This year I made soft gingerbread cookies as edible ornaments and we’ve put some on the Christmas tree. Let see how long they’ll last there . I was looking for this type of gingerbread for a while and found the recipe in Richard Bertinet’s book “Crust”. These cookies are softer and thicker than traditional gingerbread. Typically, they are baked in continental Europe – this recipe is of Czech origin.

Soft Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 425g plain flour
• 100g icing sugar
• 125g softened butter
• 100g honey
• 1 large egg (55g shelled weight)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch of salt

Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with a pinch of salt

Method:

1. Prepare the egg wash one hour before you’ll glaze the cookies so the foam settles.
2. Put flour, icing sugar, bicarb soda, spices and salt into a bowl and mix well. Add wet ingredients and knead into soft dough. Cover and let it rest at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and roll out 5 mil thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes.
4. Glaze the cookies with the egg wash prepared earlier and let them dry. Then repeat the glazing once again. It’s important to leave the cookies to dry between glazing as it produces shinier look.  On the top picture I’ve glazed rounds twice, but other shapes once thickly to save on time. The round cookies look nicer and shinier!
5. If using cookies as edible tree ornaments or gift tags, make a hole with a skewer or piping tip (see photo).
6. Once dry after second glazing, decorate the cookies by dragging lines across using fork or skewer. You can also use dry fruit or nuts to decorate gingerbread.
7. Bake cookies on greased and floured baking trays for about 18 minutes in moderately hot oven (160 C)
8. Cool on a wire rack before storing or threading ribbon.

Wishing you a happy Festive Season and a prosperous New Year 2012!

I didn’t really write a lot about our pet chickens in the past three years. They’ve deserved more space on this blog, however. There has been a major change, and thus the update.

We got three chickens in October 2008. They are wonderful pets, very useful, too. It was fun playing with them when they were tiny, very exciting when they laid first eggs and made great companions while gardening.

Sunflower, the boss, was sick several times, but pulled through. Singapore, the black one, and Princess (last in the pecking order) were always healthy. About this time last year, Sunflower stopped laying after a few months of a steady decline. The other two were still laying pretty regularly. At that time, I thought it was her age, and was happy to keep her. She has deserved a decent retirement.

Unsettled times

After stopping with the laying, Sunflower was looking the most beautiful of the three. Singapore and Princess had moulted and compared to Sunflower, they looked like the poor stepsisters. Still, everything was fine in our backyard. Till one very early summer morning. We were woken up by a terrible noise coming from the chicken coop. The first thought was something has attacked our chickens! I ran out only to find that they are fighting each other. To be precise, Sunflower and Princess were attacking Singapore. I had to rescue the poor thing.

In the days (and months) to come, we tried everything to solve the problem. The noise was unbearable some mornings.  We (and our neighbours) were at our wits’ end.  Each time we tried to get them together, the same thing happened. Singapore slept in at the time empty compost bin. She was so distressed, she stopped laying altogether, but started again after being separated for about a month. We couldn’t figure out what is the cause to all this.

Sunflower not feeling well

It was end of March when we noticed that Sunflower isn’t feeling herself. We were still trying to get the girls together occasionally, but she wasn’t up to any attacks anymore (Princess still was!). She was losing on weight. Her health deteriorated slowly but surely. Mid April she hardly walked. I had to feed her and give her water. We could see that her end is near and prepared the kids for what’s coming. Sunflower died on Easter Monday. It was sad, especially for the kids, but it’s a normal part of life and they have witnessed the whole life cycle. She is buried in our garden.

The attacks continue…

Being left with two chickens, we were hoping they would get along better. It was a long process of gradual supervised socialization, which worked some times, but sometimes was not. For a few days it would be peace, but we never knew when would we need to jump at 6 am to separate them.

As the reconciliation didn’t quite work and we couldn’t figure out what has poor Singapore done to deserve this treatment, we needed plan B. Plan A was keep our city chickens well into their old age. The only acceptable option was to find them a new home. After a few months of searching, a friend offered to take them to the family farm.

The tree change…

When the day came for their move, I packed our two chickens in cardboard boxes with some soft hay and plenty of food for their one hour drive. The kids said goodbye to them earlier and I tried to sneak them out. But when our daughter spotted me, she broke into tears that lasted…long. Another life’s lesson. It took a while to get used to the empty coop.

The update

Our chickens arrived safe and sound to their new home. Both integrated well into the flock and have been introduced to a rooster for the first time.  They love to spend the day in the paddock with the cows and have adapted well to the country life. We are sure they are happy there.

We still miss them. We miss the fresh eggs, their jumping on the window sill to watch us at breakfast, polishing all the fruit and veggie scraps and the compost with extra manure boost. Whenever I throw their favourite food into the compost like watermelon rinds, tomato seeds, corn cobs etc, I wish they are closer so I can take it to them.

For now, there are no plans to have new chicks due to plans in the near future. Although we had all this trouble, we would love to keep chickens again as they are truly wonderful pets.

A few photos…

In the broccoli “forest”…                                                                                     The first egg…

Basil’s gone!

On the window sill 1.5 meter high…                                                                      Taking a dust bath…

The other day I spotted a jar of applesauce on the shop shelf. I can’t remember ever buying one, as it is so easy to make homemade applesauce. The first time I ate applesauce was in Germany (Apfelmus) where it’s traditionally served with roast pork or potato pancakes.

Applesauce is basically cooked and pureed apple.  It can be eaten warm or cold, served with savoury or sweet dishes. Homemade applesauce is a quick and easily digestible baby food. Use organic apples if possible, and omit sugar, lemon and spices if cooking for the little ones.

How to make Homemade apple sauce

You can use any apples to make homemade applesauce, but I prefer sweet ones: they cook faster and there’s no need to add sugar. Different varieties of apples can be mixed. You can make a small batch using two apples or a few kilos.

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into smaller chunks
2. Fill the pan to a depth of 1-2 cm with water (a bit more if making a large batch or like thinner sauce). Add cut apples
3. Cover with lid and bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low
4. Simmer the apples checking the water evaporation and softness occasionally. Depending on the apple variety and the amount, it will take about 10 – 20 minutes.
5. When the apples have cooked, remove the pan from the heat, let cool slightly and puree with a stick blender. For a chunky applesauce, use a potato masher.

Applesauce variations

Our family loves the homemade apple sauce in its simplest version with no sugar, no spices. Just pure, usually organic, applesauce. For an applesauce with a bit of a twist you can add:

• sugar if you prefer sweeter applesauce or using tart apple varieties
• ground cinnamon
• cinnamon stick (cook with apples and discard before pureeing)
• mixed spice / nutmeg / cloves
• lemon peel

Homemade applesauce will keep in the fridge a week or two. It’s suitable for freezing. For longer keeping, jar the applesauce in the same way as jam. Sterilise the jars in boiling water or in the oven, pour hot applesauce into hot jars and close the lid immediately. Store at room temperature.

Serving suggestions

Homemade applesauce tastes equally good warm or refreshingly cold from the fridge. Our favourite way of eating applesauce is spread on bread with tahini (ground sesame paste). We also love it on pancakes, with rice pudding or mixed with whipped cream. Applesauce goes well with pork or duck roast. And of course, it’s a nutritious and tasty apple puree for babies!

Sustainability is not limited to only big topics related to pollution, energy, carbon etc. but can be applied to any issue, big or small, to every aspect of our lives. When it comes to more delicate themes, well, that’s something we don’t connect with sustainability and don’t mention in sustainability discussions. Moreover, we’d rather not talk about them at all. Well, for a change, let’s talk about one of those, a topic of interest to women: menstrual pads.

Reusable Cloth Pads and Sustainability

Menstruation is a subject rarely discussed outside a close female circle of friends or family. What does sustainability have to do with periods and all that stuff I can hear some ask? A lot. Think about disposable sanitary pads: what are they made of, what chemicals and bleaches are they laced with, how much do they cost and where do all of them end up once disposed off? On average, how many are used during one cycle, times 13, times one large city not to go further. It’s a hell of a lot of rubbish! 

I used to buy disposable pads and wouldn’t like to count how much money they had cost me and they cost the Earth, too. Some were worse than other, often uncomfortable and unbreathable. However, some 5-6 years ago I came across reusable washable cloth Rad-Pads, decided to give it a go and never looked back! I haven’t visited the isle with the sanitary pads in a shop for years. It feels good environmentally and money wise. The pads are so soft, comfortable and breathable. My favourite Rad-Pads are hemp fleece/organic cotton (pictured on the right) but cotton jersey pads are great and comfy too.

Some of the many Rad-Pads benefits

Here are some of the benefits of using Rad-Pads:

• Extremely economical – save HEAPS of money by not throwing away your ‘women’s waste’. One purchase of 8 – 10 pads may cost you about $100 but that may well be all you need for many years.  Pads are often still going strong for many years (mine are) thanks to special machinery and quality control.
• Health benefits– are numerous! Many women report that their period pain and discomfort is much improved when they use Rad-pads.  In addition Rad-pads do not use plastics or nasty toxic dioxins.
• Go Organic (if choosing our hemp fleece products) – There are a lot of advantages of supporting chemical free farming. Less exposure of farm workers to potentially toxic chemicals is one, less exposure to your private parts to same is another.  Less harmful toxins being spread into the environment overall.
• Convenience – Rad-pads are always there ready and waiting for you to use.
• Conscience – support local businesses which employ people in fair and just circumstances instead of ‘feeding’ the huge multi-nationals who produce many of the disposable pads.
• Choice – Rad-Pads stock a range of colours as well as the organic options.
• Care– this is easy and Rad-Pads provides brochure with the products to let you know how to care for your pads.
• Natural – women comment on how much more in tune with their natural cycles they are when using Rad-pads.
• Versatile – Rad-Pads are also used for mild to moderate urinary incontinence and as panty liners

How to use and how to care for Rad-Pads

Rad-Pads are simple to use and care for. If you’re worried about washing and think it’s a hassle, I can tell you it’s simple – your washing machine is doing all the work. The instructions are enclosed with every Rad-Pads and there are detailed instructions on Rad-Pads website under Product Information link. In addition to reusable cloth pads, Rad-Pads have Menstrual Cup too.

Rad-Pads make a great gift and you can send it anywhere as international shipping is available for a flat rate. If you can’t decide which pack to buy, gift certificates are great solution. You can also give a present to yourself (I did) and the Earth will benefit, too!

Is there anything less appetizing then drinking from a coffee or tea stained cup? Have you ever come to an organisation, school etc, wanting to make a cuppa, but couldn’t find one reasonably clean cup? In such situations I have the urge to roll my sleeves up and clean them all properly.

Cleaning tea and coffee stains form cups is really easy. There is no need to use abrasive chemical cleaning products or cloths, no soaking or other tricks. Just plain old BICARB SODA (bicarbonate of soda, baking soda)!

On the photo above you can see eco cleaning in action. On a damp dishcloth sprinkle some bicarb soda, then rub the cup. The stains will disappear effortlessly. Rinse and voilà: a sparkling clean cup below!

Late autumn, early winter is the perfect time to plant garlic in Melbourne (Australia). These photos are from our container garden last year’s crop. I also planted some garlic in our community veggie patch, a bit later, so if one batch fails, there is a back up. Luckily, both crops succeeded and we still have our garlic.

The photo above was taken on May 20th 2010. The garlic was planted at the beginning of May and you can see the progress below. This year’s crop is already planted, but it’s not too late to plant your garlic as I read that winter solstice (21st June in southern hemisphere) is a good time to plant garlic here in Melbourne and expect the harvest on the longest day (summer solstice).

Garlic is a slow maturing crop, but one worthwhile planting. It will take about 5-8 months till maturity however, it doesn’t require a lot of space or care. This pot (about 30cm in diameter) had 18 bulbs of garlic. In the veggie patch, I planted it around the edges so it’s not in the way when the winter crop gives way to summer varieties.

How to grow garlic

• Garlic can be planted in the garden or in pots in full sun
• Soil should be well drained, loose and enriched with compost and organic manure (chicken manure is good)
• For pot planting use premium potting mix with slow release fertiliser
• Break the bulbs (preferably organic) and plant 5cm deep with pointy end up
• Space cloves 10 cm apart
• Cover the hole and keep it moist but not wet – too much water can cause fungal disease, prolonged dry will produce small bulbs
• Keep weed-free: garlic doesn’t compete well with the weeds
• You can eat green garlic when the bulbs aren’t formed yet together with its still tender green leaves

When to harvest garlic

• Garlic takes up to 6 months to mature
• When you see the foliage turning yellow and drying, but still have a few green leaves in the middle, dig around one bulb to see if it has formed
• Stop watering a couple of weeks before harvest
• Use a small garden shovel to dig the bulbs rather than pulling them
• Let the bulbs dry in the shade for about 2 weeks
• Rub off dried dirt from bulbs, trim roots and braid them to hang or
• Cut off the leaves and store in a cool airy and dry place in a mesh bag (not in the fridge as it causes the garlic to sprout)
• Leave the best bulbs for next season planting

Organic garlic is much tastier and quite expensive to buy ($40 a kilo) so it’s worthwhile growing. Find out what is the best time to plant garlic in your corner of the world and give it a go.

The garlic we grew in our urban garden is a smaller bulb variety with lightly purple skin and a superb flavour.  We bought it from a garlic grower at a local farmers market, but forgot to ask what variety of garlic it is.

12th June 2010:

8th August 2010: Green Garlic can be eaten now

10th November 2010:

13th December 2010:

13th December 2010:

24th May 2011: Last year’s crop in our kitchen

At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon leads a host of world and civic leaders supporting Earth Hour 2011 as a powerful symbol of a shared wish for a sustainable and secure future.  His message is:

“Use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light”

Hundreds of millions of people across the globe are expected to switch off their lights tomorrow, so join us!

Earth Hour more often

Make Earth Hour happen more often at your home. Switch off not only lights, also gadgets and all electrical appliances (leave the fridge on ), at least several times during the year.  Here are some fun activities that don’t need electricity and the whole family can take part in:

• dinner by candlelight
• pretend camping under the stars (or even real one)
• story telling by candlelight
• make hand shadow puppets
• buy solar powered lamps and torches
• take a night time walk
• look at the stars (less lights on, more stars to see)
• play games
• make paper lanterns

For more info about Earth Hour go to http://www.earthhour.org

Kids Earth Hour web page: http://www.earthhourkids.org

By now it is very well known that artificial food colourings are linked to kids behaviour problems. So why not give our kids the best start in life and avoid artificial additives as much as possible. It’s not only food colouring bottles that we need to throw away, but also to start to look at the ingredients lists and eliminate artificial additives as much as realistically possible. The post Food additives: What is your daily dose? explains food additives in more details and the Food Additives Table in pdf format there is free to download .

How to make natural pink food colour

The nature gave us foods in so many beautiful colours, yet somehow it became a norm to colour it artificially to “enhance” the appearance, especially food marketed towards kids. Often colour is used to make food more appealing as there are no ingredients of natural origin. My personal preference is to skip any colourings and let the fresh and natural ingredients show their true colour.  Exception, however, is our kids birthdays or special occasions. In that instance, I give in, but take time to make homemade, natural and often organic food colours. As we have a gorgeous girl, pink is a favourite and easiest to make.

Homemade natural pink colour: step-by-step with photos

Beetroot is one of my favourite veggies: it’s loaded with nutrients, can be eaten raw or cooked and has vibrant colour – perfect for food colouring.  Beetroot juice is also great for colouring homemade natural playdough.

Here’s how to do it:

Finely grate cooked or fresh beetroot (on the photo below the beetroot is cooked)

Press through a fine sieve to extract the juice.

I’ve used it here to colour royal icing

Add a small amount of beetroot juice.  You can always add more if necessary. The royal icing will turn from stiff peaks to soft.

If you need runny royal icing for “flooding” add more beetroot juice or water if you happy with colour depth.

Here I’m using it to make white and pink butterflies.

And let them dry… For the assembled butterflies see the top photo.

The cake and cupcake icing below are also coloured using beetroot juice. The pink is slightly different as it’s mixed with yellowish crème patisserie producing a vintage shade of pink.

Colours other than pink

Our son isn’t that much into pink, so there are other natural food colours:

• yellow: turmeric
• gold: turmeric and cocoa
• green: powdered green tea
• reddish pink: raspberries (can turn blue or gray if food you’re colouring is acidic)
• purple/blue: blueberries, blackberries
• brown: cocoa or chocolate

There are other possibilities, like spinach and avocado for green, but suitable for savoury dishes.  Or use flowers (as above) and herbs (mint, parsley) for a nice contrast.

Please share with us your favourite ways of using nature’s rainbow!

Hi there,

Summer holidays are over, school is back and so is Melbourne’s annual Sustainable Living Festival.  Traditionally held mid February and in its 12th year now it’s Australia’s largest and oldest sustainability festival.

The festival program spreads over 16 days from 12th till 27th February 2011 with the Festival’s Big Weekend event at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne on 18-20 February.

2011 Festival’s Mission: Safe Climate

There’s already too much carbon in the atmosphere and that’s heating up our planet at a staggering rate. The environment that we depend on relies on a stable and safe climate. Your planet needs you for this vital mission to restore a safe climate. Drop into the Sustainable Living Festival and find out how you can join the mission.

For more info go to http://festival.slf.org.au/

A few photos from SLF 2010

Roof gardens:

Bike Parking:

Work of art (note Yarra River in the background and see the last photo bellow)

This November Sustainable Echo is turning two! To celebrate its second birthday, I decided to make a healthy vegetarian raw salad we named after our blog, instead of a birthday cake. If only our kids would trade their birthday cake for something like this .

As a 2 year old baby, SustainableEcho.com is quite patient, easy to look after and doesn’t even mind playing second fiddle to its younger sibling MakeBread.com.au. However, as with any baby, this one enjoys occasional attention and so do our readers, too!

Sustainable Echo salad recipe

This easy salad recipe was born as a way to feed our kids raw beetroot from our container garden.  Usually I would boil or roast beetroot and marinated it in some vinaigrette and fresh garlic. Obviously, most fruit and veggies contain more goodness when consumed raw, thus my brainstorming.  I’ve tried to add a sweet veggie and fruit that would go with it and came to this combination (use organic ingredients, if possible):

• 1 raw peeled beetroot
• 1 large carrot, scrubbed or peeled
• 1 apple, peeled of not organic
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Method, easy as 1-2-3:

1. Grate apple, carrot and beetroot by hand or in a food processor.
2. Juice 1/2 lemon and pour over grated salad
3. Mix well (optional)

Simple!

You don’t need any seasoning, trust me. If you wish, you might skip mixing and leave the ingredients arranged in a bowl next to each other and pour the lemon juice over. That way the salad will be really colourful. If mixing, the carrot and apple will turn red as on the photo on the top.

As a variation, you can add yogurt, mayonnaise, change the ratio of ingredients or simply change the apple type from sweet to a tart tasting one to play with different tastes.

The Sustainable Echo salad is simple, quick, easy, healthy, raw, nutritious, vegetarian, tasty, but the best bit is not all the previously mentioned, the best bit is: our kids love it!