I would like to thank Rhonda Jean for her inspiring blog, Down to Earth.  As many of you are aware she has readers from all over the world but I feel particularly blessed as we live in the same general area and therefore her posts regarding the use of seasonal produce strike a familiar chord for me.  When I needed a recipe to make rosella cordial I did not search my recipe books or online via Google but straight to the Down to Earth blog.  I was not disappointed as I found an entry from 2007 for making your own fruit cordial.  You can find several recipes for Fruit Cordial there.

I made rosella jam a few years ago with fruit I bought from a farmgate stall but this year we grew our own.  Rosellas, (part of the hibiscus family) are easy to grow and appear to have to no pests.  They do require a growing season of 5 months so need to be planted early in the summer and are best suited to the warmer areas of Australia.

There is only so much jam you can eat so I am constantly looking for alternate ways to use the fruit we grow and cordials seem the perfect option.

I increased the quantities in the recipe as I had 5 cups of chopped calyces to use and here is the result.  I ended up with about 1.6 litres.  It will make a special festive occasion drink when mixed with the soda water we make using the Soda Stream soft drink maker.

Finally, I saved the residue after straining the syrup.  It is frozen and I am going to mix it with stewed apples to make Apple & Rosella Crumble.  I will let you know how it goes.

Although I said on Friday that we were going to go to the Yandina Markets on Saturday that did not eventuate and so we decided to go the the Caboolture Markets at the showground.  We have lived in our current location for over 5 years now, yet have never been to this market.  I think I was put off by the fact that it is so large.

We looked at fruit trees and also some seedlings but ended up buying neither.  It could be a bit of a waste planting seedlings at the moment when we are going on holidays in just under 4 weeks.  So we restricted our spending to some fruit and vegetable supplies.  We spent $23 which bought a pineapple, capsicum, potatoes, zucchini, nectarines, peaches, apples, bananas, broccoli and a 10kg bag of onions.

Last year we grew some onions which was a success, however, in our climate it is difficult to allow the tops to dry off completely in order to be able to store them.  So my solution was to harvest them all (about 3kg), dice the onion and freeze in packs of 150 grams in ziplock bags.  150 grams is the weight of 1 medium/large onion.  This process was very successful so I decided that I would do it again with the bag of onions I bought (10kg for $7.50).

After peeling them, I then quartered them and diced about 6 at a time in the food processor.

Once I ran out of ziplock bags I resorted to using whatever containers I could find.  I even packed 2 quantities into one container using a piece of plastic between the layers.

Finally, it was all done and this is what 10kg of diced onion looks like.

Today has been a little bit of everything – sewing, gardening and cooking.

I have almost finished the curtains.  They are looking great and hopefully tomorrow’s post will be all about them, complete with photos.

It has been cool today with a constant battle between sunshine and drizzly rain.  During the day I spent some time out in the garden.  There was a decent-sized pile of mulch from The Duke’s effort a couple of weeks ago when he mulched most of the large callistemon which had to go for the plans to extend the vegie garden area.  With the aid of a wheelbarrow and Psycho Dog I managed to move it all and spread under the native shrubs which form a screen from the road as well as significantly reducing the amount of lawn that needs to be maintained.  I removed quite a few weeds as well.

I have made a chocolate slice to take to Belle’s place tomorrow.  We will be hanging the curtains in Miss O’s room and The Duke will mow the lawn.  I am looking forward to seeing Miss O and Izz.  First though, we plan to head off to the Yandina Market to get some seedlings and more native shrubs as well as some fruit and vegetables.

View of vegie garden and fruit trees from eastern verandah

There are so many ways that we can engage with and support our neighbours in a way that is beneficial to all of us.  It just takes a little time and care to reach out to others.

Today was an example.  At about 7am I noticed that there was a lot of traffic (all heading east) travelling along our little country lane.  Although it is a 2-way road it is barely wide enough for vehicles to pass in some places.  Apparently there was road works on the main road and the east-bound traffic was being diverted.  My concern was the school bus which travels west (towards Maleny) at just after 8am.  I rang the bus company and ended up speaking to the driver.  He was unaware of the situation and as a result of my call he revised his route and was able to come eastbound and pick up a student at the bus shelter which is right beside our driveway.    I was out by the footpath speaking with the child’s mother when the bus pulled up and Tim (driver) thanked me profusely as he had already done on the telephone.  I didn’t think that this was anything extraordinary – just looking out for the welfare of our community.

See what you can do to help in your community.  There are opportunities galore and I would love to hear them.

I have been away since lunch-time yesterday for work and I am so pleased to be home.  After the hurly-burly of Sydney it is lovely to be home again.  Tomorrow is my day off and I have a couple of medical appointments but other than that I am hoping to tidy some more stuff in the sewing room and get the curtains made.  Watch this space for some photos of the end result.

When I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I would post something every day.  This was really to get myself into the habit so despite the lateness of the hour I will post tonight.

I had to fly interstate this afternoon for work and on my way to the airport I called in to Belle’s place and delivered the completed doona cover.  Miss O was almost beside herself with delight when she saw her ‘Dora’ cover.  We put the doona in it and once it was spread on the bed she just stood beside the bed gazing at it and repeating, “My Dora, my Dora”.  I can’t wait to see her face when the curtains are completed and hung.

We have recently changed our telecommunications provider to Southern Cross Telco for our landline and one of our mobiles.  The other mobile is now Virgin so that I can take advantage of free Virgin to Virgin calls with Belle.For the first time in very many years we have no connection with Telstra and I cannot say I am disappointed.  Over the years they have single-handedly managed to raise my blood pressure on numerous occasions.

On a more positive note, our new provider have been most helpful and the charges seem very good we expect to see a reduction of somewhere between $30 and $70/month.

Sometimes inertia gets the better of us and it is easier to maintain the status quo but it is worthwhile checking that you are getting the best deal from all sorts of providers.  These can include banks, general insurance and health insurance as well as telephone and internet providers.  It is important to check the features as well as the price to make sure that what looks like a great deal is really the best for you and your circumstances.

The time that this process takes can definitely be worth it.  The savings can really add up over a year.

Since I work full-time, the weekends are when I achieve the most around the house.  Today has been no exception.  All of the backlog of ironing was done yesterday along with most of the washing so today I was able to focus on other things.

First on the agenda was the Farmers’ Markets.  We also picked up a few things at Aldi and bought some fresh Tasmanian salmon from the fish shop.  I have done a menu plan so I have meals planned for the rest of the week.

Then I got on with my sewing.  I finished the doona cover and am very happy with how it turned out.  Here are a couple of photos.

A close-up showing the reverse and also button detail.

While I was on a roll I made a drawstring bag for the pegs that I use with the indoor clothes airer.  The airer is actually a portable rotary clothesline which we bought from Kathmandu so I needed durable storage for the pegs for when we are travelling.  I found the piece of material that was an offcut from when I modified a tablecloth from a rectangular one to square.  That was years ago and the table and cloth now live at Belle’s place but the scraps live on!

I also cooked this afternoon – made lasagne which we had for dinner plus 4 serves to go in the freezer, roasted some pumpkin which is now in the slowcooker turning into pumpkin soup.  I find that roasting the pumpkin first adds extra depth of flavour to the soup.  Finally I made 2 dozen Banana & Walnut muffins, using Lauren’s famous muffin recipe.