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An exciting day at Norwich House… my favourite time in the garden finally arrives! Digging potatoes!
The poor old plants were very ready to come out.

Happily we had another lovely sunny day today, so we put on our gardening clothes and hats and got to it!

We were digging up so many huge sized spuds!

Every minute or so we’d stop to show each other the size of the potato we just found! 😀

The biggest one weighed in at just over half a kilo!! (maybe not the one pictured…)

We actually had to make two barrow trips to the front lawn as there wasn’t enough space in it to fit them all at once!

My almost non-existent OCD kicked in and we sorted the potatoes by size. This year we had an ‘Extra Large’ category and a ‘chook’ category (anything too small or green or fiddly to bother cooking so will eventually be chucked in a pot to cook for the chickens!)

Jeff wanted to weigh them this season so we dragged out a duffle bag and the luggage scale.
We dug up 90kgs (just a shade under 200lb)!!
Think thats enough??

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and got fantastically dirty!
We’ve boxed them all up and stored them in the shed. I have a small box in the pantry for use right now.

In other gardening news…
Beau put all these tomatoes in the freezer for us while we were away! The day after we arrived home I did a round of the garden to pick some more.

Excited to see some of my yellow tomatoes finally ripening!

The new lettuce patch is doing nicely.

The lettuce in the straw bale is looking rather tragic!! Half died, but some are hanging in there. Will give more attention to them!!

Something for dinner last night.
And a pear!!

The cow-ravaged corn patch (whats left of it) is going well. The cobs haven’t filled out yet but we are just finishing off the last lot so these will be ready to go soon! Happy I got the timing right!

Three new cucumbers!
A rock melon!! I’ve not had success yet so fingers crossed for this fellow.

Passionfruit keep falling too! Lovely!

Plenty of cherry tomatoes on the self seeded plants at the back of the hothouse. I got around to picking these this afternoon!

Yesterdays basket of fresh stuff!

I love weird carrots! This one was fab!

I did the rounds and picked about 8kgs of tomatoes (17lb) a few more cobs of corn, found some runaway zucchinis, more passionfruit and some herbs.
Dinner tonight was about 90% home grown. I stuffed some tomatoes tonight and we ate a scandalous amount of corn!!
Life’s pretty good eh?
Hope you have a wonderful weekend planned!
Cheers!

Hello!!!
Feast your eyes on that VIEW!!
We got in last night and slept very very soundly after the most glorious shower ever!!
We had a great time – different challenges each day, but oh so satisfying.
Life is simple up there. The anxiety melts away as you pack up your gear, walk from A to B, unpack, change, eat, chat and sleep (well… toss and turn on a camp mattress for 12 hours haha)
Then… wake and go again!
The scenery is ever changing and gorgeous.
We were pretty lucky with the weather. The forecast rain rain rain rain, snow and rain didn’t eventuate.
It was cold enough but only on day five did we get significant rain and snow flurries as we hiked.
The highlight was getting the chance to climb and summit Mt Ossa, Tasmanias highest peak. Absolutely stunning! A rather huge challenge and NOT a walk in the park but worth every ounce of sweat!

I am going to drift my way through the next week – work on the garden and the photos 🙂 I wrote a diary while I was up on the hike so I could copy my thoughts into the daily account of our hike this time.
The garden is pumping out tomatoes and tonight it was great having fresh food again!

Hope your week has been fantastic and I will be dropping back again soon with hiking stories and garden tales!
Cheers!

Well – I’ve a confession. I’m not really all that bright.
Who thought leaving two point five days to get prepared for a huge hike was going to be ample time between saying goodbye to guests and heading off??
Hmmmm???
So… I’ve been running about like a Hairy Goat for days. (Are hairy goats a thing?)
And why the shoes? Oh, because on Saturday one of my comfortable-as-gloves hiking boots split. Meaning on top of whatever else I had to do, Monday I had to find new hiking shoes and not least break them in – before Friday!!!

They didn’t have my beloved boots in my size in stock of course so had to find something else. The lovely shoe shop lady let me take these home without paying to walk about the house and take time to decide!! How great was that?
Anyway, they are lighter than the leather boots and will hopefully dry out quicker. I took them for a test hike around the river yesterday and not a rub at all let alone a blister! So – hopefully I won’t have New Shoe Regret this upcoming week. (and yes I managed to remember to return and pay)

We had a lovely 5 days with Yusuke and Megumi. A nice way to finish Megumi’s stay with her husband arriving and doing some fun sightseeing, catching up and eating all the good stuff!

They are in Melbourne now enjoying their last couple of days in Australia.

There has been so much to do! It would have been great to have more time to just rest a bit before heading out, but… no rest for the wicked!!!
I had to pick most of the corn today before leaving as a little grub was getting into the top. I didn’t want to come home to lost corn. We ate 2 big cobs each tonight at dinner, I’ve given some away, sold some and frozen the rest.

Its turned really cold tonight!! The tomatoes were just starting to really come along! Hopefully the warm autumn weather will return. Still a lot of green tomatoes out there to turn.

Picking up passionfruit daily now!

I did a bit of a run about town delivering eggs and veggies on top of seeing the doc and getting a B12 boost!

We drugged Pip yesterday so he wasn’t so uptight when going to the vet for his steroid injection! He was super mellow and floppy all day! The vet was able to give him the shot while he was still in the cage with only one small protesting meow!! So much better for everyone!! 😀 (Cousin Beau is house sitting. We usually give Pip a tablet daily but giving cats pills successfully is only for Vets and the Super Skilled (us)(haha) So the injection is a good tide over for when we are away)

Anyway, I think I have everything together… best get to bed as we have a long drive tomorrow. If all goes well, we’ll be walking out Friday Morning.
The forecast? Rain Rain Rain and snow! haha. Probably wind too.
We aren’t fazed. We will just be happy to get right away from it all for a short time!
Have a lovely week ahead and think of me trudging through the wilderness with my 18kg pack!! (Yes, camera is in!!)
Cheers

Well… I can now share Megumi’s secret project! She finished it about an hour or so before her husband Yusuke arrived in Tasmania!!
I taught Megumi to crochet early on in her visit and we decided to go choose some specific yarn and colours so she could make Yusuke a rug as a surprise.

She’s done a fantastic job… on closer inspection it doesn’t look like the work of a beginner!
It was a lot of fun when she brought it out for Yusuke – he couldn’t believe she had made it!
He was so impressed and amazed!!

I hope Megumi keeps up the crochet – its a nice hobby and she is good at it. I have told her that YouTube is her friend for learning more patterns!! 🙂

Yesterday we cooked a pot of extra tomatoes – just some to freeze for later on. I don’t have time to make relish or sauce right now, so this seemed like a good thing to do.

I also finished off dehydrating a veggie mix for us to take up on our hike.
I think this jar is about 5 days worth of meals for both Jeff and myself!!

Dinner tonight was enjoyable – its nice to have so much home grown and made on the table when guests arrive! Yusuke was happy to be eating summer food again, since Japan is still pretty cold, so winter comfort food is the main thing right now!

Anyway, better get off to bed. Bit of a quiet day tomorrow – off to see a beach or three 😀
Cheers!

Its nice when you pop out to friends places that you can put together a basket of fresh food! Then get given some nashi’s in return!! Cool!
We’ve visited a few locals recently with Megumi – checking out some rural life!

At our friend Sharons property there are chooks and chicks everywhere! Jeff caught this fuzzy fellow so Megumi could have a cuddle!

We got to pat goats, chooks, cats, dogs and the cow!

I haven’t gotten around to post processing lots of photos… its all a work in progress.

Yesterday we went up to Fiona’s to visit her and the family. Its always a bit of fun at the White’s property. We did a lovely walk around their bush tracks (which is good because I NEEDED a walk!)

I might be a bit light on in the next little while with the blog… Megumi’s husband and our friend Yusuke is due to arrive in Tasmania on Wednesday. I cleaned most of the house today, but there are a few other things that need doing tomorrow – not least blood tests (yay) and making up another vanilla slice!
I seem to have a bone density scan booked Wed morning too, just to make things more interesting!
So I will be caught up between sightseeing, cooking, prepping for the hike and trying to fit in practice walks as well.
I think my brain is starting to quietly panic!!
No doubt all the tomatoes will ripen in the middle of all that!! 😀

Anyway, will drop in when I can and keep you updated of anything fabulously interesting that might be going on!!
Cheers!

Hello!
How is your weekend faring?
I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen with Megumi getting on to a few things. Not that I got any kitchen photos…
We actually started off by making up a huge pot of veggies mixed in – I used tinned tomatoes as we are not quite overwhelmed with them yet. We grated zucchini & carrots, put in chopped onion and garlic, plenty of herbs and some corn kernels.
Part of this we put on pasta for dinner, but several trays of it are now in the dehydrator doing its thing. That Overland Hike is coming up fairly smartly and I need to have our dinners made!

My basil has grown back enough to make another batch of pesto. So we did that. I put it straight in the freezer – one pack we will use when Megumi’s husband Yusuke arrives next week.
We also started making another batch of blueberry ice cream. Will finish that tomorrow.
And – some plums got cooked as they were looking a little desperate!!

I must be doing something right with the strawbales. Things are sprouting!!

This is only day three of the blood and bone stage. I want to ask Barry who sold me the straw what was growing in the paddock.

Check out the apples!! Everywhere!

The green-yellow ones are quite tasty now. A little bit tart but really good. It will take the red ones another month or two before they are ready

Some of those beetroot are huge!
And I am still doing the rounds waiting for the million tomatoes to explode into red!

Some of the ‘from lateral’ tomato plants are starting to show colour!

Mad amounts! Fully intend having my stall back out when I start getting overwhelmed with them!

Are my watermelons getting bigger?? I can’t tell!

The pumpkins are!
I fed the corn today with some kelp juice. I have high hopes of this plot.

Was worth netting the little plum tree – they are nice and juicy… not overly sweet but not tart at all.

This is one of my bucket plants. Have no idea what it is – its never flowered before and it smells so pretty!
I have a few things in a bucket – they have lived there for a couple of years with no more help than adding water. They are in the bucket because I can’t decide where to plant them!!
On my list for this year – find my bucket plants a forever home. (I am trying to resist saying something about a bucket list…)

Anyway, time for bed!
Hope your weekend is fabulous!
Cheers!

Not bad sized carrots hey?? Was pretty pleased with myself pulling up these beauties today!!! We’ve been eating them roasted and they are so lovely and sweet!

OK… remember this? Well, today I got myself motivated and worked in here for a good deal of the afternoon! Pretty sweaty in there!!
I took out a LOT of foliage

I was tempted to just pull out all the tomatoes in the corner but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Lots of mildew – so gave the tomatoes a severe pruning and cut lots of leaves off the cucumbers to open it all up again. Then I pruned the marigolds! Who has pruned marigolds before?? They were so big and not really flowering, but didn’t have the heart to yank them out. They’ve been so keen!

I even did a bit of seaweed mulching!
I found a few cucumbers which was good as we just finished the last lot.
I don’t think pollination has been that good in here this season. Not that that has stopped Tentacular. Somehow its just full of passionfruit. I pick up some daily. Looking forward to eating one later before bed!

I even managed to find a cob of corn each for dinner!
Tomorrow I have plans to cook up a big veggie mix and start dehydrating. I was going to do that today but ran out of Oomph. 😀
I was happier in the garden than the kitchen!

Roll on Saturday!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers

Hello!
oooo – today I have a lot of aches!! I am doing the Old Lady Hobble every time I get up off the chair!!
Yesterday Jeff and I took a much needed day out together.
What better way to spend the day than climbing a mountain??
We drove out to Mt Roland – Jeff got this great pic out the window as we were driving along.

Its a long hike. 17km return. Its also a bit tough on the body… unlike a lot of the Cradle hikes where you go up and down and across – undulating… this is 4 hours of UP followed by 2 hours of down.
Its such a beautiful place though and its totally worth the effort

Jeff taking a few snaps before we get into lunch!
I didn’t take my camera out until we reached the picnic table – I was too lazy 😀 Was just concentrating on getting up the next stretch or around the next corner!

We only saw a few other people on the mountain yesterday! One couple stopped for a nice chat – they were from the UK and enjoying 4 weeks in Tasmania.
Apart from that, Jeff and I had the place to ourselves. It was quite therapeutic as we’ve had little time to just do things together. We just talked about everything that was going on, plans we have, goals for the future (for next week and for in a few years) Very refreshing.

The path could be quite rugged!! I was looking down at my feet a lot over the course of the day!

I had to stop a lot as we were going up!

Finally we were approaching the last bit of the climb to get to the summit.
Seems like there was a bit of a fire around here!

From this point it was a rock scramble up to the trig point.

Part way up I pulled the camera back out out to show you what I just climbed over… then turned to show you what I still had to find my way up over:

Cool huh? (Camera gets tucked away again as I need all hands)

We lingered for a short while on the top to enjoy the views which were fast disappearing with cloud cover that was scudding across the landscape!
It was also cold when we stopped. We were wet with sweat, so the wind did us no favours when we stood or sat still!

Disappearing views!

The hike down was done rather smartly… gravity helps, but the one way pressure on the legs was noticeable! Those awkward rocky paths were a bit treacherous too! Jeff has done a lot better since using hiking poles. He is a bit of a classic at twisting his ankles. They saved him a fair bit.
Me… I went over on my ankle 4 times on the way down!!! Mad, because its very rare I do that even once! Hurt like billy-oh the first time, but luckily no real lasting pain. It was just annoying but it was probably because by that stage I was fairly tired!

Still, we got down in one piece and in daylight!!
Really very much looking forward to our upcoming Overland Hike – as much as I whinge about the aches and pains, I love it and wish we got out there a bit more often!!

Hope everyone has had a lovely week!
Friday tomorrow already!! (Actually I just looked and I am three minutes into Friday already!!)
Cheers!

Hello!
Sunday and my fellow was back at the markets today so I was able to pick up some straw at long last! Barry even dropped them off for me so hows that for service?? They are really heavy and tightly tied.
I am actually keen to try out some straw bale gardening, so will use three of these to make a start… maybe put them in position tomorrow? I figured down along the inside of the new fence would be a good place.

Added bonus would be thwarting chooks who are doing their best to dig underneath!
After the market I dropped in on Ruby and Margie to do a quick show and tell on all the lovely things I got from my raffle prize. Happily they have also taken the cushioned kneel aide too!

I made a good start on using all that seaweed we picked up the other day!
First around these two tomato plants.

The good thing when you are fussing about and fine tuning your garden, you tend to pick up on the ‘problems’ and sort them out. The white cabbage moths are fluttering about – I have found a few grubs here and there but happily not too many in the grand scheme of things.

The Duck Yard Garden is a bit unkempt! My unruly tomatoes really needed some discipline! To be honest, despite lack of high end care, they are all growing rather well and I think nearly all of them are bearing fruit!

Much more orderly! I can step between them now and see what I’ve got! I cleaned up a little around the pumpkins too.
I got rained on a lot but it wasn’t too cold.

I found two plants with these tomatoes on them I don’t recognise them at all!! Most of the plants in here are self seeded. So I would assume to see tomatoes that I have had before.

They are stripey at the top and very pale below… and grape shaped! Looking forward to trying them when they are ready!

Megumi came down and helped weed and mulch as well. She quit when it rained but went up inside to cut up those beetroot and we have made another batch of pickled beetroot tonight!

This is looking neater!! I’ve almost used up all the collected seaweed!! I really should sort out the hothouse and use the rest of the mulch in there. Maybe I should use the straw in the hothouse though… good to dig back in as mulch. The seaweed grass hasn’t got as many nutrients as the kelp.
hmmm

Still staring at my potatoes – longing to go digging frantically in here! 😀

I am glad I didn’t manage to dig up all the dahlia bulbs!!

Anyway, not a bad days work.
It was rather nice to come in to a cup of hot choc and a bit of that vanilla slice I made the other day!!
Hope your weekend was great too!
Cheers

Hello!!
Well!! Quite the day out today!
Ruby and Margies church had a Garden Tea fundraiser today.
So Megumi and I went along to enjoy and support the cause.
Guess who didn’t take her camera??? haha How weird is that?

Anyway, the home with the gorgeous garden is opposite the church.
It was set up with tea tables, a wonderful eclectic collection of tea cups, a stall where you could buy plants, a stall where you could buy some ‘stuff’ (bricabrac) a place where you could get raffle tickets, a chocolate wheel and an organised treasure hunt.
They also had a group of ladies singing for entertainment!

We enjoyed our cuppas and plate of sandwiches and sweets – and decided to join in the treasure hunt.
Megumi and I teamed up – there were 13 clues/riddles and you had to work out each one and find it in the garden. When you found it – it would have a letter on it.
Once you found all the letters, you had to unscramble the final words to get the solution!!
It was a marvellous way of going through the garden very thoroughly! We must have done about 20 laps!!
The clues were too difficult to translate properly for Megumi, but she was great at spotting random letters, then I fit the object to the clue instead of the other way around. I was able to explain some of them to her as we went along, but all in all it was good teamwork because we finished first!!
Only two others completed it correctly. (The answer was REDBACK SPIDER)
However – the prizes were then determined by a draw. I have a classic history of not winning chance draws, so had to laugh when our paper came out third of three!!
Still, we got a lovely pot and a bottle of wine! And it was all a heap of fun.
We had a go at the chocolate wheel and won no prizes (They had several rounds with the chocolate wheel) Is this an Australian name? Jeff hadn’t heard it called that. Its a spinning wheel with 60 or so numbers on it – they sell all the numbers as tickets and once all sold… spin the wheel to see who wins. Prizes often chocolate… hence name.
My Dad was a super expert at this game!! He was ridiculously lucky at getting his number spun up. So much so that people would actually GIVE him their money to buy the tickets for them. He was THAT level of ridiculously lucky! haha

Anyway, we stuck around for the raffle since it was coming up. We had been across the road to the Church Hall to show off our Treasure Hunt Prize to Margie and Shirley who were working so hard in the kitchens, making up plates of food and doing dishes!
We got back and settled in waiting for the draw. I viewed my purchase as simply a donation to a good cause.
So I am just sitting there like an idiot when they are calling out “LISA”
I honestly thought there would have been another Lisa!! Eventually when no other Lisa materialised, I put up my hand and said “I’m Lisa…”
The fellow had to read out my phone number to confirm it was me. hee hee

How great is that?? What a fabulous barrel of ‘stuff’ There was wine and a lovely soy candle melt thingy (plug in and it glows and melts your scented soy wax) – but mostly the things inside were garden related! A new set of hand digging tools, netting, spray bottle, sprinkler heads, plant food, a cute terracotta pot, gloves and a soaker hose. Very excitingly there was a $50 Bunnings Voucher too! (Big garden and hardware shop)
There was also a gardening aide to help someone kneel in the garden – cushioned with handles. Since I am still at an age where I am happy wallowing about on the ground and can get up fairly easily, I’ll take it over to see if Ruby would like it or Margie. If not, I’ll see about giving it back to the church to find it a home where someone can make good use of it!

BUT – the day is not done!
They did one more round of spins for the chocolate wheel. I bought the last two tickets for Megumi and I. I got Megumi to hold them and took out a little Japanese lucky charm that she had given me and theatrically rubbed it over the tickets for luck – we were both chuckling … until the first number up was Megumi’s!!! So funny! I made her go up and choose the prize – which was that gorgeous hanging pot of flowers!

What a lucky day!

Finished up home doing a round of watering and picked a few fruit and veggies – a good amount ended up on the dinner table and really… the corn is gorgeous!
I hope your weekend starts as brilliantly as mine did!

Cheers