raw zucchini salad

Last nights dinner was another Garden Affair - lots of good stuff straight from soil to bowl! Some of my children are complaining about how often I point out to them (like every meal) how many things have come from our garden! So let me just tell you too......... last night there was zucchini, radish, onion, garlic, basil, parsley and potatoes, although I ruined it by adding baked beans, butter and cheese (all bought).

So here's the recipe that I mentioned yesterday -

  

Luscious Raw Zucchini Salad

I used one large zuke - it was about 1kg 

1 or more cloves of garlic, crushed

A few basil leaves, chopped

Juice of one lemon

Splash of apple cider vinegar

Olive oil, how ever much you like

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the zuke into thin rings and cut rings into slivers - the finer the better. As you can see mine are not finely cut but the intent was there! You could do this in one of those raw spiral noodle makers or even cut slivers with a peeler but I am a quick cook and like things the fast way!! Just let me add here that the fastest way is usually getting a child to cut them but I couldn't find one at the time! 

Toss in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. The cider vinegar was added because I only had one lemon, so you could try it without. And you do need to salt it really well as the zucchini just seems to 'eat it up'. This salad is even nicer when you let it sit for a while although this type of zucchini has such a delicious flavour that it's simply divine any way. 

I have been purchasing organic cottage cheese in an attempt to add more protein to our diet and have come up with this delicious way to eat it.

Herbed Cottage Cheese

Combine 1 cup of cottage cheese with a small finely chopped red onion (or spring onion), a small bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped, a pinch of dried mixed herbs, a good slurp of organic flax seed oil, freshly grated pepper and lots of good (himalayan) salt 

We had this over steamed jacket potatoes last night - from the garden ;-) but we also eat it on plain bread with sliced tomato or best of all, on toast with lashings of melted butter.

I'm sure there are other yummies that could be added to either of these two recipes, so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!! 

Around the garden

 Although I have quite a few hundreds more photos of the as yet unnamed babe, I thought it was time I returned this blog to some semblance of it's former self. And what better topic than the green and fertile garden.

In the past month it has been quite neglected. Other than a quick watering on the hottest days (27C here in Tas!), some seed sowing at the opportune moon moments and a quick dash to raid it's bounty for meals, I really haven't spent much time there. 

Fortunately, Mother Nature doesn't just stop doing her stuff and now that I've had a leisurely stroll around I see that not only is there lots to be done before the cool months but there's also a whole heap of promise to come while the sun is still warm.

I planted two cucumbers in Dec and I must say I'm a bit disappointed with the output.......only one cucumber!! There are loads of little flowers and teeny cukes but thats it. I love cucumber and will plant them in the soon to be poly tunnel so that we actually get to eat or pickle some next year. 

This is a part of our first garden. It's in the lowest area of our block and the soil is black and very heavy. I added loads of mushroom compost and some sand (because I happened to have some) and the soil is getting better but I plant most of my crops in the new garden on higher ground. 

Here there's lettuce seedlings overdue for transplanting, two rows of carrots (which are my second successful batch and I am so excited to have mastered the art of carrot growing) and two rows of beans over on the right. 

Tomatoes are finally ripening but I can't remember which variety I planted....sigh........ next year they'll be in the poly tunnel and I will be more diligent with the keeping of names!

We harvested the last of the onions. Now, that was another excitement as it's the first time I've grown them and they were huge!! 

The beans are just flowering because I planted them a bit late due to being away from home in spring last year. 

The one corn!!! Well, ok there are two of them but either way there won't be much of a harvest! We carved the new garden out of a bare pasture paddock and unfortunately there were loads of nasty little cut worms lurking in the soil. Just as I was dreaming about mounds of buttery hot corn on the cob, the little pests ate through all the tender young stalks and it was bye bye corn!! 

I cured the cut worm challenge by putting a few chickens in a garden bed sized chook cage for a few days - the girls had a delicious protein hit that week!!   

And lastly but by no means leastly? the ubiquitous zucchini. We have eaten them almost everyday for weeks - baked with bolognese sauce and cheese, fried with garlic and tamari, grated into zucchini slice and tonights delight ....... zucchini salad!! 

Oh it was yummy and I promise to share the spur of the moment recipe soon! 

Granny break...

Right........ sorry about that.......... I've been having a little granny break - you know, using the time to gain a bit of wisdom in the art of grand-mothering! In order to do that I had to visit with my Golden Girl for four days and help her get settled and allay any dilemmas she may have had. 

Well, ok...... what I really mean is that I've been smooching and cuddling the newest family member for the last four days ............oh, and knitting. Yes, knitting!!! 

You see, the Best Man said I'd need to learn how to knit really well so I could get my Granny Ticket, which I believe is like a Fork Lift Driver Ticket or maybe a Chainsaw Operator Ticket where you do a short course and then you're a pro! 

So that's what I've been doing - knitting...... and smooching. Because smooching the new little one must account for a large part of the New Granny course, don't you think? 

I saw the cute little Pebble Vest that Soulemama whipped up for her newest babe and thought to myself that I could just about knit that in a reasonable space of time (not three years like my sock!) With the guidance of the lovely lady on Knitting Help who explains all the stitches in both continental and regular style, I have almost managed to finish it. Yes, there will be a proud Tah Da post soon!!  

The wool is from a garage sale and I used the only needles that I happened to find amongst my sewing treasures. Hoping that it would work out anyway, I cast on.........all the wrong gauge of course but I added an extra few rows and another button hole to lengthen it and it kind of looks in proportion. 

Of course, the hands on module of my Granny Ticket was an absolute joy to work on!! 

I passed with flying colours!!!  

Presenting.....

......a granddaughter (although she's wrapped in blue!!) 

3.04am 

Monday 20. 02. 2012

Pisces sun with Aquarius moon

9 lb 5 oz

56 cm long

Fat and pink and healthy

Just called 'she' for now.....

Her clever mama birthed this big wee girl in six and a half hours and I only got there just to hear her first cry!  Oh well, I'm very happy it went so fast and easy for her.

Proud and ecstatic parents! The new mama said, an hour after birthing 'oh I don't know why there's so much fuss about the pain of childbirth, it wasn't so bad and didn't seem to take long at all!' 

How I wish I'd had such an easy time of it when I had her, oh so long ago!! 

Proud and very relieved new aunts and uncles! 

I am so excited, relieved, thankful, overwhelmed and exhausted! 

I am Oma!! 

making me happy.....

........lots of calendula petals looking pretty in the late afternoon sun - these have now been immersed in macadamia nut oil and will eventually be calendula salve. 

.......more healing herbs - this time gifted to me by a dear friend and already being used by one small boy with many bumps and bruises!

......loving these tiny hearts ease blossoms. Not many in the garden at the moment but seeing their cheery faces peep up at me is so....well....... cheering!! 

 ........and of course, something for the babe that doesn't want to face the world just yet! Made by me from new op shop cotton interlock and embroidered by it's impatient mama (after this pic was taken!) 

The babe is quite a way overdue now and everything has been tried to encourage it to join us - my nerves are a little tattered, the new mama's are a little frayed and all the prospective aunts and uncles are getting VERY impatient!!  

Tabouli

We eat a lot of quinoa here in various different guises. Breakfast, lunch or dinner will often find quinoa on our table. One of the ways that I've found to feed my family more of this protein packed grain is to make tabouli, which is of course traditionally made with bourgul - steamed, cracked wheat. After reading some literature years ago I came to the understanding that our wheat intake was just too much and set about changing some of our favourite recipes. We don't actually have any wheat allergies in our family but none the less wheat does make it's way into too much of our food.....and I don't mean just my families intake but in general, wheat is a staple - bread, pasta, cakes and all sorts of other foods are made or thickened with wheat. 

Originally I made tabouli with millet but when quinoa became The New Big Thing and I read up about that little power packed grain, I switched to using it.
This recipe was given to me by a friend a long time ago - I have changed bits along the way but this is pretty much how I make it now.

Quinoa Tabouli 

2-3 cups cooked, cooled quinoa
1 very, very large bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
5 tomatoes, diced
2 or 3 large cucumbers, diced
1 red onion, chopped
Sprig of fresh mint, chopped
   About 1/2 - 1 cup sliced deseeded black olives, chopped

Dressing
Juice of 4 lemons
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Lots of good salt
Freshly grated black pepper

As you can see in the photo's, I just throw it all into the bowl and then add the dressing and stir.
You need to use a lot of lemon juice and salt to really give a tangy flavour. And I like plenty of cold pressed olive oil.
Please experiment with amounts - when I have more parsley I use a super sized bunch and it is really delicious with loads!! Lots of tomato is Good! Grated zucchini added is Good too! Really it's all that dressing that makes it so delicious! 

Sorry, but as usual this is a bit vague with actual quantites. We eat ALOT and there are quite a few of us, so I have over the years, gotten used to automatically tripling and quadrupling recipes - consequently now I only know how to do LARGE amounts!! I think my recipes never turn out quite how the book intended because I always add more of the cheapest ingredient to make it stretch further. The family has never (well, ok not often!) complained though, so I don't think I'll be changing the winning formula now!!  

Decay

I am feeling a trifle decayed right now.

Not sure why...... just a general feeling of lethargy and stagnation. 

These old disused bits of human progress spoke to me on a breath of wind and a sunbeam. 

In my present state of mind I felt drawn to their decay and inertia.

Wondering who loved and used them so long ago?

What joys or tragedies or everyday events were enacted around them? 

Eventually becoming unloved and unused..... to end up sitting in a paddock silently rusting away.

Returned to the earth from which they sprang by borers, wind and rain. 

I think waiting is taking it's toll....... 

memories

I was tidying and rearranging today and I came across this old Amish style doll that I'd made when Miss 19 was only 18 months old. As I held her I remembered my early mothering days........ how bone tired I was.......what an adventure every day had become....

Star Baby brought back memories of sleep deprived nights, warm snuggly babes at midnight and overflowing nappy buckets.

I heard the sound of giggling children, toddler feet stomping up the hallway and tired fractious crawlers whining at my feet. 

She reminded me of sweet milky baby chins, sticky fingers, creative frustration and chubby hands holding stalkless flowers. 

She also brought me tears, knowing that soon I'll have a lot of those moments again - maybe not as often and definitely not as emotionally intense but softer and oh so poignantly filled with memories of another time - a younger time. 

Thankyou, Star Baby. 

pink & red

I think us pinkies should stick together - so let me get in the middle with you. 

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea - what do you think, bro? 

Now look here, sis, pink really is my colour - you two just handle the reds.....

Woah, what do you mean, we look stupid?

Wait a minute while I do some adjusting...... darn thing just doesn't want to stay up.....

How's this for the strong, manly look? 

If we just stand here quietly, maybe those two in the middle will go away.

Oh man, can you believe these boys! Quick Mum, do something!!

Dyeing with turmeric

About 6 weeks ago, we were finally reunited with all the belongings that we'd left behind in a storage bay when we moved to Tassie. It's been almost 4 years since our move and while a lot of stuff hadn't been thought of in all that time, some had been sorely missed and eagerly waited for. 

The baby clothes from my little ones were some of the things that we really wanted because of course they are needed for the new arrival ...when it finally makes an entrance!! I had kept a lot of baby bits partly because I am a hoarder and also because I'm sentimental... I love to see my babes in blankets or jumpsuits that an older one has worn or that I'd made for my first born. 

And now I get to pass them on to a new generation! 

So when we unloaded all the boxes we immediately peeked into, and sorted out, some useful items for the new mama to take home. One of them was this tiny double breasted cardigan for a new born, which unfortunately had some stains near the neck. What to do? 

I had read about dyeing with turmeric before but not enough to be really sure of what to do - I was a bit worried that I would felt the jumper by putting it in hot water and stirring! 

Then just by chance I met a lovely lady at a little market who was spinning and selling wool that she had dyed with natural dyes such as paprika and turmeric. We had a good chat and she gave me some encouragement and a 'recipe' to dye my little jumper. Now I must stress here that I literally scribbled down her words as she spoke and I'm pretty sure this is how it goes although I feel it needs some fine tuning! She told me that it only works with animal fibres so I refrained from adding the white bunny rug that I'd planned to dye too! 

This is what she said...... and I did -

Fill a large pot with enough cold water to cover whatever you are dyeing and 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Add garment or wool and leave to sit over night. 

Next day, remove garment and squeeze excess water back into pot.

Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of salt and enough turmeric to make the desired colour.

Add garment and bring to simmering point.

Simmer for 5 to 10 mins using a wooden spoon to push the garment around gently. DON'T felt it!! 

Leave in pot to cool over night.

Rinse in cold water until water runs clear.  

You can see in the pic with the pot of water that the cardy is a bright orange colour - next time I'll go a bit easier on the turmeric. I added about 5 dessert spoons of the stuff and got a surprise when I pulled it out!! It reminded me very much of Buddhist monks and saffron coloured robes!

Once I'd rinsed it and rolled it in a towel to remove the excess water, the colour became a bit lighter but still several shades darker than I'd wanted. Even the buttons turned a bright yellow!

And then I hung it in the sun to dry....... and that was a mistake. It was a hot day, I went to town in the afternoon and when I returned and brought it inside I noticed the colour had faded in certain areas. I'm sure it was the sun because where it had been folded it was still quite bright.  

Now I'm not sure what to do - wash it and hope some more dye comes out to even it all up? Lay it in the sun with the dark bits showing and the rest covered? Or leave as is and see it as a lesson learned?

Slow Living 2012 - January (belated)

This week I popped in to visit Christine over at Slow Living Essentials - I have a lot of Lovely People to visit in my Favourite Blogs List and not enough time to visit them all as often as I'd like, so I have to ration myself around you know! Anyway, she has started up an on line journal and challenged the rest of us to join in and record all the little positive changes that are so easily forgotten about as we go about our daily lives.
I have decided to tag along ........ after a bit of deliberation .......
Will I be diligent in posting? We'll see....
Will I have done enough positive things in my month to even have anything to post about? Maybe...
Is anyone interested anyway? Perhaps....

I often feel that I don't accomplish enough of anything that's really worthwhile, so having to wrack my brain (and my photo's) to remember what I did achieve each month and then making a list, can only be a good thing. Right?

So, here is the original idea at Slow Living Essentials and below is my list of achievements for the month of January 2012

Nourish -  we have been eating so much of our own garden produce that I am often quite giddy with delight!! Due to moving interstate and renting for a while, we haven't had a garden for a few years so it's just too exciting to be eating fresh homegrown, organic food again! This month there have been peas and snow peas, spinach and lettuce, bandicooted potatoes, garlic (harvested in Dec, so not sure if that counts) fat Spanish onions, turnips and the first tender zucchini's. On the sweeter side we had red and black currants, plums - both our own and foraged ones, luscious strawberries and juicy rhubarb. And of course lots of fresh eggs from the girls!
I'm thinking now that we have certainly been very well nourished!!

Prepare - you are probably sick of hearing about my peas but I have to mention them again...... I froze 7kg's of peas, so we'll be self sufficient in peas for quite a while! We went blueberry picking and froze about 14kg's........ and I made a lot of plum jam!!

Reduce - now thats a bit harder to remember but I can think of a couple of things. There were the cot rungs that we repurposed for seed markers and to hold the polypipe hoops up for bird netting. (which I've just discovered were first used in Dec but we have made more, so maybe it still counts!) The plum seeds leftover from jam making were put to good use in some little felt bags for play.

Create - I've been crocheting a lot of dishcloths out of cotton yarn that I've picked up at op shops here and there. They crochet up so quickly and make me feel like I've achieved grand things! There was also the driftwood trivet sourced from the beach. In February I will be making a note of the things I've created because I'm sure there have been more....!

Green - I'm not really sure what to put here. I re-use the odd plastic bags we get for rubbish bags, but mostly use those recyclable cloth bags for shopping. I go op shopping a lot - but maybe that should come under the Enjoy heading ;o)

Grow - the garden is growing zucchini, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, carrots, radish, cucumber, basil, kale, rhubarb, onions and some pretty flowers! And looking at this list is oh so very satisfying - I see them in the garden but reading the list is still a surprise!

Discover - I've been reading a Christmas gift, "Gardening South of Australia" by Steve Solomon so that I can understand the Tasmanian gardening year a bit more! "The Complete Root Cellar Book"was one I borrowed from the library but I have to be honest and say that I only flicked through it and handed it to the Best Man, who, I'm happy to say, was quite taken with the idea......... after the extension, the poly tunnel, the cubby, the fencing, the.........!!

Enhance - I bartered a bag of frozen peas in exchange for a bag of fresh beans. Not sure about this one so I'll need to be a bit more aware of how to go about this 'enhancing' business!

Enjoy - I have love, love, loved the January break from lessons!! We have had over 3 months off due to our holiday to the mainland and have just started our morning lessons again last week. January was the most relaxing month though - holiday over, Christmas over, and a whole month just to do as I please....... well, more or less!

So, there you have it. Perhaps not as much as some people, perhaps more than others, but either way I feel quite good about my life in January! And I also think that I'm going to quite like seeing this written account at the end of each month - it will be nice to have all our endeavours collected together in one place to wonder at and feel proud of!!

It's not too late to join in - how about it? If you don't have a blog (so you can brag to world about it!), what about a small 'real life' journal just to record all the little things that are so easy to forget, yet make you feel sooo satisfied when you look back on them.