down to earth

I am not an expert pruner by any means but I do know a few of the basics and they're enough to keep our garden in good shape most of the time. Hanno and I have just pruned the elderberry tree, it's got borers in it but we want to keep it going until the followup tree is mature enough to produce flowers and berries. While I was trimming the elder, I realised I've rarely written about pruning and yet it's such a vital part of a healthy productive garden.

When you first start gardening you don't want to cut anything unless you're going to eat it but after a couple of seasons you realise that pruning will stimulate flowers and leaf growth and help you organise and manage your garden. It's a vital part of garden maintenance. Pruning is not an every week task but if you can do some hard pruning once or twice a year and some tip pruning occasionally, your garden will benefit from it.

A few plants don't like to be pruned so I encourage you to know what you're growing in your own garden, research its growing habits and use that knowledge to decide whether to prune that plant or not.

The photos below are of our lemon tree, a Eureka. We did a severe prune on our 15 year old tree (above) to cut out borer and diseased growth. As you can see we really went to town on it in 2015. The photos further down are the same tree today. It's only just started to grow out on the front of the tree. The back is absolutely laden with lemons. We also have a two year old tree that's full of fruit now.

The lemon tree after drastic pruning. You need to be careful when you prune back as hard as this.

The same tree 18 months later.

Above, you can see the new grown on the left. This has just started in the past month or two - over a year after we pruned the tree.

Soon I will pick these lemons and prune this part of the tree to shape it properly.

Here are some links to help you develop a general sense of what and how to prune:
Proper pruning techniques
Pruning Australian natives
Pruning fruit trees
Pruning and fruitfulness
What to prune, when - trees, shrubs and vines
Pruning trees
Espaliering Trees

How to espalier fruit trees
How to prune tomatoes
How to prune anything

If you look at our orange tree above, you'll see a small sucker growing from below the graft. These are always cut off.
Below: if you prune your roses properly, you'll grow better quality flowers.

This is what I know:

Wear protective clothing and gloves when you prune. Some plants with white milky sap are toxic and you don't want it on your skin. Cover up! List of potential culprits.

Always use clean, sharp secateurs, clippers, knives, shears and axes. Clean your tools after pruning by scraping off any sap or tissue, scrub with dish liquid with a scrubber or brush, rinse, dry and leave out in the air to completely dry off. If you won't use the tools again for a while, rub with vegetable oil to prevent rusting.

Tools are capable of transferring disease from one plant to the next, so if you have a lot of pruning to do, get a small container of bleach to clean your tools between plants. This is especially important if you have diseased plants and you're cutting off the affected bits.

If you're growing grafted trees, often these are fruit trees or rose bushes, always prune off the shoots growing below the graft. The part of the tree/bush below the graft is only useful as root stock so any shoots growing in that section below the graft won't be the same as the fruit you're growing above the graft.

Always prune off damaged foliage, stems and branches. Damage might be from frost, sun burn, disease, storm damage, misshapen growth or age.

Halfway through pruning the elderberry tree. I had to call Hanno in to cut the thicker branches and finish it off.

All finished.

This is the same elder tree about three months after last year's pruning.

When you start your pruning session, stand back and look at the plant. What do you want to do? If you want to maintain a certain height, decide on what height you want and go from there. Remember to prune for shape as well as height. If you're doing general maintenance cut out any diseased branches/stems, then look for branches/stems that are crossing over others or those that are growing into the middle of the plant. Cut all of them off as close to the main branch/stem as you can.

Learn what nodes look like. Nodes look like a ring around the stem and it is where the shoots will emerge. If you want to shape the plant, cut just above a node. so that the new shoot will grow just below your cut. Cutting just above a node will stimulate that node to produce new growth.

You can see some nodes in this photo - they are the parts of the plant where new shoots grow and new branches form. Before the new growth, nodes are just a horizontal line across the stem. You cut just above the node when you prune.

Don't be afraid to prune. Cut out weak growth and it will reward you with a stronger plant, larger flowers and fruit. When you finish pruning, give the plant a good drink and the following day, fertilise it. If you've done very hard pruning, instead of fertilising, give the plant a good drink of seaweed concentrate made up according to the directions on the bottle. You will notice a difference in your garden when you start pruning. The challenge then is to work out your annual pruning routine and to learn about the plants you have and when is the best time to prune what's in your garden.

A few ladies asked for my recipe for tomato soup. It's one of my quick soups and being so easy to prepare it's a very handy recipe to have on hand to use for a wide range of vegetables. The one recipe will help you prepare a lot of different soups. These are my go-to meal when I don't have much time or when we've been out and instead of buying takeaway food, I make up a quick soup and have it on the table in 30 minutes. The prep time is about five minutes, the rest is cooking time.

This basic process can be used for vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums/peppers, celery, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach/chard/silver beet/Asian greens, peas, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini/courgettes.

Using the trio of onion, carrots and celery - the flavour base of many European recipes, you can build a complex flavour in even a simple soup that doesn't necessarily need homemade stock. You can use stock if you have some on hand, but it's not absolutely necessary. When I don't have stock, I finish off with a little cream, but that is optional, it's just a flavour enhancer.

The following recipe makes enough tomato soup for 4 serves.

At least 500g/1lb tomatoes, roughly chopped - you can use more for a more intense flavour
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
Add the herbs you like - I used a couple of sprigs of rosemary, dried oregano and some Italian thyme.
Garlic (optional)
Cream (optional)
Chicken stock (optional) or water
Salt and pepper

After you've roughly chopped the above, add it to a saucepan with 1.5 litres of water or stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until all the vegetables have softened. Puree the vegetables using a stick blender, then taste, season or add cream if necessary, and serve. It will taste even better the following day.

Potato soup with parsley.

Fresh green pea and pods soup.

Generally, to make up any of these soups, use your flavour base of chopped onion, celery and carrot with the water or stock, and instead of using tomato as your main flavour, use whatever you have on hand. Cook until the vegetables are soft, puree with a stick blender, taste, season if necessary, add cream if needed and serve.

It's a filling, healthy meal that doesn't take much time to prepare and won't break the bank. You can combine different vegetables to create different tastes - sweet potato, potato and pumpkin is a real hit here. I hope you try this then write a few notes about it to tuck into your favourite cookbook. It will serve you well over the years.

I wish you could see my home. It's like heaven here now. After the cyclone, we had a couple of days of high humidity and rain and now, well now, my friends, it is a paradise. I was sitting outside with Hanno earlier, it was coolish at around 20C degrees, a slight breeze was rustling autumn leaves and new green shoots are coming up everywhere. We had morning tea there later and I could not imagine being anywhere else or wanting to move an inch. There is so much to love in Autumn.

Hanno had a tooth out during the week so we're on soft food for the next month while the hole heals over. He's on Warfarin so we have to be very careful. I've been making quick soups all week - one pot fed us for two days and I made three different soups. Sweet potato and pumpkin, mushroom and leek and finally herby tomato. There were no cans and no preservatives, just real food cooked as we like it. Today we're progressing onto "soft food". The soft food special will be savoury mince with vegetables. I'm cooking cabbage, onion, capsicum, carrots and celery but it will all be run through the food processor for ten seconds and then cooked with the meat. It sounds pretty grim but I'm sure it will taste good.

On Saturday we celebrated Jamie's sixth birthday at an activity centre over on the coast. Along with Kerry, Sunny and Jamie there were Sarndra, Alex, Eve, Hanno and I, and about 12 of Jamie's friends. The kids played dodge ball and jumped on the ground-level trampolines to build up their appetites and then had pizza, slushies, drinks, Minecraft cake and lollies. I was going to show you the Minecraft cake but I forgot to take a photo when I finished it and all the photos I took at the party had children I don't know in them, and I don't want to show them here without their parents' permission. The cake was chocolate with bright green (ack!) cream cheese frosting and chocolate icing. It was cut into large squares with two levels and steps leading up to the levels. Minecraft figures stood on the top level with a wolf on the steps. It wasn't my best work but I think the kids enjoyed it.

My sister Tricia is coming up for a visit at the end of the month. We haven't seen her for a year so we're looking forward to the visit. While she's here I plan on having a big family BBQ and will try to get the whole family here together. That can be quite a feat of organising - four families in one place for a meal, it doesn't sound difficult but it's a challenge.

Yes, I know I'm spoiling her :- ). I made an extra bed for Gracie in my work room. She sleeps in there until I go to bed and then wanders out and spends the rest of the night in her bed in the lounge room.

We finally got our invisible dog fence up and connected and will start Gracie's training tomorrow. I hope we can get her to the point of not needing the collar but we'll have to play it by ear and see how she goes. She's a very intelligent dog so I have my fingers crossed the training will go well.

It looks like a week at home here again. They're my favourite weeks, with nothing to do but potter around our home, doing this and that. We did a big shop last week so I hope to make do with what's here and not go out the gate at all. During the week we'll continue with Gracie's training, I'll be working in the garden and I'm going to start work on a baby doll in a sleeping basket. Eve will be two soon and she likes bags and baskets. I think a baby doll wrapped up in a fluffy knitted blanket and quilt, sleeping in a basket she can carry around, might hit the spot with her. What are your plans for the week?

Can you see the horizontal tree trunk in the background? That's the dead tree that came down in the storm. There's a kookaburra sitting on the chicken run fence enjoying the rain and waiting for an unsuspecting lizard or snake to scamper by.

After 20 months of drought, it was wonderful seeing this rainwater pooling up in the backyard.

It's been quite a night here. The rain depression, which was the remnants of TC Debbie, brought an incredible amount of rain over the past 36 hours and wind for the past 12 hours. In our town we had 9 inches/230mm of rain which has resulted in flash flooding and major floods further down the coast. We have a tree down in the backyard and the power lines came down out the front at about 4pm yesterday. It's still down but we haven't lost power. I guess we're on a long list of problems to be dealt with by Energex later in the day. Our phones and internet were out over night. The phones are back now but the internet is still down. I'm using the hotspot on my phone to make this post. The good news is that we and our family are fine. I think Hanno and I can deal with the tree in the backyard and will tackle that later this morning. If it's too much for us we'll ask our family for help. Gracie loved the rain. She ran around in the backyard getting soaked to the skin and when I let her inside, even after I towelled her dry, it took hours for her hair to dry out properly.

This was taken about 2pm yesterday afternoon.

And right in the middle of this photo, with the rain pouring down, is a sulphur-crested cockatoo feasting on our pecans. He was joined by a friend later and the two of them filled up on nuts before they flew off.

I hoping everyone up north and down in the flooded areas in NSW are coping. It will be a big job cleaning up but as long as we're all unharmed, we can get on with the clean up.

I apologise for having to spend so much time on this template but the good news is that I'm very happy with this new one. I've tested it using the desktop, laptop, phone and tablet and it looks like it's working well on all of them. I still have a few things to read about and change, I want to tweak the colours, but the bulk of the work is done and you should be able to read everything while I work on finalising the smaller things. Thanks for your patience.

It will be a busy day here with the clean up outside and baking Jamie's birthday cake. His birthday party is tomorrow and I'll rest on Sunday. And that leaves time for me to get back into the swing of things here and write a, hopefully, interesting post for you on Monday. Stay tuned, friends.

Hardly any of us have the life we dreamed of back when we had time to dream of perfect lives. When you grow up a bit you realise almost nothing is perfect and many things in daily life aren't even close to it. When I look back on my life, I feel grateful that I've done what I've done, married who I did, gave birth to two fine sons, worked in jobs I found extremely satisfying most of the time, paid off debt before I got weighed down by it and worked out that using common sense to decide the way forward was, hands down, the best option. I'm also very grateful that I made the most of what I had because I think that's one of the main keys to living well and being content.

I fear that nowadays there is a yearning for what's out of reach. Instead of making the most of what we already have, we want what others have and sometimes go into debt to get it. We've forgotten that we can be happy in our own homes and that a life lived in a warm and secure home can set us up for success because we feel cared for and we're not stressed when we go to work and school. That warmth and security isn't a product of materialism and what's in the latest catalogue, it comes from the heart and from people who do the hard yards to encourage and build those feelings and values into families and homes as they mature.

A home is more than a dwelling. A home starts to develop when someone takes the time and puts in the effort to make the house clean, tidy, organised and calm. Over the months that follow, warmth and comfort start to linger as food is cooked at home, aromas greet the family as they come home from school and work, there is cold water in the fridge, hot water for tea or coffee, simple flowers on the table, a candle burning in a jar, and homemade biscuits or cake to be shared. Slowly, a feeling of peace creeps in quietly and fills every part of the home. And even if you're working outside the home, the aroma of a cooked meal can be created each day by being organised enough to prepare a meal in the slow cooker or by serving leftovers that just need heating up. None of this is bought on a credit card - it's all simple stuff made possible by spending time and effort.

Focusing inwards - into your own life, family and home, instead of outwards towards recreational shopping, paid entertainment and increasing debt, can mark a difference in your lifestyle that might change your life. And all these little changes might not look like grand gestures of common sense but they have the potential to provide the comfort and security you've been craving but haven't quite known how to bring into your life. The trick is to do the things that make you and your family feel cared for. And that can be anything from having clean sheets and a made bed to being brought a cup of tea and being told to put your feet up while the washing up is taken care of. It is that simple.

Even though your children probably won't think of it as a gift, expect them to do their fair share. That starts when they're 2 years old and are encouraged to pick up their toys. You can build on that every year to include more complex tasks. If you have those expectations, when your children are teenagers they'll have the life skills they need to look after themselves; that will give them a feeling of confidence and that they're capable and clever. And despite what they think, having expectations of your children is a way of teaching them and showing your love. You can say "love you" every time you speak on the phone or leave for work, but you'll show your love by teaching them how to be the people they want to be. And that involves time and effort.

Once you start thinking this way, it will be clear to you which small steps will help you make a magnificent difference. It will be the ordinary everyday things, it will be building on what you already have, making minor adjustments in how the work is carried out, asking for help from family members, dropping other things that don't mean much and structuring every day to nurture your life instead of take from it. I can't tell you what will work for you because we're all different, but I do know that once you start thinking this way, and then start implementing your ideas, the way forward will become clearer. Just make the most of what you've got and build on it every day.

♒︎♒︎♒︎ 🐝 ♒︎♒︎♒︎

I have only one photo for you today so I'll lead with that. After a lot of consideration, I sent in a saliva sample for a DNA profile. I'm so excited but I'll have to wait because it will be between 6 and 8 weeks before I see the results. I'm having it done through ancestry.com.au where I have been building my family tree for a number of years. When the result comes back I've given permission to have it matched to other registered members of Ancestry, so I might even find a few new relatives I didn't know about before. I know there are quite a few of you who are interested in genealogy, have you have your DNA profile done?

Thanks for all the feedback on my new template. I appreciate you taking the time to tell me that it's working well for you. Although I'd updated the look of my blog over the years, the template has been unchanged since about 2010. In that time we've seen the introduction of tablets and phones capable of viewing blogs, and it was for that reason I updated to a 2017 template. As usual, I searched for the most simple and uncluttered interface and I made the header myself using canva.com. It was easy and took less than 5 minutes. My blog is now optimised for viewing on computers, tablets and phones so I hope you have no problems seeing what I want you to see from now on.

It's going to be a full day for us here. I took Hanno to the dentist this morning at 7.15 thinking that he would have a tooth extracted. Hanno is on warfarin and had reduced the dosage over the past couple of days. The dentists wants to be sure of his current reading though so sent him for a blood test this morning and he'll be back in the dentist chair tomorrow for the extraction. A few years ago Hanno had a tooth removed and he ended up in hospital so we have to be careful.

Later today I'll drive Shane to the airport and do the grocery shopping on the way home. Hanno and I were going to shop tomorrow but there is a severe tropical cyclone up north and it's predicted to cross the coast just south of Townsville tomorrow morning, then make a left turn, turn into a rain depression and head south - towards us. So it looks like the week ahead will be very wet and we're hoping to get most of what we have to do done today, Hanno's tooth out tomorrow morning and then we can stay at home, safe and sound. I hope my fellow Queenslanders, especially those up north, stay safe in the coming hours. Stay at home if you can and keep your family close.

We had a wonderful weekend with Shane, Alex and Eve here. We looked after Eve while Shane and Alex met up with Kerry and Jamie to see the new Lego Batman Movie on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the movie was booked out and they saw Boss Baby instead. Alex was all dressed up in his Batman cape and face mask, and he had another cape and mask for Jamie (so cute). I was looking forward to seeing a photo of them sitting there watching the movie. It's Jamie's birthday on Friday, he'll be six years old. Wow, time flies eh? I'm making a Minecraft cake for him this year. Stay tuned to see how that turns out. 😉

I'd best get a wriggle on. I want to do a few chores before Shane arrives. We have leftovers for lunch so I only have to heat and serve but the rest of the day will be busy. Hopefully I can get through all my plans so we can stay at home most of the day tomorrow.

I made this rye and spelt loaf yesterday. Hanno said it's as good as the one from the German baker. Woohoo!

Hello dear readers.

I'm back into my bread routine although I'm not baking bread every day, which is what I used to do. Now we eat our main meal at lunchtime and we don't need bread for sandwiches. This is a dense bread if you make it with rye and spelt - very much like traditional rye bread. It will be lighter if you add white or wholemeal flour instead of the spelt. Hanno likes a slice or two of good bread in the late afternoon which he eats with cheese, ham or smoked salmon. I had a slice of this last night with cheese and chilli jam. It was delicious.

It's important to use clean hands and clean utensils for this recipe. If you don't, you may introduce yeast or bacteria you don't want in the dough. You'll need clean bowls, measuring spoons and jugs and it's a good extra precaution to sterilise the jar you make the starter in. By using only the cleanest equipment, you'll end up with a very good dough that will bake well.

BUTTERMILK STARTER
I used a buttermilk starter dough to make this loaf and that was made by mixing one cup of rye flour with ¾ cup of buttermilk in a jar that can hold about 3 cups. Make sure you mix it well with a spoon because the starter needs oxygen. I left the open jar on the kitchen bench all day, at night I put it in the fridge. That slows down the fermentation and allows flavour to develop. Give it a good stir each morning when you take it out of the fridge. It's ready to use when you can see it's fermenting and bubbly. It takes between two to three days here but it will depend on the temperature in your kitchen. Please don't worry if the starter takes three or four days because the longer it takes the better the flavour will be. If, after three days, you see no activity, smell the starter and if it smells okay just add ¼ teaspoon dry yeast to the mix and stir. You should see fermentation start a few hours later.

RECIPE
1 cup spelt flour - you can use white or wholemeal if you don't have spelt
2 cups rye flour
water - enough to make the dough come together**
2 teaspoons salt - I use pink rock salt - optional*
1 tablespoon molasses or brown sugar - optional*
1 teaspoon caraway seeds - optional*
all the starter

*All the optional ingredients add a lot of flavour to the dough, use or omit depending on your taste and health requirements. I always use all of them.

Add your ingredients to a bread machine, adding about 50mls of water. Add the starter and start the machine on the dough setting. Check the dough after about a minute and add more water, bit by bit, until the dough comes together in a sticky ball.

When the cycle is finished, place the dough on a floured board, knead for a minute or two to make sure the consistency is right. It needs to be a firm dough because it won't be baked in a bread tin. Set the dough aside in a greased bowl or a banneton covered with a clean tea towel and allow it to rise. If you use rye and spelt it won't rise much, if you use white or wholemeal, which contain more gluten, it will rise but not as much as your normal white loaf. I baked my loaf after 60 minutes but this will depend on the temperature in your kitchen. Don't rush it by leaving it in a warm place, take your time and allow the flavours to develop - this is slow bread. Rye is always a sticky dough, so if it sticks to your hands, you're doing it right.

Preheat your oven to 220C/430F and prepare a baking tray with baking paper. When the dough has risen, plop the dough onto the baking tray and put it in the oven. After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 190C/375F and bake for about another 20 minutes. The loaf is ready when it smells like bread and there is a hollow sound when you tap the bottom of the loaf.

If you're looking for a healthy loaf with flavour and fibre, this is for you. I hope you try it. I'd love to hear how you go with it, so let me know.

I've changed this last paragraph because I used the wrong link. Here is a recipe for soft rolls like a brioche roll. I'll write about the other link soon. Happy baking everyone! 👩‍🍳🥖👨‍🍳

** this post was updated because I left out the water component.

My daily life is so familiar to me and it makes so much sense that I think it must be normal for everyone to live as we do. It's only when I go out, or read about how others live that I know that living like this is far from what is normal now. I'm not saying our way of life is better because I see many people living lives of productivity and purpose. It is the best way for us though and that's all I need to know. I believe the workings of anyone's life are determined primarily by mindset, the stage of life you're at, by personal circumstances and responsibilities. My life used to be harder but we're in a different season now, we have different priorities and, most importantly, we have a different mindset. Now that we have worked enough to buy a house and what we need to fill it, we use hard work, creativity, thrift, organisation, management, responsibility and a sense of purpose to maintain and conserve what we've worked for.

The shade structure came down, salvias and old herbs removed and the first new plants went in.

Gone are the days when I went out and worked for a living. Now I'm happy to stay here and work to maintain the life we have built. This was yesterday:

3.30am - 10am:

I was up and dressed, checked the weather radar, emails and comments.

Read a few pages of The Guardian and some Mary Oliver poems.

Talked to Gracie, rubbed her tummy and organised some yarn and knitting needles.

Fed Gracie outside and let the chickens out. Looked around the garden, took some cuttings from my blue salvia and potted them up.

Jamie arrived at 6.45. I talked to him, cooked breakfast and tidied the kitchen.
Made the bed.

Sat on the back verandah, listened to Macca on the radio and talked to Hanno about the new garden.

Hanno started planting out the parsley seedlings from the bush house as well as thyme, basil and oregano bought at the local co-op yesterday. These are the first of our new season plantings.

Organised the spices and nuts that I bought at the co-op on Friday.

Made a rye bread starter that I'll probably use tomorrow.
Made a banana cake.

When the cake was baked, we had morning tea.

Very moist banana cake with flaked almond topping.

Rye starter sitting on the kitchen bench collecting airborne yeasts.

From the co-op - black mustard seeds, Madras curry powder, flaked almonds and celery seeds.

Before noon:
Watched the rain fall from the back verandah.
Blanched cabbage leaves for the cabbage rolls we were having for lunch. Left them to drain and cool.
Made pork filling for cabbage rolls.
Started writing this blog post.
Helped Jamie with his spelling - he was working through the Spelling Eggs program on the computer.
Made and cooked lunch.

Afternoon:
Cleaned the kitchen.
Iced a piece of banana cake for Jamie to take home for school lunches.
Packed a serving of cabbage rolls, herb and onion mashed potato and gravy for Sunny to have for her dinner at home.
Spoke to a friend on the phone.
Knitted in front of the TV watching recorded programs. I usually watched recorded TV because I can fast forward and ignore the advertising.
Jamie went home.
Checked laundry supplies to see if anything is running low.

Checked if there was anything needed in the laundry. This stick is a spurtle I bought from an antique shop a few years ago in Glen Innes, a country town which hosts a popular Scottish Festival. It's probably stirred a lot of porridge over the years, but here it's always been my soaking stick.

Evening:
Made tea and toast and watched the TV news.
End of day. Went to sleep around 7pm, was up again at 10ish, messaged with a friend on the computer while I read the papers.
Added recipes to my Paprika app. Looked at some webcams. Back to bed just after midnight.

Up at 4am.
Today I'll clean both bathrooms but this morning will be devoted to ironing which I allowed to build up over the past few hot weeks. I hope to get through it all and put it away today. Lunch is leftovers, I hope to knit and prune plants this afternoon.
And now I'll publish this post so you know I'm still here, still working, still smiling and still feeling grateful for all we have.

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. 💝