Harvesting The Broad Beans

We had a great time this morning harvesting our crop of broad beans. 

The beans grew to over 6' tall and heavily laden with pods.  I usually know when the beans are ready to pick, when they all begin to fall over and the pods are swollen.  Here is a before shot of the bed.  All over the place.

I gave Ben my garden clippers and he managed to fell the entire bean forest (his words), and Kim and I picked the beans off the stalks and shelled them.

He did a great job, and this is what was left when he was finished.

Then I cleaned it up and chopped each of the stalks down to the ground.  I leave the root in because the broad bean roots have nitrogen nodules that break down into the soil and act as a fertiliser for the next crop.  It is known as fixing nitrogen.

This is a shot of the bed all tidied up and ready for a top dress of sheep manure and compost.

So how much did we harvest?  A whopping 3.6 kg (8 lbs) of Broad Beans (Fava).  Last years harvest we only managed 1.8 kg (4 lbs) from the same area.  The rain has been above average this season.

We also saved all of the finger sized pods and are having those with our roast dinner tonight. This is before  Kim had topped and tailed them ready for dinner.

We also saved about 400 gm (14 oz) of fresh beans to be sauted in a little butter and garlic with dinner.

I blanched the remainder for freezing and we have enough for soups and stews for winter.  It is such a great feeling to be able to harvest a crop like this with so little effort.  I think I fertilised twice over the winter with Powerfeed via the water butts, and that was it.  I did not weed at all and performed no pest control.  I saved 5 long stalks and kept the first 4 largest pods attached and hung them upside down in the garage.  When the seeds are dry I will store them in a sealed glass jar for next season.  

Broad beans are just the most easiest and tastiest crop to grow over our temperate winter. 

Sydney On Monday

As part of the national Keep Australia Beautiful - Sustainable Cities awards, Amy (daughter 21) and I are travelling up to Canada Bay in Sydney on Monday, as part of the Melton Shire delegation representing Victoria.

We are only up there for the day, flying up and back in the same day.  When our council invited me, I stipulated that all the flights were to be carbon offset or I would be catching the train.  As it turns out, they did pay for the offsets, so we are travelling in style I suppose.

It has been a long time since I last flew.  I don't normally due to my personal values regarding a low carbon footprint, because a single medium haul flight can double your carbon emissions for the year.

Anyway, wish us luck, it should be a great day and I will post photos soon.  I hope we win!

Gav

The End of Food

I just finished reading a very eye opening book titled, "The End Of Food - The coming crisis in the world food industry" by Paul Roberts.  He also wrote "The End Of Oil".  The EOF was published in 2008 before the global financial crisis but all of the information in it still holds true to this day.  It is well researched with references and many footnotes, however besides being about a subject dear to my heart, it is a very easy read as well.  I did not struggle through the chapters, as each one builds upon the next in good sequence. I highly recommend this book if you can get it from your local library.

Near the end of the book, Paul asks a very pertinent question, which I will try and answer from my own experience.  It is in the form of a little exercise that all of you can partake in.

"The next time you come home from the supermarket or grocery store with bags of food, do a mental inventory of all the items that, if the modern food system were temporarily turned off or disrupted, you could replace locally, or even produce in your own backyard?"  

I will add to this question.  Could you cope with what you have at hand for a week, a month, two or even six months?  Maybe even longer?

I for one have tried this experiment first hand in my quest to eat a 160km or 100 mile diet for the first 4-5 months of this year, and even though I was successful during the summer months, I failed dismally during late autumn and early winter.  At the beginning we did pretty well, however as the months drew on I was getting down to about 30% local fare especially fresh food.  Maybe I didn't try hard enough, but I believe it was simply too cold to grow anything of substance quickly and our local area is not agricultural except for the small market gardening town of Bacchus Marsh to the west of us.  Around the 140 day mark we found that we were using more and more fuel and time looking for local food sources, which was kind of defeating the initial goal of lowering our food miles.  But don't bed disparaged, because we still grow and eat at an average of at least 50% of our own produce, probably more if you count the eggs from the chooks.

Lets get realistic.  The modern food system, as I mentioned in my last post, is all based upon cheap energy in the form of oil.  Without it we could not transport food long distances, grow it in marginal soils, fertilise it, spray it with pesticides and herbicides, and deliver all of this to far away places where this food is probably well out of season anyway.  Without oil, it all collapses into a screaming heap.  Add to this heap, the varying conditions of climate change and the pressure of population overshoot, there is high potential for a food crash just around the corner.  So what can we do about it?  The book does not offer many solutions as it basically tells you how it is, and not what to do.  However......

Now I don't have all the answers for this issue, but I have learnt a few things over the last four years.  Firstly, read, read, and read.  Scour you local library for all the Permaculture and organic gardening books you can lay your hands on.  If you don't have some land of your own, ask a friend or relative close by who has some and are willing to share in the profits of your hard graft.  Have a listen to my podcast titled "Designing my food garden" to get a few ideas.  When you think you have read enough, then just give it a go.  What have you really got to loose.  If you feed the soil with good compost, worm wee and castings, and mulch really well, any brown thumb will turn into a green thumb in no time.  I did, and so can you!  Before about March 2007, I didn't know squat about growing my own food, but just did a lot of research and gave it a go.  I didn't know if I would be successful, but I kept trying different things and planted heirloom varieties of strange vegetables that took my fancy.  Guess what?  It worked, and I am still growing food.  Each year, I get a little better and am able to share my experience and knowledge to others who want to learn.  It is such a good feeling to dig, grow and eat your own food, and an even better feeling if you can supplement it with local fare that you have either swapped with friends and neighbours or bought from local farmers.  I feel good just writing about it!  Get growing, preserving and swapping.

Also, if you have the space, start a small stockpile, just the essentials and local stuff like flour, pasta, tinned food and the like.  You can read about what I store at home in this post simply titled "Stuff I Have Stockpiled".  It is easier than you think, and we have been saved by it quite a few times now.  We just buy a little extra each week, practice good stock management so we don't waist anything, and keep a track of things before they run low.  We only buy extra stuff that we know we eat in our diet.  This saves on wastage as well.

I will leave you with this very thought provoking passage from the book.  I know, I know, copyright and all that and for it I apologise to the author. It is just too good to not repeat here.

"For thousands of years, food has mirrored society.  It provided the substance and ideas that brought forth civilisation, as well as the mechanisms by which civilisation now seems to be taking itself apart.  At the start of the twenty-first century, we are closer to that precipice than we have ever been, yet perhaps more capable, ultimately, of stepping away.  Hunger has always been an invitation to make a better world, and it remains so." - Paul Roberts - The End of Food.

¡Viva Revolución!

My Changing Reality

Throughout my journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle, which by the way only began 4 years ago last month, my reality has shifted more times than I can count on both hands.

As Plato wrote in The Phaedrus; "First appearance deceives many."  I discovered that I lived a life where I took everything at face value, but that soon changed in an instant.

The first shift in reality has been mentioned many times before.  It was during the time I watched "An Inconvenient Truth" for the very first time.  It made me instantly aware of Climate Change in a heartbeat, and its impacts on the planet and on humanity.  This made me think hard and deep for the very first time in my life.  I question now why it took me until I was 43 to have these kind of deep and meaningful thoughts, but hey, you cannot change the past.

Then I discovered the reality of Peak Oil and what many people believe to be its ramifications upon society.  Not only did we have climate change to contend with, but PO as well.  All this information to digest within the space of about 6 months was enough to do anyone's head in.  But I continued to seek more information and actions that I could take to prevent or delay these two bad boys, both caused by humans of course.  I read back on my first post about PO and now realise how naive I was.  I had not even grasped the full concept of what was about to come down at us.

The next shift in reality for me was getting a better understanding of Population Overshoot which has come about by the use of cheap fossil fuels in agriculture.  Fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and oil based fuels have played a massive part in what is known as the Green Revolution, which in turn has enabled our population to grow nearly 7 fold in just 110 years.  It was about the same time I was introduced to the concept of Peak Everything, and here I was thinking Peak Oil was all we were facing.

Learning about how the thin fabric of society in the western world works after watching "The Corporation" shocked me into the realisation that all is not what it seems to be.  I found that governments only had a little influence on its citizen, and it was that corporations really determine what we should like and desire.  This reality was also backed up by reading "Affluenza", which describes how consumerism became the norm.  I figured out that by this time that I was not a conspicuous consumer any more, but a conscious provider.

This brought me to the realisation that "growth at all costs" was the dominant economical model that propels our society down a slippery slope.  This model, I thought was totally unsustainable on a planet with finite resources, and in fact, to continue this western lifestyle we would need 3 planets to continue down this path.

All throughout these multiple shifts, lingering in the back of my mind, there was always one single re-occurring theme that was a common thread.  That common thread was the use of fossil fuels, past, present, and future.  With more research I learned that without these forms of cheap, dense energy we could not have created all the other realities that I discovered during my journey.  Our ever accelerating use of the stuff is what is currently causing climate change, Peak everything,  population overshoot, an unstable economy based on increasing demand for it, enhances our ability to decimate the environment and to unleash a mass extinction of species (including ourselves) at a rate that has never been seen before in 4.5 billion years.

So much for first appearances!  So how did I stop going into a depressive spiral and not get out of bed each day directly after one of these shifts?  Well, I tried to change my behaviours with each shift in reality.  I found soon after my green epiphany that if I actually did something to improve the situation, then I felt much better about the new reality and was able to cope quite well.  Then I learnt about the stages of change and became more aware of these stages and how to work through them quickly.  It was this skill and these successful actions that spurred me on to bigger and bigger actions, until the present day where we are now.  Skills to pay the bills, as my son Adam often told me.  Skills for the future, more likely!  Did I ever mention I like to put my hands in the dirt to relax.  Growing your own food brings you back in touch with the planet, and helps you avert some of the negative effects of my discovered realities.

Now, I don't know if I have made a difference in this big, big world of ours, but I do know one thing.  I have made a difference to those immediately around me, and for that I am glad.  We are more educated, understand things that others simply have no idea exist nor want to learn about, and have built a community of like-minded people around us.  This is real community building in action, and all because I decided to take the invitation to watch a movie on a work day!  It is funny how things pan out.

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”

       - John Lennon

All Bubbly at the Co-op

Probably old hat for most of my readers, however you can never promote a good video tutorial too much I reckon!  Especially when a) it is about soap making and b) it took an afternoon to edit it!

So those who missed it, please pop over to the Simple Green Frugal Co-op for my soap making video tutorial.

Gav

The Human Face of Climate Change

Climate Change has a human face.  Not only because we are responsible for creating this condition, but it is already affecting peoples lives in low laying countries. Climate Change is not some abstract debate over whether it is or isn't real. The debate is long over, as it is impacting us now.

For example, take Ursula Rakova's community in the Carteret Islands 86km north-east of Bougainville.  She and her clan are loosing their way of life due to storm surges, erosion and rising sea levels.  She will not be able to pass the island down to her children as her mother and grandmother have done so before her.  This is because by the time her daughter grows up, the island will be uninhabitable.




This makes me sad, as I and others living a western lifestyle are mainly to blame for the plight bestowed upon her and many millions like her throughout the world.

Oxfam is running a series of weekly stories for the remainder of 2010, about communities throughout the globe grappling with the impacts of climate change. You can find the stories here at the Faces of climate change.

We can all do something about our personal emissions before it is too late, and while you are at it, let you local member how you feel about the slow progress by our governments regarding positive and prompt action to reduce our countries carbon emissions.   It won't hurt to try.

Getting The Most From Your Solar PV Investment

You want to save the planet right?  So you buy a solar PV system and install it on your roof.  But how do you get it to pay itself back quickly and still receive the lowest electricity bill possible? 

Glad you all asked because I received this email today from a reader who asked exactly that.  She wanted to know why her power bills were still very high when she received a feed-in tariff, and followed the recommendations of her Solar installer.  Over to Pam.

Hi Gavin,

 

Quickly caught your segment on ABC Local Radion yesterday, and felt you may be able to help answer a couple of solar/grid questions that have perplexed me of late.

 

We are in a rural area in northern NSW, with three electric pumps to deliver water from tanks and for us in swimming pool, plus fridge, freezer and usual domestic appliances including electric oven and gas cooktop.Country Energy is our grid supplier.  Our annual electricity bill hovered around $2000 per year. 

 

Our household consists of three people, plus a fair amount of hosing etc is done outside as we have quite a few domestic animals.  (While we do also have livestock we use a petrol pump to draw water from a creek, which is then gravity fed to their water trough.)

 

We installed a 1kw solar photovoltaic system, grid connected, in September 2009 (2 ks inverter).  Following installation, and advice that daylight power usage will be through the solar panels, we changed our methods so that all washing, ironing, vacuuming and other household activites would be done during daytime while nightime use is restricted to electric oven and water consumption, plus the frige/freezer burbling away at night.  Hubby switched the running of the swimming pool pump to daytime only.  Naturally I turn off standby lights as much possible in the evening, very Gavin-like!  Lower energy light bulbs are used, however I do find that the resultant loss of brightness is irksome, especially in winter. 

 

Due to a mix-up with electricity bills for the first six months it was difficult to ascertain actual grid cost-savings, although summer did appear to be slightly less than usual.  I understand our solar panels generate 9 kWh per day, while our bills suggest our consumption is 21 kWh per day.   (Although their graph states 24.9 kWh)  Very disappointingly, our recent bill, for three quite wet months, was $630.  (Credit for Solar Bonus Scheme Net was $13.20)

 

I have thought of utilising some water containers besides the sink and hand basins to avoid pump usage at night (family not too keen on idea, however). 

 

We have been quoted around $4000 to increase our system to 1.5 kw

 

So, if you Would be so kind, I hope you can answer some of my questions:

 

a) Is is true that (on sunny days) all power usage should be from the panels?

 

b) Can our fridge and freezer really then use all of the remaining 12 kwh overnight, whilst we sleep?   Wouldn't this be off-peak, if that term still exists?

 

Other than building gravity fed tanks, at great expense, I can't think of any other ways to save energy, without greater minds than mine stepping in! 

 

Cheers,

Pam

Thanks for the email Pam.  Here are the answers to your two questions

 

Q1.  This all depends if you get paid a premium for the power you feed back into the grid.  As I live in Victoria, we have a Premium Solar Feed-in Tariff of 66c per kWh.  So I do quite the opposite of you, and I think you were given very dodgy advice by your installer.  This advice has cost you a lot of money!

 

Most of our electricity usage is during the night after sunset, because I want every single watt I generate to be fed back into the grid during the day, so that I get paid the premium.  You indicated that you are part of the NSW Government Solar bonus Scheme, which from my understanding pays you 60c per kWh.  To maximise your return on investment you need to use the least amount of electricity during the day so that the excess is fed back into the grid.  Here is a more detailed explanation.

My pool pump only runs at night, as does the washing machine, dishwasher, and dryer if it has been raining for a week and I am running out of jocks :-).  All the heavy energy demanding appliances and pumps.  We buy 100% Green Power from the grid which only costs me 25c per kWh, and we try not to use the day time power generated by my Solar PV system which is worth 66c to me.  

 

So for instance, if it was a sunny day and I generated 10 kWh, and I used 10 kWh during daylight hours I would mostly be drawing that electricity straight from the solar PV system.  Therefore, I would be ripping myself off by 41c per kWh utilised.  If I did this every day it adds up to a loss of $4.10 a day or over a 90 day billing period that adds up to a whopping $369.  A massive difference as you can see.  The way I see it by using you electricity during the night when I am not generating electricity, I am still carbon neutral and am just using the system to my advantage!  Certainly no crime against that.  Use your power at night and maximise your Solar PV investment.

Q2  Yes, the fridge and freezer could use that much electricity, as my old pair used to draw 10kWh per day.  Also if they are old models they tend to be heavy power users, with newer models being at least 4 times as efficient.  My new fridge (2 years old) only uses 2 kWh a day and it is a large model split fridge freezer.  Maybe check if the seals are in good condition, because a lot of energy can be wasted via leaky seals.  If you have a co-gen meter or smart meter installed by your energy wholesaler, then it is more than likely that you will be paying the same tariff from the grid all day long.

I hope that answered you questions, and has helped all those people who own or are thinking of installing a grid tied Solar PV system.

May the Sun shine on your panels for eternity!

A Day With Vasili and the ABC

What a day!  Up at 0530, and logged on to work from home at 0600 until 1130.  I was surprised at 0830 by a phone call from Fiona Wyllie from ABC radio NSW Afternoons, who stumbled across my blog the day before and wanted to talk about my green ephiphany on air and what I had done to change my lifestyle.  I teed up an interview for around 1540 and got back to work.

Then the fun began.  Vasili Kanidiadis and his crew turned up and we began to film the TV show.  Here are a few shots that Kim took of us in the garden.

 Here we are peering through the broadbeans.  It is a great crop this year with so many large pods forming.  They taste delicious raw, but will be even better double shelled and cooked in some butter and garlic.

I think we are talking about sage, nasturtiums and camomile in this shot.

And finally here we are after a sumptuous lunch made by Kim and I of Rainbow Chard Quiche, Egg and Bacon Pie, Salad from the garden, and home made bread rolls.

We checked out the front orchard, talked about garlic, broad bean, onions, herbs, water tanks, the stuff in the green house, fruit trees, the Solar PV system, Chickens, drank some home brew beer, how to kill earwigs and slugs, and how the garden was in balance with itself, with no major insect attacks (touch wood) in any of the garden beds.  We even talked about the two families of wild birds that have taken up residence and eat any caterpillars on my veggies.

Then finally we talked about what to do with the excess produce i.e. preserving or giving to neighbours, and how we make cheese and soap as well.  Then it was off to do the Zorba, which is how Vasili closes off the show.  It was a great couple of hours.  Thanks Vasili and crew for travelling all this way to Melton to film my humble abode.

Back to work again at 1400 until the radio interview on ABC NSW with Fiona at 1540.  We talked about how my journey towards the green side started, and some of the things I had done to lower my environmental footprint.  We even talked about broody bantams and what we could do to get them to break the habit.

I think it was a good interview, and I have already had emails from a few people saying that they enjoyed it.  I don't know how many people listened to my 15 minutes of radio fame, but it was a good experience.  Emma the producer said that she was going to put the interview up on their blog and send me the link.  I will post it here when I receive it.  Thanks Fiona and Emma.

Then I worked through to 1730 and called it a day. I tell you what.  When I started The Greening of Gavin, I did not expect all this attention, but of course if you put yourself out there and plug away at greening the community around you, someone is bound to notice!

Oh, and thanks to my boss for letting me work from home today.  I got heaps done, but am very tied now.

Vasili also mentioned that there was an episode he made a few weeks back that airs tonight on Ch31 about Weeds and their medicinal properties.  I better hurry up and go and watch it!

Gav

Week In Review

Last week and a bit was big.  I mean really BIG.

Saturday 9th of October, our family visited Geelong and specifically the Ecofest.  It was a great day and we looked at all the market stalls and sat in the church and listened to Andrew Lucas from Transition Town Bell, who talked about the Transition movement.  It was a great presentation, informative and I asked lots of questions.  Then we watched a 30 minute documentary about the movement and some of the things it has achieved so far.  If you want to learn more visit the Transition Network website.

Then it was my turn to speak on the subject of "My Green Epiphany", which was quite ironic seeing that I was delivering the presentation in a church.  I would never have thought four years ago that I would be giving a green sermon about my green awakening on holy ground.  Anyway, I enjoyed myself and I believe the crowd of 12 people did as well.  They kept asking questions for what seemed like ages, especially ones about cheese.  You should have seen their eyes light up when the slide about cheese making came up on the screen near the end of the presso.  It was amazing.  I was even beginning to think myself that was there no end to this blokes talent.  Not trying to big note myself (well, maybe a little), but it is not until you are 45 minutes into a presentation and it hits you that you have travelled a long way in the last 4 years.  It is amazing what you can put your mind to when you really are driven and willing to learn from trial and error.  Many thanks to Andrew and Alicia Ryan for inviting me to speak on the day.

Sunday 10th of October.  I tidied up the garden and put down two batches of beer to ferment.  Cerveza and a Coopers Lager.  Then popped around to the neighbours house for a BBQ and some home brew. Nice.

Monday 11th of October.  I gave a edible gardening presentation at an aged care facility in our town.  I had a ball and they were a lively bunch who had lots of questions and even gave me some tips.  It was well received and they invited me back for another session on Friday.  Alas, it was not to be as I had to return to work on Thursday.


Tuesday 12th of October;  We had a class of teenagers visit from a local high school.  They wanted to learn about sustainable living in the suburbs, so where better than to have a tour around my humble abode.  The kids were very talkative, and asked some pertinent questions like "How many kWh does your PV system make on average?", and some not so pertinent questions, like "Why are you chickens so sexy?".  All in all good fun and I hope they learned something.

It was also Ben's birthday party.  Here is a picture of the fantastic chocolate cake that Kim made him.

The cake was so yummy.  All home baked except for the malteasers on top.

Wednesday 13th of October; Rest.  I did absolutely nothing for a change! 

Thursday & Friday; Back to work Gav, your two week holiday is over!  I was so knackered after each day that I just went to bed early each night.

Saturday 16th October; I bottled 46 litres of beer which cost me about $35 to make.  Quite a bargain when the average carton of beer which contains only 9 litres costs $50!  It took 3 hours to bottle all of it, but well worth it, and ready to drink in about 3 weeks time.  I think that next time, I will just put down one batch at a time.  Afterwards, my neighbour Rick and I took a trip to the home-brew shop in Sunbury.  We were like a couple of school kids in a lolly shop.  I bought two kit beers with extras, so will be putting them down over the weekend to come.

I also did a bit of gardening just to tidy up for a special visitor who turns up this Wednesday with a film crew.  Announcement later on in the week!

Sunday 17th of October; Garden work which included mucking out the chook house.  What joy, and a bit smelly after the heavy rain we had during the week. 

After talking to the girls for about an hour and laughing at their antics, I waxed the Pyrenees with green peppercorns, and while I was at it, decided to wax the Parmesan as well.  I want to see what difference it makes in texture as I have only oiled my Parmesan cheeses in the past.

As you can see by clicking on the picture, the Pyrenees will be ready in February 2011, and the Parmesan in July 2011.  It seems so long to wait, but from experience it is well worth the wait.  Luckily I have a Caerphilly that is ready in two weeks time!

It was also Megan's birthday, and we had a small party for her.  I prepared her requested dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.  All home made with the meatballs and pasta sauce made by yours truly.  A great evening to cap of a very busy week and a bit!

And the big announcement.  Vasili of Vasili's Garden will be visiting on Wednesday to film an episode of his show in my garden.  Ben is taking the day off of school to participate as well.   We are all very exited here on TGOG suburban farm.  The show usually airs the week after shooting, but I will let you know when I find out closer to the date. 

Maresi! (I like it)

Our Soap Recipe

I received this email today, and thought that it was a good one to share with you all, particularly the question;

Hi Kevin,
I Stumbled upon your blog last night when i decided it was time to do some research on making my own soap. Love your blog & all your links!
I just cannot bring myself to buy it (for obvious reasons) and my hubby has had enough of my soap stand-off!! I purchased some supplies online from aussiesoapsupply, & am very excited to get started. I loved watching your u-tube tutorial & was wondering if you may share the recipe that you are using?

With thanks
Sonia

 Thanks for the question Sonia, although my name is Gavin.  I will endeavour to share my soap recipe in this post that I developed myself. :-)

Gavin & Kim's Bubble and Cream Soap Recipe
makes about 1.5kg

Ingredients:
300gm Olive Oil
300gm Rice Bran Oil
300gm Coconut Oil
100gm Sunflower Oil
140gm Sodium Hydroxide (lye/caustic soda)
380gm water
25gm Fragrance Essential Oil (the choice is yours)
Soap colouring to your personal preference.

To put it all together, follow the video tutorial at this post titled "Soap Making", or the text tutorial at "Lather Up Folks!"

I find this soap recipe the right balance of bubbles, creaminess and moisturiser.  Make sure that you cure the soap for at least 4 weeks before using it.

Enjoy and happy soap making!

Pyrénées Cheese with Green Peppercorns - Video Tutorial

Time for another cheese tutorial, and the last one in this current series.

On Saturday night I made a Pyrénées style cheese with green peppercorns.  I have made this cheese twice before, and it has a fantastic flavour.  This is a cows milk variety of Ossau-Iraty (normally made from sheeps milk) and originates from south west France. 

I noticed that I have never posted the recipe for this wonderful cheese on my blog, so to quickly rectify that, here it is;

Ingredients:

8 litres full cream milk, at least 3.4% fat
1 quarter teaspoon direct set Mesophilic starter culture
2.5 ml Rennet mixed with 60 ml unclorinated water
2.5 ml Calcium Chloride mixed with 60 ml unclorinated water
1 Tablespoon of cheese salt (non-ionised salt)
1 Tablespoon of green peppercorns
1 half cup of water

Procedure:

1. As usual I set up all the utensils and ingredients before I begin, then I sterilise everything in water in the 8 litre pot for 15 minutes.
2. Boil, then simmer the peppercorns in the water for 15 minutes.  Strain the peppercorns, retain the water.
3. Heat the milk to 32C (90F).  Add the pepper water, then add the starter culture, stir, maintain the target temp for 45 minutes.  Add the diluted calcium chloride and stir for 1 minutes.
4. Add the rennet to the milk, stir top to bottom for 1 minute.  Cover and set aside for 45 minutes.
5. Test for a clean break, then using a curd knife, cut the curd into 1 cm cubes (half and inch).
6. Gently raise the temperature to 38C (100F).  This should take about 30 minutes.  Gently stir whilst raising the temp.
7. Once target temp is reached, cover for 5 minutes, then pour into a colander lined with cheesecloth.  Tie up the curds into a ball and let them hang from a long spoon resting on the edges of a large pot to drain for one hour.
8. After an hour the ball will be firm and moist, but not hard.
9. Mill the curds into thumbnail sized pieces them mix through the salt and the peppercorns with your fingers.  Transfer to the 1kg mould, fold the cloth over and put the follower on top.  Press lightly, about 2.5 kg (5lb) for 30 minutes.  Remove, turn over and repress at 5kg (10lb) for 15 minutes.  Turn again and repress at 10kg (20lb) for 12 hours.  Remove, turn, and repress for a last time at 10kg for 12 hours.
10. Remove cheese from the mould and cloth, and let air dry on a wooden board.  This may take from 3 to 5 days.  Be sure to turn the cheese a few times a day so that it dries evenly.
11. Once your cheese has developed a rind, ripen at 13C (55F), and 80-85% humidity, from 4 to 6 months.  

I prefer to wax the cheese once the rind has developed, because from experience, this cheese dries out too quickly. 

I had a lot of fun bringing this series of video tutorials to you.  When I make a few more different types of cheese, I will make some more informative videos.  Until next time.











Bon appétit!

Making Parmesan Cheese - Video Tutorial

On Wednesday, I made Parmesan.  It is a wonderful, strong tasting cheese, and I dare say that most cheese lovers would have heard of it.  From milk to mould it took about 3 hours 45 minutes.  I probably would have taken a little less time if I didn't have to reshoot some of the takes because of the giggles, but alas, that footage is now on the cutting room floor.

To find the recipe I have used many times that the tutorial is based upon, take a visit to this post simply titled "Parmesan".  Break out the organic popcorn and take a seat and enjoy the second of the cheese making video tutorials.

"Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about."
Steven Spielberg

Down The Garden Path

Let me take you on a journey. This journey is down our garden path.  Spring is such a pleasurable time to be in the garden and as Kim was being artistic today, so I thought I would share her photos with you all.  Click on any of them to enlarge to full size.

 Down the garden path.  Veggies on the left, herbs on the right!

A gift from Mother Nature.  The Nasturtiums sprout here every year from seed that blew here from the other side of the path four years ago.

Beautiful reds and pinks!

Another gift from Mother Nature.  These parsley seeds travelled 5 metres (16ft) to get to where this plant grew on the veggie bed side of the path.

The sage is bigger than last year after I cut it back by two thirds in the winter and gave it a generous sprinkle of blood and bone.

Cyclamens grown in the same pot for three years.  They just keep coming back.

Spring planting has not yet started, but we are ready with some new stands we bought for the green house.  Planting starts again on Sunday.

Seed pods will form soon, ready for pickling.  Hopefully there will be enough for a small jar.  You can substitute the pods for capers in salads.

Further down the path......

and further......

 Look, someone at work!  I had just finished planting 5 black beauty zucchinis and now I am spreading home made compost all around them.

 Nearly finished work....

 Buddha lends a hand.  Nice spade mate!  Glad you found a nice spot near the potted leek.

 Look what else we have found down the garden path.  Holly dog patrolling for intruders!

The path continues around the back of the house to the Cabbage Tree.  Is that a flower spike that grows from within?  Must have been all of the rain we have had for the tree to get this excited!

Led to the other side by the path, we discover the wicking bed.  All plants growing well, but I fear it is too hot for the Pak Choy as it is going to seed.  Better get it into a stir fry post haste.

Nice salad bed.

The Jonathan apple tree has finally burst its buds.  No beasties eating them yet!  We seem to have a scarcity of earwigs this year so far.  The oil traps are out and waiting.

ANZAC Peaches formed from the blossom already.  Doing well so far.

Finally at the end of the garden path, we have sprouting broccoli and cabbages.  There is even some ready to pick.

Thanks for joining me, down the garden path, hand in hand.  Lovely, wasn't it!

Making Caerphilly Cheese - Video Tutorial

Yesterday, I finally got back into cheese making again after a long drought.  I think I kind of shocked myself when I took a wheel of Parmesan out of the cheese cave, and saw that we were completely out of home made cheese and that the cave was empty.  Not wanting to run the small cheese fridge with nothing in it (besides 2 bottles of red wine), and because I miss the exquisite flavours of my own cheese, I decided that by the time my holiday ended, it was going to be full again.  Besides that, you have all be asking for a set of cheese making videos for a very long time.  I can't think of a better way to spend my holidays.

So the first cheese in this series of video tutorials is indeed Caerphilly.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any questions please leave a comment and I will endeavour to answer it.  The recipe for this cheese is located at this post titled, "Caerphilly Cheese" if you are interested in trying to make it.  Caerphilly is one of my favourite cheeses to make.  It is relatively quick to make and only takes 3 and a half hours from milk to mould, and you can eat it in only three short weeks.











Enjoy!  Blessed are the Cheese Makers.

Western Hights Eco Fest

This Saturday, I am one of the guest speakers at the Western Hights Eco Fest.  I will be taking the family along, and talking about "A personal account of a green epiphany", which goes for 30 minutes.  How I am going to fit in all of my adventures into just 30 minutes I do not know, however I think that if I start at the very begining, then it will be enough to keep people interested. 

But don't just come along for yours truly.  There are also lots of information stalls, a green market and other speakers as well that will green up your world.

The address for anyone who is in the Geelong area is;

31 Douglass St, Herne Hill, Victoria.

The event runs is on Saturday, 9th of October, from 10am to 3pm.  Check out the cute promo below.




Ecofest promo from Gwyn Edwards on Vimeo.


Hope to see some of you there!  It should be a fun day.

Saving Vegetable Seeds

Wouldn't it be really cool if you didn't have to buy vegetable seeds ever again?  Well, you can, with a little bit of knowledge and practice.  Seed saving for the crop next season is fun and very cheap, and the beauty of it is that you can begin to adapt plant varieties to become conditioned to your climate.

I have tried seed saving with mixed success, so in this post I will try and explain how I have achieved at least a few successes and what I have learned along the way.  So far I have managed to save quite a few types of vegetables using a few different methods.

The first type of seed that I tried to save was purple podded peas.  It was simple enough to decide which plant was the largest and had the biggest pods. So after I harvested the other plants, I left this one to dry out so that I could collect the seeds.  If you are expecting lots of rain, it is probably best if you pull the plant when it is just going dry and hang it upside down out of the weather.  Once the pods were dry, I took out the seeds and stored them in an airtight glass jar.  I have been successfully growing purple podded peas using this method for 3 years now.  Looking back, it is hard to believe that I only bought a $2.50 packet of 25 seeds in the first place and besides the seeds I have saved, we have had many pea feasts as well!  This drying on the bush method is also good for all types of beans, and I have collected Daikon radish seeds in this manner as well.

For smaller, more delicate seeds, I have let the desired plant flower and set seed.  Just before it begins to dry out, I put a brown paper bag over the seed head and tied it off with a rubber band.  When the seed heads dry the seeds fall into the bag, and all you have to do is label and store them in a dry, cool place for next seasons planting.  I have used this method with lettuce, silverbeet, rainbow chard, onions, leeks, radishes, carrots, parsnips, parsley, dill, and basil.  All of these types of plants usually self pollinate so you will not have too many problems with cross pollination.   These vegetables will usually stay 'true to type', that is, this generation of the plant you harvested seed from will be mostly the same as you will get in the next generation.

Another method of saving seed are by tuber.  For example potatoes, sweet potato, Jerusalem artichoke and yacon to name a few.  You harvest the best looking tubers and store them in a hessian bag in a dark, dry place for sowing in the next season.

Garlic is another of my favourites and easy to save for planting in the next season.  Keep a few bulbs from your crop (the larger the better), and when it is time to plant garlic in your part of the world, simply pull apart the bulb and plant single large cloves, pointy end upwards about 20cm appart.  A new bulb will grow around the clove and you will never be without garlic ever again!  Use the smaller inner cloves for cooking as you will end up with very tiny bulbs of garlic at the end of the season.

Sometimes you don't even need seeds to grow another plant.  You can take a cutting and stick it into some moist seed raising mix or some loamy soil and most of the time it will strike roots and continue to grow a clone of the parent plant.  I have successfully propagated tomatoes, all types of mint, eggplants (aubergine), and capsicum (bell peppers) using this method.  You can buy root hormone powder to enhance your success rate, however I find that most cuttings usually strike roots and I have about a 80-90% success rate.

Sweet corn or maize is another easy vegetable to save seeds from.  Let the cob dry out on the plant and then remove the outer husk and then with a twisting motion with your hands around the cob, the seeds usually just fall off.  I make sure that I have a large bowl or tea towel underneath to catch the kernels when I husk corn cobs.  I then store them in a glass jar in a dark place until required.  I have only saved popping corn using this method, but I dare say it would work with any type of corn.  Remember that corn is pollinated by the wind and I read that to keep the strain pure you need at least 500 metres between varieties.  Let hope your neighbour isn't growing corn at the same time!

Collecting seeds from the cucurbit family may look as easy as scooping the seeds out of a cucumber, pumpkin, squash or zucchini, and letting them dry on paper towel, however there are a few things you must know so that you get true to type seeds for next season.  The cucurbit family readily cross pollinate when nearby, and each variety does not care where the pollen comes from as long it is from its own family.  Each plant also has a male flower and a female flower.  You can identify the female flower because it has a small swelling at the base which when pollinated becomes a fruit.  The flowers only live for one or two days and open at down so that the bees can spread the pollen from male to female.  One book I read recommends that you plant each variety of cucurbit at least 400 metres apart to stop cross pollination, but you can also hand pollinate to control the exchange of pollen.  This is done by protecting the flowers from insects or wind whilst the female flower is receptive.

• Firstly select male and female flowers the evening before they are due to open.  You can tell this because they will be rigid and have some yellow on the seams of the closed bud.  
• Close each flower with a rubber band or some masking tape or wrap the entire flower in some pantyhose and tie it at the stem so no insects will be able to get at the flower at first light.
• In the morning cut the male flower off at the base of its stalk and take off the petals to expose the male part.  Open the flower and rub the male part into the female part.  You could use a few different male flowers from the same species to imitate the way a bee pollinates, but I have found that this was not necessary when I did it..  
• After the pollen is well coated on the female part, shut or cover the female with pantyhose again until the flower withers.  
• Make sure you put a tag around the stem of the plant so that as it grows bigger you know that it is a keeper.  You could also write on the skin with a waterproof maker pen as I did.  Tell everyone in your family not to pick it either or you may end up loosing your carefully hand pollinated treasure.  
• Before harvesting the fruit, make sure it is a big as it can possibly be so that it will ensure that you have very plump seeds.  
• Store the ripe fruit for a few weeks before opening and collecting the seeds.  Dry and store in a brown paper bag in a dry, cool position.

Tomatoes don't cross pollinate readily and are self pollinating, however to almost guarantee (there are no full guarantees in gardening) a true to type seed keep each row of different varieties at least 3 metres apart.  Allow the fruit to ripen to just beyond eating and then cut them open and squeeze the seeds and pulp into a jar.  Add a little water and label the jar and leave in a warm place for a few days.  A foam will form on top so scoop it off, add more water and pour the mixture through a sieve.  Wash until the seeds are clean.  Spread them on sheets of kitchen towel and let dry.  I then peel them off the towel and put in envelopes for next season.  I have been using the original tigerella seeds I collected in 2007 for two years now and they still germinate quite well.

Of all the seed saving methods, the simplest is what I call the 'volunteer' method.  I usually find that as the weather warms up in spring, I get so many tomato seedlings growing in the beds that I had tomatoes planted in them in the year before.  I just scoop out the seedling with a bit of soil still around the roots and then re-pot so that they grow a bit stronger before transplanting them into a different bed for crop rotation.  It is a bit of a lucky dip, but if you use heirloom seeds each year or collect your own, then there is no reason you can't liberate these volunteers so that they provide you with a bumper harvest.  Last year ever single tomato plant that I grew was a volunteer as the seeds I tried to grow got waterlogged in a downpour and I lost the lot.  I had a massive crop of all different types of tomatoes.

Well that is about all I have achieved in my seed saving, but I am quite proud of the types of plants I have continued to save seeds from especially the cucurbits.  It certainly has saved me a lot of money, and I feel that these plants are beginning to adapt to our dryer climate.  Humans have been saving seeds for thousands of years, so why not give it a go.  I am sure you will reap a bumper harvest from the seeds you collect!

Taking A Leek

I harvested one of my favourite vegetables yesterday on my first day of two weeks holiday.  I am having a staycation!  The vegetable is the humble leek.  The two I picked where the biggest I have ever grown.

I accidental snapped the root off of the left one, and had to dig down deep to get the entire right plant out.  I grew the original leaks from seedlings last year and planted from side shoots that sprung out of the originals grew last year.  I took the side shoots, separated them gently, then got a broom handle and pushed a hole in the dirt as deep as the seedling was tall.  Then just dropped the seedling into the depression, watered the hole and the dirt filled in.  A good sized leek takes about two years to grow in our climate as shows in the picture.

Here is a close up after I washed it.

So what did I do with this marvellous veggie?  I made leek and potato soup of course.  It was so tasty, and we served it with crusty bread.  You can find the recipe in this post titled "Welsh Dinnertime". 

I bet you thought that the title of the post was about weeing in compost or something!  Tricked you.