Field Day, Freebies & a Film

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Just in case you think I spend all my time cooking, washing, ironing, mending and gardening this post is to tell you otherwise.

Yesterday we started the weekend much the same as most others – washing and kitchen chores for me and GMan mowing the front lawn.  However, we had a grand plan.

We headed out after an early lunch so that we could go to the local hardware store before it closed at 1pm.  They have an excellent nursery section and our plan was to buy some more blueberry bushes.  We are now the proud owners of 6 new blueberries ready to plant.  We continued further afield to Conondale where the council were holding a field day to showcase information about feral animals and weeds.  We gleaned some useful information on weeds in our area as well as the prevalence of wild dogs.  The best part was the 8 free trees we were given.

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The trees were all in small tubes, however, GMan has repotted them into slightly larger pots in the hope of getting them more established before we plant them out.  The area where we want to plant them is on the steep, fairly inaccessible escarpment at the back of our property where they will have to fend for themselves once they are planted.  No mollycoddling around here.

A loop drive through Kenilworth and the Obi Obi road took us back home via Mapleton and Montville.  We stopped at the cheese factory in Kenilworth where we bought a large (2.4kg) block of cheese and treated ourselves to an ice-cream.

Our final stop was at Montville Joinery to review the progress of the restoration of an old chest of drawers which Hans is working on for us.  This is the ‘before’ shot.

Chest of drawers

Once it is finished I will do a blog post showing the end result.

Last night was film night at the Maleny Film Society, where we saw a contemporary Australian film, ‘Saving Grace’.  While it is perhaps not the best film I have ever seen it was interesting with a couple of unexpected twists.

Local Sightseeing

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The last few days have been pleasantly busy as we hosted some friends from interstate.  It was a great opportunity to do some local sightseeing and discover some hidden gems in our own backyard.

After meeting our guests at the airport in Brisbane and then having lunch we headed home on the road less travelled.  There is not a lot of interest on the highway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast so we took the scenic route via Dayboro and Mt Mee.  We had discovered this route a couple of weeks ago and you can read more about it here.

On Sunday we ventured to the Glasshouse Mountains lookout, a short drive west of Glasshouse Mountains township.  I had previously noticed signs about this but had never sought it out.  This is a fantastic spot with great views, picnic tables, BBQs and a short walking circuit.

2015-08-25 01 2015-08-25 02 2015-08-25 03Monday saw us take off in yet another direction where we sampled cheese at the cheese factory in Kenilworth before travelling along various back roads and finally ending up at Boreen Point on the edge of Lake Cootharaba.  We had a picnic lunch and then adjourned to an historic hotel for a quiet drink.  The Apollonian Hotel was relocated from Gympie where it was built during the goldrush days of the 1870s.

What gems have you discovered in your local area?

Ticks All The Boxes

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Missy stayed with us last night and this morning we took her to Noosaville to meet up with some friends who are a hiring a boat  for the day on the river.

We debated which way to come home and decided to take a drive along the Mary Valley from Eumundi, through Kenilworth and Conondale and back to Maleny.

Kenilworth is the home of a cheese factory which has excellent products.  We called in and sampled some of the specialty cheeses.  These are lovely for a particular occasion but we really did not need any at the moment.

2012-02-18 01However, I did buy a 2.5kg block of matured cheddar cheese.  We got a discount (not sure why) and it worked out an $10/kg.  That is about the same price as I usually pay at Aldi and considerably cheaper than standard cheese in the supermarket.  This is a rich, full-flavoured cheese made from local milk in an independent factory which is about 30km from our home.  Also, by buying a larger quantity there is less packaging than buying 500g blocks.

2012-02-18 02I used my food processor to grate half of the block and here it is in containers, ready to go in the freezer.  I had a little put aside which will be used in the lasagne I am about to make.

The remainder has been cut into blocks, wrapped and frozen.  I have kept some cereal bags and use them to separate items when freezing.  They can be re-washed and re-used many times.  Here is one flattened out and ready to use.

2012-02-18 03The cheese is wrapped in the cereal bag and sealed in a container to go in the freezer.

2012-02-18 04As the title says, this product ticks all of the boxes:

Locally made
Lcoally produced ingredients
Minimal packaging
Close to home – so minimal transport costs
Independently owned

What are you able to source that is produced close to where you live?