Coconut Pancakes

Here is a recipe for my gluten free and/or vegan friends (but if you are not they are still delicious!!)
Ingredients:
3 eggs
3 Tbs melted coconut oil (or butter)
1/4 cup + 2 T of coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup or so of water
Optional additions:
flaked coconut
berries
nuts
cinnamon
Process:
Whisk together eggs, oil, coconut milk, and vanilla
In a separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients, stirring until smooth
Add the water to thin the batter out until it reaches your desired consistency
In a well buttered (can use coconut oil) pan or griddle, cook pancakes until browned on both sides (about 3 mins a side)
Smaller pancakes are easier to flip than larger ones (they will fall apart if they are too big)
Top with fruit, cream, honey, or maple syrup!!
Enjoy.

Still choosing margarine over butter?

A couple of things to consider:

How margarine is made:
Manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils - soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola, already rancid from the extraction process - and mix them with tiny metal particles - usually nickel oxide.  The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor.  Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency: the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam-cleaned.  This removes its unpleasant odor.  Margarine's natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach.  Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter.  Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as health food. (taken from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon) 

How butter is made:
Whip/beat double heavy cream until it separates into butter and buttermilk.  Shape butter into a cube. (taken from my brain)

I would recommend choosing butter and eating it often :)

Abel Tasman

Hey there - I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving back at home and are not too annoyed by the ever increasing Christmas hype.  Thanksgiving passed like any other day here.  I did see all my friends and family celebrating, from posts on facebook, that made me miss it.  But to be honest it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here so I didn't miss it that much.  It is funny how much you associate things with seasons and weather.  It is the end of spring here and pretty sunny and hot most days so it doesn't have the same effect that Thanksgiving has in Washington when it is cold, rainy, and dark.  Celebrating the holidays in WA is like a distraction from the terrible weather outside.  But since it is spring right now I don't really need that.  We did have a chicken for dinner though.  I am grateful for this opportunity to travel and spend time in New Zealand.  To get the time to really think about what I want to do with my life.  I am thankful for my friends and family who will be with me next year to celebrate.

Since I came over from the North Island at the beginning of November, I have only been at one farm.  I was planning on moving to another one after a couple of weeks but then I got stuck here.  I am at a really beautiful farm that is at the entrance of Abel Tasman National Park.  My hosts are very knowledgeable about organic gardening/farming but also about healthy living.  I mainly work on the veggie garden, getting it ready for summer time.  Since it is spring we have been enjoying strawberries and nettle soup.  Not together of course.  When I arrived a cow had just had twin calves and the mother rejected one of them.  Seems to happen a lot.  She is being bottle fed and is quite tame, so she will come and let you pet her and suck on your fingers, it's a funny feeling.  Their son leads horse tracks down at the beach so he took me on a horse ride one day.  My host Rhonie is a really good cook - my new nutrition bible(s) are two books - one called Nourishing Traditions and the other one called Eat Fat, Lose Fat.  The theory basically is, we aren't getting enough of the right kinds of fats so we try to fill up on sugar and processed foods.  Therefore if you eat fat you lose fat.  It is more complicated than that but I recommend checking out those books, if you are interested.

My hosts are flexible and gave me time off to do the Abel Tasman Coast Track which is another one of the Great Walks in New Zealand.  I am not sure how many km's the track was because it was different depending on high tide and low tide tracks, and some of the trail had been washed out this past winter but I think I probably did around 45 -50 kilometers in 4 days.  I had a nice time - there is something about having everything you need on your back that I really like.  But the experience was a little different from backpacking I am used to.  Because it is a coast track and everything is accessible by boat, heaps of tourists just get boated in and do day hikes around portions of the track that they want to do.  There are also kayakers that stay at the campsites as well.  So I was never really alone.  On my last night after I had set up my tent and sleeping equipment a school group of 30 middle school kids got dropped off on a boat and started setting up camp right next to my tent.  I was a little irritated but it ended up being quite funny to watch all the middle school kid dynamics.
The park is a very beautiful place - people are drawn there by the stunning beaches, clear blue water, and untouched estuaries.  I don't have much else to say except I am having a lovely time.  Here are some pictures I have taken from area around the farm and from the park.

The view from the farm

The shower - don't worry there is hot water

A view of the estuary

A bird at the estuary

I got to ride a horse!!

A beach on the coast track

A view from the coast track

some interesting trees

Night time on the estuary

Sunny day on the coast track

One of the estuaries

Estuary plants

A sunrise

From one of the high points on the trail

Two Books You Have to Read

#1 Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

This book is a really inspiring story about people who run ultra marathons. It is also a huge pitch for barefoot running. It starts off describing a tribe in Mexico called the Tarahumara, who are known for being able to run huge distances, seemingly effortlessly. There is an ultra marathon raced planned to take place in a canyon near where they live and the book takes you through the journey of the idea for the race, who is invited, and then the race itself. It made me want to start running again. It also made me want to start running barefoot or with really minimal shoes. I did a couple of hikes on my days off and during each of them I took off my shoes/chacos and did some barefoot. It was fun and felt nice. Some people looked at me like I was crazy. Just a warning, I might become one of those crazy town people that never wears shoes.  But you should read the book and maybe you will understand.

#2 Folks This Just Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin is the owner and operator of Polyface Farms. If you have read Michael Pollen's famous book Omnivore's Dilemma, Polyface Farm was the organic farm featured in that book. Folk's This Just Ain't Normal talks about how the way food is grown and processed isn't normal and how that affects our health and the health of the environment. It is really well written and has some great tips on how to eat a more healthy diet, buy locally grown food, and how to start to grow your own food.  It also talks about the tragedy of how local food producers are blocked from the market and how we as consumers can make a difference.  My favorite quote from the book was “I'm waiting for the day when environmental sciences majors realize that the most valuable thing they can do is actually cover thier hands in calluses growing ecological food”, I read that and thought, hey that's me!! He also has one called Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal is supposed to be really enjoyable as well.

Again - two books you HAVE to read!!

Reflection Times

If you haven't been keeping track - I have been away from Olympia for 7 months now.  Honestly the time has, for the most part, gone by pretty quickly.  When I left I had bought a one way ticket with not really any solid plans for when I was coming back.  Recently,  I have decided to come home when my visa in in New Zealand runs out, in April.  The major reasons that made that decision are 1) my sister, who is now about 3 and 1/2 months pregnant, is due in April, 2) I don't really want to spend the money on plane tickets and visas to go to Australia, and 3) I think the real kicker is that I feel like I have done what I set out to do.  When I was in Olympia I felt in a real dead end with what I was doing with my life.  I couldn't see myself at the job I was currently at for 30 years.  The idea of that felt scary and wrong.  Now I feel like my life is full of possibilities.  I could become a certified permaculturalist, I could own and run a farm, I could educate people about eating local and growing their own food.  I could work outside.  So many options and all of them sound awesome to me.  But right now, I miss home.  I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss having a kitchen, I miss my bike.  If it were summer in Washington I would probably come home and continue to WWOOF there.  But considering it is just becoming summer here and just turning to winter I am going to stay.  I think despite my homesickness it will actually be a lot of fun.  So far the south island is beautiful and my wwoofing jobs continue to change with the seasons.  I have also planned a Christmas with a Kiwi family of a friend I met at Wilderland.  There is this really cool festival I have been planning to go to in January called Luminate with music every night and healthy living classes during the day.  I hope everyone back home is having a lovely fall.  I will do more updates when I can.  Much love.   

My October

It looks like I haven't done a blog post in over a month. I want to do a quick one about my month of October, with the promise of more posts to come. During October I stayed at two different farms, I will call them farm 7 and 8.

Farm 7 was in Dannevirke, which is a small, agricultural town just a couple hours away from Wellington, which is the southern most city on the North Island. I had a really good time at this farm.  My host had a lot of knowledge, not only about organic farming and gardening but about the world in general. Her husband ran a dairy farm, so it was all the raw milk I could drink – yum. But I worked with Lynn who produced most of the food supply for the household. There was a veggie garden, fruit trees, and heaps of animals – cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, cat, and two types of ducks. My favorite part of being there was, for some days I was completely responsible for taking care of the animals in the morning and afternoon. The pig just had six piglets which were super cute – my favorite was this little ginger one. While I was there a sheep had two lambs but rejected one, it almost died it's first night but we rescued it and brought it in the house and started to bottle feed it. That was cool – except I was worried it wouldn't make it, in the end it survived but she gave it to a neighbor because he already had one that he was bottle feeding. There also was this big goofy dog named Tangy. She was a year old Leonberger with heaps of energy.  Always up for a walk in the bush.  I learned a lot during my two weeks there.

Farm 8 was in Lower Hutt, which is a small town near Wellington. This farm was completely different than #7. It wasn't really a farm more of an urban garden.  One thing that was a first for me was there were two young kids a girl of 7 and boy of 10.  I am never really around kids so it was quite fun.  I played a lot of Monopoly.  The family also owned and operated an organic coffee caravan which had a permanent location during the week but went to markets on the weekends. Sometimes I would help out and work in the caravan taking coffee orders. Most days I was just doing odds and ends in the veggie garden. One day I got to attempt milking a goat (they were milk sitting). It was much more difficult than a cow because their teats are a different shape, hard to grab a hold of. I am sure with some practice I would get the hang of it. But while we were there we also got to hang out with some baby goats and that was fun too. A tragic story happened while I was at Farm #8. When I arrived their duck was sitting on 6 eggs. One day one of them hatched (for some reason none of the other eggs did). So we had this cute little duckling for about 3 or 4 days. Then on Saturday while I was helping in the coffee caravan, the little girl opened the door to check on the duckling and a cat ran in and grabbed it. It was a sad day. Farm #8 was cool because I got to visit Wellington on my days off and Wellington is everyone's favorite city in New Zealand. It is a nice city with a lot of free museums and good food, coffee, and beer. While in Wellington I got my hair cut for the first time since being in New Zealand. It was at an academy and cost $9.50. I don't really like it and can no longer put all my hair in a pony tail. But I can't really complain about a hair cut for less than ten dollars.

On the first of November I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton, on the south island. It is a three hour ferry ride, which for most of it is just open water but the last hour is through the Queen Charlotte Sound, which is quite beautiful. I didn't have to be at my next farm for a couple of days so I took my time getting there and spent a couple of nights at a campground. I heard they filmed part of the Hobbit there. It was quite beautiful next to a river.

I arrived at my new farm on the 3^rd of November. It is near Abel Tasman National Park and I am hoping to do a little backpacking after my two weeks here.

From a hike I took out of Dannevirke

View of the Ruahines

Ginger piglet!!

View in Wellington from the Ferry

Queen Charlotte Sound from the Ferry

Queen Charlotte Sound from the Ferry

Queen Charlotte Sound from a hike out of Picton

Pelorus Bridge campground

Pelorus Bridge campground

Sorry for the mirror shot but wanted to show my new haircut.  I guess I don't hate it that much

Book Reviews (No 3, I think)

I have read three books I want to talk about since I have last done a review.

 1.  Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
This is a book that was written by a woman who spent a lot of time in the slums of India writing about what she saw.  I heard an interview with the author on Fresh Air and learned that she lived there and tried to write about what she saw without changing the situation by being there.  The focus of the story is a family that lives in the slum and their main source of income is collecting and sorting garbage.  It is an interesting book if you want a look into the lives of people in a slum of India and I found it an interesting read.  I will say that it wasn't amazing, I tried to think about why I didn't think so and I think it had to do with the ending.  The book just sort of fizzles out and doesn't really create a lasting memory.  If you like slice of life books it is worth a read.

2.  Fifty Shades of Gray (don't make fun of me) by E.L. James
So I did it.  I read the dirty book that everyone is talking about.  I read it because I usually fall for pop culture trends, everyone was talking about it, and because it had a lot of sex in it (I am drawn to stuff like that, I am going to blame it on my sheltered childhood {my mom would fast forward the 'sex' scene in Titanic}).  I found the book highly addictive but all in all pretty bad.  I thought the writing was poor and very basic.  The sex scenes weren't that good and I didn't like how the main female character was betrayed.  It seemed she had never even been on a date before, then went on to have a varsity level S & M relationship with this extremely rich man.  It just seemed like an adult fairy tale.  That being said I will probably read the other two books :).

3.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Okay, back to serious books again.  This book takes place in Nazi Germany during WWII.  The book is narrated by death and tells the story of a girl who is brought to a foster home because her mother can no longer afford to care for her and her brother.  It tells of her relationship with her new parents, the trials and triumphs of learning to read, a friendship slowly turning to romance with the boy next door, all with the backdrop of Nazi Germany.  The book is told in a really unique way because death is the narrator.  I think it would be a really good pick for the next book club (hint hint Olympia friends!!). 

Until next time - happy reading!!

Farm #6 and Lemon Honey Recipe

So where I left off last I had just gotten done with my first solo tramping trip.  Since then I have spent the last couple of weeks at a very lovely farm on the east coast of the North Island.  Farm #6 was a vineyard that also had a veggie garden, various fruit trees, olive trees, plenty of chooks (chickens), a turkey, some highland cattle, and some lovely pet dogs and cats.  I had a really good two weeks - it was fun to learn a little bit about growing grapes and it was really fun to drink wine every night.  Most of the time at the farm I was working on the veggie garden, which was nice.  We were getting ready for spring by digging beds and planting early veggies.  It is quite a warm climate that doesn't get any frosts so greens, peas, beans were already in the ground.  We were planting tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers.  I dug about four new beds.  There were four cows there that were supposedly pregnant and about to calve any day now.  But sadly they never had their babies while I was there.  For awhile now I have been saying that I want to milk something and I want to kill something.  I got to milk a cow at my last farm.  And I came really close to killing a chicken at this farm.  So I didn't actually kill a chicken.  I thought I was going to but I thought it would be a good idea to watch it first.  Then do it the next time.  We only ended up killing chickens once so I never got the chance.  Maybe next time.  I did get to see them skinned (one of them), plucked (the other one), and cleaned.  Which was a good thing to learn.  Now it might sound kind of morbid that I wanted to kill something but I want to be able to because I eat meat and because someday I want to have my own animals so I will need to know how to kill and clean them.  Spring has definitely sprung here in New Zealand.  All the animals are having babies and all the trees are flowering.  It is really beautiful.  On a hike I went on with my host we walked through a pasture and saw a cow that was in the middle of calving and one calf that took its first steps trying to get away from us.  As usually I have to apologize for my lack of pictures.  Sometimes I am just not in the mood for taking them.  I hope to make it up to you in recipes and book reviews - hope you enjoy.
I acquired a nice recipe that I really enjoyed while I was there.  It is lemon honey and if you like lemon desserts you will really like this.  I liked to just put it on toast but it would also be really good on pancakes, waffles, or ice cream.  I would recommend halving the recipe to try it your first time.

Lemon Honey Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
220 grams of butter diced (2 sticks)
6 eggs beaten

Process:
Heat sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest over a double boiler until the butter has melted.  Then add the eggs.  Stir until the mixture thickens 3-5 mins (took me more like 8).  Pour into 3 or 4 medium sized sterilized jars.

A batch of lemon honey in front of the vineyard.

The prettiest cat I have ever seen - seriously it was a show cat. 

I never really knew why people liked boxers until I met this dog - so sweet!!

A view from a short hike in the area (east coast of the North Island)

A lovely cafe I stopped at on my way to a new farm.

    

Homemade Ice Cream (without an Ice Cream maker)

At my last farm I got this recipe from my host Sheryn.  We used the milk fresh from the cow and eggs right from the ducks.  It was awesome - I am sure it would work just was well with items from your local grocery.
When we made the ice cream we had a stand mixer which makes things faster because you can just let it mix and do something else - with a hand mixer be prepared to be beating for a long time.  You have to whip three things separately - egg white, egg yolks, and heavy cream.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
10 tbs of white sugar
2 cups of heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
(flavors, optional)

Process
Separate into two mixing bowls:
three eggs (yolks in one, whites in the other)
add 5T of sugar to each bowl

-Whip egg whites until peaks are stiff (this will take awhile, so an automatic mixer is nice)
-Add 2T of boiling water to the egg yolks and beat until pale, think and ribbony (holds a figure eight)
-Pour yolks onto whites
-Beat two cups of cream to soft peaks (do not overwhip)
-Add 1 tsp of vanilla
-Fold cream gently into eggs - place in container and put in freezer

If you want a flavor, add while you are folding the cream into the eggs just lightly swirl through or you can just add as a topping which might be easier
can add desired flavors like:  cinnamon, coffee, berries, chocolate sauce, chocolate pieces

It's time to talk about oatmeal

I decided to do this post while I was out on my tramping trip.  I think one reason is because I had oatmeal everyday for breakfast, and to be honest - loved it!!  Now my parents are going to be pretty shocked at this post because as a child I hated oatmeal (I was a picky child).  But what I realized as an adult is that oatmeal is just a vehicle for other delicious things.  Here are a list of toppings:

-nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc)
-yogurt
-peanut butter
-maple syrup
-coconut
-nutella
-sugar
-salt
-dried fruit (apples, apricots, raisins, pears etc)
-spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc)
-milk (or cream? yum)
-berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc)
-chocolate chips or chunks 
-did I miss anything?

On my recent trip my oatmeal toppings included: almonds, sugar, powdered milk, dried apricots, peanut butter, and raisins.  It was so warm and delicious every morning, yum!!

And it looks like I need to invest in the titanium spork :(

Lady and the Tramp

 I, being the Lady (obviously), and the Lake Waikarimoana Great Walk, being the Tramp (tramping is what Kiwi's call backpacking).  I just returned from a four day, three night, 46 kilometer (28.5 mile) solo tramping trip.  It was around a lake on the north island of New Zealand.  I had a lot of fun, it snowed, it hailed, but for most of the time it was actually sunny.  I had booked my first night in a hut but was also carrying a tent, planning to camp the next two nights.  I camped the second night, then on the third night my campsite was right next to a hut and I couldn't resist a warm night next to a fire.  The beginning of the hike was up to a hut on top of a small mountain.  It started snowing soon after I got there.  I was glad to be in a hut!  Overnight it snowed a couple of centimeters and the walk down the mountain was beautiful!!  The dusting of snow on everything was amazing.  The rest of the hike was relatively flat and continued around the lake.  It reminded me a lot of Washington - all the green and blue colors, at one time it was hailing and sunny at the same time - maybe it was that part that reminded me of Washington.  There was a Kiwi couple doing the hike at the same time as me but we usually had different stopping points because they were doing some deer hunting while out there.  It was nice to be alone but also see some other people occasionally.  Here are some pictures that I took:

My poles and some lichen

Lunch - whole wheat wrap, hummus, salami, and cheese

View on Day 1

Catching up on some podcasts on my way up the mountain

View from the hut on the first night

It snowed!!

The snow in the trees was so beautiful

Swan babies!!

My campsite for night #2 - now that's a sexy tent!!

That's right - I know how to use the self-timer

I saw this purple mushroom - tried to google it but if anyone knows what it is...

Some up close lichen

This is from about the last mile - I am tired and ready for some fish and chips

At the end of the tramp we waited for the shuttle to pick us up at 3:30.  At around 5 we were really afraid the guy had forgot about us and started walking to the main road where it was 18K to our cars.  We thought we were going to have to spend another night out.  The guy did show up, thankfully.  I didn't have the time or energy to drive to the farm I was supposed to be at, so I am holed up in a little backpackers until tomorrow.  At least there is free wifi - rare in NZ!!