Many of the Simple Living Toowoomba crowd are gardeners and love to produce at least a little of their own food. But then there's also those who don't have the time/space/energy/interest to grow their own, but would still love to be buying and eating homegrown produce, grown without the use of toxic chemicals.

And here's where Birdsong Market Garden may be of interest to you. We're a new (uncertified) Organic market garden, with a strong emphasis on soil nutrition. Soil nutrition is actually largely the reason why we won't bother with organic certification, as they even limit the amount of manure that can be mixed in with the soil!

So Birdsong came about because my husband and I had read about the major issue our culture faces with depleted soils and the resulting mineral deficiencies that cause most of the diseases people are battling. One book in particular stated that you're left with no real options except to use supplements to meet your nutrition needs since food no longer makes the grade. And buying organic doesn't necessarily make any positive difference in the nutrition department. Yes, you'd be doing yourself a favour by avoiding the toxins, but organic food can still be very nutritionally depleted, unless it's from a diligent farmer who looks after their soil.

We decided to do something about this (especially as my electrical engineer of a husband wanted to switch to a more purposeful career!) and start our own market garden, right on the northern edge of Toowoomba.
Soil tests were completed, the soil was balanced with the minerals it had lacked, rich compost was added and we were on our way to real food!

Our trial season (summer '15/16) was a success. I was in the midst of battling an autoimmune disease at the time, which often left me fatigued and I was amazed at how much energy eating daily from our garden gave me. I actually ditched the supplements I'd been taking as I was feeling so healthy.

Fast forward to now...March '17.
This is our first season where we are actually ready to sell produce. This week we've been bringing in loads of rockmelon, watermelon, rainbow chard, corn, butternut pumpkin...plus there are some herbs like rosemary and basil available. More produce will be ready within the next few weeks also, for example, about 8 varieties of heirloom tomatoes!

Our website is https://birdsongmarketgarden.com.au/

At the moment, we are hoping to sell direct to customers via our farm gate stall. We can also do online orders which we can box up and have ready for you to pickup. Prices, farm gate stall times and much more info is available on the website linked above. We're in Cranley, between Wilsonton and Gowrie Junction (full address also o the website), just a 10 minute drive from Toowoomba.

If you're looking for nutritious, balanced produce, then come see us!

Racheal

The above link is to the incredibly diligent blogger, Michele's, post on last Saturday's jam making workshop.
What a turnout! 24 people I think! And Glenys did a fabulous job showing us how to turn surplus seasonal produce into tasty jam. I think my 9 year old son would love to have a jam-creating Grandma like that!
Maybe one workshop I'll actually remember that my phone is with me and get up and take some photos so I can show you more of what went on at the workshop. But for now, we have Michele :-)

Since a number of people asked for the recipes for the morning tea goodies we partook of at the workshop, I'll post them here. It's all gluten free.

Cinnamon Nuts
1 egg white
1 tsp cold water
4 cups nuts (almonds are great)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 120 C.
Whip up your egg white and cold water until it's frothy, but not too stiff.
Coat your nuts in the egg white.
Then sprinkle over the cinnamon, sugar and salt.
Mix it all thoroughly and bake in that slow oven for about an hour. You can turn the nuts during this time, but I never bother. You know your oven better than I do!

If any nuts make it to a storage container, make sure it's airtight and the nuts are cool enough to pack away. I couldn't tell you how long they last, because our tribe eat them long before we have to think about that!

Cinnamon Choc Biscuits
1 1/4 c GF flour (we use Orgran brand and NEVER Woolworths GF flour, as it seems to be far too high in corn and doesn't behave the same)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c butter
1 cup coconut sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (or a whole block if you're like us!) of 70% cocoa chocolate, chopped (hint: the price on this is often best if you buy it from the baking section of the supermarket, not the confectionery aisle).

Preheat oven to 180 C.
In an average sized bowl, mix your dry ingredients.
Then cream your butter and sugar in another bowl.
Add the egg and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar and mix.
Add your dry ingredients and mix, then finally throw in those chopped chocolate pieces.
Roll into balls, place on your baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes.

On a different note completely, I want to show you the funniest eggplant I ever did see. We called him Pinocchio of course...

Gone are the days when 'Gluten Free' labels on food were like code for 'tastes like cardboard.'
Now there are an abundance of delicious allergy friendly foods and recipes, and here's my favourite cereal alternative. It not only avoids gluten, dairy, soy and egg, but it also avoids the nasty extrusion process that robs commercial cereals of the goodness they may have otherwise had.

You'll need:
3 cups of nuts (or seeds if you prefer). I'm loving 1 cup each of cashews, brazil nuts and almonds at the moment.
1 cup coconut flakes (or coconut chips)
1/4 cup sweetener. Last time I went half honey, half maple and it was delicious.
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon...and you could always add some other spices like nutmeg if desired.
1/4 tsp salt
1tbsp vanilla extract

To make:
Mix your nuts/seeds and coconut in a deep baking tray.
In a saucepan mix the sweetener, cinnamon, salt and vanilla over low heat. This is just to make sure it's runny enough to mix easily through the nut mix.
Mix the liquid evenly through the nuts and spread evenly on your baking tray. Bake at 160 C for about 20 minutes.
Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

For many years most of us have had it drummed into us that we need to be sunsmart and wear sunblock outdoors, even on cloudy days.
We've been told it'll decrease our risk of skin cancers.

So it was a little surprising when I read about the dangers of using commercial sunscreen. Most of them contain dangerous ingredients that can disrupt your endocrine system, among other things. Sorry I'm not listing links to the research, but if you want to find that information, it's available online.

I guess the fact that parents are advised to used specific baby/toddler sunscreen for young children is a good indicator that there's something toxic in commercial sunscreens. Much like how small children are advised not to use adult toothpaste, which is also damaging...

It's also then surprising that so many Australians are deficient in vitamin D, since we supposedly get too much sun! A lack of vitamin D has actually been linked to several types of cancer, including breast cancer. Of course there would be more to it than just a lack of sun exposure, but you get the idea. We need sun, but we don't want to get burnt by the sun.

Getting pure light, such as the dawn/early morning light each day is also great for balancing your melatonin levels and helping you sleep. We certainly weren't created to be indoors all the time.

But back to the point-sunscreen. We live in a country with rather high UV levels and though the sun is an essential part of our diet to maintain optimum health, there are still times when we're out in it for longer than our skin can tolerate. Especially during this hoiday season. Pictured above is my husband, who has been setting up shade netting for our market garden and therefore spending long hours in the summer sun each day. Even with all his sun protective clothing, he still has to wear sunscreen to avoid burning.

We started using hoemade sunscreen almost 2 years ago, so we've had enough experience with it now to assure you that it works, and is much gentler on your skin (nourishing even!) than commercial sunscreen. Zinc oxide powder is the active ingredient.

Our first trial was 3 hours at the local pool with my 6 children (one of whom was an infant at the time) wearing this sunblock. One application, and no one came home sunburnt.

Then Rick has been wearing it this summer out in the paddock and has been very impressed with how effective it is. This is big news coming from a man who was a bit skeptical and still using commercial sunblock for a while after the rest of the family had switched to homemade!

Another year has almost passed!
Merry Christmas!
Hopefully we'll see many of you in 2017 at Simple Living.
Christmas came a bit early here with the birth of this little man! He was mid-bleat when the shutter clicked!
Three more ewes are expecting Christmas babies, so we'll be in for a lovely week to come with all this new life on the farm.
God bless you...and ewe :-)

Hi All, Margy here.  Isn't it great to have Racheal writing our blog!  She does such a great job.  I know it will be a surprise to everybody but I actually took some photos of the Chris' fantastic sourdough workshop and have even got around to uploading them to the blog!  Thanks Michele for always writing a post about our workshops.  What would we all do without you!  Here is the address to Chris' blog which gives you a great outline to the process she uses to make sourdough - http://gullygrove.blogspot.com.au

The last workshop for the year has come and gone!

I didn't make it there, but as usual, our super-blogger Michele has posted on this already, and you can find it here: goinggreyandslightlygreen.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/a-sourdough-workshop-to-end-year.html#more

It must have been mid last year that SLT ran a gluten and dairy free workshop. It was perfect timing for me. I was suffering frequent brain-fog, insomnia, anxiety attacks and more. I'd just been diagnosed as having thyroid auto-immune disease, triggered by gluten. I later found out soy, pork, quinoa and millet also are nasty triggers for me.

But what next? Thankfully for me, I'd had a gut feeling gluten was an issue, and had spent the year previous to being diagnosed trying out some different gluten free recipes and reading up on the effects of gluten on the human body. But for some people it's a real slap in the face to be diagnosed with a food allergy like this, because it's too hard to comprehend eating any other way.

So I want to try and point people in the right direction for sourcing the foods you can actually eat!

One of our favourite sources for nuts, gluten free grains, dried fruit and some oils is AbSoulutely Wholesale absoulutelywholesale.com.au/
We've found them to have excellent service and a decent range of products at great prices. And postage is reasonable too. We pay about $17 per 25kg product. I originally found them because I wanted bulk almond meal for baking, and supermarket prices are ridiculous. These guys sell it for around $15kg!

The only thing is everything has to be ordered in bulk, usually 5kg minimum of each product, and you need to place a minimum $250 order. If that is out of reach for you, do what we did and find some whole-food loving friends who can join forces with you and place an order together!

It's a good idea to keep an eye on Wray Organic catalogues too. Their specials are often worth going in for. I've never been in there otherwise, but for specials it can be worth the trip for some of your gluten free needs.

Another excellent source if you are wanting gluten free recipes that are also helpful for reducing inflammation and toxins in your body is draxe.com/section/recipes/

I've used a diet plan to reduce inflammation from this website and it  worked beautifully.

I also found this ebook very helpful for snack ideas ditchthewheat.com/grain-free-snacker/
She also has a grain free Paleo Maple Granola recipe that's worth your time baking! It's delicious. I love it with yogurt.

Maybe you're a solid bread/pasta addict and just want some safe alternatives for these products.
Sadly GF bread almost always contains soy, which is often a trigger for people with food allergies. Maybe you'll be ok on it, but you'll only know by trying. I find the soy too reactive. If you want GF bread, Aldi is generally the cheapest place to go, at $4 a loaf. But it's not the nicest bread. Brands like Helgas, found at your common supermarkets do taste better and have more flavour options also. Keep an eye on the specials, sometimes the good brands are very reasonable on special.
I haven't tried the health food shops to see if they sell a soy free GF bread yet!

And pasta...once again, aldi have very reasonably priced GF pasta at about $2.50 for 500g, but if you've ever used it, you'll notice it's incredibly gluggy. It's corn based and is ok, but not a great alternative if you want something that tastes like regular pasta. The cheaper GF pastas at coles and woolies are the same. We've started buying BuonTempo pasta. It's in the health food section of the supermarket and is about $3.50 for 500g. But it's worth it, especially if you're feeding people in your family who don't have food allergies and get fed up with cardboard tasting GF products!! Don't bother buying GF pasta from the pasta section of the supermarket. It's a rip off and comes in tiny boxes (maybe ok if you live alone or rarely eat pasta, but no good for a family!)

There are also loads of GF bread and pasta recipes online. I make fresh GF pasta for lasagne. But if you want to make something like a lasagne and avoid pasta altogether, try using slices of baked sweet potato or eggplant or even regular potato instead of pasta.
If you find a GF bread recipe that contains millet, and you have a thyroid problem, avoid that recipe or substitute something else in for the millet! Millet is a nasty goitergen.

You'll probably find lots of gluten free recipes that call for Arrowroot/Tapioca starch/flour. These are the same thing, and last time I checked they're not available in decent quantities at supermarkets. BUT, if you go to your local Asian Supermarket, you'll find tapioca starch along with other GF flours at very reasonable prices and in 500g bags usually. I pay under $2 for 500g of arrowroot/tapioca starch. Whereas at woolies, the little canister of it would work out to $10/kg.

Meat: If you're really trying to improve your health and recover from chronic illness, you'll likely find supermarket meat is just not good enough. And it's expensive anyway. Buying in bulk definitely saves money if you can find the upfront funds and freezer space for all that meat! I've bought bulk through www.bannockbrae.com.au/
They're very friendly, have a nice range and you can order a whole cow at a time if you like! Once again, if you can't manage buying in bulk yourself, try asking some friends to join you in an order.

Vegetables: getting quality vegetables in Toowoomba (likely you'll need lots if you're avoiding gluten and healing your body) has become easier. We now have Farmers Markets every Thursday afternoon www.mylocalfeastfarmersmarkets.com.au/about-us.html
And every second Saturday morning toowoombafarmersmarket.com.au/
We've checked out both and the quality and prices have been pretty impressive. We're a family of 8 on a less-than-single income at the moment, and can afford to eat this spray-free produce!
One thing hard to find at those 2 markets is bananas. But you can get them at the Sunday PCYC markets www.weekendnotes.com/toowoomba-pcyc-market/from a Woodford spray-free grower for about $2.50kg.

This isn't exactly an exhaustive supply list, but will hopefully help you find quaity food that will help you recover and be nourished.
Racheal

Pot plants. I'd never been a big fan of them until learning recently of the many benefits of having indoor plants for air purification (and with 30 year old floral carpet that's harbouring goodness-knows-what, that's always a good thing!). And for combating some of the radiation created by all our electronic devises. And they can help deal with dust too. The list goes on, and I was given some lovely indoor plants for my birthday last week.

But then they needed pots.

Not keen on spending big bucks on rehousing these pot plants, I had a look online at alternative pot ideas. There are so many!! Many of them are things you may have lying unused around your home already!
I found a retro ice bucket at an op shop that had a plastic insert with drainage (if that makes sense), so it was plant ready.
And a lovely floral tin bucket at Spotlight for $5 that has become home to another of the indoor plants. Spotlight also had wire hanging baskets down to $4, so there was another fern taken care of.

If the object you choose as a pot is ceramic or glass and needs drainage holes, you need to make sure you use a specific glass/ceramic drill bit so you don't smash your pot-to-be drilling holes in it.

Here's some other ideas:
Old metal watering cans
tin buckets
glass bowls
toolboxes
utensil canisters
old toys, like a metal dump truck that you can plant in the back of
metal urns or creamers
tea pots (they need to be big to manage most indoor plants though)
enamelware pots
coffee tins
fish bowls

So next time you need a pot for a plant, think outside the box...or pot :-)
Let us know if you have any creative ideas for upcycling objects into pots.

Score! Another easy DIY Christmas gift...or new item to stock in your own pantry. DIY flavoured salts. Just about every time we make our own potato wedges, we'll sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. These premixed salts just mean all your flavours are pre-bottled and ready to go.

Here's what you need:
Salt. I used rock salt, Himalayan rock salt would be even better
Dried herbs. You could start with whatever you've got in the pantry. I used sage, thyme and mixed herbs
Garlic granules
Essential oils (make sure they're certified pure therapeutic grade) If you want to order great quality oils, contact me here https://www.mydoterra.com/rachealcameron/#/ 
If you just don't want to use essential oils at all, try dried citrus zest.
Glass jars. Got empty herb and spice jars? Perfect. Otherwise small glass jars and bottles work nicely.

Some combos to try:
Orange-Sage Salt (for Poultry, pork and potatoes)
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbsp dried sage
5 drops orange essential oil (once again, make sure the bottle says it's safe to ingest!)

Mix ingredients in a bowl and use a funnel to neatly pour into your chosen bottle. Easy, hey?

Lemon-Thyme Salt (for fish, poultry, lamb and potatoes)
1/2 cup salt
iTbsp dried thyme
5 drops lemon essential oil

Ditto...mix your ingredients, and pour into your glass jar

Chilli-Lime Salt (if you like hot food, you could use this on just about anything!)
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbsp chilli flakes (not for the faint hearted!)
5 drops Lime essential oil.

Mix and bottle, as with the other recipes.

Garlic-Herb-Lime Salt (great on potatoes, but also works on any chosen meat)
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp garlic granules or powdered garlic
5 drops Lime Essential oil

Mix and bottle! And maybe add a pretty label too :-)

To use, just sprinkle on your potatoes or meat before roasting...or on your served meal before eating (ie some lemon-thyme salt over your spaghetti bolognase)