New Stuff to DIY

We have been experimenting with some new things to make ourselves, here at home.

Soft Cheese

DH is the yoghurt maker in this house, and he makes great yoghurt. Recently he found out a friend was using similar skills and equipment to our yoghurt making, to make their own soft cheeses like cottage cheese, ricotta and even brie. 

It turned out we had some equipment that DD had brought home from an op shop, so this week he made our first batch of ricotta. It is very satisfactory and easy. That left us with 2 litres of whey, which I then used to make this loaf of sourdough bread -and it rose very well.

Diastatic Malt

I have learned that there is another additive for bread  which can be made at home from barley! After the first green shoots appear, I will dry this barley and grind it up to make diastatic malt, which I am told supports a strong rise, great texture and brown crust. As I already had a seed sprouter, a dehydrator and have a good grinder, this will be easy enough I think. I wonder if it will make a big difference? I have some 'bread improver" which does not seem as natural in its ingredients as diastatic malt, so I would be interested if I can make an additive for bread here at home which is more natural 

Instructions for making diastatic malt for bread! https://www.sourdoughbreadrecipe.com.au/slider/malt-flour-for-sourdough-diastatic-or-non-diastatic/

Grow new fruits

We have bought ourselves two trees, both of which are grafted with two varieties of fruit. One has Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples, and the other has Flavour Supreme and Maraposa plums. We planted them in two big garbage bins, as they were the largest and cheapest pots we could find. Eventually they will go in the ground here, but we wanted to test them in this spot, to see if it was too hot for them, before commiting to the digging up of the paving, etc.

There have been sunny days and a lot of wet days lately. The garden is showing signs of spring -the bottlebrush is coming into flower already. I have shoots on the roses, the borage is flowering, and the birds are nesting.

When I am not dodging the showers to turn compost or pull weeds, I am either cooking or reading. My latest favourite book is Rosemary Morrow's Earth Users Guide to Permaculture. I have the Kindle version. It is a fantastic resource, and I am now re-reading it and working my way though it's suggested activities. 

I leave you with this quote

Howard Zinn said, “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."