How to tell if you're a country girl at heart
And if so, this is how to make REAL yoghurt - without a yoghurt maker (like a real country girl).
Welcome to Apple & Radish Chronicles: Where Handmade Meets Homegrown. 🌷🌈 With me, Katrina MacAllan! I’m over here creating more comfort, joy, meaning (and everyday preparedness) with simple, sustainable handmade and homegrown projects - and sending them to your inbox weekly - with fun tutorials, recipes and classes! Think of this as your ultimate cottage core homesteading guide - but with a little more spice. 💐
I’m trying a new way of doing things! All posts (including pdf tutorials) will be free to access for everyone for the first 24 hours, then only available to paid subscribers. So open my newsletters and download the lesson quick-sticks to get the goods. Otherwise consider upgrading to paid. Either way I’m so happy you’re here!
Hello my little strawberry yoghurt cup!
It felt like I was far from home, possibly even in a whole different country. A country I belonged in. Yet we were only 40 minutes from our house.
Ian and I just returned from a day of running errands ‘down the coast’, as we call it any time we venture away from our leafy mountain town. We also went to an area I don’t usually go - more north and inland. We passed many of the usual big box stores - Total Tools! Supercheap Auto! Bunnings! Pet Barn! BCF! Spotlight! (Ok I do love that one).
But amongst the sea of sameness there were a few refreshingly independent stores that sparked my inner country girl like this one which is basically a produce store but extra! I get a thrill browsing livestock handling gear and feed supplements - garlic! kelp! mealworms! Shopping malls exhaust me but farm produce stores put a spring in my step!
This is the first clue that maaaaybe I’m no city girl.
If that, plus the way I aspire to be Beth from Yellowstone, wasn’t enough here’s another clue I’m a country girl at heart.
The other day we were in Beaudesert and popped into this clothing store on a whim. So many bedazzled pockets! How could I resist?? Not having a decent pair of jeans, especially none with sparkly feathers on the bum, I decided to try some on.
If we’ve never met, I’m six foot tall, so naturally I chose the ones with the longest leg length. Guess what!! To my astonishment they were too long. So long they DRAGGED on the floor! Inches of extra fabric beyond my legs. What??? Who are these giants you’re catering to?? These must be my people!! Where are all these tall country women with freakishly long legs???
I settled on this pair of jeans. Pricey, which sadly did not include bedazzled pockets, but very quality, very comfortable, very high waisted.
If there’s one thing that puts me in an instant bad mood it’s wearing low waisted jeans. They cut into my belly and hips in all the wrong places and are uncomfortable in every possible way. My lovely new jeans cover my bum, belly and legs in thick, soft denim that’s apparently made differently so it lasts 3 times as long but can you believe they’re still a tad too long for me!?!
I’ve never had this problem before. What should I do?? Should I take them up? I don’t want to wreck the line of the leg. I’m obsessed with the flare. Please advise.
Another thing, the style is called ‘Jennifer’ and instead of a tag or a leather patch with the brand stitched onto the back like most jeans have, they have ‘JENNIFER’ embroidered on the inside of the waistband in big letters.
It looks very quality and handmade but I get a split second jolt of ‘who-the-hell-is-Jennifer-and-why-am-I-wearing-her-jeans?’ when I put them on. It’s disconcerting. But it’s given me the idea to embroider my clothes with my own name in big letters! How fun would that be?
A small way to reduce decision fatigue. “Are these my leggings? Or my daughter’s?” I won’t have to think about it. It’ll be right there in blazen embroidery!
Maybe I’ll include encouraging words too! Like ‘You’re doing great Katrina!’ or ‘Kat, you look amazing!’. I’ll take the boost from wherever it comes. Especially the inside of my own clothes.
I also splurged on a soft cotton checked shirt that’s commonly known in these parts as a flannel. I loved the colours. Again this is a new style to me but I’ve found a new vibe. I never knew! It’s now my absolute favourite shirt! I need more of these ASAP. Wearing this makes me feel surprisingly sexy, strong and capable. Yes I can wrangle that cow with a lasso (joking), dig in the new garden bed (will do) and lug 25kg fence posts (did do). I can do anything in my new country girl shirt!
Do you know how else I know I am indeed a country girl?
I make my own yoghurt.
From scratch without any fancy equipment. As much as I want. I refuse to be limited by the size of those fiddly yet bulky yoghurt makers. The return on investment of cupboard space is simply not worth it.
I need to make yoghurt in big 2kg batches like the homesteading cow girl I am! Real yoghurt made with real milk full of tangy lactobacillus and bifido microbes that strengthen your gut.
I’ve been making our own yoghurt since the kids were little. I’ve tried every kind of yoghurt maker but have been making it this way for the last five years or so. Oh the money we’ve saved! This is the easiest and best way to get a good wallop of yoghurt in your fridge for the least fuss (and cost).
It’s really easy to make yoghurt and once you get in the rhythm of it, you’ll never look back. Promise.
Click the download button below to save the tutorial to your computer and/or print it out. It’s available for free for all subscribers for the first 24 hours of publishing this letter and then only for paid subscribers. I’m trying this new way of doing things. So open these newsletters quick-sticks to get the goods. Or upgrade to paid!
Anyways, I hope you make a country truck load of yoghurt and love it. I’m off to practice my lasso skills.
Here’s your Yoghurt Tutorial….