Green smoothie amber separation

--
7-8 large leaves of comfrey and fresh mint (both from Jet's garden)
1/4 honeydew melon
1 happy mango
chunk of pineapple
3 cups of water
-
a peculiar thing happened after I made my green smoothies for the day, they separated out into green fibre and amber liquid, I'm guessing it has something to do with comfrey and lack of emulsifying bananas. It tastes really good though!

A new era in cultured vegetables

Grate
A million carrots (8-10)
Half a large purple cabbage
Throw in some garden fresh herbs, oregano and thyme

Blend
2 pieces of fresh tumeric
Juice of one lemon
Fresh oregano and thyme
2 spoons of ground pink salt or thereabouts 
Half a cup of the grated vegetable mixture
With one large glass of water

Pour the brine over the grated vegetables and mix in  
1 tsp of polybac 8 probiotic powder (used as a starter to establish a universe of exciting microflora quickly)

Pack into a jar, submerge and seal. Wait for one week. 
Inspired by watching Donna Gates YouTube videos on cultured vegetables. 

Homegrown strawberries from my Mumma

Mumma brought me super fresh strawberries from her garden and some red pears from the orchard a few mms down the road for my birthday. The strawberries were amazing, super juicy and full of rain! Wow

On-the-go sushi

--
grated parsnip and carrot,
almond pulp (leftover from making almond milk)
with olive oil and umeboshi plum paste
squished together with hands to form a raw 'sushi rice'
-
to make sushi
put mix onto a piece of nori add garden lettuce and parsley and anything else you have,
roll up and eat

Raw beet ravioli with macadamia Feta cheese

Hi Chay-Ya,

Straw is what is left from a plant after the seed has been removed. Hay, on
the other hand, is cut and dried at an earlier stage (when seed is at milky
stage rather than fully mature).

To make hay, you cut it and let it dry in the sun for several days to reduce
the moisture content so it can be stored without decomposing/rotting. This
you can store in dry conditions for several years.

Hope that helps,

James

CUF #2 Chook care

I missed week two of Complete Urban Farmer as I was at the ABaF Arts Business workshop. Session 2 was on chook care which I definately need to learn more about seeing as two of my housemates are chickens "Betsy & Hen". Luckily I have been given these handy notes (made for the School holiday kids workshops at Ceres).
Points which are important to note (as in "note to self")
* Chooks need clean containers of clean cold water kept out of the sun and filled every day
* Chooks don't like loud noises or dirty laying boxes, to be hungry or thirsty or chased
* They like it when you move a rock and will rush over to check if there are any grubs or bugs underneath
* They like to talk to you and watch what you are doing
* They need lots of love and gentle care and for their house to be shut safely at night to keep foxes out.

Amazing morning tea

Today I'm at 'Complete Urban Farmer' school at Ceres. We are learning about soil. I am completely amazed by how many parallels there are with soil nutrition and health and that of our own bodies - human biochemical, nutritional and physiological processes are so similiar to how soil works, and how soil works in relation to plants, the sun and atmosphere. I guess there are lots of people thinking and operating on this level but it's quite a revolution for me.
A woman in my class brought along an incredibly beautiful Orange and tangelo cake to share for morning tea. Organic, home grown, made with love and gentle consideration in a homely kitchen. An impressively yellow appearance due to the healthy eggs of her backyard bantums. It was something of an immense joy to eat something so eggy and buttery and soft and crumbly. it's texture was like that of a perfect loamy soil...I appreciated the treat.

What I made for potluck

--
Carrot, kale and coriander soup
-
2 small branches of purple curly kale from Louis and Rachel's garden
4 sprigs of coriander from my garden, self seeded from last year
couple of mint leaves from my garden
8 or so small carrots from Ceres organic markets
1/4 avocado, organic Queensland
juice of 1/2 lemon from my tree
tsp of cold pressed hemp oil, from pure Delight Queensland
pinch of pink lake salt, packaged by mount zero Victorian company

Raw sushi
-
similar to what I blogged a few days ago, but cauli instead of parsnip (parsnips still win...), and I left out the garden lettuce, because it was too hot and I wanted to simplify my jumping around
1/2 Cauliflower from Ceres organic markets
2 tbs soaked biodynamic Australian almonds
1 tsp ume su, umeboshi plum vinegar from japan
1 tsp agave nectar from Mexico?
pinch pink lake salt from mount zero
Purple cabbage sauerkraut that I made at home with cabbage from Ceres
carrots from Ceres
mung bean sprouts I grew at home with dried beans I bought from Ceres, pretty sure they were Australian
1/2 avocado, organic Queensland
organic nori sheets from japan?

Voilà! Just like that eh?

I also picked yellow nasturtium and orange calendula flowers in case a garnishing moment came up.

Local Food Tour

Saturday 9th of October
9:45am-2:15pm
Come on a tour of local food sites, taking in community gardens, productive backyards, Preston Market and a talk from the Preston Historical Society on Preston's rich food producing history!
Meet at Sprout at 9:45 for a 10am start - or join us at one of our stops. Please be aware that timing is only approximate - it's a good idea to take down Serenity's phone number if you plan to join us part of the way through. RSVP to Serenity - 0411 878 063
Read more about this event on the Transition Darebin website

Morning greens

--
Blended with 2 cups of water and 1 banana

100 year old cabbage about to flower

This little cabbage has been growing in the garden since before my memories. Earlier in the year I plucked a seriously tightly wound cabbage from it's stem and made amazing burdock and hijiki Kim chi. It grew again. I think there is a flower about to burst from it's insides.

There is something

deeply satisfying about eating an entire punnet of organic
strawberries. I do it every now and again, though it's not quite as magical as the flavoursome strawberries that can be found sometimes wandering around the patch at mums farm, it is still a primal wonderous delight.

Mums forest garden