by Krista | Mar 26, 2015 | Autumn
“Fall has always been my favorite season.
The time when everything bursts with its last beauty,
as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
Lauren DeStefano
It doesn’t feel like Autumn yet, but I can see glimpses of it in colored leaves and where the sun shines through my kitchen windows.
This week is filled with all sorts of interesting things: a seminar specifically to help immigrants like me navigate Australian business, a bakery date with Bear, and a bustling artisan market in our village of Allora.
I’ve been wood-burning for weeks, nay, months, in preparation, filling storage bins with all sorts of wooden beauties.
Like this picture frame – I love the waves in the wood grain.
And this lovely glossy bowl that shimmers in the light.
This cute little spice bottle is my latest addition to my collection, just added last night.
And I’m smitten by the variations in coloring in these acacia wood salad servers.
It’s been sheer pleasure making all these things, the scent of wood smoke wafting through the house as if we have a wood-stove crackling away.
If you are anywhere near Allora this weekend, or fancy a drive in the country to see the last of the sunflower fields, come on down to the Allora RSL Hall between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to say hello to yours truly, and see all sorts of beautiful handmade objects from an array of skilled artisans.
If you can’t make it to Allora but would still like to see more wood-burned items, pop over to my Etsy shoppe for a visual wander.
Wishing you a beautiful week. XO What creative outlet makes your heart happy?
by Krista | Mar 24, 2015 | Autumn
“Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s been a rough couple of months as I’ve weathered another bout of glandular fever. Every project has been preceded and followed by naps, each day a fog of pain and exhaustion. But the past few days I’ve felt the fog lifting, the pain receding, my energy returning. And it is marvelous.
This morning I woke early enough to go for a wander in my gardens just as the sun rose over the fields. It felt so good to be outside, breathing in deeply of cool, rain-washed air, finding all sorts of beauties glimmering in the morning sunshine. I love this time of day with its exquisite light, so clear and clean and fresh. The world feels like a welcoming, magical place.
We’ve had glorious rains the last couple of days, and the gardens have surged back to life. Brittle leaves are lush and unfurled, blossoms bursting from their casings, tiny veggies emerging from soil that has been dry and barren for so long.
After feeling parched and withered for months on end, it is wonderful to see damp earth and dew-drenched flowers and know that the seeds and seedlings now have a fighting chance to produce delectable things for my winter kitchen.
With the return of rain and my energy, I’m excited to start dreaming and planning again. When you’re sick, days consist of The Essentials and little else. But now I get to make plans knowing that soon I will have the strength to follow through. That’s a lovely thing.
So today I’m moving gently through my day quietly working on things that have had to wait: cleaning closets, organizing my kitchen, getting seedlings out of their punnets and into my gardens.
It feels good to start this day “well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with [my] old nonsense.”
Old nonsense. I like that. Illness isn’t nonsense, it’s just something that happens, but the accompanying frustration and discouragement are unwelcome companions on any journey. It feels good to thank them for dropping by, then wave farewell and breathe a sigh of relief that they are no longer hanging about.
What is lifting your spirits today? xo
by Krista | Mar 19, 2015 | Autumn
“The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected;
I have always considered the rain to be healing—a blanket—the comfort of a friend.”
Douglas Coupland
It rained yesterday, beautiful, heavy, dirt-soaking rain. And for a while the world was dark and cozy and wild and stormy and downright wonderful.
So we made it a day of simple pleasures: no internet, no phones, no computers. Just me and Bear spending time together doing little things we love.
We treated ourselves to a humdinger of a breakfast with extra hash browns, a side of pancakes, and both coffee AND hot chocolate. We were ravenous after two days spent building fences and planting nearly 70 tree cuttings.
We went treasure-hunting at our favorite thrift store and junk shop and found all sorts of great things: storage racks for his tools and my wood-burning equipment, hardwood planks for building my greenhouse, and some lovely old china dishes from England.
We went to the hardware store to get our new ladder and the last bits needed to finish off the orchards, and found a treasure trove of winter veggie seedlings for a song. We picked up groceries, Blood Orange and Tahitian Lime Trees for our citrus orchard, and a stack of inspiring books from the library. The titles alone send our imaginations whirring.
We had our weekly date at the bakery, indulging in leisurely visits, cheesy quiche, and sips of ice cold sarsaparilla to cool us off in the blistering heat after the storm.
After such a wonderful but tiring day in town, I like to keep things simple on the food front, raiding the pantry for things that taste good, fill us up, but require no preparation. This does the trick nicely.
What is your favorite simple meal after a day out? xo
by Krista | Mar 16, 2015 | Autumn
“Anyone who has a garden, park or orchard tree has an opportunity to ensure that it offers protection, brings beauty and bears fruit for future generations.” Gabriel Hemery
When I first moved to our farm in rural Queensland, Australia, I could never have imagined the projects Bear and I would tackle as we turned this beautiful spot into a place where little dreams come true.
One of our dreams was to have our own orchard filled with apples, plums, pears, peaches, apricots, etc. But as owners of a herd of Kalahari goats with fence-busting tendencies, we had to make sure the orchard would be safe from their voracious appetites and sneaky ways. We also had to protect the fruit from marauding birds. We both love watching the amazing birds around here – galahs, cockatoos, grass parrots, kookaburras, and more – but any fruit tree left unprotected is soon devoured by the feathered beauties.
All that to say, we had our work cut out for us to grow and harvest our own fruit.
We’ve been working in stages. First we built one row of fencing of heavy duty wire around the perimeter of the Big Orchard which houses plums, peaches, citrus, and 19 grape vines. Then we pounded in star pickets to anchor the large plastic pipes that would form the base for encasing the orchard in bird netting.
This week we’re working on building an inner fence. The last line of defense to keep out pesky goats, kangaroos, and wallabies.
It’s mighty hot work out in the blazing Autumn sunshine, but over the last day or two some cooling breezes have blown in making it more bearable. Thank. Goodness.
Being out there day after day gives us the opportunity to see the orchard up close and personal. While the plums and peaches are past producing anything, the citrus portion of the orchard is flourishing. Even though the trees are only two years old, most of them are bearing good-sized oranges, lemons, and limes.
A few of them are covered with lusciously scented blossoms. I always wondered why brides in old books wore orange blossoms in their hair. Now I know. They’re pure heaven.
Some of the trees were purchase at rock bottom prices because the labels were missing and the nursery didn’t know what they were. So they’re our mystery trees, and we look forward to finding out what they are.
Working in such hot weather regular breaks in the shade with cold glasses of something to cool us down and refresh our spirits.
Our favorite drink right now is Sima, a traditional fermented Finnish drink made to celebrate May Day. It is lemony and fizzy and not-too-sweet and slightly alcoholic, rather like ginger beer. I brewed up a triple batch this weekend, and it is divine. Those Finns have a good thing going with Sima, and we are very happy to adopt their traditional drink as a delicious pick-me-up on sweltering days on the farm.
Traditional Sima is made using sliced lemons, but I have bottles of bush lemon juice I made last year that need to be used up, so I make it with straight lemon juice and bush lemon zest instead. Feel free to use whatever suits your fancy.
What is your favorite drink on a piping hot work day? xo
Bush Lemon Sima
3.5 litres/gallons of water
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup fresh squeezed bush lemon juice
1 heaped Tbsp bush lemon zest
1/8 tsp champagne or regular yeast
handful of raisins
1. Place water, sugars, juice, and zest in a large pot and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and sit until lukewarm.
2. Pour into glass demijohn (or large glass pitcher), add yeast and stir. Cover with clean tea towel and leave overnight.
3. Sterilize 4 1-litre/gallon bottles with lids.
4. In each bottle add one tsp raw sugar and 5-6 raisins.
5. Strain Sima into each bottle and seal well, giving it a vigorous swirl to help dissolve sugar.
6. Let sit at room temperature until raisins have all risen to the top of the liquid.
7. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This should nearly halt the fermentation process and stop the bottles from exploding, but check the bottles now and then just to make sure. Gentle open tops to release pressure if necessary.
by Krista | Mar 10, 2015 | Autumn
“I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter’s evening,
and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream…
I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts,
make old people’s tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting.”
Mark Twain
I love this time of year, so very much. Though I must confess that the beginnings of our Autumn feel suspiciously like the roasting hot days of the inordinately blistering Summer we’ve just had. Hopefully cooler days will come soon.
In the meantime, Bear and I are basking in the harvests of Autumn, hauling home boxes full of too ripe pears and perfectly crisp apples as we begin our initial forays into cider-making.
Over the past few months we’ve been collecting all the bits and bobs necessary for brewing our own cider, beer, wine, champagne, liqueurs, and anything else we might think of.
Our outdoor kitchen is still in the dreaming phase, so until then, our breezeway is stacked with demijohns and bottles, packages of lids and rubber seals, and the presses and mulcher Bear has been lovingly restoring and adapting to our needs.
Last week we were finally ready for the trial run of our equipment, so we got it all set up and went to work.
Our cider apple orchard isn’t planted yet, so we just picked up a couple varieties from the market and a box of pears to blend them with.
I was in charge of the mulching, getting the fruit chopped into pressable bits. It smelled amazing!! All that gorgeous apple and pear deliciousness wafting around us while we munched on apples as I fed the machine. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, I tell ya.
When the fruit was all chopped up, Bear manned the press, turning the handle and squeezing out every last bit of gorgeous juice into the waiting bucket. Then we filtered the juice into waiting demijohns, added Campden tablets and yeast, inserted the air locks, and set them into the Granny Flat to do their fermenting work.
Bear checks them all throughout the day, excitedly reporting back on the rate of air bubbles, frothing consistency, and whatnot. We’re getting rather antsy to get to the bottling and tasting stages. Oddly enough, we keep getting volunteers eager to help with that whole tasting thing. Such good friends we have. 😉
What is your favorite brew? xo
**If you fancy reading about how we got involved in making cider, pop over to our farm blog to read my hubby’s highly exaggerated account: Adventures in Cider Making 🙂
by Krista | Mar 8, 2015 | Autumn
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, sunny and quiet, just what Bear and I need after a hectic week.
We’re having a pottering sort of day, a day for naps and research for our books and for a leisurely brunch made special with Pomegranate Mojitos.
I love pomegranates. They always remind me of California, for that is where I first tasted them and became a fan for life.
I have two pomegranate trees planted and a third seedling coming along well, but didn’t think I’d get to taste any fruit until next year. Then my friend Shirley stopped by bearing pomegranates from her tree! I was thrilled. I kept them sitting in a blue bowl on my table for a whole week before using them, simply because they look so beautiful.
Yesterday I finally set aside time to process them. Pomegranates take a bit of time to get the ruby insides ready for eating, but they’re well worth the effort. While there are many methods for removing the seeds, known as arils, I find the easiest way is to simply cut off the top and bottom of the pomegranate and score along the natural humps of the fruit with a sharp knife, top to bottom. Then you can easily break it open into sections, and quickly fill your bowl with these tart little beauties.
I decided to turn them into grenadine syrup to use in various cocktails (Tequila Sunrise, Shirley Temple, etc). Grenadine is the French word for pomegranate, and is usually a shiveringly sweet syrup made with none-too-healthy corn syrup. Making it from fruit and sugar instead results in a more flavorsome syrup that doesn’t hurt your teeth with sweetness. You can make it even healthier by substituting real maple syrup for the sugar, but it does contribute a subtle maple flavor to the syrup.
Grenadine syrup is very simple to make. Barely cover pomegranate arils with water, bring to a boil, simmer for five minutes, then press through a strainer to get as much juice as possible. Measure the juice and add an equal amount of sugar, return to a boil, simmer for one minute, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Either cool and use right away or bottle it for future use.
I decided to use some in a special Pomegranate Mojito to make our Sunday Brunch extra special. Mojitos are my favorite cocktail. Always refreshing, always cooling, just the thing for a hot Sunday morning. A traditional Cuban mojito has five ingredients: lime juice, sugar, mint, white rum, and sparkling water over crushed ice. This is bliss in a glass, and the perfect base from which to experiment with different fruits. Blackberry, raspberry, they’re all delicious, and pomegranate is just as scrumptious.
What is your favorite cocktail on a hot day? xo
Grenadine Syrup Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups pomegranate arils (seeds)
water to cover
granulated sugar
Directions:
Place pomegranate arils in medium saucepan and add water until just covered.
Bring to boil over medium-high heat and simmer for 5 minutes, crushing seeds gently with potato masher to extract juice.
Remove from heat and pour through fine mesh strainer into new saucepan, pressing seeds to extract all juice.
Measure juice and add same amount of sugar.
Return to heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for one minute.
Remove from heat, cool, and bottle in sterlized bottle. If using right away, store in fridge, if saving, put through hot water bath to seal bottles.
Pomegranate Mojito
Serves 2
Ingredients:
4 tsp Grenadine syrup
Juice of one lime
20 fresh mint leaves
1.5-2 cups crushed ice
4 Tbsp white rum
chilled soda water or sparkling mineral water
mint leaves or lime wedge to garnish
Directions:
2 tsp of Grenadine syrup in each glass.
Divide lime juice and mint leaves equally between two glasses. Stir then muddle gently with muddler or mortar so leaves are bruised but not crushed.
Divide crushed ice and white rum between two glasses.
Top up with chilled soda water and garnish with mint leaves and/or lime wedge.
Serve immediately.
