The fennel has flourished in the garden this year, so I have been looking for ways to incorporate it into our meals. Here's my favourites so far:    

Fennel + Lamb Shank Stew
2 fennel bulbs
2 stalks of celery
1 large onion 
3-4 medium sized lamb shanks (or 4 large slices of lamb neck)
3 garlic cloves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary 
fresh zest of 1 lemon 
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups stock (vegetable/chicken/beef) 
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For the fennel gremolata:
Small handful each of parsley and fresh fennel leaves + mince finely with the zest + 2 garlic gloves. Combine in a small jug with the juice of 1 lemon (the one you just zested) and 1/4 cup olive oil. Stir to combine with a fork.

Chop onions, fennel and celery into thin slices. In a heavy-based saucepan/stewing pot, gently sauté onions, fennel and celery for around 5 minutes. Remove vegetables onto a plate and add a splash of olive oil to the pot. Next add the lamb shanks, turning each side quickly until it is browned. Return vegetables to the pot along with minced garlic, chopped rosemary, lemon zest, wine and broth. Simmer on a low-heat for 1.5-3 hours (you can go longer with a slow-cooker). Check after 1 hour and top up with more broth if necessary; you want your shanks to be just-covered in liquid to prevent them drying out. Serve stew with steamed rice or mash potato. Garnish with the fennel gremolata.

Apple + Fennel Slaw
1 fennel bulb
1 large apple
2 spring onions 
2 carrots
small head of ice-berg lettuce or green cabbage (I used the former here)
mix of fresh greens and lettuce leaves, baby beetroot leaves etc 
large handful each of fresh mint, parsley and chives

Shred fennel bulb. Peel and slice apple into thin strips. Do the same with the carrot or grate like I did here. Shred ice-beg lettuce or cabbage if using. Chop herbs and spring onions finely. Toss everything together in a large mixing bowl with the green leaves. 
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For the dressing:
1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise (sour cream or creme fraiche works well too)
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of an orange or a large lemon (orange adds a lovely sweet note)
2 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients mentioned above in a small jug and pour over salad. Toss gently and serve.

October has been an intense, joyful, and exciting month. Everything feels like it's emerging from winter hibernation; we see and feel the signs of new growth, unfurling, possibility, planning, promise. The baby quince is flowering for the first time since we planted her. The incredible blue echium attracts wattle birds and bees in abundance. I love watching them as I sit at the kitchen table with my morning cup of tea. The vegetable patch gifts us delicious things every day: sprouting broccoli, spring onions, baby leeks, lettuce, fennel bulbs, silverbeet and the first of the snow peas. Calendula, red valerian and forget-me-nots are coming out everywhere. Marvelously self-seeding. We are grateful that school and kindergarten has resumed on site after months of lockdown. I am in the final weeks of my study for the year and feeling the deadline for my last big essay looming. Other sweet glimmers include being able to include these gorgeous possum and koala puppet friends in my kids messages for church; savouring all the thoughtful conversations shared for the Soulcraft festival; short bouts knitting a blue Sibella cardigan; and listening to this beautiful album by Lord Huron as we open the windows wide and let the fresh spring air in... Tell me, how are you going? What does this season hold for you?

Go on, grow a garden

Grow it for yourself
for the pure joy of it,
for the serious plans
and binge weeding,
the failures and the surprise
self-seeding,
for the privilege to
watch things live
and thrive and die,
for the seasons

Grow it for the bees
for the creatures seen
and unseen,
for the under the earth
world, the beetles
and the worm -
the foes and the friends
for all living things,

Grow it for the table
for the flowers, and
if you’re able
for eating, steaming,
drying, preserving,
for salad and pizza
and pesto and stews -
the sweetest tomato
and the wonkiest carrot,
the crunchiest lettuce
and the wild rocket

Grow it for your kids
(or someone else’s)
watch those tiny hands
cup the dirt, poke around
for bugs, scatter seeds,
step on seedlings,
mouthful of peas -
marvel at a sunflower unfurling
snail trails, a dragonfly wing

Grow it for the stranger
that may live in your house
one day - or the passerbys,
plant trees you’ll never see
arch over you, the fruit
you’ll never pick, the hedges
tall and firm, and the children
that will swing from branches,
where birds will nest in,
grow it for them too. ​