Pre Christmas Update

I realise it has been very quiet on the blogging front lately.  I read recently that if you want to be a writer you have to live a full life too otherwise you have nothing to write about.  That is very true.  Over the last month I have been continuing to live my sustainable journey and hopefully I have gleaned some fodder for my blog.

Firstly, a little bit on my favourite topic "soap nuts."  Early on in my sustainable journey I felt almost consumed by the topic.  This was a very labour intensive period where I was reading, doing and learning lots.  Now it has settled into a happy medium and I really feel that it is possible to live sustainably without any more effort than is required to live conventionally.  As soon as my soap nuts liquid runs out I automatically boil up a new batch.  Same with my shampoo and conditioner - I can have a new lot made up in about 2 minutes.  In many ways it is easier than realising your have run out and having to go down to the supermarket.  So many behaviours and actions have become automatic.  For instance on the odd day when I forget my recyclable shopping bags I end up packing my own plastic bags at the supermarket.  It is quite funny as the shopping attendant keeps filling new bags and I empty them and put them in the half full ones.  I find that especially the younger attendants look at me like I'm a bit of a crazy lady.  They could have a point but seriously - is there some rule that says toiletry products can not cohabitate with fruit and vegetables? that coffee can't tolerate the company of cheese?  and that horror of horrors - well wrapped meat must be banished to a lonely life in its own shopping bag.  Lastly on the "preaching" segment of my blog - please remember Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  They are in that order for a reason.  If at all possible don't bring home non organic packaging.  Choose products from the supermarket that are not over wrapped or are in a container which can be put to good use.  If you must purchase inorganic wrapped make sure you can turn it into a lunch box, drink container, handy scoop measure.  I don't use them forever because often the grade of  plastic in these products is not intended for extended use.  There is potential for the plastic to leach into the contents (or that is what the manufacturers tell us).  Recycle them periodically and get a new batch.

I'm continuing to enjoy making cheese.  The last two cheeses have been made from goat's milk as my friends had some spare.  One of the cheeses we ate fresh - like a feta - and it was a hit.  I now have three waxed cheeses which we will start eating at Christmas.  I did make a huge cheese from 9 litres of Jersey milk but it was a disaster.  Much better to stick to 5 litres otherwise I am juggling far too many curds and hygiene gets compromised.  I made my last cheese around midnight Friday night and some time in the early hours of the morning my make shift cheese press keeled over.  This released 17 litres of water into the bathroom and because I didn't hear anything it soaked into the surrounding carpet.  Not very nice and one reason that I would dearly, dearly love a proper cheese press.

On the creative front I have now attended two sessions with the Kaikoura Spinners and Weavers.  There are about eight of us and they are a lovely group of ladies.  There is something so nice about sitting in a group and knitting.  I also met a lovely lady a few weeks back who invited me to her place in Christchurch for a spinning lesson.  Thanks to her I am now able to spin for half an hour at a time without breaking the thread.  My wheel is borrowed from Zoe so I was going to get my parents to bring my old wheel down.  This wheel was only ever intended to be decorative and it would have taken some money to get it functional again.  So instead I bought an upright wheel over Trade Me and my parents are kindly bringing that one down for me.  I'm really excited to see it and get spinning on my very own wheel!  Photos to follow.

Another group of us (young mothers and me) have met a few times for a casual crafting session.  We do all sorts of activities - some of us knitting, others making a Christmas wreath, bath salts, cross stitch, carding wool and even making the fairy for the top of the Christmas tree.  It is really nice to pick up creative ideas from others and the mums enjoy a break away from the kids.

Finally, I am now attending harakeke or flax weaving classes.  In fact I am due there now.  For a koha (donation) and bringing some food for a shared lunch we get to learn from master weavers.  Last week I made a long basket which I am using as my Christmas kete.  It looks great with all the presents inside and its gorgeous flax skirt.  Today I am hoping to make a small bag with a plaited strap.  Actually I better go - I'll save this blog and finish it this afternoon.  I want to add some photos and give a quick update on Katherine and her new friends Gretchen and Maggie Magpie.

Its the next day and I am the proud owner of a flax kete shoulder bag.  Last night I attended the final evening of the Kaikoura High School Night Class.  We delivered our flutes which hopefully will be fired by the local potter very soon.  Then we were taught how to cook using kelp.  How you do this is to hollow out a pocket inside the kelp.  Fill it with fish, meat, herbs, veggies etc.  Then tie off the end with a piece of flax.  Place the kelp pocket into hot embers.  The kelp will turn from brown, to bright green and finally to a charred black.  This only takes about 7 minutes.  The pocket is then cut open and inside is gorgeous steamed food.  I'm going to try this on a beach bonfire cooking fish caught fresh from the sea.  Add a slice of lemon, potato and some cabbage.  Yum, yum.

Quick livestock update.  Katherine is continuing to thrive.  She is a lot more independent now although she continues to hover quite close to the house.  She is pretty much naturally weaned although I'll continue to give her a milkshake every few days until the Anlamb is used up.  She has a huge wool coat and I am going to try and get her shorn very soon.  I don't want her burdened with this in the height of summer.  The goat farmers (Sarah and Daniel) had acquired a goat and her kid from a friend.  As the goat was the wrong breed they did not want to use her in their cheese making operation.  I am happy to report that Gretchen and her kid Maggie Magpie are now living with my neighbour Monique and are thriving.  I am hoping to try milking her (Sarah has offered to give me a lesson) but I will wait until she has fattened up a bit.  Being a young mother has taken its toll on her and she needs some TLC - not some crazed city girl yanking her udders.  : )

Finally - I just want to say a word about "zealots."  All parts of society have them but the sustainability section have more than their fair share.  I have a friend who is vehemently vocal about organics and animal welfare but sadly just does not walk the talk.  Having her lecture me on a regular basis is extremely trying.  I want to point out that while I am loving exploring the concept of sustainability I do not claim to be "without blemish" and I would never force this way of life on others.  Of course I love it when I hear friends are using soap nuts, or trying out the baking soda and apple cider vinegar hair wash - but I'm also a realist.  I do believe the world would be a better place if we all endeavoured to live more sustainably however I realise this path is not easy and often not realistic for busy wage earners and parents.  I am neither - and that makes my endeavours a whole lot easier.  I hope this blog provides some inspiration to try a few different things but I'll still love you if I meet you in the supermarket checkout stuffing commercial detergents into your plastic shopping bags.

Last of all (yes that is technically another finally) I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I hope you all enjoy a well deserved break.

East Fresians

I am sitting here typing away while sipping a glass of my Elder Flower champagne and chomping on a thick slice of spelt flour bread.  It is very satisfying to savour things that you've made yourself.

Butter

I have now completed my second block of edam cheese.  Gino was able to observe me this time and came up with a couple of little innovations.  He fashioned a wire hanger for me so I can leave my thermometer in the saucepan.  This is a big help as I am constantly having to monitor the temperature.  Later I was wondering how I would know what vintage each block of cheese was and Gino suggested waxing my cheese, then putting a piece of paper with the date and waxing over it a couple of times.  It looks great and is easy to read.  I again made some white cheese with the remaining curds to sprinkle over our salads.  It tastes so good.  The next day I made butter.  I had left 5 litres of milk in the fridge to separate   Then I scooped off the cream and put it into an antique butter churn that I had borrowed from my neighbour Monique.  I churned for over an hour and although I had made cream it wasn't getting to the "breaking" stage.  A break is when the solid and the liquid components separate.  I transferred it to a bowl and continued hand beating.  After a while of that I got out my electric beaters and finally it broke; only one second before it broke me.  Once you have the grains of butters you wash and churn, wash and churn until the liquid runs clear.  Then you pat it with two wooden spoons to squeeze out the whey, salt it and freeze it for about 10 minutes.  You get a very little butter from all that milk and it is extremely labour intensive.  I am not sure I will be making butter on a regular basis but I am glad I had a go.  At the very least I am not so concerned about the high price of butter now I see how much time and milk goes into making it.

Still on the cheese front my friend Paula from Christchurch kindly organised a visit to her friend Chris' lifestyle block.  Chris has a small flock of East Fresian sheep - in fact one of the very few flocks of this type of sheep in New Zealand.  They are funny looking things, big and woolly but with no wool on their legs or faces.  They look like elegant old ladies in fur coats.  They have a very loud, deep, "baa" and I was a little freaked out as they chased us down the run.  Probably not as freaked out as Gino who had the container of field peas that they were madly trying to eat.  Chris has a very flash mobile milking machine.  Once his chosen ewe was in the pen eating her peas he very quickly milked her.  It seemed to only take a few minutes and we had two litres of milk.  We tried it back as Paula's while it was still warm from the sheep.  Probably best to drink it chilled like all milk.  I didn't really like the flavour - it seemed to have a sour moth ball flavour to it.  I am hoping this is linked to their diet of field peas rather than a distinctly sheepy flavour.  I will have to try sheep milk from another source to test my theory.  Gino has been happily using it in our coffee and I don't notice the flavour.  It is very creamy and yum in coffee.

Katherine continues to thrive.  She appears to be going through either the terrible twos or her teen years - I'm not too sure about the life cycle of a sheep.  She took great pleasure the other night leading Gino and I on a merry dance around and over our neighbours raised flower beds taking delicate mouthfuls of plants mid stride.  I still take her out morning and evening to graze for half an hour on the road side borders.  That way she gets all the yummy broad leaf plants that the other sheep can't get to.  I now carry her kibble bucket with me so that all I have to do is bang on the bucket to get her to follow me.  The rest of the flock are now back in her paddock and she has had some close encounters but continues to be weary.  There is not much I go about the fact that she just doesn't realise she is a sheep!  Our other neighbours have purchased three lambs and their mum.  They are crossed with Romney but are meant to be Damara sheep which are broad tailed African sheep with hair rather than wool.  They look more like goats.  Apparently they make good milking sheep but I am not sure if she intends for me to milk them for her or not.  We will see.  I did suggest to Gino we could have one sheep, one goat and one jersey cow and I could offer a variety of cheeses that way.  He was unimpressed with my idea.  : )

Gino has had a sore throat the last couple of days and I've been feeling a little funny myself although this is most likely rampant hypochondria   I have been making a magic potion suggested by my Mum last year when I was sick in the UK.  You boil up water and as many cloves of garlic as you can handle.  Then squeeze in the juice from a couple of lemons and two big spoonfuls of honey.  The garlic is quite tough on the stomach and the honey acts as a buffer.  Have a couple of big cups morning and night and you'll kick your cold in a couple of days.  I am also dosing myself up with bee pollen.  Pollen is full of goodness - its a bit like taking a multi vitamin.  For hayfever sufferers like myself it also helps reduce hayfever by exposing your body to local pollen.  It won't happen straight away but by next season you should notice a difference.  I've also been having flaky yeast on my toast which is high in B vitamins   Along with magnesium, fish oil and serotonin precursor amino acids I am hoping to stay well and healthy right through Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas - its coming - soon.  Don't stick your head in the sand.  It is much better to get prepared in November so that you can enjoy the season in December.  Otherwise every Christmas carol becomes another reminder of how hopelessly behind you are rather than what it should be - a joyful refrain.  I am making some tiny cross stitched Christmas tree decorations.  They are very cute.  I'll post some photos next week.  I am forcing myself to spend an hour a day prepping for Christmas and I play carols to get myself in the mood.  Its a lot of fun but I admit - slightly nutty.

Writing Fuel

The other marvellous, exciting news is I am finally writing.  My friend Yanina suggested I have a go at free writing and I am also reading a couple of books which served to boot me up the backside.  Gino says he is happy to support an author in the family even if I remain penniless.  I have committed to writing for two hours every day.  At the moment it is a gobbly gook of opinion pieces, brain dumps, short bits of dialogue, fragments of future novels etc.  The content doesn't really matter at this stage.  It is just important to develop the habit and to get used to getting ideas down on paper.  I am excited to see how it will evolve.

 

Pizza With Home Made Mozarella

Cushion Cover Made from Tea Towel

Another Tea Towel Cushion Cover

That's all from me this week.  I have to card as much wool as I can as I am attending the Spinning Craft Group tomorrow.  Hopefully I will be spinning wool by the end of the day.  Have a great week and remember we are creative beings.  When we are creating we are expressing our true nature.  Grab any spare moment to get creative even if it just involves trying a new recipe for dinner, growing a vegetable you've never grown before or making a handmade gift for a friend.  Life is full of opportunities to be creative but unfortunately we're usually too busy to see them.  

The Cheese is Waxed!

When things go wrong it doesn't mean you've failed - it just means you've been given another experience.  Well, I've certainly had a lot of experience this week.  The sour dough starter that I ordered on line failed terribly.  I added water and flour as instructed.  I kept it somewhere warm.  I stirred it vigorously on a daily basis.  I had my concerns before I even attempted to make bread.  It just didn't look bubbly or smell right.  Sure enough my dough failed to rise.  Damn - that was an expensive experience.

My little edam has been happily chilling in the cool box.  Now that the skin has dried it was time for a wax coating.  My first attempt was simply pouring the hot wax over it.  This seemed to work okay but every time I turned it over to wax the other side the underneath part would peal off.  Very frustrating.  So I popped it back in the cool box and sulked for a couple of days.  Today I bought a cheap paint brush and had another go.  This time I painted thing layers over and over again.  Finally - victory.  It looks great.  Kind of knobbly but I think this adds to its rustic charm.

Leo trying to keep his nose warm.

It has turned very cold and we had a big dump of snow on the mountains.  My new vegetables looked unimpressed - particularly the basil.  I'm determined to use some of the herbs in the dinner tonight - I'll let you know how that goes.

I bought an old Singer sewing machine from the dump over the weekend.  $20 and it works perfectly except I had to buy a new "foot" which cost another $20.  Still great value and I can finally sew the little coin purse kit that Paula gave me for my birthday.  I have been making a big effort on Paula's other project - Louisa's birth sampler.  Putting in the hours has created some momentum and I am really happy with the result.

Flowers from Monique's garden

So that's all for this week.  It wasn't the exciting progressive week I was hoping for but I've worked through the frustration and I can feel my mojo returning.  I'm reading up on Christmas traditions and I am looking forward to making lots of little things to make Christmas special including a home made wreath.





And I almost forgot to mention that I made Elder Flower champagne.  Alison kindly picked some flowers for me and I quickly added them to boiling water, sugar, white wine vinegar and chopped lemons.  In two weeks it will be ready for drinking.  If it turns out to be as yummy as I think I'll have to save a bottle for Christmas day.

Little Steps

I have been spending a little bit of time lately reflecting on my journey so far.  I am really proud of the little things that have achieved - I have radically reduced my chemical load, I'm making small changes to help the planet and I am learning many new skills.  While it is important to take time to reflect; it is equally important to keep taking the little steps towards achieving the bigger goals.  My husband was starting to question my commitment to my sheep milking venture.  He had a valid point - apart from lots of Katherine cuddling and plenty of dreaming - I wasn't really taking the necessary steps to bring my dream to fruition.  I read some very wise words recently which really helped me to get moving.  They were along the lines of the need to become used to discomfort and to not insist that you have to feel comfortable before you can start moving again.  This is very true.  When treading new roads it is very common to feel shy and nervous about asking for help.  However, while acknowledging the discomfort, it is no barrier to doing those things which are a little scary.  For some reason I was feeling really shy about asking the local farmer for some milk.  Realising that I could feel that way and still make the phone call was an important lesson.  

Now I've achieved some good steps towards my major goal of setting up a sheep milking venture.  I am in the process of arranging two farm visits to existing facilities and I made my first block of cheese.  The farmer down the road supplied 10 litres of milk straight out of the cow.  This milk is a lovely golden creamy colour and tastes like ice cream!  The entire process took most of the morning and there were lots of steps to follow.  I was blown away when the curds formed as I had only put in 1/4 of 1/4 of a teaspoon of rennet.  It must be very powerful stuff!  The milk that I used is from jersey cows who are only milked once a day so it has a high fat and milk solid content.  I got an incredible yield; in fact I ended up only using 5 litres and even then I couldn't get all the curds into the mould.  The process was hampered by the fact that I haven't invested heavily in the proper equipment.  Having a real cheese press instead of balancing buckets of water on top of cans which make a huge difference.  Today I went down to the local vets and got a 1 ml syringe   This means I can now measure out as little as .1 of a millilitre.  This is going to very handy.  My little cheese is now drying out and then I will coat it in about 4 layers of bees wax.  Hopefully the cheese will be ready by Christmas for our first tasting.  

Another obstacle that can get in the way of achieving our dreams are excuses.  I had some very good excuses for not having a vegetable garden.  I am renting my house, I don't have access to any land and I am in an extreme wind zone.  However, I knew in my heart that these obstacles could be easily overcome.  I have a big porch and I put four containers / pots in a spot where they will get morning sun.  I have planted short vegetables so the wind doesn't knock them around too much.  In one pot I have parsley.  In another pot I have sage, rosemary and basil.  In a long container I have a variety of lettuces.  In the final container I have leafy greens - silverbeet, bok choy and celery.  I have chosen to plant greens because although carrots and potatoes store well I find my greens are always going floppy in the fridge before I get to eat them.  The herbs just add that something special to a meal and are incredibly useful.  It only took me an hour to get everything planted and watered in.  The vegetables are so large and healthy I could just about start eating them straight away!  

 

So now that the cheese and the vegetable garden are on the right track it is time for a new project.  My Mum told me about an interesting documentary on modern wheat and how bad it is for us.  I had a quick look at it on TV On Demand (I do not have a TV connection as you all know from last week's rave).  I was impressed and have started reading a book called Wheat Belly.  I know my husband often complains of feeling sluggish and uncomfortable after eating bread so I thought I would try a sour dough spelt flour.  Spelt is an ancient grain and contains no gluten.  I have been interested in learning how to make sour dough for a long time as I love the fact that you don't need yeast.  So the flour is in the post and by next week I should be able to report on my bread making adventures.  

This week remember to take time to praise yourself for how far you've come and don't let discomfort or excuses keep you from achieving your dreams.

Mentors

My experience with soap making drove home to me the importance of having mentors.  People who have trod the same path and who are happy to share their own experiences and the wisdom they have acquired along the way.  I found two such mentors last week.

Firstly I visited Daniel who lives just down the road in a 10 x 10 foot house with his wife Sarah and their two children.  They milk goats and produce cheese which they sell in Wellington and parts of the South Island.  I spent a wonderful two hours picking Daniel's brains about all things cheese as well as living sustainably.  Daniel built their lovely home himself.  It is definitely small but it is lovingly and thoughtfully put together.  He leant me a great book called Places of the Soul which is all about building houses that nurture our spirit.  I can tell I am going to learn a lot from Daniel.

My second mentor is Zoe.  I was busy picking through one of the fleeces that my neighbour had kindly given me.  I realised that I had no idea what I was doing so I phoned Zoe who is the president of the Kaikoura Spinning and Craft group.  She responded to my plea for help immediately and invited me to bring my fleeces over the next day.  I ended up staying for three hours during which she gave me morning tea and lunch.  She taught me a simple method for preparing the fleece and also the basics of spinning.  On top of that she leant me her spinning wheel and other equipment which I know hold deep sentimental value to her.  I have agreed to join the spinning group which meets twice a month and I look forward to spending time absorbing the wisdom of the wise of ladies who belong to the group.

I am reading so many interesting books at the moment - most of which are aligned towards my environmental and spiritual awakening.  I know it sounds dramatic to describe it that way but I really feel that its true.  In the last five months I have changed almost beyond recognition.  It is almost like ideas are being beamed to me from outerspace.  Now, I know I am sounding a little crazy but I don't know how else to describe the journey I've undertaken since returning to New Zealand.  While it is great to saturate your consciousness with ideas it is important to also take concrete steps towards achieving your goals.  It is very easy to read and imagine a future utopia but it will never happen until you start doing.  In that vein I have purchased everything I need to start making cheese - a culture, digital thermometer, cheese cloth etc.  I will make my own cheese press from old cans and a bucket of water.  My final step is to approach a local farmer in order to purchase some raw milk - 10 litres of it.  I'm reading and rereading my cheese making book and I just can't wait to actually get started.


Tonight and over the next eight weeks I will be attending a night class called Maori Arts and Culture.  I am really excited to learn more about the local culture and I am hoping it will assist me to feel more grounded here.  I am very aware that as I walk up Mount Fyffe I am unable to name most of the trees and I certainly have no idea what their medicinal qualities are.  I am babysitting for my friend Alison so she can attend another night class - Medicinal Native Plants.  I am looking forward to her sharing her learning with me and vice versus.

Finally, I can not say this loudly enough - please seriously consider severing your television connection.  Television lulls you into unconsciousness, it eats up your free time and it exposes you to hours of materialistic consumer messages.  I have no problem with watching the odd DVD for entertainment because at least there are no ads and your viewing is far more conscious.  What horrifies me is the mind numbing, compulsiveness of watching back to back shows beginning with the news and ending at bedtime.  There is a whole wonderful world out there waiting to be explored if you just gave it some time and attention.  Instead of spending time in make believe worlds with make believe friends - go outside, explore nature, meet your neighbours.  Instead of watching real life documentaries and considering them experiences - go out and have some real ones.  The television programme will be forgotten in 24 hours but the real life experiences you expose yourself to just might change your life for the better.

Soap

I realise it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.  I have been busy in my kitchen / workshop and reading lots of fantastic books to keep my enthusiasm high.  I know I promised last time that my next post would be about Katherine but I feel that I need to revisit the subject of soap.  I know I go on about it a lot but soap is such an integral part of lots of house hold products.  If you can master soap then you can eliminate lots of nasties.  

Previously I had stated that my soap nuts experiments was a failure.  I'd like to retract that statement.  The reason being is that I have been busy trying to make my own soap.  My fantasy and the reality of soap making were very, very different.  I was keen to make a milk based soap because that fits into my whole sheep milking future.  For those of you who have never made soap it comes about as a chemical reaction between caustic soda (lye) and a liquid.  This chemical reaction produces a lot of heat especially with milk.  Caustic soda is nasty stuff and you need to wear safety glasses and gloves while handling it.  The subsequent fumes and ammonia smell are very off putting.  Here I am trying to make a natural product that I am going to rub on my skin and I am making it with drain cleaner!  Now apparently all the lye is used up in the chemical process but I still find nothing natural about it.  My soap making wasn't particularly successful - my first batch was too hot and scorched the milk and my second curdled and separated.  After a lot of angst I realised I was trying to reinvent the wheel.  Why make soap - when it literally grows on trees.  And that brings me back to soap nuts.

My lovely friend Paula gave me some left over soap nuts and I made up some more liquid.  Once again it did a beautiful job of my washing - the clothes are unbelievably soft.  It is also fine for dishwashing unless you have a really greasy mess.  So my compromise is to have an environmentally laundry powder and dishwashing liquid on hand in case of heavy duty washing but predominately use the soap nuts.  I am also going to add some guar gum to the liquid, plus essential oils, to make a lovely gentle liquid soap for hand and body wash.  I know I wasn't so happy with the soap nuts previously but when you've seen the alternative up close it becomes a whole lot more appealing.  

In other news, I've been taking a very simple fee online herbalism course from www.learningherbs.com.  It is a very basic 7 days course but it is enough to dip your toes into the subject.  I have a stomach bug at the moment and have been chopping up ginger in a mug of hot water to combat the nausea.  Peppermint tea is a lovely refreshing drink and gives me a great pick me up without the caffeine.  For a nice relaxing afternoon drink (if its been a stressful day) one bag of camomile and one of peppermint is lovely.  I am also very interested in foraging for food.  My first foray into this has been harvesting the masses of dandelion flowers on our front lawn.  I have made dandelion flower fritters and jam.  The flowers are packed with vitamins and minerals, they are so beautiful to work with they make you smile, and they're free!  A friend of mine has also pointed out some elderberry trees which are on public land.  They make a great tonic - very healthful - as well as a lovely port.  I'm looking forward to harvesting the flowers when they are ready.

Katherine is doing great.  I've given up on assimilating her into the flock next door.  Sheep are incredibly picky and will apparently take weeks to accept her.  I found it really hard ignoring her when she is only metres away in the paddock and calling out for me incessantly   So onto plan B which is to get two more lambs and make a mini flock.  We need to talk to our landlord about fencing off some grass for them.  So it looks like I might be making up a few more bottles of milk before the season is out.

Leo - feeling exhausted after a sleepness night worrying about climate change.

Finally I'd just like to mention Transition Towns.  They stem from something called the Transition Initiative   They are a grass roots organisation which aims to improve resilience at a local level in order to combat the effects of Peak Oil and climate change.  A very good book is The End of Growth by Richard Heinberg.  The book explains very well how we have got into our current global economic mess and what the future might look like given our diminishing access to fossil fuels.  It is not exactly an uplifting read so I recommend going straight into a copy of The Transition Handbook by Bob Hopkins.  One book tells you the mess we're in and the other will tell you how to get out of it.  I love that rather than waiting around for governments to sort things out we can do a lot to help ourselves as long as we work together.   

My lovely neighbour recently delivered two fleeces from her Arapawa cross sheep.  As soon as I get a fine day I will be preparing the fleece for carding.  Then I need to track down a clever lady to teach me how to spin.  How exciting!

Cleaning Products

This is going to be an ongoing subject as I endeavour to replace a huge number of different products.  Like most things on my sustainable living journey I have had some victories and some failures.

Firstly the victory - shampoo and conditioner replacement.  Initially I tried to use soap nuts liquid (more on that later) combined with guar gum (thickening agent) to wash my hair.  Unfortunately it just didn't clean my hair well enough and it started to look greasy.  Yuk!  Fortunately I discovered a much more effective and much easier solution.  I now wash my hair using 2 cups of warm water and 1 T of baking soda.  I pour this slowly over my hair and work it through.  This gets my hair squeaky clean but not stripped of natural oils (which many commercial products do).  I follow this treatment with 2 cups of warm water and 3 T of apple cider vinegar.  Again I pour this slowly through my hair and I try and leave it dripping wet for a minute of so and then rinse it out.  The smell of the apple cider vinegar goes away once my hair is dry although there is the odd smell of apples if my hair gets wet in the rain.  My hair is now clean, soft and shiny.  Please, please try these two products.  They are healthy, probably already in your cupboard, environmentally friendly, cost effective and they do the job.  What more could you ask for?

Now for the failure - soap nuts.  Soap nuts can be ordered on line and are dried fruit with the pips removed. They contain natural soap which is released in warm water.  The company I purchased them from recommended putting about 6 nuts in a cloth bag and straight into the washing machine.  This didn't clean the clothes well enough and I think this was possibly because my washing water wasn't warm enough.  I tried activating them in hot water for 15  minutes beforehand and then putting into the wash.  Again, this didn't quite do the job either.  Finally I decided to make my own soap nuts liquid.  This means that all the soap is drawn out before hand so it can start working immediately.  Just boil 50 grams of soap nuts (smash them up in a tea towel using a rolling pin first) and add 4 cups of water.  Boil for 10 minutes, strain, cool and pour into a recycled container.  Add a few drops of essential oils for a nice fragrance.  I use this liquid to wash my dishes and clothes.  I do think this is working well enough but it is a gentle cleaner.  It is not suitable for very dirty clothes or very greasy dishes.  It does a nice job of cleaning stainless steel and other surfaces.  By adding a few drops of tea tree oil it is great for cleaning bathroom surfaces and floors as the tea tree oil is a natural anti bacterial agent.  So overall I class this as a failure.  My reason for this is although it works in some cases  in order to be practical I think we need a product that can do all the cleaning - not just the easy stuff.  For this reason I will be exploring other dishwashing and clothes washing solutions.  There are plenty of recipes online which I will be testing and I will let you know what I discover.  Again you can use the soap nuts liquid for surfaces and floor cleaning however I think we will find that some standard common ingredients (baking soda and vinegar) do the job just as well and the ingredients are very easy to access.  

So overall these experiences have helped to clarify what I am looking for in a product on top of the health and environmental concerns.  I want products that can be used in all situations and applied to as many different jobs as possible.  I also prefer products that are already used in the home rather than purchasing specialised products.  

I have been using the soap nuts (shampoo) as a body wash and this is a nice gentle cleaner.  However I am very interested in learning how to make my own soap from ingredients such as milk and honey (both of which I have easy access to).  I will talk about this project in future posts.

Finally - now that you've eliminated shampoo and conditioner - I think we should have a go at moisturiser.  I feel quite strongly about this for two good reasons.  Your skin is a sponge so anything you put on it you may as well eat.  The ingredients of many moisturisers are very long and certainly not edible.  The other reason is the high cost of commercial moisturisers.  Most of this is down to marketing and packaging.  

The recipe I am using is this:

Heat 1/2 cup of good quality olive oil with 2 T of grated beeswax.  Remove from the heat as soon as the wax melts.  Now get 1 C of tepid water and use a blender, stick blender or electric beaters to emulsify into the oil.  To do these you need to pour a slow steady stream of water into the oil while mixing all the time.  I have had mixed results from this.  Often I only get 1/2 a cup of water into the oil before it stops accepting it and forms water bubbles instead.  This doesn't really matter.  You just end up with a thicker, greasier moisturiser.  And the moisturiser will soak into the skin very quickly.  Add a few drops of essential oil if you want a fragrance but make sure you use one that is gentle on the skin.  Some essential oils will aggravate the skin.

I think that's enough for now.  By replacing shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser you have saved lots of money and it is so much better for you and the environment.  What is also amazing to me is they work just as well, if not better, than the commercial products.

Katherine's First Day of Life 

My next post will be all about Katherine, our pet lamb and future milking sheep.  If you can get hold of a great local supply of raw milk then you can make yoghurt, ice cream, cheese and butter.  With the huge price of dairy products you will soon be saving lots more money.  Katherine is an ongoing project - we won't be milking her for another year - but I think you will enjoy following our journey with her.  

Reuse Recycle

We all know the mantra right?  Reuse, Recycle and there is one other R but I can't remember it.  On that theme I'd like to share with you my recent fun "reuse" project.

I bought four pure wool jerseys at a garage sale recently.  They were actually two long sleeved jerseys and two vests.  The guy selling them said they were hand spun and hand knitted by his mother for him.  She had since died of cancer.  He said the wool came from up the Wairoa Valley near Blenheim.  I think one of the best things about reusing is that your product already has a history - in this case one of a mother's love for her son and her skill as being able to turn raw wool into lovely warm jerseys.  

I took them home and removed some of the joins.  The two vests ended up as four pieces of knitted material.  The jerseys had their sleeves removed and were then opened out - keeping the shoulder seams together.  I then pulled the wool down from the sleeves and ended up with a couple of balls of good quality hand spun wool.  

My mother in law Everdien is a clever lady and she helped me to plan my blanket.  We ended up using the two opened out jerseys and the two halves of one vest.  These were sewed together with a bright coloured wool in a cross stitch pattern.  As Everdien said I can always change the colours as the mood suits me.  There were gaps for the neck holes and a few other gaps due to waist tapering so I had to knit extra pieces to fit using the original wool from the sleeves.  Finally Everdien crocheted around the outside to hold it all together.  I had thought of using it as a floor rug but it is just so lovely and cozy to wrap around you.  So it is a throw for the couch and a blanket as required.  

With the two remaining pieces from the last vest I sewed them over a pillow and made a regular pillow and a bolster pillow.  All together they create the most nuturing comforting little nest - which I usually have to share with Leo.  While I am enjoying them I often think back about the original creator and I think she would approve.

I have had an incredibly sucessful morning in the kitchen and I just felt like sharing.

Today I made cheese for the first time.  This is hopefully the beginning of something beautiful.  It reminds me of the first loaf of bread I made when I was 7.  This was a very simple cheese to make - much like cottage cheese.  Thanks to Jean Mansfield from the highly recommended book How to Make Cheese and Other Dairy Products.  Bring 1 1/2 litres of full cream milk to the boil and then turn off the heat.  Add 2 1/2 T of lemon juice.  Stir gently with a wooden spoon.  Let it cool for 5 minutes.  Then poor the liquid through a sieve.  Let is drip for a while and then transfer the cheese to a container.  Add some salt to taste.  Magic.  I just had some crumbed in my salad and it was delicious.  Has a lovely lemony after taste.  The remaining whey and there is quite a lot of it can be put to good use.  I'm going to boil up my potatoes in it to give them a lovely creamy flavour.  If you Google - uses for whey - you will find all sorts of interesting things including using it to clean your hair!

My other creation is equally exciting.  I am not very good at baking.  I always seem to get the quantities wrong or drop the whole lot on the floor (which I did last week).  To add insult to injury my husband prefers my friend Alison's cakes to mine.  Unfortunately we seem to have some kind of sixth sense as we always end up baking the same kind of cake at the same time.  This week we both decided to cook cheese cake.  We decided to called it the Cheese Cake Off.  Naturally my competitive nature came out so I Googled - Best Baked Cheesecake in the Whole World Recipe.  And you know what - I think it just might be.  Absolutely nothing went wrong - nothing.  And it looks wonderful.  It will be taste tested tonight at our weekly neighbourhood board game night so I'll let you know what the neighbours think.  My husband has already had Alison's cheesecake before and reckons it will be hard to beat.  Someone just might be sleeping in the spare bedroom tonight.  The cheesecake was easy to make so feel free to contact me for the recipe or you could just do the same Google search that I did.



Happy baking.