Marvellous Mulberries :: Our favourite cordial recipe

Our very favourite garden tree is our mulberry. It's the biggest in the food forest, planted 9 or so years ago, over Tiny Owlet's placenta. It grows generous amounts of fruit, provides cooling shade, juice for ink-making, leaves for tea and silk worm fodder, and a stunning autumn display as it's leaves turn yellow where the sun lands on them. Actually, all the plants in our perennial food forest are wonderful. They’re super low maintenance, and feed us huge amounts of food each year. We’re so glad we planted them when we did. If you’re strapped for time, but have some space in your garden for perennial food plants, throw some in and feed your family (friends and neighbours), for years to come. It’s well worth the investment. But back to the mulberry.
Last year, we made the mistake of not throwing a net over our mulberry tree. The tree had grown so much in the year prior, it outgrew the nets we had, and we naively thought there would be enough fruit for us and the blackbirds to share. We didn’t pick a single ripe mulberry.

So, this year we were prepared. And the extra rain we’ve had meant mulberries as far as the eye can see. The laden tree’s heavy branches are sweeping the ground, and every leaf has berries waiting underneath to be picked. Unfortunately the combination of wind, rain and heavy fruit mean the tree is almost lying horizontal at this point. It won't be the same beautiful upright tree, and the food forest is somewhat changed, but that's the adventure of gardening and tending to an ever-changing ecosystem. We’ve still been sneaking out to the garden to scoff and slurp on juicy mulberries all month - bright magenta juice staining our fingers and toes... And, of course, we've been putting some aside for winter.

Bottled mulberries for the cupboards for winter guzzling. Fresh berries and mulberry cordial to enjoy right now. We'll make some cordial into jelly and some fruit into jam. We've been playing with mulberry cordial recipes for a few years now, and here's our ultra-simple favourite. We make a habit of simplifying things, because we find we're more likely to find time for an easy recipe we can remember by heart. Mulberry Cordial

1kg mulberries 1L water 750g sugar 2 lemons 1. Place the mulberries in a large saucepan, with the water and sugar. 2. Add the zest and juice of the lemons 3. Place the pot over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. 4. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, continuing to stir when you remember. 5. Line a large bowl or jug with a fine mesh bag, cheesecloth or strainer while you wait for the pot to simmer. 6. Remove from the heat and pour into the mesh bag/strainer/cloth lined bowl.

7. Allow the liquid to drain from the fruit pulp. We like to use a mesh bag and suspend it from a kitchen cupboard handle over the bowl. Set the fruit pulp aside. 8. Use a funnel to pour the cordial into clean bottles. Sterilise the bottles first if you're going to store the cordial for a while. 9. Seal with lids and move to the fridge when cool if you're planning to enjoy the cordial over the next couple of weeks. Pasteurise the full bottles in a large pot of boiling water if you plan to store them for up to 12 months.

Enjoy your cordial mixed 1:4 parts water. Mulberry fizz is lovely if you have a Sodastream, and mulberry mixes well with alcoholic drinks, too. Use the fruit pulp (and lemon zest) in your favourite crumble, pie or muffin recipe. It's delicious added to an apple base filling. Alternatively, freeze it for smoothies or nice-cream, or for baking another day. 

Happiest Mulberry season! 

~ Lauren. xx

Waste-free Sourdough Crackers

I live with a baker now. In January, Oberon set out on a mission to learn to make bread, using our friend Bonnie Ohara's wonderful book, and he did! This has meant lots of yummy warm and fresh bread, and an abundance of sourdough starter in our house again. And the owlets have a renewed interest in baking, and a new activity to enjoy with their Dad.

Also, unrelated to this, but since we started living waste-free, we haven’t bought crackers for almost 4 years. We haven’t really missed them too much, but they’re a nice snack to have on hand. Happily, our abundance of sourdough starter means we have a regular cracker supply once more! And a very quick and delicious savoury treat to snack on. And no waste, while we’re making our food stretch further. Hooray for new skills and new ways to be creative with turning waste into resources.

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Sourdough Starter Crackers
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

Mix all the ingredients together into a ball of dough. Dust your table surface with a little flour and knead the dough until it’s fairly smooth. Roll the dough flat until it’s only a few millimetres thick (thinner = crunchier). I do this on the back of a baking tray, lined with parchment or greased and dusted. Cut the dough into squares with a knife or pizza cutter, then prick each square with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil and spread the oil gently with a pastry brush. Sprinkle whatever flavours you’d like on top - things like sea salt, sesame seeds, seaweed salt, herbs like rosemary are all great. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes. Let cool and eat with your favourite cheese or dip, or just as they are!

Pigface Jam

A couple of years ago, on the way home from the beach, I tripped over a runner of pigface stretching across the track back to the car. I picked it up and saw some tiny roots poking out, so I carried it home with me and popped it out in the backyard, beside the herb garden. I didn't expect it to grow, but grow it did, and it completely covered a large grassy patch quite quickly. It grew in heavy clay soil, in the shade and continues to cover as much of the garden as we let it. We use it for bee stings and burns, in the same way you'd use aloe vera, so it's spot near the back door is quite practical.

This year, the pig face patch grew dozens of beautiful bright magenta flowers, which the bees adored. These turned into amazing looking red fruit… and so we made jam.

We referred to this recipe, but made a few minor changes, so here's our version…

1. Collect and peel 2 cups of pig face fruit pulp. The red fleshy skin peels away from the inside ball of pulp quite easily.
2. Place it in a saucepan with 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water.
3. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze it a bit and throw it in, peel and all.
4. Bring to a boil while sterilising a jar or two.
5.  Simmer and test the jam until it has thickened to a suitable jammy consistency - ours became really stretchy which is quite unlike any jam I've ever seen before!
6. Strain the jam if you like (we didn't).
7. Pour or ladle it into jars.

The jam is an interesting dark colour, but the flavour is amazing! Pigface fruit taste sweet and salty, with hints of strawberry and guava. The jam is all of that but sweeter… Delicious on sourdough with a little butter.

The entire plant is useful and edible. Leaves can be used in salads and wherever you might enjoy juicy and salty hints of flavour. Our chooks seem to enjoy a nibble, too! If you happen to trip over a little pig face on your way home from the beach, I'd highly recommend plonking it in your garden somewhere and enjoying this readily available bush food. Or perhaps, while you're at the beach, indulge in a little foraging? It's well worth the effort.

~ Lauren. xx

Mama Nurture: Fill Your Bowl

I've always had a bit of a thing for bowl food. They're my favourite for when we're relaxing and eating and spending time together. There's something about filling a bowl with nutritious, yummy food and taking a moment. I think it might go back to those eating-one-handed baby days, where a bowl filled with nourishment was essential and probably all I could manage... If someone would hold the baby for a moment while I grabbed it... A bowl of breakfast, a bowl of leftovers, a bowl of soup, a dessert bowl… Always so hearty and not too fancy. We've even been known to resort to the Sunday Roast Bowl here (look away Mum & Dad). Bowls are pretty much the greatest. 

My Mama Nurture Project has seen me fill a bowl regularly. Little Owlet gave me a beautiful handmade Japanese bowl a while ago, which has half-jokingly been dubbed "Mama's Soul Bowl". It's the total truth though. One beautiful bowl to fill up each day with food to feed just me. It's off limits to anyone else - a rarity in an owlet filled house. I take my time to fill it, making sure I pack in as many nutrients and flavours as I can. It's the actual best. Everyone needs a soul bowl. 

I've been perusing beautiful Buddha bowls on Pinterest for a while, and got my hands on this lovely book recently, so I'm looking forward to more beautifully filled soul bowls in my future. But this recipe is my breakky/lunch/whatever go-to. It takes about 3 minutes to gather from the garden and another 3 to cook, and it's totally worth doing, even if it means cooking a meal separate from everyone else's. It's super nutrient dense, keeps my tremor at bay and my belly happy most of the day. With plenty of greens and eggs in the garden, it's what got me though the winter. 

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Green Eggs Soul Bowl

2-3 cups of kale/silverbeet/broccoli/cauliflower, trimmed and stalks removed. 
Weeds/greens and herbs from the garden (whatever's at my feet as I wander round).
3 eggs, beaten.
2-3 tablespoons butter - I know it seems like lots, but it's totally nourishing and super yum. 
1 garlic clove, crushed or sliced.

Chop up greens while you heat the pan. 
Melt butter in the pan, then add the garlic and greens. 
Toss the greens in the buttery pan until softened, then push to the side of the pan. 
Pour eggs in the pan and scramble, mixing with the greens if you like. 
Pop greens and eggs in your soul bowl. 
Add any spice or topping you like. I like to add some or all of these...

1-2 tablespoons seeds - sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, linseeds, buckwheat - whatever's in the pantry, and toasted if you like. 
Dried seaweed - we foraged some wakame and this is perfect sprinkled on top.
Chopped up avocado.
Kimchi/sauerkraut or any other fermented veggies you have on hand. 

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Are you a lover of bowl foods? What's your favourite recipe?
What nourishes you through the day?

Much love,

~ Lauren. xx



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Apple Jelly

In amongst all our rambling, wandering adventures of late, we've kept an eye out for roadside treasures. Tasmania is full of gorgeous little farm gate stalls, but for the adventurous, there are also plentiful finds, growing wild along the roadside. A drive through the Huon Valley turns up baskets full of apples, haws, edible weeds and the occasional late berry, if you're lucky to find a spray-free patch. All that food, ready for the eating if we keep our eyes open, slow down and stop the car from time to time. 

A lazy walk home from co-op one day left me with a bowl full of rosehips. The following day we took a huge drive down to the far south and pulled over from some apples from an ancient wild tree. The owlets offered to taste test the huge apples and, upon finding them rather tart, we decided to make some jelly. We're loving the delicate flavour of this batch and I think next year I'll aim for more rosehips to really boost that flavour. Jam and jelly aficionado, Little Owlet, tells me her favourite is the Quince and Orange Jelly we made last weekend, but she'll happily eat either with a spoon - and does! 

Apple and Rosehip Jelly

1kg apples, or thereabouts

2 cups of rosehips 

Sugar - we used organic raw sugar, but rapadura, juice or honey or a mix of sweeteners would be fine. 

Water

Chop the apples up roughly , core, stems and all. Pop them in a large pot with the rosehips and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the fruit is soft. Place a colander over bowl and place some muslin or old stocking over the colander. Strain the fruit - leave it overnight if necessary. Try not to squeeze the fruit as the jelly will be clearer if it drains naturally. 

Measure the amount of juice and add half the amount of sugar along with it to a pot. For example, for 4 cups of juice, add 2 cups of sugar. Most recipes will suggest you need to have an equal amount of sugar, but we find it just too sweet - this will also depend on what sweetener you choose. There is enough pectin in the fruit to set the jelly anyway. Simmer the juice and sugar until it becomes jelly. Scoop off any foam that forms on the surface. Place some clean jars in a pot of water on the stove and boil for a little while. 

Place a saucer in the freezer. Test the consistency of the jelly every now and then by dropping some onto the saucer. When the liquid thickens and holds it's shape a little when you run a finger through it, it is ready. Have your jars ready and ladle or pour the jelly into the jars and pop the lids on to seal. 

We enjoy eating our jelly on toast, in cakes and tarts, with cheese, or (if you're like Little Owlet), with a spoon. It tastes and looks so jewel-like and decadent, but it only cost us about 50c per jar, just for the sugar! It pays to keep those eyes open and go slow...

What's your favourite way to use fruit at this time of year?

Off on any foraging adventures of late? 

Have a gorgeous weekend! 

~ Lauren. xx

You say frittata, I say fruittata...

Our hands down favourite, most simple grain-free breakfast… Or lunch… Or dinner when there's no time and nothing but eggs and bits and pieces… Frittata is our go to. Here's our version.

First I'll pop out to the garden and see what's fresh… Lately it's broccoli and silver beet and herbs. Sometimes there are left over roast veggies too. And if I'm lucky, the chooks will have laid enough eggs for the whole recipe.

Back inside after a quick nip out the back door, I'll quickly blanch the veg and have a look if there are any pine nuts or things like that to roast and throw in. Sometimes I'll caramelise some onions or sauté some leeks… Sometimes I won't. Sometimes I'll just grate a zucchini.

Then I whisk up four eggs in a bowl and oil, butter or coat the base of a frypan in ghee while it warms up a bit…

Next I add the cooked veggies and nuts and bits to the pan and scatter herbs and maybe a bit of parmesan on top. Cook the bottom on the stove for a bit and then cook the top under the griller until puffy and golden and just like you want to eat it. And serve!



If we're feeling a bit sweet tooth-y or fruity, we'll swap the veggies for some fresh or semi-thawed frozen berries, cooked pear or rhubarb, and maybe a splash of maple syrup, and make a fruittata! Served with cream, of course. Perfect for Sunday morning breakfasts or last minute desserts. Little Owlet will ask for the fruittata every time.



Best of all, the owlets love making it themselves and sharing it. It's our go-to-any-time-of-day meal. It's our main table-to-plate-in-fifteen-minutes meal too, which means we feel extra brilliant and smug while we eat it. And it's one of the only recipes we have that everyone almost always agrees on. That's a major win in my book.

Do you have a favourite go-to recipe?
Are you a frittata or fruittata person?
What are you eating from the garden right now? 

Happy Tuesday. xx

When life gives you neighbours…

Every time our minds wander to getting away from it all and moving to some isolated patch of bush, we think about all the good things we have where we are.  Wonderful neighbours is certainly on our list. Even though we are that family in our street… The house with artwork and fingerprints splashed all over the front windows… With Owlets roaring (sometimes nude), around the garden during the daytime. And a weedy, unkempt garden it often is, by most standards. We're that family who are always home and loud and choose to do things a little bit differently. Some of our neighbours choose not to engage and keep heads down as they run from the car to the sanctuary of home.  But the neighbours who do say hello and make time make our street a beautiful and supportive extended family, of sorts. A community.

Over the back fence is a piano teacher who has helped Owlets learn when they've shown interest. Happy for us to fling a ladder over the back fence, she gladly catches them on the other side for a half-hour lesson. And wonderfully, she's not been offended when they decide to give it up, or begin again. Recently her house guests asked to feed our chooks weeds from the garden as they work, having seen us do the same on our side. And so we discovered another beautiful connection for our permaculture design.

Next door on one side, we have a neighbour who has a beautiful, wild garden and she's happy for our Owlets to explore it. There's an amazing dolls house inside, the Owlets tell me. And more than once, we've been given a cup of sugar, a pile of newspapers or a handful of lavender, when we've needed it.

On the other side are neighbours who the Owlets have adopted as surrogate grandparents. Tiny likes to ring the doorbell and say "hi", if she hasn't seen them in a while. They knew our house better than we did when we first moved in and they're always a wealth of information about our street. They assure me that on the night Tiny was born, they heard nothing - although how that can be, I have no idea!

Next door, they are around most days, like us, and pottering in the garden, like us. Their garden is neat, well tended and abundant, with more than enough food for their meals and plenty to share. Often I've seen our neighbour popping in to houses in our street with apples or lemons for who ever is home. Sometimes it's us. Once it was a posie of violets to say she thought I was a great Mum. She had four kids of her own, you see... And there are plenty of times the Owlets have been handed a bowl of raspberries over the fence to gobble up gleefully on the way inside to tell me about it, red stained chin and all…

"Neighbourhood" by Phoebe Wahl. Available in our shop!

We have rather low fences in our neighbourhood, so we've had to become comfortable with company outdoors. Often a head will appear at the fence and we'll get to talking about how the broccoli's growing or why the lemon tree might not be thriving in that spot. Over the years, the next-door neighbours have witnessed our experiments with soil improvement and no-dig gardening and they've shown keen interest. Tut-tutting the weeds at this particularly lush time of year - I suspect they're being polite as we endeavour to get on with the business of growing food, despite the weeds. They're interested to witness the latest transformation as our permaculture design takes shape. And I think we're winning some clout as we seem to have luck with cauliflower.

We've been the glad recipients of a tiny rhubarb plant from next door, which is now huge and adorning our food forest. One of the enormous tomatoes passed over the fence was saved for the seed we have growing in seed trays in the lounge room… And we're more than glad to help out with the lemon glut when we collect the mail while they're away on holidays.

These neighbours embody the permaculture ethics of people care and fair share so well. I suspect that they see success the way I do; that true success is not just being able to feed your own family, but those around you too. And spreading a little joy along the way… I've been giving a little thought to how we can work to make this friendship a little more reciprocal. To be better neighbours and have enough to share (more than the odd cup of milk or stick of butter - although these are helpful too!). Enough useful stuff anyhow, and choosing a few things that are not in our neighbour's garden has been in the back of our minds while putting together our permaculture plan. To begin with, I think it might be a few eggs. They don't have chooks. And when some of the fruit trees grow up a bit, maybe some quinces or pears or cherries. I may just save some seed from the cauliflower and maybe our neighbour will finally have luck with that too, as we have. Hopefully there'll be enough to share with other neighbours too. Even the ones who don't have time for a chat.

This is how community building starts. Its how Owlets find mentors and friends of all ages. Its how we find support and our garden grows stronger. And it's how, when you think there's nothing much in the cupboard, you suddenly have the fixings for Lemon & Rhubarb cake…

Lemon & Rhubarb Cake

5 rhubarb stalks cut into 2cm pieces
1/3 cup rapadura/coconut sugar/raw sugar/maple syrup/alternative
125g soft butter
1 cup of rapadura/organic raw sugar/ honey/rice malt syrup. Add less if you like it less sweet.
zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup SR flour
100ml yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC
Grease and line a 20-22cm springform cake pan

Toss the rhubarb with rapadura and set aside
Cream the butter & larger quantity of sugar/sugar alternative.
Add lemon zest and then the eggs, one at a time.
Stir through the lemon juice.
Fold the flours in gently, a little at a time, alternating with the yoghurt.
Fold in the rhubarb.

Spoon into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes, until browned on top.
Test the cake with a skewer. If the skewer comes out with some cake batter on it, cook for another 5 minutes and repeat.
Cool for 15 minutes before removing the tin.
Dust with icing sugar if you like - we don't think it needs it!

Adapted from Allan Campion and Michele Cranston's Rhubarb Lemon Cake in Every Day Cooking. 
Published by Hardie Grant Books in 2006.

30 Ways to Enjoy Winter :: Beating the Winter Blues

Once upon a time I was a winter person. Always preferring to rug up rather than strip off, I liked winter's crisp air and stark light. Then I moved to Tasmania. Winter is very beautiful here, but it always takes some bolstering to be ready for the cold and the shortened daylight hours. Along with some vitamin D, we need to have a bunch of things up our sleeves to make it fun and keep us happy. Here are 30 ideas for keeping us (and hopefully you) active, warm and happy this winter.




Wake up with yoga or some other movement that stretches your body and calms your mind.

Eat something nurturing, fresh and rainbow-coloured.

Try some different teas or warm drinks. Find one you like. Make a ritual of it.

Go for a walk in nature.
Spend time in a landscape that's bigger than you.

Find inspiration in beautiful things that are much smaller than you.

Find a pub with a fire and cosy up over food and drinks, while recounting a long outdoor adventure.

Make something by hand for someone you love.

Send a letter in the post.

Go to a concert or a film. Come to Hobart for Dark MOFO.

Visit a farmers' market. Make it part of your week.

Spend some time in a book shop or oppy and find a book you like. Devour it. 

Do something that challenges you - like my brave and wonderful Dad, on the first day of Winter.

Learn something new or how to refine something you do. I've been doing this.

Take a course -  Maybe an e-course or something local… This looks good.

Plan a little getaway - visit a shack, go somewhere beachy, have a sleepover at a friend's place.

Light a campfire in the backyard.

Cook something in the coals.

Spend time gardening - plan, explore seed or tree catalogues, plant green manure, make compost.

Look for edible winter greens in your neighbourhood. Get to know your weeds. 

Spend time with people who make you feel happy.

Wear something colourful everyday.
Wear what makes you feel good (even if it's texta all over your face, like Tiny).

Buy or knit some warm woollen socks.

Layer up. “There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” ~ Ranulph Feinnes

Sort through your things. Think about what you need. Make space. 

Decorate a little corner of your home. 

Buy or make some art, then find a spot for it in your home.
Celebrate the dark. Turn the lights out and light candles and enjoy the quiet.

Take a long bath with oils, colours, candles… and someone you love, who makes you giggle. 

What are your winter survival tips?
Happy wintering! xx

One Chook...

In our nest, we're all about trying to find ways to squeeze the absolute most from our money, food and time right now. If we can do it and produce zero waste, that increases the awesomeness factor x10. Our favourite way to do all of the above begins with one chicken.

Harking back to my childhood, where we'd have a roast every weekend, we've begun to do the same. It sets up our week with full happy bellies and a bunch of meals already begun for our week ahead. There are some wonderful people all over the place talking about how they do this (Gourmet Girlfriend is one), but here's our chook rhythm and how it all works...

So we start with roasting one chicken. I look for the biggest chook I can find, always free-range, preferably organic and pasture fed. I keep some of the juices for gravy and pour off some oil for cooking tomorrow. I also roast up a whole load of veggies (more than we need) to go with it and that's our first meal. Super yum.

Later, I remove all the remaining meat from the bone and pop it in the fridge for another meal. The bones go in the slow cooker with an onion, chopped in half (skin and all), some garlic, carrot, celery, pepper corns, a bay leaf, water and a slosh of apple cider vinegar. That bubbles away for 24hrs. So there's stock/bone broth good to go for meals during the week. I get about 2L which usually makes 2 serves for our family, enough for soup and to add to a casserole or something like that.



In the morning, the left-over veggies make a lovely simple frittata*…

If I was lucky and found a big chook, I'll have managed to have enough meat left over to add to the bone broth for soup. A big chook will do this. Otherwise we'll enjoy the broth with lots of veggies. There are a multitude of other ways I can use the meat too… chicken pies, quick stir-fry, curry, risotto… And of course, cold as is, or on a sanga.



A favourite right now is what we've come to know as Crispy Chicken Salad. Lettuce and a bunch of other yum green veggies (whatever's seasonal and available), some grated carrot and some left-over chicken which has been shallow fried in left over chook fat/olive oil/coconut oil/ghee until it starts to go crispy. We throw a handful of fresh coriander from the garden on top and some homemade thai-style dressing. Sometimes we throw sesame seeds and kim-chi in the bowl too, just for yum and probiotic value.



So what to do with the left over stock bits and bones? I pick out the onions and whiz what's left in the food processor. After 24hrs, the chicken bones are so brittle they crumble in your fingers. With the veggies in the stock, they make a super easy, nutritious food for our furry owlets. Full of minerals and good things. We feed the soft, whipped up left-overs to our three cats and chihuahua. It lasts about 3-4 meals. And best of all, it uses ALL the last of the waste. And saves us a HEAP of money - pets are expensive! Especially if you want to feed them good stuff, and we KNOW this food isn't full of preservatives and other yuck stuff they don't need.

So there's our week all set up. The rest of my meal plan fits in around that. Super easy and and affordable and helping to stretch everything a bit further. And some really great, healthy meals too!

What are your tips for stretching your meals and your budget a bit further?
Any great left-overs recipes?

Have a gorgeous week! xx


*Stay tuned for our super-quick breakky fritatta recipe next week. xx

Whole30 :: Half Way

Huz and I have been undertaking a little experiment. In need of a little clean-up and with a whole bunch of niggles and aches and suspicions, we did some reading… Then after a couple of friends tried Whole30 and reported fabulousness, we were fairly convinced.

Here's what I've noticed: We've been eating rainbows! So much more care is going into what we eat. It's clean and nourishing and full of love. Also, my essential tremor has reduced significantly. WOW. This is in line with what I've read about Mediterranean type diets, ketogenic diets and grain-free diets having good effect. But I didn't expect it to actually work so quickly, especially after it had worsened so much in recent months. I couldn't chop veggies and I kept dropping things lots. With sleep, now it's not so bad. I'll be interested to see what happens when I get back on to fat blacks with butter… about the only way I can drink coffee these days and brain healing too. Here's what else. I've noticed: Clearer skin and energy returning after a couple of weeks of ugh and muscle aches and headaches and withdrawal symptoms. My sinuses are clearing up in a huge way. And woah, there's stuff happening in my tummy. A good dose of gut healing, which is why we did this in the first place.

Here's what Huz has noticed: Intestinal weirdiness. The good sort. Much less of the worrying bad sort that he had before. And fatigue. And rather hilarious cravings and food associations. He's looking forward to those shifting.

So what happens next is we continue to nurture our bodies through a couple more grain, dairy, sugar and legume free weeks. Then beyond that, slowly and steadily, we reintroduce what we've been missing. I'm thinking butter and maybe yoghurt for me, to begin with. I'm excited to figure out what really doesn't work for me (although I've always had a hunch), and let it go. To just be mindful about  the foods that feed and nourish me without making me feel bad in any way. And move on to a much healthier, more wholesome, less shakey and great feeling future.

How are you feeling? 
Eat any rainbows lately? xx

Little Owlet :: Chef

Nothing brings Little Owlet more joy than cooking. When she was a baby she'd cry and cry while I cooked dinner until I put her in a rocker on the kitchen bench. She'd sit in the sling on my hip and grab the spoon from my hand. Since she could see over the bench, she's been there alongside me, asking, advising, tasting. Now she just walks up when I'm cooking, grabs the spoon and takes over. Cooking together is our thing. Cooking is her thing.




She adores making up her own recipes and collaborating on ideas. And she's super picky on presentation. Many a time I've seen her rearrange the pikelets on our afternoon tea plate on it's way to the table. When she chooses what tv show to watch together, its always a cooking show... "So I can learn to cook everything, Mama!" She loves woman chefs and cooks best. She looks for role models... Maggie Beer is her favourite - "Grammy Beer", she calls her.




It's such a delight to watch the delighted little spark inside her when she indulges her passion. Aside from all the delicious food she cooks/we eat/we discuss.... She's learning to count, to measure, to multiply, to read. She's learning to cook.

What are your owlets passionate about? 
Is it something you share? Or do they do it on their own? 
Do you like making up recipes? Or do you follow the book?

This is Little Owlet's Apple Upside Down Cake. Aside from flour, sugar and milk, we can't remember the recipe. But it was yum. 

xx