a weekend with our small elf

Recently I had the privilege of spending a whole weekend with my granddaughter. Her parents were having a much needed break, dancing and grooving at a local hippie festival, while I was reintroduced to how it felt to have a tiny one underfoot again!

With seven children, I had constant babies and toddlers around me for 18 years. Yes 18!! And yet, it amazes me how quickly I have gotten used to not having a permanent part of my brain focused on little beings. She was no trouble at all; she can amuse herself quite nicely, rarely cries, is interested in everything and is doted upon by her youthful aunts and uncle. Yet, still, I found that I had to rearrange my thinking and keep her in mind at all times.

Going to the garden? Find hat and boots. Make sure she doesn't get sunburnt. Oops, fell over the dug area….carry her over the lumpy bits. Clean dirt out of boots.

Cooking a meal? Ensure that she isn't underfoot. Pass her a nibbley. Give her a drink. Watch closely as she amuses herself with the cutlery and bowls. Quick! a trip to the potty. More snacks.

But we had fun too! It was delightful to see her busyness; the intense focus on her chosen task; her smiles; the snuggles at bedtime and her sleepy look when she first woke up.
 
 A wheelbarrow full of decaying rhubarb stalks makes for a fun ride.

With the help of my Fairy, we made uncooked play dough. The little one loved it. With the utmost concentration she placed small balls of dough into the nest.
(Our first time for uncooked dough and it's not as good to play with as the cooked one, quite crumbly, but…. it doesn't stick to every surface it lands on - i.e: the floor, chair, table and so on!)

We hung several loads of washing together...….one peg at a time!!

We picked leeks gone to seed flowers and fennel stalks and she marvelled at the tiny buds and gently pulled off the outer husks to offer them to me.

And she carefully made a lovely floral arrangement before turning her eyes and hands to a bowl of 'pums' we had picked earlier from the wild plum trees.

Perhaps I am older and not used to little ones any more but what struck me later (and again now as I look through these photo's) is that I can have fun with her. I don't remember having much time to wander slowly around the garden picking flowers or holding jars for a very slow flower arranger!! I certainly didn't have the time to run behind and snap photos for posterity (although I do have photos of my children!!!) I do remember being extremely grateful for daytime sleeps, older siblings and when each one became slightly more self sufficient.

Now, I wish I had taken more joy in each little one but I can also see how thats not always possible when you are the rearer, the nurturer, the discipliner, the cook and the cleaner. I can now truly see the difference that so many grandmas told me about when I still had my own little ones -

"You'll have fun and games with your grand children all day and then you send them back for their parents to raise"!

And I do believe that its true!!!

fat hen - a nutritious weed

Do you remember in my January Slow Living post when I mentioned that we were eating a 'weed' called Fat Hen? A nutritious weed that grows well in rich, soil especially in cooler wet weather. Since we had a late start to summer with a lot of rain in October and November, we also had a mighty good crop of Fat Hen! 

Each year we purchase trailer loads of spent mushroom compost to spread around the garden but due to the rain last year, we didn't get to spread it out for quite a while. The garden beds that the compost was piled onto, became really rich and moist and I ended up with a fantastic crop of this lush 'weed'. 

The official name is Chenopodium album and it is in fact related to quinoa. The name Fat Hen was given to it because it was used to fatten poultry. Our hens may well have put on some weight because they ate loads of Fat Hen when we weeded out the garden beds earlier in the season!  I still give them a plant every now and again and they peck every little leaf and seed until there is just the skeleton of the stalk left. 

Instead of me re-writing all of the interesting info on this plant I'll just give you a couple of interesting websites that I found while looking for botanical names.

This one mentions that Fat Hen grown in nitrogen rich soil will contain nitrates and should be consumed in moderation (which we did). It also contains oxalates, so should be cooked rather than eaten raw, although I feel that the healthy enzyme content in small quantities would make up for the oxalic acid consumption!

Garden Organic, a UK site, mentions that the seed buried in undisturbed soil can still germinate after more than 20 years! Yikes! I shall be sure to pull out any remaining plants before they seed!

On this Medicinal Herbs site, there is a good lot of info on eating and using Fat Hen as well as any known hazards.

And if you want to find out more about the history of Fat Hen and some of it's relations, check out A Modern Herbal by Mrs M Grieve.

 So when there isn't yet much in the garden and the troops are hungry, why not use a little bit of what is growing?

We often have cooked quinoa for breakfast and I usually make extra so it can be the basis for lunch or dinner too. My very quick fried rice quinoa goes something like this…….

In a large frying pan heat some coconut oil, add chopped onions, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, celery and what ever else is lying about in the fridge or is in over abundance in the garden! You can also add frozen corn niblets and peas if you have them.

Saute until softened.

Add cooked quinoa/buckwheat/rice and stir through. Season with tamari and pepper.

At the last minute add a few handfuls of clean Fat Hen leaves and shoots.

And thats that!! We have ours with a salad of some sort and sometimes omelette strips on top.

And thats two recipes in as many weeks - must be all my excitement over the food we are growing!!

I'd love to hear if you use any 'weeds' in your cooking?
And how did you learn to identify them? 

Thanks for stopping by to read my thoughts and also if you've left a comment!  

two easy summer recipes

Last summer we had a huge amount of food coming out of the poly tunnel - aubergines, tomatoes, basil and capsicums as well as potatoes, onions and garlic in the garden. Stuy was away in India for the first three months of the year and although the veggie garden was prolific, my time wasn't! I had to take on more of the business side of things, do most of the gardening by myself as well as schooling the children and running our home.

It was busy!!!  Something had to give! 

Then as I trawled around some blogs late one night (isn't that what you do when you are tired and overworked and just need some 'me' time?) I discovered one that was dedicated to Greek vegetarian food. Lots of Mediterranean veggies, herbs and olive oil - just what was needed.

And I came across Greek Briam. Oh it's good. Very good. So good that it became one of the staple summer dishes that got me through that busy time. Easy, tasty and healthy.
Lisa, who writes the Greek Vegetarian blog, has some fantastic recipes there, all with beautiful photography and sweet snippets of Greece. 

I won't rewrite the recipe for you because I haven't changed it except to make double or more, so go and have a look for yourself and do try it! We mostly had it with a very quick focaccia style bread, which I will share here…. but please bear in mind that this recipe is - as usual - just a rough one! 

Easy Focaccia

In a large mixing bowl place 2 cups of blood temperature water. 

Stir in a spoonful of sugar or honey. 

Sprinkle about 2 heaped tablespoons of yeast granules over the water/honey mix.

Drizzle a good slurp of olive oil over the yeast.

Stir together gently.

Cover with tea towel and leave in a warm place for at least 15 minutes.

When it looks frothy, start adding flour. I use plain spelt or plain organic white flour with a bit of wholemeal. 

You will want to add some salt at this point too.

Keep mixing in flour until the dough is fairly stiff and workable.

Oil the trays. 

Divide dough and press onto tray (about 1cm thick) 

Prick all over with a fork.

Sprinkle with coarse celtic salt, fresh rosemary sprigs and dried mixed herbs.

Drizzle olive oil over the lot. 

Bake at 180 degrees for about 1/2 hour or until done. 

And there you have it! An easy summer meal. We had some local feta to crumble over the top and it really does need some source of protein. Perhaps hard boiled eggs would go too. And a crisp, green garden salad.

I really hope you give this a try. I've had these photos lined up since last years Briam meals and now that its summer again and I'm almost ready with the right vegetables, I thought I'd share.

Do you think you would make this?
Do you like oily, rich dishes?
I do!

garden stills

I have been meaning to post a garden update. Not that I've written much about the garden at all this season, seeing as it is running behind and only just beginning to produce the goods! I think I mentioned that we had a late start to summer so I'm using that as my excuse! But…. it is looking lush now and giving us many delicious meals so I think it's earnt a mention!

1 - Buttercrunch lettuce. I love this variety almost as much as I like the Austrian heirloom Forellenschuss. The taste is nicer in these little mignonette lettuces but it's harder to wash all the insects and dirt out of the crinkly leaves and, well…. I do like fast!!

2 - Our chickens are just ordinary Isa Browns. They do a fabulous job of laying big brown eggs and are the cheapest chickens I've found here in Tasmania. Any fancy types are just so pricey and are not sexed, which means that at least half of the chicks end up being male. Not good for egg production!

3 - Aubergines in flower. These are now small purple fruits and it won't be long until I'm making some delicious dinners with this favourite vegetable. Last year (when I was more organised and grew onions too) I made a lot of 'briam' which is a Greek dish of outstanding taste! I have a pic somewhere and will post the recipe tomorrow. 

4 - Dill (or maybe it was fennel?) flowers. The bronze fennel has self seeded everywhere, while the dill that I planted and wanted desperately to grow, has only managed to two plants! I'm hoping that if I let it self seed…….!! 

5 - Poppies. These self seeded too but the white ones (and some pink) somehow sprang up from the red ones that I planted last year. They must be reverting back to their forebears! And this just makes me think about my lax gardening habits - so many self sown plants and I can never bring myself to pull them out, which means my garden has many parts that become rather…..wild! 

6 & 7 - Potatoes in flower and producing many a fine meal. Sadly, although I managed to harvest almost 200 kilos of potatoes last year, this year there will only be the ones that have sprung up around the garden from those left in the ground. Once again, I was behind and now it's too late. But…. we are doubly enjoying the ones we have!! 

8 - And zucchini! Lots and lots of zucchini!! I love them, the family like them, they are prolific, versatile and fast growing! Costata Romanesco is this variety and it's my favourite for both the flavour and of course it's ridged good looks! I made my very first chocolate brownie with zucchini recently. I have never seen the need to use a vegetable in a cake but thought I'd try it. Verdict? It was ok but I'll be sticking to salads, steamed and buttered or savoury slice!!

I really love producing a large part of our summer food. The children roll their eyes when I excitedly list off all the things on their plate that have come from the garden, "You tell us this every year, Mum", they say with a groan. And I do. But I know that secretly they think I'm clever are resigned!!!!

How does your garden grow?


Unser Garten ist jetzt besonders voll mit Gemüse.Sommer ist immer so eine schöne zeit und wir essen vieles vom garten. Salate, Auberginen, Kartoffel, zucchini und bald auch Tomaten, basilikum und gurken. Ich koch gerne mein Eigenbau und es macht mich ganz glücklich wenn ich kann sagen, "das hab ich im garten gewachsen!"    

spots before her eyes

I only have one small girl left now. 

The other three are 27, 21 and 16 (and oh my, seeing that written here makes me feel ancient - I did start young, I promise!) 

Small girls and pretty handmade dresses definitely go together, a bit like peaches and cream or gin and tonic or even prunes and…um…well….you know what…..

Anyway, this one remaining small girl - who is not small, small, but really quite getting on in years - does still like some pretty mama made dresses. She often makes requests for this pretty fairy dress or that fancy dress up gown and most of the time I say yes but then put it off until I have time. Ha, when does a busy mama 'have' time? Really, most of her requests never actually eventuate. 

Can you see me with a glass bottle, pouring out a small measure of time with a whiff of dress? "Yes dear, I've just found my dress time!"  Or better still, perhaps I could 'make' time? Now wouldn't we all like that? I'll share when I work out how!! 

In the meantime, (pardon the pun) I will, every now and again, stop and sew just exactly when she asks. Because it won't be long and she'll stop asking. 

So this sweet little spotty dress was one of those stop-and-do-it-right-now kind of dresses. She asked for a pretty summer dress, I searched through the boxes and boxes of op-shopped fabrics, she rummaged in the op-shopped dress pattern box and together we decided that spots were just right! We also found a second hand dress that we will cut down and resew (another day when I've found my 'time'!!) 

She was delighted with the finished product and more than happy to pose for some photos complete with a change of hats! I was delighted to have been such a diligent mother with enough time to sew happy things for my one small girl. Win win!!! 

Do you, or did you, make time to sew requests for your children? What do/did you make? 

Ich hab nur noch ein kleines Mädchen. Die anderen drei sind 27, 21 und 16. Meine kleine möchte oft das ich für sie was nähe aber ich hab leider öfter keine zeit. Diese Woche aber, hab ich ihr ein weis getüpfeltes rotes Kleid genäht. Sie war ganz bezaubert und verliebt ihn ihr neues Sommer Kleid und hat gerne für mich unter die Zwetschken baume getanzt für meine Foto.

    

slow living in january 2014

A New Year and a new Slow Living Month. This year I'm aiming to join in a whole heap more often….. although I'm not sure how many of the categories I'll manage to fill. I have lots of plans for 2014 but many of them are not really 'news' worthy!! 

This year will be a year of change, learning, growing and major decisions and, I'm hoping, also a year of creativity in new and different ways.

We'll see.

So. I'm happy that Christine has decided to do another year of Slow Living and I'm very pleased to be joining in again!!


Nourish: This is the category I have the least trouble with! I love to nourish, cook and eat and food plays a major part in my daily doings! We have been enjoying fresh nutty zucchini, the first basil, new potatoes, crunchy carrots and a new variety of beetroot along with mignonette lettuce as salads most evenings.

There have also been a lot of meals with the added nutrition of a 'weed' called fat hen, and I aim to share some info about it with you soon.

On a personal level, I am feeling slim trim and fairly terrific with my Trim Healthy Mama eating plan. I've eliminated most fructose/sugar, white potatoes, white rice and white flour and I don't combine fats with carbs. It's not hard and it's also enabled me to lose that bit of a spare tyre I was gaining around my middle!!

Prepare: Why can I never find much to put in this category? Perhaps it's the time of year - I'm just getting over the Xmas break and the garden hasn't yet grown gluts of produce. We have harvested a modest amount of garlic this month. It wasn't a huge harvest but we should have enough to see us through most of the winter. I am still preparing this years budget….that's preparing, no??

Reduce I'm always reusing things for other purposes but the problem is remembering them! Let me think….the first that comes to mind is the outgrown T-shirt I used to tie up our old tax folders; there was the old towel that was cut up to make some much needed dishcloths; we used loads of magazines to make up our dream boards for 2014 (and inspired some friends to do the same!!) and I reused the old baling twine from last years tomatoes and cucumbers for this years crop. 
There are also the boards that came from an old barn we pulled down - the 'unusable' ones are now doubling as paths in the garden. 
I'm also reusing discarded dress patterns and fabric lengths and zippers from the op shop…does that count?  

Green: Hmm, so this category is once again a hard one. I don't use any home made cleaners, shampoo or washing powder. I know, I know, it's slack but honestly, I just couldn't fit in the time right now to make them. 
I try to do my bit in other ways like gardening and reusing other peoples cast offs and I"m sure there will be a season in my life where all the above will be possible!


Grow: Ahhh grow!! There's good and not so good in this one! I'm behind in the growing. The tunnel is just starting to produce cucumbers and basil but the tomatoes and eggplants are still a way off. I just haven't planted any potatoes at all -  we are eating the ones that popped up from last years crop which I'm very thankful for. The weather played a part in the delay since it was cold right up until the week before Christmas, with a light frost in the first week of December. A frost?? Yes, yes, there most definitely was.
Also, I'm struggling to find the time to dig and plant or sow amongst all the other things happening right now and feeling just a trifle overwhelmed.  
  

Create: Other than the dream boards, I've only managed a spotty dress for my youngest. She's in love with it so that makes me happy and ready to sew her another one! I'm still working on my granddaughters pink cardigan and although knitting is not my forte, it's going along well.
I'm also crocheting some face washers while we drive places, for future birthday gifts. I feel sick if I read in the car and mildly sick if I crochet but on the straight-ish highway I can manage it for a while. I dislike sitting doing nothing on roads that I've travelled a lot!!!

Discover: This is the year that I'm learning new things!!! With a large family there has never been enough time to spend doing any kind of study but now there are only 3 or 4 children at home at any one time and they are all fairly self sufficient. I was given a tiny nudge by my daughter who is doing an off campus Uni course but I've wanted to learn new skills for some time, and this year feels right!

So…. I'm learning Family Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy and The Art of Drawing and Painting through Open2Study and have plans for a few more of their free online classes. I am finding it hard to make the time to study but I am enjoying then all immensely.

I've also been listening to a lot of motivational speakers, geared towards women and women in business, as well as self improvement. I do this early in the morning, after I've written a few pages into my exercise book of whatever comes into my mind and needs to get out!

And then there is the Amazing Year Workbook. I've used this for the second year now and I love the colours and 'hippy style' woohoo! Lots of good things to think about and write down to remind me later in the year of where I want to be heading. I'm not convinced of her other programs but I do LOVE this workbook.

Enhance: Here's another category that I've not got much to report! Once again, I'm so filled with all the busyness at home that I haven't got anything to spare for out of home! I suppose I've enhanced my daughters life by minding the Small Elf for a long weekend,while she and her partner went partying at the Forest Festival. Yes, I"m sure I enhanced her life, actually, because she was so relaxed and rejuvenated when she got back!!


Enjoy: Well, as usual for this time of year, I can say that I'm truly enjoying summer!!! The weather is not hot enough to swim, it's just a bit too hot to work in the garden but it's perfect for me!! I've been doing a lot of reading aloud to the two youngest, making many smoothies, hanging out on the trampoline in the late afternoon shade and loving our fresh salad dinners.

And thats about it from me! 

Stop by at Slow Living Essentials to see what Christine and others have been doing in January!