Author: Lisa

Wow… March!
Thanks for sticking with me! I clearly haven’t gotten any better at time management. I am thinking once this month is done, cruise ship markets done, everything should settle back to something more sensible.
I did a quick stroll around the shabby garden yesterday to get some updated pics to be able to write a quick blog
Tomatoes – Magnificent!

Hothouse? Not so magnificent haha
Oh dear

I have an insane Black Russian Cherry Tomato plant that has grown all over the place and the fruit is gorgeous

I’ve squeezed in some time to make a couple of relish batches

Our visitor, Yuri got totally addicted to the relish! She wanted it on every meal!

The potato patch is probably ready for a full harvest… When I have time

All looking a bit shabby but boy oh boy are the new potatoes tasty!

And a slightly hilarious meal photo… not restaurant worthy, but home made rissoles and some salad and eggs and damn its good! (and relish)(and yes, erm… tinned pineapple because I love it)

And another less than artistic meal photo… potato bake and the first of the corn which is soooo sweet and amazing. And a lame salad because I was too lazy to do anything else.

So many meals in the above pic!
Below, my butternut pumpkins have happily taken over this space and I’ve got 4 or 5 of them growing that I’ve spotted so far. (The other rampant plant in there are a multitude of cape gooseberry bushes!)(I am never going to get rid of those!)

Hiding in the oregano and lemon balm!

Cousin Jeff has dropped off a couple of loads of wood and Husband Jeff has been collecting wood as well on his hikes – and he cut/stacked it all! Usually thats my job so I am pretty happy about that!

We will do some more collecting soon. I want to be over stocked this year!

The outside tomatoes that I grew from laterals have just started to ripen.
Most are yellow. The bamboo trellis has worked pretty well

What a mess tho!
Oh well… I’ll get to it eventually!

Fat bottomed mutant zucchini…

Golden nugget pumpkins…

Um… random egg?
Weird chickens

Coco. All these are tablet photos… so not exactly the usual quality but… thought you’d like to say hello to the chooks!
I’ve not made time to get back to photoshop to go through all our adventure hiking photos that we did with Yuri.
We had a fantastic time and I am looking forward to sorting the pictures.

Might get some sunflowers soon!!

I did plan a day of slothing finally on tuesday… then it turned out I needed a tooth extracted!! (Back molar) So it really wasnt the relaxing day I was aiming at!!!
I’ve tried to take it at a bit less of a frantic pace.
I’ve booked in to the last three cruise ship markets which is in the latter part of March. I made up some extra soap batches that should be cured to use by then.
It gives me a bit of a break from those – but I have Steamfest on the 9th, 10th and 11th March which Maureen and I go up to Sheffield and stay. We plan to set up our space on Friday. The lovely thing being that we dont have to take it down every day… they just lock the big shed.
So the cruise ship markets have been a fabulous success as far as I am concerned! Saving all the $$ to get Jeff and I back to Japan later in the year (goals)
I really am looking forward to winter though! Some long evenings in front of the fire – movies and basket weaving!! Crochet?
Anyway, I have a list I need to work through today so I better get my butt moving!
Hope everyone is doing fabulously well
xxx

(Espresso!!)

Ok… January has been crazy.

Almost non stop soap making, squeezing in some gardening, and now well into my second guests stay!!

(above chamomile flowers drying)

So happy to be getting tomatoes. Also the apple cucumbers have gone totally mad

Luckily my friend Nardia and her family loves them so I have been able to offload the majority their way!! (Only so many Jeff and I need)

I haven’t had much time for jam and sauce making but the freezers were threatening to leave home, so I did get a bit of raspberry jam made and also rendered some more fat for future soaps.

I had some successful tallow soaps… then this:

It thickened unbelievably fast, then the next day was too hard for the cheese slicer, and broke a lot under the knife!! I definitely need more practise and experience with this!

Here a few random pics of recent batches… golden honeycomb and Yuzu with loofahs embedded

This fragrance was called Unicorns and Pixie Dust… so I sprinkled it with glitter and rose petals and stuck in rosebuds….

Over the top but cute and fun!

Pineapple and papaya…. smells soooo good!!

Bunny soaps for Easter…

The soap room is… bulging haha

Anyway, right now I have my friend Yuri visiting from Japan…. So it was soap and housework frantically being done as well as more garden tidying as Yuri is a published author of several books about Japanese gardens, does tours in Japan and Europe with clients to guide and educate them about the gardens etc.

So I wanted our garden to look less… terrible!!! 😂

Dodgy pic but that is one of her lovely books I was gifted!

Anyway, we are having a great time… crazy busy. And tonight we are all packed to go on the hike back to the Japanese Gardens up in the Cradle NP.

We plan to drive tomorrow to a spot closer to the starting point, then start Thursday morning earlier than if we had to drive from home. It’s fairly hot these days, so earlier start for the first day will be nicer.

(lunch platter)

Anyway, I wanted to zoom by to say hi and bye before we went.

Hope everyone is doing well!! Xxxx

Hello!
I went into Burnie this morning ridiculously early to set up my soap stall… two cruise ships were due in today!
Both got cancelled… there was a bit of a swell even though the weather didn’t seem too tragic. Soooo… I have to pack everything back up, load the car and come home. (mind you I am probably not as miffed as around 4000 people who have missed out on seeing Tassie!! Felt pretty bad for them)

Still… apart from the annoyance factor, I’ve got plenty to do here at home.
Like a ton of raspberries to be cooked or sorted… and another ton to pick!

We’ve had a visitor for a week – my best mates daughter who chose us as her first solo holiday! First time on a plane too… haha… she is certainly not a fan of flying!
Anyway, we had a lot of fun and her Mum told me that since she got home she hasn’t stopped talking about it all. So sweet!

So many raspberries in the fridge… at least maybe today I can do something about the current lot.

We also have been getting buckets and buckets of cherry-plums, despite the squadrons of birds who seemed to spend all day in the trees gorging themselves

Now looking at these pics I realise I’ve forgotten a zucchini

Its probably reached baby elephant size.

The zucchini flowers are pretty I reckon

Golden nugget pumpkin

Squash

I reckon if I went down to the garden now I’d find a heap of these apple cucumbers!
Later… (promises self)

They are growing so well… but not climbing by themselves. Will have to go and tie them up again.

The outside tomato patch is going well… even got fruit on them! All are from laterals and one self seeded.

Time to put in new lettuce seedlings.
I collected snap pea and some other asian leafy things seeds (yah… soooo lazy about going back to find out what I grew … something that Jude gave me!)

A good tidy up and in with the new seedlings

I just bought a mixed punnet and threw some rocket seeds in for good measure

Most have taken hold well.

Corn patch doing nicely… Its also on my mental list to give it a good feeding soon.

The hothouse is still an overwhelming jungle… but finally a few things starting to ripen which is very exciting.
Oh those Black Russian Cherry Toms are DIVINE

Okies… time to start mixing up some more soap… or jam. Or something!
Hope your week has started well!

xxx

(PS… we’ve finally been able to bandicoot some new potatoes! Yay!)

Hello!
Oh dear.
Marching through January and I am failing terribly keeping up here.
I was going to put forth a 2024 goal of blogging better.
Sigh.
Then I’ve been chasing my tail trying to keep up so I’ve been too scared to mention it and put the pressure on hahaha
Currently have my Besties daughter staying with us – its her first time on a solo holiday, first time on a plane (she wasn’t impressed haha)
Lauren is having a ball and we are enjoying having here here. Its only a week so packing in what we can to make it all worth while.

In between… I’ve had plums and raspberries continually and trying to keep up with soap. There is so much soap
A LOT of soap !!

Just before Christmas the Basket Weaving group had a wreath making day.
Was so much fun… and supremely messy!
A lovely social day where everyone was freestyling making wreaths out of all the fabulous flora etc that Krystal brought in for us to play with.
And food.

The lovely bubbly Patsy making a large wreath!

Christine made this fabulously elaborate affair.

Some of the plants we had to rummage through and use.

There were some reindeer there up for grabs if people wanted to attach those.

Everyone as usual made such different wreaths.

I plan to pop in tomorrow with Lauren – just to do something a little different to the swimming, walking, kayaking, rock collecting, shell collecting that we’ve filled the week with so far!!

Plus I’ve been missing my Friday Brekkie of cake and coffee haha

I’ll make my 2024 blogging better goal an actual thing SOON
Bear with me!!
Hope everyone has had a splendid start to the new year!
xxx

Hello! I hope everyone’s festive season has been splendid!

What did everyone do? Big dinners? Family time? Something totally different?

Jeff and I had a quiet, normal day… unhurried but nice. We picked plums. Jeff cut some of the fallen tree branches off after we harvested and I dug up my garlic… and made soap. We had a nice steak dinner and ice cream custard and pudding for dessert.

Well… I am currently in super soap making mode. The Friday before Christmas at the cruise ship markets I sold nearly $900 worth of soap!!!! Insane day!! Never had a market like that before!! (All cash snicker)

Christmas Eve was also a good sales day, although not anywhere near as grand as Friday!! Basically I need to be making soap all of January fairly solidly to keep up. One local shop has about sold out and wants more and I have Steamfest in early March to stock up for.

I have mentioned I wanted to keep this as a side hustle yeah??

Hmmmm

Well… the above Mulled Wine fragranced soap didn’t go to plan. The colour was meant to drip into the bottom layer!!

Still looks nice enough.

White tea and ginger… sweet fragrance. Plus these moulds are so popular!!

Honey and beeswax. Apologies if Ive posted any of these before… I am on my tablet and can’t check back.

Melon… I am sure you guessed

Lemongrass and exotic lime. Double batch as the local shop wants this one.

Lemon verbena… and cute butterflies.

I sold all but two of my chai latte soaps in the two markets so thought it best to make more.

Double batch of black raspberry and vanilla

And then a double batch of eucalyptus

Belatedly realising that this fragrance might be extra popular with the international tourists.

I’ve also realised that valentines day and Easter will be here next so now is the time to make bunny and heart soaps… so prepping for that

I made a bunch of varying blue soaps… they are to be cut into little squares to be added back into soap for an interesting design.

And yesterday I worked on creating a layered soap in my slab mould.

I calculated for one and a half batches and divided it into four.

Underwhelming from the top…. I had to make each layer separately and pour… let set and then do next one.

Sneak peek.

I am looking forward to cutting them but will wait for the loaf to harden a bit so it’s easier to handle. Need to be patient since I put the effort in all day yesterday!!

Today I picked more raspberries but also squeezed in one more batch… oatmeal and stout with an oatmeal scrub and used Mediterranean red clay to colour it.

Nice and easy!

Well… its all a flying start. Clearly my recent B12 injection is kicking in haha.

Enjoy what’s left of the year

Xxx

Hi!!
Gosh… this time of year is mad isn’t it? Apart from Christmas, everything is growing and wanting picking… and getting ready for the last markets before Christmas etc.

Theres my wild looking husband who got into the raspberry patch while I was tackling another part of the garden!
We’ve had a bit of a constraint on harvesting as its been raining A LOT! (If you are not a berry grower – picking in the rain kinda guarantees your fruit to get mouldy quick!)

I have another market scheduled tomorrow… Cruise Ship again.
So I have picked more raspberries today and popped them into proper containers to hopefully sell along with some plums.
Oh yes… soap too!
The last cruise ship market was a washout mostly.
The weather was on and off again raining and the wind was horrible… they didn’t put us in the wet weather location either so it was a constant battle… and the cream on top was the cruise ship didnt dock!!! Argh!!
Fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow!

Right… you might have seen this mess before??
And this one?

Pulled two of the brick beds apart, tried to get the twitch out as much as possible and reconfigured the area

I’ve tried to leave more mowing space and also moved it from being completely under the pear tree.

I did a little digging to nestle the first brick layer in

I’ve saved some of the soil to sift and reuse somewhere too

Seriously though… who has time to sift soil???

Since I was too stingy to buy soil and too impatient to collect it etc I thought I’d make this into a straw bale bed for now.
Might take longer for the twitch to get up that far!
Unsure exactly what I will plant in here but I’ll figure out something!

I did sprinkle some blood and bone over it to start the conditioning process… watered it in a bit but I am being a bit frugal on the water as our bore pump is cactus… unlikely we will get the new one in before Christmas shut downs.

Its stopped working all of a sudden. I thought it was just the electrics… which it was but the fellow brought up the pump to check that we weren’t spending heaps on the new electric box if the pump was a week off dying too.
We got seven years out of it so not bad considering we got it online for about $1000 less than what we could buy it locally. We were quite pleased at how long its lasted.
So… we’ve been really happy with all the rain that has kept the garden going and the tanks topped up!

I better get to bed. Silly early start tomorrow!
xxx

Hi there!
I am sorry… will start with the sad and work my way up.
We lost our oldest chook a couple of days ago. She really was slowing up and when she couldn’t get up on her roost, we knew we couldn’t dilly dally longer.
Its awful when you have to do it yourself. 🙁
I hope thats the last for a good long while.

(Above: it’s s pig face. Mesembryanthemum-‘candy pink’ starts a mustard colour then turns pink, then yellow . Has all three colours on it at the same time!!)(From my friend Jude)

Raspberry season is upon us!
Kicking myself for not listening to the nagging I was doing about weeding and mulching

Its going to be an adventure every day I pick!!

So much fruit in there!

I pulled up one of the garlic bulbs!
Not all are ready but a lot more are ready earlier than usual

Went well in the spaghetti sauce with some fresh herbs etc

Speaking of fresh herbs…

More oregano for the drying nets

And I put the garlic scapes in the dehydrator. Haven’t powdered them yet

The lemon balm is trying to take over the world.
So we got in and did some severe haircutting

So much and it smells so good!

Now we can walk down the pathway again!

I also yanked weeds out of this area, then mulched

Stop for pea break…

Mulched and fertilised the butternut pumpkins.
Since planting them out they’ve been fine but not thriving along as yet. Hopefully they’ll perk up soon.

Cut back the oregano a little to free up space at the bee watering station

The chamomile I potted up looks so happy in its new home still

We have one chook who is broody… and she hasn’t given up. I piff her off the nest daily… she just melts into the ground like a big feather puddle… then when I give her a nudge she goes sprinting for the bonfire area to have a dust bath, bok bok bokking all the way like a mad thing.
Its funny to watch

Anyway, I need to go make soap. I am waiting on a fellow to call me about coming up to repair bore pump electric box as its cactus… and we NEED the water for the garden ASAP
Hot again and windy.

xx

Hi…
While I was in Japan I bought various craft stuff at the markets. I had a vague idea what I wanted to do with them, but they’ve remained in a little box until I had the time and motivation to whip something up.

Luckily one of my friends has a Wiggly Willow tree and I was able to snaffle some branches that had been cut down.

(Sorry… pretty average snap, but you get the idea lol)
I also think I need to fill the jar with sand.

I loved the little felt balls. This sweet lady at one of the markets was selling them for approx $3 per bag. So I got a bag and modestly filled it so I could fold the bag over. Nope. She insisted on stuffing it full to overflowing!! So funny.
I stuck to the three colours and I think they make an effective combination.

Another lady made these sweet flowers out of kimono fabric… and some balls so I got quite a few of those too.

And not least the little chime bells and ceramic owls!!
Overall I love the look. Its sparsely decorated – the Wiggly Willow really is a decoration on its own!

xx

Since we both have the snuffles, Jeff suggested an afternoon gluing stuff together!!
We hadn’t had a chance to get back to the Book Nook and continue for quite a while.

We played nicely together, sharing the glue and problem solving without tears, squabbling or divorce.

Jeff worked on the upper bookcase cabinet, chairs and table

Fiddly but not impossible

Its so satisfying seeing it take shape

I worked on the lower cabinet and bookcase

This kit is from a company called Cute Bee if anyone is interested. I think I bought it off Amazon tho…

The scary part is going to be attaching the third wall…

The railings are snugly in place

The table might have a slight lean… (only we are going to notice)

We put the vase on the table and pasted the ‘letters’ on too but we both agreed that we are going to leave out the dog that sits at the bottom of the table. It looks extra fake. I’ll take a snap to show you …. hang on.

Next thing is going to take a bit of time. I haven’t gotten around to working on the tiny books.

So I need to cut out all the covers and paste them on to the boards that Jeff snicked out of the templates and sanded ready to go.

It will be fun arranging them all when done.

So… we’re getting close and we’re still enjoying the process. Every time we have a go at it we make good progress, so its not a project that has to take as long as we’ve taken haha.
Its only a matter of finding time to sit and enjoy.

xxx

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