Tonight I made one of the simplest pasta sauces going and it tasted wonderful.
I grabbed a big bunch of Basil from the garden as it is starting to go to seed. I picked off all of the leaves, washed and dried them in the salad spinner.
There was about 4 cup fulls of leaves, and I put all of it into the food processor with 4 cloves of chopped garlic and 4 tablespoons of pine nuts that we had in stockpile. I chopped it up until roughly cut, then added a cup of extra virgin olive oil and processed it till smooth.
I grated half a cup of my Pyrenees with green peppercorn cheese and gave it a quick pulse till mixed through. Then pepper and sea salt to taste and hey presto, we have pesto. It was a taste sensation!
I cooked some fettuccine, served into bowls, then put about 3 tablespoons of pesto on top and sprinkled a little more of my home made grated cheese. We then stirred it through in the bowl and each ate it up with gusto. Kim, Ben and I finished off the pasta in no time flat, and both of them complemented me on a fantastic meal.
I didn't realise that pesto was so easy to make, and that it has so much flavour when you make it yourself! I highly recommend it if you have lots of basil growing in the garden. I still have three more bushes growing, and I know that all I have to do is blend them and put it in the freezer until it is needed for another great pasta meal.
Happy days.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Friday, 29 January 2010
Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet
Cute, but powerful!
Thanks to the Impossible Hamster Club for the video. It really defines resource depletion well.
Labels:
Sustainable Living
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Lather Up Folks!
One of our goals for the year was to make soap and not buy any for the rest of the year. Well we thought that it was appropriate to begin on Australia Day and we had a great time on our urban farm. However it probably wasn't the same sort of celebration that everyone else participated in. No BBQ, no beach trip, no parade. Just two wonderful things. Soap Making, and Cheese Making!
So we embarked on the giddy world of lye, vegetable and essential oils, with half a hand of botanicals thrown in. We bought a cold press soap kit from Simply Natural Soap Making Supplies for $45 that had everything in it to make the first 20 odd bars. I am a bit of a kit bloke, mainly because I like to have everything supplied to start with and then find the cheap alternatives afterwards. This is similar to my cheese making hobby. I started off with a simple kit and it grew from there.
There are two types of soap making methods that we researched, melt and cold press. We choose cold press because you do not have to keep going back to a specific supplier to get the necessary ingredients. Most of them you can buy from local suppliers, like the supermarket in the case of oils and the lye, or caustic soda from the hardware store. Here is the process we followed.
Ingredients:
500gm Olive Oil
250gm Palm Oil (I know, I know, we didn't know it came in the kit. Never again)
250gm Coconut Oil
145gm Sodium Hydroxide (lye/caustic soda)
375ml water
25ml Rose Geranium Essential Oil
2 teaspoons of yellow china clay
Rose petals
Firstly, make sure you have your recipe and ingredients all together and lay some newspaper on your bench-top to stop any mess.
Weigh all your oils and place them in an old stainless steel pot. We bought one from the op shop as well as a spoon and tray to place the mould on.
Measure the water and weigh the caustic soda in separate containers.
Do not mix them yet! Put on your gloves, goggles, and apron. Caustic soda is very corrosive and will burn your skin if you are not careful. You can use a face mask if you wish, however I mixed the caustic soda and water outside and therefore negated any fumes during mixing.
Heat your oil on the stove to 50-60C.
Caution: Then slowly pour the caustic soda into the water. NEVER, EVER POUR THE WATER INTO THE CAUSTIC SODA AS A VIOLENT REACTION WILL RESULT. I don't want you to hurt yourself. It is quite save if you do it the right way. Also beware that once mixed correctly, it gets up to about 75C all by itself. Carry the lye mixture carefully.
Now you can mix your lye into the heated oils.
Stir the mixture until it reaches trace.
Trace is when it looks like runny custard and you can pile a little on top of the surface and it stays there for a few seconds.
Now, depending on what you mix it with depends on how long before you reach trace. I started off with a whisk and after 10 minutes had enough and broke out the stick blender (immersion) and it took about 5 minutes. Make sure you give the blender a rest every minute to avoid burning it out. We got a bit excited and went past trace to a thicker stage. As it was our first go, we expected a few glitches.
We then added the essential oil, china clay for colour, and rose petals for prettiness (Kim insisted). As we were well past the pouring stage, we had to use an old spatula and fold in the ingredients.
I then scraped it all into the mould that came with the kit, which we lined with cling wrap to stop it from leaking out. In hindsight, we probably didn't need to do this. You can use any silicon cake mould or even a 1 litre cardboard milk carton. Just make sure that any mould you use is sprayed or wiped with oil before you pour in the soap or you won't be able to get it out cleanly.
Wrap the mould in an old towel so that it cools slowly. Leave it in the mould for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours depending on how thick your trace was.
Break the soap out of the mould. It will be quite soft, but will harden as it dries. Kim cut the block of soap into 11 bars and said it was quite easy and was like semi soft butter or the flesh of a melon.
Our instructions say to leave it to dry on a rack for at least 4 weeks and to turn each block over daily. I have read on other blogs that the longer you leave them to dry, the longer the soap lasts when you are using it.
When you walk past the laundry where the soap is drying, you really get a wonderful fragrance waft up your nose. Not the over powering type when you walk past the perfume counter in a department store, but a nice soft smell. I can see that soap making will be as addictive as cheese making. Kim will be doing all of the chemistry next time, with me doing the supervision!
We are going to make a basic soap next time with oatmeal in it, and maybe a different colour. As soon as we were finished, Kim went on-line and bought some more essential oil and a 5 litre bottle of coconut oil. We will never be using Palm oil again and will be substituting it with Rice Bran Oil. You can use many different types of oils using the cold press method but you will need a soap calculator to determine how much water and lye you will need to use because each oil have different properties that you have to take into account. Here is the link to a good calculator which also determines how hard or lathery your soap will be. Just follow the sequence and have a play around and you will be amazed at the combinations you can use.
Well I hope you enjoyed our little soap making expose. It was great fun to make, and reminded me of chemistry class back in high school. The lye was quite easy to mix, just give it the respect it deserves and be careful. Kim was paranoid about the lye part, but once she saw how careful I was, she got into the swing of things. Other than that part, the rest is a breeze. Even washing up is fun, because everything is self soaping!
Oh, and I made Caerphilly cheese straight afterwards. Click the picture of the Caerphilly on the sidebar to see how I made that if you like. A great day of home made things. I should have put down a batch of beer to cap it off! Now that would have been the perfect Australia Day!
So we embarked on the giddy world of lye, vegetable and essential oils, with half a hand of botanicals thrown in. We bought a cold press soap kit from Simply Natural Soap Making Supplies for $45 that had everything in it to make the first 20 odd bars. I am a bit of a kit bloke, mainly because I like to have everything supplied to start with and then find the cheap alternatives afterwards. This is similar to my cheese making hobby. I started off with a simple kit and it grew from there.
There are two types of soap making methods that we researched, melt and cold press. We choose cold press because you do not have to keep going back to a specific supplier to get the necessary ingredients. Most of them you can buy from local suppliers, like the supermarket in the case of oils and the lye, or caustic soda from the hardware store. Here is the process we followed.
Ingredients:
500gm Olive Oil
250gm Palm Oil (I know, I know, we didn't know it came in the kit. Never again)
250gm Coconut Oil
145gm Sodium Hydroxide (lye/caustic soda)
375ml water
25ml Rose Geranium Essential Oil
2 teaspoons of yellow china clay
Rose petals
Firstly, make sure you have your recipe and ingredients all together and lay some newspaper on your bench-top to stop any mess.
Weigh all your oils and place them in an old stainless steel pot. We bought one from the op shop as well as a spoon and tray to place the mould on.
Measure the water and weigh the caustic soda in separate containers.
Do not mix them yet! Put on your gloves, goggles, and apron. Caustic soda is very corrosive and will burn your skin if you are not careful. You can use a face mask if you wish, however I mixed the caustic soda and water outside and therefore negated any fumes during mixing.
Heat your oil on the stove to 50-60C.
Caution: Then slowly pour the caustic soda into the water. NEVER, EVER POUR THE WATER INTO THE CAUSTIC SODA AS A VIOLENT REACTION WILL RESULT. I don't want you to hurt yourself. It is quite save if you do it the right way. Also beware that once mixed correctly, it gets up to about 75C all by itself. Carry the lye mixture carefully.
Now you can mix your lye into the heated oils.
Stir the mixture until it reaches trace.
Trace is when it looks like runny custard and you can pile a little on top of the surface and it stays there for a few seconds.
Now, depending on what you mix it with depends on how long before you reach trace. I started off with a whisk and after 10 minutes had enough and broke out the stick blender (immersion) and it took about 5 minutes. Make sure you give the blender a rest every minute to avoid burning it out. We got a bit excited and went past trace to a thicker stage. As it was our first go, we expected a few glitches.
We then added the essential oil, china clay for colour, and rose petals for prettiness (Kim insisted). As we were well past the pouring stage, we had to use an old spatula and fold in the ingredients.
I then scraped it all into the mould that came with the kit, which we lined with cling wrap to stop it from leaking out. In hindsight, we probably didn't need to do this. You can use any silicon cake mould or even a 1 litre cardboard milk carton. Just make sure that any mould you use is sprayed or wiped with oil before you pour in the soap or you won't be able to get it out cleanly.
Wrap the mould in an old towel so that it cools slowly. Leave it in the mould for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours depending on how thick your trace was.
Break the soap out of the mould. It will be quite soft, but will harden as it dries. Kim cut the block of soap into 11 bars and said it was quite easy and was like semi soft butter or the flesh of a melon.
Our instructions say to leave it to dry on a rack for at least 4 weeks and to turn each block over daily. I have read on other blogs that the longer you leave them to dry, the longer the soap lasts when you are using it.
When you walk past the laundry where the soap is drying, you really get a wonderful fragrance waft up your nose. Not the over powering type when you walk past the perfume counter in a department store, but a nice soft smell. I can see that soap making will be as addictive as cheese making. Kim will be doing all of the chemistry next time, with me doing the supervision!
We are going to make a basic soap next time with oatmeal in it, and maybe a different colour. As soon as we were finished, Kim went on-line and bought some more essential oil and a 5 litre bottle of coconut oil. We will never be using Palm oil again and will be substituting it with Rice Bran Oil. You can use many different types of oils using the cold press method but you will need a soap calculator to determine how much water and lye you will need to use because each oil have different properties that you have to take into account. Here is the link to a good calculator which also determines how hard or lathery your soap will be. Just follow the sequence and have a play around and you will be amazed at the combinations you can use.
Well I hope you enjoyed our little soap making expose. It was great fun to make, and reminded me of chemistry class back in high school. The lye was quite easy to mix, just give it the respect it deserves and be careful. Kim was paranoid about the lye part, but once she saw how careful I was, she got into the swing of things. Other than that part, the rest is a breeze. Even washing up is fun, because everything is self soaping!
Oh, and I made Caerphilly cheese straight afterwards. Click the picture of the Caerphilly on the sidebar to see how I made that if you like. A great day of home made things. I should have put down a batch of beer to cap it off! Now that would have been the perfect Australia Day!
Labels:
Soap Making,
Sustainable Living
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
I Have The Power... At Last.
The ongoing saga of being paid the Victorian Premium Feed-in Tariff for the net electricity that I export into the grid from my Solar PV system is finally over (I hope).
Since this post, titled 'How Hard Is It...', many things have transpired. Firstly, I was called by Origin new connections and they confirmed that my new electricity meter would be installed on January 8th, between 1200-1600. So far so good, I thought because we were getting a bit of action, but two weeks later than I expected. Apparently, the 21 days was for them to contact me with a date, not to install the meter.
I worked from home on the 8th waiting in anticipation, only to be disappointed at 1600 when no one from Powercor, who were to perform the installation, turned up. I jumped straight on the phone to Origin to get them to sort it out. I received a call back in about 10 minutes telling me that Powercor had computer issues and my work request had failed to be sent to the installation team. I asked for Powercor's direct number because my beef was not with Origin, and so that I could rip them a new one (hey it worked once already). I talked to Powercor's new connections team, who duly apologised in the lamest possible way, and proceeded to book me into the next available installation slot of the 8th of February. Well, to say that I lost the plot was an understatement. Kim said that she could see steam coming out of my ears. The poor bloke on the other end didn't know what hit him as I promised to get the Electrical Ombudsman involved for loss of earnings. He began to back pedal really fast and said that he will check with his supervisor to see if they could fit me in earlier. Hell, that felt good!
Twenty minutes later, I get a call back from Powercor. The apology was much more sincere this time, and they told me that they could now fit me in on the 21st of January from 1200-1600, and they were going to wave the $167 installation fee. Well that was much better! I accepted their proposal, and apologised to the bloke for loosing my nut, and he said that it was he who should be apologising again and not I! Nice touch.
Anyway, Kim rang up Powercor on the 20th to confirm that everything was going to plan. They told her that the installation was scheduled for the 8th of Feb (OMG!), whereby she duly pointed out that NO that was not the right date and that we were scheduled in for the 21st of Jan. They quickly realised their error, checked with the installation team to ensure that we were on their list for the next day, and told Kim that they would be in big trouble if they stuffed up this one again. I wonder who they were going to be in trouble with, me or the Ombudsman?
I was to work from home again on the 21st of Jan, and to my surprise on the way home, Kim called to inform me that the installation team had already turned up at 1030, and hour and a half early. Instead of one hour of downtime, they completed the job in 15 minutes flat and even gave us some instructions on how it worked to boot. Kim said that one of the installers looked like a young Brad Pitt, so that made her day!
So what was all the fuss about? Well, in December 2009, after much public pressure and lobbying by environmental groups, the Victorian parliament passed legislation that forced electricity retailers to pay small generators ( PV systems <5 kw peak), a premium feed-in tariff of 60c per net kilowatt hour for electricity exported into the power grid. However, credits built up over the year by the small generator would be reset, or effectively cancelled, at the end of each calendar year with a potential loss of thousands of dollars. The retailers took this up immediately, with the larger ones like Origin and AGL offering 66c and 68c respectively, and they promised that they would roll over credits year to year and pay them out upon customer request once the credits available was greater than $50. AGL got away with a larger tariff because they charge a $10 admin fee for the credit transaction. As low handed as a bank, I reckon and it pays to read the small print.
I signed the feed-in tariff with Origin in December 2009 after confirming that they had no administration fee, listed the 8th of Jan as the start date of the agreement (even though I didn't technically get the meter until the 21st). Straight after the meter was installed, after I had finished staring at it clocking up exported kWh's, I called Origin sales to confirm that the agreement was in place. Low and behold, it was effective immediately and that any electricity I imported from the grid was 100% GreenPower wind generated. So, once again, my power is officially all carbon neutral, which is important to me in a Greening of Gavin sort of way.
So far, as of 1200 today, we have exported 45.3 kWh (+$29.89), and imported 71.5 kWh (-$17.87) from the grid. This means that I am just over $12 in credit already after 6 days. I love it! Less of course the quarterly network service fee of around $50. Hopefully we should clock up enough credits to pay for that as well. With a decent system you can export quite a lot of electricity if you keep consumption down low during the day. We now operate all major electrical items after sunset, like the dishwasher, washing machine, and pool pump. This way, we get maximum export during the day, and draw on the cheaper energy during the night. Pretty crafty hey! If they are going to pay me good money for it, I might as well make the most of it. Will be able to pay the mortgage off quicker with the profits which is a bigger bonus.
So out with the old;
And in with the new.
Finally, a happy ending. Now I just have to hope that Powercor took a final reading off of the old meter and passed it to Origin, or they will have no point of reference for my bill when they read this new one in three months time. Luckily, Kim took a photo of the old meter (above) before Powercor disconnected it! Thank goodness that I am a member of the ATA as I read about this tip in ReNew magazine about a year ago. It pays to take every precaution after all the stuff ups so far.
Oh, by the way. Origin/Powercor have already tried to charge us for the replacement meter which Powercor said they would waver. We set them straight on that one as well after another rocket down the phone! Will they ever learn what good customer service is?
Since this post, titled 'How Hard Is It...', many things have transpired. Firstly, I was called by Origin new connections and they confirmed that my new electricity meter would be installed on January 8th, between 1200-1600. So far so good, I thought because we were getting a bit of action, but two weeks later than I expected. Apparently, the 21 days was for them to contact me with a date, not to install the meter.
I worked from home on the 8th waiting in anticipation, only to be disappointed at 1600 when no one from Powercor, who were to perform the installation, turned up. I jumped straight on the phone to Origin to get them to sort it out. I received a call back in about 10 minutes telling me that Powercor had computer issues and my work request had failed to be sent to the installation team. I asked for Powercor's direct number because my beef was not with Origin, and so that I could rip them a new one (hey it worked once already). I talked to Powercor's new connections team, who duly apologised in the lamest possible way, and proceeded to book me into the next available installation slot of the 8th of February. Well, to say that I lost the plot was an understatement. Kim said that she could see steam coming out of my ears. The poor bloke on the other end didn't know what hit him as I promised to get the Electrical Ombudsman involved for loss of earnings. He began to back pedal really fast and said that he will check with his supervisor to see if they could fit me in earlier. Hell, that felt good!
Twenty minutes later, I get a call back from Powercor. The apology was much more sincere this time, and they told me that they could now fit me in on the 21st of January from 1200-1600, and they were going to wave the $167 installation fee. Well that was much better! I accepted their proposal, and apologised to the bloke for loosing my nut, and he said that it was he who should be apologising again and not I! Nice touch.
Anyway, Kim rang up Powercor on the 20th to confirm that everything was going to plan. They told her that the installation was scheduled for the 8th of Feb (OMG!), whereby she duly pointed out that NO that was not the right date and that we were scheduled in for the 21st of Jan. They quickly realised their error, checked with the installation team to ensure that we were on their list for the next day, and told Kim that they would be in big trouble if they stuffed up this one again. I wonder who they were going to be in trouble with, me or the Ombudsman?
I was to work from home again on the 21st of Jan, and to my surprise on the way home, Kim called to inform me that the installation team had already turned up at 1030, and hour and a half early. Instead of one hour of downtime, they completed the job in 15 minutes flat and even gave us some instructions on how it worked to boot. Kim said that one of the installers looked like a young Brad Pitt, so that made her day!
So what was all the fuss about? Well, in December 2009, after much public pressure and lobbying by environmental groups, the Victorian parliament passed legislation that forced electricity retailers to pay small generators ( PV systems <5 kw peak), a premium feed-in tariff of 60c per net kilowatt hour for electricity exported into the power grid. However, credits built up over the year by the small generator would be reset, or effectively cancelled, at the end of each calendar year with a potential loss of thousands of dollars. The retailers took this up immediately, with the larger ones like Origin and AGL offering 66c and 68c respectively, and they promised that they would roll over credits year to year and pay them out upon customer request once the credits available was greater than $50. AGL got away with a larger tariff because they charge a $10 admin fee for the credit transaction. As low handed as a bank, I reckon and it pays to read the small print.
I signed the feed-in tariff with Origin in December 2009 after confirming that they had no administration fee, listed the 8th of Jan as the start date of the agreement (even though I didn't technically get the meter until the 21st). Straight after the meter was installed, after I had finished staring at it clocking up exported kWh's, I called Origin sales to confirm that the agreement was in place. Low and behold, it was effective immediately and that any electricity I imported from the grid was 100% GreenPower wind generated. So, once again, my power is officially all carbon neutral, which is important to me in a Greening of Gavin sort of way.
So far, as of 1200 today, we have exported 45.3 kWh (+$29.89), and imported 71.5 kWh (-$17.87) from the grid. This means that I am just over $12 in credit already after 6 days. I love it! Less of course the quarterly network service fee of around $50. Hopefully we should clock up enough credits to pay for that as well. With a decent system you can export quite a lot of electricity if you keep consumption down low during the day. We now operate all major electrical items after sunset, like the dishwasher, washing machine, and pool pump. This way, we get maximum export during the day, and draw on the cheaper energy during the night. Pretty crafty hey! If they are going to pay me good money for it, I might as well make the most of it. Will be able to pay the mortgage off quicker with the profits which is a bigger bonus.
So out with the old;
And in with the new.
Finally, a happy ending. Now I just have to hope that Powercor took a final reading off of the old meter and passed it to Origin, or they will have no point of reference for my bill when they read this new one in three months time. Luckily, Kim took a photo of the old meter (above) before Powercor disconnected it! Thank goodness that I am a member of the ATA as I read about this tip in ReNew magazine about a year ago. It pays to take every precaution after all the stuff ups so far.
Oh, by the way. Origin/Powercor have already tried to charge us for the replacement meter which Powercor said they would waver. We set them straight on that one as well after another rocket down the phone! Will they ever learn what good customer service is?
Labels:
feed-in tariffs,
Photovoltaic,
Solar Power
Monday, 25 January 2010
Day 25 - Menu update
Kim stated last night that she now really loved this locavore lifestyle. We know exactly what is in our food and we feeling better for it. We went shopping on Saturday at Coles (the supermarket formally known as BiLo) and spent a grand total of $38. We found that after scrutinising every purchase, we walked out of there with so much less in our trolley than we would have normally bought before we took up the challenge. A few staples, like free range chicken, local milk for cheesemaking, spices (fair game), bread flour. This challenge makes you totally aware of the place of origin of all food stuffs, and what to look for in labelling. Made in Australia is simply not good enough, because it doesn't give you any idea as to where all the ingredients come from. The label we are always looking for only if we can't source local is 'Product of Australia'. It is the only way to determine where on the planet the food was grown. We have noticed that quite often the state of origin is now being displayed in brackets, Product of Australia (VIC) for instance. It helps to narrow it down even further. Maybe more people are asking the hard question to the food retailers regarding where their food comes from?
Yesterday, we took another trip up to the cherry farm at Mt Gisborne as they only have two more days picking left to go. We bought 2kg for $24, which was a steal because our next stop was our local greengrocer at Bacchus Marsh and they were selling local cherries for $18 kg. Buying straight from the orchard certainly keeps the costs down, and cuts out the middle man. That way, you know that the producer has gotten a fair price for their produce.Making; Plumcot Jam, Brinjal Pickles, Zucchini Chutney, Preserved Peaches and Plumcots, Bread, Yoghurt, Pitta chips.
Harvesting; Zucchini, Cherry tomatoes, cucumber, basil, spring onions, thyme, sage, mint in tea, eggplant, onions, garlic and an average of 5 eggs a day.
Anyway, on to this weeks menu;
Day 18 - Monday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Sandwiches, cucumber & cheese. 100% local
Dinner; Bean Patties with stir fried vegetables. 60% local
Day 19 - Tuesday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; . Leftover Bean Patties with veg. 60% local
Dinner; Baked Fish with roasted root vegetables. 80% local
Day 20 - Wednesday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Leftover Home made Chicken Noodle Soup from freezer. 50% local
Dinner; Omelettes. 100% local.
Day 21 - Thursday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local.
Lunch; Sandwiches, Bread & butter cucumbers. 100% local
Dinner; Takeaway Pizza treat. 0% local. Unfortunately this made me ill and gave me a bout of gastro. Lesson learnt not to get take-out.
Day 22 - Friday
Breakfast; Too sick to eat. Drank lots of water instead
Lunch; Dry bread. 100% local
Snack. 1 Nectarine, 1 Peach. 100% local
Dinner; Moroccan Chicken. Free range chook, my garden fresh zucchini, onions, garlic, local carrots. 100% local.
Day 23 - Saturday
Breakfast; Home made yoghurt with apricot jam plus 2 cups of mint tea. 100% local
Lunch; Bread roll with my garden fresh cucumber, lettuce, chicken loaf and home made Stilton cheese. 90% local
Dinner; Curry Zucchini Soup with home-made crusty bread. 100% local
Supper; Cheese board. Jindi Brie and Home-made Stilton with wafer crackers . 90% local.
Day 24 - Sunday
Breakfast; Crumpets with apricot jam. 2 cups of mint tea. 75% local.
Lunch; Bread roll with cucumber and chicken loaf. 75% local
Dinner; Roast Chicken (FR), with local potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cabbage. Frozen peas, from AU. Gravy from pan juices, cornflour and gravy browning. 80% local
Day 25 - Monday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Leftover Curry Zucchini Soup. 100% local
Dinner; Prawn & Chicken Pasta Salad. Frozen prawns from Thailand, chicken leftovers and locally made pasta (Kookaburra brand). Dressing made from French mustard and yoghurt. 75% local.
The maths comes in at 75.4% from 25 meals. Slowly getting better every week. We are very happy with our progress so far, and are still coming in at under $150 per fortnight for our food bill. The veggie patch is really being put to good use as is the stockpile cupboard for certain staples.
At the Jeff Jones market in Bacchus Marsh we picked up these lovely local fruits grown only 14km from our house.
Yellow Peaches
New season golden delicious apples
Yellow nectarines
Plumcots. A cross between a plum and an apricot. Great flavour and they make a delicious jam.
Local Strawberries,
The find of the month for January goes to the local Apple Cider Vinegar made in Bacchus Marsh. It now only has about 200ml left out of the 2 litre bottle as I used it in my pickles and chutney recipes. When I take the bottle back I get a refill for $3. What a bargain and a find! It even has a big glob of 'Mother of Vinegar' in the bottle, which I will put in a big glass jar and add a cheap white wine to make my very own white wine vinegar. I believe it is easy as waiting a few weeks!
Labels:
160km Diet
Sunday, 24 January 2010
The Zucchini Dilemma?
Look what I discovered lurking under my zucchini bush! Note the bewildered look on my face. What the heck am I going to do with this massive zucchini. It weighted in at 2.772 kg, and it is the biggest I have ever seen. It wouldn't even fit in the fridge!
Now for piece de resistance. I found a recipe for Curry Zucchini Soup, which I gave a go. Here it is.
serves 4-6
Sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan, set over medium heat, don't brown.
Add the zucchini, stock, curry powder and ginger and a large pinch of salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer until the vegetables are very soft - about 45 minutes.
Carefully put the soup, in batches, into a blender, or use an immersion stick blender; blend until smooth.
Stir in the cream, taste, and adjust the seasonings if required.
Serve with crusty bread.
We found this soup to have a wonderful flavour, with a slight kick from the curry powder. All the kids wolfed it down and asked for seconds. I thought it was quite filling.
So, in reflection, that is what you do with a whopping big zucchini!
But then the ah ha moment!
I shall make a chutney with some of it, and dinner with the remainder.
So it was off to the kitchen to slice half of it up for a zucchini chutney, which I salted and left overnight. I will be finishing it off this afternoon as well as a batch of Brinjal Pickles from an abundance of eggplants.
Now for piece de resistance. I found a recipe for Curry Zucchini Soup, which I gave a go. Here it is.
Curry Zucchini Soup
Ingredients
serves 4-6
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 kg (2 1/2 pounds) zucchini
- 1 litre (1 quart) low-salt vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan, set over medium heat, don't brown.
Add the zucchini, stock, curry powder and ginger and a large pinch of salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer until the vegetables are very soft - about 45 minutes.
Carefully put the soup, in batches, into a blender, or use an immersion stick blender; blend until smooth.
Stir in the cream, taste, and adjust the seasonings if required.
Serve with crusty bread.
We found this soup to have a wonderful flavour, with a slight kick from the curry powder. All the kids wolfed it down and asked for seconds. I thought it was quite filling.
So, in reflection, that is what you do with a whopping big zucchini!
Labels:
160km Diet,
Cooking,
Gardening,
Organic,
vegetables
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Day 21 - My Local Zone
One thing I have failed to share with you during my challenge is a map of my local zone. Now that is a bit silly, isn't.
To get it into context, first is a map of Australia; About the same size as continental United States but with lots more deserts.
Then a map of Victoria, the southern most state of mainland Australia. Victoria is about the same size as the island of Great Britain if you place it on its side.
Finally, a close up of my local zone of 160km of my house in Melton West.
So you can see that there is a fair bit of land as well as some of Bass Strait in the zone, and a fair bit of that land is good farming land. A lot of Melbourne's fresh food comes from within the zone as it is the second largest urban sprawl in Australia. Luckily we have a green belt (or a brown one if you really look at it) of about 15km between us and the urban boundary. This is fortunate, because that is where the olive grove is that I will be getting my olives and oil from when I run out of stockpile!
Now that I have put it into context myself, it really doesn't look that hard. Just a bit more research of local suppliers and bob's your uncle. I have potatoes, cherries, nectarines, peaches, flour, olives to name a few that I have discovered so far. I am going to start to update my account at http://www.localfoodmap.net/ with the things I have found so far over the next few days. This will help others in my area reap the rewards of my challenge. Thanks to Rosemary who runs the site for suggesting it in one of my many reader comments
Gavin
To get it into context, first is a map of Australia; About the same size as continental United States but with lots more deserts.
Finally, a close up of my local zone of 160km of my house in Melton West.
So you can see that there is a fair bit of land as well as some of Bass Strait in the zone, and a fair bit of that land is good farming land. A lot of Melbourne's fresh food comes from within the zone as it is the second largest urban sprawl in Australia. Luckily we have a green belt (or a brown one if you really look at it) of about 15km between us and the urban boundary. This is fortunate, because that is where the olive grove is that I will be getting my olives and oil from when I run out of stockpile!
Now that I have put it into context myself, it really doesn't look that hard. Just a bit more research of local suppliers and bob's your uncle. I have potatoes, cherries, nectarines, peaches, flour, olives to name a few that I have discovered so far. I am going to start to update my account at http://www.localfoodmap.net/ with the things I have found so far over the next few days. This will help others in my area reap the rewards of my challenge. Thanks to Rosemary who runs the site for suggesting it in one of my many reader comments
Gavin
Labels:
160km Diet
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Day 20 - First 100% Home Grown Meal
Tonight was a momentous occasion! As the title suggests, I made our first 100% home-grown meal for dinner tonight. Omelettes fit for a king and queen.
Here are the ingredients;
There were eggs from the girls (thanks ladies!), pear tomatoes, yellow current tomatoes, capsicum, red spring onion, green spring onion, baby zucchini, basil, parsley, and grated home made Pyrenees cheese with green peppercorns. Of course, the cook (that's me) could not make this gourmet delight without a glass of local organic Chardonnay! Bottoms up.
Here are the ingredients in the omelette pan. No special order, just the egg first and the cheese last;
It smelled divine, with all that cheese melting slowly over the vegetables that were now beginning to steam in their own juices. After about 3 minutes, I flipped it in half to help the cheese to melt, waited for another 3 minutes and served it up with some freshly cracked pepper and sea salt;
When I took the first bite, it was like there was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited! Don't you just want to reach into the screen and sample a morsel? I know that I could eat these every few days if I had the chance.
To tempt your taste buds further, here are a few shots of the 3rd Stilton that has been maturing for the last 4 months. Once again, home made cheese is simply divine.
It has a nice, strong rind, with lots of marbling inside. I went crazy with the piercing it this time as I wanted lots of veins in the wheel. I put in about 40 holes. It clearly worked well.
Click to enlarge any of the photos to get right in there.
Kim and I sampled this small piece on Saturday with a few crackers and local cherries. The flavour combination was amazing.
Well, that is about it for today. I wonder what we will come up with tomorrow? Zucchini seams to be a staple at the moment as it just keeps coming and my two bushes don't want to stop. Not that I am complaining, because we are truly appreciating the all of the flavours from our garden this year. We should have started this diet yonks ago, because I have been inspired to keep planting successive crops to keep up production. So much fun.
Here are the ingredients;
There were eggs from the girls (thanks ladies!), pear tomatoes, yellow current tomatoes, capsicum, red spring onion, green spring onion, baby zucchini, basil, parsley, and grated home made Pyrenees cheese with green peppercorns. Of course, the cook (that's me) could not make this gourmet delight without a glass of local organic Chardonnay! Bottoms up.
Here are the ingredients in the omelette pan. No special order, just the egg first and the cheese last;
It smelled divine, with all that cheese melting slowly over the vegetables that were now beginning to steam in their own juices. After about 3 minutes, I flipped it in half to help the cheese to melt, waited for another 3 minutes and served it up with some freshly cracked pepper and sea salt;
When I took the first bite, it was like there was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited! Don't you just want to reach into the screen and sample a morsel? I know that I could eat these every few days if I had the chance.
To tempt your taste buds further, here are a few shots of the 3rd Stilton that has been maturing for the last 4 months. Once again, home made cheese is simply divine.
Click to enlarge any of the photos to get right in there.
Kim and I sampled this small piece on Saturday with a few crackers and local cherries. The flavour combination was amazing.
Well, that is about it for today. I wonder what we will come up with tomorrow? Zucchini seams to be a staple at the moment as it just keeps coming and my two bushes don't want to stop. Not that I am complaining, because we are truly appreciating the all of the flavours from our garden this year. We should have started this diet yonks ago, because I have been inspired to keep planting successive crops to keep up production. So much fun.
Labels:
160km Diet,
Cheese,
Food miles
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Urgency at the Co-op!
My main post for today is over at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op.
It is titled "A Sense of Urgency?". It is an article that I wrote over a year ago, however I revamped it in light of the outcome of COP15 at Copenhagen. It describes the human mechanisim that stops us from acting upon information and signs of approaching peril. It is the reflex that is opposite to the fight or flight response.
I hope you will pop over and have a read of this article.
Gavin
Labels:
activisim,
Simple Green Frugal Co-op
Monday, 18 January 2010
Day 17 - 160km Diet
During my lunch break on Friday, decided to check out what Queen Victoria Markets had to offer in the way of local food. I was particularly looking for local wine and meat. I found a wine merchant in the food hall who stocked a large range of locally produced wines from within my zone. I took note for future reference. I then made my way through the fish and meat hall and stumbled upon an Organic/Biodynamic Butcher who sourced his beef from Gippsland, pork from Cape Otway, lamb from Mansfield, and chicken from Queensland. All just outside my zone except the chicken. I could tell that he was very proud of where he sourced his produce. It was quite expensive, but it looked like real meat, deep red just like I remember from my childhood on the dairy farm when Dad slaughtered a cow. At least this butcher knew where he got all his produce from and not like some of the other butchers I asked. They didn't have a clue. I didn't buy any because we still had quite a bit of meat in the freezer that we hadn't used yet.
I then proceeded to the organic fruit & veg hall. I discovered that just because something is organic, it doesn't mean it is local. The only stone fruit that they had from local sources were White and Yellow Peaches, so I bought 6 big ones, which tasted fantastic. The stall holders very obligingly checked the boxes to see where everything was from before I made up my mind. They must get asked the local question quite a bit. Maybe this diet is catching on.
Some produce can be right on your doorstep. I took a trip up the range to Gisborne Saturday afternoon, which is only about 23 km from us, however I never made it. Just at the top was the Mt Gisborne Orchard who were selling fresh red cherries from this property and white cherries from their Daylesford orchard. As both were in my zone, I bought half a kilo of each at $11 a kilo. What a bargain, and so close. On the way back, I noticed not less than 7km from my house there was a new market garden who was growing salad greens. They had some big poly tunnels out the back and I couldn't see what was inside. It might be worth a look in the off season when my own salad greens run out.
Also on yesterday, on our way to visit my daughter Amy in Ballarat, I kept an eagle eye on the surrounding countryside to see what the farmers were growing. We passed wheat, cattle, lamb, and potatoes. We spotted a little stall selling local spuds just our side of Ballarat called the Ballarat Potato Shed, and popped in for a look. The lady at the counter told me that their spuds were not ready, however the ones I selected were from their other farm in Geelong! Well within my zone and at $10 for 5kg, not a bad price for some very tasty spuds. She also told me that their produce would be on sale in February. Sounds like another excuse to visit Amy, not that I need one of course. On the way home, we pulled into Bacchus Marsh for some more stone fruit and I got caught out. The Fruits of Life is a well known vendor along the Avenue of Honour, so we drove past our normal supplier and visited the FOL instead. Well, nice looking store, but the only produce I found from within my zone were Peaches (not from Bacchus Marsh, but from Kangaroo Flat to the north of Melbourne). The mushrooms were from South Australia, and the carrots from sources unknown. Beware of flash looking stalls that are basically mutton dressed as lamb. I will be back to my old stall in the future, that is for sure.
I am getting a bit worried about where I am going to source some of the staples we use from the stockpile. It is beginning to run low, and with most of the tinned food being imported, it is time to look for fresh or locally processed alternatives.
Over the course of the week, we secured the following staples sourced from local producers; Cherries, Peaches, Bison Potatoes, Cherry wine.
Harvesting from the garden; Zucchini, lettuce, onions, garlic, spring onions, herbs (basil, thyme, mint), Cherry tomatoes, cucumber, eggplants (aubergine), eggs, sunflower seeds, sweet potato leaves, jalapeño chillies, and our first capsicum (bell pepper). We had so many eggs we had to sell some to a friend at $4.50 a doz. Rainwater tank at 75% after this afternoons rain. I also cracked open a wheel of home made Stilton that was 4 months old. Delicious.
Planted in the garden; Red Lollo lettuce, spring onions, rainbow chard, 2 x Camellia sinensis bushes for green tea.
Now for the weekly menu. The whole family is enjoying the home cooked meals and the variety.
Day 10 - Sunday
Lunch; Last years preserved cucumbers with home-made bread. 99% local
Dinner; Treat night - Chips from the local Fish & Chip shop. 0% local but doesn't count in overall percentage.
Day 11 - Monday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Leftover vegetable curry from freezer. 100% local from my garden except spices which are allowed.
Dinner; Grilled NZ Hoki (MSC certified), with local potatoes, garden fresh zucchini and canned peas. 50% local. We must track down a local fish from sustainable sources.
Day 12 - TuesdayBreakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; . Leftover pasta sauce from freezer. 20% local ingredients (garlic, onion, carrots, all from my garden)
Dinner; Zucchini slice with local potatoes, and canned corn. 90% local
Supper; Home made French onion dip. Home made Yoghurt, French onion soup (unknown). 95% local
Day 13 - Wednesday
Breakfast; Vegemite toast (home made bread). 100% local
Lunch; 2 minute noodles from stockpile. 0% local
Dinner; Cottage Pie. beef mince from freezer (origin unknown), home grown onion and garlic, canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and passatta. 40% local.
Day 14 - Thursday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local.
Lunch; Leftover Zucchini slice from day 12. 90% local
Dinner; Home made beef burgers. Burgers from freezer (Australian), home made bread rolls, cucumber, lettuce from garden. Local cheddar cheese. 70% local
Day 15 - Friday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Leftover Cottage Pie. 30% local
Snack at work; 1 organic local peach. 100% local
Dinner; 2 Beef sausages in bread on the BBQ. 100% local. 1 shared bottle of Windy Peak Sav Blanc from Yarra valley (local zone).
Day 16 - Saturday
Breakfast; Weetbix with milk from within zone. 50% local
Lunch; Bread & butter cucumber sandwich. 100% local
Snack; Home made Stilton cheese with crackers. 95% local
Dinner; Free range local Tandoori chicken skewers (made by yours truly) with home made yoghurt, garlic and tandoori spices, with home made special fried rice (rice, egg, spring onion, frozen peas, fresh bean sprouts). 90% local. Rice from NSW, all other ingredients local.
Dessert; Semolina pudding. Some very old Semolina (milled in Melbourne), local milk and butter, with 2 tablespoons of castor sugar (Queensland) topped with local cherries and a glass or two of Cherry wine. 95% local.
Day 17 - Sunday
Breakfast; Vegemite toast (home made bread). 2 cups of mint tea. 100% local.
Lunch; Leftover Special Fried rice from day 16. 50% local
Dinner; Baked Potatoes with home-made bolognese sauce. 60% local
Dessert; Semolina pudding. Some very old Semolina (milled in Melbourne), local milk and butter, with 2 tablespoons of castor sugar (Queensland), topped with local cherries. 95% local (I love semolina pudding!).
Given that there were 27 meals listed, we achieved a local food diet rating of 71.0% for this week.
Getting much better at this, and always on the lookout for local fare to the point of obsession. One that Kim thinks that I need to calm down on :-)
Labels:
160km Diet,
Food miles
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Sorry...
for not posting more often this week! Not that I have been resting on my laurels, that is for sure.
We have still been searching out local food, will some success, and have been eating lots of wholesome home cooked meals, and working hard around the house.
I have had two big days in the garden, and have just finished writing my monthly column titled 'Green Living Tips' for the Caroline Springs Community newsletter, and a long email interview for the Good Gardening magazine which is being printed in February. Vasili, from Vasili's Garden was the interviewer. I managed to write up 7 pages from his questions, which I know is far too long, but it gives him a bit of material to work with.
So, here is a promise to you all. Lots of posts next week starting with the 160km diet update tomorrow night.
Gav
We have still been searching out local food, will some success, and have been eating lots of wholesome home cooked meals, and working hard around the house.
I have had two big days in the garden, and have just finished writing my monthly column titled 'Green Living Tips' for the Caroline Springs Community newsletter, and a long email interview for the Good Gardening magazine which is being printed in February. Vasili, from Vasili's Garden was the interviewer. I managed to write up 7 pages from his questions, which I know is far too long, but it gives him a bit of material to work with.
So, here is a promise to you all. Lots of posts next week starting with the 160km diet update tomorrow night.
Gav
Labels:
Gavin
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Debt = Slavery
Think of it this way. If you had no debt, would you go to work at the employer you have now? I don't know about you, but I would rather want to be able to make a choice on what I want to do with my day, rather than someone else telling me what to do. If you think that self-employment is the way to break this bond of slavery, then you are sadly mistaken. Until you pay off all of your outstanding debt that you took out to service your company, you are still chained to working until it is paid off. Debt is a contract that you enter into with a financial institution that you must honour, by law. It is a burden that must be repaid.
So, to be truly free, we must become debt free, and owe nothing to anyone in the form of loans that bare interest. No Debt = Freedom.
To that end, are paying off our personal debt as quickly as possible with a view to being free! By the end of March we will have paid off the personal loan I took out for the Solar PV system, one year ahead of the loan term of 4 years. This will save use about $1000 in interest alone achieved by using the savings in electricity over the term of the loan to pay down extra off of the principle. Renewable energy is the only investment I know that pays for itself! So once this debt is paid out, we basically have free electricity.
With the surplus funds, we are then paying down our remaining mortgage. We have calculated that we can pay off the loan in 5 and a half years. With no other outstanding debt, that will make me a free man! As I have a military pension that will cover off basic expenses, I will only need a part time job, with the choice being mine alone on what I do and how many hours I work. I am very excited by this notion. Knowing that our frugal lifestyle and low expenses have gone a long way to achieving this goal, I am so glad I had my green epiphany when I did. Little did I realise that when I realised that by reducing consumption I was actually lowering my environmental footprint, and in the process, lowering my craving for debt. With all things being equal, I will be 51 when I semi-retire.
Unfortuantely, if everyone in the world paid off their debt, our current economic system would collapse;
“The entire world economy rests on the consumer; if he ever stops spending money he doesn't have on things he doesn't need -- we're done for." - Bill BonnerOur entire society has a foundation of money = debt, and the we rely on growth at all costs to continue funding this lifestyle. As I have mentioned before, this is not sustainable in the foreseeable future. Growth at all costs means having unlimited resources, which is something our planet is not able to provide us with. We live in a finite world that has boundaries and thresholds, many of which we have already crossed to the detriment of other species who co-exist with us on this big blue/green marble.
“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” - Kenneth Boulding, economist
For a better understanding of how money is created, pop on over to Mia's blog, "Becoming a Good Human", and reading this post titled "Economy #1: How Money is Created", and the follow up post "Economy #4: The Debt Trap (Our Economic System is not Sustainable)
Both posts make for enlightening reading. It is partly because of the way our current economic system works, that our world leaders failed to act on climate change at Copenhagen. This is because they do not have the courage to change the very system that got us into this mess, as they realise that by curbing growth, the system as it stands, would collapse. Growth at all costs would have to be curtailed and the wealthier citizens of the world would have to stop shopping until they dropped to reduce excessive carbon emissions. With the current reality that money = debt, then this is looking like a slim prospect indeed. We only have one home, and we are using it up at an alarming rate.
Whilst I will be personally happy not having any debt, I still worry that our society is still geared as if we are partying like it is 1999! I don't know the answers, but I do know we are in for a bumpy ride, very quickly.
Labels:
Debt
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