July Food.

Vegetables.
Another month of not buying any vegetables.
We are eating Brocilli, Peas, Chilli, Sweet Potato, Onions from last season,  Still have a Pumpkin from last season left.  Spinach, Choko, Lettuce, a few Tomatoes.  Capsicum.
For some reason I don't have any Cabbage growing but I was given 1 along with a pile of beans so that was a freebie that was well received.

Fruit.
We have been eating mostly Oranges this month but over the last week we have had a few Mandarins, 1 Pepino and Passionfruit.  The Passionfruit are falling off the vine but are still a bit sour so I'm hoping that they will ripen a bit and taste better than they do at the moment.

Eggs.
Finally it looks like we have beaten the crows and are getting eggs again.  The young AussieRocks have started laying, the old Isas are still laying, the newer Hylines...not many from them.

Meat.
We still have a couple of roosters in the freezer, still have pork in the freezer.  Son brought out more close to use by date meat from his work.  Neighbour gave us a couple of packs of camel that he hunted himself.   So we haven't bought much meat at all during July.  Hubby bought some sausages that were on special as it's been a long time since he had any but thats all.  We still have fish in the freezer and Marron out the back when we want it.

I am starting to think about Spring plantings and am working on getting the bare gardens fed with manure and mulchy stuff.

A Stormy Night.

It's stormy and cold here today which is to be expected seeing as it is Winter but after some of the warm days that we have had it's a bit of a difference.  I was thinking that it could be an indoor all day kind of day.

The fire is going, the woodbox is full, the kettle is on...what else do I need.

Son rang earlier to see if we had had any damage as he'd driven through town and seen trees down, roofs off, SES people out working....
I took the camera with me whan we had to go in and he was right, the southern end of town has been hit quite severely.

Someone's shed.  And trees from the corner of the park are down.

Roofless houses through there.

Insulation shouldn't be here.

A massive tree is down here.  Notice the tin wrapped around the post.

There's a car behind there, under those fallen trees.

Can't go that way...

We live down the other end of the town and we had no damage at all.  We were lucky.  A few years ago our area copped the damage so it all about the luck of the draw and a good reason to keep up the insurance.

It is still quite blowey here but no longer raining and the sun is trying to shine through. 
Storms are forcast for the weekend so maybe a tidy-up outside wouldn't go astray.

Winter Wednesday.

Hazel has a Winter Wednesday post each week where she asks her readers what they like about Winter.

I like that the Oranges are ready for eating.  Picked straight from the tree and eaten within minutes.

I like that I can have the fire going and it makes the house all warm and cosy.
It make it easy and cheap to whip up a quick lunch.

I like the rain, which is just as well as it's rained most of the day here in WA.
I like winter as we can get all rugged up and get warm.  Easier than trying to get cool in the middle of Summer.
Big pots of soup that use up all the manky vegies.


I do like Winter even though the rain may put a damper on my Adventuring tomorrow.

Green Is Good.

My gardens are green, the grass is green.  The hills are green.  The paddocks all around us are green
The little house we live in is an icky pale green that has to go and one day it will....

But me?  I don't think I'm as green as I want to be.  I am having trouble reconciling my saving the world ideals with wanting to drive the van and go off exploring...for no good reason 'cept I want to see a bit of the country side before I leave this mortal world...Not that I have any plans to leave this mortal world but sometimes it's not up to us is it.  And maybe I'll get to leave this mortal world sooner if I am out on the roads more....But the main issue is with the petrol usage.  In the vans case it is diesel but it's all the same thing really.

And I have been baking but then throwing the food to the chooks because hubby goes away and if it is left here I know I will eat it.  Most of the pastry from a rustic apple pie last week.  Wasting food isn't green.  I make it because sometimes he feels like something sweetish but then he goes off to work or he doesn't want it again.  And No! it's not that I am a lousy cook.  It's that he doesn't eat much and not just for the sake of it or because something is there like I do.

I am using more plastic because I am getting mighty peeved with cleaning up the glass things that I drop.  Plastic is not green.  It is recycled so that's a point in my favour...but  I think glass is better.

I am keeping the fire burning all day because it is easier for me than chopping chips and relighting it after a day outside.  If I would get more organised I could work this one out.  What I need to do is spend some time getting a weeks worth of small wood and chips/kindling chopped.  It's not like it is hard to light the fire more that I can't do the chopping thing sometimes so getting a supply when I can...that's what needs to be done. Daughter L offered to chop some for me the other day but I was feeling pretty good then so said no.  This morning...not so good.  It's going to be another nice day here though so I will spend some time wandering around out the back and pick up all the sticks that have fallen from the trees.  That will save chopping smaller stuff.  Hubby would do it if I asked but I'd rather not.  It makes me feel more useless when I need to rely on others for stuff that I can do if I time it right.

Some chooks are cackling...I am starting to get eggs again but we are still eating more meat.  Is that ungreen too?  We didn't buy the meat...but when he is home I think we do eat too much. 

I think, to make me feel all good and greeny-like that I will make a vegie filled quiche and have it with freshly picked greens for lunch and tea.  I'll give him some meat as well if he gets home.  Gotta keep 'em happy somehow, right?

Now I'll go and put a load of washing in the twin tub machine then hang it out in the sun to dry...Sit out there in the sun with a coffee and watch the chooks for a bit....That will make me feel better about using the petrol mower later on...

Really Really Free Markets. July.

The Really Really Free Markets today was huge.  So much stuff, so many people.   A brilliant day out.

 

There was muffins, biscuits, pumpkin soup with bread, curry, tea, coffee, milo, salad rolls...all donated by people for anyone that wanted something to eat.

 

There were apples, chokos, lemons to take home as well as a huge amount of other stuff. 

Music, reiki, rune readings...There might be someone giving haircuts at the next one.

I scored a jigsaw for Hubby, some books, seatcovers fo the van, a couple of outdoor chairs to put out the front, some huge flyscreen for when we enclose the front verandah...a backpack.  

Most of the stuff I took down went to a new home.  

I will go through my cupboards again and find some stuff to take to the August market.  I know I have plenty in the shed that can go.  

So all in all, it was a great day, people came from all over and these markets keep getting bigger.  It's great.  Maybe I'll see some of you at one one day.

Really Really Free Markets

Daughter has just been here.  Looking for donations as it is the Really Really Free Markets tomorrow and she is going to bake some muffins to share with everyone there.  These are yummy muffins and worth coming along just for 1 of these.  I'm hoping my donation of sugar will get me a few extra.

Check out their sites, they have a blog and a Facebook page.

I will be taking down a few boxes of stuff and I will be on the lookout for any interesting books.  I bring them home, read them and then take them back to the next market and let someone else have a turn.  I get the benifit without adding more stuff to my little overfilled house.

These markets are going to be in the hall in Waroona, starts at 1pm and I think they go until 3 so if you are in the area and have a spare half hour or so call in and have a look.

It's Raining So What To Do?

It's Friday, I'm home alone, it's raining, it is already half past 10 and I have done nothing. 

Because it's raining there will be snails out and about.  Because it is raining I don't want to go outside and hunt them down.
It is raining so I can't mow the grass but because it is raining the grass will grow more.

It's raining so I *should* be doing inside stuff.  And there is plenty that needs doing but...I dont want to! 
I could be reading, I have a book due back real soon, but it's raining so it's kinda dark inside and I *don't do* lights.

The fire is going so I could bake.  But then I would eat what I baked.
I could make a big pot of vegie soup.  But the vegies are still out in the garden waiting to be picked and it's raining...

Am I a whinger or what?

OK, I've talked myself into it.  I will don a raincoat and go get some stuff to put in a pot.  While out there I will pick up any snails and slugs that I see.   I will try not to trip over the long grass as I plod through it while wearing Hubby's workboots.  Like I did a couple of days ago.   I will use the chicken stock from the fridge, before it gets too old and manky, as the base. 

Sounds like I have a plan.  Best be off and adoing.

Been Away.

I've been away on a bit of a roadtrip, with Hubby, in a truck.
Home yesterday but apart from a quick walk around the yard to make sure it was still there I haven't done anything.

Today I need to help clean out the truck, do all the washing, get the house back to looking lovely like it was when we walked in the door...I tell ya, it doesn't take me long to give the place that ol' *lived in* look.

And I need to blog about my ADVENTURE!!!

But another coffee before I go out in the cold and dark to let the chooks out.


And thankyou L. for being here to lock them up each night and set them free again in the mornings.  I would have worried all the time we were away if they were out and possibly fox food.

How Was June?

Garden wise everything is growing.  Mainly the grass and the weeds but there is still enough out there to eat and we didn't need to buy anything duing June.  I love that!  I'm not putting all that much effort in and still managing to feed us so it shows that it's not too hard and anybody with a bit of dirt could grow themselves a feed.

We had a few freebies throughout the month, a meal or two, some meat, bread. 
The fire was burning most of the time so lots of cooking and baking was done.  Not too sure the baking is a good thing though.  We eat more when the fire is going and really, that's not something either one of us needs.

I made an orange Cake.  Made with a whole orange *mashed* up with other stuff.  Tania over at Outback made one with a recipe from  Down To Earth.  I have seen similar, some used oil instead of butter but seeing this was there and I had an orange...I thought I'd give it a go. 

It was OK.  Hubby liked it but I don't think I'll make another one.  Too much sugar and fat for me to enjoy the making of it and though it was nice and moist I will try different recipes and find a healthier one.  Though Hubby likes me baking things I seem to be the one that ends up eating most so *healthy* is better.  Daughter *mentioned* in a negative way, all the veg that I added to the sausage rolls but that is what I do.  It makes me feel better about eating them and serving them up to people.  At least I feel a bit like I am giving me, and them, a part of our daily five.

There have been lots of stews and one-pot meals though and they are meat and heaps of veg so though we eat too much at least it is mostly good stuff.  That's my reasoning anyway!

We are eating oranges, so nice fresh from the tree.  We had a few mandarins but those trees are still young so not a lot.  We have about 10 more out there that might be ready sometime  next week. 

We didn't get any eggs but I am pretty sure that the chooks did lay but that the crows pinched any eggs before I got out there to get them.  We found a few eggs shells around the place and there are lots of crows in the area.  That's something that we are now working on.



Husband is building me another chook house.  It will be big enough to keep the chooks in overnight so eventually it will be easier for me to go off overnight without having to rely on other people to come out and lock them up when the foxes are about.  And they are about at the moment, I can smell them whenever I walk out the front gate.  Hubby says it's my imagination but as other people have commented on the stink I know I am right.

The front yard is still not finished.  I wanted the chookhouse and he can't do everything I want so I need to make choices and what the chooks need is more important than what I want.  The front will still get done.  It wont happen overnight...but it will get done.

So that was June. 
We are already into July and if I don't want to get more behind then I need to get out there and do more.  Maybe now will be a good time for that.

Potatoes and Roundup?

Husband was speaking to a bloke yesterday and the talk got onto diseases and how chemicals and crap in the food supply could be contributing.  I agree with this, I think it is more than likely that people, kids too, are sicker now because we are being slowly poisoned.  Anyway, This bloke said that his neighbour, in our town,  grows potatoes, commercially, and when they are ready he sprays the whole crop with Roundup!!  WTF!!!!   I'm not sure if it is true but this bloke has no reason to lie about it.  He sprays the plant and it apparently goes down into the spud and it hardens the skin on the spud and saves the growers 4 to 5 weeks.  Or so he says  Unfortunately, I believe that it is very probable.  This bloke says that he has been growing his own potatoes since he found this out.  ...

Now I'm not fussed on spuds, I could easily live without them.  Not so husband.  I grow a few, enough to have fresh when he wants them but I have bought a big bag when I know he is going to be home more often than usual but hearing this has made me think about growing heaps more.l He will continue eating bought ones but as I probably won't be buying them anymore...I'll need to dig up a big patch of ground somewhere and see if I can get a *proper* supply.  It will be my next big challenge.

Has anyone heard of this.  What do you think the chances of it being true are?