finally...

after much ado and many moons, the PV has landed on the purpose built roof. Although the studio sits facing the same sunny direction as the house, the pitch of the house roof was just a tad steep for solar, something akin to 70 degrees and the house sits further down the side of the valley thereby sitting in more shade. After much deliberation we decided to start with just a 1kw system; 6 panels. By our calculations, using past power bills, we will cover on an annual basis nearly 3/4 of our total electricity usage. With three of us away during most week days and the house having no significant electric heating or cooling devices, just the passive solar design and night storage heating for the winter months and and solar water heating, we're hoping to feed the grid during the day at twice the rate of our off peak night time use, thereby neutralising our electricity costs which are courtesy of wind generated green power. We have placed the panels such that there is room for 12 more in an aesthetically pleasing layout (most essential!) if we decide to go for broke. Im looking forward to the 'fire up' (sparky required) and watching the meter feeding the grid... my PV viewing pleasure.

Travelling Gnomes

Saturday saw us the happy hosts of a bloggy visit from 'the Gnomes' of Mad Gnomes fame. They came bearing garden gnome gifts, the reason for the drop in. How lucky are we!? Five dozen eggs, yup, five, a bunch of sweet chillis and some lovely shiny eggplants, mini white ones too! So we waved them in, plied them with coffee and cake (well only a small piece) Veggie did some child minding while we chatted until her arm fell numb.

Then we toured them outside to the top garden to witness the apples being plucked from the tree for a fair swap (and some rather humbling garden showing of the cold winter beds). Somehow, i always feel like i get the better deal with Veggie swaps. I forgot to take happy snaps, so its food pics instead. What to do with five dozen eggs...a huge tortilla de patatas to take to a party. Four dozen to go.



Thanks so much Mad Gnomes, the time just flew! and we are dreaming of the rasberry canes with much anticipation. Ohh, yes...

current indication

this recipe for pork belly and chorizo stew posted by haalo gives a pretty good indication of exactly where my emotional state is at. Its comfort food of the highest order. pig pig and more pig (i rarely eat pig and then only if theyre happy housed neighbourhood piggy wigs). The problem with feeling like indulging in such a porky extravaganza (besides the hip load, look at all that fat!) is that after spending hours creating; i do like to stand at the pot for said stewing hours with wine in hand and just poking the mixture every now and then, is that i effectively have only made dinner for two. The two never meat eating children (*sigh* how did that happen?) still need to be fed. Ive tried removing the meaty bits, but ive never got away with it. Would someone make this and get back to me...just how fabulous was it?

blogs and truths

Ive been struggling the last two weeks with some pretty personal health issues. Issues that have left my blogging mojo pretty frayed. Its been hard for me. I blog because i like to write, its my diary. It started this way, just for me. It was a genuine shock when i recieved my first comment and it dawned on me that people actually might pass my way! I know. Doh. Its a public blog... Im bog into honesty, i like to tell it like it is and i like others doing the same. Im a no holds kinda girl. Not much shocks me , not much scares me but i also wear my heart on my sleeve. So its been hard for me to keep these issues away from the blog but becasue they are so personal im just not sure how much to share; to open myself up for public comment...maybe not quite so ready for that right here, right now despite my intense desire to just spill. So, Im just going to say, bear with me while we get back on our feet; i'll take the pressure off myself and hopefully when the clouds have lifted, I'll be back with the old mojo in tow.

apple, blackberry and frangipane tart

Taking a good pic of a half eaten pie at night time without lighting is tricky and i couldnt guarantee there'd be any left when the light was better in the morning. This tart was good. I mean really good. I love it when i can cook like this. 95% local ingredients (sugar definitely not from here). Blackberries picked that day on our walk and apples from our trees, home ground raw whole local almonds, and all else local biodynamic or organic fare. Its loca love in a tart.


Frangipane is one of those wonderful things in life, like basil and tomato or hazelnut and chocolate. I first discovered it big time in croissants aux amandes. If you havent tried one, they're heaven in a heart attack. Full of artery clogging butter but soo delish and a great way to use up old, stale going cheap croisssants. Stuff them with frangipaine and bake and serve with coffee on a weekend when the kids are away and you've got the paper and a sunny spot...I digress.

So, to hand were apples and blackberries. The blackberries were probably the last of the season, so many dried on the canes and wasps hovering closely ( so close i did get a jab in the palm when i grabbed a fat purple berry and its passenger, but not enough to swell) and apples, well we're still picking...bucketfulls. Im going to bottle most this weekend and am thinking maybe a cider??? But for now, with those two , its gotta be desert, right? I had both almonds and walnuts in the pantry but i figured a traditional almond frangipaine was the way to go.

Pastry - your choice. I used a cream based short crust, blind baked for 10-15 minutes after resting the lined case in the fridge for 10 min. This prevents it shrinking in the oven and its insides spilling out.

Apples - i used about 5 apples and simmered them in water for about 10 minutes to soften.

Blackberries - probably used about 1 cup fresh; frozen would be fine. Actually any other fruit or berry combo is fine. Use whatever you have to hand. This works well with anything; quince, plum, pear...

Frangipane
125g/4 oz butter
125g/4 oz sugar.
2 eggs -lightly beaten
150-200g almond meal
vanilla extract- 1 tsp or seeds from 1 pod
Cream together butter and sugar and then add the eggs slowly to combine. Add almond meal and vanilla and mix thoroughly and pour into cooled pastry case. Top frangipane mixture with fruit. Bake 25 minutes in 180 oven. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Its a good thing we had friends over to help out with consumption. You definitely dont want to be eating this type of food too often. Tonights desert; chilled whole apples. Penance.

food control

yesterday B1, the bean and i went blackberry picking, dodging the wasps for the last of the seasons pickings (blackberry, apple and frangapaine tart to come). B1 just casually dropped a question into the conversation.

"Mum, if you died, would i get to choose where i want to live" ( yikes, this is my biggest fear in life)

My brain went through about a million permutations of were to begin an answer in about three seconds. Where do i start? So i started with a qualified yes...court would take into account age, school, your wishes, family attachments, ability to provided care, current arrangements...etc. Its not a black and white answer; theres no stratght forward yes or no. She basically said she had a better relationsip with Si than her dad and she would want to live here, in her home with him and her brother and sister, go to her school, keep her friends and be near her grandmother. Fair enough. I said i would make her wishes known and that Si would be only too happy for that to happen.

It led us to reflecting on how her dad chooses to live and how we live and food control came issues came up. He has lots of soft drinks (soda), cakes and biscuits and other fast food available and we dont. The kids can help themselves; no limits at his place, but at home they ask first. Her argument was that if you have lots of 'crap' around you learn to not want it, that you can regulate your intake when its available but if its not around you want it more and so eat it more. All her friends can help themselves, its normal. Agghh. Peer pressure. I disagreed but remembered using the same argument on my mum. I said if you dont eat it very often then why buy it? why have it around ? and that if its there it will get eaten.

Control of children and food is interesting. Over the years i have tried to teach them what kinds of food they need to ask about. The last avocado (might be guacamole for dinner) , leftovers (maybe enough for another whole meal) fruit no need to ask but they invariably do. I just cant imagine a household where they just come and go from the pantry or fridge eating whenever, whatever. Im thinking dinner time would be met with "Im not hungry" or when i go to make dinner the key ingredient which was there, is no longer. Im not a "nevermind, its 6.30 but i will just run out to the shop" kinda girl , i like to make sure they are eating a healthful diet and its also a home economics issue for me too. I do think food control may be more of an issue when you have children who are overweight, i think thats where my zealousness may have come from. Since the girls dad moved they have each lost well over 10kgs and now sit in the healthy range not the overweight/obese for BMI. But am i limiting their ability to develop self control by teaching them to ask? Is democratic parenting in the food realm an ideal or a trap? Do you control food in your house? Why?

stuffs up

first the crone, then nature witch, now me. Blogging mojo = zero. I usually love to write, i love the freshness of a new 'page' an empty space to be filled with some words, but lately the idea of sitting down to creat a post has actually left me physically feeling sick to my stomach. i thought it may have ben the flu and that it would pass, but maybe i just need a break? too much going on...somethings gotta give...all those cliches, maybe its a need to be focussed on the ouside, the physical.. maybe I've just got nothing to say? *laughs* I have been doing a lot of sitting in the garden, just looking, especially just sitting in the sunshine and looking at the water in the creek and trying to breathe my racing mind and heart to slow, a simple meditation.

Despite all my misgivings about feeling compromised with the wordsmithing, thankfully the garden is happily chugging along blissfully unaware of my mojo meltdown. Everything i planted up last weekend has sprouted; my stuffs up!. Its fantastic and i havent needed to water all week as the rains have been so thorough and the morning dew just tops everything up. Im excited about the kale which looks just like cabbage (doh) which is also up, both are onto their fifth leaves, the root vegetables; beets ,carrots and parsnips are looking strong despite their delicate demeanour, the bush and purple beans are streaking ahead ( next sowing i will do some regular grren climbers as the purple one do tend to woody) snow peas and mammoths are travelling a good 6 inches up their supports, the chards are putting in a rainbow appearance and the chives are just peeking through as are the potatoes. This is what it must be like growing in sub tropical conditions! I love it! So my first foray into sowing the whole lot from seed direct has been successful thus far. Like a child, the birth is over, now the transition into adulthood and navigating through the perils of the seed teen years begins.