Wood for raised beds originated from their ceiling and roof, available after a renovation, and from dumpsters at local construction sites - they made a lifelong friend from one of the builders. Some items came from Buy Nothing O'Connor, a supportive sharing group in the suburb. The soil on their land was poor quality - "construction dirt" - so Judy says she "sourced tonnes of fish offcuts" from their friendly fish monger. Homemade compost has been added during the past 15 years under various stages of development.

High in O'Connor, sunny beds near the letterbox are filled with globe artichokes, five-year-old asparagus plants producing spears, Warrigal greens, carrots, beetroot, turnips and laden broad beans which are a favourite of Bram's. Every centimetre of space is used for growing produce apart from worm farms and compost bins filed with organic horse manure free from a place up north and used coffee grounds.

In the back garden is a rhubarb patch, cauliflower, celery, silverbeet, bok choy, rocket, lettuces which have popped up as "volunteers" beyond their allotted beds, leeks, onions, spring onions, potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes. Some of the raised wooden beds are being replaced by wicking beds made from "reclaimed" sources including a bathtub. Judy is excited about her first hive of bees located on Gumtree and swapped for feral seedlings.

Herbs include parsley, mint, oregano, chives, rosemary, Vietnamese mint and coriander which is munched to the roots by cheeky possums.

Among fruit trees are lemons, grapefruit, cherries, an apricot laden with baby fruit, nectarines, oranges, limes and berries- raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Grapes are grown mostly for their leaves - dawali in Palestinian/Arabic which are stuffed grape leaves - and Palestine is a place Judy has visited a number of times.

Seedlings are started in the house "thanks to Bram's patience with my garden", says Judy. These include beans, tomatoes, okra, pumpkin, corn and chilli mostly from saved seeds.

The elevated sunny deck/patio is framed by olive trees, including a Kalamata pruned by Judy who wants to try an "Olives to Oil" program in Canberra similar to one in Melbourne through CERES and 3000 acres, where olives are collected from many places and someone presses them and shares the oil.

Bram served tea to accompany rhubarb kuchen, a cake made by Judy to a recipe from her mother, Dorothy Bamberger of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, and made when Judy was growing up and now made by all Dorothy's children and grandkids.

Ingredients

Fruit filling:

6 cups chopped fresh rhubarb

1 cup sugar (or less) (or use 1/2 cup dark brown sugar)

2 tbsp plain flour (up to 1/4 cup if fruit very juicy)

1 tsp cinnamon

Moerba dough:

125g butter

1 1/4 cups plain flour (or 3/4 quarters cup plain flour and 1/2 cup wholemeal flour)

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg

Struesel:

2 tbsp butter (about 30g)

1/2 cup white flour

3 tbsp dark brown sugar (packed)

Method

Preheat oven to 190C.

1. Filling:

In a bowl mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon, set aside and allow fruit to draw juices.

2. Dough:

In a bowl, cut the butter into smaller pieces with a fork or knife. Add flour and sugar.

With a fork, cut the dry ingredients into the butter. Add egg. With the fork, cut egg into mixture, getting it crumbly. With your hand, mush the dough until it is smooth and homogenous. If it does not come together, add a few drops of water at a time to get the dough to the right consistency.

Gather the dough and press into a 23cm x 23cm baking pan, bottom, corners, up the sides to the top. The dough is quite malleable.

Note: if you use 23cm x 33cm pan, the cake will have a thinner crust and you can use eight cups rhubarb rather than six.

Pour the fruit filling into the pan. Juices, flour and cinnamon may settle on the bottom of the fruit bowl, be sure to scrape them into the kuchen. Bake (for the first time) for 45 minutes, remove from oven.

3. Streusel:

In a bowl, cut the butter into smaller pieces (fork or knife). Add flour and sugar. With a fork, cut dry ingredients into butter until crumbly and fairly uniform. Sprinkle struesel on top of kuchen, covering it all, especially edges and corners. Put kuchen back in oven and bake for 15 minutes.