Saturday, December 31, 2011

December Update.

Not a lot happened here this month.  We are stilll mostly eating out of the garden but that is more due to the fact that we've not been eating enough fresh stuff this month I think.

I have not had any success with lettuce so far.  And the new lot of seeds and seedlings I put in a couple of weeks ago were scratched up and eaten by some escapee chooks.  So, sad to say I bought a lettuce.  And a 5kilo bag of carrots.  I know...Bad Barb.  I have more lettuce seeds to go in this weekend but not looking forward to telling daughter that the ??? (some special seed) seedlings that she gave me got eaten.  As did all the new silverbeet seedlings and the spinach that was just coming up from dropped seeds.  I have a couple of bigger plants that survived the scratching so still have something green.  And they got a few ripe tomatoes too.  Scratched up some of the garlic but I need to get that up and out anyway so no big deal wih that.

We can pick and eat tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, sweet potato, carrots, few different beans, silverbeet, onion, choco, cucumbers.
There are a few potatoes but not enough so I bought a bag to plant.
I'm not going to get any zuchinnis as the 2 seedlings that I was given turned out to be butternuts.  Oh well, they are doing great and the husband likes them better anyway. 
The garlic needs pulling but it wasn't a great lot this year.  It is kinda small.but there is enough for what I need
I have been given 4 cloves of a purple garlic so will get that going when it is time.

December was Apricot month.  We had so many and I have some in the freezer but sadly, they are finished now.
The grapes are starting to ripen and we are eating a handful or so at a time.  Wont be long before we have heaps as we have different sorts that ripen different times.  I'm hoping to successfully dry more this year so I wont need to buy sultanas.  Bleedin' chooks are jumping up onto the top of the fence and pinching too many though. 
Getting plenty of strawberries.  Still have oranges on one tree.  Pepinos are ripe.

I am down to a dozen eggs in the fridge so looking forward to being able to collect and eat the eggs again.  It's nearly a month since they were treated for Scaley Leg with the potion from the vet.  I had been told by some people to leave them for 2 weeks others said 3.  I'm going with 4 to make myself feel better about it all.

Son has brought out a few packs of meat throughout the month..  It's been on it's use by date but I cook it up that night and we haven't died from it yet.  He's also potted me a few rabbits so more free food there. I crumb it with breadcrumbs from the 15kilo bag he brought out.  It was the wrong size/texture for what his work needed, there was a small hole in the bag, it was going to be binned...I will mix it with bran for a better crumb but don't tell anyone.  People here say they don't like bran...Little do they know...

There have been no roosters to eat but I have 17 chickens of various ages so am bound to get a few from them.  More chickens are due to hatch this weekend so in a few months there should be rooster meat..

Hubby has agreed to a BIG challenge for next year.  It's not really decided how it will go yet, details will be coming soon but it has me a bit worried.  It will definitely be a challenge.  I'm not working next year though so I will have plenty of time to get it sorted and no excuses.

3 comments:

  1. Do you mean wheat bran? What is wrong with that? Meat eaten on the use-by date is okay and won't kill a person. If I don't want to eat it that night, just freeze it.

    You sound so industrious and productive.

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  2. not only have I bought some lettuce, but it's been aging rapidly in the fridge for too long now and will probably need to be tossed. I cannot wait to hear about your BIG challenge, Barb. I've been too lax lately and need to be challenged myself!

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  3. People here don't like bran either... heh heh

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