Making from scratch - is it really that difficult?

Now look, I am the first to admit that cooking has never been a favourite way for me to spend my time. I'm just not that into it! However, since we moved to the farm and began our quest for a healthier life, I have been learning SO MUCH about growing and cooking food, free from chemicals. Knowing the provenance of your food is so important, don't you think? It's all very well for someone to assert that their vegies or meat is 'organic' but what does that actually mean?

Here on Crumbleton farm our goal is always to learn how to do things better and in the more natural way. To wit, I have learned how to make my own cooking oil, because I have become very concerned about the poisons, (pesticides, herbicides and fungicides), which are sprayed upon crops such as canola and sunflower. We then ingest these poisons and they start to wreak havoc with our health. And I have also learned how to preserve lemons, amongst many other things!

Because the farm is now our livelihood and I no longer have a 'traditional' job, I have the time to experiment with food. But these recipes I am developing have to be:

1. Healthy and 2. Simple. 

I am not interested in fancy gadgetry or spending hours standing at the stove or oven! Eventually, I want to put all our experiences of the first five years on the farm, everything we have learned (including the mistakes) and also the foods I grow and cook into a book. Our philosophy is this - share the knowledge. Change will only come from sharing knowledge. And there is a LOT of change that needs to happen if we as a race are to begin to reverse the damage we have done to the planet and ourselves. Did you know male (human) fertility has dropped 65% in recent times? Did you know the incidence of cancers has INCREASED, not decreased, despite all our miraculous medical advancements? These are signs that what we are doing is driven by greed and actually driving us to extinction.

So, in my small way, I hope to inspire you to do what I do - experiment! On this blog you will find pages about various foods such as cakes, pies, preserving foods, herbs etc. Have a wee look. Choose something you think is doable. And give it a try.

Don't worry about changing the whole planet just yet.