We lost another chook!! 🙁 🙁 Our feisty little Japanese bantam Nihon. Poor little thing, she started looking a bit sad and we were thinking of taking her to the vet but she passed away overnight. All other girls except our old girl are looking fine and happy. So not sure what went on there. Ugh… I am over loss this year. I especially dont like the ‘Mystery Deaths’
The self seeded carrot patch with the beetroot is steaming along!
The recent rain was a real bonus.
Since this photo, something nibbled and pruned my tomatoes! Not sure if rabbit or birds. Bit frustrating as they were looking so fabulous! (All these bar one are from laterals)
I might have to go down and put guards around them all until they get bigger.
Rhubarb going fine
Zucchini are getting bigger but I think need the wire taking off and a little more TLC
Loving having rocket again!!
The cherry plum trees are laden. The big one might need a severe pruning as the big trunk has split, so we are going to have to do something about it. Its so old, but we dont want it coming down on the water tanks. Could do without that challenge
Hot house still hasnt been tidied up again….
But I spotted baby tomatoes so I am excited. And we are eating lettuce each night. And I snicked a couple of basil leaves to use in my salad too.
Another lateral ready for planting!
Peas!
We will have to net the corn as its out the back here and we have bunnies everywhere this season.
They will stop being cute if they eat my corn.
An overall look at the garden at the moment.
Apple cucumber… can’t wait for them to climb up our bamboo lattice!
Potatoes flowering
The whole plot is looking encouraging. Flowers around are pretty. Jeff picks them almost daily for Pip…
I made a tiny pot of strawberry jam out of these… am enjoying it every morning on my toast! Its beautiful!!
Slow day for me. I caught Jeffs cold… such a pain! Who has time for that nonsense?? I’ll have to hunt out some lemon and do a honey and lemon tea to soothe the throat. Then I might look at the appalling state of the soap room and see if I can make sense of it! Enjoy the rest of the week xx
Or maybe it was the week before? I am losing the plot! As above… plot lost. Below… Plot found.
Corn planted!! So much twitch in this plot. Always makes a short job agonisingly long.
Nightmare. It had been hot for a while, windy and no rain, so the ground is cracking and we needed to fill the tanks and water the garden a lot
Lots of nice peas… and weeds!
I actually think the garlic is about ready to pull up!
The bulb sizes are really good already! Then I cut off all the scapes which are still sitting in a basket forlornly waiting for me to dehydrate them
Potatoes coming along well
Even better this week as we’ve had lovely rain!
Why plant carrots when they do it themselves?
My beetroot patch has lots of carrots and tomatoes…
Its all flourishing
One of the lateral tomatoes. I have updated pics and they are really seeming to be thriving now. Plus we finally cut the feathers of Pot or Kettles wing so she seems to be not in the garden anymore… helps when things aren’t dug up the little wretch.
I spy… blueberries!
Jeff is excited…. His favourites.
The apple cucumbers have taken well.
Hothouse is jungle and I need to get in there to trim and tie up stuff again
And the broccoli is going mad!! Will update this weeks garden soon! Its all grown about 4 foot xx
Hi… I had my first Cruise Ship Market last Wednesday and it went really well. I was a bit nervous… more just wanting to know about location and setting up etc.
The Burnie City Council with a lot of volunteers, arrange this for the 42 cruise ships visiting town over the next few months. Not only do they have the market, but they have a spot for tour vendors to meet clients and go on local adventures and other volunteers are visible around the Burnie streets to ask questions or directions. Even the Mayor (My cousin Teeny!!) greets them off the ship in the morning!
I enjoyed having the gazebo up… even if it needs a little taping up now haha It gives me a shop like feel under the canopy and I could hang my lovely banner. (Note lengths of flax to make into cordage for those moments of not being busy…)
In this location we had a lot of local passers by too which was fantastic. People on the cruise ship were a real mix… Mainland Australia, Canada, USA, Europe. Everyone was super friendly and ready to chat and seemed to be having a wonderful time.
I think my ego might have gotten a wee bit inflated though as I had so many wonderful comments about my soaps. Felt pretty nice!
OK… I did get one grumpy person and one busybody annoying person. The grumpy one didn’t seem to understand my ‘Cash Only’ status. (Not owning a mobile phone means no electronic payments no matter what card you wave at me) Busybody annoying person took it upon herself to butt into the whole transaction-that-wasn’t by forcefully telling me I would HAVE to get a phone and HAVE to get a square etc etc before marching off feeling her civic duty done.
Wish I could tell her I did my best ever sales at a local market… in cash that day… (so ner ner)
Most people had a giggle at my Cash Only sign … the second line if you cant read it in the picture says “Soap maker Lives in the Dark Ages”
In fact… a few people loved my soaps so much they went on a cash finding mission just so they could purchase some! Very heartening.
Overall so far, I miss out on very little sales wise due to only having cash transactions. If Maureen is with me, she has a square to use and kindly lets me use it for my customers. But for now… I will stick to my dark ages. There isn’t that much margin in the sales – adding one more cost isn’t something I really want to do… not least trying to learn how to work the thing and relying on coverage in rural areas. The only times I ‘suffer’ from not having a mobile phone is when I am dealing with Telstra or the bank.
Actually my next investment is going to be a 4 wheeled cart. I made 64 trips to the car loading, unloading, reloading and unloading for the last market. Thats silly. And annoying. And I get sweaty! (lucky I am surrounded by pretty smelling soaps haha)
Above… soap workshop soaps!! Saturday was excellent with 4 ladies coming in to learn soapmaking. One lady returned to do it all again. She has made soap at home but was feeling she would benefit from coming again. An extra lady popped in in the afternoon to watch some batches being made as she did the course a while back but was feeling less than confident about forging ahead alone. She went home, made soap and sent me pics today and they looked great!
Jacki… who also does the cruise ship markets selling her fabulous reversible bucket hats did the above very bright and pretty soap!
Maddi wanted to go all natural with lovely clays to colour her soaps.
Dawn (my repeat student) wanted to know how to do layers…also with lovely natural clay colours. She had fun getting the offset layers which looks so effective
Terrianne wanted to do a drop swirl but also wanted a chunky built up top… which ended up working really well. She even added sprinkles to the top!
Some had mixture left over so we filled pretty moulds
My Demo soap to cut was Blueberry Jam and it worked out pretty cool
Then my demo show off soap showing the cool design technique
I love cutting these ones!
Planning to deliver most of the students soaps on Friday morning. And in the interests of keeping stock up since I have 6 more cruise ship markets and a church market next weekend, I whipped up a simple quick batch yesterday… Saffron and Honey with the saffron to colour… no fancy work at all!
Hi! We got back off the mountain safe and sound after a fab three days. Since then I’ve been running my tail off prepping for the first cruise ship market which was yesterday. Today I am working through a fair sized ‘To Do’ list but thought I’d quickly say hello with a few snaps
I am keen to get some time to post process all the photos and make a proper post telling the story. Until then… The track in was hard work for the first part. A lot of up… that kept going up, but the subsequent walk into Pelion was pretty cruisy. Hot day but still some mud puddles on the track
The native Waratah was just coming into bloom which was nice. They end up quite red. I might have some other pics of them … still have to go through them all properly
Above pic is not long out of Pelion and as you can see… nice and flat!
Beautiful Mt Oakleigh in the late afternoon from the veranda of Pelion Hut
We camped which was nice. The whole point of this trip really was a scouting trip to know where to start and what the track in was like as a Japanese friend really wants to hike in to see the ‘Japanese Gardens’
So my next proper post will be one with all the ups and downs so she can read and make choices about if this is the adventure for her!
Still love these pink trees! After a pretty good nights sleep, we got up leisurely… waiting for rain to stop and just relaxing. A spot of brekkie and we headed out. Jeff went on his own so he could stretch out his pace and climb whatever mountain he desired. I just wandered off towards the Japanese Gardens with a small pack and enjoyed stopping lots to take snaps and enjoy not rushing or having a big pack on.
Jeff actually decided against doing a whole mountain climb and I met him coming down from the gardens. So he came back up with me and we had a bit of a sit down and picnic at what I class as the prettiest spot on the Overland.
Its the rangers that dubbed it ‘The Japanese Gardens’, but its so beautiful. Looks like it has been created rather than sprung up naturally. All the beautiful moss, boulders, rocks, shrubs etc. Just the path is man made but it makes the best place (er… weather depending) to sit and enjoy fabulous views.
The Arm River Track is a great option to have a bit of a peek into the Overland without having to commit to the week long trek – or a consolation prize if you can’t get passes as these days its insanely popular, so booking can be tricky.
Well, the day didn’t have a brilliant start… last night when locking the chooks up I saw one of our girls had a lot of blood and trauma on the back of her neck!! Jeff got home from work this morning and took her to the vet (because I cant go to the vet)(or past the vet) and it turns out it was a tumor that erupted. So chookie has gone over the rainbow. We feel bad we never noticed a thing!! They were all feeding and hanging out with us like normal.
These are a few little snaps from Jude’s garden. She has so many interesting plants!
I am still going up there once a week to help out. Often coming home with a swag of plants to… plant!
Mamma bird in a fairly well hidden nest! Apparently she got a watering before Jude noticed her spot.
Even the leaves of plants are pretty!
A while back we stacked this lot…
When my friend Jaana and I have a free day at the same time (rarely) we walk over to Anniversary Bay and picnic on the beach and catch up on news!
Its always a lovely day out.
I never get tired of the sand art.
And you never know what you’ll find on the beach!
Coming back from one of our hikes I spotted the little Blue Wren admiring himself in someones car side mirror!
He had already made use of our car mirror and made a lovely mess!
Yesterday I did more planting… and mostly tending to the hothouse
A few weeds were creeping in and the tomatoes needed pruning and tying up
The second patch of lettuce is finally growing. I was worried there for a bit.
Par-cel.
Giant Japanese mustard… wow it gives a lovely kick and I love it in the salads
Messy…
More under control but there are some little tomatoes I would like to plant out later.
This lot of lettuce thrived in this spot and we’ve been enjoying eating it recently
I somehow have a potato. Why do I always have a potato???
Decided the basil was ready to just be in the ground…
Fingers crossed for future pesto… and a lot of it!
Cuttings. Couldnt resist another tomato lateral… hate throwing them away.
I was given some teeny tiny tomatoes… so I’ve repotted them and hopefully they’ll have a chance to expand
Still loving my watering system to bits! Thanks Dad!
Two of the late sprouting butternut pumpkin seedlings… thought they could go out. I’ve got more but I have to think of where they can go… which probably means more work prepping a patch.
These two beauties are ready to pick!!
And… planning on a mini adventure tomorrow!
My fitness is… lacking but hopefully it will be nice to get out. We are planing on getting to the Arm River Track and hiking in to Pelion Hut (which is Day Three on the Overland Track.) No payment required so thats a plus. Its one day in. One day to take a day pack and pick a mountain to climb. Then one day back out. I’m just finishing sorting my pack and the food and we should be right. Jeff is sleeping as he just came off a nightshift! Its a long drive to the start… well over three hours. And its a fair hike in. But… we’ve got lots of daylight now so even my slow self should be there before dark! Hope everyone has a great weekend planned xx
Hi! Quick one from me tonight. Getting super old fashioned!! We got a side of beef from cousins – last one (sob) as they’ve retired off the farm so we feel very grateful to fill the freezer one last time!
Gosh its a lot of work – those of you who have done this know! I’ve filled and emptied the freezer three times since getting the meat – memories of having to hammer and chisel the steaks off the bottom live with a person and you don’t make the same mistake twice!!
I asked for not only the bones (for friends dogs) but also the fat too. I decided I wanted to try my hand at rendering it to get tallow… and make soap of course!!
Super labour intensive… I will do smaller batches going forth. But it did work ok! I did it in the oven as my stove top has two settings. (Nuclear and Off)(None of this woossy simmering for me)
It was messy… straining and squeezing it through the cloth! But it looked really good.
The leftover fat is in a bucket and the chooks have had a lovely time… as have the magpies and I have no idea how our local crows can still get airborne!! (Our crows are like the CIA… they do not miss a trick on this property! We are watched all the time!)
I decided to do a pure tallow soap. No other oils, no colours or fragrances either. I just wanted to see how it behaved. Gosh!! Note to self. I need my speedy pants on! The first bars poured out ok then it just thickened in a heartbeat!! Above you can see the last bars ‘poured’ (Scraped out) looking like mashed potato!! Crazy!
They are a beautiful white bar. Apparently the tallow is really good for the skin. I’d like to make another batch and add coconut oil as that will increase the lather component. Then in a month I can compare the two.
While rendering the fat is a bit of a long process… it makes the bulk of the soap ingredients free as the fat would have been discarded. (Has anyone noticed the price of olive oil? Heart stopping!!)
I am really looking forward to trying out the bars once cured. As always… its a waiting game! Hope your weekend was wonderful xx
Oh dear. The year is nearly done! I am still running about doing… stuff! The days just keep disappearing on me Today I intended to make lots of soap. Somehow… I ended up in the garden (Above Gympie in her nest as she is broody at the moment!)(The chooks got a spring clean, complete with lemon balm arrangements!)
The raspberries got netted! They still need feeding and mulching. Might do that tomorrow?? Hmmmm
A couple more beds got cleared out…
then we got creative…
One of my friends has bamboo!! So we went and cut down a heap and brought back to use in the yard. This is my future tomato patch. I want to hang stretchy ties from the top and wind around plants if and when they grow instead of staking them
Another bit of plot tidying… Followed by more creativeness
This is meant to be a trellis for the apple cucumbers
And here is a bit of reality… sob
Anyway, I am ignoring those for a little longer…
Overall things are taking shape.
Laterals ready to go! Today, my soap day that wasn’t, I started planting… stuff.
Apple cucumbers on the right and Egyptian walking onions on left. Jude gave me these excellent shelter tunnels so I will keep some new seedlings under wraps for a while.
Tomatoes… and basil under the tunnels
Jeff has ice cream eating issues and I have hoarding issues. Overall for the garden that is sometimes a good thing! Shelters for the tomatoes because I am too lazy and unorganised to harden them off properly.
Another great thing about working for Jude, is that I seem to get a lot of plants!! I put in the garlic she gave me (creole I think) Bit late in the season but its nice to have a different variety. And also oca. I have had these years ago but lost them somehow. They are a root vegetable and taste amazing baked with garlic salt….
And yep… temp fencing as I have one determined chicken and some random bunnies.
Since I found the wire and had all the stuff out, I made cages for the zucchinis too. They need to not be in their feed bag shelters anymore, but would hate to lose them to the chook or the bunnies at this point. Now they can get the full sun and be a bit protected too. The other smaller plants got re covered before I went in tonight.
The gates also got baby bunny proofed!
And up comes the rocket! Mmmmm (The carrots next door haven’t popped up yet)
Bit of a lame snap but… beetroot up but its scattered with self seeded carrots!!! Now I am in a quandary about whether to pull up the carrots or leave them On the other side of this plot is plenty of carrots so I am leaning towards clearing out everything except the beetroot…
Anyway, the days have been nicer recently… we went through a week of mad wind and cold. As Tassie is known to do…. Hopefully things will start growing well! Have a lovely weekend! (Whats left of it) xx
