Winter and porridge are a marriage made in heaven

In a strange coincidence (or was it?), The Age newspaper ran an excellent article devoted to the joys of eating porridge, just eight days after we did the post about rolling our own oats. The report by Carli Ratcliff is titled “Wild Oats” (see it here http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/cuisine/wild-oats-20120725-22oxl.html )

Oat porridge with sultanas and freshly grated ginger

The article is largely about the popularity of different types of porridge in various Sydney fashionable eateries (apparently it is “all the rage” at the moment). There are plenty of excellent suggestions for spicing up the traditional recipe, but the article does have a few oversights.

It doesn’t mention adding freshly grated ginger (as well as a range of dried fruits) which we reckon is one of the best ways to make a top class porridge. Surprisingly it doesn’t mention the benefits (let alone the possibility) of rolling your own oats.

Other ingredients we often add to our oats include apple, sultanas, goji berries, dried apricots, various nuts and seeds and honey. 

Rice porridge with fruit, nuts, seeds, yoghurt and honey

Sometimes for variety we have brown rice and to this we add sultanas, and sprinkle on top sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds as well as walnuts, macadamias and stewed apple or any other stewed fruit that we have at the time. As we haven’t been eating meat we also add quinoa when cooking the rice as this gives us protein.  Last but not least a dollop of plain yoghurt right on top and there it is .....our delicious breakfast.

Although the article promotes biodynamic oats, it is worth noting that even biodynamic and organic oats may have been pre-steamed to remove the natural oils to give them a longer shelf life. The best way to ensure you are getting all the goodness of the whole grain is to freshly roll your own.

Grinding our own Flour

Our last post told about our wonderful oat roller. As that purchase worked out so well, the next experiment on our grain processing journey was to purchase a wheat grinder. Once again we did some research, but our purchase this time was not as smooth running.

Retsel Hand Powered Wheat Mill

We wanted to keep things as simple as possible and decided on a hand cranked wheat grinder called Little Ark, purchased from Retsel in Dandenong, as a 60^th birthday present for Heather.  One reason we chose this model was because we were told it could be attached to an electric motor if we wanted to go down that path in the future. The package, which included the handmill, steel grinders, stone grinders, 2 pulleys and a v-belt was fairly pricey, but the machine was a simple well-engineered design.

When we got home we eagerly unpacked the unit and put it together. In our minds we could already smell the beautiful aroma of bread baked from our very own freshly milled grain. We soon found out that it took far too long to mill enough flour for a cake by hand (and was very tiring as well).

The motorisation kit

So we set about converting the Little Ark to a motorised unit. We had all the gear necessary except for the motor (A very important component). We had been told that the cheapest source of a motor was to extract one from an old washing machine. Often people throw out machines with good motors when they start leaking, when the electronics that control the washing cycles fail or perhaps the gears seize up. I confidently told Heather that we would pick one up from the side of the road within the next few weeks.

Our second hand washing machine motor

In Victoria, we have a wonderful system of recycling called roadside collections. Each Shire has their own system, but generally it involves residents putting unwanted household goods on the roadside for collection by contractors (who hopefully recycle them). Although it is frowned upon by some, these collections are a goldmine for people like us, who have an obsession for re-using things. We spent the next month scouring roadsides on every trip we made. We came across every conceivable type of household product but no washing machines. Suddenly old machines were as rare as hen’s teeth!

We kept looking over the next few months and eventually came across one. We took it apart, attached the motor and turned on the power. To our relief the motor happily turned the grinder. However when we placed grains into the hopper, the motor didn’t have enough torque to turn the stones that ground the wheat. It just stopped. It was time to begin our search again, but this time for a stronger motor.

Our grain processing bench with storage shelves 

Over the next twelve months we came across several more machines. In each case we ran into problems. Usually it took around half an hour to get the motor out before we found out what the problem was. Some didn’t work, others were not strong enough, whilst others had shafts that were too big for our pulley wheel. It was important for the motor to have a small pulley on it which then drives a larger one on the grinder to gear the process down so that grinding stones are not turning too fast. If the grinding surfaces turn too fast, the stones and the wheat become too hot and the flour quality is severely reduced.

In an act of desperation we called into a shop that sold second-hand washing machines, thinking they might be able to help us source the perfect motor for our job. This idea came to an abrupt halt when they told us that for many years washing machine technology has advanced beyond the sort of motors we were looking at. Our only hope was to pick up an old machine with a suitable motor.

The grain mill in action -how easy is that!

By now we had almost given up on the project and the grinder was packed away. However, by chance we mentioned our dilemma to Heather’s brother Graham and he said he might be able to help. He took us down to his shed and pointed out a shelf at the back. There, underneath a few other things were two electric motors. Suddenly our grain grinder dreams were reawakened.

These motors were larger than the ones we had tried before so everything looked promising. We found some brackets to hold the motor in place, and rigged them up so we could slide the motor along  to tension the drive belt. We flicked the switch and tipped some grain into the hopper. It worked well at first- a bit too well. The stones were turning too fast, and then they stopped. The big pulley on the grinder was slipping on its axle.

This was a whole new problem. To solve it we had to get the pulley off the drive shaft. No matter how hard we banged it, it wouldn’t budge. So once again we lost our enthusiasm.

Freshly milled flour

By now Heather’s 61^st birthday had passed but she still dreamed of a day when we would be grinding our own flour. Then one wet day when we didn’t have anything else to do, she suggested we have another go at getting it working. This time after a few well placed whacks the pulley came off. The slipping problem was a result of the small worm screw in the hub of the pulley not aligning with the flat spot on the shaft. Out came a file and a new flat spot was created and the whole lot put together. We added an old light switch to the circuitry to allow us to turn it on safely and away it went. To slow it down we placed an intermediary pulley in between the other two. This brought the rate down to about 100 turns per minute which is just right.

For a very professional finish, all the gear was mounted onto a solid bench (discarded by a member of the family) that also holds our oat roller. We turned the drawer space underneath into a convenient storage area for grains and equipment. The final modification needed was a cover to fit over the grinding stones to direct the falling flour downwards (instead of flying sideways). Heather made one out of an old ice cream contatiner and it works a treat.

Time for coffee and cake (made out of fresh flour of course)

Wonder of wonders now a cup of flour takes only a couple of minutes to grind and this is far less tiring than doing it by hand. It is all 18 months late, but at last Heather has got her birthday present. Perhaps we should start working on her 62^nd birthday present now- she might just get it by the time her birthday, comes around in 2 months time!

PS. We purchased our Survival Ark Mill from Retsel in Dandenong. Their web address is www.retsel.com.au

Roll, Roll, Roll Your Oats

For many years we have dreamed of processing grains (Unfortunately, we are not in a position to grow our own). Apart from benefitting from the freshness and the health giving properties, the home processed product would be cheaper and we would be bypassing the embedded energy involved in the commercial processing system.

Our Schnitzer Oat Roller

We first put our toe in the water by looking at oat rollers. We enjoy a morning bowl of muesli or porridge and from our research discovered that commercially rolled oats often have their natural oils steamed out of them prior to packaging. This process allows the oats to have a longer shelf life without going rancid, but unfortunately results in the consumer missing out on part of the goodness of the whole grain.

After much internet searching we settled on a German made roller (Schnitzer) made out of wood and stainless steel, which we purchased from Skippy Grain Mills (www.skippygrainmills.com.au ) in NSW. Our Schnitzer hand roller is a beautifully crafted machine with a simple but efficient mechanism. It is a little on the expensive side, especially when postage is added, but well worth the money in terms of quality.

Bulk Oats

We purchased bulk (10kg) biodynamic groats (oats without the husk) from Eastfield Natural Food Store in Croydon and were soon enjoying beautifully fresh, delicious oats in our porridge, muesli, soups, cakes and biscuits. The only thing to keep in mind, is that once rolled, the oats will only keep for a couple of weeks. We generally roll our oats the night before and soak them overnight to benefit from maximum freshness. They take a little bit longer to cook than the heavily processed commercial oats in the supermarket, but they taste so much better and of course retain all their natural oils.

To help recover the high price we paid for the Schnitzer, and to share the benefits with others, we decided to take it to our weekly market stall. We use it to demonstrate how it works and sell freshly rolled oats each Saturday. It has turned out to be quite popular – especially during the colder months.

Bicep building

One side benefit of rolling your own oats is the upper body exercise. It takes just a few minutes to roll enough oats for our own personal use, but at the market on a good day we may spend 10 to 15 minutes rolling for other people. If bicep size was important to us, this is a great way to build them up. Heather is not too keen on large biceps, but Andrew has no objection. We must remember to swap arms though, or the result might be over developed muscles on one side of the body!!!
Often at the market, people (especially children) are keen to roll their own oats and we are happy to oblige. This puts a hole in our large bicep plan – but we have to fit in with the wishes of the customer.

We have had the roller for 18 months now, and it has happily rolled around 200 kg of oats. It shows no sign of wear and tear and works as well as it did from the start. We are happy to recommend it. If you are in the Healesville area (outside the old railway station) on a Saturday morning, drop in to our stall and have a look at it (and have a roll if you are game).

Firewood and the Science of Wood Stacking

Most helpers who visit our place get a turn at boosting our firewood stores, through collecting kindling, splitting logs or stacking firewood. It was not until we had to explain all the intricacies of the different processes involved in the various tasks, that we realized how much there is to learn to do these jobs well.

Valencia, Tia and Jodie unloading firewood

The first, and most important point we have to get across, is safety. For example we point out that boots and gloves are necessary for any jobs involving firewood if you want to avoid splinters, ant stings and crushed toes or fingers.

Mike putting the wood splitter to work

In the autumn we try to get our woodshed filled in readiness for winter and spring, so at this time of year visitors sometimes get to use our motorised log splitter. Although it is rated at 40 ton, logs don’t come with labels indicating the force necessary to split them. We give helpers hints to make the job easier for them, but much of the skill is intuitive and it just needs experience to master. There is a Utube video showing a man splitting wood with his new machine. When placing the log in position, it ended up on a slight angle and within seconds the base plate was bent out of shape by the force of the machine. We tell this story to helpers to ensure they understand that wood splitting is a skilled activity, and needs thought and care to be done safely and well.

Wood stacks can be "a work of art"

The wood splitter takes most of the hard work out of the job and lessens the need for a deep tissue back massage by Heather afterwards (although that is still nice). However there is no machine available to do the job of wood stacking. On several occasions we have left this job to helpers only to find that our wood supply falls over in the middle of winter – sometimes getting quite damp before we realise what has happened. Now we give helpers a quick Wood Stacking 101 “course” before they start, and supervise the operation until we know they can do the job well.

Or they can turn into a heap on the ground!

We don’t get too finicky about stacking but see this as an opportunity to show helpers that even tasks that seem very simple are more complex if you look at the detail. Wood stacking can be done well or poorly, and both methods take about the same amount of time. The first job is to place the wood into the correct stack- short (for stove) or long (for heater). This not only allows us to get the right sized wood needed at any particular time, but makes for a more solid stack; long wood on top of short wood is not very stable. The biggest challenge though, is developing stacking skills- for which the basic rule is; each placed log should be stable enough to hold those above. Any odd shaped logs can be left aside and go on the very top where they bear no weight. Other clues include placing slightly longer wood at the base, keeping logs roughly horizontal and making sure the front face of the stack is vertical (not sloping forward). These ideas might seem common sense, but many helpers have very little experience with this sort of work. After practising for half an hour or so most helpers get reasonably good at the job and our wood stacks no longer fall over!

Our old woodshed had lots of "character"

Our original woodshed was very rustic and made out of old sheets of tin and bush poles. Although it held a good supply of wood it had some drawbacks. It was too low to accommodate a swinging axe, and too small to provide cover for a barrow when getting wood. Its open nature allowed the wood to air dry, but windblown rain tended to wet wood just under the roofline. We are very conscious of the fact that dry wood generates more heat and it is burned more cleanly (good for the environment and the flue).

Our new woodshed is more practical

When we erected our steel garage, we used the opportunity to attach a wood shed area onto the side (making use of the existing wall). Although this structure lacks the character of the earlier woodshed, it has a much bigger capacity, is taller and offers better protection to stored wood. It is also opposite the house, just across the drive and on the same level which means barrows do not have to be wheeled uphill. The driveway also provides all weather access for unloading firewood when adding new wood.  However its biggest advantage is that we have been able to divide the space into four bays. Two of these are for short wood and two for longer wood. When the first bay is empty, we start using the second bay, and are free to fill the first bay again with new wood. As each bay holds around six months supply of wood this system provides a continual supply of very dry wood.

The whole family enjoys a cosy fire

We reckon all this makes a pretty good setup as a fire wood supply. After Black Saturday we have more than enough dead (and often partly burned) timber available. We had better get out and get some more wood under cover before the winter rains start again.

Open Sesame!

Mike starts drilling out the mortar.

When we eventually install our steam engine under our verandah, we will need easy access to the solar system control equipment in our battery room. Up until now, direct access was only possible if we could magically pass through the very solid (250mm thick) mudbrick wall that was in the way!

As the “Open Sesame” spell did not work, we were left with no other choice but to make a big hole in the wall. This project had to be done carefully, because we didn’t want to upset the stability of the wall; especially the many tons of mud-bricks to the side of and above the proposed doorway. Therefore the starting point was obtaining two heavy duty steel lintels to support the wall above.

A brick is removed from our "holey wall"

We carefully drilled out horizontal slots in the mudbricks for the lintel to fit into on each side of the wall. The lintels were then placed in these slots and bolted together, forming a strong support for the weight above. Although this sounds quite simple the process took many hours of drilling, checking for straightness and the correct depth, and cleaning out the slots to get a good fit. If there was any sizable gap above where the lintel was going, gravity would cause cracks to form in the brickwork above.

Brick by brick the hole expands

Once the lintels were in place, it was time to make the hole for the door in the wall. The circular saw didn’t have enough depth and would have created a dust storm inside and outside the house. Therefore we used a drill with a 200mm masonry bit on the end. Luckily our WOOFERS, Tim and Mike, had arrived by now (see our earlier post), and they helped drill nearly 300 holes in the mortar joints. This enabled us to recover the bricks for future re-use. By the time they had finished, our place looked like it had been strafed by machinegun fire. In fact it was suggested that this was a technique one could use to make decorative patterns in mud-brick walls. One could drill holes in whatever pattern appealed and then fill them with a contrasting coloured mortar – hmmm another project to add on our to-do list one day!

Even with all those holes, going three quarters of the way through the wall, the bricks didn’t look like they would budge. It really was a very solid wall that we reckon would have withstood a sizeable earthquake. However, careful banging with a hammer and bolster loosened a few of the top bricks. This then made it a relatively easy process to loosen the others.

The frame goes in

After all bricks were removed, the edges of the hole were straightened up and measurements checked. It was now time to build the heavy duty wooden door frame. Fortunately we could draw on a fairly large supply of leftover and second-hand building materials. However, one upright piece of the frame was bowed. This was fixed by using it on the side adjacent to a main house post. It was straightened out by screwing it tightly in place with large coach bolts at the top and bottom to bring it into a vertical position. The small gap between the cut mud-bricks and the frame was then filled with a cement mortar to finish off the seal around the doorway.

We bought the door at a second-hand building supply place in Mt Evelyn for $30. It was in pretty good condition and even came with its own hinges. However it was (like our wall) a very solid door (unlike the hollow core doors they mass produce today). It was a bit too big for our purposes so we took off 50mm from the bottom and 50 mm from the sides and it fitted perfectly.

Open Sesame!

The final job was to fit the door handle and locks. This was the most expensive part of the whole job. Luckily the door set we chose was on special at $130, and with an extra $30 we were able to get the locks changed to match our other external doors.

So the whole project wasn’t as easy as “Open Sesame”, but we can now move in and out of the battery room, our workshop area and the woofer room without traipsing through the whole house.

The battle of Tenderbreak Corn Field 2012

This year we had our best corn crop ever. We had composted the garden well (which included plenty of old, broken down chicken manure) before planting, and given plants a little extra spacing to encourage good growth. We had even planted successive crops so we could harvest cobs over an extended period. Our mouths were watering as we watched the first crop gradually mature. 

The crop ripens

Finally the day for the first taste arrived and we stepped into the “corn forest” to select the best cobs. To our horror we found we had been beaten to it by some ravenous rodents who had already stripped several cobs. To us, that was a clear declaration of war!

A demolished cob

Our first defensive strategy was to leave our brave dog Bluey out all night to do his duty and repel attacks. He did a good job for about half the night, but gave up at about 3am and came and slept by our bedroom window.

Of course the rodent incursions continued and we lost a few more cobs. If he’d been successful in his mission we were going to promote him to General Bluey, but his lacklustre performance will keep him at the rank of private for quite a while yet.


Private Bluey

Our next strategy was to go on the attack. We pulled out our dusty collection of traps, including Big Bertha.

This latter gizmo is an electronic rat trap called a Ratzapper. It is powered by 4 D cell batteries and when a rodent enters, it delivers an electric shock that quickly and humanely kills the offender. We set up our traps every night for a week and caught enough rodents to save about half of our first crop. Unfortunately, this was not quite enough corn to hold our traditional annual family corn party.







Big Bertha

Two weeks later, our second crop was ripening up when we noticed that nibbles were again appearing in the best cobs. As these were smaller we guessed that the mice army was having a go this time. We brought Big Bertha out again to do her thing and each night for the next week we caught offending rodents.

 

We do not like having to kill rodents and only resort to this if our crops come under serious threat. As we will not allow poisons in our garden we believe the electric trap is probably the most humane way of dealing with rats and mice.
 In the early days we did try relocation, by trapping mice in a home-made rat trap (non lethal) and then walking right up the back of our place (500m) and letting them go. We have stopped doing this because:-

·       Trapping rodents, and shifting them is traumatic for them

·       Our home made trap was too small for rats

·       Relocation is possibly inhumane in that they may not be able to find enough food in their new location and could starve to death

·       When they do find food, it possibly reduces food availability to animals already resident in that area

·       Relocation may be just passing the problem on to someone else

·       Unless they are relocated some distance away they can make their way back and the problem continues

The battle of Tenderbreak Corn Field was hard fought and there were quite a few casualties. However we managed to save about three quarters of our crop and were able to hold a smaller version of our annual family “corn” party. Our feast included corn on the cob, corn patties, pop corn and fried rice with corn.

One of our delicious meals with corn.

ADDENDUM BY HEATHER
My heart bleeds for our rodent population and I only wish we could live harmoniously together at all times. Why wouldn’t you salivate at the glimpse of ripe, succulent corn if you were a rat or mouse. BUT, I love my corn too, and ever so sadly turn my head away as Andrew does the dirty deed.
My mum once gave me a beautiful piece of pottery ......a dear little mouse sitting beside a mouse trap with a look of total horror on its face.

National Permaculture Day 2012

Sunday May 6 has been designated as National Permaculture Day. Around Australia and in some overseas countries there are events being held to celebrate the day. We will be running a tour of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm on this day, and invite anyone in Melbourne who is interested, to join our tour.

TOUR DETAILS
DATE: Sunday, May 6^th

TIMES: 1:30 to 4:30 pm

COST:  $15 per adult which includes afternoon tea. Bookings are required to keep numbers manageable and to ensure there is plenty of scope for questions and discussion. Other dates are available for group bookings. Contact Andrew or Heather to reserve a place or for more information, at tenderbreak@bigpond.com

Our tours are suitable for anyone with an interest in permaculture, organic gardening, passive solar house design, mudbrick building, property design and layout, chooks and ducks, solar power, grey and black waste water systems and sustainable living. Although our property is a large bush block, we provide plenty of information and ideas that are suitable for both rural and suburban dwellers.

Part of the tour looks at defensive strategies against bushfires. The fires of Black Saturday burnt most of our 96 acres, but we were able to save our house and most of our infrastructure. We can now give an account of what aspects of our fire plan worked well and what needs to be improved.

Over 1000 people have toured our property and some have even been twice. If you cannot make it on this day, let us know and we will keep you informed about future tours. Alternatively have a look at http://www.permacultureday.info/ for details of other events which range from house and garden tours to workshops and film nights.