Too many any vege syndrome
Anyone who grows their own vegetables inevitably reaches tipping point of too many vege, especially when they hang out with generous like minded souls. I call it 'too many any vege syndrome' and over the years I've picked up a trick or two to deal with this seasonal glut.
Patch (ahem) Perfection
This morning, as I was picking powdery mildew affected leaves from my giant New Guinea Bean plant, it occurred to me that maybe it was time to come clean. I take a lot of pictures of our beloved patch, but in the manner of our social media world these days, they are always angled to show it in the absolute best light possible - when it's just been watered and the yucky bits are hidden from view! We get lots of lovely feedback on how pretty our patch is and you could be forgiven for thinking that it's all sunshine and rainbows, fairies and unicorns here in our little glade but in the interests of keeping it real, it ain't that perfect that often...if ever.
Let me take you to my happy place...
On a recent guest blog over at cityhippyfarmgirl, there were lots of really nice things said about the pictures of our garden (aw shucks) so I'd like to show you where we drew our inspiration from. Our garden pales in comparison to this garden. This is my happy place. This used to be my local. This is Veg Out Community Garden in St Kilda. Let me show you around...
Dear Australia Post...
Dear Australia Post,
We have a terrific idea for you. We really think you'll like it. Imagine if you were to launch an eco version of your parcel post service. One where you incentivise people to reduce their carbon footprint instead of penalising the ones that do.
My summertime bounty from beautiful friends
Today I'm feeling blessed. As I write this it is New Years Day 2015. Last night, I was pyjamma'ed and drinking tea by nine and asleep by 10pm. I know, I know - 'YAWN' you may say but I woke up feeling pretty freakin' fabulous...so there! Read more...
Our Pics, Posts and Tags of 2014
So the sun sets on an awesome year and 2015 is brimming with possibilities. Through 2014, our E'phy followers have browsed our blogs, shared our social, mailed us fabulous snaps of their newly opened Ecolosophy goodies and so much more - you are simply beautiful human beings. Here's a snippet of our wonderful first year in business with our favourite pics, posts and tags...
Who wants to play a game?
We recently took a sneaky pre-school holidays camping trip out to Israelite Bay on the south coast of WA. Located on the Eastern side of Cape Arid National Park near Esperance (home to WA's rarest bird - the Western Ground Parrot - see Secrets at Sunrise), Israelite Bay is flanked by the Great Western Woodlands to the north, an area of arborescent diversity and a botanical mecca and the Recherché Archipelago to the South West. It's a pretty longish adventure to get there, about 4 hours from where we live. You can travel halfway on the bitumen but then you hit gravel, then sand dunes, then sloppy muddy woop-de-doos. As you approach the campsites you enter a near-martian world of mirrored salt flats (Lake Daringdella) that appear to extend to the horizon.
Pickled out...
Zucchini is by far my favourite vegetable (ok fruit) to grow and cook. So simple and verging on being boring with their sheer abundance, they're just so easy to grow and so versatile to cook with. Plus if you can't grow your own there's always stacks at the grocers. I owe the humble zucchini plant for my now thriving veggie patch and love of home grow food. It was the first veggie I grew - from a packet of Diggers Black Beauty - and it was such a bonza crop that I was hooked on growing them from that point on...
Heaven on a baking tray
I tried something different with this week's harvest and it's heaven on a baking tray. THIS is how our tomato sauce will be made from this day forward. The slow roasting brings out a far more complex blend of flavours than you usually get with sauce made on the stovetop. No joke, this sauce is awesome.
Secrets at sunrise
Meet the rarest bird in Australia - the Western Ground Parrot - and Jenenne Riggs of Riggs Australia - a documentary filmmaker on a mission to help save this critically endangered bird from extinction.
There are now only 140 of these little critters left in the wild, found in one location in the remote and rugged Cape Arid National Park near where we live in Western Australia.
Jennene's latest film 'Secrets at Sunrise' showcases the amazing work by volunteers and scientists battling to save the Western Ground Parrot. Preview the film trailer or read more if you feel like helping Jennene to save a species...
Wrap it up - eco style
I watched an ad recently where the recipient ripped open their carefully wrapped present to get to the item underneath. I winced, I really did. It seems crazy in todays day, that so many people are still doing this at gift giving time. Sigh… what an incredible waste of paper.
Beetroots are deadly serious
'The Beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly is more feverish, but the fire of a radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an under current of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious...'Tom Robbins - Jitterbug Perfume.
My Classy Birds (or Thieving Magpies)
We've been keeping chooks and ducks for a few years now and our little brood has made itself quite at home in our patch. In fact, I'd wager they're one of the most spoilt flocks around. But quite unlike my good eco self, the chooks seem to have developed quite expensive tastes - an eye for the finer things in life - especially my favourite wyandotte Scarface and my rooster Reg, who it turns out, have a penchant for my diamonds. Let me explain...
cityhippyfarmgirl... in da house
We are uber excited to introduce you to our very first guest blogger Brydie Piaf (AKA cityhippyfarmgirl) We first discovered her in the new Earth Garden Magazine, then we stumbled upon her blog, loved it, subscribed and have been merrily devouring it since. Brydie is a city girl with hippy tendencies and farm girl aspirations… her blog is about trying to live a simple life, city style. Here, she sits down for a little cyber chat with Ecolosophy.
Sweet Memories
Think back to your sweetest childhood memories... I remember my dad cultivating a corner of our backyard and growing what I thought was impossibly tall corn, we planted the seeds and watched them grow until the plants soared into the sky, the flowers opened and did the dance of pollination in the wind followed not long after by the formation of fruit which we patiently waited for. Dad would whisper "not yet...not yet" until finally one day..."now" and we had permission to peel back the husks and bite into the sweetest juiciest corn ever grown on planet earth (or our part of the planet anyway).
Get Daddy Cool for Father's Day
We've put together a Father's Day pictorial gift guide so you can give your dad, pops or favourite uncle a gift brimming with some serious 'daddy cool'...
Easy Cheesy Bikkie Bites
Striving to be plastic free is fine on a good day when I'm super organised, the weather's good and I've had a reasonable amount of sleep but life doesn't always work that way once small fry come on the scene. You know the day....the one where I would have whipped up some healthy homebaked snacks for our trip to town but we had to spend half an hour finding the other shoe (only to discover that the dogs found it first and so we had to pick out another pair but those shoes don't fit anymore…). Or those days when the spare hand I had to bake and pack snacks was occupied carrying the stainless steel water bottles, extra clothes, packages to post plus the newly built airplane made from cardboard scraps that absolutely has to come. It takes time and effort to be plastic free perfect.
Tales of Trees
(almost) Plastic Free with Kids
So I've been trying really hard to give Plastic Free July a go but, with kids, by jingo it's challenging. Now don't get me wrong, total kudos to those wonderful mums I see on facebook and pinterest, you know the ones... They buy only bulk produce and spend weekends at the growers market. "Oh we wouldn't dream of using store bought plastic wrapped bread" they say while they turn out perfect loaf of organic spelt sourdough and pop yet another tray of sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, egg free superfood muesli bars in the oven but the fact is, I am not that mum - yet.
The Odd Vegetable Out
Being botanically curious, each season we seem to wind up with a few vegetables that we've nurtured, grown and harvested and then had no idea what to do with. You know the ones... khol rabi, mizuna, gourds, new guinea beans to name a few. Some of these end up becoming staples in the patch once you get the hang of how to cook them (hello khol rabi). Others end up oddities, worthy of little more than talking points for visitors to the patch (looking at YOU new guinea beans).
Plastic Free July - Top Ten Swapouts
Are you game to go 'plastic free' this July? Let us help you on your plastic detox journey with some Ecolosophy green goodness!
Make whey...ferment vegies...eat pie!
Last year we had a bumper crop of red cabbages. Due to poor planning we somehow ended up with (I kid you not) about 46 big beautiful organic and perfectly formed red cabbages, all ready at once. Luckily they store pretty well for a while in the fridge and we eat a lot of fresh vege every day so we had cabbage with every meal and we gave away a lot, we sent some to market with a friend (wasn't sure a stand at the markets selling only red cabbages would be worthwhile, despite the fact we had enough to fill a whole stand!) Still we had a serious glut and my imagination was stretched trying to find new and exciting ways to present cabbages to the family.Love your Planet
To celebrate World Environment Day let us take you on a pictorial journey around our planet courtesy of Pinterest. From the miraculous to the magnificent, the powerful to the fragile - Planet Earth is simply breathtaking...
Checking out…the quest to be supermarket free
So, how d'you go with Supermarket Free Month this April? Are you a fully fledged 'super-freegan' now - a fearless crusader who rejects large corporate supermarkets in favour of smaller local retailers and producers? Or maybe you hadn't heard about being supermarket free? Well, it's pretty unlikely you're all fully converted in a few weeks but Supermarket Free Month certainly gives us an opportunity to ask where our food comes from, how far it travels and what the real cost of convenience food is.
