All in Good Time

The found plastic we hung on the hook when we took down the kitchen clock.

The bit of scrap paper I stuck on my laptop to cover the clock there too.

I don't know which gardening metaphor I like better: companion planting or self-seeding.

If I were a slug, I would have eaten this too.

But I'm not.

If you live in Central Victoria but don't have a garden of your own, feel free to come and share in our bountiful bounty in exchange for a green thumb workout. We have a listing on Shared Earth. Come share!

Portrait of the blogger as a bandita in her balaclava bought to make the frosty mornings bearable on her bike.

I Made Cheese

I made cheese today. We had a choice of about 10 different kinds and I chose feta.

The class was held at a Community Centre about 30Km away. I have been working quite a bit at our local Community Centre so it was great to see how another one works. I was just as interested to see their kitchen and bathrooms and notice boards, as I was to do the course.

This is Dorothy our teacher. She was wise and funny and said it's her dream to see everyone in Australia making their own cheese.

This is the cheese I made. It's currently in the fridge bathing in brine. Tomorrow I will drain it and replace the liquid with olive oil, garlic, black pepper and a bay leaf.

How did they make cheese in the olden days? How did the Greeks make feta all those centuries ago without all our modern technical know-how and gadgets? Homer, in The Odyssey wrote: "Every one in that country, whether master or man, has plenty of cheese..." What lucky folk they were! And me too, even though I'll have to settle for being a man with this one, as the art of it is not something I'm ever likely to master.

A Food Forest

My cheesy tourist shot.

View from the 5th floor of the MCA.

As a result of the Artist as Family project we did in Newcastle, I am very excited to share the news that we have been invited to participate in the In the balance: art for a changing world show at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney from 19 August to 23 November 2010.

The project we have proposed is a community food forest. We will have a presence in the gallery, though our main body of work will be in a public park.

We have been to Sydney twice in the last month to meet with the MCA and the City of Sydney to discuss the details of our project and to agree on the right site for the work.

We have just updated our Artist as Family blog with our first post of the project. Do check in on us there from time to time to read about our progression. We will be listing the details of our workshops and working bees, so if you're in the Sydney region, please keep in touch and come and join us.

Holiday Happenings

Rednesday: Aprons

It's my grandmother's birthday today. The last photo I had taken with her before she died is this one, snapped at her birthday party last year by my sister Abby. She died a month later.

Chapter eight of the book my mum wrote about her experience of my grandmother's Alzheimer's starts with this paragraph:

My mother had been a balabosta, a Yiddish term for a person who raises housekeeping to the level of an Olympic sport. In her spotless kitchen, the balabosta cooks gourmet feasts for her family, and when they have finished eating first, second and third helpings, she insists they take leftovers home with them. All this she does week after week, apparently without effort, while wearing lipstick, French perfume, and an apron over her good clothes.

Even on my most house-proud of days, I could never hope to be as good a housekeeper as my grandmother was. But I do like to pretend I am a little like her when it's my turn to do the cooking and I skip from the oven to the table. I can't attribute my lack of cooking prowess to her, but I most definitely hold her accountable for my love of aprons.

(The last one reads: I cook in the kitchen, but I boil in the bedroom.)

The Blog Baton 3

Last night I taught my final class for this semester's blogging course. I made my signature ginger cookies - the word BLOG for each student - which were heartily enjoyed by students and teacher, alike.

Here are some of the blogs that were created. Please join me in welcoming them to the wonderful wwworld that is the blogosphere:

www.ebden-small.blogspot.com

www.themorganology.blogspot.com

www.thelineforhome.blogspot.com

www.insidebaliguide.blogspot.com

Over the last few years I have celebrated many an event (and non-event) with these cookies. Here are some of the photos I have managed to take before the words were eagerly eaten.

And previously: The Blog Baton 1 & The Blog Baton 2.

Got Milk

I woke early thinking about milk today. Perhaps because it looked like our neighbourhood had been dunked in a big glass of it. And perhaps because I had arranged to get some fresh milk today from a cow who's weaning her calf.

I had wanted to find the cow to thank her and snap a pic, but she couldn't be found in the fog. Here is H who looks after the cow, filling my bottle in her kitchen.

Over on PJ's blog, he has a discussion going about the ethics of food that has got me thinking a bit more about what we eat (and drink) and why.

We buy a litre of organic milk a week and I assume that that's good enough. But is it? It comes in a carton from Bendigo, 45 minutes (by car) away, which isn't so bad, although I'm sure a lot of energy is used in the production of that humble litre.

Did you know that due to health regulations it's illegal to buy and sell milk that hasn't been pasteurised? People get around the laws by selling it as 'bath milk'. I don't know the laws in other countries but in Australia, this is the case.

I put the bath milk in my tea today, and can happily say I look forward to meeting Elly the cow next week when I stop by for my litre.

Collective Nouns

My sister Kate from Fox's Lane is this week's theme queen for My Place and Yours. The theme she has chosen is My Collection.

Whenever I think about collections, a line of comedian Steven Wright's comes to mind: 'You can't have everything. Where would you put it?' Which is why I just collect red things; it narrows it down some.

I have been waving my red flag high for the past ten years, during which time I have accrued a lot of great treasures. Here are some of them:

Thank you Kate for the great theme!

Now, I'm going to put the kettle on for a nice hot cuppa while I drop by Meet Me At Mike's to see what everyone else is collecting.

Salad Days