Tomato! Tomato!

I found something unexpected at my local Bunnings.... seedlings from Diggers Club. There weren't many different varieties of plants but what was there sold out quickly as I found very few left when I went back a second time. With such popularity, hopefully we'll see more Diggers heirloom seedlings cropping up around there. Pun intended.

I bought four different varieties of tomatoes.
The Black Russian
Lemon Drop (Yellow, round tomato)
Green Zebra
Tigerella

They are thriving well, especially the Lemon Drop which has jumped up like a magic beanstalk! Each plant has started flowering already and two of the four have started showing signs of fruit.

You can see two little fruits started if you look closely!

For a new gardener who has faced plenty of distressing failures over the last few years having such success is thrilling.

Getting back on the rails.

I haven't written much in this blog for a while now -but I did have good reason. I was busy getting married!

It is amazing how much your lifestyle can slip when you're gearing up for such a major event. My housecleaning went out the window. My diet became full of processed food, junk and cakes. I relied on packet meals for the first time in just over a year. My worm farm was ignored to the point of mass wormy-genecide. I bought lunches and take-out..... this is starting to sound like a confessional session!

Though the wedding was wonderful and memorable, my whole life and being sighed with relief when it was over. I could finally get my life back on-track and invest my time and money into the projects I had been hankering to start.

I've attacked my garden with great relish. Rhubarb, basil, peas and four types of diggers heirloom tomatos have all found a place in my garden. I discovered the joy of mulch and swooned over a diggers catalogue which unexpectedly came in the mail. The urge to plant MORE is sometimes overwhelming so I keep myself away from Bunnings except when I have a purpose!

This morning I discovered one of my little tomato plants had started to show fruit amongst the flowers. I was delighted and pointed it out to my kittens. They looked confused at my enthusiasm over nature doing it's thing.

On other fronts I've been trying to slow down and de-tech myself. Step one was to reduce the amount of time I waste on the xbox while focusing more on craft projects. I'm working on finishing a cross-stitchery by Mirabilia that I started back in 2005 when still living in Japan.

I've also been trying to get my eating habits back into line. Last night I baked biscuits, made bread and yogurt - all for lunches this week. Going to bed with the smell of baked bread lingering in the house is heart-warming!

One of the wedding gifts we received was a slow cooker. It is a sad shame that no one had a video camera handy when I ripped the wrapping paper off. I am sure the internet would have enjoyed watching me do the "OMG-I-got-a-slow-cooker-dance". I've used it twice now to make pea and ham soup and ratatouille. A few meals went in the fridge but the rest went in the freezer, ready to defrost and go.

My husband (I still get a kick from saying that!) surprised me by making an improptu decision to pick up some woodworking tools and fix our old broken couch. It was an experiment in woodworking and upholstery and he did very well! So an old couch got a new lease on life, we get some extra seating in the lounge room and my man got a mass of brownie points.

Getting back on the rails has been a whole lot more enjoyable than it sounds. Hopefully I can get some decent blogging of it off the ground soon!

Aussie Owned & Made Tomato Sauce

I bought this tomato sauce by Berenberg Farms in the last shop and cracked it open for the first time.

It was wonderful! Just the right blend of tomato, tangy vinegar and salt. I was in tomato sauce heaven.

I was also happy to know I was buying Australian Owned and Made in a glass bottle.

My mouth, the environment, the Aussie economy. All winners today.

Truly Supporting Local

I really want to support local farmers. A few of the reasons are:

• to boost the local economy,
  
• help out Queensland farmers rather than those in California,
  
• support the smaller guys rather than the corporate giants like Coles or Woolworths (often owned overseas),
• to reduce the 'carbon footprint' by cutting down the distance my food has to travel for me to eat it.

I have already stopped shopping for fruit and vegetables at the big supermarkets and instead attend fruit and veg markets. However, it was disappointing to realise that a lot of the food sold there is not local.

So I was very happy to discover Food Connect, a company which was started in the Brisbane area but now seems to have developed sister companies in Adelaide and Sydney.

These guys connect with local farmers around Brisbane (or Adelaide/Sydney if using their sites) who meet certain organic growing standards. They collect the produce from farmers, drop it to a city support family/person who subscribers can then visit to pick up their order of fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, eggs, drinks, meat, cheese etc.

I already make my own bread and yogurt (more about that on another post!). I hope soon to get laying chickens and get some vegetables and fruit trees working in my little garden. I also want to learn someday how to make cheese. In the meantime this seems like a good option for buying things like cheese from Malaney or the odd piece of meat (which I don't eat that often anymore). Even the fruit and veg is very reasonably priced for what you get - considering all the growers they use must meet organic standards. Buy all that organic produce at a supermarket and you'd pay a small fortune.

I may give them a try out and do a review on here - once I get my life in order post wedding.

Ladybird Ladybird fly away home!

Ladybird! Ladybird! Fly away home.
Your house is on fire and children all gone.

Ok! So now I'm really excited!

I haven't looked at the 'City Chicks' website for a long while, since I first wanted chickens, just over a year ago. Tonight I went to have a look at what coops they have for sale and (oh happy day!) I found they'd expanded into vegetable gardening and other sustainable goodies.

Now that's not what got me clapping joyfully. No indeed! Something MUCH better!

These blessed souls sell insect kits. Ladybird eggs. Lacewing eggs.

I look to the aphid tortured oregano in my backyard and give a wicked grin. Your time has come my little nasty aphids. It's CAT'S TURN NOW! Whahahahahahahahahaha.

1 Million Women - 1000 kg reached on personal goals

I'm not usually one for joining campaigns but the 1 Million Women campaign sparked my interest.

I believe I was attracted the fact that the campaign recognises the importance and power of women's decisions in the home, especially when all working towards a common goal.

So I joined, I set up my activity register and then I waited a few weeks before marking my progress on some of the activities.

I will admit that I chose some activities that I had already implemented around the house (like buying 10% green power, installing water saving shower heads and power saving light bulbs) but I didn't feel I should lose out because I had taken the steps earlier than the project came in!

So I haven't REALLY made sudden changes to my life in the last 3 weeks to save 1000kg of carbon emissions as per the info below.... but I have over the last few months AND I've set some new goals that I'm working towards due to the campaign.

Tuna and Potato Pot Pie

I originally intended to make my mum's 'fish cakes' recipe but found I had no mayonnaise in the fridge. Instead I boiled and mashed up potato to help bring the tuna mixture together into patties. At the point of cooking them I decided that I wasn't keen on frying in oil and butter but would rather bake them for a healthier finish.

A new recipe was created!


Tuna & Potato Pot Pie

• 185g can of tuna in brine, drained
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled & chopped
• splash milk
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 1/2 onion chopped finely
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• splash lime juice (lemon juice could be substutited)
  
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1/2 cup cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (c).
Boil or steam potatoes until soft. Mash the potato with the milk and butter until of a smooth consistency.
Mix tuna, potato, onion, egg, breadcrumbs and lime juice togther in a bowl. Combine well.
Spoon mixture into ramkins (4 - 5 depending on size of your ramekins).
Place a tomato slice on top of each pie and top with a sprinkling of cheese.
Put ramekins on a flat cookie tray and bake in the oven until the cheese is browned.

Note:
If eaten fresh from the oven, keep in the ramekin. I refrigerated leftoever pies overnight. The next day I was able to pop them out of the ramekins to reheat.