Living Lightly Seed Saving Talk

Well I am back and for those who missed me last week I was very sick with flu and spent most of my time doing nothing but sleeping and coughing. I do remember that it rained solid as well. Finally this week though I am back on my feet. Had my infusion as ordered, even though I had to put it off a week, started back at embroidery class, and choir also, so feel the beginning of normal routine is happening.
Today I did my final talk, on Seed Saving, so part of last week was getting notes together.
This was held at Woolgoolga Community Garden and due to the rain all week, not many turned up although it was a lovely day, and this suited me just fine.

Members Beds

Woolgoolga's new pavilion from a distance.

It is a large area in an Industrial estate, with an equally large pavilion.

The compost bins were very impressive, the soil looked great.

I tried out a new gadget which makes your voice louder. A battery operated thing and it worked fine. It belongs to our community garden and will help those throw their voice in our pavilion.

 

Members beginning the set up.

I made it a hands on workshop after explaining the history of how our current seeds came to be.

Sorting out all the stuff

John helped out by handing out seeds for them to pull apart and put in envelopes.

Busy sorting lettuce seeds.

All in all I think it was a successful day. I was exhausted when I got home, and slept on the couch. It has been a hot sticky day as well,with no rain, for the first time in days. I need also to spend some time now, getting my health back to normal, as I realised I have very little energy.

They look interested.

Explaining how this pumpkin had been cross pollinated.

As usual there was a bearded dragon running about.

And my favorite dog breed.

I have had all sorts of seeds floating about the house, so now it is time for me to sort everything out and probably toss a few out of date and start fresh for this year.


Till Next Time.

Taking it Easy

Good and bad news this week, sadly I can not go to the Embroidery Expo in Brisbane as that weekend I have a talk on seed saving, at Woolgoolga Community Garden. This is a paid workshop and as this is funding my doll adventure, need to do this. There is always the Stitches and Craft or similar we could visit, later in the year.

Good news is I finished bottling the tomatoes with blitzing them as well as adding onion and garlic, then adding a variety of herbs like rosemary, paprika, thyme, and a couple of stock cubes. Ended up with 6 bottles of thickish mixture. I still kept a third back for eating, so did well I think.

Other than that, because it has been so hot, been concentrating on my dolls and embroidered cloth which I hope to finish in a week or so as  I assume class will start beginning Feb. after Australia Day. I also have been sample knitting little jackets, in cotton 4 ply, and now need to steam block them.

Knitted in cotton for different size dolls

I have been trying a new face for a much more sculptured doll that I didn't like the face to. This one to me has appeal, I shall see once I get some hair on her. I am rather liking the embroidery for the eyes, although it takes more time, rather than beads. It is very relaxing.

My next doll is in felt, and smaller, which will be unusual for me, as I haven't worked with  felt before, and it arrived this week.

I have ordered some different material as well a Kona Cotton, for yet another type. Chasing all this stuff down does take time, so hopefully it will pay in the end, otherwise when I am gone the Children's Hospital will get a great donation in dolls lol. Love making them.

 Yesterday and last night we had a great deal of rain, so I hope you also got it in your area. Would be lovely to see the drought break but I don't think that was it. At least the tanks partially filled up again.

Beetroot on Left Carrots on Right.

I am experimenting with some seeds, by putting in water till sprouted then mixing up a gluggy  cornflour paste, and combining the seeds with the cold mix. This is then put in a zip lock and cutting a hole in the corner then squeezing it along a row in soil. As the seeds are already sprouted should just start growing. We shall see, and will keep you informed.

Tomorrow we are expecting a landscape guy to give us a quote on fixing the back yard up. That should be interesting!!!$$$

Till next time.

Canning, Dehydrating, Preserving Workshop.

Today I did another workshop at the Community Gardens and have come home exhausted. 5 ways to preserve fruit and vegetables is not easy, so many things to think of.

Getting ready before visitors arrived.

27 turned up which is not a bad number and all were very interested. My sister Jan, was a great help again, handing out a couple of notes, and moving things out of the way.

Mango

As I was trying my best to promote Fowlers products, Jan had a dehydrator she got at an op shop so bought that in, full of dehydrated puree.

Blueberry and Mango.

Mango and Blueberry which cut up into fruit Rollups. Pieces were served at lunch and it disappeard very quickly. I also took some seeds in of Madagascar beans,  so for  Jan's  "bring a plate" she made patties out of the beans, and served it with salsa. Everyone was keen to try.
Fowlers sent me some catalogues and pamphlets and these were available also for taking.

Showing off the raffle.

We had our raffle there as well, a quilt that Jan made as first prize, John gave an introductory speech welcoming the Gumbaynggirr tribe and generally the do's and don'ts we have to go through each time.

I talked about saving money, jam making, pickles, chutneys and  preserves,bottling and " pressure canning" USA term that enables you to bottle meat and vegetables without vinegar. Plus dehydrating, and vacuuming. I made flash cards to keep me on track. Showed how to put Fowlers rings and lids together to bottle, and also Balls the American brand that is now available in Australia. Plus how a pressure canner works and Fowlers water bath method.

Showing how to use a Spiral Apple Cutter. Always a laugh a minute when I do these demos.

I took in a small amount of jams, pickles, preserved apples and pears I did this past week. One question I asked was "How long they could last if all the local supermarkets closed down"  "Hands up if you could last one week without shopping". About 6 put their hand up and I was quite shocked. No-one for 2 weeks. So many were surprised when I talked about how the Mormons have a programme for storing 1 years supply and the Latter Day Saints, 3 months on their website. This I consider a reasonable figure, but even a month is good. You never know if for some reason you are stuck at home for a length of time, through illness or a natural disaster.

Just a sample of preserves I took in.

Dehydrating was popular, and quite a lot were interested in getting started with that. Mine is a 7 tray one so a good comparison with the round one, and the dehydrated bananas I served up  at lunch disappeared. Also sent around in tiny ziplock bags slices of tomato so they could feel how dehydrated they were, and several herbs, most people would buy. The final bit was talking about vacuuming and storing food whether dehydrated or just bulk flour, rice etc.

This was about vacuuming.

John finished up with his talk on fermenting like Kim chi and  how to make crunchy pickled onions. Friday I picked a whole heap of nasturtium seeds and bottled them with a spices and vinegar mix, so many were intrigued to try them at lunch also. 

Our lucky door prize was a book Fowlers sent and some Seaweed Powder from Eco from the last Workshop. So happy these companies help me.

All in all I was very pleased with the day, even if my brain is a bit empty now.


Till Next Time.