Interruption to Schedule

Ah well, life happens and the internet dies for 24 hours. I am back on board again and with any luck regular posting will be back really soon.

Eat The Food- Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Yeah, it's Artichoke Week over here.

As I mentioned in my last post we really love Marinated Artichoke Hearts. We got hooked on them a few years ago when store bought were well within our budget and we haven't really been willing to kick the habit since. Thus while our budget for such delicatessen counter delicacies has dwindled our love of them has not.

Some people may not agree with me but honestly in this household home made pizza just isn't the same without them. They are only second in my book to good olives when making this type of meal. As such it came down to two choices, find a low cost solution or only make pizza occasionally when we could afford the trimmings we like. Let's just say although we did it until I found this recipe the giving up pizza solution wasn't likely to work for us long term.

Now in our second year of artichoke cropping we are finally producing enough to actually preserve. I went out and seriously researched recipes. Funnily enough my searches found many recipes where Marinated Artichoke Hearts were an ingredient... very few to actually create them.

Of the few I found most of them were about doctoring tinned artichokes rather than processing fresh. While that is all well and good for times when my only option is tinned in this case it left me with very few recipes to play with.

Luckily for me the recipe I found first time round that is more than adequate. I am looking forward to eventually trying the recipe in it's original form. Currently though I don't have access to limes, where I do have access to copious lemons, so in the spirit of Eat The Food I have adjusted my published recipe accordingly.

The first time I put this together I replaced the lime juice with white wine vinegar. I found the strength of the vinegar seemed a little overwhelming. In the end I made the next two batches with lemon only and this seems to suit us quite well.

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Ingredients

* 6 cleaned artichokes,with the tough outer leaves removed
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 strips lemon rind, cleaned of pith
* 1 cup salad oil (I use olive oil)
* 1 cup Lemon Juice
* 3 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions
Place artichoke hearts and salt in a saucepan containing about 3-4 cm of water, bring to a boil.
Cook artichokes until just tender.
Pack in preserving jars. Place a sliver of lemon in each jar.
Combine the oil, juices and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Pour oil mix immediately over the artichoke hearts and seal. Process for 20 min in a water bath.

Artichokes from Seed

Now apart from their obvious gastronomic appeal Artichokes from seed are just plain interesting. Unlike the ones that come from the produce store, which seem to be almost identical, seedling Artichokes are quite varied. The thing is that you generally won't find the type mentioned when you are buying seed so it makes it a little difficult to make an educated decision.

Sometimes as above they are simply different varieties probably chosen for different purposes. Other times it becomes obvious that you have a genetic throwback which although fascinating to look are not all that flash hot on the whole food front.

The left hand one is a Green Globe and great to cook fresh. The wide bottom makes it easy to sit on the bottom of the saucepan to steam. It also gives you a large amount of "petals" to work with if you are trying to stuff or just enjoy one leaf at a time. The structure also also tends to thicken up at the bottom of the leaf better than the spear type I am growing.

On the right is unfortunately an unknown variety. I planted it out the first year I was here, before I started seriously making records, and it was the final of a packet. If anyone recognises the variety I would love to know as I have been seed saving it. The main reason for saving this seed is that it is my favourite for canning. In this family we love marinated artichoke hearts. The thin, long profile of this variety actually makes less waste when you are removing tough outer leaves. The outer leaves are nice and long they protect the inner leaves quite well, making it usual to only need to remove about 3 layers of leaves (about 10-12) before you start getting into the soft inner heart leaves.

Now this is a genetic throwback. Note the prominent spines on both the foliage and the flowers. Believe me when I say those spines mean business and can do significant damage. After summer growing the ones showing these features will be removed from the ground. Honestly I think I have a batch of dud seed on my hands as all the Purple De Jesse I have grown so far have had these characteristics. I suspect if I could get a good plant I would really enjoy this variety. It has such a lovely colour which would be beautiful on a spring vegetable plate.

That is why I am going to give the packet I have one more season. I need to be more sure about what is going on and the only way to do that is have more plants do the same thing giving me a more reasonable sample. Unfortunately I suspect this seed supplier is going to get an email come autumn.

Not only are they spiky, the artichokes themselves are extremely loose in their structure. This means all the leaves are pretty tough and they don't get very big before they start to bloom out to flower. Overall if you are growing for food rather than looks this variety currently isn't hitting the mark.

Anyone else out there growing their own Artichokes? What varieties do you have?

Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics - Week 50

Sowing seed or Planting -
Sow

• Caraway
• Ashwanga
• Dill (seed)
• Cumin

Plant Out

• Sugar Loaf Cabbages
• Purple Pak Chio
• Rainbow Chard
  

Harvesting

• 2kg Turnip
• 200g Spinach
• 2 tweeny Broad Beans
  

Observing

• The wood we used to line one of the beds last year is creating an unwelcome root barrier
  
• First broad beans are coming up to harvest size
• Later Blueberry is starting to flower
• Mystery Berry on the hill is flowering
  
  

Maintenance

• Most of the Leaf Mustard and Turnips have been harvested or dug in as required
• Pulled up the wood that was creating a root barrier and stunting growth
• "A" Set up fence to keep the chickens out of the newly sown and planted oat and Brassica's bed
• Slowly Started digging out the new bed
  

Planning for The Future -

• Filled out my weekly task schedule

Working for the Future -

• Played with Apple juice and Making concentrate
  
• Made Fabric ball for new baby in the family
  
• Made up more freezer food to avoid overtired takeaway nights
• Started knitting new dish cloth
  
• Completed PinWheel bobby pins for Christmas gift
• Sorted through stored gifts and op shop finds to see what gifts I still need to organise

Building Community -

• Completed volunteered hours at the Upwey and Districts Garden Club Flower show
  
• Attended Mt Districts Permaculture newsletter planning meeting
• Attended BEC Planning Meeting to discuss the Demo Veg Plot

Learn a new Skill -

• Tried various new recipes for nibbly bits
  

Jenny Wren's Pin Wheels

Well, it's done.

The first hand crafted Christmas present of the year is finished. Hopefully these 4 little pin wheels , originally designed by Jenny Wren, will capture the imagination and fill the young recipient with delight.

It's not going to be a large or impressive gift but it is full of thought and love.

How are your thrifty gifts coming?

Buckwheat Pancakes (Gluten Free)

There are a lot of recipes out there that use the nutty texture of this wonderful flour only as an accent rather than the main ingredient. In many ways using it in this way is a bit of a shame.

Buckwheat flour is a wonderful gluten free flour which makes light fluffy pancakes all on its own. The nutty, whole grain taste and texture is something that I find just that little bit special.

My recipe is and adaptation of Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes by A Messy Cook


Buckwheat Pancakes

1 1/2 c Buckwheat Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tps Clove (scant)
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (scant)
1 egg
1 c Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp Butter (melted)
1/4 c Apple juice Concentrate
1 Lemon (juiced)

Combine dry ingredients in your mixing bowl.

Whisk wet ingredients together to mix thoroughly

Stir wet ingredients into dry. Mix until combined.

Pour batter in small amounts , 1/8-1/4 c, depending on preferred size into a hot frying pan. Then turn when you get a good showing of bubbles on the top of the pancake.

Cook until turned side is a lovely golden brown

Lemon Jewel Marmalade

This is a marmalade for those who want that early morning citrus bite without the bitter. It is almost assured to wake you up on those sluggish early mornings.

As the pith is removed, this recipe can be time consuming depending on the type of lemon. Lemons with a nice thick peel before you get to the pith are best.

Lemon Jewel Marmalade

12 Large lemons
1/2 c Water
Sugar (Weighed equal to cooked mix at the end of stage one)
Thermometer

Stage One

• Rinse lemons to remove any dirt or grime
• Remove thin layers of Peel with either a vegetable peeler or zester. If using vegetable peeler, using a knife remove any attached pith, cut your sections of peel into small matchsticks.
• Squeeze juice from the lemons. For the clearest result filter the juice through a new cotton wipe or a section of muslin. Set seeds aside for use during cooking. At this point you should have about 1 3/4C of peel and about 2C of juice.
• Place 1/2 C Lemon Juice, Peel and 1/2 C water in the bottom of a stock pot.
  
• Bring mix to the boil over a high heat. Reduce heat, cover then simmer for around 25 min stirring occasionally until the peel is tender.
• While still on the heat add the extra Lemon juice and wait until the mix comes back to the boil.
  
• When tender cover the pot and let stand for 18-24 hours at room temperature.

Stage 2

• Weigh mix and add equal weight sugar
  
• Bring marmalade quickly up to a rolling boil on high heat, stir constantly.
• When the temperature of the mix reaches 103C-104C do a frozen plate jell test.
• If jelled to your liking, remove from heat, skim any scum and ladle into sterilized jars then seal.
  
• Process in a water bath for around 5 minutes
  

Potato Rise High

I don't know about you but between the dogs and the whipper snipper we often end up with a lot of damaged plastic pots. I have generally found that as soon as they get a largish hole in them even when patched to keep the soil in place they still become less than useless. The water just pours out the hole, more often than not straight onto your foot.

During one of those experiences last year that I decided that where possible I would decommission as many of the damaged pots as I could. Mostly I did that by moving the plants, if they survived into the garden. More often than not their less than awesome watering killed many of them regardless how hard I tried. Feel like talking about demoralising.

Anyway after the great depotting of winter I was left with at least a few 60L pots that were not going to be of any use growing plants but seemed too good to chuck. Sure they had holes but as a percentage of the pot the damage was pretty small. I put them away for a bit expecting at some point just to get sick and tired of tripping over them but not quite at the point I could justify to myself not trying to find an alternate use.

Needless to say as often happens the reuse ideas fairy had a plan, even if I didn't.

For the second year in a row some potatoes germinated in the pot I grew snowpeas in winter before last. As the soil is pretty good in those pots the potatoes shot up like a rocket. Of course without hilling potatoes can only grow so well and hilling in a pot isn't exactly an easy prospect.

Then it came to me, the point of tyre towers is to allow you hill a vertical space in an efficient manner.

A pot is really only different from tyres by being taller, and not made from heavy metals. By removing the bottom of one the damaged pots I was able to fill the second pot effectively hilling in the stems.

As this was only done a couple of weeks ago it is hard to tell if the potatoes will continue growing up, I may have left it static for too long. If it does take off I will simply add another pot to the top and just see how high it will go.

How do you grow your tatties?

Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics - Week 49

Sowing seed or Planting -
Harvesting

• 4 Artichokes
• 100 g Turnip
  

Observing

• all the mustard leaf is shooting for the sky, time to dig in
• Some of the first round banana capsicums are germinating
• Cherry is starting to flower
• Summer fruiting raspberries starting to flower
  

Maintenance

• Used the cultivator to move around the new slope bed to create two tiers with a slightly easier to work gradient
• dead headed last seasons fruiting stalks off the Summer fruiting raspberry varieties
  

Planning for The Future -

• Filled out my weekly task schedule
• Contacted Bel with some ideas I could supply to Spiral Garden
  

Working for the Future -

• Put Limoncello on to steep
  
• Talked to someone about getting some apple juice to try making Apple juice concentrate for baking
  
• many snacks and breadings done
• Lemon Marmalade complete
• Focusing on achieving at least 15min knitting a day to try and get a scarf finished.
• Completed a batch of unscented soap for Christmas presents
  

Building Community -

• Volunteered for a few hours at Mt Districts Permaculture Stall within the Stringybark Sustainability Festival
  
• Attended Mt Districts Permaculture monthly meeting
• Attended Garden Club meeting, volunteered for kitchen duties on show day
  
• 
  

Learn a new Skill -

• Tried new lemon marmalade recipe
  

Participant Posts
Remote Treechanger Sunday Oct 18th

maia's update - week 49

before i go...

sowing seed or planting -
sowing

• the rest of the seedlings from belinda, including the thyme

harvesting

• silverbeet
• herbs
• broad beans
  

observing

• a few seeds have stuck their heads up, but not many. i think the hay layer is too thick for seeds, it would be fine around seedlings
  

planning for the future -

• more trip planning - meals, stops, things to do, people to see
• contemplating more of the house packing and unpacking
• what shall i do with all my books? i don't think i need quite so many...
• my hairdresser mentioned her mum has a different limoncello recipe she learned in italy! i've begged for a copy
  

working for the future -

• desk is out in the yard, waiting for friends to pick up; it's resting on some skateboards, at P's suggestion. room feels waaaaay nicer!
  
• it's midday, and so far i've crossed 4 big items off my todo, tested a new recipe, learned about wildlife in my backyard, and i'm onto my second blog post. i rock!
• stage 1 of limoncello complete
• organising music collections for long drives
• backing up phone and computer
  

building community -

• composed a birthday email to a cousin far, far away
• caught up with family
• saw some people i only see occasionally
• had a few good d&ms with housemates
• saw a movie! julie & julia - it's beautifully full of food porn, and passes the bechdel test (which states that a movie is watchable if it satisfies the following requirements: has to have at least two women in it; who talk to each other; about something besides a man)

learn a new skill -

• polenta pancakes
• trail mix (been so long since i've made any it may as well be a new skill)
  

trail mix for the road

almonds and pepitas...
brazil nuts...

macadamias, only slightly singed....

i'm still working out the oven , ysee:


add sunflower kernels, sesame seeds, the last of the cashews from the back of the freezer, almonds, sultanas, chopped up mejool dates which ooze like solid honey in your fingers...

and, because i'm travelling with a boy, bacon bits, fried into submission.
as much as i maintain that people are people, sometimes boys are different country. i would've added dark chocolate, personally, but i admin the bacon gives the lot a nice savoury texture.

then mix in the biggest bowl you can find (in my case, that's the wok).
and bag up. did i mention i'm an overcaterer?

apparently, commercial dried fruit are ok to take across both state lines - into SA and WA - so we should be fine. i'm still weighing up the merits of sending some to eucla poste restante.

it's all planned - every stop and meal on the 6-day trip to fremantle. i've half-packed and made some lists.

see you all soon.

Cause Someone Needs to Care

I have this really naive and kooky idea. It's the idea that while there are people out there who care, and act on that notion, the direction of change will always tend toward the better. Be it social justice, the environment, animal rights or, well any other interest someone can conceive of for the betterment of humanity it all comes down to individuals.

If no person thought “you know what I don't think that is "fair/reasonable/equitable/sustainable” and start acting in ways to change their status quo nothing would ever change. Sure for those of us that care the extremely rewarding world change is excruciatingly slow at times. It is the feeling the weight of responsibility that would be so much lighter shared and the recognition that so much more could be done if only “others cared” that prompts frustration to set in. It is at this point we start asking whether the energy we devote to caring is worth it.

The thing is if we are totally honest with ourselves there are very few of us that have truly made all the changes we could possibly make. We all have a limit to the things we will willingly trade for a different future. For many of us when we reach that threshold is the time we start looking outside of our own actions to the actions of others in an attempt to share the load. We want to feel that we are not the only people making changes that cost us time, energy and convenience. Unfortunately for those of us where the world outside our home hasn't really changed all that much it is easy to fall in to despondence. It is at that point most of us long to climb out of the rabbit hole we fell in when we started to care.

Luckily as part of our journey we have often built up some type of support network. A group of people that empathise over your bruises, pick you up, dust you off and point you to an article like this and their wonderfully inspiring Tree Counter.

The Only Someone I Can Control or Need to Work On Is ME.

More people caring just increases the rate of change. It just supports the fact that I, myself can produce positive change.

Let There Be... Um.. Hothouse

Remember the above hot house, the one that I welcomed with much excitement until it had dumped everything on the ground at least 3 times in as many weeks a couple of years ago.

It was at that point I gave up on the whole thing. With the winds we experience up here unless something is concreted into the ground you simply can't expect it to stay put. The frame sat around the yard until earlier this year it was covered in chicken wire and is now used as the chickens permanent coop. The cover was packed into a corner of the shed by my husband and from there was basically forgotten.

Of course this year I have been facing the normal problem of living in a cold climate. You need to get seedlings stared early.. but of course when they get past the germination stage they start taking up a whole lot more room but still need protection.

In real terms I do need a full size hot house but right now we don't have the money for something that is going to be temporary. The long term solution will be house attached to help with winter temperatures but living in a fire zone means that any permanent house attached solution needs to be pretty darn certain that it won't burn. Anyway all of those requirements mean it is going to cost a lot to do, as such is going to take quite a while to achieve.

Anyway back to the project. I had gone to the nursery and bought a meter of solar weave. I had hoped it would be enough to jerry rig something that would cover my standard seed raising bench. Getting it home made me realise that if I had 4 m of the stuff I had a solution.... 1 meter not. so. much. Now anyone that has priced it will know solar weave it not inexpensive stuff and 4 meters was going to be a lot of money. Just as steeled myself with.. "I need a solution" and started toward the car. I was about 6 steps away when I remembered the old hot house.

At that point I didn't even have any idea where the cover was being kept. I went down into the shed to start what I thought might be a fruitless search, but couldn't face myself if I didn't at least try. After a bit of a rummage I came across a pile of white solar weave.

Found it

I pulled the lot out and noted the numerous holes, rips and tares legacy of the local rats and its rather violent previous service life.

Looking at the pile rather dubiously I spread everything across the ground. Viewing it from various different angles it hit me that the ends didn't have any damage and more importantly they seemed pretty close to the right size for the bench I was working with.

Cutting the ends off I measured them against the bench, then started pinning to try and get a feel for how this just might work. As I became more confident that I could make this work I decided to refine the frame it was going on so that the cover was less likely to end up squashing delicate seedlings.

It was at this point I took a deep breath, mustered all my knowledge about sowing woven plastics on a standard sewing machine (none), and pushed forward. With great deliberation I slowly fed the pieces of solar weave through the machine. Measuring and testing as I went to ensure that I ended up with something that was going to be of some use I slowly worked my way to the final piece.

Let's just say it was a patience stretching experience. I do not plan to repeat for a very long time, being honest given a choice EVER. The nerve rending balancing act of actually achieving a finished product without blowing up your machine was a very fine line.. and one I only just managed to stay on the right side of.

Needless to say when A made some very valid comment about how this thing was going to stay together I threw a totally grown up temper trantrum.

I believe a bit later I sorta apologised later and explained I didn't quite have the brain power to work that out right now. Luckily he did is best Mr Fixit work and put together a solution that to this point hasn't blown over (take my word for it that really is a significant achievement folks).

Eat The Food - Spinach Bourekas

The inspiration recipe for these morsels is a typical Israeli snack. As mentioned in the description of the original recipe they are a bit time consuming. Like many slow, whole foods I found them well worth the effort.

I was making this recipe to diminish the huge amount of spinach and silverbeet I had growing in the garden. Since I am not meal planning right now I needed to change the original a bit so that I could make it from what I had on hand.

Spinach Bourekas

Dough
1/4 c oil
1/2 c water + 1 Tbsp
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 C flour

Filling
3 tsp oil
1 garlic clove
1 whole onion, finely chopped
450g fresh spinach, cooked then chopped
1 c mashed potato
1/4 c chopped sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp dried dill
2 Tbsp dried parsely
1/2 tsp salt

Finish
Eggwash (1 egg with 1 tbsp water)

• Put the flour into the bowl of the mixer and turn it on at low speed. Slowly pour the oil and the 1/2 C of water into the bowl. If the dough is still not coming together add the tablespoons one at a time.
• Once the dough forms a ball, wrap it up and let it rest for 30 min
• When you are ready to pull the Bourekas together fry off the brown onion and garlic in oil. When translucent remove the heat, mix in the remaining filling ingredients and cool.
• Form the dough into 2 inch balls, roll into a reasonably circular shape.
• Place a heaping tablespoon (if it doesn't look like enough add a bit more) of the filling. Fold into half moon shape, seal the edges with water and press down.
• Move over to the baking tray, brush with eggwash
• Bake for 30 min or until golden brown
  

maia back to basics - week 48

sowing seed or planting -
sowing

• seeds, straight in the veggie bed: carrots, corn, spring onions, melons, eggplant (i think), and lots more - about a dozen lots of joy!
• seedlings: cabbages from belinda; the thyme is still waiting to go in
  

harvesting

• silverbeet, herbs

observing

• chillies ready to picked
• everything is growing and looking beautiful!
• i'm tired; spring doesn't usually knock me about this much, but i've had a big year
  
• the carrots i planted a few weeks ago have come up nicely
• i've been given interesting fun things as housewarming presents like pennyroyal
  

planning for the future -

• organising trip to WA. we're driving across together, the boy will be staying a few extra days and flying back; i'm manifesting the car being happy enough to drive me back on my own. adventures!
• i'll be getting rid of my big ugly desk, it's taking too much space in the room, and blocking my access to the window
• instead, i'd like a low - maybe coffee? - table, and cushions/futon mattress on the floor. have tried it recently, it's a winning combination so far. it would give me heaps of air and space in the room, as well as lend itself to rearranging at a moment's notice. freecycle, come to my aid...
• i'm not going to unpack most of my stuff until i find out about this interstate job. however, with the desk gone, i'll be able to unpack a few more things and make myself feel more at home
  
• organising making limoncello with belinda
• thining about restructuring my finances

working for the future -

• P helped me put up blinds in my room - blinds i received from friends
• have kep up water garden
• almost finished updating everyone on my new address; i got a PO box before i moved so i don't have to change my postal address again
• found a way to cull my phd project so i can complete it! this is enormously happy news
  

building community -

• helped organised birthday get-together for someone
• caught up with some friends
• went to my sister's gig

learn a new skill -

• putting up roman blinds
• a few new thoughts about time efficiency

other achievements from recent weeks: held a nicely chilled housewarming - lots of neighbours came including the guys running the cafe across the road, put down new carpet in my bedroom (post tba), completed lots of work, had excellent conversation with somebody about unpleasant behaviour that resulted in a much better relationship, swapped marmalade for empty jars, went to the high st festival with housemates and neighbours, planted potatoes, introduced someone to ceres, kept up correspondence, organised internet at home, caught up with a few people i don't see much, made friends with an interesting person....

Shhh, Lets Look in the Nursery

Wow, I can't believe it is so long since I have written about the garden.

Things have been ticking along and until the last couple of weeks the plants have been surviving basically on their own. Although the PDC was a wonderful experience and one I would repeat given the opportunity again loosing one, sometimes two days a week did really make a dent in my time. That plus the fact that gardening motivation over the dead of winter is a little lacking meant pretty much nothing happened in any type of organised fashion.

Luckily for me the work I did early in the season paid off, so we had food. Admittedly not a whole lot of variety but we had food. In fact I am well and truly at the point of giving mustard greens to anyone that stands still long enough. Do you think the zucchini rule (you know the one that says it's acceptable just to leave bags of the stuff in random cars and doorsteps) could be restated to include late winter mustard greens. Between them and the turnips with a substantial side dressing of English Spinach many of our meals have contained at least some 100 step content.

I am extremely grateful at this point that I gave myself just a little slack in that last fortnight of PDC push. I had looked at the moon planting calendar and instantly decided it just wasn't going to happen this month.. but when push came to shove and the days arrived everything was pushing me to plant. In the end I decided that the guilt of downing tools for an hour or so was just something that had to happen. Thus I planted the first round of tomatoes.

Now 6 weeks down the track I am so glad that I did. My experimentation over the last couple of years has taught me if longer season, hot weather seeds don't start going in, under glass, during September up here you really minimise your chances of a successful summer season.

As it is I am gambling with some of the crop, first round of cucumbers won't be going in for a couple of weeks. Peas are yet to go in the ground so I am really late on this one... and now really should make a decision between devoting space to a crop that is likely to be knocked around as the weather gets hotter , or just accepting that we are only going to have beans this year. It is a hard decision because we really like peas so I am sure I will go back and forth on this one a few times yet.

What can I say, these little beauties are currently being regarded with a mix of confusion, excitement and trepidation. I have tried for 3 years running and to this point have not been able to get my precious luffa seeds to germinate before sometime around mid summer. The excitement is based on the fact that for some reason, totally unknown to me, these little babies have popped their little heads out of the ground. The trepidation, is being caused by the fact that I am finding it really hard not to get my hopes up. Even with this early start every is going to have to go my way if a harvest is going to be mine. In an attempt to increase my odds I am going to send at least 1 of the current 3 seedlings down to Maia as things are just that bit warmer in the city.

How are your spring/summer plants coming along?

Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics - Week 48

Sowing seed or Planting -
Harvesting

• 200g Mustard Greens
• 500g white turnip
  
• 500 g spinach/silverbeet

Observing

• For the first time ever I have luffa sprouting before the beginning of summer
  
• Red Current flowers have fertilised and berries are forming
• A couple of the Simpson's Rosemary, that I recieved from a Herb soc member have struck
• the smaller,mustard greens in not great soil are starting to go to seed
• Artichokes are Artichoking

Sowing

• 24 x Cumin
• 24 x Caraway
• 24 x Alpine Strawberry
• 16 x Radish
  

Maintenance

• started weeding the T bed as it is going to be used as is this season
  
• Resewed the old hothouse structure into something that works better with my current setup
• moved some of the topless benches to allow overflow use when everything moves pot sizes

Planning for The Future -

• Spring garden dreaming
• In the process of setting up a time management system
  

Working for the Future -

• Got oven Fixed
• Ran Intro to Soapmaking Workshop
• Started rearranging the small freezer for the onslaught of baking that will have to happen in the next few days
  

Building Community -

• Ran Soapmaking workshop for members of PDC Group
  
• Attended BEC orchard pruning meeting and management meeting
• Attended Nurture the land Nourish the people talks
  

Learn a new Skill -

• Made new Spinach Bourekas recipe
• Sewing weave plastic used for hothouses
  

If I Let My Life Speak What Would it Say?

If you think about it the truest communication of what we feel is important is not at all about what we say and all about what we do.

We make a million different choices every day about how we are going to live our life. Do I buy that thing or make something similar? Do I clean the kitchen or go to bed? Do I walk past that person or tap on their shoulder and say hello? It is these seemingly inconsequential decisions that truly show us who we are choosing to be if only we care to look.

If you were unable to justify your actions with words... Would you be happy with what your life is saying?

Jazzed Up for Work

Some times you find something on the side of the road that isn't broken in any way which in it's natural state is just simply useful. Unfortunately they wouldn't have been left out for collection except for the fact they also tend to be extremely utilitarian. Luckily a determined girl with some op shop fabric and a sewing machine can create a cover for almost anything.

I will say right here right now this wouldn't be my first choice in fabric. Anyone who knows me would be well aware of the fact that an iron actually doesn't feature at all prominently in my life... (stop - snickering up the back). Again at the time that I bought it I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. The redeeming features of the fabric were present thought so I bought it and tucked it away. The colours were a combination I didn't hate, it was a good medium-heavy weight cotton and there was quite a bit of it.

My first thought was an apron. Then I decided that would be way too busy. It would be fine as a pocket on a plain print but the whole thing as an apron would just be overwhelming. Not to mention the semi feminist, sometimes, maybe part of my personality couldn't quite face the idea of wearing irons. Coming to that conclusion my brain put the ideas for this fabric down for a while and did the things it should be doing.. my PDC project.

As part of the BIG CLEAN of 2009, ongoing, I started looking around the room and realised the wire shelf unit was just bugging me. It was really useful but honestly I felt it needed to be tucked away into an unseen corner. For it's intended purpose, drying soap it was much more functional out under my attentive eye so there it was in my main working area visually annoying me every single day.

The fact I own 2 dogs with German Shedder heritage means that almost all my soap ended up with a fine layer of dog fur settled on it no matter how careful I was. So while sorting through my fabric I came once again across the infamous irons and decided that a spiffy little dust cover was in order.

Now after much brain straining, measuring, quick unpicking and resewing.... I present to you this vastly neatened, significantly less jarring version of it's former self.

Use the Food - Moroccan Carrot dip

With the resurgence of winter we have had in the last week I have been craving vegetably goodness. As I still don't have an oven, long story, cooking has felt less than inspired in the last 6 weeks. In an attempt to work my way back in I decided that I should focus on one of my favourite food groups.... dip

Wonderful colours paired with the sweet, spicy taste of this dip is a wonderful foil to warm pita.

To find the original inspriation just click through

Moroccan Carrot Dip
500 g chopped Dutch Carrots
2 cloves Garlic (whole peeled)
1 tsp whole Cumin
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 pinch Cayenne Pepper (t0 taste)
sea salt (to taste)
1 tbsp Honey
3 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp finely chopped coriander leaf
2 Tbsp seeded green olive (whole or chopped to preference) **optional

Cook carrot chunks and whole garlic cloves in simmering salted water until soft, around 20 min.

Drain well. Tip carrot and garlic into the food processor. Add spices and process until you have fine chunks. While carrot is still warm add honey and lemon juice, processing until smooth. Mix everything up so it's not all stuck to the sides and bottom of the bowl then with the machine running add your olive oil.

Cool well, then mix through the coriander leaves.

If you wish scatter olive pieces and drizzle olive oil for presentation.

Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics - Week 47

Sowing seed or Planting -
Harvesting

• 1kg white turnips
• 2kg Mustard Greens
• 1kg spinach
• 1 bunching onion

Observing

• Nectarine flowers got hit hard by second or third lot of heavy winds, heavily infected with leaf curl this year
  
• Realised almonds are closely related to nectarines, heavily infected with leaf curl
  
• A few Broad beans are forming, YAY
• many of last years potatoes have started to sprout, time to hill soon
• Red Current is flowering

Sowing

• 6 x Basil
• 6 x Red Banana Capsicum
• 12 x Green Squash
• 7 x Yellow Zucchini
• 6 x Woods Prolific Squash
• 6 x Amish Paste
• 6 x Eggplant (Early Long)
• 7 x Basil (Large Sweet)
• 7 x Tomato Siberian
• 7 x Tomato Anna Russian
• 7 x Tomato Break O Day
• 7 x Rainbow Chard
• 7 x Chives
• 7 x Cut Celery
• 7 x Artichoke (Purple De Jesse)

Potting up

• 3 x Tomato Roma
• 5 x Rainbow Chard
• 4 x Purple Tomatillo
• 5 x Tomato Siberian
• 3 x Tomato Break O Day
• 2 x Tomato Anna Russian
• 1 x San Marzarno

Maintenance

• surrounded fruit trees with wallaby guard as they had already started on the new growth
  
• slowly picking off most badly affected leaves on the nectarine tree

Planning for The Future -

• Organised and preparing to run soap making workshop through Community Harvest
• Set Date to run pasta making workshop through Community Harvest
• Decided to run a regular Open Kitchen for preserving aimed at increasing and diversifying skills within the PDC group
• Deciding where to grow the bean crop this year

Working for the Future -

• Rotated old preserves to ensure the new season ones are going to be used last
• Completed Dust Cover for my side of road soap drying rack in case a group of us decide to go ahead with splitting the cost of a license
• Finished the first 2 rooms of deep cleaning
• Fixed a lamp that got broken in the final two weeks of PDC Chaos
  

Building Community -

• Provided communal meal contributions for last 2 PDC classes
• Gave away surplus to need mustard greens to a couple of families that appreciate their unique charms
• Organised a few of us to go up to the Nourish the People seminar up in Warragul, we now have enough to cover all afternoon sessions so we won't miss out on info
  
• Touched base with one of the Permaculture group that became unwell and wasn't able to complete the course
• Gave seedlings away to Maia

Learn a new Skill -

• Chinese Button knot (fastener)
• Use the Open Office powerpoint equivalent
• Restorative Pruning for old and neglected fruit trees
• Made up a recipe for Toffee Lemon Marmalade chocolate (boy, is this just full of evil)
• Made Moroccan Carrot Dip

Participant Posts
Thanks everyone for hanging in there for the last 6 weeks. I really appreciate those that are still updating and supporting this challenge. Having your support really is helping me to become more mindful in achieving our goals.

Regular programming is now being resumed!

Remote Treechanger
Sunday October 4th
Sunday September 20th
Monday September 14th
Saturday September 5th
Monday August 31st

Cockatoo Dreaming
Monday August 31st