This is the bread that is voted tops by everyone in the family. It lasts for ages, in fact it is still good for toast after a week and freezes well. This recipe makes two large, or three regular size loaves and I usually break the loaves into halves and keep one half out and […]
Our accidental community
This post was originally published on Women of Green Our Accidental Community I live in an idyllic valley just 45 minutes drive north of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. This six acres I call home has been my turangawaewae or standing place for 25 years . The first time I walked the […]
ST JOHN’S WORT or hypericum perforatum
Gathering data for this blog to be honest was far from satisfying as I found so much negative information about this wonderful herb, and I wondered how much was based in fact. Then I started to understand that often what they were talking about was pharma created products manufactured from only one or two constituents […]
Gardening terminology explained
When I first started gardening in earnest, I took it for granted that I knew the exact meanings of the words gardeners use. Now I wish I had taken the time to understand the lingo. It would have made some things easier and maybe saved me some time and money. For example, soil, compost and […]
BLACK WALNUTor Juglans Nigra
I’ve planted two walnut trees over the years here in our gardens and neither of them have survived. People always tell me ‘but they grow like weeds!’ Yeah right, not for me they don’t. For many years whenever I took a trip down South I would see these beautifully lush trees growing along the banks […]
Garlic glorious Garlic
Oh how I love garlic, and salt, and oil. I can’t imagine preparing food without them. Good organic garlic, mineral rich sun-dried sea salt and cold-pressed oil. Organic avocado oil drizzled over fresh salads straight out of the garden. Whole roasted garlic cloves nestled amongst crunchy olive-oiled potatoes and sprinkled with a good grainy salt. […]
Herpes Treatments and Causes
Spring or Autumn is here (depending on which side of the world you are on) and with the change of weather so many of us can be prone to cold sores. Cold sores and genital herpes are both caused by different strains of the herpes virus, but the eruptions can have the same triggers. Often […]
Making the most of Easter with children in mind
When my now adult children were younger, the weekend of Easter was a time when we could create those traditions that will always be looked forward to with anticipation. We were never a religious family in any conventional sense but I nevertheless incorporated the Christian festivals into our lives. For our family they were and […]
Jo Sweeney’s Bread
My son turned 31 a week ago and that is almost as long as I have been baking bread. I have tried many different bread recipes over the years but only a few have stuck, each one for a different reason. Jo Sweeney’s bread continues to be used because although it is a twice kneaded […]
Calendula Officinalis
Calendula Officinalis is such an easy plant to grow, so common-place, a weed really, like so many of our first aid herbal healers, and yet on further investigation this not-so-ordinary plant holds possibilities for healing on so many levels. In truth, our gardens could be our first port of call if only we wanted to […]
Make your own Calendula herbal tincture.
Don’t you sometimes wish you could just gather up some of your seasonal medicinal herbs and stick them in a bottle and keep them for later use. Well you can, and it is literally that easy. The main concern is that you select the correct plant! Make sure you know your stuff. All plants have […]
Spicy Pear and Ginger Chutney
Everyone in our family loves to eat home-made chutney and relish….peach chutney, fresh fig chutney, pear chutney, quince chutney, apple and date chutney, tomato relish, beetroot relish, feijoa chutney, plum chutney and tamarillo chutney. When a chutney making session is in progress ahhh the different smells, you can almost see them! The tendrils of aroma […]