purple pear organics

A Community Project

2012-02-21T07:53:00.000+11:00

A community garden in a neighbouring council was host to an Earthbag building workshop.It was funded by the council and open to all. Mark and I were lucky enough to gain a place.The workshop was run by a young couple. A young Australian woman, Beck and a young Brazilian, Marcello. Beck studied Architecture in Australia and then spent the last 3 years in Brazil learning to build with the earth. Earthbag building is their preferred style because of the speed at which a structure can be completed.

Soil type is important and should contain some clay so that when it is stamped down it compacts. Ideally you would use soil from your site but in this instance the soil is contaminated (all garden beds are raised) and soil had to be bought in.

The design brief was for a small wall around 3 shade trees including seating.
Design finalised and trench dug.

Bags are filled and placed in the trench....

and tamped down.....

The process continues...

See the buckets.

....an arch......

and a seat...

Whew! what a big day. Stay tuned for the finished structure.

Monday Morning Harvest

2012-02-20T11:39:00.000+11:00

This is what we picked this morning. It will go into the boxes today, along with some previously harvested produce like garlic, onions and squash.....

840 gms beans

105 gms parsley

2.1 kg lettuce

670gms silverbeet

3.5 kilo zucchini

10. 8 kilo cucumber

1.2 kilo salad mix

2.275 kilo tatsoi

575 gms basil

The first of the rockmelons. 1.6 kilo

And a little glimpse at what we did on the weekend. But more of that tomorrow.

The room is ready

2012-02-18T06:45:00.000+11:00

And now we wait....

He was due on Thursday !!!

What's in the box

2012-02-17T15:02:00.000+11:00

Fridays and Mondays are our CSA ( Community Supported Agriculture) box days. We pick the available produce, wash it and pack it. It is either picked up from the farm or taken to another designated drop off spot.

The produce we provide is seasonal, and therefore our boxes contain whatever we have growing at the time.

Here's a glimpse of what is in the boxes today....

Nourishment For The Soul

2012-02-12T17:20:00.000+11:00

A trip to the mountains was needed .......

A small dam. Can you see the steps going down into the water in the lower right hand corner - makes a swimming hole.

Dark and cool

Peaceful

If I was a little boy I'd walk across that fallen tree

Oh what the heck....

Some wild life....

A small eel in the swimming hole

A goanna half way up a tree

Peaceful, cool, magical, and green, all that was needed to nourish our souls!!

Slow Living - Month by Month

2012-02-04T20:10:00.000+11:00

I'm joining in with Christine a look at what we've been doing in the month of January. I've enjoyed reading through Christine's blog and think it a great idea to see what others are up to on their mindful journey's. Care to join us, pop on over to Slow Living Essentials.

SLOW LIVING MONTH BY MONTH 2012 January

NOURISH - We plan our meals around what we have growing in the garden. This month that has meant meals featuring tomatoes and zucchinis. See here and here for a couple of favourites.

PREPARE - We've made yoghurt and cheese from milk from our house cow. We've canned peaches from fruit from a friends orchard, Bottled roma tomatoes fresh from the garden,frozen beans, robbed the bees, and frozen chocolate zucchini cake.

REDUCE - Reused bottles and jars for preserving and the bags that our oats come in were used to freeze the beans

GREEN - WE use sticky fly paper for flies

GROW - we have been harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, beans, lettuce, tatsoi, silverbeet, capsicum, basil, parsley, corn.

CREATE- I'm always knitting or sewing. It's my evening relaxation activity. I've knitted this dress for my nephew's new little girl...

.... and sewed a pair of booties for a friends new little boy. These were made from scrap fabric from the op shop. Forgot to take a photo before I gifted them but they looked similar to these....

DISCOVER - I've discovered Christine's blog.

ENHANCE - We have been involved in starting an intentional village on the property next door, bringing together various members of the community

ENJOY - We enjoyed the birthday celebration of a dear friend. Wonderful music, great food and the company of fantastic people.

What a wonderful way to review the month and to see what others have been up to. Very inspiring. What have you been up to this last month?

Something Mistress

2012-02-03T21:11:00.000+11:00

We are lucky enough to have a spare room that I've been able to set up as a play room for the little ones we have staying at the moment.

I got some of my girls things down from the attic., the highchairs that their pop made and some dolls. From the op shop I got some old scarves, cups and saucers, wooden bowls and plates, a little kitchen dresser, some books and blocks and much much more to make the playroom a fun place to be. I've knitted and sewed some dolls clothes. Elizabeth aged 4 1/2 loves to come in and play,, often asking me or pop to come and play or read her a story "when you've finished working"

Her pop bought two books for the play room and we have started reading them to her.....

The top one is a story of a little girl who is shown some fairy houses that have been made in the woods. She decides to make one, following the rules that nothing artificial or living be used. The bottom book is full of photos of various fairy houses. Elizabeth loves the fairy house story, and when she left yesterday, I thought it would be nice to create a little fairy house for her. I used things that were from the playroom and set up a scene under the desk in the room.

Some flower fairies, some earth workers, shells and crystals and a little wooden figure. While I was out she popped in to visit her pop and have a little play. She came running out to Mark saying that "Something mistress is going on" Mark was a little perplexed, but Elizabeth took him by the hand to show him the "mistress' thing. Ah! thought Mark, something mysterious!!!

Village Life

2012-02-02T15:58:00.000+11:00

What would it be like to live in a village? I imagine young and old, married and single, crafty and not, musical and not, great cooks and not, the handy and not, all living within spitting distance so to speak.

We have a bit of a villager thing going on here at the moment. And I've got to say that it's not a bed of roses. In fact it's hard work. We have some family staying at the moment. 3 adults and 3 children under 5. They are living in our WWOOFer's accomodation. The lease on their rental finished and they have been unable to find another house to rent. So what do you do? They are family and they cannot be left out on the street!!!

They are wonderful people, but their lifestyle is very different from ours. We are miles apart in our ideas on just about everything. How do we find ways of resolving our differences without compromising our beliefs. Is this the sort of stuff wars are fought about?

And then there is a minor emergency and the baby needs to be left with pop.......

How lucky are we? We hope to build an intentional community next door. It is a testing time for us all, with everyones different personalities, ethics and intentions.But the idea of building a safe place for children, a supportive place for parents and a secure place for the elderly, as well as provide sustainable low cost housing in a peri urban location is very appealing!

Vego Challenge

2012-01-31T14:18:00.000+11:00

Due to an Eco Village meeting happening here tonight, I will be using last nights dinner for the Vego Challenge.

Yesterday was one of those days where we were both on the go all day long, and I found myself wondering what I was going to do for dinner. I've got to tell you that I was very tempted to duck up to the fish and chip shop.
But good sense prevailed and I remembered some leftover pasta sauce I had made 2 nights ago, using onion, garlic, tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, tomato puree that I'd preserved previously and some tempeh. I just added a few more tomatoes and some more puree, heated it up and put some pasta swirls on to boil.
While they were cooking I made up a crumble mixture using ;

175 gms rolled oats
50 gms parmesan cheese
75gms butter

Combine these 3 ingredients and rub in the butter.

Place sauce and pasta into oven proof dish and top with crumb mixture.Bake for about 30 mins in pre heated oven 180 C/ 350 F, until golden and heated through.

Very fast, very tasty, used up some leftovers and ready by the time Mark got in from the garden at 8pm.

What's On The Go

2012-01-30T21:33:00.000+11:00

I sometimes think that I'm a glutton for punishment. Why do I think that it's OK to try and stuff as much as possible into one day/week/month/year.

I have been a little overwhelmed with what's going on for me lately, hence the lack of posts.

Not only is it summer, the busiest time for us gardeners, but also us preservers, sellers of garden produce etc., etc. But to add to that I'm consumed with challengers. Don't buy from supermarkets, don't but any new clothes, only give handmade gifts. Reduce waste, buy in bulk to reduce packaging, don't waste any food, reuse own and everyone elses waste, and the list goes on and on. Does anyone else feel like they have to do everything!

Any way ,on top of that we are involved in saving our neighbours land from developers and starting an eco village. You can read more about it at littleecofootprints. Tricia has a couple of posts about it.

As well Tricia and I have a new little venture about to start. It involves farms, small children and birthdays.

Everything is all so exciting but very, very exhausting. Not to mention that very shortly I will be a grand mother

Chilli Corn Pie

2012-01-24T18:36:00.000+11:00

Tuesday night again, and it's time for the Tuesday Night Vego Challenge with Linda. Here's one of our summer favourites as our garden has most of the ingredients at this time of year.

These are the ingredients from the garden and our chooks. The chilli was some that we dried last year.

And here are the ingredients from the pantry.
Chop and fry the onions, and garlic and add chilli, add the diced zucchini and capsicum, Cut the kernals from the corn and add that to the pan and then dice the tomatoes and add those too. If mixture is a little dry I add some tomato puree previously made.Then add some beans- I use cannelini beans or red kidney beans. If I don't have time to soak dried beans I use tinned, but that's not ideal.Once that's cooked pour into an oven proof dish and prepare the polenta.

Mix together 2/3 cup polenta with 1Tblspn plain flour, 1/2 tspn salt and 2 tspn. baking powder.. Make a well in the centre and add 1 beaten egg, 6 tblspn milk 1 tblspn oil. Beat until a smooth batter is formed, and spoon over the mixture and sprinkle with a cup of cheese.Bake in oven at 220C for 25- 30 mins.

I forgot to take a photo. This is from one we had previously

I serve it with a fresh salad also from the garden.

Obtain a Yield and Catch and Store Energy

2012-01-23T13:57:00.000+11:00

The tomatoes grew, caught and stored the energy from the sun, we harvested them.....

..Then preserved them as chopped tomatoes thereby storing energy for the winter.

This is 13 kilo of roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped. Preserved in a Fowlers Vacola water bath. Our customers get approx 20kilo of tomatoes a week, between them and we plan to preserve the rest. There's probably 20 kilo more in the fridge so far, and Mark's making tomato- sauce at the moment with less than perfect tomatoes.

This is the first year we have preserved in such earnestness. We are determined to make the most of all our produce, and set ourselves up for winter with summer produce. It is very new to us and a real learning experience. It has been very time consuming ( it took me most of yesterday to bottle the tomatoes) but I'm sure we'll get much more proficient at it, and I know it will be cheaper and healthier for us and will help to set us up for the'year without supermarkets' challenge that Tricia is running over at little eco footprints. We are running a little behind Tricia, planning to start in February. But if it's anything like our year without buying anything new challenge that we set ourselves a few years back, it will become a habit and we'll just continue on indefinitely.

Zucchini and Corn Patties

2012-01-17T19:29:00.000+11:00

Joining in once again with Linda for a Tuesday night vego challenge. Linda has some beaut looking bean burgers tonight and we're having zucchini and corn patties served up with a crisp garden salad. At this time of year just about everything has zucchini in it and these patties are favourite way of using them up. Just to vary it a bit and because we have the corn fresh from the garden we are adding corn to the batter.

Ingredients.

1 cup grated zucchini
1 tspn salt
1 egg lightly beaten
pinch of chilli to taste
1 cup plain flour ( we use wholemeal)
1 tblspn oil
2/3 cup tepid water
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
other vegies on hand ( corn for us tonight)

Method

Add salt to grated zucchini and mix it through, set aside to draw out moisture in zucchini. Add chilli to lightly beaten egg. In a separate bowl mix flour with oil, working oil into flour with the back of a wooden spoon. Add enough water to make a firm dough. Add undrained zucchini.Add more water if required to make a soft dough ( like fritter batter). Add any other vegies now eg.corn, chopped red capsicum or peas and the cheese.

Place spoonfuls of batter in to shallow oil in frypan.

And serve with a fresh garden salad...

We find this a very quick and easy meal, nourishing and satisfying!

Happy Birthday

2012-01-16T21:56:00.003+11:00

28 years ago today I gave birth to this beautiful person...

And very soon she will give birth to her first child...

She is going to be a beautiful mum! Happy Birthday Rhonnie. I love you!

New Skill Achieved

2012-01-12T20:44:00.001+11:00

I learnt to crotchet quite a few years ago when I was teaching at a Steiner School. It is part of the 3rd class curriculum. I was one step ahead of the children. We made beanies. The stitching was very basic and we never named the stitches, so even though I completed quite a few beanies and helped the children with theirs, I didn't learn to follow a pattern and even though I've tried in the interim, I've given up out of frustration. Then I knit this little dress which needed to be edged with crotchet. So I took a deep breath and threw myself at it. And was I pretty pleased with myself when it was finished.
And then inspired by Jaquie's success with her ripple rug over at The Barefoot Crofter and the purchase of this book...

..and my success with the edging, I'm going to give the ripple rug (pictured on the front of the book) a go.

Here's my sample ( sorry about the quality of the photo. Maybe after I master crocheting I'll take some photography lessons!!!) . The book gave very good detailed instructions for each stitch and explained how to follow the pattern. I learnt single, double, half double, treble and how to decrease each stitch. The pattern reminds me of waves and if I choose the right colours I think it will fit in nicely with the theme my daughter has chosen for her baby's room. Her husband is a surfer and he has requested colours inspired by the beach in the nursery, so I'll look for yarn with those colours in mind.

I am now really keen to get started having taught myself a skill that I'd thought was beyond me,( mainly due to my lack of patience rather than an inability to learn.) Wish me luck!

Waste not want not

2012-01-11T19:18:00.001+11:00

I have always been fairly conscious of not wasting food, but after seeing a movie trailer over on frogdancers blog, I am more determined than ever not to waste food. Not that we really waste food because anything not consumed by us goes to either the dogs, chooks, ducks, guinea pigs, geese, worm farm or compost.In our household it is excess from the garden that has the most potential to be wasted especially if it is in some way unsaleable.But there's also the last of the bread that's a little too stale to even toast......

So off come the crusts.....

and into the processor they go. Often I freeze them until I need them. I used to be quite lazy about this until I read what goes into an average pack of breadcrumbs.

And of course there are also leftovers for lunch. Once a week I'll be sharing the ways in which we are trying to be more mindful of not wasting anything. What special tricks have you got for reducing wastage?

Tuesday Night Vego Challenge

2012-01-10T15:55:00.000+11:00

I'm joining in with Linda for her Tuesday night vego challenge . Being vegetarian every night for us is vego night but the challenge for Tuesdays is fast, easy, healthy, in season, real food, which is us usually every night as well but sometimes they are not so fast. The emphasis on my entry into the challenge is to provide as many of the ingredients from the garden as possible.

One problem I had was when do I post this, but Linda answered that for me today as she had thought of the problem as well. So here's the one from last night....The best Fried Rice in the world (I am a little biased) cooked by Mark.

These are the ingredients from the garden.....

and these are from the shop...

The secret to Mark's great fried rice is that he fries the uncooked rice until it's nutty brown. The onion, garlic, and grated ginger are fried first and then whatever vegies are available.(The eggs are fried separately) These are removed from the wok and then the uncooked rice is fried in some oil.. Once it has reached that nutty brown look, stock is added and boiled until rice is cooked, at which time all vegetables are added to the rice. The fried egg is added and stirred gently into the rice just before serving. Soy sauce may be added to taste.

More and more our meals are dependant on what is growing in the garden, and popular recipes are adapted to what we have available in the form of produce and what's in the pantry. The challenge I have set myself this year is to be much more conscious of this, with every meal. How many ways are there to have eggs for breakfast, without getting sick of them!

One Man's Trash

2012-01-09T08:47:00.000+11:00

....is another man's treasure.

This is some of the 'trash' that arrived in a trailer the other day. It all started because we needed to get our house cow, Bella, to the bull. We needed a trailer to get her there, and so decided to hire one, and thought maybe we could get a deal as we only needed it for a short while. As it happened the trailer was full of rubbish at the owners house and if Mark would take it to the dump and pay for the cost of dumping it he could have it for the day. Yea, sure Mark says.

Now, as it happens we use guinea pigs to keep the grass down in and around the garden....

and just before Christmas we decided we needed to increase production on the guinea pig front so we put a male in with our 3 females and ta da.........

There are 11 babies altogether

So we have been on the look out for materials for more cages. We've been checking out the second hand building centres and the dump shops but haven't found anything suitable. But in one afternoon we get a trailer for nothing and keep some good resources from going into land fill, the cow to the bull, and in the pile of trash, this guinea pig cage....

Here it is after a few repairs. It needed a little house and wire underneath.

....and here it is with guinea pigs at work keeping the grass down between the rows!

But not only that, in the pile of trash is a bird aviary, some chicken wire, some tin, another cage, a dog kennel and some really great shelving. When Mark took the trailer back he mentioned the shelving and the guy says there's more and he can have it for a carton of beer!.
Do you ever have those sort of days when everything just clicks into place!

Fruit Fly Nets

2012-01-06T19:53:00.000+11:00

On New Years Day we had an email from a friend with a small mixed orchard to say that she had some ripe peaches ready to harvest and would we like some to preserve. Yes please! She said that she had netted them this year with nets purchased from Green Harvest, and they seemed to have been successful. So we jumped in the ute for a lovely country drive to her farm.

Jane had netted her peach trees, and although only small trees, they were covered with fruit. We took most of the peaches from three of the trees and got 15Kilos.

The nets proved to be very successful. Not only was there no fruit fly but Jane says that the net protected the fruit from birds as well. Jane also has nashi pears which she didn't bother to net because they aren't particularly fond of nashis. She asked if we like to take some and we thought we'd have a go at preserving some. But when we got them home the whole box had been stung by fruit fly, so it appears that the nets on the peaches worked a treat. ( the nashi I had to feed to the ducks and chooks)

At home this year we lost a lot of fruit to fruit fly and birds, so I will be getting some of these nets for the next fruit season.

Hit the Ground Running

2012-01-05T12:26:00.000+11:00

This is what happens when you take your eye off the ball....

Our mandala garden has turned into a jungle.

Mark and Chris, our WWOOFer have been working hard to clean it up.
We've had a lovely rest over the Christmas / New Year break. We both got books for Christmas and I didn't feel one bit guilty reading in the middle of the day, and I got some sewing done as well. But now it's time to get back in to work mode once again. We have been blessed with cool wet weather over the past few weeks and the garden has become quite overgrown. Thankfully a WWOOFer has turned up and he and Mark have been very busy taming the jungle, using all the weeds to make a compost heap.

There has also been a lot of activity in the kitchen preserving the summer bounty. Zucchini and duck eggs are very abundant at the moment so Mark has been making chocolate zucchini cakes to freeze...

....an abundance of Purple King beans....

..to freeze. Placed in boiling water for 1 minute (Blanched)...

..then immersed in iced water...

notice how they have changed colour from the hot water

...and placed in bags in meal sized portions for freezing...

I use a straw to suck the air out of the bag

And we got a couple of trays of organic mangoes for a good price and we spent a good part of a day preserving them using our Fowlers vacola bottling gear....

Peel the mango, slice and place in jar

Add syrup. we use a light syrup of 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water

Using a bamboo skewer to remove air bubbles

Add the lid

and the clip

And place in the water bath. We were 3 jars short so preserved some berries at the same time.

The jars are covered with water and heated for 1 3/4 hrs.. We just had to taste some when they had cooled and they were delicious!

I am grateful that we are able to take WWOOFers( Willing Workers On Organic Farms) who can help Mark on the farm, as at this time of year I seem to spend more and more time in the kitchen preserving our produce and less and less time helping Mark in the garden.

Happy Christmas Meghann

2011-12-25T20:15:00.000+11:00

Hi Meg, our day in photos for you........

Not today , though we got it ready for you in advance

Rhonnie's wearing my apron as a bib, her belly is in the way come meal times.

Breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, croissants, jam and cream and Marks eggs. Yum and orange juice and bubbly

A new old bike for Scott.

@ little pee wees had fallen out of their nest

We put them in an ice cream container

and Mark put them back up in the tree. Their nest was far too high. We did the same thing last year and the parents looked after them in their new nest. Hope it works this time.

Thanks for the lovely trivet You're are so clever. It's just beautiful...

And you did a great job on Rhonnie's nappy bag. We all really missed you but I'm glad you got to spend the day with friends. Dom called this afternoon, it was lovely to hear from him. Mark and I have had a lovely day. Gudrun came to lunch , we've read and slept and now we are having trifle for dinner!

Love Mum xxx

Winding Down

2011-12-22T15:46:00.000+11:00

We take a short break over Christmas. We still need to tend to the animals of course, and Mark still needs to milk, and watering usually needs doing over the summer, but we have had so much rain and the days are so cool and not like summer at all that we won't need to do that either. But we do have a break from making up our CSA boxes for just one week. We both bought a couple of books at the op shop the other day, and we will be laying about resting, reading and maybe knitting for me if the weather stays cool and cricket on the telly for Mark.
I will be having a break from the computer also, so until the New Year I would like to wish you all a very happy holiday season.

Kate xxx

The Winner Is...

2011-12-20T20:42:00.000+11:00

Congratulations to Georgina for winning the Garlic braid and thanks for your comment......

Thanks for the tutorial!!

My question is how long do you need to hang it out for before you can start eating it? (this is the first time I have grown garlic)

Mark replied "you can eat it straight away but mostly when the skins are dry it peels best so depending on the weather a few weeks sees it ready for use."

I did have a photo of Mark drawing out the winning name but then the battery went dead. So Sorry, it was a nice photo!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and I hope your braiding is coming along well. And Georgina if you can get back to me I'll post you off your garlic braid.

Happy Birthday Mark

2011-12-20T17:15:00.000+11:00

What a beautiful day for a birthday. After all the overcaste and rainy days we've had, today has been glorious. Birthday celebrations began with breakfast of course..

Followed by some op- shopping. Before you think "poor man fancy being dragged along to op- shops on his birthday" let me tell you it was his choice, he just happens to love op shopping as much as me. He was in need of some shorts, sandals and he just can't resist stainless steel. I found some curtaining for some new curtains in the WWOOFer's caravan, some books for some light reading over Christmas and a children's book for the littlies. (oops, sorry it's up side down)

And then, a picnic lunch in the park...

Although the ocean was choppy and the breeze a little cool, it was lovely to be near the sea. We enjoyed a lunch of home made paneer, grilled eggplant, sundried tomatoes and olives with crusty bread. Yum!

And then home for birthday cake and a cup of tea. I'm always longing to get home for a cuppa if I've been out all day.

Chocolate zucchini cake of course!

Mark and I have been together for 9 years now. It has been an amazing journey. He is an amazing individual , a master garlic braider, and my best friend. Happy Birthday Mark!

Mark will draw the give away at 8 this evening so you still have time to leave a comment. Check back here after 8pm to see the results!
Tricia has featured him in her post on garlic. There's a great photo of him taken by little eco.

Hand Made Gifts

2011-12-19T19:58:00.000+11:00

I've finished knitting Leah's cotton dress and bloomers. I'm really pleased with them and managed to teach myself the double crotchet and crab stitch for the edging.

For her big brother and sister I was able to pick up a hand painted (by the children) silk ribbon streamer for Elizabeth...

and for Jeffrey some hand made blocks ( sanded and polished with bees wax by the year 1children ) at the local Steiner school...

Both presents were on sale at the school's annual Fair. As much as possible we wanted to give hand made gifts for Christmas. We had a Christmas lunch here on Sunday for Mark's family. Along with the gifts above were the adults gifts of honey, jam and a garlic braid.

Speaking of garlic braids, if you haven't yet left a comment here for the braid give away you have until 8pm tomorrow night. Just a reminder that we can only send the braid within Australia, excluding Tasmania due to export restrictions.

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-17T21:34:00.000+11:00

We have a lot of Casuarina (She Oak) suckering around our duck pond....

Over time they become overcrowded and need thinning out. The smaller ones we transplant to windbreaks around the farm, but some are too big and today we chose one for our Christmas Tree..

Once Christmas is over the leaves and branches will go back to the garden as mulch and the trunk will be used to make some toy fences for our grand son for his birthday next year. No waste!

Mark has been busy over the past 2 days robbing hives and collecting honey...

Here he is decapping a frame. This is our food prep. room where we wash, sort , weigh and pack our vegies. The milk is bottled here and of course the honey is collected here too.

We bottled some up into cute little jars, capped them with some upcycled, reclyced paper and made some labels. It was great fun.

And here's one gift ready for family when they come to lunch tomorrow. Home made berry jam, honey and a garlic braid!

The little dress I started for our baby grand daughter is up to the crotchet edge stage and I'm just in the process of learning how to crotchet. I've still got a few days yet!

I still have one small gift to make for Christmas and then I'm done. Then I need to get on with a couple of gifts for 2 new little babes. Both little girls - 1 , a new grand daughter for my brother and his wife, and the other the 4th grand child for a dear friend, who by the way has another due in Jan. and then my grandchild comes next.

If I'm to get gifts for them all I'd better get moving.

How are your Christmas gifts going?

Garlic Braiding and Giveaway.

2011-12-13T13:22:00.000+11:00

I have enlisted the services of the Master Garlic Braider himself to provide you with a garlic braiding tutorial....
Step One cross the stems of two corms.

start with two

Step Two - loop the stems together to ensure the braid doesn't unravel.

then knot them together

Step Three - place a third stem between the first two.

then add a third

Step Four - plait these three stems for three plaits. You will be looking for the next corms to sit neatly between the first two and the middle corm.

and plait a few strands

Step Five - the process continues as you add garlic to the braid, first to the outer two then the middle one and the addition of stems ensures the length of the braid. Keep any short stems till the end where length no longer is an issue.

add more as you go

keep it tight

stems make for length

when you have enough

Step Six - when you have added the desired number of corms plait the stems till you reach a suitable length.

plait til the end and tie off

I like to braid within the Fibonacci sequence of numbers because of the affinity to nature and eight and twenty one are the most common though the smaller garlics some times go to larger numbers.

Thanks Mark for sharing your expertise.

Now for the giveaway....To celebrate our garlic harvest we'd like to offer this garlic braid as a gift....

Simply leave a comment, and a winner will be chosen at random by Mark on his birthday 20th Dec, at 8pm. Due to quarantine/customs restrictions the draw can only be open to Australian residents

Good luck,

Kate xxx

My Weekend

2011-12-12T12:08:00.000+11:00

~ making labels
~ gifts for family and friends
~ garlic braid label
~ Lebkuchen biscuits to take to a party at the home of a CSA subscriber
~ op shop find so the grandkids can sit up at the kitchen bench

Interesting Reading

2011-12-11T08:49:00.000+11:00

While in Melbourne on a course with David Holmgren, a couple of weeks ago, Mark was told about this site. Mother Earth News, The original guide to living wisely, covers just about everything to help guide us on our simple living path. There are articles on preserving, cheesemaking ,gardening , green energy, health etc etc. I found this article very interesting and the house would be quite appropriate for our intentional community, I think.. There are blogs to visit and the Canadian Cam Mather reminds me a lot of Mark and his no nonsense approach to life.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. It has finally stopped raining here and we can actually see blue skies. Might even get some washing done, certainly a little Christmas crafting.

Kate xx

Developing Community.

2011-12-10T13:39:00.000+11:00

It's not often that an opportunity like this presents itself. It is so vital that food producing land, close to settlements maintain their purpose for growing food. Occasionally, opportunities arise, to develop community incorporating food production with housing, on the urban fringe.
One such opportunity has presented itself. The land is currently zoned rural, but surrounding land has previously been bought by developers with the intention for residential development, with a forecasted rezoning of between 5-10 years.
With proper planning, housing could be incorporated into a rural setting making food production possible as well as providing medium/high density housing and community common land.
To seize this opportunity we need to source the financing of the land from people with community development in mind ( in contrast to the abject greed of your typical land developer).
We would love to hear from people who a would love to be a part of this opportunity for developing community with investment of money/ time/ ideas/ support etc.
Money is important at this early stage to secure the land before it is snapped up by developers.
Here is a little something from a friend along the lines of development, if you care to look.
http://pocket-neighborhoods.net/.

Zucchini Glut

2011-12-08T19:50:00.000+11:00

What do you do with a glut of zucchini? We are averaging 4Kg a day of zucchini. Most of them go into our CSA boxes, but it still leaves us with lots. We add them to just about every meal. They have been an ingredient in our evening meal for the last 4 nights- vegetable stack with paneer, paneer with vegetable sauce, curry, and tonight vegetable rissotto.
This afternoon, while going through my recipe book looking for another use for zucchini I came across a chocolate zucchini cake recipe scribbled on a piece of paper and thought I'd give it a go. Normally when I write a recipe down I note where I've got it from. I didn't do it with this one and I can't remember where it came from, so if any of you out there reading this recognise it please let me know so that I can link it back from whence it came.

Ingredients.
1/2 cup butter
11/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
21/2 cups SR flour
4 Tblspns. cocoa
1 tsp. bicarb soda
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn. salt
2 cups grated zucchini

Method
Cream butter and sugar
Beat in eggs
Add milk and vanilla
Add sifted dry ingredients
Stir in zucchini
Pour into 23cm x 30cm tin
Bake at 160 c for 40- 45 mins,

Delicious.....

It certainly will be one of our regulars over summer while ever the zucchini glut is on!

Employment

2011-12-06T18:57:00.000+11:00

What does it mean to be employed? The dictionary describes it .. ' To give work to; to keep at work.' It doesn't say anything about being paid for that work. And what of work..."effort; a task; achievement...' "to labour, toil..'.. 'to bring about; to influence; to fashion...' Again, nothing said about payment.
In nature nothing is unemployed. Everything goes about it's work to take care of it's needs. Once their needs are met they rest.
Last week I went to a talk by Ted Trainer.

THE SIMPLER WAY:

WORKING FOR TRANSITION FROM CONSUMER SOCIETY TO

A SIMPLER, MORE COOPERATIVE, JUST AND ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY.

In Ted's talk the point was made that if there is anyone who is not actively employed then there is some serious faults in that community.

At an employment seminar some years ago I had the opportunity to ask the panel including ALP president (past president) and pickabox champion Barry Jones a question on employment on behalf of the Permaculture Hunter Group.

My question was "If we can teach people to provide for their needs through gardening, would we not eliminate or reduce unemployment?" Barry answered by saying that it happened in Lismore on the fringe of society - totally missing the point I am afraid. I still believe that employment is an activity that provides for your needs and the needs of your family and some of the most employed people on the planet are "stay at home mums"

Chooks lead a life full of purpose.
They are employed scratching. eating bugs and weeds. pooping and laying eggs.

Having purpose is what we need to be employed. We need a reason to do the things we should and from this comes the satisfaction which goes with being active in providing for your self and your family.

Lets work towards 100 percent employment by staying focused on the things that give us purpose and provide for our needs and the needs of those close to us.

Mark and Kate ( in collaboration ) xxxx

An Amazing Individual

2011-12-05T19:53:00.000+11:00

I've had cause to say this to Mark quite a few times today. He truly is an amazing individual. While he has been away and with all the rain we've been having, the garden has just gotten out of hand.Before morning tea Mark had started to tame it.He had paths cleaned up, green manure crops turned in,and weeds thrown to the chooks.
But it started long before that. Up at 5.30 to milk the cow, down to the garden to harvest for the boxes, and while I washed and packed he got breakfast ready, and then made paneer cheese.

While I was delivering boxes he continued with the garden and while I did the animal feeding, lock up and egg collection he cooked me my favourite dinner.....

Fried paneer cheese with roasted capsicum, eggplant and tomatoes, caramelised onions on fried bread. Yuuuummy!

Mark, you are an amazing individual!

Around The Farm

2011-12-03T16:54:00.000+11:00

Mark has been away since last Monday, and took the camera with him, so I haven't had any photos to share with you or the time to do much blogging. With Mark away I had to try to keep up with some of his jobs as well as my own. He went to Melbourne to do a 2 day course with David Holmgren. Lucky him! But he's home again and I'd like to share some photos....

We are picking 2 Kg of berries every day. Most goes into our CSA boxes but I have been freezing some and making jam

Corn and Zucchini patch then...

and now....

We are picking between 3 and 4 kg a day of zucchini and the corn is flowering. Next to the corn we planted beans which are now climbing up he corn stalks, with squash growing underneath, The American Indians "3 Sisters".
So much has been going on around here. A Steiner School year 3 camp, a baby shower for my daughter, a tour by some year 12 students environment club. I went to a talk by Ted Trainer on Living simply. Nothing new in what he had to say really - basically stop consuming so much, but we all know that don't we. His suggestion to us all was to join Transition Towns and support what they are doing as , in his opinion, it is the only chance we have of making a real difference. Previously he hasn't had good things to say about TT but he said that was because they weren't going far enough but now he says if we all get in there and do something it has a chance!.
After that I had a lovely dinner in the park with some other Permies, before watching a new film Growing Change-- A journey inside Venezuela's Food Revolution. It's a documentary by Simon Cunich. He spent a little time on our farm a few years ago and photos of our farm are on the film!
All our tours, workshops and courses are now finished for the year, so I hope that we can slow down a bit and gather our thoughts. We have many exciting things planned for the new year including some new projects!
But for now I need to take it easy for a while I think. I have some gifts to make for Christmas as well as some special things for my grandchild, as well as keep the market garden going. I hope to be more regular with my posts here as well. We'll see how that goes.

Beaten By The Rain

2011-11-25T20:21:00.000+11:00

This is the first of our onion harvest....

and our garlic...

Here you can see the garlic braids. They have since been moved inside

which we managed to get in before the rain on Monday night. If you wander over to Linda's, you will see rule no. 4 tells you to pick the garlic ( or onions ) in the right weather i.e. when it's dry. But we missed that opportunity and had to harvest it in the rain. It has rained for 4 days now and if we'd left them in the ground they would certainly have rotted sooooo, Mark and his daughter, Rebecca, have been working tirelessly to get the crop in, and hanging it to dry.

This is the last of the garlic. Tomorrow it will be moved into the movie room in front of the fans . Once dry Mark and Rebecca will clean it up and braid it. ( a messy job, they are both covered in mud)

Here's the bulk of it hanging in front of the fans. The onions are bunched and the garlic has been braided.

Not an ideal situation. We have our fingers crossed that it will dry well!

Milking Time

2011-11-23T19:33:00.000+11:00

Mark with Bella, Patsy and Blossom

Mark started milking Patsy the second day after little Blossom was born. Blossom is Patsy's first calf and we weren't sure how well she take to milking. But due to Mark's educating and handling of Patsy since she was a young calf she has handled the whole thing really well. Mark even found her waiting in the milking shed this morning. Mark is milking Patsy morning and evening at the moment to get her used to milking but also to take some pressure off her udder.

In about a week, Blossom will be locked up in the calf pen after her afternoon feed. This allows Mark to get the first lot of milk in the morning before the calf takes it all. He will take between 3-6 litres every morning and leave plenty for the calf to feed any time throughout the day. The cow is mostly happy with this procedure as she feels happy to know that the calf is secure all night while she can go off and graze and the calf is kept warm and safe overnight and wouldn't feed again during the night anyway, so seems to suit all round.

We only milk once a day and get more than enough milk for our needs. We have plenty to drink and enough to make all the cheese and yoghurt we need.

Welcome to the Newest Addition

2011-11-21T16:39:00.000+11:00

We have been waiting for the arrival of a calf from Bella....

We expected her to give birth in October, but no calf appeared. It seems that she had a phantom pregnancy.
Meanwhile while our attention was on said cow, young Patsy has silently and secretly been blossoming....
About 2 weeks ago it came to our attention that Patsy's udder was starting to grow, She was bagging up, which could only mean one thing. Just under 9 months ago a bull had got to her. We were unsure when the calf would be born as we had no idea when the bull visited. We hoped that it might have appeared for the visiting school children, but sadly no. But late yesterday afternoon we discovered this....

A beautiful little heifer

Here she is with her mum and grandmother.

It will be so good to have creamy fresh milk again!

Life's Like That

2011-11-20T13:01:00.000+11:00

Some of you may have been wondering what had become of me. Well I'm still here, but completely taken up with what life has had planned for me. In the words of John Lennon... "Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans.." or something like that!
Just a little run down of what's been going on here since last I posted.
We had a class from the Uni come out for a Tour, It was my birthday on 11/11/11 and after running a workshop for the council we had a picnic in the park and Rhonnie came out for tea. Then it was all hands on deck getting the farm ready for a class 3 camp form a Steiner school. We had 17, 8/9 year olds and 6 adults come and spend 2 nights camping in their tents. It rained the whole time but we didn't let that interfere with the fun. There were animals to feed, eggs to collect, sour dough bread to make, newspaper pots to make, potting mix to make and potatoes to plant.We needed to harvest vegies and prepare meals made from our lovely produce. It was a very busy couple of days and both Mark and I are exhausted. Mark reckons it's easier to hoe rows than look after children.. I think he could be right.
But no time to rest we needed to get ourselves ready for the council's Living Smart Festival where we were presenting a talk on Mandala Gardens and erecting a stall to show case the vents and workshops we have planned for next year. It went quite well with people showing interest in our calendar of events. And Marks talk was well received and he even attracted 2 interviews on ABC radio!
From there we rushed home to feed animals and be at a dinner by 6pm to deliver a speech to Permaculture North Sydney who were in the Hunter visiting some local Permaculture properties. We talked about community involvement from a purple pear perspective and how that relates to permaculture for us i.e. Chapter 14 in the Permaculture manual. We spoke about Transition Towns, LETS trading, Permablitzes, Citrus drive, Bike awareness, Festivals and much more. And this morning that same group came out to the farm for a tour and morning tea.
Some comments...
Fantastic. Real Permaculture. Thankyou
An inspiration to us all!
The sum of your accumulated knowledge and skills is infinite. Thanks for sharing it.
Your property has a wonderful energy. You walk your talk- congratulations, it's no mean feat!!

They were a great bunch of people and it was a real pleasure to have then on the farm. Showing people, who are really interested in Permaculture, around the farm is such a buzz.

That's just about it for us this year. I only have my daughter's baby shower next weekend and then I'll be able to draw breath. I would like to say a big thankyou to all you wonderful people who left me such lovely comments after the death of my mum. They meant a lot to me. I hope to be able to get back to regular blog posts. And now if I could just find my camera!!!

Let's Talk About Spring

2011-11-03T19:34:00.000+11:00

We have most of our Spring plantings done....

There are new babies.....

The completion of a very successful Spring PDC ( permaculture design course)....

This morning a bus load of Uni students turned up for a Farm Tour. They were a great bunch of young people and it gives me hope that things just might be OK.

We have had a busy spring. Just as the PDC was to start Mark's son and his daughter and her partner and their 3 children moved into our tiny house. The lease was up on their rental and so far they have been unable to find a new place. It's been wonderful to have the grandchildren around and today I thought it would be nice to set up a Spring Nature Table....

Because Elizabeth is so taken with the little chicks (31 in all) I thought some pom pom chicks would be good to begin with, one yellow and one white.And a little bird in a nest. I'll see if she would like to help me felt some eggs.

It's fun to have little ones around!

Yarn Along Christmas Gifts.

2011-11-02T20:13:00.000+11:00

Joining in with Ginny for a look at what I'm knitting and reading.

'Well, I Wonder' is a look at childhood from a Steiner perspective. Are our children missing out on their childhood? "Surrounded by technology and pressured into early learning. the modern child is often bounced between the' entertainment' of television and computer games and the premature intellectualization of early reading and school tests'. It looks at strategies for providing the traditional qualities associated with childhood- imagination, play, wonder and fun. I'll be buying this for one of my daughters for Christmas.

This is the beginning of a dress knitted in cotton for our youngest grand daughter for Christmas.

Have you started your handmade Christmas gifts yet?

A Sad Day

2011-10-23T20:30:00.000+11:00

Early yesterday morning my mother passed away in her sleep. She would have been 89 tomorrow. She was a kind and gentle soul. Ever since my father died 5yrs ago she has been drifting away but thankfully she has always recognized her children, me and my 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We have been blessed with 2 wonderful parents and now they are both gone.

More PDC

2011-10-21T20:20:00.000+11:00

On Wednesday we looked at Soils and Water . Two really big subjects, so Mark spent the morning looking at Soils - the basis of food production, and the afternoon on water - the hydrological cycle and the by happy coincidence there was a talk at our local Permaculture meeting on harvesting water around the house and disposal of waste water through grey water systems; composting toilets tanks etc etc. So off we went. It was also a great opportunity for the guys to meet other permaculturists and hear about what's going on in permaculture here in the Hunter.

A talk on plants suitable for grey water systems

A close up of some of those plants

Some produce to share

Some different sorts of Basil- the plant of the month.

Books for sale

Surrounded by lovely people, great information And a cup of tea and a piece of home made cake. What more could you want?

Day 2

2011-10-18T20:02:00.000+11:00

Today we looked at map reading, Design methods, the climate and micro climates. We rendered the front of the propagation house, with a cow manure render, to increase the heat absorption when the sun hits the bricks as an exercise in micro climates

Embellished with an 'Om'

Mulberry Harvest

2011-10-14T19:55:00.000+11:00

We have quite a large Mulberry Tree in our house yard. There are a few bantams that live under there. They love it . It is a deciduous tree so in winter the sun shines in and the hens are nice and warm. In spring the tree quickly grows leaves and provides some shade for those hotter days. When the fruit starts to mature the branches get very heavy and hang down to the ground so that on really hot days the hens are really well protected form the heat.

And when the fruit is mature we are harvesting everyday.....

and there's still plenty that fall to the ground for the hens, ducks and geese.

I've been freezing them, making syrup, and baking with them...

mulberry muffins

As soon as I get the time I'll make some Jam. But at the moment we are flat out. We ran a workshop for a neighbouring council on Natural Pest Control and Companion Planning. It was a great group who really picked up on why we choose not to kill anything either with natural products or chemicals. Quite often when we do these workshops all the participants want to do is kill and they don't hear anything else.

On Monday we start our Permaculture Design Course. It runs for 12 days straight with participants staying here for that time. It is very intensive and I may not get the chance to Blog. I apologise to you all in advance and look forward to catching up in a few weeks.

A Frog Pond

2011-10-11T19:30:00.000+11:00

On the weekend, as part of our workshop we made a frog pond.....

We used an old tyre, having first cut off the rim on one side. The trye gives the pond strength and stability and also gives another level inside the pond. The hole was dug 38cm deep (min) the width of the inside of the tyre, levelling out at the top to the width of the outside of the tyre so that the tyre sits flush with the surrounding earth. In the hole place some fatty sand or thick layers of newspaper. This protects the liner. Make sure everything is level and then add the liner, (we used 2 pieces of builders plastic). Fill with the hose making sure you even out pleats as it fills. When water is at the top of the inner hole place the tyre on the ledge, placing the piece you cut off underneath ( this disposes of it ). Finish filling the pond and when it's full place a stick in the pond, making sure it sits inside the tyre so that you don't pierce the liner, for lizards and birds. Over the rim of the tyre place some rocks to hide the tyre but also for habitat for beneficials, being careful not to push down on the rim.

One of our participants was a mother of a toddler with another on the way. She was a little concerned about the safety of the pond with children around and asked if there was another way to attract frogs. ..

There are many frogs which don't like deep water and will live in and around shallow water and make themselves quite at home in bromiliads.

A Beginning, A Middle and An End

2011-10-10T20:53:00.000+11:00

Talking with a dear friend a week ago and she said ."Do you know that everything has a beginning, a middle and an end? " Well I can honestly say that I'd never given it much thought, until now and it's been on my mind ever since she said it. The one thing that came to my mind straight away was life,- The beginning is birth, in the middle is life experience and death at the end. But does it apply to everything like Nicola said? And what is the implication? I think she said that it was a Buddhist statement and it was important to remember it to help us focus on our tasks. I could be wrong. I was so caught up with the statement and trying to find the one thing that breaks the rule that I stopped listening to what she was saying. Typical of me!

Anyway it has affected me in numerous ways...Sleeping's not finished until the bed's made
A meal's not finished until the dishes are washed AND put away
The laundry's not finished until the clothes are put away.

I have found that I approach activities with mindfulness when I know that the activity / work must end.I'm mindful of the beginning- I find this quite easy, I am mindful of the middle while it still requires effort or concentration but I lose it near the end with the consequence that sometimes I don't finish, but there it is, it has to end and what happens is that I carry it around some where in my mind weighing me down til it ends. Sounding a bit like Feng Shui. So over the past week I having been pushing myself to end things and it has had a positive effect.

Preparation- beginning

Cooked- middle

End- Let's eat.

But of course it doesn't finish there.It crosses into all areas of my life. I know that I am mindful of the things I consume. What has been it's beginning- Has it been produced ethically and sustainably ,will it be consumed efficiently ( The middle) and what becomes of the waste at the end. Mindless consumerism thinks very little about any of the 3 stages but especially the beginning and the end.

Relationships. We try hard at the beginning, are present and focused and mindful of the others needs-courtship, then during marriage we can become distracted and lazy and treat it mindlessly which can lead to separation and divorce- an end. Or we can be mindful and keep the relationship going to the end- Death

I see this being connected to will development and maybe something that has been missing in our education.
Anyway I know I'm prattling on a bit but it has been on my mind.

Backyard Vegetable Production

2011-10-09T18:11:00.000+11:00

This weekend we ran our backyard vegie production workshop. It ran over 2 full days and covered a wide range of topics based around 4 main areas.
Design
Propagation
No dig gardens and
Natural Pest control

Design covers aspect and site analysis. Participants draw a rough plan of the property, put in north ( or south for our Spanish participant) and existing structures etc and then we start adding various aspects of the property that will have an effect eg winter sun, summer sun, strong winds etc. We ask them to make a list of things they would like in their backyard and look at how all these are best placed.

Propagation is next and we look at making our own seed raising mix and potting mix, how to sew seeds, when to pot up, how to plant out and much more. We discuss what vegies to grow, how much of each for family requirements and how often to plant to have continuous supply.We construct a simple propagation house using hay bales and an old window, and discuss where to place it in the backyard for maximum efficiency.

We get our hands dirty making a nodig garden and planting it out discussing placement of various seedlings depending on size, access and time needed to mature.

Natural pest control starts with the Web of Life game where we try to show how completely we are connected to everything else and how disruptions such as pesticide use will disrupt the web.

We build a frog pond...

and a worm tower..

Some comments....

"Very informative and inspiring and helpful. I have learnt enough to start my home vegie gardens"

" I learnt heaps, loved and valued all points covered. Appreciated knowledge shared by Mark and Kate"

I love the people go away after a workshop feeling confidant enough to get started on the path of producing their own food.

Around the Farm

2011-10-06T17:59:00.000+11:00

6 bantam chicks

The secret garden down beside the house

Across the other side of the path. You can just see the blue box for our solar panels on the wall

The house garden with chook run under the mulberry

Baby goslings just starting to hatch. I risked life and limb to get this shot!

Garlic patch

Raspberries just starting to flower

Dinner time!

Todays haul

Our pecans are flowering for the first time

Another little bantam has gone clucky, so I've taken away her little eggs , dowsed some full sized eggs in the hope that I choose females to pop under her in the morning.

Here you can see the heart shaped pendulum that Mark made me from brass angle and braising rods.

As you may be able to see, the day has been quite overcast and drizzling with rain. We have had quite a lot of rain over the last week or so and everything is looking green and abundant. I love how the farm looks in Spring.

Transition Town - Maitland

2011-10-05T20:17:00.000+11:00

Last Thursday we went to our monthly TT meeting. We had planned an Open Space where people have an opportunity to bring a topic that interests them to the group, with the purpose of bringing everyone's thoughts concerning said topic(s) out, and put down on paper. It is often through these open spaces that working groups form. But it turned out that not very many people could make it so, after a very social shared dinner, we talked about the what's been going on for us over the month.
S. said that she'd been without her car for a few weeks and is seriously thinking of selling it. She is close enough to public transport to either walk or ride her bike to the train and when she needs to go by car somewhere she'll see if she can catch a lift with someone else going in the same direction. Mark and I have had similar thoughts and often catch the train if appropriate, and sometimes ride our bike. We will still need our farm ute for farm stuff.. It inspired us to ride our bikes to the Organic shop to do our shopping on Saturday, a ride of roughly 11km each way. Not a bad ride but I did find the hills a bit challenging on the way back with a heavy basket.
L. said she had applied for a community liason position in the hopes of influencing some community activities.She talked about the Wonder Rug and plans to take it to the Art Gallery to be displayed.
V. told us about a new community radio that has started up and she agreed to contact a local community station to see if TT can get some air time.
J. had just bought herself a new push bike and was planning to do a lot more riding.She is quite fit now and rode from our place to the end of the road 7klms each way on quite challenging roads.
Plans were made to involve LETS next gathering at Organic Feast, and Bev the Bottle will be there to advertise the cash for containers campaign.
Mark and I have been approached by 2 different areas to conduct workshops with residents of housing commission developments. One with residents with only courtyards and the other with a community garden in mind. So much going on and so much to do, out in the community as well as here on the farm. We are running our Backyard Food Production workshop this weekend, looking at design, propagation, natural pest control and no dig gardening. Hopefully enough to give participants sufficient info and confidence to get them started growing their own food.
Next week we screen our next Movie that matters. A film on bees.
Next TT meeing will be addressed by our local sustainable house owners. They will tell us how and why they decided to retro fit their house, what they have done so far and what plans they have for the future.

Gift Giving at Christmas

2011-10-01T09:06:00.000+10:00

Mark and I were given this book by participants from a past Permaculture Design Course. It's full of great ideas for living simply, perfect for someone starting out on the path of sustainability. My daughter from Melbourne was asking all about growing her own food and it prompted me to get the book out.

I said to Mark that I thought it was a really good and practical book and that we should buy it for everyone for Christmas, and he said why buy it for people who would never look at it . ( he actually said something about me being a hippy and people rolling their eyes and throwing the book into a corner) and I said well maybe we should buy (or make) presents this year that we think are worthwhile and add something positive to the world and then find people who would appreciate them, whoever 'they' may be. Just a thought!

A Duck Deficiency

2011-09-30T19:47:00.000+10:00

One of Bill Mollisons permaculture principles is The problem is the solution. He is quoted as saying with regards to this principle, 'you don't have a snail problem you have a duck deficiency'.
Our market garden had a duck deficiency which we have rectified....

We let them in for a few hours in the morning when the snails are most active and then let them back out before they do any damage to the seedlings.

And here are some photos of our new little chicks. We have moved them out of the basket into a chook house that Mark built.

6 out of the 8 eggs hatched. They each have feathery feet like their dad (or dads, as their were 3 roosters in with the hens at the time. One grey, one white and one red)

The geese are sitting on a heck of a lot of eggs. Goodness knows how many goslings we'll get. Any one interested in some geese?

Family Visits

2011-09-28T18:03:00.000+10:00

My youngest daughter Sarah is up for a few days from Melbourne. She's here to visit family and friends but was ever so keen to see her sister and see for herself that lovely bump.

We all spent the day together. First we visited my mum, then had lunch, cooked Rhonwyn's dinner, some anzac biscuits and as Rhonwyn's a hairdresser she gave us both a trim and a colour for Sarah.I helped Rhonnie with her knitting. She's making a little pair of pants for the baby and needed help increasing.It was lovely spending the day with them. I usually see Rhonwyn once or twice a week but I do miss the other 2 who both live in Melbourne. Sarah's coming to stay tomorrow night but leaves early Monday morning. Not nearly long enough. She is hoping to get back in late November for the baby shower. I hope so!

When I got home I could hear a cheeping sound on the verandah next to the door. A hen has been sitting on eggs for exactly 21days and the first of them has hatched.

Can you see it? It's so tiny.It's just there above the egg. The first bantam chicks I've had. She nested in the onion basket.

I'll get better photos over the next few days as she starts to bring them out. Now what to name her, as it is a 'her'. I doused the eggs remember! Well, we'll see.

The WWOOFer is cooking dinner tonight, so it's nice to have a little time to catch up on my posts. They have been a little less frequent these days due to added pressures that always occur around this time of year on the farm, so I do apologise.

Queen of the Sun

2011-09-27T20:34:00.000+10:00

Last week we received our new DVD 'Queen of The Sun -What are the bees telling us"

It is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive.

Many of the people featured in the film are biodynamic practitioners. Rudolf Steiner warned of the collapse of bee colonies that we are now experiencing way back in early 1900's. He said that the mechanisation of the bee industry would destroy bees.

Bees were once looked upon as a sacred and honey as a gift from the bees, so sacred that it was never sold, but only given away as a gift until the 19th century. At this time hives were forced to conform to farming practices that made it easier for bee keepers to maximise profits. Sound familiar! But bees are not your ordinary farm animal. Our very existence depends on them. Bees pollinate 40% of our food. In the U.S. alone 5 million colonies have been lost.

Challenges for bees:

Mechanisation-
Mono cultures- habitat loss. The almonds of California is a great example of this. Hives have to trucked in every year for pollination of the trees because the monoculture is so vast that there is nothing for the bees once the almonds have finished flowering.
Migratory bee keeping- bees from all over the world are brought together for pollination purpose which brings together any pests and diseases that the various bees may have.
Pesticides.
G.M. plants- compromise the immune system of bees.
Varroamite.
Artificial insemination of the Queen which leads to decreasing strength of the Queen. The lifespan of a Queen has decreased from 5-6 yrs to 1yr if she's lucky. The Queen is deeply connected to the sun forces. She flies 600ft into the air and will mate with up to 1 doz. drones. She will receive over 1 million sperm and produce millions of eggs, laying 1500 -2000 eggs a day if allowed to reproduce naturally.
Swarming is prevented.- A swarm is the hives natural way of procreation. After a new queen hatches , the old queen flies out of the hive with almost half the workers. They find a new place to build a hive and leave the old hive for the new queen.

The very next day after watching this wonderful film, one of our hives swarmed. Mark put a little honey into a bee box and coaxed the bees into the box. A few days later and another hive swarmed. We now have 6 hives. Today a friend rang to say that their hive at swarmed and could Mark help. They now have another hive. Bees are a very important part of our farm. We plant a diverse range of plants so that they always have forage, even in winter. And their honey is very precious. We often give it as gifts.

Moving Planet

2011-09-24T20:08:00.000+10:00

To get us moving beyond fossil fuels. Moving-Planet.org

The sign at the front gate

Making garlands for their hair

Can you make out the 350 in the grass to signify the 350 ppm of carbon that is desirable in the atmosphere.

These ladies made their way to the farm on their bikes, quite a distance I might add. Well done ladies!

Clay sculpting

Great music. Thanks Matthew.

Tree climbing.

What a great day for the planet.Thanks to everybody who participated.

On My Mind

2011-09-23T17:42:00.000+10:00

As busy as we are I did get to spend some time with Leah while her mum and dad helped Mar get ready for tomorrow. They marked out a big 350 in the paddock to represent the 350ppm carbon that we should be aspiring to.

And it was the first time I got to see her roll over. What a clever girl!

Linking up with Rhonda with a Friday photo and what's on my mind

Dinner Tonight

2011-09-22T18:23:00.000+10:00

Dinner tonight after a very long day is Tofu Enchiladas, once again from my favourite Vegetarian cookbook, by Kathryn Hawkins

Cut 250g of firm tofu into small pieces and coat them in flour, paprika and chilli and fry them til golden and set aside. Fry 1 onion ,2capsicums (peppers) and add 1 sliced avacado, 4 tomatoes and 1 cup grated cheese.Now add tofu and mix well.

Divide mixture into 8 and spoon onto 8 tortillas ( i use organic mountain bread). Blob on some sour cream and roll up each one.

Place in a baking dish and add a tomato sauce of your choice. You can add a bit more cheese on top and bake in oven for 45mins in moderate oven. I serve mine with a garden fresh salad.

Yesterday we were invited to guest lecture at the Newcastle University to a Social Development class studying Raj Patel's book 'Stuffed and Starved'. We talked about Purple Pear , about the farm as an organism, the diversity of animals and plants and their inter relationships. we then explained about CSA ( community supported agriculture ) and what form ours takes. It went very well, and they asked good questions at the end, and for our troubles they presented us with a quite substantial gift voucher for the uni. bookshop. We are looking forward to finding some time to peruse their online shop! After that we continued on to Newcastle by train for dinner at the Hare Krishna restaurant before attending our local Permaculture Meeting. A big day and we were exhausted by the time we got home at 9pm. Our WWOOFers kindly looked after the animal feed and lock up while we were gone.

Today has been a mammoth task getting ready for our 350.org event. This year it's called Moving Planet which emphasises the various alternative ways we we can move around which will help bring the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to an acceptable 350ppm. At the moment it is well over 450ppm. So we are encouraging people to walk , catch a train, ride a bike or a horse or whatever their imagination can come up with. We are offering farm tours, Movies that Matter, cheese making demo, and more and hope others will bring something to share. The event is on this Saturday and has meant a lot of cleaning up in the garden and around the farm.

WWOOFer's

2011-09-17T19:17:00.000+10:00

Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Evie asked if they were worth it and I may have given a false impression about them with all my whinging. The short answer is Yes they are. We would never have got as much done here in the beginning without them and they have been very important in the ongoing function of the farm.Since 2006 we have had over 85 wwoofers. Some come as a means of improving their English, others to get to know Aussies and their way of life and some come because they are interested in sustainable farming and living. The former are sometimes in for a bit of a shock because we could in no way be classed as your "Typical Aussie" and they're a bit surprised by the work they are expected to do, the composting toilets, the vegetarian food, snakes etc, etc. But on the whole they take on the challenge and leave with a whole different outlook on life, so in some ways we are doing more for world peace than anything else! And some, a small minority just don't get it and leave to find something more to their liking, something more like a resort.We are a working farm and we expect our wwoofers to put in a good and fair days work, and for that they get great accommodation and good organic food.

Here's a bed the wwoofers and Mark have been working on. A no-dig bed for corn and beans, and zucchini

We stipulate that our wwoofers stay for at least a week because it takes a couple of days to train them and we don't want them leaving just as they learn their jobs. And after the week if they like us and we like them we renegotiate and some wwoofers have stayed for a few months, but they are the ones who are here because they are interested in sustainability. And then their are some who say they are leaving after a day because the works too hard and we are happy to see them find a new place. They are not all going to fit in. In the 85 or so that we've had we've seen 2or 3 leave early and a handful leave after the weeks up and the rest have stayed longer. Most we are still in contact with and it's been a lovely experience on all sides.

Feeding them and organising and supervising is a big thing. The ones who stay a while get to know the place really well and can be left to get on with it on their own, so it takes the pressure off us a little in that regard. And food , well it's just a matter of being organised. I make big meals not necessarily more and so I shouldn't really have to be in the kitchen all that much more. We feed them lots of rice, and pasta dishes, stews and soups, curries etc. Baking for morning teas can be more time consuming but if they are able to do some of my farm work then it can be of benefit for me to be in the kitchen. Lunch is usually home made bread and cheese and that seems to fill them up.

We have learnt a lot since first taking on wwoofers, and things have evolved to fit in better with our lifestyle. For instance I provide the food but the wwoofers have to get their own breakfast, that leaves Mark and I to have breakfast on our own and sort our day out. All other meals they have with us. They have to clean the wwoofers room and the bathroom before they leave. Smokers are allowed but they have to confine themselves to one area of the farm where I've set up a table and chairs for their use. And there are many more things that we have implemented because they suit us that may not be found on other places. We provide pushbikes so they can go for a ride to the shops or internet cafe.We have left wwoofers in charge while we have gone away for a few days break.

And no matter how good they are sometimes it's just so good to be here on the farm by ourselves when they leave.

Busy Days

2011-09-16T18:54:00.000+10:00

We now have 3 WWOOFers and just feeding and getting them organised is a full days work. On top of that we still need to keep things happening on and around the farm.Seeds are being sown, seedlings potted up, bigger seedlings planted out, new beds being got ready for the summer crops,produce to be harvested and boxes made up for our CSA members.......

This is our egg harvest today. See the little ones, they're from our bantam. She's just about ready to sit I think so I swapped these tiny ones for 8 larger ones which I hope she'll hatch out and mother. Before placing them in her box I dowsed them to see if they were hens or roosters, and only gave her the ones showing hen. I hope it works!

...and a festival to organise. We are hosting a 'Moving Planet' event here on the farm. We are encouraging people to come to the farm by any means other than one powered by fossil fuels. "Show the people power that is needed to move the world beyond fossil fuel". If you are nearby come and be a part of our day on 24th September, and if you are far away find an event near you and show that we mean business when it comes to moving beyond fossil fuels.

Weekend Happenings

2011-09-12T18:18:00.000+10:00

Our sourdough workshop went well, starting with the making of the' Plant' which is now in it's new home, where it will be fed up over the next couple of weeks until it reaches maturity and can be used to make the first of many sour dough loaves, by a participant of the course. We fed, stirred, kneaded and baked away the morning and then tasted the beautiful bread, fresh from the oven. Yum!

Then off to finish the Transition Town wonder rug. Sorry no photos unfortunately as I'm just not a natural photographer and I'm always forgetting the camera. I will get a photo of the rug before it's raffled and post it then.

Sunday was Sustainable House Day and I spent it at Rebecca and Aaron's place. They are a young couple with their first child now 6mths old. They bought an ordinary house in an ordinary suburb and retrofitted it to be more sustainable.

Water tanks , worm farms and liquid fertilizers in the back corner.

They have put in water tanks which gives them enough water for house and garden for about 9mths of the year and when they run out they have the ability to switch over to town water, They installed solar panels and solar hotwater. There are pull down shades for any windows affected by summer sun, a toilet that has a hand basin over the cistern so that when you wash your hands you fill the cistern, and so much more. My interest, and why they asked me there to talk was their backyard.They have chickens, vegie gardens, herbs and fruit trees. Most of the time there is more food growing than they can use and they often share it around with family and friends.

The hens live in stylish quarters built by Aaron. They free range in the backyard throughout the day.

A propagation house built by Aaron allows summer crops to get a head start.

As a new mum, Rebecca also displayed a collection of earth friendly baby products.

These nappies are produced locally here in the Hunter and are a great nappy according to Rebecca.

Rebecca was lucky enough to get these nappies from Freecycle. She's sure there about $1000 worth of nappy in the bundle she picked up from a mother who had finished with them.,

Here is my little display with brochures about our upcoming courses. A backyard vegie production workshop and a Permaculture Course.

I had a small activity set up making newspaper pots and potting up a little tomato seedling. Little eco managed to master the pot making and made about 8.

My talk was on Permaculture. My emphasis was on the Earth as an organism and how what we do to one part effects all the rest, about how all things are connected in the web of life. And that as a design method, Permaculture can be used to to build on all these connections, from the ground up to address all the challenges that we face at present. Using Rebecca and Aaron's place as an example of how we can live a very fulfilling, content, peaceful,purposeful life and have a positive effect on the environment and those around us without it costing the Earth.

One Skein Hooded Baby Sweater

2011-09-09T08:09:00.000+10:00

Tracey asked for the pattern for this little cardigan that I knitted for my grand child,and as it's such an easy knit, there may be others who would like the pattern also. I got it from here but make sure you also print off the corrections by Jill as there are mistakes in the original pattern that she puts right.

Happy knitting and a lovely weekend to you all. It's raining here at the moment and has been all night. A little bit of welcome rain with all the seedlings we've been planting of late!

Sustainable House Day

2011-09-08T09:07:00.000+10:00

This weekend plans to be quite busy. We are running a sour dough bread workshop on Saturday morning.

The course will cover making a mother, a sponge, kneading baking and eating. There are spaces available if anybody is interested.

As part of Transition Towns Maitland we started a knitting activity at the local Organic Cafe. We left knitting needles and yarn and a little note asking people if they would like to knit while they had coffee. It became very popular and when you visited you would often see people knitting and chatting. There would also be people showing others, sometimes total strangers ,how to knit. The result was lots and lots of small squarish pieces. These pieces are being crotched together and the rug will be raffled. The finishing off happens this Saturday with all hands on deck.

Sunday is Sustainable House Day. You can find one close to where you live here if you live in Australia.
We have been invited to set up a display and give a talk at a house in Newcastle here. They have asked us to talk on Permaculture. Now that is such a big topic and we only have a short time. I want to talk specifically on home vegetable production and bringing Food production back to the cities. I would like to talk about how growing food can help cut grocery bills, increased health benefits and how much better the food tastes. What do you think?
I will have a small blackboard there to entice people to come and hear the presentation. Can you think of something snappy that will catch peoples eye? I'd love to hear from all you creative people.

Kate xxx

Gardeners Pie

2011-09-07T18:34:00.000+10:00

Rhonwyn and I made Gardeners Pie today which is the vegetarian equivalent of Shepherds pie.
The basic recipe is as follows:
1 cup brown lentils
1 tspn onion powder
1 large onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
1 cup mushrooms sliced
2 1/2 cups mashed potato
1 stick celery sliced
1 carrot chopped
1/2 cup broccoli florets
1 Tblspn soy sauce
mixed herbs
3 tblspn tomato paste

Soak the lentils for 2 hrs or overnight. Drain and rinse, Add fresh water and bring to boil . Simmer 15mins. Drain. Fry onion garlic and mushrooms 5mins. Add remaining vegetables and saute a further 5mins. Add lentils, soy sauce, herbs and tomato paste. Stir over heat until combined and simmer 15mins. Mixture should be fairly thick. Turn into a 5cm deep dish, top with mashed potato and grated cheese. Brown in hot oven 15mins or until browned.

This is basically what I do but I just use whatever vegies I have available and substitute tomato puree or whole tomatoes depending what I have available. I also use these lentils as they don't need to be soaked and I prefer the taste.

And here's some new photos of Rhonnie. She's into her 18th week now and doesn't she look gorgeous!

Here's the latest little cardigan that I've knitted for the baby. It's knitted all in one piece from the hood down. Very quick and easy!

How Do You Know When It's Spring

2011-09-06T15:58:00.004+10:00

Officially, here in Australia, Spring starts on the 1st of September, and the again, some say it doesn't start until the equinox on the 23rd September.
But I noticed a change in the air a few weeks ago. The shadows changed and the days got warmer - all of a sudden, it seemed!

I know it's Spring when.....

...I can smell jasmine in the air

... the plants are in full bloom

... the mulberry is fruiting up nicely

... the geese are starting to nest. This is 'Baby' the very first gosling hatched here on the farm. You can just see one of the many, many eggs she is sitting on, under her tail. My goodness there will be a lot of goslings if they all hatch!

It's t-shirt wearing weather, hayfever time, and warm enough at night to not have the fire going. There is a real promise of abundance in the air. The Earth is awakening and breathing deeply. For sure it's Spring!

Now's The Time....

2011-09-05T17:32:00.002+10:00

...to fertilise fruit trees.

This is one of our Washington Navel oranges. Can you see the little flower buds forming? To maximise fruit production they need feeding up now.

I cleaned up underneath and then added a couple of barrow loads of horse, cow and chook manure. This was then watered in really well.

I then mulched heavily with spoilt lucerne hay.. Then onto the next...

Father's Day

2011-09-04T08:57:00.002+10:00

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!

On My Mind - My Dad's Birthday

2011-09-02T09:38:00.000+10:00

Joining in today with Rhonda for what's on my mind.

Today would have been my dad's 91st birthday. He died in 2006 at the age of 86

I planted this rose in memory of dad and as it's the beginning of spring it is always in bloom on his birth day. I chose it for it's name "Angel Face". I have many lovely memories of dad - his courage, his humour, his creativity, his enthusiasm, his curiosity, his tolerance, his love for his family, his love of life and oh so much more. He was a generous and kindhearted man.

Edited to add that as I was washing the produce this morning I turned on the radio as I do every Friday morning and noticed a cassette ( yes! I said Cassette) in the player. I took a look and it was Harry Secombe. Now dad loved Harry's singing and his humour. I wonder ' Was this dad's player?'. I don't know for sure but I can't think of any one else I know listening to Harry. I like to think it was anyway.

Vegetarian Lunch

2011-09-01T14:41:00.000+10:00

A couple of recipes I'd like to share with you, starting first with a challenge set by Cath at Elastic mum called pantry purge. Find something in your pantry that's been there for ages and use it. Now many months ago I brought dried cannelinni beans in the hope that I would make baked beans. Obviously that didn't happen then, but now with a little prompting from Cath I got stuck into it. I soaked them overnight and cooked them yesterday.

This morning I cooked up some onions, added some chilli and tomato puree and they were done. How easy is that ,and it's taken me months to do it ( she shakes her head in bewilderment). So thanks Cath for the challenge.

At the same time I soaked chickpeas and cooked them up to make chickpea patties.
You need:
1 small onion
300gm cooked chickpeas
1 egg
1/4 cup tahini
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tblsp lemon juice
Place it all in a food processor except the breadcrumbs and process until all is chopped and combined. put it all into a bowl and then mix in the breadcrumbs. Form into patties and shallow fry.

We had these with the baked beans on toast but I was so cranky with our WWOOFer who had fallen asleep after morning tea and didn't wake up until he heard the lunch bell, that I forgot to take a photo. The baked beans were delicious with just the right amount of crunch!

Imagine

2011-08-31T18:29:00.000+10:00

Something I watched this morning and thought it worth sharing! A moving rendition of John Lennon's 'Imagine'
sung by a young man, born in Iraq and adopted as a small boy by an Australian woman. This was sent to us by Costa with a note to say that it brought tears to his eyes. I'll be surprised if it doesn't bring a tear to your eyes as well.

5 things I'm grateful for;
~ magpies singing outside my bedroom window
~ fresh home made sourdough bread

~ my home on a beautiful spring day

~ a day spent in the garden
~ a safe place to live.

What are you grateful for?

Gratitude

2011-08-30T17:56:00.000+10:00

I have been prompted to revisit this long ago ritual by Amanda who talks about a gratitude journal. Five things I am grateful for today;
~ The love of my Partner- my best friend
~ A warm house
~ 3 beautiful daughters
~ Good organic food to eat
~ Enough of everything I need.

I sometimes find myself too far out there trying to deal with the woes of the world. I know that I can do more 'out there' by first bringing myself into balance. The gratitude journal helps.

Meanwhile on the Farm, it's a fruit day and I have been concentrating on capsicums.

I bought some ripe capsicums that were on sale at the organic shop and scraped out the seeds. They cost me 50c each and I only needed the seeds from one capsicum, which is way less than a packet of seeds, and I get to eat the capsicums!

I put them all into punnets, covered them with more seed raising mix and put them into the underheater.

Crushed basalt

I make my own seed raising mix using crushed basalt for drainage and cocopeat for moisture retention - equal quantities of each. It costs around $5 for a barrow load.

To make potting mix I add compost so that there is equal amounts of all 3.

The potting mix goes into these pots which are the bottom half of tubestock, a hole is pushed in to the mix...

and then the seedlings are pricked out and transplanted. These are the capsicums i germinated a few weeks back.

The hardening off area. The seedlings spend a week or so here before being planted out into the garden.

The propagation house.There are many features of importance when building a propagation house. This window faces Nth to allow the sun in, in winter, the bricks provide thermal mass, and it is placed in a position that I pass many times a day so I can keep an eye on them.

There are plans afoot to enlarge this propagation house as it no longer provides enough room for the number of seedlings we require each week.

Weekend Happenings.

2011-08-28T16:35:00.000+10:00

A Saturday morning farm tour. It was lovely to have a couple of families here for a tour- a young mum with her 18mth old daughter and her neighbour who is surrogate nanna, and a young couple with their nine month old son.What a pleasure to have such lovely people visit our farm. The children were delightful- full of wonder.There have been times in the past when families have visited and the children show no interest in the farm or the animals and can't wait to get back into the car where their electronic game awaits them.

The weather turned quite cool and so after the tour we lit the fire and spent the rest of the day curled up watching old movies, while I knitted. A bit of an indulgence really and very rare, but much deserved I tell myself!

And then an evening with the littlies and their parents around a bon fire ( I got to spend the evening cuddling with the baby)

Sunday morning - an early start with a composting workshop. One of the ladies from the tour yesterday was back for the workshop. This was actually her 4th workshop with us. She is well and truly hooked!

The compost heap is started with the earth mounded up a little at the sides to create a little well to hold all the water that we use as we make the heap. Our first layer is always a woody layer that enables air to flow into the heap from the bottom. We use tomato stakes to make the sides. They are added as the heap progresses.

We water as we go to make everything really moist, then generally we don't have to water it again.

You can see it getting higher. we have all our ingredients at hand and make the heap all in one go. We add the ingredients in layers alternating between a carbon layer and a nitrogen layer.

Ingredients for our heaps are gathered from around the farm and include manures from all the animals i.e. horse, cow, duck, geese, chicken and guinea pig.There are always plenty of herbs and weeds to be had, and old hay. We also add rock minerals, dolomite, pot ash, crushed egg shells and at the end we add the Biodynamic preparations.The heap sits for 4months before it is ready to use.

And after a quick bite to eat for lunch we ducked over to our local LETS ( Local energy trading system - which is an alternative to the monetary system. You can read more about it here )meeting for a trading day.

We bring along things to trade and set them out under the trees and on tables.

We bought home a few books, a mower, a cot (for the new grandchild) a bread loaf tin, a mouse trap,and a knitting pattern. As usual we brought home more than we parted with!

On My Mind - Deep Ecology

2011-08-26T15:57:00.000+10:00

Joining in with Rhonda for a weekly sharing of what's on my mind.

We run a " Movies that Matter" film night here at the farm once a month. Last night the movie was Anima Mundi

It is presented from a permaculture and deep ecology perspective. Now permaculture I know something about as we have been practising Permaculturalists for quite some time now. But for those of you, who like me are fairly new to the term Deep Ecology here is a definition from Wikapeadia-

Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of other beings, aside from their utility. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the biosphere. It provides a foundation for the environmental, ecology and green movements and has fostered a new system of environmental ethics.

Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that, like humanity, the living environment as a whole has the same right to live and flourish. Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere, rather than with a narrow view of ecology as a branch of biological science, and aims to avoid merely anthropocentric environmentalism, which is concerned with conservation of the environment only for exploitation by and for humans purposes, which excludes the fundamental philosophy of deep ecology. Deep ecology seeks a more holistic view of the world humans live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that separate parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole.

The message for me from the movie, was that the earth exists as a being (with a soul) and if this is true or not, treating her as such will bring rewards to the inhabitants.

‎"To the extent that people separate themselves from Nature, they spin further and further from the Center." --Masonubu Fukuoka

The movie has moved me deeply and I highly recommend it to you all.

Lesson Learnt and Good Day Out

2011-08-25T18:01:00.000+10:00

What does one thing have to do with the other you may ask. Well we made a mistake, learnt a lesson and had a day out into the bargain.
Last week we had a phone call from a WWOOFer (willing worker on organic farms) with a dog wanting to know could she come and wwoof. Was the dog well behaved-Yes; Did she chase chickens, ducks, geese or guinea pigs- Oh no she wouldn't do anything like that! So against my better judgement we allowed her to come with the proviso that she would have to go if it didn't work out. So the dog was undisciplined, did chase all of above mentioned animals growled and barked at me and Mark every time we walked out the door and to top it off she actually took a bite at our 4yr old grand daughter, She just had to go. But here was the biggest dilemma, she had not transport and dogs aren't allowed on public transport. our WWOOFer found a host that would take her and the dog but 40mins away in Newcastle. Would we please drop everything and take her! I was really cranky by this time. I had to turn it around for my own well being otherwise it would eat me up, so we decided to make an outing of it . We put the bikes on the back of the ute, packed a picnic lunch,dropped said WWOOFer and dog off , drove to a bike track and set off.

The track is along a disused railway line, in places you can still see some of the old track

Me in front of a tunnel

inside the tunnel- that's Mark up a head

Stopped for lunch. There are picnic tables and seats all along the track

A lizard came out to sun itself on the concrete bridge. It was a really warm spring sort of day.

Mark and I bought our bikes last year for $40 each from an Op Shop, after a decision to run a Bike Awareness day with Transition Towns. And we have tried to ride regularly ever since. I am much stronger now and can ride quite long distances -23klms- . The idea is to reduce our use of the car by riding the bike but we also enjoy recreational rides as well. Usually we take the bikes on the train if we have a fair distance to travel.Any way the lesson we learnt was to stick to our rules and not take wwoofer's with dogs, and we did have a great day!
This evening we are running the first of our "Movies That Matter" here at the farm. We will show a movie once a month. Tonight we are showing anima mundi a new movie sensation sweeping permaculture and Transition Town circles.

Now Isn't That Great?

2011-08-23T13:36:00.001+10:00

" There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness and truth " Leo Tolstoy

A great book...

We went along to a Permaculture meeting last week and listened to the author of this book, Leonie Shanahan talk about how she got started in school gardening projects. She started off small at her children's school and has worked up to a full time job teaching gardening in various schools in Queensland. The book is a compilation of notes and plans that she has pulled together in an easy read and doable approach to vegetable gardening with children.

And another.....

I have had this one for a while now and it is a wonderful reference book, again for working with children in the garden. It has examples of how you can incorporate the curriculum outside in the garden. Both are based on Permaculture.

A great pair of yoga socks to be found here...

A great festival we went to on Sunday The Central Coast Footprint Festival. Great speakers- We listened to talks on no dig gardening, Natural Sequence gardening, Beyond Zero Emissions,; great food, great music- drums made out of recycled plastic containers, bands, accopella,; great stalls showpiecing handcrafts and art and much, much more. I am happiest when surrounded by people involved in sustainable practices.

All simple, good and truthful

Weekend Happenings

2011-08-21T18:51:00.000+10:00

This is the spinning wheel that my dad made, quite a few years ago now. It won first place at the local Show. Wasn't he a clever man?
He also made each of his children (5of us) a grandfather clock from cedar....

and a sewing box for his daughters and daughters in law and my mum - that's 6 plus a spare made from pine. Here's mine, next to my favourite chair where I sit in the evening to do my knitting and sewing.

On the inside of the lid is a pin cushion that my mother cross stitched my initial.

He also made each of his 7 grand daughters, a high chair for their dolls. (Don't worry the grand sons also got something. He made each of them a little stool)

Dad got started in woodturning as a lead up to retirement but really got stuck into it when he retired fully and the shed was where you'd find him, working on one thing or another. We got pens for Christmas, bowls and toys for the children and toys for charity. He made the bannister rails for the stairs in my sister's house and much, much more.
And how did I manage to get the spinning wheel you may ask, when I have such a big family. Well I am the only one that wanted to learn to spin, and dad was so pleased that it did actually spin. He wasn't sure whether it would just be a show piece or whether it would actually work.So I took it along to a spinning group about 7 years ago and yes it worked. But over the years the timber has settled and moved and it's not working so well. I went a long to another spinners group on Saturday to see if they could help. They spent hours trying to help me, but still the wool will not draw in. It may yet be the 'show piece' that dad thought!

Can't Afford Organic Food?

2011-08-19T21:05:00.003+10:00

I was in the supermarket the other day picking up a few essentials. I grabbed a packet of organic sultanas and as I did so a little girl pleaded with her mother for a six pack of sultanas in little boxes. You know the ones I mean? Anyway they're not organic. This supermarket shows the Kilo price as well as the unit price. My organic sultanas were $9 /kilo and the individually packaged sultanas that the mum bought for her little girl ... well they were $11 kilo.
I'm often told that organic food is too expensive. The above is just one example that shows that this is not always true. Mark and I are not earning a wage. We live off what we make from the farm. This is not a lot, so we do have to be careful with our money, but we still eat 99%organic/ biodynamic. Sure we grow a lot of our food but not all of it. I find if I buy fruit and vegies in season that it is no dearer and sometimes cheaper than you'll find in the conventional supermarkets. If it's not in season we do without, which makes it all so more exciting when it does come into season. I buy food in bulk where I can . I can get 5kilos of biodynamic wholewheat flour for $15, That's only $3 a kilo. Organic flour at the supermarket is over $4. It does mean that I have to shop around a bit, but to me it's worth it to have clean food to eat, and knowing that I'm supporting farmer's who are, on the whole using sustainable farming practices.
What are your thoughts on the cost of organic food?

A Parcel in the Post

2011-08-18T17:28:00.000+10:00

I was so excited today to receive this wonderful gift from Amanda. Amanda bought it from an op shop as an unravelled mohair garment. Thankyou so much Amanda the yarn is gorgeous. I'm not sure yet what I will make with it but I agree that a little natural dye project may be involved. I have only been blogging a short time and I'm blown away with all the lovely people I have met in blogger land so far and Amanda's thoughtful gift has bought joy to my heart! Please know all you dear people who read my blog and leave comments how much those comments mean to me and how much I get from reading your blogs in return. xxxx

Yarn Along

2011-08-17T12:38:00.000+10:00

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Joining in with Ginny

I've finished the back, the left side and started on a sleeve of the cardigan I'm making for my grandchild due next year.And the new stitch is an easy one- Knit into the stitch below. I quite like to be able to pick up a new stitch.

The book is a light read called The Simple Life about a family moving away from the stress of city life to the English countryside, and shares the happenings of the family as they try to adjust to many things such as a smaller house, less income, new schools etc. As I said a light read but enjoyable. I found it in the WWOOFer's (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) accommodation when I went in to check that the last wwoofer had left it clean.

Family Far, Far Away

2011-08-16T16:45:00.000+10:00

Just reading my daughter Meghann's blog and realising how very much I miss her, and her sister Sarah. Meg and Sarah are the two in the middle. My oldest and youngest. They are both attending Uni in Melbourne. Meg is studying publishing and Sarah, social work. As mothers, we nurture our babies, care for their needs, and help them to grow into healthy, well adjusted, confident young people and then we need to let them go. Allow them to spread their wings and fly. And sometimes they fly far!

Winter Harvest

2011-08-15T17:25:00.000+10:00

A sample of what went into our CSA boxes today; cabbage
eggs
turnip
leek
salad
tatsoi
oranges
kale
silverbeet
parsley
bokchoy
Can you see the salad is in a reusable container? Our customers have 2 containers for salad. I send one out each week and they return it the next week when they pick up their next box. We also have containers for berries, tomatoes, peas, etc and we use paper bags for larger items. In this way I don't need to use plastic bags!

Fast Food

2011-08-13T18:57:00.000+10:00

Look what Mark "knocked up" in less than 30mins. Spicy pumpkin soup made from our home grow pumpkin and croutons from yesterdays sour dough. Delicious! That's what I call fast food.
We had been out most of the day at the Aroma Festival in Maitland to campaign for refunds to be put on drink containers to reduce litter and encourage recycling. More can be seen here about the Cash For Containers campaign. If you live in NSW you might like to sign a postcard and send it to Robyn Parker the Minister For the Environment.

Our friends The Do Riders had a gig at the festival and kindly allowed us to gate crash and we sang The bottle song to the tune of Ten Green Bottles, and passed out postcards and the words to the song. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of signed postcards. People were really keen to see the campaign succeed.

.Mark wearing his Cash For Containers shirt, with Nikki from the band.
We had a great day but came home very tired, hence the fast food!

On My Mind - Summer Baby

2011-08-12T10:44:00.001+10:00

Joining in with Rhonda.This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. It opens the door to us sharing our lives through these photos and gives us all a new way to discover each other, and maybe form new friendships. Your photo should show something at home that you're thinking about TODAY.

I am finally allowed to let you in on the secret. This is Rhonwyn, the first of my 3 daughters to fall pregnant. She is 13 weeks and due in February.This will be the 6th grandchild for us. Mark's daughter Beck has 3 children, and his daughter Jenny had darling Danielle( now in heaven) and Rhonwyn's step son Travis.We are all so very happy!

The Children Are our Future

2011-08-11T19:54:00.000+10:00

Mark and I are passionate about educating people on how to grow nutritious organic/biodynamic food and to provide a model is one way that we do that. We have seen people of all ages come through our front gate on various sorts of tours. The retirement village brought 2 bus loads of residents here for a tour. Some were not quite mobile enough to manage our uneven grounds and we thought maybe , for most it was just an outing, so we set up tables under the shade of the trees and served them morning tea more like a garden party than a farm tour. And for one of these lucky groups the Steiner School brought some children out to play the recorder and sing for the elderly folk while they had their coffee and cake.
We've had primary school kids, highschool kids, Kindies and pre schoolers. Some stay for an hour or so and some the day. What we do depends on the age of the child and what they are learning in class at the time. But when it all boils down to it ,it really is about showing them where their food comes from. Last year we had a 3rd class camp for 2 nights and we looked at the bees, hoed and planted potatoes, milked the cow, harvested food and cooked it for their dinner. That school has asked could they bring another class this year. It's hard work but worth the effort because you know that it means so much to them.

We also had a playgroup Play Dates For the Planet who came for the morning and we provided a lovely lunch. I love that we can provide a place for children and their parents/ teachers to come and see what happens on a real farm.We don't have electronic games, fast rides, water slides, or any marketing paraphernalia. We allow children to be up close to animals, collect eggs, feed chickens, pat dogs, get dirty digging and planting etc.We want to provide a place that allows children to be...well children.Through our involvement with Tricia over at Little Eco Footprints we have come to know about and support Hunter Alliance For Childhood -Reclaiming childhood through Real Food, Real Play ,Real Life. They are hosting an Expo this weekend. Maybe we'll see you there.

Yarn Along

2011-08-10T20:09:00.000+10:00

Joining in with Ginny for a look at what I'm Knitting and what I'm reading.

The cardigan is from a Sirdar pattern(1707) using a stitch that I haven't used before, K1B Knit into the stitch below. A simple stitch that gives a lovely texture I think. I found the yarn in my stash and find that it's knitting up nicely. And who is it for? Come back Friday and all will be revealed!

The book is Family Friendly Farming by Joel Salatin. I love what he has to say on many things. At one point he talks about children's memories being about special events, birthdays , holidays, etc. But his most precious memories are about ordinary everyday life on the farm, and how rich they are. I like this idea that we do not need to fill our children's lives with outside experiences for them to have fulfilling , joyful lives! I was expecting a book on farming but it is so much more.

Weekend Happenings

2011-08-08T10:56:00.000+10:00

Normally our weekends are full with Farm associated work such as Farm Tours, Sustainable Living Workshops, Permaculture courses or just farm chores. This weekend we found ourselves with a free weekend but it soon filled with friends and family.Saturday morning there were friends over for pony rides and morning tea.

In the afternoon family arrived for hugs.....

and more pony rides.

That evening saw us on a train into the city to a Bruce Mathiske concert, the tickets kindly given to us by a friend.The train journey was an experience in itself and not a good one I'm afraid. Young teenagers with far too much to drink and girls dressed inappropriately, fighting and swearing, at midnight, travelling back on the Sydney train.
Sunday morning I visited my mum, and then spent the day at a family picnic/ birthday party for my grand nephew's 1st birthday. It was a lovely day spent catching up with my brothers and sisters, in laws, nieces and nephews etc etc.

BiodynamicPlanting - Rhythms and Practices

2011-08-03T20:48:00.000+10:00

In our Market Garden we use Brian Keats' Astro Calendar. There is so much information in this publication regarding naked eye astronomy, getting to know the night sky, understanding and living with the celestial cycles and weather forecasting, and of particular importance to me as the propagator , biodynamic planting-rhythms and practices.This part of the calendar is based on the research of Maria Thun who" suggests that the Moon's travel through the Zodiac influences the plant in a four fold way based on the Aristotlean Elements: When the moon is in an Earth sign/constellation the roots of a plant are favourably influenced: in a Water sign, the leaves; in an Air sign, flowery parts and in a Fire sign, fruit and seeds....Out of this work she (Maria Thun) advocates planting root crops (like carrots) whenever the moon is in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn which are considered by her to be Earth signs.

Following this calendar for us means that all the jobs that are to be done around the farm are based on the calendar which gives rhythm and order to our days.Over the past few days the Moon has been in Leo, a Fire sign and therefore fruiting plants are the most favourably influenced. Coming into spring and summer these fruit days are our busiest. And so the last 21/2 days has been devoted to tomatoes.

I started the tomatoes here in the under heater

Here they have germinated

This is the first of at least 3 pottings up. I've potted up 240 so far.

Here you can see that the tomato bed has been cultivated and well rotted cow manure is being spread - supervised by Aggie

Mark has weeded and fertilized some fruit trees as he goes as they are included in the fruit days.

Drip irrigation has been replace with stakes to mark the drippers and mulch added and watered in.

The beds will sit for a month or so until the threat of frost is over. In the mean time the manure will break down further and I will continue to pot up the tomatoes and the capsicums and eggplants. Tomorrow is a root day and we will look at setting beetroot, shallots, and leek seeds. Mark will cultivate beds for carrots and radish .

Hints of Spring

2011-08-02T19:16:00.000+10:00

The past few days have been very like spring, with the temperature reaching 24c. A little hint of things to come, and a reminder that we need to be concentrating on our summer crops. Work has started on the tomato beds and seedlings have been potted up .It is the start of a very busy time but it was lovely to be able to have a class from our local Steiner school out for a farm visit.

I have had a long association with the school. Two of my daughters went there and I worked as a teacher there for 6 years.Over the years we have had visits from classes from Kindy through to the high school, and the tour can be quite specific or an open farm tour. Today we had a wander around looking at and petting animals- the cows, the horse, guinea pigs but mostly the dogs. Both the dogs are extremely child friendly and they usually steal the show. You can't see her but it's Aggie that all the children are crouched around in the photo above. In the background you can see our 2 house cows, Bella and Patsy. At another time an older class helped make a compost heap, and at another time a younger class had a bee experience, where Mark dressed up in all his bee gear, and showed the children the smoker and we extracted honey from some frames which Mark had robbed the day before.They each were able to take a small jar of honey home with them.

We have had other schools come out for the day, and last year one class camped for 2 nights in tents. Another class from that same school has asked if they could come and camp also, later in the year when the weather warms up. It is a wonderful thing to be able to offer these children a farm experience!

Happy Birthday Sir Bowie

2011-08-01T19:51:00.000+10:00

Today is the horses birthday and Elizabeth and Jeffery came out to wish Sir Bowie Charles Happy Birthday. Gifts included carrots, apples and a brush down although Elizabeth thought a carrot cake would be more appropriate..

It was just on dark so the light is not so good.

Over the weekend we ran 2 workshops. One on Propagation by seed and the other on pruning fruit trees.
We love meeting up with people who have chosen to embark on this journey of sustainable living and a real privilege to be able to share some of the knowledge that we have learnt. We meet so many people and have remained friends with a large number of them. Feedback from them inspires us with renewed enthusiasm. Our scheduled workshops have just about come to an end for the year. We do have 2 PDC's on offer but mainly we will be concentrating on our preparations for spring plantings..We had a WWOOFer (Willing Worker on Organic Farms) arrive today and we got him started on the tomato beds.

And remember our geodesic domes we have finished one and the chooks are now happily ensconced

Danielle's Difference.

2011-07-28T17:23:00.000+10:00

Earlier this year Mark and I was blessed with another grandchild. Mark's youngest daughter, Jenny gave birth to her first child in February. Jenny and her partner Reece were over the moon about the arrival of their little girl Danielle. To say that Reece was a doting dad would be an understatement. He couldn't take his eyes off this amazing little miracle that was his daughter. And for a first time mum, Jenny amazed me with her quiet, confident way with her little girl. They were so completely happy! And then the unthinkable happened and baby Danielle became sick, She was rushed to hospital and after many tests and a move to a major Children's Hospital, Jenny and Reece heard the most dreadful news that their darling girl had an inoperable brain tumour. They were told that she would live for only one more day but she hung on for 9 more days.
As you can imagine it has been a difficult time for us all but none more so than for Jenny and Reece. They have surprised us by their strength. Danielle's strength has inspired Jenny to ensure that her very brief life will make a difference and so she has set up an appeal in Danielle's name.
http://www.facebook.com/DaniellesDifference

What's on in Transition Towns

2011-07-27T19:11:00.000+10:00

Tomorrow night we will hear Heather talk to us about cooking using a solar oven. Heather is very passionate about this subject and it shows in her presentation. The solar oven can be used as an oven to bake bread, cakes, pastries, etc ;as a slow cooker; a kettle,a dehydrator, a thermal cooker and a hot house for making yoghurt, raising bread or roasting nuts and much more. With the rise in energy costs to be able to cook food using energy free from the sun is very appealing.

Growing some of our own food is an important part of food security.

Following Heather's presentation we will hear from Jamie who is a part of a couple of food initiatives in partnership with TT Newcastle. Jamie is very passionate about food security, and so we will hear about what Newcastle is doing to secure it's food supply. One aspect is the Neighbourhood Supported Agriculture. If you are local come along and learn more. Mark and I have a particular interest in our city's resilience, especially in the area of food. During the Transport strikes a few years ago in Britain it was ascertained that supermarkets had only 3 days supply of food on their shelves. How can we be prepared for such an occurrence. These are the things Jamie is interested in.

Working together to build a food producing backyard garden with a permablitz.

We would also like it if people would bring along any excess garden produce or seedlings to swap with other people on the night. John from Cornerstone Cafe will be making soup and everyone is asked to bring something to share for supper which adds a social aspect to the meeting.

I would like to welcome everyone who has now signed in to follow along on my garden ramblings!

What's in the garden today

2011-07-25T18:31:00.001+10:00

It's great weather here for brassicas at the moment. Our CSA subscribers get at least half a cabbage in their box each week. The bigger the box the more cabbage, and so the larger box often gets a red cabbage as well. Now Mark and I don't have any trouble going through a cabbage a week. We have it in stews, soups, stirfries, fried rice, satayed and come spring we will eat it in coleslaw. We tried last year to make Kimchi , but really we need to find the time to put more effort into it, and we will this year. Some of our customers find the volume of cabbage a little challenging. And I can sympathize. Before we started the market garden, I didn't eat much cabbage at all, but now that we try to eat mainly from the garden I've had to adapt, and now I really enjoy it even just sauted in a little butter and pepper. How do you eat your cabbage?

Other brassicas we grow are broccoli, bokchoy, kale (3 varieties), rocket, kohlrabi and tatsoi. I've been asked a few times about tatsoi. It is a very versatile vegie, and very fast growing. It is an asian green along the lines of bokchoy, but with littler leaves which can be added to a salad mix. You can pluck the leaves and leave the plant in the ground and it will keep producing. We use it raw or cooked in stir fries or in place of spinach, and it grows here all year round.

Here you can see a few of our brassicas - Tatsoi, kohlrabi, green and red cabbage

On My Mind- An Early Start to Summer Vegies

2011-07-22T13:54:00.000+10:00

We start our summer seedlings early using this underheater that Mark made out of an old waterbed heater. It has a thermostat so that we can keep it at a constant 30c temperature. This way we can germinate tomatoes, basil, capsicum, and eggplant and have them up and ready to plant out as soon as the earth warms up and the threat of frosts is over.

Here you can see tomato seedlings, brandywine have germinated. They will be taken down to the potting shed to be potted up in a few days time. They will be potted up maybe 2 more times before they are actually ready to plant out.

Wednesday's meat free recipe

2011-07-20T18:01:00.000+10:00

Today Rhonnie and I cooked stew and dumplings. I make a stew using whatever vegies I have available. Today it was onion, garlic, carrot, potato, celery, pumpkin, broccoli,tomatoes and cabbage. All fried up and vegie stock added. Bring it to the boil for 5mins. add cooked red kidney beans ( can substitute a can of kidney beans if you like) and 1/2 cup split red lentils.Simmer until all vegies and lentils are cooked. Meanwhile make the dumplings. Sift 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt,2tsp baking powder and 1tsp paprika in a bowl. Rub in 2 tblsp. butter. Bind together with water to form a soft dough. Divide into 8 portions and roll gently to form balls.Uncover the stew, stir,and then add the dumplings, pushing them slightly into the stew. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15mins. until dumplings have risen and are cooked through.

While that was cooking we made up a batch of laundry liquid al la Rhonda over at Down to Earth. This is the 2nd time I have made it, and I am just so happy with it I thought I'd share it with Rhonnie.

Baby Leah

2011-07-19T16:05:00.000+10:00

I've been promising photos of the newest little one, and today Bec and Dave bought the children out for a farm visit. It being oh so cold I offered to stay indoors with the baby while Elizabeth and Jeffery ran around the farm with their mum and dad. They visited the pony and had a little ride, talked to the geese and expended a little of their energy by just plain running, While I ,on the other hand, got to change a nappy, sing lullabies and rock the tiny one in my arms for a half hour or so.

Then, after a good play outside, Elizabeth and Jeffery were back inside with time for kisses and cuddles with me, before it was time to go home. Oh I love being a grandma.

Hidden Treasures

2011-07-18T19:20:00.000+10:00

Look what I found during our harvest this morning.

I found quite a lot. The others went into the meal before I thought to take a photo

Capsicums in the middle of winter! I managed to find quite a few tucked away. I really thought that they were finished.

I decide to make one of my favourite meals, usually reserved for summer due to the ingredients being summer vegies. But I had the other ingredients in the pantry so decided to indulge ourselves.The recipe comes from Kathryn Hawkin's "Vegetarian Main Meals". Mexican Chilli Corn Pie

Ingredients;

Garlic and onion chopped

1 red and 1 green Pepper (Capsicum)

hot chilli powder

Can tomatoes }

Can sweetcorn } I always use these fresh if I have them

Can kidney beans ( or 1/2 cup dried beans soaked overnight and cooked)

2 tblspn fresh coriander

Topping;

2/3cup cornmeal (polenta)

1 tblspn flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg beaten

6 Tblspn milk

1 tblspn oil

1 cup grated cheese

Method

1. Fry garlic, onion and capsicum until soft

2. Stir in chilli powder, tomatoes,corn, beans and seasonings. Bring to boil and simmer 10 mins. Stir in coriander and spoon into ovenproof dish.

3. to make topping, mix together polenta ,flour, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the centre, add the egg, milk, and oil, and beat until smooth batter is formed.

4. Spoon over the capsicum and corn mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in oven at 220c/425F for 25-30 mins until golden and firm.

There's enough left for lunch tomorrow.