Little Squish is now 81/2 months old and although I have immensely enjoyed the sweet homely love bubble that we created, I have started to crave my own creative outlet and intellectual stimulation and see what the big wide world has got on offer at the mo. Starting this blog is all part of this. Let's just say I was so far out of the loop I was becoming unravelled.
So as a new mum, who is interested in all things wholesome, verdant, environmentally and future savvy, The Sustainable Living Festival (SLF) and its extensive program have been a massive...woohoo!
Little Squish-friendly - tick, free - tick, right up my alley - tick.
So I have marked the calendar, my new low-key diary, with all the adventures that Little Squish and I are hoping to get to. Yesterday we managed to get ourselves out to Heide, only 20 minutes late, for the Planting by the Phases of the Moon talk by Danielle Violato.
As old as time, gardening at its simplest. Joy! How lovely to be so in tune with the moon, the stars and the seasons so that you can maximise the growing potential of your crop. The theory is that on a molecular level the water content in the soil and then in turn the seed and the plant are affected by the phases of the moon, just as the tides and menstrual cycles are. Put very simply, planting leafy greens around the new moon and more root vegetables closer to the full moon can yield happier more bountiful plants. It is of course a lot more complicated that that also involving zodiac signs, the seasons and of course the weather. I am going to attempt to put this into practice and see if I can conduct a controlled experiment and see how well it works. Watch this space.
As old as time, gardening at its simplest. Joy! How lovely to be so in tune with the moon, the stars and the seasons so that you can maximise the growing potential of your crop. The theory is that on a molecular level the water content in the soil and then in turn the seed and the plant are affected by the phases of the moon, just as the tides and menstrual cycles are. Put very simply, planting leafy greens around the new moon and more root vegetables closer to the full moon can yield happier more bountiful plants. It is of course a lot more complicated that that also involving zodiac signs, the seasons and of course the weather. I am going to attempt to put this into practice and see if I can conduct a controlled experiment and see how well it works. Watch this space.
Our day got even brighter on driving home, one of my most all time favourite worldly wordy women, Eve Ensler was interviewed on ABC Classic FM. The podcast is available here.
Following our big day out, I was so inspired and famished I whipped up some spinach parcels. Ordinarily I use feta and ricotta, but I had recently bought some quark and I am all for using what's in the fridge or cupboard to create and try new recipes. So, quark was having a debut in my kitchen with this recipe. It turned out to be quite exceptional. Quark tastes like a combination of yoghurt, sour cream and cream and seems to be commonly used like ricotta is in recipes and if you say it a three times you do sound like a crow.
Quark and spinach parcels
A large bunch of silverbeet/ kale/ spinach, rinsed and chopped roughly. I just used a combination of what I had, It made about 2-3 cups of cooked greens.
1 large onion, finely diced
1 tbs rice bran oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
A handful of pine nuts
approx 250g quark
2 eggs
a small wedge of feta, I use danish
salt and pepper to season
some chopped fresh thyme
some chopped fresh basil
3 - 4 sheets of pre-made frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted.
some milk or a beaten egg for basting pastry.
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Simmer or steam greens until slightly soft and wilted. Drain well. Shallow fry onion, pine nuts and garlic in some oil until lightly carmelised. In a large bowl mix greens, onions, garlic, pine nuts, egg, herbs, feta and quark. Lightly season. Brush the base of a large baking pan with oil, then lay out one sheet of defrosted puff pastry, so that is looks like a diamond in the pan. Fold each point of the pastry square into the centre of the sheet, and slightly crease along the base, so that you have a square shape on the bottom of your parcel. Use this as a guide to fill your parcel. Spoon mixture onto pastry, don't overfill but try to put enough in so that it will be a nice plump parcel. Then bring each point of the parcel up to the centre, two at a time, squishing the seams closed using your fingers until your parcel is closed. You should be able to make about 3-4 large parcels, one per tray. Brush on some milk or a beaten egg to enhance the golden brown factor. Pop in the oven for approximately 20 mins or until they are golden brown. Cut parcel into four following the seam lines. Enjoy with a green garden salad or as a snack.
Perfect for us to pop in a container for our next adventure.
I am so glad to have entered the great land of blog and look forward to hearing from you all :0)
Blissings to you and yours,
mama mara
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