The Greening of Gavin

Archives for May 2011

Of Note…

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There are a few things of note to mention today that may interest you.  I realise that I have not been blogging much of late, but recovery will do that to you.  Once again, I have the urge to write and share.

On Wednesday, I cleaned out the chook house.  Not a very exciting thing to do, but necessary for the health of my feathered girls.  All was going well until I tried to lift the roof back onto their roosting/nesting box, and I over exerted myself and set my recovery back a week.  Both Friday and Saturday have been quite painful starts to the day, but after moving around a bit, the pain settles down with the help of some mild pain relief.  I need to learn quickly to accept the offer of help when given, and be mindful that Rome was not built in a day!  I learnt yesterday morning that I cannot lift 20kg bags of chicken feed yet, so I enlisted the help of my good friend and neighbour Rick who accompanied me to the stock feed store. Thanks mate.

Yesterday afternoon, I hosted a cheese making demonstration for the Melton Sustainable Living group.  I love presenting, and showed 5 people how to make two cheeses, 30 minute Mozzarella and Ricotta.  I managed to make the Mozzarella in 45 minutes which was an improvement on Friday’s effort of an hour, and Ricotta in 15 minutes.  I gave away samples of both to each participant, and used the remaining Mozzarella on our home made pizza last night.  Delicious, and it melts so well.

After saving up my pennies, I finally purchased a second rainwater tank, which arrived on Friday.  It is a slimline 2100 litre tank that will be fitted in the carport area.  My friend and neighbour Rick, will be helping me attach some guttering to the carport over the next few weekends, and I will plumb up the tank and connect some irrigation work to it.  Nothing like water security to put a smile on your face, but why it is wrapped in a mountain of plastic is any ones guess.  What a waste!

Also, even though we have had a cold few weeks, which as been kind of nice during my recovery time, we have still had some tomato bushes on the go that were gifts from nature.  We harvested quite a haul of yellow currant broad ripple and Tommy toe cherry tomatoes.  We used some on home made pizza last night, and I will be adding the rest of them to a lasagna that I am making tomorrow.  Fresh tomatoes in late Autumn?  Nice!

The chickens are still not on the lay yet.  Only one of the new ISA Browns and both Pekin bantams are laying (occasionally), which leaves 6-7 other hens not producing at all.  The cold snap has confused the heck out of them.  All their feathers have grown back from the moult, so I have increased their protein intake by supplementing half of their normal grain diet with some layer pellets.  Hopefully that will kick start them, as we are totally over the zero, one or two egg a day allowance they have been giving us.  I miss fresh pasta which requires 4-5 eggs to make.  We are surviving on stockpiled pasta from the start of the year so that we can keep to one of our goals.  Hopefully we will be flush with eggs in the next few weeks as they pick up their game.  Note that the laying chooks have a bright red comb and the non-laying chooks have a dull pink comb.  This should change when they recover from the moult.

Good Chooks!

Barren Chooks!

I planted some broad beans and three varieties of peas on the 5th of May with a lot of help from Kim, but because of the cold temperatures, they have taken ages to sprout.  The some peas have poked their heads out of the ground overnight, but the broad beans are still to come.  I planted Purple podded, Sugar snap and Snow peas with lots of trellis for them to climb.  I love fresh peas.

One final thing.  I found out yesterday that an article that I sent off to Grass Roots magazine way back in January has been published and appears in the next issue which is available in newsagents tomorrow!  I am already receiving emails from subscribers of the magazine as they must already have received their copy.  Looking forward to having a look at the final edit when I get my own copy tomorrow, just in time for my birthday!  I am very proud to have my first paid writing gig in Australia’s longest running sustainable living publication and it has given me a great boost of self-esteem.  Just what I need right now!

Quick 30 Minute Mozzarella

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One cheese that I have been procrastinating about is Mozzarella.  Don’t ask me why, I just was!  The Mozzarella recipe listed in Ricky Carrol’s Home Cheesemaking book had quite a few precautions as did her instructions on her website, but I figured that now that I had a few cheeses under my belt (an understatement I suppose?), I should be able to rescue any potential disaster.

The ingredients are simple.  All you need are the following;

Four litres of full cream milk.  I chose one that was 3.4% butterfat.

A microwave bowl, 1 and a half teaspoons of citric acid mixed with a half a cup of unchlorinated water.  A quarter teaspoon of non-ionised salt, and a quarter teaspoon of rennet mixed with a quarter of a cup of unchlorinated water.  Don’t forget to sterilise your utensils or give them a spray with vinegar and dry.

Heat the milk to 15C (55F) then add the citric acid solution.  Stir well and continue to heat.

Heat to 30C (88F), then add the rennet solution and stir well for 30 seconds only.  Keep heating during the milk to 38-40C (100-105F) and the curd will begin to come away from the edges of the pot.  This happens in about 5-8 minutes.

However, this is where disaster struck (no more photos until the end).  Because I used pasteurised/homogenised milk and the book recipe did not mention the addition of calcium chloride to make a firm curd, I found that is was weak and sloppy.  The recipe calls for scooping the curds (not cutting) into a microwave bowl.  I couldn’t do this as it was loosing too much protein due to the whey being really cloudy and it started turning into a sloppy mess.  I decided after a few scoops to cut the curd into 2.5cm cubes (1″), which saved the day.  The whey went clear and yellow and I managed to drain it all through cheese cloth.  I did some research afterwards and should have left the milk to heat a few degrees and a few minutes longer more before scooping.

I then followed the rest of the recipe.  I drained as much whey from the curds in the bowl and then put it in the Microwave for 1 minute on High.  I drained the whey again, then into the Microwave for another 30 seconds on High, drain and form into a single mass, and back into the Microwave for a final 30 seconds.

I then added the salt and started kneading quickly like bread dough until it was smooth and shiny and it could be stretched like Taffy .  Kim took over as the Tank Man turned up (another post topic), and rolled the cheese into five balls and then put them in a big bowl of cold water for 30 minutes.  This helped the cheese to have the same consistency throughout.

We then took it out of the water and have already eaten one ball sliced onto crackers, topped with tomato and freshly cracked pepper and salt.  Delicious!  Apparently, it can be stored covered in the fridge for a few days, but don’t think it will last that long.  We are putting it on home made pizza tomorrow night!

The New England Cheesemaking supply company site has the full recipe and a better step by step guide which is a little different than the book version of the 30 minute Mozzarella.  This web version includes cutting the curd and leaving it a little longer before draining.

You can also add lipase at the same time you add the citric acid solution which should give it a stronger flavour and leave it for 20 minutes before adding the rennet.  I am going to give this a try tomorrow during a cheesemaking demonstration that I am holding for the Melton Sustainable Living Group.

Whilst the taste is nice, it doesn’t have a full flavour that I have tasted in Italian made Mozzarella.  The lipase should fix this up and give it some grunt.

There is nothing quite like fresh Mozzarella!  Why did I wait so long to make it, I will never know.

Update November 2015:  Since Kim and I started Little Green Workshops, we have been teaching many locals how to make this simple cheese.  We also have Mozzarella and Ricotta kits for sale in our online store for those who don’t live locally.

TGoG Podcast 019 – In The Navy

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TGOG+podcast+logo+new+1400+v2We all have a past that comes up every so often, and mine was 20 years of service in the Royal Australian Navy.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by my niece Ashley for a history project about war in the 20th century.  She approached me due to my service in 1990 at the start of the conflict in the Persian Gulf.

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It is quite a good interview, and at the very end I try and make a point about the reason for the conflict, besides the obvious liberation of Kuwait. I could have gone a bit deeper, but I didn’t want to spoil her project!

Also, I do not glorify or promote war nor conflict.  It serves no purpose, so I just tell it how it was like at the time during this part of my life.

Anyway, enjoy the podcast.

I certainly have had a full life so far!

If you enjoyed the podcast, please pop over to iTunes and rate it and leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

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Until next time, stay green and keep keen!