Tomatoes On Toast for Breakfast

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Philip Northeast

One of my seasonal delights of a Tasmanian summer is fresh sliced tomatoes on toast for breakfast.

Slicing up a tomato for the breakfast toast

The tomatoes from my own garden seem even tastier. A few days of warm weather and the first of the Rouge De Marmade variety ripened nicely. This tomato is the first of the season to ripen and it fulfilled my expectations.

My favourite slicing knife needed sharpening as these tomatoes are juicy and soft. The knife must cut with little downward pressure, and a blunt knife only squashes the tomatoes.

A little bit of ground pepper on a slice of dry toast is just right. The tomato is juicy so there is no need for butter or any thing else to soften the toast.

This year’s crop is better than last year’s, which was a disappointing. Part of the improvement ironically is due to this blog. Following good journalistic practice, any story requires background research, even something as humble as personal garden anecdotes. The comments on growing techniques might be brief but more attention to detail has helped to produce a bigger crop. The basic techniques are the same, just more carefully applied.

Green tomatoes on the vine

Local gardening guru Peter Cundal’s has good advice on the timing of applying mulch around the tomato plants. Applied too soon and the insulating layer of mulch can be counterproductive, keeping the soil and plant roots cold. Tis summer the mulch did not go on until well into December after a few days of warmer temperatures.

Following a mistake of over watering my tomatoes some years ago there has been a tendency possibly to underwater them. Checking the classic Yates garden book and their suggestion is a good watering, to field capacity once a week. This means less watering on other days. The change to my watering program seems to have worked with the plants showing less signs of heat stress on hot days

A careful reading of the mixing instructions for the liquid fertiliser suggested the plants we not get enough plant food as well as not enough water. The liquid fertiliser is only part of the feeding regime and is intended to give the tomatoes a boost as the fruit forms.

An Australia Day at the Races

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Philip Northeast

Celebrating Australia Day by doing something traditionally Australian.

The New Norfolk Pacing Club’s Australia Day meeting is a typical country race meeting, where the locals gather for a picnic on the grass, a few drinks, food, and a flutter on the horses. The event is a social occasion as much as race meeting where people gather to meet old friends rather than just bet on the races.

The spectator area at Kensington Park

It is hard to find overt displays of nationalism, most people did not need the reassurance of a design printed on a piece of cloth or fancy slogans, they know what being Australian is and they just do it.

In an online globalised virtual world national identity is problematic, with the rapid spread of cultural influences from Youtube and Facebook. The urban dwellers try to make sense of all this cling to symbols and slogans, and sometimes these seem more important than the ideals they are meant to embody.

Relaxing at the picnic table between races

This event is about Australians enjoying themselves in a largely community based event. This is symbolic of the country where everybody helps out, most of the people putting on this event are volunteers, and putting something back into their community this is the way of rural communities.

There are some professionals involved, mainly in administrating the racing because of the gambling and money involved in this aspect of the day. This mixture of professionals and volunteers illustrates the pragmatism of the Australian character in the country. They get on with it and make the best of changing circumstances.

One example is the ancient looking judges tower, hiding in this dilapidated looking structure the professionals have brought in a computerised video photo finish system that would be at home in any capital city race track. The race results are still displayed using numbers printed on metal plates hung out the window of the tower.

The Judge's Tower

The feature race sponsors are an indication of the character of the area, the Norske Skog New Norfolk Pacing Cup. Norske Skog are the current owners and operators of a large local paper mill, producing about forty percent of Australia’s newsprint from plantation grown radiatia pine. The Boyer mill produced Australia’s first newsprint in 1941, highlighting the sustainable nature of the paper mill.

Just after the start of Norske Skog New Norfolk Pacing Cup

Apart from the serious harness racing with feature races, the kids got in the act with their own small sulkies and ponies.

Pony racers at Kensington Park

The number of bookmakers fielding on the day reflects on the changing nature of Australian gambling. The bookmaker is a dying breed being replaced by tote outlets in clubs and pubs and on the internet. The serious punters don’t go to the races anymore.

There is plenty of room in the Bookies area

King of the Derwent

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Philip Northeast

A traditional treat for yachting enthusiasts is the King of the Derwent race on the second of January. This allows the ocean racing yachts from the various events finishing in Hobart a chance for an afternoon’s sail in the Derwent estuary for a fun race without all the regular crew.

For land based spectators this is a good opportunity to see these boats in action, as the course in the Derwent River estuary normally offers good vantage points. One of the crowd favourites is along the Sandy Bay foreshore as the boats head to a mark south of the John Garrow Light.

King of the Derwent- Wild Oats XI

This was one of the recommended spots in the morning paper, so a good crowd turned up only to watch the fleet sail in almost the opposite direction to the other side of the river.

One comment from a disappointed spectator “The paper said this was a good spot. If I had known they weren’t coming this way I would have gone to the other side of the river to watch.”

Those with binoculars or super telephoto lenses had some idea of what was happening, but for most even the maxi yacht Wild Oats XI was mainly a distant grey spot.

Despite the grey overcast skies, it was a warm and pleasant afternoon at Sandy Bay beach with a parade of other watercraft to interest the spectators.