Last Aussie Blog for 2010

Hi There,

This will be my last Blog entry in Australia for 2010.
We are off to Malta for 2 months from Tuesday - two days time. Michael has Long Service Leave, and we wanted to visit a place where we could do some research on Mediteranean foods that will grow well here. Michael has a company there, and a friend has offered us his holiday home, so we will be doing lots of Blog research. I am particularly interested in recipies for carob, pommegranite and quince, three plants that grow well here with very little attention, and I have scant knowledge about processing, preserving, and eating. In the mean time, here is a catch up photo diary of our eating habits of the past few weeks.

Broad Bean Harvest - I have found that they are delicious and sweet if eaten young and cooked briefly. I eat with butter, yum.

BD TTT Beef from Farmer's Market

New local Yoghurt available at Coles

Stir fry in the new Wok, home grown veg and venison strips

Michael found this local salt at Marion Bay general store on his last surf trip.

Local Bacon found by Michael in Foodland in Seaford

We have finally run out of dried yeast - amazingly the jar we had in the freezer lasted this whole time. We cannot find local yeast, so Michael has reprieve from baking bread. I have been experimenting with potato scones, and muffins, both without any raising agents. The muffins use lemon zest and yoghurt. The potato cakes, which are delicious, are lots of butter, mashed potato, flour, & salt.

           Potato scones are cooked on a hot skillet, with flour - not oil. Makes for an interesting challenge.

                               Lemon muffins, I made these for the WWS School music concert.

Food Forest

I have attended a couple of Sunday courses at the Food Forest in Gawler http://www.foodforest.com.au/

 One on Organic Vegetable growing and Free Range Poultry, and one on Organic Fruit and Nut tree growing.They were both very worthwhile and enjoyable, stacked full of useful information and hands on learning. Anne Marie and Graham are such a wealth of knowledge, such down to earth people, so generous and passionate. It is so wonderful to experience their willingness to teach and share with others. While I was there I ate their delicious home grown goodies, dried figs, apples and pistachios, and fresh white mulberries, yum. I also purchased some of their new apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and their new movie! a very good insight into to their Food Forest lifestyle with a great interview with David Holmgren, the co-founder of Permaculture, and interviews with the Brookman offspring. Very inspiring , well made, and easy viewing, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sDmbbqsGIg.

Local lunch at home

Home made mayonnaise - I always think it takes too long, but actually, it tok only minutes, I did not even use a recipie. local olive oil, our own eggs, salt, Farmer's Market garlic, lemon juice. Blend together, keep adding olive oil till it gets thick. EASY.

It has lasted in the fridge for at least two weeks. I add parsley and dill from the garden to make tartare sauce, and add lemon juice to make a salad dressing. yum.

It is always such a pleasure to be invited to Ruth and Tresh's house for dinner! They are so generous and the atmosphere is so relaxed, Ruth is lovely and Tresh is such an entertainer, here he is making bread in the pizza oven he made.

Hot bread from the wood oven! What a treat.

Ruth's desert, with local Willunga grown berries and home made berry sauce. So Delicious, Ruth's deserts are legendary.

Breakfast without toast

Latest farmer's market find - fruit leathers made in Aldinga Beach! and such a huge variety of flavours.

Steve Poole's plums - thanks Steve

Our latest purchase a WebberQ BBQ from Mitre 10 in McLarenVale. we decided to upgrade from our old clunker, and it was highly recommended by friends the Notts and the Goods. We like it too. It is supposed to be energy efficient and easy to use & clean. It certainly seems to cook well, and it's all good so far.

Lynda my good friend and neighbour, helping me enjoy the results of my first try cooking on the new Webber Q. We ate the best zucchini I have ever tasted from Lynda's garden, and chicken sausages from Willunga butcher. They are usually very fatty when fried. On the Webber grill they were sensational. 

Breakfast 2 without toast

Here is the Worm Farm Fridge. I saw a version of this at the Blackwood Primary school community garden. I was inspired because I don't have a space in the garden that does not have direct sun for the whole day, and my old worm farms were the standard can-o-worms black plastic variety and they seemed to get too hot in summer. In fact we lost them last year in the November heat wave. The Fridge is insulated against heat and cold, is white (doesn't attract heat like black) and is providing a lot larger surface area for the worms. I am hoping that this will keep them happy and healthy enough to multiply to a number that will deal with all of our household waste that cannot go to the chickens. Citrus, tea leaves, garlic, onion, floor sweepings, etc.

It feels good to be using a fridge that was unwanted, recycling it into a useful item. It is up on bricks to a bucket height to allow the worm juice to be drained off. It is also on a slight angle to allow the flow of juice. There was already a hole that was the perfect size for the plastic pipe - reused from the fridge. I had to fill a few holes with silicone, and siliconed around the hose. I used the wire mesh from the back of the fridge as a grate to keep the worms and debris off the gravel at the base.

The gravel is to allow the water to drain easily from the farm, and prevent the worms from drowning in the fluid at the base of the farm.

 

ontop of the mesh I laid shade cloth to improve drainage and stop debris falling through.

ontop of the shade cloth I laid the stuffing from our old club lounge suite which I had saved when we had it re furbished with new foam. The cotton wadding and coconut fibre/horse hair is perfect bedding material for the worms, and it did not go to landfill.

Watering in the bedding

with food added

Happy worms

 

 I added shade cloth to cover the farm and prevent flies and other flying bugs breeding in the wormfarm. I could have used flyscreen, I attached it with velcro to make accessibility easy.

Aarod cooks breakfast

How nice to have a 16 year old who likes to cook. We bought bread at the Farmer's market this week, a treat before we go.



The real reason we are going to Malta!

Michael brought this hope with him on his last trip. It is Anisette liqueur, an aniseed drink I expect like Ouzo. It is traditional in Malta to have a shot in coffee. 

Day 313 PHEW!

I Am A Bit Over It

Yes, as you can tell by my lack of posts, I am a bit Over it all now. I also lost my camera, so no pics of Tasmania! and I have to use the old camera for my Blog Pics.
I spent a few weeks in the lead up to my Tasmanian Overland adventure dehydrating food, tasting various packaged dehydrated foods, and mixing up tasty and healthy dried concoctions, that were not local, so it was a bit strange after having such a limited diet for so long. On the trek I enjoyed tuna, wasabi, nori sheets, mung bean and lentil sprouts, cuppa soup, hot chocolate, sugar (it was lighter than honey) powdered milk, Willunga museli, dried fruit & nut scroggin, Madura tea, museli bars, cous cous and rice. I must say, it was very nice having the variety, and a lovely treat having the tea and hot chocolate! I was pretty disciplined though, I did not take chocolate (too heavy) or sweets. I did take lots of home made beef jerky, and curries (which I had to make with foreign spices).  I also gave myself a break from the diet while in transit to and from Tassie via Melbourne, it was nice not to have to think about it. To savour whatever I fancied form the menu without having to ask where everything comes from. The fall out from this has been a big relapse in my resolve, and I have to confess that I have decided to include Madura Tea on my diet. At least it is Australian. I just find life is not the same without tea. Must be the British blood, life is too short to not drink tea! S Tea is oficially the one thing I cannot live without, so I am ordering a Camelia Sinensis tree this month - to try growing my own.  The pantry has inevitably, some left over dehydrated stuff, which we are treating ourselves with. Mostly I couldn't do without - Willunga Almonds for quick easy snacks, lashings of local wine, Mark and Lisa's apples & pears, and local dairy products.

Chickens
This week's challenge is our chooks deciding that they don't like our new Royal (Rip off) Rooster chook tractor. The irony is, we paid a small fortune for this deluxe chook palace, fox proof floor, lightweight aluminium construction = easy for one person to move & no mite breeding habitat in the wood. We got rid of the $40 fox proof floor after day 3 I think, as the poor girls couldn't scratch properly, and it made the tractor heavy and difficult to move. They still were not happy = not laying. We bought them delicious Organic wheat and barley from the food co-op, - still no eggs. We stopped moving them daily. Yesterday we got 2 eggs from our 3 girls for the first time. Things are looking up. We are considering making them a new stationary chook pen, or putting the girls in the freezer and trying again with a new batch of point of lay chooks who will be trained from day one to be nomadic. My latest research involves finding another type of feed for the girls, as they may not like the new mix. I have been a bit dismayed by thr list of ingredients in Red Hen mix. On the plus side, they are Lauckes grains, but ingredients like yellow colouring, fish meal, blood and bone, and meat meal, as well as canola, soy, and corn, all concern me. I emailed Lauckes and they were unable to tell me whether the grains were genetically modified as the producers don't have to label their products. The meat products were Australian, the fish imported, not sure where from. So I have now emailed and await replies from Baristok and Fleurieu feeds. I am also investigating local places to send our girls for processing as I understand that there is somewhere that will process small numbers. They are 2 years old now, will need boiling/ crock pot roasting, but as I buy chickens to eat anyway, it seems logical.

What are we eating this week?

Baker Girl

Actually this is not a photo from this week, we haven't seen the beautiful Bread lady at our door for several weeks. This is the fabulous bread that she delivered to our door twice a week for $6. Made from sourdough and Laucke's organic flour. Yum. We miss you Tamara & Erica!

My lunch of local bread - I think this is actually Russel's, Farmer's Market tomatoes and cheese, and garden greens, I have given up on the local pink pepper corns - they just don't work in the grinder, are sticky, and not that peppery. So I decided to use the peppery flavour of the nasturtiums instead. Don't know why I didn't think of it before! yumo.

Bananas

These were grown by Steve Poole in Aldinga Beach - he apparently had 6 bunches this year! Such an inspiration, and to be so generous with them - thanks heaps Steve! They were not as sweet as I expected, being a lady finger variety. I think maybe they need more water or feeding?  I have planted 2 baby plants from my sister's place. I have planted them in 2 different locations in my garden, even though it is best to plant them together. One will get more sun, but I will have to remember to water it. The other is more sheltered, but gets less sun and more run off from the raised bed and outdoor shower etc. It's a bit of an experiment. Hers have not fruited yet, so the race is on to see who's tree fruits first!

I think this was my first breakfast on return to Aldinga after trekking the wilds of Tasmania. More nasturtiums for the pepper flavour - it actually works a treat. It gets me thinking, before spices came along to the european table, we must have relied much more heavily on herbs. So much so that the manor house garden always had a substantial herb garden (for medicinal use as well). When spices came along, they were probably as exciting as convenience foods are today. You did not have to go out to the garden to get flavourings from the herb patch, you had spices at your finger tips in the pantry. It makes me wonder how many spices could be substituted with herbs? I wonder if kitchens were much more self sufficient pre-spice trade - or just more bland?

Decadent lunch, Primo Estate Colombard, Alexandrina Gouda, Mark and Lisa's pears, Farmer's Market cucumber, and snow peas. Udder Delights blue cheese, Perry's Fruit & Nut Nursery avocadoes. Delish.

My first harvest on my return. It was so wonderful to come home to a lush green abundant garden! I had so much broccoli - I love it, so I plant a lot! But I have not got the right method of succession planting sussed yet, so it all ripens at once. My first instinct, is to give it away, but this time, I decided to blanch and freeze some.

My first post Trek dinner, Spanikopita (there is lots of spinach in the garden), I had no garlic, so I put in lots of onions, browned them first, and our own home processed olives ( this batch was a garlic and pepper flavour - superb), as well as some herbs from the garden. I made the pastry as I had no pasta sheets. I made it with olive oil as I had limited butter. It was wonderful, and not so hard to make pastry. I tell myself it is hard, can't be bothered, takes too long, etc. but actually, it is ok, messy, but not too time consuming at all. I wonder if it is the same for bread - I tell myself the same things about bread.

Trying out some more heritage seeds. I am excited about trying new types of tomato and different coloured carrots. I am also trying to get used to starting new seedlings as soon as I have planted the first batch.

My prize broccoli

Prize Broccoli and me! It must have been all of the rain we had over winter, it meant that the crops were delayed by the cold, but bumper because of the water -I think? Maybe I just don't normally water enough?

Actually, I have been feeding the veg a lot more this year, with worm wee, seasol and charlie carp, as well as BD preps.

Farmer's Market roast Chicken and veg. (My greens)

Tea, Almond paste, Seedlings

Day 268

Well It has been a long time - this is the catch up Blog Post.

Tea

Green Tea with Jasmine, from a good and generous friend.

I must admit that tea has been my greatest challenge. I miss it terribly, and this gift has helped enormously. I have decided to order two Camelia trees to try growing my own tea in wine barrels.

I had a cup of Madura English breakfast tea one night at another friend's house and it tasted beautiful, just superb (probably tasting all the better because of my  abstinence). I took the liberty of taking some of the same tea bags with me on my recent trial trek from Deep Creek to Kings Beach. I ended up bringing most of them home with me as it turned out, because David Blacklock, the teacher I travelled with; provided me with my tea fix on a regular basis. He was armed with the newest camping sensation - the Jet Boil, which biols water in about 2 minutes! David would put a pinch of leaf tea directly into the billy, boil it up, and serve without straining. I actually loved the simplicity of it. No wet tea bags to carry out, no tags staples and cords, just pour away the dregs to compost onto the ground - excellent! I am a convert - I did not even mind the tea leaves - there is something authentic and "Bush billy tea" like about the experience that appeals to the outdoorsy part of me. (maybe on the Tassie trek I will try adding some gum leaves as well- then I will have to start singing Waltzing Matilda.....) 

 Now I have a box of Queensland grown teabags which I have enjoyed being able to share with visitors. It is actually such a huge part of our society's welcoming ritual to offer a visitor a cup of tea, and it just isn't the same when I offer herbal tea (unless of course people prefer it, which I find is rare) Maybe I aught to just bypass the whole tea palava, and offer visitors a glass of wine instead? Sort of doesn't work at ten in the morning, or with tradesmen if I want an acceptable finished product....mmm

Lemons and almonds from the road side stall on Aldinga to Willunga road. Lemons were dry inside, with some disease, lots of pips, and not much juice. Almonds were small, tasted like they had not been dried properly, some damp sort of taste, and the bag contained some shells and husks and stones. Buyers BEWARE. Nothing beats the quality of the almonds from the Willunga Farmer's Market for freshness, quality, and flavour.We especially love the roasted almonds...yum! We have been enjoying Hardings almond paste from the Market, and I decided to try making my own.

Almond Paste

  

I tried roasting some of our raw almonds in the frypan.

Put the roasted almonds through the juicer very slowly.

   

The paste is quite dry, and would be difficult to spread, so I add local olive oil as there is no local almond oil.

The olive oil makes it smooth like peanut paste, and I add honey to disguise the olive flavour.

 I tried a few different additives for variety. One with carob powder, and one with honey and salt.

Almond Paste in the Jar ready to spread on toast. I am not sure how long it would last. I kept it in the fridge as almonds (and all nuts) once they are shelled should be stored in a cool place to stop them going rancid.
It does not last long enough in our household to worry about use by dates.

  The most popular version in our household was the one with added salt and honey. None of the versions lasted very long. The greatest compliments came from the teenager who said that it was the best almond paste he had ever tasted....nice.

Russel's leftovers for breakfast heated in the oven....a family favourite.

  

Lunch - steamed cauliflower, brocoli, garden greens, and a white sauce with Langhorne Creek horseradish and beetroot spread for a little extra oomph.

  My seed purchase from Green Harvest in a neat little seed raising box I bought from Cheap as chips for about $7 - very effective.

The beans ready to plant out, and the others on the way - very exciting!

 I have fallen off the wagon so to speak, with our local diet. I made the decision to buy non-local dehydrated foods and tea, hot chocolate, etc. for my 3 day trial trek, and for Aarod to take on his recent canoe trip.  I did not predict the fall out. Of course we needed to test out the new gas cooker before the trip, and of course there were leftovers after my trek and Aarod's canoe trip, so the pantry has one drawer at present that contains all manner of prohibited goodies. Two minute noodles, hot chocolate, tea, wheat bix, powdered milk, cuppa soup, to name a few. I have to admit that they have been too tempting for me to have in the house! I have never been one with a strong willpower. My motto is mostly, "If there is chocolate - it will be eaten." So I have to confess that the diet at present is somewhat a hybrid of it's former self. We are also presently planning an extended trip to Malta, so we will continue to eat local foods while staying there, but will be realistic about airport food and other tricky situations. As the year progresses it gets harder to stay focussed and committed, but ultimately we are sticking to eating and purchasing local foods as much as we can, without being so rigid when we eat out, and allowing the camp treats to be consumed rather than being thrown out or given away.