News from our mini-farm

It's been ages... I know.... But we're still here!  I thought I'd write today as I've had a typically crazy day and it seemed worth sharing. 

My morning started before 7, out in the yard, milking the goat. It's been a steep learning curve over the last month for Jorgie and me, but we're getting there. What started four weeks ago as a hand milking of about a shot glass full of milk has become a hand vacuum pump milking machine and about 400ml a day. It's not enough milk for cheese and yoghurt and baking, but its enough for drinking and it tastes a-mazing!  

After breaky, there was sourdough to start and some odds and ends with the boys. They turned 9 last week, you know? My baby boys are growing up way too fast!  They had a pupil free day today and spent most of it playing with birthday presents, but they did come and help collect a bucket full of willow for the goats. 

At about 10, I had to walk the goats. We wander up the road a bit and I let them munch on various weeds along the way. Our baby goats are growing quickly too. They're seven weeks old now and growing so fast!  They were disbudded at two weeks old, and we wethered Storm this week (poor little guy). We've found lovely local buyers for him too which is both fantastic and terribly sad. We always knew we couldn't keep him, but we'll miss him terribly when he goes. 

My afternoon was filled with baking, tutoring my 17 year old brother and belly dance work. I've been back teaching kids classes this term and absolutely loving it, and I've also recently been lucky enough to perform a few times, including once at our local Ishka store - so much fun!

I cooked us a yummy dinner, which, like every meal at the moment, featured broad beans - our massively glut crop at the moment!  After tea, I geared up and visited a friends place with Lachie to undertake our first duties as new beekeepers!

We've bought a hive and are 'rescuing' a beehive each from walls of buildings. The bees would have had to be killed if they didn't have a home, and Sharon and I are both very excited to turn our hand at apiary. Sadly, we can't find a local teacher, so it's down to lots of research, some common sense and a lot of making it up as we go along. All went well tonight and we have one hive in a box with no stings and only a few dead bees. 

And now, I'm chilling out with a glass of home brew, taking the evening off. 

So life is good here!  How are you?

A baby update

It has been cold and blustery here the last few days. Not the ideal weather for premmie kids to be born into. 

We had hot water bottles and old towels to keep them warm last night and we visited every few hours to stand them up on their shaky little legs to get a much needed drink of colostrum from Jorgie. 

I kept that up all day today and they're starting to be much more mobile and have both put on weight - hooray!  Jorgie is being a great mum, cleaning them, feeding well and laying near them (except when she is off scoffing food - I remember how hungry one gets feeding tiny twins). 

Now that they're more mobile, we need a better way to keep them warm. Sock jumper are the answer. Too cute!

Kids!!!

A quicky post for you today to announce the safe (though early) arrival of our kids!

Jorgie was screaming out to me before lunchtime today, so I went out to take her for a grazing walk only to find her laying in her stall with a baby partly born! Not what I was expecting yet!

I stayed with her and helped a little as she delivered, not one, but THREE kids!  Sadly, the third one was too little and never lived, but he was a tan colour and the children named him Nugget. The first two, though tiny, are doing well. Storm (named for the weather and his colour) is a little jet black boy, and Matilda 'Tilly' is a white doe with a few black flecks. They've both walked and fed and are doing well. And Jorgie is doing well too - though I think she is in shock!

So pleased it all happened on a day when I was home, and doubly pleased that it is school holidays and that the boys were able to see the birth too. Awesome!

More photos to come, but here are a few quick iPod shots....



Look how tiny they are compared to my hands!

Baby Matilda "Tilly"

Little Storm

Being born is very tiring work....

Jorgie is already a good mum to her wobbly little pair.

Whole wheat chocolate cake recipe.

It's one of those go-slow Friday mornings for me. I've struggled with a cold (and the horrendous cold sores that came with it!) for the last week, but haven't really stopped doing. My brain is working a at a thousand clicks a minute at the moment as I work on learning with my goat, getting the veggie garden ready for summer crops, working on belly dance projects, making Christmas presents, doing the spring cleaning and sprucing up around here, enjoying school hols and all the other regular stuff too. There is so much happening in my head that I go to sleep late and wake up at 5am each morning - wide awake, raring to go. Last night I had a fabulous dance session with one of my favourite people - we chatted over a cuppa, then cranked the music and finished creating a really beautiful, slinky, slow and clever (if I do say so myself) dance.  I can feel the effects of the dance in my body and catch myself doing the moves all the time (I think Jorgie was impressed 😊). But this morning I'm tired, so I'm taking some time out with a pot of tea before my world starts racing again, and feeling grateful that I wrote the draft of the following post earlier in the week.  Have a lovely weekend.....

~~~~~

 One of my main reasons for buying a thermomix was to be able to grind wheat to make my baked goods more nutritious.  I don't grind wheat (at least not always) for my sourdough breads, but I've been trying to for other breads, pancakes, pastry, pasta, muffins, biscuits etc.

Today I adapted a chocolate cake recipe using my home ground wheat.   The cake was slightly gritty in texture because I didn't grind the wheat fine enough, but it was moist and very tasty nonetheless and with all that bonus fibre and fresh ground wheat goodness in it, I can almost ignore all the sugar and butter and think it healthy! ;)
 

The un-iced cake cooling.  It is quite a flat cake, but feels lovely and springy.

.............

I'll write the instructions for both thermomix users and non-thermomix users. 

• 250g wheat, ground to flour
• 4tbsp cacao or cocoa (more or less depending on how chocolatey you like things)
• 2dsp baking powder
• 100g raw sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250ml milk
• 200g softened butter

1. In the thermomix, I started by grinding my wheat - about 90sec/speed 9. Use a grinder if you don't have a thermomix, or you could use purchased whole wheat flour, then transfer to a food processor or bowl of a mixer. 
2. Add other dry ingredients. Turbo a few times to mix if using a thermomix, or pulse in a food processor or stir if using a mixer. 
3. Add all of your wet ingredients. Thermomix users, 30sec/speed 5, scrape down and repeat. All others, beat well for a few minutes. 
4. Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake at 180 for 45min (or until cooked). 
5. Turn cake out to cool on a rack. Ice (I made a very basic melted butter and water chocolate icing, but use whatever you like) and enjoy!

Hey there Jorgie girl....

We've had our Jorgie girl for just over six weeks now, and I've got to say, I'm loving being a goat owner!

The first week was a big tricky - Jorgie was noisy and stubborn. She missed her goat herd and wasn't sure about us. We hadn't learnt how to handle her well and doing anything with her was difficult. Then I had my hand surgery and had to take a week off of handling her altogether. I still fed her, patted her and spent time chatting to her, but with stitches in my palm, it wasn't worth risking taking a pig-headed goat out on her lead. 

I was concerned about not handling her as much for a week, but as it turned out, I think it was good for her. By the end of that week she had settled into her home. She still bleats when we go out or leave her, but for the most part, she is settled and content to sit on her seat in the sun and chew her cud. Happy goat!

Now, I spend time with Jorgie every day, and it is amongst the most peaceful and enjoyable times. I've been wanting to share them for a while, so I took the camera out and here it is.... A day with Jorgie. 

At about 7am (sometimes earlier) Jorgie starts calling out to us to let us know its breakfast time. I toss some clothes over my PJ's and head outside. She's usually by the gate waiting for me. 

"Goodmorning! I'm ready for my breakfast."

We finished building the stanchion and milking table last weekend, so Jorgie now has her breakfast up there as 'training' for being our little milking goat. She's not keen on getting in there, but she's getting better at it, and once she's in, she relaxes and is fine. She eats her chaff and completo breakfast while I brush her, run my hands over her belly and udder, and generally get her comfortable with being handled and reducing her udder shyness. 

Eating breakfast on our homemade (all recycled) milking table.

After breaky, Jorgie goes back to her yard while I finish my morning chores and have some breakfast myself!  If the weather is bad, Jorgie likes to lay on the table in her stall and look out of her 'window'. Lachlan's cat, Pouncy, can often be found in her stall too, curled up on the warm straw. Our dog, cats and ducks all love Jorgie and like to get close to her. She is grateful for their company, but if they come too close, she head butts them away :)
 

Looking out of her stall "window" while standing on her table/platform.

In bad weather, or if I'm away from home all day, I give Jorgie fresh hay in her feeder. We don't leave hay there all the time as she won't eat it after a while and it just goes to waste. 

Fresh hay in the hay feeder that I made for her.

When I'm out and about in the garden, I like to stop by and give Jorgie 'treats'. She loves geranium leaves, mallow leaves, pittosporum branches and beetroot leaves, but roses are her favourite by far!  I've read a lot about goats eating habits and have heard that they love banana skins and citrus peel - Jorgie doesn't. But she does like most weeds and carrots (though she'll only eat carrot tops that are still connected to carrots in the ground, and not the ones I've broken off the carrots *sigh*). She doesn't eat everything, and is quite fussy about what she chooses. And, with relief, we have found that she isn't interested in eating the washing off the line. 



Jorgie likes celery leaves and I like the stems - perfect for sharing a snack straight from the vegie garden.

If I'm weeding, I often take Jorgie with me. Her favourite grazing spot is along the driveway (near her friends the ducks). I leave her lead on and let her browse while I work close by. Mostly, she just mosies along eating happily, but if I see her try to eat something I don't want eaten, I can grab her lead and steer her away. 

Most afternoons, Jorgie has tethering time. I have a few places I like to tether her, and the next door neighbour said I'm welcome to tether on their nature strip too. She gets a couple of hours out there to fill her belly. 



Lots of luscious weeds along the fenceline to eat while tethered.

On sunny days, Jorgie can often be found sunbathing on her bench in her yard. We built this bench for us originally, but she adopted it and loves sitting up there watching the world go by or snoozing. She can see a lot of our yard from there, and also into the school, where there is often someone happy to say hello to her. 

I spy a sunbathing goat.

Sometimes we take Jorgie for a walk around town. We have to be careful of our route as there are a few dogs that are happy to chase her. But mostly, walking her is a lot of fun and she happily laps up the attention of people who stop for a chat. 

Stu has taken on the job of grooming Jorgie and she loves to stand in the sun and have a good brush. Hoof care is my job though and it's not so much fun as I tentatively follow the guidelines I was taught by her breeder and hope I'm doing it all right. 

I'm looking forward to Jorgie having her kid/s. Unfortunately, we don't have a good due date as no one saw her mated and she was in with the buck about 6 weeks!  But the earliest she'll be due is mid October, and she is just beginning to develop her udder this week, so I'm anticipating the birth sometime in about a month. 

After her grazing time, Jorgie goes back to her pen for the night. She has a little more chaff to convince her to go to bed (we divided up her daily rations so we could do this), and eventually, she settles down in her stall for the night. 

Molly's Magic in the kitchen

Kitchens are magical places. 

In my kitchen I turn milk into cheese and yoghurt, flour into bread and pasta and water from the tap into tea, coffee or soup. 

My kitchen is where the veggies grown in my garden become yummy meals or are preserved for another time of the year. 

Curds and whey.... from milk, I make cheese

Delicious sweet treats, gifts made with love, soap, cleaning products, herbal remedies, beer and cider are all made from basic ingredients in my kitchen. 

Even before I cooked everything from scratch, my kitchen made a mean vegemite on toast and a cup of tea. 



Tortillas + kids = crazy gnomes in a family kitchen.

But the magic doesn't stop there, kitchens are also places where family magic happens. It's the place we come together around the table and plan, console, laugh, cry and grow as a family. When we first moved here, my kitchen was the home of two high chairs, where our baby boys would eat (throw, mash) their first tastes of a range of foods. I've stood in our kitchen and chatted to countless friends and family members and have wonderful memories of them all. And these days, since our kitchen renovation, my kitchen is filled with so much of us - benches, cupboards, curtains, rugs and shelves that we made with our own hands. 



Delicious food and warm memories are made in our kitchen

Everything about our kitchen is magic, and now, our magic kitchen has a cauldron. A vessel that I throw ingredients into (following instructions in a book or making it up as I go) and, like magic, they turn into terrific meals!  I feel like Mrs Weasley as I walk away to deal with animals/kids/a husband who had a bad day at work while my thermomix chops, sautés and stirs my food.  It's still cooking from scratch, but with so much more power!  



Molly has settled in very nicely....

I've had the thermomix for less than a week, and already I've used it for so much, making at least two recipes (or part recipes) in it each day. Many of them I could make without the thermomix, but some that I couldn't - freshly milled flour from whole wheat or rice, icing sugar and mayonnaise (I know, lots of people make mayo without a thermomix, but I've tried about 6 times and failed). But everything is easier with it. 



The first meal I cooked using the thermomix - Delicious, slightly spiced lentil burgers served in fresh bread rolls made with 50% freshly ground soaked/sprouted wheat with fresh salad from the garden - YUM!

So as a tribute to the magic of kitchens, and that brilliant mother and witch, Mrs Weasley, I'm naming my little magic cauldron, Molly.

Molly Weasley - a bit of magic in the kitchen!

 

This weekend

We just had a fabulous weekend. In fact, exactly the kind of weekend that I love and a perfect illustration of the peaceful and productive family life we strive for. (Apparently if was too good and too busy to take photos though....so imagination is required)

Last Thursday I took delivery of a new kitchen appliance. It feels kinda wrong calling it a kitchen appliance - 'a bloody expensive, noisy, miracle worker to replace most of my broken old appliances and help us on our wholefoods journey' is a much more apt description. I bought a thermomix. It wasn't an easy or light decision due to the insane price tag, but after only a few days, it feels worth it already!  

So, with our new toy installed, our weekend was full of deliciousness. Saturday morning we had a slow family breakfast - fresh orange juice, whole meal (flour ground by me!) fruity sourdough, sourdough toast and boiled eggs - all done the the aid of the wonder gadget. 

After breaky, we headed down to the beach with the dog for a play and to collect some kelp for my chooks and to make 'seaweed tea' for the garden. We had a great time with the beach to ourselves - climbing on rocks, playing with buddy and drawing in the sand with our toes. Then, on a whim, we drove into Warrnambool, bought hot chips for lunch and went to watch the whales frolicking off of Logan's beach (we live do close to this awesome sight, but never remember to go - it was worth it!). 

That afternoon, the sun was shining and we spent it outside - playing, reading, washing cars, looking after the animals, weeding etc, before picking a bunch of veggies to turn into a risotto (thermomix again) for dinner. 

When the sun set, we all grabbed torches and buckets for a snail and slug hunt (a regular feature of our evenings at the moment as they are popping up everywhere). We collected a lunchbox full to put aside for ducky breakfast. And being 'screen free Saturday', our family day finished with board games, books and a cold beer. 

After such a fabulous Saturday, I didn't think Sunday would be all that good, but I was pleasantly surprised!  We spent nearly the whole day in the garden - mulching, weeding, pruning, tidying, mowing, planting, making compost, fertilising and more!  The kids helped out with a few things, which they really enjoyed (!!) and also had a great time climbing trees, making an archery target to play with their bow and arrows, taking the dog for a walk/scooter ride and just playing in the sun. 

Stu had a thermomix lesson and cooked pikelets for lunch - they were really really good, and since they were made using freshly ground, sprouted wheat flour, our eggs and whey, they were possibly the healthiest pikelets on the planet too!

When we finally came in from outside, there were chores waiting for us, but with music playing and the sound of happy kids in the next room, even they didn't feel too hard. 

We were all exhausted last night, but after such a great weekend, no one minded at all. 

A goat anchor

We didn't get our goat, Jorgie, with the intention of tethering her. I've read some horror stories of goats hanging themselves from their tether, of getting themselves tangled, spilling their water etc. It is just not an ideal way to keep a goat - or any animal for that matter.

So when we decided to buy ourselves a miniature goat, we built a suitable enclosure and shelter for her, and that is where she spends most of her time. 

Her enclosure is small though - big enough for moving around, sleeping and playing for a couple of goats, but not big enough for her to browse. 

We often take Jorgie for a walk to browse along the way, but you can only spend a certain amount of time doing that, and we have a few areas of our garden that grow beautiful browse that she could eat (that is, our lawns). We could let her free range in those areas, but as she is partial to roses, apple trees herbs and vegetable plants, I'm not sure she'd spend her time eating the grass and weeds!

So I did some research and some thinking and came up with a method of tethering her in those areas of the garden that I would normally have to mow. My tethering system reduces tangling risk, allows her to always access water, is portable and adaptable so that I can control where she has access to. 

And here it is:

It's an old car tyre (free from any tyre shop) that we have half filled with rapid set concrete. We lined the bottom of the tyre with a feed bag first, then poured in the concrete (and a few scraps of old concrete to make up more volume). While the concrete was wet, we inserted an eye bolt with a long stem and the washer and nut attached (they help to anchor the eye bolt so the goat can't pull it out of the concrete). We also pushed the base of a bucket into the concrete to make an indentation to support a bowl (or half bucket) of water. 

To tether the goat, we put the tyre on the middle of the area we want her to browse in (using a trolley or two people to move it because its really heavy!) then add a bowl of water (it needs to sit in the indentation and be shorter than the top of the tyre so it doesn't catch the chain) and attach the goat to the eyebolt using a d-shackle and a chain. You can adjust the length of the chain to meet your needs - that is, make it long for a big area, or short for a small area. 

The anchor has a really low centre of gravity, so the goat can't knock/pull it over. The water can't be knocked over as it is secure inside the tyre and in the unlikely event that the goats chain gets tangled on the anchor, she'll always have access to the water. 

It's a good system, but to be safe, always use it carefully. Make sure there aren't obstacles your goat can get tangled on; Check for plants you don't want your goat to eat within the goat's reach (plants you want or poisonous plants); make sure your goat has some shade, especially on hot days; make sure dogs or other animals (strange people?) can't get at your goat; And check your goat is ok regularly - ie. don't tether her when you're not home!

This isn't a long term tethering system, but is a great way to mow the lawns without using petrol and give our goat lovely fresh (and free!) browse. And the anchor cost less than $15 to build - bargain!

Goat people - if you see any problems with my design, please let me know, I'm hoping I've covered everything, but am open to suggestions!

The Great Wright Family Bakeoff!

Last week we watched the finale of The Great Australian Bakeoff. We got right into watching the show, which is quite unlike us - we usually don't go for reality TV. I'm not sure what it was about this show that hooked us - it could've been the delicious things they baked through the series, or maybe the corny jokes the host Shane Jocobson liked to crack, maybe it was the cruel judging reminiscent of country shows, or perhaps it was the gorgeous vintage décor (seriously, bunting made from vintage Australiana tea towels - too cute). Whatever it was, this reality TV meets the CWA show had us hooked enough to record it for the kids each week and watch it all together.

We loved it so much that we decided to have our own bake off - a muffin bake off. 

Last week, all for of us submitted a muffin flavour so that I could shop for any special ingredients. Then, yesterday morning (after brief Father's Day celebrations), we set up our kitchen for the baking. 

I supplied a basic muffin recipe, and each of us followed that recipe with our own flavours and variations. 

Stu and Jamie went first. They chopped, measured and mixed until they put their trays of muffins in the oven. Then it was mine and Lachie's turn to start baking.
 

Two hours later, 46 muffins had been baked and cooled and we'd each selected our best three to present for judging. 

Jamie presented some beautiful Jaffa muffins - flavoured with fresh orange juice and zest and dotted with chocolate chips. 

Lachie created a family favourite - chocolate, choc chip muffins. He added a few special caramel choc chips to the top of each and presented them beautifully on his choc chip leaf plate. 

Stu's muffins stole the show for looks - raspberry white choc muffins presented in a snow storm of grated white chocolate. 

And I tempted us all with the scent of warm cinnamon sugar with my jam donut flavoured muffins - a spoonful of strawberry jam in a lightly spiced muffin topped with melted butter and lots of cinnamon sugar. 

Tasting and judging was rather fun - I think the fact that we all got to eat our creations made us all winners!  But the judging was close (and sometimes harsh!), but there was a clear winner - Jamie's Jaffa flavoured muffins. 

Gotta say, I was very impressed with everyone's efforts. Every batch was moist and delicious. 

Lots of fun, with the bonus of a freezer full of muffin deliciousness for the week ahead's lunch boxes. It was such good family fun that we're already planning our next bakeoff......

~~~

 

Our Basic Muffin Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups SR flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp. oil
• + flavourings of your choice

(try cocoa and choc chips, replacing some of the milk with orange juice and adding choc chips, spices and jam or white chocolate and berries)

1. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a measuring jug.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined (don't over mix or you'll make tough muffins!).
4. Spoon mixture into muffin cups until about 1/2-2/3 full (we made 10-12 muffins with each batch).
5. Bake at 200C for 15-20min until lightly browned and springy.
6. Cool, decorate and serve.

Eating from the garden in late winter

Colour in the winter garden - beetroot, calendula and brocoletti flowers

Two years ago, if someone had told me that I would be able to eat veggies from my garden all through winter, I wouldn't have believed them. In the past, the only thing harvested in my winter garden was the silverbeet that had grown into a massive plant. I still have a long way to go in my winter gardening (no lovely heads of purple broccoli or cauliflower for us still), but now I can see the possibilities!

Snow peas in hanging baskets - snail and duck proof!

This winter promised lots of lovely silverbeet and peas, but my ducks put a stop to that. Instead, we've eaten great heaps of wombok cabbages, enough lettuce and rocket for salads and burgers, good supply of carrots, baby beets, some lovely stalks of brocoletti, the odd bak choi and masses of crisp and delicious celery. It's all been topped with the herbs that have kept going, and served with some of my summer preserved and frozen veg. It's not enough veg for us - I've still had to buy the odd pumpkin, frozen peas and bags of potatoes - but every day we eat something from our garden, and that feels very good indeed. 

Broad beans in flower promising more fresh veg soon.

Last night was a good gardeners meal. I made rosti with potatoes and a selection of fresh turnips, carrot, celery and herbs from the garden. They were served with new season eggs from our chooks (thanks girls!), sourdough toast, tomato chutney and the first few snow peas from my hanging baskets (ie. duck proof pea gardens!). It's a simple meal, but it tastes so good to eat all of those home grown and homemade items, knowing exactly what went into everything on the plate. 

Delicious!

With a bit of luck (and my planning paying off) and we'll continue to eat from the garden all through spring to make it a whole 12 months of garden consumption - yay!

Pretty purple and white turnip tops.

 

When you need a hand

I had to have a small operation on my left hand last week. I had the same surgery on my right hand 7 years ago, so I knew what I was in for - a pretty sore hand in a hefty bandage with no strength in the fingers and a lot of tenderness in the palm and wrist for several weeks. The pain is manageable and I know that in the long run I'll be better off, but for the meantime, I'm a hand short.

Finding yourself without the use of one of your hands is an interesting thing. Everyone would find it challenging - buttering bread, doing up jeans (getting dressed at all!), putting your hair in a ponytail, washing one hand, hanging clothes on the line, writing - give some of these activities a go without one of your hands and you are suddenly very grateful for the regular use of two hands!

For me, a person who fills her days cooking, crafting, gardening, caring for animals, driving to do the shopping, teaching dance classes and doing housework, I'm finding the time without a hand not only very frustrating, but boring too - I sat and watched tv all day for two days!  People who know me would understand how weird that is and how uncomfortable if felt for me. 

Thankfully, my surgery was planned and elective, so we were prepared. The week before, I put in hours of work filling our freezers with meals, bread and snacks. I wrote a menu plan filled with meals that used those foods and/or could be prepared by Stu and the boys. I arranged people to care for us when we needed it and drivers to get me where I needed to be. I taught my family how to do some of the jobs I have to do each day for when I couldn't do them and I completed the making of gifts and urgent gardening tasks before my surgery. We were prepared, so we've been able to keep going living our chosen way even while I'm partially out of action. 

There will need to be some sacrifices soon though. Our freezers could only fit so much bread, and with the incision being on my palm, kneading dough is out of the question, so the lovely sourdough I've been making won't feature again until I'm fully healed. But I've temporarily gone back to using my bread maker to do the hard work and am still able to make our bread.

The biggest thing for me has been asking for help - I'm usually so independent that to ask people to do lots of little things for me feels wrong, and I've avoided it too many times and ended up paying for it with a very sore hand afterwards..... a lesson in asking for help and remembering that I'm not invincible.

Do you have trouble asking for help too?

The evolution of our bread

I'm very pleased to say that I've been baking nearly all of the bread we eat for about 18 months now. And I've come a long way from those first (barely edible) loaves.

I initially started baking our own bread, not for the health of taste benefits, but for the waste reduction. It was back in the beginning of our 12 months of greening, and I was determined to reduce the amount of rubbish in our bin each week. Plastic bread bags and tags became a pet hate and so I set about replacing them with recyclable, paper flour sacks. 

Over the first few months, I perfected my baking, and eventually had a recipe of my own that consistently churned out delicious bread and rolls for my family. Everyone was happy.... And then I realised how often I was buying yeast and began to read about how much healthier sourdough is..... 

I figured it was worth a try. For me, the idea of growing my own yeast at home just made sense, and the idea of a bread(which we eat a lot of!) that was better for us seemed a worthy goal. So a couple of months ago, I made myself a sourdough starter. 

Ten days after mixing that first batch if flour and water, I baked our first loaf. I wish I could say that it was fabulous, but it was reminiscent of those first loaves of bread (ie. barely edible). So I tried again. The boys offered support - they too remember that I had a bad start with regular bread- but I knew they were longing for a loaf of my old bread. 

After the third loaf, things were improving, but I wanted a change, so I tried these sourdough tortillas.  They were easily the best tortillas we have ever eaten - hooray!  The sourdough culture was now smiled upon by all. 

Our latest triple batch of sourdough tortillas.

I kept trying with the bread, different recipes, techniques and tweaks, and eventually, I found my own recipe, an adaptation of this one. It's not quite as easy as the bread recipe I was using before, but it uses ingredients I'm comfortable with, fits my routine and makes delicious bread for the whole family. Like my old recipe, one batch makes a loaf and a dozen rolls for lunches of a couple of large loaves, so it saves on time, power and effort. 

It's not too sour (even though I don't use the baking soda as the recipe suggests), which is a good thing for a family loaf, and so long as I get a good rise in the first proving, it is lovely and soft.  The kids are happy to have the bread bin full of deliciousness again, and I love that I no longer have to buy yeast and that the bread is just a little better for us again (a far cry from nutritionless stuff I used to buy from the supermarket!). 

A soft and delicious sourdough sandwich loaf.

And to make a good thing better, we've discovered some of the other wonderful things I can make with sourdough starter!  English muffins, crackers, donuts and a choc orange cake have been tried and the tortillas are a weekly event. For Stu's  birthday, I experimented and created a sourdough hummingbird cake which was amazing!  I'll share the recipe soon. I'm looking forward to trying pancakes and croissants one day discovering more sourdoughy goodness. 

I'd love to lay out a timeline of our breads evolution - from supermarket bread to now. And I'm looking forward to the next chapter that I hope to attempt in the next year - home ground flour for my bread....

My friend Herman

Last week, one of my lovely neighbours knocked on the door and presented me with a new friend - Herman, the German friendship cake. Not actually a cake, but a portion of sourdough cake starter.

I was so excited!  I'd heard murmurs of Herman's travels in the blogosphere, and I was thrilled that he was travelling through our little town and stopped at our place. 

For ten days, Herman sat on my kitchen bench beside my (still nameless) sourdough culture and my jar of fermenting carrots. I fed him a couple of times and watched him grow. He was a lovely visitor. 

Today was Herman's last day with us. He was divided into four portions and taken in the car to three of my friends' homes. He has lots more travelling to do still. He was welcomed with more excitement into their homes and has found comfortable lodging on their kitchen benches. (And I have three friends who were very pleased that I thought of them!). 

The fourth portion stayed with me to reach its destiny as cake. I opted to make my Herman spicy, adding to the basic recipe a good few spoonfuls of ginger, a spoonful each of cinnamon, cloves and mixed spice, a couple of tablespoons of golden syrup and a cup of sultanas.  (I failed to add bicarb soda though, so my cake turned out short, but still rose due to the natural yeasts, enough to make it light)

Herman was baked and is now being eaten. Such a delicious friend to have!

I opted to not keep a portion of Herman for future cakes - he's a travelling kind of guy and I didn't think it would work to have him boarding here full time. Instead we enjoyed him thoroughly for the time we had him and wish him well on his travels. If he stops past your place, please say hi from us!

For more info on Herman, visit his website www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com. The site has recipes and info and even tells you how to make a starter from scratch, but I reckon it's more fun to wait for him to come knocking on your door. 

When springtime came calling

The days are getting slowly longer here. No longer do we get up in the dark, and it is still light when Stu comes home from work. Jonquils are popping their heads up everywhere and my baby almond tree is the first to blossom in our garden this year. My chooks finally noticed the days lengthening and started laying again. Yes, it's still winter, but we hear springtime just around the corner.

This weekend, spring paid an early visit, the sun shone, the skies were blue and we wanted to be outside. 

Outside was a good place to be here as we welcomed new animal friends this weekend. 

On Friday, my mum's lamb came here. He came to be a friend for our goat. He stayed two nights and had to go home. Our goat didn't really like him and he was fretting for the calf he had been reared with. 

On Saturday, our goat, Jorgie, came home. Having bashed up the lamb, told the dog whose boss and decided that we're all her family now, she settled in. 

She is extremely affectionate and prefers us to be nearby. This was easy on the weekend when the kids wanted to play outside, Stu wanted to catch some of the suns warmth and I made the most of the springtime visit to pot up some seedlings and scratch around in the garden. Today it's harder. 

Today winter has come back with a vengeance. Swirly, gusty, cold winds. Rain and hail. It's not nice here today. And I can here Jorgie calling to me. Or maybe she's calling spring back. 

It won't be long now Jorgie girl. Springtime will be here very soon and with it, hopefully, will come a kid or two for you.

 

Bali 2013 - Adventure and other activities

I'm going to go with less talk and more pictures in this post, in which I'll cover the other activities that we did while in Bali.  Lets just say that we had a busy 10 days in Bali and made the most of our holiday.  I couldn't tell you which of the following was my favourite, nor the favourite of Stu or the kids - they were all terrific!

Our first activity was white water rafting on the Ayung river with our awesome guide, Made.

 

A few days later, we visited the Treetop Adventure park in Bedugal.

 

 

And later that day, the Elephant Safari Park in Taro.

 

 

Another day, we spent some quite time eating lunch and feeding huge Koi from a little hut built over the water at a café up the road from our hotel. 

 

 

 

 

While in Kuta, we visited Waterbom park for a WHOLE day!

 

 

And the kids discovered the fun of an arcade.

 

 

We also all had lovely massages and/or pedicures.

 

 

There was also time for walks through the country......

 

 

The town......

 

And along the beach.

 

Before watching our final peaceful sunset at Kuta Beach.

 

 

Actually, it wasn't that peaceful!

 

 

~~~

Did you also read about the cultural activities we did? 

And where we stayed?

More on Bali to come still!