SkillCycle II - frugal gardening and more

So, the second SkillCycle day was a success! We covered pasta making with Kate, knot tying with Kerry, bliss balls with Bron (yum!), green cleaning with Jessie and I did frugal gardening. 

My session covered a range of bits and pieces you could collect from around the home/in the bin/on the kerbside throw-out to make gardening cheaper and more sustainable. I went through different options for growing containers like olive oil tins, small tins, yoghurt containers etc., and making your own pots out of newspaper, toilet rolls or egg cartons. Then I discussed making labels for your pots out of recycled food containers (like milk bottles and yoghurt tubs again) as well as old venetian blinds you find on council kerbside recycling days.

I spoke about saving seeds and my general motto of 'give it a go, you never know'. Some seeds are easier to save and grow than others but you'll never know until you stick some in the ground. Remember to try the pantry and your spice rack.  


We also covered protecting your garden from bush turkeys and possums. I absolutely love bird netting for this purpose. I had little success with my veggie beds until I covered the whole garden in netting. Now I only have to fight caterpillars and grasshoppers; much nicer than the total annihilation you get from the possums and turkeys! The stuff is very cheap at your local hardware store or nursery. You do have to keep it quite low and watch no birds get tangled in it though.


All in all it was a lovely, inspiring day. I went home and planted some seeds, made some bliss balls (recipe to come in a later post) and generally felt like I'd accomplished something. 

BOGI Fair - other inspirations

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm always inspired at BOGI Fair's. The year before I joined a Community Exchange System called LETS (Local Energy Trading Scheme) after speaking to Adrian who has a LETS stall each year. Our local branch is called BrisLETS but there are many groups all over the world. The system works as a multi-way trading scheme. In other words, I can sell something to another member which puts credit into my account, I can then use that credit to purchase something or pay for a service from any other member. While I like small one to one trades within my community, LETS allows for a lot more flexibility. And there is a huge variety of services and products for sale.


My other stall neighbour this year was Marilena. She was selling her homemade cakes and cards. None of us could resist her elderberry flower and mulberry cupcakes. I chatted to her throughout the day about SkillCycle and why we both do what we do. We both feel the same way about not really doing any of this for 'profit' (in the conventional sense). We both just enjoy showing people how easy it is to make delicious food from locally sourced and sustainably grown food. Marilena also helps organise a yearly winter feast in Samford (north west of Brisbane) with fresh local produce being shared by the whole community.


Quite a few Transition Towns members approached the stall throughout the day. These groups do so much more than can be described in a few lines so you can read about them here. I've been meaning to join my local group for awhile now.


I've heard Stan from Sizzling Solar Systems and his wife Jane speak on numerous occasions but he's always impressive so I popped by for another demo. I also love hearing the ooh's and aah's from people who have never seen Stan set fire to a piece of wood in seconds using only a salvaged satellite dish, base of a student desk chair and some shiny chip packet liners. He's like a modern day MacGyver. Who cooks.


All in all, a very inspiring day!

A Plentitude Economy

Watching this video gives me hope for the future. Change is possible and the happenings on Wall Street right now make me believe there's more people who want this than just me.

 

BOGI Fair

Last Sunday Kate, Mel and I headed out to Albion for the annual Brisbane Organic Growers Fair. This is our third fair. I really look forward to these events. They're a great opportunity to talk to people who are all involved in really interesting aspects of food production, education or community development. And it's also the perfect time to pick up some new plants and tasty things to eat.

Mel and I made some preserves (Strawberry Balsamic Jam, Tomato Jam and Old Fashioned Zucchini Pickles) and organic potato and onion soup with home made bread to sell. Kate was a baking demon and put my little loaf to shame with a massive bag of her own bread. 

Because she's so hardcore, Kate also brought her popular Rosemary Crackers (they always sell out fast...maybe she'll post her recipe here one day...and some time saving pointers she learnt the hard way) plus her home grown herbs. 

Kate also brought along some dried culinary lavender. This stuff is very useful. She discusses it here.

Everything sold really well. I love how the community comes along to these days to learn something new and support local growers and makers. I always leave with new ideas and a big grin, definitely an inspiring day. I'll post again soon about some of the people I spoke to and the amazing things they're doing.

SkillCycle Day II - planning your own day.

Our next SkillCycle day is approaching so I thought this would be a good opportunity to let you know what we have planned and give you some ideas for hosting a day of your own. 

This time 'round we have planned a green cleaning session with Jessie. This will involve a bit of a demo and then a Q & A for green solutions to specific cleaning problems. We'll then have a frugal gardening session where I'll discuss seed saving, making your own pots from newspaper and toilet paper rolls as well as salvaging 'rubbish' for the garden. We're also hoping to have a session on sourdough cultures and one on spinning your own yarn by a new SkillCycler, Jane. 


We recently had a stall at the BOGI (Brisbane Organic Growers Inc) Fair (I will post about this very soon) and took the opportunity to tell some of the attendees about the theory of SkillCycle. We had a great response and I enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm from all the people I spoke to. The main point Mel, Kate and I tried to get across is that SkillCycle days needn't be huge events, they just need to have an exchange of information. You can run a day in an hour with only two people - you just need to teach each other something. The whole idea is based in the sharing of knowledge, big or small.

So, if you're not local enough to come along to our next day (Oct 23, comment if you want more info), why not organise your own SkillCycle day! You just need a skill to demonstrate, someone interested in learning that skill and a place to sit down together. Skills to teach can be anything you're both interested in. While most of the skills we share are quite domestic, we're trying to include more mechanical skills in future days. If you don't feel you have anything to share why not take it upon yourself to learn something new and then offer to teach it. The best way of learning is often teaching. Just give it a go! Anyone planning any days already? We'd love to hear about it!

Cooking with Lavender

I love lavender, the little purple flowers and their heady aroma. I have a very productive bush on my front path, which provides me with flowers throughout the summer. I've also successfully propagated lots of little lavender bushes which have exploded beneath my clothes line, and have begun to surpass the productivity of the original bush. I often cut flowers which last for ages in a vase. Last year I cut some flowers for drying and ventured into culinary uses for the dried flowers. They add quite an unusual flavour to dishes, obviously floral, but quite a musky depth of flavour. It might not be to everyone's taste, but I really like it, particularly in scones and cupcakes. With such a strong flavour, only a very small amount is required for most recipes I've found.

Stephanie Alexanders's Kitchen Garden Companion has a whole section on lavender, on growing, harvesting and drying the flowers. She suggests whizzing up a dried flower head with caster sugar and using the sugar to top iced cakes and make meringues. There is also a recipe for some nice lavender scones.

Lavender Scones

2 1/2 C self raising flour, plus extra for dustine

1/4 C pure icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried lavender flowers

1/2 C thickened cream

2/3 C milk

jam and cream to server (of course!)

Preheat oven to 240C. Sift flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add lavender. Cut cream in with a pastry scraper or broad spatula. Mix in mile quickly.

Sift a little flour over a chopping board and over a baking tray. turn dough onto floured board. Pat into a rectangle and cut into 6cm squares. Separate and place dough squares onto floured baking tray. Bake for 5 minutes or until browned on top. Reduce over to 180C and bake for a further 10 minutes.

A quick google search will also provide you with many more culinary options. I've made these really nice cupcakes with lavender, an usual and sophisticated change from vanilla cupcakes.

Other ideas that would be interesting, lavender icecream, lavender flavoured cream in profiteroles or in a sponge cake, lavender icing. Dishes with lamb or rabbit might work as well, like as a stuffing.

We also had a wine when travelling in France that had been spiked with lavender that was amazing on a hot day. It was a white wine (not sure what type), with a sugar syrup added in and a sprig of lavender. It was then left for about a week before drinking. Serve very cold.