My dream house

We are in the process of buying a house and I can vouch that it definately is in the "top 3" stressful things that you can do with your life.

Not only do we have to find something that we actually want to live in but we also have to both like it! Then there is the process of tenders - the house buying lottery as I have renamed it. You put in an offer against other people's offers and hope you have the winning powerball!

So what does my dream house look like? Well currently my dream house is in Carterton in the Wairarapa and unfortunately I dont want to move to Carterton. It has a huge market garden and an orchard! The house has character, a wood burner and great insulation. So how do I find something in Wellington that has enough land for me to have my garden and my orchard without moving to the Hutt or worse of all Tawa???

Look at the sunlight on this place!

Well we found this cute house in Northland and I took a photo of the back of it from across the gully in 5pm sunlight. That huge sloping section you can see is actually terraced and has an amazing vege garden and fruit trees. They actually put up photos of their pumpkins on the real estate website to help market the place - it was certainly a drawcard for me haha (note they have removed that image now - possibly because gardening isn't attracting the professional couples that usually buy in this suburb?)

I almost want to put in the tender document: 17.1: We are keen gardeners and promise to maintain the wonderful garden that you have created over the past 20 years that you have lived here. Surely that would help win us the tender??

So now we wait with fingers crossed... I have veges to plant!!

My dream house

April

I have a wonderful Matariki calendar that gives information on the months and what they are for based on traditional Māori ideas. I just wanted to share what it said April is for because it really rings true for me:

Paenga Whāwha, April
Tēnā te mana o Rehua, Behold the greatness of Rehua

As the warmer season ends, we celebrate generosity. This is giving that does not stint on food, time or sharing - in the manner of Rehua the god of plenty. One customary expression of this is for a visitor, whether expected or unexpected to always be offered a cup of tea and something to eat, even if the hosts have little to give.

And on that note I'm off to make a cup of tea myself!

April

Moving to the country going to eat a lot of Peaches.

We have an amazing peach tree in our backyard. And it's not your usual peach tree either - it's a black boys (terribly un-PC I know!!) Black boys peaches are dark purple on the outside and have this amazing purple/fuchsia like flesh on the inside and they are juicy and sweet.

This was our 3rd season of them and this was the bumper crop! On average we had 5-6 drop per day for 3 weeks. The thing about peaches is that they go off really fast. You pretty much have to eat them straight away or do something with them.

For lack of jars and absolutely no experience at bottling fruit I decided to freeze them instead. This was actually extremely easy yet quite time confusing. To get the skins off I dipped the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds then plunged them into ice water for a few minutes. The skins then simply slip off. I roughly chopped them and put them into a freezer zip-lock bag and covered them in a sugar syrup. I used a 1:3 ratio of sugar to water which I had gently simmered on the stove top and slightly cooled before pouring over the fruit.

I found that putting the freezer bag into a dish of some kind helped the bag keep its form and also helped me get all the air out. They have frozen and kept their wonderful fuchsia colour for making desserts, pies or just for eating in winter.

Alas the tree is empty signalling that Autumn has arrived.

Moving to the country going to eat a lot of Peaches.

Homegrown

My garden is abundant with things to eat at the moment.

Every evening I go down to the garden to collect something for dinner.

I feel just like Annabel Langbein the organic cook (minus the fake ponsonby accent and designer gumboots).

The gherkins have grown incredibly well. I am up to my 4th batch of preserving and I have given some to the neighbours and to a work colleague so that they can pickle their own. The telegraph cucumber is trying to compete!

I am growing beans for the first time and they have climbed right to the top of my bamboo teepee.

The salad ingredients are prolific and my beetroot are growing magnificently.

I have 6 different types of potatoes growing. They all taste so good boiled with a little bit of butter and salt.

The tomatoes have grown better outside this year than in the conservatory yet the chili plants are lapping up the heat.

Gardening and growing from seed is so rewarding.
 
I have plenty to eat and plenty to give away and that's how it should be.

Homegrown

Pear Chutney

I was very fortunate to be given given a bag full of pears a few weeks ago and decided to have a go at making pear chutney. It was so delicious that I decided to make as much as I could until the pear supply ran out.

I have adapted the recipe for people to make smaller batches.

500g Pears - peeled, cored and diced
150g Brown Sugar
2/3 C Cider Vinegar
1/2 small onion
1 small clove of garlic (minced)
1/3 C golden raisins
1 T diced preserved ginger
1 level t salt
1 level t mustard seeds
Pinch each of cinnamon, cayenne pepper and cloves

Combine the sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil in a pot. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Cook slowly, stirring every now and then until it becomes thick (approx 1 hr). Poor into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Tastes good an accompaniment to Indian curries but also great with cheese.

The recent Christchurch earthquake has really highlighted the need for communities to look after each other. I am pleased to say that one of the jars I am making today is heading towards some Christchurch refugees.

Homemade food is nourishment for the soul.

Pear Chutney

Rhubarb! Rhubarb!

I have discovered the refreshing taste of Rhubarb cordial.

A very simple recipe that requires some rhubarb, sugar and water. Mix it with soda and wallah! A very tasty summer drink.

The best part of this recipe was that the fruit pulp that was left over was super sweet and excellent on muesli for my breakfeast.

Ingredients

	1½	cups rhubarb, roughly chopped
	1	cup sugar
	1½	cups water
	~	Sparkling water
	~	Ice

Steps

1. Place rhubarb, sugar, and 1½ cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the syrup is bright pink.
2. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Strain syrup into a large jar.
3. To make each soda, measure ¼ cup rhubarb syrup into a glass. Add enough sparkling water to fill the glass ⅔ full. Stir to mix, then add ice.

Rhubarb! Rhubarb!

DIY Washing Powder and Hand Soap

 My friend Kath is a self-confessed greenie and has been reading Wendyl Nissen's "A Home Companion" which has lots of ideas on how to live like your Nana used to live.

I have been called a Nana many times, mainly by my Partner and mainly because of my incessant need to make jams and preserves. And I am ok with this! I have embraced my Nana-like qualities!! So making some recipes from this book is right up there with my values.

The washing powder was rather easy and extremely cheap to make. I bought a bag of baking soda for about $5, a box of washing soda crystals for $4 (both from Moore Wilson's) and a box of sunlight soap (6 pack) for about $3. I already had some essential oil. So here it is:

Washing Powder
1) Mix 3 cups of baking soda and 3 cups of washing crystals together.
2) Grate in 1 bar of sunlight soap
3) Add 10-20 drops of essential oil (I used rose).

Ready to use! I did two loads of washing today with a 35ml scoop per load and both came out clean and fresh. I'm not very good at math but I usually buy the EcoStore powder at around $7 for 500g. Roughly I made about the same amount for less than $3. One day I will get really good at maths and work it out properly!

Liquid Hand Soap
1) Grate 1 bar of soap
2) Add 1 cup of boiling water and whisk until combined. Leave for 1 hour.
3) After this time the mixture should have solidified again. Add another 1 cup of boiling water and whisk a bit more this time. Leave for an hour.
4) The soap should be more of a liquid consistency now. Water it down with more boiling water or heat up in the microwave or in a pot if it is too runny.
5) Pour into hand pump bottle ready to dispense.

My mixture was quite runny as I think my bar of soap was a bit on the small side so I heated it up a bit. It is still cooling at the moment and I've decided that if it doesn't thicken I'll just add some more soap to it and heat it up again. This is a probably a good way to use up those old bits of soap that you never seem to finish. I'm sure you could add essential oil to it too.

DIY Washing Powder and Hand Soap