A Busy Beetroot Sunday

The day started off with a request for pancakes. Seeing that I had an extra hour this morning ( daylight savings finished and the clock was wound back) I kindly obliged.

Then it was time for a quick trip to town for Easter Hat Parade supplies and some seedlings. I managed to get in some more broccoli, beetroot and a heap of onions. While I was pottering I also got a lot more corn plants. I have also decided to grow sunflowers so that I have lots of seeds to feed the chooks. They go totally mad over them, to the point where they always pick them out first in the seed mix.

Then it was time to get the creative juices flowing. The boys had excellent designs for their Easter hats and I had to beg to have a go at painting the foam eggs. The parade is on Wednesday.

While the paint and glue was drying I managed to process some beetroot that I picked yesterday, using my mother-in-law's recipe.

When you pull the beetroot from the ground, twist the leaves off and leave the messy stumpy bit on the top and the root ball. at the bottom. Wash all the dirt off and boil them in a little salted water until a cooking fork will go right through them.

Remove them from the pot and let them cool completely. Then peel them by rubbing the skins off. They come off really easily.

Then slice them up ( cutting off the yucky top and bottom) and put them into a container. I had my trusty Tupperware on hand. I like the way it lifts the beetroot up and it has a lifetime guarantee.

 
Then mix 500 mL of vinegar and 250 mL of boiling water and dissolve two dessertspoons of sugar into it. Pout the mixture over the beetroot and discard the remaining mix.

After retrieving the washing from the line and managing to get some ironing time in it was time to start preparing dinner ( by my body clock - but the clock said it was only 3.45 pm lol)

Dinner was very easy tonight, just some 'special' fried rice because we had a big meal last night. . I just cook the rice first, stir fry some bacon and then scramble some eggs into it ( i used three) a clove of garlic and a few splashes of soy sauce and then pour in the rice ( I use basmati ). Then I pour in a chicken stock cube dissolved in a cup of water and then add some peas or shallots or corn or whatever I have on hand.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday. I certainly did.

Handmade Easter Card

Garden Update

Most things are growing quite well in the garden, although we aren't eating much from it at the moment because we were so bad at overlapping the harvesting of different plants. We tend to have feast and then famine, floods of beans and then nothing. We are really working on trying to stagger the planting better to prevent that problem in the future.

Little green caterpillars are attacking the broccoli leaves like crazy. They did the same last season as well. Luckily they don't eat the usable part of the plant, so we just let them go. It makes the plants look ugly but it's better than spraying them. Perhaps you have some way of getting rid of them using natural products? Does the soap and oil spray work on this little grub ? Please share a recipe if you have one.

The basil is fabulous and brings a lovely fresh flavour to past sauces. I love being able to go and grab handfuls of leaves as I need them. Before growing our own basil I used to buy a plastic wrapped pack of fresh basil from the supermarket. It would be fine for the first dish but would be soggy and lifeless when I needed it again three or four days later.

A herb garden is a great starting point if you don't already have a garden established. Even if you don't have much space, you can have a few pots of herbs growing on the front porch or even on the kitchen window sill. I use basil, shallots and coriander the most. Once you taste the fresh flavour in your food, it is hard to go back.

My in-laws arrive on Monday and I am looking forward to learning my mother-in-laws beetroot preserving method so I can take care of these little babies.

TV Free Week

Picture from allposters.com

We have joined with friends of ours in going tv free from Monday to Thursday.

Our friends said they were interested in getting their kids more motivated and having earlier nights themselves. We thought we would also give it a go. Even though we don't watch commercial television, we do watch the ABC and the occasional SBS programme. One of the difficulties is that the shows we enjoy are in a bad time slot for our kids.

They enjoy The New Inventors, Collectors and Catalyst, but all of these are on in an 8pm time slot.

I thought there would have been more opposition to the box being switched off. We have don't it a few times in the past without any problem, but number one son is now ten years old and really enjoys science programmes.

Anyway, we have flicked the switch. There was a slight murmur on Monday when I reminded number one son of our choice, but he got over it pretty quickly when I joined him in doing some other activities. Number two son is seven and he could take it or leave it. He is more of an outdoors man!

After Monday.... they haven't even mentioned it! They do homework, they "play", they draw, they build models with cardboard boxes and they try to hypnotise the chooks! They are so funny to listen to.

Last night we commented about the change in them. We started to think about their imaginations and giving them time for their brains to expand and think of wonderful ideas. Often these ideas only arise out of total boredom. When they have to ask the question 'what is there to do?'

It's got me thinking. If our kids are watching two to three hours of television a day - is that time when there brains are in a vegetative state? Are we not allowing our kids to reach their true potential because their brains are 'on hold' for such a huge amount of the week ?

As far as the favourite programmes go, I taped 'Top Gear', and 'The New Inventors' and I will tape catalyst tonight. They are welcome to watch them on Friday night or over the weekend.

I wonder whether it will be a sustainable idea, or whether we will slowly go back to sneaking a few programmes in here and there.

I know that I much prefer listening to the boys talk to each other, play, argue and resolve issues as well as make up 'toilet humour' jokes and limericks. The only issue I have is that I am ready for bed at 7.30pm LOL

What is the TV situation in your house ? Are you happy with it? Do you have any TV rules or guidelines ? Are you a TV addict and happy with your choice ? - would love to hear from you on this topic.

Earth Hour - A Step Back In Time

Last night we had dinner with some friends to celebrate a birthday. It co-incided with Earth Hour, a now annual event where participants are encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour from 8.30pm as in indication of support and to raise awareness of global climatic concerns.

Our boys knew all about Earth Hour because they had been discussing it at school. They packed torches to take with them and I packed a few extra candles, not sure what our hosts would have.

The kids ( there were nine of them) were watching a movie, playing the playstation and generally doing modern day kid things! When it was time to turn the lights out, however, out came the torches and games of spotlight and spooks started, as well as going out to look for flying foxes ( bats) and jumping on the trampoline with torches ( to the tune of squeals of delight). After that they came in and played the piano and we all commented on how lovely it was. Two of the boys in particular play really well and we enjoyed their Pachobel's Canon duet.

The grown ups continued their dinner party by candlelight and it was all very lovely. When the birthday cake came out we joked about not blowing the candles out because we needed the extra light until 9.30pm.

It always surprises me that as soon as our modern convenience is removed it doesn't take long before we revert back to our natural ways. We adjust very quickly to the inconvenience. The kids suddenly rely on their imaginations and have the greatest fun, the grown ups have a lovely night because of the change in mood or ambiance brought about by the softer lighting.

....and of course, as Pachabel's Cannon was playing in the background, it was a moment of joy when someone said ' you know, this is what it would have been like in the olden days'......... joy of joys!

So Dark Before The Dawn

I am really missing my morning quiet time. I like to have some time before the sun comes up to sit and ..... well just sit, or download all the ideas that raced around in my head throughout the night, or blog, or read or write lists.... and lists..... and then summary lists! lol

But the sun is coming up very late at the moment. It is after 7am which in my books is way too late! I don't have an alarm clock. I sleep with the blinds up so I can see the stars and hear the first bird warn me of the impending daylight. But 7am ? That means by the time the birds start, it is already close to 6.30am and I feel robbed of my quiet time.

I try to start each day with a strong morning routine. If I can get through that then all is well with the world. Households with children can be danger zones in the morning. Having a predictable steady paced routine is much better for everyone's mental health. Believe me, I have tried looking for that pair of shoes at the last minute only to attempt getting out the back door and realising that one child doesn't have a hat which means ' no play' - it is a much saner option to opt for the night before readiness programme and the subsequent peaceful morning.

After the whirlwind has left I can start my 'whip round'. Finish making the beds, swish the loo and perform the meditative daily sweep.

In keeping with my focus of health and fitness I have been taking the time to do some exercise and fuel up with a huge breakfast. Breakfast like a king and dinner like pauper.

Thinking back to my Grandmother's ways - routines were an integral part of life. Can you imagine the family getting up to have no fire going, not hot water, nothing cooked ..... because the wife 'didn't feel like it today' lol How times have changed!

Routines were essential to the running of daily life. Now days, we seem to be able to take it or leave it. If we don't feel like doing the washing, the family has more than enough clothes in wardrobes. If we don't feel like cooking there is always the drive thru! In my grandmothers day if she didn't wash, there were no other clothes. They had work clothes and church clothes. If she didn't cook, they didn't eat because there were no take away restaurants! I remember her telling me that on one occasion she didn't iron the pillow cases and they had unexpected visitors drop in and stay the night and when she had to pull out the un-ironed pillow case she felt humiliated because it was a great shame! lol Yes.... things have surely changed.

But back to my world....... I have to wait until April before daylight savings finishes and I get my extra daylight in the morning. Until then..... I will continue blogging away in the dark feeling cheated because the day is well underway yet the sun is not doing her job!

A Day At Saltwater

Photo from www.chilternlodge.com.au

Yesterday I spent the day as a parent helper with my youngest son's class. We went to Saltwater National park for the day as part of their "by the sea" unit of study. Saltwater is an area that has the beach on one side and a lagoon and mangroves on the other. It has walking trails all around it and is a popular picnic spot and an aboriginal historical site.

We were broken up into small groups and I had my son and two other children with me to wander around in the scrub and on the beach to discover as much as we could and classify things into living and dead.

Number Two son is a real nature boy anyway, so he was in his element. I loved seeing his eyes light up as we found three different star fish in the rock pools. I can't wait to see his drawings.

So......A joyful day because I was able to watch some real learning take place and secondly just because I was there, something I would have missed if working full time.