Who Do You Think You Are?

The thing about family history is that once the knowledge is uncovered, there's not a lot to do. For pretty much my entire life I have been addicted to my family history. My Mum (who has now passed) and I used to sit down for hours and discover and ask questions of people and listened to stories from relatives. It was fascinating and we jotted down bits and pieces and added it into the archives of what we knew. It was something that we really shared and loved sharing. It was only a year before Mum died that I started to put a proper family tree together for my precious little daughter. I knew how special it was to me to connect to my past and I really wanted that to pass on to my daughter.... a few months before my Mum died I called her to tell her that I had discovered a generation two back on her father's side. She was so excited and that phone call we had, where she listed off uncles and aunties that she didn't really know but had heard whispers of... it was a great conversation and one of the only times in the last 8 months of her life where I felt like she wasn't ill.

After my Mum passed my brother decided to delve into the family history - He never realised what Mum and I had been doing for the last who knows how long, so the poor guy started on his own. Once I found out what he was doing I was able to give him some information, but really he had discovered most of what I had anyway. He has done a remarkable job researching far further than I was ever able too... of course, as I said, once the research is done, there isn't anything left to do. You can't undo that you know a bit of information and pretend, so that the next person can uncover it. So I really don't do anything with it anymore. He has a lot more time and better resources than me, so although I have had to give up this hobby of mine, I am very happy that someone is researching as much as they can about my fantastic family, and doing it to a better level than I was every able. (In a few years I will probably do Jeff's family history, just so that I can claim my hobby back, but that wont be until the kids start school).

But the reason for writing all this... Since a very little girl I fell in love with the fact that my Dad's family was from Wales. I had such curiousity and compassion for these people, my blood relatives, who would pack up their family and move them across the world, just to keep from working in the Welsh Mines. It felt to me that I belonged to a family who would fight the hardest fight to keep themselves, their brothers and sisters and children, safe. It felt to me that because of this I was always going to be looked after.

There was such a heirarchal link between me and my great uncle. I adored him, more than most I have ever met, with the exception of my parents, my husband and kids. He was the most fantastic man, and I am saddened every day that my brothers and sisters never really knew him, at least not like I did. We had a connection that was unbreakable, he knew it and I knew it, and he reminded me of that fact frequently.

I am watching the (US version of) "Who Do You Think You Are?" series at the moment. It has really reminded me of the connection that I have to my families past and the deep sense of, oh I doubt know, bloodline, trust, connectiveness, belief, basis... all those kind of trusting words, that I feel.

I think that I would love everyone to feel that sense of connection that I feel. I hope that people feel it like I feel it!

CRUMPETS ARE GOLD!!!

Okay - Today Lilli asked for crumpets for breakfast, of course we didn't have any coz it's always a treat I buy when I do the grocery shopping. Now as you know we try to buy as much unprocessed/fresh stuff as possible and try to make as much from scratch at home. Anyway, when Lil asked for crumpets I remembered seeing a recipe for crumpets in one of my old fashioned cookbooks. When I found it, it looked a bit complicated, so googled a recipe and found the following :)

**I only made a half batch, in case they didn't work out - and I got about 18 from the recipe. I made it in the breadmaker, but would be easy as to do by hand...


FANTASTIC CRUMPETS!

Put in your breadmaker:

2 tsp dried yeast
600g strong plain flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
800mL slightly warmed milk

allow this to mix (Knead for a bit and then mixing) and then rise for 1 hour (it should be double the size).

Then add in:

1/2 tsp bicarb mixed in 1Tbs warm water. Run the dough cycle again. After this rise it should be bubbly and about double the size.

Heat your frypan on medium heat. Grease some egg rings (apparently you can actually buy crumpet rings which are a bit bigger). Pour about 2Tbs or 1/4 Cup of the mix in each egg ring (should be about 3/4 up the side of the ring). The top will go bubbly and will look almost set, and at this stage flip it and cook for a minute or so. Put on a rack to cool and then repeat the process until the mix is gone.

Fairtrade Me Up!

I’ve spent the last few weeks staying awake at night trying to work out what to say to you all this morning, and I told Anthea this funny little story about myself this week, and I want to take the chance to tell it to you all now.

When Lilli was born it was under General Anaesthetic by emergency c-sect at 3:20am on Feb 22nd 2006. I woke up in recovery at about 6:30am not really knowing or understanding what had happened until Jeff came in to tell me we had a beautiful little girl. Soon after the nurse came in and said I could go up to my room and stop in and see Lilli on the way… and so with four drips in my arm and a very woozy head, I was wheeled in my hospital bed, into the Neo-Nats of FMC. This is where the story gets a little bit odd.

You see, when I got to neo-nats Lilli was in the humidicrib, and they have these huge arm holes so you can reach in and touch the babies. Unfortunately, She was so little that her face and her body was hidden behind the arm holes in the crib… and all I could see was Lilli’s legs, and do you know what I did? Nothing. I just laid there. Jeff was all like “isn’t she gorgeous?” and I said “yeah she is!” but I had no idea… she could have been a turtle with human legs for all I knew… I have been trying to rack my brain to remember what I was thinking exactly, but all I can remember is thinking “ummm I should probably tell someone I can’t see her”. Its funny now, but back then I had no emotion what so ever about this baby with the little legs in the crib.

A few hours later the nurse brought Lils in for her first feed, and I got to see her and hold her. I suddenly realised how reliant she was on me. I still wasn’t anymore coherent, but I understood that she needed me. Suddenly there was a reason to feel connected to this could-be-turtle-baby-with-the-little-legs. Suddenly I realised that I was responsible for her. Suddenly I realised that the amount I cared for her would impact her more than anyone could imagine. Suddenly I was connected and I cared.

You see, it is for this reason that I tell my story. I don’t think that it’s until we, as mortals, can see clearly or know that we are, or rather could be, responsible for something and as such connected, it’s not until then that we begin to care. And it’s not until we truly care that we chose to act. Its not a personality fault, it’s just a human trait. Allow me to help you to connect…

---WATCH VIDEO---

Luke 4: 16-21: To Set the Burdened Free
16 -21He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!" He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
Did you know that this is just one of over 2300 references in the bible to poverty and social justice and responding to the poor? That’s actually more than the references to prayer & atonement or Jesus’ resurrection. It is the poorest people in the world who are suffering most at the hands of unfair trade. So what might ‘the good news’ mean for them? The verse is just one that talks about liberation of captives, protecting the weak, & the coming of justice so that all can be included in God’s Kingdom.

Fairtrade has this aim at its heart – a just system which frees producers from exploitation, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty.

So what exactly is Fairtrade and Why should we care?

Proverbs 13:23 “The fields of the poor may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.”

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. You see, small producers in developing countries are disadvantaged in the global market. Circumstances mean that they usually sell on the local market to a middleman for a very low price (and for anybody wanting to know God’s opinion on the unscrupulous middleman and their actions against impoverished farmers just read the start of Amos 8). The middleman transports the coffee and cocoa and sells it to the processor who will later export it. Such farming has become increasingly uneconomic especially when the small producer is competing on a global market with large scale agribusiness and unfair trade subsidies to Northern markets. Millions of people unable to make a living have moved to cities where many have ended up fighting for their daily survival. No one should be condemned to such poverty.
In recent decades the fair trade movement has grown rapidly, offering small producers greater control over their own futures and a decent livelihood. Small growers have founded cooperatives in order to maximize the benefits for their families. These cooperatives have strong relationships with groups like Trade Aid that ensure a fair exchange. Not only do they receive a better price for what they produce but the whole community benefits from the fair trade premium. It is estimated that some 5 million people - farmers, workers and their families - benefit from the fair-trade label. It could help many more. We need to share the message.
Fair trade ensures a better deal for impoverished producers in developing countries through:
• A fair and stable price for their products
• Long term trading relations and advance payments
• Investment in local community development
• Environmentally sustainable farming methods
• Support in gaining the knowledge and skills needed to operate successfully in the global economy

Yesterday marked the start of Fairtrade Fortnight 2010. The theme this year is “The Big Swap” and it asks us, for two weeks to try to swap something we purchase for the equivalent fairtrade item. It gives us a fantastic opportunity to be more responsible, and in turn as a church community we can protect those that Jesus asks us to protect and we can learn about the life of those people owning or working on non-fairtrade plantations. It is asking us to be Ethical and Spiritual Shoppers.

2 Samuel 23:13-17:
13 -17 One day during harvest, the Three parted from the Thirty and joined David at the Cave of Adullam. A squad of Philistines had set up camp in the Valley of Rephaim. While David was holed up in the Cave, the Philistines had their base camp in Bethlehem. David had a sudden craving and said, "Would I ever like a drink of water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem!" So the Three penetrated the Philistine lines, drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But David wouldn't drink it; he poured it out as an offering to God, saying, "There is no way, God, that I'll drink this! This isn't mere water, it's their life-blood—they risked their very lives to bring it!" So David refused to drink it.
This is the sort of thing that the Three did.
This is an example of making ethical choices. Although he so wanted to drink water from the well of Bethlehem, he refused it, because he knew the risks that had gone into fetching it far outweighed its value. He recognised the costs seen by the eyes of God, which were far greater than those implied by the simple vessel of water before him.

As part of Fairtrade fortnight I am asking you to see these costs, and consider making your choices with this wider perspective in mind. Now some may object that Fairtrade products cost more, as indeed they often do. But the question then becomes: who pays the price if we don’t? As the rich in relative terms, (and those of us sitting here this morning are amongst the 10% wealthiest in the world), Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:48 that we have a responsibility: "where someone has been given much, much will be expected of him."

More than anything I yearn for people to understand God’s complete calling; To apply the teachings of Jesus to more than just their words and their actions, but to their lifestyles. It may not be easy, but I implore you to feel connected to the impoverished, so that you can care more deeply for them… so that you may desire to act it out in your lifestyle.

To that end, the elders and I have agreed to offer a heap of fairtrade products for sampling after church during morning tea. You see, most importantly, the point of “the big swap” is to demonstrate that there is really nothing extra we need to do to go fair-trade, no special trips to special shops, it’s really no hassle… it’s merely about taking one packet out of our trolley in the supermarket and replacing it with a different packet … So out the back we will have tea and coffee and chocolate for sampling (three of the most common fairtrade items), and I have sample price lists and options for three of the most common places to purchase the items – and you may be surprised at the options. You can also see the packaging for yourself so you can learn how to pick out the fairtrade products.

Please - Feel connected, so that you can care, so that you can act.

Recipe Time!

So I have been meaning to put this recipe up here for a long time. This Homemade Laundry Liquid recipe is courtesy of my lovely friend, Ness Schenk. So here is how to make the laundry liquid that we use :)

1 bar Sunlight laundry soap
1/2 cup of Letric Washing Soda
10 litres of water

First grate the bar of soap into a decent size saucepan and then add 1 litre of boiling water from the kettle. Stir this on medium heat on the stove top until the soap has completely dissolved. Add the washing soda, and mix really well. Transfer the mixture into a container that will hold 10 litres and add hot tap water to fill, stir really well, it should be really runny. Let it sit overnight, and in the morning it will be set like jelly. Give it a really good stir, or you can roll up your sleeves and squish it between your fingers to mix. Then just add 1/4 of a cup per load of washing. If you want your washing to smell like something other than clean, you could add 5mls of your favourite essential oil. I don't do this, as I love just the plain fresh smell of my clothes.

This is safe for front loaders. Also if you have any stains on your clothes you can pre treat them with a scoop of the liquid and give it a scrub with a nail brush.

If you like to use fabric softener, I recommend using 1/4 of a cup of vinegar instead, it is amazing!
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Okay - so this is my new favourite recipe. I made this for the first time yesterday and it is awesome... and with not much butter, no milk or eggs, is reasonably low fat. I made it as mini muffins, but the recipe is for a bread type thing. The recipe made about 20 mini muffins, and in this situation only take about 10 minutes to cook. I found that when I got them out of the oven they look reasonably cooked on top but when I touched the top of the muffin it still seemed quite goo-ey inside. At first I thought they would need more cooking time, but when they have rested for 10 minutes they are firm, just like a normal muffin. Also, I thought the ingredients were going to be wrong, as the mix looked really dry, but when all the ingredients were combined, I put the electric mixer on for 2 minutes and it all came together looking like a normal cake batter. Anyway, here is the recipe.

White Chocolate and Banana Bread

* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 pinch of salt
* 3 ripe mashed bananas
* 2 tablespoon soft butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup white chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts or walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan and coat lightly with flour to prevent sticking.

2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking soda and salt.

3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar then add in the mashed bananas and mix well.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them.

5. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes and then place on a cooling rack to cool fully.

Bread Recipe

Well I have had a heap of people ask about the bread that I make and some people on facebook have asked for the recipe. We use this one because it doesn't use any fat or artificial products (no oil, no powedered milk etc). The only thing we have found is that it doesn't last as long as conventional bread maker recipes or pre-mixes. To combat this we actually make a half batch every two days instead of a full loaf that would last us nearly a week but go a bit hard after a few days.

The recipe is actually Jamie Oliver's Basic Bread Recipe. He obviously makes it from scratch but I just put the ingredients in the Bread Machine, in the following order. (I will write the full amounts - as I said we halve the amounts):

625ml (2 & 1/2C) of Tepid Water
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Fine Sea Salt
1kg Strong Bread Flour
3 x 7g Sachets of Dried Yeast (or 30g of Fresh Yeast)

The main thing I try to do is that the yeast only touches the flour before mixing (and I only do that because that's what other bread machine recipes say to do).

Here are the instructions from Jamie Oliver on how to make it by hand:
Stage 1: making a well
Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Stage 2: getting it together
Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency – then add the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)

Stage 3: kneading!
This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.

Stage 4: first prove
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm, and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size – ideally in a warm, moist, draught-free place. This will improve the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.

Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30 seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required – folded, filled, tray-baked, whatever – and leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.

Stage 6: cooking your bread
Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour-dusted baking tray and into a preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll lose the air that you need. Bake according to the time and temperature given with your chosen recipe. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it's done, if it doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes – fandabidozi. Feel free to freeze any leftover bread.

My Natural Life

So I realised it has been forever since I have done a blog and so much is going on around here.

Lilli starts kindy in two & a half weeks, Judah is nearly four months old, & my vegie patch is finally built, now to just add in all the dirt/soil/mulch/straw/poo so that I can plant something by late february-early march. I am relatively new to this whole vegie growing thing. I have pretty good memories of my Mum's massive vegies patch on the farm, but I don't really recall much about when we planted stuff and what we did to nuture all that wonderful produce. So with a bit of help from the Father-in-law, my Dad, Brother and "Better Homes & Gardens" I plan to become a bit of an expert.

I am not sure if I have ever really explained some stuff to anyone, but I have a bit of a philosophy on living on this earth, which has really become more of a lifestyle since having kids. Basically what I try to do is use produce as close to how God put it on this earth. So pretty much all our cooking comes from using fresh produce. So an example would be that we don't buy jars of pasta sauce, or curry sauce. My thinkiing is that if I can do this then I cut out as much processed food and goods as possible, therefore I am not eating as many preservatives or fake flavour, and there is less energy used in the food getting to my table. Food wise this also means that I prefer not to eat diet or low fat products. In general if my Nanna couldn't have made what I am making then it doesn't get made.

Of course there are exceptions and I do have some vices left: Pepsi-Max or Coke Zero, and rice crackers are pretty much what I love! and of course at parties or special occassions there is the need for a few chips/lollies to be had.

But I am hoping with the inclusion of a vegie patch into our lives some things will get improved on even more. At the moment we buy products like Tomato paste. I have made my own before and it is really quite simple but you need a lot of tomatoes. When I made it before I bought a massive 2kg bag of old tomatoes from the farmer's markets and it worked perfectly, but I find it hard to get there as it is only open on Sundays (which is quite often our busiest day). But hopefully I can work out a way of getting there purchase that old bag of Tommys and save our nice home grown ones for salads and other cooking.

Well here is a list of the produce we buy that we are endeavouring to make homemade versions of:
Curry Paste, Tomatoe Paste, Salad Dressings, Mayonnaise, Custard.

This is a list of the staples & other stuff we make homemade versions of:
All sweet biscuits, cakes and some savoury biscuits, Bread (including Naan and Flat Breads), Pasta, Cooked Tomatoes (for pasta sauces etc), dried fruit (for cakes and snacks), Ginger beer and citrus cordials. Oh and we also make our own clothes detergent and household cleaners.

Some of you may ask why. Well for me it is simple. I believe that God made all of this earth and our bodies, the plants and animals around us, for us to care for and sustain us. How he made it is irrelavant for me; whether by a big bang or a literal six days of fascinating creation I don't really care. What is important for is me is that I believe God made it and I am sure that he made it for us to live in and with. I believe that over the years whether by neglect or ignorance we have treated all of creation badly and that as a consequence we are faced with pollution and illnesses of all kinds altering the beauty of this natural world. We have been bad stewards of what was entrusted to us,

This is just my little way of trying to neutralise my negative impact on the world. It's my way of being a good example to my little girl, who I hope grows up with a far better opinion of herself than I had, and who understands so much more about how her actions impact on herself, others and all of creation.

Genesis 1

27 So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29 Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground — everything that has life.” And that is what happened.