Potatoes!

Well… this job I put off…
But its been hanging over my head as I really wanted them in the ground before we jetted off to Japan (Date coming up ridiculously fast)

But the weather has been… testy and I kept half heartedly having a random dig and not getting anywhere

Damn this was a pain. I dont enjoy sticky soil!
So it took an eon and I felt it in all my muscles!

I got through it then, scattered blood and bone in and dug it through for a second time. Finding more weeds I had missed of course!

At this point bending to put the spuds in was… fun. (Such a drama queen!)
I did add a handful of organic compost in each hole too.

Finished off with some straw mulch and today its being rained on… so nice timing!
I am going to be glad of getting this done come December!

Did I show you this?
Another of my Oh Dear garden issues haha

This was a while back. My friend Jaana gave me some lettuce seedlings that are doing well… we picked and ate some yesterday!

The other day I also managed to weed and mulch the garlic and do half of the other bed.

I plan to get some carrot and beetroot seeds in this other bed ASAP

I dont have a before shot of this, but just assume disaster level plot.

The soil level had sunk a lot so I topped it up with compost I got from Jude which really helped.
Then put the alpine strawberries in and replanted the regular ones in too

Ive also netted them as our little darlings have been allowed up the other end of the property in the afternoons and they have been enjoying getting into the beds and scruffing them up!

Speaking of the chooks, we invested in a bok bok box (treadle feeder)

We were feeding them in a tray and were losing so much to the sparrows and other birds. It was getting ridiculously expensive.
I found the hanging feeder bucket lid so I topped that up too and the girls went into training on how to operate the feeder

Coco and Mamma were the first ones to sort it out… overall they were all a bit… Slow! Haha. I think they’ve all got it sorted out and immediately we have noticed a difference in the frequency of restocking.
Every $$ helps these days right?

I still get to Judes mostly once a week. Happily she always seems to have something to burn! I am such a pyromaniac at heart so I am in my element. I do return home stinking though!
Worth it!

Always something pretty in her gardens!

Oh, and I’ve been enjoying making little baskets recently.
So satisfying to finish something in a week or so and not five months!

Very Wee!

I’ve booked Rachel and myself in for a bamboo basket weaving workshop in Japan (Sorry can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this) and I wanted to have some little flax basket to take for the instructor.

Then I made this one… with a bit of cordage embellishment

I got carried away and added a lid

For some weird reason I had a bunch of gumnuts… perfect for the bobble on top

And some random work on the underside to help it stop sliding off.
And some silvery gizmo just because…

OK… I better go consult my list and see what I need to be doing!
First up… light the fire as I can’t see it getting any warmer today!

xxx

Tisk it Task it, finally finished BASKET!

Well!! There she is!
Tasmania has been hit with insane weather and power/internet has been down everywhere- for some for a stupidly long time.
We were lucky with only a 12 hour outage – along with a few days of on and off power. Oh… and the equivalent of dial up internet speed once we had power back
So… tucked up in front of the fire in the dark I donned a head torch and finished off my basket!

Ooooo and getting down into the last middle bit was a total snot to complete.
It does bulge out a bit weird but it does it evenly in the triangle shape so it doesn’t look stupid.

I’ve left some of the sticking up sticks as they are…

All part of the rustic look!

I then made cordage from the flax to re tie the mess at the top and cut that away. I also attached the handle down slightly differently so it was sturdier and more even.
I think it can carry a reasonable amount of stuff safely – just not going to load it up with 5 litres of milk or anything!!

Pretty sure I started this in April? I’ve really enjoyed working on it. Mostly I only spent time on Friday mornings at basket weaving (Which is in no way a solid two hours work since there is chit chat, coffee and buns haha)
I think I’d like to do a similar basket again but maybe not so big… and for a little while I will work on some small projects before getting the mad idea to do something like this again!

xx