Another Extraordinary Day In Paradise...

When I do a big shop to re-stock my fridge...
I trim and wash my fruit and veges before storing them.
(Soak for 1/2 hour in 1/4 cup of malt vinegar in a sink of water
I have a small sink. This helps to neutralize and remove toxic sprays.)
Leave in a rack or I put them on a tea towel on the bench, to dry.
They are then ready to eat and cook with and take less room in my fridge.
This week I was horrified at the price of fresh veges...
So decided I would keep all the bits I would usually throw away...
The very tops of the celery stalks, the bottom of the asparagus spears, the dark green tops of the leeks,
the thick stalks from the broccoli... I did  peel these!
I thought nothing would be lost if I tried making them into a soup...
So I added a chopped onion, grated carrot and 1/2 cup brown lentils...

Put them all in the pot with some gluten free chicken stock...
And boiled them up for a couple of hours.
I then added a tin of tomatoes, some chilli, fish sauce, cumin...
Whizzed it up with my stick - that I have told you before
I can now run through my recently installed 2000watt inverter.

And... Delicious fresh vege soup...
Garnished with flat leaf parsley...
From my garden pots on the back of my bus...
And lunch was served

 

After lunch I went gathering firewood with a friend 

who has a tiny 'Little Cracker' 

 wood burning fire in his house-bus.

I am thinking about installing one before next winter...

So want to consider what is involved in... 

Finding, chopping and storing wood.

 
There is plenty of dry wood to be found at Uretiti...
A  lot of Pine trees were cut down
and left to rot away in the sand dunes.
Big wood, small branches and pine cones... Lots of them all.


We walked back to the bus with our haul...
My friend has an outside workbench and small device for
holding the branches against...
While he cuts them up with his amazing sharp little saw.
I have concluded I could do all this...
To have the ambience, warmth, comfort, and cooking facility
of a 'Little Cracker'.



This was the end result... Tubs of kindling...

 

And tubs of bigger wood and cones.

I put these in my bus to transport... To see if they would fit somewhere.

They did, one in an outside locker... The other inside in front of the passenger seat.

So with a few alterations... 

I think a fossil fuel fire is going to happen in my little home.

 

My last job for the day... 

Apart from sitting in the sun and trying to catch up 

on  reading last Saturday's newspaper...

Was to water and feed my basil.

I have shown you photos before so you will see how much is has grown.

I have given away about 12 little plants... 

There were too many in my basket!

And I'm starting to harvest and eat it now.

As I pick the tops off it will bush and the 6-8 plants I leave to grow 

will be nice and big.

I love the smell and taste.

So that was my day... Tomorrow I am moving on...

To the next adventure... Around the next corner... Whatever it might be...