Where do you find your inspiration?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

The inspirational hour.

That time when darkness still lurks on the corners. Soft greying light gets slowly pushed out of the way for bright orange and pink streaks. The sun is yet to emerge, and my chai sits steaming before me. The rest of the household sleep on. This is my time. Quite often far too brief, but my time non the less. This is when ideas sprout, words seem clearer and inspiration is welcomed. I love this time of day. For me, it truly is the inspirational hour.

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Some wonderfully inspiring things going on at the moment that may tempt you just a little.

Crowd farmed catered event at TEDx Sydney- Saturday 4th May. Inspiring, a truly inspiring day. I’m not going to the event, (unlike this incredibly lucky lady) but do plan on going to one of the satellite events.

Three day Strawbale Building course- Mudgee, NSW. Strawbale houses would have to be at the top of my most oohed and aahhed over houses.

Bhutan- the first country in the world to go 100% organic. This is truly inspiring.

If you’ve ever considered eating locally before, but haven’t quite had the courage to start, this maybe the challenge to help you. Local Harvest encourages individuals, households and communities, to take on bite sized, meal sized or feast sized challenges. The annual challenge week has already passed, but you can do your own at any time. I’m really tempted by the feast sized challenge, it would be hard….anyone else want to do it with me??

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Tell me, what’s inspiring you at the moment? Person, place or thing?

loving…simplicity and farm life

Posted on April 28, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

“Often life’s pleasures pass us by simply because we don’t take a moment to focus on them… Make a point of noticing everyday something that uplifts your spirit or tickles your heart… Stop to breathe in the joy of this moment and then tell someone about it. Share your joy and revel in it. When your joy is savoured, and then shared, it is magnified…” ROBIN GRILLE

For me, there seem to be a lot of things to think about at the moment, and never quite enough time to do all of that thinking. What I have noticed lately though, is that life seems deliciously wonderful when those tiny moments of joy are grabbed hold of and held for just moment longer. Pausing a weary brain, and clearing a head full of thoughts.

A clear head… there is a lot to love of that.

Waking in the middle of the night, being showered in moonlight from a very full moon….loving every moonbeam of that.

Weekend away to a beautiful farm, where we were able to pick whatever we wanted to eat. With persimmons, pecans, eggs, spinach, sweet potato, tomatoes, mandarins, and home made blackberry jam from blackberries just down the hill to choose from…we all loved every second of it.

Dappled autumnal afternoon light hitting my kitchen table… loving that.

Dimpled baby smiles and cheeky chuckling boys…loving them.

Drinking coffee from my grandmothers 1960′s coffee mug. There is something about it that grounds me every time. The connection to her, the history behind it, the brief quiet time that is usually associated with it and importantly the lip. Nothing worse than a coffee cup with an annoying lip…loving drinking from that cup.

Moments of simplicity. Often far too brief lately, but jeez….loving them when they are there.

If anyone else would like to do a ‘loving’ post, please let me know, link back to this post and I’ll do a link up. I try to do one the last Sunday of the month (or you can simply write something in the comments). I would love to know about those little moments in your week that have tickled your heart.

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Have a look at what is tickling Kari’s taste buds at the moment.

sprouted buckwheat…not really hippy food at all

Posted on April 25, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Sprouted buckwheat. It’s my new best friend at the moment, and I’m having a quiet love affair with it in, well pretty much everything.

Since last December I’ve been playing with it in various incarnations and there is yet be a combination that I haven’t liked. I’ve put it in bread, alive granola, a base for tarts, raw energy ball snacks, porridge, pancakes and smoothies. Plus a few experiments with pizza bases, cakes and biscuits. Really, I think the possibilities for these little stars would be endless.

So what’s so good about it and why would you bother sprouting it?

- It’s gluten free.

- It’s super easy to sprout, (given reasonably warm conditions, it can sprout within 24 hours.)

- It’s considered a super food and has a low glycemic index.

- Sprouted it is full of live enzymes and nutrients.

- High in iron and protein, and acts like a grain but isn’t a grain.

- Great for balancing blood sugar levels and has been linked with stabilising cholesterol.

- It’s also incredibly versatile when it comes to making and baking.

How to sprout buckwheat

You’ll need a glass jar, some muslin and a rubber band or alternatively one of these fancy pancy sprouting jars, and raw buckwheat (not roasted).

Rinse your buckwheat.

Leave it to soak in tepid water for about 2 hours, (twice the amount of water to buckwheat.) Buckwheat will swell.

Rinse again, getting rid of any of the slimyness that might have built up (starch). Drain, turning it upside down. Keep rinsing and draining every 6 hours until little tails appear. (In warmer weather this can take as little as 24 hours.) Make sure it’s well drained as you don’t want it to go mouldy. Wait until their tails are the same length as the groat.

And that’s it. Depending on what you are you using it for. You can halt the sprouting process by popping it in to the freezer, or dehydrating if you aren’t quite ready to use it there and then. I don’t have a dehydrater but have used the second shelf of my oven while cooking something at a slow temperature with the same effect (see top picture.)

An incredibly versatile food that is rich in nutrients and other health benefits. Easily accessible, (check in your local health food store) giving a little nutty texture to any food you decide to pop it into. So not hippy food at all, just a simple food item that really, I can’t get enough of at the moment.

Now get sprouting people.

Alive Granola

200g sprouted dehydrated buckwheat

150g dates

100g coconut

100g linseed

100g sunflower seeds

50g sesame seeds

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Pulse everything in a mixer and eat instead of a boxed cereal.

capturing those moments

Posted on April 21, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

a rainy day dance with a shower cap

Since the beginning, when this little person first decided to mark us with her magic. I have taken a picture of her. Once a week, every week, since she was born.

At first I was just going to take it for the first year of her life and the photo would have a black and white theme. Then she turned one, and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop. If I didn’t want to stop, then why would I? So each week on the same day, I take her picture. A portrait style, a brief capture of that moment. There are always plenty of other photos that are taken, but this one is just simply, her.

Everyone always says, childhood…you blink and they grow up. Being the nostalgic kind of mama that I am, I can’t imagine ever having too many photos. I take lots, and every single one of them is treasured by me. A single moment captured, a sneak peek at the person emerging, a memory to talk of later. I don’t do it for anyone but myself. If someone else enjoys what I take, that’s an added thrill. But for me I take a picture because I want to soak up this moment and remember this time as really she is only going to be like this once.

This week I’m linking in with Jodi for the first time.

lunch time dutch crunch

Posted on April 19, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Tuna, asparagus, tomato and cheese toasted sandwich. That was my favourite sandwich of choice when I lived on a tropical island covered in goannas, snakes and partying backpackers. Perhaps an odd choice for that point in my life, but it worked and I was hooked on them for quite a while. I had timed the toasting to just the right crunch, to get the cheese just so, and the taste just right. With a light tropical sweat on my brow, and evening party plans being made, that was my tropical island lunch.

Day old slightly stale cheap bakery bread topped with peanut butter. That was my lunch of choice when I first moved to Sydney. With barely any furniture in my newly leased flat, my fluffy white cat pushing against my feet for attention, my lunch time choice was the cheapest of the cheap. Certainly no crunch in this lunch. I was lucky to get the sandwich actually swallowed without at least two glasses of water.

These days, my lunch of choice is usually an open sandwich on something dark and grainy. Not for the rest of my family though. I made these dutch crunch rolls recently and they were declared a new lunch time favourite.

You can easily make them with any basic bread recipe, (commercial yeast or sourdough) and all you need to do is add a thick paste to the top before baking. Giving your lunch a little extra crunch.

Dutch Crunch or Tiger Bread

Sourdough Bread

400g starter

750g flour (5 cups)

750mls water

2 tsp salt

Commercial Yeast Bread

see this post if you have never made bread before and think you might like to give it a crack.

600g strong bakers flour

2 tsp dried yeast

400mls tepid water

3 tbls olive oil

2 tsp salt

The Crunchy Paste

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup rice flour

Mix together to form a thick paste and add to half way though the last prove of your dough. Bake as you normally do, (I do 230C with steam.)

This post submitted to the inspiring yeastspotting

warm seas and soft light

Posted on April 16, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

This is my favourite time of year

warm morning seas

soft afternoon light

and cooler nights.

Hello autumn

you’ve arrived.

man biscuits

Posted on April 14, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Yesterday Mr Chocolate had a day that involved scaling 12 foot walls, crawling through electrical currents, jumping into iced water and moving through incredibly small muddy spaces- Twenty kilometres of that kind of fun.

While I certainly don’t think of this as a boys only event, (as I would like to give it a crack one day) I do think the testosterone would have been running freely as he was teamed up with a group of four others who eat words like competition for breakfast.

To even out the manliness of the group, kilos of mud they were going to be carrying in the pockets, and the general ‘extreme-ness’ of the day. I made the girliest biscuits I could think of… jusssst in case they were hungry.

Man Biscuits

250g softened butter

220g (1 cup) caster sugar

4 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

450g (3 cups) plain flour

Beat softened butter and sugar together until creamy looking. Add vanilla and eggs, beat until mixed well. Add the flour and mix until a dough forms. Roll out mixture between two sheets of baking paper to about 1cm thickness with a rolling pin. Pop the dough sheets in to the fridge until hardens completely.

Once hardened, take the sheets out, remove baking paper and cut your shapes. Lay them on a lined baking tray. Bake at 180C for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Icinging sugar and beetroot juice for the top

Cityhippyfarmgirl

CITYHIPPYFARMGIRL