A big week...

 Just popping in for a quick post as this past week was really full and I simply had no time for anything other than family, homemaking, gardening, cooking and friends - and really, isn't that a good thing? I think so. 

On Monday I did a lot of cooking, cleaning, washing, visiting a friend who has just moved to town, and preparing homeschool lessons for Cully May and Rafaella because on Tuesday they came to spend the day with me.

Our educational focus this week was nature study, Heidi, arts and crafts. As always the girls requested my pancakes and they were devoured quickly. I made sour dough pancakes this time (and I also made sour dough scones)...

My craft cupboard is full of surprises for them to try, and this time they chose to paint a mermaid, and some fridge magnets, as a gift for Mummy (Blossom)...

Whilst painting the girls watched the 1937 Shirley Temple movie, "Heidi". Now, I wasn't sure they'd actually enjoy an old black and white movie, but they did. The character of Heidi was very engaging indeed, so they happily painted away, taking in the story and often stopping just to watch.

Of course we always, always, have dress ups when visiting Nana! Some days they are princesses, some days artists, but this week they were ballerinas.

And nothing looks as good with a ballerina tutu than gum boots, especially when out and about in the garden dancing, running or watering the plants...

They simply love being outdoors here, especially when the clouds cover the sun and shield their young bodies.

But being outdoors was also part of our homeschool adventures as my yard has many cocoons and the girls were eager to hunt for some. We found six cocoons in various places, mostly in the bottle brush trees, but the most exciting one was a case moth caterpillar pulling his cocoon up onto my husband's gardening stool. How blessed we were that God provided this opportunity to see in real life just what we were learning about through a book.

I had prepared some colouring pages of a cocoon, a caterpillar and a butterfly, but we also discussed how to recognise an insect and the three parts of an insect. Cully May is 5 1/2 now so she absorbs information, inhales it actually, and could tell her mummy and daddy everything she'd learned later that afternoon. 

The girls picked a bunch of blooms from various plants in the garden and took them home for mummy to smell. They especially love the scent of the Marraya flowers (also known as Orange Jasmine or Mock Orange), but another favourite was an old Pink Passion rose.

They also decorated their cubby house (wendy house) with coloured chalks, and I have to say they did a beautiful makeover! 

After a bubble bath and dinner, I drove them home and how wonderful to hear that Blossom had taken some time that day to stop and rest. Charlie David is teething badly and lack of sleep for both him and Bloss has taken a toll. 

On Wednesday I got into the garden and filled some of the raised beds with fresh soil, removed or pruned back overgrown plants, planted out some more rocket (arugula) and then re-potted about 15 of my 45 indoor plants. 

I decided to add some more to the bathroom as they get a lot of humidity and light in there, though no direct sunlight...

Once my garden and plant work was complete I washed the four pair of gardening gloves, ready for another day of yard work.

Thursday was a lovely break as I spent the morning at Rosie's with Sheryl and Shirley, feasting on banana cakes and quiche, cups of tea in the prettiest china, and then hand stitching as we chatted and laughed - oh my, we laughed so much! A good day indeed.

Friday was housework in the morning then off to buy the groceries. I also stocked up on produce for the next round of dehydrating, so at the moment there's corn kernels and celery drying out in that wonderful machine. Once they finish I'll do more carrots.

I had a number of people ask what I do with the dehydrated carrots. They will be used for soups, stews, curries and casseroles in the future. Pantry preparedness is very important due to these times we are living in. Food scarcity has hit most countries, some areas far worse than others, and with the exorbitant increase in fuel costs we will see a continuing rise in the cost of food due to the transport needed to carry food from one part of the country to the other. In my own area of the country, due to the climate, we can't grow many things other than tropical fruits, so we are reliant on the southern states for almost all of our fresh produce...and that means our produce travels far by trucks, as that's how Australia is fed. Without long haul trucking we would have a hard time feeding this nation.

Christian friends...if you read Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, the book of Daniel 7-12, and all of Revelation, you will recognise the signs of end times that Jesus gave us. Preparing to face famine, war and persecution is where our family are right now and have been for a number of years. 

If you're after more ways to prepare your pantry, as well as ideas for ways to make use of what you already have, or items you can perhaps barter for, pop over HERE to Annabel's blog. Every Friday she has a wealth of inspiration, ideas and common sense to share.

Okay, that's it for today. We need to head out to the Sunday markets for pineapples, bananas and whatever else we can use. 

God bless you always, and may He lead you along this rocky path of life with more grace and mercy and provision than you could imagine. Pray for the Ukraine, pray for Russia. They both need prayer. 

I shall leave you today with Cully's favourite photo taken on Tuesday. She's a God-gifted bright light in our lives all the time, and a child who loves God and prays for everyone.

hugs

Weekend at home and preparing food...

 

We got some rain yesterday and today and as a bonus the temperature dropped a bit, the plants have had a lovely soak in the water from heaven, and time spent weeding the path from the back of the house to the clothesline was easy work.

I love seeing water droplets on the plants, sitting there like little jewels they glisten in the filtered light of an overcast day.

Yesterday I finally got to begin the process of dehydrating seasonal vegetables and fruit while they are cheapest, though this won't last long as food prices are rising quickly. I admit to envying those in cooler climates who get to grow abundant vegetable gardens through spring and summer. Unfortunately not much 'day to day' food grows well here in the tropics at any time of the year, for even though winter is best for salad veg, we've had very warm winters the past few years and simply cannot keep the bugs from invading everything.

This winter will more than likely be another warm one (imagine mid-spring weather) and without a nice cold snap (imagine mid autumn) the bugs don't ever die off, they never stop multiplying. So we've decided to rest the garden from vegetables this year and grow as many herbs as we can for drying later, plus rocket and spring onions because they don't get much attention from the bugs in any season. 

I began the dehydrating with carrots on Saturday. I don't peel them, just wash and run through the Sumo Slicer...

...before spreading across the trays. I filled five trays with two kilograms of sliced carrots (4.4 pounds) and they took just six hours to dehydrate.

Whilst that was happening I made two jars of lime curd because this is the first year our lime tree has had fruit and though very good sizes and extra juicy, there were only six limes. Three limes were used for the lime curd, and what a simple recipe it was - from start to finish about ten minutes using the microwave.

The lime curd is delicious!! If you'd like the recipe it is HERE though it is for lemon curd, but I simply substituted them with my limes. I will definitely make more next lime season.

I also made some Amaretti biscuits because I had leftover egg whites from the lime curd. They're not a traditional Amaretti because I can't stand almond essence so substituted with vanilla essence, but every other ingredient is the same. This was another super easy recipe, and done in a food processor! 

The biscuits surprised me because of how simple the steps were using the food processor, but they turned out just as if I'd spent way more time beating egg whites and gently folding ingredients. If you're interested in the recipe it is HERE.

During the week I like to have a few simple sides prepared for salad nights, or to add on open sour dough sandwiches, so I used THIS recipe to make pickled cucumbers, and my usual (and very simple) recipe for pickled red onions.

To make my pickled onions (these are not for preserving but for using within a week or two) you need...

* 1/4 cup water

* 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

* 3 teaspoons sugar

* 1 teaspoon salt

* One large finely sliced red onion

Mix all together in a bowl or jar and leave to soak for an hour, then drain away the liquid and store the onions in a glass container in the fridge. In the photo above I had not yet drained them.

I also began a new sour dough starter. There was a time when I had it going all the time and baked sour dough bread every second day...but then life got in the way and the kids had left home...and you know? 

But we are taking food production very seriously now, as stores often have empty shelves and prices continue to climb, so baking my own sour dough a few times a week will become normal again. I've been paying $6 a loaf for sourdough the past few years and yet I can make my own (which tastes far superior) for around 80c. This is a no-brainer, right?

As sour dough bakers have become more knowledgeable I decided to research more and found THIS wonderful video tutorial with step by step instructions for starting a sour dough from scratch. What I liked about this one was how very clear it is and also that it has measurements. I used to make my starter very similarly, but really needed a refresher course. 

It's day two with my starter now and it is happily bubbling away. Being in such a warm climate starters tend to grow far quicker than regular or cool climates.

This morning my dehydrator is working hard, the trays filled with pineapple, nectarine and apple slices, plus I've sliced my remaining limes as well. I watched a video the other day where the woman dehydrated lemons this way and then ground them into powder to store for flavouring her baked goods - well, I thought that was so clever, so we'll see how it works with my few limes.  

This morning we also headed out to Bunnings for herb seedlings and a few indoor plants.

I've planted out basil, rosemary and continental parsley already, but I'll leave the five indoor seedlings till tomorrow.

Some wonderful news from the garden at last, about the Elder Tree. Finally, we have a few berries! Only a few mind you, but it's a start. They have been literally baking on the tree and falling off as tiny green things for many months, but today I saw these...

There's more on the tree, green still, but they're bigger than the ones which baked and fell, so I am hopeful. In the meantime I have popped these few in the freezer and when I have enough one day, they shall become elderberry cordial. 

Last thing to share is that we are now ready to buy a grain mill and have narrowed our choice to two models. We're just waiting to see which one is already in stock and can be purchased immediately as they are both made in Europe, but online shops here have them. The two we're looking at are the Mockmill and the KoMo. How wonderful to mill our own grain and bake with it!

Now I'd best sign off as we're off to visit Blossom and family and I have some lime curd to gift her as well. Then home to play with these lovely Cath Kidston drill fabrics which I bought at a garage sale about 18 months ago. I'm thinking some peg aprons...maybe sell some as well...we'll see how I go after I make the first one.

Have a blessed end of weekend, lovely friends, and may the grace of the Lord and His perfect love fill your empty spaces and draw your hearts to dwell on peaceful thoughts.

hugs