And while I am on a roll, the weather today...

Weather forecasts are funny things. How can they tell what the weather will do tomorrow with so many variables involved? Last night, for instance, the weather forecast claimed we would have showers all day...



But this is what we woke up to this morning...sunshine! Not that I am complaining, in any way!!!

On a roll, or should that be a muffin...

I felt the urge to make muffins this morning. Mainly because I had some stewed fruit and didn't know what I was going to do with it
:) So as I lay half asleep I conjured in my head a batch of rhubarb apple and custard muffins...mmm...The challenge being to make them vegan. So I made a mix for basic muffins, added soy milk, oil and fruit in place of the milk butter and eggs, plopped some custard (also soy milk) in the middle and hey presto...They probably needed a tad more sugar, but they taste just fine otherwise :)

choc oaty treats

I love baking, and I am reasonably successful at most things I try. My only problem is I have children who prefer the dough to the end product! So the big people are left to eat it all...Until now... Now I have found the perfect compromise. It is from Leah Leneman's Easy Vegan Cooking, and it is called Oaty Chocolate Treats. I actually thought they were biscuits when I started making them the first time, and I got half way through before I realised they were not baked. They are a kinda fudgy sauce mixed with oats, fruit and nuts. But best of all everyone loves them in my house (for now anyway....) . I like them because they remind me of chocolate krispie cakes I used to make with my aunty Fofa :) (I guess you can use the same base recipe to make a vegan version of this old fave)

photo essay

This is how my 6 year old sees things around the house...

spring

So spring is happening right now all over the place! All my fruit trees have been flowering and greening up a little. I have been clearing beds and digging in compost in the past week or so. Also have got pots on the go, sprinkled with seeds such as mesclun, lettuces, basil and cocktail tomatoes. We have been germinating seeds, and trying to be patient. I find this time of year difficult...like doing prep for painting, I hate to have to wait! At least the weather is warming up and we no longer need fires and heaters :) And once I find batteries for my camera I can post the photos.

Dirt under the nails

You certainly know when it is spring as all of a sudden there is constant dirt under your fingernails! I do own a pair of gardening gloves, yet it just seems easier to get my hands dirty than actually go hunt them out from the shed. Today was beautiful and sunny, so I managed to spend a little time in the garden...after spending the morning walking about 3 hours to the markets, through town and back again! So I finally put in a few beetroot seeds, some rainbow chard/silverbeet and dug out an annoyingly placed agapanthus (which looked easier than it was!) I have also spent this evening putting seeds into makeshift seedraising trays (aka egg cartons, unrecyclable plastic tubs etc..) so come the equinox I will be all ready to go! Roll on summer!
And right now I am off to sit with the girls and watch some old films we rented from the best DVD/video store in town, Auteur House...you gotta love a video store set out by director, especially when you are an ex film student :) Singin' in the Rain will certainly make for light entertainment in comparison to the peak oil docos we have been watching of late!

The vegans might be onto something....

I was just reading over at Nikki's blog about her vegan leanings. The more you learn about the impact we have on the planet the more you realise that the vegans are onto something. One quote I read lately, which all those who are trying to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle should think about, (but can't seem to remember exactly where I read it!) was ...A Meateater on a Bicycle leaves a bigger carbon footprint than a Vegan in a Hummer. For the run down see easygreenatlanta.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_arch...

Our family have already chosen to be vegetarian, and it is difficult even for us to take it a step further. Well, not all of us...as my 5 year old announced a few weeks ago she has decided not to drink cows milk anymore. On questioning her reasons she told us that if all the people drink the cow's milk there won't be any left for the baby cows (I just about cried!). But the reality is that our current version of agriculture, in NZ anyway, creates more CO2 than our oil consumption! And aswell as that often pollutes our waterways and promotes the use of chemicals and hormones. Not to mention limiting the lifespan of the animals, and there are cruelty issues also. It is something to think about...

Realistically our family could survive on what we grow in our garden, if we plan well. That said we would have trouble with grains as space is an issue when your useable section is only about 890m2. Perhaps we could grow lots of buckwheat and corn? Or throw in a patch of wheat in our front yard if push came to shove. Like Nikki we can't have a cow or a goat, so dairy is out, but we have room for more chooks if we wanted to continue eating eggs. As they say, for evey problem there is a solution :)