The Hobart Chronicles XXXIV: Planet Earth Is Blue

For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
- David Bowie, Space Oddity, 1969

I have a new crush. His name is Mike Collins.

I saw him at the movies last week. He's witty! charming! and sooooo cute! He's also a bit out of my reach, being the third member of the Apollo 11 mission, and thus a retired US astronaut. Go have a look at the doco In The Shadow Of The Moon, if you get a chance. It's enlightening, especially if you weren't yet around to see that first landing. Collins was the bloke who stayed in the command centre, in orbit around the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin fartarsed around with flags and buggies on the surface. Those astronauats were a frighteningly able bunch - physically fit, handy and smart. Nearly 40 years later they still appear very switched on. That Mike Collins though, with those limpid brown eyes and lovely sense of humour... if only he was 30 years younger.

Though really, I suppose the age difference isn't so much, or at least it doesn't seem so after having had yet another birthday come and go. Sigh.

What I do seem to be achieving in my old age is a certain adventurousness in the kitchen. Perhaps you'd more accurately describe it as a gradual shedding of fear - a willingness to try new things. My inner D'ohmestic Goddess has been in full swing, with not one but now two successful batches of blackberry jam under my apron belt.

Perhaps the secret has been in the blackberries. They grow like mad here in Tasnarnia, and while they're a feral species and a pest, they do grow large and luscious, and seem tolerated by locals.

Not long ago I was invited to a gathering at a farming property on Bruny Island, where the blackberries grew in abundance on the fenceline. Myself and friends piled out of the car and, faced with a tsunami of ripe fruit, went straight over to the towering brambles and began stuffing our faces before we even introduced ourselves (I don't think the mob there rated us very highly for our sociability).

Anyway, we picked about twenty tons of berries and brought them home. Then the reality set in - what to do? None of us had any idea. Thank God for the CWA - a long time ago the Quirindi branch gave me a CWA Cookbook, and it finally came in handy, just like I knew it would one day. The blackberry jam recipe was three lines long, and I reprint it here for yourr edification:

Blackberry Jam
Ingredients: 1lb. sugar, 1lb. blackberries, some red ones.
Put blackberries in a presering pan and crush with a bottle. Stir all the time and boil 30 minutes. Head sugar in oven and add. Boil 10 minutes. The seeds should be soft.

I didn't have any idea what a 'preserving pan' was, but a plain old saucepan was just fine, and I like lumpy jam so I skipped the bizzo about 'crush with bottle'. There is a moment when you look at that horrific mount of sugar and wonder if it's all a good idea. But the recipe worked a treat.

So this weekend we made another trip to the little farm on the island off an island off an island, and even thought it was the end of the season we scratched together enough fruit for a few more jars. Sweet victory.