This 'n that

Doing: ... Blanching and freezing my excess beans. I've never bothered blanching before so it will be interesting to compare them with my previously frozen beans.




Making: ... Getting the materials together to make a curtain for the kids' TV. I'm finding the TV has an irresistible attraction for the girls, just sitting there with it's big blank screen (must. turn. it. on), and since I don't have a convenient cupboard with doors to stick it in, I thought I might make a curtain to go across in front of it (it is in a small timber entertainment unit).

I've bought an elastic curtain strap thingy which you cut to length and attach hooks to each end, which then hook into cup hooks screwed into the cabinet (you know what I'm talking about, right?!). I was going to look for an old sheet to use at the op shops, but this mermaid fabric jumped out at me (ahem) as I was looking for fabric for another project. My girls are currently obsessed with mermaids and books about mermaids, so this should be an acceptible substitute for hiding the TV screen I hope LOL.




In The Garden: ... Coming to the conclusion that - with a spacing requirement of two feet between plants - cauliflowers and broccoli just aren't viable vegetables for my tiny veggie patch. I have around 16 cauli seedlings and half a dozen broccoli which survived not being watered over the Easter holidays and now I don't really know what to do with them all. My eyes are certainly bigger than my belly in this instance ;-)

I have a limited amount of space between my small citrus trees, but don't want to cultivate it because a) citrus don't like root competition and b) I don't want to disturb their growing roots. I have some plastic pots left over from some trees and I'm wondering if I could get away with cutting the bottoms out of them, filling with fertilised potting mix and planting the caulis into them between the citrus trees? Would that work? The drainage would be good if nothing else LOL.


... Harvesting the last of summer's Tuscan kale, my all-time favourite vegetable I think. I have six new seedlings ready to go, plus half a dozen red kale to try this winter as well.




Dinner: ... Eggplant red curry, brown rice, poppadoms and Brinjal pickles.


Reading: .... This list of pick -your-own fruit farms in Australia. Sadly, nothing very close to me. Some great information on the rest of the website though.

Contemplating: .... What to buy or make a friend for her 4oth birthday on Saturday. We were invited to her party a week ago, but there's nothing like leaving things until the last minute to get me really motivated ;-) My problem is she sews better than me and is far more artistic than I, so I can't think of a single handmade thing I could manage that she hasn't already made for herself. Sigh. If I can't come up with something tonight I will have to resort to buying a Pandora bead for her bracelet (her husband's suggestion) - but $30-$50+ just for a bead? Really? Nuts.

Busting out the soap-making kits.

I thought it might be nice to have play with one of the soap-making kits I scored from my Mum this morning. As I suspected, you are just rebatching soap flakes which is easy-peasy, so I enlisted some help from Miss Three.

The kits consist of a packet of soap flakes, some wheatgerm (as the kits are for "wheatgerm" soaps), and a vial of sunflower oil. Just mix the dry ingredients...



Add the sunflower oil and scent if desired (we used an essential oil mix my BIL gave me a couple of years ago - a lovely wintery mix of cinnamon, orange, cedarwood, clove and pine essential oils)...



Add 1 cup of boiling water (that was Mummy's job) and mix, mix, mix until smooth. Only it never really got past this stage - bit lumpy!



I kept adding water until it was eventually smooth enough to pat into a mould. I reckon I added at least another cup of water - perhaps the soap flakes had *really* dried out in storage? No idea how old the kits are but they would be at least 9 years old. Anyway, we patted it into an old plastic container I had (I sprayed the interior with oil first) and cut them into blocks.



We left them to set for a while and then turned out onto a rack to continue drying. Bit rustic aren't they? LOL. Could have used more water in the mix I suspect, but we were really bored with stirring by that point ;-)



The instructions say to leave them for 24 hours before use, but I'll probably leave them a week or so (turning each day) to harden further, so that they'll last longer in the shower.

I've no idea what the kits cost new, but I doubt they are cheap. Rebatching your own soap at home, using cheaper melt-and-pour soaps or grating up all those left over bits, using a crockpot, oven or double boiler is very straight forward though, you can read more about it here. I've previously bought blocks of plain organic castile (olive oil) soap on sale for rebatching from Aussie Soap Supplies - I added extra water to make a liquid hand soap.

Incidentally, if you like liquid hand soap - I do because my kids don't make a mess of it like hard soap - they also sell Foamy Bottles. They have pump heads which incorporate air into the soap as it dispenses, resulting in a mousse-like foam - the advantage of this is that you can dilute your regular soap by 2-4 times, thereby reducing the amount of money you pay for the liquid soap by a half to three quarters. Cool huh? Makes a substantial difference for us, since I use only (relatively expensive) castile soap on our hands due to two of us suffering from contact dermatitis when we use normal soap.

The schooling whirlwind starts again.

Doing: ... Trying gamely to get back into the swing of Term 2 at school. I must say I loved the lack of the usual morning rush, checking everyone has their bags packed with the appropriate contents and are wearing the appropriate uniform during the holidays! Just to add to my usual mental confusion, Miss Five's class has decided to swap PE and sport days from now on - two guesses as to which child is undoubtedly going to end up at school in the wrong uniform next week! Sigh.

(Note: I do have a large whiteboard just for school stuff, but after a term I kinda have the sport/ PE days in my head now).


Making: ... Heavy duty laundry powder. Grating the soap works those biceps rather well ;-)

Knitting: ... Twenty-one poncho squares down, twenty-one to go.


Baking: ... Wholemeal honey bread rolls and Hummingbird cake.




In The Garden:... Planting out spring onion seedlings to add to the onions and leeks I planted out yesterday.

... Harvesting the rest of the basil and retiring the plants for the season. Next year I'm going to take a leaf out of Jamie's book and grow basil as a crop - not a herb as such - since it bolts to seed so quickly (despite trimming the seed heads off every few days).



Mmmm, basil pesto. One jar for now, one for the freezer.


Dinner: ... Chicken & vegetable soup and crusty dinner rolls.


Reading: ... Warm Earth magazine, May issue.


Contemplating: ... The method for making newspaper seedling pots outlined in the magazine. I've seen newspaper seedling pots before, but the gardeners in question have usually had a special wooden tool to make them with. The method in the magazine just uses a drinking glass, which is, of course, far far cheaper. I'll let you know how they go.

Tales of woe... and redemption.

It's that time of year I think: the time when the summer crops are finishing, the winter crops are tiny, juicy seedlings, the air cools a little and there's a bit of rain around, and the local pest populations EXPLODE. Dear Lord, if I wasn't committed to my vegie garden I think I'd just about give up in disgust right now.

The one capsicum which had grown to any size, has been chewed and is rotting. I ripped them all out; all six plants which sulked all summer and had just started flowering.



Caterpillars have totally defoliated my Rainbow Chard. They're gone now, added to the compost heap. Lucky I planted out another six seedlings a couple of days ago.



Plant-eating, Twenty-eight Spotted ladybirds, having chewed my potato leaves to bits, have descended on my tomatoes...



...and something is eating holes in the tomatoes which have actually set.



Thousands of tiny snails have skeletonised my beans. Various snail baiting methods are not working because they are travelling leaf-to-leaf, not across the ground. I even resorted to commercial bait. No good.




Something is eating my kiwifruit vines:



I can't find the culprit, but I suspect caterpillars, as there are large piles of what looks like poo on the leaves. Or are they the bugs in hiding??



The wet weather has seen the supposedly low-maintenance gravel areas grow a green fuzz of weeds which is making my hamstrings ache just looking at it:

Although one benefit of not weeding too regularly is the volunteers I suppose.

What I suspect are budworms, are progressively munching their way through my radishes, kale and broccoli (which is now gone). My garden gloves are looking rather slimy now from the squished bugs. Erk.



And to add insult to injury, the radish seed pods I am waiting to brown so I can harvest the seeds, are also being eaten out by grubs: I've no idea if they'll leave me any seeds.



Citrus leaf miners have found the sappy new growth on the citrus trees after the rain - despite regular applications of Pest Oil - and look pretty warped and terrible. I'll trim the affected parts off when the windy weather dies down this week, and spray again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Still, there's an upside!

Some edibles are coming along nicely. The Amaranth is drying nicely and I've started collecting seed. Not enough to eat but I'm planning on using the seed for a big patch in spring.

The eggplants are still producing plentifully: what troopers they have been this season.

Despite the pests and other setbacks, I actually have green tomatoes on my plants, including my first Pink Brandywine.



The red papaya is loaded with fruits:



The biggest is around 25cm long at the moment. They should ripen to a bright yellow over the next couple of months.




And my Starfruit tree is literally dripping with fruit and flowers:



Like persimmons, they can be very astringent when not really ripe. Utterly divine eaten out-of-hand.



Makes it almost worth all the bugs ;-)

ANZAC Day 2009

Thinking today of all the men and women who have served and are still serving our country all over the world, including my father and grandfather who both came home safe and sound.

Lest We Forget

those who didn't make it back.

Lovely local ladies.

Doing: .... Armed with a tin of Bliss Balls, I toddled off with the girls to meet up with local simple-living gals, Nicola and Tricia today. Hi Ladies!

It was a gorgeous day and the kids all had a blast at the park. Given that most of my real-life friends aren't into living simply at all, I can't tell you how nice it was to chat to some like-minded souls for a change. Thanks girls :-)

As a parting gift, Tricia bestowed upon each of us, a jar of honey collected by her apiarist Dad: doesn't the sunny glow of that untreated honey look divine? Yum.



She also kindly offered us a few of the bags of spent mushroom compost her hubby bought yesterday from a mushroom farm - look at all those little button lovlies just bursting out of the compost:

Will be interesting to see how many mushies we get from the bags, but for $2 a bag, we can't really go wrong.

Making:... Bliss Balls


In The Garden: ... Watering the seedlings I potted on and planted out yesterday. And trying to work out where the heck I'm going to plant all the rest of the leafy greens I have in seedling trays. (Lets not discuss the brassica space-crisis).

... Mmm, raspberries. Only a few, but enough for a lovely little mouthful of sweet raspberry goodness every day as I water my seedlings. I'm definitely making room for more raspberry canes this winter.

...Look, look! More luffa flowers. I counted four female flowers amongst them this time, with their characteristic tiny luffa-to-be at the base. There were 7 or 8 male flowers also so I'm hoping these will all be pollinated and I might actually get a few luffas after all.

Dinner:... Battered local fish fillets, chips and a giant Greek salad.


Listening to: ... Busy Woman's Radio National interview she did yesterday.


Contemplating: ... The stack of onion seedlings I still have to plant out... and Sunday and Monday are good moon planting days for root crops apparently. Must find those packets of carrots seeds too :-)

Roasted Red Capsicum (Pepper) Pasta Sauce

Capsicums - aka sweet peppers - are absolutely delicious when roasted. Blackening the skin under a grill gives the capsicum a wonderful smokey flavour, and if you can do it on the barbeque, so much the better... and you'll keep the burnt smell out of your house ;-)



Ingredients

2 large red capsicums, halved and deseeded
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small red chilli, finely diced
2 tbs pine nuts or chopped cashews
1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
salt and pepper

Method

1. Place halved capsicums cut side down on oven tray and place under a hot grill until the skin is blackened and capsicums are soft. Remove to a plate and cover with a slightly dampened tea towel to cool. When cool, peel the skin off. Process in a blender until smooth.

2. Heat oil over medium heat and gently fry the garlic and chilli until fragrant. Add capsicum and remaining ingredients, season to taste and heat through.


Serve stirred through fresh pasta and topped with shaved parmesan cheese.

Bit wintery today.

Doing: ... Casting on my first knitting project for this winter.

I am still very much a beginner knitter, so I like the simplicity of this poncho and the fact that it is made up of four different patterned squares (garter, moss stitch, 2 x 2 rib and a ridge stitch) sewn together, so I get to practice my tension on different stitches. Plus they are quick, which very much suits being constantly interrupted by the girls during the school holidays.

I bought the yarn (a wool, acrylic and mohair blend) on eBay for less than half retail price (including postage), the downside being that I have two different dye lots. I doubt it will matter much with these little squares however. Ten down, 32 squares to go...

... Setting up a tapestry project for Miss Three (an idea from SouleMama's Creative Family book I've used with my other girls). She picked out the eye-watering red hessian and the white floss. Can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Making: ... Another 7-year-old girl's birthday, another pencil roll ;-) This one just has 20 pencils and a sharpener inside, and I teamed it with a pink visual arts diary (i.e. good quality blank page book). I drew a fancy "G" on the cover (the birthday girl's first initial) with black texta to personalise it a bit.





Baking: ... French bread.


In The Garden: ... Measuring the rain gauge - 34mm Sunday night, 8.5mm Monday night, 3.5mm last night and it's been drizzly all day today (very wintery, in fact). I managed to get time on Sunday to plant out my garlic and three punnets of onions so although the rain is lovely, I'm hoping the garlic bulbs aren't rotting actually.


Dinner: ... Soup of course! With as many vegetables as I can rustle up, and some crusty bread.

Reading: ... Knitting patterns on Ravelry. I have some more eBay wool that needs a good project ;-)


Contemplating: ... A knitting needle holder to keep track of my growing second-hand knitting and crochet needle collection.

Simple - Green - Frugal Co-Op

My latest post on homemade pasta is up now on the Co-Op.






See you there!

Show and Tell - Part II

I promised you some more pics of my 'loot' LOL, so - at the risk of boring you to tears - here they are!

Mmmm, not one, but two round-tipped, bone-handled knives. I don't 'do' icing on my cakes, partially because I don't have one of these so I have no excuses now :-) Mostly though, I'm looking forward to breaking them out on the next batch of date scones (yum), since I've been using a tiny butter knife for the dough in the past. Now I can make them 'properly' ;-)



I remember this book - circa 1970's - clearly from when I was little, endlessly flicking through the pages looking for craft projects to occupy my short attention span. As they say, everything old is new again, so I'm looking forward to finding some projects for my daughter's to do (and me ;-)



Many years ago, my parents hosted a Japanese exchange student, who left behind a number of beautiful scarves as a parting gift. Having been looking at the Japanese art of Furoshiki - the art of wrapping items with cloth for travel or gift-giving - for some time, I was stoked to receive these to practice with... and maybe give away if it's a present for someone really special ;-)

I also scored a heap of fabric remnants to add to my stash - I can see those two metallic ones in the middle becoming a princess robe or ballerina tutu.

My multi-talented Mum makes teddy bears, amongst other things, and I scored a stack of fur remnants (we think the piece on the top is actually mohair, yum), including a huge piece Mum got super-discounted as it was the end of the roll.



Having been thinking about a fur rug ever since recently reading about how Kel took apart an old fur coat to make a throw, I definitely know what I will be doing with the big piece! The next time I'm going past a fabric store, I'll be popping in for a section of soft flannel or polar fleece to back it. Then I might have to hide it from the kids or I'll never get to use it ;-)



Then there is the huge stack of "Show Me How To..." magazines, which came from a series put out some time in the 1980's, so it is full of hilarious fashions, fabrics and colours (surely *I* never dressed like that?? And I totally deny ever having big hair... Ahem). The content however, is really useful - how to recover furniture, sew curtains etc etc. It's like, you know, totally rad.

Plus there is a big bag of sewing patterns, mostly for kids clothes which are so retro they are almost back 'in' again (always useful),

And last but not least, two soap making kits (just add boiling water). Excellent! I feel a batch of cinnamon and orange-scented soap coming on this weekend...

Now I'm off to try and find somewhere to store all my booty, sigh. I still haven't found places for everything after our latest stuff crisis. Wish me luck!