eco ease

Limits are great things no matter who, how or what you are. Kids love boundaries, thrive on them, the 'experts' all recommend them for ethical and social and emotional development. The problem with modern society is that being a rich Capitalist democracy we have become somewhat used to having no boundaries when it comes to our adult selves. 'Want that? Yup. 'Now?' Yup. Its all ours to be had. The price we pay for having and getting now, all that we want, manifests in many ways. Loss of community and development of cultural narcissism, financial debt, weight gain, ill health, limited relationship, environmental destruction and the list could go on. It used to be just an elite few who could have it all but our insatiable appetite has been afforded to the middle classes the world over.

This post over at the Green Phone Booth today reminded me of my current thinking; that Im loving my self imposed limits of local, organic, sustainable and ethical. I am actually finding life easier as i get older and more conscious about what i purchase. My lifestyle imposes limits to my purchasing and no longer do i find myself caught up in the consumptive habit. By removing myself from it like i have, by having principles which define what i buy, I have removed choice and thereby have simplified life.

We purchase basic goods which we use regularly, those which satisfy our 'principles'; a few local dairy products, mostly organic, organic local fruit and veg, home grown and home made staples, wild or free range organic meats, occasional 'kids' bread (square and soft) which comes in cellophane, bulk organic dry goods, etc etc. and a few condiments which i just cant make (see this exciting news, soooo local amde just a few streets away!). We pretty much stick to these varying them every now and then with something exciting and really leaving the exotic and well travelled for special occasions (not every Friday night!) like birthdays etc. Instant food doesnt really make much of a showing in our place much to the kids chagrin but I have noticed they now eat when theyre hungry not because theyre bored. Eating means work, investment, time and they cant be bothered when theyre not 'STAAAAARVING' and want more than fruit!!!

Shopping at op-shops has really introduced a whole new freedom. (Shoes I do buy new and I wear them out!) Impulse shopping and i are definitely not friends and is generally facilitated by staying out of the shops. So being a tight wad and knowing my limits and loving my boundaries really helps when it comes to navigating the marketplace; makes it easy and stress free. Being 'pov' by choice is liberating, sometimes socially challenging but the bank balance loves it and it means we have money available for experiential pursuits!

South Australia bans plastic bags

Sidesplitting and strangely euphoria inducing Tim Minchin in stereo.Turn up the volume. Im going to post this every day until it gets at least 10 views!

My thoughts and best wishes go out to all the shop assistants who will be enduring the wrath of many shoppers who forgot their canvas bags today, the first day of the ban.

Forest Foraging

Ive written before about my love of free food. Foraging is just about my most favouite thing to do, especilly mushrooming. So with some pretty wet weather behind us, quite a few sunny days and a few bloggy reports on fungi sightings we thought it may be a good time to go 'shrooming.

We packed the bean and ourselves into the mobile unit and headed out to the old Gold dggings site at Jupiter Creek in Euchunga in the Adelaide Hills. We know that leaf litter is a favoured spot for fungi growth and had had read online that its not just under pines where they are found here, but Eucalyptus leaf litter too (Funghi of the Adelaide Hills book duly ordered. After trapsing through some beautiful bush we came across a man on his horse, but no fungi to be found anywhere. A week too early??

So we loaded back into the car and headed to another spot where we had found field mushrooms last year. Nothing. Yup, too early. We saw one gathering of fairy toadstools (the classic red with white spot) but nothing edible and non halucinagenic! On our way back to the car we came upon a whole bank of spiky pods mounded beside the sloping path.

Chestnuts!

Not something we see much of at all here, least of all when youre out mushrooming! We parked the boy safely and got to work, gently squeezing nuts out of their urchin homes with our shoed feet and collecting over half a kilo. We enjoyed roasted chestnuts after dinner, squishing their floury sweetness from their skins. Its amazing what you can find out there to eat when you start looking.

One

Oh wow. Today was as glorious as this day a year ago... except the champagne wasnt as good! Blue skies, leaves aglow and lotsa 'lerve', one year old lerve. The bean was one today.

It was so lovely, festive, but the problem with having a baby when you're older is you got loads more friends, so a one year old birthday actually poses logistical problems. Its either a wedding event or something resembling normal. He's got no friends of his own yet, so its a potential political conumdrum. Who do you invite?

So we defaulted to close friends (define that) and family. But, the really brilliant thing about a one year birthday compared to a sixth year birthday is that were still living off the leftover wine for dinner and then some, actually instead of dinner! With a stop and drop 6yo old party, you just 'do' kids but a 'one party' is really for the adults to celebrate the successful passing of a whole year and they bring wine!!!! Go figure. Its kinda weird being back at the bottom end of birthday parties where the kid in question cant even open their own gifts.!




So its cake and wine for dinner. Im over pizza!

But, earlier on we did fire up the oven for pizza. All well and good despite the woman driving up the road who dropped in just to check that the house wasn't burning down!
Clock that one up to experience but I am so very glad there are people who are prepared to check. Next time we will fire it up the day before its needed, especially if we use it after we have had such a downfall of rain, and possibly cover it, not aesthetic but practical. Overall, the oven fired up beautifully, but to push out heat and stave off the inherent damp ...well... another day may have helped! Lesson learnt. So between the pizza oven and the electric oven we fed thirty in 3 hours.

I can recomend that if you invest in a pizza oven and you have neighbours close by...invite them to your party. Its pretty smoky fare.

Im knackered. It was fun. We remembered, shed a tear and stopped for a pic at the exact time Jasper was born. The girls, me , Jaspie, Si, Rosie and Bruce, all gathered on the spot where his birth culminated; those who were in attendance (except Lisa, our fantastic midwife) present. The difference... we had a crowd today. Smiling and laughing and looking on.I wish Id take a pic from my perspective, from where I sat. Twenty odd happy people all looking upon this photographic moment at this time of the beans birth, celebrating in rememberance of an ordeal passed. Ive never experienced anything like it. I have to say, Simons bunch of people are pretty special, they celebrate life like a bunch ive never known. No shame, no fear, no self consciousness. Raw emotion. I love them for enabling it. Bring it on. The bean and I had a fantastically, wonderful, memorable, special birth day

Thats the bean offerring my brother his sock. Nice. Biggest fun of the day... My brother and his wife talking to B1 for ten before realising who she was! She has changed...

Pandemic preparedness

As an epidemiologist i have to confess to finding an emerging pandemic quite a fascinating occourrence. However as a planet member, I know that the destruction which a virus can wreak on the population is devastating.

The emergence of any zoonosis is a worying thing. The transfer of a virus from one species to another is quite a rare event and flus are particularly problematic as they mutate very quickly, making treatment tricky. By the time the scientists have developed a vaccine for one flu strain, its mutated to another and being a socially transferred illness, it spreads quickly. So flu shots are rarely beneficial unless youre a medico in a hospital and get exposed to many strains at an intensive level.

So when the Queensland Chief Medical Officer yesterday advised members of that state to start stockpiling food and was promptly contradicted by the Federal Health Minister i wondered what was going on, thinking that some 'other' pressure must have been at work to make Ms Roxon object to such a simple suggestion.
I came upon an interesting article from the food industry which i believe explained MS Roxons 'dont panic' response. This article on food supply shows that Australias urban food supply is one of the most vulnerable in the world. Our reliance upon 2 big guns in food distribution who at best are shown to have only 3 days supply on their shelves, without panic purchasing, and 80% of Aussies get all their food from these distributors. I found this incredible and rather worrysome.

Another article which was very interesting from the Medical Journal of Australia was 'the food lifeboat developed by Sydney University which details energy requirements and energy allowances for general non perishable foodstuff which we should all have in stock in case of a major disaster of any kind. The biggest danger is probably panic buying if you rely on supermarket food! Its an easy to follow read and really quite interesting.

Now Im not one to run around shouting 'the sky is falling' and I think the international response to this emerging flu strain has been incredibly efficient and well co-ordinated and I dont actually percieve a level 6 pandemic being declared due to the diseases timeline. However i am relieved to know that we have just over 2 months food stock in the pantry, just as a matter of intellectual and practical interest.

Haiku Friday

My heart runs over,
too much love to comprehend.
I think the dam's burst.

rocket

This is the second post on seasonal cooking to follow up on the Cauliflower post. Rocket is one of those fantastic garden producers, which once planted never really leave a well watered garden. We have rocket springing up pretty much all over the place and i picked this bag weighing nearly 1kg and didnt make a dent in the rocket patch. Its a great easy green that can be used raw or cooked and can be grown easily in tubs, maybe even on a window sill as it has pretty shallow roots. A great patio alternative to silverbeet and can be used pretty much in substitution of, i think. This recipe really uses up a huge amount of rocket, nearly all the 1 kg (i used more than the recipe asked) as it uses rocket in both the gnocci and the sauce. So if you have a heap growing in the garden and are sick of salad and pesto on pasta this is a great one. It uses up more rocket than any other reicpe Ive come across, even rocket pesto, which i also made a huge stash of, but we need something a bit more novel than rocket pesto right? So, not a nut in sight (Ive left that pun alone).

rocket (aragula) gnocci
1 kg floury (baking) potatoes - king edwards, desiree, (uses up those taties too, floury potatoes look whiter, yellow ones are waxier)
salt
250g flour
2 egg yolks
30ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (i never use just 1 clove)
500g rocket leaves
pepper

sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
45ml olive oil
300 gm rocket leaves
500g preserved tomatoes
salt
50g fresh parmesan cheese

Cook potatoes in salted water with skins and while still warm peel and mash by hand. Do not use a food processor as the starchy proteins will be transformed and the consistency will not be what you need for gnocci, more like school glue -ick.
Spread out potato mash and work in flour and egg yolks.


Heat oil and lightly brown onion and garlic. Add rocket that has been quickly blanched (i used the potato water). Drain and add to onion mix. Season and then chop in a food processor until finely processed. Add this rocket mix to dough. Work in, then form dough into walnut size balls. Dry for 2-3 hours (or as long as you can).


Sauce.
Cook garlic in oil then add rocket and tomatoes. Simmer and season.
Cook gnocci in boiling salted water until they float to surface. Lift out as they rise and add to sauce in pan or top with sauce once in bowls. Serve with parmesan cheese.

A magic rocket meal.


The pic is a bit festy as it was taken at night with poor light conditions. It looked a lot better (more edible) than this, but you get the idea.