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Hello, Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings!
I hope wherever you are and whatever you ended up doing, it was – or will be – a lovely day!!
I am sure a lot of you had to revamp plans and work around restrictions or health safety as we did… but it was still fun

Last night (above) Christmas Eve, I got all wussy and put the fire on again. Was so chilly!
Then I was cosy and happy and watched the Polar Express.

And today! Super gorgeous sunny etc.
I weeded the corn and Jeff started on the old garlic patch
We got on a vid call with family both in Canada and on Mainland Australia.
The Canadians were sensible.
The Aussies not so much!! That was chaotic and funny as we had about 4 screens going – best part was my parents cat showing us her butt
Hahahaha

Jeff got me a couple of new pairs of pants!!
Totally getting my Happy Hippy self on!
Took one out on its first outing! So comfy.

Glad we got out for a walk.
I didn’t want to mad hike.
Just be out.

So much beach, so few people.
Bliss

Jeff did some better hand written notes in the sand than I did with my stick !!
All that penmanship practice paying off

Anyway, I’ve had three glasses of champers for whatever reason I thought … well I am SURE it was a good idea at the time.
I am now starting to list sideways as I really am not used to drinking much at all these days. (Clearly, since getting squiffy on three glasses is pretty lame)

Take care and enjoy – good food, company, peace or whatever comes your way
Cheers!

Pip on Rabbit-Watch

The bunnies are getting quite bold and comfortable in our yard!! Sigh

And in keeping with animals we are failing to control… this is where I found Flea sleeping!! Just off the back veranda.
So… I thought I might see if she was keen to upgrade as pet.

Pip took off and hid under our bed – chooks in his opinion are NOT supposed to be inside (Probably in most peoples opinion if we are being honest)

Introducing her to Pips feeding station is probably why I found her on the back step yesterday peering in the glass door hahahaaaa
Happily there were no little accidents.
I am not going to let chooks wander in and out of the house, so rest easy. Not keen with having chicken doo-dahs to clean up.
Erk

Sorry… show off time.
Put the garlic out to dry off a little in the sun before sorting out a place for them to dry in the shed.

I have the wire basket from last season… but this year we put the extension ladder between shelves and lined them up on top.

Probably no room for the purple garlic… which is still in the ground anyway!

Collected some more strawberries…

And a heap more raspberries… which are now with Margie along with another pavlova which I made today.
She is taking them down to Hobart as she plans to celebrate Christmas with one of her sons and his family down there.

I used the leftover egg yolks and made a custard
Oh my!! I could just sit there with a spoon and be happy.
As it was I dolloped a generous amount on some ice cream for dessert.

Back to the hiking tracks before I go pear shaped haha
Cheers!

Despite the fact we were heading out to a BBQ this afternoon, I just had to get in there and pull up the white garlic. Couldn’t wait any longer!
Wow… so happy with this seasons SUPER harvest!

90% are BIG. A few good sized and probably only five small.
Will spread them out tomorrow for a good look (and see if I have exaggerated or not) and decide where and how to hang and dry this season.

Its so much fun pulling them up after 6 months growing to see what you’ve got lurking under the soil!!

The purple garlic is next on my radar but won’t be nearly as impressive this season
I’ll choose a different spot for them next time.

The BBQ was put on by a workmate of Jeff’s who had retired – really nice to meet lots of his fellow nurses and their families.
I made a pavlova last night, then filled with cream and topped with strawberries before we left.
It was demolished within about 5 minutes!! haha… should have made two!!

(If you are not familiar with this dessert, its basically a really big meringue baked and cooled, then goes on top your cream and fruit.)

Hope you are having a great weekend!
Cheers

I went bandicooting in the garden yesterday and dug up these beauties!!
So excited. Love new potatoes.
They got steamed and slathered in butter and my garlic salt!

Not a bad size for only three months growing!

Well… I have FINALLY sorted the ‘I cannot answer your messages’ problem.

Somehow there was a new WP page that I was opening up (who knows how) that I could write posts from (clearly) but not answer your messages!
Got onto support but before they worked out what on earth my problem was I realised I could click through to WP ADMIN and work from there!
Why does this other page even exist??
Sigh.
So I looked like a real nuffer to the support person when I said, wait I’ve sorted it.
Still had the hide to ask me to rate them at 5 for helping Bahahahaha
So I did because… what does it hurt?

So… drop me a line and say hi and tell me what you’ve been up to! 🙂

Raspberry bowls for the pickings are getting bigger!
This pleases me.
So… after having new potatoes, fresh salad and steaks from cousins farm… round off the meal with raspberries on ice cream
Delightful!

Strawberries are getting impressive too!

Windy today and overcast.
About to tackle the dishes and think about either folding laundry (small chance) or making soap (much better odds)
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the big three day Steam Fest event has been postponed until September 2021… but I will forge on with soap stuff as its time to get new stock on the go anyway.
And its fun

Have a wonderful day
Cheers!

Hi there!
We had a bit of Summer on Monday and Tuesday.
Today not so much!! Steady rain!
As mentioned I had a weekend of soap markets and my stocks are decidedly low.
I’ve made a couple more batches tonight to add to my ‘new seasons stock’ 🙂

Above is the demo batch I did at Sharons last workshop.

This was a fab loaf that I helped one of the students make… complete with some of Sharons little raspberry soaps on top!

Kirrily came along to this workshop and has already made her own batch at home and ordered supplies!

This was her groovy workshop effort

Another cousin also came along for the workshop…
She did a variety of shapes (On the proper side, these are dinosaurs!!)

We used spirulina for the green but sadly its faded out, leaving only the red/pink

Some oats…

Love the yellow

I’d brought along a bunch of soap butterflies which one lady used to embed into her soap!

We did 10 batches of soap that day! Whew!

I’ve managed to make a couple of things lately… not sure if this big market/event will be on in March, but I’ll prepare anyway.

I’ve done two batches of the coconut/lime. The original batch I made totally sold out!

Then I finally used the black raspberry and vanilla fragrance and it is amazing!!
Smells soooooo good!
So happy with the colours here too…
I did another similar batch yesterday but this one turned out better!

Tonight as well as doing the coconut/lime, I also did a lavender with a bit of peppermint as most of my stock is also gone. And so many people love lavender!

Okies…
Thats where I am at with the soap!!
Hope you are having a lovely week!
Cheers

Hello!
Quite the weekend of markets… feeling a bit tired now tonight, although I’ve perked up a bit with a bowl of fresh raspberries and ice cream!
I went back to the Elliot Market on Saturday with Maureen… and Jeff came along and sold a couple of his necklaces!
Overall that day was very slow trading wise but lovely and sunny and great to meet and catch up with people.
Maureen messaged me that evening to tell me the local beach market was on so I took the plunge and booked in late and was back up again this morning to try again!
Blah to having to be on site before 7am though…
Was sooooo windy!! BUT, sales were excellent and I came home with a lot less soap this time.

A bigger bowl of raspberries! I am loving them!

The other day we made some good progress in the back veranda garden. Jeff gave the feverfew a severe trim and now we have a pathway again!

I got in and planted lettuce seedlings and netted this area to thwart rabbits or whatever had been sampling my salad veggies

I planted seeds in here too

I ended up taking out the lettuce that was going to seed… felt sad about that but too awkward with netting.

I still have the other bed to do, but I did take out the cape gooseberries, replanted one and put one in a big bucket to maybe give to a friend

They were just way too big for this area! I didn’t realise when I planted them… rookie haha

Ok…. remember this mess??
Oh dear.

Well it was a bundle of twitchy fun to dig up… not!!!

Can you believe it? I am not even finished.
Sometimes I wish I wasn’t keen on being organic… (searches internet for low yield nuclear options…)

I had gone and gotten a scoop of dulverton in the trailer… a fabbo compost to top up the last gardens with now that I can’t get my beloved mushroom compost.
I was keen to barrow some in and plant this plot but it was taking SO much longer than I supposed
I found a lot of spring onions…

I should divide and replant into new homes…

Oh… I caved and pulled up a garlic!!!
Monster!!

I still reckon they have a couple of weeks growing but I am madly impressed at myself with this effort haha
Can’t wait for full harvest!

Smells amazing too!!

I think I have to go into town tomorrow and run about like a headless chook to sort out some kind of Christmas plan to post off to the nieces and nephew… 2020 was like molasses then WHAM… hello Christmas!!
I can’t even tell you how not ready I am!
Jeff and I have no plans… since the family can’t come over this year, we have vague ideas of picking a mountain to climb and packing a fancy picnic.
Who knows!!

Well, I am full of raspberries and ice cream, dusk is falling and the chooks need shutting in for the night!
Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!
Cheers!

Guess what?? The raspberries have started to ripen! Excited much?
I hadn’t been down there and looked properly in a number of days. Its rained a lot so I didn’t need to go down to water
Jeff casually mentioned I had raspberries ready to pick!
Pardon, what?? Awesome

Do down I trot with a bowl to collect the first of this seasons fruit.

I ate them all last night.
I saved the strawberries tho… I want to make ice cream when I have enough

In other splendid news… the white garlic is bulbing up well!!
They look like they are going to be BIG

They have got rust on the leaves though … hmmm. Going to have to look into that issue so other plants don’t ‘catch’ it

Too lazy to lift the netting for a photo, but the zucchini are really zooming along

And the carrots are doing better now that rabbits aren’t coming in to sample them

Those weeds have grown way too quickly.
Its been rubbish weather this last week so I haven’t been out there to tidy up the plots.

Despite the wind, some of the snow peas are hanging on and also producing some flowers!

The corn is up… it also needs weeding

I think I should go out and shove some more seeds in the ground ASAP where they’ve failed to germinate… happily thats not too many of them.

A sea of potatoes! They are looking really good! Hoping to start bandicooting new potatoes soon!

The liliums are slightly past their best but they are a delight to walk past daily

I’ll have to look in the front garden to see if any others are about to bloom

And I am super happy to see that my borage has indeed happily self seeded and is now re flowering.

Hope you are all having a good week so far!
Jeff and I have finally gotten into the swing of daily hikes again and are back at Oldina doing 9km hikes up and over the logging tracks (in the rain)
(Oh my legs!! haha)

Cheers!

Lone rose defied the wind

Hello!
Long day today – Workshop at Sharons with nine people!
So we made 10 batches of soap today!! (I did a demo batch at the end for those people still left 🙂 )

I made this loaf the other day so we could cut it in class – its nice to give the participants something tangible to do (before making their soap) – and cutting soap is soooooo satisfying!!

This one is Anjou Pear and Lemon Zest.
Loved the way it turned out!

I am actually getting low on soap!! I had fantastic sales at the church market the other weekend… sorry I can’t now remember if I told you!
Over $400 worth sold!
Plus I’ve had orders via a friend and a few via my gardening page (haha) so I’ve been wrapping and posting all week.
Trying to gather the last of what I have for what will be my final market this year, back at Elliot.
Nothing else will be ready now before Christmas.

So… I have a plan. If covid19 doesn’t make a crazy re appearance here, I’d really like to have a market stall up at Sheffield in March where they hold Steam Fest every year. (Link to a post here)
Its a three day event and very popular – and I roughly estimate I would need at least 600 bars of soap.
eek?

Obviously they need time to cure so now is the time to get myself cracking and onto it.
I plan to do several batches of the same kind of soap so its easier to control than my crazy mishmash of experiments.
And if all the same type of soap is kept in the same box, restocking will be easier during the event.

Anyway… thats my grand plan.

Hope you’ve all had a fabulous weekend.
Time for me to fall into bed!!
Cheers

Yep… of course summer arrives, heat wave across Australia and somewhere in Tasmania it snows!!
I don’t have the fire on tonight but we have had it on the last few evenings! (Much to Pips delight)

Sharons husband Paul was kind enough to come around last week and cut that huge tree leftover into nice big slabs.
Our chainsaw is not nearly big enough to deal with that size.
From there Jeff was able to split and stack the wood.
We’ve also got a couple of nice slices we’d like to ‘do something’ with!

I got to and emptied the trailer of the last of the soil I picked up from Sharons place too… so lovely when sifted

This garden bed was the next on my list

I mixed in some mushroom compost and sorted it out. Moved the tomatoes out but left the lettuce in (which the rabbits have found so… another net to be put up hopefully tomorrow!!)

I want to put more lettuce in… both seeds and seedlings as well as some baby spinach etc.
Will wait until netting sorted.

Didn’t have the heart to pull out the couple of lettuce that were going to seed so nicely.

I didn’t know what this was until it flowered! So… chucking out random calendula seeds DID work!!

I think the feverfew needs a bit of a trim.
The pathway is a bit tricky at the moment.

Excited to see that my borage self seeded… and lovely new flowers are appearing

How good is the rocket??

And last but not least… scratching about for dinner!
Sadly one of the potatoes was glassy but the others were fine.
Still a bit of time before I can bandicoot the official 2020 potato patch…
Waiting waiting!!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Cheers

It always feels nice when the lawns are done. It grows so quickly in spring.

Its the first day of December (how did that happen??) and its pouring with rain. The garden is getting a nice drink and I’ve made a half hearted attempt at some housework.

I actually did most of the mowing while Jeff followed behind with the whippersnipper tidying up the edges.
Even with me pinching more of the yard with gardens, its still a big place to get around.

Our three Isa Browns were prize pests the whole time. They are not daunted by anything and I was afraid of minced chook or at the very least one of them being hit by flying debris!

The liliums have come out – this little patch just does its own thing. I had to pop some stakes and tie them back as they just were flopping all over the place with the recent wind

Going into the veggie patch – sprung!! Someone not supposed to be there!!

Pulled all the nets off so we could mow and edge properly

While the nets were off I took the opportunity to weed.

I also popped in a few more seeds where the rabbit ate some and from the lot that didn’t have a very good germination rate.

Snow peas hanging on

I wanted to take the covers off the zucchini and mulch but no point until netted because of the blackbirds and occasional naughty rabbit

Nice and easy with the rebar and polypipe

Snug, safe and sound (I hope)
The newly planted tomatoes got a bit droopy… but have perked up well. I think a possum or rabbit nibbled a couple the other day!! Sigh. So I netted them as well

Beetroot going well… didn’t need too much weeding

Still a few garden plots out there that need sorting out!!

Rocket gone mad…

The blueberries in the duck yard garden were NOT looking happy. In hindsight we should have left the netting on.
So I added more soil around the bases (pretty sure my darling chooks have been digging them up) and mulched with what was on hand (straw) and re netted.

Pretty dodgy hey?

It was an exercise and a half doing this by myself with a bunch of excitable chickens who were kicking the straw and dirt out as fast as I was trying to bring it in… I kept piffing the chooks over the fence and it took them about 40 seconds to run about and get back in!!
Annoying but funny

Flossie Veloci finally removed from the blueberries.
Not happy!

Back to digging up everything else!!

Also mulched the blueberries that are in the main patch

Popped some cookie cutters around the basil that the blackbirds insisted on digging up
So far they are helping…

And in a feat of self restraint, I saved enough strawberries to make a couple of jars of jam!

Hope your weekend was awesome and your week has started well!!
Cheers!