Preparing for Summer

Long hot, dry summers appear to be here to stay. Its only November and in the southern parts of Victoria we've already had several days in the mid-30's and nights in the 20's. As I'm sure Rialla-T could attest to, Adelaide's spring temperatures have been even worse. Go inland and the outlook becomes quite frightening.

Water restrictions have become a part of everyday life in many parts of our country. Even with restrictions in place reduced rainfall over many years and increased urban sprawl are causing water storages to fall. How will gardeners, particularly those intent on growing their own food, respond to these difficult circumstances?

For me, the answer is not replacing my green, leafy garden and vegetables with desert plants! When buying new plants, sure I look for those that are able to thrive with less water. But many fruits and vegetables require regular watering and I don't want to lose many of the existing non-food plants in our garden. Therefore, I need to find ways to keep the water up to my garden and make the most of the water that I can use.

There are several things we are doing. We've just switched the diverters on our gray water back to the backyard. Lengths of black pipe take the water from our washing machine and laundry trough to the back yard. The bath/shower is now plumbed to take water to the front lawn. Having diverters in place means that we can flip the valve to allow the water to flow into the sewers if we don't need it, such as those weeks in winter when we were getting regular rainfall.

In addition to the gray water pipes, I have a bucket in the kitchen sink and one in the laundry trough. Since we had our new solar hot water system installed, it does take longer for hot water to reach the taps. The buckets catch the cold, clean water and that goes straight onto vegetables and herbs. Then I return the buckets and catch the slightly soapy water from rinsing the dishes. (The laundry one catches hand-washing water). This water goes onto non-food plants that can tolerate a little soap.

Warm, leftover water in our drinking flasks gets emptied into indoor or outdoor potted plants. Water in saucepans that has been used to cook vegetables, rice and pasta is also used on pots and/or vegetables when cooled.

And last but not least, my husband has obtained a 2000 litre water tank which is soon to be installed. Lets hope we get a few good rainfalls to fill it. We will still keep the rain barrels to catch water from the shed and carport.

Once you have thought of all the possible water savings that can be made, how can you make sure that precious harvest isn't wasted? Adding organic matter to the soil and mulching will help retain water. Thinking about plant placement may also be helpful. Some plants are more hardy and may be able to shade more delicate plants in the heat of the day, allowing them to receive the gentler morning or late afternoon sun. Look at what is around your plants- are light surfaces like shed walls throwing reflected heat onto your plants? Could you grow a tough, quick growing plant like nastursiums over the wall? Plants respire, giving off water from their leaves which cools the air around them. Compare the shade of a verandah to the shade of a big old tree and see which is cooler on a hot summer day!

Last week I made up some portable shade cloths to completely cover the veggie patch. I had a roll of white calico and stapled it to some long tomato stakes. In past years, I've draped old sheets over the plants but in hot northerly winds, they soon blow away. The idea still needs a bit of tweaking- some brackets to hold the stakes to the fence perhaps. They worked well on a hot day last week but I admit there was no wind that day. Nonetheless, the plants underneath did not wilt anywhere near as much as on days when the sun beats directly on them.

From Inside and Out

From Inside and Out

One more thing to keep in mind- think ahead. I have some seedling starts in pots and was going to plant some out today. Then I remembered tomorrows forecast is for 39oC. The heat along with the transplant shock would probably kill them. Keep an eye on the forecast and don't plan plantings during heatwaves! Common sense, perhaps but I've been caught out before!

Are you planning ahead for summer? What are you doing differently with this crazy climate of ours?

Perfection

In a perfect world we would all be carbon neutral non polluters who grew all our own food, cooked from scratch, decorated our houses with our handmade wares & clothed ourselves from our own endeavours and greeted our families with cooked meals, perfect hair and a huge smile at the end of the day. We would be chemical free, debt free and stress free.

Our families would be as passionate about our beliefs, hobbies and general interests as what we are & would support us 100%.... OK.. even I can't continue along with that rot!

Real life isn't as easy as "the dream".

There are time constraints.. family, work or general life (including traffic!) which mean that we cant always cook from scratch.... and some nights takeaway looks like the only way anyone will get fed!

We don't always have time to make all our own clothes... or the skills necessary to do so... and sometimes you just have to get THAT dress or THOSE shoes.

Carbon neutral can be tricky too... maybe you have to run the heater.. or the air conditioner more than you'd like because of illness... or disability. There may not be another way for you to commute other than driving... and maybe your car is an old gas guzzler that you cant afford to replace.

Growing your own food is a lot of fun & very rewarding... but what if you don't have much room.. or everything is wiped out in a storm... or ravenous bunnies descend & destroy the lot?

Chemical free may be your preferred state.. but sometimes insect attacks and household cleaning issues (like mould) can require a chemical arsenal.

Often the family support can be lacking too... our loved ones might not be as committed as we are. Teenagers might desperately want to go to Maccas with their friends... wear the latest sweatshop fashion & drench themselves in chemical body sprays (oh yes I have a teen in this house!)

Partners may not want to think about any of this & share a fondness for takeaways ... or they might not want to spend their downtime working on the vegie patch.

But does that mean we have failed?

Of course not! In my opinion (& it's the only one I can offer here *big grin* ) every action counts. Define your own perfection.......... do what you can do within your resources be they financial or personal. Choose your battles wisely... does it really matter if you have the odd takeaway if it shuts the rest of the family up for a few more weeks?

Take the opportunity to explain about your beliefs when possible but don't demand that others follow them (in the case of children & partners they'll often do the opposite if you try to put your foot down)

But most of all do what makes you happy and find your own balance.... then you'll know you've found your own perfection.

Claytons Post

I'm struggling to find time and inspiration of my own to post at the moment. So this is a Claytons post. (The post you have when you're not having a post...)

Wendy over at My Green Australia has many thoughtful posts. This one is a good reminder on thinking before throwing things away.

I promise as soon as I think of anything original to say, I'll write it down for y'all!

What's Easier Than Take-Away?

Today I had one of those days. You know the kind of day- you're busy all day and once or twice you think 'hmm, must get something out for dinner'. One task leads to another, scrubbing, washing, cleaning, sorting, putting things away, picking up kids from school, supervising homework. Then someone asks:
"What's for dinner?"
"I don't know."
"Its ten to five and you don't know what's for dinner?"
"Yep, sorry but I'll come up with something."
Plenty of times over the years the above scenario has ended in a trip to the Fish and Chip shop or to the deli of the supermarket for a "barbecue" chicken, which is almost as bad.
Gradually, I'm building up a few recipes that are easy and arguably as quick as that trip to the store or takeaway outlet.

Tonight we had Salmon Macaroni. It goes something like this:

500 g macaroni (or any small pasta)
one small onion OR 3-4 spring onions OR one smallish leek
a couple of sticks of celery
a clove of garlic
3/4 cup corn, fresh or frozen
2 x 415 gram cans pink salmon
handful of parsley
half a bottle (or more if you like it saucy) of passata (pureed tomato)

Heat a large pot of water for the pasta.
Finely dice your onion (or equivalent) and celery. Squish garlic. Fry these until soft and lightly golden.
Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain.
Drain the salmon.
Return pasta to the pot and stir in onion mixture, corn, salmon, parsley and passata. Heat through and serve with grated cheese and crusty bread if you have it, any old bread if you haven't! Too easy.

There are many variations on this simple dish. You can substitute rice for the pasta and/or tuna for the salmon. Use whatever vegies you have ie. peas, broccoli, cauliflower, grated carrot, champignons, tinned beans etc. Broccoli and cauliflower may need to be lightly steamed or boiled first to soften. Cheese sauce could be used instead of passata. Top with combined breadcrumbs butter and cheese and place under a hot grill or in the oven for a crunchy pasta bake.

Do you have a trusty take-away substitute? We'd love you to share it here.

Simplifying

Life has a tendency to get complicated. Have you noticed?

You set out your goals, decide on priorities and define the things that are important to you. You begin to put practical measures into place and start living those things. All good so far. But somewhere along the way, unexpected things creep in. Some of those things come from outside sources. Expectations, demands and needs of the people around you. Other complications come from within. Trying to do too much, overloading on information.

Its a bit like a fruit tree. You prepare the ground, plant it, water it carefully and then leave it to grow. But that's not all, is it? If you just let that tree grow it could be overtaken by pests or parasites. And even healthy growth could become a problem if the branches grow every which way, tangling through each other. For optimum fruit production, outside influences have to be carefully managed and branches need pruning.

From Inside and Out

Simplifying means different things to different people. For some it is getting rid of clutter and living with less visual and mental distraction. For others it is moving away from commercialism and towards growing and preparing foods, taking responsibility for the 'stuff' in their lives and where it is sourced and doing many things for themselves. For some it is a spiritual quest, to leave superficial things behind and search for truth. There are many more aspects to simplifying and for me, it is a combination of all these things. In my quest to simplify, I often search for those who have gone down this path before me. So I have quite a long blogroll, grab books from the library, buy second hand books, occasionally attend events and places and usually come home with pamphlets and links to websites. And 'simple living' isn't my only interest. There are all of my crafts, my religious interests and of course, homeschooling. Each of those things brings more literature, more links, more information. But I'm like that tree. So many branches that I get all tangled up and light can't get through to the inside.

So its time to prune a bit. There's only so much I can do with the outside influences. I don't want to become unavailable to family and friends. But I do need to think first before answering a request. If I can do it, I will. But if I'm feeling overwhelmed already and helping out will make it worse, I'm going to say no, or at least not right now, without guilt. I'm learning that I can't feel responsible for every one around me.

As for the infomation overload, I need to cut back. For the last few months, I've been reading up to six books at a time- home schooling, spiritual, general interest and usually a novel. So I am focusing for a while on things I need to know and not borrowing or buying any books until I've caught up a little.

About blogs- have you ever felt guilty when you remove yourself from following a blog? I do. I know how nice it is to know that someone is reading what I write and I hate to take that away from someone. But realistically I need to prune every now and then. I find new blogs every week. Some seem relevant initially. Some remain very interesting but if I kept them all, I would spend my life reading and not doing. (I've become a bit smarter now and follow anonymously for a while first. Then if I decide its a keeper, I may go public. If not, I don't feel so bad dropping it from the list). My DH would think this is all crazy, being worried about offending people I don't even 'know'!! But we are what we are, I guess.

Life is all about making revisions, looking at circumstances and situations and deciding what works and what needs to go. I think we all know that even the Simple Life isn't really all that simple. It takes effort to make it work.

Isn't it funny how that happens???

It's been almost 12 months since we decided to change out lives.. initially due to my eldest's illness. To help the long term liver issues involved we decided to remove all the preservatives & artificial additives from our diets... that then lead to making better choices about cleaning chemicals and every day toiletries...

It also lead to us starting to grow some of our own food... learning to cook from scratch... trying out unusual foods & eating seasonally...... the side of effect of all this was the label of "weird" from a lot of friends.

The more we learnt.. the more we changed. Those seemingly simple changes snowballed.. quiet & sneakily at first but later down the track we noticed substantial changes in thinking.. we became more aware of our environment.. the number of hot days... the amount of rainfall.. the lack of small birds in our inner suburban garden.... and we started wondering what we could do to change things.

We educated ourselves.. changed spending patterns and consumption.. found new hobbies... learnt new skills (hmm although a lot of them are actually "old" skills) and as we changed we noticed our "world" changing with us. There are different people in our lives today than there was 12 months ago... our priorities have changed as has our quality of life.

Things that I never had considered have occurred.. I even have created a little financial nest egg for us without really understanding where that extra money came from.... we certainly haven't been going without or living on baked beans! Things have just seemed to fall into place & it's hard to believe that it's just been 11 months since I took the photo above.

Even now things continue to subtly shift...... we have new challenges to face.. new plans to put to the test... and more changes ahead unseen. It's funny how many years I spent with each being pretty much the same as the last... almost as if I was in stasis for most of my adult life.

Now at last I feel like I'm living... it's uncertain... it's hard work more times than I expected... but it just feels like it's meant to be.

Has anyone else ever felt this way..... or is it just me?

Orange & Almond Biscuits

Life around here has been hectic of late so I just thought I'd pop in & share what is prob the most hit upon recipe in one of my other blogs.. Sorry no pics as they don't sit around long enough here for me to grab a photo... seriously yummy stuff!


Ingredients:
125g softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 cup of almond meal
1 cup of plain flour
4tsps of orange juice
grated orange zest to taste

Filling:Vanilla bean paste or essence
icing sugar
water to mix.

Method:
Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, cream butter & sugar.. add egg & mix well. throw in zest, almond meal, and plain flour slowly whilst mixing & add juice to help combine. The dough is a stiffish sort of mix.Roll into small balls & flatten slightly on the tray with a fork... cook for approx 10 mins until golden brown but still slightly soft to touch. Cool on wire rack.
Mix Filling ingredients until you have a stiff icing paste.... then sandwich the biscuits together.

Yum!