Getting zapped from your trampoline mat? An easy solution to stop getting static shocks from trampolines

We recently got our kids a second hand trampoline, but were disappointed when they jumped on it and started to get static shocks from it. Consequently our son now refuses to jump on what he described as the best present ever when we gave it to him. So my husband did some research on the internet to find a solution.

He found an easy and effective solution was to dilute fabric softener in water to the approximate ratio of one part fabric softener to 10 parts water. Put it in a spray bottle and spray evenly over the trampoline mat. Allow to dry.

This certainly fixed the problem for us, although needs to be reapplied after rain as it washes it away.

From what we've read, this seems to happen with nylon trampoline mats. We were disappointed as we were told it was a good quality, made in the USA mat. We may eventually replace it with a good quality made in Australia mat, and see if that makes a difference.

Until then, we will keep up with the fabric softener solution.

2014 Pauline's year in review

Another year has passed and I find myself reflecting on what I have achieved this year towards my goals of living a little more frugally while not compromising on quality of life, treading lightly on the earth and reducing waste.

I'll start off with my garden. In 2014 from my garden I picked: zucchini, basil, spinach, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, parsley, rockmelon, pumpkin, lemons, lettuce, capsicum, mint, olives, eggplant, oranges, thyme, cos lettuce, leeks, carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, silverbeet, chives, garlic chives, pineapple sage, peas, coriander, beans, lemon verbena, red onions and plums. We didn't get any apples off our tree this year. The total amount of produce picked from our garden this year is 235.8kg, up from 125.6kg in 2013 and 104kg in 2012. This year I planted passionfruit so it will be a few years before that produces. Also last year I planted asparagus, so should hopefully start getting some off that next spring. We also planted a peach tree which has fruit on it and will hopefully be eating them in the next month or so. We also have a fig tree but it hasn't produced fruit yet.

I read a bit more about gardening tips including companion gardening. After three years of having a vegie patch, I have noticed the favourite spot in the garden for the basil...in the dappled shade from the next door neighbours peach tree. I also discovered that the coriander likes to be near the tomatoes and in the dappled shade of the lemon tree. I planted one coriander in the ground and it was going so well in that spot I moved the ones I had in pots to the same area and they thrived.

I have been noticing how much of our food comes in packaging and trying to cut down. I no longer buy pre-packaged carrots, but buy them loose and take my own plastic bag to put them in. Having said that, my favourite fruit and veg shop had all their peaches and nectarines in plastic containers this year that weren't particularly reusable or recyclable, which was disappointing. Hopefully next year we will have our own peaches and not need to buy so many.

This year I made my own dishcloths from old towels and scrap material and they have worked out really well. I am endeavouring to make more clothes for my family this year.

I hadn't updated this blog for about two years until one of the Channel 7 producers came across it while surfing the internet. The next thing I know I'm on television on the Today Tonight Adelaide show under the title of Urban Farmers. For some time afterwards hits on this blog skyrocketed but have slowed down a bit now.

With a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old, there doesn't seem to be a lot of time for making things by hand to reduce waste and live frugally. However, as the kids get older I have more time, so expect to be able to do a bit more this year, especially as my oldest starts school this year.

Thanks to all my friends who tell my of how I have inspired them to plant something in their gardens or go back to making things like candied peel themselves instead of buying products. And thanks to my Facebook followers who have spurred me on to greater things.

I don't tend to make new years resolutions as I'm not good at sticking to them, but I will continue on this journey and will post onto this blog when I get a moment. I hope you all have a great 2015!

Dairy free lasagna

When my daughter was an infant, she was diagnosed as being Cows Milk Protein Intolerant. She grew out of it at about 18 months of age, but for what seemed an eternity (as I love my dairy) I was making dairy free meals and snacks. A few days ago I made this for a friend who thinks that her newborn baby may also be cow milk protein intolerant.

I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here by giving a full recipe for making lasagna, as it's really only the white sauce that is different from ordinary lasagna. So make the sauce for the lasagna the usual way.

When making the white sauce, substitute the butter or margarine for a non-dairy alternative, such as Nuttelex. You can also substitute the milk for rice milk. I tried using oat milk and almond milk but found rice milk to be the best. Note that as the soy protein and cows milk protein are very similar in structure, so often people who are cows milk protein intolerant are also soy protein intolerant, so don't use soy milk if that is the case for you.

30g Nuttelex
2 or 3 tablespoons plain flour
350ml rice milk

Melt the butter. Add the plain flour, stir until combined and "cook out" the flour (the flour will go pale in colour). Add the milk slowly and stir until there are no lumps. Cook until mixture thickens. You may find this takes longer to thicken than ordinary white sauce and even when it has thickened I find it is still a bit watery. I do this process in a microwave safe jug and it takes about 7 minutes.

Layer the lasagna in the usual way. I put a thin layer of white sauce in the middle layer of mine and then put the rest on top. As there is no cheese in this recipe, to give the topping a bit colour I sprinkle on some paprika.

I won't look as yummy as ordinary lasagna but will still taste good.

Best ever Christmas Fruit Mince Pie recipe

I know it's a bit late, now that Christmas has passed, but I finally have a few minutes to type up the Fruit Mince Pie recipe that I make. It's actually a combination of two recipes. The fruit mince is my mum's recipe and the pastry is a Maggie Beer recipe that I got from the Women's Weekly magazine. For years I used a different pastry recipe, but found this one had the right amount of "crumble". I love a crumbly pastry on my fruit mince pies...not too crumbly but not too leathery either.

The fruit mince recipe makes a lot of fruit mince, much more than the pastry recipe does. I would recommend either making 3 times the pastry recipe if you want to use all the fruit mince or, alternatively, freeze the fruit mince so you can make some more pies later on and that way you always have fresh fruit mince pies available.

So here goes, shame I didn't take a photo of them before they were all eaten up!


Pastry

1.5 cups (225g) unbleached plain flour
half cup (75g) self raising flour
one third cup (55g) icing sugar
150g cold butter, chopped
1 free-range egg yolk
2.5 tablespoons iced water

Process the flours, icing sugar and butter in a food processor until well combined and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and iced water and process using the pulse function until the mixture starts to come together. I find that at this stage it is quite crumbly and I need to bring it together by hand. Shape the pastry into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.


Fruit Mince

1 grated apple
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
125grams chopped dried apricots
1 cup sultanas
1 cup currants
1 cup sugar
half cup water

Place all ingredients into saucepan. Slowly bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until liquid has reduced to a thick syrup. If it is too watery, it will make the pastry soggy. Allow to cool before filling in the pastry cases.

Pre-heat the oven to 210 degrees celcius (approx 420 degrees F if you have an old oven like me!). Roll out the pastry until 3mm thick. Using a biscuit or scone cutter, cut circles large enough to cover the base of your muffin tray. Don't forget to prepare your muffin tray first if necesary. Line the holes with pastry circles and put spoonfuls of the filling in the cases. Cut slightly smaller circles in the pastry and place these lids on top of the pie filling, pressing down on the edges to bring it together. Cut a cross into the tops of the pies to let the steam out.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. All to cool in the trays and serve dusted with icing sugar.

These are absolutely delicious. The pastry recipe has been copied from the Australian Women's Weekly magazine, November 2012 edition.

You get what you pay for...my research on trampoline brands

We are looking to get our kids a trampoline for Christmas. I have been searching Gumtree and Ebay everyday for a 2nd hand trampoline, but have also been researching brands on the internet and reading lots of reviews. Basically what I have found is the old saying of "You get what you pay for" is largely true.

Looking at trampolines that my friends have bought and what I have read on reviews, it seems as though if you buy your trampoline from a department store (eg Target, Big W, Kmart), you are getting a product built to a price rather than a standard. The reviews on brands sold by these stores, such as Gametime and Action Sports all complain of the same things; mats/padding/nets not even lasting a year, customer service difficult to deal with, assembly instructions inadequate or translated from another language into English. One website I found yesterday gave an in depth report on the structure of the Action trampoline, how it moved about while being jumped on, the uneven bounce of the mat which may result in injury and the author said they felt it wasn't very safe. Many review websites feature complaints from people vowing never to buy those brands again. Occassionally some say they are happy with their purchase. Most trampolines are kept out in the weather, so there will always be some wear and tear, but from what I have read, the better brands last longer as they have better UV and rain protection.

Trampolines bought from a trampoline shop or on-line trampoline shop fare much better in the reviews. If you are looking for a trampoline, look out for ones that say the mat is made in the USA or Australia, as these seem to be the best. The mats last years compared to cheaper ones, even when kept out in the weather. I have read good reports on Oz Trampolines, Vuly and Jump Start.

99.9% of the trampolines I have seen on Gumtree have been bought from one of the above mentioned department stores. All of those are only a year or two old and need bits replacing. I found one that was bought from a trampoline on-line store with a mat made in the USA. The padding and net need replacing but the owners have had it for quite a few years and their girls still jump on it everyday. Only getting rid of it to buy a bigger one. I can get replacement padding and nets relatively inexpensively from Oz Trampolines and Jump Start. My husband is planning to go and have a look at it on Saturday to see if his opinion of it is the same as mine. If so, then we will probably buy it and get the bits replaced. The mat is in excellent condition. If it works out and all goes to plan, we should have a good quality trampoline (with new net and padding) and it only costing us less than $200.

Ours will also be out in the weather.

Microwave herb drying

I read an article recently in the Grass Roots magazine about how to dry herbs in your microwave. I had a go with Corriander and it worked really well. Here is how it goes:

The article is written by Carol Fletcher and she suggests picking the herbs early in the morning when they are fresh. If you water them the night before, you probably won't need to wash them when you pick them, as all the dust and dirt will have been washed off them with the watering.

Pull the leaves off and Carol suggests putting the leaves in piles of similar sized leaves. Although I found it worked ok putting different sized leaves together, just refer to my tip a bit later in this piece.

Place the leaves on paper towel and place another piece of paper towel on top. Put this carefully into the microwave. If your microwave is 1100watts, microwave on high for 2 mins, longer may be needed if your microwave is not as powerful. Carefully lift the paper towel with herbs out and flip it over. Place back in the microwave and give it another minute on high.

Take them out again and remove any leaves that have gone crunchy. Any that are still damp, put back in the microwave and give them 20 second burst until they are crunchy. If you put in different sized leaves like I did, smaller ones will go crunchy first. Each time pull out the ones that have gone crunchy so they don't burn.

Carol suggests that each time you dry herbs, use fresh paper towel so you don't transfer the tastes. So if you are doing basil followed by parsley for example, you would change the paper towel.

Store them in air tight containers. I picked a heap of corriander and dried them for use when my corriander is out of season. I found it is a quick way of drying herbs when you only have fresh herbs but the recipe you are making at them time requires dried herbs.

Lazy gardening tip: let it go to seed

There's an old saying; one years seeds, seven years weeds. Well, the same could be said for my gardening technique. A few years ago when I was setting up my vegie patch, my mother-in-law planted some spinach in a pot for me. Each year I let it go to seed and watch with interest where it takes hold. I do the same with my parsley and lettuce. The only assistance I give them is occassionally when I am walking past I will grab a handful of seeds and scatter them somewhere else in the garden. I have much more luck with this lazy form of gardening than I do with seeds that I have planted according to the instructions on the packet.

In this photo I am standing next to my spinach and silverbeet which is going to seed. On the left of the spinach and silverbeet are some parsley, also going to seed.

Picking produce grown from plants that have self seeded is the closest thing to having a free lunch. I water the plants and put some seaweed extract and organic fertilizer on them, and that's pretty much all the attention they get from me...apart from picking the snails off them.

I find that the plants grow very well, perhaps it has something to do with nature deciding where they will grow best in the garden rather than interference from me. That's the way I prefer my garden to grow.