Category Archives: Sustainable Back Yard

Who needs the Waste?

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A WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAME (to be followed by all in New Zealand?)

The Council is supplying households with a YELLOW BIN and a BLUE BIN for paper and glass recycling respectively. Then you could either purchase black rubbish bags or rent a RED BIN for all your rubbish. This is for Dunedin, but probably similar elsewhere.

The object of garbage management in your household should be such that you should strive to have as little as possible to put in THE YELLOW, BLUE and RED BINS at all times. How do you achieve this? Firstly you keep an additional four containers under your sink (I keep 2 litre plastic buckets) and come into the habit when you work in the kitchen to have these bins readily available and sort offal into these in the sequence described underneath, as much as possible.

The BLUE BINS are used for unbroken glass bottles and jars

The YELLOW BINS are for paper and cardboard, clean rigid plastic, tins, cans, aluminium trays, foil, aerosol cans, plastic bottles, containers and lids

The other four bins are :

The GARDEN COMPOST BIN (If you do not make garden, it is now the time to start 😉 ) What goes into this bin?
• Citrus off cuts and peels
• Onion off cuts and skins
• Coffee Grinds
• Tea Bags
• Egg shells
• Newspapers and other light paper materials

The POULTRY BIN (Chickens are a delight!) – What goes into this bin?
• All off cuts and left overs that a human being will normally eat and benefit from if stranded in the desert and starving. Remember chickens love meat and meat products. Cut these in bite size bits for the chickens, ducks, quails or what ever.

The RABBIT BIN (Bunnies are so cute!) – What goes into this bin?
• The same principle applies as for chickens, but only the vegetarian foods – if you can eat it, so can the rabbits. Depending on rabbit and chicken numbers and animal preferences, divide food between these two groups.

The WORM BIN (Get worms ;-))
• Anything vegetarian that the chickens and rabbits wont eat or do not like, goes to the worms, like banana peels, apple cores, hard or wilted outer leaves of vegetables, poisonous plants for animals like rhubarb leaves, etc. Do not put meat into this bin as it attracts vermin

The GARDEN COMPOST BIN – You should have a compost bin already if you are a gardener
• Any product that will ferment in one to two months if composted and did not fit into any of the above. Do not put meat into this bin as it attracts vermin

The RED RUBBISH BIN – The odd product may go into this, which is unavoidable
• Bones
• Plastic Bags

The idea is to have as little as possible to put into BLUE, YELLOW and RED BINS.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have a working vegetable and fruit tree garden the problem is so much smaller and easier to handle. Try to buy as little as possible processed, tinned and bottled food – buy fresh and unprocessed if you do not produce it yourself. Should we follow the above simple steps,  vast amounts of money will be saved, the human   carbon footprint will be dramatically reduced  with all the accompanying benefits. Last week was the National Day Against Waste in Italy. A project supported by the worldwide SLOWFOOD organisation.  If it is in Italian, click “TRANSLATE” on the top of the page for English

 

Blueberry Picking Bliss

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We chose the perfect Dunedin day for blueberry picking.  Warm, sunny , light breeze, AND we had the orchard to ourselves! To pick the fattest, blackest berry one has to focus, there is no time to worry about anything else. The only rule for the little ones is ‘do not eat from the bucket before we have paid’ . We did suggest that the owners weigh the one year old  before and after to calculate how much he ate, knowing that he would park himself under a bush and stuff berries into his mouth as fast as he can. 

The address is: 133/B Martin Road, Fairfield. Price  $12 per kilo (bring your own bucket, hat, sunscreen and sturdy shoes).  Open Sat 1pm – 5pm and Sun 9am to 5pm or call 0272486166 to arrange other times during the week.

The entrance to the farm is from a suburban street, with a driveway entrance that looks like any  other driveway in the neighbourhood. One passes a  house in progress, past a lovely pond and garden to where the blueberry bushes are.

Picking and Cooking a Cardoon (Cardi)

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Above is the cardoon, complete with ‘ Cardoon Goblin’, in my garden before harvesting.

I could not decide when to pick my cardoon, but following wide consultations, decided to pick it today. I have 2 more mature plants growing so I could have afforded to experiment.

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The harvested cardoon on my kitchen table – looking huge!

After cleaning and cooking the cardoon I decided that it was picked too early as the thicker stems, though hard and tough looking, were soft and tasty when cooked. If I left it to grow more there may have been more of the thicker stems, resulting in more to eat.

You need lots of time for a cardoon dish and I did not time myself but it took about half an hour from start to finish in preparation plus cooking time. There are many recipes to choose from and I went for the anchovie sauce which was a great success and enjoyed by four adults, who had it as a side to the main, in no time at all!

2014-02-07 - Cardoon and anchovie

Cardoon with Anchovie Sauce 

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees C

1 large cardoon, leaves and stringy bits removed, sliced in 50 mm pieces kept in a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon mixed in. This prevents discoloring.

1 clove garlic, chopped

4 tablespoons butter

10 anchovies – the salty preserved kind, drained and chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Cook the cardoon pieces for about 30 minutes until  tender. In the mean time butter an oven proof dish that will hold all of the cardoon pieces. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan and add the anchovies and garlic and stir gently until the anchovies dissolve. Put the cardoon into the prepared dish, pour the anchovie sauce over and sprinkle with the Parmigiano cheese. Now bake it in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Frittata Bianca (egg white frittata)

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Since we have a lot of potatoes and I am determined to eat them all (;-) ) I used some in this frittata . Egg white fritata is very tasty, high protein, and low fat. Making it with Quail Eggs ads that extra dimension.

Frittata Bianca

6 egg whites

1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

1 clove garlic finely chopped (optional)

1 small potato sliced very thinly

1/2 teaspoon butter

Use a non stick pan. Melt the butter, add the garlic and rosemary. When the garlic has softened, add the potatoes in one layer. They can slightly overlap, but the idea is to brown and crisp a few bits. Pour the egg whites over the potato, no need to whisk them beforehand. Cook over a slow heat until the whites become opaque on the bottom but are still runny on top. Finish the frittata under the grill.  Serve with fresh bread for breakfast or add a salad for lunch.