June 2017 – Page 2 – Head in the Clouds

Home Again!

Hello, Hello!!
Here I am back in Tasmania after a wonderful three week adventure in the USA!
I loved my time away – meeting my friend for the first time in 37 years and we hit it off like we had been hanging out together all our lives!
Everyone made me feel so welcome and just part of the family! It was very special

The wedding was gorgeous and I am looking forward to post processing a swag of images for the bride and groom (as soon as the travel weariness wears off)

Our road trip was an epic 4500km drive (2800 miles!!) and we had an amazing time.
I now have a couple of thousand images to work through!
Be Afraid. lol

However, with all fabulous adventures, they come to a close and its so wonderful to be home with my little family at Norwich House. I think its been rather lonely for my poor husband, and Pip has been sulking a lot!!
I love being home!
(I even ate a fresh tomato this morning off the vines at the back door!! No-one pointed out to them that it was now winter! haha)

Petrified Wood – in the Painted Desert Arizona! Amazing!

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of the blog ASAP – I have missed being able to chat here!
Hope everyone is well and happy and I will be back to annoy you soon!
Cheers!

Norwich House – Early Days – The First Chooks

Hello!!
Thought I would share the origins of the first chooks!
When we first moved in we were lucky enough to have a lovely coop and yard already built ready for us to use.

OK. Maybe not so ready!

Hard to believe this was full of corn, tomatoes and zucchini this season!!! You could lose a horse in this!

My parents got us the best housewarming present ever! Six chickens!!
First my Dad got right into cleaning out the chook coop and getting it ready for our newcomers.

Dad was up early on Chook Day – breakfasted and jingling the car keys way before I had my bleary eyes open.
Got coffee into me and woke up as fast as possible (Which for me isn’t that fast) Then off to get our chickens!

Lesson. You can stuff 6 chickens into one large cat carrier.

It was hard to get them out of the carrier actually – I think we had to tip it up in the end!

This is baby Screecher!!!!

We blocked up the nesting boxes for a while – they weren’t due to lay for a bit and we wanted them to get up on the perches and not snuggle in the boxes.

It seemed to work

The next day they enjoyed exploring – and starting to go to work on those impressive weeds!

Never having ever had chickens before, I didn’t know what to expect. We found so many positives – eating up scraps, clearing weeds, producing poo, eventually producing eggs (and making money off them!) etc. What took me by surprise was how much we love our chickens and how funny and entertaining they are!

If you have room for chickens but have been hesitant about getting into it – honestly, go for it! They are not hard to take care of! I would be sad without them! (and the eggs!! Oh the taste is amazing when you have your own!!)

Cheers!

Norwich House – Early Days – Arthur River

Moving to a whole new area is not just an adventure in the garden. There were so many new places to explore.
For Christmas, we gave my parents a trip down the Arthur River, which is on the west coast (we did the same for Jeff’s parents when they visited us from Canada too)

Driftwood lined beaches on the west coast.

You may not think it from the way we were dressed – but this is mid-summer!!

This great little boat took us up river – was such a peaceful cruise

The trip up the river took a couple of hours and the people running the cruise had lots of stories and information to share along the way

We reached “Turks Landing” at lunchtime.

While lunch (a fabulous BBQ) was being set up, one of the crew took us on a short walk through the bush to tell us about the area and a few more interesting stories

Back on the boat for the cruise back home.
A really lovely day!

Cheers

Norwich House – Early Days – Garden

Hi again!
Its been a bit of fun taking the time to look back to our first few months in Tasmania.
Starting a proper garden for the first time was awesome – especially if you have good soil – you feel like a champion right from the beginning!
Here are a few snaps from our first efforts (Yes – still with the small camera)

I love having marigolds scattered about in the veggie patch

I slightly over did it with the zucchinis in our first season. I think we ate them out of the freezer for two years!!

I put tomatoes in here again this season too!! First time for 5 years!

Reluctant model – see my hand holding him in place??

Funny thing about the corn. I only put a few in the first season because Jeff was never super keen on it. (?? I know!! Why??)
Anyway, once the season had ended he requested I put in more corn and less tomatoes! Apparently he had never had home grown before, so once he got a taste of the good stuff there was no stopping him!

While every season is a lot of fun and each year is different, I think our first season was the most exciting one!

Cheers