The hailstorm last January caused much damage in Cook and, my proposed visit was cancelled when Polly emailed in February, then May, about a lack of tomatoes, citrus which dropped all its fruit and a much smaller Kiwi fruit crop than usual. However the sweet potatoes were "as big as a suckling pig" as testified by a photo.

At last we have met and Logmans' garden is a haven of never-ending bounty. The trunk of the Kiwi fruit wraps around a pergola post "like a python" (in Polly's words), asparagus cropped well, silverbeet leaves are huge and the blueberry bush is laden with trusses of fruit ready for family breakfast bowls on our early morning visit. A finger lime in a pot has long black pods and their pair are having fun with evening finger lime spritzers - gin, handful of ice, two finger limes - "caviar scooped out", soda water, squeeze of lime.

A garden highlight is a vast, netted Tatura v-shaped trellis, known as a "fruiting machine". With this training system, the height of the canopy is manageable and it allows light between the diagonally planted trees in each of two rows. Peter Caley is the key pruner for the fruit trees which are espaliered and cropping heavily, especially the Beurre Bosc pears and apples, while it is their largest ever crop of nectarines. There are also peaches, apricots, figs, cherries, mulberries and plum trees both Greengage and Coe's Golden Drop. Peter grafts different varieties onto the trees.

The family keeps two silkie chickens, one white and one black, raised from day-old-chicks from Murrumbateman and now four months old. They live in a pink and blue pen, made by daughter Jessie, but roam the garden by day when the white silkie turns shades of painted purple when it eats fallen mulberries.

There is an additional household assistant, the border terrier Bekele who sleeps outside to keep the possums away from the fruit trees and garden in general. Small, wheaten coloured with a wiry coat, the friendly dog also rounds up the silkies.

There is wildlife. A large bog pond filled with reeds and rushes is home to three species of frogs and attracts dragonflies and other desirable insects. There are raised beds of cumquats, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, cucumbers, Lebanese zucchini, beans and spring onions. The fruit and vegetables are used with relish in the kitchen and Polly shares two seasonal recipes.

The boozy plums from Kath Irvine's Edible Backyard (a permaculture home garden in Levin, New Zealand, see online).

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The family came to Canberra in 2005 from Darwin via New Zealand where their son and two daughters were born, They all enjoy the outback and travelling to central Australia. In their entry courtyard is a new water feature with an ochre-stained wall and small waterfall. They have kept bees "forever" and six hives are placed to the side of the front garden.

The pear/plum cake recipe, using homegrown fruit, comes from David Herbert's The Really Useful Cookbook.

Halve and stone plums or simply prick the fruit all over. Pack the fruit into warm sterilised jars. Add enough honey to come about one quarter of the way up the jar plus cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, star anise and orange rind and top with brandy or rum. Screw the lid on. Keep the jar in a cool, dark place and give it a shake every other day until the honey has dissolved. Store for at least three months. Eat plums with ice cream and or drink the syrup diluted with soda water.

Ingredients

50g unsalted butter

1/2 cup raw sugar

3 large peeled and quartered pears or plums

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1 tsp ginger

pinch salt

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

175g unsalted butter

2 tbsp golden syrup

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Pour melted butter into greased springform tin. Sprinkle raw sugar and arrange pears cut side up. Mix flour salt, ginger and brown sugar. Add eggs, milk, butter and golden syrup. Beat well. Pour batter over fruit. Cook 60 minutes. Rest in tin for 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.