A beautiful morning where I could show off my homemade muesli, which unlike many of my food adventures, the kids DO eat! Comprises of:
> Oats lightly fried in honey. Oats from Laucke who have mills in Strathalbyn, SA (689kms) and Bridgewater on Loddon, VIC (179kms) – see 2013 post – and honey from our backyard bees, now residing in Buxton.
> Sultanas. From Robinvale Organic Wines, on the Murray River, Robinvale, VIC (472 kms). Established in 1976 by Mr. & Mrs. George Caracatsanoudis, today sons Steve, Bill and their families continue to produce Bio-Dynamic Grapes, Sultanas, Wines and Non-Alcoholic beverages on their thirty hectares.
> Almonds. These are via wholesaler Biodynamic Marketing, from David Keens 400 acre Manna Farms orchard in Nangiloc, 50 km south of Mildura, VIC. The property also has citrus and avocado trees, and these particular almonds are from young trees at present in ‘conversion’ to biodynamic certification. (526kms).
> Sunflower seeds. From Four Leaf Milling, Tarlee, SA (772kms)
> Cashews. From Eco Farms, originVietnam (6,700kms). Oooh yeah!
We’ve tried to bake bread over the years with some results but none that we’ve been able to transition into everyday routines. This week I thought I’d try again but keep it all as simple as possible. So I pulled out the electric bread-maker, stored away in the shed. This could be seen as cheating, but means that even 8 year old Talitha can bake her own loaf. Unlike past attempts (involving heavy flours such as spelt or rye, and a sourdough batter), we used just basic white bakers flour, yeast, salt, oil, water. The flour turns out is from Eden Valley Biodynamic farm in Narrogin, WA (3,375kms), and yeast is Lowans brand, labeled ‘packed in Australia from imported ingredients’. All done well, in 2 hours 45. … We may use Powlett Hill wholemeal flour next time (only 137kms).
Sandwiches for lunch. Cucumber, tomato, lettuce, avocado for me. Veg from Janet’s visit to our fav fruit shop Pomello in Seddon. Avocados from Barham Avocados – a family-run, pesticide-free orchard of 2,500 trees on the banks of the Murray river – run by Tim and Katrina Myers. Read their blog here. Kids had additional cheese from Capel Valley, Harvey, WA (3,550 kms).
Dinner was a tad traditional. Chops and veg. Meat from Owen’s farm in the western district of Victoria – a friend with a house-calf that needed a home (240kms). Not entirely kosher (well not strictly kosher at all) but all is virtuous in the name of connecting with our food.
This last week we organised a similar arrangement with neighbors of our in-laws, this time for lamb. We actually had the opportunity to meet the 18 month old sheep – one of the ones in this photo (with a friend). We’ll pickup it up for our freezer next week. (110kms).
Veg was carrots, sweet potato, cauliflower. Worth a mention was the mayo – an essential ingredient to help Charlie’s veg go down. It was one Janet grabbed seeing that Menora Foods is based in Noble Park. Unfortunately the small print included ‘Made in Belgium’ (16,600 kms).
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