This Sustainable House

The last attempt to make bacon turned out to be a touch salty, though it will be great for cooking. A little research suggests that dry curing may be a part of the problem (as well as curing for too long). So I have decided to try wet curing or brining.

The brine mix that I made up was 12L of water, 1.2kg salt, 800g dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, 1 tablespoon piri piri and 1 tablespoon of whole cloves. The whole lot was brought to the boil, and held there for about 10mins, skimming the foam off the top. It is then left to cool, and then placed into the fridge to get it down to 4 degrees celcius.

A pork belly was then submerged into the mix (holding it in a non-reactive container) for 5 days. Frozen slightly, and then sliced. This is what is referred to as ‘Green Bacon’, not to be confused with Green Eggs and Ham, as it hasn’t been smoked. If you wanted to smoke you could certainly do it prior to slicing.

The net result of this process was some REALLY good bacon. It’s not salty to the taste but the subtle aroma of honey and spices permeates the meat beautifully.

Well the aquaponics system has been running for a couple of months, and the first feedback can be noted.

The biggest issue I have had with the system was an abundance of light making it’s way through the clear IBC’s leading to massive algal growth in the water. The water turned a bright green making it impossible to see the fish. This has been corrected by shading the sump tank, and painting the raft tank.

The ‘cost’ of destroying the algae, was that the dissolved oxygen (DO) of the system dropped rapidly leading to the death of a number of trout. As you might be aware, trout have a very high DO requirement and the rapid drop of DO due to decomposing algae was enough to cause some difficulties.There are still quite a few trout in the system, but approx 40ish were lost.

However, on the positive side, the bacteria in the system (which are the true work horses) have ‘cycled’ and are currently maintaining the ammonia and nitrite levels at very close to zero. Nitrate has been climbing, currently at approx 80ppm, though this isn’t too concerning at this stage. In fact, the plants have visibly grown in the past week demonstrating that they are enjoying the extra nutrient that is available. Today the beds were planted with some dwarf pea plants, and in the next few days another batch of lettuce will be planted into the raft tank.

I’ll keep updating you on the progress… both the highs & the lows.

One of the activities that I throughly enjoy is preserving. Be that storing peaches in light syrup, making an apricot jam (fantastic with a few vanilla beans) or brewing up a stunning batch of chutney. Preserving is a great way to store away the seasons excesses, and to impress visitors with their “take home” packs.

However there is a whole branch of preserving that I haven’t really ventured into, that of charcuterie or preserving of meats. Charcuterie originally referred to the production of pork products such as sausages, bacon & ham. However a more modern meaning is the production of meat products from any sort of animal.

Of course charcuterie isn’t just preserving, after all fresh pork sausages certainly qualify, however many of the products that are produced do in fact have a preserving effect… think hung salamis or legs of ham.

I decided to dip my toes into the water, so to speak, with producing my own bacon. Bacon was chosen as a starting point as it is one of those iconic meats imbued with so much flavor and memory. In fact, when I was a vegetarian (many moons ago) it was bacon that I truly missed not fillet steak. Also, bacon is a fairly easy meat to prepare requiring little specialized equipment or ingredients.

To make bacon all you need to do is coat pork (traditionally belly or loin) in a curing mixture allowing this mixture to draw out the excess moisture which could cause the meat to rot. This can then be sliced as it is, it’s called green bacon at this stage (Dr Seuss would be proud), or you can smoke it to add additional flavor.

The curing mix that I am using as 2kg pickling salt (don’t use table salt which has iodine added), 200g dark brown sugar, and ~1 tablespoon freshly cracked pepper. These are throughly mixed together and then handfuls are rubbed over the meat paying particular attention to cover the whole surface, including all the nooks and crannies. You can add saltpeter (Sodium Nitrate) into your curing mix, though I have chosen not to add this ingredient due to the link between heated nitrates, nitrosamines and cancer.

Once this is done, place the pork in a non-reactive container in a cool place. In 24hrs pour off any accumulated liquid, re-salt, and the replace. Basically you do this each day for between 5-14 days, depending on how salty you like your bacon.

Once the curing process is completed, then soak the pork in clean water for two hours. Discard the water and soak again for another hour in fresh water. Finally, hang the side somewhere cool for 1-2 days so that a pellicle can form. The pellicle is like a skin that’ll help preserve the meat for longer and allow an “attachment” point for smoke molecules, if you go down that path.

At this stage your bacon is good to eat as green bacon. Slice it, and enjoy!!!

Update: The very first streaky bacon side (made from pork belly) was tasted today. It has a very different taste to shop bought bacon and is quite salty. This isn’t terribly surpirsing as I salted it for 8 days, so the next belly will be done for 5-6 which should lessen the salt content. The one thing that you will notice with your home made bacon though is that it doesn’t shrivel away to nothing in the pan. Apparently this has to do with the copious quantities of water that is pumped into commercially produced bacon which is then released during cooking. In this case there isn’t any water to lose so it stays about the same size as the

Well it’s certainly not just ‘another Sunday’ at TSH, rather this morning I was awoken to a very pleasant sight… a new calf! Welcome to Grazyna.

Grazyna was born at approx 6am being the daughter of Julia and Congo. Actually I shouldn’t be too quick to say ‘she’ as Mum won’t let me close enough yet to be sure, but by all indications it appears to be a heifer calf. Interestingly she is a red calf which would suggest that the red colouration is a recessive gene in the Dexter lineage. I have to admit that I know very little about Dexter genetics, but clearly there is more for me to learn.

Anyhow, the short video below talks more about this and, more importantly, introduces Grazyna to the world.

One of the food production systems that I have been dying to try for many years is the concept of Aquaponics. Aquaponics is quite an advanced system in which we combine the best of aquaculture, growing fish and/or crustaceans, with hydroponics, growing plants in a soil-less culture. The reason that it works so well is that the plants feed on the wastes of the fish, essentially filtering the water before it returns to the fish tank. In fact, it is a touch more complicated than that (involving bacteria converting ammonia to nitrites then nitrates) however that’s the gist of it. The diagram below demonstrates the general principle.

Basic Aquaponics Cycle

The reason that have always wanted to try this system is because I feel that it can offer a lot of opportunities to the small-holder, or even householder, as one can grow a lot of food in a relatively small area. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most important permacultural principles is that every important purpose should be served by multiple elements, and each element should serve multiple purposes. By following this principle we build resilience and efficiency into our systems.

As you know, I recently brought online a new element at TSH… the incubator! One of the reasons that the incubator was built the way it was is that the size allows for multiple uses. For example, whilst the device is running to incubate the chicken eggs, at a ‘cool’ 37.5 degrees celsius, there is also room for a few other items. Over the past week the incubator has produced several kilograms of natural yoghurt, and a couple of loaves of sourdough. Wonderful!!

It would appear that the temperature is just perfect to get all those lovely little micro-organisms pumping…

A little later, when it’s not in use as an incubator, it will also produce some lovely ales… keeping that temperature just right for the yeasts.

Can you guess what my second favourite sin is?

One of the things that I really love about living at TSH is the fact that we have four distinct seasons. There is a definite Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter with all the wonderful variety and experiences they bring. It also means that we have a much shorter growing season than some of our more ‘tropical’ friends which of course necessitates a few changes in the way things are done.

And as evidence for these changing seasons this morning I awoke to the first frost of 2011. Admittedly it was a fairly light frost, but it does highlight the inevitable march towards the quiet of winter. It’s now time to begin making preparations for the cooler months such as ensuring that the under cover beds are ready to go, where they can take advantage of the warmer microclimate, as well as potting up any species which are likely to need some assistance over this period. The main species that comes to mind at the moment is my lemongrass clump.

This weekend we will begin preparations by redesigning the greenhouse, and setting up a few new watering systems under the verandah.