A story of currant buns, mice and permaculture

Posted on August 25, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

When I was a little girl I used to have a poster from Autumn Story- Brambly Hedge (by Jill Barklem). I don’t know where I got it from and I don’t know where it went, but it had embedded in my mind, and was still remembered fondly as an adult. I loved that picture. Every part of it spoke to me, on a level I couldn’t explain as a kid.

Decades later as a mother now, my own children have several of these books by Jill Barklem. I knew I still loved, and was more than happy to read them whenever I was asked to. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago when it all finally clicked.

I loved these stories, loved these pictures and was drawn in a sentimental way to the seasonal themes. Not because I wanted to be a mouse, with long held dreams of having a tail. But because they were living a life that I aspired too, (and strangely enough, seems I’ve always aspired to.) It was a kind of ‘duh’ moment, where I frowned a little, and the light inside my head clicked well and truly on.

Autumn Story- Brambly Hedge

Let me try and explain…

First up a description of what the Brambly Hedge books are about, “…a community of self-sufficient mice who live together in the tranquil surroundings of the English countryside.” Self sufficiency on a community level…damnit, these mice were surely permaculturalists!

With adult eyes, I look at the beautiful pictures in these books. I see kitchens full of preserved goodies, dried seasonal foods hanging from ceilings and berries being collected to make sweet pastry lined pies. With busy tables full of bustling family members, seasonal festivities, crafting, natural earth building, hell…they even had laden cake stand with hand made tea cosy.

So many things I held dear, had interest in or aspired to, was right there…in a mouse book. It was hard not to smile and get a little bit excited when I explained it all to Mr Chocolate. By this time, I know he’s well used to odd thoughts and conversations flying from me, but even he agreed that yes, on closer look they did indeed seem to be living a life that I often speak of. With a happy heart, I suggested to my boys, that we read them, one more time before bed, and possibly again the next night. (I never know, it might in turn create a long held dream of their own to have an interest in permaculture, seasonal living…or at the very least, to grow a long tail and a pair of small pink ears.)

So what do currant buns have to do with mice, permaculture and childhood books? Well if I’m going to let myself get completely absorbed in the books, I should have the appropriate food on the table, don’t you think? Currant Buns seemed liked a good choice, and one that a small community of rural living little mice might also enjoy, don’t you think?

Currant Buns

300g starter

2 tsp dried yeast

150g currants

100mls hot water

300mls cream

750g (5 cups) flour

50g brown sugar

250mls water

2 tsp salt

Soak your currants in 100mls of hot water for an hour or so beforehand. Add all your ingredients together except your salt. Mix well, and leave for 40 minutes. Add salt and mix again, (I use my mixer) or knead on a lightly floured surface until well incorporated and dough is smooth. Leave to prove for a couple of hours, with a couple of knock backs in between. Shape into rolls and place on a lined tray, allow to prove for another hour or so.

Bake at 220 for approximately 15-20 minutes.

flecks of gold

Posted on August 22, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

a wintery afternoon light,

which always makes things look just a little more bright

organic face paint that creates instant tiger cubs,

growling and snarling, ready to bite

gingery beer with bubbles a plenty,

glasses filled up and eager hands reaching

sourdough loaves with crisses and crosses

and golden anzac biscuits cooling on a tray,

just moments before a tiny hand sneaks up

to take one away.

when four turns into five

Posted on August 19, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It’s the way the little fella likes to plans things you see. The day after his birthday, he starts planning for his next birthday. 364 days of planning and not faltering once from the theme. Robots he wanted this year…and robots it was.

A robot cake, which he excitedly decorated himself. Just leave me the middle, I whispered, not telling him why. The robot and and mini bunting I snuck on last minute. He got the joy of decorating his cake and I got the joy of still surprising him.

Robot party bags to be coloured in by the kids coming over. Pin the glasses on the robot and robot dance moves were a given. I didn’t want excessive waste, plastic or money spent and he wanted to just have fun with his friends. I think just maybe, we might have got the balance right.

A few simple party ideas

– happy bee garden mix flower seeds (in the party bag.)

– recipe for bubble mixture passed on (in the party bag.)

– bunting decorations I had made. (With three kids, birthday celebrations of some sort are a given each year. Easy, instant, and a green option for decorating.)

– reusable plastic glasses with the child’s name on it, (not plastic one use throw aways.)

– kids get to decorate their own cupcakes.

– invites were retro ones found at Stash and Treasure for 20c a packet of 6.

Food

– olive oil bread bites

– gingerbread five’s

– popcorn

– fruit

– chocolate vanilla layer biscuits

– cupcakes

how to make sauerkraut

Posted on August 15, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I felt pretty satisfied looking down at my kitchen bench. Sure it looked ridiculously crowded, and if someone had asked for a sandwich at that particular moment, I would have had to point them in the opposite direction…but. There was still that sense of satisfaction.

Satisfaction in the form of my bench tops being full of bacteria, and lots of it. There was the ever-present sourdough starter bulking up and bubbling away, there was the slowly sprouting buckwheat, gaining little green tails. There were kefir grains in the wings waiting, and the new guy who only speaks a little English… Herr Sauerkraut.

I’d finally taken the plunge, and had jumped in. I had been put off by pictures, wafty smells and stories of mouldy cabbages. Also the length of time to do it and having no bench space or proper pot to make it in. Saskia and I had talked of it awhile ago and then there it sat. A suggestion, a hint, sauerkraut were you going to happen?

first day

I looked up lots of recipes and decided that a quick and easy version using sugar, and vinegar seemed like a good option. Twenty minutes cooking no problem!

But I held back. I make sourdough, I make yogurt, I sprout things, I wanted to try kefir, was I really going to be content with a twenty minute version or should I try and do it properly?

Well, put it like that and there sat my answer…get going girl.

Half a cabbage cut as finely as possible. In a bowl with two teaspoons of salt and crunch it all up in your hands. Breaking it down, releasing the juices. (Unless you have arms of steel, I crunched it a bit and then left it, going back and forth over the next half an hour or so.) Then in a clean glass jar, squash it all in with the juices sitting at the top, (it breaks down a lot.) My half cabbage was quickly nothing in size and I wished I had more to put in there. Lesson learnt for next time. I’d kept one outer leaf to put over the top of the cabbage mixture and then some muslin and a rubber band over top.

a few days in, and the colour has changed

Now the waiting. One week to 6 months is how long you can leave it. Due to teeny tiny kitchen bench spaces, I was not going to be waiting 6 months. Projects were lining up on the bench tops and a week was all I was giving it.

Taking the muslin off, the outer cabbage leaf out and sticking my nose in, what do we have? Bless my birkinstocks if we don’t have sauerkraut.

That was ridiculously easy, and now I’ve got a lovely batch of sauerkraut sitting in my fridge ready to be teamed up with…well pretty much everything, (including the reuben sandwich.)

How about you, have you made sauerkraut? Does the fermenting world entice you or scare the pants off you?

a hint of spring

Posted on August 13, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

there’s a hint of spring in the air

a wattles scent being thrown out into the wind

enough to catch me and stop

hopeful blueberry flowers

delicately sitting on tiny branches

and the punks of the park

they know spring is coming

a hint of it anyway

A Rueben Sandwich and for the love of all things German

Posted on August 11, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

For ten months we kicked it. Not gentle nudges with our toes but BAM, BAM, BAM. Horse kicks they were, kind of like The Fonz from Happy Days getting his juke box started but in a far more threatening manner. It was the only way. The Macine wouldn’t start otherwise and we still needed to do washing. So that’s how each load of washing would start. A firm kick (or twenty) to the door and we were away.

I knew we were doing things a little differently when playing out in the courtyard one afternoon, a little baby leg swung towards our washing machine as she went passed. It’s what she had always seen, that’s what you did to washing machines. We kept kicking at it until finally the day came and The Machine wouldn’t cough up my clothing. I tried, I yanked, I pretended I didn’t care. I pressed all the buttons, and left it until the next day. The next day The Machine decided to start again, but not before it had washed the same load for about 3 hours. Given that I could now see what looked like chocolate milk water in there, I seriously doubted whether my machine still held a committment to cleaning my clothes. Finally he coughed open the door, in an over the top Italian soccer player dramatic manner. Pahh! Have your clothes lady!

I silently picked the filthy clothes up, took them back inside and closed the door. Half an hour later I had bought a new machine online, with it being delivered the next day, (benefits of living in a big city).

Now, I had already done all my washing machine research last year when the kicking had begun, I knew what I wanted. I had read all the reviews and had thoroughly crossed my computer eyes, making Mr Chocolate’s ears bleed at the continued conversation over what machine to get. I’d done all of that. I had just been biding my time until The Machine finally died.

9.10am the next day and The German* arrived. Delivered all bright and shiny, and with this would be living inside. Inside! I can’t tell you how exciting that is after 13 years of shared outside laundries. Sure. I don’t have great access to my cooking pots now, BUT I do have a washing machine inside, and if you don’t mind I think I’ll go take my German inspired lunch** and go watch another load go round.

*Bosch

** Ok, so the Rueben Sandwich has got nothing to do with Germany, but it does have sauerkraut in it, and there will be more on that in another post soon.

Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich

sauerkraut

mayonaise

pickles

fried egg

swiss cheese

sourdough

quite normal chocolate chip scones

Posted on August 7, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I wouldn’t normally make something like chocolate chip scones,

although some days aren’t so normal.

Monday wasn’t normal.

In fact, I’m sure my world momentarily had flown off it’s axis and was spinning willy nilly.

Not now though,

things seem to be back to normal

…whatever normal is.

Chocolate Chip Scones

3 cups s/r flour

1 cup cream

1 cup of water

150g chocolate chips

pinch of salt

one tablespoon of sugar

Lightly mix the ingredients all together in a bowl. Once combined, on to lightly floured bench, pop your dough on, and then lightly knead with your finger tips. Flour the rim of a glass (or another cutter of some sort) and cut them out. On to a tray, and then bake at 220C for 20mins.

Her story

Posted on August 4, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

My eyes felt drawn to her. It was her 1920’s style hat that first caught my attention. So elegant in a sea of people throwing scarves and newspapers over their heads in an attempt to block the sun. Someone had brought her a chair to sit on. While the rest of us sat on the ground, leaning in towards anything that would give us some reprieve from the kind of tired feeling that comes with just, waiting.

With long side ways glances I slowly took her in. Her velvet embroidered winter jacket, long skirt and slipper style shoes seemed to contrast terribly. The elegance and care given up top, and been forsaken for comfort on her feet. Soft shoe fittings slipped on to tired worn feet that might have been jammed into unyielding heeled shoes for far too many years. Who was I too judge? Maybe, if I was lucky enough to reach my moonshine years, I too would feel like wearing slipper style shoes one day with an elegant embroidered velvet jacket.

And a hat.

I thought about her later when I got back home. Wondered about her decades lived before me and all the things that she might have done. I wondered about the stories she might be able to share and the different periods that she had lived through. I hadn’t asked though, I hadn’t even said one word to her. Just wondered.

I was reminded of a picture I had, gently sitting between the pages of a thick heavy book here at home. A picture from long ago that my mum had given me. Not a picture from a family member or a picture with a story. Just a picture that had been in a box, auctioned by a stranger and come bundled up together along side a few other treasures. I had often thought about this lady as well. The stories she would have told, the curiosity and intrigue that I’m sure she would have created in her own era and then again by me so many years later.

Both of these women were completely different, yet similar in that they created an air of mystic. A pause, a wonder. A long held thought on everything they were now or that they had been before. The places they had gone, the people they had spent time with. Their favourite way to drink tea. How that elegantly embroidered velvet jacket or those sequins had been decided on.

Things I’ll never know, but instead I’m given a moment or two to think about each woman in her own way. Their life, their intrigue…their stories.

Cauliflower, Leek and Potato soup- Frugal Friday

Posted on August 2, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

If I had opened our vegetable box as a kid, and seen cauliflower looking right back at me- I may well have wept a little.

At the very least I probably would have silently gagged.

Not now though. Now, when I see a little cauliflower peeking from a corner, in the Foodconnect box I do a little happy dance. I can’t get enough of it. Teamed up with some leek and potatoes also from the box, (and locally grown) you have yourself an easy peasy seasonal dinner.

Cauliflower, Leek and Potato Soup

one chopped large leek

3 chopped large potatoes

half a head of a large cauliflower

1 vegetable stock cube

about 500mls water

salt and pepper to taste

Saute leeks in a couple of good slugs of olive oil, then the rest of the ingredients and cook until soft. Then blitz, with a hand held mixer.

Serve with pangritata and capsicum chilli sauce.

(Remarkably similar to last years cauliflower and potato soup…that’s seasonal eating for you!)

lemon and olive oil cake

Posted on July 30, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I had a whole fruit bowl full of some back yard lemons. Now what to do with all that yellowy goodness?

I thought of lemon meringue pie….

I thought of lemon cordial…

I thought of limoncello….

I thought of lemon and rhubarb pie…

I thought of lemon meringue icecream...

I did a lot of thinking about those lemons. But none of them was quite right. What to do with you my bowl of tarty yellow fruit?

Gourmet Traveller stepped in. Another winning recipe that really is very easy. The hardest part was squeezing the lemons, which was in no way tricky at all. Love a recipe that is just tasty and simple…and lemony of course.

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake

loving

Posted on July 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

Revisiting old biscuit favourites, custard biscuits. Loving the simplicity of no fuss baking.

Winter afternoon light, loving the warmth and deliciousness of it.

Loving having little people still small enough to go out confidently wearing pyjama bottom boxer shorts over the top of everyday clothing and the other wearing a cardboard bag as a soldiers helmet on his head. I know these days are numbered and I’m holding onto them with a stifled chuckle and a big heart.