oUr bAcKyArD

Schedule for March & April 2009

2009-02-19T15:43:00.006+13:00

7th March - Meeting at Megan's place to learn about preserving the excess summer harvest.
- also to discuss the schedule for the rest of the year.

4th April - Harvest festival at Clarie's place (Feilding) to share all the yummies from our gardens.
- Sorry I won't be able to share in this celebration- my baby is due to arrive at this time!!

An email will be sent out with the details of the meeting locations. Contact me if you need more information.

February 2009 Meeting - Urban Vege Garden Tour

2009-02-19T15:31:00.002+13:00

We visited 4 urban productive gardens - each had its own merits and beauty. But all were very productive. 3 out of the 4 gardens were tended by male gardeners. I guess there is hope for my lovely husband yet (tongue in cheek!). I think an annual garden tour at about this time of the year is great. I'll factor this in for next year's timetable.

Keep sowing seeds for lettuces, radishes, the fast summer crops. You'll still get a crop or two of those.

Also we briefly talked about winter planting.

Now is the time to put the winter vegetables in if you haven't done so. Sow seeds for the brassica families, leeks etc. I'm thinking of planting a crop of potatoes, not sure it's too late...if I get round to doing it this weekend.

Urban Permaculture Meetings 2008-2009

2008-10-29T10:30:00.004+13:00

At the last meeting, we came up with a tentative meeting schedule for the next few months. The meeting date is always the first Saturday of each month at 2:30pm unless specified. Please contact me for meeting addresses.

2008
November - Farmer Cedric's Organic Dairy Farm, host by Susan and Cedric
- also bring any excess seedlings to share and exchange
December - Ocean Organics home garden, host by Judith

2009
January - Holiday
February - Planning the winter garden, host by Esther and Matt
March - Raising Pigs, making Salami, host by Susan and Cedric and Karine Chagne
April - TBC
May - Harvest Festival, host by Clarie

The urbanpermie is back!

2008-10-16T08:58:00.005+13:00

I've been out of action for a while for a very good reason - I was having such bad all day sickness! I'm now into the 17th week of the pregnancy and my energy is finally returning. Also I can now sit infront of the computer for a longer period without feeling so sick.

Naturally as a result of the past few months of inaction, my garden is also in a state of neglect. For a the first time in many months, my husband and I spent some good hours trying to catch up with lost time. We were pretty amazed that within a few hours, the garden was looking quite acceptable again. We're convinced that Permaculture principles works!!

All through winter, the chookies in the chook tractor were working around the vegetable beds, so I have well mulched, fertilized vege beds ready for planting. What I need now are seedlings for planting.

All the fruit trees are doing really well this year. I think it's because the Tree lucerns are doing their job in providing wind shelter. The pear tree is looking exceptionally well - it could be the comfrey plant planted at the base of the pear tree. I'll now work towards planting comfrey at the base of all the fruit trees. Having said that, the mandarine tree was loaded with fruits late winter has suddenly taken a turn for the worst and died. Not sure why.

As for the chook family, one chook died in winter. It was the weakest link and it just wasn't strong enough to withstand the constant wet and extreme cold we had this year. Sadly another chook was eating it's own eggs and were extremely noise, so it went too. That's a blog entry in itself. We are left with 3 chookies at the moment.

I guess that's me for the moment...

Bicycle Energy

2008-07-28T13:14:00.003+12:00

Just imagine- bike for an hour and power the house lights for a week! This is a reality for a man who found a solution to stay fit and solve a power crisis.

Check out the free plans to design bicycle energy systems for your home. You may be able to save some money this winter.

Milk Tonic for good health

2008-07-22T16:01:00.002+12:00

Tiger’s Milk, an old naturopathic convalescent tonic for a perfect breakfast. A convalescent tonic was traditionally used to build people back up after an illness or stress, including childbirth.

Per person
2 x raw egg yolks (from free range eggs
½ - ¾ cup of milk, yoghurt or kefir
2-3 tablespoons of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

First blend the yoghurt and berries until smooth, then add the egg yolks and coconut oil and blend until combined. It’s important to not over process the egg yolks so always add them last.

If you or a family member is allergic to dairy, you can replace the milk with almond milk or rice milk. To make either of these even more nutritious, culture them using Kefir grains or culture first. A less ideal option is to replace the milk with fresh or frozen orange juice – this works best as an afternoon snack rather than breakfast. You can also add some frozen banana for children (or fussy adults).

Matt and I love it. We find that the coconut flavor stands out the most. The shake has a beautiful purplish color, so quite appealing. We can hardly tastes the yolk. The natural yogurt and kefir give a tarty taste. If you like it a bit sweeter, adding some banana will do the trick, and I can imagine it going very well with the coconut flavor.

Making Friands

2008-07-17T14:36:00.009+12:00

A good lemony muffin recipe by Pat Churchill to use up the excess egg whites and lemon rinds. Nothing goes wasted.

Lemon Friands
180g Butter
200g icing sugar
50g plain flour
pinch salt
1/2 tsp lemon essence
120g ground almonds
zest of 2 lemons
5 egg whites
extra icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease muffin tins.
Melt the butter, then set it aside to cool.
Place butter, ground almonds, zest, essence, sifted icing sugar and flour into a mixing bowl.
Lightly beat the eggs whites till frothy and stir into the other ingredients till combined - don't over mix.
Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 25-30 minutes till a toothpick inserted in clean when removed. Allow to stand for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
To serve, dust with icing sugar and accompany with whipped cream ans seasonal fruit.

It's Snowing in Palmy!

2008-07-13T22:53:00.003+12:00

Oops, I mean it's hailing down like dogs and cats. I was so exciting that I rushed out barefooted with my camera!! The next thing, I felt my feet hurting - it felt like I was walking on ice (which I was!!) I simply couldn't contain my excitement. Next thing I knew, I ran to my neighbor's place, and invited her out to play in the ice with me. Oh oh, I could see my footprints. I felt like a child jumping up and down in joy after receiving a most precious present!!

Back to School....

2008-07-13T21:34:00.011+12:00

Not quite. But I love blogging so much that I have enrolled to learn about web design and writing for the web with the Open Polytechnics. A bit radical, you might say. Firstly, I feel strongly that my writing has tonnes of room for improvement and secondly I like to have more control over the template (the control-freak part of me is emerging here). And I really can't believe that there is JUST THE COURSE for me!! So, why wait??

Both papers (web design & writing) are online papers, work out quite well as I do enjoy sitting long hours infront of the screen especially in winter. If everything goes as per planned, I should graduate this coming November.

On top of that, the one year Plant Propagation Course is also starting this week. So, I'll be just a tat busy the next 6 months.

These activities should be enough to keep my out of winter blues!!

Lacto Fermentation-The Microbial Family

2008-07-13T16:14:00.012+12:00

After months of research and personal success with the experiment, I've come to the conclusion that we should include a lot more lacto fermented foods in our diet. Now, I keep a microbial family going at home. The members include Water Kefir, Milk Kefir, cultured yogurt, Kombucha and other lacto-fermented veges especially cabbages.

For years, I suffered from severe constipation. Once I was packed for 8 weeks. Believe me not, it was nasty. I thought I was dying. In a nutshell that was the beginning of my health journey in search of a cure for my constipation. It then took me another 6 years before I stumbled over the answer (Thanks to Tara who introduced Nourishing Traditions to me). From juicing to consuming tonnes of fiber, taking probiotic tablets, and herbal laxatives, the answer for me is finally found in lacto fermented foods.

It has been six months, and I hardly needed the usually herbal laxative to get things moving. Since, I've also found a few things that are especially hard on my digestive system. Too much carbohydrates will pack me up too. At the moment, I'm experimenting with sourdough recipes as I would like to enjoy carb without the side effects.

We're planning for a family, and I'm confident these lacto fermented foods will
help with easing constipation during pregnancy. Yes, these lacto fermented foods are safe to consume during pregnancy.

Community Gardens...

2008-07-07T12:42:00.004+12:00

Every town should have a few active Community gardens going. In my opinion, community gardens are more than just growing veges; it's about connecting with people, taking control of food production, getting in touch with nature which also allows one to get in touch with oneself...

Never too old!!

2008-07-01T14:36:00.002+12:00

We hosted 2007 Christmas lunch. Matt’s parents, his Nana and auntie and uncle gathered at our place for the occasion. My best effort for the day was a leg of ham, soft buns, salad and a pavlova from the supermarket. In any case the food went down surprising well.

For afternoon tea, I served up the zucchini pickle that I made the previous summer. It went down like a treat. Matt’s Nana loved it so much that she requested the recipe. The thought of the efforts I put into preserving it and how much harder it would be for her, I brushed off her request. Instead, she was supplied with a bigger bottle of pickle. A week later, a snail-mail came for me. It was from Nana. She thanked us for lunch but more importantly, she wanted the zucchini recipe. Sensing her determination, I wrote the recipe and snail-mailed it back to her. Later that week, there was a phone message from Nana. She had just made the zucchini pickle and was very pleased with it! Bless her cotton socks!! We celebrated her 90^th birthday in May 2008!!

Chinese Steam buns

2008-06-30T14:03:00.004+12:00

I love steam buns!! It’s one of my comfort foods! It’s the texture of the dough that determines the quality of the bun, at least for me. I’ve been seeking for a Chinese bun dough recipe and I think I might have it now. Three other keys for making great steam buns:

1) The ingredients have to be fine (achieved by using the food processor to cut the cabbage etc
2) Mix in ¼ cold galantine (make from boiling up chicken legs) and ¾ cold filling (mince/cabbages is preferred as it holds up well)
3) Steam in a bamboo steamer

Here’s the dough recipe to make 60 small buns:
6 cups flours
¼ cup sugar
1 packet yeast
1tbs baking powder
1¼ cups warm milk
¾ cup warm water

Mix all the ingredients together, let it rise for 2 hours and the dough is ready for making buns with filling of your choice!

Why Raw Milk?

2008-06-26T12:48:00.004+12:00

We drink RAW MILK these days and use it to make yogurt. Why Raw Milk?

Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly and many die before maturity.

Raw milk sours naturally but pasteurized milk turns putrid; processors must remove slime and pus from pasteurized milk by a process of centrifugal clarification. Inspection of dairy herds for disease is not required for pasteurized milk. Pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s to combat TB, infant diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and dirty production methods.

But times have changed and modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for public protection. And pasteurization does not always kill the bacteria for Johne’s disease suspected of causing Crohn's disease in humans with which most confinement cows are infected.

Much commercial milk is now ultra-pasteurized to get rid of heat-resistant bacteria and give it a longer shelf life. Ultra-pasteurization is a violent process that takes milk from a chilled temperature to above the boiling point in less than two seconds. (Sources are listed on www.realmilk.com.)

Do you still want to drink pasteurized milk?

MARIA’S RAW MILK YOGURT

2008-06-25T21:31:00.008+12:00

Between Maria Garcia and Kristina Boudrezux, they worked out a recipe to make a smooth, thick yogurt using raw milk loaded with beneficial stuff for the body. It produces a high quality yogurt in glass container. Start at night, after dinner, and let it set overnight (8hrs).

Ingredients:
1 quart raw, organic whole milk
1-8 ounce container Brown Cow whole milk yogurt, plain flavor (for the first batch)
or 3-4 tablespoons reserved yogurt from the previous batch

Tools:
Keep all of your utensils very clean, making sure there is no soap residue.

Method:

Heat the milk in a pan to 110°F (43°C), then remove from heat immediately.
Pour the warm milk into a 1 qt glass jar, add the yogurt culture, and seal loosely with the lid. Make sure to leave about 3/4 inch of air at the top of the jar so the culture has some space to grow.
Place the jar into a thermos and close. Put it on the countertop, and let it set overnight (8 hours).
In the morning, remove the glass jar from the thermos and put it into the refrigerator.
When you first open the yogurt jar, scoop out 3-4 tablespoons of yogurt (the "mother"), place it a container, and it in the refrigerator for later use to start your next batch.
If use raw milk, it lasts up to six months in the fridge. Yogurt from pasteurized milk will last 1 week in the fridge.

Tara tried the above recipe and says it is so delicious, just like Greek yogurt. The only problem is she wants to eat it all in one sitting!!

It blew us away!!

2008-06-25T15:40:00.005+12:00

Matthew’s parents gifted him with 2 tickets to THE TEN TENORS concert on his birthday. This is a very special treat as Matt and I just aren’t in the habit of going to such extravagant concerts. Despite our excitement, we just made it there on time. We soon settled down and the Ten Tenors came on stage. The setting was simple and minimal. The lighting and quality of sound were the props. The music was absolutely spectacular. It was light-hearted and entertaining but the quality of the singing simply blew us away. Cute boys with handsome voices have a drooling effect on me!! The 2-hour show felt like 5 minutes. I was truly sad when the concert came to an end. You can get a glimpse of their beautiful music from the mp3 at their website. Thank you, mum and dad for the most generous gift.

Don't Make Me Think

2008-06-25T15:03:00.002+12:00

My interest in Web Design started when I started blogging a year ago. Last weekend, someone recommended a book by Steve Krug “Don’t make me think” on web usability. It’s a very light hearted reading for anyone who’s into web design or blogging.

One key principle that Steve advocates is eliminate question marks that users might have. In short, don’t make them think by making the design, links, clinks etc as OBVIOUS as possible. This is relevant to me in terms of making my blog as user friendly as possible.

Pig Keeping - Part 2

2008-06-19T16:37:00.002+12:00

In the second round, K&D bought 2 females crosses between whites and saddlebacks. Male pigs tend to produce too much testosterone which taints the taste of the meat. Besides, the smell can be overpowering for some people.

The pigs were fed on food waste collected from K’s workplace. However, K&D still had to travel 20kms everyday just to feed to the pigs. This incurred quite a bit of fuel money and carbon footprints. Fencing was still quite a problem as it just wasn’t strong enough to keep them in. So, the recurring theme is BUILD STRONG FENCING.

Finally, those girls were sent to the works mid last week.

At the weekend, K&D processed 2 kgs worth of pig liver into pate. The carcasses need to be hung for a week to before processing. This process will mature the meat which improves the texture and flavors.

K&D have decided not to keep any more pigs for the time being until they’re living on their acres, which shouldn’t be too far off.

D feeling all sentimental wrote a tribute to those pigs:

Poor girls must have passed to Pigs by now! Pigs Paradise must look like a large jungle of freshly planted trees to dig out and chew young leaves of, big buckets of noodle curries to roll in and lots of human made things to destroy happily.

Plant Propagation

2008-06-17T10:18:00.007+12:00

Agribusiness Training is commencing a course in Plant Propagation next month, i.e. July (in Palmerston North). It’s a course that is taught over one year so that all seasonal propagation activities can be undertaken. If you’re a NZ citizen or NZ permanent Resident, the course fee is $150 for the entire course.

Apart from all the knowledge you'll acquire, you'll also receive:
-A fully functional propagation unit, including watering systems and temperature gauges to keep at home
-Home visits from the tutor for one-on-one tuition
-Field-trips to view commercial nursery production units and other areas of gardening interest in your region, where available

All in all a fabulous course for any garden enthusiasts. I’ll be enrolling for this course, and hopefully more urban permies will join me as well.

If you are interested, go to http://www.agribusiness.ac.nz/ for more information. Clink on the picture to enlarge the timetable.

Keeping Pigs- Part 1

2008-06-11T15:54:00.006+12:00

More than a year ago, a good friend and her husband decided to begin their journey of self-sufficiency. Karine and David (K&D) started their adventure in their urban backyard with 2 kune kune piglets that D bought off TradeMe. It was all very refreshing and fun. The piglets were so cute. The piglets grew and grew and grew. Soon, challenges started to surface.

The kune kunes were great experts in digging the ground over. The downside was, those grounds weren't in the plan for vegs beds. It got muddy in wet weather and was only accessible by gumboots

As the pigs got bigger and stronger, the fence wasn't strong enough to keep them in anymore. It wasn't uncommon for the pigs to wonder out of the backyard to the neighboring properties or found wondering along a residential street. It is a funny thought, but not so funny for K&D. A stern advice from K: NO 1 RULE: BUILD A SERIOUS FENCE

K&D suddenly found themselves engaging in a steep learning curve when it was time to move the piggies to a friend's property before their overseas trip. The pigs didn't like to be pushed nor forced to move; it needed to be persuaded or guided with food, preferably with an empty bellies, K&D discovered. Also, when the pigs were under stress, it responded to nature's calls more readily. Consequently, their transporting trailer was completely stunk out covered in you know what!!

Not long after K&D got back from their overseas trip, the pigs were sent to the works. Unfortunately, there was nearly as much fat, if not more than meat. Nevertheless K&D still spent a few evenings transforming the meat into lovely pates, sausages, salamis and chorizos. The lesson learnt: kune kune pigs aren't exactly the best for serious meat production.

K&D enjoyed the experience so much that they bought two more piglets to replace the belated kune kune pigs. The pigs are now being housed at K&D's acres 10kms from their urban dwelling. This is where the story begins...

June's Urban Permies meeting

2008-06-09T14:59:00.001+12:00

The meeting fell on a cold and wet winter afternoon. Judith did a short presentation on the ram earth house that she visited in the Kapiti at the soil and earth meeting.

Next, we talked about closing the loop in the permaculture garden, in the sense of preserving excess vegetables from the home garden for a later date.

In earlier times, people knew how to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. This was done through the process of lacto-Fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacterial. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria (read more about this at this link).

We made Korean sauerkraut (kimchi) with an organic cabbage that I bought from the local organic shop – cabbages in the garden aren’t ready yet!! This is the first time I’m trialing with purple cabbage and with whey. The cutting and bounding and bottling came up to less than an hour. It will take about 4- 5 weeks before it’s ready. The flavor gets better over time. But in my household, a bottle doesn’t last more than a week. We’ll be able to do some sauerkraut tasting at the next meeting – exciting. Overall, we had a lovely time despite the wet and cold weather.

Whole Grain Bread (Breadmaker)

2008-06-04T09:03:00.002+12:00

Matt loves bread and he can finish a loaf of vogel bread in one sitting, and that is pretty expensive to maintain! Fortunately, my good friend, Tara came to the rescue with a whole grain bread recipe that comes pretty close to achieving the same texture as vogel bread.

This recipe uses breadmaker cups & spoons for all measurements.

Cover 1 ¼ cups kibbled wheat with water and soak overnight. Drain in a sieve for a few minutes. This should give about 2 cups softened wheat grains.

Place the following ingredients in a breadmaker:
2 ½ tsp breadmaker yeast blend
2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
2Tbs gluten flour
2 Tbs cream
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbs butter or oil
300 ml water

Add the drained wheat, and use a standard white loaf baking programme of about 4 hours (the wholemeal programme seems to make the bread too dry).

Childhood and Chicken Feet

2008-05-12T12:16:00.003+12:00

During my childhood days when mum and dad were doing pig farming in Singapore (yes, in Singapore), we used to have all kinds of food served up on the dinner table.

One of them was chicken feet stew. Mum would deep fried the chicken feet and throw into a pot with Asian spices ( star anise seed, cloves, Chinese five spice, cinnamons, soy sauce) to stew up the chicken feet with Chinese mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and cabbages. This dish would be eaten over a few days. The flavor got better each day. I would gobbled down bowls of rice flavored with the galantine gravy and suckle on those flavorsome chicken feet, and mushrooms and cabbages. One of my favorite dishes for sure. The children were always fighting over the feet, for real!!

Tara has suddenly reminded me of those yummy chicken feet, and got hold of numerous kgs of it for me, and sparkled lots of nice childhood memories. I’ll now do a bit of enquiries with my mother and grandma to hopefully collect a list of my family favorite recipes.

As a starter, I’ll probably make some delicious stock with I kg worth of it. I’ll put it in a slow cooker on low for a day or two with a few onions, carrots, leeks and apples. Then, I’ll freeze the stock in small containers to use it for later. It’s so good to be able to reach into the freezer for stock to cook fast food that’s delicious and nutritious.

Change lifestlye, be prudent

2008-05-05T15:53:00.003+12:00

The Prime Minister of Malaysia very wisely advised the nation to stop wastage and to live within their means. He went further by encouraging those who own land to plant vegetables and fruits. He also added that all these efforts may seem trivial but the impact would be great if everyone changed their lifestyle. Personally, this is the wisest thing I’ve read coming from any leader with regards to food shortage/rising cost in the coming months/years. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_234144.html

Food price crisis

2008-04-21T12:08:00.001+12:00

This is a timely reminder for me to keep up the motivation to grow as much food in my urban garden as possible, and to eat locally and not depend on imported food.

For a start, I should think of providing carbohydrate through locally produced staples such as potatoes, pumpkins, yams, kumura etc. Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables. Most of these could be grown in our backyard

Also, I’m working on building networks to find out where I can buy directly from the farmers locally. I love the PYO concept where the middle man is removed from the picture; people can harvest the produces themselves. The farmer doesn’t get ripped off by the supermarket but be paid for their effort and be compensated fairly. It also reduces their cost, thus the price can be kept low and affordable.

I’m thinking

local = sustainable

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4490471a12.html

Food price crisis may hit world growth, security - UN

Reuters | Monday, 21 April 2008

The surge in global food prices risks setting back the world's anti-poverty efforts and, if not properly handled, could hurt global growth and security, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Opening a UN trade and development conference in Accra, Ghana, Ban said the huge increases in prices of food staples like cereals since last year could erase progress made towards UN-set goals of halving world poverty by 2015.

"The problem of global food prices could mean seven lost years. . . for the Millennium Development Goals," he said.

"We risk being set back to square one," Ban told the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) meeting.

The food price surge has sharply increased the risk of hunger and poverty in developing countries and has already sparked food riots in parts of Asia and Africa.

The UN chief noted that several countries had moved to try to offset the food squeeze by barring exports of rice and wheat, or introducing incentives for easier imports of foodstuffs.

"This threatens to distort international trade and exacerbate shortages," he said.

"If not handled properly, this crisis could result in a cascade of others . . . and become a multidimensional problem affecting economic growth, social progress and even political security around the world," Ban told the conference.

What' I"ve learnt this season

2008-04-11T16:00:00.003+12:00

I've observed and learnt some things that I would like to remember for next year:

1) Sown first lot of corn in September, and second in October
2) Plant something every month - first week.
3) Italian tomatoes aren't that great, disease prone - won't plant it again
4) Start eggplants, capsicums, tomatoes indoor in July - keep this season's plants from frost and they will come back again, and you'll get fruits earlier next season. Repeat the cycle for the new plants.
5) Start Austrian Oil seed pumpkins in icecream containers in the hotwater cupboard - germinates in 3-4 days
6) Zucchini Ambassador F1 - extremely prolific especially if a scoop of cow dung is dumped into the planting hole first before putting the plant. 1 plant is more than sufficient for the entire family with more to give away.
7) Japanese eggplants is prolific and tasty, eggplant Golden eggs is late so not worth growing in NZ climate
8) Butternut Chieftain - Prolific - each plant has at least 3 good size squash (it will keep longer if allowed to harden properly)
9) Plant Basil with Capsicums, eggplants.
10) 2 crops of dwarf beans possible - Sow first in November, second January
11) Only grow the Purple Fred climbing beans - early and prolific - two crops in the season
12) 2 telegraph cucumber plants sufficient for a family
13) 4 gerkin plants if you want to preserve
14) Mulch, mulch, mulch

More to come in the next blog

Veggie gardens a growing love

2008-04-08T09:08:00.004+12:00

By LIZ WILLIS - North Shore Times Tuesday, 08 April 2008

BEN WATSON/North Shore Times

GOOD LIFE: Growing enough veggies for salads saves money and the planet, says Beth Hansen.
The secrets behind a Devonport plot to foil the looming oil crisis are about to be revealed. It’s a down-to-earth approach rooted in Beth Hansen’s strong belief that even the smallest backyard can be home to a beautiful organic veggie garden.

At 63 after a lifetime of gardening she says it’s time to share her knowledge. She’s warning that vegetable prices will skyrocket as fuel prices rise. It wouldn’t surprise her if lettuces sold for $6 by Christmas.

"I don’t want to panic people but we need to start growing our own produce."

Ms Hansen’s garden is testament to just what can be grown in a small space. In her average-sized front garden she grows basil, parsley, lettuce, rocket, carrots, onions, kumara, spinach, capsicum and bok choy.

"You don’t need a lot of room. This is one thing I want to teach people." If you prepare the soil correctly you can plant intensively which also keeps the weeds down, she says.

As a watercolour artist she’s conscious of colour and veggies and flowers grow happily alongside each other in her cottage garden.She’s now devoting more time to giving organic vegetable growing lessons than painting watercolours.

"It’s all very well painting nice pictures but if I can inspire half a dozen people to start growing their own veggies I would be thrilled."

The old-fashioned art of veggie gardening has waned as people move to smaller properties, she says. Children aren’t taught to grow plants so vegetable gardens have started to disappear. But Ms Hansen says you can grow a lot in a small area, saving money.

Her recipe for a good veggie garden includes:

- Planting veggies in raised beds near the kitchen
- Getting family involved
- Using a mix of organic soil, water crystals and crushed metal aggregate
- Running the mower over dried seaweed then spreading it on the garden
- Having an automatic watering system

An Amazing Online cookbook

2008-04-01T14:54:00.001+13:00

http://www.panix.com/clay/cookbook/

Comfrey and Tomato do mix!!

2008-03-10T09:58:00.001+13:00

The chickens

2008-02-09T09:58:00.001+13:00

Said the first little chicken

With a queer little squirm,
"I wish I could find
A fat little worm."

Said the next little chicken
With an odd little shrug,
"I wish I could find
A fat little slug."

Said the third little chicken
With a sharp little squeal,
"I wish I could find
Some nice yellow meal."

Said the fourth little chicken
With a small sigh of grief,
"I wish I could find
A little green leaf."

Said the fifth little chicken
With a faint little moan,
"I wish I could find
A wee gravel stone."

"Now, see here," said the mother
From the green garden patch,
"If you want any breakfast
Just come and scratch."
-unknown

From Fives, Sixes and Sevens

Tearless Onions

2008-02-08T16:55:00.006+13:00

It has recently been reported that New Zealand and Japan Crop and Food research scientists are working towards using a ”gene-silencing technology to switch off the enzyme” which is the culprit for causing the eye to tear. Somehow the thought of human interfering with our food surely brings tears to my eye! It’s going to happen within the decade. The implication for me is that I’m going to work hard to ensure that I’ve a good stock of the existing onion plants and seeds and get involved with the seed bank to ensure that the traditional variety isn’t lost forever.

A short scientific explanation on how the tear causing enzyme works:

“Lachrymatory-factor synthase is released into the air when we cut an onion. The synthase enzyme converts the sulfoxides (amino acids) of the onion into sulfenic acid. The unstable sulfenic acid rearranges itself into syn-ropanethial-S-oxide. Syn-propanethial-S-oxide gets into the air and comes in contact with our eyes. The lachrymal glands become irritated and produce the tears! Oddly enough, this volatile compound is also responsible for a lot of the great taste in onions, as well as the pleasant aroma when you cook the vegetable. You'll also get sulfenic acids by cutting up garlic, chives and leeks, among other vegetables, but they don't form the same irritating gas, just a strong smell.

Lacto Fermentation - Books

2008-02-07T10:19:00.005+13:00

In my best effort to live a simple lifestyle, I do have my indulgence moments: I simply can’t resist good books. But then my dad always says that knowledge is priceless, so I don’t feel too bad about INVESTING in a FEW good books. Now that I’ve justified myself, it’s confession time: I’ve recently bought 2 books on Fermentation from Amazon and they arrived this morning. The two titles are

1) Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz (http://www.wildfermentation.com/)
2) Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home by Klaus Kaufmann

It’s a timely arrival as the harvest season is not far from now, and I can start thinking about the lovely meals I could be having in the coming cold season by preserving the lovely fruits and vegs through fermentation. I’ll try my best to keep an update of the results from the recipes from these books.

Sandor is so crazy about fermentation that his mate, Nettles, wrote a poem about his obsession:

Come on friends and lend me an ear
I’ll explain the connection between wine and beer,
And sourdough and yogurt and miso and kraut,
What they have in common is what’s all about.
Oh the microorganisms,
Oh the microorganisms…

Easy Peasy Merange!!

2008-02-05T23:22:00.002+13:00

I enjoyed the Merange that Mike made so much that I made one for my lovely neighbor, Haklyka on her birthday the following Sunday. It was a hit and it's so simple:

Ingredients:
55 grams caster sugar
2 egg whites
250 ml fresh cream
Any kind of soft fruit

Instruction:
1) Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2) Beat the egg in a bowl until soft peak. Next add the sugar and beat until disolved and a shine on the merange mix
3) Sprinkle some icing sugar on a piece of baking paper cut to fit a baking tray. Spread the merange mix onto the baking paper and spread over the baking paper.
4) Bake till slightly golden brown - approx 10 minutes
5) Remove from the oven, and when slightly cool, put it into the fridge.
6) Meanwhile, whip the fresh cream.
7) Remove the merange from the fridge, spread half the fresh cream on half of the merange, put some soft fruit such as peaches, berries on it as well, if you so desired, and roll it up, gently.
8) Place the rolled merange on a serving platter, and spread the rest of the cream on it and decorate it with the fruit.
9) Serve.

You can make this a few hours earlier and leave it in the fridge to chill.

37th Birthday!!

2008-02-05T22:25:00.001+13:00

Matt & I aren't big on birthdays and I don't remember getting a decent birthday present from him to date - although we've known each other for 8 years, and married 3!!! My first birthday presents from him were a vase and a wooden muffin tray!! (the first christmas present he ever gave mewas an EDMOND'S cookbook, do you notice a theme here?)

Nevertheless, we decided that my 37th birthday would be special and it indeed was.

I requested sleeping in the tent on the eve of my birthday, and it was granted. Matt very lovingly pitched the tent and arranged the bedding for maximum comfort! It was a warm summer night in mid-January and the stars were in full view. We decided to lay halfway out of the tent to star gaze. We saw the 3 sisters, the southern cross, the milky way, satelite and enjoyed great conversation. It was really fun. The tent has net windows at the front and rear so the temperature was perfect for a good nice sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to a perfect breakfast of bacon, eggs, pinapple and banana doted with some green peas - the best breakfast Matt has ever made. Matt bought the bacon the day before and hid it successfully from me at the back of the fridge, which was probably a first too!

After breakfast, we got into the car and there was DEAN MARTIN CD in a bag waiting for me. I was just looking at this very same CD the day before!! Matt's definitely getting the hang of giving suprises.

We took a drive to Lindale Farm, listening to DEAN MARTIN along the way. Kapiti ice cream was a must, followed by a honey tasting. They had an interesting range. When I was waiting to be served some sample liquor, A MIRACLE HAPPENED!! The lady asked for my ID!! I was so happy that I burst into laughter. With great pride, I revealed my age, and told her that it was my birthday. Talk about the best birthday present....

I sort of floated to Paraparaumu beach next at 12pm!! Too high up on cloud nine to think clearly at that stage...that beach was where Matt used to visit with his parents when he was little - so it was special too.

That evening, Matt did a Jamie Oliver style smoked salmon in a biscuit tin. I made my favorite tomato salad, and a pesto pasta. Our good friend, Mike came round with the most scrumcious merange. Dining took place in the garden and I really couldn't think of a better place to be. Later my neighbor came round with some more goodies and wished me a happy birthday and I received lots of text messages from friends in Singapore...I couldn't have asked for a better 37th Birthday.

Dying to plant cabbages in the heat of Summer?

2008-02-05T22:03:00.002+13:00

Well, my clever neighbour, Haklyka, came up with a great plan one day. Between the two sisters, they built a giant cage with a very tidy netting over it. When everyone elses cabbages are being devoured by the white butterfly caterpillers, she grew the most perfectly amazing cabbages. I was very luckly to be given one of them. Even the most annoying aphids couldn't get near it.

I believe the cost of the netting came to NZ$28. Another way to get around this is to use recycled window netting although it will probably last one season. But then, there are always someone willing to part with their curtain netting. Note that she had to crawl from under the netting to get in there, so it's good to think about accessing the plants. Also, I think there "Net cage" only need to be half the height.

I made 3 bottles of sauerkraut from the cabbage and gave her a bottle.

Wasn't it supposed to be low maintenance?

2008-02-05T21:33:00.001+13:00

It's well known among my friends that I'm a serious gardener and that I spend most of my non-working daylight hours in the garden apart from the hours at my full time work. They have also heard about me talking lots about applying permaculture principles to achieve a low maintenance garden - sometimes I fear that I almost preach Permaculture when I share with such enthusiasim.

Anyway, a friend who heard that I was always busy in the garden made this comment:

"ISN'T IT SUPPOSED TO BE LOW MAINTENANCE??",

it really got me thinking. After some soul searching (figuratively speaking) this is a rough summary of what I do in the garden:

I spend the evening walking around the garden harvesting produce or thinking about what I could be planting next. Then I will stand, sit or squat at one spot and be totally fascinated by the way some plants/elements interact with each other. Then I'll quickly rush into the house reaching for some books that I recall reading about that phenomenon. After that, I'll be inspired with a new idea of how to apply that new principle in future planting. That could inspire me to sow some seeds or spend the next few hours devouring that gardening book.

At a rough estimate, I spend 80% of my time observing the garden and getting inspired and maybe devote 20% of the time actually doing gardening and putting new designs in place. I hardly water my plants - hardly ever, except over the first 3 days after planting and then pray for rain :-) Most garden beds are heavily mulched.

In conclusion: it's a low maintainance garden that inspires the gardener to spend more time getting inspired in the garden .

Recycling shower water

2008-02-04T09:27:00.002+13:00

One of the things I enjoy is taking a nice luke-warm or hot shower depending on the season. In my house, it takes a while for the hot water to come through and I always thought that it was such a great waste to let all that good water go down the drain. Well, we finally did something about that last night. We directed the shower water to a 10 litre bucket whilst waiting for it to heat up. It came up to 8 litres of water before the water got hot enough to not make one jump in cold shock! Wow, that’s a lot of good water wasted which could be used in the laundry, toilet or garden.

Matt and I have replaced commercial soaps and shampoo with baking soda and vinegar since 2006, so the grey water is effectively useful for the above purpose too. With that in mind, I put another bucket in the shower with me, standing above it (it really is easier than you imagine) I managed to collect another 8 litres after a 7-minute shower (longer then my usual 3-minute shower as we were covered in salt and sand after a great swim at Foxton beach). Between Matt & I, we collected a descent amount of recycled water to water my extremely dry flower garden in the front garden last night, and it felt good!! Another added advantage, we now have reason to visit the neglected front garden every day.

Chicken Glossary

2008-02-01T15:27:00.001+13:00

I’m consistently confused by the different terms used on chickens (Generic term!?!). Anyway, this Chicken Glossary has come in handy to clear my confusion.

*chick*	A newly hatched chicken.
*capon*	A castrated male chicken used for meat.
*cockerel*	A male chicken less than a year old. These often make it to the barbecue.
*hen*	A female chicken more than a year old. These are the ones that lay the eggs.
*pullet*	A female chicken less than a year old.
*rooster*	A male chicken more than a year old.
*egg*	If you don't know, you shouldn't be keeping chooks!!!

The lemon tree DIE!

2008-01-29T15:04:00.002+13:00

The ex-lemon tree is now a standing pumpkin tree!! Matt in his great enthusiasm applied two handfuls of Epsom salt (when it should be 2 teaspoons dissolved in a bucket of water) on the base of the lemon tree. Within a week it withered and died.

Lesson learnt: Enthusiasm can be deadly in the garden!!

Lacto fermentation - Good Health and Save Money

2008-01-29T11:48:00.001+13:00

In Mid December (2007) I made 2 quarts of Sauerkraut (into 4 bottling jars) from the cabbages planted in Spring. I prepared it 3 days before I went away on a 3-week holiday. You can imagine my great anticipation coming home from the holiday. It tasted surprising nice and we’ve finished 2 bottles since. Yesterday, my neighbor gave me a big cabbage. Quiz question: What will be the fate of this cabbage? J

My first introduction to sauerkraut was from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/lacto.html and the benefits of lacto-fermented vegetables.

From all the readings, I am more convinced that lacto-fermented vegs should be part of my regular diet for health benefits. It’s a more nutritious, a time and cost effective way of preserving excess crops in summer for the cold months ahead. I also come across two books on lacto fermentation frequently mentioned in forums, blogs and websites:

1) “Wild Fermentation:The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-culture foods” by Sandor Ellix Katz (http://www.wildfermentation.com/)

2) "Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home: Creative Recipes for Lactic Fermented Food to Improve Your Health (Natural Health Guide) (Natural Health Guide)" by Klaus Kaufmann

This link http://constantstateofflux.wordpress.com/2007/11/24/pickling-day-the-old-way/ provides some info on how sauerkraut is made. Enjoy

Growing Carrots - Part 2

2008-01-20T23:49:00.000+13:00

I've planted my second lots of carrot, onion and radish in the bed when I harvested the garlics. I also planted 2 packs of dwarf beans along the edge of the guild.

This time round, I've planted the carrot seeds a little closer as well as keeping an eye on the soil moisture level. To prevent evporation under the hot summer day, I've cover the veg bed with a shade cloth. Water over the shade cloth twice a day. I should see some movement by the end of the week. Keep a lookout for the update!!

Update on 5th Feb:
-The radishes were the first to germinate, less than a week. They are about 15cm tall now.
-The carrots germinated within a week, and they are about 5cm tall now.
-Still waiting on the shy onion to germinate - apparently it takes 21 days before it will start showing its face.

Planting Mix
I had a mix of (80%)sand, 3 packets of onion seeds(different varieties) 3 packets of carrot seeds and A packet of mixed radishes in a 200l container with small holes that would allow my to sprinkle the mix onto the veg bed.

The helpers in the garden

2008-01-20T23:32:00.000+13:00

The Spring plantings have all finished and I'm doing the second round of planting for the summer season. And the chookies are such good workers that I really can't imagine gardening without them.

The chookies clear, prepare, fertilize and mulch the veg beds so well and quick that within 3 days the veg beds are ready for planting. To achieve that, all I need to do is to move the chook tractor to the target veg bed, and give them the barley straws on the 2nd day and to think up plants to plant at the end of the three day. How difficult is that?

They were under my Royal gala apple trees for 2 weeks, and so far the apples on the tree are looking excellent without any work from me. Maybe they had taken care of the cothling moths.

My only concern: soon I'll be running out for places for the chookies to scratch...
Possible solution: maybe I can load them out to gardeners who want to clear their slug and snail populations!!

Collecting Gold - Part 2

2008-01-20T23:14:00.000+13:00

"Why cow dung?" You may ask. Well, apparently cown dung is free of weed and it has nearly all the nutrients/minerals that plants need to grow well. Linda Woodrow suggests that in her book "Permaculture Home garden". She mows down the cow pad and use them as seed raising mix.

So I decided to give it a try. I spreaded the cow pads on my lawn and mowed them down. That fertilized my lawn as well as provided free nutrients packed seed raising mix. Next, I mixed the powered cow pads with equal part of sand and had had good success raising seeds with the mix.

Another I do with the cow dung was to scoop a trough full of it and throw it into the holes that I have dug for planting seedlings. Then I plant the seedlings on to the holes. So far all the plants with the cow dung mix in the soil are doing very well. For example, one of our zucchini plants has 6 zucchinis growing on a single plant, all about the same size. The most productive zucchini plant I had ever seen. It could be the variey but my my...pretty amazing stuff!

oUr hOliDaY

2008-01-20T23:05:00.000+13:00

We've been quiet for a long while because we were away on holiday- burnt some fossil fuel to visit my family and friends in Singapore. The holiday was fabulous as we had some great quality time with people we love and missed dearly. Nevertheless we couldn't help but made a few observations.

Firstly, we've changed.
We used to buy lots of nice fashionable cheap clothes whenever we were in Singapore. We also packed our luggage full of local goodies that I still enjoy eating. But this round, we didn't do much shopping as we didn't want anything apart from the odd items that we needed during the trip. We were content with we've got, and didn't see the need to buy any thing because they were cheap. It wasn't even something we thought about. We simply didn't have any desire or whatsoever. Very interesting eh!!

Conversations usually revolved around our newly found mission of eating off our garden. It's such a novalty to all our friends especially their children. Topics of conversation included "Do you need a rooster in order to get eggs?" "How do one hatch a chicken egg?" "What do you grow in your garden?" etc. We had hours of fun talking about the things we do in our garden.

Singapore has changed too
During the last visit a year and a half ago, there weren't many recycling bins. But we see them in most public places this round. And overall, there are a lot more public awareness with regards to recycling and plastic usage. Food scraps are being recycled too. We are very pleased to see that children are being educated in this respect through children programmes on TV. Generally a very positive effort and very heart warming to see. Whenever we turned down the extra plastic bags, we would receive positive feedback such as a smile or a comment about us being kind to the planet.

Growing Carrots - Part 1

2007-12-01T19:19:00.000+13:00

I'm having success germinating and growing most plants so far but the carrots planted in spring has failed miserably. Anyway in all true Permaculture spirit, make as many mistakes as possible and learn from mistakes. So, I've learnt the 3 DON'Ts for growing carrots-
-Don't let the veg bed dry up
-Don't use strong watering sprayer
-Don't plant them too far apart otherwise they don't germinate

I haven't given up growing carrots yet. In my search for better ways of growing carrots I came across this website Tinker's Gardens that has a really good tip on sowing carrot seeds.

Tiny Seed Planting Technique:

When planting tiny seeds in your beds Make a shallow furrow the appropriate depth, or directly on top of bed. Roll out a strip of toilet paper in the furrow. Deposit the seeds on top of the toilet paper. This will enable you to see the seeds drop and adjust the spacing, which will save seeds and the amount of thinning-out necessary later. Roll out another layer over the seed and lightly sprinkle or mist with water to hold the layers in place. Lightly cover with soil and gently sprinkle with water. This will prevent the seed from being scattered when lightly watering. The seeds will germinate and grow as usual, right through the paper, which will disintegrate after a few waterings.

Collecting Gold - Part 1

2007-11-11T23:27:00.000+13:00

We went to an Organic dairy farm to collect some lovely cow pats for our compost on Sunday evening. We had never done this before and had no idea what to expect but an imagination of happy growing plants in our garden.

So Matt and I each armed with a pair of gum boots, gloves, a spade, containers and sacks zoomed off to the farm 20 minutes away. Oh and not to mention the overalls as armor from the dung.

At the farm, we soon found that fresh dung is pretty wet and not very pretty to behold and touch. We quickly filled up our containers with the fresh dung. We then went in search for dried dung in the paddock to fill the sacks.

I went off down the side of the fence in search of dung, while Matt went out into the middle of the paddock. He figured out pretty quickly that the best place to find dried cow pats is around where the cows shelter from the sun or are herded as they get nervous and start dropping oodles of the stuff right there! The dried cow pats are surprising odourless and easy to handle. 3 quarter of an hour later, we had 2 containers and 5 sacks of GOLD for the garden.

I'll continue in another post why all the hassle with cow pats...

Broad Beans

2007-11-11T23:05:00.000+13:00

The dwarf broadbeans from Kings Seeds planted in May were harvested last weekend. They had stopped flowering and were starting to get rust. I harvested about 7 kgs of broad beans from a round garden bed over a period of one and half months. The bean pods were large and beautiful but it didn't have that many beans in them. There were a lot more irregular beans than the normal broadbean planted the year before.

A few points worth noting:
1) They definitely had less seed pods but the beans were sweeter than the standard variety.
2) It's an early variety so the veg bed is available for other seasonal vegs on the first week of Nov. before the weather gets too hot and rust becomes a serious problem.

I shelled the pods and freeze the beans for later.

I've planted a row of Rua potatoes in the same vege bed along side some self- sown parsnip. The mulched down broadbean plants will be used as mulch for the growing potato plants.

Permaculture Paradise or not?

2007-11-09T20:29:00.000+13:00

Photo by ROBERT CHARLES

Permaculture paradise

The Tribune, Sunday, 4 November 2007

Urban Permies are creating sustainable human environments, reports Ruth Vlaming.

Think sustainable and what springs to mind? Probably renewable energy, organics, recycling, but what about permaculture?

Permaculture, as defined its co- founder Bill Mollison, is a system for creating sustainable human environments. And in Palmerston North the Urban Permies are putting permaculture principles to work in the backyard.

Founder of the group, Esther Teoh, and husband Matthew Hook, have gradually converted their 640m2 property into a permaculture paradise, since acquiring it four years ago.

The quietly clucking chooks and flourishing veggies, interspersed with fruit trees and flowering plants, testify to their efforts to put theory into practice.

Ms Teoh says permaculture is about systems and relationships. For example, chooks scratch over the soil, helping prepare it for planting by removing pests and seeds and manuring it. They also provide fresh eggs. The chooks are moved around the property in a homemade portable chicken tractor.

Since things work together there is often less need for pest control, ground cultivation and weeding than conventional gardening methods - an important aspect with the couple working full-time, and doing house improvements. Ms Teoh finds the aesthetics of mixed planting pleasing too.

It wasn't difficult to find the information with plenty on the internet and in books and magazines.

Wikipedia says the word permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture and permanent culture.

Through a series of publications, Mollison, Holmgren and their associates documented an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies.

Ms Teoh and Mr Hook have enjoyed the harvest of the past year with highlights 10kg of tomatoes from one plant last summer, and buckets of peas through winter. A stroll around the garden reveals blossoming apple, pear and quince trees, and immature fruit on the almond and currants. Newly planted beds of brassicas, leeks and celery are mounded with compost.

The wind break doubles as a trellis for vines, and also provides shade for smaller plants.

The very functional garden has not sacrificed attractiveness for production, however. A pretty variegated mint spills on to the path and rainbow silverbeet brighten the garden under the kitchen window. Calendulas provide splashes of colour throughout, and two manukas in full flower contrast with impressive globe artichoke heads.

All this is quite an achievement for someone who seven years ago didn't know anything about gardening.

"I killed cacti," Ms Teoh laughs.

A period of ill-health stimulated an interest in herbal remedies. Her first garden consisted of pots on a balcony. There herbs thrived and tomato plants flourished, enthusing her with rewarding harvests.

Ms Teoh dismisses the suggestion Palmerston North's climate is problematic for growing one's own food. It simply doesn't suit some plants, such as the banana plant she tried. And wind protection is vital, but possible with planning and design to achieve shelter and smooth wind flows. Observation is also important - noting what thrives where.

She says permaculture involves gradually working out solutions and always learning.

Total self-sufficiency is not the aim - the couple still buy basics such as rice, sugar and flour, but grow most of the vegetables they need and increasingly more fruit.

To share her passion for permaculture, Ms Teoh started Urban Permies earlier this year. The group meets on the first Saturday of every month to discuss permaculture principles and share tips, ideas and even produce.

"It's a place for interaction with like- minded people, you learn by sharing," Ms Teoh says.

New members are welcome and membership is free. For details email urbanpermies@orcon.net.nz or visit www.urbanpermaculture.org.nz.

LeEkS take forever....

2007-11-07T21:48:00.000+13:00

to germinate and grow. So sow seeds now for planting in January and eating in winter...no kidding.

Square Foot Gardening

2007-11-05T23:06:00.000+13:00

Imagine growing Zuccinni and squash like a tomato vine up a stake? Apparently you can. A friend sent us this link.

The thought of growing zuccinni on a stake gives me the giggles and I'm looking forward to staking my zuccinni and possibly some squash.

Urban Permies Monthly Meeting

2007-11-05T04:00:00.000+13:00

We meet on the first Sat of each month at 2:30pm. Venue changes depending on what we do. I usually send out an email on the Monday with details of the meeting.

Cutworm

2007-11-04T20:12:00.000+13:00

Judith, my gardening buddy, found this in her garden yesterday. It is a larval stage of a moth and yes it cuts down your seedlings in the dead of night. So, if found, feed it to your chookies or kill it.

Lightweight, Energy independent, Odourless Tractor....no such thing?

2007-11-01T14:32:00.002+13:00

Just before you dismiss it as a crazy idealistic notion, it does exist. It's the CHOOK TRACTOR.

The chook tractor is an integrated part of our food production system in our evolving Mandala's garden. It is placed on grounds where grass or weeds or expired veg beds need to be cleared. The chookies will happily help themselves to the gourmet feast of slugs, snails, worms and a variety unwanted of greens. This reduces effort on weeding and moving the vegs to the compost heap.

Within 2 weeks, all the greens will be demolished and ground cleared of weeds and seeds, and the ground manured. If you place some pea straw or straws of any kind in the tractor after they've cleared the ground, they will happily eat all the seeds and hidden creatures and spread the straws nicely for you, and even add nitrogen to it as well. By the time we move the chook tractor to the next destination, the ground is well mulched and ready for planting.

If you want an extended area to be cleared but it doesn't fit the tractor, don't worry. Use chicken wire to create an enclosure and peg it down with standards (those use by farmers for electric fencing). If you want to keep the chookies in, use bird netting over the chicken wire. The chookies get to free range but only in the areas you like them to clear (and not your planted veg beds).

The Mandala garden in late August

2007-10-31T23:35:00.002+13:00

Since I’ve read Linda Woodrow’s book “The Permaculture Home Garden” I can’t stop thinking about the Mandala’s garden working in conjunction with a chook dome. After measuring up the garden and deciding on the no of beds we want, Matt modified the design given in the book and build a pretty sturdy chook do me. We have since removed our square beds displayed in the earlier blog and replaced with round beds, with the help of our chookies. The Mandala garden is still in its infancy stage and I’m learning to garden with round beds instead of boxes. It takes a bit of getting used to.

Globe Artichoke

2007-10-31T23:00:00.000+13:00

We planted the Globe Artichoke 6 months before our wedding. It has since died back and grown back over the last few years, each time with more dramatic display and growth. The first year, we admired the dramatic foliage, let the globes flowered and seeded, pruned it and added to our compost heap. The second year, we gave most of it to a friend who happened to enjoy them. This year, we’ve decided that it may possibly be edible and decided to give it a try. And it turned out to be quite tasty if we harvest it before it gets too big. I harvest it when it’s slight bigger than the size of my clenched fist. Next, I slice off one third of the top and chop off the stalk. Then, I put it into a pot of boiling water with a teaspoon of salt and boil the life out of it for about 20 minutes. After that, remove it from the pot of hot boiling water, either eat it as it is, or pull it apart and add it to a delicious salad. You’ll be pleasantly surprised! You can also check out this link to see how to appreciate artichokes.

George the Second

2007-10-31T22:38:00.003+13:00

For about 2 years, George the 1st lived in the crack at the top right corner of the kitchen window. We watch George the 1^st feasted on bugs and flies and grew bigger through the two years. It was a comfort to see that George the 1^st kept the summer flies under control. One day, we found George the 1^st lying dead on the kitchen bench. We called our good friends and told them the sad news but they laughed so hard!!! One night, we heard a knock on the door, it was our friends. They had turned up with a replacement for George the 1^st, which we named George the 2^nd. George the 2^nd has since taken over the task of George the 1^st and is doing a great job in keeping the flies population down, and is flourishing with the feed. The White flowers from the clusters of buds are quite breathtaking.

George the 1^st was a spider and George the 2^nd is a fly trap plant!

Friend's advice for a winter veggie garden

2007-10-12T01:31:00.002+13:00

Judith is the friend who has an amazing winter veggie garden. When I ask her about planting for winter, this is her advice:

Start thinking about winter now, yes. I know we have just finished but winter veggies take a long time to grow. I have just started the rotation system of O R B. This is the order that plants follow each other. Where the Brassicas (Broccoli, Caulis, and Cabbage) have grown, you plant others (lettuce, onions/leeks, silverbeet, beans/peas). Where the others have been you plant Roots (carrots, parsnips, potatoes) and around you go.

Sometimes you have to "fiddle the books" but I am sure you get the general idea. And I am only just sorting this one out, but you need to get the seed in so that the plants are big enough to into their permanent position in January/Feb/March.

Broad beans - almost ready now get planted in April/May.

Lettuce is short (2-3mths from seed)crop.

Brassicas - October is the last month for planting seed unless you want to battle with the white butterfly over late December - May. Sow seed of these in Jan/Feb to eat June/July.

I could go on. I am still observing and experimenting and should keep a diary. Need to plant corn seeds in pots this weekend to plant out in 2-3 weeks. I do the next sowing when I have transplanted these so get 2 - 3 sowings a season. You need at least twenty plants for a good harvest so room becomes a factor.

2007 October Urban Permies meeting

2007-10-11T16:00:00.002+13:00

We had a rather international gathering represented by 4 nationalities, French, Singaporean, Kiwis and American. It's spring so we decided to do gardening for free - plant propagation through softwood cutting, with a focus on some herbal plants. After that, we retreated back into the house to enjoy a nice cup of Lemon Balm tea and followed by more discussions on plant propagation. Somehow the discussion led to the health benefits of raw milk and other things we can do with raw milk. Check out these websites if you're keen.

Lemon Balm tea
Put a handful of lemon balm leaves into a teapot
Put hot water into the teapot
Wait a few minutes
Serve it on individual cups with half a teaspoon of honey on each cup

It's a very relaxing tea with the most amazing aroma. No wonder bees go crazy over lemon balm.

Since the meeting, I've done more reading on softwood propagation. The key thing is to keep the cuttings moist and using a propagation mix that contains 60-70% coarse sand with a good potting mix for a greater success rate. I'm experimenting softwood cuttings with capegoose berry and a native plant at the moment.

The plan for the next meeting is to visit a small farmlet that produces raw goats milk. Still on the pipeline. More information coming...

Organic Fungal (RUST) Control

2007-09-18T10:06:00.001+12:00

There are rust on a patch of vegetation. From my research for an organic combat, Neem Oil and Garlic sprays are two natural fungal control for Rust.

Garlic Spray:

1 garlic bulb
1 quart water
crush the garlic bulb, place in a pan of water. bring to boil then turn off heat.let mixture cool. Strain out garlic.Pour liquid into spray bottle and spray affected areas of plants. repeat as`necessary.
Garlic is known to fight many types of disease causing fungi, including mildew,gray mold, rust. Garlic has not only been shown to fight fungi, but it also has repellent qualities for other diseases and insects. Plant Garlic bulbs next to your roses, and you should not have any problems with aphids.

Milk is another combat but it works a little differently from Neem Oil and Garlic. A comment from a forum:

There are many layers of bacteria and fungi living on the outside of your plants. The simple proof of that is the rust fungus living on the outside of your plants. The problem is that the beneficial microbes, which usually live there and protect your plants from disease, have lost their ability to do that. They need to be revitalized. Your compost tea will help with that, but also I would spray separately with milk dissolved in water at 3 ounces per gallon of water. Spray as often as you want to. Up here we shoot for spraying every 2 weeks. Your area may appreciate it every week. The milk will provide real food for the microbes living on the plant surfaces and should restore the good health to the beneficials. Once they are healthy, they should eliminate the rust fungus for you.

As an experiment, I'll section out the problematic veg patch into 3 sections and try each of the remedies on 3 different areas. Looking forward to finding out the outcomes.

Winter gardening in Spring??

2007-09-11T13:52:00.000+12:00

Not quite. What vegetables might you expect to be growing in winter? Not much one might say, but really, there are a lot more than we think. I visited a friend's garden, and the vege beds were packed with winter growth. It was a beautiful sight. Very encouraging too. This is Palmerston North we're talking about.
Apparently growing winter vegetables requires a bit of advance planning, at least 4 to 6 months ahead of time. This is done when summer gardening chores are also at their peak http://westsidegardener.com/quick/winter_veggies.html. Below are some vegetables that we could be eating from our garden in winter...the months are an estimate...I haven't done most it myself but this is the coming winter project - I know, I know, spring has barely started, but...

Do let me know if you've more winter vegs to add to the list and suggestions for winter gardening...

Some of more slow growing winter vegetables are: (6months ahead)
Leeks (sow in Nov for planting in Jan)
Celery (sow in Nov for planting in Jan)
Brussels sprouts (sow in Jan/Feb)
Cabbage (sow in Jan/Feb/March/April/May)
Broccoli (sow in Jan/Feb/March/April/May)
Cauliflower (sow in Jan/Feb/March/April/May)
Chinese cabbage
Parsnip

Some faster growing winter vegetables/herbs are: (3 months ahead)
kale
collards
kohlrabi
Chinese cabbage
winter carrots
silver beets
parsely (all year round)
snow peas
peas
sugar snap peas
potatoes
Broad bean (sow in April/May)

Fastest growing winter vegetables are (1 1/2 months ahead)
Lettuce (all year round)
winter spinach
radishes (all year round)

Rhubarb Galore...

2007-09-10T11:04:00.001+12:00

It's time to divide the rhubarb clump. I did it last weekend and harvested a fair bit of rhubarb. Matt (my husband) decided to make a Rhubarb cake last night. We brought the cake to work, it went down like a treat. It tasted so much better the next day - 2 minutes in the microwave oven to just slightly warmup the cake. It will taste even better served with unsweetened yoghurt. The downside is we didn't take a photo prior to eating it..

Batter:
150 grams butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups organic wholemeal flour (it gives very different texture from normal wholemeal flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Rhubarb Topping:
500 grams chopped up rhubarb - 1.5cm lengthwise (remove the stringy bits)
1 tablespoon organic whole meal flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnemon
1/4 cup sugar
rind/juice of a lemon

Cake Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:
Cream the slightly softened butter and sugar and then add the eggs, one at a time. After that, add the flour and baking powder, and turned the flour into the wet mixture - don't over do it.

Add all the topping's ingredients together and mix it well.

Spoon 3/4 of the batter into a 23cm square/round baking tin. Put in all the toppings. Spoon the rest of the batter on top of the rhubarb topping. Mix the cake topping together and sprinkle on top of the cake.

Bake at 160 degree centigrade for 45 -50 minutes (more if required -oven dependent).

This link has ALL the information anyone needs on Rhubarb

June Urban Permies Meeting Update

2007-08-24T17:25:00.002+12:00

This update is definitely long overdue. Andrew Rundle-Keswick http://www.webpagebuilder.co.nz an enthusiastic budding permaculturist wrote a really nice comment of my ever evolving garden so I have to share it :-)

I did a Permaculture Design course at Wanaka in May this year and as
part of that course I with other course participants did a Urban
Permaculture design for a urban property in Wanaka. The property in
Wanaka was a blank slate. We had a lot of ideas and sketched up
various ideas and concepts. When I visted your Permaculture property
in Palmerston North I was able to see lots of the ideas and concepts
in actual working application, plus many more besides. I think that
your property is a excellent example of how an urban Permaculture
property works. In a very small space you have a very large
production and it has inspire me to get on with converting my blank
slate property into something as good as yours.

Keep letting me know about your upcoming Permies Meetings as I would
love to come up again and bring my wife and children to show them
your property.

Andrew

Snow peas...

2007-08-23T12:20:00.001+12:00

Apparently you can plant snow peas in autumn, winter and Spring and Summer....all year round
This is new for me too...

Lemon Meringue Pie

2007-08-23T11:44:00.003+12:00

I know I'm supposed to be on a hunt for healthy sugarfree recipes but one can't resist a good lemon Meringue Pie. Had dinner with a friend and this dessert was served. Absolutely loved it…another great point about this recipe - you use up all the eggs... oh well tomorrow is another day

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Edmonds Cornflour
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup juice of lemon
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Boiling Water
3 egg yolks

Meringue
1/4 Heaped teaspoon sugar
Egg white of 3 eggs
vanilla

Instructions
Mix cornflour to a smooth paste with a little cold water; stir in boiling water.
Boil 2 to 3 minutes.
Add butter, sugar, grated lemon rind and juice; cool; add beaten egg yolks.
Line a pie dish with pastry; add mixture when cool and bake about 30 minutes.
Whipped the egg white and sugar until peaked, put the meringue mixture on the pie
Turned oven off and left it for 30 – 45 minutes
Serve as it is or with homemade vanilla icecream

Think Leeks and Brassicas and peas...

2007-08-22T14:02:00.001+12:00

and then sow (seedlings) every two weeks to get a continueous supply. Once you plant a lot of seedlings into the garden sow the seeds for the next batch - it's a good habit to cultivate...a good reminder to myself here...

Still not too late to plant Snow Peas

2007-08-21T22:44:00.000+12:00

If you had planted snow peas in autumn, you would be enjoying tonnes of yummy juicy and crunchy snow peas now. Anyway, I sowed about 20 seeds a week ago. They are sprouting nicely and hopefully will survive the slugs and snails attack.

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl cookies

2007-08-21T22:28:00.001+12:00

My father in law has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I'm
now on a craze for REAL sugarfree biscuits. He loves his biscuits and
being a good daughter in law, I naturally like to impress....came to the
rescue is www.diabetic-recipes.com with an array of wonderful recipes...

(makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 cup (120 g) butter, softened
2 tablespoons (24 g) honey
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (90 ml) of egg
1 1/2 cups (210 g) organic wholemeal floor
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) baking powder
1/4 cup (60 ml) organic raw milk, warmed to room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 ml) unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Cream butter, honey, vanilla, and egg. Beat well. Add flour, baking
powder, and 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of the milk. Stir to thoroughly mix.
Divide dough into 2 parts.

2. Add cocoa and chocolate extract to one part, stirring until well
blended. Chill both halves for at least 1 hour.

3. Working on a floured surface, roll out each part to a rectangle about 3
inches (7.5 cm) wide. Place chocolate part on top of white part, pressing
together tightly with a rolling pin.

4. Brush the chocolate dough with remaining tablespoon (15 ml) milk. Roll
up like a jelly roll to make a log about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter.
Wrap in waxed paper and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C), Gas Mark 5. Slice cookies 1/8 inch (.5
cm) thick. Place on a nonstick cookie sheet that has been lightly coated
with cooking spray.

6. Bake for 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to
cool.

Per 3-cookie serving: 85 calories (53% calories from fat), 2 g protein,
5g total fat, 8 g carbohydrate, trace dietary fiber, trace cholesterol,
73mg sodium

Diabetic exchanges: 1 carbohydrate (bread/starch), 1 fat

July Meeting

2007-08-21T21:48:00.000+12:00

We visited an Organic Dairy Farm. It was an interesting trip learning about the pasturing organic cows and the health benefits of milk from Jersey cows (A2 milk), non-pasturised milk. The facilities is simple but hygine is strictly observed to ensure that end product is at tip top condition for consumption.

May's Meeting

2007-05-24T12:33:00.000+12:00

We had some discussions infront of the cozy fire and enjoyed the homemade preserve and jam on crackers, and fresh walnuts. The dicussions revolved around issues relating to sponses not sharing the same passion about permaculture and potential conflicts. We didn’t come up with any concrete answers but it was really nice that as a group we could provide support to each other in this respect.

Tara's Chook Tractor
Over the last 2 months, 3 more of the regular members have made or acquired chicken tractors in various shapes and sizes. One of the topics for June’s meeting will be on chicken tractors, to discuss the pros and cons of the various designs and possibly come up with a more foolproof design(s). And to come up with strategies to integrate the chook tractors into the next growing season.

April's Meeting

2007-05-03T09:07:00.001+12:00

The meeting was kicked off by watching the clip "Permaculture in the City" from The Global Gardener.

The video clip features the provision of social needs and food on previously wasted land in big cities such as New York City. Through the use of Permaculture principles, maximized production achieved with restricted space and water supply. Plants are utilized in the design to lower energy input for buildings. Guild plantings are used to reduce malaria problems in Africa. Personally for me the settlement, Village Home in Davis California is my favorite.

It's a settlement designs to encourage both the development of a sense of community and the conservation of energy and natural resources. The principal designer was Mike Corbett. Construction on the neighborhood began in the fall of 1975, and construction continued from south to north through the 1980s, involving many different architects and contractors. The completed development includes 225 homes and 20 apartment units. If only more developers in NZ are expose to this concept. Totally blows my mind away..find out more at http://www.villagehomesdavis.org

The meeting was followed by a sharing of yummy afternoon tea brought by everyone. The unforgettable was the heirloom apple that Karine brought to share with us. Her husband, David, picked them from the Hort Research Orchard in Hastings. I've never seen apples in so many different sizes, colors and taste.

Next, Karine invited us to her place to visit their KUNE KUNE pigs.

Karine, David and their Kune Kune Pigs

The meeting also became a family outing for Tara's children, Max and Abby (my most favorite children ever!!), resulted in an educational experience for them who had never had a close up experience with pigs.

Karine and David "supervising" Tara, Max and Abby while they checked out the pigs!

That concluded our most interesting meeting in April.

See you all in May!!

WOW..that's a super jumbo!

2007-05-02T13:28:00.000+12:00

Since we haven't bought eggs for a year, we didn't know that eggs could be bigger than those we got from our chooks. When a new member, Ginger, was introduced into the chook family, we were amazed at the size of the eggs it laid...(Ginger's egg on the left, and Broodie's on the right )

Behold, Ginger, the star

Ded's Cherry Tomato Salad

2007-05-02T12:38:00.000+12:00

If you have cherry tomatoes growing out of your ears and not sure what to do with it, try out this yummy recipe inspired by my Thai friend, Ded.

It's one of those recipes that you can get your child to help but watch out for those juice squirting out of the cherry tomatoes...I don't really have specific measurements for this recipe because I keep tasting the liquid mixture until I get the taste that I like...I've put in some measurements for those who need more specific instructions...

Ingredients

500grams of cherry tomatoes (or more)
2 medium red onion chopped finely (depending on your taste prefer, more tomatoes more onions)
a handful of fresh basil (or 1 tablespoons of dried basil)
approx 1/2 cup Fruity vinegar
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Sugar as required
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
rind of one lemon

Squeeze the tomato juice into a mixing bowl. To prevent the tomato juice from squirting everywhere (I literally mean it) use your finger to poke an opening on the top of the tomato where it attached to the stalk.

Next, add the chopped red onions, fresh basil (or dried basil), vinegar, pepper, lemon juice and lemon rind into the tomato juice. Mix it together really well. If there aren't enough tomato juice, add a little bit more vinegar. It should be a liquid mixture at this point.

Add salt and sugar as required and keep tasting the mixture until you achieve the taste that you like.

Next, add all the squeezed cherry tomatoes into the mixture and mix it well, put it into the fridge for an hour before serving.

Cuuuutie Cherries!!!

2007-04-29T11:11:00.000+12:00

The tomato season has rapidly come to an end. This morning I decided that I should harvast all the cherry tomatoes. I love cherry tomatoes best for it's many virtues.

It's sooooo sweet, one can eat it like a fruit (anyway, some would argue that tomato is indeed a fruit), makes a beautiful quick tomato salad, productive plant, starts early in the season, looks charming in my veg garden, minimal fuss required, birds can't get to them easily, they are so colourful...(yes, there is a late season slug pre-tasted strawberry in the basket)

The backyard

2007-04-29T01:03:00.001+12:00

This was the backyard in late summer. Matt took these arial pictures from the roof and I kinda of merged them together using paint. The picture is a little distorted but hey, you get "the picture"!

The veg beds were boxed in with macrocarpa sleepers so I lost the edges for planting. The plus side was we had a raised bed for planting carrots and parsnips. However, the entire design looked and felt a little rigid and boxed in and I didn't like the lack of "roundness". We're in the process of putting in lots of circle to go with our new chicken tractor. Stay tuned!! :-)

Playing with videos...

2007-04-27T22:25:00.000+12:00

Well, I wanted to find out how to embed youtube videos into the blog. It turned out to be simple.

So, without further adieu, here is video that shows the kind of thing you can achieve in a small urban back yard in California. Who says you need 6 acres? Just look whats going on in 1/5 of an acre! They are our inspiration.

FIRST tray of Eggs!!

2007-04-26T13:21:00.000+12:00

in April 2006 from our VERY FIRST two pullets given by a friend.

Broody (left) and Black Bird (right)

(Each chook has distinctive personality and features that tell them apart. The names are really our best effort to not get too emotionally attached to them for a good reason....)

It was a mixed feeling eating those lovely eggs - imagine the "pain in my heart" when my mother in law poached 6 of those eggs in one go for breakfast at our place....that meal tasted "bitter sweet"!! :-) Somehow eating eggs takes on a whole new meaning when you see where they came from. We haven't bought any supermarket eggs since last April.

BACK TO WORK!

2007-04-25T23:19:00.000+12:00

Sniff...sniff...back to work tomorrow! Had so much fun while "in poxies". Thanks Tara, Max and Abby and of course my superbly wonderful husband :-)

Tomatoes Galore!!

2007-04-25T20:17:00.000+12:00

I waited all year to eat my homegrown tomatoes - not kidding i don't buy fresh tomatoes from the supermarket. The lack of flavor alone is sufficient to put me off...and even the canned tomatoes taste better...

One of 6 tomato plants survived despite planting it out at the usual time! Fortunately the sole survivor did more than survive - it produced just under 10 kgs of tomatoes. If only the others had survived.... The trick to maximize production per plant is to pile compost at the base of the tomato plant where the laterals are growing. By doing so, it will encourage the laterals that are covered with soil to form roots, and essentially grow as another plant. The main stem that is in contact with the compost will develop even more roots thus enabling the plant to take in even more nutrients. That means more tomatoes too! What a nice trick to truely get more for less!!

Chicken Pox #3

2007-04-25T11:26:00.000+12:00

The "poxies" have mostly disappeared. Apparently I had had a mild case of chickenpox and all credits to the daily consumption of garlic veg juice and the loving prayers from my "Thursday night family" :-).

The whole experience has been short of a little science experiment: Aloe vera didn't work when the blisters are appearing but it's great when the scabs appear. Applying aloe vera at this point to minimize scaring. Vinegar "stings" the burst blisters but by far, MOST effective in easing itchness. Once the vinegar takes care of the itch, the Colloidal silver cream with active manuka honey completely sooths the sores and seems to also speed up healing. Any spotted spots/blisters were not spared the cream. In fact, my skin loves it so much that I'm now using it as a face cream after dabbing on the healing scabs!! Apparently it the "total skin food"!!

Chicken pox #2

2007-04-18T11:59:00.001+12:00

On the second evening, the itchness got very unbearable. A hot bath with boiled up in a muslin cloth made a perfect hot bath sponge. In this case, it was the warm rolled oats milk coming through the museli cloth. It was very gentle on the skin and on the "poxes". As long as I was in the bath, the itchness went away. The skin felt absolutely soft after the bathHowever, I did discovered that more red dots started appearing after the hot bath; it could be a coincidence!!!

The itchness came back a few hours later. It took quite an amount of endurance to resist scratch as the night progressed, finally at 4am in the morning,my darling husband was landed with the task of dabbing calamine lotion all over my spotted body. The spots are mostly on my back. Much to my disappointment, the calamine lotion didn't do much to ease the itchness but I did fall asleep for a few hours. In my sleep, all I could think about was what would ease the itchness? Suddenly I remembered witnessing a friend dabbing vinegar on a bee stings on his face, and it stopped the itchness and swelling. You guess it right, no time was wasted, I jumped out of bed (literally), poured some white vinegar into a small cup, and wet the cotton bud with the vinegar and dabbed it on all itchy spots, I dabbed on all spots repetitively until the itchness went away....it really works!! :-)I've also noticed that the spots with blisters this morning (8am) are now (12:35pm) starting to dry up....I continously apply vinegar on any spot that is calling out for attention

My most devoted husband has been preparing vegetable juices for us since that first day of getting the pox! And he has been most generous with the garlic to keep any baterial and virus and friends, at bay, if the pox didn't do the trick!! This juice give my body a really good boost and keeps the immune system going strong to fight this attackquickly and efficiently. Getting the pox as an adult, I could be in danger of getting shingles with a compromised immune system.

On top of that, I've abstained from tasty food, reducing my colourful diet to the plain boiled vegetables (carrots, cabbage - whatever I can find in my veg garden) in rice porriage (rice with lots of water)and loads of fresh fruit. This is to not put more pressure on my already compromised body to enable it to fight out the virus quickly and efficiently. On top of that, lots and lots of filtered water, and of course, plus endless trips to the toilet!!

Chicken Pox #1

2007-04-16T20:56:00.000+12:00

I have always had a strong inclination towards herbal remedies than the exisiting drug prescription, so I decide to keep a record on the findings from my research.

Chicken pox arises from the elimination of toxic fat or fatty acids through the hair fat glands. The chemical burn from the purging of waste products though the skin causes the characteristic blister of this disease..... http://www.garynull.com/Documents/Vaccines/ChickenPoxWhy.htm

Fever in a child is a frightening symptom to the mother. Just what is the function of fever? Is it a harmful process, something to suppress and worry about? Or is it the body’s attempt to burn up a poison, thereby helping to dispose of it more quickly http://www.garynull.com/Documents/Vaccines/ChickenPoxWhy.htm

If you are feeling adventurous, here's the Salt and vinegar treatment....http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/chickenpox.htm

Another simple and effective treatment for itching...http://www.stopgettingsick.com/Condtemplate.cfm-1337-82-1?print=1

More herbal remedies for chicken pox http://www.newlifejournal.com/april07/herbal-healing-chicken-pox-remedies.shtml

I've got Chicken Pox!!

2007-04-16T15:46:00.000+12:00

I found a blister on my back this morning. A friend who is a mother of two, with one recovering from chickenpox and one having it at the moment, confirmed that I, indeed have chicken pox.

The little bit that you see on the picture is the back of my right arm... :-)

Apparently I had 2 blisters on my neck yesterday but I didn't give much thought to it and had burst them.

A fever sets in this afternoon.

Have been applying aloe vera on all the spots throughout the day.

A few bumps pop out of my scalp. It feels warm and lumpy and painful if I touch it.

The blisters burst by the afternoon and at 5pm it looked like this

I've been drinking lots of water and needless to say, paying endless trips to the toilet.

Decided that it maybe a good time to detox - so my God-sent husband made us both a tall glass of carrot, apple and half a bulb worth of garlic juice - for pre-dinner. He's drinking it to increase his immune system so that he can look after his not so well wife!! :-)

Dinner was rice porriage - grated carrots and shredded cabbage with garlic. Total plain but it wasn't too bad, prepared by my husband, again. Basically, I'm not allowed to do dishes, and housework, to avoid spreading the virus - honestly, I don't mind it at all. However, I'm allowed to make myself as comfortable as possible and order him around - that's got to be an A+++++ for my good husband!!

It's starting to itch now at 9:50pm ....very tempted to scratch ...so aloe vera to the rescue...

Bumps are developing on my facing now at 10:05pm....just when I thought I might escape it.... within minutes, the bumps start turnining into small blisters that get bigger...there is definitely something in ear/or in the throat somewhere because it hurts when I swallow but I can't pinpoint the exact spot...and it's getting more painful...apart from the itch!!

More red bumps are forming on the front of the body...

Zucchini Pickle

2007-04-16T13:30:00.000+12:00

With 6 zucchini plants in the garden, we have been cooking zucchini in all possible creative ways for the last few months...my favorite method is to cut it into thin stripes length wise, and pan grill with some olive oil, curry powder and a sprinke of salt - and it's absolutely yummy on it's own or add to a salad of anything/stir fry etc....grilled capscium makes superb partner to zucchini cooks this way.

But zucchini pickle tops the above to be my favorite.

To make 7-8 cups
1 kg zucchini
750 grams onions
1/4 cup salt
2 red pappers
1 cup sweet corn

4 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tsp celery seeds
Juice and rind of a lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cups of cider vinegar

1 tbsp cornflour (or arrowroot powder)

grate the zucchini and cut the onions roughly into the size of wheat grains - take care to not overdo it! Chop the peppers finely too.

Put the chopped vegetables and the corn into a large bowl and mix the salt in. Leave it for half an hour, then add the water, stir and pour through a large, coarse sieve or colander. Discard the salty liquid (make sure that you stir through enough to remove as much salt from the vegs otherwise it would be too salty)

Next, put the drained vegetable, sugar, seeds, turmeric, lemon rind, lemon juice and vineger in a large heavy bottomed pot. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. Mix the cornflour to a paste with 2-3 tbsp cold water, stir into the pickle, an boil for 5 minutes longer.

Pour into clean, heated jars and seal with boiled metal lids. Refrigerate all opened jars.

I served it to my in laws and friends and it was a hit!!!

Pie from Russian

2007-04-11T23:55:00.000+12:00

Nonna was a Russian workmate of mine who shared this delicious recipe with one of my ESL classes - English through Cooking and Culture!! :-) We actually made this in class and nothing much was left at the end of the lesson.

Very inexpensive recipe to make the night before a party and reheat in the oven just before serving...

Pastry
350 grams high quality flour
15 grams sugar
1 egg
75 litre milk or cream
30 grams Sour cream
1 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder (1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp cream of tartar)

Cabbage Filling
1 small white cabbage
3 eggs
100 grams butter
salt to taste
Sugar (if the cabbage isn't sweet)

This is how you make it...

To make the pastry, melt butter, add milk, sour cream, egg, salt, sugar together. Mix thoroughly, put in flour mixed with baking powder. Stir and knead until you get a well-blended pastry.

To prepare the Cabbage Filling, shred the cabbage head finely. Next, melt the butter on the frying pan. Add the cut cabbage and simmer it until it's semi cooked. Break the eggs and add it to the cabbage. Add salt and sugar to taste and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.(depending on the texture you like to achieve)

Leave cabbage filling to cool.
(an important step otherwise it will break the pastry)

Divide the pastry into three parts. Roll each into a rectangular sheet with a thickness of an inch (the thickness is to your preference, so long it's thick enough to hope the cabbage filling).

Drain the cabbage filling(make sure it's very dry otherwise it will leak out of the parcel while baking in the oven) and put it on the rolled pastry and roll it up. Press the pastry together to on all the edges. It should look like a giant spring roll. Take a fork and poke some holes to on the top of the pastry (this is to allow the stream to escape from the parcel when it's baking).

Put it into the oven pre-heated to 170 celcius and bake it until the pastry turns golden brown.

If you can be bothered, apply a glaze of beaten eggs on the top when it's just turning brown. And continue to bake until golden brown.

My Modification

Instead of using the pastry recipe above, I turn to the all reliable Filo pastry. To the cabbage filling, I put in the following additional ingredients:

1) 1 can of butter nuts

2) 100 grams of bacon pieces (cut into small pieces)

3) 1 bay leave (crushed into small pieces)

4) 50 grams Add to bacon pieces in with the 50 grams of butter ( I cut the butter by half because the fat from the bacon pieces will make up for the remaining fat requirement).

Fry the bacon pieces till it turns brown and nearly crispy. Add the crushed bay leaves in with bacon pieces to fry for a few seconds. Add the cabbage and cook it as per the instruction in the above recipe.Add drained butter a few minutes before the cabbage is cooked.

We finally met up in March!

2007-04-11T23:47:00.000+12:00

The first meeting in March was nothing short of fantastic. It went from 2:30pm to 5pm.
We watched an half an hour video on permaculture in the tropics presented
by Bill Mollison, who coined the word permaculture. After the afternoon
tea, we had a quick tour round my little urban yard to see the little
projects that my husband, Matthew and I have put in place using
permaculture principles.

We then went on to my favorite, compost making and a simple
system we use to sift the compost. I'm also very proud to share that
Tara, one of the attendees, has made a round of beautiful compost since.

Amazing Spicy Pineapple Zucchini Bread

2007-04-11T21:35:00.000+12:00

I simply can't get enough of this bread - it keeps and keeps and keeps and it's completely dairy free. Bake two in one go and keep the other one in the freezer ...so here you go

3 eggs
1 cup oil(olive oil or veg oil)
1 cup sugar
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 can well drained crushed pineapple
3 cups wholegrain flour sifted
2 tsps baking powder (or 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp cream of tartar)
1 tsp salf
2 tsps mustard seeds
2 tsps ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup each chopped walnuts and currants(or raisins)

HERE'S HOW YOU DO IT....
In a large bowl, beat eggs until froth
Add oil, sugar and vanilla , continue beating until mixture is thick and foamy.
Stir in zucchini and pineapple

In a separate bowl, sift in flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add walnuts, currants(or raisins) and mustard seeds into the bowl.

Add the dry mixture into the zucchini pineapple mixture.
Spoon into 2 greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Bake at 180 celcius for 45 minutes.

Icing- add the juice and rind of one lemon into 1/2 cup of icing sugar. Put it on just before serving.

The MOST amazing thing about this bread is that it CAN be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months and still maintain the flavor and moisture - infact the taste improved!!! Deli -cious-mo

Sheet Mulching

2007-04-03T22:16:00.000+12:00

A few years back when we were just starting to learn about Permaculture, we discovered the concept of sheet mulching and very close planting. The idea is, don't dig. Digging damages soil and soil life.

Planting your plants close together mimicks nature and helps to reduce moisture loss and creates little microclimates where plants get protection from each other.

Have you seen the movie "The March of the Penguins"? When the penguins huddled together in the extreme cold they usually survived, but the moment they stray out on their own they die. Like the penguins, plants do better when grouped with other plants, rather than planted in their own mini deserts where they dry out or get burned by too much sun.

Here are some pictures of what we did, before and after things started to grow.

First, we lay out some old newspaper.

Then we covered it with pea straw to reduce moisture loss and suppress unwanted plants (weeds). In this we planted various a range of herbs and other plants making sure that we plant through the newspaper and into the soil below.

Heres what it looked like about 3 months later...

Much nicer than grass don't you think?

We later put Ponga log (tree fern) edging around it as you can see, and added gravel to the path. The gravel actually absorbs warmth from the sun during the day and releases it at night helping to regulate the temperature in this area and meant we have now had some limited success growing herbs like basil. Previously, they died rather quickly.

This is a reasonable approach to starting a garden, although we've tried other methods with better success which we'll share later.

Eco - footprints, carbon footprint?

2007-03-30T21:27:00.000+12:00

Two big buzzwords in the media at the moment are eco-footprint and carbon-footprint.

But they are just buzzwords with no real meaning for most people. Take the eco-footprint. We have this idea that ideally we should be consuming resources no bigger than the plot of land we own. Sounds sensible? But it misses the point.

We should not be consuming everything in a set area. Instead, we should be looking to "close
the loop". Every input that comes into our home is usually consumed and then exits usually as waste. We need to be looking to use those inputs more efficiently and where it might normally be a waste, instead it's fed back into our homes as another input.

For example, all those vegetable wastes can become food for the chickens, or the compost heap.
Another example, alter our homes to better capture the sun during the lower winter sun, and insulating the house to prevent heat loss.

This really is just common sense, but most of us aren't thinking this way - I wonder why!! :-)

Grocery shopping... at my backyard?

2007-03-27T21:53:00.000+12:00

We've cut down our grocery shopping to about twice a month to shop for essentials that we can't grow in the garden. The two wondeful chooks have been supplying us with enough eggs since April 06 with enough to give some away to friends.

We're exploring using Linda Woodroo's mandala system to provide for most of our food..most posts to come..