Starting small again

I started doing things in my garden again.  Hooray!  I have my close friend Melissa Loh to thank for getting me inspired again.  She has only a tiny apartment balcony to grow on but has been harvesting a few things despite the space limitations.

I planted basil, chives, thyme and marigolds in my herb garden.

I admired the tenacity of the cherry tomato plants which just keep popping up everywhere in our yard/lawn courtesy of the previous tenants.

But just when I began to feel a sense of achievement and self-satisfaction with the beginnings of my garden... disaster came in the form of a local bush turkey.

That poor basil didn't have a chance.  A few of my marigolds were entirely yanked up out of the earth, root ball and all.   It appears that the cherry tomatoes are also all too tempting to Monsieur Turkey.  (Perhaps some resident possums may also have something to do with that particular crime as well.)

Another setback came my way also.  I planted seeds - a LOT of seeds - from my collection.  From catnip seeds to cosmos to three types of climbing beans. 

For weeks there was not any sign of life.  I put it down to a) seeds gone long beyond their viability date and b) really poor potting mix, the cheapest I could buy at Bunnings at 20L for $3, with no additional nutrient supplements.

But despite the worst possible start I could give them, a few broad beans (Diggers seeds) poked their heads out followed by a handful of 'mystery beans'. 

I planted out Purple King Beans, Butter Beans and plain green beans.  I have no idea which ones of the three sprouted into seedlings!  These little fellas grew up in the seedling pots locked away from Monsieur Turkey's domain. 

When I went to plant them out yesterday I decided they should go on the verandah upstairs to give them even a tiny hope of success.  Good luck little broad beans (pictured above) and mystery beans!

 

Do you have any wildlife in your garden that causes you grief?  

Other than netting everything, which I hate to do, does anyone have any suggestions on turkey control?

Unfortunately, Monsieur Turkey is a protected species in my local area so turkey death is not on the cards.

Worm Composting - What you Need and What Can Go Wrong

Ages ago I bought a worm farm and wrote a blog entry about becoming a worm farmer.

Since then I've had two lots of worms go to the giant worm farm in the sky above.  So you can say I'm well learned in the lessons on how NOT to worm farm.  Since we moved to our new home my worm farm has sat empty. 

But today a new batch of little squiggly worms were installed and I once again became a worm farmer.  This time a little wiser for my past mistakes.

When I told a good friend by text that the worm farm was up and running again, she replied that she might have to look into setting up a worm farm for her gardening husband.  So I thought it might be a good time to blog about all I know (not a great lot in the scheme of things!) about worm composting.


Why worm farm? 
I have covered this in my previous post so I'll keep it brief here.

• food scraps go into the worm farm instead of landfill.   When food scraps go directly into landfill they rot in a way that creates methane which has been linked as a contributing factor to climate change.
• the worms do their work on the scraps and produce worm castings (a fancy way of saying worm poo) which is actually super brilliant stuff for gardens.  Mixed in with soil it is a natural and high-performing fertiliser with nutrients galore for plants. 
• If you have a worm farm that is designed with a water catcher at the bottom, you also collect the worm pee and the nutrients that are washed down through the worm farm as a liquid fertiliser. 

What do you need to start and where can you source it? 

• The worm farm

The worm farm can be a commercial once such as the Can-O-Worms, the Worm-Cafe (both available at Bunnings) or it can be a home-made rig.

I opted for a commercially produced setup, the Can-O-Worms, which I paid $75 for at Bunnings.  (Today I saw the same thing for $63.)  If you are against large companies like Bunnings, you could try smaller gardening suppliers or track down a local composting products company or online seller of worm farms instead.

If you want to make your own at home it can be done very cheaply.  There are a stack of videos on this website showing a variety of ways to make your own, even one using styrofoam fruit containers.  If making your own the main considerations are to provide enough drainage and insulation, a solid and tight fitting lid to prevent nasties from getting in and, if possible, a method of catching the liquid fertiliser.

• The worms

First things first - you need composting worms.  Fishing bait worms or other worms just won't do the job.  You need redworms or tigerworms for composting. 

To populate your worm farm you should start with roughly 1000 worms.  If you have a large family or you tend to produce a large amount of kitchen scraps you may want to start with a larger number.

You can buy worms from a variety of sources.  You can buy boxes of worms at Bunnings and other garden stores in the composting section.  (Today I paid $48 for 1200 worms).   You can also look on gumtree or traderoo for local worm breeders who will sell you an amount of worms, often for a cheaper price than the prices you pay at Bunnings et. al.   Lastly, there are online suppliers who will ship worms to your door.

• Filler for the farm

Your worms will need some stuff to live in - it must be lose and easy for them to squiggle through.  In two of my farms I have used coir which they seemed to like very much.   When setting up the new farm today I was under-prepared so my worms will make do with the smelly mix of manure and soil they came in as well as a bit of potting mix and shredded newspaper. 

Coir blocks can be bought very cheaply from gardening centers. 

• A cover for the scraps

You will need some kind of thick, insulating cover to go ontop of the food scraps.  (This is different to the lid to the worm-farm which is designed to keep things dark and secure from nasties).  This dampened cover will help keep the farm moist and the worms will be more keen to visit the top of the farm and feast on your scraps.

You can be a sucker, like me, and pay the handsome sum of $9 for a special commercial worm mat or you can just use a thick layer of newspaper.   The newspaper has the added bonus that it will degrade over time.  My commercial mat has the bonus of a little handle to lift it up so I don't have to touch gross newspaper.  Yes.  I'm a sook.  

• A neutraliser (optional)

You can buy specialised powder to put into the worm farm which will help keep the conditions at the perfect pH for wormies.  I didn't bother with this in my earlier attempts but thought that I would use it this time.  Anything that helps this be successful for longer is welcome to me!   I bought this product from Bunnings (again, in the composting section) for $11.  Only a little is sprinkled into the farm each week so I expect it will last me for some time.

If you don't want to buy a specialised neutraliser you can also add a little bit of wood ash, dolomite or lime to the farm every so often which will do the same thing.


What is the cost of setup if you buy everything commercially?

All together, if I bought everything I needed for the worm farm at Bunnings (based on prices I saw there today) the cost of setting up a worm farm would look like this:

Worm Farm (Can-O-Worms) $63
Box 1000 worms  $48
Block of coir  $4
Covering mat  $9
Neutraliser   $11

Total - $135

The cost of this could be reduced to $115 by not buying the covering mat and neutraliser. Of course you can always make your own home-made farm setup to reduce the cost as well.

One thing you cannot scrimp on is the worms.  You do need to buy the full 1000+ worms.  Not a cheaper booster pack with only 500 worms.   That said, you may find that local sellers of worms (on gumtree or other classifieds) will sell composting worms more cheaply.   Check around!


What mistakes should be avoided?

All of these mistakes I have made. Learn from my follies!

• Don't keep the farm in direct sunlight.  Shade is necessary to keep the farm cool and moist.
• Don't feed the wormies citrus or onion scraps.  They don't like it, won't eat it and it will raise the acidity in their farm.
• Don't neglect to maintain the pH levels in the farm.
• Don't let the farm dry out.  Keep it all moist.
• If you find you are putting more scraps in than the worms can handle get a booster pack of extra worms.
• Don't just add the scraps and nothing else.  Occasionally add a spade or two of soil/coir/compost to the scraps.

There you have it!  A recipe to put together a worm farm and a nice list of what to avoid.

Hasselback Potatoes

There are so many things you can make with potatoes and so many different ways to prepare them. The humble potato, be it a floury white or a lovely pink,  is included in so many meals but usually as the extra, not the star.

So when I had two friends over for dinner on the first day of the new year I wanted to do something a little more fancy with the potatoes I was going to serve - hello hasselback potatoes!

Hasselback potatoes are so likeable - not just because I think of David Hasselhoff ('The Hoff') every time I say/read the name.  They only require a little extra work in the preparation but the result is a very impressive and fancy looking side dish.  Try them and see if you agree with me that they also make a delightfully well done roasted potato.

1. Take a happy potato.  Larger potatoes are better than small.
2. Peel that 'tater and cut him in half lengthways.
3. Oil/butter up a roasting dish.
4. With the flat, cut side down use a knife to slice across the back of the potato.  Don't cut all the way through the potato, leave about 1cm uncut so the whole thing holds together.  Repeat the slices across the 'tater's back at intervals about 1.5mm apart.  
5. Mix some herbs into mixed melted butter and a small deash of olive oil. 
6. Pause to think of The Hoff running down the beach in slow-mo, in red Baywatch gear.  Smile.  
7. Place the potatoes, flat cut-side down, on the prepared roasting dish. 
8. Brush the butter mixture over the backs of the potatoes.
9. Roast in a hot oven until the backs are golden brown. 
10. Serve up to satisfied friends/family/self.

Swiss Bircher Muesli - Summer's Porridge!

Over a year ago I watched an episode of 'River Cottage - Everyday' all about breakfasts.  Hugh talked about making Swiss Muesli the way it was initially intended, soaked overnight so that it is soft and easy to digest in the morning.   His recipe is here on Channel4 Food's website. 

I was intrigued but didn't get the chance to try it at the time.
Fast foward over a year to find me sitting in Mileto's Cafe on Chapel Street in Melbourne, while on holiday.  (Incidentally I loved this small cafe which had a comfortable, country feel to both the decor as well as the menu). While pondering the breakfast options I spied Swiss bircher muesli and decided that it would be a good, healthy and hearty breakfast to keep me fed for a while.

Out came my meal and it was love at first sight.  I mixed the puree, apple, yogurt and museli together and tasted it.  Wonderful!  I think I actually thought the words "I want to eat this every morning for the rest of my life!"   But then... I can be a bit dramatic like that.

Fast forward a little to a few days before Christmas when my parents accepted my invitation to breakfast with myself and Mr R at our new home.  I thought about what I could cook for them that would be a new experience and not leave too much washing up.  Swiss bircher muesli came immediately to mind so I set about finding a recipe that suited.  I ended up using this recipe by Food 52 because the addition of flax seed (linseeds) interested me and because toasting the oats and flax seeds as called for makes it a step up on the special rankings.  And Christmas day is pretty special!

I made a very minor change to the recipe in that I changed the hazelnuts for pistachios and instead of whole almonds I used flaked almonds.   Because I didn't change the recipe that much, I'll leave you to check out the original recipe on the Food 52 website.

But the general gist of how it came together was that I toasted the oats and ground flax seed and also toasted the nuts seperately.  The juice, almond milk and oats/flaxseed mix were mixed together, covered and left in the fridge overnight so the oats would gently soak up the liquids.  In the morning it had a consistency like thick porridge.   The toasted nuts are then stirred through the mushy muesli.

The muesli is served up cold in a bowl, with grated apple, yogurt and perhaps some extra fancy thing like blueberries, extra nuts or a pureed fruit or low-sugar jam.   Stir together and eat! 

Leftover museli mixture can be returned to the fridge, covered, for the following morning.  I like to make a half batch of the Food 52 recipe which lasts me two mornings.

I've since remade the recipe with other changes, such as using grounded wattleseed in place of the cinnamon and using pear instead of the apple.    When you think about it, there are so many combinations of sweet spices and toppings that you could do with this wonderful, filling and healthy breakfast! I've also remade the recipe without toasting the oats and flaxseed.  Though it did lack the rich, nutty flavour that toasting brings, it was still pretty tasty and a good alternative when you don't have time for fiddly toasting the night before.

If you make swiss bircher muesli, I'd love to see a pic, or hear how it went and if you enjoyed it as much as I did.

First Harvest of the New Garden!

Less than three weeks in our new home and already I've been able to make the very first harvest from my new garden.

On Christmas Day I made Apple Blossom Cooler, a refreshing non-alcaholic drink recipe by Margaret Fulton.  The first step of the recipe requires making a sugar syrup flavoured of cinnamon and mint.

As luck would have it,  the previous tenants had over 10 mint plants in the ring of herbs in my back yard.  This was the very first 'harvest', if I was to be pedantic about it.

Since then I have also taken oregano for homemade pizza from the herb garden, as well as a few more mint sprigs for a strawberry, ginger and mint cocktail concoction.

I also used my herbs as well as a cutting of cucumber leaves, flowers and tendrils for a herb bouquet to decorate my table for a tiny dinner party on New Years Day.

But supposing that some think that a 'harvest' should involve the picking of a fruit or vegetable,  the very first harvest from my new garden is this teeny cherry tomato!  It went into a small lunch salad the following day along with some beans picked fresh from my flourishing garden.

Not a big harvest by any means, and though it was all due to the hard work of the previous tenants I still had a little thrill and enjoyed eating something which I had plucked with my own hands.

But how about you folk?  How have your gardens been growing?  Have you been able to harvest any edibles from them lately? 

A New Home and New Plans

Why hello there!

I've been reminded about how long it's been since I wrote here.

And I have a new house (still renting) and new plans.

My husband and I were tired of spending so much money, time and energy on commuting to work (roughly 45-55 minutes each way by car and a minimum of a 20 minute car ride to the nearest train station.)  Mr R pointed out to me that the money we were spending on fuel, parking, wear and tear on the car, more regular services, higher insurance and use of the new Clem 7 tunnel could be put into paying higher rent for a place nearer the city.   Somewhere we could walk to work.

So we looked and looked and eventually the perfect house fell in our laps.

As of 3 days before Christmas last year (2012) we moved into a 1870s worker's cottage within a 30 minute walk to work for both of us.   The house is renovated but only in ways that retain the charm of the old building - so there are still charming old worlde elements around, like a double-shute fireplace, stained glass windows, old style light switches and sash windows.

I have moved the chicken mansion with us and have permission to get chooks.  So that's on the cards.

The garden I have inherited already has a small herb garden with mint, oregano and basil in it.  I hope to add more herbs and create another garden upstairs on the wide verandah, just outside my kitchen window for easy pickings.

Also in the garden are 3 banana trees, still young, a few cherry tomato bushes, a cucumber vine, some beans and a pumpkin vine.  I hope to add more veges to that list and add some companion plants and beneficial insect attractors.

The soil here is terrible and water drains straight down.  The previous tenants were trying to improve and build up the soil by mulching and keeping two chickens over the garden area.   I hope to work towards this goal as well.

My worm farm is going to be set up anew with a fresh batch of worms.  Between them and the chickens, most of my food scraps will be covered.

So- captured in a list, here are my goals in my new home:

1) Walk or cycle to work.  During drastic weather (major storms) use public transport.
2)  Set up the chicken run and get 3-4 chickens.
3)  Develop the existing herb garden
4)  Create a mini herb garden outside the kitchen sash-window on the verandah.
5)  Plant more vegetables.
6)  Build the soil quality on the property.
7)  Set up the worm farm and keep the worms fed and alive.
8)  Get back to meal planning again
9)  Get back to cooking meals again and return to wholefood cooking.
10) Get back to producing ingredients at home (eg. bread, herbs, eggs, veges, mayonnaise *wink*)

I hope you've all been prosperous in 2012 and have some exciting goals and projects to look forward to in 2013!

Yesterday was a Kitchen Sunday.  It felt good to have a Kitchen Sunday again after so long away from them. 

I meal planned in the early morning.

I then grocery shopped.

I made gingerbread cookies for morning teas at work this week. 

I made a split green pea soup (2 portions frozen and 2 in the fridge.)

I made yogurt for lunches this week.

I then made dinner following a recipe from an 1984 recipe book called "New Dimensons Recipe Book - A Vegetarian Guide to Health Foods" by Dr David A Phillips.

The recipe I chose was called Protein-Carotene Loaf and it is supposed to be high in Vitamin A.   Every recipe in the book has a small blurb which explains the nutritional value of the recipe as a whole and what certain ingredients add.   Most of the recipes also offer alternatives to change the recipe and serving suggestions.

I called this recipe 'Surprise Carotene-Loaf' because I was entirely surprised by how fantastic it tasted.  It isn't a very cheap recipe because of the addition of pistachios - however, the recipe's nutritional blurb states that pistachios have high levels of Vitamin A which most other nuts don't, hence it's addition here.

The finished 'loaf'.  Still beautifully orange inside but browned ontop.

Of course, true to form I tweaked the recipe.   I substituted bok choy for the silverbeet because a bunch of the latter was going to cost me $6 when a bunch of bok choy was a quarter that price.  I added almond meal - because I had it in the cupboard and it was due to be used up soon.  I substituted parmesan for most of the cheddar the original recipe called for because I only had a teeny bit of cheddar and heaps of parmesan.   So below is my (total guesstimate of some ingredients) rendition of...

Surprise Carotene-Loaf 
(altered from a recipe by Dr David A Philllips in New Dimensions Recipe Book, 1984)

•  10 leaves buk choy
• 500g carrots, grated
• 4 eggs beaten
• 150g pistachio kernels
• 50g almond meal
• 50g grated mozerella cheese
• 100g grated parmesan cheese
• 100g mushrooms - stalks removed
• A 'generous sprinkling' of saltbush herb (an Aussie Native herb) or other herb of choice. 
• 10g sunflower seeds

1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius.
Trim the white stalks from the buk choy.  Steam leaves until tender then chop finely.
2) Use a food processor or coffee mill to mill the pistachios into a fine meal.
3) Add all ingredients except the sunflower seeds to a bowl.  Mix well.
4) Brush the inside of a loaf pan with vegetable oil.
5) Press the mixture into the loaf pan, ensuring there are no air pockets. 
6) Sprinkle the sunflower seeds across the top of the loaf and press in slightly.   It will look like the picture below!

7) Bake for 45min to 1hr.  (The recipe called for 45min but I found it required another 10min in).

Simply Stock

I haven't bought vegetable stock for a long time now - because I found how easy it was to make my own.  Once I had started using my own home-made stock I found I found the factory-made stocks were too salty for me, even those which were salt-reduced. 

Basic vegetable stock is very easy to make.  To make chicken stock, you just add the bones and leftover meat of one or two chicken carcasses to the pot.   

This is how I make my vegetable stock - but I would also recommend looking at some of the other links about how to make stock for variations or a better proportioned recipe!

Cat's Way-Too-Easy Vegetable Stock

(which is remarkably like every other vegetable stock recipe!)

• - 1 swede, chopped roughly
• - 1 parsnip, chopped roughly
• - 5 small onions, cut into 8ths, skins left on. 
• - 3 celery sticks sliced (including leafy greens)
• - 5 medium carrots sliced
• - 2 bay leaves
• - 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
• - Water enough to cover (roughly 2.5L)

Put the lot in a large stock pot or saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to medium heat.  Leave to simmer for roughly 45min.
Strain and keep the liquid.  Dispose of the solids.



Links to other vegetable stock recipes which probably have better proportions!

River Cottage Sous Chef's recipe for stock made on peeling scraps - I may try saving peelings in the freezer to do this next time!

Good Taste magazine recipe for vegetable stock courtesy of taste.com.au

The Kitchen.com has a basic recipe that makes vegetable stock look pretty.  It uses similar ingredients to the one on BBC food.

ABC's The Cook and the Chef shows that stock can be made from less conventional vegetables for an Asian flavour.



So when it's so easy and can use just frozen peeling scraps and stalks why not try making some stock at home sometime?   It can be made in bulk then frozen to be used in soups, risottos and casseroles later. 

Setting Goals

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.” 

 Bernard Shaw

I can't help the feeling of excitement I feel when I look at the blank slate of a new year before me. 

I don't really set New Year's Resolutions -  I formulate goals that I want to work towards or achieve within the coming year.   What's the difference?  Well, the way I see it, a resolution is a decision to do something or not do something, typically without a tangible measure.  (e.g.  I want to improve my diet.  I want to exercise more.)    A goal has a deadline and a tangible and defined point of achievement.   (e.g.  I will have bought three chickens before July.  I will have read 10 books before Dec 2013.)  

"Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've set a number of goals that I want to achieve before January 2014 (that's just under two years).  Some of these are health related, some financial.   Others are about my home and garden.   There are a stack that are things I've been procrastinating over.   Then there are the ones to make my life sparkle - the crafting and fun outings goals.   Because planning the next year can't all be about suffering, deprivation and hard work!

“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

William Faulkner

 

I've written all of these goals in a list (me and my deuced lists!) in a paper diary.   Following the list I have been writing every day the small steps of achievement I've made towards a goal.  No matter how small... I record it.  "Today I spent an hour investigating different online chicken suppliers, pricing and breeds. (Goal #32).   I've done this because I've come to recognise that, to use a terribly overdone cliche,  Rome wasn't built in a day.  Every little step counts towards the final achievement and I should celebrate those steps to encourage myself onwards.  

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Confucius

Also, writing it all down makes me realise how much I have achieved in the course of a day, even around work time and the daily humdrum of housework and life.   Not least of all it also makes me feel like I want to have at least one thing to report each day - no day should be wasted!  I've found ways to find more time.   If I have time in the car as a passenger on the daily commute then I can spend that working on that cross-stitch (that I started 5 years ago!)  If I have to catch the bus between where we park and my workplace - well then, I have time to try to finish reading Vanity Fair.  If I sit to watch James May's Man Lab with Rhys, there's nothing stopping me from unpicking a seam on a costume that needs renovating while doing so.  (Incidentally,  I highly recommend James May's Man Lab...)

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”

Denis Waitley

But in making all these goals I've had to first look at my past goal setting and find my pitfalls.   Where did I go wrong in the past with my goal setting?   Was I too ambitious?  Were my goals too inspired by my current passions that quickly became stale?   Did I set goals that required repeat performances to be considered finished?

I also thought it was important to consider my vices and things that assist me to fail achievement of my goals.   I recognise the internet can be one.   Spending time on facebook, twitter, even here on blogger, isn't the whole of the problem.   I can also spend more time investigating, scoping, sourcing, reading, looking at inspirational sites and images related to my goal than is helpful.   Often I'll never get past the point of researching....

 “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

Rabindranath Tagore

So with all of these possible show-stoppers in mind,  I've written my goals and now have to keep my impetus and, to quote a famous sports goods slogan - just do it!

Curried Carrot Soup

 I have recently learned how easy it is to make vegetable stock from scratch.

All vegetables, water and a few choice spice/herbs.  Not a single speck of salt added.   It totally beats any stock cube/powder or liquid stock you can buy - even the salt reduced ones still have a lot of unecessary salt in them.

I made up a batch of vegetable stock and made a sweet potato & thyme soup which is a delight to taste.   I then had a half litre of stock leftover.   I used it last night to make this curried carrot soup which rocked a party in my mouth like I couldn't believe.   I ate it too quickly to take a photo!


Curried Carrot Soup

• 20g butter
• 1 small onion diced finely
• 1 garlic clove chopped finely
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 4 med carrots chopped (do not peel)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3/4 cup water
• a splash of white wine vinegar
• a dollop of sour cream

Melt the butter in a saucepan.   Fry the onion and clove for a minute in the butter.  Add the spices and stir until the onion has softened and the mixture is fragrant.  Add the carrots, stock, water and vinegar.   Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer over medium heat until the carrots have softened.  Puree the mixture then serve with the sour cream stirred through. 

Serves 2
5 - 10 min preparation
10 - 20 min cooking time
 

The Ill Fated Chicken Concern

I've wanted chickens for some time now.   My good friend Metanoia in Adelaide bought chickens over a year and a half ago (she used to write about them on one of her blogs - Backyard Hens) and hearing about her chickens made me really yearn for my own.

Perhaps I was also a little inspired by watching TV shows such as The Edible Garden by Alys Fowler and River Cottage with Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall.   Hugh particularly puts a lot of emphasis on supporting heritage breeds of chickens and I thought this was a very worthy thing. 

So, inspired and ready to get chickens I bought a chicken coop (it was on sale but still a pricey purchase at around $500).   Rhys and I erected the coop one afternoon.  It was huge!  It was dubbed the Chicken Mansion due to it's size.  I'm not particularly happy with the limited area of the run itself and would like to find some way of extending it but the coop itself was very grand and included a laying box with a lid I could lift for easy access (at the back of the coop).

Chicken Mansion - under new management and ready for residents.

I then decided it was high time to get some chickens to fill my coop.   I was determined to get interesting, heritage breed chickens.   Somewhere along my internet travels I had discovered a heritage breed of chickens called Araucanas.   I was faschinated.  Apparently, the lavender coloured hens lay eggs with a light blue shell.   I was SOLD!  I wanted needed Aracaunas.

The problem was that the Brisbane floods had washed out one of the main rare chicken breeders in the area.  Aracaunas became rarer than hen's teeth.  Ok... maybe not that rare, but close.  All the reputable companies I had previously been scoping out were unable to source any. So in desperation I turned to an online chicken sale forum.  Two Aracauna pullets - $40 each, one lavender, the other lavender and russet.   It was a big and exciting day for me when I drove out to pick up my chickens from a free-lance chicken lady.

This is where everything really started to go wrong- mostly because of my lack of experience in buying chicken stock and lack of research about what to look for.

She showed me the two Aracaunas she had put aside for me.  This is my thought processing that occurred upon seeing both chickens:

Lavender: Oh - poor little thing looks so scruffy and unwell.  She must be so hen-pecked by the others.  Poor little thing.  What a weird bald spot. 

Loretta:  Her nostrils are wet and she's much bigger than I expected.  What is this niggling feeling I have in the back of my brain?  Oh well.

So when asked if I was happy with them I quietly had a reservation or two.  They didn't look like perfect chickens to me.... but what did I know about chickens?  So I said yes, I was happy to take them.  I paid and I took them home to reside in Chicken Mansion. 

Loretta peering out in the morning.  Food?

As I proudly watched my chickens I looked at Loretta more closely and the niggling in my brain got worse.  She looked kind of non-hennish.  Like, she wasn't a plump, little round thing and she had long feathers around her neck.  But surely not!  The lady had said she was selling me girls.

Over the next few weeks I started to trust my niggling more and more.  I did some research on how to identify roosters.   She had some of the features roosters have but not all.   She was brave and bold,  she was bigger than other hens supposedly her age.  She would sometimes jump-kick at the door with her long legs when she wanted it open.  Her comb was rather pinkish but then, as a first-time chicken owner I wasn't sure how pink it should be before I cried "rooster".   She also had pointed saddle feathers, her tail started looking more and more sickle like and she had hackle feathers - those long feathers at her neck. 

Loretta or Lawrence?  It became more and more obvious.

The list went on but I was in denial.   I decided I couldn't possibly be sure until she either laid an egg or crowed. 

Meanwhile,  Lavender never looked any healthier.   Her bald spot remained - yet I never saw her being pecked at by Loretta.  She didn't grow much at all and when she was alarmed enough to skwark, she let out a weird kind of hooting call rather than a typical chicken skwark.   I was concerned that she might have some disease so further internet research went on.  I decided I should check the two of the birds for mites.   It was the first time I'd done a full check-over the two birds.   I didn't see any evidence of mites but what I did find was a disgusting, big, veined lump on her chest, which I thought might be a tumour.

Lavender - scraggly and little.  The runt of chickens.

Later, after the two chickens had gone to the great chicken coop in the sky,  I was reading a handguide to chicken keeping and learned that the lump was much more likely a swollen crop, something that was very treatable.

So I was decidedly unsatisfied with my two fowls.   The kittens didn't think much of them either, glaring at them from the back window.  The only person in the household who found delight in the chickens was Rhys.

So he was non too happy the day that Loretta crowed in the morning and I decreed she, nay - both of them - had to go that day.   Off she he and Lavender went,  to a friend's house where they were subsequently eaten for dinner.   I was fine with this.   To me, they were chickens I had bought to do a job, not to love as pets.   I didn't get any eggs from either chook but if they could do good elsewhere by providing a meal then so be it.    Rhys on the other hand was a little sullen about the whole thing and has been bugging me since with, "So when are you getting new chickens?"

Now that the sour memory of my first chicken experience has faded I think it's time to clean up and clean out the Chicken Mansion and get new chickens - this time I'm going for utility chickens -from a company that exchanges them if they turn out to be roosters.

Tea Cake Saturday

I felt an energetic vibe this morning.

So I tidied my home, did some washing, went grocery shopping, sorted my photo collection, set up my printer and made an apple tea cake.

I've had more productive Saturdays, to be sure,  but few as yummy as this!

I've been terribly inspire by River Cottage lately and am feeling the urge to sort out my chook shed and buy more chickens.

My weekend in pictures... (again!)

The Type Who Enjoys Lists....

Before we got married Rhys and I had to go through a series of marriage counseling sessions with the minister who would be holding our ceremony.    I actually really enjoyed these sessions as they usually involved some exercise or test that would shed some light/give me 'light-bulb' moments about Rhys, myself and our relationship.   (Note - the minister stressed not to take these things too seriously as they are only tools to get a general idea about the important talking points for the sessions).

One such light-bulb moment was when the results of one test that showed that Rhys liked to live a less structured life while I thrive on lists, plans and structure.   Why this was a light-bulb moment to me I don't know because it should have been obvious. 

I love lists.   I'll write lists about anything - about things I want, things I want/have to do, things I have done, how I plan to do things to be done..... I can be outlisted and outplanned by no man.   The itinerary I made for my last trip to Japan was a thing of meticulously planned beauty.

So perhaps it shouldn't be a giant surprise that I keep a spreadsheet file on my computer called 'groceries2.xls'



It lists in different sections:

• What was in each of my food connect boxes and the price comparison to woolworths & coles for each one (still doin' well!)
• The information about the latest grocery shop - what was bought? for how much?  who was it for? was it for meals/stock/bathroom necessities/tools/junk food? 
• The total cost of my latest grocery shop and totals on how much I spent (and on what) and Rhys spent (and on what) as well as totals for how much was spent on meals, stocks and junk food. 
• Information about each of my grocery shops since February last year.  Where? when?  who went? total spent?  Cat total spent?  Rhys total spent?  Totals spent on meals, stocks and junk food?

Why bother with all of this ultra-anal-retentive-list-making?

The idea is that it is like a food diary of sorts and that over time you can see patterns or changes in behavior.

An interesting fact made obvious by my spreadsheet is that if I go shopping by myself there is nearly always $0.00 spent on junk food and snacks.  If Rhys or Dan joins me this figure usually changes for the worse!

Another interesting thing I've noted is how much my grocery bill has blown up since I've been eating properly.   But it's also interesting to note how much of each shopping bill is for what I call 'stocks' - i.e. herbs, flour, rice, sugar, sesame oil and other items that will last for a long time and provide for many meals.


But no matter how detailed the list I am not satisfied.  I want more.  My current system means that the finer details of the latest grocery shop is kept, to be overwritten next time I shop.   The broader details kept in the grocery register don't provide me with details like whether I purchased meat (which can really bump up the cost), what was the most expensive item I bought (because a 10L can of olive oil can make a total shopping bill go up drastically!) and other such details that I'd like to keep stored.

What I really want is a database which allows me to store information about each grocery shop linked to an overall register.  This would make the list-maker-detail-storer in me happier than Larry. 

My Sunday in Pictures.

What to make with just 5 strawberries

I was thrilled to see I had strawberries in my latest food connect box.  Then came sadness that there were only 5 of them.   Though smooshing a plain strawberry in the mouth is one of life's great pleasures, I wanted to use all five together in a worthwhile kind of way - enough to help out with a meal. 

What could I do with 5 strawberries that would make them worthwhile?

Then I was reminded of the breakfast episode of River Cottage Everyday where Hughie makes a breakfast thickie as a quick and tasty option to include oats in breakfast - not as porridge!

In go the strawberries..... some homemade yogurt with the last scrapings of my mulberry ice-cream and a generous handful of rolled oats.   Cover the lot with milk.

In goes the hand blender.....

And in a few short minutes I have a delicious breakfast thickie!

Meal Planning

I have started meal planning.  

It is a process that takes half an hour to an hour to complete, usually something I do on a weekend but I have found the amount of time and effort it has saved me has been worth the effort. 

I thought I might write a blog entry sharing how I go about doing this and why.

Why meal plan? 

1) It saves time by:

• limiting the amount of time I have to sit pouring over cookbooks, frustratedly asking myself questions like "what am I going to cook tonight?" or "what the heck am I going to do with chicken, two carrots and half a cabbage?"
• limiting the amount of time I spend at the supermarket.  I know exactly what I need to buy so I'm in and out.
• limiting time wasted in the evening defrosting food.  I know what I'm cooking in the evening so it was taken out of the freezer to defrost during the day. 

2) It makes me eat a better diet by:

• forcing me to consider my diet spread across an entire week.  I can see at a glance if I'm not getting enough protein and add/swap in a meat or egg dish somewhere in the week.
• forces me to consider lunches so they're not just an afterthought or skipped.
• enables me to consider alternative breakfasts instead of the same thing every day. 
• I get excited about mixing it up and making new things when I meal plan.  Prior to meal planning I found I'd get home and the frustration with working out what to cook had me making the same thing or nothing. 
• I now eat breakfast every day and cook dinner (or reheat leftovers/frozen cooked meals) every night.  No excuses. No takeaway.

3) It saves me from wasting food:

• I can consider how to use leftovers.  If I make tuna sushi for lunch one day I will plan to use the remaining tuna in a meal either that night or the next night. 
• I plan the meals based around the vegetables from my food connect box collected the Thursday before I plan.  
• It allows me to consider what veges are leftover from the previous week and how to use them first.

4) It saves me money by:

• I create my grocery shopping list from my meal plan (as well as items I know need restocking).  I don't waste money in the supermarket picking up things that I don't need.
• I have lunches planned each day so don't spend any extra money buying lunch. 
• by minimising food wastage I am also saving money. 
• I have a plan and the will to stick to it so I don't cave from exhaustion at the end of the day and buy take-out food anymore. 

 Yay!  Wins all around!

So how do I food plan?

I have a lovely meal planning pad from KiKi-K.  This might be familiar to Metanoia, who I sent another copy of the same pad, and to Grosby who received a portion of my pad for her use.   When my pad runs out I will probably have to get creative and make a set of papers with some ink stamps... or print some out.

But for now I use my KiKi-K pad which shows a kind of meal-planning matrix with the days of the weeks as columns and the meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks) as rows.  There's a space at the bottom of the rows that I also utelise... but more about that in a bit.

I consider what plans I might have for the week ahead and write in any commitments or plans I know in advance on the meal plan sheet.  (e.g. I'll put a cross through dinner to indicate I won't be cooking it and write the reason  "Bob's birthday party" beside it.)



Am I away from home for any of these meals?  Do I have dinner out with Dajana one night?  Will I be at Mum & Dad's place for dinner sometime?  Will I be late home on a night and therefore need a very quick and easy dinner or perhaps a frozen meal?   Will I be leaving for work very early on another morning?  If so, no scrambled eggs for breakky that day!  It's not a perfect world and plans change but it's a good start!


I sit down with a handful of my cookbooks.   Though there are some books that tend to always find their way into the mix (Donna Hay's 'no time to cook' and Australian Women's Weekly 'Creative Cooking on a Budget') I try to keep it fresh by switching the books around.  Recently I've also included my ipad - abc ifood app, River Cottage app and Australian Womens Weekly cookbook app.  

I have my shopping list beside me and a list of the veges I know are in my fridge/kitchen. 


Then I start to plan - usually I mark in breakfasts first, because they aren't connected to any other meal.  I try to ensure I don't eat the same thing two days in a row.  I know breakfasts on weekdays are rushed so I don't plan for anything fancy - I leave that for weekends.

Next I plan dinners - keeping in mind what vegetables need to be used up first.   I flick through cookbooks and i-pad apps to find recipes that use those kinds of ingredients.   I also keep in mind that I need to keep a range of protein in my diet.  Often, I'll find a recipe to cook the meat/chicken/fish I have or want and then find a separate recipe for a vegetable side - or just make something up!
 
Once dinners are planned I can fill in lunches.  If dinner the night before will leave me with leftovers I put that down for lunch the next day.   If dinner the night before won't allow leftovers I plan for something else easy to put together in the morning, like salad, sushi, a basic bento box or an easy instant cous-cous. 


And the extra line at the very bottom I mentioned?  If a dinner will require something to be defrosted in the morning, something to be made the night before or something to be soaked or marinated throughout the day I will write it in the extra space.   It's usually just one word like 'FISH' or 'CHICKPEAS' and it serves as a simple reminder for me in the morning.



Oh yeah... and one last point... where I have based a meal on a recipe (or more than one) I will record in shorthand the book and the page the recipe is on.  I then leave those cookbooks used in the kitchen for quick and easy access! 

This week's meal plan on my fridge - because of changed plans on Thursday lunch I now have extra gnocchi leftovers and will need to do a reshuffle of dinners, probably ditch the pizza planned for tomorrow night and eat the leftovers then.

Important Points to Meal Planning

• Be flexible.  Recognise that plans change or you may forget to put the chickpeas out to soak in the morning.   Recognise that you may come home very late from work totally wrecked and not want to make fiddly scotch eggs...
• Build flexibility into your plan where appropriate - I almost never plan lunches for weekends.  My Sunday is very sketchy in the above plan.
• Have back-up meals in the freezer - for those nights that you come home wrecked! 
• Mix it up but don't plan meals that are too fancy for the time or effort you can afford.  Keep really fancy-pants meals for weekends when you'll have the time to prepare. 
• Do keep in mind which vegetables need to be used first.  Don't leave the banana smoothie for breakfast until a full week after your shopping... your nanas will be grossed-up by then.
• Consider the ways of getting the best and most from your ingredients.  I tend to never cook a steak because that steak will feed me one meal only.  If I cut it up and use it in a stir-fry or a casserole it will make two meals or more.
• Don't be afraid to chop and change recipes and get familiar with ways to substitute ingredients.  If you have a bunch of kale when a recipe calls for silverbeet or spinach, use the kale!  No white wine but you do have a can of Guiness in the fridge throw in the stout!  
• Know your usual suspect ingredients and keep your fridge/cupboard stocked.   I've discovered that I usually need cream at least once a week and can't live without olive oil.  I go through thyme like you wouldn't believe...  

Do you meal plan?  Is your process similar to mine, more/less meticulous?  What things do you consider when meal planning?

Food Connect Box 3

My latest food connect box contained the following:

2 large imperial mandarines
3 oranges
3 kiwi fruits
2 avacados
1 small bunch shallots
1 bunch rocket
1 butter lettuce head
1/2 celery bunch
4 carrots
1 large head broccoli
1 large eggplant
4 apples
1/2 red cabbage
5 strawberries
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
2 lemons
1 bag mushrooms
3 pieces ginger
3 potatoes
3 small sweet potatoes
1 bunch kale (?)

It has been interesting to put these things together into meals, especially the more unusual ingredients I haven't ever cooked with before (like yacon and kale).

Egg and Dill

Just because my blog has been lacking colour lately...

mmmm Egg and Dill ready to become Scrambled Eggs.