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Captains Log: Day Four
Still no sign of summer.
Crew getting delirious.
Rain ceased – wind did not.

Pumpkins seedlings flattened by netting and plastic wind break cover.
Thinking up new tactics… (Delay gardening until January?)

Captain forced into more domestics. Lets not dwell on the details.

To lift the crew’s spirits, captain has made some fresh strawberry jam and is currently baking bread.
Breakfast should be a joyous affair.

End Date: 4th Day of Summer

😀

Day Three: Captains Log.
Still no sign of summer.
We caught a brief glimpse yesterday which was cause for great excitement among the crew.

Sadly our euphoria was short lived when we looked to the left.

This planet clearly has issues.

So – How are we all today? I hear there is plenty of early snow up in the Northern Hemisphere (not to mention in Victoria and Tasmania, Australia!)
I decided whatever the weather, today we were going down to Sisters to hike around Anniversary Bay.

Yeah. Well… we went up the other way, up all the stairs, so a good workout. The wind isn’t letting up. We got to the top where it flattens out a bit where I was going to take some photos for proof… and of course the heavens opened and rained on us. A lot!!
We went along a bit further before tucking tail and turning for home.
I console myself that at least we got out in the fresh air and got a bit of exercise, even if it wasn’t near the full loop.

Still… coming home to have a warm shower and putting the fire on is always a nice thing.

The rain eased off at home. The wind blows everything dry… so we actually got some laundry done and mostly dried!
I decided to pick some more oregano as I got the last lot out of the nets and into jars.

There is so much of it! Lovely!

Such an easy process. All I have to do now is wait!

I filled in a bit of the afternoon making some soap (surprise surprise)
Might as well. I find it very hard doing anything in the garden when the wind is howling.
Is it just me? I get really twitchy haha
I had to water the seedlings – most of them are covered up and the wind blows the surface of the soil dry.
They are a bit small to mulch (the tomatoes) and the ones not under netting would just get dug up by blackbirds if I put something as enticing as mulch out at this point.

Anyway, really not much else from me!

Cheers!

Hello!
So… today. First day of December and first day of summer!!
No prizes for guessing that it wasn’t quite swimming weather here yet? I currently have the fire on.
I went to the markets to meet a couple of ladies who were buying my calendars. A few die hard stall holders braving the pouring rain and wind… but they were soon just packing up.

So… I soaped.
And started cleaning out some kitchen cupboards… and managed to pull a muscle in my neck trying to open a mystery jar of something. Seriously? How did I manage that? See how dangerous housework is?
Maybe it will be better after a nights sleep.

Anyway… above. That is Mint-Choc-Chip soap.

Looks a bit delish!

Yesterday I made a batch of ‘Love Spell’ Its a sweet almost fruity scent. It sold well at the markets so… will continue with it.
The base is much less yellow than it looks here.

Rustic woods and Rum… Not the colour I was after but its nice enough.
It cut well this evening. Nice swirls but nothing dramatic.

I have a couple of these trays on the go so I can put excess mixture into the little heart soaps.

The dragonfly mould seems really popular too – so I did a tray of those (Only 4 cavities and will photograph them when unmoulded) The rest of the mixture I used here and experimented with those pressed flowers and the dried calendula petals.
Sharon said the soap as it cures turned her flowers yellow. So … will wait and see. Maybe its something to add somehow later.
Anyway, the scent is ‘Woodland Elves’ so thought fitting to put some botanicals on them.

The calendula petals are easy to collect and dry… and such a fabulous colour!

I snapped these photos of Jeff’s necklaces to show a friend and thought I would share his work with you.
He has cut and polished the rocks, then got on youtube and learned how to wrap in copper and tie the cords.
They’ve come up so well.
Mostly its petrified wood, agate or jasper.
The orange/cream is mookaite (an Australian Jasper – found in WA)

Well… thats the weekend done.
Not much planned for tomorrow. A trip to the post office is on the list. 🙂 Will just wait and see what the weather does!

Cheers!

An abundance of salad!

Hello!
How has your weekend started?
Last night Jeff, myself and our friend Maureen went back the the Two Oaks Twilight Market.
Of course I had oodles of soap…
Jeff brought along his necklaces –

Maureen had a wonderful display of her sewing, some lemon butter and a few cushions her husband crocheted!

(And yes I bought some lemon butter – I think a midnight snack might be in order later)

I brought along my calendars and some veggies too.

We had a great time – lots of really nice stallholders. We’ve made new friends, bought some Christmas presents – and sold heaps of stuff.
We all went home again with lighter boxes and heavier wallets.
Jeff sold some necklaces and I’ve made lots of room in the house to now fill with more soap!

I only sold one calendar at the market, but I put the photos onto the local facebook noticeboard page and they have now all been spoken for!
So thats pretty pleasing!

I’ve had a quiet day really – just a bit of watering and a couple of batches of soap made up since I was all excited about my sales!
Also rather pleased to spot these little beauties this evening!!

I’ve progressed from handfuls to small bowlfuls

More liliums blooming today.

The neglected and battered rosebushes are valiantly trying to put out some flowers.

Chooks settling in for the night.

Neat huh?
A leaf caught in a cobweb. Looks like its floating against the sky.
So… I tried some flowers.

Jeff didn’t sleep much last night so he didn’t feel like the dinner we planned. We’ve put that off for tomorrow – and indulged in carb overload with chip sandwiches.
Bit of my BBQ sauce and our fav. Japanese Kewpie Mayo and we are set!

I could have fancied it up with a side salad… but was too lazy today!

Hope you are having a great weekend
Cheers!

Chook is watching you…

Hello!
How wonderful to get a day that felt like summer!
Even though Jeff just came off a nightshift, we got outside and into the yard work!

And of course a bit of a before and after…

Eventually Jeff had to head to bed. I got involved in a few things.
I really wanted to harvest the worm castings… so I dumped the tray of dirt and worms on the table, mounded it up and as the worms moved down to the middle, I took the castings.

I filled two trays with new cocopeat and divided the worms between them

It was good to use some of the castings straight away – and yes, I did go buy some chives seedlings!

I adore Mavis’s garden markers!!

Now – onto solving my bird issues!
They are on a digging frenzy!

Some rebar stakes to slip the polypipe over! Much slicker and faster job!

I re-mulched the zucchinis. They will be able to retain the moisture better and be happier not to be dug up daily!

I cut these potatoes right back as they were shading the little pumpkins! They are not even supposed to be there but I hate pulling such great plants out! Will see how they produce now that I have cut so much off.

I netted 4 beds today.
And even got on the mower! Jeff ran out of puff before getting to my garden and the long grasses were driving me mad.

Here is a current ‘overall’

Liliums starting to burst out!

I think I read that the weather was meant to go bad again – but I really want to plant out all the seedlings and take the table away.

Oh – here is my ugly solution to the wind issue.
The other day I was so mad at the wind! haha
No bottle was going to stay on the poor little butternut seedlings, so, netted to stop the birds digging them up, then plastic dragged over to shelter them from the wind and cold.
And my… wasn’t THAT fun! (NOT)
Try to do that by yourself in gale force winds and not say rude words!!
Of course it makes watering a total pain.
I did have the cover off today so was able to give everything a good watering.

This is as close to a Christmas Tree as we are going to get this year!
Classy hey?
Again – birds have taken to eating the foliage and I really really don’t want to net it. Too hard to get under to pick when the snow peas show up – which should be soon.

This new bed is going along well… will be able to pick that rocket soon!

After I had finished in the garden this afternoon, I ducked over to see Margie to have a belated cuppa for her birthday!
Took some leek and rhubarb

I also went scratching about the garlic to see how they are developing!
Pleasing so far!

Not sure if we will get many of the cherry plums to eat. In our experience if the season is late, the birds will come in and eat them before they get a chance to ripen.

Anyway, it was a splendid day outside, spent a lot of time in bare feet and was happy to get some things done.

I hope all those in the US celebrating Thanksgiving have a wonderful day and a hearty feast!

Cheers!

I think this tomato lateral is ready for planting… overdue really!! Poor thing looking a bit sad!
The wind dropped today! Such a relief! But it got cold and wet instead!
I sorted and packed a lot of my calendars – some wrapped for posting, others in their envelopes ready for the market.

Not a lot else newsworthy has been happening!
I did get out for a short while – feeding the chooks evolved into watering the sheltered pumpkins (I managed to water myself which I wasn’t thrilled about haha) which evolved into random weeding in the corn patch.

I picked a few more strawberries 🙂 I hope this patch goes crazy when the weather stays warm for a longer stretch. As it is, I think they are doing well so far, despite their rocky start!

Hope you are having a lovely day!
Cheers!

Hello! Hope your week has started well!
One of the strawberry patches has responded well to my TLC and is now producing some fruit!

Last major pressing garden job done. The raspberries are now netted. Actually it was a slick and easy job! The net just slides over with the two of us on either end!
Once weighted down, I got in there and gave the patch a feeding, mulched then put the water on.
Mind you – its raining out there now! haha

I am actually having to net everything in sight! The blackbirds are driving me mad – digging up everything! Half my butternut pumpkins were uprooted while they dug out all the dirt looking for bugs!!
Not impressed!

They started on the cucumber bed too – like they weren’t struggling enough! So that got netted as well to give them a fighting chance.
Garlic looking good.

The outside snow peas have started to flower!

I took the time this afternoon to fill another bed in the new section.
I’ve put in 4 cape gooseberries, marigolds, some purple lettuce seedlings and sprinkled some portulaca seeds.

Then I decided on a spot for some of the sunflower seedlings I grew as an experiment in the toilet rolls.

I want to grow more flowering plants in the straw section, but have to keep in mind that I still need to walk into the area to access the spiral and the other side of the garden beds
Pretty pleased with how this is now looking. (This side anyway.)

Enjoying having lovely fresh salads most nights!

And on the soaping front…

Experimenting with red. Its been hard to get the colour right. Before I got more orange. The mixture was a bit too diluted.
This one I added some black into the red – I like the way it bled out from dark to red.
Plus the patterns turned out great!
(This is English Rose)

(I see a fire-demon haha)

And because I sold out of the Applejack Peel fragrance soap, I whipped up another batch.
I haven’t cut it yet. I am looking forward to doing that tomorrow sometime!

Yesterday I met up with a local fellow who wanted some photos done for his album and bio etc.
It was a really nice afternoon. He brought his ‘Studio Assistant’ (Daughter) who got into a few photos too just for the fun of it!
So far I processed a few shots for him and sent them through and he was really happy!
I am also working on my cousins family photos – off to see about printing them tomorrow and organising some framing.
AND my calendars arrived – a week earlier than promised! Yay.
So now to deliver/post/organise all those. Its great they came in early – I can take any extras I have to the market on Friday.

So – keeping busy as usual!
Hope you are all having a fabulous day!
Cheers

Hello!
I managed to remember to pop my camera in a basket and take it to the market today – it was nice seeing the soaps all together and set up!
Quite a colourful and ‘smelly’ display!!! 🙂

I wasn’t sure what to expect – things started off slowly. The fact that we woke to POURING rain didn’t get my hopes too high!
But people braved the rain and there were a few early sales here and there… then more steady. A number of people bought Christmas presents.
There were some young girls managing a table next to mine – they were so funny. I think they went through my table 10 times sniffing everything.

(I bought those pink bins off the girls… something to collect my coffee grounds in! They were excited about the sale. )
The hall was set up nicely – easy for customers to come in and walk right around without missing anything.
It was hard to know exactly how I was going, but I certainly came home with lighter boxes and a heavier purse.
The market went from 9am to 1pm. By the time I got home I was a bit peckish but had to do a Scrooge McDuck and count my money before lunch.
Can you believe I sold over $300 worth of soap??! I couldn’t!
Bit chuffed about that!

Reckon I better go shopping for some more olive oil and make a few more batches!!

Yesterday while waiting for my cousin Leonie to pop in, I did some housework and picked some flowers.

I have some cute little vases so it was nice to put something in them

The mini tea pot I think is actually for pouring Sake… I think it makes a perfect vase.

I bought this off my friend Maureen’s market stall last weekend. I am a sucker for tiny vases! She only had 50 cents on it! I paid $2. I think its really sweet!

This little ceramic watering can was made by my Japanese friend Tsu-San

And finally my turtle bowl. Inside is a turtle with holes in his shell where you can poke all the flowers stems in.

Spring – bright colours in the flowers definitely make up for the ‘interesting’ weather!

Hope your weekend has started as brilliantly as mine!
Cheers

Hello!
We’ve managed to have a couple of decent days in a row – apart from the wind not really letting up much!

The lettuce patch is going along pretty well… Adding a few new things in so they will come along as we raid the more developed plants. I think there are some spinach babies – I was given the seedlings and not sure. 🙂

The herb spiral is slowly looking a bit better. Still no sign of the chives. Someone mentioned that sometimes the seeds can take an EON to appear. Might have to pry open my purse and buy some seedlings haha

A determined self seeded tomato plant looking quite good – growing right on the outside of one of the new garden beds!!

So excited to see little passionfruit making a start!

My basil that I started from seed is now looking rather good! They were looking a bit sad for a while. Clearly enjoying the better weather too.

The other day we made a good start on the raspberries (LONG overdue job) Restringing their supports and weeding.

Lots of fruit forming – so I am in a rush to finish this and get it netted!!
I did a bit more clearing of the grass along the strip yesterday – along with several ‘helpers’ (if you call sticking their beaks into the area that I work in and randomly pooing close by ‘helpful’)

We sadly had to dispatch one of our girls the other day. She had been crook for a while and just wasn’t coming good. The writing was on the wall. We hate to let them linger but its a horrible job – one we don’t ‘get used to’
Poor chook! I console myself knowing she had a good life and lots of good food.

I am having a real issue with blackbirds digging up the garden beds. I might have to go get more netting.
I’d love to net the entire garden but… lets just say I won’t mention another Great Idea Project to Jeff just for now.
Anyway, my beetroot have recovered from their pruning by birds and the carrots are also sitting up well.

Some potato flowers! Not from the patch… just random ones growing about the place! I swear they are like weeds!

Speaking of potatoes… the second patch has potatoes popping up so thats encouraging!

First leek and a brown onion!
I could have left the onion longer but was keen to try!!
They both went into a stirfry!

Some of my little baby tomatoes were going quite well… so I bit the bullet and decided to put some in the ground.
Prepared a couple of beds..

Out came the old silverbeet (Happy chooks having a feast) and in went the tomatoes. (As well as one of the laterals that looks very woebegone. Will be interesting to see if it bounces back ok)

The bigger L shaped patch that had all the mad rocket in it was cleared and replanted with some little tomatoes.
They are so tiny I had to circle them in red to show you where they were. These are ‘Yellow Pear’. I hope they survive.

The spring onion are doing fine at the sides and I left in a few young rocket plants.

What I was very keen to do was put the butternut pumpkins into the hugelkultur beds… which i did.
Today a LOT of the dirt and straw has been kicked away by the birds.
I’ll refill it soon and throw a net over it while the plants are trying to get established.

I also gave the zucchinis a bit more soil – the original gets a bit dry with the wind and the birds are kicking off the mulch.
I noticed tonight they have managed to dig holes in this already!!!
Will be on a netting mission this week

Well – that rounds things up a bit. Still feel well behind the 8 ball when it comes to being on top of stuff, but I have my fingers crossed for the weather to steadily improve which will please the plants. (And me. Oh very much so me!!!)

I’ve been out tonight to set up a stall for a market tomorrow morning.
I am even going to try to remember to take my camera so I can get a snap of all the soaps set up.
One of the local churches is having a fete – lots of different stalls. Hopefully there will be a few Christmas shoppers out!

Better aim for an early night so my brain is ready to add up all the $$ haha
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Cheers

Well!! Finally got in and compared notes to see whose brain matched mine in the Great Soap Inkblot Test!
We all overlapped a little here and there, but hands down, Rebecca came up with 6 similar/same pictures as I did!
I’ll be emailing you soon Rebecca!! 🙂 Well done!

This is what I saw – above I saw Batman! (Funnily enough Jeff did too) Others saw butterflies, bats and owls.

This one was a mad bull!

Horses! (But I see the two thumbs now 😀 )

This one was a bit weird – two deers with pouty lips facing each other!!
A couple of people saw Starwars Stormtroopers!

I immediately saw ‘Groot’ the tree from Guardians of the Galaxy! But Tree was also accepted without the Groot bit. Happy to see that someone else (Renee) also saw Groot!!

I saw the back of a naked lady

This was definitely an owl… in sunnies!

I thought Ibis or similar long beaked birds (facing each other)

And lastly.. I saw a fox! Quite a number of you did!! Other people saw faces with the eyes.

Thanks so much for playing along! It was fun reading your replies to see what other people saw in the soap!!

Cheers!