Off The Grid And Loving It

Comfrey drying on garden bed to put in with potatoes.  Did you know that potatoes will crop more heavily if you add dried comfrey when you plant tomatoes.  Make sure you let it dry or the comfrey will grow where you don't want it !    

Another view of the permaculture garden at the Eco village    

Our willing garden helpers are usually congregated quite close to where we are and it doesn't take much to get them to come in and help out but they are almost too helpful and can clear a garden very fast.  Sometimes we sit and drink coffee and watch them do all the work and return to a well tilled garden that we can just plant and walk away.

Apart from eating them fresh, these are one of our favorite ways of having tomatoes and is super simple to do with a yummy taste as the tomatoes sweeten on baking.  Simply cut your tomatoes in half, grease a suitable dish, pop the tomatoes on the plate or dish, sprinkle with salt and a small teaspoon of brown sugar to counteract the acid, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and bake in a slow oven while you are cooking the rest of your tea.  Pull out, sprinkle with herbs (basil is our fave !) and Enjoy. For more yummy, healthy recipes visit Quick Healthy Recipes for You 

We were looking for some interesting climbing frames for beans and wanted something natural and of course cheap, or practically free so made up these bamboo ones.  They were pretty easy to make really - just tied at the joints with - well, I have to admit a penny pinching idea here - cut up old T shirts !  These are best as they are stretchy and have more give and you can still get a firmer and tighter knot that will last and make them stronger.  We put the cute trims around as we were trimming back the honeysuckle and it also gave the plants something extra to hang on to. 

Latest Off the Grid craze at our house - Winemaking Recycled bottles all assembled, grapes prepared, patience is not prepared .... Collect and save all the bottles from that wine you have consumed. We are kicking ourselves now at all the wine bottles we took to be recycled when we lived in the city as we could sure do with them all right now.     

Now, let me see, what would I be doing if I was not off the grid and loving it ? Probably be in meetings, whizzing round from appointment to appointment and not have a minute to call my own. Instead, I have time to plant a healthy garden, grow my own food, pickle and preserve the harvest and make wine, jams and bread.   I have definitely escaped to the country.    

Just a wee sample of what was in the basket for tea tonight - these are supposed to be mini cherry tomatoes but some are getting bigger than that. We love cherry tomatoes as they are so sweet and are even more delicious baked in the oven.  The Beans are stringless and the cucumbers are Lebanese and there are a couple of varieties of courgettes - I really like the ones at the top as they are "meatier" and seem to have a fuller flavour  Visit Grow Your Own Veg to find out how to grow your own 

This was growing on a tree in the garden and it is the weirdest thing - pigs ear fungus and it looks exactly like that - took quite a few photos so expect to see it again !

We went recently for a visit to a local eco village and saw some permaculture gardens and came back inspired to switch ours around (again) They had quite a few compost heaps, and lots of interesting ideas, like climbing frames for plants and  companion planting 

Seems neighbours are still peering over the fence even in the country ! But its pretty neat to have four legged neighbours and friendly as well.  We had forgotten how curious cows are !  One of our ex-farmer told us to put a radio outside and the whole herd will arrive to see what is happening. get your own four legged curious neighbours and live the good life  in the countryside 

Collecting firewood.  After the storm the paddocks were full of broken off tree branches all ready to use in the garden or for firewood and it seemed a pity not to collect it and make use of it.