down to earth

If I could isolate one part of our home that facilitates our way of living the most it would be our roof. There has been a lot going on up there in the past couple of months and it's all exciting stuff. Well, it's exciting to me. :- ) I told you all about the solar panels we had installed in April, then, last Thursday, when we were out, the solar system meter box was installed. That gives us a good idea of our usage and what is going into the main grid. From what we've seen so far, I think we've paid our last power bill! Not only does that decrease our cost of living, it also lightens our footprint, and for that, I'm very thankful.

The thing I haven't told you about yet is that Hanno started the huge job of roof cleaning, maintenance and painting. Our home was built in 1985 and the corrugated steel roof has protected us since we moved here in 1997. However, there have been leaks lately, especially on the verandah, and something needed to be done. Hanno examined the roof a couple of months ago, cleaned it with the Gerni and started checking the bolts holding the roof on. Many of them were rusty and had to be replaced (with slightly larger ones so they gripped the timber in the old hole) and all of them were treated with White Knight Rust Guard - a liquid that removes rust then primes and seals the metal. There were over 450 bolts in total. Just that was a huge job but it had to be done - we want this maintenance to keep the roof in good order for another 25 years. Hanno will be 95 then and I will be 88. If it needs further maintenance after that, we might get someone else to do it; although knowing Hanno, he'll probably want to have a go at it himself. :- ) I am really pleased that he is able and willing to do this kind of home maintenance. It has saved us thousands of dollars and it helps us live well in our little home.

When all the bolts had been replaced and sealed, Hanno started painting. There are two newer sections that we built when we came to live here - the garage and a bedroom extension. Those areas were painted in Taubmans exterior gloss. Hanno said gloss is better for that purpose because it will be easier to clean in future years with the Gerni. The rest of the house was painted with a solar reflective off-white paint called Globalcoat. It's a specialty high gloss acrylic paint, made in Australia, for concrete, terracotta and metal roofs. It's like a rubber coating that doesn't chip or peel and is guaranteed for 10 years. He's been painting for about six weeks now, it needs two coats, and he's still going up the ladder everyday to do a bit. It's almost finished, thank goodness.

Being solar reflective, the paint will increase the energy efficiency of our roof and along with the other elements up there, while keeping us sheltered from cold, rain and sun, will help us consume less electricity. Our roof is one of the reasons why a small solar unit will give us all the power we use.

Along with the solar panels that give us solar electricity, we have a solar hot water unit. This has been operating perfectly since it was installed in 1998. Solar hot water cuts about 30% off the average electricity bill in Australia. We also have three skylights - one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom and one in the laundry. We have no windows in that bathroom or our laundry but even on dull days we don't have to turn on the light in those rooms. The skylight in the kitchen was installed when we added our back verandah, which made the kitchen quite dark. The light is never on in the kitchen during the day, the skylight gives us excellent light at no cost to us or the environment. Also up on the roof, we have whirly birds that spin due to their design, extracting hot air in the roof. These, together with the solar reflective paint now on the roof, should make quite a difference in summer.

We have a great roof and like other parts of our home, it has been modified to suit our way of living. We aim to keep it in good order so it will continue to help us live lightly on our tiny portion of the world. We have lived here for 14 years, the paint and the solar panels have been added this year, as we could afford them. The solar hot water, whirly birds and skylights were added in exactly the same way - when we could afford them. It doesn't matter if you can't do everything you want to do in your home when you first move in. Just devise a plan, save your money, and add what you can, when you can. It might take a while, but if you're living true to your values and those values include being as self reliant and energy efficient as possible, then it doesn't matter how long it takes. Make a plan, work towards your goals, and buy when it is wise to buy.

We had a wonderful visit with our family on the Gold Coast last Friday and once again I could hold my beautiful grandson, Jamie. The only downside is the trip there and back because the traffic is terrible. Still, it's worth it to see everyone, catch up on the news and see how Jamie is progressing.

There is no doubt in my mind - food and drinks made at home from scratch are far superior to what you buy at the shops. Not only are they tastier, fresher and healthier, they usually cost less for a better product. I spent some of my Sunday making a few odds and ends in the kitchen. We had been given a free box of apples and I wanted to do something with them; the first night I made an apple crumble. That still left over 300 apples, so I skinned and seeded a bowl full of them and made up a litre of apple juice. If it wasn't so labour intensive, I would have juiced them all but I had to de-seed the apples because there is a small amount of cyanide in the seeds, and these apples were commercial apples, waxed, so I had to peel them too. Still, the juice that resulted from that exercise was so good; Hanno and I had a chilled glass each with our roast pork for dinner. The leftover pomace has been bagged and frozen for future apple and fruit cakes.

I found some pickling onions at the store on Friday so I bought a kilo. While I was at Tricia's, we went out for lunch a few times and I had one of my favourites - Ploughman's Lunch - a mixed plate of sourdough, good tasty cheese, pickled onions, gherkins, ham sliced from the leg and a relish. One of those lunches had the most delicious pickled onions I'd had in a long time. Clearly they were not a commercial brand, and had probably been made by the chef. I think they were pickled in balsamic vinegar. They inspired me to make pickled onions, hopefully as good as those I had on my ploughman's plate. I really like having a jar of pickled onions in the fridge. They last a long time and they're a wonderful addition to a lunchtime sandwich or a snack plate.

This jar will sit for two months to let the vinegar and spices do their magic before we eat them.

There seems to be quite an interest here in preserving, so I thought this would be an excellent starting place for those of you who haven't done any preserving before, have no equipment, but would like to give it a go. All you will need for this, apart from the ingredients, is a litre | quart sized preserving jar, with a pop-top lid, in good condition, a saucepan large enough to boil it in (completely covered) and a smaller saucepan for the vinegar. The jar I used is one of those Italian preserving jars you can commonly buy in either a supermarket or department store here. Recycled jars are fine for this job - make sure they're undamaged and the lid is perfect. Wash the jar and lid in warm soapy water and rinse it well.

Let me say first that many of my American friends might be a bit concerned with these instructions. I'm not going to use a water bath or pressure canner, but these onions will be fine for about a year without that processing. It relies on high acid vinegar and sugar to keep the food safe; both of them stop micro-organisms surviving in the highly acidic, sugar liquid. This way of preserving is common in Australia and the UK and although your method of boiling everything is how you're advised to can food, this is the common way to put up pickled onions in the Commonwealth.

If you ever see this Melrose vinegar (or Braggs vinegar) in the shops, grab it. It will be more expensive than ordinary vinegar, but it contains "mother of vinegar" and with that you can make your own vinegar. Before you buy, lift all the bottles up to the light and buy the one with the most strands or blobs of stuff floating around. I know that sounds gross, but the "mother" floats around in the vinegar.

The taste of the end product will depend on the quality of the ingredients you use. Do NOT use your cleaning vinegar for this. I used the excellent Melrose unpasturised apple cider vinegar and Cornwall's Apple Cider Vinegar. I didn't have enough Melrose for this recipe because I wanted to keep the "mother" in the bottom of the bottle for making new vinegar. So I added a small amount of Cornwall's vinegar to make up the volume. Vinegar used for pickling must be at least 5% acid. Melrose is 8% and although Cornwall's never state on their label what level of acidity it is, they recommend it for pickling so it must be at least 5%.

PICKLED ONIONS - INGREDIENTS

1 kg | 2.2 pounds small pickling onions

50 grams | 2 oz rock, sea or lake salt

600 mls | one pint good vinegar - at least 5% acidity

3 tablespoons honey or sugar

2 teaspoons allspice berries

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 dried chillies

2 bay leaves

If you're in Australia and you can't find all the spices in the shop, use a packet of Menora pickling spice. I bought mine at IGA.

METHOD

Cut the top and bottom off the onions and place them in a bowl. Cover them in boiling water and leave for about a minute. Pour off the hot water and replace it with cold water.
When the onions are cool, slip the skins off the onions. Dry the bowl, place the onions back in it, and sprinkle the salt over the onions. This will draw fluid form them. Leave this, covered, for 24 hours.
The next day, boil your jar and lid in a saucepan. It must be completely covered. Bring to the boil, then let it boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it in the hot water until you're ready to fill the jar, it must be hot when you add the hot vinegar.
In a small saucepan, add the vinegar, sugar and all the spices and leaves. Bring to the boil, making sure the sugar has completely dissolved. Let it simmer for a two minutes while you prepare the jar and onions. If you want to taste the vinegar, now is the time to do it. To adjust the flavours, add more vinegar, sugar or spice. Remember that the flavours will develop a lot while it's in the jar and what might taste quite harsh now, will turn into a soft and mellow liquid in a couple of months.

Wash the salt off the onions, then place the onions in a colander to drain.
Now you have to take the jar from the water without burning yourself and without contaminating the inside of the jar and lid. With your jar tongs, take the jar from the water and place it on the bench, making sure all the water has drained out. If you have no jar tongs, pour the water out of the saucepan, pick up the jar on the outside with a tea towel and lift it out. Don't touch the inside of the jar, it must remain sterile. Same with the lid - you can touch the outside but not the inside.
Pack the onions into the jar then pour the vinegar over the onions and fill it right to the top of the jar. The vinegar will still be very hot so be careful. Put the lid on the jar straightaway. The hot contents will help form a vacuum seal.

When the lid goes on, you'll notice the pop top button on the lid will be up. When the vacuum seal happens, that button will invert. That is your sign that it's sealed properly. When that happens, you can store the jar in your cupboard for up to a year. You want the vinegar mix to infuse the flavours into the onions, so let it stand for at least six weeks to mature before opening. When you open the jar, it must be stored in the fridge.

If the pop top on the jar doesn't invert, the onions are still okay to eat, but you'll have to store them in the fridge and eat them within three months.

Preserving food in jars, while not as popular as it once was, before so many of us got freezers in our homes, still holds relevance for those of us living this way. It's a useful skill to learn. You can put up several jars, or a whole pantry full, or you can do what I do and make small numbers of gourmet food jars that can be enjoyed for a fraction of the price you'd pay for the same quality in the shops.

There are three questions I am frequently asked in emails.

Why do you have those upturned flower pots on the posts in your garden?
How can I start living simply and start to save money?
Do you have any more recipes I can try?

I have two from scratch recipes for you today. Spicy lentils and fruit cup cordial.

SPICY LENTILS

This is a variation of the spinach dhal recipe in the fabulous Women's Weekly Slow Cooker recipe book. This recipe is very tasty and could be suitable for vegans and vegetarians if you substituted the butter for olive oil and used vegetable stock or water. It's not hot, although it does have chilli, pepper and curry powder in it, it just gives it a good spicy note. Served with crusty bread, it makes a delicious winter meal.

INGREDIENTS

500 g/1 pound yellow spilt peas (or green) or split orange or red lentils
45 g/1 ½ oz butter
2 medium onions - chopped
4cm piece (1 ½ inch) fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 fresh chilli - as hot as you want it to be
3 tablespoons curry powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
800 g/28 oz tinned tomatoes
1 litre/quart of water OR half and half water and homemade stock
1 teaspoon sugar
bunch silverbeet or a pack of frozen spinach

METHOD

Rinse the peas well until they are clean and the water running off is clear. Drain them.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan, cook the onions, ginger, garlic, chilli and curry powder until the onions are soft.
Add the onion mixture to a slow cooker.
Stir in the tomatoes, water/stock, sugar and peas and mix well.
Cover and cook for about 10 hours on low.
About 30 minutes before serving, add the chopped silverbeet or defrosted spinach.

FRUIT CUP CORDIAL

Pick whatever juicy fruit you have in the backyard, or buy oranges, lemons and passionfruit.

INGREDIENTS

Sugar syrup - one cup sugar boiled in one cup of water until the sugar is dissolved. Or use whatever sweetener you usually use
Juice of four oranges
Juice of one lemon
Juice from about 10 passionfruit - sieve to keep the seeds out, but reserve about a tablespoon of seeds
Zest of two oranges
Zest of one lemon

METHOD

Combine all the ingredients in a large jug, then add the tablespoon of passionfruit seeds.
Pour into a clean bottle, seal and store in the fridge for up to three weeks.
Make up the cordial with tap water or sparkling mineral water and ice to your taste. It's not as strong as commercial cordial so we use about ⅕ cordial to ⅘ water.

I went back to the neighbourhood centre yesterday and worked on getting a solar grant so we can cut down on their $1,200 per quarter electricity bill. Finished that and will start writing notes for workshops today. I loved being back there with the other volunteers and workers, and seeing the Flexi students; some of whom were doing the Naplan tests. There are 28 students there now! I feel like I've gone back to my real life.

Tomorrow we are driving south to see Jamie, Sunny, Kerry, Sandra and Shane. All is well in my world.

Over the past few months our worm farm has gone from bad to worse. The farm was in an old bath tub (see above) that we bought cheaply at the recycle shop. I set it up a few years ago in the bush-house and since then we've been regularly harvesting worm castings and worm liquid. Then the rats discovered it. They found they could get in under the lid so Hanno attached a more secure lid for me. That worked for a while but they chewed a hole in the side of the tub where it had started to rust. There was no stopping them, and not only did they eat the food put in there for the worms, they ate the worms too! Has anyone else had that problem?

Eventually there were several points of entry.

When you have backyard livestock, whether it be worms, chickens, goats or a house cow, the feeds bins always have to be tight and secure, otherwise the rats and mice take over. We’ve always been mindful of this but nevertheless, the rats set up shop under the chook house and now that our old cat Hettie is no longer an active mouser, they’ve made themselves at home. We have a couple of pythons hanging around the neighbourhood but even they seem to have deserted this lost cause.

So I bought a smaller plastic worm farm. It’s made from recycled plastic, has four trays and best of all, it’s rat-proof. I set it up yesterday, following the simple instructions that came with it. The few worms the rats didn’t find and a new box full of worms have been installed to do their thing.

I love using worm castings and liquid in the garden and in pots. It’s the most gentle, but effective, fertiliser and adds beneficial microbes to the soil, another big bonus. We also use a lot of comfrey and now rarely have to buy any commercial fertiliser. This is a big saving when you garden almost year round and to have natural fertilisers like these means we can boost plant growth without adding anything we don’t want.

If you haven’t yet discovered how wonderful worm castings are, I encourage you to try them. One of the tricks to long term backyard vegetable production is to produce good quality organic food at the lowest possible cost. Saving seeds every year (as long as they're open pollinated/heirloom seeds) and making your own fertiliser will help you do that.

The new farm takes up a lot less room so I can use the extra space to sit more seedling trays.

There is a bit of cost in setting up a worm farm. You'll need a suitable container and worms, the rest of the farm can be set up with bits and pieces you have around the place. There are step-by-step instructions for setting up a bathtub farm from my original worm farm here. Here is some very good information and excellent photos about the value of worm castings and liquid. When you're set up, it will be one of the ways you can dispose of your organic waste and kitchen scraps instead of sending them to land fill.

If you're in the first year of your vegetable garden, it's best to grow the herb comfrey for your fertilising. Plant it on the edge of your garden where you don't want to plant anything else - it doesn't multiple out but it's difficult to remove if you want to move it. It will grow in almost any type of soil and likes a fair bit of water while it's establishing itself. Comfrey will grow quite rapidly from root cuttings that you can buy for a small cost or have given to you by another vegie gardener. Here is an old post about worm farm maintenance and making comfrey fertiliser. There is no other cost, except for your time and effort to grow it, and if you don't go ahead with your garden again next year, you haven't wasted too much.

As you probably know, and may be tired of hearing, I have been writing a book recently. Yesterday I finished it. We still have photos and a few odds and ends to sort out, but the bulk of my book work is over. I am so relieved, even though I enjoyed the entire process and felt quite privileged to be doing it. This signals not only the end of the writing but also my whole-hearted return to my blog. I have kept it going to the best of my ability but because I was writing and not doing what I usually do, had few opportunities to bring you new posts about our work here at home or new discoveries made.

I have also been refreshed by my trip down to the Blue Mountains with my sister, Tricia. It gave me a lot of time to think about myself, my life in Queensland and how I fit into the scheme of things. I am coming back here knowing with no doubts that my home is where I want to be, my family is the most important thing in my life and that now my role is to carry on here living this wonderful life and to encourage and support our children and grandchildren to become the best they can be. If I can be a role model for others as well, that's the icing on the cake for me.

Since November last year I've spent most days writing and have missed the ordinary domestic activities that are now so familiar to me. I kept making the bed, and dinner at night, but instead of baking bread every day, we've been buying the Aldi rye loaf. There have been no days just pottering around, no spare time for reading or experimenting; it's been just the bare necessities, then back to the computer. But today we are back to hot bread straight from the oven for lunch, working on new recipes, and looking for simpler ways of doing what we do. I'll be planting seeds later in the week, doing some work on the worm farm, reorganising the bush house, researching cheese making (again), sewing, knitting and cleaning. I have new books to read and a desk to tidy. Many would think it's some kind of madness to look forward to those things, but I'm back doing what I enjoy. It feels right.

Making our bed every morning helps us both sleep well, so we're able to get the full measure of the following day. Pottering around my home satisfies me; my work has a purpose. I feel content when I work here using simple methods and at the end of such a day, I look back on the work, knowing it has given us this interesting and comfortable home, and I can't help it, I am made happy by it. Having just come back from Sydney, a city of five million people, I know for sure that being here in this quiet little one lane street is where I want to be. We are surrounded by rainforest and trees, a few friendly neighbours, and we can work at our own pace making from scratch as much as possible and doing all we can to make our lives productive, useful and enriching. There is nothing fancy here but we live well and we're happy. At the end of the day, you can't ask for much more than that. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.

I never want to be someone who wakes up and wonders what on earth I can do to fill in the hours. There is so much to be done here. None of it has to be done right now, but it's there, waiting its turn. Living simply has given us a gentle way of living a full and rich life, although many of our contemporaries wonder why such a life satisfies us. They don't get it. That's okay, I don't get bowling clubs, botox, endless miles in caravans or shopping either. Let me plunge my hands into warm soapy washing up water or into the worm farm or garden soil or my knitting basket and I'm smiling. It doesn't take much. I'm so pleased to be back.

I'm sure it is no surprise to most of you to know I took knitting with me when I went to the Blue Mountains. There is nothing quite like a knitting project and a book in your bag when you travel. Either of them will get your through long train trips, very talkative fellow travellers, and those moments of boredom when you feel you can sit still no longer. Both of them combined make a long journey treasured time to create and reflect. I am knitting with Vivian's beautiful yarns from Eco Yarns now and every time I pick up the needles and feel the quality of the organic cotton she sent, I fall in love with knitting all over again. I am knitting for my grandson Jamie at the moment so only the best will do. While I was away I finished a pure cotton kimono top for him. It will be soft on his delicate skin and I won't be concerned about introducing him to any harmful chemicals in the yarn or dye because I know it is organic, whisper soft and completely safe. I used the pattern in this Cute and Easy Baby Knits book and a fine set of Clover bamboo needles.

Baby clothes need frequent washing so using quality yarn that will stand up to all that washing is essential. When you knit something as a gift, it is a very good idea to include some information about the yarn and how to care for it. I always give washing instructions for that particular yarn to the person who will do the washing, in this case, Jamie's wonderful mum, Sunny. It makes the task easier and will keep the garment wearable for many long years, and possibly for other babies who come along.

This is the label from the cotton used in the kimono top. I'll pin it to the top when I give it to Sunny and hope that she reads this post on caring for cotton. She usally reads the blog, so she may have already seen the top and read the instructions before I give it to her. Hello Sunny!

I believe hand washing is best for this type of garment.

HAND WASHING COTTON OR WOOL

Fill an enamel dish or plastic bucket with warm water. Don't use hot water because untreated organic cotton can shrink in heat. There are chemicals in ordinary cotton to stop shrinkage.

Place the garment in the water and completely soak it. Add either homemade liquid soap or bar soap, or dissolved Lux flakes and move the garment through the water gently squeezing it while it's under the water to allow the warm water to swish through the fibres. Natural fibres are much better washed with pure soap than anything else, and handwash if you can, the washing machine will weaken the fibres over time.

When you know the garment is clean, pour the water down the sink and fill the basin with clean water for rinsing. Never wring out natural fibres - it will stretch and weaken them. When the garment is thoroughly rinsed (at least two changes of water), squeeze as much water as possible out of it(without wringing), support it with both hands and place it on a clean dry towel. Roll it in the towel into a cigar shape, and press down to remove the water again. Do this a couple of times and replace the towel if it gets too wet. When most of the water is gone, lay the garment on a clean dry towel in the shade and allow to dry. Do not hang the garment because it will stretch. I have to admit, I like the ritual of hand washing special items of clothing - it's like paying respect to something special. I know many of you don't have the time for such things though so ...

Alternatively, when the garment has been hand washed, you can use the gentle spin cycle on your washing machine to remove most of the water. When it's finished spinning, place it flat on a towel and place in the shade to dry.

TREATING FOOD STAINS

If there is a food spill, remove the garment and treat it before the stain dries. If there are dry stains on the garment, plunge it into a basin of cold/warm water, apply soap to the stain and rub gently. If this doesn't remove the stain, add the garment to a half bucket of warm water with a lid full of powdered oxygen bleach added. Leave overnight and wash as above. This bleach is peroxide-based, not chlorine, so it won't harm the fibres.

The day after I finished Jamie's top, I started a new project, this time using Vivian's baby alpaca (see above). I'm knitting a rolled edge beanie from the Simple Knits for Cherished Babies book. It will be a soft and cosy winter hat for Jamie. When I've finished that, I'll start on a few things for our other grandson who be be along soon - in mid July. I always think it's impossible, but life keeps getting better.

I have been wanting solar panels for the longest time. In 1985 we moved into a house with solar hot water and used it happily for many years. When we moved into our current home in 1997, we had solar hot water installed, along with our first water tank, two skylights and whirlybirds and we put in a vegetable and fruit garden and bought another flock of hens. We dived head first into green living then but the one thing I wanted to add when we had the money was more solar power. Finally, they're here. Seven panels were installed while I was staying at Tricia's. We are still connected to the grid and we're currently sending power we don't use to the grid that we are paid for. The current rate for that is 44 cents to sell to the grid and 19 cents to buy back.

The solar panels on the roof.

I'm not sure how well our panels will work but I'm hopeful that we won't need to take any electricity from the grid from now on. Our electricity consumption is pretty low and we already have solar hot water, so I hope that by working with the patterns of daylight here and slight modifications on how we work with electricity, we'll reach our goal.

We did a lot of research before we decided on which company to buy from. There are a lot of advertisements by companies we'd never heard of before promoting cheap prices but on investigation, there were added costs. It was important to us that we deal with an established company that would be around to service the 25 year warranty. We also wanted to deal with an experienced green business, who knew their product and provided excellent service. We got that with Origin. The panels they installed are Sharp from Japan and they were installed on our roof in a few short hours. Hanno watched them like a hawk and he said they did very well.

The meter box in the garage.

The price quoted on our panels after the government rebate was $3,240 and we were going to pay that from our savings, however, when we signed up, we found they had an interest-free loan so we decided to go that way instead and leave our money in the bank longer, earning interest. We paid $180 on installation and pay the rest off over the next 12 months in $255 instalments. The government rebate will decrease on June 30 this year so I encourage you to act now if you're thinking of installing the panels on your roof. Our experience with Origin has been very good and we're happy to recommend them to you. The more of us doing this, the better.

Do you have solar panels? If so, I'd be very interested to know how well they've worked for you. Did you have to modify your housework to get the maximum efficiency? What difference did they make to your electricity costs? Whatever you can share with me about them, I'd love to know. I wonder if other countries have their government's support to buy solar technology.

ADDITION: Here is a booklet about the system we bought. And for Iris, here is info about the feed in tariffs. We sell our excess for 44 cents and buy it back if we need it at 19 cents. These prices change all the time and I'm sure will eventually go down.