There’s quite a lot of edible plants native to my part of the world but not so many of them that are abundant and really delicious. But macadamias (Macadamia tetraphylla) and Davidson plums ( Davidsonia jerseyana) are endemic to right here, real bush foods.
There is a huge amount of skill and knowledge in living a simple, green,, frugal life. This is not peasant unskilled labour. This is application of intelligence, design, creative thinking, experimentation, research and practice to deeply held values. Simplicity is often deceptive. Simplicity is elegant, refined, efficient, beautifully designed, and highly skilled.
It’s a great year for mozzies. This week they seem to have all metamorphosed from wrigglers at once, and for the first time we have had to start putting the mosquito net over our bed down of a night. Up until now, the control measures for mozzies have consisted of what we don’t do.
I’ve ticked off one of my New Year’s Resolutions. We’ve just come home from a week in wild weather at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island – one of the most beautiful wild places on earth. I went swimming in the surf every day, collected seaweed for my seaweed brew, and walked around North Gorge every morning.
I really am much too busy to read labels that much. I don’t want to be that diligent. It really is much easier to just apply my blanket rule: if it doesn’t go off, if even bacteria and funghi won’t eat it, be suspicious, be very suspicious.
Independence and self-sufficiency are all very well when everything is going smoothly, but in floods and bushfires, food shortages and fuel shortages, community counts for a lot, and the skills to create it are good skills to have.
There are some things I think you need to do at least once every year to remember you are alive, to remember what is important and valuable, to stay sane. And some years, the whole year goes past without me doing them.
The grapes are hanging thick and heavy in our pergola. Such a useful plant. In winter the bare vines let the north western afternoon sun stream onto the verandah, warming the floor and creating a nice spot for proving bread or sitting with a book. In spring the fresh, delicate leaves make dolmades, wonderful lunch or picnic or party food. In summer the vines are thick with leaves blocking the…
Someone asked me not long ago if I make sourdough crackers. They are so easy they are scarcely a recipe at all. Just sourdough starter, wholemeal flour, oil, salt, and perhaps some sesame or poppy seeds. Ok, I’ll try to be a bit more specific. Because it is really worth making your own, and avoiding all those nasty transfats, as well as the ridiculous amount of packaging.
Davidson plums make very easy and very superb jam – enough pectin to set reliably without anything added, just two largish easy to remove seeds, a full complex flavour that would be overelaborated by adding spices, and a gorgeous deep clear claret colour.