The Greening of Gavin

Kim’s Cornish Pasties

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Many years ago, before we were married, Kim and I took a holiday in Cornwall, UK.  We stayed at a lovely little town called Tintagel, which many told us, was the home of Arthurian legend and myth.

There is even a ruined castle high on a rocky peak that some thought may be the remains of Camelot, and below on the stony shore there is even what is said to be Merlin’s cave.

Anyway, what does this have to do with Kim’s Cornish Pasties?

Well quite a lot actually, for this village is where we tasted our very first genuine pasty, from a little shop on the high street.  I believe it was called Pengenna Pasties, and it is still going strong.  In fact, if you live in the UK, they will even send you some pasties in 1 dozen batches via the post.  Yum.

We bought a single pasty each, and as it was raining cats and dogs, we retreated back to the car.  Once safely inside, we scoffed down these massive hot pasties, steaming up the windows as we ate.  It was a day we both have never forgotten.

So every now and then we get a hankering for a traditional pasty.  Being the resourceful woman she is, Kim has perfected her recipe over the years and I reckon that she makes the best Cornish pasty this side of Camelot!

Sunday night was such a day.  Here is how it all panned out.

Kim’s Cornish Pasties

makes 7 large pasties

Firstly peel about four large potatoes and the biggest swede (rutabaga) that you can find.  Add cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes until just soft.

Chop two brown onions

Saute on a medium heat with a generous splash of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter.

The next ingredients are peas, about 2 cups

Biodynamic minced beef  about 500 gm (1.1 lbs)

Once the onions are translucent, add the peas.  Cook for about 2 minutes

 Then add the minced beef and,

add two grated carrots.

and heat until the mince is brown and the carrots are soft.

Begin to season the mixture with some gravy mix.  About two tablespoons.

Add about a teaspoon of ground rock salt.

Here is the secret ingredient.  Lots and lots of freshly ground pepper.  If you think you have added enough, add some more.

Once the spuds and swede are cooked, drain well.

Then add them to the meat mixture and mash thoroughly.

The filling will begin to look like this. It needs a little bit more mashing, but keep a few small chunks of spud and swede for texture.

If you don’t have time, like we us, then pre-made shortcrust pastry is an easy substitute for home made pastry.  We have made it ourselves in the past.  The only think I dislike is the plastic, which we recycled.

Make sure that you taste the mixture, and season again to taste.  Add more pepper.

Use a dinner plate as the template and cut the pastry sheets into circles.

The spoon a big lump of filling into the center and form it into a log shape.

Using an egg wash, paint around the entire edge of the circle.

Then fold up the sides, make a fold along the entire edge.

Use a scalloped effect to make it look something like this.

Place on a well greased baking tray, and coat the entire top of the pasty with egg wash glace.

Bake in the oven at 180° C (350° F) for 30 minutes until golden brown top and on the bottom.

Then get stuck in to them.  Delicious.  Just like the ones we ate in the car-park behind the Tintagel post office!

Nothing quite like a home made Cornish Pasty and beats commercially made crap any day.  Simple living at its best.

Bloody Heat!

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I am over it!  Stinking hot days, and sultry hot nights.  Can’t work in the garden.  Can’t sleep well at night.

Summer was supposedly over twelve days ago and all we have had since then is unseasonably hot weather.  The maximum temperature at our home on Monday was 37.8C (100F).  Today, the temperature is now passed above 30C so it has just surpassed all consecutive days of 30C records dating back 156 years.  It is forecast to be a maximum of 37C again today!

Melbourne has only posted eight consecutive days of 30 degrees or more on four occasions – in 1890, 1898, 1951 and 1961 – in records that go back to 1856. Each of the previous stints fell in January or February.

Our last day under 30 degrees C (86F) was on the 3rd March.  The average maximum temp for the month has been 32.3C (90.1F) which is +8.3 above the long term average.

In fact, this heat is predicted for another two more days until a cool change passes through (fingers crossed), so all previous records will be broken.  Nationally, it was the hottest summer since consistent records began in 1910.

Subsequently, my summer garden tidy up has been delayed, as has my winter planting in the veggie patch.  It is simply a case of keeping the garden alive at the moment, and certainly no time to be planting seedlings, unless I want them fried of course.

It is not just the garden that has suffered.  People suffer as well.  Some of you may know that Kim has Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  She was diagnosed back in 1999, two months after Ben’s birth, and went technically blind for two weeks, with a full recovery after two months.  Difficult times for both of us, but we got through it stronger.

What has that got to do with the heat, I here you ask?  Well the vast majority of MS sufferers are dramatically effected by hot temperatures, and they suffer from heavy fatigue, much more than non MS people.  As the temperature rises during the day, you can visibly see her draining of energy, whereby I step in quickly and take over whatever task she was attempting to perform.

There are only two ways for her to recover after a ‘meltdown’.  Sit in a cool room with an ice pack on her head, which only works sometimes, or go for a swim in our pool.  It has been very difficult keeping any room cool, even with air conditioning, so she has been swimming morning and night to prevent any big meltdowns from occurring.  She is managing okay at the moment, but if summers continue to become hotter, as they are predicted to become due to climate change, I am not sure what our options are going to be.

We could move house to a cooler climate, but even Tasmania has been affected by the heat, so going further south is not really and option.

Yesterday, we decided to save our pennies and get the house weatherized by professionals.  I don’t care how much it will cost, or how much longer I have to push out my retirement, I just want our home to be a comfortable retreat next summer.

Additionally, over the winter, I will be building shade structures for all my raised garden beds, to keep the direct sunlight off the vegetables.  This adaptation method should increase yield and productivity.  Anything has got to be better than vine fried tomatoes, frazzled peppers, and cooked zucchinis!  Cooking is for the kitchen not the veggie patch.

The chooks have lots of shade now that the mulberry tree in Cluckingham Palace has doubled in size in one season, and we are topping up their water twice daily.  So they are coping okay.  Got to look after the girls, and I am so glad that I build CP a couple of years ago.

Anyway, I found some tips for those in our local area which you can check out in the info-graphic below (click to enlarge).

You know, I really hoped that we – the human race – would have been well on our way towards combating climate change by now, seeing that we have known about it for decades.

Looks like we are well on our way to frying ourselves, if we don’t do something soon.

How are you handling the heat here in Greater Melbourne?  Is anyone else suffering from their own bout of extreme weather?

Living Like Tom and Barbara? – Part 2

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In part one of this post, I liken the two main characters from the 70’s TV sitcom “The Good Life” to Kim and myself.

In this post, I will talking about some the successes and failures that have made us laugh and cry, just as Tom and Barbara often did.

One of the most infectious things about the TV show was Tom and Barbara’s eternal optimism and determination to succeed, even when things were not going to plan.  It made you feel for the characters in a way that meant something meaningful to the viewer.

Let me describe some similar events that happened to us whilst on a similar journey.

During the first season, Tom re-purposed an old diesel generator to run on pig manure, so as to provide electricity for his home (even though they would have required a lot more manure than their two pigs could have been able to produce).

He was ecstatic and enthusiastic when he was showing his handiwork to his neighbour, Jerry.

This takes me back to the day that I first turned on our Solar PV system that generates electricity for our home, and the time that I build a small solar power system of my own.

Back in 2007, this was quite a big deal, because even though I didn’t know it at the time, I was well ahead of my time in our area.  In fact I was the first installation in our town.

No one I knew had seen a residential PV installation let alone seen one functioning.  I was just like Tom showing off his new invention, every time someone visited my home.

On the downside, I remember how sad Barbara was when Pinky and Perky were sent to be slaughtered.  Even though Tom told her that this was what being self sufficient was all about, she still didn’t like the fact that two animals that she personally raised were going to be no longer.

This has happened to us as well   Raising chickens for eggs means that even though you do not have to intentionally despatch the animals in order to gain the food, the fact remains that you do get very attached to the girls and when one dies, it affects you.

Kim gets really upset, and I have a tear in my eye if one passes suddenly.  It never really gets easy digging a grave for a feathered friend.

Living the good life each day has its own rewards and it is the simple things that surprise you the most.  For example, Tom and Barbara had no idea how to grow food when they first began, and Tom read books to learn the basics.

This is the same way that I learnt how to start growing our own fruit and veggies.  Lots and lots of library books were required reading.  I would visit twice weekly, and borrow at least six books at a time.  Some about gardening, preserving and many about self sufficiency, even though my initial goal was to reduce food miles.

I then wrote down every tip that I thought would work in our climate and just started gardening.  I learnt from my failures and successes as I went along.  If I didn’t grow something very well, I tried to figure out the reason and made a note (via this blog) to prevent it from occurring in the next season.

Another thing that we learnt from the TV show was never to give up.  On a few occasions  both Kim and I have looked at one another when one of our plans went pear shaped, and think is it all worth it.  However, we do know that it is worth the effort, even if it is only to set an example for our kids.  Tom and Barbara were the same on occasion.

Deep down they just knew they were doing a good thing.  When one of them became despondent, the other reminded them of whey they shouldn’t give up, due to the daily rewards of living the good life.

Margo and Jerry were a big part of the Good’s life, and we also have friends that remind us of the Good’s next door neighbours.  They are still our friends, who we respect, and they also admire all that Kim and I have achieved since becoming green.  They haven’t taken the leap towards the simple life because it doesn’t suit their consumerist lifestyle.  Time will tell.

However, I do have many other friends and good neighbours who have started to make lots of small changes for the better.  We are often encouraged by many of the things that they tell us they are doing, growing, or changing.  They are very proud of their achievements, as they should be!

Even though Kim and I don’t live the full blown good life as Tom and Barbara did on the show, and probably never will, we have the same outlook on life that these characters did.  It is this outlook that keeps us going day after day, because as the Good’s found out quickly, it is difficult to swim against the flow, when so much (or many) are pushing in the other direction.

You find that you just have to swim harder, that’s all.