Category: Garden

Day of Needles

Well, Mum’s week in Tassie flew by pretty quick. She went back yesterday and I am already missing the evenings crochet fun in front of the fire with her! She caught up on the laundry and cooked up more soup and generally made sure I wasn’t overdoing anything!

Glad both Mum and Dad have planned to return later in the year so I can be much more fun! Can’t believe we didn’t even get to the beach!! Travesty!

Today has been a good day! More energy and feeling alive. I saw the doc, who went over everything, took more blood and gave me my first top up of B12 (via injection!)
It’s been a long (almost) 4 weeks!

The new chooks are getting braver bit by bit. They all sleep in the main coop together (mind you they are not roosting yet but all squash into one nesting box! haha) but are still very wary of the old girls!

I checked out my cabbages and am pleased with how they are looking, despite the lack of attention I have given them

The seaweed has kept down most of the weeds and the netting has thwarted the the cabbage moth! The bigger holes I suspect are the work of a few hungry snails, but overall they are pretty good.
Hopefully they will ‘heart up’ well.

And someone needs to tell my passionfruit that its winter.

Its slowly taking over the hothouse and I am tempted to just leave it because I would be thrilled if the whole thing flowered and fruited next season! Passionfruit overload is never a bad thing is it?
Its even wandering outside!

Well… I reckon tomorrow I should be able to finish up my day five Overland photos and finally get the next story shared!
Little by little huh?

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend planned!
Cheers!

Mum’s Day

Hello and Happy Mothers Day to all the Mum’s out there!
I was lucky enough this year to have my Mum with me!!
She did put her foot down about me gallivanting about today though, as I was quite tired after a trip up to Fiona’s yesterday! 🙂

We breakfasted in the sunshine, as Tasmania’s weather on the North West is showing off at the moment! Gorgeous!
I collected a few seeds so I could put something new on my facebook gardening page which has also been sorely neglected in recent weeks.

I love the runner bean seeds

I found some basil seeds too… I will have to get into that hothouse as I bet there are some in there too! Can’t have too many basil seeds!

Too tiny and fiddly to get all the basil seeds out, so I am sure most of them will just sit as is in a bag ready for next season!

Mum went down and caught up with Ruby and Margie this afternoon which was lovely for her.
I saw Ruby the day Mum arrived and she is like “Come here and sit right here and let me tell you off!!” Haha – I am sure she thinks my dangerous habit of hiking is fully responsible for my current predicament!

Hope everyone has had a really lovely weekend!

Cheers

Pip loving being out in the sunshine as well!

 

Not Resting

So… we might have a few apples to do something with!
These ones are now soooo sweet and juicy!
I did get another lot into the dehydrator. Will have to get some more storage jars soon.

I am doing a pretty bad job of resting. I meant to sloth about inside all day with my photos. I actually don’t feel that fabulous. Almost more flu-like than straight cold-like.
Anyway…
First up I had to put a slow cooked beef soup/stew on

Then I was forced into going to the supermarket as we had no milk… had a few other things on the list too.
On the way in I spotted someone giving away free besser blocks.

So… picked them up and then unloaded them into the carport. My back really thanked me for that. (Hey they were free!!)
Thought while I was at this not resting thing I would bring up a load of fire wood, then do the apples, then make an apple dessert

I did get through a few more photos of our hike, but its the time of night that the computer gets sad and spends more time ‘not responding’ than doing anything useful.
So to protect my computer from mortal injury (me having a tanty) I am giving up and going to bed.
I can hear the rain just started up out there coming down hard and steadily! My plans to clean the chook coop tomorrow might be thwarted!

Cheers!

A few late strawberries!

Weeded Something

Hello!
Its going to take a little while to wade through Day Three Overland photos, so…
It was a lovely day yesterday so I went and tried to overdo it in the garden

The poor duck yard garden.

Monster thistles!

I got a good way through it before calling it an afternoon and moving on to pick tomatoes.

The cabbages seem to be looking pretty good despite my complete lack of attention

Lots of the self seeded tomatoes are still producing well

I got another swag full. Another job to get these processed!

Also pulled out the beetroot from the duckyard garden

Today I have been less than energetic. I did get more apples into the dehydrator and did some other general house/kitchen tasks.
This cold is slowing me up.

Hopefully I’ll have worked through some more hiking photos for tomorrows story!

Cheers

Attached to the Kitchen

What a terrible day to have to be inside in the kitchen!!
At least I got the last of the clothes dry from yesterday that needed finishing off!

I did do a bit of foraging out in the yard and soaked up a little of the sunshine while I could

Pumpkins going along well…

Back inside I made up a double batch of rissole mince so its ready for me to cook tomorrow night once we get back from sightseeing. (Planning on DIY Hamburgers)
I also cut up 12lb of tomatoes to make a double batch of sauce

I used a bit of an eclectic bunch of bottles… tried to get all the big ones – Jeff mainly uses this sauce, so he is set for a while (Probably about 10 litres there!)

Then I baked a cake and a loaf of bread.

I failed to photograph it, but I also baked one of my butternut pumpkins and turned it into soup for dinner tonight.
My friends arrived in late so I didn’t want a huge heavy dinner. So soup, salad & garlic bread seemed sensible. (And home made ice cream of course!!)

Anyway, I am glad to have finished with dishes
The weather forecast looks completely horrible, but we plan to go out and find waterfalls and beaches anyway!

Hope your day was great!
Cheers

 

Back in the Garden -Finally!

Hello there!
Finally we started off to a pretty lovely bright sunny day with a few puffy clouds! The gloom of the past weeks has been a little depressing this early in the year!
Took advantage and did another load of laundry (Only one –  not THAT confident!!)

There was a nice breeze too so it didn’t take them long to dry.
I left them out until I saw this (see below) and decided not to push my luck and brought them in.

Before heading out into the garden I put another lot of apples into the dehydrator as well as cutting up some tomatoes and onion to start the process of another batch of relish.

It felt so great getting back out into the dirt again! I am so far behind the 8 ball in the gardens at the moment!

I pulled out the first lot of corn and weeded that area. I will have to get another lot of seaweed and bed this down for the winter. I have no plans to use it before spring at this point.

I also did some more random weeding around the place. Lots of thistles have popped up.

Also coming across patches of self seeded potatoes. I got quite a lot today!

I found this most excellent creature:

Then I got all enthusiastic about potatoes so decided to get into the failed broccoli patch that some potatoes somehow managed to sneak into

So many huge beautiful potatoes!!!
We ate some tonight and they tasted so good too!!

I must admit, I am feeling it when I get up out of my chair each time this evening! Easy to tell who hasn’t been doing enough in the garden lately!!

Hope your day was great!
Cheers!

More Packing!

Hello there!
Hope everybody who got an Easter long weekend had a lovely one and didn’t overdo it on the chocolate too much!!
I spent a lot of today fiddling about with organising my gear
Above is the start of the food collection.
After hiking Jeff’s first day in the insanely appalling weather, I figured that having some simple ‘cup of soup’ mixes would be smart. An easy quick hot starter to dinner. I still might jettison them if the pack is too heavy or the weather is forecast not horrible.
The packs in the middle represent 4 meals for 2 people. My dehydrated vegetable mix is nice and light. I am going to put mine on 2 minute noodles. Fiona may use couscous.  Fiona also has some other commercially packed meals that we will use to mix things up a bit so we don’t get bored 🙂
Do you think I have enough chocolate???
While I am not a fan of single packaging (at all) I decided that those coffee packs were going to be the least difficult way to get my morning coffee. I can’t seem to control powdered milk, and these make a nice cup. I just have to pack some sugar.
Also pictured is my collapsible cup & bowl – fork & spoon (interchangeable handles saving me 2 grams LOL)
The jetboil, pan for heating the veggie mix, extra gas bottle attachment and the gas bottle… which we will get a new full one just to be on the safe side.
More food stuff to be sorted later.

These are my day hiking clothes.
If the day is not a freezing blizzard, I will probably just be wearing the black cycling pants (Jeff’s) the t-shirt (Jeff’s) the waterproof socks (Jeff’s) Gaters (Jeff’s) Bra & undies (mine) and my cap (also mine!)
I can layer up with the thermal tights, beanie, the black top (on the right), rain jacket (on the left) and in pouring rain or cold wind, Jeffs rainproof pants (Bottom)
If things go snow, then I have my puffy jacket too.

I put the lot on to see if everything worked (ie could I get my rain jacket over the puffy jacket?)
No worries. I totally looked … um… warm?

The puffy jacket and rain pants fit (stuffed) nicely into this waterproof bag too.

Here is everything looking more concise.

Then there is the stuff I plan to wear once the days hike is over.
Two spare pairs of socks. I will be gross and wear mostly the same (probably wet) socks for the first 4 days. No point starting a new pair every day. With how the weather has been, they will get wet within an hour or so, so no point starting dry. Save the dry ones for camp.
Two spare t-shirts. One for sleeping. Probably around day three/four I will treat myself to hike in the sleeping t-shirt and then use the spare one at night.
Comfy crop top for the evening and new undies every day! 😀 (yes there are limits to my gross-ness)
Thermal top (Thanks Fiona!) and pants, shorts to go over thermals (still might grab pj pants instead) windcheater (top left) plus scarf, beanie, gloves & my beach shoes as camp shoes. They are slightly heavier than the crocks (by 100 grams!!) but squash and pack better.

All in all for the clothes – I think I have all bases covered without carrying anything extra.

Jeff put together the medical kit and explained it to me, so I am sorted there. Have decided to take/wear contact lenses – esp if it rains as glasses are just useless. Its a pain as I just can’t see close up now with my glasses on!!! Will hunt out some reading glasses to help. (naturally take my normal glasses too)
Of course – means I need saline and contact lens cases – and a little mirror.
I have my facewasher for ‘sponge baths’ toothpaste/brush, towel, heat patches, toilet paper (really need to scientifically work out how much I need for a week), sunscreen and a poo-shovel (just in case…)
There is also a sharp knife on the med kit.

In other news I made my muesli bars, but will move on to another post for that.
Got some corn and lettuce for dinner tonight…

I also picked a large basketful of tomatoes!!

I was finding ripe tomatoes in places that I didn’t even know I had plants!! Love those self seeded ones!
Anyway – nice and productive day!
Hope your day was great too!
Cheers

Wednesday…

I think yesterday I made a rash promise to be more exciting today.
Fail.
Oh well…
I did laundry (not exciting) and had to hang it under the veranda as in the time it took to wash, the day went from sunny clear skies to rain.
Of course.
I picked a couple more butternut pumpkins and cut one up to take down to Margie – since I promised to take her some yesterday then promptly forgot.
We were going to do a short hike around the river but Fiona turned up, so we had a cuppa instead and talked about our upcoming hike!! Hopefully we will get together properly over the weekend to part pack and plan.

This is the haul from the couple of self seeded tomato plants behind the hothouse!! Food with no effort!

I did spend a good amount of my time today prepping dinner – koroke, teriyaki chicken and salad. Takes time but ooooohhhhh so worth it!
Feeling full and ready for bed now!

So – what are the Easter Weekend Plans??
I only just realised that it was this weekend! I am so out of touch at times. Yes there are Easter Eggs everywhere in the supermarkets but that doesn’t give me a clue because they have been there since January, so I am immune to their presence! (I really am not one to get completely over excited about events like Christmas and Easter three months before the actual day – the opposite effect happens and I get quite annoyed with the over-hype)

Anyway – so no plans, but I am fully intending to fit some kind of chocolate binge in there somewhere (followed by a guilt shedding hike probably!)

Cheers!

In The Kitchen

So… I am sitting down having breakfast and looking out one window to see lovely blue skies and sunshine, then look out the other window and its pouring rain!! Seriously! Tasmania!!
Jeff took things mostly nice and easy today. (apart from an hour pedalling on his stationary trainer!!!!) I enjoyed hearing more about his hike!

Listening to Jeff’s Overland Stories and talking about gear, I got super enthused about my upcoming hike with Fiona. Actually we leave in less than three weeks and I still have to fit in a couple more Japanese visitors just before we leave!! (Of course)
So… among various other things in the kitchen today I put on a big pot of tomatoes & veggies and cooked them up. Tomorrow I will start dehydrating the lot.

I also have the ingredients to make those muesli bars again as well as some beef jerky.

Another batch of apples went through the dehydrator as well today. Plus I picked another bag for the Walnut Man, delivered it and bought a nutcracker. As much fun as it is smashing the walnuts with the butt end of a knife, I can see it ending in stitches.

I picked my first butternut pumpkin today – cut and roasted a few pieces. Its very very nice!! Looking forward to making a pumpkin soup with this too! I have lots out there so I don’t have to skimp!

Of course, I saved some seeds!

As well as baking bread, making an apple slump and doing a million dishes, I also made up some stuffed tomatoes as part of dinner – Those big tomatoes are perfect for it!

Long day on my feet but no practice hiking! I really HAVE to get back out there more often to keep up some sort of fitness.
Hope your week starts well
Cheers!

 

 

Garden Achievements

Hello! Friday it is!
Since we have apples upon apples I put another batch into the dehydrator. Small challenge to self to get one through every day or so.

I think I will also make an apple slump so I have something nice for dessert when Jeff gets home.

Today was pretty gloomy and cool, but thankfully the wind had dropped considerably, so no real excuses not to go outside and tick a few more things off my list.

I started by separating and laying out the cabbage seedlings to plant.
I put them in and went to water them but not a drop came out the watering can spout!!
Upon closer inspection –

Cracked me up.
Once I had fished out the happy frog I was able to finish my planting, mulch the area with seaweed and net it all.

They look cosy don’t they?
Anyway, the wind remained very mild, so I took the chance and got in to cover all the area that David and Ruth had weeded for me.

Lots of cardboard and newspaper underneath should slow the weeds considerably.

And it looks 100% better than a couple of weeks ago!

Four miscreant chooks squeezed themselves into the main veggie patch the other day. Happily since they are so well fed they didn’t do too much damage. Someone enjoyed this lettuce though!
They have also been pecking at a pumpkin that has grown on the wrong side of the fence.

But I love them anyway and they still get plenty of treats

A few late ears of corn still coming along.

Anyway – I have a few things on my list to achieve tomorrow so best be off to bed soon!
Enjoy the last bit of your week and have a super weekend!
Cheers!