Getting my mojo back

Its been a while since I have posted something 'homesteady', but life has been crazy crazy for far too long. I studied my Masters part time for 3.5 years (hence all the crazy other posts), I went back to work part time, my babies all started big school, and  most recently I have started a new part time job working more hours. Sometimes you just have to let things slide until you can get your head above water again. For your own sanity you have to focus on what is going to get you through - sleep, eat and surviving. But now I am starting to feel the need to rediscover the 'old' me, and get back into my interests, find that homesteading mojo I have been putting to the side for far too long, plus look into some new ideas that were always on the '....when I finish this bloody study I'm going to.....' list.

So to get back into the swing of things, I have ditched the traditional housework-on-my-day-off routine and made these instead

 - Laundry detergent (makes about 10L)
 - Almond meal (sounds fancy if I said I 'made it' but I really just ground up almonds)
 - Toothpaste - I use this recipe
 - and cake...just cause it smells good and I wanted cake (I added poppy seeds to this recipe)

So to keep this post short and to the point as I soon have to go pick up kids, my new 'thing' is trying to decrease our waste, and in particular our plastics. I got interested when I somehow stumbled across Zero Waste Home and through a bit more research an Australian version at Gippsland Unwrapped. Although we are SO FAR from a zero waste household, I am trying to do things gradually (all at once doesn't work in our house). My first goal is to decrease the amount of non-recyclables. I know that it does take quite a bit of energy resources to recycle, but we have to start somewhere. I'll get to recyclables in the process, hopefully. So here is a pick of a few things we have been doing to decrease our plastics and waste

Here, I have fruit and veggie bags and also some homemade beeswax wraps which I use in the kids' lunchboxes. I roughly followed this recipe and used our own beeswax.

We already compost, make a lot of food from scratch and give food scraps to our new puppy (he's a bitsa rescue pup, he's destructive but cute), but I think we can do more. I have also been planning meals which answers the dreaded question 'whats for dinner mum?'..every..single..day, and I don't have to 'think' during the week. I have a planned list on the fridge and the kids now know just to refer to the list. ON the plus, I try to get those things that we need for our meals on our fortnightly shop.

I also hope to attend a UHC event next weekend - garden porn (aka seed catalogues). Between work, study, and football on weekends I have not been able to attend events as I would like.

But I feel like I'm coming back. Slowly.

What has been going on in our little world

So much has been happening, so much is being planned, so much has been about daydreaming and plans for the future, so much swirling around in my head. Rather than blog each individually I am going to do a summary of what has been going on in our world.

What has been started...

Our fireplace!! Woo hoo!! Although the near freezing daytime temperatures here at the moment would lean perfectly toward a red in front of a blazing fire...I shall have to wait a little longer...but maybe only about a week!

Here is the base!

Hubby has started home brewing and has done two batches so far - a pale ale and a Kilkenny-style beer. The bottling of the first batch started off horribly (faulty tap, beer all over the floor and walls, and free ranging chickens INSIDE the house with crazy screaming kids while we are trying to clean it all up!). We are bottling the second batch tonight - chicken and child free - fingers crossed. 

As  Miss 5yo is off to school next year and the twins will be starting preschool, I have decided to head back to study with the aim of maybe becoming a teacher. Ultimately I would like to work with teaching kids how to grow and cook their own food, and maybe even work with the Stephanie Alexander program in the future. Definitely a work in progress with even a permaculture design course or horticulture course thrown in as well. Hmmm...'cause the prospect of free time with the kids at school just seemed downright quiet and boring!

My first attempt at making 'weed tea' fertiliser. Its very smelly so I am not sure I am doing it right. Need to put some fresh weeds in again and do more research on what it is supposed to look like. Have ambitions to spray this across our block to hopefully aid in soil conditioning. I can only try. 

What I have been collecting...

Free Poo! I finally got around to placing a 'Wanted: Free Poo' sign up at the local Murrumbateman noticeboard in the hope that some nice farmer would allow us to come and collect some free sheep/cow poo for our compost and veggie gardens. Someone rang! So last weekend we went around and collected some free alpaca poo and have placed it in the compost to break down.

What is being planned...

Sheep! Although my Dad has warned me away from them as they can be too much work, we are definitely in the process of turning our front area into Paddock 1, and in time when the fruit trees grow a little more, creating Paddock 2 up the back. My plan is to rotate the sheep through the two paddocks as lawn mowers but also to fertilise and condition the soil. They are not going to be named. Which means, yes, our plan is to kill them for meat. A lot of our friends are betting that we can't do it. I think we can. At this stage I would like to try and prepare the soil better (maybe through some liquid weed/compost tea fertiliser), plus plant some shade trees, and obviously build some fences. I have also been mulling over ideas for a movable sheep shelter (similar to a chook tractor concept) to move to whichever paddock the sheep are in. Nothing concrete yet.

I want some with black faces!

A cellar (or root cellar or larder). We have been considering building a 'pool house' (certainly NOT a second dwelling and hence double the rates, Mr Local Council Inspectors), which potentially a cellar underneath to store beer, wine and produce in more climate controlled conditions. We recently received a quote back from a builder - ridiculously expensive - so the planning and alternatives are shelved still being explored.

Collecting fallen leaves to attempt to make some leaf mould. I have been watching the trees at the recreation grounds and their leaves are starting to turn so it won't be long before the kiddies and I are out with the rakes.

What I have been attending...

I attended the monthly Urban Homesteader's Club last weekend, which was a Soup Swap. I love going to these meetings and speaking with like minded, passionate people. I always come away with so many ideas and suggestions and knowledge swirling around in my head. My latest ploy is to send hubby fishing for some carp to plant under my fruit trees.

What I have been reading...

'Folks, this Ain't Normal' by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm. Been having a lot of 'Yes!' moments and thinking more about applying some principles to our little piece of dirt. About to read 'The Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Anne Shaffer for Book Club.

Hubby has been reading about the health benefits and medicinal applications of honey. I hope the kids and I don't cut or graze ourselves too bad in the near future as I think we are definitely going to be lathered in honey!

What I am cooking...

I have sort of got back on my little 'chemicals are bad' bandwagon and I have been trying to cook more things from scratch. A little while ago I blogged about the frozen pastry I used to buy for my quiche and a nice reader called Jess suggested that I try Maggie Beer's sour cream pastry recipe. Well I have and it is really bloody easy!! I switched the white flour for wholemeal flour (kids can't tell the difference hee hee!). I have made it a few times now and I won't be going back to store bought pastry.

I have also been making the Taco Seasoning Recipe from Picklebum's 'Cooking from Scratch' series. Apart from a little heavy handedness with the chilli powder the first time, again really easy, and the kids have adjusted just fine. I have also started to use our own homemade tomato sauce with a few modifications for the taco sauce. Again no complaint from the kiddies.

Although I have yet to make a proper loaf of bread (I have all the ingredients and the loaf pan but just haven't done it), I have been making bread rolls for burgers and accompliments to soups. Miss 7yo actually prefers my rolls (yay! Big internal fist pump!).

After reading 'Sweet Poison' by David Gillespie, I have endeavoured to cut out white flour and as much sugar from our diets as possible. I have been cooking with wholemeal flour and honey and the kids are still happy. Actually they can't even tell the difference. Now I know that honey is a liquid form of sugar, but it is lower in fructose than normal sugar and hopefully we will have an abundance of it that I can use for free!

What I am daydreaming about....

Free ranging pigs on our block. And ducks on a pond that I don't have. Growing an experimental patch of wheat. Where I can fit a big potato patch to grow enough to last us through winter next year. Our first lot of honey from our bees. When it will be warm enough to go for a swim again.  

How cute do they look!

Weekend Preserving

What a weekend!

On Saturday, we hosted the February get together of the Urban Homesteaders Club. It is great to catch up with like minded people who don't think you are weird when you talk all things fruit and veggie growing. Thankfully, the weather was good to us and the kids were all able to play outside whilst the adults could talk.

Saturday night I was off to Book Club where our latest book was ' Bel Canto' by Anne Patchett. I thought the book was well written and was an OK read, but I had his weird sense of deja vu in the beginning that I had read it before.

Sunday, we started off the day with some beautiful fresh scrambled eggs (yum!) and then got stuck into making my first ever batch of jam. As the peach tree (formerly know as the nectarine tree) was being attacked daily by our local flock of fruit tree wrecking bandits (aka cockatoos - grrrr!), EVEN with netting, I decided the fruit must be perfectly ripe and picked a lovely basket full.

The jam process began well, and was simmering nicely. I have read enough about jam making to know that I needed a 'gelling point', and luckily around that time, my mum and dad walked in the door and mum saved the day! I was on the right track but probably would have over cooked it. I ended up getting four jars worth and was pretty pleased with my effort! Although I have never had peach jam myself, it tasted beautiful and sweet and will go well with some scones I think.

We have had a very very mild summer here and hence the majority of our tomatoes have yet to ripen. My parents on the other hand have been getting tomatoes by the truckload and very generously dropped off a couple of bags for us. Last year, we had SO MANY tomatoes that we made a year's supply of tomato sauce. The supply only ran out last week so we very happily made another batch with the tomatoes. Five jars should last the kids another couple of months :) We made a new recipe this time (the tomato sauce recipe from Sally Wise's 'A Year in a Bottle'), which was heaps easier (just throw everything in the pot and cook) and it smelt amazing, so I guess the proof will be in the tasting shortly. When cooking the sauce last summer, we put everything through a strainer as that is all we had, but last year I purchased this mouli for a third of the normal retail price when it was out of season and it made sauce making this year a breeze!

Novice Breadmaker takes her first small step

Earlier in the year I blogged about a few new years resolutions that I would like to tackle this year, one of which was to actually bake a loaf of bread from scratch.

The most lovely Maria from the Urban Homesteaders Club (UHC) very generously decided to host a bread making workshop on the weekend for any UHCers who were looking for some knowledge and experience on how to get started. Maria has been baking her family's bread for the last 15 years, and therefore is a guru in my eyes!

We made two recipes, the first being Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall's 'Magic Bread' recipe, and the other being Maria's Family Loaf recipe.

With Hugh's Magic Bread dough, you can turn it into a lot of things!

We made some pita bread (note Maria's fantastic tomato haul in he background!)

And a focaccia!



The recipe can also be used to make pizza bases and bread rolls.

And with Maria's excellent tutelage, I managed to create this...

Foccacia with sea salt, rosemary and garlic!!

I made two of these, and the first one was absolutely demolished by the family in next to no time so it must have been OK! It would have gone smashingly well with some spicy roasted capsicum dip, the kind I used to buy at the Queen Vic markets in Melbourne. If anyone has a link to a recipe for it, it would be much appreciated!

I have yet to bake Maria's Family Bread  recipe as I need to get a few ingredients as well as a bread pan (I know I could do it on a flat tray but I want to try and make it like bread :)), and I am psyching myself to attempt it this week.

Once again, BIG BIG thank you to Maria for putting on the workshop!



Bare rooted fruit tree labels say the darndest things

A couple of weeks ago the family and I headed out to the Urban Homesteaders Club at Eat at Dixibelle's place. It was a great afternoon to see around her garden and chat with like minded people. This was the first time I have taken my kids and they seemed to have a ball playing with all the other kids that came this time. Next get together is at our place so we are busy preparing to have everyone around!

On a tour of her garden, hubby and I were admiring her nectarine tree with lovely ripe nectarines gracing the branches, when I turned to hubby and said " You know, our nectarines don't look like that - they are....fuzzy", hubby agreed. After we came back home and checked the tree, we realised that the bare rooted tree we planted two and a half years ago and only bared fruit for the first time this year, was not in fact a nectarine like we thought, but actually....a peach tree!!!

I guess it is just lucky we planted another TWO peach trees this year as didn't think we had any!

Urban Homesteaders Club

I have recently joined a group called the Urban Homesteaders Club.

Its a newly re-established group in Canberra and surrounds who get together once a month to talk about things such as composting, veggie gardening, baking, preserving, soap making, seed swapping, fruit growing, chook keeping and all other like minded endeavours.

It has reaffirmed two things for me:

1) I am not a nutter.

(Woo hoo! I always knew I wasn't!)

2) I am an absolute and complete novice at all this.

Amongst my close group of friends I could probably say that I have a small knowledge base on growing veggies etc and could offer advice and friendly encouragement. But in this group, I come home with my head absolutely buzzing with new ideas and suggestions and names of plants I have never heard of, let alone would try and grow and actually use to feed my family! (I still struggle with the 'normal' variety). I get home, and all this new found enthusiasm spills out and I can't stop relaying it to my dear husband who patiently nods and adds dramatic 'ohs' and 'mms' at the right moment until I exhaust myself and proceed to  jump on the net and research the latest topic of conversation at the get together. All the while, ignoring my screaming attention deprived kidlets, who want to describe in detail how they have been grossing their Dad out with their newly loose tooth all afternoon (I don't really ignore them, there are four of them and they completely out-number and out-drown me!). Excitement level is pretty high - on par with receiving the latest issue of Organic Gardening magazine in the mail and being able to read it uninterrupted from cover to cover - and that's pretty high! I know, I really need to leave the house more.

Needless to say I am very excited to have found this group and look forward to the next one and unearthing even more information to excite the juices and get me out into the garden.

Thanks Greenie for having us around on the weekend!

MM xo