The Greening of Gavin

Archives for October 2014

Soap Workshop Weekend

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On weekends, normally I am found pottering around in the garden.  This weekend has been a little different, as Kim and I felt the need to get busy to distract us from the sad events of the previous two months.

We focused on building our business, and preparing and delivering the last beginners soap making workshop for this calendar year.

Beginners soap making course - student workstation

Beginners soap making course – student workstation

We made the demo block of soap very early Saturday morning.  We use this block for a demonstration near the end of the course to show the students what to expect when they take the soap out of the mould 24 hours later, and how to cut and cure the soap over the next four weeks.

Kim and I then spend the rest of the day topping up the ingredients for the soap making workshop, making products for sale, and packing up the kit ready for transport to the community centre in Melton South the next day.

Today was another early start.  We arrived at 9am to set up for a 10am start.  The class was fully booked and we made eight ladies very happy by teaching them how to make their own soap at home using simple ingredients.  We managed to finish the class on time at 12.30pm and left at 1.30pm after leaving the community centre cleaner than we found it.

If you would like to read how the class typically unfolds during the 2½ hours, and what to expect when attending, please click-through to the Little Green Workshops site and blog.  Kim hopes to have our online shop ready to open by mid November so that students (or anyone else for that matter) can buy supplies as they need without having to travel to our place to top up.

We had a great weekend focusing on something we both really enjoy doing.  And that is my friends, teaching others simple living skills.

Next weekend (I have four days off due to Melbourne Cup), I will be working hard in the veggie patch, harvesting the last of the winter crops and putting in the summer crops.  More tomatoes and the first of the cucumbers, pumpkin, potatoes, and sweet corn.

I would also like to thank everyone for their support during the last two months.  Although it has been difficult at times during Pam’s illness and subsequent passing, we couldn’t have gotten through it without the support of family and friends, many of which we have met via this blog.

Thank you so very much.

 

TGoG Podcast 087 – Making Fertilizers at Home

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Coffee grounds - making fertilizers at home

Coffee grounds – making fertilizer at home

Did you know that you can make at least seven effective fertilizers in your very own backyard?  Let me step you through the process of making fertilizers at home.  Here are the ones that I talk about;

All are very effective additions to any backyard veggie patch giving the soil and your plants a boost a couple of times a year.  If you are really interested in Urine which is the easiest and most abundant (after a few home-brew beers) homemade fertilizer, then here is some more info from Wikipedia.

Urine contains large quantities of nitrogen (mostly as urea), as well as significant quantities of dissolved phosphates and potassium, the main macronutrients required by plants, with urine having plant macronutrient percentages (i.e. NPK) of approximately 11-1-2 by one study or 15-1-2 by another report, illustrating that exact composition varies with diet. Undiluted, it can chemically burn the roots of some plants, but it can be used safely as a source of complementary nitrogen in carbon-rich compost.

When diluted with water (at a 1:5 ratio for container-grown annual crops with fresh growing medium each season, or a 1:8 ratio for more general use), it can be applied directly to soil as a fertilizer. The fertilization effect of urine has been found to be comparable to that of commercial fertilizers with an equivalent NPK rating. Urine contains most of the NPK nutrients excreted by the human body.

It really is great stuff and it is such a shame to flush it down the loo.

Well listeners and readers, I hope you found my tips interesting, enlightening, and helpful for your garden.

May your garden grow abundantly and be bountiful!

Leek and Potato Soup

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Take a large one of these…

Leek and potato soup

and about 500 grams (1.1lbs) of these..

Leek and Potato soup

and add a bit of garlic…

Garlic Close up

 

You get one of the best home-made and hearty soups around.  Here’s the recipe that I cobbled together.

Gavin’s Leek and Potato Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 30 g butter
  • 1 leek, trimmed, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 500 g home-grown potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
  • 1 litre vegetable stock

Method

  1. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over high heat. Add leek and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until leek is softened.
  2. Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for a further 5 minutes.
  3. Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
  4. Using a stick blender, blend leek and potato mixture in saucepan until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Ladle Leek and Potato soup into large bowls, and serve with crusty bread.

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the soup because, well, I ate it before I even thought of taking a picture.  Sorry about that, I just like my food too much to stop and take photos of it.  After all, this is not instagram!  You don’t need to photograph every meal you eat.

After I cooked it, which only took about 40 minutes top after I harvested the leeks, potatoes and found some old garlic cloves in the back of the pantry, Kim and I divided this soup between us in two large noodle bowls.  With the addition of the crusty bread it became our dinner.

Contrary to what TV cooking shows tell us, I find that it is the simple meals that are far more wholesome, filling, and satisfying.  They are also so easy and quick to make when you are short on time or don’t feel like making a slap up meal.

We both felt very satisfied that the majority of the ingredients came from our garden!  It was simply delicious.

Just like our lifestyle.