Thanks heaps Joss.     Doing the best I can at the moment.

I've tried dandelion root tea and nettle tea and thankfully didn't get a headache.  I liked them both.  Joss mentioned that putting an empty flower pot over dandelion greens for about 10 days before picking stops them from being bitter.  I found some dandelions growing in a shady part of the garden and the leaves weren't bitter. Yeah!  Haven't tried the pot trick but it must work.

I have read that drying and steeping herbs can reduce the vitamin content but freeze drying doesn't seem to do this.  But  assume freeze drying is expensive and hard to come by.
RGN just love green coconuts too but they have to be fresh.  I've bought some of the ones from Thailand but they just aren't the same.

Hubby's been down south finishing some jobs for about 3 weeks now.  I hate the separation.  Can't get to sleep and eating comfort foods.     It's really not doing me much good at all. 

Determined to turn things around yesterday and bought grapes, alfalfa sprouts, capsicums and apples for lunch.  Also bought some wholemeal fruit buns but after the delicious fruit and sprouts they tasted like sawdust.    For dinner I made a lettuce and tomato (one of our first tomatoes - one of the best I've tasted) salad with lemon and extra virgin olive oil dressing.  Aahh so refreshing.

Breakfast this morning was one of our large pawpaws.  So sweet and melt-in-your-mouth.  Also a few of our tiny lady finger bananas.  Good things come in small packages.    Late lunch was a large green smoothie: baby pak choi, bananas, oranges, and later raw peanuts and some soya cheese.     Dinner tonight the kids begged for pasta.  I tasted a couple of pieces but it was just like eating paper.  I made up a salad of grated carrot, tomato, sugar snap peas and sweet corn.  I am feeling a lot better with improved food intake and forcing my self to sleep before midnight.  Must keep positive cos in the gloomies I crave cooked food, chocolate, biscuits etc.

Sheryl thanks for the lemon and tahini dressing tip.  I'll try that and see how it works for me.

I made a salad of spinach, lettuce, young dandelion greens, Italian extra virgin olive oil dressing (raw as far as I know) and seasoning for lunch.  There was a hint of bitterness in some mouthfuls but it was surprisingly good and very satisfying.

Thanks for the hint about covering the greens for a few days before picking Joss.  Very interested to know the finer details to the technique.  I'll definitely try that.  I'm wondering does that affect the nutrients and do they go yellow like grass when it is covered?

Mmmmm I'll have to try nettle tea it sounds too good to pass up trying.

FM I hear what you are saying but I believe miss giggles has a point.  I have seen my animals eat different things at different times.  Our cat and dog have eaten grass on occasions.  Our pregnant alpaca is quite selective in what she eats and avoids eating things that the others do eat.

I remember Victoria Boutenko recommending intuitive eating.  One day she felt like eating dandelion greens.  They tasted sweet to her, not bitter at all.  But it tasted bitter to her guests.  It gave her a liver cleanse apparently.  She advocates intuitive eating, listening to your body and what it needs (cooked food excluded of course).  I have to say I agree with her.

I'm excited! I found some dandelions at our place today and tasted some.  They are bitter so I would like to find a palitable raw way of eating the greens which makes them less bitter.  Has anybody tried eating danelions?  Any ideas?

Just taken a couple of minutes to catch up.  Lots of chatting and sharing ideas going on while I've been busy.  Excellent!  

To answer your question Joss,
In our garden we have the following herbs: Italian parsley, chives, dill and I planted some basil seeds but they haven't popped up yet.  Also have pots of comfrey, pennyroyal, oregano, sage and rosmary which I haven't had a chance to plant out yet.  Not sure whether you call nasturtiums herbs but have them too.  You can eat the leaves and flowers of nasturtiums I know that much.  Quite colourful in salads and add some zest.  I'm hoping they will keep the aphids away from my greens in the green house.

Just been reading about dandelions and how good they are for you.  I've never tried them except the root tea.  The young leaves are supposed to have many vitamins (including if I am not mistaken B12) and minerals and as such many healing properties.  I haven't seen any around here yet but will keep looking and am very curious to try some dandelion greens.

Our vet said mangoes are ok for alpacas but definitely not avocadoes.  Help!! The little devils have been eating our mango buds.  :angry: Definitely time to move them to a new paddock and cordon the mangoes off.  Thankfully its just eight of 30 mango trees.

Thanks for the tips fruiteus maximus.  Does dogbane keep fruitfly away from your fruit?
A wild legume vine was growing rampant all over our property blocking sunlight from our avocado and mango trees.  You're absolutely positive pinto peanut behaves itself?

Caught up with my brother and sister-in-law who used to live around here the other day.  They drink barley grass and I asked if she had heard of green smoothies.  She hadn't so explained what they are and hope she tries them.  Apparently they were pretty much all raw eaters at one stage but find it difficult eating as healthy as they know they should travelling, raw fruit and vege so expensive.  We loaded them up with oranges, mandarins, pumpkin, avocados, pecans and a few small bananas and pawpaw.  Our first official visitors.

I'm re-reading my permaculture, companion planting and other gardening books to make the most of our new garden.  It's quite facinating how plants complement each other.  It's like they have likes and dislikes as we humans do.  Just read "Carnations planted in soil where hyacinth bulbs have been growing will be poisoned.  Carnations get their own back.  Hyacinths planted in soil where carnations have been grown will die."  On the other hand "Carrots and onions planted in alternate rows are good allies.  The carrots drive off the onion fly and the onions drive off the carrot fly.  Carrot roots give off a breath of something which peas appreciate." 

I've been fruitlessly searching for information about which plants/trees are best to grow around avocado and mango trees.

Picked some leaves off our spinach, beetroot and other greens today.  They look so healthy and taste great.  I just can't wait until everything matures.  So far we have planted snow peas, parsley, chives, cucumber, spinach, dill, beetroot, carrots, celery, tomatoes, onions, chillies, leeks, artichokes, beans, choko and passionfruit vines and corn.  I've got more seedlings to plant out in the greenhouse and planted some basil  seeds, nasturtiums and tansy today.  I can't believe we are growing all of these plants in our garden in June and they are healthy and happy.  We're very lucky but impatient to start harvesting.

Happy birthday Panda.  Wishing you all the vibrant and radiant health of raw lifestyle.

Lately I'm enjoying what I call a sweet and sour green smoothie.   It usually consists of mandarin and/oranges, grapes, banana,  celery and lettuce or chinese greens.  I think the fruit adds sweetness, celery saltiness. banana creamy texture and citrus the tang.
Quite a unique combination that reminds me of sweet and sour stirfry only so much more delicious and refreshing.  Green smoothies are sooooo goood!!!!!

Sounds like you save a lot on buying oranges when your tree is fruiting Joss.  Good for you    We are very lucky that the previous owners of our property planted lots of early and later fruiting mandarins, valencia and navel oranges.  Apparently as one tree finishes fruiting another one is ready to harvest all year round.  Good on you for planting more trees.  It's so good to harvest your own fruit isn't it.

In our vegie garden we've just planted carrot, beetroot, celery, beans, tomatoes, artichokes, leeks, onions, spinach and parsley.  In the green house I've got seedlings growing of chinese greens, lettuce  and many other vegies.  I can't believe it's warm enought to grow these things in winter up here.  Also where we lived before we put heaps of organic matter into the soil and still had to use liquid fertilizer otherwise the plants went yellow and didn't grow well.  Here our new seedlings are thriving.  Their new leaves are a very healthy green.  The soil is light and full of minerals and the turkey nest is great mulch to compliment the soil.

When I get frustrated about our car breaking down, waiting for days for our container, trying to prepare food in a shocking kitchen that is falling apart it puts a smile on my face to think of how lucky we are in other ways.  A great view,  soil like gold and a bounty of citrus, pecans and avocadoes let alone dreaming of how many delicious mangoes we hope to enjoy in summer.  It gets chilly here in the morning and evening but we walk around in short sleeve during the day.  Inspite of life's hassles life is good and we feel blessed.

On the downside the property has been neglected for the last three years or so and is very overgrown.  Apparently the previous owner had some sort of breakdown and couldn't work any more.  Most of the avocado trees are covered in a legume vine which blocks out sunlight and stunts their growth.  The grass is as high as my shoulders.  There is a lot of work ahead of us to reclaim our land from the jungle.  Nevertheless we think we got a great deal because we believe once things are cleaned up the property should be worth much much more than we paid for it.

We have bunches of green bananas on our banana plants which seem to be taking forever to fill out enough to harvest. We harvested one bunch of lady fingers but they're taking ages to go yellow.   Up until a few days ago I refused to buy bananas at up to $12  kg in supermarkets.  The other day I bought a few at $6 kg.  The gs I made with them was so creamy.  I'd forgotten how good a gs can be with bananas.

I heard about bananas being stolen in Coffs Harbour too.  What's the world coming to when people are stealing bananas and they cost more than any other fruit?

I'm taking heart that I can walk straight past the mandarins, oranges, passionfruit, avos and pecans cos we've got plenty of they growing in our own back yard.  Some of the mandarins are as big as the palm of my hand and oranges as big as grapefruit.  They're so sweet and juicy.  As for the paw paws.  Just I and our youngest love them.  A good one is so sweet and delicious I can't understand why the rest of the family don't appreciate them.  Hubby says they smell like puke!  Well their loss! All the more for us.

Hi fruiteus maximus we are west of the Bruce Hwy in Eerwah Vale, between Eumundi and Belli.  Which direction are you?  In town or on a property?

Joss you asked about the kids.  Well our older one is now walking free without pins or a cast AT LAST!!!  He's settled in well in highschool up here.  Our little girl is in preschool.  She and our youngest were cautious at first - scared of snakes and frogs.  We told them to be careful 'cos the property is cleared around the house and sheds but everywhere else is overgrown.  Now they love the place and it's hard to keep them inside and out of the sun.  They all love picking oranges, mandarins, passion fruit, tomatoes and pecans, planting and watering seedlings.  I think they also appreciate being away from the freezing bitter cold winter down south.  Poor hubby has to go back to Melbourne for a couple of weeks for work.  He's not looking forward to it.  He'll be taking the beanie I spun and knitted from our alpaca wool to keep his head warm working outside.  I'm sure he'll be rushing home to thaw out again.

durian rider you're one crazy very fit guy.  Look us up during mango season.  We're sure to have plenty.  Apparently there were so many mangoes last year the previous owners couldn't pick them fast enough and many were wasted rotting under the trees.  I've seen lots of mango trees budding already which is not good 'cos those in the know say they will drop and loose their crop.  Ours are not budding yet and I hope they don't until spring which is when they are supposed to so we'll have a good crop.

Thanks Joss, Jen, 18carrot and Neet,

No we are far from settled at the moment. The cottage needs painting, kitchen needs to be guttered etc.  Also having hassles getting dial up let alone broadband transfered right now.
 
We had quite a saga just getting our container delivered.  They sent a 6 ton truck to pick up our 10 or 12 ton container.  When the container was loaded the front wheels were in the air.  Crazy! Then it was supposed to arrive Wed and didn't arrive until Monday only 5 days late.  Then when it arrived the truck had to be towed twice to get it out of trouble by a tractor which luckily was on the property clearing lantana weed.

I can't believe how good the soil is here.  It is rocky but  it's volcanic rock.  Our neighbour says its got big chunks of osmocote.  It should grow anything and it's warm enough to grow almost anything all year round.  As Vitctoria Butenko says good soil is like gold.  We've struck gold at last. So  I've bought lots of vege seed and seedling and popped them in the garden.  There are bush turkeys which collect big mounds of mulch for their nest.  It's a great addition to the garden as mulch and increasing the organic matter content of the soil.

Made  a green smoothie with bought grapes, pak choi and our own paw paw yesterday which was delicious.

I must confess it has been difficult to stay 100% raw during this transition.  Whenever possible I have eaten fruit/green smoothies only till midday to cleanse my system.

Must go and thanks again for your very kind greetings.

Hi everyone,

It's been a while now since I had a chance to get near a computer to tune into the forum.  We moved into our new property in QLD on Friday 12 May after 3 weeks of being nomads travelling and in a very squeezy cabin at a caravan park.

At last I have found my blender and whipped up some green smoothies the last few days. Aaaaah!  The one I drank this morning was made with huge juicy sweet mandarins from our trees,  black grapes and pak choi.  So sweet and satisfying.

It is lovely and warm up here and I'm not missing the winter AT ALL!!  This is the life walking around in T shirts in winter.

We've been eating our own pecans, avocadoes, paw paws, mandarins and oranges.  Just waiting for some lady finger bananas to ripen.