July 2011
Potatoes.............$3-00 / Kg bag
Parsnip..............$5-00 / Kg
Pumpkin..............$2.20 / Kg
Beetroot.............$4-00 / Kg
Swede................$2-00 ea
Turnip...............$0-50 ea
Leeks................$1-70 ea
Carrots..............$2.50 bunch appx 500g
Salad................$1-70 handful appx 150g
Kale Russian.........$1-70 ten stems
Kale Laccinato/Curly.$1-70 eight stems
Silverbeet / Chard...$1-70 handful
Radish...............$1-70 bunch/ten
Rocket...............$1-70, 40-50 leaves
Parsley..............$1-70 bunch
Cabbage..............$2-00 ea
Red leaf beet........$2-00 bunch
Garlic s/m/l.........$1-00/1-50/2-00
Taylor's Gold Pears- tree ripened.... 70c each, $2-50 per 4, certified organic
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Making Sourdough Bread
I will send you 200 grams of starter. This is how you use it.
Take the 200 grams, add 200 grams water and 200 grams wholewheat flour. Stir well. Take back 200 grams into a jar in the fridge. the jar needs to be at least twice the volume of the starter, as it foams up by that much in the first day or two. This is your starter for next time. It will keep for up to 3 weeks without "feeding".
Let the remaining 400 grams (sourdough bakers call this stage the "sponge") stand overnight at room temperature (minimum 5 hours, ideally 8) to allow the yeasts and bacteria to build up. It should look foamy at this point. Next morning, add 200 grams water (maybe a little more if you find the dough too stiff- depends on the flour), 400 grams flour and salt to taste ( I use a tsp per large loaf). This time you can use whole or white flour, according to choice, but if white, make sure it is unbleached. Knead as usual. This amount will fit a large loaf-tin. Takes around 3 to 4 hours to "prove", then into a hot oven just as for yeast bread.
I keep 600 grams of starter and make three at a time (three kilos of dough) as this fits the top shelf in my oven. I make "batch"-loaves side-by-side in a large roasting tin (quicker to grease!). If you want to enlarge your starter, just add more equal amounts of wholewheat flour and water. Always multiply the flour by (max) threefold and allow to stand for a minimum of 5 hours (8 is better) each time you enlarge the starter or sponge. Sourdough buffs call these intermediate stages "first sponge", "second sponge" etc. If you bake regularly it's more convenient to go from starter to "first sponge", then straight to dough. Of course if you can't bake for a significant time, you can minimise the size of your starter and have a friend "feed" it every couple of weeks- if they don't want to bake with it they can just throw away the surplus each time, or use it to make drop-scones (made like pancakes only thicker).
Take the 200 grams, add 200 grams water and 200 grams wholewheat flour. Stir well. Take back 200 grams into a jar in the fridge. the jar needs to be at least twice the volume of the starter, as it foams up by that much in the first day or two. This is your starter for next time. It will keep for up to 3 weeks without "feeding".
Let the remaining 400 grams (sourdough bakers call this stage the "sponge") stand overnight at room temperature (minimum 5 hours, ideally 8) to allow the yeasts and bacteria to build up. It should look foamy at this point. Next morning, add 200 grams water (maybe a little more if you find the dough too stiff- depends on the flour), 400 grams flour and salt to taste ( I use a tsp per large loaf). This time you can use whole or white flour, according to choice, but if white, make sure it is unbleached. Knead as usual. This amount will fit a large loaf-tin. Takes around 3 to 4 hours to "prove", then into a hot oven just as for yeast bread.
I keep 600 grams of starter and make three at a time (three kilos of dough) as this fits the top shelf in my oven. I make "batch"-loaves side-by-side in a large roasting tin (quicker to grease!). If you want to enlarge your starter, just add more equal amounts of wholewheat flour and water. Always multiply the flour by (max) threefold and allow to stand for a minimum of 5 hours (8 is better) each time you enlarge the starter or sponge. Sourdough buffs call these intermediate stages "first sponge", "second sponge" etc. If you bake regularly it's more convenient to go from starter to "first sponge", then straight to dough. Of course if you can't bake for a significant time, you can minimise the size of your starter and have a friend "feed" it every couple of weeks- if they don't want to bake with it they can just throw away the surplus each time, or use it to make drop-scones (made like pancakes only thicker).
A Short Note to All Prospective Wwoofers.
Our farm is a full-time occupation for two people and the workload is likely to be quite intense. Your ability to maintain a degree of self-reliance during your stay is appreciated. As a project in sustainable living the cash output per man-hour is less than a mechanised (oil-dependent) farm and this is reflected in the cash-equivalent value of labour (both yours and ours) being quite low. We often find that Wwoofers view, from the perspective of comparison with their expectations under the "business as usual" (oil-subsidized) scenario, their efforts as being far more cash-equivalent valuable than they really are. Having performed your appx. five hours per day obligation does not create a situation where you can expect to be waited upon in the style of an hotel, guest-house or farm-stay, it covers your food and lodging costs.
Having said all that, we hope you are still interested in visiting, It is just that many Wwoof-hosts effectively subsidize their "hobby-farms" from off-farm income and it creates a distortion of perspective about "value" and expectations.
When we are without Wwoofers we eat more simply than when have them, so time taken to prepare meals becomes time we cannot be performing farm tasks. Therefore help with cooking is always appreciated. Accommodation is in our house which is modern, warm and dry though somewhat cluttered with farm paraphernalia! All reasonable facilities are at your disposal. Showers, laundry, internet (slow dial-up only I'm afraid). If you wish to use the phone other than local calls please buy a phone-card. Vodafone reception is moderately ok. We do not have a television but have a reasonable selection of books and a few videos mostly on "alternative" subjects. We like Wwoofers to stay for at least a week as it takes a couple of days to "fit-in" to the routine.
We are fairly isolated, the nearest towns are Motueka & Richmond 20 mins. drive and Nelson is 40 mins drive. The village of Upper Moutere with garage, shop, pub is ten minutes drive away. We are surrounded by pastoral land so there is little here in the way of "bush walks" etc. but some nice views from the hilltops! It is 40 mins drive to the mountains both north and south of us.
We hope that you will appreciate the ethos of our mission and will have an enjoyable and informative stay with us.
Regards, Susie & Kevin.
Having said all that, we hope you are still interested in visiting, It is just that many Wwoof-hosts effectively subsidize their "hobby-farms" from off-farm income and it creates a distortion of perspective about "value" and expectations.
When we are without Wwoofers we eat more simply than when have them, so time taken to prepare meals becomes time we cannot be performing farm tasks. Therefore help with cooking is always appreciated. Accommodation is in our house which is modern, warm and dry though somewhat cluttered with farm paraphernalia! All reasonable facilities are at your disposal. Showers, laundry, internet (slow dial-up only I'm afraid). If you wish to use the phone other than local calls please buy a phone-card. Vodafone reception is moderately ok. We do not have a television but have a reasonable selection of books and a few videos mostly on "alternative" subjects. We like Wwoofers to stay for at least a week as it takes a couple of days to "fit-in" to the routine.
We are fairly isolated, the nearest towns are Motueka & Richmond 20 mins. drive and Nelson is 40 mins drive. The village of Upper Moutere with garage, shop, pub is ten minutes drive away. We are surrounded by pastoral land so there is little here in the way of "bush walks" etc. but some nice views from the hilltops! It is 40 mins drive to the mountains both north and south of us.
We hope that you will appreciate the ethos of our mission and will have an enjoyable and informative stay with us.
Regards, Susie & Kevin.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Food Undervalued in the First World
Food waste is an inevitable result of food being too cheap in the first world. Consumption of food as a branch of the entertainment industry is a major culprit. As the EROEI on food production increases from the ludicrous 10% to 15% it is now under "oil subsidy" conditions to the 150% we can expect in a sustainable system (manual and quadruped labour), and returns to its rightful position of 60% to 70% of human economic activity instead of the ridiculous 5% it stands at now, with the rest of human endeavour producing mainly worthless crap. In our great-grandparents generation, they used to skim the grease off the washing-up water to give to the pigs! Now thats what I call frugal!
I speak as a person who produces virtually all my own food with manual labour, and produces a surplus to sell to pay the inevitable rates and taxes. Sadly no horse or bullock-team- yet!
Interestingly, in China, despite consuming 40% of the worlds coal in industrial production, they have continued their agricultural production with manual and quadruped labour.
It is not for no good reason that the horse superceded the bullock and that in turn superceded manual power. It has a lot to do with complexity of systems. If we manage to have an orderly transition to sustainability I see no reason why a sufficient degree of complexity should not remain such as would be necessary to efficiently utilise horse-traction.
There is such a thing as economy of scale. A mixed farming system requires typically one horse per 40 acres, however, for many farm tasks, such as lea-ploughing (ploughing out grass inta arable) three are usually necessary. Hence a total of 120 acres becomes a unit of farm for a horse team. This is way more than one family can farm without labourers, and skilled ones at that. I definitely see the future in terms of small proprietory units rather than "master and servant" type organization, therefore I would see horse owning as a community good and the horse-master as a proprietor in his own right within the village community.
Horses were the zenith of pre-fossil-fueled agriculture and not for no good reason. They represent the most effective way of producing a small disposable income (roughly one third of farm production) that allows society to have some level of cultural sophistication rather than the drudgery of relentless manual labour to produce a mere subsistence. Their use does require a high level of skill and organization in an integrated system. There is no "off-switch" like a tractor! Of course they are culturally iconic too, and become a focus and source of wonderment for small children- like the steam locomotive was of the industrial age!
Unfortunately, It seems more likely that we see a disorderly collapse into near zero complexity and this opportunity will be lost. Probably what remaining good draught horses there are will be killed and eaten along with all other useful animals, crop seeds eaten or destroyed or lost.
I am fully aware there are other systems of food production such as "forest farming". "terraquaculture" and I am sure many more. No one of these is "better" in all circumstances. It is an issue of appropriateness to the land, to the climate, to the culture of the people involved, and to the level of complexity that can be maintained.
I speak as a person who produces virtually all my own food with manual labour, and produces a surplus to sell to pay the inevitable rates and taxes. Sadly no horse or bullock-team- yet!
Interestingly, in China, despite consuming 40% of the worlds coal in industrial production, they have continued their agricultural production with manual and quadruped labour.
It is not for no good reason that the horse superceded the bullock and that in turn superceded manual power. It has a lot to do with complexity of systems. If we manage to have an orderly transition to sustainability I see no reason why a sufficient degree of complexity should not remain such as would be necessary to efficiently utilise horse-traction.
There is such a thing as economy of scale. A mixed farming system requires typically one horse per 40 acres, however, for many farm tasks, such as lea-ploughing (ploughing out grass inta arable) three are usually necessary. Hence a total of 120 acres becomes a unit of farm for a horse team. This is way more than one family can farm without labourers, and skilled ones at that. I definitely see the future in terms of small proprietory units rather than "master and servant" type organization, therefore I would see horse owning as a community good and the horse-master as a proprietor in his own right within the village community.
Horses were the zenith of pre-fossil-fueled agriculture and not for no good reason. They represent the most effective way of producing a small disposable income (roughly one third of farm production) that allows society to have some level of cultural sophistication rather than the drudgery of relentless manual labour to produce a mere subsistence. Their use does require a high level of skill and organization in an integrated system. There is no "off-switch" like a tractor! Of course they are culturally iconic too, and become a focus and source of wonderment for small children- like the steam locomotive was of the industrial age!
Unfortunately, It seems more likely that we see a disorderly collapse into near zero complexity and this opportunity will be lost. Probably what remaining good draught horses there are will be killed and eaten along with all other useful animals, crop seeds eaten or destroyed or lost.
I am fully aware there are other systems of food production such as "forest farming". "terraquaculture" and I am sure many more. No one of these is "better" in all circumstances. It is an issue of appropriateness to the land, to the climate, to the culture of the people involved, and to the level of complexity that can be maintained.
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