Homemade Nixtamal (Corn/Maize Masa)
nixtamalization recipe
makes about 550 grams of dough (masa)
- 2 litres of water
- 225 grams (about 1.5 cups) of maize
- 1 cup sifted fresh wood ash
makes about 550 grams of dough (masa)
Miles turned up and we made the journey to Krabi for a few days before heading out to Ko Samui and Ko Phangan. I made a short detour to Myanmar before returning home.
A step-by-step guide for creating a connection to a Microsoft VPN. I use this for connecting to resources at the office when working from home.
I compiled this information because I couldn't find a single online resource that brought all the different elements into one article.
Having grown up in rural New Zealand on a small organic farm with no electricity, low impact living was an obvious choice but not one I had really contemplated until about 2005.
I had lived in several cities since leaving home to study at high school. The urban lifestyle was exciting and was, at the time, a prerequisite for my career path into software and web design. After some time I decided to get outside my comfort zone and embarked on the obligatory overseas experience.
During my travels I encountered poor people, unfortunate conditions of over population, pollution and conflict yet almost everywhere a strong sense of family and community. This inspired me to return home with a new appreciation for the fantastic privilege we have here in New Zealand.
At first I just fitted back into my old life in Wellington but the more I looked about the more I realised that this experiment called civilization that we have come to take for granted is headed for rough times and possibly the rocks.
It became evident that serious issues like species extinction, peak oil and climate change pose an enormous challenge to humanity and that even minor disruptions to our 'just in time' way of life would have severe impacts on city living.
So I worked hard and kept my eyes peeled for a suitable location that might shelter me from the coming chaos. I wanted to be able to garden, raise a few animals, avoid rising sea level and generally attempt to survive the converging catastrophes of the 21st century.
During the intervening years we have carried out extensive planting along with careful contour earth works.
These simple actions have allowed us to create very obvious improvements in a fairly short time at next to no cost.
In addition to the hens and their loyal rooster we keep 3 Kune kune pigs. This is a small breed, hairy and very affectionate. Their roles are as lawn mowers, soil cultivators and manure makers. Kune kune pigs are unique in that they can survive on a diet of grass and need very little supplementary food unless raising babies.
Over the last few years we have been impressed with how the chooks, young chickens, rooster and pigs all get along in the slowly emerging food forest they call home. They range freely together and at feeding time jostle with each other for access to kitchen scraps and grain.
Our chooks and ducks get fed supplementary grain that has been soaked in water. This makes it softer, easier to digest and because it swells up means they don't eat as much.
One unintentional positive side effect of feeding grain to the chickens while the pigs are present is they inevitably end up eating some of it. Being greedy, they swallow most of it whole and it passes straight through and ends up spread around their territory in the manure. The chickens have discovered this and are very eager to get at the grains embedded in the poo. This results in frantic scratching and disintegration of the pig turds resulting in faster breakdown and absorption into the surrounding landscape.
Modern society is built on debt and many of us accept it as inevitable. Our consumer culture encourages spending (not saving) with easy credit and a notion that instant gratification will lead to happiness.
With a little self control and planning it is possible to save a large deposit and avoid the shackles of long term debt.
A recent upgrade left my machine with a bad case of noisy fan and inaccurately reported / excessive processor usage.
A fresh install of the operating system rectified the issue and all is well.
The world's forests - and the billion people who depend on them - are facing devastation from climate change unless we "evolve" with the changing situation, according to a new report.
A brief report covering my recent evaluation of Vodafone 3G mobile broadband solution.
I am testing the service to see if it will provide adequate solution for my rural internet needs. It has already proven to be faster then my urban conventional wired broadband from Orcon.