Getting my priorities right!

Just planted my first coffee shrub! I am drooling in advance thinking about the aroma of roasting beans :)

We have also just planted a nashi fruit, a josephine pear (it's pollinator), and a lychee.

Did anyone in Perth get hit by the massive storm we just had? I decided to get out of the garden five minutes before the rain belted down and the thunder woke all of the tots. We had a huge amount of rain, just perfect for soaking in my new trees.

Now that I have bought my coffee shrub, let me share where I bought it from

http://www.tass1trees.com.au/index.php

They have curry plants for $5! I have seen these in other nurseries for over $15. Joe's selection of tropicals is just wonderful and I have my eye on starfruits, more roseapples and hawaiian guavas. There are also brazillian cherries and jackfruit which are on the Crone's wishlist ;)

A book I have just taken out of the library is 'Laurel's kitchen'. Going to see if I can find a secondhand copy around somewhere because it has the most amazing vegetarian recipes.

A recipe I have just discovered (from an sbs cooking show about two weeks ago) is turkish carrot dip.

Fry up a finely diced onion in some olive oil
Chuck in some grated carrot when the onion is nice and soft
when the carrot is nicely wilted, add some salt to taste.
Cool.
Mix in some natural yoghourt (enough to make it look dippy)

We all love this dip and snack on this with homemade pitta bread.

What have you planted today?

THE ERA of cheap and plentiful food has been declared over, with a key
international report warning that high world food prices will continue for at
least a decade.Much bigger family food bills will remain an everyday fact of
life for consumers across the West, while for poor nations permanently dearer
food will spell widespread hunger, famine and civil conflict, the study from the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation says.

The report says that after soaring in the past
year to record levels, food prices should fall back. But it added that the cost
of everything from grain to meat and dairy products will remain stuck
"substantially above" the average levels of the past 10 years. As ministers and
officials from around the globe prepare for a world food summit in Rome next
week, Angel Gurria, the OECD's Secretary-General, said prices should ease
gradually, but "most agricultural commodity prices over the next 10 years will
still exceed the average of the previous decade by 10 to 50 per cent". The UN
and OECD report predicts that average prices between now and 2017 for beef and
pork will be 20 per cent higher than the average in the past 10 years; those for
sugar will be 30 per cent higher; for wheat, maize and skimmed milk powder
between 40 and 60 per cent higher; for butter and oilseed produce more than 60
per cent higher; and for vegetable oils 80 per cent higher.

The increases in the cost of food were blamed by the report on a range of factors, including surging demand in emerging markets such as China and India as their populations grow richer and rising living standards lead to bigger appetites and changing diets.

Other critical driving forces in the long term included high oil prices,
urbanisation as the poor flock to developing world cities, extreme weather
blamed on global warming, exploding production of biofuels from crops and
fast-growing populations. The World Bank estimates that these factors have
combined to send overall world food prices up by 83 per cent in just three
years. Some of the forces driving prices higher are now set to fade, the
analysis concludes, with the huge scale of recent increases judged to be
exceptional.

The report cites "adverse weather in major grain-producing regions,
with spillover effects on crops and livestock that compete for the same food".
It says that these conditions were not new, and should pass. However, the UN and
OECD united to warn world leaders that the expected persistence of high food
prices in the longer term meant a global humanitarian emergency. "Current high
prices will hit the poor and hungry people hardest," the report says. Mr Gurria
emphasised that "the end of cheap food in a world where half the population
lives with less than $2 a day is a source of grave concern". With food shortages
and starvation rations in even some relatively rich developing countries
sparking riots and unrest, Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the FAO,
added:

"Rising prices translate, unfortunately, as an increase in hunger and
civil strife. Uncertainty rules and our people are worried. Coherent action is
urgently needed by the international community to deal with the impact of higher
prices on the hungry and the poor." In urging action to try to rein in food
prices, the report calls for increased investment in agriculture and related
research, measures to help poorer countries diversify their economies and
improve governance and infrastructure. - The Times

The Australian Gary Duncan May 30, 2008

83% people! That's almost doubling of today's food costs.

Is a meat eating diet sustainable for the planet?

This is a thought which has come to me whilst reading Eilleen's post on her blog, Consumption Rebellion.

I remember reading in the early 80's a book by Frances Moore Lappe "Diet for a small planet". Two things have stuck in my mind for over twenty years since reading it.

1. The mother cow bellows like mad when her calf is taken away from her.
2. If we all stopped eating meat, there would be more than enough grain in the world to feed all of the worlds population.

Both of those things were enough for me to try three times to become and stick with vegetarianism. The first two times I fell off the wagon after a few years. This time, I have managed to stick with it.

I know that there are very good reasons why some people justify their meat consumption. Primarily they just like it, bacon was always the thin end of the wedge for me ;)

I just googled Frances Moore Lappe and came across her website and an offshoot Eat Grub. On it's homepage, Eat Grub says the following;

1. grub is healthy, local, sustainable food for all
2. grub is food that supports community, justice, and sustainability
3. grub should be universal

Those three points sum it all up for me about why I am a Vegetarian. I won't try to convert anyone here or bog you down in statistics. I just wanted to 'think out loud'. More later.

Guess who's sourced a coffee bush in WA...

Moi!

Will I be sharing where to buy them? Not until I have one or two in my hot little hands (the seller only has a handful left).

I have worms! I have worms!

Woohoooooo! Happy dance time!

Moved my mulch aside to plant some beetroot seeds and the soil was wriggling with earth worms! Not one, not two but heaps!

I am doing something right :)

And the winner is!

Nature Witch!

Congratulations and 'the ethics of what we eat' is on it's way over to you!

A more immediate plan

Inspired and shaken out of my "I don't want to deal with this any more" inertia by Molly, I will take up her plan of 14 hours of gardening a week.

A very serious question was posed;

Can you feed your family completely as of this minute from your garden?

My answer would be yes, if we lived off of one meal a day of spinach/silverbeet/chard, followed by a nastursium chaser.

My fruit trees are one year old or less. I may have been planting like mad in the last six months but only some of it is at maturity levels now. The Husband has even asked me to start planting more.

As Molly suggested, it's time to take my hobby up a notch.

On the plus side, I planted snow peas, white radishes, canola and a couple more sweet potatoes today.

Planning for the festive season

"What the....." I hear you yell! "It's only May and you are thinking about December! You're mad woman!"

Well if you've got this far into my blog you will know that I have never lived in a mainstream manner, so call me mad and I will agree with you!

So here's my plan; every week I will be making something that can be used in gift baskets for my friends, family and the tot's teachers.

Here are some of the things I will be making

Lavender scented soap (will collect the flower heads to use in these)
Lavender jelly
Pot Pourri's
Mint jelly
Capsicum relish
Quince paste
Turkish delight
fudge
Coconut ice
Gift tags made from last years Xmas cards
Embroidered gift cards
Cookies

I will also be working to a timetable for my baking and checking out the dried fruits from now on to see what I can buy while it's not at a premium 'everybody wants it now' price.

Here is my timetable;
All year long look at wine specials and buy a bottle a month to put away and forget about.
Buy all the children's gifts at the July sales. Make them as many gifts as possible.
September: Make jelly's and any liqueurs you need
October: make Xmas puddings, mincemeat, soak fruits for Xmas cake
November: make Xmas cake, make gingerbread cakes and freeze them, make cookie doughs to freeze. Think about what you want to eat over the festive season, start to buy cheeses.
December: make pastry cases to freeze, make turkish delight, and other lollies. In the second week of December, ice your Xmas cake. Third week in December, defrost your cookie dough and bake your cookies. You can then freeze the baked cookies in freezer safe containers until you need them.

More to follow later.

Challenge time!

Well let's see how this one goes LOL.

My challenge to you all is this; devise a three course meal for six people for under $10.00 total! (I have done this for $5.00 myself last night but as I got a lot of the things from my garden I have doubled your amount). You don't have to include costings for things like salt and pepper, oil etc as every pantry has these.

Winner (just post your menu plan as a comment and I will get the Teen to draw the names out of a hat on Sunday 25th May) gets a gently pre-read copy of "The Ethics of what we eat" by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. I will pay postage to any Australian address.

Our menu last night was

Pea soup with garlic/parsley bread (500g Dried peas $0.70, carrots, garlic, onions from garden. Loaf of bread $0.80 for flour, yeast, sugar. Parsley, garlic from garden)
Salad (lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum from my garden, cucumber $1.00)
Apple pie and custard (I got 10kg's of apples for $2 a few months ago so defrosted a pack of the pie apples I had in the freezer $0.50, custard was skim milk powder and homebrand custard powder and sugar, let's be generous and say $0.50. I make my own pastry so lets say $1.00 for flour, butter and an egg)
Sugar pastries made from the leftover pastry scraps and sugar, don't how much 4 tablespoons of sugar costs, I buy 2kg's of sugar for $2.50.

So all up it came to $4.30 but I have allowed the seventy cents left over to accomodate the sugar etc. I was in a carb coma last night though, that's for sure!

So get planning and then post your menu in the comments!

Bush Tucker here we come!

Oh I am so thrilled! I went to the local nursery this morning, 'just to window shop' as I'm not supposed to be buying anything at the moment (LOL, right!). Anyway they had a sad bench filled with Native Plants! Better yet, they were all ones that attract wildlife and their nectar is bush tucker!

Did I mention that I am filling the front garden with Bush Tucker? Part of my reason for that is to restore a small part of my local area to local plantlife, the other reason is to have food out the front which the bogan neighbours would never recognise as a food source...well if it doesn't come in plastic with it's own little sticker...;)

I also found a Midyimberry (found, bought and planted!) It was covered in berries and you know what, they taste like a cross between a blueberry and aniseed! I love them. I write 'was covered' because two of the tots have stripped the plant bare of fruit! That's ok, because it's better that the plant works on it's roots right now rather than it's fruit.

Now what other Native Perth plants can I find?

Ummmm, here's my attempt at knitting a dress.

Well the skirt at least. I ran out of wool so a dear dear friend said

"Let's have it and I'll sort out the bodice" Didn't she do an amazing job!

I am so chuffed that I did the skirt though, complete with picot hem. Some of my Cronies will remember that I did do the original bodice, just ran out of wool :(

The Sunday times: Western Australian news today

Page 88: World food crisis
Page 7: Waste worst in the West
Page 26: Debt fears bite
Page 28/29: Our new working poor
Page 46/47 liftout section: Budget busters

This is the news today, people are hurting, the words recession and depression are being used and yet the official definition of recession is more than two quarters of negative growth in GDP (according to The Husband). So technically we aren't in a recession but those of us living in the real world are cutting costs left right and centre.

I will keep planting up my garden because no matter what the Economists say on paper, I need to feel secure that I can feed my family in the future.

Once again I will ask that people in WA consider organising a plant swap. What surplus plants have you got that others can use? I am going to divide some sugar cane and lemon grass and pot them up to swap with anyone who needs some.

Checking out my seed stash

It's time for me to see just what I have in my seed stash so that I can plant, plan and acquire.

Oakleaf lettuces (my own gathered seeds)
Riesentraube tomatoes
Amaranth
Purple carrots
Edible Chrysanthemum
Scotch Kale
Kohl rabi
Beetroot
Shallots
Kang Kong
Mizuna
Lockyer onion
Gladalan Onions
asparagus
something called edible rape
Chinese white radish

I will check out the moon planting guide on Nature Witches blog for the times to plant successfully. I also found some galangal in the grocery store yesterday so have bunged that in a pot. Let's see if that will grow for the growing challenge :)

Fun and games reveal pearls of wisdom

Tag, tag, taggity tag!

I have hesitated to join in the tagging game up until now. Now I realise that it's not all facebooky fun and time wasting; meandering back to read Molly's jottings, I came across a blogger she has tagged.

Cluttercut has now been added to my list of must reads! Thank you Chicken Betty, Molly and Cluttercut! Now who else will I find?

And I have been tagged!

Chicken Betty has tagged me!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmmm, I was working as a Sports Massage therapist, mothering two kids, and married to The Husband for nine years.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): Seeing as 'today' is now tonight; Large glass of wine, get out my knitting, watch a dvd, snuggle with The Husband if there are scary bits in the dvd, b/f a booby monster around 11pm (for the start of the marathon 2 hourly feeds she has gotten into the habit of again)

3) Snacks I enjoy: dips and fresh from the oven bread, mangoes, peaches, cherries, plums, roasted nuts, Maple candies (Chicken Betty, you reading this part?)

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Set up funds for my friends and family,
buy a huge amount of land in Australia and get it blocked off from developers and make sure that it was planted up and allowed to regenerate.
Set up some sort of charitable company to allow people to install solar panels etc at cost price (I am so grumpy with the Krudd Govt for removing rebates for people earning over $100k, surely the idea should be to get all Australians installing solar!!!)
Employ a cleaner!

5) Places I have lived: Singapore, England, Germany, Western Australia, ACT.

Now, who to tag? I want to know about so many people!

Waiting for Goth (I love that name!)
Brazen
Molly
apprentice domestic goddess
Nature Witch

And because I can't get more than four images up at once!

There has to be a better way of getting images up than this! Peas, strawbale bed, spinach, artichokes, lemon tree, tomatoes!

Where's the old bag been?

Had visitors of the fuschia crested kind, been crafting up a storm (knitting, knitting and more knitting!), planning the best way to make up a gift for a dear friend's newborn son, dying miserably from a headcold (the Crone does not do illness well) and just being in a general flump since the fuschia crested visitor left :(



I have however, finally figured out how to get the pictures from the camera to the pc though! So here you go; garden porn :) Oh and can you spot the FCV hiding in the garden?






top from L to R, Indian Guava, Aloe vera with a flower!, my first potatoes poking their heads up, Climbing Spinach, 'Wild Sparrowgrass' aka asparagus, kales and self seeded coriander patch!

'Let's save money on food' menu plans.

I know that people are hurting budget wise atm. Food has increased, petrol has increased, PHI has increased and now, with the Australian Federal budget looming, people are getting more jittery. I used to be able to shop for $70 to $100 per week only three months ago. Now everything has gone up and I am finding that it's costing me closer to $100-$120 per week! Anyone want to do the math to work out what % increase that is?

Here's my attempt at some Taurean practicality. I give full credit to the links on my blog for some of my ideas and will properly quote you when it's not 4am (I'm running away from the co-sleeping, boobie monster, bad, bad mummy!)

First things first, do try to buy local, our farmers need all the support they can get to keep going; they have increased farm costs as well you know.

In the beginning you will be buying most of the things you need but as the weeks go on, you will be starting to grow your own fruits and vegetables in containers. This will save you money!

Note: I use skim milk powder to cook with. I make it up and keep it in the fridge for all my cooking.

Fruit is always seasonal from the markets or from my freezer stocks. I always buy apples by the box when they are on sale and spend a day peeling, cooking and freezing.

Breakfast options: these are the things I make during a week.

Toast with toppings - Choose your favourite bread recipe.
Oats/muesli
Pancakes
Cous Cous with honey
Yoghourt with fruit.

Lunch Options:

Lentil and vegetable soup (I don't make the dumplings but you might like to)
leftovers from the night before
One of the soups from The Crone's Cauldron
Sandwiches for the children's lunches and if they are old enough, a thermos of soup from the previous day.

Dinner Options (vegetarian):

Mushroom pasta bake (I obviously don't use bacon)
Fried rice - you all know how to make this one don't you?
Brocolli Frittata with salad
vegetable curries with dhal (thanks Brazen!)
Risotto, Brazens Pumpkin one is excellent, I use vegetarian stock though.
Zucchini balls, hummous, beans (saute sliced onions in olive oil until golden, add de stringed green beans, salt and pepper to taste and a little water. Cook until tender) and flat breads (I make the tortilla recipe above, but roll it thinner).
Homemade vegetarian pizzas. Again, I use the tortilla dough because I like a thin and crispy base and it's super quick to make. Toppings are an 'empty the fridge' deal.

Snacks in our house are mainly fruit, tortillas, cheese and crackers or homemade popcorn. I do make a couple of batches of muffins a week though, as well as a vegan chocolate cake.

Week one gardening plan:
That's the food part dealt with. Now think about getting hold of some polystyrene boxes. Make a couple of drainage holes in the bottom, and fill it with a bag of good quality potting mix. Next go to the markets and buy yourself a couple of bunches of spring onions and cut off the white part with the roots. Go and plant these white parts as a bunch into the mushroom compost. A couple of perpetual spinach seedlings and a silverbeet seedling and you have the start of your vegetable garden. Water well and stick this box in a nice sunny spot and check it every day to admire. Here's a visual for you (Gosh I must take more pictures!)

You can also use a large pot to do this if you are worried about the chemicals in the polystyrene box Crazy Mumma brought this issue to our attention here. I have tried to keep it low budget as I haven't been able to find large pots cheaper than $12.

Please do go and check out the fantastic blogs I have linked on the left. Nearly all of them have amazing frugal living ideas.

Now, it's nearly 7am and the Tots are waking up. I, of course need to go back to bed for a sleep.

Biodynamic Gardening

What an amazing subject this is!

I have done a bit of googling and will be heading out to the library this afternoon to see if I can find a book called "grab the thistle", as well as any books I can find by Steiner.

I will be honest and say that most of my knowledge of Steiner comes from my Theosophical Bookstore rummagings in the late 80's.

The Spirit/body/nature/garden connection has always called out to me very strongly. Do I believe in garden spirits? Yes! The Magic of Findhorn has been one of my favourite books for many many years. I ask my plants where they would like to be planted, I reiki my seeds before I scatter them, I ask permission and give thanks to the plants which grow in my garden.

I will digress for a little bit here and let you know how saddened I have been recently. A forum I post on has had many threads asking basically "what's in it for me". This concern about 'self' above all else is what saddens me. If an individual can't see their place and responsibilities within the fabric of society, how will they ever see their connections and place in nature?

Me, mine and ownership attitudes will destroy us all unless we learn how to share as well as receive society's, as well as Nature's bounty.

Going to go and sit under my mulberry tree (She's 1.5 metres tall but I am short) and be a Human Be-ing.

Gardening Dreams

You know the drill; "I had a Dream..."

Deep in the land of Nod and some bloke appears and takes me to a classroom. Now this is not my usual type of 'bloke' dream, Johnny Depp is more my thing.

This was some old bloke and he was giving a group of us gardening lessons or to be more precise, he was stuffing manure in some kind of horn and telling us we had to bury them in our gardens, to be used later.

Off to Google "burying manure"

Thank you Karen for that link! I sort of knew which direction my dream was leading too and that link is fantastic.

Boy have I had a busy day today; I have just put a heap of recipes on at the Crone's Cauldron, knitted in a picot hem on Tot 2's knitted dress (Note: Knitted in, not hemmed up! This is major stuff for a novice knitter!) Did my usual clean up after the mad weekend mess here at Wit's End and am now sitting down smelling my homemade asparagus soup in the crock pot. I can't believe that we are still getting lots of spears every day. When we lived in Canberra the season was only a few weeks long. These plants are throwing up spears every day!

Cheese toasties and cream of asparagus soup tonight, followed by leftover sticky date pudding. Life is good isn't it!

hehehe, forgot to add that I planted an Indian Guava and a celeriac plant today for the growing challenge.

I want, I want! I WANT!!!

I had a meltdown last night.

Just in case you think that I am all sweetness and light, hug a tree and "Oh, look at the pretty colours in your aura", let me set you straight.

I took the Tots on a playdate yesterday which resulted in a serious case of the green eyed monsters for me. We went to this house which is really really lovely; light, spacious, airy and BIG! Everything was in order, clean and dust free (Let me just say here that the daughter and the mother are really lovely too :)).

Well I came home and was confronted with the usual state of mayhem and mess which can be found at the midget house/Wit's End. Now a Taurean in a mood is not a pleasant entity. A Taurean in a jealous snit is even worse. The Teen tried to tell me that even if I had a McMansion I would still hang the walls with tapestries and burn incense. The Son constantly tells me that I have turned every garden I've ever had into the Somme.


It was a battle last night between my inner hippy and my inner materialistic bitch. The Inner Hippy won by stuffing the materialistic bitch full of curried lentils.



This brings me to a fantastic post by Naturewitch (I am blessed with very wise friends)



Ten things I am grateful for:

1. I'm alive, upright and breathing on my own steam.

2. I have a fantastic loving family around me who are all healthy.

3. I have unlimited potential.

4. I have a sense of humour.

5. I have freedom. If I want to live anywhere I can (after I convince The Husband that is)

6. I have food and the ability to buy and grow my own food.

7. As Nature Witch pointed out, I have access to fresh air and clean water

8. I have the choice to stay at home or go out to work; I am eternally grateful for that

9. I have found a group of friends who 'get' me and love me despite my odd fancies and notions

10. I have a safe roof over my head every night.

11. I can cook. Yes, I can make a sticky date pudding that will bring tears to your eyes.

So here's the challenge - what are ten things you are grateful for?

ps. Huge hugs for the friend who sent me my belated birthday gift! It arrived safely and is now being well tended.