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Hi!
Spring is stampeding toward us and we’ve had a week of sensational weather

Jeff found this young kookaburra on the track – we took it to the vets but haven’t rung to find out what happened to him/her.

OK… so technically the Millars are not the ones milling, but we’ll take some credit for simply owning the trees and the property!!
Paul and Ed came in and started moving the logs about so Ed could set up his mill in the right spot.

I helpfully sat up on one of the big tree stumps snoopervising and taking photos.
Soon it was too dark to do much more

I had a busy week with appointments and also being at home helping with moving timber and sawdust and doing lunches when I was in.

What a great process watching the huge logs cut into the right sizes

The large and scary blade goes down the log in a horizontal position and then back in the vertical.

Kicks out a lot of sawdust of course!

Pallets have been put down to store the timber on and smaller strips of timber have been cut as dividers to the layers.

The grain is beautiful and the smell is amazing
A little sad to reduce this magnificent tree to mere strips of timber

Smaller and smaller

There is a new chook shed in there

So much…

Some I am piling up out of the way, some I am bagging for later use in the coop, some we put straight into the coop…

At the end of day two we had this timber done

And this (that came from only two logs!)

And Jeff split a pile of offcut logs that I stacked

Still lots to go!

And another day done…

A lovely sunset with pretty plum blossoms!

OK… today back with my new best friend

Cutting more of the dividers and cutting offcuts for middle sized wood for the fire.

Started on filling the big kindling box

We are going to have SO much of this!

We look like a lumber yard!

I’ve been working on the above right side pile

I think there has been progress!

I’ve set this smaller stuff onto another lot of pallets out of the way

And I have a small stack of useful offcuts that I’ve cleaned up that were too good to cut for firewood

The girls only get let out late in the day…. Flea no doubt would be up on the saw mill if she was out when the action was happening

She is like a lone wolf haha

And as per usual, despite her short legs, wherever I am in the yard… there is the pitter patter of Flea behind!

While the other girls took a dust bath…

Flea comes up to see Pip

Unsuspecting Pip

Then a displeased Pip trying to get back inside!

Check it out! First tulips!

So lovely to see a couple of them popping out!

The girls were in disgrace the other day as they got into the iris/tulip patch and vigorously dug it up… didn’t do the young tulips any good and look at the mess they made of the top part!!
NOT pleased!
Will be glad to get the fences back in order!

The rotters!

Anyway…. I am pretty tired!
Might take a rest day tomorrow!
Who knows?
Have a fabulous weekend all!
Cheers!

Yes I know… the above picture does not look very soap-like!
This is why I am not here much lately… just been busy!!
But the milling has started so we are finally on the home straight of this very long winded tree job!
Will return another day with more on that.

Back to soap

Just wanted something a little on the ‘pretty’ side. This one is Australian Lavender.

Now this fantastic experiment is for colouring using Turmeric!
My lovely friend Irene in Queensland grew her own and dehydrated and powdered it… and sent me some!

In the curing process it has lightened, but the speckle remains which is really lovely
I didn’t use any fragrance… just wanted to see what the colouring did.

Its gone even lighter than this – next batch I will double the amount of turmeric. Just to see!

Bit of a dodgy photo and it doesn’t tell you much, but these are shampoo bars.
I did the soap a different way with a few different ingredients.
And the lye mix was all milk and a skerrick of water – so it will be a very soft soap!
Now to wait a month before I can test it.

Last market… A lady from the market took this photo and I asked if I could use it here because I didn’t take my camera along
Can you see the soap on the back row? I’ve got some little slabs of the macrocarpa there as a raised bench to be fancier.
Also some fairy lights that you can’t really see.

There…

Nawww… Pip. As always I think he is cute. (He is on my lap right now but will pop him into bed in a minute and I will have to go too because I am pretty tired after today!)

Hope you are all having a great week so far!
Cheers!

(Slightly dodgy snap… haha)

Well, we had a few days of this and some serious winds

Even though Jeff had just cleared the gutters…

Pip mostly said, ‘yeah, nah’ and disappeared under a blanket

Today things fined up so…time to identify this seasons potato patch and make things happen

Yep. This mess right here looks suitable!

Part of the area was just… lawn!

I dug it up in squares and tried to get most of the soil off… it was sticky! and used it to bulk up the areas under the garden gates (to thwart rabbits)

It all took a while

And of course, when outside, where I be, there is Flea…

I call this ‘Contemplation of Corn’

The garden had a ton of enormous worms and she made a little piggy of herself on them!

Oh… and how many potatoes can one dig up out of a corn patch?
Glad you asked…

Just some of the collection I found!
As one of my friends pointed out… potatoes are sneaky.

I seriously wanted to give up before I was done… but I am glad I told myself not to be a woose and to finish it up!
Think I was walking two inches taller with accumulated mud

Looking forward to planting the potatoes.

A quick garden round up:
The white garlic. All nice and happy

Collected some carrot seeds

Lettuce looking woebegone

But… new growth showing

So I am hopeful lots of them will take off once they’ve gotten over the shock of transplanting

Something for the soup…

I took a long hot bath tonight… still feeling a bit on the achy side after all the digging and bending (and removing Flea from the garlic patch)

Hope your week has been going along well!
Cheers!

Hmmm… where to start?
A snap on the progress of my basket!!! Its taking shape for sure!
I’ve not worked on it at home, rather left it as a purely class thing. Its a nice group of people to talk to – so all very social.

Pip Notes: The paw up position means Sir Pip needs something. Sitting in the lounge room with paw up indicates a need for a warm towel.
If he is in the kitchen with his paw up it means he is terribly terribly hungry

And sitting at the back door in aforesaid position means he has to go out.

Of course five minutes after we’ve been out and spotted the scary chook, we seem a bit desperate to go back in!

I swear cats need butlers.

Flea Notes:
Yes… that is her little feathery butt under that bush!

Tonight when Jeff went down to lock them up and did a beak count… one was missing!
No prizes for guessing who!
Someone was out too late and got lost getting herself back.
Funny thing though… he called out to her and she immediately Bok bok bokked back to let him know where she was.
(‘Daddy please rescue me! I am lost and cold’)
Other lost chooks at night hunker down and don’t say a word!!! Which makes them really hard to find!

So she got rescued and put on the roost. Silly chook!

Anyway, I did plant something

Picked up a few punnets of lettuce seedlings – was so keen to have something in my new beds.

Slightly underwhelming but in a few weeks they should fill out and look good.

I did take time between showers to plant out a lavender bush and a boronia.

A few flowers are popping up on my chives!

Fragrant jonquils! (I had a market stall today and someone was showing how they’d turned theirs blue and other fun colours with food dye in the water! very cool)

A smidgeon of rainbow came out… I over-doctored this photo to bring up the colours!

And to finish up – the plum tree gets fluffier day by day!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend
Cheers

Hi!
Instead of going and getting several trailer loads of soil and compost… I just got the local nursery to deliver a nice big lump of it!

The day before yesterday I made a good start in filling the beds

I added more woodchips as the ends closer to the door were a lot deeper.
Then I got tired so I quit!

It rained and was generally miserable yesterday so I stayed in my PJs all day and pretended to be a sloth.
I rather enjoyed myself!

Back into it today though

Wow huh? Cannot wait to plant!
I plan to go pick up some lettuce seedlings tomorrow and I might also put a few rocket seeds in too. That will get the ball rolling. Its too early to start all my other seeds so I’ll just have to be a little patient.
Lots of other stuff to work on

The plum tree is getting fluffier… it will look more impressive when there is a blue sky behind!

I kinda miss having a chook proof fence on the top side of the yard!
We leave them locked into the coop and duck yard for the majority of the day then let them out later in the afternoon… with the idea they can’t get up to too much mischief!

I didn’t get photos but the other day, no matter where I was in the yard, it wasn’t long before Miss Flea found me!
She enjoyed the new pile of soil haha

Time for bed for me!
Cheers

Spring is on its way!
The plum tree is starting to look fluffy!

Pip enjoying the sunshine today and giving the post a good schmoozling

And the chooks being herded away from my garden… time to think about putting up a temporary fence to keep them down the other side!

Half a carrot was enough for last nights chicken soup!

(NOT our chooks btw)
Whipped up some garlic and herb bread to go with it too! Smelled amazing

So… I’ve ordered a load of topsoil and compost to be dropped off Tues. to finish off the hothouse garden.
Debating on increasing the order – I suspect a few beds will need more soil
In the meantime, I’ve tried to keep up being out in a plot working if the weather isn’t dreadful

Speaking of dreadful… the side garden has been MASSIVELY neglected.
So… time to bend the knees and get in there

This was as far as I got yesterday… (above)

So fiddly trying to pull up twitch from between and under the rhizomes – I wasn’t willing to pull everything out. Will just try to snick off any shoots I see popping up from now on!

A couple of loaded barrows later!! (Jeff started pulling the next plot above apart too)

Doesn’t that just warm the soul?? Haha
Now my iris and tulips have a chance!
I’ve even spotted a couple of tulips doing their thing!

I’ve also scattered the iron pellets that kill the snails and slugs all through this patch. They really take a liking to both these plants so this year I want my flowers to look a whole heap less ragged!

Some daffodils popped out!

Hope your weekend was lovely (and you ache a little less than I do 🙂 )

Cheers!

Okie dokie… so we got back into the hothouse today and sliced off a bit of that top piece of timber so it wasn’t sitting so high.
Left the rough edge as I liked the character!

Then we had a bit of a scavenger hunt for branches to start filling with bulky materials

And yes… Flea was back. She can’t help herself. She just has to be where the action is!

I hemmed and hawed about putting in the woodchip… (Acidity?) Anyway, I went for it – a good way to fill in the cracks

I think I will layer it all in newspaper then add in the decent soil.
Have to check with my local nursery. I am assuming that all the soil is currently sodden so not sure about picking any up just yet…

And some keen animal (not chook) has been digging under the door to squeeze in and I guess get to the food we had in here for Flea.
I had to sort that out.

So… absolutely making progress… yay !
I have high hopes for the hothouse produce this season… better make sure I don’t lose momentum and really get it all together in the next week or so!

Have an awesome weekend everyone
Cheers!

The borage has popped up and out into flower again. I enjoy the way it just self seeds!

Yesterday for most of the day was sunny and lovely. Went for a walk around the river with Cousin Fiona then decided to try to get something done in the garden while it wasn’t raining

10 minutes later… it was raining!!! Eyeroll…
So I just put on a raincoat and continued on.
I planned to do the two strawberry patches and hopefully another bed

Haha – yeah right! I got ONE done.
Still… its one less on my list.
Such a mess – sadly a lot of twitch has gotten in so that takes ages to pull out. And try to rescue as many of the strawberry plants as possible

My back turned for 5 minutes and the ‘helpers’ are right in there!!
They get tolerated until they start chowing down on the rocket, then its eviction time!

I topped the bed up a little then planted the best of the strawberries that I could find

Admittedly it all looks a little underwhelming at this point.
Gave them a light mulching with the straw… when they (if they?) perk up and get bigger I’ll top up the straw more.

A bit before getting the straw, I herded all the chooks back down the other side of the yard – I had visions of leaving the bed to get the straw and coming back to see a squadron of them digging up the plants!

You would have laughed to see the sequence of events… I had Flea tucked under one arm (she doesn’t shoo… she just wants to follow me!) and the rest of them in front herding their waddly fluffy butts down the back through the gate.
Well… they all went in like little lambs EXCEPT for Flossie (Flea’s sister)
She under NO circumstance was going to go with the others… The little snot actively dodged and ran every way except the gate and took off… so there is me, Flea still tucked under my arm chasing her.
In the end I put Flea over into the right area, got a long stick to give myself extra arm length to herd Flossie back
Nearly there and she took off again, so I am totally running about in my big gum boots shouting at her while she just charges over the gardens, up on to the veranda and for some reason up onto the back table OVER MY CAMERA where I finally caught her!!!
All this was to the tune of a LOT of indignant bok bok boking …
Here is a (not so flattering) shot of me and the Miscreant Flossie!!

So… 15 minutes later, I was able to finish the garden and put the netting back up (Some native animal really likes to eat the strawberry leaves)

I was done for the day really… in my ‘older’ age I find an afternoon of digging or bending over patches really makes me feel every muscle that night and the next day! Very annoying!
Above – herb spiral. The oregano is coming back nicely.
Will have to keep the mint and lemon balm at bay this season.

We are a month off spring but already some flowers are popping out, which is awesome! Gives me some enthusiasm

I had to pull up one of the borage plants as it was in the strawberry patch. 🙁

Daffodils!! Soon!

The plum trees also have some blossoms already!

…

The little rhododendron is about to flower… I got this from Ruby’s place!!

Lush green with sprinkles 🙂

The white garlic looks pretty good!! Almost 100% germination!

Dunno what this is yet… there are two of them in the grass!!

The carrots I planted in October!! Still going strong (what wasn’t nibbled by rabbits anyway) Handy just to pull up some as needed. Not long before I need to clear the patch so I can start fresh!

Anyways, thats me done!
Hope your week is going well!

Cheers!

Looking a bit shabby hey? Nothing a lawn mow and net removal probably can’t fix though.

Flea has moved back into the coop with her sisters… I miss the little Brrrk Bok Bok’s from the corner of the dining room at night

As you can see… she misses us too and ends up at the back door

So… a project thats been on my mind for a while is taking shape!
The Hothouse!

Er… yah. I am sure its Flea’s fault there are random pots everywhere??
How does that even happen?

So I pulled up all dead plants and weeds, found a random potato… (Thats a puzzle… I dont remember a potato plant at all there last season)

Some bonus snow pea seeds

And just generally sorted the main area.
Hoping to replant the chilli bushes…

This next photo amused me!
A finger in front of lens??? Really?? I did that???? Eyeroll.

Anyway, stellar photography aside, we brought up a bunch of lengths of timber to work out what we had and what we needed for the project at hand.
Happily not too much cutting overall

Flea and Flossie were the first of the snoopervisors in to inspect.

And no show without Punch, so here is Pip
As you can see, I am looking to get a U shape all the way around the edge to bring the height of the beds up to the concrete skirting. That way they will get the light quicker in the morning and for longer at the end of the day

…

The inspector conferring with the labourer

Perhaps a difference of opinion?

Ummm

Clearly someone is not listening so Inspector Pip moves up to loftier heights to sort things out

Cats!

So… anyway (is that a smug look from Pip or what?)

Its not quite all together. I will get that top plank cut back to be even with the others… I am debating on leaving the raw top just for the look of it.

Looking forward to filling it up ready!
We won’t do the middle bed until I’ve filled the others. Will just be easier without dancing around a narrow path for that job.

I am also thinking of putting in some shelves that swing down over the beds – just a chicken wire frame thing that I can put seedlings on while needed then fold them up and away when they are done.
We shall see how that works out…

Girls are laying well despite the cold weather!

Flea seems quite happy back on the roost!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!
Cheers

The dodgy weather continues… really its perfect winter weather. I am enjoying the gloom in a weird way.

So… what is underneath the soaps?
Time to cut

So pleased with this one. Simple, yet fairly striking.
I used lemongrass essential oil

I did two loaf soaps at once. First with the black, which I let set before doing the next batch to pour in the white – I didn’t want the colours to bleed through each other.

I didn’t quite get the perfect diagonal… but thats ok. I can live with less than perfect haha

The second loaf I added sprinkles – grated soap from older offcuts
I thought the straight divide of black and white might be a bit underwhelming compared to the diagonal.

Not too overdone

And they do smell really good!

I did have a little leftover mixture… so put it into one of my bee moulds

And I had forgotten about the leftover mixture I poured from the orange soap – it was in the freezer!! (The hard plastic mould is problematic but if I freeze it – pops out easy peasy!)
Love the colour blend!

Hope you all are doing well and have a fabulous weekend planned!
Cheers!