Category Archives: Self-reliance

Flowers and Food

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Late autumn is well and truly upon us and in fact the apparent temperature at 7am this morning was -0.3C. This is the first time I have seen it dip below 0C this year. However, it is beautiful and sunny with a forecast maximum of 18C today so it seemed like a good time to head out to the garden and get stuck into some jobs.

First up was planting the sweet peas which I had nurtured from seed. They had been outdoors overnight for the past couple of weeks to acclimatise and harden off before planting.

There was a fish pond in the back garden when we moved here last year. Actually, our first year anniversary in this house was last Friday. Anyway, the fish pond has been dismantled and the area is going to be a herb garden. However, I have seconded a strip at the back for the sweet peas. The main reason is because there is a paling fence with chicken wire on the inside which will be a perfect trellis for the sweet peas.

Next were the lettuce seedlings which had come up self-sown from some plants that went to seed last year. I have about 30 of varying sizes. I will keep some and plan to sell some punnets of lettuce seedlings at the next LETS market.

Last weekend I bought a large pot containing several rhubarb crowns from LETS. I divided them today and added to the single rhubarb plant which I have had for several months. This bed will hopefully become an abundance of rhubarb in time.

Finally, the brassica seedlings seem to be almost doubling in size overnight. I have now covered this bed with fine netting to keep the would-be predators away.

I am happy with what I achieved in a couple of hours this morning and look forward to reaping the rewards of food to eat and beautiful flowers in the coming months.

An Original Design

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My sewing project today was rather different from anything I had done before.

When we left Queensland GMan sold his large mulcher which was very useful for our small acreage with plenty of vegetation but he could not see a use for it on a suburban block. Nevertheless, he found a need for a smaller version so bought this one secondhand several months ago.

It does have a minor design flaw and the mulched material tends to spray everywhere. So, he asked me to make a ‘skirt’ to direct the mulch into the collection receptacle. I have been considering this rather bizarre request for a few weeks and today I finally came up with a plan.

I found a pair of heavy denim shorts in my collection of assorted discarded fabrics and (mostly) unwearable garments. The fabric was integral to their suitability for the project and GMan’s comment was, “you could just use one leg” gave me the general idea.

This was what I ended up with. I used the waistband of the unused half of the shorts to make the straps. The straps fasten around the legs of the mulcher and are attached with 2 velcro strips.

It is not the fanciest sewing I have ever done but I think it is going to be effective.

This photo shows the new ‘skirt’ in place on the mulcher.

I am pretty happy with the end result and it cost me nothing apart from about 30 minutes of my time. We will see how it works when GMan next uses the mulcher. Some modifications my be required.

Choice Chutney

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I recently encountered a new ‘problem’. Here in central Victoria the weather had definitely turned quite cool. Summer is well and truly behind us and I was left with an abundance of green tomatoes. This never happened in Queensland as tomatoes literally ripened all the year round.

It was time to remove the tomato bushes so that we could reuse the garden bed so I harvested the tomatoes and found that I could use them to make chutney.

The first step was to wash them thoroughly.

I then sliced the tomatoes and layered them with the diced onion and sprinkled with salt. Then I covered the bowls and left them to stand overnight.

This morning it was time to make the chutney.

GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY

Ingredients

2.5kg green tomatoes, sliced
500g onions, finely diced
1 tablespoon salt
500g sultanas
500g sugar
500g apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1100ml vinegar, I used half white vinegar and half apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
30g ground allspice
30g ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot/preserving pan. Simmer gently for about 3 hours. I used a stick blender sparingly to mash the tomatoes a bit more. I kept the pot covered for about 2 hours and then removed the lid for the final hour.

The mixture should be rich, thick and caramel coloured.

Spoon into hot, sterilised jars. This recipe yielded 12 jars so the pantry will be well-stocked.

Perfect Baked Beans

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A couple of weeks ago I successfully made baked beans which GMan declared were better than the ones out of a can. Some years ago I had attempted to make them but they were really not that great. This time I was armed with more experience and a video I had chanced upon as a starting point. However, I did adapt it somewhat to suit myself.

I have made another batch and made notes of the quantities and method as well as taken several photos so that I can share the recipe with you.

BAKED BEANS

Ingredients

1kg dry white beans
Olive oil
3 medium onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 capsicum (pepper), diced
700ml tomato passata
250ml water
1 tablespoon treacle
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 – 4 teaspoons smoky paprika
1 – 2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method

Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with boiling water (about 5cm above the level of the beans). Soak for several hours or overnight. The beans will swell but will still be quite hard. Transfer the beans and water to a slow cooker and add a bit more water. Cook on high for several hours until tender but not mushy.

Saute the diced onion in a little oil in a large pan. Cook gently on a low heat so that they soften but are barely coloured. Add the garlic and capsicum and continue cooking. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer gently until well-cooked and the desired flavour.

Add the drained beans to the sauce and combine thoroughly but do not break the beans up too much. Allow to stand and cool so that the beans absorb the flavour of the sauce.

Heat, eat and enjoy.

I choose to freeze the prepared beans which works really well. This is the results from the recipe above. The small dish will be my lunch today.

Notes

This is a large quantity – you can reduce the amounts.
I used Great Northern beans but you could use navy beans, canellini beans or whatever you prefer.
You could used canned beans if you wish. I prefer to use dried beans as they cost less and there is the added benefit of minimal packaging, especially if you buy them from bulk bins.
The tomato mixture could be pureed fresh or canned tomatoes or whatever you have on hand. You can also include some tomato paste for a more intense depth of flavour.
The original recipe used bacon but I choose to use smoky paprika to replicate the flavour and keep this recipe meat-free.
Add the seasonings gradually to account for your personal taste.
I used a couple of capsicums from the garden but regular red ones are fine, too.
I substituted rosemary salt for half of the salt.
I also added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup of my homemade tomato sauce to make it a little spicier.

In other words, this is a basic recipe and you can adjust it to suit your personal taste.

Inching Slowly Forward

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My recent sewing has been doing some paid alterations to 3 skirts. Now that they are finished I have turned my attention to my ongoing patchwork project.

I completed 2 more blocks this afternoon.

That leaves just 7 more blocks to do to have enough for the QS quilt. I need about 6 more squares but I have exhausted my supply of suitable colour fabrics so I will check out the op shop tomorrow when we are out and about.

I hope to be able to have the quilt assembled as pass it on to a contact who has a long arm machine to quilt it.

I have other sewing to work on as well as a germ of an idea for my next patchwork project but more about that another day.

Making Our Own

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After my previous post it is back to the things we do ourselves.

Today I picked up a couple of large grapefruit at our local LETS market. I have sliced them finely and am soaking them overnight and I will make some marmalade tomorrow. Grapefruit marmalade is GMan’s favourite so another jar or two is always a welcome addition to the pantry.

In the past I would have draped a tea towel over the bowl to cover the soaking fruit but I am using this cute fabric bowl cover which is simply a circle of fabric with an elasticised edge. It was a gift from a friend in Maleny and was made by one of the members of WAM (Waste Action Maleny). I was part of the group when we lived there so it was lovely to receive this gift.

Marmalade goes on toast and GMan was particularly proud of his latest loaves of sourdough. We have been here for almost 12 months and in that time he has been unable to replicate his best efforts but we both think that these are as good as any he has made.

The satisfaction in cooking, doing, making, building or repairing something yourself is immeasurable.

Two For One

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When I decided to dress as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz in Easter Parade I was keen to not buy anything new so I started searching for some light blue gingham fabric in the op shops. GMan was with me and spotted a QS doona cover and 2 pillowcases which proved to be perfect. The linen had obviously been discarded as parts of it were significantly faded but I knew there would be plenty for what I needed. I made the pinafore dress and slightly adapted a blouse I had previously made.

Ever since our girls left home we have had a queen size bed in the spare room. For a number of years it was used as an Air BnB so the bed was always made up and ready. Since then I continued to do the same as there was often a family member visiting.

However, the bed is used much less these days and I always have plenty of notice so I can make it up as required. This means that I do not have a full set of bed linen tied up but not really being used. I did not really want the bare mattress exposed so one possibility was to cover it with a spare doona cover. The downside of this is the potential for it to fade as this room enjoys the morning sun which is very welcome in the cooler months.

I realised that I still had all of the other side of the cover I had used for my costume. So, I simply hemmed the edge and now I have a pretty cover for the bed and it doesn’t matter if it fades over time.

Sheets and doona covers from op shops are a great source of fabric for a variety of projects. There are always lots to choose from and I have been lucky enough to find a very specific item on several occasions. As well as these creations I also found white cotton sheet sets that I used to make 8 tablecloths for the film society. You can read about that here. A mint green sheet from the op shop provided enough fabric for the backing of a quilt. You can see it in this post. The possibilities are endless if you view them as large pieces of fabric rather than bed linen.

Food Waste

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Food waste comes in many guises. It may be less than perfect produce being refused by supermarkets and ultimately being dumped. Excess produce being grown and discarded rather than being shared with those in need. Food that is bought and not used for a variety of reasons. Home leftovers that end up being thrown out rather than being used creatively. Large serving portions in cafes and restaurants which result in food wastage.

Food waste going to landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Additionally, it makes absolutely no sense to waste food at any time but especially at the moment, during a cost-of-living crisis when many people are struggling to provide enough food for their families.

Every little bit we do can make a difference and here are some examples.

When I was cooking over the past couple of days I made bulk quantities of chilli con carne, beef and onion casserole and leek and potato soup. It usually use a large soup ladle as a measuring guide when portioning these up but it is not effective at thoroughly scraping the pot. There can be as much as half a serve left in the pot.

That is where these silicon scrapers come in really handy. I bought them nearly 4 years ago and they are honestly worth their weight in gold.

Here are the results of using them to properly empty a large pot and the insert of the slow cooker.

Much better than washing food (and money) down the drain.

Refreshed and Ready

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You would think I would have had better things to do 3 days before we travel overseas but I decided to make new covers for some cushion pads to go on some stools for the kitchen.

When we first moved to this house I was unsure whether I actually wanted stools to sit at the breakfast bar at the island bench. I felt that they could make the space feel visually cluttered. In the meantime, we decided to utilise the space under the bench to store some of the buckets which hold bulk dry goods such as flours, nuts and dried fruit.

These will eventually be housed in the revamped and extended butler’s pantry but I am really not sure when that is likely to happen due the eternal dearth of tradesmen.

A few months ago I spotted a giveaway of 2 stools that turned out to be in the next street to us. They were in OK condition overall buy the cushions were covered in a faded yellow fabric that was rather grubby from having been stored in the shed. I picked them up and set them aside as a future project.

So, a few days ago I rearranged somethings in the wardrobe in the spare room, relocated the buckets of dry goods to the wardrobe and set about transforming the stools.

The first step was to remove the old covers. Deconstructing items carefully is a great way to create a pattern for their replacement and helps to understand how they are assembled.

Some strong calico from my stash created a neat, smooth base for the new covers.

I chose a lovely vintage cotton paisley print fabric which had been given to me some time ago.

I decided to adapt the design slightly to make the covers removable and the extension flap folds over to the underside of the cushion and fastens with velcro.

I am very happy with the end result.

The stools are exactly the right height for the bench and the backs are low enough that they do not create a significant interruption the the visual lines of the bench.

I also made a new set of tiebacks for the curtains in the family room to match the cushion covers. They replaced the ones that I made when we first moved in.

Saving Seeds

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My vegetable gardening efforts over the years have sometimes involved buying and sowing seeds but have mostly been a matter of buying a punnet of seedlings.

I know that this is not the most sustainable option for several reasons. The seedlings come in a plastic tray and they are often grown in quite different conditions to your location which does not always bode well for their success. Finally, many are hybrids which are not suitable for seed saving as they do not grow true to type.

At the beginning of October, I was fortunate enough to be given some lettuce seedlings by a fellow gardener who lives about 1km away from us. These were very successful for several months until the hot weather and then they bolted as lettuces tend to do in the warmer months. A couple of them grew to almost 1 metre tall with masses of flowers.

GMan was keen to clear out the garden bed where they were so today I checked them and found dozens of seed heads with literally hundreds of seeds. I collected them, rinsed the detritus from them and spread the seeds out on a scrap of calico fabric to dry.

Wish me luck with my first real foray into saving and replanting seed from my own garden. These lettuces have proven themselves very successful in our climate and soil conditions so I am hopeful of reasonable success.