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Home is where you lay your hat ...for now

We have not been in our own home now for nearly 2 years. It is being rented out to strangers while we live here on the other side of Australia earning enough spare cash so we can buy a farm and move back to Far North Queensland.

Like most communities all over the world, the financial collapse effected many. In our case our local economy was based on tourism ,construction and the sugar industry . With no tourism, there was little need for many staff , then there was no need for extra accommodation to be built so the building industry was hit. We had a couple of bad years with the weather so even the sugar cane was affected. This caused many in the community to scatter to find work. This is why we are over here in Perth now.

I was very house and yard conscious in Qld and found when I got here to a new climate and house that was not mine, I found it hard to find the motivation to really get in and do what I always have. However today I realized that somewhere along the line I have done an  unconscious slide to the home movement without giving it much thought.

It was "wheelie bin " day today and I was just mooching around the front of our rented house pulling the last few stragglers of weeds to toss into the bin. I looked around, nodded my head happy with my work and walked past the veggie garden that has actually taken me almost a year to get to seedling stage. I was patting myself on the back for such a good job when I realized I had crossed over to homeowner status.

This is when I realized in order to live a truly fulfilled life you must feel as if where you are living feels like "home". It doesn't matter if you own where you live or rent. We all find ourselves "nesting" in order to feel good about the space we inhabit. If you don't feel comfortable .....maybe you need to put in a few personal touches to show that this is your space for now. Growing veggies amongst the flowers, rearranging your home to suit your families changing needs, or even just being very house proud is the start of realizing that home is wherever you are at the time.

Beetroot Jam

Much to my children's dismay, when I have a glut of fruit and vegetables I quite often try to work out what else beside "normal" eating can I do with these items. Just recently it was beetroot. I had bought some beets from the markets thinking I would make a roasted beetroot salad. Alas, time got away from me (as it nearly always does) and I was caught with these beets looking a bit soft and crying out to me to do something with them. This is when I decided to have a go at beetroot jam.

Now I rarely use a recipe as I can't seem to follow them very well. Don't get me wrong, I have heaps of cook books, and I love reading them, but I find some ingredients just wont pass muster in this house so over the years I have had to adapt and change the ingredients to suit the fussy males I live with. This also means I have to change quantities as well, so I try to visualize the process and possible taste in my head. 99% of the time this works. When we have a fail, commonly called a flop in this house....all come running and attack the remains and start giving "advice".

In my fridge this particular clean-out day were some apples that had been forgotten and passed over for grapes and stone fruit, so they too needed to be cooked up.This was just what I needed as the beets don't really contain much pectin at all. I cored the apples as well as peeled them,and placed cores,skin and all seeds  in a material bag that could be pulled out at a later date.This was then put in a pot that also held the chopped  up beets (next time I will grate them), my chopped and sliced apples as well as the juice of a couple of lemons I squeezed.A small amount of water so the fruit does not catch (burn) on the bottom...that's it. See , no recipes.....just guide lines to recipes.

removing pectin from cores

I then just kept this all on low heat  bubbling away until all the beets are soft (ish). I then pulled out the bag of cores/skins and squeezed out the pectin.  This is the gel like substance that oozes out of the bag. I put the containing mixture from the bag into a sieve and pushed through all the gel that I could. This then gets put back into the beet/apple mix.The fruit mix should now be soft enough to have sugar added to it. If not...grab a stick blender and give the fruit mix a hard time. This will make spreading of the fruit jam so much easier when all is done. I then add sugar to the fruit mix cup(of fruit) for cup(of sugar). If however I don't want it so sweet, I cut back a bit on the sugar....or add some extra lemon juice. You have to be aware that if you don't get enough pectin from your apple cores, and don't put in enough sugar...your jam wont set or keep for long outside a fridge.

This mixture now bubbles away till it says "jam set" on your thermometer, or till the jam gels on a chilled saucer.In the meantime while this mix has been turning itself from veggies to jam, I have washed some jars, boiled them in hot water to kill all bacteria (germs) as well as the lids...and are now ready to fill as soon as the mixture is ready. When all is cooked I remove any "scum" looking substance from the fruit mix. There is nothing wrong with this, except that is looks yukky when cooled down if you have put it into your jars. I now ladle the mix into my still warm to hot jars (if cold they will crack) and flip them over when done.

After about10 to 20 mins the seals on the lids would have sucked in and these will be good to keep on the shelf for quite a few months. If you want to take it one step further you can put them into a water bath to ensure the vacuum seal. If you do this you will need to add just a little extra lemon juice to the mix to ensure you have the correct acid level.Follow the instructions of your water bath booklet so you know how long to boil them for.

This mix was actually not to sweet at all, and put on some freshly made bread and butter, it tasted just great.
PS... One son only knows this as purple jam. What he doesn't know wont hurt him. Give it a go...it's quite nice.
PPS If you don't have any apples to create pure pectin, you can buy sachets of "jam setta". This is a Fowlers Vaccola product that contains pectin and sugar as a carrier. Just follow the instructions on the packet.

What is retirement ?

Hubby and I over lunch today were discussing our Farm. We were jotting down how we were going to do the walled garden, how and where to place the different garden beds; as well as where would it be best to fit the chook pen. Where we plan to move to is a cyclone prone area, so we need to take into account the direction of the winds when the cyclones, inevitably , arrive each year.
While we were doing this we realized our age will be in the late 50's by the time our first lot of trees become close to maturity. This is the age when a lot of folk are ready to retire.Which then started the question. What is retirement.??

We are in the process of planning our future and will be so busy we wont really be able to "retire" till they bury us. Many people talk about retirement as if it is a time to just stop.As if it is an end to their existence that they don't like and it is somewhere to run to. But what do you do once you get there.???

Yes, I fully understand when you are working huge hours doing the day to day grind  that retirement sounds like a great holiday. But if you ask someone what they will do in their retirement all you will get most of the time is "nothing" or "golf" or "sleep".....but really after the first month you will be looking for something, and unless you are prepared you will have a long time being just plain old bored.

We hope to be self sufficient and that means learning so many new things, as well as being reacquainted with some old skills ( just a little buried in the sub conscious). And because of this we are so excited about the future. We can't wait to start, but as  goals go, we need to stay where we are just a little longer. So in the mean time we will hunt down tools and machinery that will come in handy as well as learn and read as much as possible. We are preparing our special needs son as well. He is just as keen. The future to us is very bright indeed. There will be no time for "golf" "sleeping late" or "doing nothing"

I CANT WAIT !!!!

How's and Whys to Budget

Just before Christmas I was writing an article for our website and got a little out of hand. In the process my hubby suggested I turn it into a PDF. This we did. If you would like to read it feel free. We don't charge for the information in our heads. So when we write something, generally will hand it out for free.Below is an excerpt from the Hows and Whys of Budgeting PDF

.............What do you believe is your main motivation for doing or having a budget? Are you just going through the motions because that is what your spouse wants you to do? Have you contacted a help line and they have suggested you do this? Or are you under a debt repayment plan that requires you to do it? These reasons are not bad motivations, however they are external pressures that may not be easy to maintain over a long period. It is similar to giving up smoking. If you are told to do it, it won’t happen…however if you choose to stop then the chances of success are very high. That’s the feelings and motivation you need when doing a budget. If you choose to do it, then every decision you make when it comes to spending your cash becomes a choice and puts you in the driver’s seat.

 

If you start a budget be aware that you need a positive attitude, realistic expectations and motivation from within, then the chances of getting it right is much higher than without.With all the pieces of the puzzle in place, you should be able to achieve your goals.>>>>>>>>> click here to read on

 I hope this booklet may be able to help someone find the information they are looking for. If not I'm sure if you look around you may find something else that is helpful. Either way....hope you enjoy it.