Head in the Clouds – Feet in the Dirt
Traipsing through life in NW Tasmania
Hi!!
Since my computer is being spectacularly slow this evening and its now after 1am, I’ll post this story properly tomorrow sometime.
It’s rained most of the day and this evening its just bucketing down!
Jeff and I abandoned the garden and went for a drive a bit further west to check out Trowutta Arch
Its a beautiful short walk through the man ferns to a sinkhole area – all lush and green!
Anyway, time for me to get to bed (past time as usual!)
Hope your day was great too!
Cheers
Hello!!
Well, my raspberry patch idea has had a sudden change of direction. We hadn’t gotten back to it and today a nice hefty tiger snake slid across the yard and into the raspberry patch!
Too many hiding spots in the pallets – although it did get UNDER the mulch/newspaper at one point too!
I had to sacrifice the new canes in the centre to the lawnmower and whipper snipper to clear the area and make everything more visible.
Sigh. I would have liked to have dug up those new canes.
No idea where the snake ended up. Hopefully after all the noise and also being watered it went to find a new place in the paddock.
The duck yard garden also got a good trim.
Jeff put on two of the gates for me too!
It was a while since we had done a lap of Anniversary Bay, so we got out this afternoon while the weather was so beautiful!
Tomorrow is meant to be raining.
I found it hard work today! The hills did not seem easy at all!! My legs went a bit rubbery more than once!! 😀
I took this photo because I wanted to stop! It was at the top of our least favourite stretch of ‘straight up’
When we got home I made us up a couple of glasses of frothy strawberry milkshakes while dinner was cooking! Its great to have enough strawberries to do that kind of thing again. They were so good!
Anyway, will leave you with a set of photos of sand patterns that were on the beach this afternoon!
Hope you’ve had a great day!
Cheers!
Another small and sweet handful! Reckon I should be able to make a strawberry milkshake tomorrow! mmmm
How was your weekend??
I was a bit domestic yesterday – time to start sorting out the neglected house bit by bit… before the next visitor arrives! (Yes, we have one more before the end of the year!!)
Well, the sun was shining, there was no wind so today we took the chance to get back to the garden fence and sort out side two!
We managed to muff up a few things – posts should have been a bit closer so it was a bit tricky fitting the siding on the way we wanted to… however, we got there in the end and I won’t point out the really wonky bits!
Will be so great to have gateways that fit the wheelbarrows!
Possum Artwork.
I am sore tonight but Jeff will be worse! He did the majority of the digging and cement mixing.
Our topsoil goes quite deep – so I am saving it to put into one of the new raised beds (when I get them that is) Amazing how much dirt comes out of a post hole!!
Its great to see the garden taking shape at last!!
The chooks will be especially pleased when they are let back out to a bigger area!
I think we have come a long way since that tree fell on the garden!
Time to go fall into bed!
Hope your weekend was wonderful!
Cheers!
Friday!! Can’t believe we’ve stampeded through another week!
This morning I put Emma onto a plane 🙁 as she flew home to warmer climates! Was lovely having her here the extra couple of weeks! Bonus!
Since I was awake, I got outside and worked my way through a list of garden tasks.
First up I decided that the cabbage patch would be a good spot for my butternut pumpkins. Not so much weeding to do since the seaweed kept the main weeds from running amok!
Lots of nice fat worms everywhere!
Because I was trying to be frugal with my mushroom compost, I haven’t covered the entire plot. Just dug a hole where each seedling was to be planted and filled with a generous amount of it.
Nine is a good start…
They got a good watering then covered for the evening.
I am still in love with my garlic this season 🙂
Got in with the snippy things and took all the scapes off the purple early garlic – Thanks to Elizabeth from Upstate NY for mentioning it to me last season about taking the scapes off for better bulb production! I hadn’t known!
I left one cabbage to continue to flower. They were such nice cabbages I’d like to get the seed from them.
Jeff did a fabulous job weeding this bit the other day. I have now turned it into the second corn patch. The first one is going soooo slow!
Apparently you can transplant potatoes… 😀 (I honestly didn’t think it would appreciate being moved at all!!)
Speaking of potatoes… time to weed the main patch!
Still no seaweed, so no mulch yet! 🙁
I fed the raspberries some of my kelp juice today – they are just humming! So good to see bees everywhere!
The Euro-Plum seems to be doing well… fruit still attached so thats a positive!
And the cherry plums! Wow… just a crazy amount of fruit there!
Checked out the laterals that I popped in the water 10 days ago! Roots everywhere! (Now to find a new tomato plot!)
I finished up the day by going over to the Dark Side and putting some snail bait around the strawberries. I have been hand picking slugs and snails at night – that are incidentally crawling straight over the crushed eggshell to guts the fruit!! Time… just didn’t want to spend the time working out other methods right now.
Anyway, guilt factor aside, I hope there are lots of slimy things out there writhing in their death throes!!
I did a lot of watering today too.
Emma planted sunflowers, marigolds and some other surprise flower seeds for me, so they will be fun to watch pop up! Just got to keep them watered!
Watering could become a full time job over summer! Maybe its time to learn how to install a watering system?? Got all the bits and bobs… just have to DO it!
Hope you have a fabulous weekend planned!
Cheers!
Well hello Sunshine!!
Not a bad day at all! Jeff and I did a lap around the river track and later in the afternoon when the tide was right, got the kayaks in the water for the first time this season!
Jeff played photographer for me while I got to paddle about with Emma!
The wind kicked up a bit, so the paddling took a bit more muscle… going to feel that tomorrow I am sure!
After we were done, my idiotic niece took a dip! Honestly… lovely day but not THAT hot! I think I was waiting to see if I had to go in and rescue her. Wasn’t sure if the waterlogged hair would drag her to the bottom or not! haha
And a quick Jeff-snap 🙂
There was this cool duck hanging out at the ramp… he was a very keen bather and really shook up a storm of water!
Hope you’ve had a great day!
Will leave you with a few more duck-photos! 🙂
Cheers!
Hello!
Picked a few things for the slow cooked beef casserole I did for dinner. Mostly herbs and celery! (I did have some pre cooked tomatoes and veggies I had leftover from last season, so that was nice)
I spent a bit of the morning doing kitchen stuff, then went shopping and also picked up my new load of mushroom compost! Time to get some more garden beds happening. I was a bit sad to pull the potatoes out of here… I gave one a new home… dunno if it will take or not but I am sure I will soon see!!
Also found a few potatoes, but I am thinking they are not new…
Funny and a little bit annoying as I dug this plot to an inch of its life looking for potatoes!! How could I have possibly missed all these???
Even though the tomato seedlings that I am trying to grow are still tiny, (they really seem to have stagnated in their pots) I decided to plant them out and see how they go. Half the plot are yellow tomatoes and the other half beefsteak.
I might have crowded the yellow tomatoes, but we will see how they all go.
As I am sitting here (well past midnight) I hear rain beginning to fall!! It was cloudy all day but not cold. We didn’t even light the fire tonight!
Anyway, covered up all the tiny tomatoes and hope they survive.
This was going to be for beans. Then I thought it was too good so I changed my mind. More tomatoes! Jeff mowed today so I outlined the whole narrow area with more newspaper and topped with grass clippings. Trying to keep the weeds down. Or at least away from my garden.
I put one of the lengths of timber on the lower side to help stop runoff of the dirt. I added more soil from one of the other gardens and topped it off with the mushroom compost. Then I dug up a number of self seeded tomatoes and planted them in.
Covered – um… I only just noticed I missed one!!!
Then put in a chook-resistant barrier. (Hopefully)
The two poles at either end of this plot should be handy for when it comes to rigging up something to stake tomatoes to.
Jeff got well into this spot with weeding today. I want to use it to plant my second lot of corn. The first lot is pretty slow. But then again, it hasn’t been that warm over the past couple of weeks!
Eep. Poor neglected raspberries. At least there are a lot of flowers. I made a bit of a start with them, I am hand weeding in the middle as I wanted to save some of the canes that are popping up everywhere!
Still waiting for that big dump of seaweed so I can get in and mulch the living daylights out of it all.
I ran clothes line wire down both sides to give them a bit of support in the wind.
Lots of flowers and even fruit starting to show.
This makes me both happy and slightly panicky as we have to get on to the whole netting business!! (you know, after the fence is done)
Speaking of fruit… cherry plums everywhere!!
I might have to say I still smell like mushroom compost! Happily Jeff is already sleeping so maybe he won’t notice and I won’t get kicked out of bed haha (Really… I did shower and scrub a LOT)
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers!
I make an effort to concentrate and remember eating my strawberries now.
😀
Well! Today I planted two things! Yay me.
To be fair to myself… I did start with the above mess.
I dug in some old mushroom compost that I found in a bag and some of my newer home made compost. (I really really really need to go get another trailer load of fresh stuff)
I got my bargain bin tomatoes and snicked off the lower leaves
I planted them reasonably deep so they have a chance to grow more roots and anchor themselves in well.
I also grabbed some of the rebar and shadecloth to make a sheltered area while they are finding their feet.
In the hothouse I had a ‘proud mummy moment’ when I saw that the capsicum had developed new leaves since yesterday!
The cucumber are also starting to make a small move in the leaf direction!
The passionfruit just keeps growing!
Still new flowers appearing!
Discovered more tomato seedlings in my flower bed (of course)
And in the carrot patch…
The two Black Russian tomato plants in the hothouse are going fantastically.
Snow peas and lettuce are zooming along.
Baby Apples!
The zucchinis are hardly fitting under their bottle shelters now. Almost time to let them just be free! Plus its warming up again so maybe we are good.
I have heard a rumour that it is supposed to be a nice day tomorrow. Jeff has casually tossed the idea around that he might be mowing the lawn. I am going to be right behind him gathering the clippings for mulch as I still have no straw or seaweed available and I am getting desperate!
I will finish my night by writing a list of things in the garden I hope to get done tomorrow.
We shall see!! 🙂
Have a great day!
Cheers
My paper daisy plants have their first tiny flower!!
Hello!! How are your weekends going? Busy? Fun? Relaxing? Mad?
We drove down the West to the Zeehan Gem and Mineral Fair today! (Rock Nerd City here)
It was a great day. Lovely drive and of course – lots of rocks and fossils to ooh and ahh over (and maybe purchase)(Ok, we did purchase… some) 🙂
On the way home I really wanted to go in and see Montezuma Falls which we always drive past because we don’t have time to walk it.
Well… we went for quite a decent walk down towards the falls but didn’t finish. Not sure if I mentioned that Miss Emma had quite a serious car accident a few months back and busted her leg in three places!!
So her Aunt drags her off for a therapeutic walk 😀 (My sister will be so pleased with me… ummmm)
Emma did pretty well… I just made sure she told us when she needed to turn back – keeping in mind there was all the way we had already come to backtrack!! (That sentence made sense in my head)
Actually Emma was pretty keen to build a shack and live here! Glad she is a lover of the environment!
Its a really good track. About 4kms down to the falls and nice and wide without the rock jumping we have to do on some of the other tracks we walk along.
Back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s this was all a mining area. The track we are walking on had a little set of rails for a trolley car.
Most of the bush was cleared each side and its taken over 100 years to get back to this beautiful state. Some would say thats fast, but if its cleared again, I won’t see that kind of beauty return in my lifetime.
It was wonderfully peaceful down there. Crisp fresh air, but we weren’t cold at all!
The greens were so… green!!!
And even though we got a smattering of rain in the morning, most of the day was pretty gorgeous.
The original bridge has been left for us to admire and for ferns to grow on!
This is probably my fault… I’ve been pointing a camera at her since she was 18 months old!! (Well younger really, but thats when the constant snapping started happening)
Walking with Uncle Jeff while Aunty Yaya (er.. me) gets behind (again) taking photos!
Bad hair day for this frond
Fallen tree!
It was a lovely afternoons walk. Looking forward to returning and getting as far as the waterfall someday!
Well… everyone has long gone to bed – including Pip who I need to extract from under my windcheater to put to bed!
Hope you’ve had a great weekend!
Cheers
(haha – Hairy-Butt-Girl seemed to be watching me all afternoon!!)
Hi!!
You are going to think I have lapsed into Mrs Boring. Somehow I just haven’t gotten my act together lately!
We did do a tip trip today though – it was a big load of stuff… not just the normal rubbish and recycling but also a lot of the old fence materials and other things gathered since the tree clean up and clearing out the shed.
A good feeling to have that done.
And the trailer is free of junk so I can collect another load of mushroom compost! Yay! Then I will be cooking with gas!!!
The weather was mildly better today. Not any rain, just still gloomy. Not as cold either which was nice.
However – I got a tiny harvest of slightly chewed strawberries! Seems the bugs always find the first ones.
I think there is something wrong with my brain though. I ate the one strawberry that was whole and bug free. It was an explosion of sweet and amazing taste!
I then cut out the holey bits to eat the rest. From here it gets hazy. I cannot remember if they went on a little plate. I cannot remember eating them. I cannot find the plate I thought I put them on.
Its like when you get captured by aliens and then you have this big block of unexplained time. Thats where my strawberries went.
Ahhh – the little mysteries in life!!
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!!
Cheers!
My goofy blue eyed boys make me smile!
How was your day??
I am not sure I really got up to anything noteworthy! I did brave the weather and put on a much needed load of laundry (Clean ‘foundation garments’ were starting to get scarce!)
I used the last bit of laundry detergent so I made some more. Emma helped – she wanted to learn how it was made too.
1 cup lux soap flakes, 1/2 bar of grated velvet (pure) soap, 1/2 cup lectric soda, 1/2 cup borax.
Bring all to boil in one litre of water, then add into bucket and top up with another 9 litres of water. Add some nice smelling oil (I use eucalyptus)
Put into bottles! (Leave lots of shaking space as it settles) Takes about half an hour. Easy!
Time to clear some stuff out of the fridge. Cakes for the chooks! (Bread crumbs, rolled oats, cheese, left over cat food, cabbage, eggs, powdered eggshell etc)
They all seemed pretty keen except one girl who was intent on digging a hole!
Either its an elusive worm or an elaborate escape plan.
We have one crook bird at the moment! Not sure why. She was sleeping on the nest last night and she looked very dumpy this afternoon.
They’ve all been fine up until now 🙁
Put some of the leftover soap into my garden tap wash station mesh bags!
Actual strawberries developing on the unplanted plants!
At first I was ‘yay’
Then I was ‘Damn’
Nearly the end of the week!!
Stay strong 🙂
Cheers
