Sowing Seed or Planting:
Sowing: Nothing since my last update.
Planting: Two Amish Paste tomato seedlings.
Harvesting: Cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, kale, zucchini, beans.
Planning for the Future:
* Meal planning around our vegies and what's in the pantry to save some money this week.
* Writing a list of seeds for autumn vegetable plantings and working our what I need (um, want) to order.
Working for the Future:
* Going through the pantry again and tidying up.
* Cooking and freezing four Zucchini slice.
* Making six jars of Zucchini Marmalade.
* Making four jars of Spicy Plum Sauce with the leftover almost-overripe plums.
* Grating and freezing four monster zucchini.
* Making three litres of chicken stock for the freezer from the carcass of a roast chicken.
* Had three new ceiling fans installed, which are making a huge difference to our comfort levels in this hot weather.
* Installed new 5-star water efficient tapware in the bathroom.
* Using our new water-efficient front-loading washing machine which uses almost half the water of our old top loader.
* Rearranging our playroom and study and in the process going through the kids toys and purging another two huge boxes worth - one box is going to my sister and one to the local Salvation Army Store.
Building community:
* Donation of toys to our local charity.
* Discussion of vegies and our Riot for Austerity project with two lots of friends.
Learn a new skill:
* Nothing as such this fortnight. Getting slack!
7 comments:
hi! I'm up to July 2008 of your blog lol, but thought i'd pop a comment on your latest post to try and catch a response...
I've been feeling inspired to buy a breadmaker and was wondering if you have a brand or type to recommend?
Also, my partner can't tolerate too much gluten, so I was wondering if it's easy to make gluten free bread in a breadmaker?
I know (from reading your blog!) that you're super busy, but any advice or tips would be awesome :)
I'd be interested to hear what you're considering planting in Autumn. What seeds are you going to buy?
Hi Evil Willow :-)
I don't really have a recommendation for you. I usually go by the latest Choice Magazine test results, and their most recent survey of breadmakers was July 2007 so I don't know how relevant it is now. Mine is a Breville and I've never had a problem with it. I'd suggest looking for a second hand one to start with - many, many people buy one and rarely use it, or buy it as a Xmas gift which gets sold as an unwanted present at this time of year.
You can definitely make gluten-free bread, just subsitute your regular gluten-free ingredients, or you can buy pre-mix bread mixes from companies like Orgran which are gluten-free. These might be easier if you have never made your own bread before.
Having said all that, it really isn't hard to make your own bread by hand. You might like to have a look at Rhonda's tutorial for a good starting point.
Have fun!
Cheers, Julie
Hi Darren,
I like the Gardenate planting guide and I am currently have seeds of various Asian greens, amaranth, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, silverbeet, radish and kale. I might buy some interesting variations on those that, plus perhaps parsnips, swedes, leeks, onions, cabbage, cauliflower and maybe Florence fennel? As usual my eyes are bigger than my vegie garden LOL.
Cheers, Julie
Thanks so much! I'll definitely try and get a second hand one first - better than spending money i don't have (especially seeing as I also want a solar cooker, a pasta maker, a paper maker, an overlocker and a slow cooker lol) on a product that's probably sitting out there second hand waiting for me! I'll have a go at making it without one too... I was interested to read about your sourdough attempts as it's my FAVOURITE bread and I'd love to be able to make it :)
I had a look at the choice website, and got totally lost in it! What a fantastic research tool, thanks :)
I decided to try making sourdough bread first, minus the breadmaker. I also ordered (another!) book from work about making flat bread yuuuuum! If i really struggle or miss the standard loaf shape i can always get a breadmaker later...
I also got really inspired reading your 'spices and herbs' post from back in august 2008... I'm in an apartment but there's a tiny bit of earth out the front not being used that I thought would be perfect for a little herb garden of three or four herbs, or maybe a nice looking *little* plant that I can use in my cooking. I'm still new to the gardening thing, so it needs to be something hard to kill :) any ideas?
Hi Evil Willow,
There are lots of herbs which are pretty hard to kill, I'd have to say that parsely would have to be the #1 most useful kitchen herb, probably followed by basil. Grab a couple of seedlings and bung them in - be sure to keep the water up to them but not so much that they are wet all the time - and you should be harvesting fresh herbs for your cooking in a few weeks! Have fun :-)
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