I'm really enjoying watching the little cuttings grow and spread as our garden beds slowly start to fill up and look attractive.

I planted a selection of herbs around the courtyard to fill in some small gaps with the hope that I will no longer have to repeatedly pull out weeds in the future. To compliment the 'Italian Courtyard' theme, I've planted oregano, lemon thyme and varigated thyme for some extra colour.

The herbs are growing nicely along the edge of the courtyard

New bench in the courtyard & lovely aggies!

The hibiscus is getting big - might be time to move one to a new spot

Wishing you all a wonderful week and promise to try and do more garden posts in future. 

Last of the sunshine?

The clocks have gone back, there is most definitely a chill in the air as evening rolls in and I'm a little sad because I know the long cold winter will hit very soon.

So in the meantime, I am making the most of the sunshine and trying to get the garden looking its best for the last little while that we get to properly enjoy it.

On the fruit and veg front, we have some lovely cherry tomatoes growing and will be able to make some green tomato chutney again this year.

We just have to keep an eye on Dog A L'Orange who also has a penchant for cherry tomatoes so we try and pick them before he gets to them first. Despite being fenced off, he manages to get his nose through the gaps for the odd tomato bite when he feels peckish.

Our other success this year has been the raspberries which have been loving the rain and prove the perfect healthy snack whenever I am in the garden. Again Dog A L'Orange likes to join in and enjoys the odd raspberry or two when he thinks we aren't looking.

We only planted a couple of raspberry canes but they have spread with abandon, which means plenty of raspberries but a bit of a messy spot. Anyway will tidy that corner up when winter comes along.

Beautiful sunshine & lots of raspberry bush

Dog A L'Orange has been his usually naughty self and along with eating everything that we grow, he also decided to rip apart my very trendy wellies today because he got shut outside on his own for 30 minutes and decided to enact his revenge.

The Fruit Bowl of Orange

The garden is awash with fresh fruit at the moment - I don't know what to do with it all!

Any suggestions readers?