Fuel for family

We try very hard to constantly assess how we are living and identify areas that we can reduce our impact on the finite resources of this planet.

We do fairly well in many areas but there is one thing I feel very guilty about.  Our use of fuel for transport.  We try to keep it in check by buying food in bulk and growing what vegetables we can.  This reduces our need to run to the shops.  I also often get Hubby to pick up groceries we might need as he comes home from work.  However there are many more events in our days that require us to travel.  We drive in a large and very old car that uses gas.

Our last trip to visit my daughters!  We eventually made it!!

We have weekly visits to the library and swimming lessons.  And then there's our family.....  the closest family are my parents.  They live forty five minutes driving time from us.  Hubby's parents are an hour away.

My precious adult girls live two and a half and three and a half hours away respectively.  To visit Lou Lou is a huge task.  It makes for a very long and tiring day to complete the five hour round trip plus visiting time.  I often feel like a nap when I arrive!

As for Rosie, I don't find it possible to visit her and return home in one day.  That would be seven hours of driving.  It takes us a couple of hours to get organised to even make the trip because with three children in tow, I need to pack drinks, food, books etc.

So if I want to visit Rosie, I always stay at least one night.  I don't want to miss the special moments that are represented in these photos.  My granddaughters are beautiful and changing every day.  I want them to know us.

I would have loved to live close to my daughters.  I always imagined being the kind of grandmother that was called upon regularly.  I would have loved to look after my grandchildren while my daughters shopped, went to the doctor or had a night with their partners.  I'd love to be an everyday part of the little girls' lives as they learn to crawl, walk, start kinder, learn to read.  I'd love to be able to support my daughters on a practical and emotional level as they journey through the tough task of parenting.  I'd love to enjoy their company just for fun!  So, for me, there is a real sense of missing out because of the distance that separates us.  However, I understand my daughter's choices to live elsewhere.  They made good decisions and are living good lives.

So given that I can't have my dream of children living in my local community, I choose to visit as often as I can (which is about once every couple of months).  This uses a lot of fuel.  At least they live in the same direction so that I can usually make each trip count twice.

There are also many other things that take me out in the car locally.  I have so many things I want to learn and be involved with!  I attend workshops, swap markets, local farmer's markets and visit anyone willing to teach me new skills.  Only this week, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit a biodynamic dairy goat farm.  It was a drive of forty minutes but I didn't want to miss the visit for the world!

Do you do better than me in the fuel department?  Maybe it doesn't bother you or maybe you've found a solution.  It is something I have a real dilemma over.  I know I am choosing to justify driving whenever I want to do something badly but that doesn't make it right.  I would love your thoughts.  Keep in mind, in our rural situation, nothing is nearby and bikes are out of the question on our tiny, dirt roads with three children to take with me.

Real food lessons for adults and children

We've had an interesting food journey over the last few years.  As a family, we began connecting with real food due to our efforts to live more sustainably.  In my attempts to reduce  the fuels wasted in transporting food to the supermarkets and to buy less processed (again a waste of fuel) and packaged food we found ourselves buying a lot of local and seasonal produce.  We also began to take our veggie gardening efforts seriously.

Gradually, very gradually, without me even really noticing, we've changed the way we think about food and cooking.  I've had to find new recipes that made use of the ingredients that I sourced.  I have begun to use ingredients that I never used to cook with.  Along the way, I have become more creative with food by default.  I used to read a recipe and think, "Oooh!  Dry, white wine!  I don't have any!"  And off I would race to the supermarket to get the vital ingredient.

It was as I was cooking soup for guests this morning that I became aware of the mind shift we have all undergone.  Not only do I now deliberately cook with local, seasonal ingredients, but the supermarkets tend not to jump to mind.  The soup I am making is a potato and leek soup.  I didn't reach for a recipe book.  How many leeks should I use?  Well as many as I purchased at our local, organic stall yesterday of course!  In fact, the purchase was the inspiration for the soup.  I didn't go there with a meal in mind.  I did it backwards.  I went to see what was on offer and decided on my menu from there.  And how many potatoes should I use? As many of our home grown potatoes as I feel would enhance the amount of leeks in the pot.

I have recently noticed that the kids have shifted their perception of their food origins too.  If they are eating apples from our tree and those apples run out, they see it as a natural occurrence.  When we were supermarketers, they would automatically cry, "Mum!  We need more apples!"  This thought process is very obvious with our new source of milk.   Since I began milking the goat the children have reduced their intake dramatically.  I haven't insisted on a reduction or sat them down to explain the new situation.  They have just accepted that the milk is finite.  I hear them telling each other to not have too much because it's the goats milk!  They can easily accept that, if they finish it, they need to wait until I milk the next day.

Do you see the difference?  At first we went out of our way to change the way we shopped and while it was wonderful, it was a conscious and deliberate choice.  Now it is becoming the norm for us.  The kids don't rifle through the cupboard looking for a particular product but, rather, looking to see what is on offer.  It feels natural and it feels like we are connected to our area, our gardens and our seasons. 

It's not always possible to eat completely according to our values but every now and again it just works perfectly.  Tonight I will serve sourdough bread baked by a friend.  I will cut it into small pieces and make a platter along with her zucchini pickles and pesto.  I bought all of these at our swap market.  I will also add some local olives purchases from another friend at last week's farmers market and some cherry tomatoes will complete the platter.  Then the soup.  We'll follow this up with a simple dinner of barbecued local sausages from our butcher along with crumbed eggplant from the swap market.  Dessert will be quinces (swap market) baked in honey (my bees) and butter.  Of course, we will have some local wine to quench our thirst.  I'm really looking forward to dinner.  I'm probably not offering enough veggies with dinner to make it a proper meal but it's simple, it's no fuss and it's all good wholesome food.  If I've thought it through properly, only the butter, seasoning and some stock were from commercial sources!  Oh, and of course I will be serving the quinces with lashings of cream!  That was from the supermarket too.

I love our new attitude that crept up while we weren't looking!  This IS the food connection!!  We respect our food and where it comes from.  As a result we appreciate it so much more.

Have you been through similar changes in your awareness of food?  Where at you at in your food journey? Maybe you are just starting out with veggie gardening or possibly you are at the point where you produce most of your own food.  I would love to hear what others are doing!

Slow Living in March

I can't believe another month has flown by!  It's time for the monthly link-up with Christine at Slow Living Essentials.  But before I give you a run down on what I achieved in each of the categories I have some important business.

Today it was time to draw the winner of the PIP Australian Permaculture Magazine.  And the winner is.........  Louise from Winks to Remember!!  Congratulations Louise.  Could you please send me an email with your address?  My email is on the right of my blog but it doesn't link through (it was too complicated for me).  Soon you'll be reading a copy of the first edition of an inspiring new magazine!

So back to the month of March and the lovely link-up with other slow living bloggers;


Nourish - Belle turned eleven in March so we had some party food.  I decorated the cakes with violas from the garden.  Actually Christine, I used your recipe for the cup cakes but coloured the batter to make rainbow cup cakes (a birthday request).  Love that recipe.  It's so quick!

I picked up the most amazing basket of summer goodies at our swap market.  I also had a go at making apple cider vinegar this month.  It was incredibly easy.  The recipe was from the last edition of Grass Roots Magazine if you want to give it a try.

 Prepare - Ha!  This is the category I've been looking forward to!  I finally have some serious preparing to report.  Guess what I did this month?  I went to a preserving workshop!  I kinda knew most of it but I gained a lot of confidence by working with others and under the tuition of someone much more experienced than me. Now I'm madly bottling more tomatoes at home.  I'll have heaps for the winter.


I've also been making a lot of salads-in-a-jars for Hubby's lunches.  A friend reminded me of their existence and I'm loving the convenience of making several lunches at once.  Google it.  You'll love them.

Reduce - At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm still trying to reduce the STUFF in this house.  I've done well downstairs.  I have one cupboard to go in the kids room.  Then I'll start upstairs.  That's our bedroom.  I'm actually scared of it!!  It's the room that no-one enters so if I have something and I don't know where to put it, that's where it goes!!!  Argghhh!  Now is the time.  No more procrastinating.  And you will never, never, never see a photo of my bedroom as it stands!

Green - Can't think of anything new except the beautiful shoots of grass that are coming up after months of dirt and dust.  A little bit of rain causes magic to happen!!

Grow - I have failed dismally in this category.  I have harvested some stuff this month but I can't even plant the seedlings because we have no garden water.  The dam is too low to pump from so I'm waiting for big rains.  The photo below will give you an idea of how desperate I am.  The poor children would love a bath but it's showers only for us!!

Create - I made some pads this month and I reckon they look pretty good.  I still need to buy the press stud-y bit to do them up.  I've returned to knitting a jumper for Buddy Boy now the weather is getting cool again.

Discover - I was lucky enough to hear about a crowd funded magazine about permaculture.  I wasn't able to go to their launch but I did help fund the magazine.  The first issue is out and it sounds like it is about to sell out.  It has been received very well.  You can subscribe to PIP Australian Permaculture Magazine online.  I have really enjoyed playing my very small role by donating.  There is a certain feeling of life being 'right' when people achieve amazing things without relying on govt. or big business.

Enhance - The preserving workshop was fantastic!  To get together with a bunch of people and work together was amazing.  It was wonderful to have experienced people sharing their skills with others.  What goes around comes around I hope.  And as I always say..... that community, connected feeling just can't be beat!

Enjoy - I found this month quite hard.  I had a mini-melt down which felt quite horrible.  I like doing these posts and remembering all that is good in life.  I enjoyed lots this month.  I particularly enjoyed catching up with family and seeing my granddaughters that I really don't see often enough!  Especially one little new person that I live far too far away from.  I loved having special cuddles.

And it was nice to see my big special people too.

I hope your March was wonderful and your April is even better!

Chicken paprika and unintentional slowing down

*I'm terribly sorry if you visited this post earlier.  I accidently posted an incomplete version last night.  All fixed now.*. 

The car isn't working right now.  I should be feeling frantic but I kinda feel relieved.  Now I know, without a doubt, I won't be going anywhere before the weekend.  I have no choice but to stay home and that sounds good to me!

I wouldn't feel this way if I wasn't a home schooling mum.  I would be frantic about how I would transport the kids to school.  And I'm very lucky to have a good friend who helped us get to swimming lessons today.  I would have felt frantic about not getting to swimming. 

I'm also well placed in that I buy bulk foods so we won't starve.  There's plenty of food in the house.  We may not have a balanced diet but we won't be hungry.  Gee wizz, if the veggie garden was doing better, we would want for nothing.

Ahhhhh!  *contented sigh*  Now I can concentrate on just teaching the kids, looking after the house, cooking the meals, caring for the animals.... 

Earlier this week I cooked up a casserole with some true free range chicken I bought.  I felt pretty good about the meal because I didn't use any ingredients from the supermarket. Not one.  I can't often make that claim.  Although we try to source food as ethically as possible, there are nearly always one or two ingredients that I'm not happy with.   I'll share the recipe at the end of the post.

Belle is turning eleven tomorrow!  How did that happen!!!  She chose to celebrate with a quiet sleep over on the weekend just past.  I loved that she wanted to prepare most of the food herself.  She made gingerbeer a week earlier and Buddy Boy discovered if he stood in just the right spot, he could enjoy the drips as she decanted the mix. 

The weekend before, I had a girl's weekend away.  We went to Healesville.  While I'm not much of a shopper, I was very impressed by Healesville's retail outlets.  There were so many local products to be found and I even found a fair trade shop!  They have a regular farmer's market (I think it's actually weekly) and a monthly market run by a permaculture group.  It seemed a happening little town.  I would thoroughly recommend Healesville for a weekend away.

We've been reading about Australian History lately.  The kids have been fascinated by true Australians and their way of life before we invaded.  They've all enjoyed the lessons but Pumpkin has particularly embraced the books and spends most of her time wishing she were an aboriginal.  She looks as though she wanted to be an American indigenous person on this particular day though.

Buddy Boy has been helping his father and I with the goats most nights. He does such a good job because he takes it seriously.  He fancies himself a farm boy and even likes to dress the part!

And damn, does he look good and farmy in this next photo!!  Shame he drew on his belly button with texta and ruined the look!  LOL

 Our swap group is still going beautifully!  It's lovely to visit a different person's house each month and exchange goods.

 The basket I brought home this month was exquisite!  What wonderful abundance!!

 Belle's been reading a book up her favourite tree lately!  I enjoy Belle's company sooo much!  She's sweet, gentle, thoughtful and sometimes quite witty.  Happy Birthday baby girl!  I can't believe you are already eleven!

Chicken Paprika

1.5 kg chicken pieces
60g butter
2 onions
1 small green pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tomato
1tablespoon tomato paste (I didn't have this, so left it out)
chicken stock (I used homemade)
1/2 cup sour cream (again, I didn't have it, so left it out)

Melt the butter in large pan, add chicken pieces, cook well until golden brown on both sides.  Add finely chopped onions, pepper, tomato paste, paprika, stock and finely chopped tomato.  Cook covered until veggies and chicken are tender.  (I cooked mine in the slow cooker)  Add sour cream, reheat without boiling.

My kind of normal

I had a quiet and fairly normal weekend.  It was quite uneventful except for the fact that it was uneventful.  That actually made it an event because I haven't had a quiet weekend for months on end!

 

It made me realise how nice my life has become.  I just did the ordinary mundane stuff that is our life.  The weekend began with a catch-up with friends from the school we used to go to.  It was lovely to see them again.  Then on Saturday we went to our swap/community market in the morning.  Here we caught up with many friends and met some new people. We had a gentle afternoon which involved some easy, slow gardening.

 

Sunday morning was a delivery of organic chook feed (blogger is playing up today.  I can't highlight or link.  The feed is from Hollyburton farm) which is grown in Victoria.  A group of us ordered together to make the delivery a shared cost.  The feed looks good.  Do you know what I like about it the best?  It smells good!  And also says on the label no restricted animal materials.   I said to Hubby, " We could eat this, you know!"  Got to love giving your animals food that is healthy.  Fancy I've been feeding them stuff that isn't fit for human consumption!

 

The lady who delivered was the owner of the farm.  While chatting, she asked my daughter which school she went to.  I could feel my Belle brace herself to answer the dreaded question.  (This question is asked SO often and the reply brings many negative face-pulling responses!)  However, not this time!  Belle was delighted to discover our chook feed lady was also homeschooling her son and has completed homeschooling her older children.  It turned out to be a lovely visit (I could have chatted all day) and I hope to go and see them one day soon.

 Then it was off to pick up a friend of Belle's for a play date and a new rooster to replace the one that died during our terrible chook illness.  The Rooster was gifted to me by a friend of a friend.  Yes gifted!  No money changed hands and she knows where she can come if ever she needs a new chook.  So another new friend made (again I could have chatted all day) and it was off home.

 He has settled in well though he looked rather dubious about it all!

 The girls busied themselves baking a cake and chose to decorate it.  I'm glad I have this photo because the cake didn't last long.

 They had a lovely day.  It was a bit special for Belle because this is a fairly new friendship and her first where the child comes from a veggie garden growing, energy reducing, compost toilet using household.  She felt a sense of belonging in that way that you do when you meet someone who does things like you.  She felt normal being with someone who embraces our kind of normal!

While they baked, I collected grass that we have whipper snipped and used it to mulch some garden beds.  I tied up some branches of the apple tree.  It is so laden with apples this year that the branches were trailing on the ground.  We watered fruit trees deeply in preparation for the hot week ahead, dusted the chooks and planted some seeds.  I didn't really do anything strenuous, just nice little jobs that needed to be done.

It was nice to have the time to realise that my life is gentle and feels meaningful.   Our kind of 'normal' feels good.

Do you live a different kind of normal?

Community food buying

In my last post I told you about our brand new Bulk Food buying group.  We are at the very beginning stages of setting it up.  We have only recently received our first delivery.  I'm sure many of you are interested in the process and have probably wondered about organising something yourselves. 

Cynthia is one of the people who was instrumental in organising our group.  She and her husband Nick run a great little farm that mainly specialises in Blueberries.  They also sell some great jams, kasaundi etc.  I love the passion they both show towards sustainability and creating community!  I've asked Cynthia to write about her experience with the Bulk Food.  Here's what she had to say:-

Food is one of my true passions and I believe local, good quality, seasonal food is an indulgence worth spending time on.  There seems to be growing appreciation that the highest quality food comes from the butcher, the farmers market, neighbours and your own garden.  We moved to the country many years ago for a better way of life, we didn't actually appreciate what a life change we were making then but couldn't imagine city life again. For a long time now I've grown my own food, produced my own meat and avoided fast and highly processed foods.  However there are still certain foods that cannot be easily grown or locally sourced such as flour and rice. So what are the options when it comes to these dry goods? The obvious choice for most are the big supermarkets, and living near the Hume Fwy is certainly a reminder of the high demand for food and its transportation around our nation. However, I am so pleased that an increasing number of people seem to be turning their back on the big supermarkets and finding alternative ways to source food. This is where the bulk food purchasing project steps in. It has been inspirational for me to get involved in this project.

Helping to organise our first local bulk buy was really exciting.  Lots of people were involved which opened up conversations all around food, quality, production methods and ethics.  As a group we are learning about different products, storage challenges, cooking techniques and waste reduction.  The ordering process was not too difficult but it did take a little organisation and communication.  There were a few teething problems but with such a cooperative group these were easily resolved.  I was particularly happy to share my Cantina (my farm kitchen) and it was such a fun day of shouting out quantities, sorting out bags, tubs, boxes and even pillow cases!  I really got to see how 530 kg of food was being dispersed amongst 10 families.  Some people had bulk purchased before, others were attempting this for the first time so it was a good mix.  It's an interesting process to try and find local or Australian made food which is organic and affordable.  Some compromises have had to be made but we are now more experienced and can improve on our purchasing systems, handling methods and product selections.

This project has made me feel part of something in the community which I really didn't feel before.  My husband and I don't have kids and have little interest in sport so when we moved into a small town it's difficult to meet people.  After 11 years, slowly we felt accepted but still on the periphery, then suddenly we found the Black Market (local food exchange group), BEAM (local environment group) and presto - like minded people were all around us.  We are still constantly amazed and so pleased that we are surrounded by such committed, caring and interesting people.

Cynthia Lim
Blue Tongue Berries

Cynthia's not a blogger but you can find Cynthia's website here and her Face Book page here.

*Thanks for writing this piece Cynthia!  I love your 'get-up-and-go' and your determination to work your way through things till you get them right!  Isn't it wonderful that bulk food encompasses all things nice, like sugar and spice (and even friendship)!*

I hope you all enjoyed Cynthia's thoughts surrounding our BIG shopping day.

Pig in Mud

I'm whinging a lot lately!  I lament time passing -  I blink and a day has gone and I haven't achieved half of what I had planned.  I groan about the weather - it is sooo hot and horrible that we can't sleep at night and don't feel like doing anything during the day.  And my goodness, you should hear me go on about the lack of rain!!!

I hear myself and think, "Shut UP Linda!".  But still I keep going.........

So I would like to say right here and right now, when it comes to the big picture, I am truly a pig in mud.  Just wish we could get some rain so the damn mud would stop drying up!  Ooops, there I go again! 

In the big picture I have a healthy family and we're a pretty functional family at least 90% of the time.  The other 10% is in the mornings trying to get ready for school.  Things aren't pretty at our place in the mornings!

I am involved in a community in which I feel I belong.   In fact, I have three aspects to my community.  My school community, my local community and my fellow 'greeners'.  These communities overlap each other of course.  They are each wonderful in their own ways.

We attended our swap market yesterday with my 'fellow greeners'.   I'm always on top of the world on the second Saturday of the month.  A friend made me some olive, garlic and rosemary bread that she made with the starter I gave her at the sour dough day.  Twas yum!  We came home with wine, spicy pleach (not a spelling error - peach and plum crossed) relish, grapes, home made ginger beer, tomatoes and something called Kasaundi.  Apparently it's an Indian tomato relish (I'm a little scared of it to be honest.  It's got some heat to it!)   A couple of the tomatoes I brought home were ripe to the point of bursting so I made some tomato soup for lunch.  The recipe is at the end of this post.

We are known by our produce at the market.  When discussing a third party, if you get a blank stare you qualify with something like, "You know, the Olive Lady."  We have the aforementioned plus the Blueberry Lady, the Kale Lady, and the Pig Lady plus more.  I've been working on my social niceties ever since the day I introduced the latter to someone.  With my very best manners I said, "Oh Mary, have you met the Pig Lady?"  Hmmmm.  Well she sells organic pork!  That's okay, isn't it?!  I'm not sure if I'm known by my produce.  I could be the Flour Lady or the Rhubarb lady or maybe I'm just Linda.

I have heaps of handy skills that I can put to use if only it weren't too damned hot to move like gardening, baking, cooking, sewing, knitting, mending, soapmaking, a sprinkling of aromatherapy knowledge and a few herbal remedies.

So truly, I'm very happy with how our lives are going.  I like the fact that we are careful, community minded and connected.  I like that our kids are growing up watching us sourcing local food, being involved with people on many levels and seeing us shy away from a materialistic lifestyle.

So I am happy!  Just bear with me if I whinge........

Quick Tomato Soup

60 grams butter
Good splosh of quality olive oil
1 onion cut into half rings
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 litres chicken stock
1 teaspoon sugar
1 or two teaspoons of basil according to taste
pepper

Cut the onion into rings.  Cut the rings in half.  Melt the butter with the oil and saute the onions till translucent. 

Add tomatoes and simmer until soft.  The time varies depending on how ripe your tomatoes are.  Mine took about 15 minutes to reach a really broken down state.  (You are supposed to remove the skins but I can never be bothered.  I figure the family can eat around them but you might be kinder than me!)

Add the chicken stock, sugar and basil and simmer for about five minutes.  Sometimes I squeeze a teaspoon of lemon juice when I add these ingredients but I didn't bother today.

Season with pepper and serve. It is very quick and easy and it's just DELICIOUS!

I only used two tomatoes yesterday because I'm saving the rest of them for something else.  Therefore your soup will look tomatoey-er than mine.

Don't forget to come back and tell me what you think coz I reckon this will become a summer favourite for you too!

Now I must go because it's going to be another revolting day!  Hot and sweaty and yes, you guessed it, not a drop of rain in sight for the next seven days!!!