Homemade Beauty

I finally got around to making some deodorant. It's taken me the best part of a year but after reading about this homemade concoction here and here, I decided that it was time to stop thinking about it and to just give it a go.

It's great. I've been walking around for a week now, randomly sniffing at my pits. Well, sniffing of the wine tasting variety - shove the nose right in there and breathe in deeply. Not a hint of body odour. It passes the spin class test. It passes the frantic Christmas shopping race from shop to shop in the hot sun. It's a winner. I love it.

I put it into an old commercial stick deodorant dispenser, but it's just as easy to dip your fingers into a tub.

While I was at it, I decided to give some lip balm a go too. I got some inspiration from here and added quarter teaspoons of coconut oil, beeswax, olive oil and honey together. I like it, but I added way too much beeswax so I plan to remelt it and add some more oil. It's so simple though. Why have I not been making this for years?

Finally, I put together a batch of melt and pour body butter bars that I discovered here.
These feel great and moisturise beautifully. They're a tad greasy, but I've had scabby, dried out fingers for over a year now that drive me nuts because they get soil in them and then I'm left with black cracks in my fingers which is a rather inelegant look. Apparently a combination of sewing and gardening does not lead to ladylike appendages. These body butter bars seem to have done the trick though and my fingers are regaining a supple smoothness such as would befit the wearer of a fancy dress.

Thus far my op shop browsing excursions have left me short of finding the fancy dress. I can however recommend a foray into the makings of homemade body treatments. Easy, satisfying and a little bit luscious.

I got my ingredients here. Service was quick, efficient and friendly.

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Natural, calorie free sweets.

Just pick a leaf and off you go.

We couldn't get the eggplant seeds to grow this year. We tried a couple of times and not a single one came up. So, before it was too late in the growing season to really bother, I caved and went to buy some seedling. At Bunnings, no less.

Now one can't just pop into there and grab the selected item and head for the checkout registers. No! one must browse the entire garden section.

So there I stood, in front of the herbs, sampling the slightly aniseed flavour of Thai Basil (good - ended up with one of those in my trolley), Vietnamese Mint (quite a bite - too peppery for the days palate) and various other leaves of different shapes, colours and sizes, when suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw the label STEVIA.

What fun!

I'd heard of Stevia rebaudiana before but had never imagined that it might be stocked at my local Bunnings store. I cautiously popped a leaf into my mouth - could it really be sweat? Looked just like your average green leaf to me.

It could.

It was.

What fun!

I had to have it.

I took it home and gave the kids a sample. They loved it. I chopped a leaf up in their salad. They ate the lot. Mixed a leaf into their silverbeet stirfry. They ate more than usual. I'd be best not to get carried away and cause them to develop an unhealthy appetite for sweet foods. I'd be best not to use all the leaves before I've even put the little plant into the soil.

It's nice to have a little calorie free sweet treat living in the garden.

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Making Cheese

About a year ago, I went along to a Sustainable Illawarra Cheese making workshop. Until then I'd never really thought much about making cheese, but this course was well subsidised so only came with an affordable $30 price tag. Even better, with a baby just starting to wean herself from daytime feeds, it came along at the perfect time for me to grab a bit of 'Escape Time' from the kids. Perhaps 'Quality Daddy Time' for the kids is a nicer way to phrase that!

It was nice to do something a little out of the ordinary and I discovered that although it is time consuming, cheese making is really rather simple. It even allows for mistakes and for the home consumer, the strict sterilization techniques we were taught at the workshop, don't seem to be completely necessary.

My most recent batch of Feta - served on cucumber slices with chili relish.

At the workshop, we participated in the making of feta, whole milk ricotta and mascarpone. The Feta is the most time intensive, needing cutting and curd turning, then straining and more turning. It's definitely best if you remember to start this one fairly early in the morning. I'm not too good at that myself and inevitably need to get up in the middle of the night to turn my feta one last time. Feta also needs one of the lactic cultures to be prepared 8-16 hours in advance. Wouldn't you know it, I forget about that darned Mesophilic Homofermenatative Culture every time. So I wing it and chuck in a bit extra and add some more rennet and cross my fingers and hope that it works. So far so good. The texture is not quite what it should be, but the taste is certainly there. Next time though, I'll try to remember to begin my preparations the night before!

Whey based ricotta - served with roasted walnuts and lashings of honey.

Whole milk ricotta is divine and oh so easy. All you need is a thermometer and some white vinegar or lemon juice. Unfortunately, the yield is not so great, so I don't tend to bother making it. Whey based ricotta though is perfect. Creating something out of the feta leftovers is a fantastic bonus. I can't believe that they didn't teach us this one during the workshop! OK, so the taste is not so rich and creamy as the whole milk ricotta. Served fresh though, with cinnamon sugar, or honey and nuts, especially while still warm - yummo, what a treat!

My first attempt at minted haloumi - served pan fried on a bed of grilled eggplant with a garden salad.

I keep my eye open for the organic non-homogenised milk whenever I go to the supermarket. With three little kids still drinking large amounts of milk, I can't afford to buy this everyday, but when it comes on sale, I usually buy whatever they've got and that's when I make cheese. I know, I know, I really need to make friends with the local dairy farmers - unfortunately, I'm just not good at that sort of thing, so I'm working towards it slowly (still at the thinking about it stage really).

Anyway, my latest milk supply came shortly after I'd just made feta. It would've been boring to make more of the same (although I could've remembered to prepare my culture and thus could've compared the two) so I decided to give haloumi a go. It took a bit of time, but was pretty easy really. I love the mint in it.

Next, I aim to make mozzarella.

Perhaps one day I shall do a Gavin, get a cheese fridge and start making wensleydale,

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Confessions of a Crafty Hoarder

I've always been a lover of the arts and crafts. Even my year 1 school books documented that:

'when I grow up, I want to be an artist or a scientist".

This theme continued throughout my primary school books and then was forgotten about once I entered high school. I must say, it blew my mind a bit to discover these childish yearnings after I had completed my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology.

Who'd've thought it? Destiny perhaps?

More often than not though, I kick myself for not having the strength of mind to go the other way and pursue a career in the arts.

Of course I'm not too old - perhaps I'll become both!

The problem with having an interest in arts and crafts though? - the monumental scale of hoarding that is involved!

I've a fantastic collection of paints and pencils, pastels and clays.

There are papers and boards, ribbons and inks.

There's glues and tapes, staples and strings.

Little bits and pieces that might be useful for something one day, as decorations, kids crafty bits, or the finishing touch on a special project perhaps.

There are frames and canvases and brushes of all sizes.

I have cottons and threads and buttons and zips.

As well as elastics and needles, thimbles and pins.

I've got fabrics reclaimed and fashions waiting to be remade.

So much stuff can be viewed with potential. I tend to have a repeated dialogue with myself that goes something like this:

"That's been sitting around for ages, I should throw it out"

"Oh but I could do something with it, turn it into something else"

"I'm never going to have the time, It's just going to be taking up space, I should just chuck it"

"But I could use it. I'll find the time, It'll be great"

"OK then, I'll just put it in here until I'm ready to do something with it".

I now have recycled kitchen cupboards full of the stuff. It took me a whole day to sort it all out and locate it from various hiding spots throughout the house. Then just when I thought I'd finished I found another 3 bags full!

I even have a dedicated collection of wool, complete with knitting needles and crochet hooks.

Will I ever accept that I can't knit, or will I always have the crafty enthusiasm that tells me that I can do anything...

so long as I find the time?

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350.org is an international movement which aims to promote global action on climate change.
They are "dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand." (www.350.org). With a mission to "inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis" (www.350.org), they are focusing on the number 350 which scientists are saying is the safe upper limit in parts per million (ppm), for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. With a current level of 389ppm, 350ppm is looked at as a practical and achievable target.

Next Saturday is 350.orgs Global Day of Climate Action, where they are

"calling on people around the world to organize an action on October 24 incorporating the number 350 at an iconic place in their community, and then upload a photo of their event to 350.org website." (www.350.org)

In the Illawarra, people can join in by going along to Futureworld and attending their Futureworld eco-technology centre open day and brainstorm banner.

The University of Wollongong is also planning to showcase photographs of people performing simple sustainable activities, in an image of the word 350.

Lot's of different activities are being held around the globe. To find one near you, check out this interactive map.

Unfortunately, we'll be camping on Saturday, so we'll miss out. I'm very much looking forward to camping though. It's been a while since we've had the time to do this. I believe that it will be Miss Noodles first time. Miss Chookie and Mr Little Dude were both only a couple of months old for their first camping adventures. We'll be going with a whole bunch of other families, so with plenty of children on hand, we might just have to build a 350 sandcastle and host our own unofficial action day event.

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Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

When I first heard about Blog Action Day and saw that this years topic was Climate Change, I thought to myself "I should do that... sounds easy enough". So I signed myself up.

Then I got to thinking and I realised that I really don't know that much about climate change. The pressure was on.

What to write about?

It should be good... Informative... Knowledgeable... Well researched.

What had I gotten myself into?

Finally I decided that I'd just write about why I thought it was a good idea to write about Climate Change in the beginning.

Basically I think it all just comes down to climate change being about the environment and the environment is something that interests me. I know... I know, it's terrible that I'm not really all that interested in climate change in itself, but there you go, that seems to be the way it is. Now don't get me wrong, I'm by no means a sceptic. I believe the climate is changing, I'm just not completely sure of what that means for us. I know a bit about global warming and how the ice caps are melting and the glaciers are receding at a rapid pace. I understand that this is leading to flooding of coastal areas. I realize that Earth is really just one big ecosystem, so everything is interconnected. Changes in the atmosphere and oceans will lead to all sorts of crazy changes in the weather. I've also heard about global dimming which just complicates matters more. Now we have to consider that some pollutants actually have a bit of a slow down effect on global warming. Then there's the doomsday notion of a point of no return which we may be rapidly approaching. In this case, we'll soon be spiralling down a non-reversible route of catastrophic destruction!

Some may fear that the end is near and therefore bold action must be taken. I figure if the end is near then I'll either be wiped out with everyone else or I'll try to find a way to keep existing as best I can in whatever the circumstances may be.

So why bother with trying to be more sustainable?

Because I should.

Because we all should.

It all comes back to that great big ecosystem we call Earth.

There's no denying that humans have done a grand job of stuffing up Earth on a monumental scale. Of course we'll experience repercussions from that. So of course we should be doing our best to change our ways and be more sustainable... more accountable... more aware. Nature is wonderful. Apart from all the life giving qualities it provides us with, it's beautiful.

The trees... the birds and animals and insects... the waterways... the colours and smells and sounds... the people's cultures and rituals and beliefs.

Somehow we've lost touch with that. Somehow we think it's more important to have more. Somehow we've forgotten how to think much beyond the self.

It's time we remembered how to share.

With nature and with each other.

So for climate change action day, I urge you to slow down.

Sit under a tree... lie on the grass and make shapes out of the clouds... take a dip in the ocean... close your eyes and listen to the bees... smile at a stranger... laugh with a child...

Remember what it is that's really important to you.

Is it having more?

Or is it laughing?

loving?

living?

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Bulk Baking Frenzy.

I'm trying to do more baking these days. I'm a bit of a last minute cook though and therefore tend not to plan ahead well enough. Waiting for yeast action to happen generally takes a good couple of hours longer than my last minute rush to get some food out on the table. This doesn't bother me though. In a recent attempt to be more productive with my time, I drew up a meal planner and a daily events planner and after giving it my best for a couple of weeks I concluded that I prefer to do it my way. Unorganised chaos though it may be, I enjoy cooking a 'what's in the fridge/garden/pantry' meal much more than one that is pre-thought and prepared for. That said, I really do want to do more baking.

For energy efficiency and making the most of that spontaneous burst of baking creativity, bulk baking is definitely the way to go.

Here's my first effort...

fancy bread

pita


cupcakes

water crackers

and a plaited loaf.

The pita is a hit with the husband and the kids love the crackers. Of course they love the cupcakes too but we try to keep them as a treat.

Now I just have to source some bulk wholemeal flour to ensure that I keep the bulk baking frenzy as a regular occurrence.

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Blog Action Day - October 15th 2009.

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. [http://www.blogactionday.org/]


Take a single day out of your usual blogging schedule and focus it on an important issue - CLIMATE CHANGE.

You can register your blog here.

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A glut of Avocados

I'm so glad that Avocado season has arrived.

Fresh in salads, pulped into dips or chopped up for pizza toppings. Avocados are great.

Recently we had a weekend in Sydney to celebrate the 3rd birthday of our niece. Before setting off, I noticed that we had an avocado that would've passed it's expiry date before we got back. I couldn't just let it go to waste, so I rather hopefully chucked it whole into the freezer.

RJ's sister lives in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, in a small but charming cottage, with a surprisingly large garden of the old fashioned sort. Hidden behind the chook pen, there are two large avocado trees, a large (unfortunately sterile) mango tree and a fully fruiting mulberry tree. There are also a couple of clumps of ginger growing and plenty of space for a seasonal vegetable patch.

Lucky for us, the avocados were fruiting nicely and we were able to gather up a couple of armfuls to take home (along with a stash of ginger roots). Unfortunately, they all ripened up at the same time. So I pulled the frozen avocado out of the freezer and let it defrost in it's skin, before mashing it up with a little salt and pepper and declaring it perfectly fit for eating. Yay! now there's a handful of avocado's sitting in the freezer and we didn't have to gorge ourselves with over ripe avocados or feed them to the chickens. We can now eat them at leisure.

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Cloche de beurre

I first found out about butter bells when reading a post at Towards Sustainability. I liked it. I immediately wanted one of my own. Yet, alas! there does not seem to be a manufacturer in Australia. Then Taurus Rising wrote a post about her new and rather beautiful cloche de buerre, further enhancing my desire to find a nice butter jar of my own. A pretty green one like hers was most ideal.
I wasted a bit of time searching on the Internet for an Australian manufacturer but came up with nothing, so decided to take inspiration from Dance of Small Things and make one of my own. Over the next month or so, I scoured the home ware and bric a brac shelves of the local op shops until I finally found a nice sized ceramic dish.

Unfortunately green it is not, but I do like the cute little handle on the lid. My luck was with me on that day and I also found a small ceramic cup that fit nicely inside, with enough finger room to lift it in and out. My intention was to glue the cup to the lid. When I tried that though, the glue I used wasn't strong enough and it came apart shortly after. Never mind, I just lifted out the cup and kept it separate and found that that works just as well. I was a little concerned about the use of strong adhesives so close to food anyway, so I was partly relieved that it didn't stick.

So now I just fill up my cup with butter and wouldn't you know... it fits one 250g block just perfectly! I put some cold water into my ceramic dish and then place my cup full of butter in upside down. Pop on the lid and leave it on the bench. When I want some butter I just take out the cup and sit it wherever is handy. It stays nice and soft and hopefully wont go rancid.

So far it works a treat and we've had hot enough days of late that I daresay the butter would've started to go sour in the standard butter dish which I'd previously been using. I believe that I'm supposed to change the water every few days. Maybe more when the warm weather really kicks in.

I must say, I'm rather pleased with my improvised butter bell or cloche de buerre.

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