Sustainable House Day 2015

Posted on September 17, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

sustainable house day || cityhippyfarmgirl

Never underestimate the amount of inspiration you can fit into a small part of a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Never.

Sustainable House Day was on again, and in a last-minute scramble, two properties were selected in the hipster strewn suburbs of the Inner West, Sydney.

One, a tiny house originally standing as miniature weatherboard cottage, now as an incredible family home that I just wanted to make a large coffee, settle into the couch and chat all things gloriously green architecture with the owners. Having our three kids in tow however and the distinct possibility of them completely dismantling the house from the very foundations of which I was admiring, well coffee on the couch wasn’t going to happen.

We did talk though, we left totally inspired along with me wondering just how, (how!) there were these amazing people who completely thought so outside the square in which we lived. I felt like a Lego piece at that point. (Still with me?)

I’d love to show you a cascade of pictures to demonstrate all that we saw, however, besides a sneak peek at their delicious garden bathroom and growing wall it wasn’t my story to tell. If this place isn’t featured in the likes of magazines I’d be surprised.

Our next point of inspiration was a deliciously cool green bursting with goodness garden. We are coming out of winter and this garden couldn’t get more enticing looking to me. Permaculture infused, multiple homemade native bee hives, vegetables at their very door step and something that had never spoken to me before, ducks.

Ducks eh….I can totally see the point now.

Our whole family came away buzzing with ideas and excited by the sneak peek into a tiny part of someone else’s lives. I feel pretty lucky we even had the opportunity.

Thanks Sustainable House Day, we’ll definitely see you again next year.

Did you visit any inspiring places last weekend?

Sustainable House Day 2015

Juan Anton’s Food Forest

Posted on September 10, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

A little spanish food forest inspiration for you. I love the idea of these. So good.

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake

Posted on September 6, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It’s Sunday and there is cake on our family plates

a soft lemony one

a cake that you could easily handle another slice (or two.)

Made quickly but with love.

Don’t ever think that something made in haste

isn’t without it’s lemony love merits,

that’s just practicality.

A practical Lemon-And-Olive-Oil-Made-With-Love Father’s Day cake.

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake

4 eggs

400g caster sugar

250mls olive oil

zest of 1 large lemon

juice of 2 large lemons

450g self raising flour

In a mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until pale. Then drizzle in olive oil. Tip out to a large mixing bowl and add lemon zest and juice. Fold through self raising flour.

Pour mixture into two greased and lined cake tins or one cake tin and one muffin tray (this mixture make approximately one large cake and 8 muffins).

Bake at 180C for approximately 45-50 minutes, shorter time for muffins.

Last minute kiddo birthday present

Posted on September 3, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Let’s keep this one simple and straight to the point. Need a last minute kids birthday present and have no idea what to give?

A gingerbread biscuit bigger than their head, yes it’s true.

If you have school aged kiddos, other friends and class mates birthday parties come around quite frequently throughout the school year. But what to get little Hayden from down the street? What on earth would Chloe like? And did we already give Theo lego last year??

I tell you, gingerbread.

Guaranteed no one else is going to be giving that. Homemade, easy, kid friendly, and can be made ahead of time, (or in a last minute hasty rush as this one was). Most kids are quite happy on receiving a gingerbread the size of their head, (and if not, well, there’s usually a adult lurking to happily help them out.)

If you have time, decorate it beforehand, if not, decorate the outside. For this one I wrapped it in clear cellophane and glued a mouth on the outside.

Gingerbread recipe here.

living off grid for $80 a week

Posted on July 16, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

A little something to get deliciously inspired by on a Thursday.

Jill Redwood, writer for Earth Garden Magazine lives on about $80 a week, totally off grid with over 60 animals to keep her company…she also leaves my wood chopping skills to shame.

Pumpkin goodness- Know Your Basics

Posted on June 25, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Although you can buy pumpkin for a fair chunk of the year here in Australia. Now is when you will be seeing rather a lot of it. Autumn and early winter is a great time for the humble pumpkin. It’s a cheap and easy basic, that really does pay to know a few different ways in which to cook it. Team it up with the forever versatile fetta and you are away. Meal times never looked so simple.

pumpkin: know your basics || cityhippyfarmgirl

Now if you are lucky enough to grow your own pumpkins, they can be stored for several months in a cool dark airy spot, especially so if they have been cured beforehand. This can be done by leaving them out in the sun for a while first, for the skin to harden and the stalk to dry out.

Then there is the eating. I really like using pumpkin as it’s cheap, and can be turned into a whole list of easy dinner time meals… Or snacks… Or desserts. Actually the humble pumpkin is rather impressive with its array of pumpkiny meal options.

KNOW YOUR BASICS: Find a couple of basic ingredients and really get to know them, what they can do, what they taste well with and most importantly, how on earth to cook them.

First up, roasted. This can be done either with skins on or off depending on your time, strength and taste buds. I normally peel them, as they are generally going into a soup, dhal or bread kind of dish.

Now once you’ve peeled, chopped and roasted you are left with the scooped out, fleshy, stringy and seedy bits. Separate all the seeds and leave them in a bowl to soak over night. The next morning dry them off and spread them out in a frying pan gently roast- watch them, they POP!

Whether you are roasting, steaming, eating cold, eating hot, the pumpkin is a great one to be bought locally, seasonally, frugally, and importantly tastely, (surely that can be a word?)

What’s your favourite way to serve pumpkin?

A few more ideas on what to do with your wonderful pumpkin

Make a Pumpkin and Fetta Tart

Pumpkin and Fetta salad with chickpeas was delicious

Pumpkin and Fetta sausage rolls always a winner

Pumpkin and Fetta foccacia

Pumpkin Spiced Cake– everyone loves cake, especially pudding kinda cake

Pumpkin and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, cool nights, hot dinners

Roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Indian Spiced Pumpkin Scones– easy for lunch or afternoon tea

Pumpkin pie

Pumpkin Dhal- frugal and seasonal cooking

and my go to Thai Style Pumpkin Soup

The Crumpet Trumpet

Posted on April 12, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Talk of crumpets and it usually leads to other words like buttery fingers, dripping honey and piping hot cups of tea.

Crispy on the bottom, soft in the middle. There was something about the humble crumpet that most certainly appealed.

When I started making sourdough crumpets, (now not to blow my own crumpet trumpet here) well that appeal went through the roof.

The fact that they are dead easy, tasted good AND so much easier on the tummy being sourdough…well the requests started to pile up.

It seems everyone else in the family wanted in on the crumpet action as well. There really was quite a loud trumpet for crumpets.

Buttery fingers, dripping honey and piping hot cups of tea? Seems it really is the only way to eat crumpets.

Sourdough Crumpets

1 cup of sourdough starter

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

1/4-1/2 tsp salt

extra melted butter

You’ll need a whisk, egg rings and a frying pan to cook them in.

Top Tips for Sourdough Crumpets

* Your starter doesn’t need to be refreshed for this to work. Straight from the fridge is fine, just leave it on the bench for a little to bring it back to room temp.

* Work on a fairly liquidy starter, if it looks to thick, just add a little extra water. You should see bubbles within the egg ring when you cook them. If it’s too thick you won’t see this.

* If you like the big holes, divide your starter mixture in half before adding the bicarb and salt, stagger the timing and add the second lot just before you start to cook them.

* Use a whisk when adding the salt and bicarb.

* When cooking them, pour the batter into the egg rings- gently rub some melted butter round the edges so the batter doesn’t stick.

* If your crumpets don’t have the bubbles you are after, take the heat up a smidge in the initial cooking period, then turn it down a little.

* After a few minutes of cooking gently jiggle the ring off and leave the crumpet to continue to cook. You can either flip it over to cook the top a little or once the crumpet is 75% cooked, add a lid and steam the last bit of the crumpet. This is purely to keep your holes completely intact so you are not squashing them.

* These can easily be frozen and toasted again later (once cooked the first time of course.)

* Great camping food.

* Also good for kiddo’s to do on the weekend.

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If you don’t have a sourdough starter and you are keen to give it a crack. This tutorial here will get you started.

sourdough crumpets || cityhippyfarmgirl

Seasonal Eating and Earth Hour

Posted on March 26, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It’s Autumn here and while I’m still waiting to feel any big seasonal shifts in the weather, there has been a slight change in what’s gracing my kitchen bench. Seasonal changes in our food are one of the things that get me really excited. I love having things in abundance, eat them in everything and just when I really don’t want to eat them any longer, the season changes and voila! A new vegetable to embrace.

Others who are also embracing all things food and farm related is Earth Hour this year. It’s on again this Saturday, and this time they are focusing in on farmers and how environmental changes are impacting Australian farmers and our food they grow. (They’ve also put out a cookbook to go along with it- with all proceeds going back to Earth Hour’s work.)

How about you? Are you doing anything particular for Earth Hour this year? Or enjoying eating any particular seasonal or local foods?

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OOOOBY– a super easy way to get some seasonal goodness delivered to your doorstep if you live in Sydney. If you have been thinking about signing up but haven’t quite done it yet. OOOOBY is offering $15 off your first box if you type in CITYHIPPYFARMGIRL as a referral code.

Earth Hour

An excellent local drop…Krinklewood

Happiness in eating local

Posted on January 11, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

When meals are made up of bits and pieces like chocolate, pickles, thyme, plums and wine, you know life is treating you ok.

Last year I challenged myself to an Eat Local challenge throughout the year. While this year, I won’t be continuing with the same challenge, I will still be eating as much locally produced food as I can possibly get my hands on.

Summer holiday time is a great time for local and seasonal goodies. Wonderful things given as gifts, deliciousness made available because of the season, and sometimes just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

These are a few of the things that have been gracing our bench tops lately.

Gifted Spencer Cocoa, (cocoa beans grown in Vanuatu and made in Mudgee, NSW)

Pickles bought at Moruya Markets, with cucumbers grown a couple of hundred metres down the road.

Thyme from my window sill.

Plums from an organic laden orchard I was lucky enough to visit.

A wonderful bottle of Elysium wine. Bought direct from the makers, this company uses Australian natives for their wine making.

So good, all of them.

I didn’t enter a super market for any of those goodies, and damn, that felt good. It makes me so incredibly happy to be eating a fair chunk of our food like this.

Have a look around you, see what locally produced food you can find, let me know and let’s spread the word even further. I’m always on the look out for more small and local producers, and they in turn are always on the look out for more consumer support for their products.

Happiness really just might be, in supporting and eating local.

Top 13 Eco friendly Gift Ideas

Posted on November 23, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

1. Fermenters Starter Pack- scoby’s, sourdough starters etc. Bundle a bunch of your favourite fermented goodies together and some written ‘how to’ instructions.

2. Get baking. Put together a little hand made hamper. Jam’s, biscuits, brownie, cake, pesto, bread, Iced VoVo Cupcakes– the options are endless. If you team that up with a little second hand basket, (always nicer than a gifted pair of synthetic, made in China, novelty boxer shorts…promise.) A little hamper like this is sure to win over your loved ones.

3. A succulent in a vintage teacup I still say is a visual winner. Get creative.

4. Assistent Original– now this is a pricey gift for Christmas, but if you are serious about a kitchen investment that is going to cater for every kitchen whim you have- it’s a worthy investment, as cooking from scratch is a commitment and you want to make it as easy as possible. (For bread baking nerds, look no further… 5 kilos of dough she can handle.)

5. Sign a loved one up for a Milkwood Permaculture course, (or a locally grown Permaculture course in your area.) They will be brimming with inspiration afterwards, and that…is always a good thing.

6. Subscription to your locally based farmer friendly organic fruit and vegetable box.

7. A big jar of local honey. Honey can be used as a face wash and natural exfoliant, stirred into your morning chai, or drizzled over toast. Make a list for the recipient of all the things they can do with their sticky prized jar. It really is a sweet idea!

8. Still sweet talking. What about the ultimate gift of a hive of native bees. Your recipient will be beeeside themselves with happiness.

9. Have a peek over at Ecolosophy. They have some wonderful eco friendly, handmade and fairtrade goodies, perfect for all ages.

10. Or you could try… a simple plate, dish or second hand tin from your local op-shop/thrift shop/charity shop. Beautiful one off antique ones can bought for usually just a couple of dollars. Fill the plate with your favourite biscuits and the recipe printed out on the back of the card.

11. Digital Subscription to an inspiring magazine- someone will be jumping up and down with excitement. (Earth Garden Magazine, Great Ocean Quarterly, PiP Magazine, Green Magazine, Slow, Dumbo Feather– they are all wonderful!)

12. For the tea drinker- love chai, love tea and little ginger bread bites for dunking in. A simple present that is 673 times better than buying something bland in a generic department store.

13. For the baker, drinker, eater…errr anything really- enamelware. You can’t go wrong, really you can’t.

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What are some of your eco friendly gift ideas?

Cauliflower Curry- Frugal Friday

Posted on June 20, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

The good thing about having a blog is that you can see how you have changed over time. Looking back on your words, thoughts, photos and certainly for me, my recipes. Sometimes I feel those recipes need a little shake up.

Now come winter time, this dish (or a variation of it) often turns up on our dinner table. It’s easy, it’s seasonal, it’s super frugal and it deserved a better picture than this one from three years ago.

easy cauliflower curry recipe || cityhippyfarmgirl

Cauliflower Curry

1/2 a large head of cauliflower

3 potatoes

3 sticks of celery

6 cloves of garlic

1 finely chopped onion

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp curry powder ( a bit old school, but I like it)

400mls coconut milk

Dry fry the spices, onion, garlic (fresh chilli if you are feeling bold) and celery in a little vegetable oil. When they smell delicious, add the coconut milk. Let it simmer for a bit and then add your potatoes and cauliflower. Pop the lid of the pot on and cook it until they are as soft as you like.

The Schupfnudeln Challenge- Frugal Friday

Posted on May 23, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

The first part of this challenge is to say schupfnudeln.

Unless you have a German speaking back ground, it’s a little bit of a mouthful. A good mouthful though, let it roll off your tongue and try it out a few times… schupfnudeln, schupf…much like the little pan-fried potato dumplings themselves.

Now potatoes in this household are not a huge staple. My kids are probably the only kids on the planet who don’t particularly like them. Me, I can take or leave them. However I did like making these, as I hadn’t heard of them until recently. They are a German potato dumpling, (which are very similar to Italian gnocchi) where you cook your potatoes, pop a couple of eggs in and then add a little flour to the mixture.

Really simple food, which hits all the frugal bells as well. (I did read this dish came out as the result of army rations.)

Now the second part of the challenge is to see if you can take a picture of these little pan-fried dumplings served with sauerkraut in a tantalising way. Google images of schupfnudeln and you’ll find a whole lot of beige. They are a bugger to photograph. They make children, pets and chocolate brownie seem like a walk in a photogenic park.

Are you game to take on the plated beige?

Schupfnudeln

(I’ve only done this the once, but this is how I did it.)

800g steamed potatoes, with their skin peeled off. Now grate them and put them in a big mixing bowl. Add two eggs, salt and pepper and enough flour to bring the dough together. Knead together on a lightly floured surface, to make a smooth dough and divide off into small pieces. Rolling the edges in a pointed fashion.

Pan fry them lightly and serve with sauerkraut.

cityhippyfarmgirl

simple connected living, city style

Category Archives: Making, Creating + Frugal Living

Sustainable House Day 2015

Juan Anton’s Food Forest

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake

Last minute kiddo birthday present

living off grid for $80 a week

Pumpkin goodness- Know Your Basics

The Crumpet Trumpet

Seasonal Eating and Earth Hour

Happiness in eating local

Top 13 Eco friendly Gift Ideas

Cauliflower Curry- Frugal Friday

The Schupfnudeln Challenge- Frugal Friday