Author: Lisa

Another job on my list taken care of. Most of the plants in the hothouse were past their best, so out they went. The cabbage that has been there since last season… it was half heartedly going to seed so I gave it to the chooks!
Out came the failed eggplants, most of the tomatoes and the basil. (And the weeds)

I left a couple of the tomatoes – still one or two tomatoes left that we might get.

Collected the last of the basil seed.

I saw an interesting idea when it comes to growing potatoes… and since I wanted to try to winter a couple of plants in the hothouse, I thought it would be fun to try.

So… cut the bottoms out of two old large pots…

Found some keen potatoes!
I’ve just put in some straw and some cow-poo-straw and covered them up. Will top up on soil as they grow.
The idea at the end is to be able to pick up the pot and have the soil and potatoes drop out. I think three is too many for one pot… but… its all in the name of experimenting.

I put some more snow peas in as well… since most of the last lot got eaten!

All done.

I spent a lot of time later in the afternoon waiting for a snail to come out of its shell and pose for a particular photo I wanted for the current challenge.
What a pain that is!! I fired two snails before settling on ‘Sebastian’ who at least wasn’t either acting totally dead, or didn’t froth up in a mass of bubbles and fall off the item I perched him on.

I am sure I’ll share the outcome of the photos once I’ve posted it in the challenge group.
In the meantime… there’s a grasshopper photo to look at instead, as I was wandering about looking for things to amuse myself while Sebastian was coming out of his shell.

Hope you’ve had a great day!
Cheers!

Hello!
I was lucky enough to be given some saffron bulbs – corms? – a while back.
Suddenly they were sprouting in my seed drawer so I popped them in some water and had to think about getting a spot ready!

I wanted to go and get one big pot for this area… but its still a bit dodgy going out if we really don’t need to, so I’ve put together a few of the pots we had.

A mix of potting soil from the supermarket, my cow-poo-straw and the leaf compost

The leaf compost has turned out amazing for absolutely really no effort!

I didn’t have quite enough so I filled one of the pots halfway with some straw. Turns out I didn’t need the three pots. Oh well… will have to think of something else to pop in there. Some other small and pretty bulb maybe.

Pip was MOST interested in the straw… must be lots of mice living in it.

I decided to pick the butternut pumpkins… I actually don’t think they are quite ready but its pretty cold and the vines are all but dead. Overall there just wasn’t enough summer.

I’ll leave them for a while inside – hoping they might just finish off in the warm.

Collecting wood… those chooks are like fleas! Hard to get rid of haha

They literally get under my feet when I am in their part of the yard!

Or helpfully sitting on the wood I am moving

Heave-ho!

Spent a short time tackling the weeds in here. They weren’t too bad, just better to do it now before they got out of control.

I re-mulched then re-netted. The cabbage moth is done but I saw some possum poo in the garden so don’t want to make things too easy for them!
They are getting a little eaten by slugs but nothing devastating. One of these nights I’ll pop out and do a collection to slow them up.

Another couple of ticks off my list 🙂
Motivation is still… hard to come by. Aaaand perhaps calling the doc to get an updated B12 injection?? Reckon I might be due!
Then, look out garden!!!

Cheers!

Actually took the camera along on our hike this afternoon.
We got rained on a bit…

We left a bit late today so weren’t out as long as usual – its getting dark a lot earlier!

See the rainbow through the trees??

We detoured off the road up along one of the manky old logging tracks… seems like the fungi have taken over!

As you can see its a bit of a sloshy path!

Up, up and up we go… this hill goes on for a while… and you think you are at the top – then it turns out you’re not. Then it goes up again MUCH more steeply lol. Not kind at all!

Puff, puff, pant, pant. Stopping to take a snap and get my breath back!

Because we are so grown up – we found this funny…

Then back over the road and down another dodgy logging track

These tracks slow us up more going down than coming back up. (That was a weird sentence – but I know what I meant) Its actually a little hard to capture just how ‘down’ it is at times!!
Mind you, I am not exactly Ms Speedy coming up them either!!!

Overall it wasn’t too bad – sometimes in the dry its worse as the gravel can just slip under your feet! Then its hiking on your bum time!!! Ouch!

By the time we got down it was raining pretty steadily, so I tucked the camera under my raincoat and enjoyed the rest of the hike back to the car on less demanding paths!

A lot of the strict lockdowns in our area have been lifted – just back to asking people to only go out for essential trips/exercising and observing social distancing.
From what we can gather, Jeffs ward should be ready to reopen midweek – yet to hear anything official.

Hope everything is going well in your part of the world and you are staying safe and healthy!
Cheers

Hello!!
Bit of a kitchen day – yesterday I washed all those tomatoes (ie 9kgs of them) and today I put them through the food mill to squash out the seeds and skins. Its still on the stove slowly reducing to tomato paste – I’ve not added anything to it – so its just straight tomatoes.
Taking aaaages! And I couldn’t fit it all into one pot so there is another 4lts in the fridge waiting its turn!

Not that that has anything to do with the muffin photo…
Still got lots of apples. Looked up a recipe and gave these apple and cinnamon muffins a whirl.
Yummo!
Maybe I’ll make a few more batches 🙂

I did another batch of soap today, but these were from the other day – slightly more subtle than my last loud lot!
(Anjou Pear and Lemon Zest)

I also put together some more beach sand soap with eucalyptus

And these celtic knot ones were made with the extra mixture I had with the Wasabi batch

And on the side, just for amusement, I’ve started a new photo challenge (Beginning May 11th) on Facebook
10 new subjects – its getting so much harder to think of a good mix of subjects now!
Anyway, I was being a smarty-pants and thought I’d put up the subject ‘Build a House’ I didn’t even give people hints or clues so will be fun to see what creative ideas or work arounds they will come up with.
I had vague ideas of insect houses or card houses (My creative efforts get a bit exhausted at first coming up with the new subjects haha)

Anyway – mix some paint, a sharp blade and a cereal box…

I am having quite a lot of fun with it!
Tonight I finished the front and attached it to the rest of the house. The roof needs a bit on top to finish it off and keep it together… but I put some fairy lights inside it and I was pretty excited by the effect.
Looking forward to finishing it off and photographing it properly!!!

Well – I’d best go give those tomatoes another stir (and maybe indulge in another muffin…)

Hope you are all doing well
Cheers

Hello!
Pretty overcast day, but not too bad. We didn’t end up going out for a hike, but did tackle this pretty shabby looking garden!

The tomatoes had gone feral (mostly my fault for neglecting them and giving up on them…)

So we got to, picked all the decent tomatoes we could and pulled up and trimmed back a lot of stuff

Piling on the straw certainly helps make things look better too!

I brought up one of Support Chooks sisters to have a go at the bugs in this area. Her name is Flossie-Veloci. She was really funny. She went pecking mad at high speed to get all the bugs she could! It cheered me up as I had been feeling a bit sad as I know Support Chook would have LOVED all the slugs I found!

We really need to get a proper path in here… not a weedy afterthought!! (New project 🙂 )

Managed to get a lot of tomatoes! I guess tomorrows effort will be to wash and cook these – I think I’d just like to turn them all into tomato paste. I’ve really enjoyed using our own tomato paste.

Hope you have all had a lovely day!
Cheers!

Goodbye Support Chook.
Jeff woke me this morning to tell me ‘Support Chook passed in the night’
(He is such a nurse isn’t he?)
Poor little girl. I am not sure exactly why – she was never going to thrive… I actually brought her into the house last night as it was cold. So glad I did otherwise I would have been convinced she died of the cold and that would have been devastating.
As it was, she was in a comfy carrier in the fire warmed house.

She just wouldn’t eat and drink like a normal chook. But she was great company in the garden and a demon on the slugs. I’ll miss her.
And yes… I have cried a lot today over a silly chicken!!

Sorry its been a while since I popped in! I’ve been so … unmotivated?
We’ve hiked a bit, but I haven’t taken the camera along. I’ll have to do that next time its not raining.
We haven’t really done much thats startling!!

Jeff had to go back for another covid19 test this morning. All the hospital health workers need a recent clearance before heading back to work.
The numbers of new cases appearing in Australia is very low – I think less than 90 in the past 7 days.
Some relaxing of rules is slowing coming in, but still keeping with the social distancing and all that.
Japan had very low numbers for a while… but are now jumping up – although by the numbers it is not showing they are testing widely.
The numbers in Spain (where my awesome Aunt lives) are alarming. As is the UK, the USA, Italy, France and Germany. 🙁
I think our area had some of the strictest lockdowns in Australia – The shops may be able to open again on Monday. Still yet to hear officially.
Our favourite hamburger takeaway shop is closing its doors Friday for good. I feel so sorry for them.

In crafty news – I used the last half of the chunk of beeswax/resin mix to make a large batch of beewraps. Some I’ll use as presents, some for me. 🙂

I’ve only made a few soap batches lately – this one is ‘Raspberry Dream’

I did manage to sell $40 worth to a lady via the local facebook noticeboard.
Our Mothers Day is coming up…
I should try to advertise again.
I do miss the markets!

This Taiwan Swirl’s fragrance is ‘Wasabi’

Then I put together this really loud and obnoxious coloured, rose scented soap!!

Guess who is back next door??
Little Moo needs to be renamed to ‘Enormously Massive Moo’
Nearly trampled the fence tonight when he saw me – looking for his apples and other snacks!!!

Speaking of garden snacks… I scrounged a few more cape gooseberries and a passionfruit!

I hope you are all doing well wherever you are – staying safe and healthy and happily occupied!
Cheers!

Hi!!
How is everyone doing? Staying healthy and safe and not going too stir crazy if you’ve been restricted from your usual lifestyle I hope!!

Jeff and I have been out for a couple of hikes – its raining like billy-oh right now but thinking of hunting out the wet weather gear and going out anyway.

Last time we were out I took the camera to get a few snaps of the fairy-tale mushrooms. They are so bright and pretty.

Baby mushroom… all spot and no red haha

Some of them get really big

Like a dinner plate!

They really like the pine forests

It would be great to go to some of our usual haunts to hunt out other fungi – but right now they are kinda out of our zone of ‘essential travel’ so we’ll be good and stick to the local area.
Nothing much new around here… I might make some soap later.
I sourced some pink rock salt so I should stir myself to make more garlic salt.
There is a long list hovering in my head of ‘things I must do’
Oh well…
Right – seems like we are gearing up for that walk!
Have a lovely day
Cheers

Hi!!
I got a call tonight from Public Health to give me the all clear from Covid19. Thats nice to know. I would have been really really surprised if it had of been otherwise, but… its still good to be sure.
So… freedom sort of not really but at least we can go out to get some walking in and pick up some wheat for the chooks and grab a few groceries.
Our quarantine period is over but will still interact as little as possible while the hospitals get back on their feet and we find out how things are going.

Jeff, Support Chook and myself all teamed up to dig the second potato plot

Lots of worms and potatoes to be found

Nothing like a ride in a basket!

Not a bad haul from a plot that got pretty much neglected. It was heavy sticky soil too… I’ve left the potatoes out under the bbq area overnight hopefully to dry off a little before boxing them up to store.

In other gardening news I mulched the ex-corn patch, then cleaned up one of the raised brick beds and layered with the cow poo straw and more straw on top

Made a start on stacking more of the macrocarpa while Jeff split down some of the bigger logs

We put the rest of the chooks into the duck yard garden – figured they could dig things up and sort out some of the plot. They had a lovely time digging up worms and stealing tomatoes from the failed hugelkultur beds!

They have a lot of work to do!!

And in a cheering few moments here and there – I received a surprise parcel in the mail from a friend with a ‘Dad sense of humour’ but with excellent liqueur making skills!
Very generously parted with some of his pretty amazing plum liqueur!!
Extremely tasty and rather potent!!

And this morning a friend dropped off some farm fresh butter that we bartered tomatoes for – AND a tin of fresh made cinnamon buns!!
They did not last the day thats for sure!!

So thats about it from me – its a wild weather night tonight. Lots of wind and rain! Very cosy inside with the fire ticking over!
Hope you are all staying happy and healthy!
Cheers!

Well hello!
Gosh – fun filled afternoon for me!
I had been speaking to Public Health re my concerns about a mild cough I have had. Seriously – its pathetic.
I am pretty much thinking that its just the usual thing from the change in the weather to the much colder nights as my throat gets a little raw.
BUT – being that we’ve got 5000 in quarantine in the area so the hospital’s staff can go back as clear as possible I was concerned at the outside chance that I could be infected.
They got me an appointment so fast!! I wasn’t mentally prepared to go have something shoved up each nostril today. (And down throat)(Not in that order)
Gosh – doesn’t THAT make ones eyes water!!!

Hopefully I’ll get called in a couple of days so we know and hopefully get the all clear. I’d have just sat tight at home if it wasn’t for Jeff being at the hospital.
Fingers crossed!!

The wild duck yard patch!
Reckon this lot of potatoes needs digging before the weeds just take over the world!!

Quite a few butternut pumpkins hiding under the weeds in this garden too!! I pretty much just gave up in here haha

The only thing the hugelkultur garden got right was being covered in nasturtiums!!

Still got heaps of macrocarpa – just starting to get into this wood pile now that the weather has turned!

Support Chook takes a little nap next to me while I fuss about under the broccoli netting

6 weeks since I threw these in and said ‘good luck’
They’ve been chewed a bit by slugs/snails but going ok considering!

Left a box out for Sharons husband to collect today.
I got goats milk and farm fresh butter and some quinces!! mmmm

Anyway – I am heading back to the lounge room to sit in front of the fire with my crochet and continue my way through Stargate Atlantis 😀 😀
Cheers!

Quarantine Entertainment
ME: Ummm Darling. What might you be doing?
HUSBAND: Trying to burn out the centre of a mini canoe in the way the Aboriginals did
ME: Er… they probs didn’t do it in a lounge room…
ME: That’s filling up with smoke…
ME: Fun as this is…
HUSBAND: I better take this out onto the back veranda
ME: Let me helpfully open doors for you…

Did I mention that life never really gets all that dull around here?

Anyway, remember that pile of wood?
I was needing some fresh air and exercise yesterday so thought I would make a start on stacking it up.
I totally got into it and finished the job!!

The overall look of the garden at the end of the season isn’t too bad. Plot by plot I’ll get it tidied up and bedded down.

Damn – I checked today and these carrots are gone 🙁 Hope its not too late to start again and will cover in plastic containers to thwart slugs 🙁

Support chook gets a bit flappy now at times when I pick her up! I like her increasing independent attitude!

Haha – that face!!

My leaf and coffee grounds compost going beautifully!

Yippee!! My awesome cousin Fiona dropping off our groceries!
Pretty much everything I ordered was in stock so that was surprising but excellent! Fiona said it was the easiest part of the shop! She was also shopping for herself and some elderly neighbours who are also out of town but didn’t quite manage the online order successfully!
Quite an effort! So thankful!

Once we are set free, I’ll continue with ordering online and just do a pick-up. Less time spent in the shop the better for me and better for staff.

Found a couple more cape gooseberries!! Its a slow thing but I am enjoying each little bite!

I stirred myself to go out and make a real effort to get what tomatoes were out there, ready and not slug eaten.
I think that was around 8kgs of tomatoes!

There are still more to forage – but my back was feeling it and it was getting chilly!
So… inside back to the kitchen where I did a lot of washings, sorting and chopping.
6lb along with 2lb of onions are sitting in a pot resting and will be turned into relish tomorrow. Cooked some – more will be added out of the freezer which I want to reduce to tomato paste.
2kg (Yes I use a variety of scales haha) I’ve left in the carport for a local lady who will swap for some butter.
A lot aside to ripen, reckon some will go to Sharon – she will swap butter too so we are set there!

So – a fair bit of cooking on the horizon for tomorrow.
We aren’t over doing the ‘busy’ bit at all really. As I said to Jeff, its a kind of an enforced rest so why not lap it up for a while? He spent a good part of the day on the back couch with a blanket and Pip curled up with him listening to a book!
I spent a lot of time on the facebook gardening pages sorting people out – questions, tips, answers and used my ‘powers’ to kick someone out lol.
And sigh. My friend and I who run his page decided with so many people flocking in we just weren’t going to wrangle annoying, argumentative or obnoxious people. Now its a simple goodbye.
Luckily most people are pretty good – just with the influx we’ve gotten a few nutters here and there and some not very nice ones. ‘Weeding’ them out so to speak, pretty smartly!

Hope you are keeping busy, happy and healthy!
Cheers!