down to earth

Last week I received a sad email from Sophie in New Zealand, she wrote:

"I just wanted to write you a wee note to tell you of my experinces in the last month. I was away in the US with my daughter having a new baby (she paid for me to go over to her) and my husband was killed in a car accident. He was 52 years old, and I am 51. We had been married almost 32 years and were very happy.

The main reason i am writing to tell you this is that while I have followed your blog for several years now and posted sometimes I am on my own now and am very unprepared. We have some debt, a mortgage etc. my income for the next five years is going to be about a third of what he was earning. I have never worked outside the home. After 5 years my payments will cease and I am not sure what I will do then. We had no life insurance but do have a little savings which will help with funeral expenses etc. I have learnt so much from your blog and I know I can do it, but I do somewhat regret that we were unprepared. We never thought anything like this would happen to us and that we had time to get into a better position. I am grateful that the government here in New Zealand will help me for the next five years as I know in other countries there would be no help for me. There is no use in looking back and I will go forward and do the best I can."

Although Sophie didn't specifically ask for help, I asked her if she would like me to show this email on my blog, open it up to helpful comments, and for me to put in my two cents worth. She was happy to do that. I think the major help Sophie will have will be from people she knows, but sometimes people who are are further removed, especially people who live in a similar way, can come up with suggestions that others may not have thought about. That was the reasoning behind my offer, as well as offering the hand of friendship and support to someone going through a sad and difficult time.

My first thought was that Sophie is lucky to have that buffer provided by her government - five years financial support. We have a similar payment here in Australia for widows born before 1955. My second thought was that, depending on how much equity you have in your home, Sophie, you probably have a sizeable asset you can use. If there is not much to pay off the mortgage, I would suggest selling the home, paying off the mortgage and the other debt and buying a smaller house or unit. That would be a huge burden lifted and would open up the future for saving and living frugally. No matter what happens, your debt will have to be paid off somehow. Now that you're on a pension it will be difficult to pay off that mortgage. If it was all paid off using the house, and enough left over to buy a smaller property, you would be in a much better financial position. Did your husband have any superannuation? You say there was no life insurance but if he has been working all his life, there has to be superannuation.

When your five years is up, you'll be 56 years old - still nine years away from retirement. If I were you, I'd use those five years to build up skills so you can get a job. Hopefully, you can get a job doing something you enjoy. Five years will give you a good amount of time to think about what you could do, then the experience or training you may need.

Overall though, if you've been reading my blog for a few years, you have probably been doing a lot of the things I do. You may already be living frugally, you may already have a vegetable garden and cook from scratch. Keep doing all those things because the lower your weekly expenses, the better off you'll be. It might be a good move, when you can, to sell off anything you no longer need - like a second car, and to pare down on mobile phone, internet and pay TV accounts, if you have any of them. Do a little bit at a time, not all at once, and start with the most expensive things first.

I can't imagine how stressful this time must be for you, Sophie, but if you can pay off that debt, I'm sure you'll worry less and feel better. Moving from the family home will probably be a wrench for you but remember that you carry your memories with you, they do not reside in any one place. I have no doubt you developed the strength to get you through recent events and I hope that strength and resilience continue to support you.

Now, as a reader, you can offer some wise words to Sophie? And hopefully our New Zealand friends will be able to give very practical, relevant and sound advice about the local things we in other countries know nothing about. Thank you.

Another weekend - another mix of work and sitting back with our feet up. I did some knitting and reading, presented a blogging workshop at Maleny on Saturday, spoke to loved ones on the phone and did a lot of cooking. Maybe cooking isn't the right word - I worked in the kitchen with food. I made a beautiful thick cultured sour cream - the best I've ever eaten, and made yoghurt and set it into a sieve to drain to make fresh cheese. I couldn't resist taking a cup full of it to mix with homemade strawberry jam for a treat later in the week, and I made three small jars of chilli jam. So much for swearing off jam making for a while.

Last night we had corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for tea. I dabbed some sour cream, with green onions mixed through, on the potatoes - wow. The cabbage was wonderful too. About 6 months ago, a reader sent me some Portuguese cabbage seeds. Well, they grew this season, and were harvested just before being cooked last night. What a great cabbage it is. It's the first time I've tasted it but it won't be the last. It will be part of our yearly rotation from now on. Thank you Richard. I love it when what we eat comes together so well - a small portion bought at a local shop and the rest produced by our own hands and hard work. There is nothing like it.

I made up the last of the soap orders too. They're now ready to send off and we can get back to our version of normal again. I am really happy some of you got to try our soap, and many people said they loved it, but I'm happier not selling it. I know that doesn't make sense to some people - to stop doing something that brings in money, but I'm more focused on quality of life rather than acquisition, and we have enough - of almost everything. I've had to explain our decision to quite a few people and even though a few may not have understood my explanation, it makes perfect sense to me.

This week I'll be concentrating on knitting and sewing. More of Vivian's Eco Yarns are arriving this week and I'm so excited waiting for them. I love this part of knitting - when I choose yarns and patterns and try to work out if I have the time or if I am deluding myself. I always think I have the time and the skills, and usually, even though it might sometimes take longer than I expected, I get my projects finished. I like to pick simple patterns that stretch my capabilities, dotted with little things that I can pick up and put down several times a day. Oh, I finished a little orange and blue bamboo hat for Alexander on the weekend too. Tick! another little garment for my sweet boy. My sewing will involve a couple of aprons for the shop, including yours Lusi, and some table runners.

So here we are headed for another week. I hope mine is full of productive work and the satisfaction that comes from that; I hope yours is too. There is so much that goes into a happy home; it takes time and effort and sometimes we might feel overwhelmed by it. Always remember there is no need for perfection, you can take breaks when the chance arises, and if you work steadily at your own pace, you will get through your work. And if you don't, it will wait for you, you can start again tomorrow.

The way food is prepared now is changing. It's more styled and has to look great whereas when I was growing up, food was judged more on taste and smell. I still cook the way I always have and if you ever see a tower of food or a collection of foam on a plate I've prepared, you can hit me on the head with a mallet. I am also game enough to re-introduce the salmon rissole.

Salmon rissoles or fish cakes are a cheap and healthy old fashioned staple that deserve another 15 minutes of fame. If you've never had one before, a salmon rissole is a mix of potato cake and fish cake, made with tinned pink salmon, a common stockpile favourite. They are easy to make, will get you through a mid-week meal nicely and can be premade, then cooked quickly when you get home in the same amount of time it takes to make a salad. In Australia, they would cost less than $6 to make. This recipe could also be made using tinned tuna or any pre-cooked fish.

RECIPE - will make 6 rissoles

about 2 cups of mashed potato
1 tin pink salmon 420 grams
1 small onion, chopped
about ¼ cup parsley or chives
1 egg
salt and pepper
breadcrumbs
Olive oil for cooking

Combine the mashed potato with the salmon, onion, herbs, salt, pepper and egg. Mix together thoroughly so the salmon is broken up and combined with the potato. You can crush and eat the bones of tinned salmon - it is an excellent source of calcium. Form into little round cakes and coat with breadcrumbs. Cover, and let them sit in the fridge for an hour to firm up. If they fall apart when you cook them, add ½ cup of breadcrumbs to the mix. That will glue them together.

Heat oil in a frying pan and cook the rissoles on a low-medium heat. They should cook for about 10 - 15 minutes to make sure the onions are cooked and when they're golden brown, they're ready. Serve with a fresh garden salad.

This will do Hanno and I for one meal and we have two rissoles leftover that we eat for lunch the following day.

Meanwhile, out in the backyard, Hanno was cleaning the chook house. This snake should be in the middle of its winter hibernation but there it was, wide awake behind the nesting boxes. Hanno took it down to the creek, but I have no doubt it will be back. Luckily it's a juvenile and not able to eat the chooks ... yet.

I have tried to make this process and the explanation of it as simple as I can, but you must be aware that soap making is not cooking, it is chemistry. Rules apply and when they're not followed, that is when you have failures. I have never had a failed batch of soap and I'm sure that's because I researched, read AND UNDERSTOOD what I read and what I had to do. If you are going to make soap, research and read and make sure you understand what you're doing. Hopefully this post will help with that understanding.

There are two things I want to highlight:

No matter what you read or what people tell you, there is no way to make soap without caustic soda/lye.
You HAVE to weigh your oils - you will notice that the oil measurements are in grams and the water is in millilitres. This is because water has a specific gravity of 1 and therefore a weighed litre/quart of water will be the same as a measured litre/quart of water. Oil is not the same. Oil is lighter and therefore a measured litre/quart of oil is different to a weighed litre/quart of oil. If you don't understand that, maybe soap making is not for you.

WHY YOU HAVE TO WEIGH YOUR OILS

Water and oil do not weight the same - oil is lighter, which is why oil floats on water. If you pour one litre of water into a jug and one litre of oil into a similar jug, the oil would weigh less than the water. Therefore if you pour one litre of oil into a one litre jug and think it's the same as 1000 grams, it's not. You must weigh your oil to get exactly the 1000 grams needed in this recipe.

MOULDS

I use silicon moulds that were probably made for small cakes. I can't tell you what moulds to use because I have only used these and you probably wouldn't be able to buy them where you are. Suffice to say you'll need either a large mould - and cut the soap when it's set, or you can use smaller shapes similar to mine. The pink ones I use are from Kmart but I don't think they stock them anymore.

GREASING MOULDS

I have found that the silicon moulds don't need greasing. If you do need to grease your moulds, use a cooking oil spray.

COCONUT OIL

Coconut oil is getting to be quite expensive and sometimes it's hard to find. If that is the case and you're in Australia, you can use copha, which is available at the supermarket in the butter section. Enough copha to make this soap recipe will currently cost you around $2.66. Coconut oil solidifies when the temperature is 24c/76F. It's fine to use it either way; if it has solidified, just melt it with the other oil.

SOAP MAKING OILS

Each oil used is soap is used for a certain quality it has. For instance, coconut oil help soap lather well; olive oil is a good oil to base the soap on as it will nourish the skin and make a beautiful mild soap. Low grade olive oil is the best olive oil to use, not extra virgin. Take the time to learn a bit about the different qualities of soap oils here. Once you know what you want and the oils that will give it to you, find out what's available in your neighbourhood and go from there. When you decide on the oils you would like to use, and know they're available to you, go to this soap calculator, put in your oils and the calculator will tell you how much water and caustic soda/lye to use.

ESSENTIAL OILS AND COLOURS

I never use these so I can't advise you about their use.

RECIPES FOR SOAP

The recipe may change every time you make soap but the method of making it remains the same.

EQUIPMENT
You can use your kitchen equipment for soap making. Make sure you clean it thoroughly when you finished.

Stainless steel saucepan
Spatula
Scales - oils and caustic soda/lye are measured by weight, not volume
Jug - for holding oils
Measuring jug - for measuring water. It's ok to measure the water by volume
Thermometer - you can use either a milk or candy thermometer
Stick blender, optional but it's the easiest way to stir
Newspaper to cover your work area
Moulds

DON'T use aluminium pots, bowls or spoons.

SOAP RECIPE

My new recipe for a good cold pressed soap is:

450 mls * rain water, spring water or distilled water
172 grams caustic soda/lye
1000 grams olive oil
250 grams copha or coconut oil

* If you don't have rain, spring or distilled water, collect enough tap water the day before you make the soap and leave it on the bench to sit. That will allow the chlorine in the water to evaporate off.

If you don't operate in mls and grams, there is an online conversion calculator for liquid here and for weight here.

WARNING

If you are new to soap making, be warned, it should never be attempted when children or animals are around. The lye (caustic soda) you will use, burns, and if you spill it on skin you need to wash it off immediately under running water or vinegar. If you drop it on the floor or bench top, wipe it up straight away as it will burn a hole. When you mix the lye with water, even though it's not on the stove, it will heat up considerably and burn if you drop any on yourself or splash it in your eyes. There are also fumes. When you mix the lye with the water, fumes will come off it. Make sure you mix your lye in a well ventilated room. If you're asthmatic, be very careful.

Many soap makers wear latex gloves, goggles and a mask. Please use these safeguards while you're learning to make soap. When you're experienced, you might be able to dispense with them.

Are you still with me after that warning? Soap making is a simple process that is made difficult by using lye (caustic soda). There is absolutely NO WAY to make soap from scratch without using caustic soda/ lye. If you make sure you're alone when making soap, if you have all your ingredients measured out and have a clean and clear work area, you shouldn't have any problems. The entire process should take about 30 minutes. BTW, the process of soapmaking - saponification - neutralises the lye and by the time the soap is cured, no lye remains in the soap.

IN A NUTSHELL

Basically when you make soap, you mix the water and caustic soda/lye together and they will heat up without you doing anything to them. That is the first chemical reaction. Then you combine the oils and heat them on the stove. Now you wait till the lye and water solution cools to around 50c and the oils heat up to 50c. You need them to both be at the same temperature and when they are you mix them together and start stirring. When you reach "trace" and that is explained below, you pour the soap into moulds and wait for it to set.

HERE'S HOW TO DO IT IN DETAIL:

METHOD

Lay out the newspaper over your work area.
Grease your moulds.
Put on your safety gear.
Open the windows for good ventilation.
Measure out the water into your measuring jug.
Measure out the caustic soda/lye into a small bowl.
Carefully pour the caustic soda/lye into the measured water.
Stir the water with a spoon until the caustic soda/lye is completely dissolved - about one minute.

Caustic soda/lye and water - mixed together.

Weigh your oils and place them in a saucepan.
Clip the thermometer onto the side of the saucepan and place on low heat on the stove. Slowly heat the oils to 50 degrees Celsius (122 F).

Copha and oils heating up.

Wait until you have the oil heated to 50C and the caustic soda/lye cooled down to 50C (122F). When they're the same temperature, carefully pour the lye water into the oils and avoid splashing it.
Start mixing. You can either use a spoon and stir for about 20 minutes or use a stick blender and mix for about 5 minutes, making sure your blender doesn't overheat. Don't use a hand beater and it splashes too much and the soap is still caustic at this stage.

TRACE

Trace is the sign you look for that the soap has become stable and is ready to be poured into a mould. Before you reach trace, the surface of the mixture will be smooth, like pouring cream. When you reach trace, slight ripples will form on the surface and remain there, like thick custard. The mix should be thick, but pourable.

This is what the mix looks like when you've reached trace. Notice how there are ripple staying on the surface.

Once the soap is in the moulds, lay a sheet of parchment or grease-proof paper over the top and cover with a two towels so it cools down slowly.
The next morning, or about 15 hours later, release the soap from the mould. If it's a large mould, cut it into whatever shape you desire.
Place the cakes of soap on a drying rack in an area they can stay in for a couple of weeks. Turn the soap over every day to allow it to dry out evenly. I cure my soaps for about six weeks before using them. The drier they are when you use them, the longer they last. You could use your soap after a week or so, but when it gets wet it will go soft and won't last long. It's better to cure them for a few weeks. This batch made 12 hefty blocks of soap.

TROUBLE POINTS

You will have trouble with your soap:

if you don't weigh your oils
if you don't measure your water
if you don't weigh your caustic soda/lye
if you don't have both mixtures at the same temperature
if you don't stir long enough

Remember, soap isn't just a solid bar. It must lather well, clean and nourish your skin.

Phew! That is the last post about soap I'll do for a while. I do want you to make your own soap but if you're not prepared to read, understand and follow the process exactly, then maybe this simple living task is not for you. If you get past the first soap making session and it results in good soap, I'm sure you'll go on to make it many more times. This is good soap, it's worth a bit of time, planning and effort. Good luck!

You may have noticed that I stopped taking orders for my soap last Friday. I will honour the orders I have, but take no more. This may seem strange to some of you because I'd only just started selling the soap when I opened the Corner Shop. Well, I thought I'd sell a few bars, definitely not as much as I did. I didn't think it would be so popular that soap making would take almost all my spare time. I will still be selling things I make with my own hands, like aprons, a few dishcloths, tea cosies, table runners and few other bits and pieces - these are the easy things and are part of my relaxation.

It's important that I have a good balance in my life. In the past, balance did not enter the equation. Now it's everything; that elusive sense of stability between having enough and knowing it, and blindly wanting more. I'm not interested in having more than I need now. I am satisfied with enough. As long as Hanno and I are comfortable and have an emergency fund in the bank, I'm fine. I want us to retain our independence and to live the freedom of our days, without having to worry about "what if..." We have that without selling soap.

Don't get me wrong, we are not rich people and this is not about doing less work. It's about doing productive work that helps Hanno and I live well without worrying about work that will make money. If we're careful with what we have, if we look after what we own and are frugal with our purchases, we'll be fine. I believe it's far better for us to save money than to earn it. A saved dollar is 100 cents; an earned dollar will have about 30% tax removed, so it really is only 70 cents. I prefer now to spend time doing things that will save us money instead of working to earn it. Cooking from scratch, shopping wisely for groceries, growing food, making our soap and laundry liquid, using green cleaners - all these take more time to do but they save so much money and give much better quality, it's worth the effort.

I also want to continue working in my community helping people, teaching what I know and returning a little bit of the goodness I've received over the course of my life. I want to show others that earning more money isn't always the key; sometimes saving more, through creative ways of working and being prudent and frugal, is. Modelling how we live at this stage of our lives has been a wonderful teaching tool. We are ordinary folk, so if we can do this, anyone can. But don't think you should be living like we do if you're at a different stage of life. How we live is a pay-off, if you like, for being debt-free and having long lives of hard work behind us. If you're at the other end of the age spectrum it's all ahead of you. But work is not the enemy, it will help define the person you become, and if you think about your life you won't necessarily have to do what your neighbours do. You are free to fashion the life you want for yourself and it does not have to involve having every sparkling thing that is dangled in front of your eyes.

I love working in my home. I also love relaxing here. If I can get that balance right, I get a payoff like no other. Imagine getting up every morning knowing there will be a changing mix of productive and interesting work as well as rest and recreation; that you will make the decision about what you'll do with each hour and that you can work, rest, or go out whatever you feel like it. That is what I call independence and freedom, and balance and the freedom to choose how I spend my hours, plays a huge part in it.

So that is the reason I'm not selling soap again. But that doesn't mean you can't have this soap. Like me, you can make it yourself, and tomorrow I'm writing my last ditch effort to explain the ins and outs of soap making. I won't guarantee that everyone will be able to make it. Some people can't get their head around the accuracy of the measurements and the chemistry, but the post will be there if you want it. Otherwise I'll see you again on Wednesday when I'll have another simple recipe for you.

I have been very busy lately making soap, while Hanno has been wrapping it and packaging it up to post all over Australia, the US and UK. Thanks to everyone who placed an order for soap or something I made. It is helping us with our finances and makes us feel good to be earning money selling what we've made with our own hands. I was very pleased to receive the first re-order from someone who bought the soap and wanted more. It makes me feel good knowing that something that helps us live well here can help others too.

One of the things I needed to do when I started selling the soap was to simplify the process. I needed it to be simpler and quicker without losing the quality I expect and want to pass on to you. I also wanted a recipe that would use a full packet of *copha. I didn't want little pieces of copha floating around in our fridge. So I came up with a new recipe. It has only four ingredients - olive oil, coconut oil, rain water and caustic soda/lye. It took a while to get the mix right because I had to test all of them on myself, so although the simplifying process took a long time, it's easier now to make the soap. I'm trying to make a batch every couple of days.

*copha is solidified coconut oil which works well if you can't find liquid coconut oil, or if it's too expensive. You can buy copha in most Australian supermarkets in the butter section. It's currently $2.66 for the amount you'll need for this recipe.

I am happy to share the new recipe with you. Please be guided by all the warnings I've written about here and the use the same method for making the soap. Click on the link to go to the warnings and the post on how to make soap.

The new recipe is:

450 mls * rain water
172 grams caustic soda/lye
1000 grams olive oil
250 grams copha or coconut oil

* If you don't have rain water, collect enough tap water the day before you make the soap and leave it on the bench to sit. That will allow the chlorine in the water to evaporate off.

If you don't operate in mls and grams, there is an online conversion calculator here.

If you've never made soap before, it's a great skill to have and it will give you and your family excellent soap that you can use on everyone from baby to grandpa, including everyone with sensitive skin. I use it to wash my hair too. I've used it for a few years now and my hair is healthy and shiny. No more expensive plastic shampoos for me. It's either my hand made soap or bicarb from now on.

Put simply, to make soap, you mix ingredients 1 and 2 together, give it a good mix and it will heat up without you putting it on the stove. You have to wait for it to cool down. While it is doing that, you add ingredients 3 and 4 to a saucepan and heat it up. You wait for 1 and 2 to cool to 50C/112F and you wait for 3 and 4 to heat up to 50c/112F. When both mixtures are at the same temperature, you combine them and mix. I use a stab blender and it comes together nicely. You can also use a mixer or hand stir it. What ever you use has to be able to mix without it splashing everywhere. When you reach "trace", and that is explained in the above link, with a photo, it's done. You pour it into your shapes, cover it so it cools slowly, and leave it. The next day you can take the soap out of the moulds and let them sit to cure and harden. But please, if you intend to make soap, do it when the children are in bed and there are no dogs and cats under foot, and make sure you read the guidelines in the link.

If you've been meaning to give soapmaking a go, if you've been wanting to add another simple string to your bow, this might interest you. If you want feedback on how you're going or if you just want someone to see your soap, take photos and start a thread about it at the forum. I'll make sure I look out for any of those threads and help as much as I can. I'm sure the other soap makers there will as well.

I wonder if this simplified recipe will encourage some new soap makers. :- )

PS: I spent yesterday at the neighbourhood centre doing a fermentation workshop. We made up sourdough starter, vinegar and ginger beer and everyone went home fired up and enthusiastic about future fermenting. It was great to see. Oh, and one of the ladies from the last workshop arrived with a huge bag of Seville oranges for me! Sevilles are the traditional orange for marmalade but you can't buy them in the shops here now because people aren't making enough marmalade. That's on my list now.

As usual, I'm running behind a bit so if you're expecting an email from me, or some soap, I'll be back on them again today. Please be patient with me.

I'm really pleased that vegetable gardening has become popular again because my optimism for the future grows when I think of it. I often receive emails from readers who ask me to recommend a good all-round gardening book. That's difficult to do because we all come from different climates and there are a variety of ways to garden and levels of experience. I am an organic gardener and have been for about 30 years. We had a vegetable patch and chooks in our last home, and when we moved here in 1997, I wanted to keep the vegetables growing and maybe expand a little. I was lucky, just before we moved, in 1996, Linda Woodrow produced her very influential book, The Permaculture Home Garden. I had already toyed with the idea of permaculture, bought Introduction to Permaculture and later The Permaculture Designer's Manual by Bill Molleson but they didn't grab me. Interesting yes, but not enough to get me to think more about a Permaculture garden. Then I picked up Linda's book.

I was hooked ... from the first sentence of her perfect introduction: This is a book about saving the planet and living to be one hundred, while throwing very impressive dinner parties and organising other creatures to do most of the work. How could anyone resist that!

The cover has changed but it's still a great book. I looked, and Linda's book is available on Amazon and at Fishpond.

From the time I bought Linda's book in early 1997, right up until we moved in November of that year, I read her words over and over again. By the time we'd arrived here I was ready. I can't say I do everything recommended in the book and we don't have a permaculture garden, but I am what I would call Lindaesque. Linda Woodrow's book is at the heart of my gardening philosophy. When I want to do something new, even now, I go to this book and see what Linda has to say about it. I know now that I liked this book from the beginning because it connects the vegetable garden to real life. It makes sense of food production in an ordinary backyard, and without being rigid and pedantic, it sets out a clear pathway. I love this book not only for it's pathway but also because it motivated me in a way no other gardening book ever did. Linda's blog: http://witcheskitchen.com.au/

Linda reads here now and she doesn't know how highly I regard her book, or her, so I hope it's a pleasant surprise. Congratulations on being in print for 15 years, Linda. That is a rare achievement.

The other book I would recommend, should you ask, is Lyn Bagnall's Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting. This book taught me things I didn't know about plants and is full of the knowledge of a very experienced organic vegetable farmer. This book is about the organic production of vegetables, fruit and herbs, and if you plant by the moon, there is a planting guide up till 2013. There is no better book for the whys and wherefores of organic gardening. Lyn sent me a signed copy of her book when it was published and I treasure it. She has the most helpful blog: http://aussieorganicgardening.com/ where she shares her vast knowledge with all who go there. If you want to buy Lyn's book, you can do that from her blog.

BTW, neither Linda nor Lyn know I'm blogging about this today. Neither of them asked me to promote their book, nor did their publishers.

So that's it, short and sweet. I have a lot of cook books but I only have two gardening books. I guess that says it all.

We had quite a few things to do on the weekend, but our work was balanced with relaxation and slow times. We got things done, we worked steadily, yet that balance gave us enough down time so that we worked through the weekend without feeling worn out or stressed. I had to organise my soap purchases and work out how much more soap I need to make. I planned to do that on Saturday morning but it was Sunday morning before I got around to it. I had knitting in mind, I wanted to finish a little red woollen hat, so that called me to my chair a few times and I just left everything else undone. It didn't worry me, I knew I'd get through everything on my list; it was just rearranged a few times when my priorities changed.

I changed the bed linen and did a couple of loads of washing, sorted through some clothes, started writing my notes for Tuesday's fermenting workshop and did a bit of reading. Sunday afternoon came around with the winter shadows long in the yard, and instead of cooking up a stew or roast, I made a chicken salad. I was tempted by the mass of iceberg lettuce seedings I've grown for the garden. Hanno's planted a few but there are so many, I grabbed a handful, cut off the roots and after a good wash, and with radishes and tomatoes from the garden, it made our Sunday tea quite special. I still had a small amount of pikelet batter left over from morning tea, so I made some tiny pikelets for dessert and topped them with the strawberry jam I made last week and local cream. It's amazing how delicious a simple meal can be when freshness and seasonal food play a major role.

Another thing I needed to do was to re-pot and prune a large topiary fig. It's usually green and lush but I moved it a few months ago and it didn't like the place it was taken to, and dropped all its leaves. My job was to get Hanno to take it back to its old spot, to prune the top and the roots and to settle it back in its favourite location. As soon as it was moved, I did the necessary pruning, added new soil to the pot and watered it in with seaweed tea. If you've never used it before, seaweed concentrate is excellent for transplantation shock and is a must-have in the organic garden. Our cat decided she needed to sleep in the pruned roots, you can see her in the photo. The fig looks very sick and feeble now but by Christmas it will be back to being an attractive part of my potted garden.

Hanno was in the garden most of the weekend. He's continuing to cut down the camphor laurel tree and has friends coming in to take the wood for their fires. Sunday morning he went to a market in Caboolture to get some seedlings and planted them later in the afternoon. While we were standing there talking, three young peacocks - frequent wanderers in our neigbourhood from the local caravan park, landed in the chook yard and prepared to feast on the chook food. Those birds look so beautiful but they're a pest to have around because, left to their own devices, they'd easily clean out the chook rations in an afternoon.

Also over the weekend I spoke with family - Shane, Kerry and Tricia on the phone, and Jens and Cathy when they came for morning tea; as well as a couple of friends. Hanno and I have made arrangements to go to the Gold Coast again during the week to see everyone and the babies. It is so important to make time to see the people we love. It's not good enough to make excuses and put it off. These visits and phone calls help make us the family we are so they take priority over anything else we may do.

And now another week is starting for all of us and I'm beginning to think about Christmas - both gifts and food. I'll soon start thinking about making my Christmas cake so it has time to mature. If you're interested in doing something similar, Rose has started a Christmas cake thread at the forum and I think they're currently at the soaking fruit stage, so it's not too late to join in. I should write a list of the Christmas gifts I'd like to make this year. I prefer to do that early because now that money is a bit tight, I'll have the time to look around for the best price before buying - either for the gift itself or the materials to make it.

The draw for the giveaway books will be on Wednesday so if you haven't entered your comment yet, now is the time. I hope you have a productive and enjoyable week. Don't forget to take time out to look after yourself; it's important.

Cleaning mould from walls and fabrics

With all this rain around we've developed a mould problem in our home. Usually we have the front and back doors open and that good ventilation stops most moulds from establishing. However, with the house locked up for the past week, the high humidity and the rain, mould is now growing on the wooden walls near our front door and on the lower parts of cupboards in the kitchen. Most of us will find mould growing in our homes at some point. Either in the bathroom or, in humid climates, on the walls, like we have now. You'll need a safe and effective remedy at some point, so I hope one of these methods works well for you. Mould is not only ugly to look at, it can cause health problems so if you see mould growing, do something about it straight away. The longer you leave the problem, the harder it will be to get rid of it effectively. If you have asthma or any allergies, you should do this type of cleaning with a face mask on so you don't breathe in any spores. Many peopl...

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