fire's burning....

We have been enjoying clearing up some of the remains of my recent kitchen renovations by making use of the firepit. it's a 44 gallon drum made from steel and cut in half that I picked up at the tip for $2 or so. I drilled holes around the base on the outside to allow for ventilation and propped it up on a couple of old bricks and hey presto - it's a fireplace. I have a grate I can put over the top to make it a bbq too.


There's something magical about flames, I can sit and watch them for hours, occasionally adding a log or repositioning... We have had a few dinner parties now outside around it with mugs of soup and fresh bread, cooking damper as the coals die down (delicious) or just enjoying it while people are arriving and chatting. an essential part of the backyard :)

Garden Lovers Fair and hummus recipe

Last sunday I woke up, looked outside and felt a sigh of relief as I saw the sun. It was the sunday of the Garden Lover's Fair, annual fundraiser of our permaculture group, and the weather can be quite changeable at this time of year and the fair is amazing, the biggest collection of plant growers, seeds, garden supplies on the south coast, and this year we increased the focus on food products and sustainable living.

I spent a lot of time on the gate, and behind the permaculture stand, answering questions about growing food, living sustainably, meeting times etc, and eventually found some time to have a wander around, buy my spring seedlings (there's a store that does pick your own punnet - so I got a punnet with 2 each of tomato, capsicum and eggplant, and one with different herbs and some red onions.

Also got a strawberry guava and a lillipilli (native food producing plant) which I'm going to plant in my neighbours yard ( we have a hold in the fence so I can get in to water and harvest) and an orchid I have been wanting to get for a while... I then texted my hubby to say thankyou to him for buying me such a lovely gift.

One of the highlights was the cooking demonstrations that were put on by www.ifeelgood.com.au with a vege tagine, hummus and salad. I went home and made the salad and hummus monday night, and it was amazing...

1 tin of chickpeas drained

1/4 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 clove garlic

salt

Put all in a food processor and start it, slowly adding water to the mix until it is a smooth consistency and able to be poured (like thick cream)

Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika and served with flatbread to dip.

YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hello world

I haven't posted on here... gosh in maybe over a year. life has been busy. Hectic. managing nearly fulltime work, parttime study and life is hard, but I have my eye on the prize, graduating at the end of the year. And I've also had another big thing happen this year... I got married.
So last weekend, despite the wet weather as we were staying in camping caves (giant overhangs that stay pretty much permanently dry) we went on our first hike on our own. Love hiking in the Budawangs, on the east coast of Australia, and the fact that it is only just down the road for us is amazing!

On the second night, I was very grateful that there were two caves, as a scout troop arrived to stay the night after we had settled down at Gadarra Point. They were pretty good, and it was funny to hear a family voice coming down the hill towards us (I knew one of the leaders) It was good to have a chat, and they showed us a track to a waterfall that isn't marked on the maps.

Well, I am going to try and post regularly again - once a week minimum and hope to see some of you here again.