Haiku Friday

Sheltered in the barn,
we listen and wait as wind's
bite, our bellies full.

mad to the bone

So here's what i have been up to! Its what made me an absent blogger. I have my own facebook and blog and job and life and 3 kids and a garden and stuff to do. Chuck about 8 hours worth of meetings a week, data integrity and management for a 'start up', managing subscriptions, generating interest enough for near on 600 facebookers and a website with posts to write and pics to take, edit and down and upload, email outs for each weeks new subscribers to manage and send and merge and you can see possibly why I'm not blogging much. AND Im on holidays!(waves at Simon the enterprise co-ord from Food Connect who reads this blog- well used to read it when I actually wrote anything- who started FC here and doesnt hear me whinge - i kindly save that for you online folks).

Food Connect Adelaide launched this week and after nearly 6 months of involvement it all came to fruition this week. We started deliveries. 70 this week, 30 more next week and 50 the week after and from there, who-ever joins up. The success of Adelaides first real CSA style organic food network has been unpredictable- its so totally taken off, blown us all away and is 100% excitement. For this here ethicurean its been 100% rewarding being so involved in this fantastic organisation. Its all my principles and beliefs in action and its so truly connecting. im loving it and especially loving being admin for our facebook community; these guys really get involved! So this week, I did the full caboodle. I went down to the warehouse to help pack the fruit and veges, I then loaded up my car with 100% pure organic and local (any idea how bloody incredible and difficult that is) produce (except the organic QLD bananas)and drove home to unload ready for my 11 subscribers to turn up and collect their produce boxes. A thoroughly rewarding day and some amazing produce. Best bit, when a very active facebooker; a switched on ex orchardist grandma turned up with her excited grandkids to experience ' a new way of shopping' who all proceeded to unpack her box in my driveway into take home bags. Community in action. I really LOVE it. I just wish I was going to be here every wednesday for subscriber pick up!

Tomorrow, the state election! Will I have a Bloke or not?

ps. In the midst of all this, I managed to kill the mother.

I love what you're doing now, Mum

That was music to my ears. B1 has been droppping reference to our lifestyle and living passions for a few months now. Im not sure if its because she's getting older and seeing things through a different and more mature lense or if that having ramped up our committments to volunteer activities, having lots of things going on and people dropping by she is encouraged to speak out. Whatever its source, Im stoked. Happy dancing pleeeased! It has been my one source of insecurity as a mother; to not be respected and appreciated by my kids, so her independent thoughts on the matter are priceless. I have to admit her sentiments were brought on by a mouthful of gifted organic rasberries from The Gnomes, but her comment fed into a feeling Ive been carrying for months.

Im very content right now in life and I think I may have to partly thank the girls Dad for moving away as its allowed us all to settle down and find a common easy pace. Ive never been in this place before. I feel so alive. Busy as all hell but really really connected. Volunteering my time to help get another business up and running and starting up my own has really helped me appreciate and value myself and get out there amongst 'life'. Academic life in my department is very male dominated, tough and an often thankless and isolating grind. My boss has NEVER told me told Ive done a good job; "Thanks Kel, well done". Can you believe that, after 10 years??? Its staggering. Its just not in his nature and lots of us struggle with it. So working for free and having some skills that others are grateful to recieve and being appreciated is really nice and novel(?!) Im gaining confidence and doing more, putting myself out there and trying new things. So life is chock a block busy and despite having this thesis to complete, life is well rounded and vibrant and I never imagined Id be here! Im totally enjoying being a part of my community.

Haiku Friday

November the eighth
Sustainable Living Day
Come and poke around

An inspirational Sunday in the church of food

Last Sundays FoodConnect workshop in Adelaide was fantastic, The Mad Gnomes kindly picked me up on the way. My tired brain may not do it justice but I'll give you some emotions and basic reflections that are sitting pretty close to the surface. The afternoon was;

:: informative. It clarified what the non-profit CSA organisation is all about and how we, the consumer and interested and supportive city based community can help to get it up and running. It also re-defined the concept of 'producer'/farmer as besides playing trade with commercial producers, FoodConnect will also take your home grown glut and pay for it, you just need to call them and let them know! No producer to small. Incredible. Connecting. Obvious. Fantstic. Cost comparisons were also given, the takehome message being that prices fluctuate but on average you pay 20% less to equivalent to supermarket prices!! Irresistable huh? The deals provided for farmers outstanding, fair and just. I saw one dairy farmer gasp! New business/economic models in action.

:: community building. I can't tell you how exciting it was to be amongst a group of farmers who also want to step out of the modern food production and distribution system and to sit with other dedicated consumers/supporters of such change. I seriously wanted to jump up at one point, tears flowing and say thank you to everyone for caring about this and for DOING something about it and WHAT MORE CAN I DO TO HELP IT SUCCEED ?( no, Im not premenstrual nor pregnant and I hadnt 'had a few' either) Weird. Meet the farmer trips are planned periodically for 'city cousins' and consumers. Feedback is that everyone involved LOVES these.

:: expansive. I must confess to being worried that a SA based system like this may have found its environmental climate a bit tough for the restricions on producers placed by the FoodConnect boundaries for producers (loca rules). Not to worry. The bounty the farmers had listed ( 60-80% anticipated organic) was extensive and went beyond my wildest dreams. A cornucopia of fabulousnes in a fruit, veg and dairy box; a foodies dream. Those CSA boxes are shaping up to put home gardening out of business.


:: clarifying. the role of the 'city cousin' was defined. City cousins form the drop of point for regional/local distribution (essentially making them 'the loca shop' without any cash changing hands) where customers can pick up their boxes at a designated time and day. Involvement in socialising optional (you dont even have to be home) but for me this is an exciting part of being a 'city cousin' is the networks and community building it offers with likeminded local people. 'City cousins' also get good discounts on produce, so if you need an incentive, this may be it. 15-20 customers per cousin seemed about the norm. Very managable in terms of storing boxes and traffic. If you're interested in being a 'city cousin' its not to late. Check out the Food Connect Adelaide website and fill in an expression of interest form.

:: Food Connect Adelaide is anticipated to launch in the early new year of 2010. The Adelaide group are inspiring and have done an incredible job. Im very appreciative we have people like this around.

Get involved. Food Connect Adelaide needs people like you and me to help it succeed!

sweet beetroot pillows

or marshmallows! Made for the bonfire burning at The Mad Gnomes. I'm not really a sweet loving person, my buds tending toward the savoury and if it is sweet, then i like it not very. So marshmallows, being, well pure sugar with some egg white, aren't really my cup of tea. I mostly made them for the kids, to show them the difference between mass produced stuff you get from the shops and home made (not that I'd ever tried a home made marshmallow before, but I just went ahead, used experience, and assumed!) Funny thing was, there were no kids at home to a) help and watch and b) to try the damn things! but I like doing stuff I haven't done before so it was in interesting experience, learning the nature of hot sugar syrup and egg white and whipping. The recipe is courtesy of River Cottages' Mr. Whittingstall.

Marshmallows
Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp cornflour
• A little vegetable oil for oiling the tin and knife
• 1 small, raw, peeled beetroot
• 25g gelatine powder (about 2 sachets, but check the packet)
• 500g granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites

Method:

1. Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together into a small bowl.
2. Rub a shallow cake tin of about 20x20cm with a few drops of vegetable oil and shake a little of the icing sugar mixture around the tin to coat the base and sides.
3. Grate the beetroot into a small bowl and pour over 125ml of nearly boiling water and leave to infuse for 30 seconds. Strain the pink, nearly boiling water into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Stir until all of the gelatine has dissolved.
4. Put the sugar into a medium-sized saucepan with 250ml of water. Warm over a low heat, stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved, then place a sugar thermometer in the pan and raise the heat, allowing the mixture to boil fiercely without stirring until the thermometer reads 122C. Remove from the heat and pour the beetroot/gelatine mixture into the hot sugar syrup, stirring until everything is well blended.


5. Pour the egg whites into the large bowl of a mixer and beat until stiff. With the mixer going at a low speed, slowly pour in the sugar mixture in a steady, gentle trickle. After you’ve added all of the syrup, leave the machine to carry on beating until the mixture turns really thick and bulky but is still pourable – when you lift up the beater, it should leave a ribbon trail of the mixture on the surface which takes a few seconds to sink back down into the mix.
6. Pour the marshmallow into the prepared tin. Leave to set in a cool place (do not refrigerate) for an hour or two.
7. Dust a chopping board with the rest of the cornflour and icing sugar mixture. Coat a knife with a little oil. Carefully ease the marshmallow out of the tin onto the board, helping it out where necessary with the knife.

Make sure all of the surfaces of the marshmallow are entirely dusted with the icing sugar mixture. Cut the marshmallows into squares, oiling and dusting the knife as needed. Store in an airtight tin lined with baking parchment.


Sticky, uber-soft, fluffy, rubbery buggers they are. No way they'd stay on a stick for toasting. More like a quick pick up and toss in the mouth before you either squash it completely or it drips through your fingers. They are incredibly,FANTASTICALLY ...flubbery ! They taste like, umm, sugar with a touch of earth.

*B2's verdict upon return: they taste like weeds! S'mores here we come!

Haiku Friday

We stand in line, hot
sweating, patiently waiting.
Ice cream from the Gods.

i was thinking...

thinking that all your comments on yesterdays post were so great that I could post bits of my thesis here every day we could get this damn Thing done together! Whaddaya reckon?

an easy way to participate in todays 350 event

Didnt get your shit together for todays 350 event? No worries. All you need to take part in this 350 event is a camera and yourself!

The Alternative Technology Association (ATA), established in 1980, is Australia’s leading, independent member-based organisation providing practical advice and information to households on sustainable living technology and practice. ATA publishes both ReNew and Sanctuary magazines.

Our members are people who are walking the talk on sustainable living in their own homes.

To bring together members and supporters, from across Australia and New Zealand, ATA will be hosting an online event where people can share their images of sustainable living.

Over the coming weeks ATA will be gathering 350 photos of real people living sustainable lives to be uploaded to an online image gallery on October 24th, the Global Day of Action.

To join this living gallery, take a photo of yourself and your favourite sustainable living activity or technology. This could be anything from you on the roof with your solar panel system to growing your own veggies or riding/walking to work. Invite your friends and family to join you in documenting your favourite aspect of sustainable living at your place.

Email your high resolution jpgs to 350photos@ata.org.au
See www.ata.org.au for more details

...or just go sign the petition on the 350 link above.

Michael Pollan Talks- Bioneers conference

If you've ever wanted to hear Michael Pollan (In defense of food and The Omnivores Dilemma fame) talk and not had the chance, here it is. A live recording from the Bioneers conference held in San Raphael, California this weekend. This is Mr Pollans Plenary address where he adressess issues around the industrialised food system. Enjoy, and have a look at some of the other conference presentations while you're there.

food connect

For all you in adelaide, here's a link to the FoodConnect webiste where you can read up about Food Connect, CSAs, place an expression of interest in helping the organisation, becoming a drop off point for CSA boxes, subscribe to their newsletter and recieve updates on progress.

Im so excited. CSAs have finally arrived!

Im so excited i dont even know where to begin this post. OK all you Adelaide Taurus Rising readers. Time to come out of the woodwork. Time to support the local food movement! CSAs are coming to town!
CSA (community shared agriculture) is a grass roots food movement (Google it) and food production and distribution system that has been practiced in the USA and canada for years and is a relative newcomer to the Australian food market. CSAs have been operating in the lush regions of NSW and QLD for a few years but none so far have operated in Adelaide.

Essentially, a CSA works on the consumer 'purchasing' in advance a committment to buy produce from a group of local farmers for their weekly fruit and vegetable needs. Its like a share system, investing directly in the primary producer. If youre interested in helping to set up this system - becoming a 'city cousin' (the person with some city responsibility to pack or distribute the goods) then this meeting is for you. Attending and giving a workshop on the finer details of CSA with growers and customers will be Robert Pekin, founder of Food Connect (Brisbane)

Main Hall, Clarence Park Community Centre
72-74 East Ave, Black Forest, Adelaide
sunday, November 1
1.30pm - 5.45
Afternoon tea will be provided.

To RSVP and for more information contact Sally Fisher info@foodconnectadelaide.com.au by 28/10/09

Help make sustainable and local food sytems prosper and help our local food and consumer communities connect, flourish and grow. See you there or comment me and we can go together!

was I being dramatic?

...just a bit. But i took your advice yesterday and today and it feels good. I overcame a huge theoretical hurdle that i have been avoiding for oh, just a few years and didnt feel so bad about missing out on the gardening. I did get out and water a few new seedlings, planted out some radiccio and tomatoes that were getting ahead and generally hung out with the boybean in between storming my way through a chapter.I have to say, this outlook on a sunny day can get me sitting in front of my laptop anytime...
Somehow, in between, we managed a leisurely afternoon tea with the Gnomes who were visiting for the first racking of the 'TRMG' carrot and citrus wine we are making as a joint venture and somehow, the leftover waffles that B2 made for breakfast (doh! she made a recipe for 6 when only 2 were at home to potentially eat waffles) morphed into a waffle, redcurrant and orange 'bread and butter' pudding to share. We are hoping the wine is ready for Christmas consumption. So far, so good.

Just call me Molly Malone

My love of free food, wild food, foraged food, happy food is well known to you who read this Blog. Its something deep within me, a wonderful a sense of connection with nature, the environment, with the continium that is 'My Life'. I love it. One thing I look forward to each year is the start of Cockle season; November 1 here in South Australia. Over the past few years, cockle sizes have been diminishing and a shorter cockle season for the professionals last year was ordered in the hope of boosting both size and numbers of this years harvests. Im looking forward to seeing the impact of this shorter season.

I go 'hunting' cockles at Middleton, 'Cockle beach', where the Cockle train passes by with its puffing and choo-choo'ing, it makes for a lovely day. I thought, why look forward to this wonderful beginning with just my family? Is anyone interested in a Blog Cockle hunt sometime in November? I thought we could meet at the beach on a nice sunny day, 'hunt' cockles and then head back to 'our' beach house for some homemade fettucine alla Vongole or Chorizo and Vongole paella and then make our ways back to our respective city homes, beachy, salty, sandy and happy with a bucket or two of freshly collected cockles.

be inspired

On 21 September 2009, at more than 2600 events in 135 countries across the globe joined together to issue a deafening wake-up call to world leaders on climate change.
Check out Avaaz, the organisers, Avaaz is a 'new global web movement with a simple democratic mission: to close the gap between the world we have, and the world most people everywhere want..'

duck and porcini ragu with papardelle

To celebrate the coming for dinner of a Perth based blog comrade, laurajane from Loving the Question a life from a midwifes perspective and our first face to face meeting, someting delicious was a definite. I had two ducks in the freezer so i knew it was time to get creative with one of them. Both purchased for a song at $5 each, free ranged and in need of a new home. Mine. Im detecting a very strong theme in my culinary choices these days; whole small wild and game animals are making their way to our table and into our pantry with increasing frequency. Im starting to dream of shotguns and wide open spaces and a pig or two! Its worrying my husband.

So, never having jointed a whole duck before, i loaded up the trusty laptop, pulled up a Youtube clip and away i went, rewinding every so often to get it right. Easy peasy was the ducky. le viola! two legs, two wings, two breasts, one neck, lots of extra skin and an empty carcass. Not difficult at all, you just have to have a sharp knife and keep it close to the bone and cartilage. Usually the pluck is packaged up inside, but this ducky was pluck empty!

Jen from found in translation had suggested this recipe and the blog post was so funny and tickled my fancy that i had to have 'a bit of that'. The recipe called for duck breast but a ragu is always so nice, tender and rich that i chose to use the legs and one breast for this dish as confit duck legs arent really an option as theyre not my thing. But duck stock, rendered duck fat for treaty potatoes and a proscuitto style cured duck breast used up all that remained. Duck breast is happily hanging with the salami, stock in freezer and fat in glass in the fridge. More on that in another post. I opted to ditch the gnocci for a silkier lighter parpadelle and after trying a reconstituted saffron milk cap from my stash, porcini was definitely the way to go. My saffron milk caps dried well and have great flavour but reconstitute into inner sole so do only for flavour, not food. Any ideas why?
I picked up laurajane from the airport, foul weather had kept her in the plane on the tarmac for an hour after landing, poor thing. Welcome to Adelaide! When released, we headed straight for the Central market as my ducky morning didnt leave me any time for home made papardelle. Its weird how guilty i feel about buying things like pasta now. Pasta in bag, we headed home for an evening of conversation and some kid chaos.

The pasta was really really good and relatively simple. The ragu was rich, and sweet and surprisingly not too fatty. Expatriate kitchen was right. "Nothing with duck fat, red wine, porcini and butter could be too bad!" We followed up with a Jamie Oliver baked pear recipe in an orange walnut vanilla syrup served with toasted walnut marscapone. I took this pic mid prep in the afternoon, by desert time all camera activities were long forgotten. Not surprisingly i was totally cactus by half eleven after a full and interesting day. Blog meet ups are always so fun and laura jane was exactly as i had imagined her. Full of life and light and a very generous soul. This is the very special wild woman brooch she made for me, 'Marina'. Hand made and hand dyed felt in my favourite colours, beading and stitching. Isn't she a stunner? Dinner pales in comparison.

eco colour - botanical dyes

Its a stunner of a book. Written by India Flint, this book details the hundreds of useful local and european foliage, flora (and some fauna) available to use in the the dyeing process and the colours achieved and a very interesting history of dyeing. Its a great reference text and a very useful guide to eco dyes, the mordants required (mineral or 'naturally occouring' chmicals eg: ash, urine, plant and animal proteins) which are used to make the colours set or fast and patterning techniques It covers many simple techniques for transferring dyes from nature to your cloth, some so simple as the japanese technique for literally just bashing colour onto the fabric; a smashed pansy never looked so good! I particularly wanted this book as it covers the many Australian eucalypts and wattles used for dye and vegetables as well. Everything thats required for some great results i can find in my own garden and the colours achieved from some of the natives are just simply sublime. Im very much looking forward to attending her workshop in November and meeting this amazing woman and doing some witchy pot stirring and creating some interesting fabric. Camera definitley required, with loaded batteries.

a rampant foodie fantasy

Ive been suffering it for days and am so enamoured with it that Ive even shared it with the Bloke. Generally in the big scheme, its not something i tend to do with fantasies, i tend to keep them to myself lest someone call me on them to make them a reality! In my book, thats not really how fantasies are supposed to end; dying a sordid death in the light of a real day.

So, i shared it (must mean its a dream and not a fantasy, huh?). Its a dream inspired by a post on Family Styles; a S.O.L.E food blog written by Chinese-American sisters, one living in London the other in New York. The blog name belies its witty, youthful, international and contemporary foodie nature and the latest post made me go spinning off into all sorts of excited co.nip.shuns. The Rambling Restaurant. Not enough time in my days to pull it off but its such a great idea for building community, sharing food, having fun and spreading appreciation about the provenance of food. I might have to work out how to do it on a smaller scale. Im really loving this underground sneaky supper club idea. What do you think?

A Splendid Torch

My heart sang when I first met the Bloke, he had this pinned in the bathroom on the wall, one of my favourite pieces of writing of all times. I knew immediately i really was onto a good thing.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

quite agricultural

We did the royal show yesterday. It wasnt too bad. I was going to do a bumper of a post with some fab pics ... i remembered the camera...but the batteries were flat! What an idiot. All i could squeeze out of it was these plates of award winning eggs. Couldnt even get a pic of the boybeans first 'barnyard' experience, comprised mainly of a chubby pointed finger poked up many wet domesticated nostrils.

I used to love going the Sydney Royal Easter Agricultural show every year when i was a kid, it was my once a year chance to get some junk food. Not lunch, we always took our own sandwiches but the heart stopping excitement of the 'show bag'. I would spend ages deliberating which ones to buy, but invariably came home with the same two every year. The Darrel Lea bag- to satisfy my chocolate needs and the Sunny Boy bag to satisfy my iceblock and chip cravings for the year. I loved coming home and spreading my loot around and admiring my sugar bounty, replete with the monos and saturateds that would have to do me until the following year.

The show piece i used to wait for with great anticipation was the fruit, veg and grain display. A huge mural made entirely of produce. In hindsight, Im not sure just how big it really was ( my childhood street and home are not as grand as my memories suggested either). It was usually a rural scene made from seasonal produce. I loved it. When i moved to SA, I was pretty peeved to find the Adelaide show didnt have such an agricultural centrepiece or a super dooper giant slide that you rode on an old hessian sack.

My favourite two things about the show here are the cattle sheds and the public entries for 'best of'. Love em. The cattle I love not because Im enamoured with cattle, beautiful though the specimens on show are , but i just really love the microcosm of home that the moleskin wearing, akubra sporting cattle families construct within these sheds to house themselves comfortably for the duration of the event. 1950's formica tables and odd chairs, worn plush couches, rugs, mugs, toasters, side dressers full with crockery, cups and the odd kambrook electric fryer, commercial size tins of instant coffee and bowls of fruit on doileys all in a 2x2m space and all nestled amonst the farting, chewing, defecating and peeing cattle. Its just brilliant.

The 'best ofs', well they speak for themselves. Where else do you get a space provided to get serious about the difference between an egg, and ginger sponge, a florentine and a fruit cake (the biggest entry field i have noticed, obviously a VERY serious and hotly contested item)? I love how by the end of a week the custards' hardened, the berries mouldy, the choux pastry has sunk and the jams have stained. There's always a fly or two in the cabinet but the goods inside still proudly sport id cards, some with ribbons, all for our viewing and not tasting pleasure. The kids always run happily around in chase of their most favourite piece, the most amazing creation, the 'oh my god can you believe a 12 year old made that' moment. Thats what i love about the show, the creativity and connection with making and growing stuff that it affords and the celebration of human endeavours. Watching your child emerge breathless and bright eyed and grinning from an exhiliarating, thrilling ride is kinda special too!