P is for Plums…and lots of them

Posted on February 20, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

When a surprise box of plums comes home, there is a tiny pause then a lovely mixture of excitement and ooooh, what am I going to do with them all!

Despite my fervent wishing I still don’t have a walk in pantry, with darkened rustic wooden shelves of assorted heights to store all my preserved goodies on. On the other side of the pantry, I also don’t have a long fermenting bench where I can store all of my current fermenting goodness. What I did have was a box of plums that needed sorting asap, a crowded bench top for fermenting and a small portion of a dresser cupboard to store things in.

I also had enthusiasm, and that should never be underestimated.

So what was to be made with that of box plums?

Plum Crumble

Plum Jam

Chilli Plum Sauce

and the most exciting of them all

Plum Honey Mead

Plum Honey Mead was such a great experiment. The picture here is of the mixture at 24 hours old. Already it’s started to bubble a little, which only increased- and almost volcanically. I was happily telling anyone that paused for longer than thirty seconds beside me, (which can be awkward at pedestrian crossings and other generally non chatty public places.) More to come on this intriguing stuff, so in the mean time how about a Chilli Plum Sauce Recipe? Dead easy and surprisingly versatile in what you can smother things with.

Chilli Plum Sauce

8 plums washed, stoned and quartered

100g fresh chilli

1 medium brown onion

4 cloves of garlic

2 cups (420g) brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (375mls) white vinegar

2 tsp salt

Process plums, chilli, onion, garlic together in a blender and then into a pot. Add the sugar, salt and vinegar and bring to a gentle simmer. Keep it at this level until the sauce thickens. Pop into a clean glass jar and keep in the fridge, (or alternatively process and store as you would jam.)

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And to the winner of the little giveaway- Congratulations Zena from Twigs and Twine, I will be in touch shortly to get your address.

As for everyone else that took the time to comment on this post. I have to say, I feel so honoured to be a part of this online community. I know time is precious and there are thousands of incredibly interesting things to be looking at on the internet these days- so taking the time to comment here means a lot.

I also found it so interesting in hearing about what community meant to different people. I think in asking the question, it’s just confirmed things even more for me. Connectedness and a sense of belonging within a community (of any sort) is so incredibly important and so many of us within this small online space here- value that.

As I send virtual loaves of sourdough and little plates of biscuits to you all- again thank you. You all rock.

the green noticeboard

Posted on February 18, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I quite often come across links that I find interesting, full of things I should know about and sometimes just down right fascinating. Here are a few of them that I have been reading in the last month. Feel free to link any of your own in the comments. Let’s look at it as a community noticeboard board.

1. Looking for a job? www.ethicaljobs.com

2. Looking for a weekend away in April? Hazelcombe Farm– workshops on scything, blacksmithing and chicken processing just to name a few.

3. Not sure what to wear? A Year of Ethical Fashion

4. Village Milk– vending machines in NZ selling real milk.

5. www.202020vision.com– 20% more green spaces in urban areas by 2020

and I think the most important one…

6. TPP- Should I be paying attention? The Witches Kitchen

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Are there any green links you would like to link?

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From Richard- Green Building Forum– UK

From Lily- Schulz Organic Milk– Victoria

From Rose- Shop Ethical– ethical consumer guide

From Johanna- What I’d say if I was wrong about climate change– blog post

loving…the simple in summer

Posted on February 16, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

loving long summer afternoon beach trips that take us far, far away

watching them love easy coconut milk mango ice cream

loving watching him be so mesmerised by the sea

loving the simplicity of tasty food in its own bowl

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I wasn’t sure whether to continue my loving posts this year. However, a chaotic week came and went and all I had wanted to think about was the simple things I had been loving lately. A grounding, a connection and a reminder that not all parts of our life at the moment is a whirl wind of clocks, places to be and at times seeming chaos. There are simple moments entwined within the chaotic ones and they are the ones I want to most remember.

What have you been loving lately?

[“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]

Coconut Mango Ice Cream

In a blender, add two big bananas, one can of coconut milk, 1/3 cup of sugar and whizz it up. Pour it out into a dish and blend some fresh mango. Swirl that in too. Freeze it and either run a fork through every half an hour or so until you are ready to eat it or bring it out about 20 minutes before you want to eat it, running a fork through it, (the banana content should stop it freezing completely solid.)

four years on and a giveaway

Posted on February 12, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I was flicking back through my blog recently, looking at what changes there had been made in the time since I had first started writing. Not surprising, rather a lot. There had been changes in my thoughts, ideals, photos, recipes and even the way the words tumbled out…but then, in a funny way there hadn’t been many changes either.

The essence of why I had started blogging was still there, and still the same. A year ago, not a dramatic difference, but certainly subtle changes that I know have been for the better.

The one change that had made itself incredibly apparent to me in the last twelve months, is realising just how important community is to me. I always thought it was important, but now I know, it’s really, really important to me. Whether it be as a physical presence or in a digital sense, (both here in blog form or instagram-where I can be frequently found lurking) connecting with like minded people and engaging in conversations keeps me going. It grounds, gives a sense of belonging and quite often adds a hell of a lot more meaning to my day.

With that in mind I wanted to give a little something back. Drawing from people that I’ve discovered because of my blog, and to pay that forward to others (well one anyway) that is a part of this little community.

This bloggy community rocks, and with that I wanted to say, a huge thank you. Really from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to all those who read here, pop in and out and take the time to comment. Without you all, well it definitely wouldn’t be the same.

So to the giveaway part. A little giveaway of stuff I really do like.

My day doesn’t start without a pot full of chai, and if by chance it does begin without it…well it’s not a very good day. I love this tea. Love, love, LOVE it. (one box of original chai tea)

plastic wrap alternative || cityhippyfarmgirl

Apiwraps. The plastic wrap alternative that I’m also lovvvving. Anything that decreases on the amount of kitchen plastic being used, is a good thing. A really good thing. (apiwrap pack x3)

Clean and shiny teeth. Yes indeed, teeth are super important and what you brush them with is important too. As these are made out of bamboo, they will slowly break down as compost and not like their plastic cousins, sit around in landfill for a thousand squillion years. (one adult sized toothbrush)

So if you would like me to send you this little packaged giveaway, I would love to hear about your “community”. What the word means to you, an example of it, what you would like from it, a photo, a story or a tumble of words that instinctively fall from your mouth at just the mere mention of the word. Share it here within the comments of this post, or on instagram with the hashtag #cityhippyfarmgirlcommunity by Thursday 20th February, I would love to hear about your community.

Top 10 eco friendly ways to say I love you

Posted on February 9, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I was sent an email a little while ago, asking whether I would like to spruik some Valentines Day products. Although I generally feel lucky to even be asked, I did feel they hadn’t thoroughly researched their target market particularly well.

Stuffed small toys, toting love hearts, smiling bear faces and large ‘made in China’ tags, has never been my thing. Ever. It seems unlikely that’s going to change any time soon. In my eyes it also seemed unlikely that a space with the name cityhippyfarmgirl would be likely to encourage the purchase of said items, but it’s true, you don’t know unless you ask.

I did however say a polite no, and instead thought about some alternative ways to say I love you, for the most heart filled day of the year.

Top 10 eco friendly ways to say I love you

1/ A big beautiful bunch of kale, rosemary or any other seasonal greenery you might have in season. A bunch of red roses it isn’t- it’s better, way better!

2/ Rediscover the lost art of whispered sweet nothings.

3/ Bread. If you thought the heady combination of flour, water and salt wasn’t romantic, you haven’t thought about it in the right fashion. Soft and pillowy, rounded shaping and hot, HOT oven. (See, your loved one will be lusting after your rolls in no time.)

4/ Lingerie- If impressive underwear is your thing, take the time to research it and make it ethically made.

5/ Switch that bunch of flowers for a pot plant. Indoor, outdoor it doesn’t matter. Even if your green thumb is frequently the colour of squid ink black, a potted plant will last far longer than a bunch of flowers ever would.

6/ Poetry. No texting, no spell check, just a pen and some paper.

7/ Heirloom vegetable seeds, now stay with me. This is long time love. The kind where together you get to sprout those little seeds to become seedlings, and then watch them cared for, nurtured and loved as they grow, and grow. Ready to be plucked and eaten, preferably over an intimate candle lit dinner for two.

8/ A lovely bottle of organic or biodynamic local wine.

9/ A picnic. You don’t have to be a young couple to enjoy a late afternoon picnic on a grassy hill top. While couples with young kids, don’t quite get to do the gaze into each others eyes so much, kids do generally run off and leave you alone for 2.5 minutes longer than they would if you were eating dinner at home. That’s two and half minutes you could be gazing lovingly into each others eyes, or perhaps a quick pash before the kids run back and trample sand through the sandwiches again.

10/ And finally. Nothing says I love you quite like butter and sugar does, (well in this household anyway.) I have posted these biscuits before, but here is the slightly tweaked simple recipe again.)

Coconut Strawberry Hearts

250g softened butter

1 cup (220g) sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

3 1/2 cups (525g) plain flour

strawberry jam

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer until pale. Add vanilla and egg, then mix through rest of ingredients. Lightly knead biscuit dough – if mixture looks slightly too dry, knead with dampened hands. Roll biscuit dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 5mm – Pop into the fridge for an hour or so until firm, and cut out into shapes. If the dough comes back to room temperature while you are still cutting, being tricky to handle, just pop it back into the fridge for a bit.

Bake at 170C for approximately 15-20 mins, until a very light golden colour. Allow to cool and then add half a teaspoon of strawberry jam in between the two biscuits.

my tiny garden

Posted on February 6, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

*ahem* she says with a small polite cough… I’m over at the ever beautiful Think Big, Live Simply blog doing a guest post today.

city and the sea

Posted on February 4, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

old sea dog

looking back

waiting to fall

pride of the pickle

Posted on February 2, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It worked! It really worked!!

It’s not every day that you excitedly talk pickles with your landlord’s handy man. But I did, and here I was again, excitedly telling him over the phone that the very same pickles we had been scrutinising several days earlier had indeed worked, and I was just a little bit excited.

I had made sauerkraut before, and that was certainly easy enough, (although the last batch did have to tossed out due to a truly unimaginable miasma settling in my kitchen-due to it being far too hot to be fermenting sauerkraut. Bless my birkinstocks, and oh my goodness…it stank. It really did.)

So with the sauerkraut in mind, I was a little nervous embarking on the pickles. Consulting the fermentation bible though and it seemed hot weather was still ok to work with. I had some wonky farmers market cucumbers that seemed perfect for pickling. So lets give this pickle thing a crack.

Each day I would study the jar, looking for changes. On the third day I found them. It started going a little cloudy, then on the fourth there was a scum on the top. I wasn’t sure, I really wasn’t. I’d just seen the week before, a 20cm high mould growth from the top of someones pickles. Was this the beginning of a similar path??

surface mould on the fermenting pickles- small ceramic dish to weigh the pickles down and keep submerged.

Then the handy man came over. After tending my minor fixing-things, talk turned to the mouldy scum pickle concoction on my bench top. They’re fine, he assured me, sunlight, skim the scum off and they are nearly ready due to the change of colour. Turns out my handy man’s mother had decades under her belt of making pickles, just like the method I was trying to replicate. Luck indeed, I had in my kitchen, years of pickle knowledge; albeit once removed, (but that was certainly good enough for me.)

Now I was curious, really curious.

Another two days went by and then I was ready. Mouldy scum scooped off (since it had appeared I had done it every 12 hours) and a pickle gently rinsed.

I sniffed, smelt like pickle.

I admired, looked like pickle.

I nibbled the end…

It tasted like pickle!

Douse me in cheese and roll me in a sandwich. Yes indeed, I had myself a pickle! Well pickles. I had a whole bunch of these glorious naturally fermented pickles and I was just a little bit excited.

Which is why several hours later, when I had to make a phone call about all things handyman related I couldn’t help but blurt out over the phone…

It worked! It really worked!

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Last year I tasted a three dollar jar of pickles from Germany. Aside from the massive food miles for such a simple jar of food I also got a migraine type headache within half an hour of eating one of the pickles. I did it twice more before ditching them and vowing never again, not even in a moment of pickle weakness.

Eating anything naturally fermented is filled with wonderful probiotics. If you would like to know more about the awesome world of fermentation I highly reccommend this book and if you are super duper quick (and in Australia) you get to hear and learn from the man himself.

Ricotta Pasta- Frugal Friday

Posted on January 31, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

The secret to this dish is quality ingredients in the pasta and the ricotta. Pay that little bit more or even better make your own of both.

Super quick, easy and frugal for a Friday.

Ricotta Pasta

cook up some great pasta

stir through some excellent ricotta

in a pot add some

local garlic and olive oil

quickly stir through some

frozen peas or if you are lucky, fresh ones

pop that on top of your pasta

and roughly rip some garden mint on top

and eat with gusto.

Passata Day

Posted on January 28, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

When I found out Milkwood was holding a Passata Day, there was a squeal of delight, and more than a little happy hand clapping. I had long held dreams of being part of a European village tomato festival, had looked longingly looked over at Rohan’s Passata Day from last year and would have happily invited myself over to any large family that held annual passata days in their backyard (if only I knew of any.)

So when Passata Day was announced I was just a little bit happy. A promise of lunch by Three Blue Ducks, mocktails by Trolleyd, music by Sophie Loizou and all tomatoey goodness by Common2us and Old Mill Road– to be held in the back garden of an inner city community centre?

Oh yes I was going to be there, and it promised to be a good one!

Amazing mocktails from Trolleyd created from native and organic ingredients, all foraged or sourced locally. If you didn’t think bartending and sustainability went hand in hand, think again.

Tomatoes. Real tomatoes. The kind that taste like summer and come in every funny shape and form. The red goodness came from two market garden farms- Common2us an organic community farm based in Dural and Old Mill Road BioFarm, a family run farm in Moruya.

Some of my favourite conversation topics happened here. Chats on sourdough, permaculture, homebirth, cooking, photography, community and fermentation. The Passata Goddess must have been smiling above me, when she placed two of Sydney’s fermentation experts in front of me- questions answered and encouragement built on. These were a few of their beautiful fermented goodies to be tasted on the day.

Simple beautiful food, eaten at a long table….nothing better. Nothing.

The amazing and inspiring Kirsten and Nick, the couple behind Milkwood Permaculture.

…and the wonderful finished product.

Bidding goodbye to old and new friends, with the passata bottles safely tucked away. I slowly peddled home and reflected on why today had made me so happy.

* I had got to be a part of a community event that I had always wanted to.

* I had been able to talk with people that held so many similar interests and beliefs.

* I was able to introduce two of my friends to an event that they would have otherwise not known about, (which they loved.)

* I had met a bundle of people that I knew in the virtual social media world, and had been able to (at times nervously) introduce myself.

And ultimately. Celebrated the fact that so many of my interests and ideals could come together in the one day. To organise an event such as this would taken a huge amount of time, but it was done beautifully and I can only hope there is another one for next year. This is a perfect example of what simple living can be. A community event where food and people come together. Where skills are shared, knowledge is passed on and friendships formed and added to.

Passata Day you rocked.

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For more Passata Day goodness see here.

Eat Local

Posted on January 26, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I’d often thought I would like to do one of those ‘eat local’ challenges. Problem was time was ticking and I was still just thinking about it.

I needed to get up and out there, doing it. I already think our family’s way of eating is fairly mindful, eating with a conscious but I wanted that extra push, that little bit more. If I was a single person I could push it a lot, a hell of a lot more, but I’m not. So in consideration to my three still small children with sometimes picky taste buds I’m going to set the bar just a little higher than what it is. See how we go and then hopefully move on from there. Mr Chocolate’s taste buds are fairly in tune with mine, so as long as I don’t serve platefuls of sauerkraut and buckwheat he’s reasonably easy to please on the dinner front.

So what’ the challenge?

Once a month, a meal created from local food. Pretty simple really.

Also keeping in mind-organic, free range, spray free, from the farmers market, garden grown, as little packaging as possible, and knowing where it has all been sourced from. Many of our family meals incorporate a lot of these aspects already, but as one set meal, knowing exactly where everything is coming from, or coming as close as I can anyway, (while still keeping in mind- divided emerging taste buds and importantly a budget.)

We live in a small space in the city, growing extra food is simply not an option for us. BUT there are other foody options and I’m pretty excited to find out what a few more of them might be.

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Local Harvest is a great organisation that runs similar challenges every year. Have a peek for more details on how you can get involved.

Along with what ever I cook up once a week, I’ll also add any great finds or problems I had during the past month- an Eat Local post will be done in the last week of the month.

How about you? Have you done this before? Have you thought about it? Want to give it a crack with me?

lamington cake

Posted on January 23, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Lamingtons and I have never had a firm friendship. They were always the thing of old fashioned bakeries, afternoon tea at someone else’s house or a slightly squished white paper bag to bring home for my mum as little treat.

A favourite for childhood cake drives and always guaranteed at the local church sweets stand. It wasn’t for me though. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get past the dryness. Not even a lamington with jam and cream in the middle could save these iconic coconut squares of Australia for me.

They just weren’t my thing.

Until now that is. Now that I’ve drowned it in a sweet milky goodness that can only be attributed to a can of condensed milk. I can almost hear the collective gasps of the CWA. Shrieks of, you can’t put condensed milk in a lamington!

But you can. And I did. And perhaps in doing so I have wiped out all ability to name it still a lamington. However I’m sticking to it, and this is my lamington cake.

Lamington Cake

125g butter

3 eggs

150g (2/3 cup) sugar

2 tsp vanilla

225g (1 1/2 cups) s/r flour

50g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut

125mls (1/2 cup) milk

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1 can condensed milk

50g cocoa

Cream butter and sugar. Add in vanilla, beaten eggs, and milk together than fold in dry ingredients. Bake in a greased and lined spring form pan (approx 23cm) at 180C for about 35-40 minutes. Bake until golden in colour.

While cake is still hot, leave it in the cake tin, prick it all over with a skewer or fork then pour on the condensed milk mixture. (Whisk together in a bowl, condensed milk and cocoa together beforehand.)

Leave cake to soak up mixture, occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more. Once room temperature, pop into the fridge for a couple of hours (or over night.) Take the cake out of the tin and cover in desiccated coconut.