Back in October 2011 I promised that I would put this recipe on my blog when I found it. This is a really handy recipe as not only does it help to keep unwanted pest insects out of the garden, but it you can adapt the recipe to use up kitchen scraps.
Ingredients: 4 large chopped onions, 6 chopped garlic cloves, 1tbsp hot chilli powder, 2 cups pure soap flakes or pure grated soap.
Method: Combine onions, garlic and chilli powder, cover with water and stand for 24 hours. Strain. Mix in soap flakes or grated soap into onion mixture. Dilute mixture 2 parts mixture to 5 parts water. Will keep for 2 weeks in a cool, dark place.
As an alternative to using perfectly good onions and garlic cloves, I often use the off cuts from food preparation. I use the equivalent of the above measurements in onion skins and garlic skins and any bits that are cut off (such as the tip of the garlic or bits of onion that have gone soft).
You will need to give the mixture a good shake before you use it each time as the soap flakes tend to settle a bit. You could use chopped chillis if you have them rather than chilli powder.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Construction Theme Birthday Party Cake
I was really glad when my son picked out a construction theme birthday party cake from one of the Australian Women's Weekly cake decorating books as it looked really easy to do. It was pretty simple, just make two cakes and stick them together (one on top of the other) with icing. Cut into the top cake to create a hill. Cover with icing and crushed Violet Crumble, decorate with construction toys. Put some choc coated sultanas around to look like rocks. I found that this worked well for a beginner cake decorator like me, as it didn't matter if some cake crumbs got into the icing or if the icing ran a bit... construction sites are messy places anyway!
Construction theme birthday party pinata
My son is about to turn 5 and he had his party on the weekend. We made a Stop/Go sign pinata by using thick cardboard and cutting two large circles as the two sides. Then we cut a strip of cardboard and used packing tape to stick it around the edges, making sure to put a hole with some string in at the top and filling with lollies before taping it all up. Lastly my son and I had fun painting it. I wasn't sure how strong it was and was surprised to find it took quite a whacking before the contents spilled out! It was so easy to do and better still we used cardboard that would have only been thrown out and some packing tape we had at home. All we had to get was lollies and a bit more paint. Pinata's are about $20 in the shops, but I only paid about $10 for a bag of lollies and one of chocolates. My advice would be to only use one bag and it turned out we had far too many lollies/chocolates in ours for the number of kids that we had (10).
The best thing about this, it didn't matter that it didn't look perfect, my son still loved it!
The best thing about this, it didn't matter that it didn't look perfect, my son still loved it!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Home made air freshener
I'm going to give this a go the next time I need air freshener!http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Air-Freshener-Gel/?download=pdf
Jolly Santa Advent Calendar
In previous years I have been disappointed in buying advent calendars. While very cheap, the chocolate that comes in them is the size of a 5c piece and at the end of it all you are left with is some packaging. Last year I made my own using Jolly Santa material. It was a bit rough and ready but my kids loved it as the pockets are big enough to put a small toy, holiday craft activity to keep the kids busy and some home made treat. This year my husband suggested getting a small lego model and putting some of the bricks in each day so day by day the kids can construct the model. This year I made one for my best friends kids and took much more care with my measurements and sewing. I took photos as I did it and wrote down the instructions, so if you would like to make it, here it is.If you have trouble copying and pasting this into your browser, email me at paulinestips@gmail.com and I will email you the document. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AkgrmKD8FLIDNAUL3hG8gMG4YzwhjxPBZkT6XZ4FNOc/edit?usp=sharing
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Sunrisesister.org
I have just added a new blog link to My Blog list. Sunrisesister is my sister-in-law, Charlotte. She has some fantastic ideas on things to knit, recipes to cook and other crafty ideas. Check it out, you'll love what she has on there.
Garden update...200kg of produce and counting!
Three years ago I planted a vegie patch. The first year I got 104kg out of my garden and was pretty excited. Last year I got 120kg and was even more excited. Yesterday I picked the last of the tomatoes as well as some oranges and was extremely excited when I weighed the days takings and found that my garden has produced 200kg this year so far (and it's only the middle of September!). I have a set of kitchen scales and I weigh everything I pick so that I can keep a record of how economical my garden is.
I spent the weekend digging out unwanted flowering plants as well as the tomatoes and pumpkins that have died off. I went out and bought the following seedlings: rockmelon, watermelon, corriander, sweet basil, zucchini, tomatoes (4 varieties, one seedling of each...I do it each year), cherry tomato, peas and beans. I had some corn seeds that I got from the Adelaide Royal Show and some pumpkin seeds that I saved from the last pumpkin picked out of my garden. I don't usually have much luck growing things from seed, apart from parsley and lettuce that self seed in my garden, so will be looking out to see if the corn and pumpkin germinate. If not, it will be a quick trip down to the nursery to get seedlings. I also bought some manure and sugar cane mulch. I love the smell of fresh sugar cane mulch on the garden! I had a very busy day yesterday, with lots of soil preparation and planting. I didn't get to plant the rockmelon and watermelon as I have to remove the grass that has grown in the spot where I will put them. I will have to do it sometime in the next week.
Does it cost much to set up a garden? Yesterday the mulch, manure and seedlings (and Seasol spray) cost me about $130.00. Not bad considering how much I will get from it in regards to zucchinis and rockmelons, etc. It will pay for itself over the season.
My husband got me some editions of the Grass Roots Magazine from the library and I read an interesting article about how much food is NOT eaten from our vegie patches. The author started going out each day and picking produce from their garden and making a point of using it in a meal. It didn't matter if it was one spear of asparagus and a few leaves of lettuce, it still went towards a meal. I think I will give this a go, as I find there is so much in my garden that doesn't get used. My cos lettuce are huge, so I think I will pick some today and maybe make a Caesar salad for dinner. I also have a lot of spinach and silverbeet, so will pick a few leaves and make something with them (and pick the snails off them at the same time).
I am also excited that the asparagus that I planted last year has shown a new lease of life this year. After I planted it my husband and I moved it just as it was dying off at the end of the season as it was where my husband wants to plant a fig tree. After transplanting I cut it back to ground level. Recently we looked at it and declared it dead, as it certainly looked that way. A week later Spring started and new spears popped out from under the ground!
I spent the weekend digging out unwanted flowering plants as well as the tomatoes and pumpkins that have died off. I went out and bought the following seedlings: rockmelon, watermelon, corriander, sweet basil, zucchini, tomatoes (4 varieties, one seedling of each...I do it each year), cherry tomato, peas and beans. I had some corn seeds that I got from the Adelaide Royal Show and some pumpkin seeds that I saved from the last pumpkin picked out of my garden. I don't usually have much luck growing things from seed, apart from parsley and lettuce that self seed in my garden, so will be looking out to see if the corn and pumpkin germinate. If not, it will be a quick trip down to the nursery to get seedlings. I also bought some manure and sugar cane mulch. I love the smell of fresh sugar cane mulch on the garden! I had a very busy day yesterday, with lots of soil preparation and planting. I didn't get to plant the rockmelon and watermelon as I have to remove the grass that has grown in the spot where I will put them. I will have to do it sometime in the next week.
Does it cost much to set up a garden? Yesterday the mulch, manure and seedlings (and Seasol spray) cost me about $130.00. Not bad considering how much I will get from it in regards to zucchinis and rockmelons, etc. It will pay for itself over the season.
My husband got me some editions of the Grass Roots Magazine from the library and I read an interesting article about how much food is NOT eaten from our vegie patches. The author started going out each day and picking produce from their garden and making a point of using it in a meal. It didn't matter if it was one spear of asparagus and a few leaves of lettuce, it still went towards a meal. I think I will give this a go, as I find there is so much in my garden that doesn't get used. My cos lettuce are huge, so I think I will pick some today and maybe make a Caesar salad for dinner. I also have a lot of spinach and silverbeet, so will pick a few leaves and make something with them (and pick the snails off them at the same time).
I am also excited that the asparagus that I planted last year has shown a new lease of life this year. After I planted it my husband and I moved it just as it was dying off at the end of the season as it was where my husband wants to plant a fig tree. After transplanting I cut it back to ground level. Recently we looked at it and declared it dead, as it certainly looked that way. A week later Spring started and new spears popped out from under the ground!
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