New phase

So, many things have changed since my last post - woah - over three years ago. Melania moved to WA, Hannah moved to Newcastle, I moved three times - all around Brisbane. But what hasn't changed, is my drive to learn new things. So, we begin a new chapter in SkillCycle. I'm excited to have it back in my life in an official way. It never really left, I never really stopped learning - but documenting things in this format has been something I've missed.

I think I'm going to start back into it with a sewing day very soon. It's one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon. Gather a few people together with a couple of sewing machines and mend and repurpose a few pieces you of your clothing while catching up and eating food.

I hope you'll join me at a SkillCycle day soon or think about hosting one of your own one day.

Making your own muesli (granola)

One of the best ways of saving money and having control over what you eat is by making your own cereal. After searching the aisles of supermarkets and natural food stores alike, I struggled to find a breakfast cereal that was just what I wanted. They all had either too much fat or too much sugar. None that was "just right"...hehehe. So I decided to make my own.

I'm a toasted muesli girl (or 'granola', for American readers) so that's what I chose, but you can make a wide range of cereals very cheaply. The easiest would be natural muesli (untoasted muesli). Just get your hands on some good quality rolled oats and mix it with any dried fruit, nuts, seeds and spices. You can add anything you like. There's plenty of recipes online but just go with what your taste buds tell you. 

The natural bulk foods store I shop at has a really good range of puffed, flaked and rolled grains. You can make a lighter option if you don't like muesli by just blending these with some fruit and nuts or seeds. There's some pretty protein packed grain options available (like quinoa flakes).

My favourite is a toasted muesli though. I don't really have a recipe, I just use what I have on hand. My most recent blend was rolled oats, coconut, almonds, apricots, cinnamon and honey. It's like a big bowl of sunshine in the morning. The basic guide is below, but really, it's hard to go wrong here. Start experimenting!

My muesli blend

all measurements are guestimates

6 cups rolled oats

2 cups shredded coconut

1 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped

1/2 ts cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar 

1 tb rice bran oil (any oil would do, olive is apparently nice)

1/2 cup water

2 tb honey

1 ts vanilla extract

1 cup dried apricots, diced

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. I like chunky bits (the ad companies call them 'clusters') in my muesli so I do a little trick where I put a cup of these dry ingredients in the food processor and pulverise them then mix in with the rest. 

Heat the next five ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Spread out on a lined tray (probably two trays) and bake on a low heat 'til lightly browned. If you like a muesli without clumps, stir the muesli as it cools. If you like clusters, don't stir. I add my fruit after the muesli has cooled. If you like your fruit super chewy, you can bake it in with the muesli. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. Lasts for about a month.

Jessie's guest Green Cleaning post

I twisted Jessie's arm at the last SkillCycle day and convinced her to write something for the blog. So, with much excitement, introducing our first guest poster - Jessie!

There are lots of different motivations to get into green cleaning – for example, for healthier skin, safe grey water for our gardens, to help protect our waterways, to consume less, and to save money.

Some of us also have particular things that keep us from actually doing it – for me, it was uncertainty about whether I could get things ‘really’ clean (I was also wary of the smell of vinegar, until I realised it has no scent when it dries). Then the Queensland Floods happened in January. With water and sludge up to 2 metres up the walls, and the threat of mould enveloping the entire house, I had more cleaning to do than in the rest of my life so far, and didn’t want to inflict any more damage on the natural world than the disaster had already done.

Starting with clove oil to kill mould spores, and baking soda and vinegar to clean almost everything else, I realised greener methods could be extremely effective.  (And after the initial double-take on the cost of 10 ml of clove oil, I realised that with something so effective when using only a few drops per bucket, I could clean the entire house several times, for less than the cost of one spray-pack of ineffective whiteners. I still have ½ the bottle left).

Since then I’ve gleaned more information from friends, books and websites, and hope that this set of ‘Green Cleaning’ basics will be helpful for everyday (everyweek/month) cleaning and for dealing with some of the rarer tasks and accidents.  Ideas and links are really welcome!

Jessie

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.