FRESH

It is brilliant when just a trailer can motivate you. Thank you to Ooooby for sharing this on your Facebook page!

For those who don't know what Ooooby is, Ooooby is an organisation/community network here in New Zealand based on spreading knowledge and connecting home-growers. They encourage eating locally, growing as much of your own food as possible, seed saving/swapping and environmentally friendly gardening methods as well.

This little trailer has inspired me. As we slip into spring, I have already started sowing seeds and soon we will be preparing the gardens. I'm looking forward to the coming summer of gardening!

My partner has decided to leave his job (due to health reasons) so we'll have even more time together on my "weekends" to garden and get the plants producing nicely.

What a good mental boost for the day before I head off to my mass-consumerism-encouraging workplace.

My Days Little Project

I have been very busy lately between work and a new course I am doing, which has resulted in not a lot of blogging time or free creativity time. However, today I have had a whole day of free relaxing time and since I couldn't get to the fabric store to start my organic clothing sewing project, I thought I would sow some seeds.
I am so glad it is September and spring has officially started! I sowed some zucchinis, squash, tomatoes, peas and lettuce and while sitting on the sheltered porch, I couldn't help but think that even with the 3 walls surrounding the little seed pots, that the harsh cold winds were still getting in. I pondered perhaps finding a piece of glass to place just above the pots, to help hold in warmth. But then I got the idea of constructing my own little plastic house from items I already had around the house... and here it is.

I constructed it out of old bamboo stakes from last summer, left over plastic bags (cut into sheets), ties made from strips of old stockings and twistie ties. It might not be perfect, but I hope it will at least be better than nothing, and it saved me the $50 it would've cost me to buy a mini seedling plastic house!

Need to be cheered up by the sweeter things in life?

Rarely does anything top a brownie. Soft, fudgey, chocolatey, sugary goodness.
But an organic raspberry and walnut brownie? with organic ice cream? Oh my lordie.



Organic Raspberry and Walnut Brownies:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat Organic New Zealand Grown flour (From Harvest Wholefoods or Huckleberry Farms)
1/4 cup dark unsweetened Organic Fair Trade cocoa powder (From Trade Aid)
200g dark Organic Fair Trade chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped (From Trade Aid or your local supermarket)
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups raw, organic fair trade sugar (From Trade Aid)
5 large Organic Free-Range eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped Organic New Zealand Grown walnuts
1 cup frozen raspberries

(Oob Organic Ice Cream to serve)

Start off by sifting your flour and cocoa into a bowl. If you use whole wheat flour, this is probably a good idea. The organic whole wheat flour I have has some pretty big strands left from the wheat plants, so it's best to sift it.
Next, place a bowl over a simmering/soft boiling pot of water (making sure the bowl is quite a bit bigger than the pot) and pop the butter and chocolate into the bowl and let it melt.
Once melted, take off the heat and stir in the sugar. Next add 3 of the eggs and mix, before adding the last two and the vanilla extract and mixing again.
Once all combined, add the flour, walnuts and raspberries and fold gently until it is combined. Don't mix it too much as it will become "cakey". So once all the dry ingredients are mixed in, stop.
Pop into a lined 9 x 13 inch baking pan and pop into the oven at 190c for about 30 minutes.
Wait until they are cool before cutting into them, as they may crumble a bit when warm.

I freeze these in a container in the fridge and take them to work whenever I feel like I might need a little pick-me-up cheer up session with a brownie later in my work shift. Saves me from spending money at the vending machine and it stops me from buying a product filled with unfair ingredients!

Hope you all have a great day.

Be kind with your words, be kind with your hands and be kind with your minds.