The Tingle Factor Box

That's Just Gross - Potted Meat

Imagine, you are a housewife living in the late 1800s. Life can be difficult what with cooking, cleaning, mending and caring for your husband and children. You have so little time to yourself. Anything which can save a little time is welcome, and although your children were a little unsure about the premade potted meat you use for their lunches at first, they have grown to love it. Now that you no longer have to make it yourself it saves so much time!

Roaming Roy Gets Nettled - Jenolan's Nettle Cave

This week, with holidays coming up and so many parents planning what to do and where to take their children, Roy decided that the perfect place to visit would be a common school holiday destination. Now the question was where? Roy has many favourite destinations, but there was one place which he recently visited which he really enjoyed and wanted to encourage his friends to visit too - the Nettle Cave at Jenolan Caves (NSW).

Although many of Roys friends have visited Jenolan Caves, few had visited the Nettle Cave, which only reopened to the public in 2006. Roy thought this was a real shame as the Nettle Cave is not only very different to the other caves, it also gives visitors an idea of what visiting the caves in the early days would have been like. There are many places where you can view the original stairs, railings and lighting systems, and even an original wooden ladder! The Nettle Cave is 'free' with any other show cave tour, and is a self guided tour. An audio guide is provided to tell you about the cave, and you can listen to the guide in many languages, including Klingon! The guide tells visitors about everything from the history of the caves to the amazing formations, including the crayback formations, like the one in the photo above, which are very rare. To find out about these craybacks click here.

Roy Creates A Sock Butterfly

Earlier this week, the tingle factor item was a sock darner, and we learned all about why socks were, in the past, far too valuable to simply throw out when they developed a hole. Today though, socks are a much more disposable item, and people tend to throw them out. Yet Roy thinks this is a real waste. After all, there are some fun things which can be done with a sock. One of his favourite things to do with old, worn out socks, is to give them a new life as a toy or a sock puppet. He thought his online friends would know how to make a simple sock puppet, so decided to show you how to make his sock butterfly instead.

What Is That? Sock Darner

Imagine, you are a mother living in the 1940s. You have 2 sons, a husband and endless socks which need mending. It seems that as soon as they put a pair of new socks on their feet, they has a hole in them. Your daughter is just as bad, alway catching her stockings on something or other. You seem to spend all your time mending! Thank goodness for the sock darner your mother gave you. It is an unusual design, with the heel and toe on the same darner, but so useful. You swear it cuts the mending time in half, and you can mend a stocking so you can hardly see the hole!

Roaming Roy Finds A Bulls Camp

One of Roy's favourite places to visit is the Blue Mountains. It is a perfect place to escape the summer heat and is breathtakingly beautiful - in fact, it is world heritage listed! With its rich history and stunning scenery, Roy loves to spend time exploring this area, seeing the beautiful old buildings and finding fascinating places which most people seem to have forgotten. Recently, as Roy was travelling through the Blue Mountains, he came across a fascinating camping area which he decided he would like to share with you - Bulls Camp.

Roy Creates A Saint Patricks Day Pot of Sweet Pea's

This week, with Saint Patricks Day falling yesterday, Roy would like to tell you about a slightly odd little activity which he did on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He had been reading up on Irish traditions, and discovered that the best time to plant sweet peas was between Sunset of the evening before Saint Patricks Day and Dawn on the morning of Saint Patricks Day. Apparently this brings bigger and sweeter smelling flowers. He thought this was very interesting, and as he had a packet of sweet pea seeds which he had planned to grow, thought he would give it a try. So this week Roy Creates a Saint Patricks Day Pot Of Sweet Peas.

You Will Need:

• A packet of sweet pea seeds
• A sunny spot in the garden
• Potting mix and a large pot, if you want to grow your flowers in a pot. Roy used a pot to ensure that his gardener friends didn't decide they were weeds.
• If you are using a pot, a piece of shadecloth, flyscreen, or open weave material to stop the soil falling out the bottom. Roy used a piece of the net from a bag of oranges.
• If you are using old fashioned, climbing sweet peas, you will need something for the sweet peas to climb up (they are a climbing vine type flower). A trellis, a fence or a piece of lattice work fine.
• A little trowel
• Patience!

Method:

• Roy planted his seeds late the night before Saint Patricks Day, in keeping with the Irish tradition, but don't worry, you can still plant sweet pea seeds for a lovely display! Autumn is the perfect time for planting.

• If you are using a pot, like Roy, put a piece of material or shade cloth over the holes to stop the soil falling out.

• Fill your pot up to almost the top with soil or potting mix.

• When it gets dark, sprinkle the seeds over the potting mix. You can also plant you seeds straight into the garden. Just clear a space and remove about 1 centimetre of the soil, then sprinkle the seeds over the ground.

• Cover the seeds with about 1 centimetre of soil.
• If the soil is dry, use a watering can to water the seeds in and give them a good start.
• Now, keep an eye on your plants and in 10 to 14 days you should see them start to shoot. Look after them with water and a little fertiliser, making sure to follow the directions on your packet of seeds. You might need to put a little snail bait out if you have a snail problem. Roy has blue tongue lizards to keep his snails under control! Soon, you will have a wonderful, sweet smelling garden to enjoy! Sweet peas make great picked flowers and remember, if you pick them you will get more flowers, so enjoy them inside in a vase as well as in the garden.

So Adults Believe In Fairies Too! Irish Folklore

Imagine, you are a housewife living in Ireland in the 1600s. You are a good housewife, looking after the household and the children, making sure things are clean, the animals are looked after and that food is prepared. You also make sure to look out for the fairies. It just wouldn't do to offend them. When they are happy, things just seem to work more smoothly. You heard of a lady in another town who had her house built over a fairy path, and this caused all sorts of problems. Much better to follow the traditions and keep them on side!

Roaming Roy Finds A Little Piece Of Ireland - Irish Martyr's Monument

This week, with St Patricks Day only a few days away, Roy decided he would like to take his friends somewhere which had a great Irish history, in keeping with the day. Now, there are plenty of Irish people in Australia, and have been since Australia was first settled by Europeans, and there are also plenty of Irish places we could visit. Yet there was one in particular which Roy wanted to show you - the Irish Martyr's Monument in Waverley Cemetery. He had visited the monument before, when he last visited Waverly Cemetery (to see his post click here), and was stunned by its beauty and decided that it would be the perfect place to visit for St Patricks Day.

Roy Creates Grandma's Old Fashioned Apple Crumble

This week, Roy and I have been celebrating apples. We have visited the site of the Orchard where the Granny Smith Apple was discovered and learned about the history of apples and why they are such special fruit. So, it's no surprise that Roy has decided he wants to cook something using apples. He is a fan of apple crumble, and was horrified when I told him that many people I know use tinned apples for the base and have no idea what a really old fashioned apple crumble is like. He thought this week would be a perfect time to remedy this situation so he asked his Grandma for her Mum's old recipe to share with you, but first we had to measure the ingredients because when people were making this recipe, they just went by feel, until the mix looked right. People didn't write down the recipes, you just knew how to do it. This apple crumble is best made with cooking apples, like the ones Maria 'Granny' Smith, who died in 1870 on March 9, developed. You could make it with whatever fruit you like though!

You Will Need:

• Granny Smith Apples. If you can't get Granny Smiths any sort of good cooking apple will work fine. Allow at least one per person, plus one extra.
• 1 tablespoon of castor sugar (for the apples)
• 4 tablespoons of Rolled oats
• 4 tablespoons of Shredded or dessicated coconut (optional, you could use chopped nuts too)
• 4 tablespoons of brown Sugar
• 4 tablespoons of Flour
• 1 tablespoon of Butter
• 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon

Notes:

• If you are using red apples, Roy recommends adding the juice of 1/2 a lemon to the apples.
• You can use these proportions to make however much or little you like. This makes enough for 4 generous individual crumbles.

Method:

• Peel and slice the apples into bite sized pieces. Make sure you remove all of the core and seeds!

• If you are making a family size apple crumble, you will need to stew your fruit first. You can do this in the microwave by adding the castor sugar and a splash of water and cooking them on high for a few minutes. Just make sure to use a microwave safe bowl and cover the bowl with clingwrap. Ensure there are holes in the clingwrap for the steam to escape through or you might burn yourself when you uncover the apples! When they are cooked transfer the apples to an ovenproof dish and set aside. You could also stew your apples the old fashioned way, on the stove.

• If you are making individual crumbles, you can put the 'raw' sliced fruit in the bowls (Roy used ramekins, but you could use teacups) and sprinkle with castor sugar to taste. You don't need much sugar, we used about 1 teaspoon per crumble.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

• Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, coconut and flour in a clean, dry bowl and mix them together. Add the softened butter and use your fingertips to rub the mixture together. Make sure only to use your fingertips, otherwise you will melt the butter instead of rubbing it into the mix.

• When you have a soft, crumbly mix, sprinkle it over the top of your apples. If it has all stuck together because the butter has melted, just pull it into little lumps and spread it over the top. It is just as good.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size, or until the crumble is golden and crunchy.
• Serve with custard or icecream.

It's Just An Apple, What's So Cool About That? - Apples!

Imagine, you are living in the 1800's. Each day, you try your hardest to live up to the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away', but it can be tricky. Apples can be really expensive, especially when they are not in season. Once, you bought a really beautiful apple and planted the seeds so you could have your own apple trees and all the apples you want. Perhaps you could even sell a few. When they finally produced fruit though, they were horrible!

When I took an apple to show the children, they were somewhat underwhelmed. They all said 'it's just an apple', illustrating just how much this fruit is taken for granted. When I told them a little more about the history of the apple though, they were really fascinated. I suspect several might even have a go at growing some apple seeds, just to see what they produce. The children also loved the idea that an apple is 'a little house with no windows and no doors, but which has a star inside'. Many had plans to share this story with their friends and family, just like my parents shared it with me many years ago. They were also very impressed to learn that Granny Smith, who developed the apple of the same name, was Australian. Roy visited the site of her orchard on Sunday, and you can see his post by clicking here.

Apples have been around for thousands of years. We think they originally came from Kazakhstan and even today there are forests of wild apples still found in the Tien Shen Mountains there. Scientists think that modern apples all probably descended from one particular species of apple found in this area, a species called Malus sieversii. This apple is called Alma in Kazakhstan and the area where the apple forests are found is called Alma Ata which in English means 'father of the apples'. However, although we know where apples probably first came from, and even which particular species is probably the 'father' of modern apples, the apples found in these forests are very different to the apples we eat today.

About 10,000 years ago, the tastiest of the apples started to be collected and taken into other areas where their seeds were planted. Apples have an interesting 'quirk' which means that each seed in each apple is slightly different. If you plant the 5 to 7 seeds from an apple, you are likely to grow several very different trees, many of which will have fruit which will not even be palatable! So, when 10,000 years ago they began their slow travel around the world, each seed which was planted grew according to the environment it was planted in, and evolved. Most of the apples that grew were probably pretty horrible, but some would have produced tasty, edible apples. Eventually, people worked out that to get consistent apples, you couldn't grow them from seed. When a good eating apple was found, cuttings were taken and grafted to rootstock. This has also led to a real problem though. Essentially, all the apples in a certain variety are the same, so they are susceptible to the same diseases and pests. Now, people are back to looking at the wild apples to try to develop new varieties which might be more resistant to these problems. If you would like to learn more about the history of the apple, click here,here or here.