Category: Uncategorized

Hi! I haven’t been going mad on the soaping front lately… Just snapped some photos of the recent ones.
The above one is the ‘raw’ version of the circles (Below)

I decided not to trim the rest as I was losing too much soap. The design will appear as they are used. Its a fun technique and I am keen to try again and fine tune!

The latest Taiwan Swirl cut – turned out rather lovely.
New fragrance, lavender and cedar… really like it.

(The bottom layer – again… the pattern will emerge as its used, so no need to trim and waste soap)

And this last one is apple and sage… another really pretty fragrance!
This pattern has possibilities if I use a few colours next time!

Anyway… thats all from me.
Must continue packing!
Cheers

Hi – how has your weekend started?
We had a bit of a sad morning start as we had to dispatch our white matron chook. She’d been on the downward spiral the last week… and not eating the last couple of days. 🙁 Its the right thing to do but its the worst part about owning chooks.

The day was mostly spend putting gear together to drive south on Monday.
The pic above is a PLB – personal locator becon. We finally got one. We’ve been talking about it for a while. Seemed sensible to have one ourselves since we take off to remote places to hike etc.
Its a LOT lighter than the one I hired when I did my solo trek!

A workmate of Jeff’s dropped by the other day with her husband and some sour dough starter for me!!
The pressure!!!
I am a bit clueless on this whole sour dough thing… I didn’t really have time to research the whole thing, so I just followed the recipe she gave me and hoped for the best.
It didn’t rise a lot and the final product was a bit flat, but it sure tasted pretty good, albeit a bit heavy!!
I’ve got more starter to ‘feed’ so am keen to have another go.
Sharon and Paul do this a lot so I reckon they’ll give me some training!

After packing and doing general domestics today, I ventured outside to plant some seedlings I picked up the other day.

I got three tomatoes for the hothouse to get a head start there. Also some capsicum. There weren’t any chilli seedlings available which I would like to get too. They are slower to establish and I am not taking chances with a cold spring this time and seeds.

I dug through some of the cow poo straw and planted the tomatoes and one punnet of capsicum. I ran out of daylight before I could muck about with the second punnet

I also covered the capsicum with some bottles as they are a lot smaller and didn’t want them to be a slug feast.

The ‘Mad Hatter’ capsicum I decided to leave in – but gave it a good pruning

You can see its huge and leggy. I forgot to take a snap of the final look after its snipping.

There is a lot of new growth showing so will leave it and see what happens.
Speaking of snipping… when we get back I need to cut back all the bushes on the outside of the hothouse… they are so tall now and along with Tentacular the Spectacular passionfruit… its getting a bit dim in there!!
(Add to To Do List)

Anyway, thats about it!
Market tomorrow (I hope)(Just to look not to sell) and packing the car!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend
Cheers!

Ok – hello!! Feel free to just admire the photos and skip the reading!! haha
What a drama!! 😀
I hate not knowing enough about computers and techy stuff to be able to sort things out myself… although I do try and end up nearly blowing a gasket and I am positive my blood pressure might have spiked about 2 hours ago!!

So… you all realise I have been writing blogs since getting my new PC, but for some reason couldn’t answer comments??
I spent over 2 hours the other day with a tech person from BlueHost and didn’t resolve issue… thought it was a weird new computer setting.

(Adding the pretty flower photos is helping me with the calm)
Today my blog decided that I wasn’t allowed to write posts either – I’d click to create a new post and then it gave me a sign in box… which I filled in but was rejected.
Mystery… why was my password now being rejected??

I’d actually had a really stressful day as I had to take Pip to the vet (Digressing Story)
We are planning on going south early next week, to fossick for agates around the Lune River (Cringing as I am listening to rain not just pour, but bucket down with a vengeance outside right now) so we needed to get Pip a steroid injection to last until we get back, so Wonderful Cousin Beau doesn’t have to give him tablets.
I don’t deal well with taking him to the vet. Its completely irrational.
We gave him Happy Pills so he was all mellow but waiting for the 5pm appointment wasn’t great for me. (I should have shared his pills)
I cry all the way home while Pip then strolls out of his box, rubs my foot with his head, eats up a storm then gets wrapped in his blankie as happy as a little clam.

I think I might have issues….

So… by the time my wordpress locked me out for no apparent reason, I might have had a hissy fit.

The most ridiculous thing is… is that I hadn’t signed in originally (on new PC) with an admin password. I’d forgotten its existence as for years, the old computer just stored the original passwords and sorted that out for me.
Thank-goodness I didn’t throw away the bit of 4-year-old scrap paper with the details on it!!! I thought I transferred the right usernames and passwords to a little book.

So… can anyone explain to me WHY I could still write posts up until today?? Anyone? Kinda explains why I couldn’t answer your comments but one would think if you aren’t signed in as admin – why can you see anything at all? (And write posts lol )
This is going to keep me up all night.

Oh – and my email isn’t working.
I’ve decided I don’t care until later next week.

Anyway… I think I have the blog worked out now… no excuses not to be replying to your notes etc!!

(Maybe tomorrow though)

(Mind you, I am suddenly getting a ton of spam… yay! So somethings definitely changed)

Thanks for getting to the end of my little Friday Saga!
I am going to play a mind numbing game before bed and I will be all better haha

Hope your upcoming weekend is fabulous!

Cheers!

Apparently log in passwords for adminning your site is different to word press in general.
Argh
BUT this does not explain how I was able to write posts up until now on the new PC – although it might explain everything else not working – like the comment replies.

More investigation nec.

I’ll return when I wrap my tech-challenged brain around it!

Cheers

Hi..bear with me

Somehow i cant get to my blog via new pc…

I had same issue logging in on tablet…then after telling me my password was wrong, it just let me write a blog.

There is no logic…

Right…I am currently killing a sour dough loaf and i am off to bang my head on a wall

Cheers!

A short while ago, my Mum sent us a package!
The state they live in, Victoria, had quite the Covid19 surge and at short notice, it became mandatory for people to wear masks when out and about.

My parents live in a retirement village – so Mum went on a sewing rampage with Dad as back-up (going to Spotlight to get thread and elusive elastic).
79 masks made in three days!! The neighbours came in on the third day to help with threading and joining the elastic!

All up, Mum’s made about 150. Being a dressmaker and sewing teacher from waaaaay back, her material stash is enviable, and she’s managed to make them from what she has had stored!
I love our masks! Of course she’s sent us and my sisters families masks.
The material with the Aboriginal Design was originally made into a dress for me many years ago – it was one of my favourites (when I wore dresses that is! Don’t seem to do that anymore!!)
The cat design was some material I’d brought back from Japan a while ago and gave to Mum to ‘do something’ with!!

Tried to get Pip into the act!!

Very proud of my Mum with her skill and generous community spirit. Hopefully helping keep people safe!

Sorry I still haven’t sorted out the answering messages thing!
But thank-you for the query about the spacing with my blueberries Tracy!! Total rookie moment! I guess since our other bushes hardly grew at all I wasn’t aware how big they can get!!
So… we got in today and did some rearranging!

Four are in the main patch and 4 (including the old two we dug up) in the ‘duck yard’ garden.

This one has a bit of size but the one below might be a bit of touch and go
We’ll have to go get another lot of pine bark to mulch.  I stole some back off the path to plant in with this lot.

 

I think I need to change Flea’s name to ‘Rover’
She follows me like a dog at my heels!!
I thought it was just her chook-brain wanting food at first but even when there is a stack of delightful snacks that they are all squabbling over, she will leave them behind to follow me!! Nawwww

I don’t have the super ugly ‘before’ photo but Jeff got into this side garden to remove the pig face and weed, so I gave him a hand and added some more soil etc
Still needs a bit more of a tidy – maybe some pine bark too – or straw. Dunno
Ruby’s transplanted Aloe plants are going well!!

The duck yard garden is a mess – I think I’ll leave the nasturtium patch alone but pull the other hugelkultur patch apart and out… it was too hard to control the birds kicking it apart – coupled with the wind and weather last season…
Its a big work in progress (ie mostly in my mind right now)

I do like how the nasturtiums took over though…

A tulip appeared!!
The snails in this tulip and iris garden are stampeding so I REALLY have to get brave and go out at night to pick them all off!!
Not tonight. Its icy cold out there and I am too comfy inside. (Yah – am a woose not brave)

It will be nice seeing more and more flowers appearing

I bought a couple of bags of mushroom compost today to make a mix to plant seeds! Yes… its finally that time of year!
Oh – I just noticed… its the first of September right now! Spring really IS here!!

BUT – terrible news about the mushroom compost… apart from bagged commercial stuff, it is no more in Tasmania. Apparently the mushroom farms are closed so no more getting trailer loads of the beautiful stuff!! Sob!!

Anyways… better get to bed. Visitors tomorrow morning. Jeff managed to tell me about it this afternoon and I am like ‘eek!’
Tidied a bit and baked a cake so I am set

Hope you are having a good start to your week!
Cheers

Hello!
Little spring flowers are starting to show up!
Today was quite a nice day, so we managed to get some useful outside things done.

We put newspaper and cardboard down and topped this with woodchips… still need some more to finish the top end but it looks 100% from before when it was all crazy weeds

The trailer is full of soil that we got from Sharons the other day. I thought I should top up the strawberry patches as a start
I ended up sieving the soil – roughly – just to remove big rocks or roots.

I then mixed it in with the leftover cow-poo-straw which made a nice mix (If you are into that sort of stuff…)

It went on top of the pine bark

Ready – time to scavenge about for strawberry plants. They all were looking a bit tiny and sad

I got quite a few out of this patch – I need to rescue the remainder and do some topping up here next!!

Slightly underwhelming so far… hopefully they will like the new patch and sit up well within a month or two.
This was the bed last season that killed two plantings of strawberries! (I still am completely clueless why!!) It ended up with tomatoes instead.
Hopefully this new improved mix will be agreeable for them!

I also weeded this patch and added the remaining soil mix – needs a bit more of a top up but I reckon it will be the place for lettuce and rocket.

Anyway – things are happening.
I guess I’ll need to sort my seeds and get cracking on the planting soon!!
Yay

Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Cheers

Warm cosy fire – why wouldn’t you like to be slothing inside?

Today has been a proper winters day – dark, gloomy, miserable, cold, rainy with some serious wind – and I’m loving it!

We were out and about earlier on, but once home it was so nice to snug up and relax inside with the fire.

Not a lot to report from my end of the world – Jeff got all gardening keen after the planting of the blueberries and went and pruned the roses – I think with a chain saw since they are now about a foot off the ground!!
And weeded this whole plot.
We went and grabbed a load of nice woodchips and when the weather is not howling – we’ll put down some newspaper and tidy it up with the woodchips.

Some green on the raspberry canes!!

Of course as soon as I am doing something ‘interesting’ I have several chooks underfoot!

And I had a little soapmaking afternoon – I cut this today and its pretty.
Lavender and cedar – such a nice combo!
I’ll get some snaps soon of the cut version
I have more lye mixed but haven’t made up my mind what to do – I got some new colours and fragrances – next will be apple and sage.
Stay tuned 🙂

Hope you are all doing well
Cheers!

Hello!
Spring is fast approaching.
Time to get my butt into gear and do something vaguely garden related!

We really needed to get those blueberry bushes in the ground. Not sure if we will be lucky enough to get fruit this season, but they’ve a better chance if we actually planted them

While we were digging, we let the chooks into the garden as a treat!
So funny – they have such a marvellous time when they are allowed somewhere new!

Very industriously digging up everything of course!!

They mostly just got in Jeffs way… so many worms to be snatched up!!

Once Jeff had removed the grass, we dug into the soil to break it up a bit then added in some pine needles that I had leftover from last season.

I decided not to plant yesterday as I wanted to get some pine bark mulch to put in the holes and mulch with once planted…

So we quit the blueberry task and I moved on to digging up the last of the beetroot and weeded the plot.

Handy using my sink even though its not hooked up to the tap yet

Plot is now ready for a new planting of carrots and beetroot!

I spent a little time weeding one of the other raised beds – the mulch has done a great job of keeping the weeds down though

Soon I’ll have to decide where I am planting everything this season!

Lucky worm… chooks didn’t spot this one.

A lovely day!

Today we collected a couple of scoops of cheap pine bark – it didn’t need to be showy so I was ok with paying less!

I lined the holes with it and mulched all around the plot.
Hopefully they will be happy and do blueberry things…

The rest of the mulch went into the beds where the strawberries will go and onto the path in the backyard garden… so now it looks like a path not a weed-fest.

Then, because I was out there, I got into tidying up this area a bit

This,
To this:

and

This,
To this:

Pip was acting resident snoopervisor for a while

I started cutting back the cape gooseberries, but they still have lots of fruit on them.
I picked a bundle today

Anyway, its all an ongoing project of course!
What makes me pleased about this upcoming season is that I have lots of plots almost ready just to plant in rather than having to do any big weedings sessions or building from scratch.  Will just be adding a bit of soil and compost and going for it!
Bliss.

BTW… that huge egg of course was a double yolker…

Cheers!

How happy does Margie look?
We go out to Sharon’s pretty much weekly for treatments and lunch – we’ve been expecting the arrival of baby goats for a while.
I think Margie took her gumboots out every week in case she got to go out and cuddle babies!!

Barely 24 hours old!!
This is Margie with Jasper… a little fluffy boy.

This is Sharon with one of the triplets – Janet or La Toya (and yes, their brothers name is Michael)

They were all super adorable – and wobbly. There were a few little experimental bounces – so cute!

This was Lulu’s first time as a Mum and found the whole experience a bit of a shock… but she is a really attentive Mum… follows Jasper about everywhere nuzzling him making sure he is ok

Missy, who had the triplets, is a bit calm and casual about it all as she’s been there and done that before! (With Michael above)

Drink time

I got a few cuddles too!

Cuddling goats is good therapy… definitely go away feeling pretty good!

 

 

Jasper got a bit confused for a bit and was sucking on Margies pants haha
(Nawwww)

Saying hello to your neighbour

Anyway, thought you’d like to see a bunch of cute baby goats – hopefully I’ll be back out there this week to have another cuddle!

Cheers