Making butter

 On Saturday we went to Magic Meadow Farm in Lovely Banks to check out what they have and what they do, as our veggie box delivery lady (Kirsten from Casuarina Biodynamic Farm) is having a month off to recharge the batteries.  My good friend Bec has been making butter in her mum's Thermomix with Jonesy's 5 litre bottle of cream.  She'd set the idea percolating in my head until last week when SouleMama mentioned she makes butter in her food processor.  I don't have a Thermomix, but I do have a food processor, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Magic Meadow sells these big 5 litre bottles of cream, I've never seen such a big bottle of cream!

 Here it is with the buttermilk separated, needing to be washed in cold water.  You have to wash out as much of the buttermilk as possible so it stays fresh.

 Washed butter

 Ready to be kneaded on the board for a bit to get the last of the moisture out of it.

Pressed into moulds ready to be frozen.  Then it can be taken out of the freezer a bit at a time, as needed.  This is how much buttermilk I got out of 2 batches, I'm making it in batches of about 1 litre at a time.  We should have enough butter to last quite a while, and it works out at half the price of the organic butter I was buying.  I'll be making a batch per day, until all the cream is used up.  2 down, 3 to go!

Where else would you be...

but on top of a clothes horse on a sunny winter's day

Giveaway and sale time!

In celebration of all things Winter, end of financial year, and winter school holidays coming up, I've decided to have a little giveaway.  The prize is one item from my Etsy shop, or I'll custom make for you if need be.  All you have to do is tell me in the comments section below, which item from my shop is your favourite.  You can gain 1 extra entry each for a mention on your blog, Facebook, Twitter etc.  Just come back here and put in another comment for each extra entry.  Good luck everyone, winner will be chosen by random number generator on the 1st of July.
I'm also offering 25% off all orders until the end of June with the code JUNE25

In the press again

Here's the latest from my stint in the print media, an upcycling article in GC Magazine.  The girls are pretty excited to be in a magazine!

Making almond butter

After buying some loose dry roasted almonds from the local wholefoods co-operative yesterday, I made some package free almond butter.  I've been using a bit of nut butter lately, after adopting a bit of a non strict grain free/paleo type diet.  The choc chip cookies that I mentioned earlier this week use almond butter, and the stuff is not cheap, so why not make my own?  I have a food processor, add almonds, whizz up for a few minutes, and you have delicious smelling almond butter.  I used the method from here.

The Vital Few

If you're trying to figure out how to divest from fossil fuels, here's an easy way to send a letter to your superannuation fund, to find out where they stand on fossil fuel investments.  Take a look at The Vital Few's website.

Long weekending

I made another batch of Almond butter chocolate chip cookies, the best gluten free choc chip cookie recipe I've found that the whole family loves.  Not nut free lunch box friendly though.  I use Rapadura sugar (the only sugar we keep in the house now), and add a sprinkle of cinnamon too.

Andrew and I went to the local tip shop, as he was looking for a bar stool so he can sit at his work bench in the garage.  We bought one for $5, and came away with this piece of reo mesh for $5 too.  I've been wanting some reo for a while, to use as a trellis (I need a few more sheets), the only catch was that it didn't fit in the car, so I had to walk it home, which took me about 15 minutes.

My blueberry plants arrived from Diggers, 2 Blue rose and 1 Brigitta varieties.  The Brigitta tends to fruit all at once, but the blue rose has a spread out fruiting season.  Having 2 varieties should help with pollination.

Latest op shop finds- a mincer which can be used as a tomato machine when making passata, a cute ceramic honey pot, and a Johnson Brothers bowl in the Olde English Countryside pattern.  I'm a bit drawn to transferware, and I think I'd like to collect this particular set.  Hopefully I'll find some more.

Andrew and I started our long weekend by seeing Bill McKibben's Do the Maths presentation at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on Friday night.  Bill was an excellent speaker, with a dry sense of humour.  The main points I got from the show were:

-We don't have much time to act on climate change;

-We need to take our money away from fossil fuel companies- look at your superannuation and where it is invested, put your banks on notice (the big 4 banks in Australia all invest in fossil fuel);

-We need as much renewable energy as we can get, as soon as possible;

-Most of the remaining fossil fuels need to be left in the ground.

Haven't seen these in a while

I haven't made these smock tops in a while, I thought it would be fun to make a couple out of woollen blankets, and line them with vintage bed sheets.  I think they turned out pretty well, and this style still fits Liv- she wants to keep one!  These two are in my shop now.

Upcycled tablecloth dress in shop

I found this beautiful little cross stitched tablecloth in an op shop on Saturday, I had to wash it straight away so it could be made into a little dress.  It would have to be my favourite so far, in excellent condition.  It's a size 5, and now in the shop.  It's time for a little shop restock, I've sold out of a lot of items in the past month.