Cleo's Cottage

We moved to this place 9 years ago. A fairly basic old house on a very basic block of land. It had a lavender hedge, a dead gum tree and a few young trees - pittosporum, a cyprus hedge (!!), a fig, a leptospermum and a silver birch.

We came here with two babies, a cavalier king charles spanial named Kimba and a hope that this would be home. Despite putting a fence all around the yard, one morning, a couple of months after moving in, our dog was hit on the road and died. Heartbroken, exhausted from unsleeping twins, feeling isolated and  defeated, our house went back on the market. 

But during the contract with the estate agent, things changed. I met new friends at the local playgroup, our kids started sleeping a little bit more, I started to fall in love with our little patch and a big ginger cat marched into our lives like she belonged here. She was an adult cat and clearly very comfortable here. We think she may have been left by previous owners and not come out until Kimba was gone. But whatever her story, she came to us, found a little place in our hearts and our home. We named her Cleo after the ginger cat in the children's story 'Cleo the cat', which we happened to have out from the library that day and who did much the same thing as our Cleo (ie. marched in, had a bowl of milk and made herself at home). 

Over the years we got chickens, then a new puppy and then some guinea pigs.  Another puppy a couple of years later and then more chickens.  Kittens for the boys a couple of years back and then goats and bees last year. The house has changed and changed again. Not a single one of the original plants remain, but a thick bushy garden and a food forest have grown around us. And all through it, Cleo, who was never really a house cat, was there. She tended to stay in the front garden, never keen on venturing indoors, but very happy for a cuddle and a pat in the evening sun shining on our verandah, and a pretty, fluffy welcoming party near our front door. 

We don't know how old she was when she came to us - we never took her to the vets (though we wormed her and treated her for fleas regularly). A couple of years after her arrival she seemed to become an old lady though - still able to fight of the odd stray cat, but happy to just sleep and dribble on anyone willing to cuddle her. 

This year, we noticed something wrong with her eyes. The pupils stopped dilating and were huge black pools at all times of the day. She went blind and restricted her movements to the verandah. The boys made sure she had a warm blanket in a bed, a bowl of food always present nearby and we tried to keep stuff out of her way. But she seemed happy still. Greeting everyone with a miaow and a smooch, purring like a little engine if you'd sit with her for a while. 

Then yesterday, she wasn't there. Just gone, the way she just came. We think her time had come and in her lovely, independent lady way, she went away to die. We'll miss her fluffy, chatty presence on our verandah. 

I think that maybe Cleo was sent to us to make this place our home. A little feline guardian angel to bring warmth and sometimes humour to our family and what was then a relatively unloveable garden. And now, here we are, having nearly sold it again this year, but realised that it is always going to be home and special to us, maybe her task was done. 

And I think, as a final tribute and thanks to her, we've finally, after the last three years of trying to, decided on a name for our home, and therefore put that last stamp of 'ours' on this place. From now on "Cleo's Cottage" is where we belong. 

When springtime came calling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The greener, homemade laundry

Don't you think the laundry just the best room?  Don't you just love filling the machine, taking wet clothes to a line, pegging, sorting, folding and ironing?  No?  Huh, me either!  But short of buying new clothes each week, wearing dirty ones or having someone in regularly to do the chore for you (of which the second option is the most appealing to me), we have no choice. We have to wash our clothes and linens. But how we go about it is a choice, and over the last twelve months, my choices have become increasingly more green and homemade. I can't see any more options for greening up our laundry (short of hand washing everything), so I thought I'd share what I do and the recipes I use.

Washing day makes me so happy!  errr.... no, not really{image}

Firstly, all washing uses power and water, so reducing how much washing I do makes sense. We use mostly cloth things here (rags, napkins, hankies, wee wipes, girly hygiene things etc) so there is always plenty of those things, but we try to make sure we put our clothes in the wash only when they need it. A wind cheater can be worn several times, so can pyjamas, but socks, undies and workout clothes go in after one wear. I run the washing machine 3-4 times a week and only ever with a full load. 

Because I do my washing through the week, I tend to do it as soon as the washing basket is full (conveniently, one load). I don't sort colours from whites (gasp!) or anything else for that matter. I only sort if there is a new pair of jeans/red socks that will ruin the rest of the wash. I just throw everything in together and because I only wash in cold water, we have no problems. This means clothes don't have to wait for colour buddies to get washed and my laundry isn't full to overflowing with dirty washing. 

Some things occasionally need a good soak to get out stains and grub. Stu's shirts and the boys school uniforms get a soak about every two months. I soak in hot water with some laundry powder and lemon juice. The lemon juice gives a bleaching effect (without bleach) and the action of soaking in hot water gets the gear clean again. Sometimes, they need a little hand rub and scrub to help, but only when I'm feeling particularly housewifely. 

For regular, everyday stains (shirt collars, food grubs etc), I use my homemade stain remover. I found the recipe here, and love how it works (better than the shop bought one I had). Simply mix the following together (in a well ventilated room as it smells!), pour into a jar and then some into a spray bottle (recycled if you can) and spray onto the stained clothes as you put them in the washing machine.

Pre-wash stain remover

2/3 cup regular dish detergent

2/3 cup Ammonia

6 tablespoons baking soda

2 cups warm water

Stain remover

Our washing machine is a front loader, so uses less water and power than a top loader and is gentler on the clothes. I know this because I can throw my bras in it without a blink and they last ages, but pop one in a top loader without a lingerie bag and the wires come out after one wash!  

We only ever wash with cold water and mostly use our daily 30minute wash (note that 30minutes greatly depends on water pressure, we used to live in a house with terrible pressure and this cycle took well over an hour!). Into the machine I put a dessert spoon full of my homemade laundry powder (recipe from here), which I mix together about once every four months.

 

Laundry powder

4 cups of grated soap (2 bars laundry soap)

2 cups washing soda

1 cup borax

Making laundry powder

 

If I'm washing clothes that I like to have a soft feel, like towels, I add a dash of white vinegar to the rinse section. This is especially important in summer when the heat makes them crunchy and also helps with absorbency (good for towels or cloth nappies). 

If I'm washing something smelly or that needs disinfecting, I add a capful or two of eucalyptus oil to the rinse section. 

The winter Hill's hoist - bare like a deciduous tree :)

After washing, I hang my clothes on a line. We gave away our clothes drier last year and as we don't have a roaring wood fire to dry in front of, drying on an outside line is pretty much our only option. In summer, we use the hills hoist in the sunny backyard. In winter, I use the line strung along the north facing verandah and a clothes horse/rack beneath it. In summer, clothes are dry in a few hours, in winter it might take two days, but they still all get dry. The only times I miss the drier is when we have a need/want it dry NOW moment, but we deal with it, wear something else and remember that we're green for a reason! Very occasionally, something isn't getting dry outside, so I air it in the lounge room and it is dry eventually. 

Cloth hankies on the verandah line

All of the clothes are hung with pegs, even those on the clothes horse. By hanging with pegs, I avoid folding clothes over the line and doubling up the fabric, so things dry quicker. Our pegs used to be kept on the line when not in use, but the UV and general weathering wears them out faster, so now, I keep my collection of old plastic, wooden and recycled plastic pegs in an old bucket. The bucket has holes drilled in the bottom so it can't fill with water and has a hook to be hung on in the laundry when not in use. 

Our dry washing is sorted and put away by its owner (I rarely put away anyone else's, but I do all of my own and all of the linens and again, when feeling housewifely, the rest). Ironing is done on an as needs basis. I can't bring myself to iron any stretch clothes and choose mostly easy wear stuff for me and the kids. I iron going out clothes when I'm going out. The only thing we iron regularly are Stu's business clothes which he often irons while watching football. 

And that's it!  A few simple ingredients, some patience and not tooooo much work and our washing is done in a green and homemade fashion without any nasty chemicals in our septic or on our clothes, and no money or excess power wasted in the process. 

I know lots of the people who read here are also green laundry folk, have you got any other hints or tips?  And if you don't do your washing like this, maybe I've inspired you to give it a try - let me know!  You know I love your comments. 

Around the Garden right now

We're about to enter the third calendar month of autumn. You wouldn't guess it by looking at my tank levels or popping a spade into the ground - it's still way too dry, but the crisp mornings and the need to wear a jumper and socks tells me it really is.

It's dry, but we've had some rain. Weed seedlings are starting to show their heads in the 'lawn' areas and while my plants still look forward to a drink of carted grey water, they would survive without it.

This autumn I feel like I am living in and for the garden. I've spent countless hours preserving the fruit crops we grew or were gifted and have been enjoying celery, carrots, lettuce, herbs, tomatoes (yes still), silverbeet and herbs in our meals. I can see that there will be a small gap in harvest soon though, and will look into fixing that gap next year.

I'm growing seedlings of artichokes, pak choi, kale and purple sprouting broccoli, some more successfully than others, but I'm learning more each day, and getting better gradually at this growing from seed business.



Seedlings on the verandah.

Planted in the garden over the last month or so, I have broad beans, peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, brocoletti, carrots, lettuce, wong bok cabbages, beetroot, garlic (two varieties), red onions, spring onions and carrots.



Seedlings doing well in the garden under a canopy of chicken wire to keep off cats and ducks

Around other parts of the garden, I've planted another olive tree, an almond tree, a mandarin and another feijoa. I've also added more herbs to my potted herb garden, helped 'self sow' silverbeet and calendula and sprinkled seeds of chamomile.



Garlic doing very well.

Our Muscovy ducks, Daisy (who may be Donald) and Peach, follow me everywhere in the front yard, chatting away and hoping I'll throw a snail or two their way. I've learnt that they love lettuce and beetroot leaves, and therefore, if I want to grow them for us to eat, they'll need to be planted beyond their reach.



I was sitting on the verandah writing this, so they joined me!

Also in the front, I'm working on a spot of pruning and taming the grass runners that are doing extremely well and reeking havoc around trees.

Out the back, Buddy is my constant companion as I peruse the works in progress. It looks messy now, but soon, our backyard area will be split by a fence. Inside that fence will be a water tank on a stand, the stand will become a shelter for our miniature goat, Jorgie, and her kid (which she should be getting pregnant with about now) when they come to live with us in September.


Behind Buddy, you can make out the holes for the tank stand and the pile of dirt we've dug out so far.

Next to the goat yard will be a new shed. The shed will be for feed storage with a section set up as my dairy. And all the way around the fence, I'll be planting goat friendly plants such as roses, lavender, silverbeet, wormwood, nasturtiums, chamomile and rosemary. These fragrant and pretty plants will look and smell lovely in the garden that will be below our washing line, and as they grow tendrils through the mesh wire of the goats fence, they'll be able to nibble away.

Introducing Jorgie, our miniature goat who will continue to live on the stud farm in Portland until she's had her kid.

The chooks are doing well too, they're laying a bit less now, but I still bring in eggs each day. They are enjoying scratching through weeds, devouring the sprouted wheat feed and picking at their garden which I planted back in march in an old guinea pig hutch so they can pick, but not destroy, the silverbeet, nasturtiums and calendula growing in there.



Standing on their very own garden.

So that's what's happening around here. On Friday, we'll take delivery of the tank and fencing materials so the next part of construction can happen. I'll keep you updated!

Simplifying the linen cupboard

There was a time, not so long ago, when I was sure I needed new towels and sheets. I shopped for them, but didn't find anything in my budget that I was happy with, so didn't buy anything. Now I'm really pleased I didn't.

As part of our decluttering this month, I've given the linen cupboard an overhaul, and a whole new look. It seems that I didn't need new linens at all, but actually needed less! We had a linen cupboard full to bursting with things - ridiculous quantities of towels, numerous sets of linen for each bed and piles of beach towels. There are also a small amount of tablecloths and napkins. There were so many things in there that I couldn't find what I needed and had that sense that people often feel about their wardrobes "so many clothes but nothing to wear". So I've given it all a good clean out and am much happier now!

In the bed linen shelves, I have one change of linen (doona cover, fitted sheet and pillowcases) for each of our three beds, and for winter, flannelette sheets and hot water bottles. I threw a few sheets from our sets to the rag pile a while back as they had started to pill and fray. Now I have just the right number of sheets and doona covers for us, and will only replace when more become damaged (and then I will be buying quality organic cotton/bamboo sheets). From the boys linen, we cleared out linen printed with preschool pictures and sent them to the opshop, and they were short a couple of fitted sheets but had a pile of unused flat sheets, so they've gone to my sewing pile for conversion (I learnt to convert flat to fitted a few years ago - so easy and makes sheet sets better value for those of us who don't use flat sheets).

More preschool printed bath towels joined the sheets in the opshop pile, as did a couple of tablecloths.

Our bath towel shelf was the worst. For our wedding (11 years ago), we were given about six full sets of towels! Many if these sat unwrapped until the boys came along 8 years ago, then we used them as baby towels. Since then we've been given more towels (why? Are we that hard to buy for?). So there were simply an insane number of towels in the cupboard - all used, but only one was fraying, and only a little bit. A few odds and ends of towels in weird colours and with stains were donated to a friend of ours who is a wildlife officer. Then the boys and I selected 2 sets of towels, a few changes of hand towels and bath mats and a set of guest towels. The guest towels were put aside in a box (so they don't get muddled) and the others fit neatly on the shelf. All the rest of the towels have been folded and will be put into storage. The plan is that the towels in the cupboard will last us for sometime yet, and when they eventually get retired to the rag pile, we will 'shop' for 'new' towels from our stores.

It's just a linen cupboard, but I feel so much more in control of the contents now, and pleased from an economic and environmental perspective that it will be some years before we need to buy anymore linens.

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.



And so this was Christmas

December has a habit of racing past, doesn't it? One minute you are excitedly decorating the tree and opening the first day on the advent calendar, and the next you are looking at a pile of opened presents and leftover festive food.

So Christmas has been and gone again and looking back it was quite different here than other years, and while a few changes felt a bit odd at the time, the resulting feelings after the event are heaps better.

Our Christmas cake/gingerbread sleigh combo

Most of our changes were based on our conscious decision to be more environmentally friendly. Last year we had masses of mass produced, plastic encased gifts, many of which were so poor quality that they broke within a week, and they were all wrapped in masses of wrapping paper.

This year, the gifts we gave each other were all homemade, second hand or vouchers for our time and activities to do together. The gifts we gave others were all homemade, many from recycled/repurposed materials. And the things in the boys stockings were about 50% homemade, and the gifts from Santa were purchased with quality and longevity in mind. There were also a lot less gifts than in previous years, and they were all either not wrapped, or wrapped in reusable fabric gift bags.

Christmas day at home - notice the spunky matching PJs?

In addition to our efforts, we asked our parents to give less to us and the boys, and to wrap less. They, and others, took on the challenge and we received some lovely eco-friendly gifts and a small amount of fun things for the kids.

These were pretty big changes, so how did we go? Well, there were times when making the presents felt stressful, but it was more the deciding what to make, rather than the actual making. I started the making very early and finished a week before Christmas. The gifts were all really personal and very different to each other, so they suited my desire to not make the same thing over and over. However, perhaps next year I will try making a lot if the same gifts so I can do a bit of a production line for the making. I will post a list of the gifts I made, with some photos, in a little while.

The gift wrapping was easy too. I bought fabric last January (on clearance) and then as we needed them, I simply cut and sewed very simple sacks. They looked great under the tree and we got all but 3 bags back, so next year I should only need to make a couple more. And the tidy up was brilliant! Just fold the bags and put in a box and because we used curling ribbon to tie them this year, that was all that went in the bin - so much better!

Second hand presents were fabulous! The children bought at the op shop, and I received a gorgeous summer dress and a cookbook that I will probably never use (it's a casserole book from 1972), but I love to look at it and love the sentiment. Stu received a stack of good quality business shirts for his new job and a card game from the kids and a good quality jumper too. And Stu gave me a set of vintage kitchen scales, that are exactly the same as my mum's - I love them!

Second hand gifts which are much loved already

The only challenging thing about the gifts was that there were less. I know we wanted less 'stuff' and we knew there would be less, but the reality for the kids and us of having much smaller piles of stuff felt a little weird. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day we were all grateful to have a smaller amount of quality, eco friendly gifts, knowing that all that was missing was the piles of junk that we usually have, but just for a moment, we missed it. It'll be easier next year.

Because Christmas is about so much more than presents, we had plenty of celebration too (with green changes of course!). The Saturday before Christmas, we travelled to Melbourne to catch up with family. This year we took the train which was great - cost less than driving, no one had to drive and we saved all that fuel. In the city, we saw some festive city sights and picnicked at the gardens with our extended family.

Christmas Eve brings our quiet family tradition of a platter of cheese, cold meats, deli treats and fresh fruit while watching carols by candlelight on the tv, surrounded by our own candles. This year there were homemade cheeses and biscuits and homegrown berries with our free range, local ham. And I gave a Christmas Eve family gift of homemade matching pjs - fun and very well received!

(blurry) shot of our delicious Christmas Eve feast!

We've hosted Christmas the last few years, but it was decided that mum would host again this year, so after our family time around the tree on Christmas morning, we headed to their place for a lovely family afternoon.

Overall, a beautiful Christmas that left us with a much better taste in our mouths and feeling in our hearts than last year.

And to top it all off, I get to share it all with you. So thank you for not only reading my ramblings, but to those of you who also write blogs, I would like to thank you for all of your inspiring posts this year, and I look forward to sharing with you into the new year.

An exciting purchase.

I have just bought something that I'm very excited about.  It was a pretty expensive purchase, and will come by courier, so I don't even get to 'play' with it yet.  I'm going to tell you what it is, and later (after it arrives and is set up), I'll also review it.  But first, I'm going to tell you the background of my purchase and why it is so exciting.

We live in a tiny 'town' in rural Victoria.  We have a regular sized block of land and neighbours, but we have to walk to a shop to pick up mail, drive a fair way to buy things and enjoy watching farm vehicles go by, hearing lots of birds, cows and chooks (ours included) in the mornings.  We have no mains gas, so are totally electric for the running of our home.  We have no mains water or sewage system, but instead rely on our own tank water, bore water and a septic tank.  Townies find this to be a scary sort of setup, but if you've lived in the country at all, you know that this is just a way of life, and, with a bit of luck, your setup is so good that you don't even have to think too much about it.

image

When we bought this place, we were lucky enough that it already had great water tanks that collect ample water from our (surprisingly) large roof.   We also had our garden taps connected to the bore pump of the school next door, so we were able to water our gardens and our animals, and even flush our loo with bore water instead of rainwater, and so we have always had the luxury of ample water to do as we need.  On top of this, we live in the one part of Victoria that was never put on water restrictions because we have been the lucky ones and received a decent annual rainfall each year.  Having said all of that, I'd like to point out that we've never been ridiculous with our water use.  We know that excessive use of bore water isn't ecologically great, and so we've always watered our garden enough, but let the lawns die over summer and only watered parts of the garden when it was essential.

So for the last 7 years, we've been blessed with a water input that meets our needs, but our output has been full our problems!  It turns out we have a very dodgy septic tank.  I dread to think how many dollars we've spent on repairs and maintenance - we've had it pumped out a couple of times, we've had a plumber do some unknown thing to it, and another plumber replaced the pump that no-one even knew should be in there!  It is also a strange setup.  Apparently septic tanks should have a grease trap between the water entry and the main storage tank.  We have a grease trap, but it is not in the right place and is actually an old Telecom pit which isn't at all right to be a grease trap.  I don't really understand septic tanks (sewage treatment plants I do - I used to take guided tours of one!), but what I do understand is that ours has problems that do not seem to be fixed by any amount of repairs. 

We've considered replacing the system with a more environmentally sensible system, but the financial outlay and the major disruption to the property are seriously off-putting.  And since our septic tank seems to work fine when much less water is being put into it, we were leaning towards making changes in our home to reduce the input to the tank, and had started researching how to do that.

Then we lost our bore water supply. 

We were cut off by the school by accident, and it seems that since the house is no longer owned by the department of education, we're not to be reconnected.  So now, with a full vegie garden and a yard full of fruit trees and animals that all need water, we had to come up with a plan that would enable us to keep up the water to everything that needs it using only our rainwater supply.  And this new problem, together with our septic tank problem, have led to some watery changes (and my purchase - getting to it!).

First, we started to collect greywater - the old fashioned way.  I have a large water container with a tap on it that I collect my washing machine water in and then deliver the water to each of my fruit trees in turn.  Thus saving about 20L from going into the septic a day, and also giving my fruit trees a boost.  We've also added a bucket to the shower.  This collects more than 10L of water a day which gets watered around the place.  We eventually also hope to add a grey water diversion from the bathroom to water some of my ornamental garden using a hose system.  So all up, we've already started reducing the water needed for the garden and the water going into the septic tank.

And today, I bought a waterless toilet.  I can't believe how excited I am about a toilet!  But a toilet that will not only save an estimated 80-100L of water a day, but will also take the pressure off of our septic tank.  The toilet system we've bought is a urine diverting system that collects solid matter and toilet paper in a bucket in the toilet that is then emptied into a separate composting system where it is left for 12 months (or more) before being able to be used as fertiliser around the garden.  You can collect the urine to use as a nitrogen rich fertiliser too, though we're opting to divert ours straight into the septic tank since we have the system there.  The toilet uses no water, though it does use a small amount of electricity to run a fan to ensure no smells or moisture build up inside. 


I have done countless hours of research into the best system for us, and found that there are quite a few waterless (or very low water use) toilets available in Australia.  Our requirements were quite specific though as we needed a unit that didn't need underfloor access (we have a low ground clearance).  This meant our choices were limited to only a few brands, many of which looked like giant versions of the old chemical portable toilets.  I'm sure these suit some, but we wanted ours to still look nice and not frighten visitors away.  So we made our choice - the Seperett 9000, from "A better way to go" - and I've ordered it and I'm really looking forward to getting it and installing the system.

The toilet we are getting.

Ahhhh.... the things we get excited about!  I promise to report back when we have installed it and used it for a bit with a full review.

We built a pizza oven!

One of the things we've been very busy with at our house has been the pizza oven project.  Well it is finished!  Hooray! 

Pouncy thinks he makes a lovely addition to the oven.

It was a great project.  We learnt a lot of new skills and ended up with something that we love to look at and is functional too.  But we're certainly no experts, so I'm not giving a tutorial or anything like that.  But here is our pizza oven story.  Feel free to ask any questions.

Step one was to build the plinth or base for the oven.  We had an existing concrete slab, so we levelled that and built on top.  We used besser blocks for our base.  Can I just say - besser blocks are damn heavy!  And having never laid any bricks before, this was a steep learning curve for us.  But despite our lack of experience and the damn rain, it got done and we were even able to make a fancy arch at the front using recycled bricks and pieces of bluestone that were found on our block (they were from the original school building that used to be here).  It was so exciting when we pulled out the form work and the arch stayed in place.  A thing of true beauty that we just kept gazing at.  Oh, and we tested the safety of it by letting Hurley walk under it ;)

We then had to make a top for the plinth.  We used a piece of cement sheet, held up up with more besser blocks underneath.  We laid a surround of recycled bricks, held them together with some wood and trailer ties (true professionals I tell you!) and then poured a 5cm thick re-inforced concrete slab on top.  Onto this, we smashed a pile of bottles and lay the broken glass and then filled up with sand.  This is supposed to help with insulation.  Onto the sand we added a layer of clay pavers.  Then we tested the safety of this by standing our children on the top hehehe.

 

The next step was so exciting as we were actually building the oven, several weeks after starting!  We made a guide for building the dome, then I built another arch for the door.  The rain kept coming and the tarp was well used.  Finally, Stu built a great big sandcastle, I mean sand dome mold, and the kids played in the sand pile. 

 And then we built the oven.  We used about 60 recycled bricks that had been broken in half.  Just an aside here, the work involved in removing mortar from reclaimed bricks and then breaking them in half is back breaking and really rather unpleasant.  The bricks built up quite quickly, with this step and the next being completed in a day.  We put in our stainless steel flue at this point too, nestling the bricks tightly around it to hold it in place.

To finish off the oven, we used a layer of insulation batts and covered them with a mud mix that we'd put rather a lot of oxide into.  It looked rather too much like chocolate cake mix and I spent the whole time we were doing this bit singing the Crowded House song about chocolate cake (very annoying!).  We ended up using two barrow loads of this mud/concrete mix to get a good coverage.

 Finally, we were done!  We left it for a few days for the mortar to dry and then the only thing left was to pull out the sand.  The kids had a great time doing this and it was lovely to reveal the inside of the oven.  We christened it with a small fire and a curry cooked in it.  It was delicious!

And then, finally, we cooked pizzas in it for the boys birthday party.  Stu is master pizza oven man, and did a great job.  But we discovered we needed to burn a bigger, hotter fire, for longer before we try these again.  Probably also wasn't a great idea to try cooking pizzas for the first time with 22 hungry mouths to feed..... oops!  But it was fun anyway and we plied them with home brewed beer and ginger beer while they waited.

All up, it was a fabulously fun project and for about $500 and many, many hours of hard work, we have something pretty special in our garden.

PS. sorry the pics end up a bit tiny - there were just too many to make them big! :)

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.

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.

In pursuit of the perfect 'not sausage' roll

Yes, technically it is Screen-free Saturday in our house, and yes, I'm writing a blog post.  We've bent the rules today because it is the AFL grandfinal, and being Victorians (even ones who aren't massive footy fans - well Stu kind of is.....), we feel the need to watch the grandfinal on TV and eat junk food.  It is also atrocious weather, so we can't work outside.  This week we'll have Screen-free Sunday.

So, in grandfinal day tradition, we need to eat junk food of the hot dog, meat pie, chips, sausage roll etc variety.  Of course, I can't quite bring myself to buy these things anymore, so grandfinal day also means baking.

I took a deep breath and bought sausage meat to make sausage rolls for the boys.  I intend to make sausage rolls fit into my 'ok' list somehow, but for now.... I had some puff pastry in the freezer (which it turns out has palm oil in it too.....aaaaaagh!), so the boys are getting a pile of regular (though not especially ethical) homemade sausage rolls.

I can't eat them anymore though... Just can't go there.  So I am experimenting with 'not sausage' rolls.  I've seen this recipe which looks good, but not 'meaty' enough. And a while back I made this recipe.  It has a mixture of chickpeas, carrot and rice in it and uses regular puff pastry.  The boys ate them, though not enthusiastically.  I loved them and plan to make them again one day.  But today I wanted something a bit different. 

Today I made a filling that had borlotti beans (other beans would have worked though), rice cooked in veg stock, fresh coriander, taco seasoning, grated carrot, egg, breadcrumbs and tomato paste.  I didn't measure anything, so I don't have a recipe - sorry! I blitzed all of that in the food processor, and then rolled it in some homemade shortcrust pastry made using this recipe.  I also used the last bit of puff pastry to see which I liked better......

regular meaty sausage rolls take on their vegie friends (all were eaten!)

My delicious not-sausage rolls - they looked great!

The results.....YUM! We all enjoyed them, but they were a smidge spicy for the kids.  As to the pastry, I liked both, but the puff had a more decadent texture, so I'll be hunting for a good puff pastry recipe.  The not sausage rolls I will have to make again and work out a recipe :)

Do you have a good 'not sausage' roll recipe? Or do you make ethical sausage rolls? Please help me out on this quest and share your recipes!

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?