Sunny Sunday

Yesterday was the first day in ages that I have been home and able to get out in the garden on a sunny day. Doesn't the sun inspire you! Everything in the garden is moving; I have spinach, lettuce, leeks, rhubarb, silver beet and asparagus ready for the eating.

The muscles in my arms and chest are reminding me of the work we did. I can't believe how much we managed. I shovelled six barrows of manure to the potato patch. I'm a bit later than I'd like with the potatoes this year. Late August is a good time to get them in if I watch out for frost and cover them on the bad nights.

I manured two other veggie beds, fixed a hole in our little pond, clipped the wings of our young layers and put them back in the paddock, gave the pigs some wallowing water and belatedly mulched the asparagus. I've sown seeds for parsnips but I'm not holding out much hope. I don't seem to be home enough to constantly keep soil wet for veggies like asparagus and carrots.

Belle set up the monitor in the goat shed so we'll know if Argoo goes into labour during the night. We're both quite nervous about the event as it draws closer. She's such a sweet little goat and her tummy is huge!

I attended my first Landcare working bee yesterday but felt a smoodge guilty that I only stayed an hour due to my work screaming at me from home. I found out that the working bees are only every three months though, so next time I'll try to free the time. It's quite lovely hanging out in the bush pulling out weeds.

I hope to get back out in the garden today. Isn't it funny how achieving work in the garden always makes you see more, not less, jobs!

We have baby goats, geese and ducklings due in the next few weeks so there's no missing that Spring has sprung.

We think our first nest of goslings will hatch in the next week. It's made me realise we've come so far in our food journey with the children. Pumpkin was chattering to me as I worked and she commented that the goslings might be old enough to eat for Christmas lunch. "Oh, and we might have goat! Then we could kill a rooster too and it would be a real feast!"

I like how normal this lifestyle appears to my kids. There's such satisfaction in providing food that wasn't manufactured, bought from a multinational company, feed or sprayed with chemicals, transported for miles or packaged in wasteful packaging. Little bit by little bit we are becoming less dependent.

Pumpkin has been asking for days if we can make some pasta now that we have plenty of eggs again. I think I might do that with her today and enjoy pasta with asparagus for dinner. In fact, talking about asparagus has me craving some. I think I'll go and munch on a fresh spear for brekky!

Happy gardening and eating!

Self care

There's been quite a silence from me recently.  You may have noticed I regularly have spurts of blogging and spurts of nothingness.  If I've not been writing, one of three things have likely happened.....

1. I've been so busy with projects and fun stuff that I haven't had time to write.
2. I've decided I'm finally going to get life 'right' and I'm putting all my time and energy into organising the house and kids.  Always a nuisance when I get into this mode because I waste precious time sweeping and wiping surfaces!!
3. I'm overwhelmed, exhausted and feeling like a failure.

This time around it was number three.  One of the down sides with trying to live thoughtfully and with respect for the planet with which we are blessed is that often we are time poor.  Since I began teaching the children at home I have really struggled with time issues.

I still want to find time to cook most of our food from scratch to avoid shortcuts that mean creating waste.  I want to garden to avoid feeding my children food with residual pesticides.  I want to make cleaners, again to avoid packaging waste.  I'd like to sew rather than buy products that have wasted resources in the transport process.  The list goes on and on........

Not only do I want to do all of this; I want to do it all perfectly!!  Of course.  For the last few months I have been feeling very tired.  Near on exhausted.  But I couldn't see a solution.  Especially because, even in this state, I keep jumping at opportunities to learn new skills.  A new recipe here, how to dispatch a goose there, how to pickle.....  So I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to think about it.

Now, this is not a once off exhaustion.  This is a pattern I follow.  I think it's probably something many of you who are greening your lives can identify with.  A lifestyle danger if you will.  On other occasions I have reached crisis point by exploding with the kids or by falling into a sobbing heap.  Last time, I decided to really take notice of the warning signs and be proactive in fending off an inevitable collapse.  But how............?

I thought long and hard about what I felt I needed.  I decided I just. needed. to. STOP!!!! I didn't want to feed another chook, milk another goat, teach another child, book another appointment, clean another mess - all the things that make up our day.  I didn't even feel like talking to Hubby once the kids went to bed because I was so worn out from doing and thinking.

So there it was identified, I needed a break.

I am very lucky.  I rang and asked my mother, feeling very guilty, if she could take the children and she didn't hesitate.  She and Dad looked after the kids for two days even overseeing their lessons for me.  Hubby took on a load as he worked all day and then cared for the animals and milked.  Belle and I did heaps of preparation to cut down the work and I think it helped him.

I booked a room near Rosie so I could squeeze in a visit with her and my lovely granddaughter.  I spent two days listening to relaxation cds, crafting, planning a new daily routine for when I went home and generally just sitting quietly (just being) !

It worked!  I came home refreshed, implemented my new routine and threw myself back into our busy lives.  I kinda felt validated when the kids arrived home.  They were all talking to me at a million miles an hour and it was mayhem and busyness right from the word go.  No easing back into it.  The contrast of my peaceful time made me realise that my life really is very busy and tiring.  The difference is that I have got through my week with it's usual up's, down's and minor crisis's with a sense of humour rather than doom.   I have had energy as I've tackled my work and I've found enjoyment in my everyday tasks.  Cooking and creating a nice environment for my family has been a particular pleasure.  Taking care of myself was really successful in enabling me to care properly again for the others in my life.

Pre-rest photo.  I didn't even get around to icing the cake for poor Belle!

As I stated earlier, I am very lucky to have such caring parents.  I know not everybody has a backup but I hope you have a way to refresh yourself when you need to.  Or more importantly perhaps, the ability to know when you've had enough and it's time to care for YOU!  Maybe you have your own secret weapon to use against burn out.

Food fight

Everyone loves a good food fight, don't they?  Apparently not.  Last week the children and I travelled to Melbourne for the EatBuyGrow Rally held by the Regrarians.  We expected to see hundreds of people and hoped to see thousands gathering to stand up for this important issue.

I was very disappointed to find around a hundred (correct me if you were there and I've made a wrong estimate) people standing up for a better food system.  Admittedly it was a week day so harder for people to attend but still.....  I found it strange.  Climate change rallies are so well attended but this one was not.  Is it possible people haven't made the connection between the way food is delivered and the damage to our climate?

Our food system has become so commercialised.  Since the introduction of supermarkets food has moved further and further from our homes.  It became easy for people to buy fruit and veggies so they stopped growing vegetable gardens.  Women left their homes to go to work and appreciated the ease of buying food from supermarkets.  Now busy families can buy pre-prepared meals and can avoid cooking at all if they so choose.  As time has gone by, large commercial food suppliers have found more and more ways to sell their products.  They market their products with a great deal of thought and their advertising works well.  Most people no longer know how to provide food for themselves without going to the supermarkets.

Families trying to manage their weekly budgets are often looking for the cheapest options to provide food.  The commercial companies wanting their dollar have responded by finding cheaper ways of manufacturing food.  Small farms are dying out as companies push them to supply food cheaply.  They simply can't make ends meet.  They've had to sell their land.  This has resulted in HUGE farms owned by corporations growing crops as cheaply as possible.  I can tell you now, the main concern of these companies is NOT your health or the health of the environment.  They encourage intensive farming and they are not focussed on environmental issues such as salinity, erosion, water conservation etc.  Their focus is how to make a profit.  The super-farms aren't worrying much about improving soils because they don't need to.   They can use chemicals to fertilise crops and kill weeds and there's now the option of genetically modified seeds.

Can you see the strong connection between buying from the supermarkets and the damage we are causing to the climate?

But wait!  There's more.  There's the issue of transport. Years back I briefly lived in Shepparton.  I was buying my apples from the supermarket and paying through the nose for them although I was in the very area that these apples were grown.  The large supermarkets were buying from the local orchards, transporting the fruit to Melbourne to their warehouses and then trucking them back to Shepparton.  I paid more for my apples than people from Melbourne were paying!  I've learnt a lot since those days.  The unnecessary use of fossil fuels was causing damage to the environment when I could have just searched for a local orchard that sold direct to the public.  Convenience has a lot to answer for!

Now think about the production of manufactured food.  The plastic and cardboard used in the packaging.  The unhealthy process of adding preservatives so food can sit on shelves for weeks/months.  Additives so that their products will look more attractive.  Do you think this is done to make your life easier, your family healthier, or to trick you out of a dollar?

Food is tampered with in so many different ways.  Milk is an issue that is close to my heart because it is such an obvious problem.  As a person who milks goats and yes *gasp* drinks raw milk, I'm very interested in what is happening in our milk industry.  Milk is taken from many dairies (again the smaller dairies are pushed to provide cheaper prices but are outcompeted by large corporations taking over and forming super-farms), put into one lot, forced through a tiny strainer to homogenise, heated to a temperature that damages vitamins and good bacteria, and then transported again to the supermarkets.  Now not only do the corporations, advertisers and supermarkets but also our government tell us this is done for our safety.

This is a half truth.  Yes, pastuerising milk ensures any dangerous bacteria are killed.  It also kills many health benefits.  It's a half truth because while they have told us about the risk, they have not explained that this risk is absolutely minute and applies to soooo many foods including foods like fruit and vegetables.  Since the tragic death of a young child (linked to raw milk) the FDA have painted such a vivid picture of the risk from fresh, untampered milk that in many people's mind the term RAW MILK equates to drinking poison.  What rubbish!!  You could die from eating a lettuce!  It's not possible to eliminate all risk from life.  We are human and susceptible to bacteria from many sources every day.  I can only think that we are being fed this half truth to encourage us to spend our money on the milk the large companies are profiting from.  Did you know that the milk in question, in the recent case, tested negative for e-coli?  No?!  Well the media haven't really been running with that very relevant information!  So before any proof of a connection with raw milk, our government have banned sales unless it contains a bittering agent (making it undrinkable) and non-compliance attracts ridiculously HUGE fines!  Just for the record, you can legally drink raw milk in many countries across the world.  I feel failed by a government that seems to value money before people.

I know that my children are being nourished by the raw milk from our goats.  I have been giving it to them for over a year now.  One of my children has suffered terribly from colds for eight of his nine years due to a low immune system.  He caught them easily, was affected for weeks, developed infections and developed hearing loss from his colds. Now he rarely catches them and recovers quickly.  Ironically, I have my first cold in two years as I write.

I had never attended a rally or protest in my life until a couple of years ago yet now I've been to a handful.  I don't go willy nilly.  It takes time, energy and effort to traipse to Melbourne with three children in tow.  I attend rallies if I think they are addressing issues too important to ignore.

The EatBuyGrow Rally was of vital importance.  Costa Gorgiadis came to speak, amongst others.  He was great!  Joel Salatin also spoke at the rally.  He even waived his fee because he is so passionate about changing our food system.  The current one isn't working.  Farmers are going broke, our food is being produced overseas, some people can't afford good food and cheap food isn't good for them.  (think obesity, diabetes etc...)  Our food is poorly labelled so we can't truly make choices about what we are eating.   And now we are banned from using food which we know is good for us.

Okay.  I've painted a pretty bleak picture (because it is) but there's heaps you can do on a personal level.  You can grow fruit and veggies, buy locally, buy in bulk, buy organic, buy direct from growers, cook from scratch rather than buying pre-prepared food.  You could also link in with organisations working to create change.

Why not join Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA).  They are aware of all the above issues and their website will explain them much more clearly than I did.  They are lobbying government to try to bring about a better food system.

The Regarians are also very proactive with changing our system.  I must admit I didn't know much about them before the rally which they were instrumental in organising.

There is also an organisation fighting for our right to drink raw milk.  They are the Australian Raw Milk Movement. I'm sorry but I couldn't find a website for them, just a Face Book page.

Now, you know I'm not a food scientist, chemist, doctor etc.  I'm just a mum.  But being a mum doesn't make me inconsequential.  It gives me the strength, the right and also the responsibility to fight for a healthy and fair food system that doesn't damage our climate.  I owe it to my kids. 

Repurposed fruit

We seemed to squeeze so much into the day today without it feeling frantic.  Some days just work better than others!

The children completed some learning, most of which was online.  We use Skwirk and Reading Eggs a lot.  Then it was time to do something the children have been wanting to do for ages.  We brought the bag of doll's clothes outside and set up a laundry complete with tub, washing powder, pegs and a handmade clothes line.  They had a ball!

Buddy and Pumpkin made up some fruit chews made from juice and gelatine.  That's it.  The only ingredients!

Later I found the three children on the couch horse drawn carriage.   We had a driver, princess and a maid.  I love their creative play.  It's interesting to see them all join in the same game, given their different ages and stages.

Then my favourite part of the day......... I found yet another use for preserved fruit that didn't work.  A couple of weeks ago when I finished my preserves I noticed that a couple of jars hadn't sealed.  I'm very new to this preserving business and have a lot to learn.  I think the second hand lids I used weren't up to the job any more.  I emptied the jars of peaches and apricots into a pot, added some plums and stewed it all well.  That night we had a crumble with the mixed fruit.  It was not just ok, it was divine!!

I popped the leftover juice from the stewing pot into a container in the freezer.  Today I blended some of the frozen mix with just a little of our milk and was delighted with the result.  It was like ice cream.  The children were very happy!

Then it was off to the pool for a quick dip and home to make pizza for tea.  I can be quite lazy with food sometimes, encouraging the kids to eat fruit, make sandwiches etc. but I'm sometimes a little bit amazed by the concoctions I come up with when I am in the mood.  Those ruined preserves weren't ruined at all.  They were fruit crumbles and ice cream waiting to be invented!

Monthly nine - December 2014

Ooops! Ummm...... I'm a bit late this month.  I won't bore you with the whys and wherefores.  I'll just get on it because you may be waiting to post your amazing, busy, jam-packed stories from December.  This link-up is the brain child of Christine over at Slow Living Essentials.  I have inherited it recently.  Each month we recap what we've been up to in nine interesting categories.  We have plenty of regular people who post.  You are welcome to join in!  How was your Christmas month?

Deep breath from me....  Here goes December.  THE busiest month of the year!

NOURISH:

Well.  Let's talk Christmas Day fare.  Mum brought her wonderful potato salad, strongly flavoured with garlic and basil, and some prawns.  One of my friends gave me some homemade dukkah as a gift and we loved snacking on that!  I bought some ham from another friend who raises pigs and cooked a free range chook.  The choices went on and on.

We enjoyed snacks, drinks, a meal, each others company and lots of yummy dessert.  Mum and Dad always bring Christmas Pud and Dad makes a brandy custard.  I made a trifle in an effort to rekindle a family tradition.  Nana always served trifle on the big day.  Mine was altered somewhat and included beautiful blueberries from a local farm.  My eldest daughter, Lou Lou, made her first ever pavlova and it was yumm-my!  You can never, ever have too much dessert!!

PREPARE:

I was given some beetroot in December so had a go at pickled beetroot.  I don't know how it turned out yet because I'm saving it for later in the year.

REDUCE:

Not me, but my my daughter Belle made a bag for her friend's birthday.  Damn!  I forgot to take a photo.  Guess what we bought Belle for Christmas?  A second hand sewing machine of her very own.  No more fighting with an eleven year old over time at the sewing machine.  Perhaps this was actually more a gift for me?  Hee hee!

GREEN:

Yep.  More soap.  I also went back to using bi-carb and salt as toothpaste.  I've been using an Australian-made herbal toothpaste because the children weren't keen on the bi-carb.  However, Buddy really hated the taste of the commercial product so both of us are using the bi-carb mix.  Not sure how I'll go yet.  Last time I tried it the kids kept getting it wet so I'm trying to be there when he uses it.  I'll try and teach him to just wet his toothbrush first and (with clean hands) sprinkle on some powder.

GROW:

My tomatoes are looking great!  I'm just waiting for the first to ripen and it's happening as we speak!  I'm out there daily checking for colour.  I harvested my first zucchinis in December too.  Isn't it funny how yummy they taste at the beginning of each season before we become thoroughly bored of trying to find new ways to eat them by Autumn?

CREATE:

 

Oh. My. Goodness!!!!  December is overly full of CREATE!!  I made giant replicas of tea-bags full of goats poo.  These were special teabags for the watering can.  I made soap.  I made beeswax impregnated wraps to cover food.  I crocheted covers for some of the soap.....  Sorry.  No photos.  Christmas gifts keep me soooo busy that I completely forgot.   I can, however, show you a photo of a special gift from Belle.  On Christmas Day she really, really surprised me when she gave me an embroidered lavender bag that I had no inkling about!  I felt very special.



DISCOVER:

I haven't spent much time educating myself lately.  I've been borrowing Paullina Simons' books from the library.  They are HUGE books!  But oh so good.

ENHANCE:

Goodness!  To think I often used to have trouble with this category.  My life has been so full with sharing/swapping food, receiving gardening advice, helping or being helped with transporting trailers to collect manure, sharing recipes...

ENJOY:

I'm feeling gooey about our connectedness lately.  We've had several pre-Christmas get togethers with other friends.  While I bemoaned my busyness and lack of time, I love being so involved with others around us.

We also had a special first birthday celebration in December.  My lovely little granddaughter had a party which meant a trip to celebrate.  She's such a sweet heart!

On my plate

Hi there, I hope you're doing something lovely with this beautiful, if somewhat hot, weekend.  I have a thousand things I could be doing but I'm lying in the hammock, under a tree, writing a post.  I've been sewing Christmas presents this afternoon and Belle has been working alongside me.

I'm loving this time of year.  I'm trying to fly through my household chores early, leaving the day free to teach the kids and then spend some time in the garden.  I'm trying to get out into it at least once a day.    That way, I can identify any problems early and I'm also aware of the food available for eating.

The little round garden is jam packed with veggies.  I've chosen to cram it all in because our biggest issue here is water.  I want to grow as much as possible in the smallest possible space so that I only need to keep one area of ground moist.  It's working quite well except I keep wanting to plant more seedlings so the 'one area' I need to keep moist has expanded to include two other small beds!  Oopsy!

      

In the round bed I have tomatoes that are looking very promising, eggplant, capsicum, some holey silver beet (haven't found the culprit yet), spinach, peas, leeks, carrots, dill, coriander, lettuce, nasturtiums, viola, beetroot and kohl rabi.  Of those vegetables we are harvesting lettuce, peas, a couple of carrots, spinach and the viola and nasturtiums.

I have been loving looking around the garden and planning our meals around our produce.  Yesterday I had eggs from the chook shed, goat's cheese in the fridge (thanks girls) and spinach in the garden.   Well the obvious choice was a spinach and goat's cheese quiche with a garden salad of lettuce, peas and edible flowers.  Yu-uum!! 

Now THIS is what I aspire to!  A healthy, delicious meal using ingredients from here, our place, creating next to no emissions caused by food transport, improving the soil due to us adding carbon to the soil in the form of compost during the gardening process.  What's not to love?!!

Of course, there were other ingredients, such as salt and pepper, that were bought in, but all in all, a much better way to provide food. I would be happy if I produced a meal this sustainable once a week, ecstatic if I managed it two or three times a week, and completely, absolutely smug beside myself with happiness if I could do it all the time!

Is this your aspiration too?

Irony

Last week, I packed the kids into the car, kissed Hubby goodbye and headed off to join the Pacific Climate Warriors in their battle against the coal ships.  The boot was full to the brim with our tent, little stove, clothes etc.  This particular protest meant a lot to me.  For a start, our damaging use of fossil fuels desperately needs to change and NOW but more than that, we were heading off to protest with the very people who are already impacted by rising sea level.  I spent my formative years growing up in Vanuatu and I am angry that so many people choose to ignore the plight of those in the Pacific.  The bitter irony is that the islanders' lifestyles didn't cause the issue;  nor did they benefit from the use of fossil fuels, yet they are now bearing the brunt of our actions.

Here in Australia, many would like to pretend that the effects of climate change are something in the far off future, something that can be ignored for a long time yet.  Clearly, this is not the case.  If Aussies aren't capable of looking beyond their own backyards and noticing those in immediate peril, then surely they would be aware of what is happening right under their noses!

We had planned on an easy trip up to Newcastle, using the time away as an opportunity to have a bit of a holiday.  We set up our little tent at Goulburn, planning to continue on the next day.  We were aware that rain was predicted for Newcastle but figured we could tough it out or spend a night in a cabin for shelter.  

What we didn't count on was the ferocity of the weather.  Climate change, with all its power and might, saw us sheltering in a cabin at Goulburn on the second night while thunder shook the walls.  The next day we braved the trip to Newcastle knowing another storm was on the way.  We found more cabin accommodation but woke to see the State Emergency Service helping a couple in a van across the way from our cabin.  Then we heard reports of mayhem in Sydney.  Flooded train stations, snow in the Blue Mountains, over two thousand calls to the State Emergency Service for help with fallen trees etc., one hundred and seventy millimetres of rain in some areas.....  The predictions were that the wild weather was heading to Newcastle.

 Our plan to have a cheap journey to join in with the flotilla was falling apart.  The tent was not an option.  The wind was blowing us away.  So for all my passion and commitment to fighting climate change, with the children's safety to think about, we gave up and drove home. 

 I was so disappointed to have used so much time and energy to get to Newcastle and turn around without even meeting the Climate Warriors, but more so to not even get to add our voice to the protest of the coal leaving the harbour.  It felt scary though, to be so far from home with not much money, knowing no one locally and being aware that I was responsible for keeping my children safe.

There was a sense of relief to be heading back down the highway for home.  I felt worn out from driving and from trying to make decisions on the hop.  I had also struggled with providing for ourselves in a sustainable fashion while we were on the road.  We ate organic tinned baked beans one night, tinned soup with bread another.  We had to buy boxes of milk and breakfast cereal.  The caravan parks didn't have recycling facilities.  I thought about bringing our rubbish home but there wasn't an inch of spare space in the car.  The children were already drowning in a sea of pillows, blankets and tourist maps so I guiltily placed our rubbish in the bin.

As we drove home, I reflected on the irony of not being able to participate in the protest for action against climate change DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE!!!  The very areas that snow fell had been battling bushfires at the same time last year.  The previous year to that, snow!

I also reflected on the fact that we have worked very hard to minimise our personal impact on climate change and travelling away from home threw me back into a world of convenience.  I looked forward to arriving back home to our bulk foods in our own containers, our veggies from the garden, our eggs from the chooks and milk from the goats.  Year by year, we have reduced our packaging and our waste; we have reduced our personal demand on energy used to package and transport our food to our kitchen.  

So while I couldn't take part in a public and dramatic demonstration to shake the people into awareness (and they sure need to wake up to themselves) I can fight climate change here at home with my family.  I can fight in a way that is very effective yet gentle and positive.  I can fight by fertilising my veggie garden, composting our food scraps, tending our animals and poultry, by teaching my children practical life skills, by sharing our goats milk, by being part of a larger community of environmentally aware people.  Tonight we will dine on spatchcocked chicken grown here on our property, potatoes from the farmers market, spinach from Mum's and pavlova made with some of our eggwhites.  These are left over from the yolks I used to make custard, which will become ice cream for the children later today.  It's certainly not an uncomfortable way to fight climate change!  It just requires commitment to make personal changes and a bit more thought and effort into providing for our needs.

So one way or another, please join with the Climate Warriors, please join with me....  Let's fight this fight together whether it be by joining protests, signing petitions, letting your politician know how you feel or simply by growing some veggies!

Slow Living Monthly Nine - August 2014

Spring has arrived today and brings with it the winds with which it is so often associated.  I lay awake last night listening to the wind howling and hoping our house would not end up on the neighbours farm!  I'm not exactly sure when the spring rains were replaced with the spring winds.... 

We're in gardening mode here at our place but, before I step out into the garden, I'd like to invite you all to join in with the Monthly Nine link-up and share your achievements in the nine slow living categories.  It's time to reflect on August and all that it involved.

The Monthly Nine was created by Christine at Slow Living Essentials and I have gratefully become its custodian.  The details of the categories can be found here.

Slow Living Monthly Nine - August 2014

Nourish - I may struggle this month with recalling the month just lived.  I have broken my laptop.  It's at the repairers so I have no photos to prompt my memory.  So!  Relying on my dodgy grey matter..... 

I received my bulk foods delivery late in the month with much relief.  I had run out of flour, sugar, puffed rice and many other items.  We receive our order every three months and it's hard to estimate quantities perfectly for a three month period.

Eggs are back on the menu!  The girls are laying again.  We've had a couple of quiches topped with the meagre pickings available.  Mainly kale and broccoli.  Thank goodness for our goats cheese which added a wonderful flavour kick!

We also enjoyed a roast chicken when we received our monthly free range chicken delivery.  There's something wonderful about only occasionally having a roast.  We have sooo much more appreciation for the meal!  I was amused to hear my children asking 'would it be okay' if they had seconds and thirds of the roast veggies.  Hahaaha!  Yes, please help yourselves!!!!

Prepare

I froze a lot of stock when I made up a batch of home made baked beans.  I saved all the veggie peelings and ends and then I covered them with water and popped the pot on our slow combustion fire for a couple of days.  It smells so good.  I also froze a lot of whey over the month.  I mainly use it for our spoilt chookies.  I figure they are more likely to lay me eggs if I warm their tummies with a warm and nutritious mash.

Reduce

The weather was great over winter.  We had a fair bit of rain and the ground stayed consistently moist.  However it's been a good couple of weeks since we have seen any sky juice and we are reliant on tank water for all our needs hence shared baths have become a regular routine in our house.  Hubby has also set up our grey water again so the shared bath water gets well used before it leaves our place!  Update - It's begun to rain since I began writing this post!!  Let's hope it keeps up for a while.

Green

I'm due to visit Rosie soon and have been thinking about what I'll need to pack.  My toiletry box doesn't need much these days.  Some soap, bicarb soda for deodorant, herbal toothpaste and my moisturiser.  I'm using a commercial moisturiser at the moment.  Sometimes I make my own but life ebbs and flows with it's busyness which dictates how much time I have available.

I can't wait to see how much she's grown since I last saw her

Grow

Asparagus is shooting now.  I haven't used it in a meal yet.  It's still such a novelty that I can't resist cutting the spears and munching on them in the garden!  Yuummm!

We have broccoli, rhubarb, kale, snow peas and some leeks.  I also found some yummy potatoes that were still hiding in the soil when I started preparing garden beds for spring gardening.  The cabbages are steadily hearting up.

Create

I made some dish draining cloths for us and gave one to Lou Lou with a matching dishcloth.  I use a pretty cotton fabric on one side and back the other with old towel that I cut up.  I don't like using standard dish drainers because they get so germy and I think these home made cloths brighten up the kitchen.  Then when I clear the sink at night I just throw the draining cloth into the wash.  I must get around to making myself some matching dishcloths like I did for Lou Lou.

Enhance

Funny isn't it, but over the last year I have claimed that I hadn't achieved in this category in a couple of slow living posts. I didn't think about the fact that I was on the committee of our local environment group.  I've realised it this time around because I've decided not to be on the committee this year.  Even though the commitment wasn't too onerous, I now feel freed up and enthusiastic about becoming very involved in practical ways with new activities to do with our environment.  Our family are also taking part in an emerging community garden that I anticipate to be spectacular in a few years time.  I'm really pleased that my children have the opportunity to be involved in the creation of a fantastic community space right from the conception stage.  Again, I've chosen not to be involved at the committee level because I don't 'do' meetings very well.  I'm much more comfortable with being a worker bee!!

Discover

Over the past few weeks I was supplying a neighbour with goats milk for an orphaned baby goat she was given.  It paid off tenfold!  Her cow has since had a calf and she has been giving me cows milk in return.  CREAM!!!  It was very buttery because the cow has just started lactating so  I made my first ever batch of butter.  I googled homemade butter to find out how to do it properly.  It's very easy to make and it is lovely.

Enjoy

I have loved becoming involved with a social swimming program that I discovered was operating near us.  It is designed for preschoolers of course, because most children of my kids' age are off at school.  However, it is perfect for Buddy's developmental stage and my girls are fully included in the program and enjoy the interaction with the younger children.  They make good role models and give the preschoolers experience with older children.

We find that it is now the highlight of our week!  We swim, laugh, sing and enjoy the company of others.

I hope you had a wonderful August and I'm really looking forward to reading your accounts!  Please join in the Slow Living Monthly Nine and tell us all your news.

Thank you so much Christine for helping me out with the linky tool again.  I will try to learn this skill during September.  :-)

Cheap and easy yoghurt

My mother rang me this week to discuss the way I make yoghurt.  She used to always make her own yoghurt but it was many years ago.  In fact, she used to make her own bread, keep a garden for veggies and cook what we needed.  It was through necessity because we lived in a place where there were no shops.  I believe there was a monthly trip to get supplies but then she made do.

Now she wants to have a go at making yoghurt again but doesn't remember the process.  I pointed her to Rhonda's link at Down to Earth.  Rhonda has easy instructions.  I made some yesterday using this method and it worked perfectly.

However, if you want to try a cheat's method.....

Do you have a yoghurt maker?  There are sachets for yoghurt making in the desert aisle at the supermarket. You are supposed to use a full sachet to make up one batch of yoghurt in them.  I like my yoghurt to be cheap so if I'm using the purchased sachets, I do it differently.

I put one cup of powdered milk in the container and add water but not right to the top.  That way I have room to stir the mix.  Add two tablespoons of the mix from the sachet (the natural one, not flavoured), do it up with a rubber band and pop it back in the fridge for next time.  Stir until well mixed, then add more water until the container is completely full.  Give it a good shake to mix the contents thoroughly and put into the yoghurt maker, following the instructions on how much boiling water etc.

A few hours later you will have yoghurt.  The sachet last for several batches instead of just the one!

I prefer the proper method of making yoghurt but if I'm short on time I use the cheat's method.  It is certainly better than buying yoghurt.  Shop bought can never be as fresh as homemade, accumulates lots of food miles and wastes material on packaging.  Mind you, I do love the bucket my last bought batch came in!

Do you make your own yoghurt?

Paprika biscuits, plastic and a nice surprise

There's no missing the fact that these school holidays are the winter holidays!  We have slushy areas underfoot, it's been bitterly cold and one day last week the sun failed to show through the fog.  That's almost unheard of in these parts.  The Bureau of Meteorology predicted a 'mostly sunny' day but it didn't eventuate.  The temperature only reached seven degrees!

It was on this particularly biting day that Buddy Boy and Pumpkin took part in a football holiday program.  The idea was for the parents to drop the children off and leave.  I was looking forward to a rare day alone with Belle.  However, it wasn't to be.  Within an hour I received a phone call to say Pumpkin was crying with cold because the cuffs of her pant were wet.  I was still in town so I raced to the op shop and bought a complete outfit including a long sleeved thermal singlet!

The poor little girl was sitting in a car shivering when I arrived but a change of clothes and a cuddle and she was ready to play again.  I didn't want to leave again in case I was needed.  After all, the day was not improving. Hence Belle and I found ourselves outside for most of the day on the coldest day for ages!

I did decide though, to take Belle to a local coffee shop for a nice, warming hot chocolate as a bit of a treat to get us through the day.  As it was an unexpected visit, I was unprepared and had no cash.  Our purchase was under ten dollars (the minimum allowable for use of a card) so I quickly looked around and saw a packet of freshly baked short breads.  That took our purchase to around thirteen dollars and I could pay with my card.  And that's how easily it happens!!  It wasn't until we got outside that I realised the biscuits were prettily wrapped in plastic.

At the end of the day, the children were presented with show bags of goodies.  Rulers, a football, all wrapped in plastic.   And again, that's how easily it happens.

I'm taking part in the Plastic Free July challenge and thought it would be easy this year, having done it before and being relatively happy with our efforts.  I thought it would get easier each year.  So much is dependent on what you are doing though.  I had my eyes wide open for the supermarket, expecting this was where I would need to avoid plastic.  I was caught off guard with the extra activities we participated in.  I wasn't about to tell my children that they had to miss out on the show bags that every other child was receiving.

In a similar way, Belle and I brought plastic home yesterday.  Hubby kept the younger two at home so that Belle and I could have some time together and we headed of to a charity craft day.  Lots of little raffles during the day saw us gather several little gifts covered in plastic.

At home it's a different story.  It seems fairly simple most of the time.  Most ingredients we need are already on hand from our bulk food buy.  With the addition of butter (paper wrapped) and milk (straight from the goats) I can provide cakes and biscuits galore without a scrap of plastic rubbish.  A large pot of soup full of veggies and herbs wasn't too bad either.  The shanks were plastic wrapped but I cooked enough soup to see us through three meals.  Yay!

A large casserole (three meal size too) and enough snacks baked to last several days meant limited plastic use.  The diced beef also came in single use plastic but that was the only piece for three meals.  Cooking in bulk is a great way to reduce rubbish and it also means less work later in the week.  Bonus!!  I made sure I had savoury snacks as well as sweet by cooking some cheese and paprika biscuits.  They remind me of a particular brand of small cheese biscuit that I used to love snacking on years ago.  But no packaging, no palm oil, no preservatives and very easy to make!  I'll give you the recipe so you can try them but be warned, they are more-ish!

Paprika Biscuits

85g butter
85g cheese (grated tasty)
1 cup plain flour
1 tspn paprika
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn dry mustard
poppy seeds to sprinkle

Beat together butter and grated cheese until soft and creamy.  (Beat for a few minutes)  Sift together dry ingredients, add to cheese mixture, beat until well blended.  (The recipe I used, suggested dessertspoons rolled into balls but I made mine much smaller.  I find them a better size for nibbling on.)  Place on greased oven tray, flatten slightly, sprinkle poppy seeds lightly over each biscuit.  Bake in moderate oven 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Loosen and cool on tray.  (Made about forty little biscuits for me)

This recipe is taken from the ancient copy of The Australian Women's Weekly,1970, that I bought at the op shop once.  I have converted the ounces to grams.

Now for my nice surprise.  One of my dorking hens often refuses to sleep in the pen, choosing to perch up a tree instead.  Well, she wasn't up the tree over the last three weeks, unbeknownst to me!!  Out she came the other day with ten little charges.  Although we don't want 'moggy' chooks (these are crossed with the Australorp rooster) you can't fail to be happy when you see these little chickies.

 Daisy was most surprised to see ten little chickens running around in the milking shed in the morning!

Here's hoping your life is giving you nice surprises too!