Guess what the girls and I did today?

We stayed in bed and crocheted!!!

The girls being the four "Ladies in Waiting":

Today was a very cold (below 10 degrees C) blustery day. We rushed out, fed the "outside animals" and dived back into bed for most of the day! The King read a novel & the Princes played board games (among other things)...

I've been itching to do something useful with some wool I bought two years ago and have decided on a patchwork afghan (throw or blankie). I found an easy but really cute pattern in a magazine after searching the 'net for hours. We're still deciding on the colours to use but the green botanical cushions I bought on a sale years ago are being used as a guide.

The internet search wasn't futile as I stumbled upon another really beautiful afghan (but it's a little challenging right now):

and the cutest teapot cosies that I'd like to try out as well:

In the mean time I have committed to crochet 432 little squares whenever I'm bored or inspired...

Scary stuff!

For those that don't follow the news very closely (like us - we don't own a TV) there has been an E. coli outbreak in Germany and the public have been told not to eat cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce! However an organic farm in Germany, which produces a variety of sprouted foods (e.g. bean sprouts) has been identified as the likely source of the E. coli outbreak after much speculation. The farm has since been shut down.
Humans are infected with E. coli through contaminated food or water; if from food, either from watering plants with contaminated water, or from faecal material in the soil. Organic farms fell under suspicion in the investigation because they do not use chemical fertilisers and put crops at greater risk of contamination from bacteria in manure.
Yet another incentive to grown our own, it's the only way to know exactly what the veggies have been exposed to! And no, the risk of chemical fertilisers don't out weight the risk of E. coli contamination. Click on this link and especially this one if you're wondering what the problems with chemical fertilisers are... We simply need to know what is in our compost and only use well rotted compost to fertilise our plants. Compost needs nitrogen to break down and manure contains this vital element, the key however is that it be very well rotted. And I'm sure you know that you shouldn't throw doggy doo & kitty poo on the compost heap - it is not considered manure!

We're stranded!

We're sort of stranded today as all the rivers have come down in flood destroying the roads.

Even my seedlings are drowning!

The King of Avalon used my car (an old 4x4) to get out using the "back road" as there's no way his cheeky little bakkie would do it. We were just discussing trading in my Old Faithful as she's so heavy on fuel. We worked out that if he bought a new diesel panel van (of questionable Indian descent) and I kept his little bakkie as a run-around we could save 2 grand per month. We were so excited, but it seems we can't do without Old Faithful (unless we're reasonably self-sufficient!?)!

Being stranded makes one realise how reliant one is on the shops. I really need to add "stock piling" to my list of goals for self-sufficiency! At least I could bake bread :-) This is a no-fail recipe that I know off by heart and is good for folk that are dairy and egg intolerant. Remember baking is a science, whereas cooking is an art so be as accurate as possible and tweek very carefully :-)

SEED LOAF


For one dumpy loaf you need:
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons cooking oil (sunflower or olive)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
500 grams brown bread flour
1 tablespoon of linseed
1 tablespoon of sunflower seed
1 tablespoon of poppy seed
1 tablespoon of sesame seed
1 tablespoon of pumpkin seed (I love these and add a little extra)
or whatever seed takes your fancy!
2 teaspoons instant yeast powder (half a 10 gram sachet)

If making in a bread machine add ingredients in the above order. Select the "Basic" setting, 1kg loaf and dark crust.

This is a moist dough that doesn't need kneading and is thus easy to make by hand too. You simply need a large mixing bowl and wooden spoon for all the dry ingredients and a jug for the wet (water & oil). Combine the dry ingredients and then make a hollow in the middle and pour in the wet. Mix well. Make sure that the water is warm (as in a baby-bath-warm) and not hot (as in will-burn-your-fingers-if-inserted-hot) or cold as this will determine whether your bread will rise or not.
Spoon the batter into a greased dumpy loaf tin (it should be about half full) and place into a plastic shopping bag that you tie to create a warm environment for the bread to rise quickly (yes, there are still uses for plastic shopping bags!). Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Rising should take about an hour in warm weather (don't let it rise & spill over the edges or stick to the bag). Once risen place in the hot oven (take care not to knock the loaf tin or bang the oven door as this will make the bread lose air & fall flat). Bake for 1 hour. Let the loaf slightly cool before removing from the tin and placing on a wire rack to continue cooling before cutting.

Enjoy!

It's raining, it's pouring

It's been raining daily for 4 days now and we live in a "summer rainfall area"! In fact it's been raining all over the country for days now I believe - talk about climate change!

In between the showers we've managed to employ Prince 1's semi-completed trailer that he built to collect cut Wattle from beside the road (so far we've done 5 loads). Now the neighbours definitely have their suspicions that we're "weird" confirmed :-)

I've been spoilt!

Tuesdays are our "East London Days". I wanted to see if I could find some companion seedlings (nasturtians, marigolds, calandulas etc) and not only found a few BUT also some asparagus!!! Now asparagus are very special as they can produce spears for up to 20 years however they take 2 years before the first spears can be harvested. I'll carefully be nurturing them in pots until  we have a permanent bed prepared for them.

I also found some affordable worm-farm-boxes, so I'm smiling broadly :-)

All's alive and well!

The seedlings are still alive (I check them every morning)! Cutworms, frost and birds have not taken any yet (me thinks those wormies are freezing their willies off!). I know that companion plants really help (for pests & disease) and will try to get some soonest... On the way into town this morning I noticed that a band of municipal workers all smartly dressed in bright new overalls brandishing noisy petrol chainsaws were cutting down young Black Wattles on the side of the dirt road - now that's what I call provision!!! We'll load them if they're still lying there untouched in two days time...

The plans (for now)...

We need to start off by building Wattle fences. Black Wattle is an invader tree from Australia and it's stealing all our water and the indigenous trees' space. So the green- and frugal plan is not to buy any wood but to harvest our own from the commonage (areas that are not privately owned) instead. I would like to build a new chicken coop and run, fence in the new veggie patch (to protect it from the animals) as well as possibly the orchard so that it's also chicken-friendly (and will keep the dogs out while the chooks are "free-ranging"). We're thinking of even building raised veggie beds from Wattle. Raised beds with bark paths (cheap and easy to source from the local saw mills) will work best as the area I've decide on for the new and improved veggie patch has clay soil and can become water logged (drainage definitely needs to be planned).

The site of the new veggie patch

Then I dream of drip irrigation from the reservoir and more fruit- and nut trees in the orchard. Oh, and I really, really want a worm farm. I have been offered worms but need to get my head around the containers to use...

Let the planting begin!

On Sunday morning we woke up to frost and temps still below 10 degrees at 9am! It was too cold to start fiddling in the soil. I started thinking how we were going to protect these poor vulnerable seedlings once planted. I came up with a few ideas but finally was offered the shade cloth that is half draped over the water reservoir (porta pool) to protect the Bass that Prince 2 had thrown in there after a successful fishing expedition (apparently they're hibernating at the bottom & don't need it). After midday The King joined me and we set about planting our precious crop - it was exhilarating! Prince 1 even decided to join us and it wasn't long before the other two also got involved. After removing some grass sods to enable the little gate to open more easily we decided to finally remove the stunted naartjie tree (something I've meaning to do for ages). It has been given a second chance in a pot.

World Environment Day

So on World Environment Day (Saturday) we restored some order to the the old veggie patch and drove into town to buy a few seedlings and packets of seeds. It's the start of winter on this side of the hemisphere so mindful of that I had to choose seed carefully. It wasn't too hard as our local hardware store hardly had any seed, I only managed to get some spring onion, "bright lights" chard/spinach and red cabbage (I chose the interesting stuff as we generally get the ordinary stuff as seedlings). At the little seedling place I had quite a bit of joy: all the brassicas I could hope for (except cauliflower). By the way, "brassicas" is a new word I've added to my vocab recently - it even has me waking up with it swirling round and round my head in the mornings! It's all the leafy veg like cabbage, broccoli & spinach. Also got some onions, lettuce (the boring kind) & beetroot. The most exciting find was a little tray of leggy eggplants (brinjals)! I figure that if they have sprouted now they should grow with some care! I love brinjals, they form the base of many of my vegetarian dishes (especially Veggie Lasagne & Curry).

My gardener dug up the old strawberry patch as the plants were old. I carefully selected young healthy plants and put them into pots for the time being. I'm hoping to eventually get some into hanging baskets on our north facing verandah so that I can keep an eye on the birds!

Last year my thyme (planted in the veggie patch) died back in the winter so I've put a new plant that I bought at the foot of the potted perennial basil where it's a little sheltered and also added some of the oregano that is a happy ground cover in the veggie patch. I love thyme, I think it complements egg & chicken dishes very well and there is no substitute for fresh herbs.

I cut back the two huge perennial basil bushes that had made the bees very happy with all their flowers in Autumn when not much else was flowering. Yes, basil is our favourite herb though the annual is nicer as the leaves aren't hairy like the perennial. I manually shredded a bucket full of the soft cuttings and made a "basil tea" by adding boiling water until it was well covered and left it to steep. Two days later I strained it. It forms the base of at least two organic pesticides that I know of.

Here are the recipes:

BASIC BASIL SPRAY MIXTURE (for aphids, black fly, scale & ants):

1 Bucket basil tea

Half a cup Sunlight soap powder or grated Sunlight soap bar

Mix well and pour into a spritz bottle. Only use when necessary (not as a preventative) and preferably in the early evening once the bees and ladybirds have flown home.

BASIL FUNGICIDE (effective against fungus, mildew, scale and ants):

2 Litres basil tea

Half a cup of vinegar

One quarter cup of cooking oil (omit for pouring down ant holes)

Mix well and pour into a spritz bottle.

I also cut back the capsicum bushes. I have 3 that have born a prolific amount of fruit for the second season irrespective of gross neglect. They are similar in appearance and taste to "peppadews" though possibly a little hotter. I harvested a fair amount to once again preserve.

What we've achieved already...

Compost - beautiful "black gold" at last!!! We started compost heaps 4 years ago but it has felt like an incredibly slow process even though we seemed to be doing everything by the book. I've been most frustrated that I've had to continually buy bags whenever I've wanted to make a new bed but I believe we now have enough to get our new veggie garden off to a good start!

Making our grey-water work! The King of Avalon attached thick "black pipes" to all our bathroom outlets so that our shower water feeds our orchard of naartjies & oranges. He has bigger dreams for a dam of sorts but that still requires a bit of research (and capital outlay).

Harvesting rainwater! We have a system that collects a small portion of rainwater, enough I hope to keep our new veggie garden watered. It needs to be expanded and refined though but at least it's a start, once again thanks to The King's efforts!

Recycling bottles and plastic containers! I really battle to throw away plastic & glass. I save whatever is "the right size" (peppadew bottle size) for preserves & jams. Our lovely 500ml plastic cream containers, sold by the local dairy, have been hoarded to grow cuttings & transplant seedlings into much to some family member's frustration ;-)

Saving (a little bit) of electricity! We rarely use our tumble dryer (our washing is sun-dried) and we have a combination gas/electric stove that I adore!

Cooking from scratch! And I have finally perfected my bread recipes though we need to bake more regularly ;-)

My Inspiration!

Books, blogs, websites and my birds! And a few magazines on the side (I sadly have a slight addiction to gardening & home mags - not good for the budget and a little embarrassing considering that frugality is a goal). Interesting how "going-green" and organic have become buzz words and how food-gardening, potagers and heirloom seeds have become the topics of choice recently!

My parrots (Joe and Lola) need to eat raw (organic if possible) fruit & veg daily. They have also introduced me to "sprouting" as it makes their grains, seeds & legumes more nutritious and digestible. I'm amazed at how they are able to get all their protein from plant sources - this got me thinking and has me tweaking our own meals to be less meat-based...

So here are some titles and links that have inspired me (other than magazine articles):
Lavender at Froggy Pond Farm by Patricia Wade
Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver
New Urban Farmer by Celia Brooks Brown
The Ripening Sun by Patricia Atkinson
Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes
These last two titles are a little unconventional reading, but inspiring non the less ;-)
The website Path To Freedom (below is a short video clip that tells it all!)

and then also Wendy's Blog: Urban Homestead South Africa

Starting out...

"Sharing our day-to-day adventures on 1.5 hectares in the country and our journey to self-sufficiency..." Okay, there I've said it (in our blog description) so now we're committed.

I've always been a little fascinated by the idea of self-sufficiency, even as a child. Self-sufficiency and homeschooling often go hand-in-hand as do home-births, home-church and self-employment - we've managed (and enjoyed!) all the former so it sort of seems quite natural that we should be considering this new challenge (it doesn't make it any less terrifying though!).

Moving to the country more than 4 years ago made it an achievable dream but our economic reality has now made it a necessity. I don't want to be controlled by and prescribed to by fuel-  and food prices! And I really don't want to give up this little piece of heaven that we've called "Avalon" to move back to the city (as it would save on petrol - The King of Avalon commutes 150km daily) just to be bogged down by out-of-control municipal rates (saw a newspaper article a few weeks ago where the newly elected East London municipal officers approved exorbitant increases - all in the range of 12 - 14 percent).

At least here we pay the bare minimum for our food (there is a General Dealer in town that cuts out the "middleman" & sells farm produce directly) rates and municipal water (and we could actually survive on rainwater alone as we live in a very high rainfall area). Furthermore we have lots of land that could work for us (compared to city dwellers that is); no bylaws preventing us from keeping livestock and no neighbours that could be disturbed by our little projects.