Welcome!

The Gardener's Rest

'Potions to Pesto' is a celebration of the creative inpulse in us all.

We are two women (considered eccentric by many) who have been friends for more than thirty years and have shared many experiences together. We have run restaurants, dug gardens, created a skincare business, admired each others grandchildren, swapped ideas and skills and have even fought occasionally.

We all crave the healthiest, happiest and most beautiful environment we can afford for ourselves and our loved ones but with the hard financial times that are upon us we may be wise to return to the skills of earlier times and by using them in combination with the amazing technology and information resources we can easily access today, create an even better and more fulfilling life than ever before.

From the garden to the kitchen, bathroom to bedroom, we have fed, treated and experimented on our families, friends and animals with healthy produce, luscious skincare, sensual perfumes and healing remedies.

Making a lotion

We have discovered that the easiest and often the cheapest way to source
the perfect item is to make it yourself and to this end we are creating a range of e-books that can be found on our website From Potions to Pesto

Here is a recipe from our 'Easy' 150 recipes for one or two pot cooking book.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros

Serves 2

This breakfast (or lunch) dish will keep you feeling full and happy until the next meal.You can use a jar of ready made salsa if you don’t want to make the sauce.

1 tsp vegetable oil
½ finely chopped onion
¼ C chopped red capsicum (optional)
2 tsp bottled crushed garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
420 g can diced tomatoes
Slurp of chilli sauce
Left over Mexican beans (optional)
2 tortillas
2 eggs
Grated cheese

1 Heat the oil in a small pan, add the chopped onion and capsicum and cook for a couple of minutes.
2 Add the garlic and cumin and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, and chilli sauce.Once the sauce is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened. Add the beans (if using) and reheat.
3 Drop the eggs into the sauce (and beans), put the lid on the pan and turn the heat off. A couple of minutes or so will be enough to poach them.
4 Heat a frypan with a small splash of oil added and, in turn, fry two tortillas for about 30 seconds on each side, remove and keep warm in foil.
5 Spoon the eggs and sauce onto each tortilla, sprinkle grated cheese on top.

We take the greatest pleasure in the concept of lifelong learning especially in a hands-on, practical way. 'Making your own' is a way of life that can help us to save money, recycle more, learn new skills and improve our quality of life.

Nirala at 'work'!

We'd love to share with you some of the excitement we feel, the recipes we use and the useful places we visit on the web and also to hear what you are doing too.