Back so soon?

Spring is just around the corner...can you smell it?

With Spring comes new life and new beginnings. It was calling me back to blog about our every day life again. The mundane and the extraordinary. The good and the bad. Lots of stuff has happened during our absence, but I'll get to that in good time. Right now I just want to introduce you to our new blog.

I can say that our break away from blogging was well spent. It gave us a new perspective on being here for the long term. You can read about our new blog ethos, in the pages we've designed in the linkbar. We've decided to blog according to what we can and where we are in life - it just seemed the most practical approach to a long-term endeavour.

Of course, there's a new look to our blog and even a new address - I know I promised I wouldn't change it, I'm very sorry about that. It just seemed appropriate to change what we felt was necessary. We deliberated for quite some time on this matter. In the end, we wanted to be true to our new changes rather than emulating an older model. Please forgive the inconvenience I know it will cause.

One aspect of our new look however, is something I hope you can help me with. I've removed the blogs I follow from the sidebars, as I felt this was cluttering the page somewhat. It was all good clutter, mind you, as I do love to follow my favourite blogs. But I was wondering how others have gone about removing the clutter, but still have links to their favourite blogs?

Do you guys sign-up to follow blogs to see who has posted instead?

Anyway, just to show I haven't been entirely unproductive in our break, I knitted another dishcloth. Of course I did! I mean, what else do you do in winter but knit dishclothes, LOL?

I had a few stray bits of yarn which wouldn't complete a whole dishcloth, so I just knitted blocks of the leftover colours in plain knitting stitch. I know I'm not the first person to think of this idea, but it was a first for me to put into practice. It's a lovely, large cloth and plain knit is quite a strong weave and simple to do.

Another project keeping us occupied over winter, was finishing our front retaining wall. Can you believe it? It's 95% complete! Pictures will follow later but it's quite an exciting time for us. We're eagerly awaiting the new spring flush of growth, which will kick-start our new garden above the wall.

Well, I look forward to catching up again in the near future - refreshed and content. Bring on lovely spring time and all the new plants which bloom. Happy gardening!

A forever gardener

If you live in a rental or find yourself in a residence which is other than your own, is it possible to view the land there, as a forever garden? Probably not, but some people still plant regardless, hoping their efforts will carry on for the following generations to enjoy. This is not a bad philosophy to follow. In fact, if you consider yourself any kind of gardener at all - even just starting out - you have the ability to see yourself as a forever gardener.

A lot of people give-up after a few attempts gardening. Especially if a lot of money was involved initially, and the vibrant plants suddenly die. Let's face it, plants aren't cheap if you buy them retail. But it's often where you have to start, before seed germination and propagation skills become second nature to you. Let me give you a little tip though...everything hinges on the soil. Don't ever underestimate the power of dirt!

Forever gardeners needn't become soil scientists, or even start with a-grade topsoil. You just have to acknowledge that dirt can be your guide, in any condition you find it. Dirt, soil, earth, or whatever you want to call it; is not going to hurt you. It isn't so insignificant either - not as you may have first been led to believe. Just because you walk all over it, doesn't make it worthless. Seeing it everywhere is a sign that you need it. In fact, imagine a world without dirt?

But let's not forget what makes soil so important. Carbon storage and fertility supply. They make it possible for plants to grow and for micro-climates to develop. The air you breath, food you eat and the plants which affect climate, all comes from healthy soil.

That forever gardening philosophy, is starting to look a lot more important now. It makes you wonder why we ever stopped paying attention in the first place. As if there was something more important to attend to than our ability to breathe and allow life to continue? This isn't a lecture about philosophies however. It's about the power of knowledge and belief. A forever gardener learns to live with failure and trusts that planting is still a good endeavour to pursue.

Even in the face of dwindling water supplies, plants are our only hope. Did you know that plants do more than just use water? They are worth their weight in water, because they actually do hold water...they also keep salinity levels in check, and when planted near rivers, ponds, lakes, etc, they purify water. They encourage precipitation, and when you think about a foggy morning, imagine all the leaves in the world that will drip dew when the sun finally rises.

A forever gardener learns to appreciate the inherent value of the sources of life. They will see the value in any patch of dirt, no matter how degraded. They will also see the value in weeds as a temporary moratorium on soil erosion and nutrient loss. A forever gardener, most importantly, never believes that it's too late to grow water where a patch of dirt lays bare.

Did I just write, grow water? When you understand the lifecycle of a plant, you may think twice about removing them during your life time. Plants influence climate change in a very big way. They deal with the elements of life we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of. They make it possible for water to fall from the sky, they also catch what little moisture is in the air and dispense it to the soil underneath. It all connects. They control the flow of water on the surface, underneath the surface and they also purify water and stabilise soil. It all connects to make an ecosystem, which all life is based upon.

While there are times for making other plans; please still consider yourself a forever gardener in life. It does make a difference in the end. When you decide to grow plants instead of concrete, you're making a direct investment in the eco-system which supports you. Never underestimate the power of green-thumbs - or even brown ones for that matter. It all goes back to feeding the soil with carbon and fertility.

If you're a carbon based life-form, doesn't it make sense to invest in your carbon based ecology?

While you can still plant living vegetation, you will always be a forever gardener.

Gully Grove

You may notice a few changes on our blog. I still have some more to make, but it could take me a while to get it up and running.

The first change has been the title of this blog. It's no longer just the "Bushland Project", but it's also known as Gully Grove. This is the name we've finally settled on, for our property.

It's taken 3 years to come up with this name, LOL. We've never really felt the need for an official name, until recently. Gully Grove is a picture of where we wish to head in the future.

For more details however, click on the new, "About Gully Grove" link, under the header.

The good news is, I won't be changing the web-address, so there won't be any confusion where to find us.

Making sacrifices

I knew with our no spend year, there would be sacrifices to make. It's not until you're actually experiencing the highs and lows of not spending however, that you can start to make concrete judgments about what your *real* expenses are.

There have been many layers to this no spend challenge. Simply choosing not to spend money on luxuries is an obvious first layer. The second layer has been about rebuilding our relationships with each other, now that we no longer have the distraction of spending. The third layer, has been about redefining our expenses.

Three months into our no-spend year, I'm starting to reconsider some expenses.

A pumpkin flower after the rain

We all need electricity and water - that's a given. We pretty much need a telephone too - in case of emergencies. But the internet has been a luxury we've pandered to for quite a while. When I first started our blog, we were on "dial-up", the very inferior cousin to high speed broadband. It wasn't long until I realised with all my photos, that I could probably do with broadband.

Everyone was talking about broadband at the time - how much easier and faster it was to use. I still held off from getting the more expensive broadband connection however, until our daughter started school. I wanted to be contactable during the day (in case there were emergencies) and we were in a "black-spot" for mobile coverage in the house - so I had another, more important reason to get broadband then.

So we did, and for over two years, it's been great. I can jump on the computer without having to interfere with our phone connection.

Fast forward to now however, where I'm doing home education at home - and where I shouldn't be on the internet for most part of the day anyway. With March being a big bills month for us, I had to look at our internet issue again. I mean, how much do I value speed on the internet, to paying off our debts?

We have the money for broadband, but do we really have to spend $30 extra for internet speed per month? I've compared dial-up to broadband, and we could stand to save $300 per year, if we used the inferior cousin. I know it's slower. I know it can make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. I know it's inconvenient when you receive incoming calls that can't get through.

I know all these things, but the $300 savings is staring me in the face, without a genuine reason to keep the broadband anymore. It's time for a sacrifice. It's time to make a concrete decision about what's more important in life - internet speed or paying off our mortgage?

No-one can make this decision but us. It's our unique circumstances that brought the issue of broadband into question again. I've actually been trying to stay away from technology in favour of spending time with our family anyway. It really seemed like a hollow pursuit (technology) when you can't spend money on DVD rentals, or buying new gadgets for the garden and kitchen.

Don't get me wrong - technology is a wonderful time saver in many pursuits. But with our no spend year, the focus has changed from what has always gotten us by, to what do we really need to get by.

Dave and I have decided we're going to ditch the broadband, in favour of cheaper dial-up. We'll have to get smarter at when and how we use the internet. Early mornings is where we'll start, so the phone line will be open to receive calls during the day. I'll schedule my internet time, like I would cleaning or homeschooling - making it a part of my day, not all of my day.

I've noticed with broadband, I'll have it on all day to receive any emails. Espeically when it comes to publishing your lovely comments to my blog. I don't like to keep people waiting if I can help it. But in a very subtle way, the focus of internet usage has seeped into my life as if it was running it. While I like the speed and convenience of broadband, it has opened my conscience to suggestion, that maybe I need to justify the cost - maybe I need to use it all the time. Maybe it's more important than the rest of my life?

I can still have a blog, I can still use the internet - but it has to be shaped to our family's needs.

On the plus side, I'll be taking moderation off your comments so you no longer have to wait for me to publish them. I'll check all comments during my scheduled internet time, and delete those purely promoting spam. I've wanted to protect you lot from spammers, but I guess it's part of the internet world. I'll deal with them as I come to them, rather than putting your valuable thoughts on hold to deal with them.

We're all mature adults who navigate the world wide web daily...we know what a spam comment looks like. Please avoid them if they pop up from time to time. :)

A pumpkin harvest - a store of energy - human labour and food

On the whole, our no-spend year challenge is doing well. We're focusing on the lessons rather than purely the money. It's great to have savings, but I find it's our old natures, which seriously threaten any gains. It requires a new nature, or the savings don't stick and the debt inevitably blows out somewhere else.

It's quite a juggling act, trying to figure out what should be spent one week to the next. This has threatened to do my head in many times. I've wanted to be discouraged - I mean, what's it all for, if I can't manage to save money this month? The new nature comes in when I realise it's not just about saving money. It's about realising what's better about me as a human being. What did I evaluate? What did I carry? What did I drop? When did I take time to be an organic human being with other important organics - human, plant or animal?

Money and technology are lovely additions to life, but for our family today, they have been an unconscious distraction from bigger responsibilities too. Growing our minds, for example. Growing our compassion and generosity bank too. Focusing just on money, can make me short tempered and unreasonable - it's ugly, LOL.

But you know what, as a person, I can grow. Just like my daughter and garden too. Money is not a reflection of my growth, no matter what I choose to spend on or not - from this month or the next.

So I'm actually wondering at this point, what I'm sacrificing? Internet speed? Technology? Options? As long as I don't sacrifice my ability to grow, or others, then what have I lost of value?

Your greatest investment in life is life...keep investing, no matter what. :)

New kids accessory

It's called a giggle-chick. Simply attach the chick to your kid's shoulder and wait for the giggling to commence. Minutes of non-stop fun to be had by all. Chicks even get to explore the tangles of whispy hair for a tasty ear to nibble.

Advisory warning: beware the poop! Batteries not included.

The sourdough "starter"

A recipe for sourdough starter is but a few clicks away on the computer. I'll share a few with you first up, so you can learn a bit more about sourdough.

This is where I got my first starter recipe from. A good overall description of the sourdough making process too. This is an Australian site with a starter recipe, where I found the description of filling jars educational, but the recipe itself was too wet. I also thought Wikibooks did a great write-up on sourdough too.

The above is where I began my education on sourdough starters, but there's nothing like jumping in and trying it yourself. I tweaked a little with both recipies and here's what I did:

DAY 1: Mix 1/2 cup flour to 3/4 cup warm water, into a glass bowl. Cover with a tea towel and stir 3 to 4 times during the day (don't use steel utensils).

DAYS 2 & 3: Add 1 tablespoon of warm water and 1 tablespoon of flour, continue to cover and stir during the day.

DAY 4-5: Put half the mixture into a clean glass bowl and discard or cook with the other half. (Pancakes make a good use of the left overs). To the glass bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 cup flour. Mix in and stir several times during the day.

DAY 6-7: Repeat day 4-5, only increase the flour and water mixture to 1 cup each.

**You only need to change containers on day 3, 5 and 7**

By day seven the starter should be ready to use. A good indicator, is after feeding it on day 7, mark the jar with a rubber band (see picture below) and if it doubles within a few hours, then you've got a working leaven.

 It more than doubled on day 7 after feeding, so it's alive!!

Now remember, you'll come across all sorts of starter recipies. This is just the one I began with and it worked for me - in autumn. Seasonal and climate differences, may call for altering the recipe somewhat. The consistency of your starter should be like thick custard, but light enough to stir without breaking utensils.

When it comes to making the bread with your starter, I like to use the "sponge" method, which I'll explain in another post.

Some important points to note about making your "starter" though, is to avoid plastic and metal if you can. I try to use glass containers and bowls, but I stir with a plastic whisk and spatula.

They say metal can taint the taste of sourdough starter, and in some cases effect the biological reaction required for an active culture. One of the reasons to avoid plastic if you can too. As long as they're clean and at room temperature however, I can't see the harm in using plastic for stirring for short periods. Wooden spoons can harbour bad bacteria if not thoroughly cleaned, so to me at least, plastic utensils are the lessor evil.

A basic tool kit for making your starter is:

2 large glass or ceramic bowls
a plastic whisk and/or plastic spatula
measuring cups and spoons
a clean tea towel
a large glass (or 2) jar for the final product

It's easier if you work with two bowls, so you can transfer the mix easily. The glass jar is for after you've made your starter and want to keep it on the bench (or fridge) for feeding. You will need to either puncture a hole in the lid of your jar, or do as I do, and put cling-wrap on top, held in place with a rubber band, with fine holes punched through the top.

You can do all of the mixing in jars if you don't have bowls, but I just find the bowls are easier to use when you're doing all that mixing to get the leaven working. The reason you have to stir consistently, is to stop the flour from settling on the bottom, and introduce as much oxygen to the mix as possible.

A note on water - try to use clean, filtered, rain water if available. If you are going to use town cholrinated water, boil it and let it come to room temperature - which should generally be 24 hours. I like to use warm water when mixing, but not boiling. You should be able to keep your finger in the water for a minute, without removing it, to know you've gotten the right temperature. Excessive heat will kill off all your hard work.

One more important note about making starter which bears mentioning - try to avoid chemicals when cleaning your jars, bowls and utensils. Plain, warm water and vigorous rubbing with a cloth, should be enough. If rinsing with town water and using the bowl immediately, try swishing some boiled water in it first - to remove any residues.

If it all sounds too hard for making bread, just remember it's only for a week! Once you have your starter activated, you only need to feed it and change jars every now and then.

I feed my starter daily, as I'm using it daily - plus I leave it at room temperature so it will feed more during the day, than say if I kept it in the fridge where the activity is significantly reduced.

Anyway, I hope that helps simplify the process a little more. I was intimidated at first, but found in autum at least - very little, if anything, went wrong. If I was making my starter in winter, maybe I'd have to extend it to 10 days before using. I've read you can keep it warm in an esky with a warm wheat-pack though. So just tweak and see what works for you.

Sourdough, my new best friend

 Vienna loaf

I have now discovered how to make light, fluffy bread like I used to make at the bakery when I worked there. They had the best tasting bread, and I guess I was secretly trying to measure my breadmaking to their standard.

Little did I realise the trick to such awesome tasting bread was fresh yeast - or leavning. Although it doesn't automatically come to mind when you hear the word "sourdough" and awesome tasting bread in the same sentence. But it doesn't taste "sour" in the final baked product at all. It's sweet and light instead.

So what is sourdough? Well it's just flour, water and air which you grow and feed into a leaven, or culture over the period of a week or more. Then you add it to your flour and other ingredients, to make your bread dough. I'll describe the process of making your "starter" for sourdough in another post, but for now I want to impress the importance of breakmaking on a whole other level. Making bread with a living culture is such a simple process, that it's been used for thousands of years without the need for technical equipment or refrigerators.

I've read heaps of literature advising sourdough culture can live in the fridge successfully, but as I'm using it daily, it now lives on the kitchen bench permanently. It doesn't get a chance to make it to the fridge. As a result, my whole house always smells like bread too. I have the culture on the bench, I normally have a bread proving during the morning too, until it goes into the oven to bake.

Fruit buns

I've made different types of loaves, as well as fruit buns with sourdough. Every single batch has been successful and the dough extremely forgiving. The flavour has always been rich (devoid of the pungeant yeast flavour you get with the dried stuff) and the texture has always been light and fluffy too.

What an extremely versatile and forgiving dough - the sourdough. That's why I call it my new best friend. It lives on my kitchen bench, I feed it daily and it feeds us daily. How can I go back to dried yeast now? How amazing that I don't have to buy the expensive stuff again either. Flour water and air is all great bread needs.

It's simplified my shopping list too. Rainwater comes out of the tap, air is everywhere and I only have to buy flour in bulk. Of course there's also salt, sugar and oil involved for the bread recipe itself - but they're always at hand for cooking anyway. The only extra thing I have to buy for breadmaking is unbleached baker's flour.

Bye-bye dried yeast - you're now obsolete!

My new best friend has changed my whole attitude towards making bread. It's not just a final product any more. It's an ever evolving, continually feeding product - kind of like human beings. I now look forward to seeing my culture in the morning (how are you growing) and then making the various breads (yum - can't wait to taste it). But there's always left over culture to feed again, so the process doesn't end.

On a personal note, I've found the sourdough a lot easier to digest too. I don't feel bloated when I eat bread now. My stomach doesn't inflate with air either. The one problem with my new friend, is learning to limit how much bread we eat, LOL. Between the three of us, we can polish off a loaf in a day - the fruit buns are all but gone too!

Don't worry though, I won't keep my new best friend all to myself. I'll share how to make your very own starter and post my recipes soon. If you only ever do it once in your lifetime, give sourdough a try and see if you notice the difference.