MAKING
Have you been busy crafting? There’s an amazing range of craft tutorials online and you can master so many useful and entertaining skills. I’ve been watching painting tutorials which have been very interesting but a bit intimidating, too. My favourite painting tutorials are from The Rijksmuseum. Search Youtube for a range of demonstrations. I was really inspired by the Botanical Painting demonstration, having just done a series of Asiatic Lily painings myself, nowhere near as detailed as those done on the Rijksmuseum video.
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A friend said at Christmas time she and her group only exchange handmade gifts. I thought this sounded very smart until I realised my repertoire would only cover cooking and growing. Although I enjoying making biscuits (cookies) and presenting them in pretty boxes and growing plants for friends, I knew it was time to get some new ideas.
SEED PACKETS
My first effort is this set of seed packets. I printed the template from the Country Living site, then painted the pot and plant image using water colours. When the paint was dry I cut, folded and glued the packets. I’ll make sets of five or ten, I’m not sure, yet.
For templates and ideas for seed packets, try Pinterest or search online. Once you select a template is it easy to personalise the front with your own illustration and wording if this is what you’d like to do. Then print, cut and glue. Package with string or ribbon. Pretty and easy.
CANE CHAIR REPAIR and a NEW CUSHION COVER
My next project this week was not making gifts but re-covering a cushion on a cane chair in the family room. This is a very old but comfortable chair. My mother likes to sit on it with her coffee next to her on the sofa table. When I upended the chair to dust it I found pieces of cane unraveling and some nails sticking our. I also realised that when our dog was a puppy, not only did he like to lie under the chair and watch the world, he also teethed on one of the struts between the legs. Tiny little puppy teeth chewing was very evident. Luckily it has not effected the integrity of the chair.
The glued down cane needed masking tape to hold it in place while it dried. Usually I use clothes pegs to hold things in place until set, but the cane was too thick. It has stuck well. I also hammered in all the nails. Next I measured and cut a new cover for the cushion and two ties to attach it to the chair at the back.
The existing cushion cover had a coffee stain. I tried washing it but there was still a shadow of the stain. New cover required. To make the cushion cover I just cut a rectangle from white cotton fabric twice the size of the cushion and added seam allowances, then stitched up both long edges on the wrong side, trimmed and turned it the right way out. I made two ties from folded thin strips and turned them the right way out, which was a bit of a fiddle, then trimmed and ironed all the pieces. I was going to hand stitch across the top, then machine stitch where the ties were attached to make the join strong but ended up machine stitching across the top. I used a long stitch so I can easily unpick it to wash when necessary.
This chair gets a lots of use! It now looks fresh and plump and is very comfortable.
COOKING
I’ve been disappointed with the harvest from mushroom farms or blocks in the past. I bought a sample pack of mushrooms at a market before WA closed down and really liked the King Oyster Mushrooms. I began looking for a supplier of the grow blocks and found a commercial grower selling fresh mushrooms and grow blocks from a nearby suburb. Perfect!
Ordered a King Oyster Mushroom block and it was delivered that afternoon. It was a square plastic pack containing hardwood sawdust, wheat bran and soy bean husks inoculated with the spores. I put it in the fridge overnight to “cold shock” it to begin fruiting. I had already prepared a faux greenhouse by drilling many holes in a plastic storage box. I put the opened block slightly elevated on blocks in the greenhouse and misted it regularly using a water spray.
About seventeen days later I began harvesting really big, great tasting King Oyster Mushrooms. I cut the thick, firm, tasty stems to scallop sized pieces and chopped the tops into four. Then I simply cooked them in frothy butter until they are slightly coloured. I served them on just out of the oven buttered rye sourdough with Himalayan salt sprinkled on top and chopped parsley, too. Very, very good.
This mushroom kit has been a great success. I have harvested around 750gm of King Oyster Mushrooms and there’s probably about the same amount developing in the block for future picking….and eating.
Fresh citrus everywhere, so made little shortbread biscuits flavoured with lemon zest.
And made some jars of grapefruit, lemon and kumquat marmalade in the microwave. The shortbread biscuits are shared with the lady who gave me lemons and there’s a jar of marmalade for the lady who gave me the grapefruit. The neighbour who lets me pick her kumquats doesn’t eat then at all! We live in an old suburb with well established citrus trees. We have a lime tree and luckily, the neighbours share their bounty of lemons, kumquats and grapefruit.
For some years now I have been making our sourdough loaf in a Pyrex rectangular baking dish as it results in predictable sized slices, but made yesterday’s loaf in a dutch oven. Love the rustic, irregular loaf, ate some with the mushrooms.
GROWING
Have you joined the kitchen scrap growing movement? A few weeks ago I planted a celery end which is growing well, and then I planted five bok choy ends, too, and they are growing impressively. Have five more bok choy ends in a bowl of water waiting for roots to appear to ensure fresh veg over a few weeks. Very exciting.
This healthy tomato plant self seeded and I am hoping it will grow tomatoes but it may be too cold now. Love a self seeding edible plant as opposed to the many, many self seeding weeds I have to deal with all the time.
Also planted more silverbeet, more lavender and a yellow nasturtium. The yellow is my husband’s favourite but seem to have stopped self seeding, as did the red one, my favourite. We’ll have masses of orange ones, though. My mother grew the yellow one for us. Also planted hollyhock seeds collected by her and a canna tuber, too.
The bromeliad is blooming. The pink, mauve and purple colours really pop against the mostly green winter garden.
and LOOKING
Monet’s garden in Giverny opens soon but we wont be there! The spring garden is gorgeous. If you’d like information and a virtual tour, copy and paste http://www.fondation-monet.com
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 5th JUNE
“The food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature.” This is the opening statement defining World Environment Day.
Biodiversity is the theme for 2020. This involves 8 million plants and animal species, their ecosystems and the genetic diversity within them.
As always, the aim is to highlight how we are damaging the environment and to celebrate the achievements each year. For more information, inspiring stories and plans for action visit https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/
https://www.countryliving.com/diy-crafts/how-to/g1035/easy-paper-craft-projects/?slide=5