Unplanning the menu

I love the idea if menu planning. Occasionally, I go through a phase of menu planning, which for me, involves scribbling ideas  for the week ahead on the whiteboard or a scrap of paper.  Last year I had visions of one of those lovely homemade menu plan boards hanging in my kitchen, but I never got around to making one, and now I'm glad I didn't - I've unplanned the menu!

You see, the trouble with a menu plan is that, for us, it actually leads to more food waste than not planning the menu.  I find that if I menu plan, I tend to follow recipes more (from books or my own) and use the ingredients required only.  I also make a more set quantity, which isn't always great for our family.  The other thing I do when menu planning is plan a week around a couple of meat meals, a pasta, a rice etc, and end up with a nicely balanced diet, but leftovers that don't always go together (which I may or may not include to eat in the week anyway). 

As you know, we have a decent sized veggie garden, and over the summer (despite the heat and dry), we managed to grow nearly all the vegetables we ate.  As we moved through the season, I started to notice that I had a lot of one veg around at a time, and if I planned a menu, we might not eat all of it, and in fact start to need to buy vegetables that we would have in our garden another time.  It feels wrong to grow vegetables and then let them shrivel in the garden or feed them to the chooks while buying others from the shops.

An article I read recently talked about using all of your garden harvest. It said to harvest something everyday, and regardless of what it is, or how much of it there is, use it for that day. Now I don't think that I can always use all of my daily harvest the day it is picked, but I endeavour to base my meals around what I pick each day (or have put aside from a previous harvest), rather than trying to fit my harvest into my meal plan. We have much less waste this way and end up eating very well and definitely seasonally.  We don't always have 5 different veg on our plates, and some weeks we seem to eat an awful lot of a particular vegetable that is either our glut crop (hello zucchinis in January!) or our only decent crop (currently beetroot).

By unplanning the menu, I can also take advantage of good specials (AKA'chuck outs'). Therefore, if I come across something that will be useful to our family (eg. Free range meat or organic veg on special) I can buy them and fit them into the week ahead, rather than either leaving them (while I buy something full price so that it fits the menu plan) or buying them and then not using them.

So each night's meal is based on fresh veg from the garden, and then supported by any specials I've bought that week, my pantries, fridge and freezer which I keep stocked with simple foods.  As I work at home most days, I begin my day with a garden wander and a harvest - I pick what is ready and check the fridge for remaining veg from previous days.  Then, through the rest of the day, I creatively put together my ingredients with something from the stocks (below) and come up with a suitable meal. 

 

Our stored foods include:

• Freezer - frozen veg (preserved from the garden), homegrown chicken, the remains of the side of local, free range pork we bought, homemade stock, homemade breadcrumbs, pastry (yep, still buy that one), homemade icecream and some free range meat that I've bought on special.
• Fridge: milk, cheeses (homemade and bought), butter, homemade yoghurt, eggs from the chooks and a range of jams, chutneys and curry pastes. And also any excess veggies waiting to be used/ 
• The Kitchen Pantry: breakfast things and then lots if other cooking staples. Flour (for breads, sweet baking, pasta etc), sauces, spices, dried beans and pulses, dried fruits and nuts, baking odds and ends and a few cans (coconut milk, tomato paste and beans for when I run out of time).
• The Other Pantry: at this time of the year, is being filled with our produce - bottled and dried fruit, passata, chutneys and jams and marinating feta.

As you can see, I'm set up to cook pretty much anything I can dream up to use the produce I have.

I feel like, by ditching the idea of a menu plan, I've turned my back on one of the keystones of good homemaking, but this feels like a better fit, and as we become gradually more and more self sufficient, I think it is an important step in ensuring that we eat mostly our homegrowns.  People who know me may be laughing at this - you see I'm a planner by nature.  But this isn't completely throwing away a plan, but allowing my garden to plan for me each day or two and to allow me to get creative with what I have. I'll still be planning (yes, and writing lists, to ensure my kitchen is stocked well).  This is not just flying by the seat of my pants, this is intentional unplanning.


We've been doing this for a few weeks now, and the meals we've eaten have been mostly really goof, though some have felt like strange concoctions :).  We've eaten slices, curries, mexican inspired bean dishes, vegetarian roast dinners, lovely salads, pastas etc.  My shopping budget has been cut and I've only thrown a very small amount of leftovers and scrap veg to the chooks.

Bean and tomato salad, zucchini slice and naan bread - not the most regular
of combinations, but filling, delicious and it used what we had!

I read lots of blog posts about menu plans - some people plan for a whole season, others a fortnight or week. Some have fancy set ups, and I'm sure there are more intentional unplanners out there too. Where do you fit?

Discovering bartering

I've always loved the idea of bartering, but never found opportunities to do it. In the last couple of weeks I've discovered several such opportunities and I'm loving it!

I'm doing some casual tutoring for a teenage friend. I really enjoy stretching my brain and using all that stored up knowledge from my science, maths and teaching degrees, and because I'm keeping the sessions casual, it doesn't really feel like work. I tutored her a bit last year and her mum paid me for the sessions, but this year, I asked for no cash payment. Instead, her mum (who happens to be one of my best friends) will be doing some other things in return. Today, she baked us a delicious banana bread and later in the week, she is going to fix my iPod for me - something I don't know how to do, and would otherwise cost me quite a lot of money. I don't expect something each week, but get so much more enjoyment out of the payment in goods or services than if it was cash.

We happened across another trade this week, completely by accident. Stu took in some zucchinis and nectarines for his work mates, and one of them sent back, empty jars and egg cartons and has promised to hunt out her unused vacola jars for us too. The excess food isn't a loss for us, but a saving and a treat for her. Getting rid of jars that are unused and taking up space in her home is beneficial for her, while receiving free, useful jars for preserving our crops is wonderful for me!

Next week, I'll be doing some sewing for a dance student's mum who doesn't have the time and expertise to do it herself. She offered to pay me for the job, but I think I will ask if she would like to barter instead - I know she doesn't have a lot of spare money, but as a dairy farmer, she should be able to trade raw milk that I can use in my cheese making.

I have been reading with much interest about 'crop and swap' community gatherings and would love to be involved with one someday. But for now, I'm enjoying trading my goods and services for much appreciated others. I think I will make this my newest challenge, to hunt for opportunities to barter.

Do you barter? What have you traded? Any suggestions?

Rocket chai!

It's been raining here. It is so lovely to watch the droopy shrubs perk up and the veggie patch looking vital again. And our tanks are full! The loss of our bore water connection this summer had me worried and I was beginning to think we might end up needing to buy water during those long, hot and dry weeks when I was having to pour our rain water on the garden to keep our veggies alive. But with full tanks at the start of February, I feel confident that we'll be OK. That's important to me. I feel that even if we can't be self sufficient for everything, it is important to be able to look after the basics - simple cooking, growing a few edibles, home maintenance and gathering enough water and managing its use so it is enough. Clearly we want to be much more self sufficient than that, but that is my base line.

While thinking about that, and hearing stories of people being without power and phone, and cut off from the rest of the world by floods and fires, I've started thinking more about our emergency plans. Hopefully, we never have a big emergency, but evem if we don't, we do often have to cope without power for a few hours, and I want those occasions to be easy to deal with. We are so reliant on power for the operations in our homes. Here, we have no natural gas and, in our home, absolutely everything is electric. When we have no power, it isn't only heating, cooling and the kettle that we lose, but our oven and stove are out of action and we can't even get water from the taps as they rely on an electric pump. If I know the power will be out, I put water in the sink to wash hands, fill water bottles and a thermos for hot water etc, but when it is unexpected, we're stuck.

So this is one of my goals for February. To organise a water supply that is not reliant on the power, or a non-powered way to access our tank water. And I'm also playing with ideas for how to cook and otherwise cope so that we don't feel that we have to go somewhere else or resort to takeaway dinners just because I don't have an oven.

Yesterday, we played with one of those ideas. We built a rocket stove in our garden using the simple plans from a Grassroots magazine. It was a very quick and easy build using things we scrounged from the garden - about 15 bricks, a tin can and the metal pot holder borrowed from the BBQ. We built it on the concrete behind the pizza oven, and the first version was on the ground. But it did really need to be raised so that it could be cooked on and fed sticks easily. We scanned the garden looking for something and spotted the no longer needed old toilet and a slab of concrete.  A quick rebuild and our rocket stove was complete. We were highly amused by our use of the old loo - Stu's parents who were visiting think we've lost the plot ;)

So the idea of the rocket stove is that it burns sticks to cook things in the pot at the top. It works, but not fabulously. For us, it was at least a two person job. Someone had to be sitting feeding in sticks constantly and tending the fire, while someone else found the sticks, broke them to the right length and saw to the food on top. It was fun though, and the boys got involved with the fire feeding as well.

Our stove wasn't exactly great and may need some adjustments, but we'll keep working on it (the pizza oven was terrible the first time we used it too, but we've learnt how to use it now). We did manage to cook something though. A large pot of homemade chai. It was definitely slow living (the chai took almost two hours!) but it was so much fun and boy did that chai taste good sitting together as a family sharing our 'rocket chai' in the garden. The slowest rocket in history!

If I can't get the stove to work better than that, it won't be a terribly popular cooking method. But if we were without power, I could at least boil water for tea and make a simple hot meal using only a pile of sticks and leaves from the garden as fuel.

And now, would you like to make some chai too? Here is my from scratch recipe - feel free to use a conventional stove to get somewhat faster results ;)

Chai blend

Crush the following in a mortar and pestle: 3 cinnamon sticks, 12 peppercorns, 12 cloves 4 whole crushed allspice and 6 cardamom pods.  Mix in 1 tsp crushed cumin, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/2 cup of black tea.  You can use the crushed or uncrushed equivalents if needed, just make sure they are still fragrant and fresh.  Store in an airtight container until needed.

To brew chai

Add about a heaped teaspoon of the above mix to about 2 cups of water.  Bring to the boil.  Boil for 3-4 minutes.  Add about a cup of milk (soy is nice, but cows/goats works just fine) and boil for a further minute.  Strain tea into mugs and add honey (or sugar or vanilla sugar etc) to taste. Enjoy!

Our life less ordinary

If someone had asked me ten years ago, what I would do with a weekend in 2013, I don't know what I would have told them. I probably would have predicted spending it with Stu - right. I might have hoped I would have a couple of kids in tow - right again (though I would not have predicted the identical twin boys I ended up with!). But as for the rest....? What I do know is that there is NO WAY I would have predicted the list of things I've been up to with my little family this weekend!

Friday saw me planting out some more seeds in my vegie garden, hanging out with the kids at home and studying the new fitness program I'll be teaching next term. That night, we met Stu in Warrnambool to work on our tiny school's fabulous, parent run, pancake stall at the night markets. We worked really hard, but it was so much fun!

Saturday morning found us in the garden fixing a gate to stop our over friendly chooks camping on the back door step (and possibly being hurt by the dogs). Mum stopped in to say hi, then later, in the spirit of tiny towns, one of our friends and neighbours dropped in for a cuppa. We emptied our waterless toilet and made some adjustments, and spent some family time discussing the possibility of getting a milking goat, and debating the best solar power option.

That night, after a homemade curry packed with homegrown veg, I dressed up in a belly baring costume, did my hair, put on too much makeup and went to a local restaurant. It was completely booked out, and I was there to belly dance.... people really enjoyed watching me (and my dance buddy) performing the dances I had choreographed.... AND I got paid for doing it!  Can you believe that?!

A job as a belly dancer? !  I never would have guessed that one!

After dancing, I came home to a peaceful home (it was screen free Saturday of course) and cooled down with a homemade apple cider, hanging out with Stu and our books for a quiet night.

Early this morning, I was out and about with Stu for a run - yep, a run! Stu is helping build up my running stamina. Once I was spent, I was home for some yoga before breakfast.

The rest of the morning was spent processing three of our home raised chickens for the freezer - a job that, while not exactly pleasant, was surprisingly satisfying and not as horrible as either of us expected it to be.

This afternoon, I have watched brand new chickens hatch, completed paperwork for this terms belly dance classes, crocheted a small gift and baked bread for the next couple of days. And while I was doing that, Stu was working on the belly dance website and the kids were enjoying their favourite thing - time together at home to just play.



Hatchlings!  Six hatched and at least two more on the way!

I'm exhausted! But would I change a thing? No way! And I would love to know what I'll be up to 10 years from now.



Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It is nice to be back!  Back on the internet and all the good things it has to offer after over 2 weeks without it.  You may have heard of the fire in the Warrnambool Telstra Exchange (or maybe not), this fire wiped out all telecommunications in the district and caused some minor chaos.  There was no eftpos, ATMs or online banking; no internet at all which also meant no security cameras in the banks; we couldn't call anyone and the Optus shop sold out of phones (all those who deemed it impossible to live without a mobile phone ran in there to buy one) and there were thousands of teenagers out there without access to facebook ;)

I was fine without it all for a while, but by the end of the first week without a home phone, very sketchy and occasional mobile coverage and no internet, I was beginning to feel a little bit isolated from the world.  We finally got our home phone back after 9 days, and the internet came back after 15 days.  It is quite scary how reliant on telecommunications we are isn't it?

Anyway, I'm back, and life has gone on here and everywhere else.  I have wanted to blog about so many things these last two weeks, and maybe I'll get to some of them, but I'm going to start with a Christmas update.

We always start our Christmassy things on the 1st of December, and this year I made the boys an advent calender.  Each pocket is made from a spray painted, sewn up toilet roll, and they are hung on our kitchen notice board.  Each day, the boys get a random lolly each and a slip of paper gives them a Christmas activity to do.  The first one was a little treasure hunt for a new Christmas book, and since then they've had things like decorate the tree, visit Santa for a photo, watch a Christmas movie, write cards for their friends etc. 

Our tree is up and looking beautiful.  We bought a new tree this year after a very long family discussion about the various environmental impacts of tree choices.  In the end we decided on a new plastic tree.  We completely understand the implications of plastic trees, but we will use it for another 10 years (or more) like our last one, and it will safely hold all of our precious decorations.  Our tree has no Christmas lights this year though as the power to run even LED lights just seems wasteful in a country where it isn't dark until after 9pm at Christmas time.  Our tree still twinkles though with tinsel and decorations that catch the suns rays through the window.

Our tree decorations are a family tradition.  Each year since I was four, I would choose a special decoration and mum would write my name and the year on it.  When I left home, I took all of my decorations with me, and they all hang on our tree.  Stu and I continued this tradition for the two of us until the boys came along, and then we started it for them.  Each year we all hang our own decorations and remember all of the Christmases past, and the boys will be able to take their decorations for their own tree when they move out.  A beautiful tradition.

And we are starting to get a pile of presents under the tree too!  I've been very busy in my own 'Santa's workshop' and have made all the presents to give this year.  I have about 5 to complete and am so proud of the gifts we're giving.  The four of us will also get a few homemade gifts, including all of the 'stocking stuffers' for the boys which I've made too.  I wish I could tell you all the things I've made, but I don't want to spoil the surprises!  But I can tell you my crochet hooks, sewing machine, hammers, kitchen tools and every other crafty tool I have has been very busy making a wide variety of gifts.  I've taken photos of them all, and promise to share after Christmas. (want some of my ideas for this Christmas? head over to my Pinterest page to see some of my inspirations for this year and next). 

There are a few purchased gifts under the tree, some new ones for the kids, but mostly secondhand items.  I took the kids to the opshop to do their Christmas shopping.  They loved it, and so did the opshop staff who helped them shop!  For a grand total of $12, they each bought a gift for me and one for Stu and they are so proud of their choices - I can't wait to see what they bought!

Our December greening challenge is to not use wrapping paper.  All the gifts we're giving are therefore wrapped in re-usable bags sewn from Christmas fabric.  They are very simple rectangular bags in a range of fabrics and sizes.  We'll gather them back from people after they open the gifts (unless they really want them and have a use for them) and use them again for years to come.  This year we've tied them with curling ribbon, just because we still had heaps from previous years, but once that runs out, I'll buy reusable satin ribbon too.  Gift tags are made from recycled Christmas cards and pieces of plastic cut from milk bottles.

Today, I'm working on another sewn Christmas toy gift and some more Christmas baking.  Today's advent calender task is for the boys to decorate a plate of Christmas biscuits and deliver them to a friend/neighbour, so we'll do that this arvo.  And in the midst all those tasks, I'm going to travel around blogland checking out what all my favourite bloggers have been up to!

I hope you're having a very happy December too
xx

I already have a job, thankyou.

The boys went back to school this morning to begin their final term of their second school year.  They are getting so grown up. 

Stu didn't go to work though.  His company made him redundant on Friday and while they've given 10 weeks notice, they were told to take today off anyway.  His redundancy wasn't a surprise, we've been waiting most of this year for the company to set a date.  You see they made some new grand plans that involve cebtralised call centres and jobs in the city and no more rural and regional branches.  Stu has been with them for over 7 years and the only other remaining lady in his office has been with them for 36 years.  The office will close just before Christmas.


So how will this affect our family? We are fairly confident that Stu will get another job in the next couple of months.  If he does, things will go on as normal.  If he doesn't, then I will look for some sort of "stop gap" job to help out until he does.  But despite what some people seem to think I should do, I won't be looking for permanent employment.

Since the boys started school (and occasionally before that) I have frequently been asked if I've 'found a job yet' or when I'll be going back to work.  Thanks for your concern folks, but I already have a job, in fact I have several!

In terms of the employment that I put on my annual tax return, I teach belly dance and perform regularly.  This earns enough each week to cover basic weekly expenses such as fuel and food.  But more importantly, I love it, it keeps me fit, and it doesn't put out my family.  I am here each day when my boys go to, and return from school.  I am able to spend time with them and my husband, and cook dinner for and eat with them every night.  My paid work fits our family life.  If I returned to secondary school teaching (or office or lab work, all of which I've done in the past), I would need someone to care for my kids before and after school, I would need to do preparation and marking in the evenings and I wouldn't have the time or energy to be the homemaker, mother and wife that I want to be.

People wonder what I do all day.  Well it isn't lunching at cafes and shopping with friends.  If I'm lucky, I might have a cuppa (at home) or a long phone call with a friend once a week. I will either have lunch with Stu or browse the opshops with a friend about once a month.  The rest if the time I spend working.  Today I have made more household cleaning products and my herbal hair rinse.  I have washed and hung on the line all of the bed linen (and will soon be bringing it in to remake the beds), I worked in the garden, planting, weeding etc to make sure we are growing enough vegies for summer and I also checked on the laying chooks and our newly hatched chickens which will, in a few months either join the laying flock, or become meat for us to eat.

I've also been working on the pizza oven project with Stu (because he is home), and found time to begin making another homemade gift for the Christmas pile - of which, along with the birthday presents, will be nearly all made by me.  This week, I need to do lesson plans for my term of classes, sew some (recycled fabric) shorts for the boys and do some of the less regular chores, like window washing.  I will do the grocery shopping tomorrow, but also bake bread, make our butter spread and cook pasta from scratch.  I also hope to buy a cheesemaking kit this week so I can add to our list of homemades (which already includes most of what we eat).  I don't have time to socialize, watch tv or read all day, but I do find time to think while I work about new hairbrained schemes brilliant ideas to save us money and make us more sustainable as a family.  I have a job.  This job(s?) may not earn a paycheque, but what it saves us financially, and give us in terms of quality of life is priceless.

But how do we go financially? My husband's job earns a decent income (we think) though it is still below the Australian average.  We don't recieve any benefits from the government, though we do get some family tax benefit, and my bellydance pay too.  We own both of our cars, have no credit cards, are paying off more on our mortgage than we have to, and we are doing fine.  No-one in our family misses out on anything they need or really want.  We holiday each year and sometimes go out for tea or do other things like the pool or a movie.  We're doing just fine.

So to the people that ask about my job status, I just want to say, thanks for your concern, but I already have several jobs and a comfortable, happy and full life.  We don't need to change.

Slow living month - September

I know I'm 5 days late with this journal - its been hard to find the time and motivation to get here to blog this week.  We're on school holidays and the boys and I have been having a ball, and the weather has been great, so I've been in the garden a lot.  But I do love these journal type of entries, so here it is, Slow Living Month September.  Do pop over to Slow Living Essentials and see what others have been up to.... that's what I plan to do as soon as I'm done typing this :)

~Nourish~

We celebrated early spring one night by taking our dinner outside.  We cooked our tortillas on the BBQ plate and ate by candlelight.  We realised that early spring is really the only time you can eat outside by candlelight with kids - in summer it is too late by the time it is dark and in winter it is too cold.  It was a lovely, impromptu, weeknight dinner.  I love making our own tortillas, it is one of the few things that Stu and I cook cooperatively and I love it.  We are also now getting plenty of eggs, so there has been a resurgence of egg based meals and pancakes on weekends.

~Grow~

September in the garden has been all about preparing for summer crops.  I continued to plant and nurture seedlings in the cold frame and started planting out.  Unfortunately, snails and slugs are a huge problem here, so I've been fighting them at every step along the way.  I've continued to harvest greens from the garden and the snow peas are finally producing a few crisp pods that never seem to make it to the dinner table.  My son has decided that they are a snacking vegetable, not a dinner vegetable - I tend to agree.  I've loved joining in on the garden journal with Squiggly Rainbow too (and will be back on that when the holidays are over!).

~Prepare~

The coriander that has filled our curries with its colour and flavour through winter has sensed the spring and is bolting to seed, so I have picked huge amounts of it to make frozen coriander ice blocks using this recipe.  They're lovely and will hopefully keep the deliciousness going for us a bit longer.
We also continued to bottle beer and our first batch of alcoholic ginger beer.  The alcohol level is relatively low, but the taste is gooooooood!

 

~Reduce~

Lots of lovely op shop finds this month - clothes and books for the kids, crafty things, clothes and a couple of homewares for me and something special for Stu.  An espresso machine! It's not a super fancy one, but it works really well and Stu is enjoying his morning coffee from it.  He is not enjoying so much the regular requests for 'cinos (strawberry, vanilla, caramel and chai) from the rest of us ;) 
I've also continued to reuse and repurpose a lot of 'junk' through the garden for various jobs.

~Green~

Our challenge for last month was to do 'random acts of greening'.  We built (from recycled materials) a new compost bin; switched to bamboo compostable toothbrushes and discovered new ways to be just a little bit greener.  The kids also took it upon themselves to pick up litter when they go for their walks to check the mail or exercise the dogs - proud of my little greenies.  Our bamboo toothbrushes needed a bit of decoration.  They are all exactly the same, so we decorated the handles of them with nailpolish so we know whose is whose.

~Create~

I'm still working on my jumper that I had hoped to have finished by spring, but keep getting interrupted in its creation to make costumes for dancing, birthday presents etc.  And I have had to write a plan for the next few months of Christmas present making as the sheer quantity on the to do list was overwhelming me.  

Here are a couple of little birthday presents I made this month and was able to gift to the little girls they were for yesterday. They loved them!

A Tangled Happy Wand for a 5 year old friend

A little "spare pocket" handbag with crocheted decals.

We also started on the pizza oven, and are discovering creative masonry :) We built the arch to the base - so proud!  (photos soon)


~Discover~

The library loads have been huge this month and I was also given some vintage pattern books which are gorgeous.  On the reading pile are: Living the Good Life, A Katie Fforde novel, numerous books on building woodfired ovens, a couple of copies of G magazine and a book called A slice of Organic. 

~Enhance~

We had our Spring Hafla at Belly Dance.  I love gathering with the community that we've built with our little belly dance group.  We always have a great atmosphere and fabulous fun.  I was so proud of my own kids and all of the other Belly Kids and adult students who graced the stage with the crazy collection of dances I've been teaching them this year.  It is always such a pleasure to watch a student take to the stage for the first time and to watch the buzz they get from such an achievement.  I had numerous people congratulate me on the diversity and family friendliness of the group, I work hard to make sure that all women and kids, regardless of their abilities or body shape, size age etc are not only welcome, but truly included.  I'm really glad this shows.  I also love that I get to share this with my hubby and kids - special!

Some crazy Shaabi style fun with my intermediate students.  This style is representative of modern 'nightclub' style dancing, hence the casual jeans costume.  All just for fun really :)

~Enjoy~

I've enjoyed the first rays of Spring sunshine.  The first week of holidays with my kids.  Hanging out on screen free Saturday nights with Stu.  Having my stepmum visiting and taking her to meet Clover (and in doing so getting to spend time with my awesome bro and sis-in-law again).  A photoshoot with my little spunky guys before their school disco.  A family day at my mum's place where I felt closer to her and my little brother and sister than I have in a long time.  Dinner and dancing fun with my dancing sisters, including some time where we banned belly dance talk and just connected as friends.  And much more. A good month.

Tuesday Garden Journal

Rach from Squiggly Rainbow stopped by here on the weekend and invited me to share in the Tuesday Garden Journal linkup she has started.  I'm a big fan of linkups :)  and I have started to browse through her blog and it looks like another good one - stop writing such lovely blogs people!  I'm running out of time to work LOL

So I'm going to try and join in with this Garden Journal on a weekly basis......  so here goes.

We've been very busy in the garden this week.  Its Spring, of course we have!

I have just finished making this arch in my vegie patch which I will use for growing cucumbers over.

I found these cheeky little tomato seedlings sprouting in the veg beds, and have plucked them out and potted them up.  Based on their location and what was growing there last year, these will be a delicious cherry tomato.  A few plants for me, a few for mum.  By the way, can you see the chicken wire loosely covering them?  That has to be all over my garden beds as we have cats and they love nothing better than well tilled soil for digging in.

The seedlings are going really well in the cold frame.  I love seeing the first hints of green each time a new variety pops through and cheer them on while they grow first leaves and then true leaves.  The zucchinis and pumpkins are nearly ready to go out and then will be protected from frosts by cloches in the garden.

Out in the chook area, Specks is all settled in the old dog kennel with 11 eggs from my mum's farm under her.  With a bit of luck we'll have little chicks in a couple of weeks.

Materials are piling up for the building of the pizza oven.  These concrete blocks came home yesterday and Stu will be getting more supplies after work today.  The concrete we laid on the weekend is dry now, so we will hopefully start the building tomorrow evening.

The sun is out and everywhere I walk I find animals enjoying the sunshine - chooks, bees, dogs, insects, snails (they don't get to stay though) and cats.  They all love our springtime garden as much as I do.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to in their gardens this week.

A busy weekend and a stingy experiment!

We have just had a whirlwind of a weekend!

From belly dance haflas and family get togethers to building in the garden.  Today we're all tired, but looking forward to another week of busy-ness.

On Saturday, my teenage brother played in his football grand final.  The boys and I didn't go as we would have had to leave too early in the morning following a late night, but Stu went to support him on our behalf.  Sadly, the team didn't win, but it sounds like everyone had a good morning.

In the afternoon, we all met up at my mum's farm.  They have 50 acres which is mostly taken up with rather a lot of horses (my mum and sister are very into showing, breeding and all things horsey).  But 50 acres is a lot of space for a hobby type of farm, and they also have plenty of other farm animals.  It was a great visit - lots of catching up with everyone as my other brother and sister in law had also come over for the afternoon.   Mum made one of her delicious (if eclectic) feasts and we even managed to chat to my Grandad in the UK via skype.  It was one of those family events that felt comfortable and warm.

I managed to come home with a good range of "souvenirs" too - some poly pipe to support my cucumber arch, some fertile eggs to put under my clucky hen, some straw for topping up the nesting boxes, a dozen duck eggs, a pile of books for me and the bookworm kids and a bag of stinging nettles.  Mum thought I was crazy to turn down her offer of silverbeet and take some of her "weeds" instead, but I've been reading so many things about nettles and watching TV shows featuring them - I just had to give them a go!

A somewhat blurry (sorry!) photo of my nettles.

I didn't get a chance to cook with the nettles yesterday as we were out in the garden getting the pizza oven project started.  This involved fixing the wheelbarrow and then mixing up some concrete and screeding off the top of the old garage slab that we'll be building it on.  We have no concrete experience (other than the odd rapid set in the post hole use), and it took a lot of research to even get to this point, and I'm not sure we've done a great job - but it is done!  And tomorrow evening we will hopefully lay the first course or two of concrete besser blocks that will form the plinth for the oven.  We've found this project interesting so far as there are just sooooo many ways people have built woodfired ovens that we have had to sift through all the books and blog posts and come up with a unique plan that is a combination of all the methods we've read about.  This is going to be a steep learning curve, but the aim is to have it ready for a party we're having in November - fingers crossed and I will keep you posted with updates as we build. 

We were also brewing yesterday - bottling the first batch of alcoholic ginger beer (which smells and tastes divine! Can't wait for it to be finished!), and loading up the fermenter with another batch of beer.

16 bottles of ginger beer..... mmmmmmm.....

Back to the nettles though.  I braved them today and used them to cook tea.  They were actually very easy to use and quite tasty.  I simply put on gloves and pulled the leaves off the stems.  I threw the stems out and blanched the leaves.  The sting is all gone when they are cooked.  The cooking water I tried some of as a tea - it has a real earthy flavour with a hint of fishyness.  I can't say I loved it, but it was drinkable and apparently extremely healthy.  The nettles, I mixed with some finely chopped mushrooms, sour cream and grated cheese and used as a ravioli stuffing for pasta made with mum's duck eggs.  The verdict?  Yum!  They were really good!  And the greeness of the nettles is better than anything else I've ever seen.  We'll be revisiting this weed again for sure.

Nettle and mushroom ravioli ready for folding

How was your weekend? 
Have you ever eaten nettles?  How?

Slow living month - August

I'm not fond of winter, I blossom in the warmer seasons, but August turned out the be a pretty fabulous month for me.  Here is the Slow Living linkup summary.

~Nourish~
I've continued to try lots of vegetarian meals in amongst our few meaty meals each week.  Some have been a success, others have been met with less interest, especially from the kids it is not that they are real carnivores, but just not keen on a few of the flavours and textures we've tried.  But a huge hit was the vegetarian 'chop suey' (perhaps you know it as chow mein?) that the boys helped me cook using our homegrown cabbages.  It was scoffled up in no time by everyone!

And my bread is getting better each month - love it!

~Grow~
We've harvested cabbages (I think they were savoys?), a few dingy looking sugar snap peas (growing peas is not my thing), more rainbow silverbeet, lettuce, coriander, leeks and lots of lovely lemons.  I feel like our winter garden could be more productive, but I manage to still use something from the garden every day.  Next year it'll be better!

Seeds were planted in newspaper pots for the summer crops, and it is lovely watching the tiny sprouts pop through the soil.

Also, a few more trees went in - a satsuma plum, a navel orange and a feijoa.

~Create~

Again, there has been more work done on creating items for birthdays that are yet to happen and Christmas, but I have a few little gifts that I have already given, so can show you!

A garden bag made for a girlfriend using a recycled chook food bag.  It is designed to be filled with veg from her garden, and has a pocket on the back for her seed packs.  Inspired by this.

These spunky crochet high tops for Clover!  too cute!  I gave them to her today and they fit her little not quite 2 week old feet.  I used this pattern.

A crocheted owl rattle for baby Clover - made before she was born out of soft cotton from this pattern.

 

~Green~
Our 12 months of greening project was to not buy anything new all month.  We succeeded, finding loads of great alternatives to new items all through the month.  Then my ipod died.  For those of you who don't know, I teach belly dance, and without an ipod, I can't teach.  So on the 31st, I had to go and buy a new one :(

 

~Prepare~
This month I got busy with some more making.  I made some deodorant using this recipe, and I love it! It really works! And Stu uses it too, so I'm really pleased with that.  I also made some toothpaste with this recipe.  It isn't very sweet, the boys say it tastes like seawater, but it makes for lovely clean white teeth and we're all using it, so another success!  And can I just say again that I LOVE Crunchy Betty :)  I am also still making the citrus cleaners as it is the right season for lots of citrus peel.

We've started using these lovely bamboo toothbrushes! image from here

In food prep, I have blanched and frozen cabbage and silverbeet, so it lasts us through the 'hunger gap' in the garden a bit better, and have been buying free range chicken when it is cheap for the freezer.

 

~Enjoy/Enhance~

There have been some great moments this month.  Stu's birthday was a lot of fun.  As was running the kitchen garden program again with my kids class.  All of my belly dance classes have been doing really well and I feel as if I have my belly dance mojo back (it always goes quiet in term 2 and I wonder if it will come back, it always seems to!).  I've been working with my troupe members on a special dance that will see us linking up with dancers from all over the state in October which is exciting too.

 

But this month's biggest enjoy moment has to go to Clover Mae's arrival.  How can anything top being a birthing partner at the birth of your precious baby niece?  I went and visited again today to sneak some more Aunty cuddles - she is simply divine! 

Clover Mae with her adoring big cousins. Naw.....

~Discover~

My reading this month has been strictly for leisure....  a few chicklit novels on the bedside table for pure escapism.  But I've also been reading up on the internet on how to build our pizza oven, and have signed up for online belly dance classes, so I'm learning a lot there and enjoying the extra exercise I get a few times a week.

8 elements of a simply perfect day

I'm a homemaker.  This is my job. 

Each day I fill with the stuff that keeps our family working.

I find that if I do something of each of the following in a day, that day becomes perfect in its simplicity and I feel fulfilled in my role.

I also find that the variety in the day is enough to keep my mind busy and to keep the household chugging along.

These are my 8 elements of a perfect day (in no particular order).

~Housework~

It might be as simple of loading the dishwasher or putting on a load of washing, or it could be a whole house clean and tidy.

 

~Gardening~

Dig a whole new garden bed, plant a hundred seeds, weed under the trees, mow the lawns; or simply wander around the yard looking for new growth.

 

~Crafting~

Usually work on gifts for others, sometimes on something for the house or for us. 

 

~Cooking~

A simple dinner, or enough bread and cakes to make a bakery look sparse.

 

~Reading~

One blog post, or a whole book.  Fictional escapism or recipes and plans.

 

~Animal care~

Some time spent chatting with or cuddling the dogs, cats or chooks.  Feeding them, looking after them.

 

~Connecting with the family~

Taking time to properly talk to my husband and children.  Learning something new about them or reminiscing about the past.  Making sure I hug each one of them at least twice a day.

 

~Dancing~

For exercise and for my other job.  A whole class, a performance, some choreography or a boogie to a song on the radio.

They don't always happen.  Its OK if they don't.  Sometimes life is so busy with other things, or one element gets so big it squeezes out the others.

But the days when they do all happen are so good.

Yesterday was a perfect day.

Today is shaping up pretty well too.

How's your day?

12 months of greening - August - Buy nothing new

It is the middle of August and I'm only just getting to this post. Not because I haven't had time, but because our challenge this month just doesn't feel all that challenging.  I've just worked out why though, so I want to share that with you today.

This month's challenge was inspired by this post over at Crunchy Betty. Have you been to her blog? Go check it out if you haven't, it makes for great fun reading, with lots of ideas.  Anyway, if you scroll through the comments on that post, you'll find mine stating that we're going to challenge ourselves to buying nothing new this month.

Buying nothing new doesn't mean not acquiring things, it just means that we stop taking the easy way out each time we need/want something.  So often, we see a need for something in our homes and head off to the shops and buy it.  Often, the item we buy is from a large department type of shop, it is relatively cheap and easy to buy.  But these cheap, easy to buy items are usually made overseas, often in factories with poor conditions for the workers, and they are made from poor quality materials that are frequently un-environmentally friendly in their production and they are not made to last.  I make no claims to being an expert on this topic, but I do know from our experience that we have bought so many supposed bargains (clothing, household items, electrical etc) that, after only a short time, become useless rubbish that finishes up in landfill.

So this month's challenge asks us to stop and think before we buy.  Can we make an alternative to a new item? Can we source what we need second hand? Can we do without? We have a list that we can add to, and at the end of the month, if anything on that list has not yet got an alternative, we'll buy  the most ecologically sensible option for that item.

Our list is up on the wall, ready to be added to anytime.
"Buy nothing new (except food) this month, but write anything we think we need to buy here.  If it isn't crossed off because we found it second hand/made it/learnt to do without, we can buy it next month"

Half way through the month, our list has three things on it. This is not to say that we've only  wanted or needed three things, but we've been coming up with make-do solutions before even writing things on the list.  And we've done this naturally and easily because the challenges of the past 7 months have altered our way of thinking. 

These are a few examples of things we could have written on the list, but found a way around buying new:

• A warmer pad or belt for the home brew was unnecessary because we used hot water bottles and a blanket that we had.
• I wanted to buy a new pair of pants, but dug into the back if my drawer and pulled out a pair I just haven't worn for ages - a change is as good as new.
• We were going to buy new materials to build a workspace at the end of our verandah, but a walk around the yard and some creative planning had the job done with items we already had.
• I wanted new materials for making gifts, but a rummage in my craft cupboard and at the Opshop found plenty of fabric and yarn for a few projects.

We've also extended to things people have offered to buy for us (afterall, this isn't about saving money, its about saving things). Stu was offered (for a birthday gift) a gadget so we could watch programs that are on our computer on our TV.  He was tempted, but I gently reminded him that we have more than enough gadgets and electrical items.  So we got creative again and set up our deck chairs in our office so we could watch these things on the PC monitor instead (which is a TV anyway isn't it?).

The items left on our list, will probably be bought in a few weeks, but by delaying, we take the time to think about what option is going to last the longest, be the best value and be the most ecologically sustainable.  In the interim, we continue to use up what we have properly or simply do without.

We live in a society where it is common to just buy anything we need or want immediately.  It is so much less common these days to do without an item, to wait until a birthday or Christmas to get something you want. To borrow, share or make something we need.  We're all about instant gratification, and low cost (poor quality) items in our shops make this possible even on a modest income.  But giving in to this means that more resources are being used to create the things that we are buying, and ultimately throwing away to fill our world with non-biodegradable (sometimes toxic) rubbish.

Our big shops sell temptingly cheap items.  It is so easy to buy cheap, poor quality items
that will need replacing down the track.  We're guilty......

If we stretch our minds a little, join together as a creative family or community, and buy less for wants, and more for genuine need, we'll be better off in the long run.  I'm certainly not perfect, nor is my family, we still buy and own more than we need, and have been tempted into buying items I know will only last a short time way more often than I care to admit.  But by doing as we're doing this month, we are slowing that down, just a little, and making a difference.  And hopefully, but thinking about these things enough now, we will continue to change our ways into the future.

The goodness of cooking from scratch

I love cooking from scratch, but occasionally, it starts to feel like a chore and the lure of packets of ready mades in the shops is hard to resist.

Tonight though, I remember why we cook from scratch.  It is cheaper, feels more satisfying, and the taste.... Oh the taste.

Tonight was a practise run for tomorrow's kitchen garden program at school. A "made up by me" recipe - pumpkin and bean burritos.  They were sooooo good.  We used a chunk of grated pumpkin cooked with azuki beans (I had them instead of kidney beans and their small size was perfect) and taco seasoning.  We served in homemade tortillas with salad, cheese, sour cream and salsa.  I'm sure they'll be good at school, but our homemade tortillas made them amazing!  I'll put the recipe below.

Then for dessert, I fancied chocolate topping on my ice-cream.  We don't have any, but a quick Google search found this recipe.  Was it good? Put it this way, I will never buy chocolate sauce again.

Picture with recipe here.

Sorry, no photos of our food, we scoffled it all down too quickly.

Soft flour tortillas

1. Mix together 2 cups of plain flour with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp oil. 
2. Add 3/4 cup warm milk and mix to a sticky dough.
3. Kneading dough on a floured bench for 2 minutes.
4. Place in a covered bowl to rest for 20min.
5. Remove and divide into 8 pieces.
6. Roll each piece into a ball and place onto a plate, not touching.  Cover and stand an extra 20 min.
7. Roll out the balls on a floured bench to about 20cm diameter.
8. Cook in a hot, dry frying pan until they puff slightly, flip and cook other side (about 30 sec each).
9. Eat warm or cover with a damp cloth to use a bit later.

How to do nothing....make icecream.

Its been a week of coughing, sniffling, washing our version of hankies (s'not paper tissues), aching muscles, chicken soup and too much TV.  The boys and I were struck down with the dreaded lurgy.  Its been a doozy and we're just starting to feel human again now.

Yesterday was the big school excursion to see Annie in Melbourne.  We'd paid, and the boys had been looking forward to it for months, so they went.  I was too sick to see them off.  They got there, they saw the show, I got a phone call in the afternoon to tell me that one was asleep and to ask permission to give the other panadol.  By the time they got home at 9pm, they were exhausted and crashed to sleep very quickly.

I thought they'd be home recovering today, but they've gone to school (their choice) and will no doubt be having a quiet day there as more than half of their class is away sick.

I've been trying to be gentle on myself.  I've given myself permission to watch TV and drink tea and do not much.  But I'm hopeless at doing nothing, and I sit there thinking about all the things that need doing.  So I've compromised.  The house is a mess, but the washing is done and the dishes have been put away.  I ate leftovers last night and have agreed to buying hot chips for dinner tonight, but I baked a batch of bread and biscuits today.  I did the groceries yesterday, but only went to one supermarket rather than my usual round the town trip to get the best and cheapest options.  I will be teaching my classes tonight, but they will be gentler than usual, and I'll ask my students to help out.  For me, these compromises are taking it easy.

I'm just not good at nothingness.  Yesterday, with a whole day to myself (the kids gone from 8am-9pm and Stu from 8.30am and then overnight), I wanted to do something special just for me.  People suggested going for a massage, to see a movie, a long bath, or a quiet lunch out.  I know that these are things that many women love, and I certainly don't begrudge them those luxuries, but I find that sort of thing very tedious.  I sit there, knowing I should be relaxing and enjoying the moment, but wanting to be anywhere else doing something.....anything!

Thankfully, I found my luxurious moments where my body relaxed and my thoughts slowed.  I went to the nursery in a moment of clear skies and wondered the aisles daydreaming about the garden.  I imagined all of the fruit that I hope to one day grow, and I bought myself a beautiful big orange tree and a feijoa bush (cheaper than a massage and will last much longer too!).  Then, when I came home from town, I made icecream.  I took my time, seperating eggs, pouring cream and watching the beaters change runny, slightly yellow goo into fluffy, snowy white peaks.  And then I folded it all slowly together and swirled the top.

My luxuries are homemade and simple.  They bring a smile to my face, which relaxes every muscle in my body. 

Do you find luxury in making and doing?  Or in the nothingness of a massage or bath?  Either way, I thought I'd share my very simple icecream recipe with you - if you're like me, you can meditate watching the beaters, otherwise, make it and then eat it while in the bath :)

Basic Icecream

1. Beat 6 egg whites until stiff.  Beat in 3/4 cup of icing sugar.
2. Beat 600ml of cream with 3/4 cup icing sugar until thick.
3. For whole egg vanilla icecream, beat the egg yolks with 2 teaspoons of good vanilla and then fold into the cream.
4. For other flavours (use your imagination here - strawberry swirl?  peppermint choc chip? honeycomb? cookies and cream? banana? chocolate? etc etc etc), fold your flavouring of choice into the cream instead.
5. Carefully fold the egg whites into the cream mixture until well mixed and then pour the lot into a 3-4 litre container and freeze.  No extra whipping required.

NB: A chef once told me that this isn't icecream.  He called it something else.  I say, whatever!  It tastes like icecream, works like icecream, is cheap and made of real food.  If supermarkets can call some of the crap they sell 'Icecream', I can call this icecream too.

Slow living month - July

I'm linking up again this month with Christine at Slow Living Essentials to look back on my month of living slowly.  Sometimes it doesn't feel slow!  I got so much done.  But the satisfaction of doing it all ourselves and really connecting with our own life makes all the work worthwhile.

~~Nourish~~

Having my teenage brother stay with us for a week made me really look at what we eat and make me proud of the food I put on the table. Lots of vegetarian meals, a little meat, chicken and fish and all made from scratch. Having him here also made me pleased that we don't always have an extra mouth to feed - so much bread baking!
Highlight meals this month - shredded chicken and bean tostadas made using homemade tortillas and the chicken from the school's rogue rooster and the simple minestrone I made with dried beans and veg - great flavours, very satisfying and very budget friendly.

~~Grow~~

I received my first order from the Diggers club to much satisfaction and have planted several new fruit trees/vines and am preparing new garden beds together with making a cold frame so this summer will be our biggest crop ever!  On the harvesting note, there isn't an awful lot in the garden, so young leeks, coriander and lettuce together with a few other herbs are the extent of it.

The new veggie beds being built.  The savoy cabbages in the foreground
are being watched closely - they'll be ready next month I think.

~~Create~~

I've continued to do lots of sewing, crochet and general crafting in early prep for Xmas. When you plan to give all homemade, it pays to start early.  I can't show you most of what I've made though as it would spoil surprises! :) I will show you the headband and clip set that I made for a little girl's birthday that the boys were invited to. I've also been working on my crocheted jumper again as I have high hopes of having it done before spring arrives.

A pretty crocheted headband and flower clips for a 7 year old girl.

~~Prepare~~
I bought loads of cheap apples at the start of the month and used them to make jars of stewed apples which we're all enjoying and also pectin stock for next summer's jams.  A visit to the cannery and Ballarat market saw us stocking the cupboards with lots of dried beans and cans (to top up my store cupboard in which I stored nowhere near enough of our own tomatoes and fruit last summer!), enough to get us through till our garden starts producing I hope.  I've also made more soap, started my own deodorant and made some facial toner.

The beautiful new calendula infused soap will be ready soon!

~~Green~~
Lots of recycling going on as always. The new veg beds and cold frame were built from Stu's excellent scavenging and we hope to use more in the building of the brew shed next month.  I've had to cut down some trees in the garden, but have saved as much of the wood as possible for using down the track as firewood. 

Cold frame made from all recycled materials
Sitting next to my recycled vegie beds (made from pallets and lined with feed bags)

~~Reduce~~

I've also been putting away lots of recycled items from the kitchen for various crafts and storage purposes.  As much as they can be recycled, using them over and over again before the recycling process is even better.  We've also continued with our Screen Free Saturdays, reducing power usage and also our reliance on technology,

~~Enjoy and Enhance~~

I've put these two together as I wanted to write the same things in both.  The best times this month have been about spending time with people and enhancing our relationships with each other and the community.

With my husband on our weekend away.
With the dance community at Ballarat Belly Dance bazaar
With my kids and also my mum during the school holidays.
With my sister in law on her pre-baby day.

I've also enjoyed getting to know our new hens.

~~Discover~~

I've been a regular at the library this month and have read lots of grassroots magazines - I find a lot of what is written a smidge extreme for us, but gain valuable inspiration (and I've nearly convinced Stu we can build a cob oven after looking at lots of articles!).  I've revisited Jackie French's book "Earth gardener's companion" and have gotten lots of tips for the garden.  And Stu has also started getting in the spirit, borrowing more DIY books for both of us.

Go and have a look at what everyone else has been doing this month :)