Hi!
Got out and did some work outside for a change.
My, the weather has changed quickly and its so much colder!
Cousin Jeff dropped off a couple of loads of firewood – even though we’ve got a heap of the macrocarpa, its good to mix it with something else.
Wood Inspector
Today we got it all stacked.
Latest veggies:
Still haven’t dug the plot up properly…
Corn is nearly done…
So glad I planted those extra lettuce seedlings
And here are some bad photos of salads.
I am not much for arranging things and getting the right light and settings for the dinner photos… I more like throw it together so I can get into eating!
I separate the pickled beetroot, capsicum and feta because Jeff isn’t a fan
The potato salad looks unappealing but it tastes oh so good!
This morning there was a frost warning.
I don’t think we got it but it stirred me to get out and get what tomatoes were out in the main garden!
And the last of the corn! 🙁
I reckon I’ve got enough in there to do the bbq sauce!
I also picked the butternut pumpkins! Looking forward to some roasted or some soup
The beetroot and carrots here were for Lynn – she lives down in one of the local beach communities and often drops in to buy our eggs.
On the soaping front… How cute are these stickers? Jeff surprised me by organising these. They arrived in the post the other day. Will look all fancy pants on my bags and boxes!
I also got a bit crafty…
The slab mould produced soap too big for the cheese cutter and I am not so skilled at cutting with the knife.
So I bought a plastic place mat and cut my own divider set!
I forgot to take a photo of the soap IN the mould – basically I make the soap up and do the design then drop in the grid to separate it.
The soap came away beautifully today so I am pleased with my efforts
A single batch either makes big chunky soaps (above) or much smaller thin ones (Below) –
Ideally I should make a batch and a half for this mould.
Okey dokey… remember the beetroot soap that… um… went white??
I experimented further…
I’ve been dehydrating beetroot and made it into powder.
Because the chemical process of the soap making killed the colour… I made some plain soap and let its cure for about a week (less)
Took a bar and tried to rebatch it by melting it back to oil so I could put the colour in
Um… its very, er… rustic isn’t it?
Melting it down was a pain and not very successful – ie it didn’t go back to liquid form.
It also killed the lovely purple quickly but so far has retained a lovely oatmeal colour
The texture is interesting…
So… there is a LOT of mucking about and work in it to get this. Its been a fun thing to try out but as a saleable product its probably just too involved
Although if I wrap a bit of twine about it and do a bit of spruking about the home grown beetroot in it, maybe people will snap them up??
(Its a stretch I know haha)
So… back to normal soap!
I wanted to make some unscented soap for the lady that sold me all those fragrance oils and colours etc.
She said she really liked black!
So… Activated charcoal with blue square surprise!
I sent her a photo and she loved them – happily blue is her second favourite colour!
I will follow up on this idea with the black with interesting embeds!
OK… my back is now explaining its bedtime and that it moved a lot of wood today so get off this chair and scoot!!
Cheers!
Moving all that wood is great exercise, if you can walk the next day! Haha I love the pix of all the beautiful produce. It snowed in West Virginia this week, making me happy we didn’t put our plants outside yet. This has been a cold spring.
I liked the white beetroot soap. It’s fun to see all of your experiments and the outcomes. Most are wins and evenly the beetroot remelt can be marketed as manly soap. 😉
Snow again!! Thats kind of hard at this time of year when you are just itching to get on with the growing and warmer weather!!
Thank-you re soap… lol… I am looking forward to trying to actually use that ‘rustic’ beetroot soap… just to see how it works so I know for sure whether to try again or not!!
Hope your weather is improving!
It’s such a shame that the beetroot color didn’t take. It’s so pretty and vibrant 🙁 The orange batch though looks wonderful! And the labels are very professional.
Things have been pretty chilly for our Spring. We even got some snow flurries last week. Luckily since moving to where I am now, I’ve learned more about hardiness zones and how to plant around my last frost date.
Also! I was able to make row covers as you suggested with the irrigation tubing and netting. I went with a white netting as you recommended. I think the stakes I chose to go in the ground and in the tubing are not tall enough. I just didn’t little short pieces of PVC pipe, but now that we had a some snow and rain showers, the tubing arches are all sad and wilty 🙁 I made one into an x but later today, I think I’ll go and try to use some thin pieces of bamboo in the tubing to hold them up higher much like your green tomato stakes.
I’m giving peas another go this spring, and with the row cover netting over my trellis, I haven’t had any nibbles yet!! I hope it works well because all of the seeds I saved from last year’s pea-catastrophe seem to be germinating fine and producing strong, happy plants. I gave them some handfuls of compost on Friday.
ps. please give Pip pets <3
Hi Lee!
Great to hear what is happening in your garden! I hope you’ve sorted the tubing and netting. So much easier once you have those protection things in place I reckon!
Are you still getting snow? I really hope spring starts to move along for you soon!
I just gave Pip some head scratches (he is on my lap while waiting for his towel to heat up again) and told him that was from you. You got some purrs lol
yay! purrs < all over the place. my favorite is when its about 62*
and yes! my partner helped me use some saved bamboo stakes to make a center support for each arch. it will work out well because i'll use those to help make string fences for the zinnia and aster as the summer goes on.
Good to hear you’ve sorted the garden thing out!!! 🙂