Community gardening and chutney!

Our little community of friends within the neighbourhood have a community garden, which I have come to accept will always be a work in progress. While I read and hear about fully functioning communal gardens, I often wonder how people do it! While the idea of a community garden is fantastic, I think it's fair to say that ours often reflects how we're going: When we're motivated and enthusiastic the garden is great, when we're not the garden is often neglected, and it can become pretty overwhelming for us to tackle.

Having said that, I think during the past summer things went pretty well. We actually remembered to plant things in time for summer, and although parts of the garden got overgrown at times, I think we were all feeling enthusiastic enough about our produce to keep the garden looking pretty good. This summer we enjoyed carrots, beetroot, silver beet, zucchinis, butternut pumpkin, potatoes and tomatoes (as well as our huge selection of herbs.)

In the last few weeks some of our produce slowed down a bit, except for our tomatoes. They just kept coming and coming! And although they were plentiful, they were getting a bit past their best. Worried that we were going to let things go to waste if we didn't get onto it quick I organised an ......EMERGENCY CHUTNEY MAKING NIGHT!!!!

(some of our homegrown produce ready to be turned into chutney.)

Here is our recipe and a few pics. This recipe for "Golden Autumn Chutney" was taken from a lovely book "Handmade" (Ros badger and Elspeth Thompson ). It does not make overly sweet chutney, which suits me fine (but just a warning if you like it sweet!). It is sweetened with honey and apples, not huge amounts of sugar.

Here it is: Feel free to go forth and multiply!

RECIPE:
*When it says “assorted veggies” just use what you’ve got in your garden, obviously thinking about what you actually want in your chutney. We used tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, and added a capsicum as well.


6 APPLES (PEELED,CORED, AND FINELY CHOPPED.)
1.35 KG ASSORTED VEGIES, CHOPPED. (WE HAD MORE THEN 1.35KG OF VEGIES SO DID OUR BEST TO ADAPT THE REST OF THE RECIPE AND ADDED A LITTLE BIT MORE OF EVERYTHING ELSE.)
6 ONIONS (PEELED AND DICED)
2 TBSP GRATED GINGER
1 STICK OF CINNAMON
2 TBSP HONEY
1 TSPALLSPICE
1 TSP GROUND CLOVES
1 TBSP TUMERIC
1 TSP SALT
I LITRE APPLE CIDAR VINEGAR

TO MAKE:
DIVIDE CHOPPED APPLES AND VEGIES INTO 3 EQUAL PILES.

PLACE 2 OF THE PILES IN A LARGE SAUCEPAN WITH ALL THE OTHER INGREDIENTS AND BRING TO THE BOIL

SIMMER FOR 50 MINUTES BEFORE ADDING THE REMAINING CHOPPED PIECES FOR A FINAL 10 MINUTES.

REMOVE CINNAMON STICK AND POUR CHUTNEY INTO STERALIZED JARS.

CLOSE THE LIDS TIGHTLY.

Love Mezz

PS Do this with friends. It’s always yummier when you make this with fiends!

Autumn!!

I love autumn. I have to admit that I really love living in Melbourne, a place where we experience all four seasons in a year, but I have a particular fondness for the milder, "changing" seasons (autumn and spring) then I do summer and winter. Summer is too hot and winter is too cold, but I reckon the other seasons get it just about right, don't you? Coleman Jnr was born in autumn, and Miss Coleman was born in Spring, so these times of year also bring a nice sense of nostalgia as well....ah, life.

So here are my top 20 ways to enjoy autumn.

1. Find some beautiful autumn leaves and stare at them and realise that they are amazing.

2. The days are getting shorter, so I'm guessing the nights are getting longer (...although I was never very good at math’s. )Enjoy the nights, enjoy the dark. Get into your PJ's early, sit on the couch. Watch TV, read a good book.

3. Drink large amounts of hot drinks. Tea is my choice, but if you're a coffee drinker or hot chocolate drinker, go for it! Make a pot, use a nice cup and make sure it’s a nice part of your day!

4. If you're in Melbourne, get excited about the footy. Whether it’s in your blood (like it's in mine) or not, just embrace it. We like going to the local footy matches; it's cheaper, the kids can run around, there is always a much better community atmosphere, and a fairly decently priced sausage sizzle going!

5. Knit! Or crochet, or make a friendship bracelet. Just do something with wool, coz it's cozy and you'll feel happy!

6. Don't wait till spring to do a spring clean. Do an autumn clean! Go hard, and change things around if you're feeling like you need a change. Move a couch, change a cushion cover or put some new pics up. A change is as good as a holiday.

7. Make lists. Did you make new years resolutions? Have you forgotten about them? Uh-oh! Quick! Before we're half way through the year remind yourself of your goals and make a plan for seeing them happen!

8. Cook things other then "dinner." A cake for afternoon tea, home made bread for fun, muffins for a neighbour, chutney for the community! It’s a good time of year to have the oven on and to be busy at the stove.

9. Enjoy the snuggle. Doonas, blankets, hot water bottles, beanies and scarves are pretty energy efficient ways to get warm. I’m sure by winter the heater will have to get turned on occasionally, but if we try to get into a few good habits now the heater might become the last resort and not the first on a chilly day.

10. Get into the garden. If you've had a bit of rain, the soil should be nice and soft. I actually weeded for an hour the other day and enjoyed it!

11. Celebrate Easter with some simple family traditions. Some of ours: Hot cross buns and fish and chips on Good Friday, making our own Easter eggs with fairtrade chocolate, and celebrating on Easter Sunday with some friends in the neighborhood.

12. Have more friends over for cuppas.

13. Forget emails, texts, and blogs for a while. Call a friend and have a really long chat on the phone. Like when you were in high school. It's still cool.

14. Go Op shopping and see what scarves, beanies, blankets and jackets you can find for the family before the harsh winter hits!

15. Have a Crafternoon (or morning) with your friends.

16. Don’t' wait for the warmer months to have a holiday. Some of my fondest memories growing up were that we always seemed to have holidays in the cooler months. Holidays for us meant fire places, warm meals, rugging up in the back seat of our Kingswood, and staying up later then our bed time to watch movies or footy on the TV! Even our trips up to Queensland to visit family were always in winter. Maybe it was strange, but it suited us fine.

17. Read. Books are always good, but they're even better when you're warm under a blanket. Can't do that in summer!

18. Try something you haven't tried before, Go somewhere you haven’t been.

19. Use your extra "inside" time to get creative. What do you like to do? Sew? Finger knit? Make cards? Write songs? Poetry? Decorate cakes?

20. Stay connected. Don’t get lonely. Visit someone who might be. Phone people. It’s only gray outside, you don’t have to feel gray.

Hope you enjoyed my autumn tips! Let me know what you do to make use of this great time of year. If you are reading this in the other half of the world, you’re probably getting excited about welcoming in spring! Hooruh.

Mezz

A week in pictures....

I feel like I haven't posted here for a while, so thought I'd show you in pictures what creative things I have been up to during the last week or so.

Our first show as part of the Backyard/Lounge Room Tour

Still knitting! (see, it's looking a little longer.)

A new Art Smock for Coleman Jnr (sorry about crappy photos.)

Making a big batch of chutney with lovely friends, using home grown produce from our community garden. Yum! (will post the recipe later.)

A few other highlights from the past week (in no particular order)
Celebrating Harmony Day with a Community meal last night
Singing (and shopping!) at the Maribyrnong Makers Market
Welcoming some new housemates (from East Timor) into our home
Sewing a Birthday present for my nephew's first birthday
Visiting the beautiful Organ Pipes National Park with my family
Taking out some great knitting and gardening books from the local Library
Organising an Easter Crafternoon with some friends to be held soon!!!!!
Cruisin' around Footscray on my awesome NEW BIKE!
Having such wonderful and understanding friends

Hope you have had a good week. What creative things have you been up to?

When music and craft come together....

I am sooooooo looking forward to this tomorrow.

I will be singing a few of my tunes down at the Maribyrnong Makers Market. Come down and check out all the local awesomeness: crafts, cakes and music! Hooray! You can get all the details about the market here.

Mezz xxx

my new whiteboard...

I am a list maker. Yes it's true. If you know me well, this may come as a surprise, as I'm not the most organised person, and often forget things. But let's just imagine for one scary second that I didn't write lists, ok? Coleman Jnr wouldn't get to school, I'd forget to shower, get dressed or work and the pile of dishes would be as a high as the Empire State Building.

Lists don't solve my problem, but they certainly help. They're not that helpful however, when they are crumpled up in the bottom of my handbag, which is where they often end up, so I needed to think of a new way to keep on top of things around here!!

Yesterday I decided that a small whiteboard to keep in the kitchen would be a much better way to display my lists and keep on track. However, I didn't really want to go and buy a brand new whiteboard. We try to avoid buying new things, and to be honest, I'm just not a huge fan of them to look at, the big, stark, white, ugly things that they are. So I decided to make my own, possibly the easiest thing I've ever made, but a very cute addition to my kitchen, and hopefully helpul too...time will tell!

Make one yourself:

Find an unused frame or buy one from the Op Shop. You could be awesome and use something old school or vintage, but i only had $2 so went with this.

Choose some pretty material from your stash (make sure the colours are pale.)

Remove the glass and backing. Cut your material to the same size as the backing.

Put everything back in the frame. Glass, material, backing (in that order.)

Hang it up and get writing. Whiteboard markers work perfectly on the glass and rub off very easily. (Don't you love that there are only 2 things to do on my list? I just quickly wrote on it to take a picture. Sadly a lot more has to get done around here today!)

Sorted!!

Mezz

North South East West (live)

We recently recorded this live track for one my songs, "North South East West." My lovely brothers, John and Pete are in the background and playing beautifully. Thanks to Mr Coleman for filming and to John for mixing and editing. If you're interested, the dress I'm wearing in the clip was handmade by my lovely and clever man, Mr. Coleman. It was my Christmas present last year. As you can see, whether it's music or craft, we are a very DIY bunch. Enjoy the track, and feel free to comment if you like it! (If you don't, please keep your comments to yourself!)

In other music news, my Backyard and Lounge Room Tour kicks off this weekend, and I'm very excited! I have had such a long break from performing that I really feel ready to get back into it, but I'm so glad that we are doing it in this relaxing, calm and family freindly way. Over the next 2 months we will be visiting backyards and lounge rooms across Melbourne to play intimate acoutsic shows for our hosts and their guests. I'll post plenty of pics and let you know how it's going!

And in one last little peice of music news, I'll be heading down to sing for an hour or so next Saturday 17th March at the Maribyrnong Makers Market. I am sooooooooo looking forward to this, I feel like I'm really starting to find ways in which I can combine my love of all things craft with all things music! Mr Coleman and my brother Pete will be playing some tunes in the morning with their duo, "The Sketching Room", and I'll be on after lunch. Feel free to come down and check out the awesome local crafts, listen to some music and have a bite to eat (last time I was at the MMM I went a bit crazy with my money on an unbelievable cupcake stall...just a warning!)

Maribyrnong Makers Market
cnr Gamon and Mackay Streets, Seddon
Saturday 17th March, 9.30-3.30
Free entry
It's all happening!

Lots of love, Mezz x

Aww....cute

Coleman Jnr has learned from an early age that we are not going to go and buy him new toys all that often. Most things the kids recieve from us are either secondhand or handmade, and we figure that between that and all the usual Birthday and Christmas presents they get from friends and family that's certainly enough!!

Rather then ask us to buy him new things, Coleman Jnr often makes his own toys. We had a "making box" for months (which looked very similar to the contents of most recycling bins) in which he collected materials to make cars, trains, lifts, buildings and all sorts of other things. The playroom did start to look like a dump, but it was hard not to be pleased with his willingness to "make do" and his ability at such a young age to recognise the value in recyling and being creative. He was very proud of his efforts and did actually use the toys he made.

Now he has moved away from the toilet rolls, milk cartons and masking tape, and is sewing up "bed friends" that can keep him company at night, at school or wherever. Most of the toys he sews are Mr. Men characters (the current obsession) but he has branched out and tried a variety of ABC4Kids characters (I think it's time I admit to myself that our kids DO watch TV!)

Coleman Jnr is a pretty darn good hand sewer (I was determined that sewing wouldn't be a "girly" thing that I would only pass down to my daughter) and he's getting pretty good at using the foot pedal on Mr. Janome now too. It's just like driving a car and using an accelerator, what little boy wouldn't love it!?