Hello and welcome to Suburban Homemade, a blog about things made from a small patch in the middle of suburbia. I am Amy, a recently graduated Speech-Language Therapist living in the city with my partner, Paddy, our spoodle Max and our rabbit, Fang. About three years ago I became very interested in vegetable gardening, starting my first garden in the summer of 2007. This interest in growing my own food quickly became a passion, and now any spare metre of space in our tiny suburban garden is taken up with vegetable or fruit plants!
As I learnt more about organic gardening, and the value of growing my own food, it was only natural that I stumbled across information on methods of keeping any excess, such as preserving. Luckily, I grew up with a mother who preserved anything she could get her hands on, so I have a great reference at the other end of the phone. I love making (and giving away!) jams, chuntneys, marmalades, sauces and some experimental brewed products with excess from my garden, someone elses, or the fantastic 'Wild Larder' I have available to me. In addition to preserving, bread making and home baking are a particular passion of mine, and skills I am constantly trying to hone. Much to Paddy's delight, as he is my chief taster!
Over the years I have become much more aware of where my food is coming from - a long journey from the takeaway-eating, oblivious teenager I was. In our house we make a concerted effort to eat organic produce, buy organic eggs and dairy and only buy free-range and if possible, organic meat. This is as much for our own health as it is for the health and happiness of animals, and our beautiful planet. With this in mind, we have also changed all of our cleaning products to natural or homemade, and am slowly phasing in natural beauty products.
I am often described as a Nana in a 24 year-old's body; a label I am happy to have- my Nana is pretty cool! Join me as I document my kitchen, garden, and occasional craft experiments, making plenty of mistakes, but learning as I go!
Any questions, comments, or just want to say hi? Email me on suburbanhomemade(at)gmail.com, I'd love to hear from you.
