Category Archives: Self-reliance

Do It On Your Day Off

Leave a comment

The title was once part of an advertising slogan when 9 day fortnights were being introduced in some workplaces.

Well, yesterday was a day off for me and I did all sorts of things.  Belle had asked if we could look after the children for an hour or so from 5pm as there was an information session for the Year 1 parents which she wanted to attend.  I originally planned to leave work early to go to her place but then decided that a day off seemed like a better option.

I left home early in the morning and dropped of some mangoes and frozen mango puree to Belle.  The next stop was Albion Glass & Mirror to pick up the new mirror for the restored dressing table.  We had originally planned to have it re-silvered but that is an obsolete process as they can replicate any glass or mirror.  We chose to spend the extra money and have the bevel just inside the frame rather than a perfectly flat piece.  This is authentic and maintains the integrity of the piece.  I will post a photo once we have re-assembled the mirror on the dressing table.

Then I headed off to see my mother for the day.  We did not do anything startling.  The time was spent chatting, looking at some old photos and seeing her latest craft work.  We shared a simple meal for lunch and went to the local shops to pick up a few groceries.  It was lovely to have the time to spend together.

Picking up and caring for my granddaughters was a complete change of pace but also very enjoyable.  I heard all about their respective days, cooked dinner for them and have started teaching Miss O, aged 6, how to tie a bow.  She does not have shoes with laces but what prompted the lesson was her shorts.  She changed out of her school uniform and came downstairs in shorts and a t-shirt but these new shorts have a drawstring as well as elastic so we spent some time learning how to tie a single knot which she mastered almost immediately and then a bow which she has grasped the general concept.

I had an enjoyable day and it was great to connect with family.

On another note, I wanted to share this post from Frugal Queen who hails from Cornwall.  Cornwall has been battered by the wild winter storms of the past few week but in her post she shares many of the wonders of Cornwall and why the tourists should visit.  Not only Cornwall but many areas both at home and overseas really struggle for visitors after a disaster.

The Rhythm of Life

10 Comments

…….or just a Never-Ending Story?

The jobs that seem to fall together under that all-encompassing title of “Housework’.  Do you embrace them as a steady part of your routine and rejoice in the satisfaction of a job well done?  Or do you constantly rail against the monotony of having to do the same task over and over again?

During the past few weekends we have made substantial progress with what The Duke refers to as our bucket list. It is not a bucket list in the generally accepted sense but more like a ‘to do list’.  We have bought and planted the shrubs outside the boundary fence, prepared the fence posts (cut to length, cleaned and painted), created and planted the rockery and started on building more raised garden beds.

However, the last couple of days have been a bit different.  The combination of a very busy week at work and drizzling rain yesterday meant that I did very little outdoor work.  In fact, I could say I did nothing much until I actually list what I did do.

Washing
Ironing
Prepared meals
Menu planned
Shopping
Picked beans, tomatoes, corn and mangoes
Sorted contents of freezer
Prepared and stored mango (pureed, frozen, dehydrated)
Prepared and froze corn
Swept floors
Dusted sideboard and bookcase
Refilled pantry containers from storage buckets

There were probably a dozen other little tasks that have not even made it onto the list.

The Duke also washed several loads of dishes and emptied the compost numerous times while I was making a mess in the kitchen.

Most of these tasks will need to be repeated the next day, week or month but that does not bother me particularly.  I am constantly looking at ways to simplify my life and one of the reasons to reduce the amount of time and effort that is expended on routine tasks such as many of those that I have listed.  A good example is shopping.  This my shopping consisted of buying cheese and vinegar at Aldi (the vinegar was for the chutney), a small quantity of fruit and vegetables at the local fruit stall and The Duke bought some bacon at the butcher when he went in to town on another errand.  The flow on effect was that putting everything away took about 2 minutes so that is a huge saving as well.

So, what do you think of repetitive homemaking tasks?

 

I’m So Proud

4 Comments

Today I want to share a story that my daughter told me.  The words, “I’m so proud of her” were what she said at the end of the story.

Miss O, now 6, has just started Year 1 at school after having completed Prep last year.  She is a bright little girl whom we all love dearly but she is very shy.

First day 2014

Talking has not been her forte and when she was at daycare there were times when the staff would bribe her to talk!  Social interactions were a real challenge so we were all concerned as to how she would cope at school.  She was lucky to have a brilliant and supportive Prep teacher who gently encouraged her.

As well as being at school Miss O goes to before and after school care and it was feedback from one of the co-ordinators that swelled her mother’s heart.  Miss O is not only settled and comfortable in her environment but she has taken a couple of the new Prep students under her wing and is teaching them a particular card game at after school care.

It may seem a small thing but it such an achievement for her.  I wonder if it is a bit of a case of ‘been there, done that’ and she knows how it feels and therefore has a real empathy for others who are feeling out of their depth?

We are all so proud of her.

Mango Madness

16 Comments

First it was the figs that I dried, then the corn being blanched and frozen.  Today’s glut is mangoes.

We have 2 mango trees, one large one that is about 20 years old and does not fruit.  I have no idea why there are no fruit and I am not sure how long we will maintain a non-productive fruit tree when the space could be better utilised.  The other tree was planted about 3 years ago and has produced a few mangoes last year and this year there are 2 that have reached mature size so we are waiting for them to ripen.  So the glut is not from our own trees.

As we were going out on Sunday I noticed several mangoes lying on the driveway of a property not far from us.  I knew that the was a mango tree in the front yard but I can honestly say that I had never noticed fruit on in previous years.  Since the owners are not permanent residents I contacted them to see if I could collect any fallen fruit.  With a positive response to my enquiry I headed off to pick up the fruit this morning.

I discovered that there are actually 3 mango trees and there was an abundance of fruit on the ground.  2 supermarket bags were filled with rotten and decaying fruit which I took home and put in the compost.  The usable fruit filled 5 calico bags!

Mangoes
Some of the fruit were very ripe and others were partly damaged so it as important to salvage what I could before they deteriorated any further.  I decided the quickest and easiest solution was to puree the pulp and freeze it.  Remember, that I had picked the fruit before 6am and I still had to go to work.

Mango in blender
After 30 minutes of furious preparation and a blender I had 2.5 litres of mango puree ready to store in the freezer.

Mango puree
I have taken one of the remaining mangoes as part of my packed lunch and there are still 38 mangoes on the kitchen bench.

Of course, there are still dozens on the trees.

I am really glad that I made the effort to contact the owner of the property as it would have been a shame to see all of this fruit go to waste.

How would you use the mango puree?

Storing the Surplus

4 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked corn.  I ended up with about 18 cobs and after The Duke had 2 for his lunch I was still left with a lot of corn to keep for another day.  After doing a bit of research, I decided to blanch it, strip the kernels and freeze them.

Here is what I did.

Blanching corn
Cooked 3 – 4 cobs at a time for 6 minutes in boiling water.  It needs to be a large enough volume so that the water returns to a rolling boil within 1 – 2 minutes of adding the corn.

Corn in iced water
Remove the corn from the water using a slotted spoon and drop immediately into iced water for 6 minutes.

Bundt tin to support corn
Strip the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife.  In the instructions I found on the internet someone suggested using a bundt tin to support the narrow end of the cob while cutting the kernels off.  I happened to have one of these so tried out.  I was very pleased with the ease of removing the kernels and the tin was perfect to catch them in.

Kernels and empty cobs
I gently stirred the mixture to separate the kernels and spread them on 2 trays, covered them and placed them in the freezer overnight.  I weighed the kernels before I froze them and my efforts yielded 1.7kg.

Trays of corn kernels
This morning I removed the frozen kernels and packed them into 2 containers.  This way the kernels are individually frozen and I can remove as much or as little as I need at a time.

Corn ready to storeDespite my despair of a few weeks ago, the corn has been a real success and there are more cobs which will probably be ready next week.

Fabulous February

Leave a comment

Today is the first day of the month.  The weather has been a bit cooler the past week and my mind starts to turn to gardening as our prime gardening season beckons in the next month or so.

Despite the fact that it is supposedly too hot to grow much over the summer there always seems to be something to harvest in the garden and today was no exception.

Harvest

This is the reward today for what has been a summer of neglect in many ways.  Avocadoes, purple beans, corn, figs, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, lemon and eggs.

Corn
This is the first of the corn.  It is not bad considering that the seeds were expired by about 3 years, they got no supplementary watering, were almost dug up by the chickens, flattened by the wind about 3 weeks ago and generally neglected.

The Duke cooked 2 cobs for his lunch and declared that it was the best corn we have ever grown.

Lunch
Tonight I am going to blanch the rest, strip the kernels and freeze them for use during the year.  I do not particularly like corn on the cob but we do add it to dishes such as tuna mornay and it will be great to use our own organically grown corn instead of imported, canned corn kernels.  I will also be drying more of the figs.  I did some last week as well.

I have never blanched and frozen corn before so I will make sure I take some photos and will tell you all about that in another post.

Preparations

2 Comments

Exactly a year ago we were in the midst of managing with no power as a result of the wild weather which was the aftermath of Cyclone (Hurricane) Oswald.

When we finally regained power I wrote this post.  More importantly, I wrote a follow-up assessment here.

It feels like groundhog day as it appears very likely that a cyclone will form off the north Queensland coast in the next 36 – 48 hours.  There is no guarantee where a potential system will track but the Bureau of Meteorology predictions are currently showing it crossing the coast and causing widespread rain over much of the eastern and central parts of the state.

Colour Forecast map for next 4 days

Colour Forecast map for next 4 days

My second link is interesting to re-read as it shows that once the immediate threat was over we relaxed and did not pursue some of the things we identified.  We have not bought a generator, nor organised the rainwater tank closer to the house.  The small freezer is not currently in use but is downstairs and could be used if necessary, however, the better option would be the camp fridge (also stored downstairs) set to ‘Freeze’.

We have had a long weekend here and I have unwittingly done some useful preparation.  All of the washing and almost all of the ironing is done.  Meals are planned and some are prepared for the coming week.  There is clean linen on the bed and in the bathroom.  I plan to finish the ironing and vacuum the floors tomorrow evening.  All of this means that I have most of the housework up to date and we do not need to worry about basics such as washing if we were to lose power for several days.  We also have enough food and basic supplies to ensure that we do not need to go to the shops.  All of the electronic equiment is fully charged and we have wind-up torches and radio.   The car has a full tank of fuel.  There is no need to panic but we are prepared simply because of how we live.

What preparations would you make in the event of the chance of severe weather?

Tackling the List

Leave a comment

The past couple of days have been spent working on projects from the list which I wrote about a week ago.  We have managed to cross off numbers 3 & 4.

Yesterday we measured the fence and calculated the number of shrubs that we would need and then set off to our local nursery.  We chose  to alternately plant Grevillea ‘Winpara Gem’ and Melaleuca ‘Great Balls of Fire’.  We bought 15 of each variety and have planted them on the outside of the boundary fence.  The shrubs grow about 1.5 – 2 metres high and will provide bird habitat as well as screening of the garden from the road.

While we were at the nursery we also bought 4 assorted low-growing shrubs and groundcovers to plant in the ‘V’ of the fence and adjacent rockery.

Today I covered the bare ground with several thicknesses of newspaper to reduce weed growth and covered it with a thick layer of mulch.  Finally, I planted the new plants as well as a clivea that we had in a pot.

Rockery
I still want to add some more plants and develop the rockery more on the other side of the trees but I am very pleased with the progress so far.

Since today is Australia Day, I thought I would share this photo of The Duke with that Aussie icon – the Victa lawnmower.

Mowing
I hope you are having a brilliant weekend, whatever you have chosen to do.  Since it is a long weekend here in Australia we have another day to do some more jobs at home.  I am hoping we will be able to get the fenceposts cut to length and start painting them.

An Abundance

4 Comments

When you grow your own fruit and vegetables there are invariably times when the amount is quite overwhelming.  Some things are difficult to preserve and others have a very short shelf life.  Figs definitely fall into the latter category, so when I picked a large bowl full yesterday there was no doubt that I had to do something with them straight away.

I pulled the dehydrator out of the bottom of the pantry and set to work.

Figs

I set the dehydrator up on the laundry bench and 24 hours later we have semi-dried figs with nothing added.

Dried figs

I keep them in the refrigerator as they are not completely dried.  They will not be eaten just yet as we still have plenty of the crop yet to be picked.  There may well be enough to dry another batch in a week or two.

Simple Food

4 Comments

Simple really does come in all sorts of guises and one of them is food.  Here is what we had for dinner on Friday night.  It was the end of the working week, we were both exhausted and not keen on creating a huge meal so I pulled this together with what was in the refrigerator and pantry.  It took about 5 minutes, presented well and was nutritious and filling.

Dinner

The tomatoes, figs and pumpkin were from the garden.  The pumpkin had been roasted to use on pizza and I had some left over.  Cheese, capsicum and cucumber from the refrigerator and finished off with walnuts and dried apricots.

Do you make any truly simple meals?

This is just a quick post as I have been away for a couple of days with my job so no time for blogging.  I am working on a new post about my wardrobe.  It may be ready tomorrow night so look out for it coming soon.