Independance Days Challenge Update

Planted: My apple trees and a Mulberry tree. It's one of my favourite fruits and the tree I bought is already covered in fruit. Can't wait for it to ripen in spring. Maybe I'll get two rounds of fruit.

Harvest something: My cousins harvested all the remaining oranges on one of the trees, and I have been harvesting eggs from my new chickens!!!

Preserve something: Nothing again. It's just the wrong time of year. If I can get a box of cheap tomatoes (end of season) I might do some pasta sauce this weekend.

Store Something: Polenta.

Manage Reserves: Thinking I will buy some extras of staples, as the truckie's strike looks like it is going ahead.

Prepped: Put a deposit down on a self pollinating almond. I'll pick it up after it comes into leaf, so I know it's healthy. The nursery said they prefer to do this. If it doesn't look good they'll give me another. Also bought some asparagus crowns which I hope to plant later this week. Collecting Newspapers for laying under the pebbles in front courtyard, that needs to be finished this weekend as well and the remainder of green manure sown.

Worked on Local Food Systems: Went to Organic food co-op meeting. Went to TEAR fund conference this weekend. Looking at starting a group for Christians in my area who are interested in environmental issues and social justice with a couple I used to work with in Sydney and have moved to my area.

Reduced Waste: Reducing other people's waste. Handing out icecream containers for scraps left right and centre. The chooks love it and the leftovers go to the worms and the compost. The garden will love it too!

Cooked something new: Roast vegetable salad. I'll do it again soon and take photos! It was delicious.

Learned a new skill: Drilling holes in metal, clipping chicken wings

Independance Days update - for two weeks.

Planted: Green Manure, where the lawn used to be. Photos tomorrow maybe? Brocolli and silverbeet seedlings. Jerusalem artichokes, along back fence. May plant another batch somewhere else as I am finding it quite a dry spot.

Harvest something: Cherry tomatoes. It's the middle of winter, but in cleaning up the chook pen I found a bowlful of red cherry toms, going into salad tonight. I will also harvest some lettuce, coriander and parsley for the salad.

Preserve something: Nothing

Store Something: Chook feed!

Manage Reserves: Kitchen now sorted, and is much easier to access. I have a small amount of benchspace.

Prepped: Picked up chickens from a friend rather than the layer pullets. They are Barnevelders and are very pretty. Should lay every one to two days and I have 3 so that's more than enought for me and some to give away/barter. Had a day off Friday and fixed up chicken yard. The gate was broken. Made a temporary nesting box until I can get an old mower catcher. these are great for nesting boxes as they are dark and dry and have a handle on the top to pick them up with.

Worked on Local Food Systems: Went to a working bee day at Harmony Farm on the southern highlands. I think I'll try and go at least once a season. They have lots of fruit trees and I can learn a lot from them.

Reduced Waste: I got chickens. Now I can give them meat and dairy scraps instead of throwing out!

Cooked something new: Didn't cook anything new for me, but did cook with my two year old friend. She wore her special apron and helped me pour pre-prepared ingredients in and to mix and put everything into the container - result. Delicious apple crumble. However she didn't eat hardly any of it. I did though and so did her mum and dad. Cooking with kids is lots of fun, but you do need to pick the recipe and be prepared.

Learned a new skill: Grafting. At Harmony Farm yesterday we had a grafting workshop and I grafted 5 different apple varieties and am now praying for them to take. They say their apples graft the best so I started with them and maybe will try pears or something stonefruit next time.

independance days update

Planted: More lemon grass, native mint and marjoram. Brocolli seeds, Jerusalem Artichokes. Transplanted my first batch of lettuce from a pot where they were not growing well to the garden. Banana sucker.

Harvest something: Coriander for a soup

Preserve something: Nothing

Store Something: Hmm, this one's hard as I'm trying to get through what I already have.

Manage Reserves: Have gone through almost all my food supplies and only kept 1-2 of anything in the kitchen cupboards, moving the rest to the stockpile. My kitchen is returning to some sense of order.

Prepped: Have been digging out agapanthus from where I am going to plant my espaliered fruit trees. Went to a friends who has horses and picked up three large feed bags of horse manure.

Worked on Local Food Systems: Friend with horses also gave me some of her chooks eggs. Made contact with local cafe who have bought a block of land for a community garden and beginning to liase with them around setting up a local food forum. Whilst digging up agapanthus plants I also pulled out some buffalo grass runners. Went to list agapanthus on freecycle and as an afterthought added the buffalo grass. I had a quick response not for the aggies, but for the grass. Soon worked out the person I was talking to is a local permie I had been trying to contact, and she brought some guys around today to remove my entire front lawn. In return I will go and have a tour of her garden and get some cuttings!! She is also keen to set up a food and growing network to share excess and plantstock.

Reduced Waste: Gave away plants rather than disposed of them. Composted.

Cooked something new: I cooked a sweet potato soup I made once many years ago when first living in a share house. It was very popular but I lost the recipe and found it on a blog last week. It was delicious. I had leftovers for lunch today. Next time I want to make it with my own dried beans rather than the tinned variety.

Learned a new skill: How to get rid of a lawn. Give it away and let them dig it up.... lol

Winter Solstice and Housewarming Party

Friends around the fire. I got this brazier off the side of the road and it's lovely, works best with small branches which I often pick up when walking home from work. Australian gum trees have a habit of their branches dying on the tree and then falling down in the wind. This means that just about anything that falls out of one of them is good for burning.

Please ignore Deb's bare legs and feet, and instead look at my socks, long pants, scarf and jumper. It was cold, but the fire kept me toasty warm.

My Brother was chef Extraordinaire. He did want an apron though, and this is now the BBQ apron, it's plasticcy, so you can wipe it down.

Friends, Debs and Mera around the fire

Me and my little sis Jonina

There were people inside as well, Michael and Erika my old housemates laughing at Deb's crocodile antics with the tongs.

Figured a party with a fire was a great way to pass the shortest day of the year, now I'm looking forward to the days getting longer, and the food my garden is starting to produce!!!

The Kitchen Fusspot

The Kitchen Fusspot

They are, in the kitchen at least, late developers. Often genteel, effete, with alittle too much time on their hands. Meals emerge from their kitchens with a sense of expectation, each ingredient having been painstakingly sourced, every direction in the cookery book followed to the letter, and inevitable late. The meal has something of the theatrical production about it, albeit amateur dramatics, as if it has all been so, so much trouble. Which of course it has. And don't we know it.
The kitchen fusspot prepares dinner - a charming though slightly too creamy soup, meat with a syrupy, over-reduced sauce, a dessert as elaborate as an ascot hat and probably just as indigestible - while his guests get more and more hungary, not to say a little pissed.
The kitchen, once tidy enough to appear in the pages of World of Interiors, now resembles a bombsite of stacked roasting tins, saute pans and sieves.
Fusspot is almost always male. He only cooks once a month, if that, and needs endless encouragement and ego massage. The production starts several days before, with working out what to cook with the aid of a pile of cookery books of the celebrity chef variety, and a shopping list, often taken to bed. There may be a tasting of the wines to be served, many of which have come from his own cellar. The menu will be changed every day, each dish chosen for it's ability to follow its predecessor perfectly, to match the wines, to show the cook at his most competent.
The directions will have been analysed in a way the poor cookery writer never dreamed of, each line dissected and filleted and the given a jolly good roasting.

from "Eating for England" by Nigel Slater.
As I read this passage over breakfast it reminded me of some meals that have been cooked for me. I'm sure some of you will relate.

A dinner party, and my trip to work...on foot.

Well, two weekends ago I went to canberra to pick up furniture from some relatives. Last weekend, I had my first dinner party. It was a lovely night of delicious food and great company. Robi and Adam on the right brought a lasagne, salad and garlic bread, Tracey and Jill on the left brought dessert (cheesecake and apple pie) and Lynda brought drinks. I provided an entree of a Tom yum soup, with fish and dried mushrooms and rice noodles.

All these guys are people I know quite well from my church, but none of them really knew each other before the night. I quite enjoy introducing people and building community. Invite them, chuck them in a room together and watch new friendships grow. Whether anyone decides to catch up again apart from at another dinner party I hold, I love the fact that when they meet again they will no longer be strangers.




Also, I thought I would share my walk to work with you. This is only possible because of the direct decision I made to buy a home close to town. I am now located in a place where I literally would never need to drive a car again. At the moment I am still driving, although only to places I can't walk to. My church is a 7 minute drive away which is not realistic to do late at night. Should petrol become un realistically expensive I will either have to carpool more with others (I am already trying to do this where possible) or consider moving churches, which is not an option I really want to consider as I love my church. The other option is riding my bike, which I have bought and used now. Anyhow, also withing walking distance are all the local shops, the town's main bus station, from which I can get to the train station, the beach, and most capital cities in Australia. I can also walk to my mother's home, and numerous friends, hospital and doctors etc.

These hibiscus bushes are my first stop. They were overgrown and completely covering the path until someone who will remain nameless and is not me took to them after an evening shift (about 1am) with a pair of branch loppers. This has made the path accessible and the bushes a profusion of flowers.

The bushes are next to a doctor's surgery which has the most beautiful cottage garden, including a pathway of lavender bushes. These are always full of flowers and smell divine when the sun is out. I am planning to take some cuttings soon.

This is our central town park. Within the park is the local guide hall where I did Brownies and Guides from age 7 to 15. This park was definately part of my childhood. It has some lovely rose gardens and more recently camellia gardens which add to to park. A regret for me is that council decided to remove the waterlillies which used to cover the surface of the water. Now the ponds are much dirtier and much less attractive, and I worry about the nutrients which flow into it I believe as storm water. I have often thought of secreting a couple of plants in at night. Any one have any that need dividing???

One thing I love in our town is that local artists were commissioned to paint all the electricity boxes. There are some brilliant ones and this one is by no means my favourite, it's just the one I pass on the way to work. One has a circus theme, another cows. If I remember, I'll try and photograph some more if anyone would like to see them. It definately improves the streetscape.

This photo is one of the last parts of my walk, and probably the most depressing at the moment, a constant reminder of the rising cost of living, but also as I walk past it an encouragement that everytime I walk I am not only saving the environment, but also my hip pocket. It definately motivates me to think of ways to not need to use the car, like shopping at the hardware store in town rather than Bunnings, like riding the bike to my friends house, which is harder and takes more time, but leaves me fitter and the planet healthier.

What does the rising price of petrol challenge you to do??? I'd love to hear some of your creative ideas, and focus on what we can do to change. There's lots of fears and concerns but lets help each other find the answers.

Hannah

ps. Rhonda at Down to Earth just pointed out an interview that screened last night in Australia with Richard Heinburg, oil expert. You can read the transcript here

Lemon Curd (Mmm)

This photo from here (I forgot to take a photo last night)

I made lemon curd yesterday and though I would post the recipe

2 lemons zest and juice
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons butter

basically whisk constantly while bringing to the boil, (you don’t want eggy bits cooking on their own) and then lightly boil for 5 mins and pour into clean warm bottles. This amount makes one bottle but you can just multiply the recipe to make more. It was very easy and quick to make, only about 15 mins work all up at a maximum.

I got this off a blog (can’t remember who sorry) and thought I would make it as I had homegrown lemons from my grandpa to use up and free range eggs in the fridge and the markets are on this weekend so I will be getting more! The smaller butter method will keep in the fridge for a few weeks and and they said if you want to keep it longer replace the 2 teaspoons butter with 2 table spoons of butter and it will keep up to 12 months unopened and then the same.

Can’t confirm the storing ability, but can confirm the yumminess. Great use for eggs and lemons. A friend and I had some on banana bread yesterday and it was delicious.

There will be more posted tomorrow with developments at my house...so long as I can get a photo taken in the morning. You have to guess what of!

Hannah

Around the house

This is the delicious cauliflower soup I made this week.
Cauliflower, potatoes and onion (and I added two turnips) chopped up and put in the pot.
Add a tablespoon of oil and 1/4 cup of water, heat until bubbling then cover and cook on medium for ten minutes. Veges should be steamed and softened, but should not be dry.

Add tblsp grated ginger, crushed clove of garlic, 3tsp turmeric, tsp ground coriander, tsp cumin seeds s+p and cook stirring on med-high for two minutes (this is the point at which the photo was taken. The veges all got more yellow still. Then add 1Litre vege stock and simmer 20mins. Puree before eating.

This got praise from all my siblings, my brothers girlfriend and friends. (and I thought it was pretty good too.

The other night I made Risotto and there was some left over so I made some risotto balls. Just got some mozzarella and put a small piece in the middle of a chunk of risotto and molded it much like a meatball, then rolled them in breadcrumbs.

I think traditionally they would be deepfried but instead I sprayed them in light oil and baked them while a cake was in the oven. Delicious fresh and reheated. Great way to use leftovers.

In the growing challenge I have some sprouts emerging from my seed trays. Broad beens lettuce, and peas of some kind (I can't remember if they are snow or ordinary.) I also planted some more and mostly things I haven't grown before: pidgeon peas, chicory, thyme, dill, warigal greens. Can't wait for them to come up. I do need to get some silverbeet in too, as it's so good in winter.

I'll also explain my potting cups. These are the cups you get coffee in, and I get all my coworkers to rinse their cups out and keep them for me, I then rip the bottoms out and fill with potting mix and seedraising mix. They do need to be in a sealed container such as an ice cream container or plastic tray to keep the soil in but by the time they are planted out the roots generally are holding all the soil together.

Because they are waxed they do not wick the moisture away from the plants like the newspaper pots can sometimes do, and when they are planted out they provide a small barrier to protect tender young seedlings from the slug attacks that used to decimate my plants. they then gradually breakdown and add to the organic matter in the garden.

Now I have to wait for the ground to dry out a little, (it's been raining since the weekend) so I can prepare some more garden beds to plant out all these plants.

Also on the weekend I went out to our local tip which has a buy back centre and found a perfactly good electric mulcher. I have been thinking about getting one of these for a long time, but the cost was prohibitive. This was only $15 and was thrown out a branch was jammed. The tip manager just dislodged the branch and hey presto as new mulcher.

I promptly went home, got a cord to fit and mulched some weedy trees. I believe they are a native legume so I will use thema s mulch and in the compost. I also picked up some cheap concrete reinforcing wire. One of the sheets I have set over the broad beans and will support them as they grow. I simply folded it into an a frame shape and the wire was cut off with spikes that I pushed into the ground.

You can see the broad beans have grown a lot since the last post You can also see my sexy gumboot (there are two) that I got in new zealand. There is another sheet of wire I will use to grow the snow peas on and then I'll have to go back for more.

Rock Climbing and Rock Shifting

Had a wonderful weekend. The Princess Warriers (adventurous part of the women's ministry at church) went rock climbing at Wollongong on the Saturday.

This is my good friend Mera climbing one of the walls...
And my other friend Debs belaying her (her job is to make sure Mera doesn't fall) I splurged on a pair of sherpa rock climbing shoes which were on sale from $140 to $60 in my size. (I had been borrowing another friends but hers were actually a size too small)

We had to stop at the Berry Donut Van. These are the best donuts in the known world. They only make them to order, and they really are good.

See the fatty goodness :)

So to make up for the cholesterol, I not only climbed rocks, but shifted them. I need to put in a retaining wall to build my next vege garden, and there were some bricks at our old house I was going to use, but then I saw the rocks which were meant to be garden edges years ago sitting in a huge pile in the garden and decided to use them. After loading about a third into my little barina hatchback, I had to unload a few as the exhaust was nearly dragging on the ground.

It took three loads to move them all, and they are bordering my driveway at the moment, I'm unsure as to whether to build the wall with or without concrete. While I was at the old house I also found some self seeded parsley and coriander and transplanted a few to my new house, and the parsley has already been trimmed to go in last nights dinner.

I am still going to bring the bricks, planning on paving a small courtyard area at the front of the house, building a firepit at the back and also using them to pave some paths. Picked up a load this morning before work, but a few more trips to go. It is using petrol, but as I am not paying for them and am recycling old bricks I think it's worth it, and it's only a three minute drive.

On the hot water front, I am getting a solar hot water system. I had some plumbers come around to do quotes and one has given me a set price for solar which is less than instant gas to buy and install with the local rebates (Renewable Energy Certificates, Federal and State.) Bonus also being my hot water is heated primarily from the sun's energy. They will install an electric booster for when there is not the solar power to heat the water which will work by only heating half the tank. They also came yesterday and took out the old tank and installed a temporary tank that will stay until the solar system is in. They are my new best friends!!! I had a long soak in the bath last night in celebration of there being hot water.

Lastly, my roses are still blooming a week away from winter. I pruned all the dead branches out and they are growing more flower buds. I'll have to wait longer to give them a hard prune. They are lovely greeting me each day as I walk home.

Gardening and Food - What more could you want!

Also on the weekend I had a friend over for dinner. My second guest. And my fridge arrived, so of course we had to go and buy ice-cream. :)

I cooked a baked caseroley thing. Sliced up one onion, two potatoes, two carrots and a parsnip and added lots of cherry tomatoes from the garden, a cup of vege stock and then put four marinated kangaroo steaks on top and put them in the oven. Cooked for around and hour on a medium heat, delicious. I think Kangaroo is my favourite meat at the moment. In Australia it is really the meat that makes sense in being environmentally friendly. They don't compact the soil like cattle and sheep, they eat native grasses (keeping them trimmed preventing bushfires) and they don't require as much water or care. I also think that the quality of meat we get is much better and cheaper than the quality of beef and lamb we get in supermarkets. And I got these reduced to clear so half price the normal price.



For dessert we made up some chocolate muffin mix, but I read the recipe wrong and we put too much water in and worried they would be puddingy we made them in some coffee cups I had.....

perfect!




This morning I planted some more, after wrestling with a huge IVY plant growing THROUGH my fence from next door. It's so rampant I think I'll have to speak to them/weed kill it or it's going to damage the fence. I then dug the weeds out of the back garden and planted two rows of Broad Bean seedlings (not yet from seed I know, but something new) I also have a punnet of red onions that I'll plant out tomorrow.

I thought I'd show a photo of my Kaffir Lime tree now...


I watered in the broad bean seedlings by hand (watering can was a Christmas Present from Mum a few years ago. My siblings thought it was a strange gift, but it's been wonderful. Also fished out a rectangular basin from the garage I use for paper making to put in the sink for washing up so I can recycle the water onto the garden and it fits perfectly!!!


And lastly another photo of Choc muffin coffee cups, and my friend Deb, because they were so yummy, especially with Creme Brulee ice cream...