down to earth

I really enjoy living where we live. The climate is wonderful, we can grow food all year and unless we have a bad year, it's neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter. We live on a small piece of land at the edge of a pine forest that is bordered by a permanent creek, lined with rain forest. In the old days, trees were cut in the mountains behind us and brought to a timber mill on the other side of our one lane street. Logs were launched from our backyard into the creek and floated downstream to the Pacific Ocean. There, sailing ships waited for the logs which were loaded and shipped to places far, far away. Stripping tall timbers from our forests no longer happens here but not much else has changed at this end of the lane since those days. There are ten houses here now, but the mango and nut trees they planted back then are still here, and when you're quietly working in the garden you can imagine those days when logs would have rumbled by, probably right through where our house now stands.

Our front garden (above) and our vegetable garden (below).

The house from the back. You can see the solar panels, the solar water heater (right) a couple of skylights and the whirly birds. Of course, Hanno's ladder is there; he's often on the roof pottering around, checking or fixing things.

Life is good here and we hope that even after we've gone, this land will look the same as it does now and support the efforts of a hard working family - hopefully our descendants. The key to this is to protect the land, to keep it vegetated, to remain organic gardeners, to use as few chemicals as possible, to continue to encourage birds and wildlife and to remain radical conservers of the land we live on. We will continue to harvest water from the roof, generate electricity with our solar panels and as much as we can, live a low tech life.

Our outdoor sink and one of the water tanks. We wash vegetables and fruit here, and our hands, so we don't bring too much dirt into the house.

Part of our low tech approach is to gently manage our climate for our own benefit. We use what our natural environment gives us. We dry our clothes in the sun instead of using a dryer; we use the soil to produce food; we use harvested water on our crops, instead of using town water; we use cross ventilation as much as we can to cool our home. When we first came here to live we installed whirly birds to extract hot air from the roof space; they're powered by even the slightest breeze. Hanno has just finished painting the entire roof with solar-reflective paint which makes a big difference to the temperature of the metal roof and therefore, the temperature inside in the hot months. We also have three skylights on the roof that bring more light to the kitchen, bathroom and laundry without needing to flick a switch.

Water is harvested from the roof and stored in three water tanks. This small one (above) is used to water pot plants on our front verandah. This tank is also used as a platform for food that defrosts in the sun. Even now in mid-winter, a shoulder of pork takes about three hours to completely defrost (below).

I sweep instead of vacuum, we removed our dishwasher a couple of years ago and wash up by hand. I would love to say that we harvest wood from our old trees and use it for heating but Hanno has an aversion to wood fires so we go without heating except on very cold mornings when we heat the kitchen for a couple of hours with a reverse cycle air-conditioner. I would also love to say we had an outdoor wood-fired bread oven that we use to bake bread, cakes and biscuits, but I can't. Maybe that is something I can look forward to in the future.

Beans drying in the warm air.

I wish we could use more low tech ways of doing house and yard work, or heating/cooling our home. I wonder what you're doing. I wonder if there are some things we've just not thought of but could easily do if we had a clue. So please, tell me how you manage heating and cooling, water, electricity, defrosting, cooking, drying and washing in a modern home environment. This blog has become a place for sharing ideas, often radical or forgotten ones, so I'd love to hear what you're doing in your home.

I watched Masterchef yesterday because I wanted to see what they did with their guest, the Dalai Lama. I thought it was a strange mix to have the Dalai Lama on a cooking show but he has made me think about many things in a different light so I was keen to see what happened. One of the judges remarked on his saying: "I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the basic roots of all relationships." It's a quote I had not heard before but how could you not agree with it wholeheartedly.

Many people think of cooking and the serving of food at regular times every day as a chore that is endured rather than enjoyed. I choose to think that the person who decides on what food will be eaten, the person who chooses the food, either at the shop or in the garden, and the person who serves what has been gathered and cooked, is the person who brings the family together every day. That is an significant role to play in any family or group.

A shared meal should be a part of everyone's day. Unfortunately many people eat alone.

When everyday activities, especially in a young family, see children at school and parents at work, a meal that is shared in the evening is not only a symbolic act of drawing the family back into the home again, but is also a valuable way of reconnecting and learning what each person did during the day. This is a time for sharing not only the food but thoughts, plans, worries and solutions. If you have children in the family, this time spent together may give you the feeling that everything is fine, or it may alert you to something you should be concerned about. A couple living together but separated when they're at work, need to know they will sit, relax and share a meal and the day's news later in the day. Still now, Hanno and I sit down at a set table every evening for our meal. When we have people visiting, it generally involves sharing a meal. There is something about sitting at a table that has been prepared with cutlery, glasses, a water jug, and maybe flowers and candles, that tells all who sit there, they're welcomed into this home.

I know it's sometimes tough, especially with a young family, to provide that shared meal day after day. When I was younger and experiencing those busy days, when fatigue took over and all I wanted was to sit down with my feet up, or, better still, sleep in a cosy bed, I thought about the possibility of not having a family to share anything with. Imagine that. That every day you had no one to eat with and share experiences with. That usually brought me back to reality and I felt privileged to cook meals and serve them to my family. It doesn't matter what is served - it can be simple, or full flavoured and hearty, it's the sitting down and sharing that counts. Last night Hanno and I had fruit for dinner, tonight it will be soup. It's not just the food, it's the connection as well; the combination of the two nourish us and let us know we part of something bigger than ourselves.

It was raining and cold here on the weekend, I had a few things to catch up on, and one of them was a batch of laundry liquid. I know many of you already use this but there are many who haven't made the leap yet, so I'm hoping that another post about how easy it is to make and how much it will save you, will be the push you need towards making a batch yourself.

All you need is water, soap, borax and washing soda, all the products are usually available at the supermarket. The soap can be either soap flakes or soap that you've grated yourself and it can be any kind of soap - laundry soap, homemade soap or Sard soap, if you want an extra cleaning boost in your washing machine. Sard soap contains an oxy-bleach and would be excellent if you're washing a lot of white clothes or you have children or a tradesman in the family.

In addition to your ingredients, you'll need a medium sized saucepan, a slotted spoon to stir with, 10 litre bucket, funnel, jug and containers to hold 10 litres of laundry liquid.

Above you can see the process. The ingredients are measured into a saucepan containing one litre/quart of water. Add one cup of soap flakes, half a cup of borax and half a cup of washing soda. Turn on the heat and stir. Bring the mix to the boil, stirring as it heats, and by the time the mixture is boiling, ALL the ingredients should be dissolved.

So, you've nearly finished and it's only taken less than ten minutes so far. When you're sure it's completely dissolved, pour the mixture into your 10 litre bucket and fill the bucket to the top with water from the tap. You've made laundry liquid! And it's cost you about $2 Australian. If you bought the equivalent about of laundry liquid here it would cost you between $80 and $90 (see below for cost comparisons in USA and UK). So when you take into account the making, pouring and storing, it's taken you about 30 minutes. I make this about once every four months. If you have a large family, you might make it every two months. And it will save you about $80 every time you make it. How long would you have to work to make $80? Saving it is much easier.

Once you have the laundry liquid in your bucket, stir it around again, then start filling your containers. It's important to leave enough room in your containers to shake the liquid before you use it because it will separate. See below for more information about this. As you can see, I store my laundry liquid in a five litre blue container, a three litre glass jar, a one litre glass jar and a 750 ml bottle. I use the bottled laundry liquid for cleaning. It's great for cleaning up spills, for cleaning around light switches, door handles, walls and floors. I use that little blue scoop to put the liquid into my front loader washing machine and I always use the one litre jar as my working jar. When it's empty, I refill it from the larger containers.

Above is the laundry liquid after it's been sitting for 24 hours. It's clearly separated into to layers - the top layer is gel-like, the bottom layer is watery. You need that space in your container to shake and mix before you use it.

And here is my cleaning liquid that I shook just to show you what it looks like. So don't think you've done anything wrong if your mixture separates, it's fine, it just needs a good shake. And to answer Shelly's question yesterday, this is safe in septic tanks but not for grey water. The borax in the mix builds up as boron in the garden and that is harmful to plants. If you want to use your grey water, leave out the borax.

ADDED LATER: This is also an excellent stain remover. I rub it thoroughly onto a stain with my fingers, let it sit for an hour, then put it in with the normal wash. It works.
Don't expect homemade laundry liquid, or the powder, to make suds. Clean washing doesn't need suds to make it clean. The froth and bubbles you get with commercial cleaners is made with chemicals not needed for cleaning but are included because they think we want bubbles.

I've written before about the small steps we all take. This is one of them. This small step doesn't cost a lot, it is easy to make and it lasts a long time. But if you do it, it will save your hard earned money, it will mean you'll have fewer chemicals in your home, you'll buy less packaging and the water you eventually send into the system will not be laden with salt, phosphorus and fillers. Maybe this small step is not so small after all.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

More info about Australian laundry liquids
Cost comparison USA
Cost comparison Australia
Cost comparison UK
Tipnut's homemade laundry liquid FAQ

A couple of people commented and a few more emailed asking for Sunny's recipe for Korean BBQ beef, which is called Bul Go Gi. Not only has she given me the recipe, she's remade the food and taken photos so it's easier for you to make it. Thanks for your help with this, Sunny. I send my love.

BUL GO GI

As with all Asian cooking, you do all your preparation and cutting first.

Ingredients

500g thin slice of beef (sirloin or tenderloin)
1 onion
½ carrot
5 dried shitake mushroom
1 spring onion (shallot)

Marinade Sauce

30 ml soy sauce 30ml
1½ tablespoons caster sugar
1½ tablespoons sesame oil
½ tablespoon sesame seed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 pear
5 garlic cloves
½ onion

METHOD

1. Soak shitake mushrooms in warm water until soft.
2. Prepare and slice vegetables: slice onion and mushrooms, cut carrot julienne, cut shallot finger size.
3. Blend marinade sauce ingredients using blender.

4. Marinate beef in the sauce with sliced vegetables.

5. Put marinated beef in the fridge and leave for overnight (you can cook immediately but better if you leave overnight)
6. Heat the pan and add 2 table spoons oil.

7. Cook until beef has changed colour.
8. Serve in the plate on the table for everyone to help themselves.

Sunny's notes:

* It is usually served with rice in Korea.

* You can put more or less sauce as you like.

* You can buy sliced Bul Go Gi beef and shitake mushroom at Korean supermarket.

* You can use any kind of mushrooms (like button mushrooms).

JAB CHAE - noodles, beef and vegetables
Ingredients below are for one person - multiply by the number of people you're serving.
Glass noodles

10 grams dried champignon mushroom (or any kind of mushroom)

½ onion

½ carrot

¼ red capsicum (pepper)

⅓ bunch asian spinach or baby spinach

50 grams beef (sirloin)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seed

Sauce 1

5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves sliced garlic

Sauce 2

1 tablespoon soy sauce
a pinch black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon sugar

METHOD

1. Soak dried champignon mushroom and glass noodle in warm water until they are soft.
2. Slice onion, julienne carrot and cut beef into strips.
3. Marinate beef strips in the sauce 2 for 20mins.
4. Boil sauce 1 for 1minute and put aside.
5. Blanch spinach for 30 sec and drain water.
6. Heat the pan and add 1 tablespoon oil.
7. Saute vegetables, mushroom and beef separately and then put aside.
8. Saute drained noodle in the heated pan with 2 table spoon oil and boiled sauce 1 until noodle is soft.
9. Combine 5, 7 and 8 and mix with sesame oil and sesame seed (you can add more sauce 1)
10. Put on the serving plate.

Sunny cooked both these meals for Jamie's 100th day celebration so I can tell you they are delicious. If you've never tried to cook Korean food before, these would be good to start with. They're both fairly simple, and they're healthy and delicious.

Just a note to those who've ordered goods from my shop: I'll be in touch with you tomorrow with details of postage and payments. I'm at the Neighbourhood Centre today. The baby's arrival has put me back a day.

I hope you enjoy what you're doing today. No matter what it is, take 10 minutes for yourself to sit and relax.

Things are still busy here, but that's good, I work well when there is a lot to be done. I worked at my neighbourhood centre yesterday. We got our grant for the life skills workshops so it's now full steam ahead organising them and setting a calendar for the next few months. I'll be teaching how to preserve jam and relish, fermenting, breadmaking, soap, laundry liquid and homemade cleaners and maybe cheese, as well as the ongoing Frugal Home workshop. We might also have a bush tucker and crossing cultures workshop by my friend Aunty Bev, depending on her current commitments, and there will be a series on how to plant an organic vegetable garden, worm farming, composting and keeping chickens. We hope to use the garden as a tool to help people create their own vegetable gardens at home, then use the garden and plant fruit trees so we have a productive kitchen garden operating at the Centre.

I feel this is a strong and positive statement about sustainability for our Centre to make. To get those under-used traditional life skills back into local homes, and many more vegetable gardens and chickens in backyards, will be good for our community. It seems many more people want to learn these skills now too. These tough economic times are making people see possibilities in places they never thought to look before - inside themselves and in their own backyards.

Today I'll be making aprons and finishing off some knitting. Tomorrow I hope to set the shop up and start trading. It's been a long time coming but it feels good to be earning some pin money using my hands and a little effort. Now that the grandchildren are here it's good to have that bit of extra cash to spend so we can see them whenever we want to, or if we are needed.

But I have to let you in on a little secret - my work room looks like a crazy monkey has been let loose in it. I'm sitting here now - well, let me take a photo instead of describing this mess.

This is a list of the workshops I was working on when I came back from the Centre yesterday. And yes, that is this post being written on the laptop screen. This really is instant blogging.

And these two photos are the mess on the other side of the computer. I've been sorting through my stash to mix and match fabrics for aprons. So there, my secret is revealed. Hopefully, before I start sewing this morning, it will all be sorted and the extras put back in the cupboard.

I've been meaning to blog about silver cleaning since the last time I cleaned mine, so here goes. Not many of us use silver cutlery nowadays but I do, although we also have a stainless steel set. I love using my bone handle knives and old silver and every so often it needs more than just washing, it needs the tarnish removed. This is how I do it with no harsh chemicals.

I boil a kettle of water and while it's coming to the boil, place a sheet of aluminium foil on the base of the kitchen sink. Then I sprinkle a tablespoon of bicarb soda onto the foil and place the silverware on the foil. When the kettle boils, I pour it into the sink, making sure I cover all the silverware. I walk away, leave it for ten minutes, when I come back, the silver is clean. If you've got heavily tarnished silver, you could add a tablespoon of salt to help the process along. You can clean any silver like this, including silver jewellery. When the tarnish has disappeared, take the plug out, rinse the silver and dry it with a soft cloth. It will be sparkling and like new.

Thank you for visiting me today. I hope you have a beautiful day.

ADDITION: I'm going to knit a couple of organic cotton teddy bears for our babies. I have the yarn but I would like to stuff them with some kind of organic wadding as well. Do you know where I can buy it online, or in Brisbane or the Sunshine or Gold Coasts?

We celebrated Jamie's 100th day on Monday with the family gathering at Kerry and Sunny's home. The Korean name for this 100th day is baegil. Sunny, who is also a chef, cooked a traditional Korean meal for us and looked as cool as a cucumber after cooking all day, housekeeping and looking after Jamie, who has decided he will only sleep for 20 minute intervals during the day now.

Shane and Sarndra came along too and we sat down to a meal fit for kings and queens. Sunny made (I won't attempt to spell the Korean names because I know I won't get them right) BBQ beef and noodles, tofu parcels with vegetables, kimchee, rice paper rolls with prawns and vegetables, glass noodles and vegetables and a plate of fried zucchini rings coated with egg, little thin and folded omelettes, and little pieces of fish, coated and fried with a sesame leaf. Afterwards we had Sunny's rice cake and some peanut, pistachio, coconut rice balls with red bean that Sarndra and Shane brought along. All delicious!

I love those traditions that celebrate special family milestones and I wish we had a few more of our own here in Australia.

As most of you know, Sarndra and Shane are expecting their first baby any day now. This is such a wonderful time for our family. Not only do we have the cute and giggling Jamie in all his sweetness, and Sunny and Kerry who are the most excellent and calm parents, we also have another surprise packet waiting in the wings. Another little boy that we will love and cherish and watch grow, and who will turn his parents into a caring and proud mother and father.

I have to tell you that when I retired, I didn't give grandmothering much thought. Our sons showed no signs of settling down, and then kaboom! two babies close together. I never thought I could love anyone as much as I love my sons, but now their own families are cocooned inside that love as well. I'm delighted Sunny and Kerry are such loving and gentle parents. Every time I see them together, caring for their son, it's like a gift to me. And now, I can hardly wait for a new baby to arrive. His parents are SO prepared for him, and he too will be born into a family who really love him and want the best for him. There is no greater gift a child can have than loving parents who want him to have a good life; nothing else comes close to that.

Happy 100th day, Jamie! We wish you continued love, happiness and many more cheeky smiles.

TWO MORE PHOTOS JUST EMAILED! Thanks Sarndra.