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Hello!!
I was pretty mundane today. Yesterday I took a rest because happily it was raining. Went and saw the doc and got good news, as all my bloods came back spot on!! Yay!! So I can keep steadily doing what I am doing and recheck in three months.
Today was another one of those pour one minute, sunshine madly the next days. So I got in and did a bit of housework.
A real bright spot in the day was getting a parcel in the mail!! What an awesome book!! My friend, Marty, who I help with moderating his gardening page, sent it to me! I really enjoyed sitting down this afternoon with a hot choc in front of the fire to start browsing through it.
See? I’ve already tabbed a few pages!! 🙂

Did I mention dropping into a garage sale in the pouring rain and wind earlier in the week?
I picked up these wicker drawer sets for the upstairs room. They aren’t too shabby and were only $10 each.
Nice for guests who stay upstairs to have somewhere to put their things.

Pip has spent a vast amount of the day sleeping in toasty towels, getting up for snacks then coming back to irritate me until I provide him with a freshly warmed one.

Imagine if we had kids!!! They’d be impossible haha.
That is one spoiled Siamese Cat.

I finished another crochet project – Its only a little blanket. My Texan friends daughter is about to have a baby boy. I thought this would be colourful and cheerful for a little boy.

Anyway, here’s hoping the weather perks up a bit tomorrow. I think we have about two weeks or so before the tree guys return to create another mess. I’d like to get some more gardening done in the meantime!
Cheers!!

Twitch – that long ropey grass!! Rotten stuff that you can’t get rid of. It sometimes makes me question my love of organic haha
Anyway, I was working on the second garlic patch today while the young fellow who took us up on the offer of the free pile of wood came and collected it. He insisted he didn’t need help loading the vehicle – I guess he thought since he was getting free wood he shouldn’t impose on my time! Nice guy. I was going to use the chipper but that would have spat chips all over him so I found another job instead (Its good when you have a solid list to work from!!)

I decided to use this patch as the second garlic bed. The state of the other plot in the Duck Yard Garden put me off – its going to be a lot of work in sticky mud so I took the easier route. (for now)

Looking oodles better.
Jeff was pruning the apple trees and saved me these great branches. I’ll do something with them! But the complete Muffin decided to prune the rest of the Guelder-rose (the one I am using for the tension trays and huggle fence?) and threw all the clippings down ‘The Hole’
‘The Hole’ now has a few feet of water in it so popping a ladder in it to go fetch isn’t an attractive option.
Sigh.

Chickens!! I saw the duck yard garden gate swing open in the wind – I hadn’t snicked the bolt home properly. I was busy and then forgot… then thought ‘oops’ – very quiet on the chook-front!
Yep… all nine of them in the duck yard garden kicking the last of the bale of hay apart!! Happily they hadn’t gotten into any of the Huggle Monsters!
Naturally they raced off in five different directions when I was trying to herd them back out. Little snot-faces!! 🙂

I did eventually get back to the chipper.

This time I decided to start lining the outside of the first garlic patch so I can keep the weeds down.
Its a work in progress.

The newspaper should help as well. And I can hear it raining out there so that will start settling it into place.

Little bits of progress. I’ll be interested what it is all going to look like by spring!! (No pressure) 🙂
Cheers!

Hi There!
And another beautiful winters day today!
Check out my worms!! While I can’t discern a worms expression I get the feeling they are happy.

The last pile is dwindling! I saved and chopped suitable lengths for the chipper and future craft-like projects. The rest went on the fire.

Jeff got out the chainsaw and cut up the long chunky bits into manageable sizes and stacked it.

This pile is the ‘awkward’ pile. We were going to burn it but I put a note on the local facebook noticeboard for anyone who wanted it to collect it – free. That offer was snapped up pretty quick – a lady is coming to get it all (I hope) midday tomorrow.

And now we are about ready to call back the tree-guys!!

The manky-no-thought-put-into-it compost pile has been rediscovered! Smart chook must have had a bit of a lovely feast in there!

I also found this massively tough hydrangea!! Under all that wood and still got little buds! The least I could do was relocate it!

My other goal today was to get a spot cleared for one of the garlic plots. Its really time for them to go in.

Ugh – the ground was heavy to work in and those stakes did NOT want to come up. I broke a few which was annoying considering I was literally digging them out!
Took ages to untie the nylons… muttering at myself about tying quick release knots in future.
I grabbed a few tomatoes that look like they might ripen and gave the rest to the chooks.

I found a couple of sprouting potatoes which I put in the hothouse to see how they go… Oops… I just remembered I forgot to water them!!

So many big fat worms in here too!!

Anyway, I got it all cleared out and weeded – sort of (twitch eurgh) and covered with a generous dusting of blood and bone. In the next few days I’ll add the lime then will be right to start planting.
Will sort a second plot ASAP… as one cannot have too much garlic.

Last night I had a lovely time buying soap supplies!! I got moulds, fragrances and colours. I had to hit ebay though to get the caustic soda.
I seriously can’t wait! A few more things to secure before I can have another go myself. I got some really interesting fragrances and I can’t wait to sniff them!! They talk about the scents like they are describing wines so it was pretty entertaining!

Thats all from Tassie for tonight!
Hope your weekend is going along splendidly!
Cheers…

G’day – Friday is done! Jeff got out and started clearing up the last of the branches. He also set fire to the big log which he has been dying to do for ages!! I felt a bit nervous about that!

The wind started out ok, blowing in the right direction… then of course changed its mind. Not so much changed direction as decided to do little swirly vortexes right where we were! No matter where you stood, you got smoked!! In the end it was just no fun and we moved on to other things.

Jeff wanted to recreate a bench seat we saw on one of the gardening shows

Eventually we will finish them off and add some proper macrocarpa timber for the bench part when that gets done – and of course find a place to set it up, make it level etc etc

I decided to prune as I wanted to continue on the woven fence… but then got a bit side-tracked –

A while back a lady on one of my gardening pages posted some tension trays she had made! A bit of youtubing showed me how it was done.
I thought I would give it a go this afternoon.

I had to use a little string on the first one as it was threatening to spring out. I’d love to collect some willow for this.

The second one went better!

Three more ‘potentials’
I thought if I make soap for market sales then they would be a lovely tray to present my wares on!

Part way through my industrious homesteading, I heard Little Moo bellowing away and happily destroying a chair in his paddock. I think the poor little chap is lonely and bored.

I called him over and treated him to some dodgy apples!
He was very keen!

That tongue!! He is so licky haha

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend planned!
Enjoy!
Cheers 🙂

Hello!
Fabulous day today!
I had two goals this year – things just for my own self indulgent interest. (Clearly that tiny goal list doesn’t include all the insane house and yard goals)
I’ve been wanting to make soap for years… years and years!!
I am so lucky to have a local friend who has been making soap for a long time, who has decided to start running workshops to teach the skill.

Sharon invited me and a couple of other ladies to act as guinea pigs for her first teaching day.

Fresh goats milk right from Sharons farm! Part of the ingredients used.
Actually it would have been good to get a photo of her goats which at some points were dancing about on top of the BBQ!! Soap making AND free entertainment!

It was so good to physically go through the process and get taught some background and basics – but we were all itching to get in there and start mixing!

We watched Sharon do a basic batch then we all got to make two batches of our own.

Choosing colours and scents was a really fun part of the proceedings.

I really liked the effects of mixing up colours and making patterns on the soap

In goes the goats milk!

Mixing three colours into the loaf mould. (It will have to be cut into pieces tomorrow morning so I need to try to juggle Jeff’s dentist appointment and getting back out to Sharons place)

I am looking forward to seeing these cut!

Sharon provided us with a beautiful platter of nibblies… including home made goats feta!! Oh my! I need to ask her about the possibility of purchasing this! Soooooo good!!

The laundry was packed with trays of new soap! It was all so colourful and cheerful looking.

I’ve got my own little budget set aside for the ‘me’ things this year so I am rather keen to get online and to op-shops to start shopping for my supplies so I can continue on and have a go making soap myself.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to pick up my selection of soaps and get some snaps of the products out of their moulds. Exciting!
Hope your day was great too!
Cheers!

Hi there!!
Slow Sunday and not much to report!
As you can see – it rained.
I got up early and put the fire on for Jeff for when he got in (20 wife points) Then went back for a little snooze before getting up properly and popping off to the local market.
Barry, my straw man (Straw-Barry??)(Its late and I think I am funny) saved me his last 12 bales.
I picked them up as it started drizzling and got them home undercover before the rain started coming down in earnest.

I’ll take a couple over to Ruby and Margie. I was intending to get a lot more but since I procrastinated I’ll just be happy with this lot!
Generally early in the season I have such trouble finding affordable mulch and the beach doesn’t always co-operate when I need it to and remains clear of my seaweed! Its nice to know I now have a stash ready for spring!

I dragged some of the half pallets up for them to sit on and draped them in the tarp to keep most of the wet off them.
I’ll be using at least a couple to give a final covering to the Huggle-Monsters.

Oh – Jeff found me a rather cool series on Netflix called ‘Big Dreams – Small Spaces’ A UK series – a before and after kind of show where people dramatically change their small gardens. I really like it – I’ve gleaned a good amount of new information and a few ideas I can incorporate here!

Have a lovely day!!
Cheers!

Wow! Winter!! How did that happen?? I can’t believe we are in June.
There was a knock on the front door mid morning – front door knocking ALWAYS means Jehovah Witnesses. Naturally I was in bed because I am lazy AM-Challenged a night owl.

I wandered out of bed and heard voices at the back door. Jeff had somehow found them and seemed to be in the middle of a long conversation.
It showed no sign of stopping so I thought I would put in an appearance and say hi! (yes – still in PJ’s with no shame)
Mother and son this time. New faces. Nice people, son (15) very quiet (aren’t most boys that age quiet??)
They are 6 months new to Tasmania and this area. Honestly, its a hard way to get to know people as when someone turns up at your door spruking religion, its usually a door slam or a curt “No thank-you, we have our own beliefs”
I’ve stopped shying away from telling people that turn up about our non investment in a higher power – at least then we all know where we stand 🙂
I did get the (very serious) young fellow to laugh a few times and even answer a few questions. His mother, sweet but had the tendency to talk for him. Turns out he plays the piano. So I asked if they wanted to buy one!! It was an off the cuff comment, but really, we are babysitting a beautiful old family piano that no-one wants or plays and its a real shame.
So… we invited them in (oooo – says Rommy (the Mum) we never get invited in!!) so Roman could have a go as they did seem interested.
Oh – he plays beautifully. Played Fur Elise for us and it was a real treat hearing the piano again! (My mother and one of my sisters play and we really enjoy listening) He was pretty thrilled with the sound as he has only played on electronic pianos… this old beauty has soul!!
We’ve given them our number and told them to bring gumboots back next time so we can show them what we are doing in the garden as they seem really into this lifestyle change.

After all the religion, piano and garden talk, I had my (by that stage) VERY late breakfast. Jeff went back to bed as he is on nightshift.
It was such a beautiful day I couldn’t stay inside – and since the wind was almost non existent I figured to give the chipper another run. I got through most of the stuff we had set aside and dumped it all in the spaces around the gardens. It seems like a lot of work for a small addition to my paths!! Never mind. I enjoyed it.

The afternoon light was warm and rich! I still feel sad knowing these amazing trees will soon be no more.

My Jurassic Rhubarb is winding down. It has a huge footprint and I really need to make it pay for itself a bit better next season. Getting more stuff together to sell at the front and selling it in bundles. I’ve used it but still not in the habit of really making the best use I could of it.
(Mind you – I really like it there because it looks impressive and happy!)

I crawled into the cabbage patch and gave it a good weeding. They are all doing so nicely! Next I should treat them with the kelp juice!

Nice solid trunk on the passionfruit! I raked all the remaining leaves and mulched them around the plant.
Then I got onto my ‘bucket seedlings’
I had a bucket of random brassicas that I couldn’t fit into the outside plots and a bucket of lettuce that didn’t fit into the straw bale… both lots had been in there for AGES!!! And reasonably happy (ie not dead)

So – into the hothouse. Hopefully everyone will be happy there.
I do suspect the lettuce will race to seed, but I am not unduly worried.
I’d also like to plant some carrot seeds in here to see if they will germinate at this time of year and also a few potatoes… just for the fun of it!

Look who’s back in the next-door paddock!
Little Moo, thats who!!
He was so happy to see me!! He came galumphing across the paddock to see me and spent ten minutes slobbering all over me!! (Awwww)

I am in love with the photo below…

Such a crack up!!
I fed him a few tomatoes and some silverbeet – all of which he seemed to enjoy along with a good patting and scratching.

Anyway, by this time I had to do the usual end of day stuff… lock chooks up, collect some salad items for dinner, get fire going, prep dinner… wash off cow goo.

I hope your day included someone that was so happy to see you too – perhaps without all the slobber though!
Cheers!

Hi there! Are we all set for the weekend?? 🙂
I popped into town this morning to post some garlic to a friend and drop some off to another local fellow who wanted to buy some.
Was nice meeting him and we had quite the garden chat before I had to go.
I premade dinner (mostly) as I don’t feel up to making a huge effort in the kitchen after long hours working in the yard. (We had home made hamburgers tonight!!)

I checked on my worms… even though I totally over fed them, they seem to be happily chowing down on the food I gave them! This makes me happy.

I decided to add a few layers to the latest Huggle-Monster. I grabbed our panning sieve tray to sift the coffee down. Its a rather nice task!

I dragged out the wood chipper today, intending to get all the saved branches through, but the wind really kicked up this afternoon and I was seeing a lot of the woodchips flying randomly all over the yard. It was a bit annoying as I was in the groove, but… it would have been a wasted effort. So I gathered up what I had done and mixed it with the coffee and fed it to the Huggle.

I popped the passionfruit leaves on first, then weighed them down with the woodchip layer.
Then I emptied the other dry neglected compost bin on top of that.

THEN – I mowed the front lawn so I could get a heap of grass clippings as well.

Enough. Just have to wait until Sunday for my straw now.

Its a cold night… Pip is, as usual tucked up in his fire warmed towel. We’ve created a monster there. He hangs out pointedly staring at you until you get the hint and as soon as the towel comes off the heater, he gives an approving Meow and stands waiting to be swaddled in it!!
I wish someone would do that to me!!
Cheers

Hello!!
Well… the B12 definitely kicked in and I aimed at a totally unrealistic lot of tasks I wanted to get done today.
I finally dragged myself inside, just on dark to sort dinner out!! 😀

First up – a trip out to Bunnings to get some cocopeat and worms. I was all-fired keen to get my wormlings into their new home.

I ignored their fancy ‘worm blanket’ which sold for about $11 and dropped by spotlight and picked up 2 metres of hessian jute for $12. That should last for a while 🙂
I decided to put the worm farm down in the hothouse for the winter where they will be protected from the cold winds and get a little warmth through the day. I’ll probably move them to the BBQ area in the nicer seasons.

Learning curve #1 – soak this in bucket of water first.
While it was soaking I went and chopped up a gourmet feast for my new pets.

Once I got that sorted out I put it back in the worm farm tray, then added my new worm family in.

I need to ask my worm farming friend about the level of cocopeat I have used and how much food I gave them. I think they have a bit much but I will sort that out as I go.

I gave the hessian a good soaking and it went in on top.

I did find a lot of tiny worms still clinging to the bag that I carefully had to relocate.

I am rather excited about finally getting a worm farm!
If I do everything right and get nice castings and worm wee, I will have to share with Gerry who gave me the setup! I am sure he will love some for his garden too!

What I didn’t intend today was clearing out this disgrace of a hothouse. Sure it is on my ‘List’ but it wasn’t planned for today.
However, since I had to make a bit of space for the worms, I figured I might as well keep going.
Tentacular really needed to be brought way back under control too.

With luck that won’t hurt it!!
Now have to find a spot for the mountain of offcuts!

The outside got a trim as well… once I untangled more of the passionfruit vine from it!

I think the poor fuscia on the right will need to go… it got really leggy and straggly.

Picked up plenty of passionfruit!!
And now I have lots of space in the hothouse!!
Oh the possibilities!!

Then it was time to feed the new Huggle-Monster.
I thought since marigolds were so beneficial, they might do well composting in a hugelkultur…??

I finally rang the market guy, Barry, about the straw and glad I did! I have secured the last 12 bales which he will bring to the market for me to collect on Sunday. Then I can complete the Huggle Monsters and let them compost properly over winter.
By this time it was actually fairly dark, so I abandoned any ideas of adding more to the Hugelkultur or woodchipping.
Tomorrow is another day!

Hope you had a great day too!
Cheers!

Hello!
Our silly cat seemed to want to sit outside today! It wasn’t raining but it sure wasn’t warm either!!
We were in town early – Jeff had a tooth extraction (ow – he was a sore fellow for a lot of today but seems to have come good this evening) and I finally got my B12 so hopefully I’ll be bouncing about again 🙂
We really didn’t bounce today though 😀

I finished drying and putting the garlic salt through the mortar! Such a lovely lot there! I plan on using it tomorrow night when cooking so I will be able to give you a report then.

I cleaned up my worm farm – actually while the weather is cold and dodgy I should pop out to Bunnings and get some cocopeat and get online and order some worms to get started!!
Now that I have had my B12 I’ll write a list and get all re-motivated 😀
Not much else happened today. Had the fire going and spent a very nice lazy day inside!

Off to bed for me.
Will aim to look as relaxed as Pip 🙂
Cheers!