Despite the on and off again rain, I put my gardening clothes on to get out and do something – and I promptly got hailed on.
Giving my strawberries frostbite
I am not kidding to say that the photo below was seconds after the one above!
Sun back on
And a minute or two later –
I swear some kids got into the celestial weather room today and have been flipping the light switch & turning off and on taps!!!
So I watered my hothouse (or rather the things in it, as the hothouse was getting a good watering by Mother Nature without my help) and went back inside to have a proper look at what stones we found yesterday.
I sprawled over the floor with my macro lens in average light and tried to get some decent shots to share with you.
This one was my favourite pick up from yesterday. Looking forward to polishing thisDetails
Its amazing the difference between wet and dry – and despite the slight discomfort of fossicking in the rain, it sure makes the colours and patterns stand out.
If this had been dry I would have passed it by on the beachWhen wet, the strip of agate shows through clearly… curious to polish this one back although its too big for my tumbler
Great designs in this oneThe underside of the above rock!Its not only agate I pick up – I loved this colour with the stripe of (I think) quartz through it!
The underside is almost flat – I’d like to just polish this side flatThis piece was translucent – put it against a torch so we could really see the patterns through the rock!
I also took a few snaps of the recently finished tumbled stones to share
Remember yesterday I said something rash about putting the fire on, taking it easy… ? Well, there was lots of rain today and I did get the fire on, but Jeff thought it would be the best day ever to spend a few hours on the beach agate hunting!!
It was pretty bleak outside and it was hard to muster appropriate enthusiasm, but I found my gloves, beanie & raincoat and joined in the fun!
I didn’t even take my camera as I knew it would be too wet to take it out 🙂
Still… for all my initial lack of enthusiasm, we really had a great few hours on the beach with some nice finds. Yes, we were pretty wet by the time we were done, but weren’t as cold as I thought!
I’ll take some photos of some of those finds when I have more light
The cherry blossom out the front has a few nice clusters of blossoms out. Over the next week it should look amazing -as long as the wind doesn’t kick up too much more!
Speaking of wind – How are all the Florida people going?? I didn’t look at the latest news today! Hope you are all hanging in there safe and sound!
Pretty blossoms against a bleak sky!
I did empty the tumblers again tonight. I took a quick snap of the successful rocks – I think one of the agates was crumbling and adding grit which hasn’t been helping the polishing stage.
I’ll try to get some better photos tomorrow!
In the meantime, stay dry, warm and enjoy what is left of your weekends!
Yesterday was a non-raining day, so we took Ruby’s raised garden bed down to her place, then filled the trailer with a scoop of topsoil on our way home.
Oh my! Not thinking about the weight of sodden wet soil – you know, since its been raining! 😀
Poor trailer! I was a bit worried about getting home without blowing a tyre!
So while Jeff got to ride his fun mower, I got to sort out my raised garden bed.
Time for a trim
I hit a slight snag – access to the vegie patch via wheelbarrow doesn’t work… gates too small and we wired up the bottom one anyway because I didn’t think I needed it, to stop chickens getting in!
Starting manual labour!I had to line the bottom with newspaper bit by bit as the wind was a bit fierce (Not Florida-Fierce, but def. newspaper problematic)
So, after hauling 5 or 6 buckets of sodden soil down the yard and over a fence, I got a bit over it. So at least I had taken a bit of pressure off the tyres, and drove the car down the back and did some masterful maneuvering between the plum trees to get the trailer closer to my garden bed.
I also had to unwire the gate, but had to leave the top wire in place as the whole fence would have had to been sorted if I mucked about with that one! So I had to duck under it with my bucket!!I will still need to add some good compost into this – but that is for another day
While I was happy to see the garden bed full, I was equally happy to see the trailer empty.
yay
Now I have to decide what to put in it!
And check out my little heirloom tomatoes!
This was yesterday – they are even bigger again today!
I am also excited to see flowers appearing on the tomatoes that are in the hothouse!
Tomato flowers!
I think I need to get a small punnet of tomatoes to just get some in the outside garden going now as well.
My bottle-clad lettuce are doing ok. They haven’t grown a lot but neither have they died!! So thats got to be a good thing.The two surviving blueberries are trying to flower! Totally need to get in and clear the area around their base, feed them something nutritious and give them some general TLCApple blossoms on their way!My tiny Rhododendron popping out with more flowers!
The raspberries are slowly coming along and greening up. Really itching to get in here to weed & feed & mulch!
Each row is about 20ft longFlowers beginning
If anyone was wondering how much space we use for our vegetable garden, we actually got out the tape measure to see.
The main patch is 30ft X 38ft (9X11mt)
The raspberry patch is two rows of canes of 20ft each (6mt)
The new space in the ‘duck yard’ is going to be approx 24ft x 20ft (7X6mt)
We also have the separate raised garden bed behind the hothouse, the strawberry patch, the herb garden and of course the hothouse!
Should keep us fed!
I am pleased with the snow peas so far!Potatoes popping up everywhere!!Chooks are laying well!
Pretty things are slowly appearing everywhere!
Rain is back tomorrow, but I guess I can put the fire on and finish Ruby’s party photos and take it easy! I helped out a friend on her market stall today – she had fresh scones and cakes!
I earned myself $20 & 13 scones! lol. That takes my Texas Fund up to $130.20!! Don’t think the scones will help though! 😀
Hello – It’s 10.30pm and I just had dinner! The night kinda got away from me. So instead of garden updates or Friday’s Footprints, I am going to share my calendar project with you.
January – Sisters Beach
I made a calendar last year, mostly as Christmas presents, but I also was asked to put them in a local shop & I also sold a few at our beachside market.
February – Good Food from Good Tasmanian Soil
It went pretty well, so I thought I would do another one this year. Naturally I am totally not organised, hence being so late with things tonight – the company I used finally had a sale on making calendars that ends Sunday, and I am busy all day tomorrow. So it needs to be sorted now!
March – Fossil Bluff
It took me an eon of agonising tonight to put 12 images together!!
April – Fungi from Waratah & Dip Falls
Its kind of meant to be local but I have stretched the borders of ‘local’ a little in a couple of cases
May – Hiker in Rocky Cape National ParkJune – High Tide at Fossil Bluff
I think throughout the upcoming year I will have to try to get specific photos for a calendar – actually think “Calendar” at the time of taking the photo.
July – Sunset over FlowerdaleAugust – Driftwood on Black River Beach
Where as I have a lot of photos that I like – its trying to think what a stranger/tourist/person buying a present would like hanging on their wall all year.
September – After the Rain at Anniversary Bay
And annoyingly I have just remembered right now while typing this that I will need another image that will be put on the front of the calendar!!!! (Rolls eyes)
October – Tulip Time at WynyardNovember – The Tangled Mossy Forests at Cradle Mt NP
I tarted up a photo in ‘Fusion’ to get my last rainbow shot a bit more dramatic than it was before… 🙂
December – Rainbow over Anniversary Bay Beach
So thats the main lot…
OK – Just went through my very long ‘shortlist’ and here are some possibilities for the front cover – feel totally free to write and tell me your opinion!!!
Cheers and I will catch you up on garden stuff tomorrow!
It was local – in my backyard 🙂Sisters BeachMy new manfern frondAgain – Local!! (Our backyard)Sisters Beach
Today I have been as happy as a little pig in a muddy puddle! Mother Nature took a break from being a maniac, and the rain ceased for most of the day! So on went the gardening clothes and we dived right in!
Starting point todayPlenty to do
My goal was to (apart from weed like mad) get my new raised garden bed placed where I wanted it
Slowly looking better – Jeff in the background on a one-man vendetta against the twitch!Haven’t decided what will be planted in this spot yet
I took a short break to play with the chickens… they follow me like little lambs, so I did a few laps of the yard with them hot on my heels.
Rewards for providing me with entertainmentWe are getting 8 or 9 eggs a day now. I REALLY need to go rustle up some customers!
Back to work!
This is the area we removed the fence from to open it up
I’ll get a trailer load of topsoil to help fill this as we won’t have enough of our own compost just yet
And what treasures did we dig up today? Apart from a small broken bottle, there was this weird hard ball…
Plenty of fat worms
And best of all a 1980 twenty cent piece!! Score!
I now have $110.20 in my kitty to get to Texas next year!! haha
And since yesterday my little tomato has shot up and even better, was joined by about 20 of its mates! 🙂 Gotta be happy about that!
weird how something so tiny will produce you many kilograms of fruit!
It was a great day, a really good feeling to have made significant progress!
Finally a bit of garden excitement despite the continual dreariness of the weather! My first tomato seed has started to unfold! Its so tiny!!
I have mentioned before my very bad track record with starting tomatoes from seed – so I am full of hope today! These seeds are an heirloom variety – beefsteak- given to my by my sister Michelle.
View of the weather, filtered by my hothouse.
I got a funny message from my other sister, Rosemary today stating “I think I need to be paying a fee to be related to you”
Puzzling, but I immediately asked how much?? 🙂
Turns out Rosemary is taking Emma over to Japan for Christmas (big sister envy) and she emailed a guesthouse in Osaka to make a booking. They actually weren’t taking booking yet for that time however “you’re the sister of Lisa from Tasmania aren’t you”? And reserved them a room even though their books aren’t open yet!!
That made me laugh. I must have made an impression!! 🙂
Anyway – back to the rain and gloom of Tassie! The forecast drops back to ‘cloudy’ for a few days then back to ‘Insane-Build-An-Ark’ weather
Still… our new manferns are loving it
The one at the front has come a long way in a short time! Maybe when it stops raining I will try a day of timelapse photography on it!A few seedlings are emerging… slowly slowly.A couple of keen sunflowers!A bunch of random flower seeds… will go out into ‘old’ strawberry patch when they are big enoughI’d like to say I have never planted beetroot in the hothouse. How they got here is a mystery! But hey… its food right? I’ll just keep watering them
I made a recent discovery on how useful a pump bottle was to water seedlings!! I am a bit of a fan now! My watering can is not so good for watering little seedlings – its apt to come out in a deluge (and lets face it – I am rather over deluges!!) and wash away all the seeds or upset them! I tried a spray bottle, but at the risk of sounding lame, it was just hard work and made my hand hurt! (wah wah). Anyway, these bottles are fabulous… the nozzle keeps the water in check and they are easy to squeeze to sprinkle what water I need into each pot.
Tasmania! Rained, poured, bucketed all day – except for the brief moment when we visited Guide Falls!!
Jeff wanted to drive out to whoop-whoop today (long way out in country) to see about joining a lapidary club.
Anyway, we pretty much drove past the road to Guide Falls so we thought we would stop by to see what it looked like with a ton of water flowing over it…
Some photos from our half hour stop.
I just stuck my camera over the barrier and hoped for the best… didn’t look where I was aiming because it would have been impossible. The spray was like an instant bath!
I didn’t get back to Ruby’s today – we are still being rained upon heavily so there just isn’t much we can achieve outside lately!
I don’t mind getting a bit soggy when working in gardens… but I am a sook about staying outside when the rain is plummeting down and cold as well!
I did pop in yesterday to tell Ruby (confess) I had bought her a raised garden bed for her strawberries. Her old one we made up a couple of seasons back is just is too low for her to manage safely and easily. I thought she might resist if I asked her, so I just did it!
One for us, one for Ruby
I asked her about just trying it for this season, and if she really didn’t like it, I would take it back, no worries.
The thing is, her eyesight is about gone and one of the last proper interests she has and can do is her garden. It really gives her that bit of very important independence. She even told me recently she lived for her garden! I want to try things (like this raised bed) to extend the time she has and the enjoyment factor by making things a little easier.
She does love her strawberries and I knew she was contemplating just not worrying about them this season.
When it stops raining, we will take the bed down and work out a good place to put it, so it can get watered via her sprinklers and she can get around it with her milk crates (remember her milk crates are what she sits on to do the majority of her gardening these days…)
As another big plus… fresh soil/compost in the new garden will be free of oxalis so what’s not to love about that??? 😀
I turn my back for a day, and she has planted something else! Some tomato seedlings!
Anyway, while waiting for the weather to behave, I enjoy popping in for cuppas & raiding the bikkie jars. Not to mention fabulous stories.
I’ll update news on the new strawberry patch as soon as we have some action!
Being of a limited income, a few years ago I settled on one charity to play with. Since I love making parcels, the shoe-box one (via Operation Christmas Child) seemed pretty tailor made for me.
Actually this year is the first in a while I haven’t done a bundle of my own – not sure what I have been doing with my time, but for me its the kind of thing you need to be vaguely working on all year – picking up suitable items at throw-out prices. Too stressful and expensive to do it in a rush… so I have sensibly ‘let it go’ this year.
Decorated boxes
For those of you not familiar, a shoe box is packed for a boy or girl of one of three age groups – 2-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-14 years old. Each box is to contain something to love, something for school, something for personal hygiene, something to play with and something to wear… along with other special bits and pieces. They are then shipped out to children in poor/remote areas who possibly have never had something new in their lives.
Australia & New Zealand tend to send them out to places like Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Thailand, Vietnam…
While I am not part of any of the local churches (schools and other community groups do them as well as individuals) I like to go and help pack them up. A couple of weeks ago I went to Ruby’s church where they had about 120 boxes decorated and ready to pack with items they had collected all year.
Box fillers set out ready
Yesterday, Shirley from the Baptist church (and local OCC Co-ordinater) called me asking if I could lend another pair of hands!
Sure – since we are still getting drowned out there I couldn’t see me playing in the garden! 🙂
Toothbrushes and toys!
Afterwards I ducked into Ruby’s for a cuppa and a confession – I bought her a raised garden bed for her strawberries!! I think I may have gotten away with that, but let me save the story for Ruby Tuesday!
As I mentioned… the weather is not letting up at all. The river flooded again and the ocean is a dirty muddy colour due to the runoff into the river flooding the mouth.
A lot more debris washed ashore again!Brief moments of sun and blue sky
Maybe tomorrow we can catch a break in the weather??
We were off to the airport this morning as Emma’s week with us was at an end. She does assure us she will be back soon!! 🙂
Was fun having her stay – love having a ‘Garden Slave’ (she took that very well) 🙂
Not much else noteworthy happened at Norwich House today… I did get another raised garden bed from the market – if it stops bucketing down out there I’ll take a photo tomorrow!!
I did catch up on a little much needed housework! I suppose it has to be done sometime!
Amazingly its been just us for the whole day and no-one else has booked in to stay! Haha – people have probably seen our weed problems and have no intentions of coming to get roped into that! 🙂
Hope your weekend was fabulous!
Cheers!
Odd pickings!! The broccoli was on our plates tonight and was very nice! Girls laying well despite the dodgy weather, and a whole lot of little tiny chillies to do something with!
