eat at dixiebelle's

:: Thanks For All The Fish ::

2013-01-22T22:12:00.002+11:00

I won't say so long, because maybe we will meet again one day! I won't go moaning about why I can't keep blogging, but I will open this blog back up to anyone particularly interested to read or use it. I just won't be updating it. I need to focus on all the positive and good in my life, both online and in the real world. Instead of feeling grumpy or like I've been taken advantage of, I need to remember all the positives there has been during the last 4 1/2 years, and that hopefully many of you got something worthwhile from this blog, and from my blog Facebook page. I put in a lot, I should be proud of it, even if I am now moving on to new and exciting projects that will be taking up my time. Thank you for your understanding and support!

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Mid Summer ::

2013-01-16T22:19:00.003+11:00

I have a post in the works about the bees, but today instead, I am going to show you what is going on in our garden. It has been hot and dry here this Summer, so many things are slow to get going (cucumbers) and some have frizzled (raspberries), but plenty still going on. Six million zucchinis and squash to use up, handfuls of beans, chillies coming on, loads of herbs, few ripe tomatoes... everything else is a work in progress. We've been eating what we can though, including my first time making whole egg mayonnaise, with backyard eggs, homegrown dill and garlic!

:: Zucchini Fritters ::

2013-01-02T09:50:00.000+11:00

This isn't my recipe. Well, it is, now I've adapted it to suit us, but it originally came from Plan to Eat (who posted it as part of their reviews on the book, Nourishing Traditions!) It is a great way to use up all those zucchini you keep finding hiding away in the garden, growing bigger every second you don't harvest them. You can use long zucchini, button squash, yellow, dark green, pale green, overgrown or just right zucchini for this recipe. If you are using a really big overgrown zucchini, remove the seed section first, otherwise, for all others, just leave it in. I usually have dry {gluten free} breadcrumbs on hand in the freezer (defrost beforehand), though I am sure I made fresh {GF} breadcrumbs to use in this recipe one time, that also worked fine. I have used this recipe many times since I discovered it last year, it is easy and kid-friendly. Hope you find the same thing!

Zucchini Fritters (or pancakes, if you prefer, though pikelets might be more apt)

Makes lots, maybe about 12 larger flat ones!

Ingredients

about 3 to 4 medium to large zucchini (equals about 4 cups grated zucchini)
1 tbsp sea salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten (free range or backyard eggs, please)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups bread crumbs (gluten free, white, wholegrain, whatever you have)
coconut oil or lard for frying (something with a high smoke point, ie. you don't want your oil to burn, it is bad for you then!)

Optional

¹⁄₂ cup finely grated hard cheese, like parmesan or hard goats cheese
crushed garlic clove or two
finely chopped fresh herbs or chillies, or ground spices that you might like to add

Method

Finely grate the zucchini. Mix it with salt in a large bowl, and let it stand for about 30 minutes to draw the excess moisture from the zucchini (or however long until you remember, that's right, I have salted zucchini on my bench for dinner!!) Rinse well with water, and squeeze dry through a sieve or colander.
Now add the eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, and whatever other additions/ flavourings you are using.
Heat a frypan or BBQ, and carefully add some oil or lard to melt.
If your mix is quite firm, you can press patties in your hands to make nice fat fritters, then transfer them carefully to start frying. If the mix seems quite wet still despite your salting, rinsing & squeezing (see photo below), use a spoon to scoop a portion of the mix to the side of the bowl and squeeze a bit more of the juices out, then plop the spoonful of mix onto the BBQ or frypan. Using the back of the spoon, spread it out to the desired fritter (or rather, pikelet!) size and thickness. You can always add a little more, or take a little away, but do this quickly.
Give them about 3 to 5 minutes to fry, and get nice and goldeny-brown, then using a spatula, turn the fritters over, to cook the other side. If you turned them a little too soon (see photo below) then let them cook the second side, but you can always turn them back again to finish off the undercooked side.
Keep adding lard or coconut oil (or whatever frying medium you are using) as necessary to make sure you get that crispy, golden, deliciousness. That's the key, I reckon!
Put the cooked ones onto a plate, while you do more batches until the mix is finished.
Serve with salad, and a condiment, like chargrilled salsa, or chilli sauce, or homemade relish! Also good in a bun with lettuce and stuff to make a burger.

:: In Our Garden :: End of 2012 ::

2012-12-31T16:01:00.000+11:00

Of course for much of my life, I go by the calendar year, but in the garden, I travel by season. And when it comes down to it, really, I travel day by day, because every day, every season is different. Today might be the last day of 2012, and tomorrow the first day of 2013, but what difference does make to the zucchini? The plants want watering, the chooks want free-ranging, the bees want to do what bees do. Seasonal living makes sense to me, making the most of the day in front of you, and preserve what you can for a day when you won't have any. You can plan in the garden, to some extent, but the escapism aspect that I find {I seek} in our garden is probably from accepting that the garden will do what it wants to. Nature doesn't care for your calendar. In nature, I cannot control everything, as I want to, try to, in the rest of my life. I can look, and listen, and feel what is in front of me, and go from there. Of course, I have plans and projects, and we got a few done this year, like putting up a greenhouse, getting bees, sorting the chicken run... but for every job that got done, for every plant that grew where we wanted, and every harvest that we made, well, there were jobs that didn't, weeds that did, and disappointments to be had. Such is life. Such is nature in the hands {and minds} of humans!

Tomatillo, a purple variety. First time I am growing it, to make salsa verde (well, not so green in our case) and because it grows well. So interesting!

Zucchini season, yes it is! Fritters, vege bake, pizza topping, pickles, salsa, stuffed, sliced & BBQ'd. I seem to have about 7 (maybe more) zucchini plants this year, which is about 5 too many. I have yellow button squash, greenskin, golden, and black beauty varieties. Always a strong performer, but I like to put in a few extra seeds/ seedlings, just in case, and then they ALL grow. And then they all produce. Then we resort to giving them away!

Hello little flower. This, I believe, is called a Celpar. Combination of celery and parsley. Thanks Sarah for that one!

Dill. I love dill. My husband doesn't. I sneak it into dishes, see if he notices! I also grow it for the seed, to use in pickling recipes.

Potatoes from the grow bags. Ruby Lou, and Toolangi Delights. Not a huge harvest, but double, maybe triple, what I put in, so shouldn't complain. Maybe the large potato patch of Dutch Creams will do better. Carrots are fun to pull up!

Santa brought me a macro lens for my Sony Nex-5N camera. Really need to learn how to use my camera better. Maybe that is my new year resolution?

I am still very excited that we finally have bees. They seem to be doing OK. I have a couple of posts to catch up on about the bees. They really do need their own posts.

Did someone mention zucchini?

Our wicking worm garden beds are turning into jungles again!

Lots of this going on, but no ripe tomatoes yet.

And various types of chillies too. I feel there may be a lot of salsa in my future!

What do you see in your future? Abundances and disappointments? Projects accomplished, and plans shelved? Acceptance and determination? Gratitude and attitude?

:: The Bee Chronicles :: In The Beginning :: Part Three ::

2012-12-23T16:01:00.003+11:00

Yes, I know, I have not posted Part Two yet. But I feel I am justified in skipping ahead of Part Two, where I was going to tell you about doing the Natural Beekeeping Course with Tim Malfroy, through Milkwood Permaculture. Not because this is more exciting than the course, oh, OK, actually it is, but that is not to say spending two days with Tim Malfroy isn't exciting... it is! But this, well, read on, and you tell me if this experience we just had wasn't worth a prematurely published posting!

So, we had this dream that one day we would keep bees, and in October and November this year, it started actually happening, with us both attending beekeeping courses, and buying a warre hive from Tim! We knew, however, we had probably left our run a little late, to not only acquire a swarm, but for them to have enough time to set up and get stores in by Winter, wasn't likely to happen. We kept on going though, oiling the hive, putting the starter strips in with melted beeswax, finding the location and setting up the foundation underneath it. When we got to the point of thinking we were basically ready, we made some calls and messages to people we knew either had hives they were considering splitting, or who may come across swarms. In Canberra, we have the ACT Beekeepers Association (ABA), who may be a conventional beekeeping group, but who have also fallen under Tim's spell, and some are learning the way of warre. One such person offered to sell us a 'nuc' of bees, and given the low chance of getting a swarm now, we said yes.

However, as luck would have it, the next afternoon, we got a call from a member of the ABA, who had a swarm in a cardboard box (see above), ready to be picked up. Well, The Bowhunter and I had the impression it was a swarm, which he went to pick up later that evening, and pay *ahem* $50 to the man for his help (the man only wanted $20, but my overly generous husband couldn't help himself). Only to discover, it was not a sedate, healthy swarm with a strong queen who merely would require transferring by shook-swarming into our new hive. Oh, no, it was not! And that is where the real excitement began! It turns out, the hive was in a birdbox (which had been put into the cardboard box shown in photos above), no doubt having swarmed there earlier in the season, and having nicely set themselves up, only to be evicted (box and all) from their chosen home. They would not be sedate, as swarms generally are, and they would NOT like being moved into a lovely new home, when they had a great one already, full of honey and brood comb. Oh well, since when do we shy from a challenge!

So, the next day, after getting Grandma & Poppy to take the kids to gymnastics and to their house, so we wouldn't have any distractions, we geared up. By the time The Bowhunter got out of bed though, and the kids left with their Grandparents, it was already quite a warm day. We put on our jackets, long pants and socks, sturdy shoes, gloves and sweated like the novices we were. We lit the smoker (and really, we should have practiced keeping it alight before we actually had the bees... it was on my To Do list!) and had a spray bottle of light syrup with peppermint essential oil (as advised by a wonderful fellow beekeeper, who has topbar hives) to mask pheromones on stings, or in my case, to spray as a whole gang of angry bees attacked my gloved hands.

We took the cardboard box off the birdbox, and of course, the bees went crazy. There was quite a lot of them buzzing in the air, and gathering on the birdbox, especially at the entrance point (top two photos shown just above). This wasn't too bad, but I did mention (again) to The Bowhunter at this point, that maybe we just leave the birdbox here, and let them 'relocate' themselves into our warre hive. Surely they might just decide to do that, allowing us to not have to jimmy open a wooden box full of angry bees! Surely! The bees, and my husband, were not in agreeance with that option.

So, let Operation Holy Shit What Are We Doing begin, and my husband prised off the top lid of the birdbox with the claw part of a claw hammer. We'd been standing around 'thinking' a bit by then, about what was best to do. The bees had been flying around 'thinking' about how best to defend their home. It seems as we decided to just open the box up, and brush the bees into the new hive before then trying to 'chop and crop' the comb, they had decided to try stinging the crap out of us to get us to piss off. The lid came off quite easily, and wow, wasn't that a sight to behold (photo just above) all that full honeycomb, and all those bees. The Bowhunter then held the birdbox over the warre hive, as I attempted to brush (using a special 'bee brush') them into the hive. They do not like this, despite that it is called a 'bee brush', it should be called a 'get bees to sting your gloves multiple times brush' because that is what happened. I was wearing gloves made from leather and heavy elastic, which ended up with about 6 to 8 stingers on each of them, and somehow, one actually made it through and stung my thumb.

Up until this point, we had both been fairly calm about what we were doing. I mean, a certain amount of novice beekeeping adrenaline was pumping, but I wasn't scared by the bees or what we were doing. I didn't feel panicked in any way. Even when I was stung, I wasn't upset, I just thought, crap, I need new gloves! And crap, there are a lot of bees on my gloves, trying to sting me. And crap, my thumb is hurting quite a bit. The Bowhunter told me to go, and I went back to the patio, spraying wildly with my peppermint spray solution, no doubt looking slightly mad. I took my gloves off, which was a bit dumb, as there were still bees around me, so I hid my hands inside the jacket sleeves, and The Bowhunter came around and suggested rubber gloves, like he was wearing. I got some, and those darn 'eco' rubber gloves looked pitifully thin, so I double gloved, with those underneath and my other gloves on top. I wish I had time to take a photo of my gloves before I started using them again. There were multiple little stingers stuck all over them! (Poor bees!)

So, back to it, and I continued brushing the bees off the birdbox into the hive, until my husband could get a hold of some comb inside. The idea of 'chop and crop' (a term I had not heard of until the day before doing this!) was to use established comb and secure it into the empty wooden frames, so the hive would move in and already have some comb with honey and brood (babies) in it. This would make them want to move in and stay, but also help them get established and healthy in time for the cold weather. We'd been given some thin wire to secure the comb to the wooden frame (as done in conventional beekeeping), but had been advised by my beekeeping mentor to use cable ties instead (poor man, he doesn't even know he is my mentor, but he knows lots and is willing to help, so I am taking advantage of him!) However, due to my husbands tardiness in getting out of bed early, and the time of year when it is already bloody hot by nine in the morning, the comb was too soft to handle.

Oh no! There goes this supposed chop & crop idea we were going to do. There was no going back though. We couldn't put the lid back on the birdbox, and come back when it was cooler. There were bees everywhere. Poor, lost, confused, angry bees. And hopefully a queen. So, we did a bit more thinking, I offered a solution, The Bowhunter ignored it, we thought some more, I might have yelled, I definately swore, then we went ahead with my solution, which will call the Chop & Drop. This won't be something the beekeeping society will be latching on to anytime soon, to call their own. This is a desperate move performed by idiot beekeepers who have no fucking idea what they are doing, but who have no way out. We had four boxes for our warre hive, but had planned to start with two (Tim Malfroy explained how to shook-swarm a swarm into two boxes of the hive, then add more boxes as the bees expanded. He did not explain what in the hell to do, when you have a birdbox full of bees, and soft comb, and a smoker not staying alight, and a delivery guy bringing groceries in the middle of it, and several more stings each. No. He did not explain what to do in that scenario now, did he!)

My brilliant idea was to put two empty boxes on the bottom, then two boxes with frames & starter strips of beeswax 'foundation' on top of those. The empty boxes had no frames along the top of them. We placed, carefully as we could, the pieces of comb out of the birdbox. The Bowhunter checked them for brood (and possibly a queen) as we went, but really, we just wanted to get them into the bottom of the hive, and put it all together, in the hope that the bees would then get into the hive (and stop dive bombing us from their crazy flight pattern of doom above us). If they would move into the hive, go up to the top boxes (as bees like to do) to start a new home on the starter strips, there was hope for them. If we left the brood and honey comb down the bottom, the queen might be there, or they might be able to raise a new queen from those brood cells they had. They could scavenge the honey too, perhaps, as there may not be a lot of nectar around as we are in a very dry, flowerless period here in Canberra.

In reality, we probably accidently killed the poor queen, and even if they hatch a new one from existing brood, there won't be any drones around at this time of year for her to mate with. We probably just have a sticky mess of comb and honey and dead baby bees in the bottom of our hive to clean up. We also worried that sticky mess might have been blocking the entrance in and out, to the frames up above, that we wanted them to move into. I wanted to stick a hive tool in, and jimmy an entrance out of whatever comb might have been blocking the entrance. The Bowhunter wasn't keen on this. Nor were the masses of bees gathering around the entrance trying to get to their brood (and hopefully their queen). So, we left it. I got the washing off the clothesline in my beekeeping gear, the poor chooks didn't get any outside time, and we retreated to the sanctuary of indoors, with ice packs to comfort our wounds, and war stories to tell.

However, we remain hopeful. The Bowhunter got out his trusty drill, and made a chock from three pieces of wood stakes, to place between the boxes, with one side left open to create a new entrance. We put all our (sweaty, stinky) gear back on, and ventured out. They had actually calmed down a lot, and were trying to get in the hive through the usual entrance. The Bowhunter lifted the two top boxes, and I put the half-wonky frame in to chock the boxes apart by about 1 to 2 cm. We cleaned up the area, leaving a galvanised tub with the pieces of comb that had not been put in to the bottom of the hive, so the bees could scavenge from it. We did prise a few pieces off the lid of the birdbox, that were purely honey comb, as I figured we'd earned it... and paid $50 for it!

I had read ages ago on Camille's blog, Wayward Spark, about pressing honey in a potato ricer, then sieving it to get any miscellaneous bee parts out. It worked a treat on the small amounts we had, and I will also clean the beeswax up too. OK, so we usually buy honey from a farmers market, as 'local' as we can, and it is raw and tastes great. But this, well, it is AMAZING, and my use of capitals should clearly demonstrate by just how much I mean that statement. It is rich, sweet, and not at all birdbox flavoured.

I took some more photos this morning. The bees still seem completely dazed, lost, buzzing all around the area (but not nearly as many), no particular flying patterns being taken. I guess they are finding out where in the heck they are. They are trying the 'usual' bottom entrance, as well as the temporary one higher up, so hopefully the hive might be already building on the starter strips, and also accessing the honey down below. Who knows! They could be trying to purely rebuild down the bottom, using the comb that we placed there, and we'll have another big angry mess when we open it next! They are scavenging (and possibly drowning) in the miscellaneous pieces left in the tub, but there are less of them stuck all over it now (photo on right). We plan to take that away (and process it) later this evening. We plan to leave the pieces inside the bottom of the hive, and the two 'empty' boxes on the hive for a few more days, at least. We want any undamaged brood to be hatched (if such a thing would even still happen), but not long enough for it all to be glued by the bees to the very bottom of the hive, as that will stay there. Who knows how hard it will be to remove the mess and the boxes, but that is what we decided to do in the middle of the crazy scenario we had found ourselves in the day before.

So, what did we learn. That we are beginners given a baptism by fire into the world of beekeeping. That we make fairly unattractive 'beek's. That we may have saved the hive from being poisoned or destroyed by exterminators only to massacre them and destroy their comb anyways. That double gloving isn't just for surgeons and scrub nurses. That getting up early when you have a birdbox full of bees in your backyard in Summer is probably a good idea. That stings are somewhat painful, then itchy and sore for days to follow, but sweet gooey honey makes it all worthwhile!

So, what did you do on your weekend!

:: Chargrilled Salsa ::

2012-12-20T12:33:00.001+11:00

I love salsa. I love combining sweet and spicy, crunchy and smooth, tangy and zesty. Food to me is textures and combinations and flavours and seasonal. And this, my friends, is the season to salsa!

Chargrilled Salsa
(makes enough to feed many hungry people, and can/ preserve some too!)

This thing with this recipe, and pretty much all my recipes, is you can use what you have and adjust it to suit yourself. There is no strict measurements needed, just follow your tastebuds.

Ingredients

8 to 10 capsicums (any colour)
4 to 5 cups of diced tomatoes (about 8 to 10 tomatoes)
2 chillies (to suit... lots, none, habaneros, mild ones, whatever)
1 to 2 red onions (I like one cooked/ caramelised, and one kept raw for the crunch/ zing factor)
1 large handful of coriander
2 limes, juiced
4 garlic cloves (again, depending on your tastes, but I love garlic)
generous splash of oil (macadamia oil, maybe coconut oil)
optional 1 tablespoon of a less refined brown sugar (like rapadura, panela)
lots of freshly ground salt, and pepper too, if you like

Method

Peel one onion, then cut it in half. Place in a large heat proof bowl.
Cut your capsicums into slices, removing the seeds/ inner as you go. Try to cut the slices, so each piece has a fairly flat surface. Place in the bowl with the onions.
Very carefully (or wearing rubber gloves), slice the chillies in half, and remove the seeds and membranes (unless you really like your salsa mouth-burningly hot). Put the chillies into the bowl too.
Drizzle a bit of oil all over the onion, chillies and capsicums, toss it around a bit.
Note: if you want to chargrill the tomatoes, you can do that too, but I like when they retain a fleshy, firmness, so I keep them raw.
OK, now to the fun part. Burn those suckers! On a hot BBQ, grill or in your oven, char the onions, capsicums and chillies, until the onion is caramelised and softened, and the chillies and capsicum skins are literally all blackened and burnt. You can turn the capsicums over, but don't let the inside flesh get too burnt, it is the skin you want to get very burnt. The more blackened it is, the easier it is to get off. You want the capsicum and chillies flesh to be soft and sweet, but as they are 'sweating' (next part) they will continue to soften up. Be careful when chargrilling, as sometimes the oil pools in the scoops of a capsicum slice, and tries to catch itself on fire! You need those eyebrows.
Once they are done, put the capsicum and chillies into the big bowl, and cover with a plate or bowl, which causes the pieces to 'sweat' and the skins loosen up. Allow them to cool enough to handle them.
In the mean time, start chopping, baby. Finely dice your raw onion, and your caramelised onion. Finely chop your coriander. Crush or finely dice your garlic cloves. Juice the limes. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Put it all into a large bowl, including the juice off the tomatoes.
Now, if your capsicum and chillies are cool enough to handle, you should be easily able to slide the burnt skins off. Discard those, and put the soft flesh onto a chopping board. Dice all the pieces of skin-free capsicum, and the chillies... being careful when handling the chillies (again, be sensible and wear gloves, or be like me, and try to do the 'no touch' technique!!)
Add the diced capsicums and chillies to the bowl with the other ingredients, and the juices/ oil from the capsicums and chilli too. If it has a little charredness to it, that's OK, in fact, that is GOOD!
Now, stir it all up, and have a taste. Does it need a little sugar to bring out the flavours? Does it need a bit more garlic? What about salt? I like salt, I think it really adds to the flavour, so go on, and grind some sea salt or rock salt in. Taste again. Maybe you like some freshly ground black pepper, or some ground cumin or coriander in yours? Follow those tastebuds... they won't lie to you, I swear!
OK, you can do all sorts of things with this salsa. Eat it straight out of the big bowl with a spoon would be a good way, but even better is served with Chilli Con Queso, corn chips, and carrot sticks! You can put it on fritters, in tacos, in a tortilla stack, with any BBQd meat. You can probably freeze any leftover or excess, but I have a pressure canner, so I canned some too. (Although it has acidic tomatoes and lime juice, I feel it has too many other low acid ingredients to be safely boiling-water bathed). You can also Lacto-ferment Salsa, and it is amazing (check this recipe for accurate measurements needed)!

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Early Summer ::

2012-12-09T12:18:00.000+11:00

Things are happening in our garden! So much going on! We are picking zucchini, carrots, garlic, peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, celery, basil, dill, coriander, plus the odd bit of kale, a few lingering kohl rabis, the start of the raspberries, some miscellaneous blackcurrants, a few lettuces, and the potatoes (in the grow bags) are just about ready. The beans are all growing fast, corn is taking off, tomatoes on the plants now, pumpkin vines starting to spread, though the cucumbers & eggplants are a bit slow. We are watching apples, nectarines, peaches, apricots and plums plump up. There are even chillies and capsicums growing this year (not being eaten by the chooks)! Speaking of chooks, the three big sisters are laying well, though the three little sisters are not yet. In the garden, I've got so many varieties in this year, I cannot even list them all. We are still finishing the greenhouse, and the bee hive. It is going to be a hot & dry Summer here, so we are wishing we had watering systems in place! Also coming up with some temporary chook-proof fencing for some garden beds, as we try to keep the chooks out of garden beds, when they are having 'outside time' (free ranging out of their chicken run). But it is exciting and satisfying, albeit hard work at times. We've chosen this lifestyle, we believe in it. And doesn't it feel good to go pick a bunch of fresh vege's for dinner! Come have a quick look around...

:: The Bee Chronicles :: In The Beginning :: Part One ::

2012-12-05T10:05:00.003+11:00

Where do I begin? I can begin, but there seems like a lot of information to tell you, and not enough time or energy to get it all out. Somehow in the last month or so, my life went into overdrive, and some things I can't talk about here, and many that no one wants to bother reading, really. So, yeah, yeah, I am one of those people saying how busy I am. Let's get back to the mainroad in blog town, shall we, where there is a new story being told. The story of us becoming beekeepers, The Bee Chronicles if you will. keeping a beehive or two on our urban homestead was something pencilled in to the plans in the beginning, but it was a pipe-dream. A far away thought of how great it would be to have a source of honey and beeswax, our own pollinators, and the general feeling of being an awesome urban homesteader, that having bees would bring. A few years later, and that dream is about to become a reality. The Bowhunter attended a conventional beekeeping course here in Canberra in October. I attended Tim Malfroy's Natural Beekeeping Course in Sydney, arranged through Milkwood Permaculture. We brought back an Australian Warre beehive, designed and made to Tim's specific measurements (which we are oiling, to protect it from exposure). We bought some basic beekeeping supplies. We finally decided on a suitable location in our backyard (not where we were originally thinking). Now, we just need the bees!

I will tell you about the Natural Beekeeping Course in Part Two. It was fantastic! I have been fascinated by bees for a few years now, and have done some reading, but learning about how warre hives and techniques differ from conventional beekeeping was very interesting. Hearing it from an expert in the field was great... more in Part Two.

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Late Spring ::

2012-11-19T21:33:00.001+11:00

Is it late Spring already? Late Spring? I am only just getting into the swing of all things Spring, and you're telling me that Summer is almost here? Nah. Really? OK, well, time is going fast because so are we. Oh, I am trying not to. I am certainly, mostly, 95% of the time, keeping a calm head about it all. OK. Maybe 95% is overstating it. But I am surprised as how I am managing to stay focused when we have a lot going on. This weekend just gone, I learnt the ways of the natural beekeeper. I will post about that soon, as it was brilliant. But the last few weeks, we have also been dealing with a few ailments (mostly the kids), my husband has been spending Saturday mornings doing a 'conventional beekeeping' course, bowhunting practice days, he also put up a greenhouse (including having to work on the foundation first) which just has a few more finishing touches, and we have integrated our three new chooks with our three original chooks. I have been, of course, doing all the Spring planting, sorting, reconditioning, fruit tree covering, chook management, watering, and sweating. Here are some photos...

:: Future Proofing ::

2012-10-31T11:58:00.000+11:00

The future. It is uncertain, and has always been that way. Sometimes I wonder though, how did my parents feel when they were raising us? Did they have similiar concerns to those I have for my children? I grew up in a lower to middle-class family, in a time where there was a recession, and my Dad had to work two jobs to pay the mortgage. Yet, I still had this (naive) idea in my head, that you get educated, you get a job or career and you work hard, you have a family and you enjoy life, you grow old and you enjoy retirement. Even in young adulthood, even when I was first married and working as a nurse, I still thought life panned out that way. There was no climate change, there was no global financial crisis, there were no zombies. OK, so yes, there have always been issues, though, and I am sure my parents had plenty of worries, even if they are different to those I have. Perhaps I now see it differently, because my awareness of potential issues is increased, and also, now that I have grown up, I am the parent with the responsibilities. I am the one worrying about finances, about employment, about education, our food security and nutrition, about health and safety. I am the one trying to give my kids a magical childhood, aware of reality and the world around them, yes, but also free of the stress that comes from worrying about potential issues that should be the parents domain. Do I spend a lot of my time worrying? No. I spend a lot of my time doing.

What are the main concerns I have about 'the future' that we are working on? Well, you know, the future is 5 minutes from now, 5 months from now, 5 years from now, or 50 years. There is no complete 'future-proofing' option, because anything could happen, at any time. Although I joke about the zombie apocolypse, and TEOTWAWKI, in reality, the following are the issues we base our preparations on. Doing what we do, aiming for what we want to achieve, doesn't mean we will ever be fully prepared, we know that. It also doesn't mean we spend our lives being serious and thinking up terrible scenarios of what could happen to us! It's that whole Survironmentalism thing I keep banging on about... doing what we can to 'be prepared', and enjoying what we are doing. We live in the now, but are aware of the possible. By giving ourselves a sense of preparedness, we can try to live happy and satisfying lives. If nothing dramatic ever happens, then we will be doing something good for ourselves and our children (and their families), the planet and our community anyways!

Financial Crisis/ Depression Scenarios

Both my husband and I work hard. We studied to be able to have the jobs we do, our work ethic is strong, and we value the opportunity to be employed. We also value financial security, so we make sacrifices, we spend wisely, we try to live frugally, and we save as much as we can. Having some savings in the bank is important, but investing in qood quality equipment and being able to set up our 'urban homestead' is also important. This is the perfect way to justify a little spending spree on seeds, gardening tools, a greenhouse, camping or bowhunting gear, don't you think! We are also aware that the economy we live in may not always be based about money, and we are adding to our skills and resources, to be able to survive in a world based on barter, to be able to provide for ourselves as best we can. I don't believe there will be pensions or superannuation by the time we get to 'retiring' age... there will be a reliance on family, yes, but also on providing for ourselves, and being fit and healthy enough to do so (or the 'doing so' will improve our fitness and health!) So, amongst other things, we are learning to hunt and butcher, to keep bees, to grow and preserve, to forage, to process smallgoods, to design urban homesteads, to make and use natural remedies, to propagate plants, and my husband wants to learn to tan hides. Does our vision of the future see us wearing furs, trading with pots of honey, chewing on wild goat jerky, being bum-up in the local park picking edible weeds, and having people come to me as the local 'healer'? Not necessarily, but that might very well that be our childrens future!

Food Security Issues

I am often banging on about 'food security', because, well, I like to eat. I also like to feed my family. Who doesn't? But I tell you what, there are plenty of people out there who cannot, for a variety of reasons, feed their family nutritious food on a regular basis. That saddens me, and scares the hell out of me. Whilst we are setting up this great urban homestead, having this abundance of food at our backdoor, what we are really doing is teaching ourselves skills, and passing the skills AND the attitude on to our kids. The attitude is, you want to eat? Grow or hunt it yourself. Growing or hunting the food is only the first step, because you've got to know how to cook it, store it, preserve it, and dagnammit, for every species you grow, there is a pest or disease or issue you have to tackle. Those freaking apple codling moth are worse than any zombies I know. So while I am in the back yard (or front yard, or side yard) sweating, and often swearing, as I haul river pebble or bricks or soil around, as I am pushing myself to go and get the pumpkins and sunflowers planted, as I am researching when to put the apple pouches on the apples to stop those darn moths, when I would rather be hanging out, or reading, or even writing a blog post, I am determined because I want to learn and provide for my family. Because, well, they like to eat too.

Other Emergency Plans

Where I live, our most likely emergency scenario is bushfire. I do live in the nation's capital, so you could throw in terrorist attack too. Add in pandemic for good measure. With climate change throwing its weight around, we could also be looking at severe storms or floods, or food shortages (due to bad weather and/ or supply issues). This all sounds suckful, doesn't it. Not suckful enough to make us actually get all our short-term emergency plans done yet. Which is embarrassing because I was the one who held the darn Be Prepared Challenge! OK, so we have lots done, and I always say, one more thing you get done, is a step in the right direction. Our best bet would be a situation where we had to stay put, even without power or water. As in, we have access to food & water in our stockpile and backyard, we have shelter, security, healthcare, hygiene, communication, blankets, alternate cooking and lighting, and even entertainment. Our Grab Bags and evacuation plans are still lacking. We have stuff (see 'spending spree' & 'investment' above), it just needs fine tuning.

To me, the best option for the future might very well to be nomadic (I have plans for a fully decked out camper-van, will draw illustrations for you one day!) Moving from place to place, wherever the food, water and security are. Foraging, hunting and eating fresh. Bartering and working on the go. Sounds good to me! For now, we continue to adapt in place and make home, and keep an eye out for zombies (or aliens). Are you future-proofing, or has it always been part of your life? What scenarios or plans do you think about? What have you achieved so far?

:: Kefir :: Updated ::

2012-10-28T14:26:00.000+11:00

I have been making water kefir, and milk kefir, since January and I've improved my method, so thought I would do an update on it.

What is Kefir?

Sounds weird, doesn’t it. There are two types of kefir, milk and water. Both are lacto-fermented drinks, full of good properties to help your health in many ways, but for us, we particularly wanted to improve our GI health and strengthen our immunity. The milk one is sort of like a yoghurt drink, but they apparently have way more good bacterias and yeasts than yoghurt does. The water kefir gives you a fizzy drink (with just a touch of sweetness if you like). The kefirs are fermented from ‘grains’ (which are like crystals or granules, not an actual grain, they are gluten free) using a growing medium. You brew, or ferment the drinks by ‘feeding’ the grains, either with sugar-water (non-chlorinated, non-fluoridated) for the water kefir, or with milk sugars from fresh milk, for the milk kefir. The sugars are consumed by the colonies, so you are not consuming any sugar. The grains also pre-digest the lactose and protein in the milk too, making milk kefir products easier to digest, apparently.

How Do You Make Kefir?

You can make them at home just using glass jars, strainers and lids (no fancy equipment needed). I am using Fowlers Vacola preserving jars with Snap On lids, because that is what I had. I have a small plastic strainer & funnel. You may be able to source kefir grains from someone you know, or buy from a website or eBay. Instructions for both water kefir, milk kefir and kefir yoghurt follow below.

Stir the milk kefir after it has fermented, then scoop out the clump of grains, put those into a new jar and add fresh milk.

You can see the milk kefir is starting to curdle, or separate the curds and whey.

Basic Milk Kefir Instructions

Place the grains in a clean (not-warm-or-hot) jar. (I use the jars that have been washed by the dishwasher overnight, and are cool by the morning).

Add about 1 cup of milk for every 1 tablespoons worth of grains. I use milk straight from the fridge. Some warm theirs up first. You can use cows or goats milk, raw or pasteurised. Some use coconut milk too, check this out.

I then put a lid on, and the jar stays on your kitchen bench, in a position that is warm but not too hot, and no direct sunlight. (You can wrap or cover them with a tea towel if need be).
Each day at about the same time, you gently stir the milk kefir, and then lift the grains out with a spoon, and put them into another clean glass jar, with new milk. The clusters of grains will form a sticky clump, which should grow if they are healthy (see photos above). Your milk kefir may have begun to 'curdle', and become separated (see photo above), but this is fine. You may need to stir it up to combine it again, otherwise when you lift the clump of grains out, it will be covered in all the good kefir 'yoghurt' that you want to consume. Sometimes if my milk kefir has been fermenting too long, or the weather was warm, or there wasn't enough milk in there, it ferments too much and can become too sour to enjoy, so I strain it, and give the milk kefir liquid to the chooks.

You may need to leave them more or less than 24 hours, depending on the warmth and health of your grains. In Summer, I found that the kefir was 'ready' (ie. thickening up but not too sour) after only 12 hours. This was too fast a turn-over for me, and would make too much kefir for our needs, as well as going through a lot of milk. If I left it longer, it would be too sour. Adding more milk can slow it down, but it is still making a lot and using a lot of milk. Despite trying to slow the milk kefir by putting it in the fridge for a while, it became too much, and I stopped doing milk kefir for a while because of that. This year, if we make a lot, it will get used up when I make ice cream!

The kefir liquid (now minus the grains) can be drunk straight up (noting that it is an acquired taste), or you can use it in smoothies. If you want a thicker 'yoghurt' or cream-cheese type thickness, you can then strain the milk kefir liquid (see instructions below).

Using a large size paper coffee filter to strain the whey out of the milk kefir. You may be able to find a coffee filter from a coffee machine that can be washed and re-used instead.

You can use any bowl and sieve for the straining. Some say do not use a metal sieve, but the kefir is not directly sitting against it. Just make sure the bowl is the right size/ shape to keep the sieve and kefir up out of the whey, or it won't strain properly!

I keep the milk kefir yoghurt over several days in a lidded bowl in the fridge until I am ready to use it.

Making Kefir ‘Yoghurt’ or ‘Cheese’

You can also make a thicker kefir ‘cheese' or ‘yoghurt’ product, which is like a tart yoghurt, sour cream or cream cheese. I find it is more sour than if you had bought those items, and making it into something else is easier to eat! If I am eating the kefir yoghurt on cereal, or with dessert, I will add honey to it, though you could also use maple syrup!

Place a filter (I use a coffee filter, as layers of muslin didn’t work for me) into a sieve and place over a bowl. Pour the strained milk kefir into the filter, carefully making sure it doesn’t overflow or knock the sieve off. The bowl will catch the whey as it separates from the 'cheese'.
Leave the bowl & sieve in the fridge until the desired thickness/ dryness is reached (overnight is OK).
I put the strained kefir yoghurt into a lidded container in the fridge, and usually save up a few days worth, then make it into ice cream, or use it up. I also put the whey into a separate lidded bowl and add to it over several days too, before finding a use for it!

NOTE If it doesn’t seem to be straining easily, you should try leave the straining kefir/ sieve & bowl on the bench to drain for a while before transferring to the fridge, or perhaps your milk kefir needed to ferment for longer.

You can use kefir or the kefir cheese/ yoghurt in dips, smoothies, ice cream, fruche etc. It may be used in baking, but I believe that heat destroys the good stuff though. I also do not know how much good stuff is retained once they've been through my ice cream maker, but you can apparently freeze the grains and then revive them, so I am hoping the good stuff survived when being made into ice cream.

Strain the water kefir into a bottle, through a sieve and funnel.

Strain the water kefir through a strainer, and using a funnel, into a swing-top bottle. Then the strained grains can go into the new jar, with fresh sugar-water.

Put the sugar into the new jar with fresh, chlorine-free water, stir it to dissolve, then put the water kefir grains from the old jar into the fresh sugar-water.

Basic Water Kefir Instructions

In a clean (not-warm-or-hot) jar, add about 1 cup of filtered (or Spring water). I use a bit more, but I don't measure, just know by looking at my FV jar when I am filling up from the water filter.
Add 1 tablespoon of sugar (raw, rapadura, palm sugar, muscavado) and stir to dissolve.
(Using ¼ tsp blackstrap molasses really gives great minerals to help the water kefir grains thrive. Add it in with the sugar, and stir to dissolve. I use it every second day or so).
Then add about 1 tablespoons worth of water kefir grains, and then I put the lid on.
The jar stays on your kitchen bench, or in a position that is warm but not too hot, and no direct sunlight. (Cover/ wrap with a teatowel, if necessary).
Each day (more or less than 24 hours, depending on the warmth and health of your grains) you strain the grains out and put them into a clean glass jar with new sugar-water. You can look for little bubbles, or floating grains, as a sign that enough fermentation has occured, but a good way is to smell it. If it smelling slight sour, time to process it. If you leave it longer, it isn't a problem, though it may become too sour to enjoy (we always second ferment ours anyway, which gives it a subtle flavour).
You can experiment with flavours in a second ferment (see below), or use any excess grains you have grown to try experimenting with flavours, but it is a good idea to keep a basic plain sugar-water kefir ferment alive at the same time (so you have a back up of basic water kefir grains, which don't have any flavours in them that you don't like).

NOTE One of the companies I bought from said there was no need to add anything else other than sugar-water, but some recipes use dried fruit (no sulphur), dried egg shell or coral, molasses and bicarb. I found that the water kefir grains grow well when I use fresh sugar-water each day, and a small amount of blackstrap molasses every second or third day. (You could also use a tiny pinch of bicarb about once a week). This provides them with enough minerals and nutrition to grow their colonies!

A Note on Jars, Lids & Equipment

There is debate about whether kefirs need to live in an anaerobic environment, that is, one without air. There are many articles you can read about this controversy, including those about whether jars such as Mason jars (or similiar Fowlers Vacola jars) can provide enough of an airtight seal to allow this. If you want to know more, please Google it, as there are many blog posts/ article about it. You can find some links on my Pinterest board, The Year of Eating Nutritiously.
I am currently using Fowlers Vacola jars with Snap On FV lids for both my water & milk kefirs. I considered buying Pickl-It jars (as I use those for LF vege's and sauces) but they are not cheap, and the FV jars have been working for me (so far).
Carbon dioxide (carbonation) will occur during fermentation, so be careful. The Snap On lids (that go with Fowlers Vacola jars) allow this to escape. The Pickl-It jar which has a valve which allows the gas to escape and no oxygen in, but that are expensive and you would need two for each kefir batch.
If you want the bubbles to stay in during second fermentation, you can use a good quality bottle with a swing-top lid, like Grolsch bottles. We got the Grolsch bottles (used during second fermentation), by buying the beer. You can sometimes buy or get them for free, ask neighbours or check local classifieds.
I bought small metal stainless steel sieves to use, but then found the mini Tupperware sieve (shown in the photos) in the back of my utensils drawer!

What is Second Fermenting?

We’ve found that the water kefir after the first ferment is a little sour (though my husband likes it) so we mix the strained water kefir liquid with preservative-free juice and second-ferment it on the bench top (allowing the good stuff in the liquid to keep feeding and growing, even though the main grains are not in there anymore). This produces a nicer flavoured, but not too sweet, fizzy drink. With second fermenting, make sure the juice you use is preservative-free, any fruit or rinds are organic, and dried fruits are sulphur-free. Otherwise you may be inhibiting the fermentation process. We have done some flavoured first-ferments too, using ginger and lemon, but it is not my favourite. Our favourite is done using a small amount of apple juice, which tastes like a dry cider once done. You need to experiment with amounts, but I have about 300mls of water kefir in the Grolsch bottle (about 3/4 full) then add about 50 to 100mls of juice. This then sits on the kitchen bench again, for a day (up to 3 in Winter) and then into the fridge, as we prefer to drink them cold. If you leave them for several days, the sugar in the fruit juice gets fermented more, which means a fizzier, 'dry' drink, with quite a loud pop as we open the Grolsch swing top bottle!

You can second ferment the milk kefir (after removing the grains), using flavours, such as lemon rind, vanilla bean, coffee beans, and letting it sit for longer on the benchtop. I tried once using lemon rind, which was nice enough. I have also tried adding vanilla bean to the fermenting milk kefir, for a lovely flavour, which then makes a really great kefir yoghurt/ cheese too! I've heard of coffee flavoured second ferments too.

Excess Grains, Preserving Grains & Using Whey

I find the kefir grains start multiplying quickly, when they are healthy by being fed well, kept at the right temperatures, and avoid heat/ chemicals they don't like. But what to do with all those excess grains? You don't want to waste them (esp. if you paid money for them originally, they seem even more valuable) but you can't keep them in the jar, as they mean your kefir ferment quicker, or you need to use more milk or more sugar!

You can swallow/ eat the grains, feed them to your pets or compost.
You can share them around to friends/ family/ colleagues/ neighbours who might like to try making kefir.
Apparently you can preserving them by freezing/ fridging, or dehydrating them, so you will always have a source. I have tried reviving grains that I had frozen, and also, kept in the fridge (you are supposed to change their milk), but neither worked because I neglected them too much.
If you need to go away, or want a break from kefir, you can put them in the fridge in some sugar-water or fresh milk, and this keeps them alive, without growing, apparently!

Some ways to use whey, include using them in lacto-fermenting vegetables and condiments, give it to your chooks, or soak your grains/ nuts/ seeds in it.

Warnings & Tips

I am not an expert on this! Please do your own research, but here are some things I have learnt.

There are always food safety concerns in lacto-fermenting, so use clean equipment, wash your hands and if in doubt, throw it out... go by appearance & smell (it smells sour, like a strong sour cream smell, really).
The kefirs don't like heat, which can destroy them. You can apparently warm the milk to get them culturing faster in Winter, but no hot jars.
Limit the amount of metal they come in contact with (it can 'leach' into the kefirs over time & be toxic to your health). Stainless Steel is apparently not as 'reactive' as other metals.
Don't use water that contains fluoride or chlorine, which inhibit the fermenting & growth of the kefir grains. We use our own rainwater, which has been filtered in our water purifier, that way avoiding both chlorine and fluoride.
You can’t go too crazy overindulging in kefirs at the start, apparently, because you can feel unwell from any toxins being released into your body when the good bacterias knock out the bad ones! We haven’t really had that, as we took it slow.
There is also a certain low percentage of alcohol that can be produced, esp. with the second ferments. Before giving any to my kids (they have a small amount in juice a couple of times a week, maybe less often, mostly if they have any tummy issues) I test the kefir from the bottle myself. You can smell and taste if it is really fermented.
If your water kefir grains are not multiplying, or producing fizzy water kefir, might be worth adding some blackstrap molasses or bi-carb (or I've been told they like calcium carbonate too) to boost them, or buy/ get some new ones. You could check your Grolsch bottles are def. sealing well too, or try leaving them on the bench longer whilst second fermenting.

The biggest thing is that making kefir can be such a variable thing! Different people do it different ways. Variances such as temperature, time, amount of grains, amount of growing mediums, all make a difference! Experiment with it yourself, finding what works in your kitchen and for your needs.

Raspberry Kefir Frozen Yoghurt, Blackberry Ice Cream with Kefir, and Fruit Kefir Fruche.

More Information

I Love Water Kefir (Facebook page)
Cultures for Health (extensive information on this site)
Nourished Kitchen - Milk Kefir
Nourished Kitchen - Water Kefir

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Mid Spring ::

2012-10-18T11:03:00.001+11:00

It's that lovely fast-paced time of year here in our part of the world, with projects and plantings and feedings and pest control, and all sorts of fun stuff going on. It's that time of year when I paint my toenails, more to cover up the dirt than some sort of fashion statement. It's that time of year when I have bigger cracks, stained with dirt, than a mud-wrestling plumber (though thankfully mine are on my hands). The housework gets ignored, and the kids spend the afternoons outside with me and the chooks, until I hear my husband come home, and I realise it is dinner time! I find myself on a little Spring (loaded) rollercoaster, of being full of energy and getting stuff done and thinking of more things that need doing, making lists and crossing things off! Then the inevitable down-time finds me flaked out, laying in the hammock or lounge, reading or hanging with the kids, with intermittent moaning about my lack of energy & how I am never going to get it all done. (I know I am never going to 'get it all done', I just like to moan to get attention is all!) Then I think about the joy of harvesting homegrown produce, and the thrill of seeing a front yard full of edibles, or how great it will be to have the greenhouse up... and somewhere inside of me, the crazy lady pokes me with her pitchfork and yells 'Get the pumpkin seeds in before it's too late!' What is her problem? Anyway, ignore her, let's have a look around...

The apples, oh, the apples. They are a bit hard to see, amongst the overgrown rocket and mustard, not to mention lavendar, rosemary, thyme, and erm, weeds. I am excited... but cautious. You might recall I had some apple dramas last year, and this year, we have put some Tanglefoot bands around all the apple trees, and I am getting ready to put the sockettes over the little fruit as they plumpen up. I am not 100% sure what I am doing, or if it shall even work, but boy there are lots of little fruit forming on all the trees this year, including the Cox's Orange Pippin. Don't you just love that name? I love to say it. Cox's Orange Pippin. Good luck little fruit...

Just beyond the apple trees you can see our ever growing raspberry jungle. Now apparently through my own neglect and lack of knowing how to prune these things, I get such good harvests from this Heritage Autumn bearing Raspberry, twice a year in fact. The berries come on in early Summer, I believe on last years canes, then come on again in Autumn on the new canes (or it could be the other way around, you tell me, do you know anything about berry growing?) Anyways, I am looking forward to raspberry season, and if we manage to get the third trellis up, and the transplanted suckers growing, we will be freezing and eating and enjoying more of them.

Now if you look right in amongst those raspberries you can see some overgrown weed... except that apparently it isn't a 'weed' at all, but an edible plant called Cleavers. I was pulling some of it up one day, and some internal permaculture voice told me, maybe it was something useful, so I went to look it up. Coincidentally, the next day I got my Weed Foragers Handbook and whaddya know, there it is! Will I eat it, probably not, as we have loads of greens coming out of the garden that I know I do like the taste of... but good to know I don't have to feel guilty about not pulling it up! Something I did pull up though, was a good patch of Sheep Sorrel out the front of our house. It is also edible, if you don't eat too much of it, but boy is it invasive. It was taking up room & nutrients in a patch where I am going to grow pumpkins!

Our huge apricot tree is putting lovely little fat fruit on already, but some of them have the shot hole fungal disease, on them already. We spray all the stone fruit (the nectarine, plum and new peach) with copper stuff (for the curly leaf) but it still happens. We get so many fruit from this massive tree usually, but we pruned it a lot this year, which should also make it easier to put the mesh sleeves along the branches too. Very exciting, we should have our first peaches this year too!

The wicking worm garden beds are all doing well. Three of them are still being full of cool season produce, which is gradually being harvested, including broad beans now coming in, crunchy little radishes, kohl rabi, loads of silverbeet and kales. The one full of garlic probably won't be ready to harvest, and then plant out with warm season stuff, for ages! I have tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini, basil and marigolds in the one bed that was empty. The others I am squeezing cucumbers, beans and herbs in to. The great thing with the wicking worm beds is the hard work is already done for them. I've got chokoes to find a spot for this year (I'll squeeze them in a half-assed garden bed that already has a trellis), and we created a big potato patch too (on top of where the chook areas was in Winter). We have expanded our growing areas too, by making the most of the north-facing brick wall for potatoes in growing bags, and pots of chillies, capsicums, herbs, and a new lime tree. We knew this area was a good position for plants that need a lot of warmth, and always planned to transplant the lemon tree (which wasn't in a good spot in the garden) into a pot and put it there... it only took us 3 years!

I have also spent some time weeding the front hugelkultur beds, and we finally got ourselves a new rechargeable lawn mower and whipper snipper. What a difference that makes! We kept saying we would fix the old 'enviro' whipper snipper, or replace the worn-out battery of the mower, but after 8 years of use, they had done pretty well and deserved to retire. With the weeds and overgrown grass (not to mention the pile of river pebble still there after 2 years) the front yard looked more 'urban hillbilly' than 'urban homestead', but it looks more respectable now! I added some more layers of organic fertiliser, soil and mulch to the hugelkultur to recondition them. However, with the recycled plastic bottle cloches over the seeds, and the painted plant markers made from old bits of garden edging, the 'urban hillbilly' look is still there! These are all planted out with five varieties of pumpkin, some sunflowers, and I threw in some miscellanous seeds that probably won't even germinate, like rockmelon and capsicum!

A lot going on in around our house and gardens. It is great to have energy and motivation, but we are mindful of getting burnt out again. With that in mind, time for a cup of tea & play Lego with my little boy... the crazy woman can have a nap, she sure needs one!

:: The Chicken Diaries :: The New (Temporary) Set Up ::

2012-10-10T09:26:00.003+11:00

As I mentioned in my last chicken post about adding three more chooks to our flock, that we got them home and it was suddenly very clear that they could not be integrated after a few days of 'getting to know one another' like we thought would happen. The new girls, or as we are calling them, 'The Little Sisters' are only about 10 weeks old. The original chooks are over a year old now, and being affectionately referred to as 'The Big Sisters'. (Which was sort of a dumb idea, as now every time I mention 'Little Sisters' I start singing the Elvis song). Anyways, the size difference is huge. We sort of forgot that 10 week old pullets are not very big. Of course there will be an adjustment period at some point, but we could hardly put three tiny chooks in with three full sized chooks (one of them is a BIG chook, not mentioning any names, Princess Layer) and risk the fall out being worse than just integrating same sized chooks with each other.

Luckily, we had already planned on extending their chook run (since we were going to have a total of 6 chooks), so we had ordered more 'pet enclosure' from eBay, which came the day after we got the chooks (phew). I also bought a pet 'cage' or carrier from a local pet store, and using a large canvas tarp that we had, made the Little Sisters a temporary home too. It means they can be completely, safely locked in at night, as the chook run doesn't have any flooring. The Big Sisters continue to stay in their own chook house at night, which has a fox-proof flooring. Eventually all six of them will share the main chook house, it can hold up to 10 chooks apparently. Both lots of chooks are let out during the day into their own chook runs, which now have a double cover over them, to stop Tweet Tweet from flying out, and from the neighbours cat thinking it can get in. So far so good on both accounts. (The Big Sisters still have their supervised free-ranging time in the garden too). These chook runs have an adjoining fenceline, so they can still see/ hear/ smell and harrass each other. Well, of course, we don't want the Big Sisters harrassing the little ones, but it is all part of it, and best to let them get used to each this way.

:: Ginger, Lemon & Honey Cordial ::

2012-10-07T21:28:00.004+11:00

I had a basket of lemons. Not grown in my backyard, but gratefully picked from someone elses (thanks Kirsten!) I wanted to make lemon cordial, but didn't want to use refined sugar. Other than rapadura, or raw sugar for my water kefir making, I don't cook with sugar anymore (not saying I don't eat it still). I have a small amount of honey in my tea, and I cook/ bake with honey too (can't wait to get our own beehives in November)! I Googled, and came up plenty of lemon and honey cordial recipes... with sugar in them too! I found this recipe on Well Preserved (one of my favourite blogs), and then remembered, that's right, I have ginger in the bottom of my fridge which needed using up. But I wanted to use a lot more lemons than just one. So I did. It goes great added to water kefir that has been second fermented with apple juice. I am also trialling using the Ginger, Lemon and Honey Cordial as the second ferment sweetness. Maybe all the good antibacterial/ antimicrobial properties of the ginger, lemon and honey won't be a good match for water kefir? And even though it sounds like a medicinal concoction for sore throat/ colds (which I am sure it could be), it tastes delicious!

Ginger, Lemon and Honey Cordial

Makes about 1 to 1.5L. It could be used in flat water, fizzy water, water kefir, cocktails, or even gargle it if you have a sore throat!

Ingredients

1 litre of water (I used filtered rainwater, because that is what we drink)
1 cup of honey (I use local, raw honey)
1 x 10cm piece of fresh ginger (approximately, which was about 1/2 cup of peeled slices of ginger)
juice of 5 lemons (about 1 cup of lemon juice, and you can use the lemon rind to make a citrus cleaner or preserve them in salt)

Method

In a large saucepan, put the water and bring to the boil.
Add the ginger pieces, and simmer for about 10 minutes (or longer, if like me you are doing several things at once!)
Turn off the heat, add the honey and lemon juice. The heat of the water will gently melt the honey. Stir to combine.
I then poured the whole concoction into a large Pyrex jug I had, so I could leave the ginger pieces to steep for a while, until the whole mix cooled down. Or leave the ginger in overnight, just put it in the fridge, if you like.
Remove the ginger pieces, and perhaps keep them to use in something else, like a stir fry or cake!
Decant it into clean/ sterilised sealable bottles (I used Grolsch as we have those on hand for second fermenting water kefir), and store in the fridge.

:: The Chicken Diaries :: And Then There Were Six ::

2012-10-04T22:26:00.003+10:00

So exciting, we have added three more chooks to our backyard flock! We picked up these 8 to 10 week old pullets on the weekend. The greyish one is a Silver Sussex, named Sylvia. The black and white ones are Silver Laced Barnevelders, with the older/ bigger being called Brynhilder, and the younger/ smaller one if Fluffy Wuffy. We are calling them the Little Sisters (and our original chooks are the Big Sisters, of course). Oh, they are so little compared to our other three girls (now a year old) and so, so cute. They are very timid, of course, and we have set up a separate chook house and chook run from the other three (though right next to each other) because we realised when we got them home, there was no way they could all be housed together due to the size difference. We couldn't risk the 'slip them in at night when they are all asleep' trick, and then find the fall out the next morning. Tweet Tweet and Princess Layer are not overly worried about them, and the couple of times they were near each other, were only bothered if the little sisters came near the food. Spotty, however, is not impressed. She will chase them and peck them, and even now they are separated by the 'playpen' fence, she still wants to have a go at them. We always thought that Tweet Tweet was the top of the pecking order, but Spotty seems the most put out by the new additions. Hmmm, we'll see how that plays out once the Little Sisters have grown big enough to integrate them all together.

Hmm, something is going on here. Do you see what I see? Oh-ma-gawd! What is that? Someone shrunk a chook!

I have been meaning to update you about our chooks, because we had an issue, and it is because of my neglect to regularly inspect our girls that it got as bad as it did. Lice. The three chooks had chicken nits (actually, just two of them). I knew mites and lice were something that happened to chooks, I just figured ours were fine. I'd never really inspected them, or done a 'nit check' like we do with the kids! It wasn't until I noticed a re-occuring 'poopy bum' on Princess Layer that I decided she needed a wash, and that's when I saw them!! Little, pale brown to beige, oval shaped critters. And (please don't read this if you are eating, or of sensitive intestinal fortitude) clusters or clumps of lice eggs, particularly around their vents. (Graphic photos on this forum). Except Spotty. She didn't seem to have a single lice on her, or any egg-clumps stuck to the base of her feathers. Go figure. Princess Layer had them the worst, and not far behind was Tweet Tweet (who also had a bit of poopy bum, when I picked her up and inspected her... her brown feathers did not show it up as much as Princess's white feathers). Oh, my, I felt like such a terrible chook-mother. I mean, we pick our chooks up all the time, we observe them a lot (including their cute fluffy bums) but I'd never checked closely to their vents or the skin under their feathers.

So, I replaced their bedding, moved their chook house and run, bought and applied Pestene powder, wormed them at the same time, cut off some matted poopy feathers & egg-clumps, and have been keeping up the treatment weekly, for any lice eggs that have hatched since. Poor, poor chookens. They haven't been too upset by it, they've continued laying, been eating & getting around just fine. Other than Spotty having a limpy leg for a while, they have been happy and healthy. We are buying some diatomaceous earth to sprinkle carefully in their nesting and dust bath areas. There are other natural methods too. By adding a couple of covers over the top of the 'playpen' chook run, we have kept a lot of the wild birds out too, including the Indian Myna's, which apparently are quite good at spreading lice. Of course, the big thing we will be doing is checking them regularly!!

We did hesitate to get the new chooks when we were still dealing with eradicating lice from our original flock. However, the opportunity to purchase some rare breed chooks, that were already at the age to handle being outside, had come up and we had agreed to buy them. Now they are being housed away from the other chooks anyway, it doesn't matter as much. Of course, we will still be keeping a close eye on our little peepers. We are talking to them, going into their playpen, and picking them up sometimes, to get them used to us. They get locked up in their little chook house each night, and happily run around, scratch and explore their new home during the day. Did I mention how cute they are! They have a shared fence with the other girls, and when the others are free-ranging, they are getting exposed to each other through the other sides of the fence too. Once the Little Sisters get big enough to defend themselves, or to not fit in their little chook house anymore, it will be time to start assimilating them in with their Big Sisters. I will post some photos of how we have their houses/ runs set up in the next post!

:: Food Preserving Resources ::

2012-09-29T14:44:00.001+10:00

Preserving food is a great way to store foods to 'extend the season'. That way you can enjoy produce throughout the year, whether home grown, or seasonal buys from the farmer, farmers market, local roadside stall or donations from those with an abundance. You can make the most of local, organic, seasonal and sustainable produce, as well as bulk-buys or bargains when they are available. It can save you money, make for tastier and healthier eating, and is just downright satisfying! It can be fun, creative and exciting (not to mention addictive), but it is also serious stuff, and can entail some hard work too. There are many methods of food preservation that you can perform in your own kitchen, including:

Savoury and Sweet Preserves (relish, chutney, pickles, jams, fruit butters, jellies, sauces, salsas etc.) - made using high acid ingredients, including the use of vinegar or lemon juice, the bottles/ jars should be boiling water bathed before storage
Bottled/ Canned Fruit and Tomatoes (stewed, sliced, halved, whole) - high acid ingredients, placed into appropriate bottles/ jars, that should be boiling water bathed before storage
Pressure Canning Items (stocks, vegetables, meats, meals, some fruits) - low acid ingredients, placed in appropriate bottles/ jars, and must be processed in a 'pressure canner' before storage
Dehydration (or drying, such as fruits, legumes, and herbs) - removing the water content of foods (by drying in a dehydrator or on low heat in an oven/ solar cooker) means bad bacteria cannot survive, then can be stored in an airtight container, and eaten dried, or rehydrated
Freezing Produce (vegetables, fruits, egg whites, or creations like pesto, herbs in oils) - anything can be frozen, but some things defrost/ come out the other side better than others. Some items need to be blanched before freezing.
Lacto-fermentation - by placing items in a brine (salt & water solution) that allows for the development of lactic acid environment which preserve the foods, but does not allow for the growth of nasty bacteria
Cheesemaking/ Yoghurt making - a way to preserve milk
Smoking/ Curing/ Smallgoods - other ways to preserve meats longer term

Of course, there are more methods than those listed, including sugar, alcohol, root cellaring etc! With such serious business, I encourage you to research the methods thoroughly, and make decisions about how you will safely and effectively preserve food in your own kitchen. The following lists have resources (for common food preservation methods) that I use, and many that have been recommended by others. Thank you to those who contributed. I cannot vouch for all these sites, but I do recommend doing a good amount of reading before you set off on your food preservation journey! For information and links for lacto-fermentation, I recommend this post.

Preserving Resources for Bottling/ Canning, plus Other 'Common' Methods (like dehydrating & freezing)

Australian Websites/ Blogs

Other Blogs/ Websites

Australian Books

Other Books

Note: This is not an exhaustive list by any means. Some books that may be available may not have been included because they do not follow safe methods. Some books have been linked to sellers, simply because they show you the contents of the book (I am not recommending you buy through that seller).

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Early Spring ::

2012-09-28T21:18:00.000+10:00

:: Spring Pesto ::

2012-09-21T22:08:00.001+10:00

It's that teasing time of year, sunny days when Summer is close (so close) yet here, there is still chilly mornings and evenings, and we daren't plant any tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, squash, eggplant or chillies. You know why? Frosts, I tell ya. Frosts will come lurking from the shadows when you least expect them. I have potatoes in bags this year, they are sprouting well, little green leaves poking out... I covered them with more mulch and even some pine tree leaves, lest they get wiped out by frost. I am harvesting turnips, little mis-shapen swedes and loads of Winter greens (they like frost). I am checking the broad beans daily to see if some little pods might grace us with their presence. The garlic is growing, the comfrey returning, the weeds going nuts (they like frost too). We are busy, busy little beavers, so much going on at this time of year, preparing for a bumper season of the aforementioned frost-intolerant Summer goodies. And of course, there is rocket. Aragula to some. Roquette, rucola, rugula, eruca to others. The rocket grew over Winter, we ate it (we could have eaten more) and it pretty much filled a garden bed, squeezing in with the mustard, kale and bok choy. And the Doughnut Peach tree and Cox's Orange Pippin apple. Then it started flowering (the bees love it) and little seed pods are forming. That's good. I will no doubt save a whole heap of rocket seed to plant again next year! However, I decided to eat some darn rocket. Why grow so much of it each year, only to have the occasional rocket salad, rocket in a wrap or omelette? I decided that I didn't need to wait until I had big bunches of basil to harvest, I could have pesto now! Inspired by this recipe, I set forth to create delicious green-ness!

Large amounts of fresh rocket was harvested (believe me, this didn't even put a dent in the field of rocket in our backyard). Then I washed it, stripped the leaves off (about 6 to 8 cups, I guess?) and put them in the salad spinner.

I took pretty photos, put the leftover rocket stems in the compost, and admired the pretty rocket flowers on the way back in too.

First I processed the parmesan cheese (250gm), garlic (one super large clove) and macadamias (255gm), then I processed the rocket, adding the cheese/nut/garlic mix and virgin olive oil (375mls) to help it blend better. I tasted it, decided it was a bit too rockety- then added about 6 to 8 leaves of silverbeet. Then I decided it was a bit too 'green' and added a good amount of freshly ground salt (several teaspoons). It tastes good now, but next time, I will toast the macadamias, and use English Spinach instead of silverbeet. Doh. It will be good once 'heated' a little, as in on top of pasta, or pizza.

It made approximately 10 cups (a lot). I froze most in ice cube trays (that I keep for freezing food portions, because it will probably make them stained green and taste of green too). You can use frozen portions in risotto, soups, casseroles, or defrost them easily to use on pasta, pizza, baked potatoes etc. The other I put into my cute new (quite indulgent) Mason Ball Quilted mini jars! Then I took more photos.

So, go forth and make your own Spring pesto. You could experiment with adding other sorts of greens which are ready in Spring, like sweeter kales, turnip or radish greens, herbs like flat leaf parsley, or garlic greens. I recommend toasting the nuts. I also say don't expect this to be like basil pesto, or you will be disappointed (just like thinking those first warm days in Spring means Summer is close)! Hard goats cheese would work too.

Are you getting creative with in season produce? What ya been making?

:: A Less Complicated Life ::

2012-09-13T17:08:00.000+10:00

I read blog posts and articles about people who set about living a 'simple' life, only to find that there is nothing 'simple' about it. I think slow living or simple living actually requires a whole bunch of potentially complicated actions (sometimes done quite quickly), that often come about from rejecting convenience. Convenience makes things easier, physically and mentally. It means more time to do stuff of our own choosing. Stuff that is fun, and perhaps (as people believe) more fulfilling. Convenience is a whole bunch of short cuts, however, that can cut out the good parts. It might leave us with more time and energy that we can fill in with fun and fulfilling activities, that's true (I understand the appeal). I partake in convenience when it suits me (everyday in so many ways), and on occasion, feel nicely guilty about it too. Only on occasion. I am not knocking those who desire just a little bit of darn time to themselves. I am one of them. I am not upset at my accomplices in carrying out the dirty deed that is convenience, because I appreciate my washing machine, dishwasher and microwave, and all the hard work they do. Convenience is like a sister, or friend that buoys you up, keeps you going, makes you think anything is possible, and doesn't judge you when you just want to get take away for dinner that night. Convenience allows me to do other things the long way, the hard way instead, like growing vegetables from seed.

Convenience... the personal assistant to our modern lifestyle. Some choose to forego convenience (probably not completely, if you are someone reading this blog) which can mean foregoing the hobbies we might like to pursue, even if those hobbies might seemingly fit quite well into a simple life. These might be practising and learning more crochet. If you are going to give some or all of those hobbies up (or even make other sacrifices, say sleep, or relaxation time) it means you've got to find the positive in doing things the long and hard way. The good parts of doing stuff the longer and harder way are what attract people to pursue this simple life we talk about. The good parts are satisfying, even when they are hard. The good parts are enriching, even when they challenge you (or because they challenge you). The good parts connect us to nature, connect us to each other, make us appreciate life, help us understand and empower us. Like the fulfillment in growing your own vegetables, turning them into a delicious meal, turning the scraps into compost, and using the compost to grow your own vegetables. That turns me on!

The other part of the simple living gig (and I don't even know if I would put my life into the 'simple living' category... that I'd even class myself amongst those whose great blog posts and articles I mentioned that I have read previously) that I have found to actually be complicated, is saying no. Keeping my life less complicated so I can focus on what I've deemed to be important, means standing up for myself and my choices. The complication comes from wanting to be involved, to do my part, to follow all my passions, and yet knowing doing that will surely be my undoing in the end. So I say no. I cannot be on your school committee, because I would rather spend my time at home, with my kids, in our garden. I cannot be a guest blogger on your fabulous real food blog, because I need to be in my kitchen, fermenting and preserving and preparing real food for my family, not coming up with recipes and photos and content for others to enjoy instead. I will not be able to spend time weeding your school garden and conditioning your garden beds, when you have perfectly capable students who should be learning to appreciate that getting the benefits and fun parts of the garden, means time spent putting in the hard yakka. They should be learning how to find the pleasure in the task, even when it is harder than they thought, or taking longer than they wish (or because of it).

This is a lesson that will benefit your students long after the snow peas have been harvested. Who am I to deny them the opportunity for all that learning, when it would be better for me to say no, and go back to my own weeding and reconditioning. Even though I feel that I could, I won't. Saying no is hard. Relying on convenience to get us through the week because I overcommitted myself is harder. A simple life may be a daydream I'd have if I had the time for daydreaming, but a life less complicated is perfectly possible.

:: The Way of the Bee ::

2012-09-11T20:15:00.001+10:00

I've had a thing for bees for a while now. They fascinate me, and I love learning about them. I also like their honey! I read Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen in 2010, and The Honey Trail: In Pursuit of Liquid Gold and Vanishing Bees from the library. I watched The Vanishing of the Bees, and The Queen of the Sun. I am currently reading Honeybee Democracy and have Beekeeping for All on my bookshelf too. In October my husband is going to do a Beekeeping Course, then in November, I am very excited to be doing the Natural Beekeeping Course through Milkwood Permaculture. My husband went to a talk that Tim Malfroy gave and was very impressed by him, and by Warre (or 'Natural') beekeeping. By late Spring to early Summer, I hope we have our own bees finally... well, we have bees already as this short video shows, but I'd like to some to share their honey with us too!

:: Start An Urban Homesteading Club :: Part Two ::

2012-09-06T21:36:00.000+10:00

So in my last post I talked about how I started The Urban Homesteading Club in my area, and how grateful I am for the amazing people I've met, and the active members who make the group what it is. Today I'd thought I'd share some advice for those who may be wanting to start something in their own area. Please know, I am not a start-a-community-group expert, by any means, but just hope by posting this, maybe it helps someone else who has been thinking about doing this, because they haven't been able to find a suitable existing group to join. I tried joining groups, I did, but it just didn't work out! Not a total loss, though, as all the group involvement and experiences I had, surely meant that I had learnt something! I knew that creating the right dynamic and model to suit myself, then finding others who agree, was important. Whilst I don't claim this is some new and innovative concept, I just know that these were things that helped me out. You might find exactly the opposite works for you!

Our focus is being a social group, really, who do occasional workshops (bread making, preserving), but when we get together once a month, we look around the 'homestead' usually, we swap produce and seeds, we chat and share advice, and have afternoon tea. Sometimes kids & partners come along, sometimes they don't. We have female and male members, though I believe we have more female, and they are generally the more active ones in the group. In between the monthly meet up's, on our Facebook group page, we admire each others photos, offer stuff to each other, share links or resources recommendations, and generally, chat and converse everyday.

I do know I got lucky (so lucky) to come across a group of people who work well together, and maybe it was just all luck that it works, nothing to do with anything I did, or what I do behind the scenes at all! I don't do much, I've made it as easy for myself as possible. It could change, as the numbers grow, there will be even more diversity and possible conflicts to moderate, or it may be harder to organise get togethers that fit everyone in! We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. In the mean time, here are some ideas if you want to start your own... (and I have included some examples from the details of our group too).

Find your dynamic concept

For me, I know that people are busy and already have enough going on in their lives. I think they want minimal commitment and responsibilities. I know I do! But I also don't think that all the pressure should be put onto one or two people either. Think about what sort of group do you want to be involved with. A group with rosters, venues and set dates, or maybe something more flexible/ variable? Do you want to be 'in control' of all the decisions/ plans, and accept that this means more work for you? Or do you expect that everyone will take a fair-share (such as hosting once, or twice a year) and accept people may do things differently for their turn, than how you might? Do you want to meet up weekly, or is once a month more realistic? Do you want to have a list of guidelines, or just let it work out how it was meant to be? Do you want to purely focus on workshops, farm visits, educational experiences, or maybe the social aspect really appeals?
Christine is part of a Friday Veggie Group, which I think it is a great idea too.
Remember, that whilst this is your group to start or run how you like, if you cannot entice other people to join, or please the majority, you won't have a group!
For my perspective, the low key approach to promoting and running the group has made it much easier compared with others groups I’ve been involved in starting and running. I still do some behind-the-scenes work like 'Approving' member requests to join & welcoming them, making sure we have hosts for the upcoming get togethers, posting a 'Poll' every now & then, receiving all notifications for/ from the group this group, following up with hosts when it comes closer to their event time, and promoting the group once in a while too. However, the group has become self-sustaining really, because people start their own discussions/ thread on the group page, create their own Document, post their own photos or links, mostly offer to host & create their own Invitations and send them to all the group members. This is a concept which could be taken on by anyone, anywhere really.

Choose your communication & organisational methods

I wanted to have actual monthly get togethers, but also knew that a place where people can chat and share photos online in between the meet ups, could enhance the vibe of the group. I knew I didn't want to set up or run a website again, like Webs, or some other free (or paid) forum setting either. I had been part of Facebook groups before, and though I know many people are not on Facebook, most people at least have an account (or can easily set one up) and can opt to get emails sent if they receive an Invite, even if they don't want to use or check their actual Facebook account. Whilst Facebook may have some issues (please know I am NOT promoting it as the only option here, or in anyway do I get kickbacks from Facebook... it annoys the crappers out of me at times too!), it is an easy way to communicate, share photos and links, and Invite members to the monthly get togethers. (On the left sidebar of your Facebook Newsfeed, you can see a category for Groups, and the option to Create a Group). You can make it a Closed or Secret group, to protect members privacy and reduce the chance of spammers or trolls. You can email the group, create Polls, and send Private Messages. Trying to set up a group email list can sometimes be tiresome, but with Facebook, you easily contact all your members, without having to update a list. There are some websites who may cater for running a community group too, like Swap Shuffle Share, but I don't know much about them.
I found the Doc's in Facebook sometimes don't format very well, so I set up a Google Doc Spreadsheet as a Forward Planner (with a Link to it in the Files section of the Group page). Members have the link and can view it (if they are so inclined), to see what might be coming up or perhaps when they can host. We pretty much work out month by month, though we actually have hosts/ events arranged til February 2013, with the finer details worked out just after the last monthly get together. There be other Calender options, and Facebook has some, but this gives me an instant overview of the coming months. We generally only have the Invite done a few weeks before the event, so the Events Calendar for the group can only show the next event, whereas a spreadsheet (or a calendar format of some kind) can show me the coming several months of 'hosts' who have offered, even if we don't have actual dates or themes at that point.

Reciprocal Hosting

Some other ideas that are working for this group is the concept of 'reciprocal hosting'. You might have access to a local community hall that suits your group better, but this often means someone has to have the key, be responsible for the clean up and security of the place too. If members of your group take a turn in having the group to their place, it means everyone can take a turn organising, and you get to appreciate the diversity in our group, as well as explore other people’s ‘homesteads’. We do have people offering to host in advance, or if I notice we don't have a host lined up, I ask for offers, and will sometimes get the next couple of months covered. We have had it held at an outside venue, but I think it was a bit too tricky for people to come along, trying to meet up in a busy market & then go to a different venue after for lunch as well. However, you might have a group who happily go on farm visits, or meet at farmers markets or nurseries, or find each other at special days/ fairs etc.
We have about 30 or so people who are our 'regulars', who chat on the Facebook group page, and who come to get togethers, but not all at the same time! We haven't had a problem fitting in to someone's house, and there always seems to be somewhere for the kids to play. Usually everyone brings something to share for afternoon tea.

Reciprocal Hosting

It would be great if everybody could take a turn at hosting and organising. It will require minimal commitment, with no (or very minimal) costs. You do not have to have people to your house, as you can choose another suitable venue. If you are teaching/ sharing a particular skill, you don't have to provide the materials, as you could have each person bring their own. You don't have to put out buffet of food and drink for your guests, instead you can request each person bring a little something to share!

Promote your group/ get the word out!

Whilst I didn't throw myself gung-ho into promoting this group like I did with some of the others, I still take opportunities to spread the word to those who might want to know, if they arise. For people who want to start groups and perhaps don't have a network to tap in to, some other promotion ideas I used with other groups, include (of course, always ask permission before posting information or flyers about your group):
Put up flyers/ posters in the local library, notice boards, nursery or garden shops, landscape supplies, craft shops, food co-ops, schools, and kids play places.
Post the information on appropriate forums, with new ones having started like Swap Shuffle Share, Landshare Australia, Local Harvest, who may be able to help out.
Let bloggers from your local area know, contact the radio station, or do a 'Press Release'.
Maybe your local council or Neighbourhood Watch has a newsletter, or list of emails they send notices out to.
There may be some local community groups who don't mind promoting your new group, such as PermaBlitz, Landcare or a gardening club.
When promoting the Urban Homesteading Club, I made sure I stated that it was open to a wide range of people, who were doing activities like growing food, raising chooks, home crafts, community activities, beer brewing, whether in a backyard or on a patio, or even those who might not consider themselves urban or suburban! Many people would also not know what 'urban homesteading' is!)

What Is This Group All About Then?

This is a group of like-minded folks who have an 'urban homestead', are in the process of setting one up, or are simply interested in some aspects of this 'lifestyle'. We get together once a month for a chat, cup of tea or nibbles, and to learn some new skills, gain some knowledge and even exchange produce! General chin-wagging is also encouraged, and in between our monthly meetings, our members have very interactive discussions on the Facebook group page!

Social Get Togethers/ Workshops/ Activities & Conversation, include (but not limited to):

chicken keeping : growing organic food : knitting : crochet : preserving : bread making: soap making : felting fermenting : spinning : frugal living : bee keeping :herbal remedies : seasonal activities : homemade gifts : community resilience :harvest sharing : seed swapping & more!

First Date Nerves

Make the first get together easy for people to turn up and recognise you. Bring a friend or partner for support. Even if the first meeting is just two people, that is a start. You just need to start. If it doesn't work out, what have you lost? Nothing! Remember, going along to new groups, especially ones that have only just started, is like going on a blind date. It can be nerve wracking! Having it at someone's home may intimidate people, so a local cafe might be better for the first one or two get togethers. Have a sign, or tell people who to look for. Book a table and have them put up clear signage for who the table is reserved. If you feel so inclined, have some 'ice breakers' ready, so the conversation keeps moving. Maybe have the details about the Facebook group ready to give to people, and maybe even the details of the next get together already organised.

Moderating, Diversity & Non-Participation

As with any group, even one with a common interest, there will be differences of opinion on many things! I find people are tolerant and respectful of others opinions, and understand that sometimes online you cannot express the tone or meaning of what you were trying to say! I haven't had to 'moderate' the Facebook group, and whilst I hope I never have to, if someone joined just to promote their own business, charity, organisation, religion, agenda, I would. If there was Spamming, Trolling, or major hostility, I would step in. I work two days a week, but am off & on the computer the other days of the week. Like I said, I also get instant notification of everything that gets posted on the group, though once a thread starts and if I haven't personally contributed to it, I don't get updates of each reply.
Diversity is something to be appreciated and enjoyed, I think. The different backgrounds, educations, cultures, employment situations, and all that really contributes to giving each other great support, advice and humour! When you have a group without any joining process, open to the public, no selection criteria, and managed via an online format, you embrace what you get and be happy about it! We have diversity within the 'urban homesteading' category too, with people with patios, courtyards, backyards and properties! Some are only just getting into aspects of 'urban homesteading' and others are 'experts' who've been doing stuff for years!
We are inching close to 100 members. Many of those joined & we never heard from them. Bit rude you might think, but that's life. Stuff happens. I joined a Facebook group called I Love Water Kefir. I posted a couple of questions, replied to a couple, and not been back again. Of course, in our group we do have people's privacy to think of (their address is on the Invites/ Event details) and we share a lot about ourselves and our families too. It isn't nice to think that someone might be reading along, happily enjoying everyone elses conversations and not adding anything or sharing their own personal stuff, but I don't think anyone is doing that. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they did, either, I guess. I also think, well, if it takes 10 people to join (who never participate) to get just 1 of our 'regular' active & contributing members, it is worth it. One day, one of those random members might start to be more involved, and become as obsessed about talking about urban homesteading as the rest of us!

:: Start An Urban Homesteading Club :: Part One ::

2012-09-03T18:55:00.001+10:00

As some of you know, I started a group for like-minded people in my area, because frankly (my dear) I was feeling lonely and isolated. I had friends, I had colleagues, I had family, but I longed for some other locals to discuss the stuff I was into, like growing your own organic produce, keeping chooks, preserving, making your own dishcloths, and generally, 'urban homesteading'. I wanted to find other people who were doing in their backyards, what my husband and I were doing in ours. This (and Part Two) are the stories of how I did it, the amazing and supportive people I met along the way, and how the group is going now, 12 months on. Please know, I did put in a lot of effort at the start (and before that, even) but I set the group concept up to be 'self sustaining' and whilst I still do some behind the scenes work, it is the active members of this group that have made it so successful. I am not posting about this to take credit for everything, or to claim I invented some amazing concept, but to perhaps share and inspire others who might be feeling lonely and isolated. Who might be like I was, and think, "If I want it, I might just have to create it for myself."

Four years ago, The Bowhunter and I moved to Canberra with our two kids. We had already started on our 'eco' journey, and as we became more aware about environmental issues, it became important to us to be prepared for an uncertain future, and to prepare our children. Our motto came from something that Molly once told me, “Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and enjoy each day like the blessing it is!” We became passionate about 'being prepared' for both short term and longer term situations. Creating an urban homestead is one way that we are trying to be prepared, to be able to provide for our family in tough times, and because we love it. Some who find themselves with this awareness, might panic and freak out, coming to the conclusion, "Oh my goodness, we need to become self-sufficient to survive!" (Believe me, we've had that thought many a time, and still do, with little off-grid cabin-in-the-woods fantasies playing out in our overactive imaginations).

Of course, we quickly came to realise that moving to the country (gonna eat alot of peaches) was not realistic for us. Also, we worried that a life like that could be quite isolating, for us and our children. Instead of moving somewhere rural and going off-grid, we needed to adapt in place (and grow them peaches in our own backyard). We need to find our place within our community, as that connection, that interaction, and the support that comes from being part of a community are so important. We want to help build resilience and a better future too. We also wanted to make like-minded friends, and have our kids play with other kids whose parents were into the same thing. Kids who knew what compost was, who got served weird vege’s for dinner, who think worms are awesome!

It wasn't an easy, or instantaneous, process. In the last few years, I have been a part of so many groups, trying many on for size, and not finding the right fit. I started my own playgroup with another like-minded mum, in early 2010, Playdates for the Planet. I also attended Sustainability Network Meetings, which were a networking gig for people in eco-groups. In May 2010, spurred on by wanting to learn some old lady skills, I started the first version of The Urban Homesteaders Club, which unfortunately failed. I think the hard-core concept of ‘skill-sharing’ and reciprocal hosting was too much, and whilst there was a lot of interest, there was not enough commitment! I then tried joining a local group, SEE-Change, did a volunteer Admin role for PermaBlitz for about 6 months, then tried to help start a new SEE-Change group too. I just became disappointed and frustrated that nothing seemed to be working out. However, I did learn something everytime I was involved in one of these groups, especially with PermaBlitz. I did such a lot of work for that group, which had a very diverse membership. I sure do have a lot of stories to tell about the characters I met, and the often frustrating experiences I had, but I also learnt many things about myself too.

In July of 2011, a local woman (we'll call her M, shall we... so original!) contacted me to say she had read about 'The Urban Homesteaders Club' on my local Canberra blog, and was interested in being involved. For a moment, my previous frustrations over trying to be involved in, or start/ run groups, almost caused me to decline. Deep down (not even that deep) the desire to connect and build community bonds was still there. I was glad for the chance to try reviving such a great concept, and here was someone willing to be a part of such a group, and even offering to host the first event! This gave me faith that this idea could work, that there are people willing to put themselves out there. I put all my years of local networking and blogging to good use, to let people know about the group restarting. I emailed people, left messages on blogs and forums, posted on Facebook pages, and wrote articles about the group. I probably ‘stalked’ the first 10 people into joining the group!

We had nine people come along to the first get together a year ago. M, the woman who get the ball rolling again by contacting me and showing such enthusiasm, was brave enough to let a bunch of strangers come to her house. Everyone else joined along the way, and whilst I am happy to see the group growing (90 members at the moment, with a core group of about 30 active 'regular' members), with more and more people interested in joining, what really gets me isn’t the numbers, but the quality. We have such a great group of like-minded people, who interact with each other, who respect each other, and who have really bonded. At the monthly get togethers, we generally eat and drink, check out the swap table (if we have one set up) and have some diverse and interesting conversations! We share books, tools, knowledge and advice. We swap skills, produce, seeds and resources. I am always so happy to see how welcoming people are to new members of the group.

The online interaction has been such a great way to learn, share, show off and show support. When your family think what you’re doing is nuts, your friends are sick of hearing about your heirloom vegetables, your colleagues laugh at your obsession with chicken poo, and your neighboursare sick of you palming zucchini off on them… The Urban Homesteading Club is there! What our group accomplishes goes beyond growing food, raising chooks, preserving our harvests, all in our own backyards… we are all pioneers for a sustainable and satisfying way of living in cities in the future! It means so much to me to know that my family are helping to build community resilience and create bonds with like-minded people, but just as much to have a warm group of friends, who (generally) get what we are about.

In the next post, I cover some advice and practical stuff as to how the group was created. Check it out here, Part Two.

:: Ice Cream & Blossoms ::

2012-08-30T07:14:00.000+10:00

I have half a post about creating closed loop systems in your backyard, but I need to close some loops in my brain before I can find the time & energy to get that one out. In the mean time, here are some pretty photos of various blossoms in our garden, and oh, some Strawberry, Banana and Honey Ice Cream I made the other day. It's delicious. One day I'll actually write some ice cream recipes down, and the chocolate-coconut hard topping recipe too. Not today, but it's not too hard an experiment to carry out, really.

:: Reading At The Moment ::

2012-08-27T17:16:00.003+10:00

Is it possible to read several books at once? Hmm. I seem to be doing it (again) because good books just keep coming to my bedside. I am loving this whole concept of hear about a good book, check out the library catalogue to see if they have it, they don't, so I request they buy it & ask to borrow it if they do. Next thing you know, the book I really wanted to read, is ready to be picked up! This is happening to me a lot, and so, I have a pile of good books on my bedside table waiting for to me read, to embrace, to lose myself in. These are not reviews on the books, as I haven't read any of them completely yet. Just thought I'd share why I borrowed, or requested the library buy these books. Love the library, one of my favourite places. All those books you can read, and then return for someone else to enjoy! However, I recently purchased a book, Sharon Astyk's latest, Making Home, which arrived today, and seen as there is no due date for it to be returned, it will sit peacefully on my bedside dresser waiting it's turn. It will. I will not start reading it until I have absolutely, completely finished the other ones. I may have also possibly had a little book buying bender, and purchased Whole Larder Love and Gourmet Farmer Deli Book too. For my husband. Maybe.

Someone recommended the Kitchen Gardens of Australia book on their blog (sorry, can't remember who!) Lovely big book, lovely photos, inspiring gardens and stories.
The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather, well, I can't remember how or why I came across this one, but it seems quite interesting so far.

I am loving Thomas Seeley's Honeybee Democracy. I love bees, bee antics and bee social structure. They are amazingly fascinating. He is also an entertaining writer, even though you may not imagine a scientist who has dedicated himself to the house-hunting strategies of bee swarms to be. However, this is a heavy book, quite large and not exactly easy to hold up at bedtime, after a long day of kid wrangling, gardening and the like.
Keeping Bees by Ashley English is more for conventional beekeeping, and The Bowhunter and I want to have topbar, or 'natural' beehives instead. However, this chick is cool, knowledgeable and the book has interesting tidbits through it about other beekeepers, and she's cool. Check out her website.

Again, I can't quite remember whose blog/ website I read about Dear Sugar on, or whether I actually came across Wild by Cheryl Strayed first (which was a fantastic book). It was one of those weird things, where you click on a link on someone's blog that you notice on their sidebar, then get distracted on the new blog and find a link, then follow it & can never quite remember how or why you got to where you are in the first place! Anyways, Dear Sugar is a secret agony aunt/ column, who became very popular, but remained anonymous, until it was finally revealed the writer was Cheryl Strayed. I found her writing in 'Wild' to be so beautiful, and she had learnt so much along the way in Wild.

What are you reading at the moment? Got a big pile of books like me, or are you 'between' books?

:: Preparing for Spring ::

2012-08-22T10:13:00.000+10:00

It's almost here. I am sorting seeds, planning new garden beds, buying pest control for fruit fly and codling moth, noticing the longer days and admiring the little blossoms popping up. I am dreaming of BBQ, evenings working and playing outside, and the harvests to come. My Winter vege's have been growing so slowly, but I am hoping they start producing with the arrival of the warmer weather (otherwise they might get kicked out, to make space for the warm season seedlings!) At work, and Urban Homesteading Club meetings, I am giving away seeds, hoping to get others into heirloom varieties, and the magic of 'growing your own'. If you would like a list of Australian seed companies, or can add your own recommendations, please check out this Note from my Facebook page. There are some things that are not so great about the weather warming up, and if you look closely in this photo of my broad bean flowers, you can see it!

Are you getting excited about Spring? What gardening adventures have you got planned for the warmer weather?