Keeping it all natural

The three rose bushes by the old laundry outlet are still going strong

Ronnie and I planted rose bushes when we first moved to our smallholding to live out our dream.  (The post about that can be found here:  https://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2013/11/welcome-and-anniversary-surprise.html)

Two were planted in front of the house, and the other three at the washing machine outlet outside the old garage (which is now my cottage).

The three stages of my conifer tree seed and pod production

My conifer trees produce flowers which age / dry into small wood-like cones.

I harvest lavender flowers from my bushes when they're flowering.

Venting the excess heat from the dehydrating fruit

  

I dehydrate lemon slices (from our lemon orchard) in my solar oven - that tends to make them a bit dark coloured (as the temperature isn't so easy to control) so I'm waiting for a couple of consecutively hot-enough days and I'll use my solar dehydrator and see if the end result is more what I'm looking for.

   

Slightly darkened dehydrated lemon and gorgeous dehydrated orange slices

 

A local fruit farm has reject oranges at harvesttime and I have arranged to collect some when they are harvesting.

Add some delicious herbs and spices, and what have you got?

The potpourri comes with a small bottle of essential oil 
to freshen up the potpourri if, and when, necessary.

Three different potpourri scents...

Pity I won't be able to simmer these on the Rosie
- but I have tried on my gas hob and they're gorgeous

...and three different simmer pot "flavour" packages.

I don't like using commercial room spray fresheners but, with two (sometimes wet) dogs who sleep inside at night, one needs to be able to freshen up the space a little.  And what better way than by using what nature so willingly gives you?  Just like it was done in days of yore.

A local farmstall has placed an order for both the potpourri and the simmer pot mixtures and I will be delivering this coming week.

A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.

(if you'd like to buy any Foothills Potpourri or Foothills Simmer Pots for yourself, please drop me an email - perhaps I can make a plan to get it / them to you.)

The simmer pot will obviously work on a wood burner and I have searched online for local mini crockpots or mini hot plates for those who do not have wood burning stoves.  They're all too expensive as I would have to import them.  Ditto the glass "simmer pot" pots.  Would've been nice to offer a complete package to those who are eager to try my simmer pot mixtures.

Lets see how the sales go - perhaps I can offer that additional option in future.

Winter joy

"To everything, turn, turn turn,
There is a season, turn, turn, turn..."

Early morning mists which settle into the stream
 / river valleys

You have to have contrast.  I am not a member of the "I hate winter" club.  Rather, I relish the cooler weather.  I am more mentally alert, more physically active, and more inspired in the kitchen.

Here are some of my favourite things that I love most about winter...

 

Sunrises...

... and sunsets

Brooding, inspiring, breath-taking sunrises and sunsets.

A wood burning fire - which not only heats our entire home, but also gives me access to an oven in which I can bake...

My darling Rosie

...roasted homegrown vegetables, homemade pies and samosas, bread, lasagnas and pizza.

4 ingredient mealie bread - the smell fills the air,
 and the taste is heavenly :)
(recipe here)

Homemade chicken or creamed spinach samosas
 in phyllo pastry (recipe here)

Lasagne, pies, samosas and pizza can't be cooked on top of our two plate gas stove, nor will the latter three be successful in my solar oven, so we go without / my menu options don't include those during the summer months. 

Rain - glorious rain.
I remember it well, and wait in anticipation
of it falling again...

Rain - filling our rain water tanks and earthen dam, refreshing the garden and cause the land around us to go green - as opposed to the dried out, brown appearance during summer :)

Long and short gumboots - for
use when it pelting down with rain which
forms muddy puddles everywhere, or
 when  there is just damp grass

Gumboots (long and short) to keep my feet dry, chunky jerseys and a down jacket against the cold outside air, and a warm bed to sleep in.  I am aware of all those who aren't as fortunate, and know that I'll never take those luxuries for granted.

Two and a half dehydrated pumpkins fit into
2 X 1 lt jars

Eating summer out-of-season home grown produce - which has either been canned or has been dehydrated in my new Foothills DryAway ;)

  

Homemade jams and beetroot...

 

  ...and tomato puree / concentrate

 

Dehydrated herbs and vegetables (which at this stage only

 include pumpkins and piquanté peppers)

Lying in bed in the morning, cup of rooibos tea (for me) or coffee (for RMan) in hand, looking at the snow capped mountains in the distance.

Snow capped mountains in the distance

  Aaaah!  What's not to love about winter...?  :D

Birthday cake

Now, I'm not really a cake eater - apart from a lovely fresh carrot cake, or a baked cheesecake.  And I don't normally make a cake for my birthday.  But, I happened upon this recipe whilst browsing the net, and I just had to try it.  This is recipe is absolutely amazing!!

3 ingredient cheesecake

What makes it even more incredible is that it uses only three ingredients. 

Three.

I lie not.

The recipe is as follows:

3 eggs

120gm (4.3 oz) white chocolate

120gm (4.3 oz) cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 170°C (338°F)

Cut baking paper to fit your cake tin.  Line the tin and butter well.  This will prevent the cake from cracking as it bakes.

Separate the eggs and place the whites in a bowl.  Leave the egg whites in the fridge until you require them (that makes the meringue more stable.)

Break the chocolate into pieces and soften in a bowl placed over hot water (double boiler).

When they are melted, add the cream cheese and mix well.  Remove from the heat and add the egg yolks.  Again - mix well.

3 ingredient cheesecake with granadilla reduction
topping

Remove the egg whites from the fridge, and place in a deep bowl.  Beat well with a mixer until stiff peaks form (and the egg whites remain in place when you turn the bowl upside down).

Then add 1/3 of the meringue mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix in gently with a spatular.  Add another 1/3, and finally the last 1/3 mixing gently each time.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and knock gently on the counter to remove large air bubbles.  Place in the oven and bake at 170°C (338°F) for 15 minutes, 160°C for 15 minutes, and then switch off the oven and bake with the remaining heat for a final 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool.

I coated the top of the cheesecake with a homegrown granadilla reduction.

RMan's conclusion.  Delicious.  He wiped most of it lol

Plus, I have a sneaky feeling that I can adapt it to a solar oven recipe...

So, I'm going to try that next summer.

The only problem I encountered - I presumed that my baking tin was "normal" but it was too wide - the recipe asked for a 15cm (6 inch) baking tin, and my smallest was 22cms (9 inches)  and the cake, although risen, was "spreadeagled".  So - either next time I use a smaller tin, or I make double.

What a stress!!  bwahahaha

Whilst I was at it I decided to make John's Amish coleslaw from the recipe which he had been very kind enough to send me

John from The Simple Life's Amish coleslaw

That, too, worked well, and now resides in my pantry :)

Dont'cha love it when plans come together?

Preserving and recycling

Although I keep every little moisture absorber sachet which arrives in whatever tablets that enter this house, I tend to keep them for sucking the moisture out of cell phones, camera's, etc which may have come into contact with water. Providing that you stip down the item as far as possible, and wipe of the visible moisture, before popping the gadget into a lidded airtight container with the sachets, that works a treat, and has saved many an electronic gadget :)

But, when it comes to food, I am not so keen to add those chemical sachets - just in case they break.  So I had to devise my own.

Tomato skins, sundried in my solar oven,
and ground down to provide us with instant
tomato powder

You may recall that I made some tomato powder from the skins of the tomatoes I harvested.  After drying them in the solar oven, I popped them into a grinder.

Once they were nice and powdery, I put them into a repurposed glass jar.

Then I pulled out the remnants my daily cuppa(s).

I always put the used teabags into a bowl next to my kitchen sink, until the bowl is full, then it's contents get emptied into the worm bin.

Empty, used teabags, which have been rinsed
and laid out to dry

This time I had another need for those used teabags...

After carefully separating / opening one edge of the teabag and emptying the tea leaves into the worm bin bowl, I rinsed the tea bags, and laid them out to dry.

Dry, rinsed used teabags, containing uncooked
rice granules, which is secured with a bit of
string

Then I put some uncooked rice granules into the teabag, and secured it with a bit of string.

This moisture absorber works -
and is as eco-friendly as it gets :)

The string-tied rice filled teabag then got put into the jar of tomato powder.

And that's all that's needed.

If the teabag bursts for any reason, the moisture absorbing contents will not contaminate the contents of the jar.

And, at the end of it's useful lifetime, the rice can be thrown out into the garden for the birds to peck, and the teabags and the string can all go in the worm bin.

It a bit fiddly, but it's worth all the effort, because it works beautifully :)

Now, can anyone deny that I am a bit OCD regarding recycling? ;)

Sun drying...

I have spent absolutely ages researching solar dehydrator designs so that I am able to dehydrate my excess garden produce for use later in the year.

I even went so far as to purchase plans so that RMan could make me one.

That presumed that RMan would (1) want to tackle the task and (2) would be able to.  The answer to both was nada - he didn't feel his woodworking skills were up to it.

So, when the kitchen shelves received doors and the flyscreens were installed I grabbed the opportunity and asked the carpenter if he would be interested.

Turns out he was... :)

So, after agreeing on his labour quote and ordering some 6mm marine plywood, plus 32 X 32mm wood, and sundry other items, the dehydrator started to become an actuality.

It took him two weeks, and finally I received the call I had been waiting for.

We collected the dehydrator from him, took it home, established the exact size of the toughened safety glass top (a definite necessity as I didn't want to chance the glass shattering into very dangerous shards if something unforeseen happened), ordered and then waited for the toughened safety glass to be delivered to a collection point in our nearby town.

A week later the glass arrived. 

(A side note - the carpenter didn't follow the copy of the written instructions he was given, and the unit wasn't square :(  Not easy to order and install glass on an unsquare unit... <sigh> )

A week earlier I had contacted a local wood preservative manufacturing company and the lady I spoke to assured me that once the product was dry it was safe to use with food.  I took her at her word and we coated the dehydrator inside and out with their product.

So, the unit was "workable".

Workable in that it was complete, even if it lacked the bottom absorber plate and the shelves.  I am still trying to souce affordable non-toxic shelving to go inside, but, I couldn't wait to try it out.  So I grabbed my cake / biscuit cooling rack from the kitchen and, balancing it on wooden dowel rods, created a drying shelf.

You can clearly see the wooden dowel rods
supporting the cooling rack

The very last of my tomato harvest went onto this rack, and the wait began.

It easily reached a temperature of 45 - 50°C (113 - 122°F).

I was ecstatic :)  Yeeeeeeeeha!  Solar dehydrating had just become a fact of life in my kitchen.

But, something kept niggling at the back of my brain.  And that kind of niggling keeps me up at night.  And, being up at night, means that if I want to research anything I need to Google via my smart phone.  Not the easiest as the screen is too small for my aging eyes (even with specs) and my fingers too big for the tiny keyboard, but I don't want to switch on the laptop in the middle of the night - that would inevitably mean that I wouldn't get to bed until the sun came up - I can get very carried away once I start investigating...

But, what I discovered gave me serious pause for thought - which I re-investigated, and confirmed the following day when I woke up.

The instructions I purchased stated that I should use plywood.  But, after contacting our local co-op and getting a certificate on the plywood I had purchased from them (it is imported from Malaysia!!!) I discovered that there is no plywood in this country that does not contain formaldehyde!  Good grief!  I'm going to poison us...

Much, much, much research later has unearthed the fact that it seems that all wood in this country has been pressure treated against beetle, mould, worm, etc by using formaldehyde or boron or arsenic, etc.

I thought I would ask the wood preserving company if they would put their "non-toxic" product safety in writing.  It turns out it is not rated food safe.

But - they were kind enough to give me a link to a site which detailed food safe techniques.

As soon as I discovered that the unit was unsafe for food, I whipped the tomatoes out of it, and shoved them into the solar oven to dehydrate.  The solar oven works OK, but, even with the lid propped open 5cms, it still attains too high a temperature, which has led to my incinerating a couple of loads of tomatoes this summer...

So - back to the drawing board I go.  Ah well, I've got at least 5 - 6 months before I will need a solar dehydrator.

But, for all those (and there are many of them out there) who make a solar dehydrator out of scraps and left over bits of wood - be warned.  Your wood may contain harmful chemicals...

Tomato preserves

It would appear that the tomato blossom end rot only affected a couple of my tomato plants.

So I was been busy harvesting tomatoes frantically over the last weekend.  I had sowed both red heirloom, red and yellow cocktail and large yellow tomatoes - can't remember where I got them but I think that they were Franchi Sementi seeds.

Not having the power to run a freezer in order to preserve my harvest, I have had to think laterally.

So, here is a preview of what I have done with the first batch of tomatoes that I picked :)

A collage of my first tomato preserves for 2014

I made 6 jars of whole peeled tomatoes, 3 jars of tomato sauce (ketchup) and...

Bottled tomatoes and tomato
sauce (ketchup)
The tall re-used bottle of tomato sauce
from the red wine vinegar will have to go
in my fridge to be used first

... two ice trays filled with tomato purée concentrate.

Tomato paste

When I peeled the tomatoes I kept the skins to one side.  I shoved them onto an oven tray in the solar oven to dry out - with the lid open so that I didn't burn them.  Unfortunately, before they were fully dry it started to cloud over and drizzle.  That put paid to solar drying my tomato skins.

My solar dehydrator is still not ready.  Will I be able to use it before the end of this season?  Time will tell...

The next sunny day was predicted for 2 days later - I couldn't wait that long to pop them back into the solar oven - I was in the swing of it LOL

Drying the tomato skins

On Sunday night, as the weather was a bit iffy, we lit the Rosie for the first time this year and I put the skins in the oven to finish drying.  (Lighting the Rosie was a definite teaser for the winter ahead - I can hardly wait LOL)

Using RMan's coffee grinder to grind the
dried tomato skins

When they were good and crispy, they got shoved into RMan's (cleaned) coffee grinder and blitzed for a couple of minutes, until they looked like this:

A close-up of the ground tomato skins

The crushed skins smell amazing, and I'm looking forward to adding them to pizza's, bread and cheese scones :)  Those I'm storing in a jar with a sachet of moisture absorber (I can't remember the proper name, but you know what I mean?) that arrived in my bottle of magnesium tablets.

Even the pips didn't go to waste.  After I had made the tomato sauce (ketchup) and the tomato concentrate, I was left with a whole bunch of seeds and some remnants of tomato flesh in the sieve.  That went into a container in the fridge and got added to a bolognaise sauce I made for RMan's dinner a couple of nights later.  Very tasty it was too :)

It is the first time that I have ever used the entire tomato and I can't imagine why it took me so long to do so.

There is triple the amount of tomatoes reading for picking this weekend, so come on sun - I need to make some sundried tomatoes in my solar oven, and a batch of my salad dressing which uses whole peeled tomatoes, and there are also lots more to bottle...

Spring garden goodies

Welcome to dreamer - my newest follower.  dreamer is from southern Scotland - an area called Cairnsmore to be specific.

dreamer doesn't appear to have a blog / web page - if I'm wrong, dreamer, please let me know, and I'll gladly insert the link.  Thanks for hitting the followers button.

Update: dreamers bog can be found at : http://dreamer-dreamingofasimplelife.blogspot.co.uk/

She has a very interesting blog - won't you pop round and have a look?

-------------------------------

The first plants to start producing this spring were my strawberries.  They were so eager that they started flowering at the beginning of July!!

I have never known strawberry plants to produce
flowers, never mind fruit, in July...
...in South Africa?!?

The three ducks that we inherited from one of our neighbours over a month ago, found they had a taste for strawberries, and proceeded to wipe out as many as they could, Until I caught them in the act.  And here I blamed those poor field mice again...

So - that resulted in my buying some bird netting from the local co-op and draping the entire 25mtr long bed.  And here my poor brain thought bird netting was only for the flying kind...

Strawberries - some for eating and the rest
I popped into the freezer until I have enough
to make jam...

The strawberry plants have produced a fair number, but not all at once.  So, apart from those we've eaten fresh, I popped the other strawberries into bags which I keep in the freezer.  I figured that once they stop producing, I can take the strawberries from the freezer and make jam with them - in my solar oven. Yum - can't wait :)

I've harvested about 5 kgs so far...

The plum trees were the first
to blossom - t'was stunning to
see

Then the fruit trees - the plum trees were the first to get those gorgeous, uplifting, awe-inspiring spring blossoms.  And loads of fruit - which the wind proceeded to blow off.  Ah well, I think the trees are only two years old and still need a year before they should be allowed to keep their fruit - so nature is guiding me well.

Peach tree in blossom

You recall back in May this year that I wrote about saving those onion bottoms and, after allowing the dried roots to re-hydrate in a small bowl of water for a couple of days, planting them back in your veggie patch?

Well, the pic below is one of those "re purposed" onions.

Five onions gorwing from the old bottom of a single
onion - whoo hoo!

Here I thought each onion bottom would only grow one onion, but this one has produced 5!  Happy days :)

Apart from the onions, I also have garlic (which I've harvested most of already), tomatoes, the swiss chard is growing in profusion again (and that's given me a hint of what to make for dinner tonight - creamed spinach with a fried egg and toast), as is my zucchini and pumpkin, and the saved seed from the Franchi Sementi purple and yellow bean plants from last years harvest - and a nice crop of chickpeas and carrots is also growing.  It has already been too hot for my lettuce - even in the shadecloth veggie patch - and the plants have all bolted, but I am going to make a plan to turn up a couple of the re-purposed sub-irrigated Styrofoam containers (that I still have) into  raised veggie patch boxes, literally, and place them in the shade - with light being bounced off from a nearby wall.  That should sort out the overheating / bolting problem.

Those re-purposed styrofoam containers have been brilliant - I've used them for growing plants in, for using as deep drip trays for propagated lemon trees, and as a bath for the newy adopted ducks, amongst many other uses.  S'funny, talking about the ducks - whoever owns them has not come looking...? Maybe they have too many?  But, they're free to return home - the way they came - however that was...

None of my chilli and pepper seeds has peeked above ground yet, and I have still to buy a tray of aubergines seedlings from the local nursery - it would appear that I am completely unable to rear them, so I leave that to the experts LOL

And finally, for the first time, I have managed to grow cabbages - I companion planted them amongst the strawberries LOL  So  - there is lots of coleslaw in the future, as well as stuffed cabbage leaves cooked in the solar oven, and cabbage cooked in milk, instead of water, with garlic, butter, salt and pepper - quite delicious :)  Maybe I'll try fermenting some cabbage too - if it's not too hot...

"Time is fleeting..."

I just received this in an e-mail and can't wait to share it.

It's brought on one of my soap box moments...

If this doesn't make everyone who only looks at the images / reads the info below and go no further, or those who visits the site via the links I've provided, stop and pause, and think really hard on their contribution to these statistics, then I fear that this gorgeous, amazing, imited planet we call home is doomed.

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/earthclock/

http://www.poodwaddle.com/Stats/
click on Energy

http://www.poodwaddle.com/Stats/
click on Population

"The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has created several computer models to estimate global warming rates. These various models project from a 1.1 to 6.4C degree rise this century. We have chosen to use their A1B scenario (2.8C/century). We display 10 decimal places only to show the rate of rise. We do not wish to suggest that we can project with this level of accuracy. Please read the Global Warming page for more information.

CO2 levels are continuing to rise and so is the ocean. The population is growing, forests are shrinking, deserts are growing, and thousands of species (mostly insects and mostly in shrinking rain forests) are going extinct each year. These issues and many more face our world as we struggling to balance the needs of nations with the needs of the planet.

We at Poodwaddle.com consider ourselves journalists, not scientists or activists. It is our job to report the data, not take sides in controversial issues. Global warming is one of these issues. We do not advocate for global warming, or against it. Doing so would violating our professional integrity.

SOURCES: IPCC | Global Carbon Project | Earth Policy
DETAILS: Global Warming | Deforestation"

http://www.poodwaddle.com/Stats/
click on Environment

http://www.poodwaddle.com/Stats/Sources/

If this didn't shock you - what kind of member of our human society are you?

Would it really hurt you to make a few small changes to your lifestyles, especially if it could help heal our planet?

It's the small things which count.  The small things which a add up and CAN make a difference.

Would you be prepared to:

~ significanty adjust your electricity consumption (put on another jersey / wrap yourself in a blanket for warmth or dress in cool cotton when the temperatures rise, use candes instead of light globes, save up for a solar oven instead of switching on those power guzzling electric ovens);

~ walk or cycle or share a lift in order to reduce your petrol (gas) usage;

~ be more aware and conserve our most prescious resource, water (shower more frequenty, instead of bathing, fix leaking taps, think as your hand touches the tap, turn off the tap whist you're brushing your teeth, use a cistern filler to reduce the amount of water used when you flush the loo - better still, "if it's yellow, let it mellow..."), and install rain water storage tanks for use in your gardens;

~ try growing something you can eat, instead of just filling your gardens with pants which are beautiful to look at - research "forest gardens" to see how you can grow vegetables in between your "flowering" plants, or in pots on a patio or small balcony;

~ try and limited the number of goods you purchase which are wrapped in plastic;

~ buy local instead of imported;

~ prepare more completely fresh meals, as opposed to pre-packaged ready-made convenience (including junk food) meals (try aiming for once a week, then twice a week, etc.) - honour your body instead of just filling it with whatever is easy;

~ use less chemicals in your home and advocate using less in your work place (trust me, our house is only cleaned with vinegar and bicarb, and I'm proud of the shine / level of cleanliness that I achieve);

~ do more housework / garden work / wash your own car / play with your children, instead of travelling to your local (hopefully) gym to get your exercise, or dumping your kids off at the local movie house / games arcade in order to "entertain" them;

~ recycle whenever, and wherever, possible, and pass on anything which is still useful to those less fortunate than yourself...

... to mention just a few of the small, but active steps you can adopt that will significantly assist in planet Earth's healing process.

I'm not asking you to chivvy your local member of parliment to do what he should be doing as your representative in government - such as taking your requirements and God given rights to the highest powers in the land to make them change laws for the immediate benefit of our planet, biodiversity, animals and mankind, instead of for the immense monetary considerations which are dictating their actions.

I'm just asking you to make a few simple changes to your lifestyle.

Would it really hurt you????

Chivvy-ing your local member of parliment comes later... LOL