'Shroom harvest

My mushies are going OFF! Swiss browns and your regular buttons.

For scale, that is my Jacaranda wood bowl ($3.50 from the op shop) its about 40cm across. 

Dinner tonight? Mushroom fettuccine with garlic, lemon and sage butter.

Gardening by way of the moon

As the moon has been such an important part of my life -I chart my menstruation and fertility cycle by the moon, I cleanse my crystals by the moon, I track my mood shifts and energy cycles by the moon, and I recovered from a pretty bad reaction to synthetic hormonal medication, under advice from my Naturopath by sleeping exposed to moonlight. (Another story for another time) And of course the moon being the inspiration for the title of this blog.  Well, it goes without saying that in my foray into the gardening and self sufficiency realm, I would chose to plant and garden by the moon.

The weekend before last was a fallow time in as far as the cycles associated with the moon go with the moon being in an earth sign -A time to till the earth and prepare garden beds - mulching, digging, turning and airing the soil.

So, thats what we did. We put in a garden bed out in the backyard, made from besser bricks we scrounged from my dad. The bed measures about 2m across by just over 4 meters long and 20cm deep. All up, in soil, mulch and manure, (baring in mind the bricks were free) it cost $46.87 to make.

We have root grubs in our yard, nasty little grubs that look like lawn grubs that come up under your plants and eat the roots out from under them! So we laid down weed mat before we built the garden bed. I am hoping that the weed mat will also prevent some of the soil acidity leaching upwards into the soil as our backyard is covered by about 50 years worth of composted pine needles which make the ground acidic - hence why we went with raised garden beds to begin with.

To fill the bed, we layered sugarcane mulch, then a layer of stable manure, then a layer of organic soil we bought from a landscape yard.

Each of the little brick sections that form the garden border, I filled with dirt and planted them up with Nasturtium seeds - which have edible flowers as well as Calendula which has medicinal properties - both of which will attract bees and other pollinating insects to the garden.

I had planned on sewing my vegetable seeds straight into the bed, once they germinate, I will lay down another thick layer of straw to compost and insulate as well as keep the soil moist. WELL, that WAS the plan.

Right up until I got home tonight. A Full Moon. An awesome Full Moon for planting root crops -my Rhubarb (which is grown from a rhizome) my Comfrey (ditto) carrots, garlic, ginger, Galangal (a Thai gingery kind of plant) etc.

Probably the best Full moon of the year in so far as root crop planting goes, as not only is the moon full, but it is in its descending phase as well as in an earth sign constellation. (This = 3 phase awesomeness to Moon phase gardeners)

So off down the yard I trotted and THIS is what I found.

What is wrong with this picture you ask? Well as of this morning, all that straw was on the BOTTOM of the garden bed. And all that dirt in the middle was evenly distributed and level, ready for planting!

The culprit? This sly bugger. Well, not him specifically, he's just an example of his kind I found here for those of you unfamiliar with a Bush Turkey. The same bush Turkey that's been teaching my chooks bad habits and recruiting them to his sordid little harem has turned my garden inside out and back to front and upside down!

I did manage to plant up my Rhubarb and Galangal at least as I was planning on planting them in pots anyway as they need a deeper root base than my garden currently allows. (I will be planting up an old upcycled bath tub for my deeper rooted plants, hopefully next weekend)

On a positive note, look at these babies...they're a kind of chilli/pepper/capsicum, I am not entirely sure which kind (If anyone knows, please do tell!) I got the plant from a guy at the markets for $1. I have eaten what (I hope) are the same kinds of chilli and they're luscious blistered in the oven -they have a sweet creamy flavour -kind of like a capsicum, but not as...CAPSICUM....as capsicum. Anyway, ignore the rotten one, I must have missed his ripeness while he was hiding under the leaves -He's too far gone now, so I'll let him rot down into the pot, hopefully he'll resurrect himself in another plant.

These little babies are a heritage variety of tomato...I can't quite remember the variety -I have Black Russians flowering as well, but they're yet to fruit.

Then my mushy farm has started to throw little balls of fungally goodness - we're keeping them in the old car port out the back of the house (that we don't use) and they to like the dark and spooky conditions. 

The ones at the front are your standard button type variety - cost $1 a bag! 

The box at the back is a commercial variety, this box cost $20 They're swiss browns. I've been told Swiss browns don't produce overly well in QLD, preferring cooler climes, but check out this mumma!

I think in a few weeks time we'll be up to our ears in mushrooms.

I am glad that the turkey decided to blitz our garden while the only things in it were flower seeds in the borders -which were essentially untouched. At least we know we've got to fence it off before I plant the bulk of my seeds in the bed..... another job for the weekend! I've got a fortnight to get it done before the next optimum moon phase for above ground crops.

Rocket and Macadamia Pesto

What to do with a bounty of rocket? Rocket Pesto of course! and well, the traditional pine nuts are crazy expensive, (they’re harvested by hand from trees that do not produce until after 25 years, and which are only commercially viable after 75 years)

I decided to freestyle my own recipe somewhat and use macadamia’s instead of pine nuts – macadamia’s being much more cost effective by comparison (an $8, 500g packet is enough for 2 batches of pesto, each batch being the equivalent of 2-3 store bought jars) and, well macadamia’s are just as yum as pine nuts.

So, all that being said, this is how I made my pesto.

• 
  
  A big bowl of picked rocket. (Probably the equivalent of 3-4 large handfuls. –rinsed and dried)
• 
  
  1 Cup of macadamia nuts (or what ever nuts you chose to substitute)
• 
  
  150g of grated Pecorino cheese. (You can use Parmesan if you can’t find Pecorino)
• 
  
  2 cloves of Garlic
• 
  
  ¼ Cup of Olive oil
• 
  
  ¼ - ½ a cup of lemon juice (see below)

Because I whizzed mine in a blender (I don’t have a food processor) I had to add a little lemon juice for moisture to get the mix ‘pumping’ –probably ¼ - ½ a cup –you can use water if you prefer or watered down lemon juice if you don’t want too strong of a zing. –If using a food processor, you probably don’t need any.

Directions –throw it all in a blender or food processor and wiz it up! (Using a blender, I had to do mine a little at a time to stop it glugging up in the bottom.)

Depending on if you’re using it for dip or as a pasta sauce, there should be enough for two largish serves. You can store the left over’s in the fridge for up to two weeks – longer if you drizzle olive oil over the top to keep it from oxidising –similar to how sun dried tomato’s store in olive oil.

 

I am thinking of omitting the lettuce from the next planting and (aside from the perennial lettuce) sticking with just rocket and spinach. We tend to get a glut of salad vegetables that need to be eaten immediately, and well, spinach and rocket can be used for a variety of different recipes than can just plain lettuce.

Our first Harvest

A salad of perennial lettuce, rocket, endive, spinach, sage, mint and parsley. 

All planted from seed and raised in pots. *Nim in the back ground on the 'roosting trunk'*

Let me take you down, cause we're going to...strawberry fields....

Sunday just past, a girlfriend and I jumped in the car at 6am and headed up the coast for some strawberry picking. All in all, its possibly the most expensive strawberry jam ever if you consider the food miles, travelling 100 k's up the coast, and the early season strawberries at $15 a kg...but the experience of making our own jam =priceless.  I put a bit of a chai twist on my jam adding vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and a cap full of rose water. Admittedly, my jam did not set the way I may have wished. (I didn't use gelatin and only an apple for additional pectin) So I think I will call on mum this coming weekend to help me solidify the recipe. It sure tastes good!


Strawberry fields forever...


xB

Ultimate breadmaking

A little Gem I picked up at the op shop the other week. For $1!! As well as having recipes for all sorts of breads from all sorts of ingredients, this book goes into the science and history behind bread making and the pro's and cons of different flours and ingredients, Its been a really interesting read. The author is considered one of Australia's premier artisan bakers - I found his blog here. I can't wait to try out the recipes. My kitchen bench isn't conducive to bread making/kneading (It's tiled and really narrow) but I am restoring a lovely farm style table, and the minute that baby is in my kitchen, I am going to lather it with flour!

with RELISH

Saturday afternoon making Relish with my mum. Her recipie. Yum.

Ephiphany.

For years I have collected magazines such as Earth Garden, and Grass Roots, read books and articles on self sufficiency and have daydreamed of a property of my own -a few acres of paradise on which to plant a green, productive Utopia. The reality is, I live 2 k's out of Brisbane city CBD, in a house we rent (and love), with a backyard swallowed almost entirely by a 20 year thick blanket of pine needles, and we've no intention of moving any time soon. So I've had a silent unrealised longing that rears its head every few months manifested in an insane sense of disconnectedness, restlessness and sense of mispurpose.

A feeling that I am not leading the life I should, that something is missing.

It has been a slow realisation -and at times an emotional rollercoaster, but these past few months - reading other 'green' blogs, taking my conscious living pledge and becoming vegetarian, its like a veil has been lifted and I have clarity.

It's not about getting to the point in my life where I have the lifestyle I want. Its about bringing the lifestyle I want to this point in my life.

“Drink wine…this is life eternal;

this is all that youth will give you.

It is the season for wine, roses and drunken friends.

Be happy for this moment; this moment is your life….”

-Omar Khayyam

I don't need 5 acres of land in the mountains to feel connectedness to the earth and her seasons, to be self sufficient, to lead a greener, healthier lifestyle. Its not an all or nothing deal. The true challenge lays in bringing this way of life in the ways that I can, to the city.

I will attempt to share here what I am doing - the reality is, I have been too busy doing to be writing about doing, but I will try to capture it in parts -in pictures if not words, and I hope to inspire other people to bring the dream to the city the same way I have been inspired by blogs such as The Greening of Gavin, ecoMILF, towards sustainability, down---to---earth and little eco footprints among others.

I can do it here, in my little city house, and it has begun.

Freestyle Veggie Pasta

A lill somepin somepin I knocked up last night. It doesn’t have a name. My spur of the moment creations which are invariably a juxtaposition of what ever I happen to have on hand at the time because I canna be bothered going to the shop are rarely a culinary success. This one, being the exception to a long standing rule is really yummy and will definately make a reappearance on the menu -probably at the end of the week when I still have a glut of roastable vegetables before market day the next day.

Now, live a little dangerously, there are not exact quantities here, not even exact vegetables, freestyle it and use what ever you have on hand.

I roasted up a mix of veggies;

(Two lots actually as I am making pizza's tomorrow night =saves firing the oven up twice)

I used, carrot, butternut pumpkin, onions -red and brown, garlic -whole crushed cloves -a full bulb worth, parsnip, a bulby looking thing that i think is a tweed or turnip (?) it was in a pack of soup mix veggies as well as zucchini and squash (which I added a bit later so they didnt turn to mush)

With a little drizzle of olive oil, a little salt and pepper, I roasted them till they were all roasty squishy burnt caramel loveliness. The onion really makes this dish, so put in a few.

Then I cooked a packet of fettuccini and stirred through a pack of (defrosted) frozen spinach to wilt.

To dress it, i diced a Roma tomato tossed that in a splash of olive oil, a couple of basil leaves, added the zest of a lemon, as well as the juice, a little salt and a little pepper. -the fresh zing of the dressing works really well to balance the homey, smoky ,roasty goodness of the veggies.

Toss the vegies through the pasta with the dressing, and add a sprinkling of shaved parmesan on top. (Shaved parmesan, none of this powdered grotty business) and you're done!!

I am thinking of adding pine nuts and mushrooms to the mix next time. Perhaps even blistered capsicum.

Choices

It’s so totally unlike me to get distracted by life. Can you tell? I'd like to say I've been busy doing super important things, truth its, I kinda have been. Like deciding to pull my finger out of my laa dee dah, and finally go vegetarian.

With our recent ethical living pledge, it has just been the logical next step. In reality, the hypocrisy of ‘going green’ yet continuing to eat meat, really was too much. We* (husband and I) do not believe eating meat is wrong. It’s the method -modern factory farming that we object to. In addition to the environmental impact on farming meat for food. We've decided it is the best choice for us ethically, environmentally, and for our health.

We will continue to eat dairy and eggs - scrupulously sourced however, and I still have deep concerns over even organically reared dairy cows and their interaction with the veal industry that I am looking into.

We're also battling with a couple of issues which make us feel hypocritical. I.e. Pet food. It is in all reality probably supporting the very worst parts of the factory farming meat industry. But, I am not about to make my dog vegan. So again, something I am continuing to research, and if I find a suitable (ethical and economical) alternative, I will let you know!

I've been immersing myself in pantry preparedness, recipe collation, research and associated ethics based reading and viewing. My single biggest problem I think so far is beans. Not a fan. So, as each new recipe is trialed and meets with approval, I'll be sure to pop it on here.