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!
Hello! I meant to blog yesterday but then decided to sit and answer all your amazing messages – I hope I caught you all. Was so lovely to read the thoughts, love, prayers & wishes from everyone. I’ve given the link to Margie and I am sure she will be really touched as well.
So – you can see from the above photo that Cousin Jeff dropped in a trailer load of wood. Its green wood so will get it stacked now so its at the bottom and can dry out. We social distance unloaded from either side of the trailer!! 🙂
So – lets start with an update on covid19 here. Jeff got the swabs done and the results were very happily negative. So he was allowed back out of the attic. 🙂 BUT – BOTH hospitals are closing – hopefully closed by now. Quite the blow for the region. Of all places, our little bit of NW Tasmania has become a worrying hotspot for the virus. So many medical staff down with it. The general population is not being widely tested I don’t believe – the criteria is quite specific. So… all the staff AND their families are from now going into lockdown/isolation/quarantine for two weeks while they deep clean, get things back together. So by the time staff goes back… they will know if they are at risk as symptoms should have shown themselves by then In the last three days we’ve had visits from the SES, Defence and today the fire brigade. Its as much of a welfare check as a check to see we are here on the property. We said we are good. Well… I was until I tried online grocery shopping for the first time. Now I need therapy and thats two hours of my life I won’t get back!! What a pain! Not least that they wouldn’t deliver and there are no phone numbers or online chats working. My lovely cousin Fiona has put her hand up to collect our groceries tomorrow and drop them off and Beau dropped some milk at the door tonight We have awesome family and friends!! With that shop we should easily get through the next two weeks with only maybe a milk top up (and knowing Jeff…cereal haha)
All retail shops in the NW have now been shut unless super essential… like supermarkets and chemists. Rather large fines are being handed out to those who are being too flippant about the rules.
So thats where we are at.
Back to the garden! Yesterday was a lovely day. I’d collected my snow pea seeds so was time to get this manky mess under control and bedded down for winter
Seven years on and still finding this horrible weed mat! Never again!
Pulling up the snow peas and general weeding was easy… digging out the twitch, as usual, slowed me up considerably!
Support chook was by my side most of the time and gorged herself on the worms!!
I finished up by covering the plot with a generous layer of the cow-poo-straw! Decided to leave it to rest over winter. Should be rather yummy by spring!
The zucchini patch has just about had it – but every now and again a new flower appears!
So I pulled out three of the plants that were beyond it and left the other three for a bit longer. I did a very half hearted weeding job…
Yah – pretty lame! 😀
The last of the corn almost.. so tasty tonight!
Tomatoes from tonights pick – I HAVE to get in and pick properly!! And cook!!
Anyways, I wonder who will be checking on us tomorrow? Take care, stay safe and stay healthy! Cheers!
Hello! As I write it seems our string of perfect autumn days is over for a bit – wind and rain! Things are slightly weird in the house at the moment. We got a call from Jeff’s boss – apparently on his last shift 4 of his patients ended up testing positive for covid19! Soooo phone calls were made and into isolation he goes… OK – he moved upstairs kinda. Because he is not symptomatic, he is classed as ‘suspect’ but no test ordered. The usual 14 day isolation to start. Seemed a bit illogical to me. Anyhooo – someone put their brains in gear and figured that chucking potentially healthy nurses into iso for two weeks to ‘wait and see’ might have the long term effect of running out of staff. So he was called in for the test. He didn’t like the test lol Using the same swab, they do back of throat and up both nostrils. He asked as a professional courtesy that they swab his throat first… bahahaha
Anyway… with luck we will know one way or the other within 24 hours or so. Apparently you are not contagious until from the 24 hours preceding first symptoms. Jeff has seen no-one but me since last shift and I have been pretty damn careful on any of my very few outings. Will keep you posted!
Still super excited about my cape gooseberry. Wish the rest would hurry and ripen!
They are an odd taste – hard to describe. Mildly sweet with a sour tang. Thats the best I can do!
The other day we spent in the beautiful sunshine sitting on logs and splitting kindling. We know how to have a good time!
So… pick the differences in OCD levels between husband and wife…
Support chook has forgotten how to drink out of a container, but happy to catch falling water!! I could set up a drip system somewhere but she’d forget where! There really is something wrong with this chook but I do like her as she is calm and friendly and a good gardening companion. We brought her into the yard with us when splitting wood to see if she was ok with the other girls… one fronted up to her… and she rose and fronted up right back… not taking any guff at all…. buuuuut… she is still a pretty weak bird so she fell over and just lay there with her legs in the air looking a bit surprised!! My heart broke a bit because she tried so hard and I was proud of her efforts… but oh my she looked funny! The other chook was chased off before anything bad could happen apart from the embarrassing roll over. I put her the right side up. 🙂 I found her some slugs and worms and popped her back in the veggie patch!
Couple of meals in that carrot!
Gave up on the portulaca… seems they didn’t all die!
Did some seed collecting – lettuce
Snow peas
Some were even sprouting?? Weird
Dill
Basil (smells so good)
Silverbeet (Chard)
Teeny-tiny rocket seeds
The new plantings are popping up already!
The carrots also popped up! I never usually get around to a winter planting.
Surprisingly, a couple of carrots from the old patch went to seed. Thats nice!
Well…. thats the update from Tassie – Since it came to my late attention its Easter this weekend I might scrounge about in the pantry to see if I have the ingredients to make hot cross buns. Sadly I ate all the chocolate long ago.
Hello! Just dropping by briefly to say thank-you for all the love in the comments regarding our Ruby. When I have some quiet time I will get back and reply to everyone properly but please know your comments and thoughts made my heart swell!
On Thursday morning, 2nd of April, the rain poured down here in Tasmania and our lives changed forever. Our beautiful Ruby passed away peacefully, her daughter Margie at her side.
I, like so many others, are going to sorely miss our visits, cuppas and chats. (And lets be honest – the sponge cakes!)
Not all of us get a second chance at a new grandparent with the grand addition of extra family. Margie and Ruby enveloped Jeff and myself effortlessly into their lives with so much love and laughter. We have been so lucky.
Ruby was an amazing 103 years old! Towards the end she was still pretty sharp, albeit a little forgetful. She liked to inform me each time I dropped in that “I’m getting real good at sitting here doing nothing! I can’t ever believe it!!”
Ruby in the garden was such a familiar sight! She was so proud of being able to grow her own food for so many years! “As long as you’ve got a bit of dirt…”
Walking sticks were optional. Umbrellas, brooms, long handled gardening tools were often used instead: “Make use of what you have”
This photo makes me smile. I was busy swanning about after my big garlic harvest all proud of their large size and Ruby goes “Here’s one of my garlic bulbs!” Wow. She taught me so much in the garden – it was great to have someone to talk veggies and planting with and get ideas and enthusiasm… she had enthusiasm to spare!!!
I loved catching her working in the garden. Sometimes she’d be doing something a plus 100 year old person most definitely SHOULDN’T be doing, and she’d chuckle unrepentantly and often let me take over said task.
Queen of the hothouse! She was as proud as punch of her tomatoes that season!!
I loved her milk crate gardening seats! She reckoned she could weed for ages sitting on one of those! Nice and easy to move around too! To me this was just a classic Ruby image.
Birthday presents started taking on an unusual form… a trailer load of compost rather than a ribbon wrapped present!
If I manage to get to these advanced years, I would LOVE to be this photogenic! I’ve spent a lot of time sifting through countless photos in the last few days, marvelling at how wonderfully natural and engaging that Ruby looks in all my photos!!
Love these ladies, Margie, Ruby and Fiona
Ruby was so willing to pose for my endless photos – and took it all in good stride the day I wanted her to play dress-ups and empty one of her cupboards so I could get a realistic image of ‘Old Mother Hubbard’ !!
Dropping in for a cuppa – practically a cultural institution in itself!
Margie, Shirley & Ruby (mmmm and food)
“Put the kettle on” Usually a home made bikkie or a slice of cake was on offer!
Over the years I have added some fabulous dishes or sauces to my cooking repertoire – her famous diary cookbook, stuffed full of amazing recipes.
And we are counting ourselves blessed to have partaken in a few amazing roast turkey Christmas Dinners where you could float into he house from the front gate on the delicious aromas!
Ruby was best known for many years for her formidable nursing skills. She called herself a ‘bush nurse’ and pretty much did the work of a doctor… not to mention instructing the doctors themselves what to do when they came into her domain! It was fascinating listening to stories of times gone by and what the nurses had to do – in stark contrast in many ways to now. (I struggle to see Jeff sitting at a sewing maching making pretty tray covers for the new mothers for instance) Different times, different needs. If they saw a need, they got onto it. In war time things were scarce, manpower was scarce and they did the best they could with what they had!
Jeff had a special bond with Ruby with his nursing. Often they’d sit for their nursing confabs while Margie and I would mosey up into the garden and leave them too it. She’d always greet Jeff with a “How you going fella?”
I think he delighted her one day by needing her blood pressure cuff – she soon sorted him out!!
Ruby didn’t want to sit and let things happen. She wanted to help, to be involved and to be active.
Despite being almost blind, she kept knitting right up until near the end. She would have a few projects on the go so if she suspected a mistake, she’d put that one aside and pick up the next one. Margie would fix things in the morning when needed! Ruby really encouraged me with the knitting and crochet. Margie fine tuned my nearly non existent crochet skills and between them I embraced a new hobby (That still has my mother laughing)(I was so not the knitting type haha) The portrait above is one of my very favourites.
Ruby was laid to rest today. Yes – on Tuesday! Tasmania put on the most glorious weather. It was so perfect. Amid the global pandemic, only 10 people were allowed to be there. I was absolutely honoured to be there in the sunshine with my extended family to bid Ruby my final farewell. There were tears, there were stories, there were plenty of chuckles too. The service was beautiful. It was the oddest feeling to not exchange badly needed hugs, or head back with Margie to have endless cups of tea/coffee food and reminiscing. Such are the current rules and laws. Of course, we plan for a future fabulous celebration of Ruby’s life when the world is a little less upside down!
It has been wonderful to be able to share snippets of Ruby’s life and garden with you all. I know you will feel sad to hear this news, but glad to have gotten the chance to ‘meet’ her across the vast distances of this Earth that can be made so small via the modern connections we have. So next time you have a cuppa and a slice of sponge cake, lift your cup and remember Ruby xx
PS – We couldn’t help but think with today’s weather, this is where Ruby would have been – Make do with What you Have. xxx
Hi – How is everyone doing with their slower lifestyles – if indeed thats your case? The weather here has turned pretty cold. I think there must be snow somewhere judging by the feel of the wind today! Had the fire on all day! Actually I did the Good Wife Thing and got up early to set and light the fire so Jeff would have a warm house to come home to – its his birthday – but it went out!!! It was going really nicely but just burned too quickly between lighting and him getting home. Damn.
I really did not do a good job with my tomatoes! Yes, they are producing and ripening but I gave up on looking after them long ago – now they are a jungle, sprawling on the ground and the cold weather has brought the slugs/snails back. Still plenty to pick though even if they are going manky (The plants not the fruit)
Months and months down the track, the crazy tall capsicum plant ‘Mad Hatter’ has started with its fruit going red!
I had one in a salad yesterday and they are lovely and sweet!
Still plenty of zucchinis. I hadn’t checked for a while…. oops
The other night I sat in front of the telly (Stargate Atlantis lol)(The most super awesome thing about that show is that no matter where one goes in the galaxy – everyone speaks English (except the super bad guys)) and chopped all the tomatoes I had been collecting, put them on the stove and cooked them. Nice lot to store in the freezer.
Yesterday evening I hear quite the racket outside and upon investigation, found a family of black cockatoos feasting in the apple tree!! Parents and a squeaking young one that got fed applesauce on the odd occasion! So funny to watch. Hows the cheek of them!!! This fellow flew over the paddock with apple firmly clamped in beak!
I love these birds!!
So – thats quite the hint to get my behind out there and pick the remaining apples so we have some on hand this season! The rotters often just take a bite or two out of each one!
They’ve not done a bad job really!!! I bet the possums are coming in at night and gorging themselves silly too. The European wasps have joined in the fun as well (Not fond of those – invasive bitey things – not to mention complete jerks)
Pip came out for a bit with me as there was a bit of time without rain.
Not a bad haul… will cook and freeze some and share others
I think I mentioned in a previous post that our other apple tree was about dead. This one looks to be on its way out as well. I guess we should decide about removing at least the fully cactus one and replant something.
I’ve been out the back slug hunting with Support Chook – now its pouring again. She is pretty good at going into her shelter though. Its a bit horrible out there right now!! Daylight savings has finished – and the days are shortening more noticeably. Don’t think we’ll get that late summer I was all keen on!
I haven’t been back to the supermarket since I did my ‘last’ shop. I was thinking of getting the milk delivered. There is a local mob who do it which might be a smart move. As long as they come up as far as us – which they might not. Note to self… investigate! Sharon should be in midweek to collect carrots, apples and other fresh food. She sourced me some carrot seeds and is going to barter with farm fresh butter… so thats pretty handy! They will also be dropping off firewood sometime soon as we bartered a big macrocarpa log a while back for it. So lucky to have the ability and connections to do this kind of thing!
