Not a butcher

Remember these guys?

Well they grew up. They grew up into beautiful big roosters of various colours. They were quite friendly and lived peacefully in a bachelor coop with younger roosters that have gradually come to join them. I enjoyed raising them, but as was always the intention, the time came for them to be processed into healthy, lean, almost free range and extremely low food miles meat for our freezer.

We've processed a few batches now, and we're getting better at it.  Each time, we learn something new and do the job cleaner, quicker and with less waste.

The adjustments we made to the process this time were to put each of the roosters (three this time - two of ours and a donated Rhode Island Red), into an empty feed bag each when we caught them. Previously we've just put them all into a box and once we had one escape and had to chase him round the backyard - not conducive to stress free meat! By placing them in the dark bags, they stayed still and calm until their turn came. We only ever catch then when we are completely ready, so they are in the bags a maximum of 10 minutes.

The other change was to add a few drops of dish detergent to the scalding water we use before plucking. I don't know if it helped - the first two were relatively easy to pluck, but the third one wasn't. I think the water was too cold, but basically, he ended up skinned instead of plucked. This seemed like a bad thing, but ended up good.

Now I'm not a butcher, and I actually don't like handling meat, but I believe humans should be omnivores, I believe we should eat humanely raised and killed meat and I am the only one in our house likely to do any butchering.  So I set to preparing our roosters for the freezer. Previously, I've just cleaned them all up and frozen them whole. And previously, we've fed the necks to the dog, but all the feathers, guts etc have been thrown out. Not this time. This time, we reserved the necks for Buddy, I have frozen the livers in a container to become pâté when we have enough (I'll add more each time we do this) and the guts and feathers were buried near one of our fruit trees to act as a blood and bone fertiliser.

The rest of the chicken, I brought inside. The Rhode Island Red was plump and lovely looking, so after a clean, he was left in tact to become a roast. The other two were not so 'roast chicken' looking, so I had a go at jointing them. I can't say I ended up with the neatest cuts of meat, but I did put a bag of skinless/boneless breast fillets, a bag of skinless/boneless thigh fillets and a bag of legs and wings into the freezer. Then, not wanting to waste anything, the carcasses went into the crock cooker with a couple of litres of water for two days. Yesterday, I strained it, picked the remaining meat from the bones and gave the bones to the chooks to pick at (that made me feel weird, but I didn't want to just throw them out! Besides, they do eat meat scraps from the chook bucket usually....).

The scraps of meat were added to a pasta dish last night, and the stock filled three large mason jars, which I bravely pressure cooked using my pressure canner for the first time. I was petrified of using it, but in the end, it wasn't too hard, and I now have three meals worth of stock added to my overflowing pantry.

So, despite the fact that I'm not a butcher, I managed to grow healthy, happy roosters and turn those three roosters into at least 10 meals for our family, plus bones for the dog and pâté. And not one bit of those roosters went to waste, or left the property.

Happy mini farmers.

DIY chook food

Up until recently, we fed our chooks on pellets. Layer pellets for the main flock, and pullet starter/grower for the young. But with so many chooks now hanging around, and my ever present 'could we DIY this?' attitude, I began looking for an alternative.

I discovered fodder systems and was pretty impressed. A fodder system is basically growing sprouts for your livestock. You can grow all sorts of things, but wheat is readily available and sprouts well, so that's what I use. By sprouting the grains, you change the chemical makeup of the material, thereby, increasing the available nutrients for your animals. You also increase the quantity of food, and in doing so, feed your animals less and save money!! As added bonuses, you know exactly what you're feeding your animals (and therefore what you're eating in your eggs/meat) and by buying less bags of pellets, you save on packaging. Hooray!

Wheat grains contain Vitamin B,C and E, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Amino Acids.  By sprouting the grains, your animals get all of that PLUS vitamins A and K, Chlorophyll, Lecithin, Potassium and trace elements.  And the protein value of the feed goes from 10% to 30% (reference).

 

Lots of people grow fodder, if you want to do it, hunt around the Internet and read some other blog posts. But here is how we I do it.

For one smallish flock of birds (ie. for either my 7 roosters and 2 ducks of my 10 layers), a tray of food a day (plus some other things -see below) is a good start. So for each flock you need to set up a system. Each system needs a container with a lid (ice cream containers work well), 7-9 kitty litter trays (or similar), some old net curtains and somewhere to keep your system.

My fodder system is made of lots of bits of recycled timber and sits on the verandah.
Total cost for set up was about $30

Storing your system on open shelves is a good idea as the water used to water the top trays trickles down and waters the trays below.  You could use wire shelves from the shop, or if, like me, you believe things should be as cheap and recycled as possible, grab some pallets and scrap timber and custom make one!

I had helpers while making my pallet shelving system :)

Take your kitty litter trays and drill drainage holes in the bottom of them. Make sure you put in quite a few, but keep the holes smaller than a grain of wheat! I experimented with how many trays and found 8 is good. Apparently the fodder has the most nutrients between day 6 and 8 and after that it gains nothing and may start losing nutrients as the grass grows.

Now to grow the fodder. On day 1, put two cups of wheat into your lidded container. Cover it with water. After 8 hours (or overnight), tip the contents into your first litter tray and spread out the soaked grains. Repeat this step every day.  Use your net curtain to drape over your trays or the sparrows will find them and get very fat on your efforts (yep, speaking from experience!).

Each day, water your trays to keep them moist, but not soggy. In cool wet weather, I find once a day is enough, but on hot dry days, you need to water more often.

Day 1: Soaked grains

Day 3: Starting to grow roots

Day 5: A nice green flush

Day 8: Ready to feed!

Try not to disturb your growing wheat - it slows down the growth and you end up with messy crops. By day three you will see the wheat layer is starting to bulge and "puff" us as the roots grow. By day six, things are turning green. And by day 8 you'll have a lovely grassy crop. Keep away any wheat grass smoothie drinking folk and prepare to feed out your first crop!

The wheat will have grown into a slab of roots, shoots and grainy bits. Break it up and feed it out. Different animals treat it differently, but they all seem to like it.

I started with one system and have just started a second. Once we get our goats, I'll probably do three. And remember if you have other herbivores (guinea pigs, horses, rabbits etc), this makes a good feed for them too.

I do supplement the feed. The ducks free range and pig out on snails and slugs and the occasional scrap. All of the chooks get kitchen scraps. The meat chickens also get a whey and oat porridge (or porridge and yoghurt) to fatten them and the layers get a handful of layers pellets and shell grit. I hope to get rid of the layers pellets eventually though and replace the necessary nutrients in them with more home grown and natural foods.

Do you grow or cook for your animals?  Would love to hear about it!  And if you have any questions about this, ask away!

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?

Welcoming in the new year

Happy New Year to you all! Yesterday we farewelled 2012 with a fabulous family fun day. And as we leave 2012 behind, our family leaves behind a massive roller coaster of a year.

Last year's early and fun Christmas celebration with my family - an hour before Stu had a seizure and we were catapulted into the roller coaster that was 2012.

A year during which my husband was diagnosed with epilepsy, and due to his massive seizure last Christmas, was unable to drive for 3 months, causing some pretty tough times for us. But through this, we found out how supportive our community and family is and also, through the scariness of watching my husband have a seizure and be transported off in an ambulance, I realised just how much he means to me.

It was a year when our bank balance started off fairly low, and our main source if income was snatched away by a company closing down all of its rural and regional branches and thus making my husband redundant. But it was also a year when we became more self sufficient, and eco friendly and much less consumerist, resulting in us not only making a massive dent in our 'carbon footprint', but also saving a lot of money. And it was the year that Stu was offered a job by a business contact and was therefore lucky enough to walk from one job, straight into another.

It was a year for watching generations change. We sadly farewelled three grandmothers, and while we and our children felt the loss, we were probably most hit by watching our own parents grieve the loss of their mothers. But as we farewelled those three special women, we welcomed a new special woman into the world. The arrival of our first niece, Clover,was not only a truly amazing time for me as I was invited to share in her birth, but we've loved watching her grow these last few months, and hope to continue to be a special part of her life.

As I listen to my happy, healthy, bright and gentle children play in the next room and look out to my thriving garden and animals surrounding our uniquely special home, I am very grateful for all of the experiences we've had this year - good and bad - as they have shaped our family into what we are today as we head into 2013.

12 months of Greening - Organic October + No Heating!

I didn't do a 12 months of Greening post last month, oops!  But I posted a bit about it on my Slow Living post.

This month we've dubbed Organic October.  We're trying to buy (or at least consider buying) organic products where possible, and also trying to use more organic practises in the garden.  The word trying is important here and I'll explain why down lower.

We've spent quite a bit of time removing chemicals from our bathroom and our laundry this year, and have been cooking from scratch a lot more so that we are removing much of the chemicals from what we eat.  This month, we're delving a little deeper and removing those unseen chemicals from the fruits, vegetables and grains we eat by choosing (where feasible) organic options.  I'm no expert on organics, but my take on it is that the chemicals that are added during the growing of non-organic products are used to make them grow faster, remove pests and weeds etc.  These chemicals come through to us, the consumer in small amounts, but they also damage the ecosystem around the land in which the product was grown, and this environment impact is the most important factor for us.

I don't have easy access to an organic green grocer, so I am choosing organic labelled products where I can, and otherwise, using mostly our own food crops, or choosing in season foods.  I figure that many of the chemicals that are used on our foods are to either grow them out of season or to store them for selling out of season.  Buying in season foods is also cheaper and they taste better, a win-win.  The only challenge in buying only foods in season is that they are not always the foods my kids like to eat.  For example, I try to get the kids to eat fruit each day, but they have never been big citrus fans, so winter through to now is a tough time to find in season fruits.  But as they get older and their understanding of this grows, they're more willing to try, and this week we have finally won the "you will try and you will like mandarins" battle - woohoo!

We're also trying some other things such as organic baking products and cereals.  Unfortunately, some of these are more than 4 times the price of the non-organic variety.  I understand why, and truly want to support organic producers so that these prices can come down, but this isn't always easy on the budget, so I do what I can, and sometimes the weekly shop just won't allow the added expense.  Some items however we now only buy organic - like tea and coffee.  This feels like a good change.

In the garden, I'm also trying to go organic.  I have always used chemicals sparingly, but this year they are only used as a last resort.  Sadly, I've had to cave on this already with the use of some snail bait.  As I've mentioned, I am trying to grow as many of my veg from seed as possible.  I have started transplanting out into the garden, and despite all of my organic efforts (beer traps + egg shells + coffee spray + coffee grinds + morning snail and slug massacres), I have still heartbreakingly found whole seedlings chomped through overnight.  I decided that it was expecting too much to tackle both fronts (seeds and completely organics), so have used a small amount of snail and slug pellets (the kind that say they won't hurt other animals) just to protect the seedlings.  All other chemicals have been banned from the garden though.

BONUS CHALLENGE

In addition to our regular monthly challenges, we decided earlier in the year to make our mid-autumn and mid-spring months no heating and cooling months.  October is therefore one of them.  So in addition to our organic challenges, this month we have turned off our heater at the meter box and banned all other heaters and fans.  This would be fine if the weather was always Spring like, but the last few days have given us f-f-f-freeeeezing evenings!  We've toughed it out though, snuggling up in blankets, slippers and enjoying our hot water bottles and warm drinks.  Why would we do this?  partly because we like the challenge, partly to save power and therefore greenhouse emissions (and a few dollars) and partly to remind us that heating and cooling are a luxury that we can (at times) live without.  Living in southern Victoria means we get quite cold Winters, and I think it would be unhealthy to live without heating all the time, and there are a couple of days a year when the air-conditioner being used for just a little while means we can continue to function.  But a lot of the time, it is possible to be heater and cooler free.

Perhaps you'd like to join us on one or more of our challenges this month?  Let me know if you do and how you go.

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.

Green changes - Better late than never

While shopping with the kids yesterday, I was playing the game where I tell the kids what I want and they scurry off down the aisle of the supermarket, racing to be the one to put it in the trolley. 

The first item was a canned fruit.  They found it quickly and brought it back.  Then I sent them back to replace it with the store brand, cheaper item because that's what I've always bought.  But the moment of having the prettier, more expensive can in my hand gave me a moment of pause, and with my two mini greening detectives by my side, we flipped all the cans to discover where the fruit came from.  Thailand, Indonesia and Australia were our choices, and so, we bought the one that was a little dearer and briefly discussed food miles and supporting Australian farmers.

The next item was a baking ingredient.  Again, I grabbed my trusty budget brand.  This time though, a store special made me pause.  I flipped the two packets to check where they were made, and while hunting on the packet, the ingredients of the cheaper brand caught my eye.  Ingredient number 1 was palm oil! I literally threw the pack on the ground like it had bitten me.  I've read about palm oil and really don't want anything to do with it.  Needless to say I bought the other, more expensive product, that didn't contain nasty ingredients.  (for the record, both products were made in Australia from local and imported ingredients).

I felt sick and guilty, the same way I'd been feeling each time I thought about all the times I've bought intensively farmed chicken and pork, and all the chemicals we've unknowingly pumped into our bodies over the years.  This is green guilt - feeling bad for hurting the planet.

But I'm OK now.  I'm OK because while I know we've made some bad choices in the past, we made them unknowingly.  I hadn't, in the past, thought to turn over the packet and read.  Our shopping needed to nourish and fit the budget, and it did.  But now I have spent a lot of time learning, and it is no longer acceptable to me to buy many if the products I used to.  Should I feel guilty for all of my past purchases? I don't think so.  Not only does guilt not help, but I didn't realise or know at the time, and I was just doing what I thought was OK.

Now I know, and if I go back, then I should feel guilty, very guilty.

I've always thought of myself as environmentally friendly, but the sheer number of changes we've made so far this year, and the amount that I've learnt is astonishing.  So it turns out we were a fairly washed out shade of green before, and I know that while we are now among the most green people I know, that it is possible to get much a much bright shade.  I also know that each change we make is better late than never.  Yes, it turns out I've been buying palm oil products, and that's really bad, but by stopping now, I am making a positive change for the future.

The whole point of this year for us is to get greener, step by step.  And each positive step we take is better late than never.  We are still relatively young, and our children have their whole lives ahead of them.  The years of doing good deeds for the environment are going to far outweigh the years of unintentional bad choices.

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?

Spring preparations and some drama.

It's been a beautiful afternoon here in south west Victoria, sunshine and the smell of moist soil getting warmer and ready for spring. We've had a great day, busily working outside, as well as fixing up yesterdays dramas.

Yesterday, while the three boys went to watch my brother play footy, I planted my newspaper pots with the first lot of seeds to go into the coldframe. Melons, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, comfrey, capsicum and eggplants are all in and ready to be nursed through their baby days so I can plant them out in about 4-6 weeks when spring is really here. 

Seeds all tucked into their newspaper pots with recycled milk bottle labels.

With my seeds all snug, I got to other garden jobs.  I've started chopping into our pittosporum hedge which runs down the fenceline of our block, and am replacing it with evergreen fruit trees. Yesterday I planted a naval orange, a feijoa and a rangpur lime.  I have left the back branches of the pittosporum on for now as they give much needed privacy and will also give frost protection to the young trees.

Orange tree closest, then the feijoa and finally the lime with a recycled feedbag tree guard.

The boys got home just after lunch and just before I had a phone call telling us we could go and collect some free recycled bricks.  We were hoping to get hold of some to build a pizza oven and were very pleased to get the phone call, even though we had to drive an hour to get them.  We hitched the trailer and went to get them, loading up nearly 300 bricks and some big hunks of bluestone too.  We were thrilled and so were the people we got them from, who considered it a saving in tip fees.

We were so pleased with ourselves until 5min down the road when the wheel fell off the trailer! It seems that after the last time the wheel had to be put on, it hadn't been tightened enough, and a tonne of bricks was just too much for it.  So we were stuck on the side of the road until my stepdad came to the rescue with his ute. We loaded the bricks onto its tray, unhitched the trailer and left it there so I could come home in time to dance at the restaurant.

It is bittersweet when such a great day goes wrong. 

Never mind, today we've patched it all up.  Stu and I were building this morning, starting the work on closing in the end of the verandah to give is storage for homebrew and preserves.  Then we started the courtyard renovations in preparation for the pizza oven.  This involves tearing down a huge jasmine vine that has been there for about 10 years.

Half the jasmine on the ground, the rest is still standing. 
The pizza oven will be built right behind where the jasmine currently stands.

My stepdad came over after work to drop off our brick haul, then he and Stu went to collect the trailer.  It is damaged, but home and fixable.

Free bricks in my garden!  That makes me happy.

All in all a great, busy weekend.

I love the promise of spring and the extra energy and enthusiasm it gives us to work in the garden.

I see many of you have been busy too.  Enjoy the preparations!

Pre-baby home day spa

My sister in law is going to have a baby really soon. I simply can not wait to meet and cuddle my new niece or nephew, but in the meantime I needed to spend a special day with the mum-to-be.  When I was pregnant she and my mum took me to the city for the weekend where we  ate, shopped and did some girly sightseeing. But Amy is not only somewhat further along in her pregnancy than I was, but we are both older and more interested in relaxing and being pampered than checking out the city.  We discussed day spas and cafes, but neither of us felt like spending a tonne of money and driving around for the day, so we had a home day spa experience. (sadly, mum was busy working, so it was just the two of us).

I planned the day and did all the preparation so Amy didn't have to do anything. We both wore our comfy home clothes and spent the day in her lounge room.

The day started with a cup of tea and I presented her with a tray of homemade chocolate cupcakes with mousse icing (plus a couple of baby sock cupcakes for the baby bump). We ate and drank and relaxed, talking about anything, nothing and everything.

Before lunch, we gave ourselves purifying clay masks and milk foot spas while watching an episode of 'Up All Night' (which was hilarious).  Our faces and feet felt fabulous.

Image from here

Lunch was simple but delicious, some of my homemade fettucini with pesto and herb bread (followed by more tea and cupcakes).  I gave Amy her homemade hospital survival kit (a book, headband, muesli bars, mints, lip balm and chocolate), and she showed me the work they've done on the nursery. We talked and talked about parenting, birth, our family and home life. Finally we took a walk around the block and picked some wild jonquils.

The whole day (including the gifts) cost under $50, a massive saving on the cafe and day spa alternative. Was it as good? It was better! I came home feeling relaxed and pampered and closer to my SIL than ever. I think we're going to have to make this a regular occurance after the baby arrives.

Scavenging, garden work and a busy weekend

You know those mornings when you sit around with your morning cuppa and find that instead of wanting to sit and enjoy a few more cuppas, you feel inspired and itching to get things done?  We had one of those mornings on Saturday.  Stu and I were browsing the recently arrived Digger's club Garden Annual and started listing the seeds we wanted to sow this year, and then one thing led to another and......

We made two trips to the timber recycling skip up the road and collected a HUGE amount of pallets and timber things that we plan to use to make a range of garden things with.

We took some of that timber and made frames for the garden beds for my melons and pumpkins to start in (they will be allowed to ramble out among the fruit trees).

We took some more of the timber and made these -

I know they look like pens (we had a lovely time with me joking that I would buy piglets to put in them and the kids telling me I'm not allowed to get piglets), but they are going to be the new raised vegie beds for summer.  I just need to line their sides with these feed bags (which are chock full of more feed bags) that my mum kindly dropped around to me yesterday and then fill them up with soil.

I also have more timber which will be used for making my planned cold frame (needs to be ready for my seed planting soon!) and perhaps also for a chook tractor.

On Sunday, Stu was still inspired to scavange, and he took a load of rubbish that's been hanging around since the kitchen renos to the tip and came back with two windows!  One is going to be the top of my cold frame (hooray for my now FREE cold frame) and the big one is going to be used to enclose the end of the verandah where he intends to start his home brewing back up again.

I like scavenging things.  I used to think it was a terrible thing to do, but now I understand that it is saving something from going into landfill, and also giving us items that we can turn into useful things for free.  Nothing wrong with that!

In amongst all of that we managed to bake, get in some dance rehearsal, teach the kids to play Cluedo and guzzle down lots of pots of tea.  We also ate lots and lots of delicious chicken soup and shredded chicken concoctions made from the rooster - he was delicious!

I love a good productive weekend and am looking forward to lots more in the coming months - I've just ordered my spring/summer seeds from Digger's and Stu is off getting the rest of the materials for his "brew shed" this week, so we will have lots to keep us busy.

12 Months of Greening - July - Make it, Don't buy it

This month in our 12 months of greening challenge we are aiming to increase the number of things we make from scratch rather than buying. From food, clothing, and gifts to hygiene and 'beauty' products and things needed in the  garden/home.  Why? Homemade means we can control the ingredients/materials, using Eco-friendly or recycled as much as possible. We tend to buy ingredients in bulk meaning less packaging.  The items made are what we want and we know the work put in, so we use them more mindfully. And as a bonus, the products are better for us, cheaper, and we have a real sense of achievement and being in control of our life.

We've already started on this journey of course, cooking most things from scratch and making all of our gifts and many things for around the home, but this month is just an added challenge to see how far we can go.

Today I thought I would take you to the bathroom and talk about what I've made and my future plans.

Soap
I made my first batch of soap in March, simply following Rhonda's recipe but I added some oats.  It's nice soap, but the oats annoy us.  We've nearly run out, so I made a second batch on the weekend, this time infusing the olive oil with calendula and adding about 20 drops of pure lavender oil. The molding worked better this time too - can't wait to use it!

The white rectangular bar is one of the remaining bars from the first batch
The wedge and small hearts are the beautiful new calendula batch.

My 'no poo' routine
I haven't washed my hair with shampoo for months. I won't regale you with the whole story, but I will tell you my current routine which works really well for me.  I only need to wash my hair about every 5 days.  In between, I either give it a rinse, or use a shower cap and give it a good brush.   On hair washing mornings, when I make my morning cuppa I also make a brew with dried rosemary and lemon verbena leaves from my garden.  This brews while I have breaky, then I strain the leaves and add a splash of white vinegar* - and this is my conditioning rinse finished.   I have a bottle of water mixed with a few spoonfuls of bicarb in the shower to wash my hair with - this lasts me ages and just needs a shake before I use it. In the shower I pour some bicarb mix onto my roots and rub until it feels slippery, then rinse out.  At the end of my shower I pour all of the rosemary brew over the ends of my hair - I don't rinse itout.  My hair is happy, healthy and shiny and the routine is so cheap and easy.  As a bonus, the reduced shampoo and conditioner in the shower means less soapy scum all over the inside of the glass shower cubicle! 

* I know most people use Apple cider vinegar for this, but I didn't have any the first time I made it, so I just used white. By the time I remembered to look for ACV at the shops, my routine was working so well I decided not to muck with it.  White vinegar is also something I always have and it's cheap!

Hairspray
I use hairspray when I do my hair for special occasions or performing.  I had run out of the horrible chemical in a spraycan variety, so made some on the weekend, vaguely using this recipe.  I tossed about 6 squeezed orange halves into a pot (leftovers from making a cake), covered them with water and brought it to the boil.  I boiled until the liquid had reduced to about a cup.  The strained liquid (which tasted like weak orange cordial) was then allowed to cool, and mixed with 1/4 cup of vodka and some lavender oil.  Does it work? Sure does! It's not a super strong hold, but  good enough and it smells nice too.

Love my all natural bathroom shelf!

Calendula salve
I made some of this using Christine's recipe a few weeks ago.  Lovely for my sore winter hands and the eczema spots in our home.

Toothpaste, Deodorant and more on the To-Do List
These are the next items on my to-do list.  I have seen a few recipes around, and would love your thoughts.  It would be good if I could make toothpaste to put it in a pump pack so it is neat and easy to use for the kids.

I am going to try making a roll on and a manly spray deodorant for Stu. I don't like the idea of the stick deodorants.  I plan to try these recipes (the spray one here and this roll on) and will let you know how I go.

There are a few others in my list to try - a facial toner, hair gel for Stu and lip balm to name a few.  I like the idea of a wholly homemade bathroom (and medicine cabinet?).  I would love to hear about other people's experiments - even failed ones!

Home Hairdressing

If you've been reading this blog, or you know me, you might have started to get the feeling that I'm rather fond of a bit of DIY.  If something needs doing, and there is a chance that I can do it, I'm prepared to give it a go instead of paying someone else to do it.  Whether it is making a costume, cooking something, plumbing in a sink, building a cubby or cutting hair, I will, and usually do, do it myself.

I got this trait from my Mum who is a serious DIY-er!  I grew up watching her build, fix, cook, grow and do just about everything.  She has always called herself a 'Jill of all trades' and I'm proud to say I am following in her footsteps.

Growing up, 90% of our haircuts were done at home by Mum.  We would go to the hairdressers when we wanted a complete change of style, and then Mum would copy the style from there.  As teens, she started to colour our hair too - a rinse here and there just for fun.  Most of the time, I was happy with my hair.  There were a few tragic moments in my youth, but since I've never been a terribly girly girl, these weren't too big a deal.  When I left home I had short hair, and either had to rely on the budget hairdressers on campus at uni, or wait for a trip home for a haircut.

When I moved in with my (now) husband, we were pretty broke, and one of our early purchases was a set of clippers ($20 from the supermarket) so that I could cut Stu's hair.  I've kept cutting his hair most of the last 15 years, and most of the time he has been happy with his style.  For a while (when babies were a priority) I sent him to the hairdressers, but found I wasn't happy with how they cut it and after two fix-ups by me, we were back to only home hairdressing for him.

My beautiful babies didn't bother growing hair until they were two years old, so haircuts were not necessary until they were about 3 and then Lachlan grew his hair long for a while anyway.  I have done all but one of the haircuts they have had over the last 4 years, and after the drama of the hairdressers visit, we won't be returning for some time. 

I cut Jamie's hair this morning.  I love that he can say "Mum, I need a haircut" and within the next few hours I can get out my hairdressing kit (a plastic smock for them, an apron for me, a comb, two pairs of scissors, clippers and a few clips), prop him up in the bathroom and do it.  I know how he likes his hair, and he feels comfortable telling me how to do it.  If something doesn't quite work, I fix it up.  Today was the first time I used the clippers for Jamie's hair and he is very happy with the results.

Scissors first to trim and cut his fringe

Clippers around the back

Clippers make it easy and so neat!

Another happy customer!

As for me, I had short hair until about 4 years ago.  Sometimes Mum would trim it for me and once, while we were camping our way around Australia, Stu cut it for me. But most of the time I had to go to the hairdressers.  I know a lot of women like the hairdressers, but I don't.  I don't like letting a more or less stranger style my hair into something that they think will work.  I hate looking into a mirror while wearing a smock for so long and I really don't like the chemical smell of my freshly styled hair.  So I avoid it as much as possible - I didn't even go to the hairdressers on my wedding day (short hair + a bit of product + a small tiara = simple!).  So I am happy that my hair is now long and I can cut it myself using the very technical 'front pony' method.  I have also coloured my hair regularly over the years, but find that since I have gone 'no poo', the rosemary hair rinse I use keeps my hair a nice dark glossy colour.

So I cut hair for my whole family.  It saves us the trauma trouble of trips to the hairdressers and a lot of money each year and most people don't even know that we have home haircuts.  A win win win DIY task I believe!

Does your family do home haircuts?  If you don't and would like to give it a go, there are lots of tutorials on the web - try Youtube.  My recommendation for starting out would be to include a hat or bandanna in your home hairdressing kit - just in case :)