Let’s Fight for the reef

I volunteer for the Australian Marine Conservation Society who in partnership with WWF (who I used to work for) are currently involved in promoting awareness in their Fight for the Reef campaign.

The Queensland Government is fast-tracking mega port developments, dredging and dumping of millions of tonnes of seabed and rock, and encouraging a shipping superhighway.

The Australian Government is approving these developments, including the world’s biggest coal port at Abbot Point, 50 km from the Whitsunday Islands.

Fight for the Reef is working with the Australian community to protect the Reef and the $6 billion tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports.

It’s your Reef, but you’re going to have to fight for it.
- Fight for the Reef

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

For  National Volunteer Week.

Taste test: Beet It! organic beetroot juice

I was intrigued to try Beet It – an organic beetroot juice. It comes in a 1 litre bottle or three types of shots – Organic, Sport and Ginger.

I tried the Beet It organic shot and boy did it pack a punch, but I liked it. I’m keen to try the organic beetroot juice straight up next.

Beetroots are packed with antioxidants and contain potassium, magnesium and iron as well as vitamins A, B6 and C, and folic acid.

Research has shown that beetroot can help reduce blood pressure as well as its associated risks such as heart attacks and strokes. This is because the high content of nitrates in beetroot produce a gas called nitric oxide in the blood which widens blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. A daily dose of 250ml of beetroot juice or 1 to 2 cooked beetroot (approx. 100g) can help dramatically reduce blood pressure and its associated risks.
- Love Beetroot

The regular juice would be ideal to add to homemade fresh fruit juices such as Dr Emerson’s daily juice. 

Beet It is available from independent grocers and health food stores.

How we can eat our landscapes – by Pam Warhurst TED video

What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community.

Pam Warhurst cofounded Incredible Edible, an initiative in Todmorden, England dedicated to growing food locally by planting on unused land throughout the community.

For National Volunteer Week.

How to use a worm tower

Since abandoning our worm farm a few years ago (the weather was too hot in Brisbane), we decided to try a worm tower. This one is by Birdies Garden Products. The beauty of this method is the temperature is lower as the soil acts as a insulator.

When you first set up the tower, you may like to add a handful of composting worms and some pre-soaked coconut coir as bedding material.

You use it just like a compost bin but you leave out the big bits. We have a container on our bench top where we place some of our fruit and vegetable scraps and this then gets emptied into the worm farm which has a removable lid. Don’t forget worms do not like onions or citrus so keep these things out and put them in your normal compost bin. You can also add leaves, grass clippings, material from your garden, paper, small pieces of cardboard, and hair.

We’ve had no problems with our worm farm, but if it is starting to smell add a handful of lime to neautralise the food scraps.

The tower itself sits in one of our raised vegetable beds and is slightly higher then the soil and edge of the bed. It’s just less then my hand wide with lots of holes at the bottom to allow the composting worms to move freely between the garden bed and the compost. Worm poo (what is left after the worms have digested the material) is a rich source of nutrients and an excellent fertiliser for your vegetable plants.

After the compost has decomposed enough you can top it up or move it to a new location in the vegetable bed to spread the nutrients around. We would recommend moving the worm tower every six months to a new spot. The benefit of placing it in the bed is that the plants are receiving nutrients right at the root zone.

Worm towers are an easy way to keep a worm farm in a hot or cold location.

Thank you to Birdies Garden Products for providing us with the worm tower.

A lazy dog’s day

I’ve been meaning to post a new photo of our wonderful dog, Dash, to show you how much healthier she is looking from when we first got her. She’s a dachshund kelpie cross. Her favourite activity is still chasing lizards in the backyard. Fortunately there are plenty of hidey holes for them and they get out of the way quick enough. She’s also still eating a raw diet from Jenny at The Complete Pet Company. If only our dinner was so easy!

Matt planted a white sapote next to the other one near the stump. Talking of which, after 5 years the ugly stump is really starting to break down. Matt has been putting the grass clippings in the centre and it heats up nicely making a sort of compost pile. Matt kicked it and one of the sides came away. The ants absolutely love the stump and it’s almost hidden by native grasses.

We cleared the vegetable beds and found some sweet potatoes we weren’t expecting. We’re regretting ever putting mint in, as it has overtaken the top bed. All four beds have sunk and really need a top up.

We bought some open-pollinated broccoli, cauliflower and kale and from Edible Landscapes Nursery, Northey Street City Farm. However, they are too small to plant out just yet so we’ll keep them protected from the elements for a few weeks.

Taste test: Australian Daintree tea by The Tea Centre

The Tea Centre sells two loose leaf teas that are made from Australian tea – Australian Daintree and Australian Sencha.

We decided to taste test the Australian Daintree. It’s a pleasant mild tea which has an earthy taste. Although it is a black tea it brews to a redy brown shade.

The tea can be taken with or without milk, or used to make iced tea. Some chefs even use it as an additive for smoking their fish and meat!

The tea is grown on the Cubbagudta (means rainy place) plantation, which is located in Northern Queensland, just north of Port Douglas. The tea is grown along the fringes of the Daintree rainforest. I was pleased to hear that the plantation does not use pesticides and so the tea contains no pesticide residues or tannic acid.

The plantation is a family owned and operated business and features in the AUSBUY guide as 100% Australian.

Don’t forget to add your tea leaves to compost as they make a great fertilizer.

A great every day tea that’s Aussie made.

Australian Daintree loose leaf tea
The Tea Centre

Fruit growers in the Cobram area

SPC Ardmona are no longer buying Australian fruit, People are ripping out their canning variety stonefruit trees as we speak because nobody will buy their fruit.

SPC Ardmona specialises in large fruit packing and owns and operates a canning factory in Shepparton, Victoria.  The company is currently owned by Coca-Cola Amatil.  SPC Ardmona carries the SPC, Goulburn Valley, Ardmona, IXL, and Taylors brands.

Please read labels are look for companies that are genuinely  ”Made in Australia”.

Restaurant review: Arriba Grill

Arriba Grill is a great concept. The Lutwyche shop features a black and white cartoon style mural over one wall, and everything is clean and brand new looking.

You fill out a menu card (as above) with your selections for a freshly made organic burrito. All the meat selections are marinated in chilli, so I ended up changing mine to black beans. Matt had the chicken with pinto beans, mild tomato salsa, and lettuce, cheese and guacamole as extras. I had the black beans burrito with mild corn salsa, lime rice and lettuce.

The coriander gives it a nice flavour. My burrito was filling as it was packed with rice. The price is right at around $10 depending on extras.

A healthy way to enjoy Mexican cuisine.

Arriba Grill Lutwyche
Shop 1, 554 Lutwyche Road
Lutwyche
Ph: 07 3357 7072
Open Lunch and Dinner, 7 days
www.arribagrill.com.au

Book review: What Katie Ate

What Katie Ate is a visually stunning cookbook. The majority of the recipes have a full page colour photograph, along with first class retro styling.

We cooked two recipes – Barbecued ginger ale pork ribs and Sheila’s retro beef curry (circa 1974) – both packed with flavour. You may be tempted by pulled pork sandwich with apple cider slaw, Beef and Guinness Pie, rhubarb franigpane tart, mini raspberry and chocolate meringue kisses.

The book covers a good selection of recipes, including breakfasts, lunches, salads, canapes and drinks, dinners, sides and sauces, and desserts.

The only downside is that the typewriter font (Trixie) is hard to read.

What Katie Ate
- by Katie Quinn Davies

Review: Smooze

This weather is perfect for eating treats from the freezer. At the Mitchie markets the ice blocks were sold out by the time we got there. Fortunately, I had a few Smooze fruit ices back at home.

The good news is these little gems contain 100% natural ingredients and are dairy and gluten free. They are the ideal size for an in-between meals snack.

Smooze fruit ices are available in four tropical flavours: Coconut and pink guava, Coconut and pineapple, Coconut and mango, and Simply coconut.

The mango one is currently my favourite flavour. The coconut one would be perfect to add to smoothies or fruit juices. I’m planning on trying the mango one blended with some fresh orange juice.

You can pick up a box of 10 from the dessert aisle and keep them in the freezer over Summer.