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...