Barb'sBackyard

Not Much Happening Here.

2012-02-12T07:55:00.001+08:00

Where does the time go. Once again it's been too long between posts and it's not helping me at all. I haven't done a lot out there so that might be why I'm not posting. I have nothing to say about the poor state our food supply is in. And I don't want to mention that some chooks got out again and dug up the lettuce seedlings that me and the grandaughter planted last week!

We're going away for a few days, when we get back the husband should be back at work for a bit so I'm hoping I'll get out there and get some things growing. I will have to finish up outside in time to cook him an evening meal though so that will be a bummer. I like to be outside early, in when it heats up and out again for a few hours in the evening. Hopefully the weather will be cooler and I can stay out longer during the day. I have a list and I will plant some things that will turn into food for us. I'm pretty sure that I have now fixed the chooks getting out problem. We'll see.

We will have no power for most of the day today so will spend it getting the car ready for our camping trip, getting the chook sheds cleared out and new hay put in for them, tidying the house so it's nice to come home to, cooking some food to take, putting away yesterdays laundry...so much to do, so little computer time...Husband and son will spend the day cutting up a pig so we have meat for the next few months. That somehow, at the moment, seems easier than my job of supplying the vegetables to go with it. I can hear the chooks cackleing, at least I know how to get eggs on the table.

I'll see you all when we get back.

January Gardens.

2012-02-01T07:40:00.000+08:00

I must say that I was, am, a bit disapointed with the gardens. Not enough to get out there and do more with them but still...We had plenty to eat from them but if I was feeding a family some of them would have gone hungry a few times.
And I haven't been using all of what I picked either. I really need to get right on top of the excess stuff and preserve it while it is at it's peak, not wait a couple of weeks and think, "yeah, I should have done that, here chookie..."
I did lose a lot, some to escapee chooks, a lot to the heat. We had some HOT days and not a lot of small stuff survived. The chooks ate everything from the lettuce bed including most of the silverbeet, the heat shriveled up any seedlings that were out there, grass smothered the melons and pumpkins and a mouse kept eating the corn as it was planted. I am working on trying to catch that but he is tricky.
Anyway, there isn't a lot out there but hopefully I can get things together this month and get things back to how they should be.

I know I can have lush looking, full of good to eat garden beds. Been there, done that, need to, WILL, get there again.

Giant Pumpkin Challenge.

2012-01-28T12:50:00.001+08:00

Bugger!! I'm out.

I was out checking over the pumpkin that I was soooo happy with...And it is going soft. I tried to to lift it to see if anything has been nibbling on it's bottom cause something sure has gone wrong and it broke off from the vine. And I was such a bragger! Pride come before the fall, I think I have heard that somewhere.

And looking at the vine it is really looking ratty, not sure why I haven't noticed before now and done something about it. Heaps of powdery mildew and probably my fault because I had sprinklers on for the chooks and forgot to check the coverage. I am a bad pumpkin mummy.

So, I will feed the soft pumpkin to the chooks, I will cut the vine right back, water it, feed it, mulch it, start again and see what happens. There are a few flowers on there still, and I think I saw a small fruit. And I still have the other vine, I know there is a couple of fruit on that. Will need to go out and check...

Hmmm. Been out, checked...I am a very bad pumpkin mummy.

The second vine has 2 decentish size fruit on it and maybe 4-6 smaller tennis ball size pumpkins.
One of the bigger ones is going brown and is soft. It is the size of a basketball.

The other looks like something, chickens maybe, has been nibbling on the top. OK, as chickens can't nibble it is either something else or the marks are not nibble marks but small peck marks. No matter, it all means the same. I have not protected my pumpkins from creatures/critters and they are suffering.

The 4litre icecream container is to show the size, it is not a hat. It is not there to protect the pumpkin from nibbling, pecking critters/creatures...It was handy and the tape measure wasn't. It is HOT out there now so I will cut back and do the water, feed, mulch thing this evening.

Wee Wipes Revolution

2012-01-27T06:38:00.002+08:00

Ailsa over at Living The Dream has a post about getting more people to try and use cloth instead of paper...

I use reusable cloth products. I think paper towel for kitchen spills and paper plates are evil. There are paper products that are kinda, sometimes, maybe, useful items...but they too can be replaced with cloth.

I am a WWW (Wee Wipes Woman) I have been for nearly 5 years. In real life I know a couple of others that are the same and through the powers of the internet know of hundreds more. There are thousands of us out there quietly doing our thing to save the world without anyone else knowing that we do so. But now we are standing proud and asking our readers to help spread the word. Please.

I am asking you to please try and use a cloth wipe instead of toilet paper after you have been to the loo. In the spirit of not too much all at once I am suggesting that you only use the WW (wee wipe) as the name suggests. After you have done a wee. Urinated, pee'ed. whatever you call it. I know the name WW puts some people off, I know a WWW that calls them cloth. That's OK. You too can use a cloth wipe after urination if it helps you feel better about the situation.

Some women started using cloth as a money saving exercise. Some to save the world. Some because it was very hard to find unscented TP and the chemicals in them made her itch like crazy. Yep, like crazy!!

Now there are some that like to overthink the thought and it all becomes too hard for them to even start to give it a go. It's not hard. You get some absorbent material, old towel, flannel, washcloth, shirt, whatever soaks up liquid. Cut, or rip, into manageable size pieces, TP size? Slightly bigger if you are folding it over. Or scrunching it up. Whatever works for you. Try different sizes until you come up with what works for you then make yourself enough to last 'til wash day.

While you are at it make yourself some cloth kitchen towels as well. They can be a different colour if you are fussy and worried about getting them mixed up with your WW.

Now you find a nice container that you can keep in your toilet/bathroom close to the toilet itself, for ease of reaching. You can have a small bucket or another container in there too to put the used ones in or you can put them straight into the laundry basket or washing machine. Again, do what works for you. Different members of the family can have different colours, to make it all more fun and hygienic. Can you imagine a basket filled with pretty coloured and funky patterned cloth in the corner of the toilet room. Lovely!

They don't need any special washing, throw them in with your normal wash, wash as normal, hang outside to dry...Easy! There is no extra washing, no extra work, you save money, you help save the world, you don't itch. Why wouldn't you switch to cloth...Please give it a try then come back and leave a comment with your thoughts.

There are some that say they couldn't, that their husband, family, friends, wouldn't like it. No-one will know unless you tell them or they are in the toilet with you and see what you are doing. It is a private matter and nobody elses business. If they find out and say something tell them that. Just say, " look darl, I like using cloth, I will continue using cloth, so, jam it!"

Now, it is possible to use these cloth wipes for umm, errr...for after you have pooped. Lots of people do. I'm not suggesting you do that but why not, it's no different than using cloth nappies on your babies. I know there are still people that do that. ( I think more should but that's another revolution, still to come...) For now all I'm asking is that you open your mind and try them as the name suggests... Wee Wipes, used instead of toilet paper after you have done a wee.

If you already do this and you have a blog why not try and get some of your readers on board too? Let me know if you do please.

Up the wee wipes!!

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 3.

2012-01-25T20:47:00.000+08:00

Well as you know I caved and had a coffee. OK, 2 coffees. The head is good now though, no more aching.
Happy to say that everything else that I ate or drank was from here.

I found some pork chops in the freezer from last year, a pig raised and killed here, so I had them for breakfast. Had vegies and egg for lunch, some frozen fruit, the last of the veg with another egg for tea. A couple of bits of fruit.

Having the meat today makes the eating over the last 3 days very close to what I usually eat when the husband is not home. I do sometimes add salt to food and the chutneys and sauces that I make have bought vinegar in them but a lot of what we eat does actually come from here. All vegetables are grown here, most of the fruit we eat, a lot of the meat and chicken. Eggs are from here. We buy salt, pepper, some spices, milk, tea, coffee, flour, oats, vegemite, milo...We buy heaps of stuff. But it's that stuff that we buy that adds a bit of yumminess to what we eat. I don't want to live without coffee. Or oats or milk...Husband will never give up his coke, or chips, or snack type foods. And I wont make them because I would eat them more.

I think this experiment has been like going on a diet. Once you think you can't have it then you want it even if you haven't eaten it for weeks. Tell me No! and it's it's like "you can't tell me what to eat or not eat. I will eat what I want" And when it's me telling no to me...well, it's makes it funny. I chose not to eat bought stuff and straight away I wanted to eat bought stuff even though I don't usually eat much bought stuff...Funny!

I Caved.

2012-01-25T13:12:00.000+08:00

Yep, disapointed to say that I caved and had a coffee. And of course I have a darn good reason but that doesn't change the fact that I *needed* a coffee, had one, was a lot better afterwards but could do with another...

I woke with a headache, knew it wouldn't go away by itself but went out and spent the morning outside anyway. It continued to get worse. I don't do headache tablets, try not to take anything unless I really need to. I knew the headache was because I haven't had coffee for a couple of days and to be honest I'm surprised it took so long...Sometimes I can get rid of it with a sleep but tried laying down and it's not going to happen. So I had a coffee, the pounding head is no more, now there is just a constant dull ache...and that will go away when/if I have another coffee.

I came in and *confessed* just before 12. Since then I've tried having something to eat, vegies and egg...but that hasn't helped. Tried a lemon tea, nope.
Daughter is here now, says she can hear me moaning from the other side of he room and I should just have it.

She says she just heard me again and if I didn't make it she would...OK, I already caved once, once more won't make any difference...Sorry!!

Followers and Readers... Thankyou!

2012-01-25T08:10:00.001+08:00

This is just a quick one to thank all my followers for following. Thanks, I love coming here and seeing a new one. Makes me feel popular! I also want to thank the ones who don't follow but just come sometimes to read me. I blog to keep myself motivated and to think that others might find something I write to be interesting enough to read is encouraging. So thankyou to you all.

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 2.

2012-01-24T18:22:00.000+08:00

8AM.
Day 2 and I'm confident that I will get through again without eating or drinking anything from any shop.
I do need to decide what to have for lunch and tonights tea before it actually gets to be lunch or tea time.

Lunchtime and I was going to cook some vegies up in the chicken stock that I took out of the freezer...turns out the stock was actually lentil mush so I didn't use it. I used the leftover blended veg from yesterday, added some water and cooked the veg in that.. It could have been improved with chutney from last year but that had bought vinegar in it so I went without.

Today's Food:
Orange.
Egg slice.
Figs. A few, they were quite dry so maybe need more watering...
Grapes, small bunch.
Apple. While waiting for vegies for lunch to cook.
Assorted vegies, bowl of.
Frozen fruit mush, bowl of. This lot has cucumber in it. Taste good.
Grapes.
Vegies and an egg.
There might be a bowl of fruit before bed, depends on how I feel.

So where's the iron, the calcium, the caffeine...the stuff we need to grow big and strong...Might be some in there but not enough. I usually have Milo from the spoon to add iron. Mollasses the same way for the same thing. I have low Iron and am suposed to take tablets but have run out of them so shouldn't eat like this long term anyway but I will have a plate of liver and onions for my lunch on the day I finish this challenge. Tomorrow? Or should I go the whole 3 days like I said I would? Hmmm, decisions decisions...

Self Sufficiency in Food.

2012-01-24T12:08:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking about this challenge and nearly decided that it was silly and no-one was going to stop me from having a coffee if I wanted to. So there!

But before I got the coffee jar down I rethinked it and remembered why I was doing it. What was I hoping for?
I want to be more or less, OK more, self sufficient in food. I'd like to NEVER! have to go to a shop, factory, elsewhere, to buy food. I don't think that is really possible as a longterm thing though, at least not without changing ~~our~~ husbands thinking on what food is and my squeamishness on getting the meat from the paddock to the fridge. I'm OK if someones else does the deed but cannot bring myself to.

This little exercise is showing me what I need to do if I am serious about getting more self sefficient though.
I know I need some coffee bushes. I will need milk and husband didn't say no this morning when I asked about getting a goat or 2. I will need to grow wheat so I can have flour. People do that so that shouldn't be too hard. A daughter grows lentils and chickpeas so I should be able to do that too.

The BIG thing is animals as food. If husband is home he will do the roosters for us. Son brings out meat sometimes but that's not us producing it ourselves so probably shouldn't count. Sometimes he'll get me some rabbits but not often enough so I will need to ask more often. We could raise meat rabbits but husband would need to be agreeable to doing the killing and cleaning...I will need to learn how to cook and catch the marron if I wanted to eat them more often. And I think we need an aquaponics system so we can have fish on tap, so to speak.

Self Sufficiency in food is someththing that would take a lot of time and a LOT of hard work. I have the time...In all honesty though I don't think that I am willing to put in the hard yards to get what I want. So maybe I don't really want it as much as I think I do...

For now I will stick to my 3 days, maybe, I am rethinking that too...and make sure that I get more stuff planted and learn about growing wheat on a small scale.

Off to have a lemon balm tea...

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 1.

2012-01-23T20:19:00.000+08:00

I like to get up early, let the chooks out, have a coffee while I go on here for a bit, outside to start the day, in for breakfast then outside again...

This morning the chooks were out by 5.30 so I then picked some sprigs of Chocolate Mint for my morning drink. It was OKish. I do like this drink on a hot Summers day but it's a long way from the strong, white coffee I like first thing. Really, it was not OK and I tipped half into the chook bucket.

I think for this challenge to succeed I am going to have to be organised so I plan on making some food up in the mornings so that it is handy and easy to grab from the fridge. If it is already made up I will not have to think and will be less likely to wonder what is in the cupboard or freezer. There are drumsticks in the freezer. Husband bought them but will be leaving them here with me for a couple of days. Alone. There was cheesecake in there too but I'm hoping he ate that!

So this morning I made up an egg slice thingy. Seven small eggs and heaps of onion, tomato, capsicum. Cooked and divided into 3. That was breakfast and a snack. I cut up some fruit and made a slushie type drink, froze that in a couple of small bowls to snack on if I felt *deprived* I had the first one after lunch, it was really nice and there are a few more still in the freezer.

I stick blendered up a whole pile of vegies, added an egg and made patties for lunch. Well, they were suposed to be patties but some broke and ended up all mushed up. They still tasted fine. Could have done with a bit of salt but still...

I have taken stock out, was going to chop up a pile of vegies and make soup/mush for tomorrows lunch but haven't so will do that tomorrow.

Today I have had:
ChocMint Tea. Half a mug.
Egg slice with onion, tomato, capsicum,
Vegie patties/mush.
Frozen fruit slushy
Vegie patties/mush. Had the rest just after 5pm.
Frozen fruit mush.
Small bunch of grapes.
Heaps of water, that is my drink of choice. After the coffee.

If I am not careful there will be too many eggs. How many is too many though...A dozen over three days is probably too many for 1 person...Hmmm, They are a quick, easy, versatile food but with the egg slice I have already had 4 small ones today.

I'm pretty sure that I can do this quite easily but I don't know if it will be a healthy way of eating. Definitely not for long term. As an experiment over a few days I might get away with it but longterm? I dunno. I think too many eggs. If the husband was here to do me a rooster that would mean less eggs would be eaten...Same if I was not so SookyLaLa to catch and cook a marron.

So I have had a whole day of eating nothing except what was grown/produced here. I have egg slice for tomorrows breakfast and lunch is kinda sorted. No idea what to have tomorrow night. Eggs?

Eat From Here Challenge.

2012-01-22T18:46:00.002+08:00

My challenge to only eat what we have grown or produced here starts first thing tomorrow morning.
I have been out and gathered some supplies

I have heaps of eggs, more Oranges on the tree, Silverbeet in the garden, Marron in the dam if I want to go catch one, lots of onions and tomatoes...I have some stock from a rooster in the freezer so I can make some soup if I want. I'm not going to go hungry. I have decided that I am not going to have anything bought from a shop or not from here. A daughter gave us a box of Necterines yesterday...They will have to be put away until Thursday. I have decided to go for three days. Husband will be here for a couple of meals but not whole days and as that will make it easier I am adding the extra day.

I wont have milk, flour, coffee, bread...No salt or pepper or sauces... No anything from anywhere else.
It will be fun!!

Busy Week.

2012-01-22T07:28:00.000+08:00

I feel like I've had a busy week but if you were to look in my front door you would wonder what it was that I have been doing. And really I can't remember either...but stuff...I have been doing stuff.
Last weekend I mainly mowed.
Monday I was out all day as me and a daughter and her daughter went over to the zoo. So that was one whole day out
Tuesday...Went over to Mandurah with the husband in the morning. Afternoon...Probably nothing.
Wed. Bit in the garden then camping and crabbing Wed afternoon. Home Thursday for an appointment then ???. in the afternoon. I'm thinking nothing as it was hot. I'm not too good when it's hot.
Friday.??? Must have been outside doing...something.
Sat. Out in the garden 'til 11.30 then Really Really Free Markets in the afternoon. Home and nothing as it was sooooo hot.
And now it is Sunday again. A week passed and not much to show for it. This morning I will be out clearing up some gardens again. Pulling out grass, cutting scraggly stuff back, mulching, a general tidy-up. I had a daughter here for a bit Friday afternoon and walking around seeing what was out there wasn't good. It all looked full of green but really, when talking about what we could eat...there doesn't seem too much of anything so I am taking stock and working on getting it back to how it was...How it should be.

So this week I have:
*Been to Perth Zoo.
*Fixed up the lettuce bed. A few chooks got out and ate/scratched up everything that was in there so I needed to level it, rub some water into the soil as it was a bit repellant, fertilize, mulch, water again to see if the dirt was getting wet, hunt up some seeds and get them in. It looks the part now and hopefully the bleedin' chooks wont escape again.
*Went crabbing and camping.
* I mowed a spare chook pen as the grass was so long and I wanted it down a bit before putting the chooks in there otherwise it is too hard to find their eggs. Until I mow again and hear a "pop!" and smell that rotten egg smell...
*I did spend one morning cleaning up inside but that was at the beginning of the week and really, you can't tell.
*I picked all the beans and fixed those plants up a bit, Cleared around them, fed them, mulched them.
* I have spend a couple of hours over the week hunting down and picking off green bugs from the beans and tomato plants. They have ruined all the beans, sucked them dry so the chooks got a feed of beans and some of the tomatoes don't look that great either.
*Cut back the choko vine out the back. It was bugging me and taking over everything in it's path but it looks a bit better now.
* I mowed the Sweet Potato patch. That needs a good watering and mulching. Will get to that today.
*Pulled grass and stray Lemon Balm plants from the peanut patch. Mulched them.

I feel like I've done more. There has been the normal everyday stuff in there as well. Some laundry, twin tub so that takes a while...cooking (not a lot!) eating (a lot!), computer...

I spend a couple of hours every morning watering and feeding the chooks and chickens, come in for breakfast then outside again. My trouble is that I am so slow and disorganized it takes me *forever* to finish anything .
I seem to be always out there doing stuff but it is stuff that needs doing over and over, every day. It does keep me off the streets and out of trouble though so it's all good! And in saying that, the chookies are calling...

Monthly Challenge.

2012-01-14T11:03:00.000+08:00

I'm not working this year so will have heaps of time at home and apart from growing the vegetables and getting more fruit stuff in I am thinking of challenging myself to do/learn different things.

Some things that I have thought of so far:
*Make soap using the fat from the pig we kill. I have made it with oil but this way will utilize more of the animal that we eat.
*Do a half day bushwalk.
*Catch, cook, clean a marron by myself so I can feed myself if I need to.
*Make paper and envelopes and write to a few people using that homemade paper.
*Eat only what we grow/produce here, for a minimum of two days.

If I try one thing a month I need at least 12 things so that I can do/learn something different each month. More ideas will give me a choice. Or a chance to do more...

I'm looking for ideas. Bearing in mind that I'm not very fit or strong. Or brave...and I will have no money...
Does anyone have any ideas please?

What challenges will you set for yourself this year?

Giant Pumpkin Growing.

2012-01-13T18:42:00.001+08:00

A while back now some people over at Aussies Living Simple set out a challenge. A challenge to grow a giant pumpkin. The seeds are from an Atlantic Giant pumpkin grown by a member of ALS. Seeds were sent out to people who wanted to join in the fun. I was one of them.

Sometime during August or September the seeds were sent out to me. I recieved 3 as did a daughter. After letting them sit on the bench for awhile while I worried about what to do. I finally decided to just do it. It was a fun thing not a life engangering thing so not sure why I was so worried about sticking a few seeds in the ground. So I went out and dug 3 holes and filled them with cow manure that I collected from the back paddock. Filled the holes in and covered them with mulch from the chookshed and left them to sit for a couple of weeks.

It was coming up to November and I remembered hearing from someone that had entered them up at the Dwellingup fair that they planted theirs on Melbourne Cup day so I figured around then was as good a time as any other. We were going away for a few days around then and the weather was supposed to be cool so in they went. We did have a couple of chooks that kept jumping over the fence into the pen I wanted to grow these things in so I put an old birdcage over 1 and a box and old fridge shelf over the other 2 as protection.

One seed was up when we got home so that was less than a week after it was planted. Another one took a couple of weeks longer and the third never came up at all. Eventually they were busting out of their cage and so I had to remove them and let the vines run free.

It wasn't too long before there were flowers and little pumpkins.

The chooks did get in and scratched around but only one stem ended up with a break and that still grew.

Husband mentioned a couple of weeks ago about how big this one particular pumpkin was getting so I went out this afternoon to get a photo. He's right, it is quite big.

That's a 4litre icecream container sitting on top.

It still has a long way to go before it reaches prize winning size but I am pleased with it.

Fox Trap.

2012-01-13T18:06:00.001+08:00

Awhile ago, not long after one of the fox attacks, a mate of the sons said that we could have a trap that he had made, been used and had caught foxes, he didn't need it anymore...But it wasn't here, he had to travel to get it, next time he was there he would pick it up for us...Fast forward a couple of months, 2 more fox attacks, talk of using baits and the son was right onto it and we now have it.

It is bigger than I thought it would be. We have borrowed one before and it was smaller, lighter, I could move and set it. This one...big, heavy and I don't know if I can or not.

We were told we would need to wash it to remove human smell and then to move it wearing welding gloves so we didn't put our smell on it...Would a fox care that much...I dunno...In case he did care though I put the trap in the chookpen for a few days. I threw bedding from the chook shed in and on it and I threw food in it to get the chooks inside it. I'm hoping that all this will get it to smell more like chooks and less like us. To the fox it should smell more like food than people.

I left it in the chook yard for a couple of days then I donned the welding gloves and dragged the trap out the back out to the dam area. It was heavy and awkward and I walked through 3, yes 3!! spider webs. ahhh, I hate those things and we seem to have them everywhere. The trap is now near where it should be. I can't get it to where husband wants it as it needs to be lifted so he will have to do that when he gets home. I wanted it out there sooner than next week though so any foxes can get used to it being near their path. I haven't set it though but will try to do that tonight.

And what bait will we use? Husband wanted to sacrifice a scrawny Mixed Breed rooster...I wasn't as keen to do that but did think we could cull a couple of roosters, we eat the meat then use the head and guts in the trap... and we will still do that but when I put the trap out last night I put a chunk of rabbit near it. And where did this rabbit come from?
ROAD KILL!!!

I have wanted to use roadkill for something for ages but haven't due to the yuk factor. But this will be a bonafide use of an animal body. It will save the dead thing from being squashed into the road and pecked at by crows. It is a good thing we are doing.

Husband picked it up from the road outside our place and cut it into 3 and bagged it up and put it in the freezer. I have put 1 piece near the trap and I will put a piece on the hook in the trap and try and set it tomorrow.

Daughter that thinks some of the things I do is all a bit manky and was more than a tad grossed out when I told her about the rabbit brought me a present yesterday. What was it you ask...It was an owl. A dead owl that she picked up off the road. Yay, more fox bait. I'm proud of her.

January, First Week, What I did.

2012-01-13T14:44:00.001+08:00

Well this week was a bit of a non happening event. I had a list and a week to get them done. Three things were on that list:
**So this weeks list.
Plant seeds.
Pot up Apricot tree.
Mow backyard.**

I did plant the seeds.

*Weekend - not a lot done. Did a bit of mowing but not the area I wanted.
*Monday.- Watered everything. Planted seeds. Transplanted some lemon balm into a drum.
Spend amost of the morning doing chook stuff. Oiled the legs of the AussieRocks again. Wasted a bit of time looking for and fixing the crates that we transport chooks in. I was told that someone would call in today and pick up 6 or 10. I wasn't given a time but thought it would be earlyish as they had a bit of travelling to get home. It had to be today because Im not home tomorrow. Around 1 this afternoon I released the chooks as no one had come or rang to let me know what was happening. The people never showed up and I didn't hear the phone, no messages. Swapped old eggs for fresh fertile ones under 2 cluckies.
* Tuesday - Work so not home. Watering and chooks stuff in the morning before work. Left here quickly after work. Searched for lost dog from 9pm 'til near midnight.
*Wednesday - Down in Nannup, not home 'til afternnon. Animals and watering.
*Thursday - Work so gone all day. Watering and chook stuff before leaving and again when I get home.
*Friday - watering and chook stuff. Inside tidy and clean. It's now 2.30pm, I am expecting someone to call in for eggs and it's too hot outside for me. Will put away weeks washing soon. Will hopefully do some mowing later but I might be childminding.

There must have been other stuff done. If there wasn't then I am a complete SA and deserve to starve!

Dog Drama.

2012-01-11T21:57:00.000+08:00

We've had a bit of a drama here, made more stressful because it was happening a couple of hours away...
I have a daughter living far far away. She has a dog. She loves that dog, he loves her. I love that dog...he loves her...

On Monday evening I get a call from daughter here in town saying that this dog was missing and had been for a couple of days. A friend was going down the next morning to help look for him. I heard that the dog chased after an emu on Saturday morning and didn't come back when called and daughter spend all that day and the next looking for him. I can only imagine how upset she would have been.

They have only lived in this house for 3, maybe 4 months. The dog knows the area around the house but not any great distance away. It is surrounded by bush

I am a member of a forum and they have a thread for psychic help. We posted about this missing dog on it and one lady came on and said that the dog was alive and near water, maybe stuck somewhere. They live very close to a river. I get home from work on Tuesday and hear that she (psychic lady) has said that he is trapped near brambles or prickly bushes and getting quite weak. There are blackberry bushes on the property...How this woman knew these things I have no idea but it had us very worried but at the same time gave us some hope but daughter that lives far far away has no Internet, no phone, no mobile coverage. We couldn't contact her at all to tell her to check out these bushes so daughter from here says we should go down there now...I ring son, he agrees to go and help look too. We drive down, getting there a lot later than we thought we would but they are still up and we all go down the back of the property, torches in hand and spend 3 hours searching for this dog. Call an end to it not far off midnight saying we'll start looking again early in the morning. Daughters go out early, calling and looking. Come back after an hour or so. No dog. I go out a hour or so later and the dog is walking up to the gate. He was as happy to see us as we were to see him. He had been away since Saturday morning. 4 days and 4 nights. He was wet but looked alright. Skinnier, had sore paws but otherwise seemed OK. He was asleep on his bed when me and the daughter from here left to come home.

I don't think he'll be running after any emus again any time soon.

An eerie thing...Daughters husband was down searching for the dog and early this morning went down the back to look some more and to, I don't know...commune with powers?
The dog shows up, this bloke starts up the hill...He comes back just after the dog gets back.
He says he was told to stop looking, go back to the house, what will be will be. And just afterwards a big Tiger snake went across his path.
He gets back to find the dog home.

I did not think this dog would be found, not alive anyway. Chasing an emu? Are you a stupid dog? 3 days lost in the bush? Four days gone after running who knows how far in an area that he doesn't know....I honestly believe that it was the fact that all of us were there calling, looking, praying that got this dog home. I believe that our combined *energy* led him home.

Our Challenge...What's the point?

2012-01-09T21:00:00.003+08:00

I've been asked this a few times now...and the answer is *there is no *real* point.*

For 2010 I challenged myself not to buy vegetables for a whole year. Proved to myself that I could even though I had serious doubts about doing it for 12 months. 2011 kinda had the same goal but really wasn't as *into it*

So to keep the fun in being outside digging, planting, mulching, mowing, braving all sorts of weather, picking up snails and squishing smelly bugs I needed something new. Something harder. Something that would knock my socks off and make me laugh more...Something that I could do that would make the husband think about what he ate and about all the hard work I put in to feed him these fresh yummy vegies that he doesn't really care about...Something to justify my not looking for another job now that I am on my last week...You know, all the normal reasons that a normal person would not have...

I have asked others to challenge themselves. To do something that will be hard for them. For no particular reason except that it will be fun... Kinda...

Sister in Law, who used to have a great veg garden but has since moved and become slack, said she couldn't even grow tomatoes so I said that could be her challenge. To not buy tomatoes for all of this year, she needs to grow any tomatoes they want to eat. I had heaps of ideas for her but in the end she kinda agreed to try the tomatoes but I think it was only to shut me up. And in thinking about it I don't think she will join in the fun at all....
A fiend in Queensland says she'll get something growing but as she lives on rock it will have to be in pots. That's good, I think she will give it a go. Again, it might only be to shut me up when I ask about it but it's a start.
Someone else is not going to drink cooldrinks (softdrink) for 3 months of the year. She has yet to pick her months though. I think this will be hard for her but she is willing to give it a go.
Someone said it will be so easy but he wants his bought pasta. It was suggested that his challenge could be to
not have his pasta but I don't know how that will go...

I know that I can grow our food. I know that we could eat quite well without going to any shops for a couple of months. I know I can go weeks on end without spending anything. I'm not sure though about only eating what we grow here. That will be hard for me as I like some things that come from a shop. I can't supply my own coffee (yet) I can't milk a cow or goat for milk. I can't kill a chook so wont have meat if husband is away. I don't grow any grains...And there is an idea for next years challenge.

Maybe you choose to eat only what you have on hand. If you are someone that shops for food each day that might be hard for you. Maybe you want to eat more vegetables so you challenge yourself to have at least 6 different vegies for your weekend meals. Maybe you smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much chocolate. Could you not eat chocolate for a month? That would be easy for me, no challenge at all but I know people that would find that very hard to do.

So really, there is no particular challenge. You pick something that you want to do better, do more of, do less of...And then put it out there. Or not~

Things to do this week.

2012-01-06T10:41:00.000+08:00

This week I need to get some stuff planted.
I have beetroot seeds soaking as I type.
Zucchini, carrots, lettuce, sweet corn are also on the list. Sunflowers are there too.

I need to go out and see if I have any empty half 44gal drums...I have. I will put beetroot in one, carrots in one. The lettuce will go out the back in a small tank garden but seeds of everything will also be sprinkled around different areas. I have silverbeet seedlings to go out the back as well. Thanks M for those. Much appreciated.

We have a half dozen or so seedling Apricot trees coming up an different areas. Hubby wants them out of where they are so I am going to pot 1 up and put it in the chicken pen to give them a bit more shade and shelter. I'm hoping that by keeping it in a pot it will help keep it smaller and I will dig a hole and plant that potted tree. I think this will insulate the pot and give the tree a better chance. The others will be transplanted into the big chook pens but I will do that after Summer.

I want to get some more mowing done. I have done the front and the side but need to get the back done before the front needs doing again. I have a few days...And as usual I need to clean up all my ~~cra~~ stuff before I can mow.

So this weeks list.
Plant seeds.
Pot up Apricot tree.
Mow backyard.

Hmmm, that doesn't look like much of a list. I'm giving myself until next Friday. The 13th.
We are out one day this weekend, next week I work 2 days, I have inside stuff to do and I really need to make a start on the garden shed. I also want to get a gate on the rooster shed somehow...My car needs a really good cleanout and I have windows that I hate looking through as they are so dirty. I have a foxtrap that needs washing to get the people smell off.

Better get out there and make a start.

Challenge Thinking.

2012-01-06T08:36:00.000+08:00

We've been talking about how we are going to do this and the more we talk the harder it seems...

We have decided that we will do 2 days sometime this month.
Now that should be easy enough.
We are still going to do a week sometime during the year but these will be like practice days.

Our rules:
*Salt and Pepper is allowed. I don't use either but husband needs his salt, especially during Summer. It helps prevent him cramping.
*We might allow ourselves 3 bought things, if they are already here.
Our 3 bought things...I think I want milk. Or coffee. He wants ??? and a shared item might be flour.

And this is where it gets hard. I like a coffee as soon as I get up. Another one after breakfast, one after lunch and one before bed.   I drink my coffee with milk but can have it black. It's OK that way just not my usual choice. I can substitute tea made from stuff growing but it's really not the same... I'm going to step up my looking for a coffee bush.
Breakfast can be eggs. Lunch, maybe salad or vegetables, an egg for protein...Fish and veg for tea...Or can we not eat fish because it wasn't grown here...husband says no fish. OK, Marron for tea...Fruit for snacks...If there is any growing at the time...*If* we allow ourselves milk and flour we could have pikelets or fritters...

We are going to do it for 2 days during the week after next. We have a week to get the rules down pat. I will have to make cordial for him as he is not allowed his coke.   But can I use sugar to make the cordial...
My challenge, my rules. So yes! Yes I can use sugar to make cordial so he doesn't need his coke!!!!!

I think I'm overthinking the whole thing and making a simple concept way too complicated.

Your challenge? You decide.
It might be as easy as only eating what you already have in your house, not going shopping for anything.
It might be only 1 meal coming from your yard.
It could be eating nothing processed.
Going without something you always have like chocolate...Or bought drinks.
For 2 days.   Come on...how hard can it be...

2012 Challenge.

2012-01-02T06:11:00.000+08:00

The challenge for this year is still being worked on but it involves eating from what we grow, produce, catch, ourselves. Of course the rules and regulations will be made by us to suit us. For example we may allow ourselves to use a few bought things. Salt and pepper comes to mind...Coffee, flour...oil...
Mostly it will be that breakfast, lunch, tea, any snacks, drinks...must be produced in some way or another from here or by us with the exception of some bought stuff, maybe...We are yet to decide on what we will allow ourselves but it will be 5 or less things. Depending on if we do it for 2 days or 7 days.

The more I think about it though the more things I think I will need from the shops. Like milk. A week with no milk...I don't know.... No coffee? That needs serious thinking about. Husband could happily go without milk but over a week might want his Sand P and his coke...

Do we do it for 1 week each season? A weekend every few months? A week only but plan and plant and stock up now? OK, the stocking up bit would be classed as cheating but can we use what we have on hand...I kinda think no but it means no lentils, no oats, no tinned fish, no eating from the freezer...The more I think about it the ~~harder~~ the more of a challenge it becomes. I will use the stuff that I have made like chutneys, cordial, pickles, sauces etc.

Who wants to set a similar challenge for themselves? I have read a few blogs where people have done this and they are all different. This is going to be a fun challenge that we set for ourselves with our own limits.
If you are up to it you make up your own rules. You might want to only do breakfasts. Or snacks only, or just the main meal 2 times a week. Think about it and let me know. It will be fun!

December Update.

2011-12-31T18:09:00.001+08:00

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.

More on Scaley Leg.

2011-12-30T13:57:00.000+08:00

A few days ago we picked up another drum of used cooking oil. This one is full so 20litres. That should do a few legs!

We still have a little bit of the other oil left but will soon need more so figure it's best to have it here ready for dipping the chooks legs in. It makes me feel like a better chook mummy when I think I am helping them by using the oil to smother any mites not killed by the potion. My hands end up soft, and slimey afterwards so you'd think it is softening the legs as well.

These yellow legs are in better condition than the grey legs below but they are looking better than they were a month ago. The black on the yellow legs is dirt that has stuck to them because of the oil.

It's a messy job and the oil gets on me as well as on the feathers of the chooks. I have a few Mixedbreed birds that are a light colour, a lavender Aracauna and a white Aracauna. I need to look closely now to tell who is who as they are all the same dirty grey colour. The black Aracauna looks the same, still black.
I was wondering if I should give them a bath but decided against it. I'm not that good of a chook mummy!

I have planted some more Wormwood (Artemesia) cuttings. I don't know if this will help much with the mites but it is supposed to be good for ridding chooks of worms in the gut and seeing as I have the plants here anyway it's not going to hurt to have more around and in the pens.

The chookhouses are cleaned out regularly and Lime and Diatomatious Earth is sprinkled around them. I sprinkle DE onto the mulchpit. I feed them Garlic but not as much as I think I should...

The legs are looking better now and I'm hoping I wont have to use the potion again but will do if I think I need to.

Thankyou for the Beetroot Seeds.

2011-12-23T20:31:00.000+08:00

Jason from over at Zucchini Island was having a giveaway of some Beetroot seeds so I asked nicely to be included..
They came a couple of days ago.

Check out his blog and his new business.
I think it's a great idea and hope it works out for him.

Thankyou for the Gingerbread House.

2011-12-23T06:23:00.000+08:00

A big THANKYOU to L, D, L and J for the gingerbread house. And the chutney and jam. I really appreciate you doing that for me.

Here it is in all its glory. It looks like a lot of work has gone into putting it together.

And here is what happens if you unwrap your Gingerbread house when a certain daughter is around. I *caught* her trying to coax a chocolate to come out. She found out that the window was too small though and begged, yes begged! to be allowed to break it "just a tiny bit"

The house survived last night and is still intact but there are a few Smarties missing from the outside...
I love Gingerbread so this will be a lovely treat. Daughter knows about it and Hubby is home too so I will have to share...But if I wait until Daughter goes away for a few days and I get into it while Hubby is outside...

ThreeThirty Is Too Bleedin' Early.

2011-12-22T05:53:00.000+08:00

I know that there are probably a few people that won't agree with this but I truly think that 3.30AM is too early to be woken up. But Rocky the Rooster seems to think it's OK because he's been doing it for the last few weeks.

I like to wake up - get up around 5.30 but 5am is OK too. 7is too late, the good outside time is nearly over before you get to it then, especially when it's hot so 5-5.30...good time.

Rocky and his girls used to be in a pen further away, out behind the shed and he didn't bother me too much but since I moved him closer to the house...They have a shed in their pen but he likes to sleep out in the open. No more though. Hubby has time off from work and I think I will be putting in an order for a door to their house.
If I can lock him in at night he might sleep longer but if he doesn't the noise will hopefully be muffled enough.

If that doesn't work I think Hubby will try something more permanent. He says I have enough chooks now and we don't need him...The door idea better work.

Scaley Leg.

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000+08:00

My chooks had Scaley Leg, some hardly noticeable but some had it quite bad and I should have gotten onto it sooner so I am a bad chook mummy. But notice I said had...I am thinking I have it all sorted now.

I have a pen of Isa Browns, a pen with rooster and a few hens and a pen with my AussieRocks and the leftover Mixed Breed chooks. Three pens but close to 50 chooks. Oh and the chickens and their mothers so another few or 16 there.   I really am going to sell some, soon. $10 for a young unsexed bird if anyone in my area is interested.

A long time ago, before I started with the AussieRocks, Daughter and her husband came out and helped me catch and Vaseline the legs of the Mixed Breed chooks I had.. I was suposed to do it again a few weeks after that but never did them all. Only a couple that I could catch. So I did know that it was here. And that was more than a year ago.

A few months ago when I first noticed the legs on some of the AR looking scaley I rubbed Vaseline on the legs of the few I caught. The idea was to smother the mite that gets under the scale and kill them and then the problem would be solved. I only had a little bit of petroleum jelly here, not enough for them all so it wasn't enough to rid the flock of the pest. I talked of calling around and seeing if I could get some old oil but didn't actually call anyone. Until a month or so ago. I called the local garage, they sell takeaway food, and asked if I could get some old oil from the fryers. A lovely lady said yes and a went down and picked up 10litres. Came home and dipped some legs. I did this to a few chooks, a couple of times a week, over a few weeks but again it was only a half hearted attempt.

After a few dippings the legs of the AR that I had managed to catch were looking better, you could see the old thickened scale starting to come away but the legs of some not dipped were looking quite bad.
Then I got serious. Went down to the vets, told them my problem and what I thought I wanted, they discussed things and he went off and mixed me up a potion. I believe it is Ivermectin. I needed to put a bit on the backs of the chooks neck. He sold me a small bottle, enough to do all my chooks and they gave me a couple of syringes to use. Too easy. Or so I thought. I was home alone but hey, I'm a clever gal, I could do this by myself. And to be sure of things I would dip their legs in the oil at the same time. Not as easy but hey! I'm a clever gal, I could do this by myself!

I started off with the Isa's because they are friendly and easy to catch. The plan was to catch one, stand it in the tub of oil while I put the potion on her skin, then shove her through the little door into their shed/house. The first 6 or 7 were a breeze. The next few needed some coaxing. Then I had to go and get some food for them. And then the net. The last 3 were a bloody pain and it took a bit of chasing and swearing to catch them and there was none of them standing quietly in the tub while I syringed stuff onto them. A 10min job took me close to 2 hours. Never again, there has to be an easier way.

But one pen was done with and I was sure it would get rid of the mite and any worm issues with them.
In actual fact the legs of the Isas was not very bad at all and maybe the oil by itself would have worked with them but as I had the stuff I thought it would be good husbandry to do them all. And good practice for doing the not so quiet ones.

The week after doing the Isas I thought it was hightime to make a proper start on the AussieRocks. I had been catching and dipping the legs of a few in the oil but there were some I couldn't catch.

I had tried a few times to lock the AR in their shed and catch them one by one but though I could catch and dip most of them not all of them were cooperative. I didn't want to start with the potion in case I couldn't remember what was done and what wasn't, I didn't want to doubledose some while leaving some untreated. This would have to be a job for 2 so I sweet talked the husband into helping.

We coaxed the chooks into their shed with some food. I had the potion, the oil was in the tub ready, hubby was going to be the chookcatcher. He caught a chook, I applied the potion to the back of the neck, he dipped the legs in the oil, I opened the door enough for him to shove the treated chook outside...Not really easy but it was a system that worked. The last few chooks to catch were the smaller mixed breed unfriendly buggers. We were having to grab them as they flew up the walls trying to escape and put up with their squarking while we worked on them.   Happy to say that they are now all dosed up, oiled and finished with.

That left the rooster pen. I thought that Rocky would be a problem, he thinks he's a hero and is a tad toey.
We collected a crate, the net, some chook food, the potion and the tub of oil. We netted him first. It was a lot easier than we thought it would be, Hubby held him while I applied the potion, Hubby dipped him in the oil and then shoved him into the crate while I put a cover on to keep him in. Easy. It was then just a matter of catching the other birds and doing the same with them. Once treated they were all put back into their pen.

I had done the mothers already, they weren't hard. I didn't apply potion to the chickens but their legs were oiled.

Happy to say that all the chooks have been treated.

We won't eat any eggs for a couple of weeks. Instead I will boil them up and feed them back to the chooks.

Over the next couple of weeks I will re-dip the legs of any chooks that I can catch. It is not really necessary with the potion but it makes me feel better thinking I am doing something for them.   I can see that the legs do look a lot better and I believe the oil is helping with that.

The potion cost me $31 for about 100ml. There is just under half left. I need to ring and check if I should redo them all in a week or so but am hoping I don't.

Over the next few weeks I will plant more Wormwood in all the pens.
I sprinkle Diatanatious Earth and Lime in the sheds when I clean them out, I feed Garlic...I am picking up more oil tomorrow and will continue dipping legs, for awhile at least.    I'm hoping that using this potion will rid the chooks of this pest and that by doing all the above I can prevent it getting bad again.

Have you had any problems with Scaley Leg Mites or any other chook problems? I'd be interested in how you dealt with it.

Clucky Chooks Galore Is On my Mind.

2011-12-09T15:40:00.001+08:00

I had 5, maybe 6 chooks go clucky. They were in the main chookpen and so the other eggs were being layed in the boxes and I had no idea what was what.

Last week Hubby said he'd build me some seperate nesting boxes in one of the netted pens and I could put them all out there. That way the eggs being layed in the main pen stay fresher, the cluckies aren't being bothered by other chooks crowding in on them and when chickens hatch they are in a safe pen. As it was the eggs were being sat on all day and were sometimes quite warm by the time they were collected.

He has done a wonderful job and I now have 6 seperate boxes. I have moved a few cluckies out there and they are now on fertile eggs. I did need to block their exit but as soon as they settle down, probably by tomorrow, the mesh will be removed and they will be able to get off for their food and water.

There is a chook in there, she has sat on her new eggs and seems to be settling in nicely. I will take the mesh away tonight and keep an eye on her, and the others, tomorrow to make sure they don't abandon the nest.

If this works I am thinking that I might end up with too many chooks but as I already have a couple of people asking me if I have any to sell I will now be able to say yes and not feel bad about selling my main layers.

The *On My Mind* theme is from Rhonda from over at Down To Earth
Go over and read her and some of the people from her comment section.

December Gardens.

2011-12-07T06:25:00.001+08:00

We're still eating from the gardens, didn't buy any vegetables during November. The photos below were taken a few days ago.

TOMATOES are coming along and there are heaps to pick, every day. I have different plants in different areas but most don't have name tags. Hundreds OK, not *hundreds* but too many, of small cherry type ones that Hubby wanted me to pull up. He says they are too small for anything but he likes the taste. Grandaughter eats them off the vine so they are staying. I plan on cooking them up with onions and freezing a pile that way. No point in drying them again as nobody here eats them like that. I only like fresh tomatoes cooked in something. Not raw, not dried...They are an easy plant to grow though and I am going to try and get them established in the food orchard that we are working on.

The vine below is growing in a tank garden out the back. The roots of it are 3feet away to the left from where the fruit is as it has climbed up through the Passionfruit vine and the Pelagonias. Nice fruit and self seeded as most here are. OK Normal tennis ball size fruit.

These tomatoes, below, were seedlings I dug up and rescued from the pigpen. Small,

yellowy when ripe. Very prolific .

Four plants here in one of the fridge gardens, also unknown but bigger than the above ones.

There are more Tomato plants, not yet fruiting in various areas of the yard and I have dozens of seedlings coming up in an empty chookpen. Some have been staked and will stay there but heaps will need to be to transplanted to somewhere else and that is on this weeks list.

These ones are, I think, Grosse Lisse. Hubby likes them because they are big and easy to slice and put on his toast. These are the only ones he wants growing. I believe we need different types to make sure that there is always something available. With extra to freeze. I win!

I have 1/2 a dozen Black Russian, seedlings from the son in law that have flowers but no fruit yet. We haven't tried them before so will need to keep some seeds for next year. One Mystery Tomato, seedling from daughter. Need to wait and see what that turns out to be. One Tigerella? Tigerello? That's too shaded though and not doing very well. Had a dozen of these but the slaters ate them.
There are a few plants out the front, also unknown but they have a decent size fruit on them and start earlier than the ones out the back. Any plant out the front seems to have very little bug problems, I think because there are less and more diverse.

These are starting to look yellow but are growing differently to the other small type. I should learn to like tomatoes straight from the bush but I try and try again later and I just don't. These 2 bushes will be pulled up as soon as this lot is ready to pick.

I managed to get a decent lot of carrots. Then left them outside for a few days...They were still OK to bake but not too nice raw.

Cucumbers and a few more carrots in here. Cucumbers are doing heaps better than last year so will be able to make up some more Bread and Butter Pickle soon.

BEANS are producing heaps. We don't eat many cooked, Hubby doesn't like them and I prefer them raw but I have some in the freezer and need to do more as there are too many to eat them the way I like. I have left a few to get old so that I have something to plant next year but as I *forgot* to label them I can't remember what sort they are. Daughter will be able to tell me when she sees the seeds.

They have bugs on them though and I need to go out a few times a day to get them off. The same bug is on the Tomatoes. I call them Stink Bugs, they probably have a *real* name but I haven't learnt it yet

I know, crappy photo but that's how hard it is to see them on the beans too. They suck the juices out and leave me with not too nice beans and tomatoes so I am out there many times during the day flicking them into a jug of water. Sorry people, but they have to go and this is the easiest way for me to deal with them.

We are still picking silverbeet and as the daughter gave me heaps of seedlings I now have them in different parts of the yard we so should never run out.

Silly weather has the Choko fruiting. Yep, we have Chokos again, that will make him happy. Not really, this is another thing he wants me to pull out. He doesn't like them and can't see the point to having them. I like them, he eats them, not always through choice though and they make nice B&B Pickles. They are staying. This vine *may* get removed when I have plenty of others around the place.

Chokos are supposed to fruit during Autumn so I'm hoping this out of season fruiting isn't a sign of it's demise.

Apricots are falling from the tree so I have to get out there early to get them picked up. We had a huge issue with fruit fly last year so need to be careful with this. I love Apricots, another favorite fruit of mine.

Still getting plenty of Strawberries. This is one lot growing in a fridge garden, there are other plots spread about the place.

The foam boxes will get Spuds put in them and I plan on doing that next week.

I haven't got enough Lettuce growing, should have put more seeds in months ago but didn't. Heaps starting to come up now but I will need to think and get more seeds spread around.

Sweet potatoes are still growing but I need to get more normal ones in. I haven't been too worried about these as I'm not fussed whether I have them or not but in a ~~zombie uprising~~ survival situation more would be handy. Same goes for Pumpkin. Not enough in yet but I do have fruit on the giant pumpkin that I am challenging myself to grow. More on that soon.

Lots more out there happening and I will update again in the next week or so. Need to go debug the beans now.

November Happenings.

2011-12-04T12:15:00.000+08:00

Interested in what's been happening here over the last month? I'll tell anyway so you don't need to answer that.
We had loquats on the tree for the second year. Last year I think we got 2 or 3, this year 13! Next year, who knows, I may have enough to dry like the daughter did with here 3 massive trees. She brought me a box plus some that she had dehydrated, brought me some more...I like Loquats, a lot. Better than lollies.
I have more chickens and will start trying to sell some of the bigger chooks soon. I have way too many so not sure why I keep putting eggs under the cluckies. But the chickens are so cute! I see it as a waste to not use the fertile eggs and if I can sell a few of the PoL birds it will help pay for their food.
Unfortunately some of them have Scaley Leg at the moment. I have some vegetable oil to put on them but a few look worse that the others so I went down to my ~~friendly~~ vet and he mixed up a potion for me to put on them. I will still oil them. I asked the local fish and chip shop and they gave me half a drum of the old frying oil so I'll do that later. It will be messy but I think it will help them.
Once they are fixed up I might start thinking about selling some. That will be early next year now.
Bloody fox came again. Took a mother chook and left 7 orphans. They are a few weeks old and seem to have been adopted by a lone chook that was in with them. Lots of food is growing. Apricots are ripening. Too many for me so I am trying to dry some in the car. I need to get the dehydrator back from the son.
Parrots are pinching the apples. I tried netting a tree but I'm not tall enough so it's not very protected. A job for next week when Hubby is home.
Probably lots more interesting stuff happened but I didn't write it down and now we'll never know...
We went away a couple of times

Better get out there and figure out how to oil the legs of 30 chooks. Plus 16 chickens and Mums that have attitude. And a rooster that thinks he is boss...That one ~~might~~ will be a next week job too I think.

Thursday Night.

2011-12-02T10:05:00.000+08:00

I was out at work all day yesterday and though I had half heartedly promised myself that I wouldn't get on the computer until my evening jobs with the animals were started and finished...I was sitting here when the phone rang 10 miutes after I walked in the door...How sad and bad is that!!!!

It was the daughter wanting to borrow my car so she could go to some Christmas thing in a town 20minutes away. A town that I had just driven through and seen all the road closed and detour signs...
But as she is a revhead that is addicted to her phone and has been known to check it at the lights I said no. Good aren't I. But of course I couldn't deprive the poor lil grandkid of seeing the Christmas stuff could I. So I had to quickly get out there and feed the chickens and pig. Check that the fox that had been a couple of days ago couldn't get back in, drag the 2x40kilo bags of chookfood out of the car onto the trolley, pull them around the back to the shed and then scoop the contends into their bins, feed the chooks...Inside for a quick shower and something to eat...Out of here only 10minutes later than I told her.

It was a good night though. We ended up at Edenvale listening the the Christmas carols. I don't *do* Christmas but I do like the songs of the season.

After it was all finished daughter suggested some Christmas lights that were worth seeing so I drove out to them. I like seeing all the Christmas lights too but hate the power that they use...Can't have it both ways though...Managed to find the lights and get out of the area again even though I couldn't see where I was going. I HATE night driving but last night was a bit worse than I remember. I *might* let the daughter drive next time....

It was a good night though, I didn't spend on anything unnecessary, apart from the candles for the carols...and the popcorn but that came from Coles with the drinks and the bug spray. Mozzies are so bad up there that we had to walk down to the shop for some repellent so bought some snacks and drinks from there instead of the overpriced vendors.

Back home by 10 and then to bed...after an hour or so on here!...I did miss the bloody thing but geez, I need a bit more discipline.

Hello!

2011-11-30T21:54:00.000+08:00

My computer guy has just left and as you can see...I'm back. Did you all miss me as much as I missed being here? Probably not. I have missed it A lot! Sad isn't it but such is my life. Sadder still, it is bedtime and I am out all day tomorrow so can't get to have a play until tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll be strong enough to get me after work jobs done first. See you then.

Wet Weekend.

2011-11-05T13:18:00.000+08:00

Looks like we are in for a wet weekend so everything I planned to do will have to be put on hold. It means next weeks list will be longer but hey, that's not new.
I did an hours mowing yesterday and I bet by the time I can do more that lot will need doing again.

So what can I do when it's raining. Well, the fire is going so soup or lentil mush will be made. I made pizza for lunch. I could tidy up inside again but Hubby is watching TV so I don't like to. I don't like to anytime but at least today I have a workable excuse.

I will go out between showers and collect snails and slugs. I always get a few after the rain. And I could go tidy up in the shed...So a plan is forming. Snails, look at the shed...by then it should be coffee time...

Been Away.

2011-11-01T22:11:00.000+08:00

I've been away for a few days but am now home. Had the daughter come out and lock the chooks up for me so they are all still here. The grass has grown so much in the 5 days and I now need to start again to get it back under control. All the gardens look OK. I'm not home much over the next 2 days but am looking forward to getting out there over the weekend and seeing what's what.

Came home to a lovely tidy and clean house, big thanks to T for that. AND a great tea. She had been very busy, the meal was fantastic and we have enough left for my work lunches and tomorrows meal.

Looks like the Slaters have had a feast so I need to deal with them. We have a fridge full of eggs. I need to sort them out and get more in the freezer. Plenty of weeds to be pulled.

Tidying up again as daughter had to deal with a snake...Only a small one but the chooks were pecking at it and then she lost sight of it in the weeds and long grass...Then she sees it again...I need the grass short and stuff put away so we can see where they go.

So much to do and I have the van back now and want to go awandering as well. I'm so glad I don't work full time, I have no idea how people manage that.

Sprouting.

2011-10-26T19:15:00.000+08:00

I'm doing more sprouts. I have done a couple of lots since daughter gave me the lentils but thought I'd tell you all how I do them. It's not hard, they are good for you and yummy to eat.

You don't need anything special so if you haven't tried it before why not give it a go.

This week I am doing Lentils and Chickpeas. I haven't sprouted chickpeas before so I'm hopping they'll be nice.

You need a jar. I'm using a different jar for each seed. Something to cover the jar, you need to be able to strain the water out so stocking, cheesecloth, muslin...

*I put 2 soupspoons of seed in each jar. The seeds swell up and take up room as they sprout so the amount you use will depend on the size of your jar. I like to do smaller amounts more often..
*Cover with water and soak. I usually soak overnight but this lot is being started in the morning so will be soaked until this evening. I use a spoon handle to push down on the stocking as I pour the water in. It lets the water through easier and there is less mess.
*After soaking strain water, into a bowl or jug. Don't pour it down the sink, use it on the garden or potplants.
*Each morning/evening cover seeds with water again, swoosh around and strain. I turn the jar upside down and prop it up a bit so all the water drains away. I also use a spoon handle or something similar to press up on the stocking. It allows the water to drain better.
* When the sprouts are the size you like, 3-7 days, put them in the fridge to keep them fresh. I like to use them within a few days but have left them for a week and they were OK.

I have them with salad, in sandwiches, by themselves, add to stirfries...However you want. Try them with everything or by themselves as a snack.

Day 1.

Day 3

Day 5.

Ready to eat.

Use clean water for soaking and rinsing. I use rainwater because that is what we have but would use tap water if we were in town and connected to scheme water. Our house water is not potable so I wont use that.

Strawberry Season.

2011-10-23T07:43:00.000+08:00

I usually manage to find a few strawberries to munch on while I'm wandering around the yard checking out all the different garden areas but a couple of days ago I had to come inside and get a bowl as there were too many to eat while awandering.

Add that plateful to the ones that were already in the fridge and I had too many to eat fresh, nice as they are. We don't eat jam so how else can we eat them...Yep, add the mankyist ones to some milk, add a chopped up frozen banana, drink some, freeze leftover and tada...

Wrap frozen icepoles in recycled plasic and put back in freezer until grandaughter or husband sees them.

Do the same in a few days because I haven't eaten the ones in the fridge and there are more to pick...

Moving Sand

2011-10-22T08:19:00.000+08:00

Thankyou for all the comments yesterday and the concern for me.
When I was thinking about moving the sand I was going to use the big barrow to do the 3 loads but was a bit concerned myself as to how I would go.
As luck would have it the big barrow had bluemetal in it and I couldn't be bothered emptying it so used the *girly* barrow instead. This one has a weight limit so I couldn't overfill it, not too much anyway.

So the 3 loads yesterday were done without too much struggling.

As a few suggested, I will start off small, do the 3 for a week or so then move on to bigger and more often. I will get the front yard filled in first as there are lots of low spots from when we shifted the fence and garden.

I have the grandaughter here this morning, the Really Really Free Markets at noon and working this afternoon so wont be home 'til tonight sometime. I can't see too much being done here but will try for the 3 loads and the 30min mowing.

I have more chickens so need to clean out their nest and get them some clean hay, peas need picking, rat traps need checking and shifting...I need to water a few gardens...
Of course the house needs tidying again but I can't do it all can I!

Better get stuck into things. The GD can *help* with the sand and I will mow as soon as she leaves. Chop chop...what, it's coffee time? Gosh! There's always something...

Finally we started.
Girl Power Rulz!!

Some of us did slack off before the 3 loads were done but hey, that's what life is out here. Fun and games...for some anyway.

Millipede, found in the sand.

Who's the King of the Castle.

After 5 loads we came in for breakfast.

Time for french toast with organic honey and strawberries.

On My Mind... Lots of hard work.

2011-10-21T10:37:00.000+08:00

We have just had a load of sand delivered and I need to get it to where I want it out the back and around the yard. There is a LOT of sand there.

I'm wondering how to handle it...I could leave it until we get the Dingo back and that would be easier but may be a few weeks away or if I wheelbarrow it I could count it as my Get Fitter exercise...But there is a lot of sand there and I'm not very fit or strong, it will be a lot of hard work, more than walking or bikeriding or mowing...

I'm thinking I could do a few barrow loads whenever throughout the next few days and see how I go. I'm sure that there will still be plenty there when the Dingo gets returned.

This will be a challenge. See how much I get get shifted by myself but do at least 3 loads a day.

It's too hot now though so it will have to wait until this evening. But if it is too hard that means I'll have to do all 3 at once and not be able to have long breaks in between...Hmmm...better do one now to see what I am up against.

Coffee first. And though it is already 10.30 I haven't had breakfast yet so might do that first too...

On My Mind is something that Rhonda over at Down To Earth puts on each Friday..
It's fun.
What's on your mind today?

Pass Me The Grass Killer.

2011-10-19T16:04:00.000+08:00

Or I could order in a truck load of concrete. I want to do both.

I have been out mowing, the mower is making me cranky as it's not working properly and we have not long ago forked out money on getting it to...I will have to use the smaller *girly* 4stroke but I like, or used to like, this bigger 2stroke as it has a lot more grunt.

I have decided to mow and count it as my moving to get fit as there is so much to do and I feel bad when I walk and then don't mow. Now I will mow and not walk. The mowing is a lot harder. It gets me pushing and using more muscle that the easy walks I was, or wasnt, doing.

I give the grass to the chooks, they eat the seeds, scratch around in it, poop in it, I rake it up and feed the gardens with it. It is a never ending circle that goes on and on and on....

The grass here is thick and we never water it but it keeps on growing...and growing. It never lets up but this time of year it seems to grow twice as fast. Faster than I can mow. It is a challenge to keep it under control. And in saying that, I am off to do another 30minutes. That should get the back area finished. Then it will be the front, then outside the front fence then the back will be overgrown again...

Sunday Morning. Chook Chat.

2011-10-16T07:36:00.000+08:00

It's going to be quite warm here today, around 30 and last night and this morning the Eastilies have hit with force. Everything is being blown around. When the wind drops though it will be hot. I'm not very good with hot weather so should be out there doing me jobs now...but it's too windy for me. Gosh I sound hard to please and really I'm not. Hot coffee, good book, outside...it doesn't take much at all. Just no big winds and hot weather please.

We haven't seen any sign of the fox since the killing but have been offered the use of a tried and true home made foxtrap and will get that next week and set it up out the back. A big problem we have is that our chook pens are big and not all the chooksheds in the pens have a door so can't be shut up. Because of their size not all the pens are netted over the top but they are high fences with wobbly wire that points outwards running along around the top so the foxes can't climb up and over.

I have three pens in use at the moment.
*The one that we have just trenched and tinned, in use by my breeding chooks, not netted and wasn't trenched and tinned all around but hopefully safe now. We are going to put a door on their shed so they can be locked up though.
*one with the HyLines in. The Hylines can be shutup but I don't always remember to do them
*and the 2 orchard pens that I have my AussieRocks in. The orchard pens have a shared shed that all the chooks get locked up in at night, but not all year round. I start locking these ones up during early spring and hope I start before the foxes do. I alternate the side of the orchard that the chooks can get to..
I also have 2 netted pens that I use for chickens, safe from crows and other things WHEN I shut the gates.

My problem is that by evening I am so sore and tired that I don't always think to shut the doors/gates. The chooks don't *go to bed* until it's dark and by then I am usually finished for the day and ready for bed myself. Really, because of my slackness in this area, we are lucky that we haven't lost more. I did lose some a few years ago...We did a lot more work on the pens after that and seem to have been left alone since so I was lulled into what now has proven to be a false sense of security.
If I only had a dozen or so chooks then a smaller totally prison-like pen would be easy to have. I want lots of chooks so it means more work and some losses until we get it right. Hopefully now we have.

It's still blowing a gale out there but I best be off...I need to make more coffee...

On my Mind...Fox Proofing.

2011-10-14T07:10:00.000+08:00

On my mind today is something that Rhonda Jean puts on every week and today Flippin' Foxs' is on my mind. Not actually flipping them though I would like to flip them to the bottom of the river but fox proofing a pen is on my mind. As the pen in question has not had a problem with any fox before we thought that it was alright and safe. But no...this fox has come up into the yard and dug up my garden and gotten in under the fence and killed 2 of my AussieRocks. The chooks I get the fertile eggs from.

The bleedin' thing even dug up my Jerusalem Artichokes and I was already starting to worry about those not growing.

Maybe I thought they wouldn't come in this way because we are in the area throughout the day so our people smell would be around, dogs run around this area, it's close to the house...All reasons that mean jack!
I probably made it easier for them as I cleared an area to plant the JA so it is soft plant free area...

So today we will be digging trenches and burying tin to try and stop them digging under again.

I have such a long list of other stuff that I need to get done but that will all be put off until we get this pen sorted.

I will also need to choose a few more chooks to put in with the rooster (*roosters?) as the lone definate chook that is left in there is looking a bit stressed. As you would I supose if you see/hear your friends getting attacked...

* roosters? I have 2 big birds in this pen. One is definatly a rooster and always has been. The other...it has always been a big bird, part Plymouth Rock, but lately, after 2 years, it has started crowing so I do not know if it is a he or a she. Maybe it doesn't know itself...

And Again...

2011-10-13T06:31:00.001+08:00

Another, or the same, fox has killed 2 more chooks. I hear something early Tuesday morning, around 5ish, so got out of bed, grabbed the torch and went out to check. All the gates were shut and I didn't hear anything else, didn't see anything, so thought it must have been something else...Went back to bed and kinda heard something, Hubby was snoring so I lie there listening, yep something. It's 5.30 and I say to Hubby that there is something in with the chooks and we both go out. Didn't see anything but heard *it* And of course 1 chook is dead and it looks like the fox had been trying to pull it out under the fence where it has dug a small hole to get in.. I later found a second chook not far from the fence. In the last 6 years this is the pen that I believed was the most fox proof. One has come up near the house again and dug up where I have the Jerusalem Artichokes planted. Bloody thing! We had traps set last night and Hubby was ready with the gun but they didn't come back. This is where I had put the breeding chooks as I was worried about them being out behind the shed. The rooster is still there and I have other chooks that I can put in with him but these were nice looking chooks and good layers so I was getting enough fertile eggs to keep the flock sustainable. The rooster is a bit *toey* but if I lose him I wont be able to get chickens for awhile. Yes, I know I could easily get another one but this one was hatched and raised by us so I'd like him not to get his head bit off.

More work to do now, I'm out all day but luckily Hubby is home for a few days. All the jobs on my list will be moved down as getting this pen fixed up is more important.

More Frig Words.

2011-10-10T13:32:00.000+08:00

I went for a walk yesterday and saw a dead snake on the road, my first one for this season and thought that yes, now's the time to have all the grass short and the yard tidied...OK, I know I should have the grass kept short and the yard tidy all the time but this is me talking and as much as that I know I should and I do want to and I do try...This time of the year it really is a must.

I was in having lunch and thinking about what I need to get done this afternoon when I heard the AussieRocks going off their nut and knew right away why but I run out there, run back in and put me boots on and run out again. It seems that I can run when I need to...And yes, there is a snake in their shed. Of course with all these chooks having a go at it it slithers into where the Mumma chook and her 3 babies are...and they can't get out. What to doWhat to do...I run (yes, again!) back in and grab the camera (what was I thinking!) and the phone, put the camera down and grab a shovel instead and phone the son. The snake is in the chicken area and the mumma chook is going nutso so I keep one eye on the snake while I reach in and move a board so that she and her chicks can get out. She gets out but 1 little chicken is trapped in with the snake and every time it tries to get out the snake moves around more, whether it's trying to get the chicken or not I don't know..
In the meantime the son leaves work and comes to my rescue.

Thank goodness for people that can handle these things. Hubby had left for work an hour earlier and if son wasn't around I would have had to call someone else but would have had to come inside for phone numbers and would have lost sight of the snake. The 5foot, what looks like, Tiger snake.

All is now safe but there will be a next time so I think the next thing to do is look up numbers of who to call if there is no-one who can come and help. Off to do that now.

Be careful People, it's snake season again.

Lone Survivor.

2011-10-08T18:41:00.018+08:00

This is the 1 surviving chicken from the flooding and the fox attack.

I have it in a box in the bathroom at night.

Daughter brought the soft toy out for it and it sleeps on top of that at night.

I put it out under the table during the day.

This table was given to us and as it has birdcage frames connected to the legs it makes a safe place for any chickens that we have to get out on the grass and have a scratch for bugs.

When it's a bit wet and cold out there I put a box with hay in with them for shelter and warmth.

If I am outside and able to keep an eye on it I let it scratch around the yard and gardens.

I'm hoping that nothing else happens to this little chick. It has probably been stressful for it but it is also stressful for me and I don't handle stress too well. So Little Chicky, stay safe.

Lentils.

2011-10-08T06:26:00.000+08:00

I like Lentils, I mainly buy the split red ones and add them to lots of things that I cook. They are cheap and healthy and though Hubby is not as keen on them he eats stuff I make for me that has them in. So I figure...If I eat them I should grow them.

So, I'm going to try and grow some Lentils. Has anyone here done that? Any tips please?

I had mentioned wanting to sprout some to the daughter, she said she had some whole ones, I only had the split ones and of cause they wont sprout. Silly me!

Now I have enough to try sprouting and growing them.

How cool would that be, to be able to grow your own...

My daughter gifted me them yesterday, along with lotsa other cool stuff so I have no excuse and will find a jar and start on the sprouting today.

Busy Day Ahead.

2011-10-07T10:26:00.000+08:00

It is a lovely sunny day here so far today and I have so much to do and feel like doing so little...

I had someone coming to get some eggs so thought I should do a quick tidy-up inside and did start but...She has been and gone so the rest will be put off 'til later...Or tomorrow...But only because I have too much to do outside and really would rather be out there even if I didn't have anything to do.
But the fridge needs cleaning out so I can fit more eggs in there. Quiche for tea I think. Again!

I need to get more mowing done and plan on at least a half hour so I can add it to my *get fit* writings. This means that I need to bag up the old clippings that the chooks have been scratching over for me so I can add this next lot to the GC area.

The chooksheds need cleaning out and fresh hay put in. I have 2 or 3 possible clucky chooks that I need to sort out and maybe move. But to move them I need to clean up the feathers and stuff from where the fox attack happened and put more hay in that pen. I have a dozen fertile eggs so really need to make my mind up there and get things sorted.

More seeds need to be planted and I MUST get some Pepinos shifted to another area and though I now have the area where I will put them dug over and ready it's been a week and I still haven't done them.

I am awaiting on some seeds from a giant pumpkin so should decide where I am going to plant them and get the area fed and ready. They didn't come today so I now have the weekend but I'm sure the seeds will be here on Monday and apart from burying a dead chook in one possible spot I haven't done much else. And it's supposed to be a competition!

I bought some Diatomatious Earth and need to get more sprinkled around the gardens and in the chook sheds when I rake them out. A couple of days ago I tried a bit on an area covered in slaters and the slaters aren't there this morning...I'm hoping they are dead and not just shifted places. I need to go slater hunting.

The worm farm needs fixing, it is wet and near empty so I need to look up what to do about that. These are Hubby's worms but it doesn't look like he thought to do them yesterday and he isn't here today.

I will have the little chicken with me while I am working around out the front. I have it in a box in the bathroom at night and out in an under the table enclosure during the day but let it out to scratch around if I am weeding or just sitting out there. It is becoming quite friendly.

Better finish me coffee and get started.

Frig, Frig and Frigging Frig!!

2011-10-04T06:37:00.000+08:00

We had another night time visitor last night. Hubby and I heard a noise around 1am and both get up to go see what it was. I thought it was the chooks, he says the cat has the bandicoot. He goes out the back door I go out the front. He says again the cats there, something went in your garden still thinking a bandicoot. I walked out the front towards where I usually see the bandicoot but know straight away that is wasn't that. I smelt fox and sure enough looking around we find the feathers with blood and then I remember that I didn't shut the chookshed door or the gate to the chicken pen. Go in the pen and see more feathers then find the black chook, dead. No other chook, no chickens...

This fox has come right up in the yard near the house and through 2 open gates to get to these chooks.

I feel angry with myself as I ~~kinda~~ knew that I should shut the gates...I didn't 'cause I was so sore and tired and in bed by half past eight and I couldn't be bothered getting up again and going outside. Husband says they'll be right but I should have shut the gates.

This morning we hear chicken chirping so I get up and I find 1 little chicken in the garden, all cold and alone. I have it in a box but it will be lonely now and is at that stage of few feathers so now I may need to set up a light for it for nights and we don't have any of the globes that give off heat only those stupid new things. So I'm feeling out of sorts for all kinds of reasons this morning. AND!! The crows are back stealing the eggs. Not sure where from but I see them flying off with eggs and want to shoot them in the head!

Off for another coffee and I think I need a *chill pill*

Night-time Visitor.

2011-09-30T21:41:00.001+08:00

I am home alone but expecting husband to show up anytime. Sitting here when I hear the front door move but then nothing, there should be more sound if it is him. I turn the light on for him but still no other sound so I go in the bedroom and look out that window, nothing there, no-one anywhere...But a bucket has been moved and is on it's side. The wind maybe, it is a bit windy...I decide it was the wind and not boogymens so go out and set the bucket up and put it away from the wind. I happen to see a movement up the other end of the verandah and of course! I remember we have a bandicoot that likes to get the chookfood from the buckets that I leave out. So he must have tipped this one over, found it empty so went looking in the other one. He didn't seem that fussed that I was there so I came in to get the camera and he was still there when I went out again and I managed to get quite close, within 4feet, of it.

Isn't it so cute. I don't know how many we have here now but I'm thinking this is the one that goes between the chookpens, it digs under the gates and the fences and I am forever filling in the gaps so the chickens can't get out. These are another reason I don't want to use poisons or snap traps for the rats.

September Veg.

2011-09-30T20:10:00.012+08:00

We didn't buy any veg throughout September but were lucky enough to be given a couple of cabbages from family to add to what we had growing here. I appreciate the stuff that we get given and realise that things would sometimes be a bit tight without this generosity of others.

It all helps the little that I am doing out there be enough to keep us fed which is just as well but how things will be over the next few months is anybodies guess. There is a bit out there growing and if we can get on top of the slaters then we might make it through the rest of the year but I am not having much luck with getting these pests under control without resorting to poisons.

With the warm weather coming though we will be eating more salads so I think that another bag of carrots will need to be bought sometime.

The only fruit we have eaten from our garden is a few handfuls of Strawberries. I really need to work on getting something producing fruit every month. More trees, berries, something...More research in this area is needed.

There is still plenty of fish and meat in the freezers and some close to use by date meat had been gicen to us again so apart from a few feeds of liver no meat had had to be bought.
Eggs have been eaten on a regular basis as we have plenty of them.

Three months to go and though things may be a bit lean I am still hopeful that we wont have to buy much but am really not too fussed if carrots are needed and bought.

Rat Traps.

2011-09-27T21:38:00.000+08:00

I was concerned awhile ago about the rats out in the pen where the chickens are but I have been noticing more and more droppings out in the garden shed as well. I call it the garden shed, it is more of a dumping area for my garden stuff like the mowers, seeds, chook-food, tools, pots, crap...There is no organisation and anything is anywhere. There are 2 bench areas at the back, hard to get to because I have dumped stuff in front and these have become covered in droppings. Big mouse, small rat, something not wanted either way.

But we have bandicoots here and skinks live in this shed so as poisons and snap traps were out I have been hunting around for humane traps that catch the *whatever* alive.

I bought the 2 wire cages on the left first, $14+ each. I was told that they were the last 2 and they wouldn't be selling that type again which was a bummer as they were the ones I wanted but I have found a shop in Pinjarra that sells them but they are a few dollars more. I will pay the extra and get a couple next week, just to save searching around for longer. The 2 coloured ones in the middle are mouse traps from our hardware store, they were under $5 each and the mouse trap with the wooden floor is from the rural supplier in town here, $10 It works on the same principle as the first two but doesn't seem as strong and has a wooden bottom whereas the others seem better with a wire bottom. Much easier to clean. So at the moment we have 5 traps, all easy to set but the plastic mouse ones are a bit of a trap themselves as they go off but we can't see what, if anything, is inside them. I want to know what I am picking up even if it makes me squeal.

The first week I had the wire traps set up in the shed and we caught 3 rats... Hubby was home so he dealt with them. He thought he had some rats in his shed too so put one of these traps in there and caught something on the second night.

Not a rat and just as well it wasn't a snap trap or this little thing would have been *snapped*
He has been taken out the back and let loose.
If I am home alone and I trap a skink then I'll let it go out the back. If it's a mouse or a rat I will...Don't know what I will do with it. If I can bring myself to pick up the trap with a live rat in it then I will probably, maybe, take it down the road and let it out. I'd have to make sure that there was no-one around as I know there will be some squealing and carrying on going on. They are small rats and kinda cute too...But they do gotta go...somewhere, somehow...

I need to buy a few more traps and set them up in the chicken pens as I know there are rats out there and maybe be a bit more careful when getting the chookfood out. Spilt chookfood brings rats and mice and rats and mice brings snakes...Rats I can handle but I'd rather not encourage more snakes.

Chicken Update.

2011-09-20T20:30:00.000+08:00

The 4 + 1 chickens are doing fine, eating everything and running around through both the pens and the front area. We will get around to stopping this one day but at the moment because there are gaps under the tin and the chickens get under and away from their mum I am leaving the gates open so the mothers can get to them. So five little chickens and their mums...

The older chicken has Plymouth Rock markings and seems to hang around with the 4 younger chickens and their mum more than with it's own mother. The black mother has started laying again too which is unusual. There were 2 eggs in her box this morning which just goes to show how much attention I pay when I feed them.

And check this out...

There are at least 3 in there.. She was sitting on 4, maybe 5, eggs so 3 is good but there may be another one there. I was thinking that I would need to move her in a day or so when they are out and about as she is in the wrong pen for babies but Hubby helped me set up an enclosure for them, safe from the other chooks and crows so they will all be fine where they are for a few weeks.

Pests? I like them.

2011-09-19T07:58:00.001+08:00

We've been getting heaps of these caterpillars lately. They seem to be all over the place and are easily seen when I mow the grass and they are there crawling along. They also hang out on the yellow daisy plants that I have which is understandable as that is where the butterfly that I think these come from used to hang out.

They don't bother the vegies so we don't dispatch them like we do the little green ones that eat the cabbages.

Grandaughter says they are cute because they have *sparklies* on their back.

I made Pasta. And Pickled Beetroot.

2011-09-18T07:19:00.000+08:00

Yep...I made pasta. With egg and flour on the kitchen table...you know, real pasta.

Hippy/Hippie, as in wild and free not big at the hips, Daughter was here on Friday and she always inspires me to try something new and this week it was pasta making.

Four year old Grandaughter was here so made some too. First we plonked 3 lots of a cup of flour on the

table, 1 for each of us,

GD broke the egg into a cup then poured that into a well we made in the flour.

A smidge of salt a bit of oil then squish it all together.

Make it into a ball, ready to roll out.

Notice one ball is pink? That is mine. I added a couple of spoons of liquid that I used for the beetroot.
Roll out, using a small bottle for small person, a bigger bottle for bigger person and whatever you can find in husbands shed for third person.

Cut into different thickness strips and shapes and call them what you want.

We also made some with tomatoey beetroot mush in them, a bit like ravioli.

Daughter had this pasta machine that she gave me ages ago that we brought out to try. It was hard going but they did get some *penne* and some other thing. It looked like hard work and not something I could use so I will stick to the handmaking stuff.

We had some for our tea and Hubby says it was very nice but maybe slightly undercooked.

So there you go. Another thing that I have been wanting to do has been done.

I must say it is a lot more work than going to the shop and buying a packet and as I always buy quite a bit when it is on special so always have some here it wont be an every week thing. I will do it again as it is much nicer than the bought stuff.

If you have never tried making your own pasta give it a go, it's well worth it even if just for the fun factor.

If you have, how'd it go?

Blogger is being a pain, again, so Beetrrot writup is coming later.

Happy Birthday RRFM.

2011-09-17T11:41:00.000+08:00

It is the first anniversary of the Really Really Free Markets in Waroona today.
If you are passing Waroona Town Hall between 1 and 3 this afternoon, Sat 17, call in and have a look, maybe find something you need, listen to the music, have some coffee and cake or a bowl of curry...All free.

See you there.

Or not.

Slaters for Chooks.

2011-09-17T07:43:00.001+08:00

We were digging up around the water tank the other day, daughter and grandaughter were here helping me. I was going to plant flowers around it again but we decided to use the space for Tomatoes instead. Of course this area was full of slaters, not too big of a deal with flowers but with a food crop going in they have to be removed. The D. and GD. spent quite a while picking them up out of the dirt. D did go and get the friendly white Aracauna to come and help them. GD thought it was fun to have the chook eat the slaters out of her hand.

We collected heaps and fed them to the chooks.

This is an ideal way to deal with an unwanted pest, very time consuming and fun but not something that I can be bothered with often enough. I am going to try an EO spray and see if that will get the numbers down and as I have found a local supplier of foodgrade DE I will get some of that as well.

I WILL win the war with these things and it WILL be done with minimal unwanted stuff being used.

I'm Not Well. Moan, moan and groan....

2011-09-17T06:42:00.002+08:00

I'm not well. And I blame the man.
I had a lovely lunch out last Sunday, nice people, lovely place, saw some whales frolicking off the shore...Well 1 whale that I could tell was a whale but the other thing that was waaayyy out was also a whale or so I was told.  I have no reason to not believe these people who see whales most days at this time of the year.   Pretty cool if you ask me.

Anyway I get home and Hubby pulls in behind me, 2 days early but that's OK. "Ceptin' he's coughing and spluttering and has been all week poor sod but I have been fighting off the kid I look afters cold for the last 3 weeks and wasn't strong enough for this bugger. So I'm not well. Still have to do stuff though and no-one cares but hey, you get that.

Started on the honey and vinegar and hot lemon drinks right away so I'm actually not too bad, I just like to whinge.   I have more aches and pains that usual so that's a pain (haha) but I'm a big girl and will soldier on.  Thanks for the concern though.

Now out to do another snail patrol.   I thought I had these things more or less under control but there are heaps of small ones out there so need to get on top of them again.

It's all neverending isn't it but it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble so it's all good.

Pests and Weeds.

2011-09-11T07:59:00.000+08:00

Bloggers being a pain and I can't even comment on my own blog. How sad is that!!

We're still having heaps of pest problems and the pellets are looking better to me all the time. WE, (Hubby) did an experiment. He put pellets under a couple of my *traps*   In a couple of spots, away from root vegetables and lettuce, near the peas and brocolli.   All the slaters under them are dead and the plants have not been nibbled on.    The beds that he didn't do still have heaps, under the traps and walking across the soil and on the plants. I have lost more seedlings to these bleedin' things. He says that shows I should be using it where the seedlings are...Hmmm, I don't want to but I do want them to leave my food alone.
I put old grass clipping from the chook yards onto the gardens as mulch and the weeds I pull out I usually leave on the garden to rot down and feed the soil.   The gardens need to be fed but it does encourage these things. I have been pulling away all this stuff  from the plants and keeping it to the side and scooping up the slaters that go there. They still come out and eat the plants though as I cannot collect them all. They burrow under the ground and dozens are missed. Come Summer and this mulch will have to be spread over the garden again.
Last year we tried penning in a few of the smaller chooks to scratch around and eat the slaters. It didn't work. Our gardens always have something growing in at least half of them and the silly chooks kept getting out and going for the growing green stuff. I spent too much time fixing the makeshift fence and chasing chooks out of where they shouldn't be.
The bloke out the back told us that he limed his pumpkin area before he planted otherwise the slaters got into his pumpkins so we tried that and it seemed to work but this year they are back in that bed.  And stuff didn't grow as well as it should have done because of the lime...We have thought of using diatomaceous earth but have been told by our rural supplier that it needs to be foodgrade and he doesn't sell it and I keep forgetting to look when I am out of town.

Over the last week I have notice the Cabbage White Butterfly around so it means I'll have to keep the baddie racquet's handy. I wouldn't think or buying in poison for them as they are kinda controllable and the caterpillars can be picked off before they do too much damage. It's just the slaters I hate and want gone once and for all.

Last year we lost all our peaches to Fruitfly. It was a really bad year here for them and we had them in trees that haven't had them before. Even the Strawberry Guavas were infected. We were catching them in the traps but once again, there were so many. Eveyone that I have spoken about it says the same thing. Last year was a BAD year in our area for fruitfly. I plan on putting the traps out again this week but Hubby has bought some spray. He says his boss hates spraying but used this spray last year and he got fruit while we didn't. The spray is EcoNaturelure and as the boss is a bit of a greenie I'm thinking it might be alright...
The traps I use are coke bottles with different homemade lures. They did trap a lot but not enough to save the fruit.

And then we have the grass. Hubby spent all day last weekend mowing out the front of our place. It was his one day off here at home. It is too thick and half is under trees so too hard for me to do.   I'm starting to think that poisoning that area is the way to go. This time of the year he is too busy with work and I hate that he needs to spend his time off doing that. I have other things for him to do!!    He also mows the dam area which is too big of an area for me. I can sometimes get the area around the house completed, sometimes the girls come and do it for me.   The edges though, they could do with a dose of poison too.   Keeping the grass from them is stopping me from doing other things. Like sitting in the sun and reading, going for a walk, riding the bike, being on the computer...you know, the good stuff.

As I get older and more sore I am getting more tempted to do what I don't want. The simple life really isn't so simple.

To Poison or not To Poison...

2011-09-08T07:23:00.001+08:00

Ideally this is a no brainer and of course I am not going to use poisons, of any kind...

So I spend my days mowing, weeding, trying to keep the grass under control and most of the gardens free of it. I spend hours trapping bugs, squishing bugs, complaining about bugs.

Hubby says I should spray the grass and if I don't he will. He says I need to put poison down for the slaters and if I don't he will. So far I haven't and he has had other stuff to do.

So I am putting seeds in, watching them grow, putting them out into the gardens...and going out in the mornings to see a few more gone, eaten by the slaters. This morning I go out and see that I have 1 broccoli left out there. A few peas are gone, strawberries are being munched on, tomatoes have holes.

I have been setting up areas away from the plants with leaves and *food* for the slaters and a lot are going there and I can pick them up and give them to the chooks or pour boiling water on them and killing them that way. I have removed mulch from the worst beds and no longer have it around the plants as the slaters were using it as a haven. But there are so many and it seems that they like my food better than the stuff I put out for them. The poison option is looking better with every missing seedling, half eaten strawberry and slater that I see on my food. With Summer coming I will need to start mulching again but know that will just hide them and make it harder to see them. Last year we used lime in a few beds and that seemed to work for awhile but there are now more than ever out there.

I have been battling these slaters for a few years now and I think they are now worse than they have ever been. Hubby says to put poison down and get them back to a manageable level.

A few people have mentioned to us that they use Snail pellets and that it kills the slaters.

Hubby has bought a box. It is tempting. Very tempting.

Four Minus Two Is Still Four.

2011-09-07T08:19:00.000+08:00

OK, You can all stop worrying. I told you they'd be there! I don't know why my husband thinks I worry too much for no reason. There are rats out there though!! I have been looking at pictures of ratpoo, yes such is my life, and I am sure that is what it is. Bandicoot is altogether different.

The new mother chook has her 4 babies with her. They were out and scratching around until I went out there.

Some time today I will need to get in and clean out the 3 unhatched eggs that are still in her nest. The mother chooks usually gets off the nest after a day or so of the eggs hatching and it gives me a chance to clean out the nestbox and put new hay in there. This chook has taken her babies back into it for now but hopefully she'll let me near it later on.

Four Minus Two...

2011-09-06T20:08:00.000+08:00

I went out this evening to feed the mother chook and the chickens but am now a bit worried. Yesterday there was 4 new chickens but tonight I could only see 2 but there are heaps of rat, I think, droppings all over the top of the nest box. I'm hoping the chickens were under the mummy chook asleep and not been gobbled up by a damn rat but I know rats take baby pigeons so...but the chook would surely not let a rat into her nest...maybe...

I know there is a Bandicoot living out there because I have seen it but I'm pretty sure they don't eat chickens and the dropping are, maybe, too small and up too high... What do you think, is this rat poo?

I know, nice photo!

A better one below.

I'll go check again in the morning and hopefully there will be 4 again but it looks like I need to go buy some traps...And work out how to trap a rat and not a chook...

Surprise!!

2011-09-06T05:35:00.000+08:00

We went away over the weekend...left Saturday morning, back Sun afternoon...I had planned to clean out the dead eggs from the chook...Remember, her eggs were due to hatch last weekend but her nest was flooded a couple of weeks ago. Because we went away I didn't get around to doing it but it was smelly and did need doing. Poor chooky, sitting on dead babies.

I had some more fertile eggs so I thought I'd put a few under her after I removed the old ones, so I collected fresh hay, the eggs, a clean water and food container. Imagine my surprise when I go to get her off and find a tiny chicken outside her nest area. It was small so I knew it wasn't the other chicken. I put it back with the mother and go and get something for a ramp so it can get back into the nest easier...and there is another chicken popping it's head out. I go out later and see 4. Hubby reckons I had the dates wrong but I wrote them down so *know* I didn't.

I will put a photo up later but it's too early to go get one now and then I am out all day...

August, We Bought...

2011-08-31T20:45:00.000+08:00

I bought carrots this month. A 5kg bag for $1.99. I like carrots with my salads but as I cannot grow them and I was over at Spud Shed getting stuff for the daughter and I saw these...They are quite nice too, small and sweet.
No other vegetables were bought during August.

I did buy some bananas while I was there but no other fruit.
We are still getting Oranges so they were our fruit of choice this month. Those and the Passionfruit and we had a few Indian Guava ready to eat as well.

We are getting plenty of eggs and once again the son has brought out a few feeds of meat. He is a butcher at the local supermarket and sometimes brings out stuff that is too near to its use by date to sell.
This month we scored some lamb chops, a pork roast, sausages and 2 lots of mince.
He used to take it home and feed it to his dogs but a quick clip under his ear soon stopped that!
We do buy some meat, I usually get some liver and twin packs of chicken when we don't have any roosters. Sausages if they are on special. I would like to not have to buy any meat and some months I don't but I need the Liver for Iron and we like chicken...
I'm happy with the tiny amount of food that we need to buy but will keep trying to grow all of what we eat.

Baby Update.

2011-08-30T08:01:00.000+08:00

The little black chicken is doing fine but the mother chook is very protective and huffs up whenever I go out there and shoos her baby away so I can't get near it. She has had a go at me a couple of times when I have put food down for them. Silly thing!
The other chook is still sitting but I haven't seen any chickens and I am thinking that there won't be any now and I plan to clean out her nest and put her in the other pen this weekend.
I have had another chook, a Plymouth Rock coloured one go clucky so have put some fertile eggs under her.
I will need to wait 3 weeks to see how she goes.

The calf is frollicking around everywhere. The mother cow is looking fine. I am giving her extra hay.
The brown cow is still fat but no sign of a calf. I think she is just big and fat.

A few dramas with them all though as the black and white cow/calf got into the padock with the back neighbours animals. I'm pretty sure there is a bull or 2 in there...The next day all our cows were in there. The fence between the neighbours to our north and his back neighbough must be dodgy so when Hubby gets home I will get him to fix the gate between us and northside to keep our cows on our property.

Animals! Sometimes they are more work than they are worth.

What To Plant. What Will Grow.

2011-08-28T13:36:00.000+08:00

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about what I will be growing over the warmer months. The 4 year old grandaughter wanted to help so, with help from her mum, she brought out some seeds and some seed trays so she could "plant seeds with Nanny" and a couple of weeks ago when L, T and J were out here they made a start. They filled and planted the 3 trays, they filled some jiffy pot things for daughter L to take home and they got me motivated to keep planting over the next week.

The seed trays were put on a table and left on the front verandah. I found an old spray bottle with the idea of giving them a spray when needed but after a couple of days I put each tray into a plastic shopping bag and tied it shut. Within a few days the seeds were up with no extra mucking around from me and I removed them from the bags. I now give them a squirt with the hose every couple of days but some of them need to be put out in the ground. A job for this week.

Going through all my seeds I just pick out things that can be planted now, I never have a plan as such, I just plant what I have and hope enough grows so I don't have to buy anything. So far that has worked but really, I don't try and do anything too hard. Apart from the bleedin' carrots. I'm a pretty SlackA*** gardener and if something doesn't grow I just try again or plant something else.

I've also put other seeds into the bottom half of coke bottles with the lid as a top and more seeds in jiffy pots in a cardboard box with a sheet of glass over it. One bottle has Rosemary cuttings.

More seeds in this container. Hubby bought a salad roll while away at work one day and I rescued this from the bin. He will growl but hey, if it works it will be worth it.

These bottle have cuttings in them. After a month the Mulberry cuttings are starting to bud up but the Bougainvillea look like they are dead which is a shame as they have come from Doolgunna Station and were a really nice colour but I wanted them as a remembrance thing.

I am trying again with Carrots but not going to hold my breath. I hardly ever get these up and growing. I think I have managed to get 2 lots good enough to eat but have had 5 or 6 attempts. I have read that they need to be kept moist, so they are covered with newspaper. That will be removed if when the carrots come up.. If When they come up then they should make it to a decent size so here's hoping.

I have put peas in this end as well and it shouldn't be long before they are up. I put bottles over them as a bit of an experiment. Any other time that I plant peas I don't worry about covering them but I am hoping this will get them up quicker.

I'm not sure what the girls planted though we did write it on sticks and shoved it in with the seeds.
I should probably write it all down so I know but I'm not too fussed. I'll know soon enough when they start producing!
I think I've made a decent start but come September I will need to get a lot more stuff in.

Lucky for One.

2011-08-26T13:08:00.000+08:00

But sad for too many others and I cried.

About 5 weeks ago one of the young AussieRocks went and sat on some eggs. She sat all that day and was still sitting that night and the next day she was still sitting. My briliant brain and pecked at finger told me that she was probably clucky. Waste of the eggs she was sitting on though as there is no rooster in with this lot.

I go out the back where there is a rooster with a few hens and over the week I collect 8 or 9 fertile eggs. I make up a nest in another box, put it in the chicken pen and add the fertile eggs. I wait until night when all good chooks should be asleep and creep in and slowly get up enough courage to pick her up. She only tries to peck me a few times while I am carrying her to her new nest. I ~~shove~~ place her gently in and stand a board up in front so she can't escape. A day or so later I take the board away so she can come out and eat and poop hoping she'll know to go back and sit. She didn't so I had to chase her around the pen, finally catch her, get pecked at again, shove her not too gently back in her box and put the board back. The next day I wire off a little area for her so she can't go awandering. Over the next 2 weeks she gets out twice and is off the eggs for a few hours before I notice and she is herded back in. They were due to hatch last Sunday. The weekend when it rained, and rained, and rained... On monday I go out to check on her and find her nest under water. The area she is in is flooded and there is water in the box, where the due to hatch eggs are...
We find 3 dead nearly hatched chickens. I cried. I know that the other eggs are probably dead but we empty the nest, put in dry hay, Hubby puts a platform in to lift the box out of the water if it rains again and the chook gets back on the 5 wet and cold eggs we put back in. I go out on Wed and find and remove a dead hatched chicken. Not home on Thursday so go out this morning thinking to remove her and clean out the area and put her back in with the other chooks.

She's not there. There are 3 cold eggs in the nest. So no chickens from that lot.
I look, find her sitting in a different pen. Has she or hasn't she a baby under there...

There is one little chicken that survived all the trauma. It is so cute. I bet it's a rooster!

A week after the black chook went clucky I put a batch of eggs under one of the Mixed Breed chooks.
Last weekend they too were under water. They too were put on dry hay and up out of the water. The MB chook is still sitting on them. They are due to hatch this weekend.

I have put a boad on the pallet under her nest and hay around her with a brick in front so if there is a successful hatch the chickens can get in and out of the nest easily. Now I need to wait and see.

I felt so bad about the dead chickens because I put the nests there. I didn't even think that the chooks had been scratching the area and that it was lower than the rest of the pen.
Once these chooks are finished with this area Hubby is going to build it up and make a sloping cement platform so it won't happen again. But bugger! 'Twas a sad day.

I now need to get the black chook and her lone baby back into where she was in the chicken pen. It is a pen that is netted to keep the crows out whereas the pen she is in now isn't so it's not safe enough for her chicken. That will be this afternoons job. I have cleaned out the area and nest so it will be nice and clean for her.

Wet Weather.

2011-08-22T20:53:00.000+08:00

Husband spent most of the day pumping water away and though most of the puddles are gone the ground is still very soggy. It is supposed to be fine tomorrow so that will give it a bit of a chance to dry out but more rain is forecast for later in the week.

This is me standing in front of my car. The water is now gone but it is soggy and slippery.

To boot or not to boot.

The shed the HyLines use has water in it. I put dry hay in there for them, to keep them dry.

More than half of this pen was under water.

The water was being pumped out of these 2 hoses for most of the day. We had a pump in the old duck pond and another in the hole we have dug for the wishing well. The ground is so wet that the holes would refill as soon as the water was pumped out.

This is the old duck pond, it is around 6foot x 10foot and 2 foot deep. Because it is the lowest part of the yard it acts as a sump and the ground water seeps into it. Today it has filled and been emptied a few times.

Our area did receive a lot of rain, more than 43mm overnight, but we still need heaps more to get the dams up and able to cope with the Summer demand.

Under Water.

2011-08-22T07:00:00.000+08:00

It rained last night, most of the night I think. I knew it was wet outside this morning when the trough in the bathroom gurgled at me. Not a cute little baby gurgle but a *everything is under water and the septic and leachdrain is full* gurgle. Went out to let the chooks out and yep! Had to walk through the gulf of Barbs Backyard to get there.

The wishing well hole is overflowing, the duckpond sump hole is overflowing, the driveway is under water as it everywhere else. And it's still raining!

Luckily Hubby is home today so he may be able to get the bigger pump going and get some of it diverted out into the old irrigation drain out the back

We have already pumped away more water than some people use all year and it was bothering me that we weren't keeping the water on our land but I am thinking differently this morning. I want it all pumped away and I want it all pumped away NOW!!

I m not sure if that will even be possible but if we don't get rid of some of it I don't fancy the chances of me getting my car out tomorrow. And toilet flushing will be a no goer...showering tonight...nowhere for that water to go either...Bugger! No point in doing all of yesterdays dishes now, Hmmm, maybe there is some good to it all

Sunday Mornin' All.

2011-08-21T06:06:00.001+08:00

A big thankyou to all the well wishers yesterday. I appreciate the thoughts. I am feeling heaps better this morning, had an earlyish night and didn't get up until 4.45 this morning.

The markets went well, I scored a few things but if I had little kids I could have furnished a big cubby house for them. There was so much kids stuff! The kids that were there all went home with armloads and big smiles.
I ended up with some more net curtaining, this time for the *sunroom*/ front verandah, a couple of cool looking bicky/lolly tins that I will use for something, a small cooler bag for summer lunches away. I think that's all.

We have decided to let my painting job of the verandah ceiling and walls wait until the weather warms up or I know that I'll have 3 days of nothing else to do. Husband says he will help me with it but I will need to wait until after Spring . They are real busy during Spring with work so if I can't get it done I know there is help coming. All good.

The chook sheds should be done today, all the nesting boxes were cleaned and refreshed with new hay yesterday so less work for today now.

Main things for today will be:
Chook sheds, raked out and new hay put in. Husband did for me.
Sweet talk Hubby into moving some sleepers into chook yard so I can contain the old stuff better until it's neded. Done.
More seeds put in.
Lounge from front verandah, cleaned and covers washed and replaced. Put in position. Done.
Put away everything that was taken off the verandah when it was painted. Big job!! Half done.

Plus the day to day stuff of course and anything else will be a bonus but I think I'll be lucky if the list gets finished. It's forecast to rain...and I have a book to read...

Mornin' All.

2011-08-20T04:51:00.000+08:00

Good morning People. It is 4.30 AM here in WesternAustralia. I am awake, tired but hurting too much to sleep so I decided to get up and have a coffee, maybe try again in a couple of hours if I want to. It's dark, there is a bird chortling away out the front, the fire is going so it is nice and warm inside...

Hubby is still asleep so there is nothing for me to do except spend some time mucking around on here.

Really Really Free Markets are on this afternoon, I have more painting to do on the front verandah, chooks shed needs cleaning out...More seeds to be planted. Heaps to do today but I have doubts that much will be done... I hurt too much, been having a lousy week with pain and have resorted to taking tablets! They help but I hate having to take them.

Off to see who Blogger will let me talk to.

Hope you all have a nice day.

No Comment.

2011-08-17T07:34:00.001+08:00

I have been reading a few blogs over the last week or so and wanting to leave a comment on a couple but Blogger wont let me. It is annoying.

I was reading http://thelifeandtimesofanordinarygirl.blogspot.com/ and really wanted to wish her the best luck but can't.

The question on boobs or travel from http://www.savvymumma.com/2011/08/boobs-or-travel.html#comment-form Nah, no comment from me allowed so she doesn't get to read my wisdom.

There have been others. Many others.

I'm sure it will fix inself in time but it annoys me.

Coffee and *get a life* time.

Is Brown Cow Pregnant?

2011-08-16T19:00:00.002+08:00

This is our second cow. She was in the paddock last September when a bull got to our black cow and was in the paddock around 9 months ago when a bull got in and got to the black cow again and to the neighbours cow, I supose if there is no calf from her within the next week or so she won't be having one again.
She is a big cow, bigger than the black one but younger. Another wait and see thing.

If the new calf survives we will have 4 cows, if the brown cow becomes a mum there will be 5 out there. Too many. But we can't keep the bulls out so there is not much we can do about it. We need a couple of cows to keep the grass down and we do eat them so doing one next winter will get the numbers down a bit.
It is just a worry sometimes. Like the neighbours cow...She died because her calf got stuck. Really she should not have even been pregnant. I complain about our cows but really it is the back neighbours bulls that need to be complained about. And we have...He doesn't care much though.

And I don't complain when I am eating the cows so I supose I can't have it both ways. HoHum...

Mother and Baby Are Well.

2011-08-15T20:42:00.000+08:00

It has been so wet and cold here today and even though the husband and son kept telling me that cows have been having calves for years and they survive the cold I was still worried about the new one.
I wanted the baby *protected* from the weather as it was pouring with rain and the wind was blowing but Hubby wouldn't go out and get them. He finally decided to humour me and said we'd try and get the cows in the side paddock. I think it was the tears that got to him. We called them like we do when we are going to give them hay and the brown cow and big calf came running but the new calf wouldn't get up so black cow wouldn't leave it. Eventually we got them over and in the smaller paddock. It is still wet and cold out there but this paddock is better protected and doesn't have any drains with water in them so no chance of the calf falling in where it shouldn't.

The black mother cow has surprised me. She doesn't usually like people but she has been very patient with us and has allowed us to get up close and touch her baby. It is so soft. And cute!!

If some bull is going to keep getting in and getting to our cows without us knowing then I really should probably do some reading up on cows and calves.

Stormy Weather and Bloody Cows.

2011-08-15T14:02:00.000+08:00

We still have our 2 cows and the black cow's baby and last week the cow from next door was also still here.

A few days ago, Monday, the cow from next door was up near the gate and I was talking to her. I was out all Tuesday...Thursday I was out the back weeding when I noticed the cow from next door, she was in our paddock, lying down and I thought she was dead. Unfortunately she wasn't. A call to the vet, a call to her owner, a visit from the vet...Betty and her calf are now in cow heaven.

Last September our black cow had a calf. We didn't know then and we didn't know now.
But the new baby is so cute!!

Only last week we were talking about separating the black and white calf as the mother was looking skinny.

It is a horrible wet and windy day here today, I want to bring the baby in out of the weather but this black mother doesn't like people much and though she let us pat the calf and she licked my hand I don't think she'll let us try and move it. Later on we'll put some hay out closer to the back gate and try and get them in where it is a bit more sheltered.

So now we ask the same question we asked last year...Is the brown cow pregnant? Or just fat like last time?

Ten Oranges.

2011-08-13T07:05:00.000+08:00

That is what I picked from 1 of the trees this morning. Five of them have been pecked at by the birds.

I will still eat them, we just cut off the raggedy bits, they taste the same. This particular tree has only 5 or 6 fruit left on it so I will wrap some cloth around them this morning but I will put the netting around the tree that still has heaps of fruit on it. No point taking the chance and thinking that the birds will leave it alone because it is close to the house because chances are...they wont care when there is a yummy juicy Orange on offer.

Made More Soap...Kinda.

2011-08-12T22:51:00.000+08:00

I made soap with the daughter a while ago, she

uses hers for everything but I haven't tried mine yet so can't say what it's like.

With the decluttering that I have been doing I found

a bag of soap-ends in a plastic bag in the bottom of a cupboard, they have been there for quite a few years and I have always intended to melt them down and mold them into more soap chunks.

Last week I finally made a start.

I chose ends that were a similar light peachy colour, put them in a pot with a bit of water and sat them on the stove to soften. I added some orange zest, hoping it would add a nice smell.

Once it was all soft I used the old beaters to mix it all together then plonked it in a container to set.

Tipped it out the next day and sliced it. I think I sliced it too thin though and will cut the next lot thicker.

It is now spread out on a tray to dry. If it looks like it will turn out OK then I will do the rest in a week or two.

The orange smell is not very strong but the soap looks pretty good. We will use it but I will also make some more real stuff when I get around to collecting everything I need.
Next time we do a pig I will keep the fat as I'd like to try and make some with that as I think that would be a good use of what we usually just feed to the chooks. I'd also like to make some with different oils but need to collect the ingredients together first and that might take a while seeing as I hate buying stuff!

I will also use some of the soap scraps to make up some more laundry powder as I know I don't have much left. I don't use it often but do like to have some on hand for when needed for Hubby's work clothes.

Still Lovin' My Gardens.

2011-08-07T21:34:00.000+08:00

I ~~was whinging~~ mentioned last week about the Caulies taking so long to be ready...I was out there tonight and there are a few ready to pick. We had some for tea along with the *nearly too far gone* Broccoli
Added to all the other stuff that I picked and dumped in a pot it made a healthy meal with enough left for the next few days.

I'm still lovin' that we can feed ourselves from the gardens and though it is a lot more effort than buying from the shops it is well worth it.

Enclosing the Front Verandah.

2011-08-06T21:04:00.000+08:00

We are rethinking the well or more precise the pump for the well. While Hubby is nutting out what to do about it I have talked him into starting on the front verandah. We have talked about enclosing this for the last few years, I keep changing my mind but I finally rang the shire to see what we were allowed to do so we could come up with a plan.
It was raining, Hubby was home so we made a quick trip over to Bunnings to buy some stuff and we started on it yesterday.

We are enclosing the North end of the verandah with walls with windows in them so we get a bit of protection from the weather. During Winter the sun can come through the glass and it will be a warm spot to have coffee and read.
He built the wall yesterday and today we will put it in.

Jobs for this weekend.
Put in front wall. DONE.
Put in window.   DONE
Cladding on bottom of wall.   DONE
Decide on cladding.for the top half. DONE.
Finish repairing holes in the house wall.

He decided to clad the wall in fibro sheeting so a quick trip to the hardware, a couple of hours work and it's done.

Over the next week I need to:. Wash floor.
Wash house wall   DONE.
Wash house window. DONE.
Paint floor.
Paint roof/ceiling.
I need to find a quicker way of painting the roof as the brush I started with is taking too long and putting too much strain on my poor weak body.

Of course there is lots of smaller stuff but these are the main things that I need to get done.

It's A Write-off.

2011-08-05T20:36:00.000+08:00

This morning I was shown some photos. Of my sons car. Then I cried.

This afternoon I saw my sons car. And I cried. And I heard the story and I cried and hugged him and thanked God that he was alright.

That hole in the windscreen, bottom passenger side corner, that's where a tree branch went through. It speared through and angled out the back window missing his head by a few inches.

He was on his way home when it happened, not long after he was nearly gored by a wild boar.

What, me worry.

I suggested he settle down and stay home where he will be safe. He says "nah, not gonna happen"

While I was crying, thinking about what could have happened I said something about not even knowing if he was dead out in the bush and we wouldn't even know where to look if he was missing but was reassured by the husband that he would have been found sometime, probably within a few days...

So all is good and apparently I cry and worry for nothing.

Bloody kids!!

In My Head Living.

2011-08-04T14:52:00.003+08:00

We visited a family member on Sunday just gone and she is living the life that I ~~want~~ wanted too a few years back. Now it is just a wishful thinking thought that pops into my head now and then.
This person will be frugal, green, natural...more so than anyone else I know or *read* It will be a major challenge.
There is no Internet or mobile phone coverage. There are neighbours, close enough if help is needed but far enough away for the hermit living that these people aspire to.
I will visit whenever I need reminding that I am too old for all that now!

She has jars with all her beans and things in.

And more jars with more stuff...

Lemon Vinegar for cleaning.

Homemade Olive Oil soap.

Outside she has an old orchard that will go a long way to feeding her...if she can keep the kangaroos away.
She is planting vegetables. Will not have a fridge. Minimal furniture. Does have a wood fire in the lounge-room for warmth.
She has the most gorgeous dog that I love and want...but he will allow no-one near her, not even us, unless she says so. I have wondered what will happen if she dies as I don't think he will let anyone get near her to help....Maybe her husband will be able to...

Some of the trees around the place are sooo old...We think this is a fig. Walking back up from the back paddock this was one of the coolest looking trees that I have seen in a long time.

It is covered in Lichen.

There is a huge tree there that we think may be a Chestnut...Can anyone tell us please.

It is hard for us to tell what tree is what as most don't have any leaves.

I will be definitely be visiting during Loquat season as there are 3 trees on this property.

I honestly don't think that I will ever be as green or natural or frugal as I think I want to be but by knowing people that will be doing it I think I will learn a lot.

Winter Wednesday.

2011-08-03T07:46:00.000+08:00

Wednesday again and we have a wet one. It's been raining for a few days here now and everything is under water.

We were hoping to finish off the sump hole that we are hoping to build an ornamental wishing well over but trying to get the hole empty for long enough to do anything is not a happening event. We need to pump out the water so that we can get the permament pump installed...With all the rain we have been having the ground is saturated and just keeps running into the lowest spot...our hole. It really needs doing now while Hubby has some time off though as come Spring, or next week, he will be too busy.

We pump it out but within minutes it is filling up again.

I can't see it happening today so maybe I can get him to start on the next project...

These Winter Wednesdays are thanks to Hazel. I think they are a great idea.

Hello Bev.

2011-08-02T21:06:00.001+08:00

This is a quick post as a friend of mine thinks that I am not talking to her again.
So...
Hello Bev!! How are you?

This lovely lady used to live in the same town but moved. Then moved again and now lives in another state. I see her a couple of times a year if she is over here. I miss her. Her and another lady who doesn't actually live very far away. Just in a town that I am not in when she is home.

I don't have any many friends, none that I see so I really should make more of an effort to keep in touch with the few that I do have.

I think that some letter writing will be on the list for later this week.

August Garden

2011-08-02T09:46:00.001+08:00

I was outside wandering around yesterday and as I had the camera in my hand taking photos of the trampoline I thought that I'd take some of some of the gardens while I was there.

Hearting lettuce. There are lots of these out there but I cannot get them to grow during Summer which is the only time the husband wants to eat them.

Beetroot and assorted lettuce. I like the leafy lettuce that I can pick a few leaves from as I want them and these are the type that I can grow when it is warmer so I like to always have lots of these around in different areas.

These are Cauliflowers...and more lettuce. The caulies seem to be taking ages to form a head. I am wanting them now!

We pick the main Brocilli head but leave the plant in to grow smaller heads. This increases the yeild quite a bit and I am happy to let them take up the space.

Tomatoes, they have flowers on. These plants were rescued from the pig-pen.

Potatoes in one of the fridge gardens. I need to remember to keep topping them up with *stuff* I have put a layer of shredded bank statements on these then some more dirt. Next will be a layer of old hay from the chookpen.

These are a pile of peas, all grown from old plants that got buried by a pumpkin that used to be in this pot.

Spinach, Silverbeet, more lettuce and some asian thingy going to seed. I never buy these anymore as I let a few go to seed and they do the rest themselves.

The choko vine is on it's last legs but plenty more are sprounting so I'm hoping that I will always have these.

Dwarf peas. Not getting many from this lot so will go back to the old normal pea next time.

Middle of Winter and we are still getting a few Tomatoes.

This is the group of Bananas that the trampoline landed on. Luck only a few got knocked off so these might get a bit bigger.

The same group of Bananas from a different angle.

Brocolli and Cauliflower. Some of the caulies are starting to form so we should be eating them this month.

The grass that was mowed last week already needs doing again...But it goes to the chooks then back on the garden so I try to whinge only a little bit about mowing it.

Everything that is out there seems to being doing OK. The gardens are still feeding us and that is the main thing. I have a lot of work to do out there to get ready for Spring but at the moment it is too wet. Whenever it is not raining though I go out and do something somewhere. And with that being said...I better go now.

Windy Day.

2011-08-01T11:53:00.000+08:00

The Southern end of town copped a bashing a few days ago and it has been wet and windy here since.
We had the Grandaughter sleep here Sat night and thought we'd take her out for the day on Sunday. Visiting family, having an *Adventure* getting her out of the house...

We drove South, down Nannup way. It was WET down there too.
We all had a wet and wooly time but it was fun and we arrived home in the dark so I was in the dark about this until I went awandering around the yard this morning.

Spoke to the son this morning and he said that it was very wild and windy here yesterday. I'm glad I wasn't here as me being the SookyLaLa that I am it would have scared me.

Of course it's nothing like what other people copped but it's given me something to write about.

We, Hubby, will take the posts off and straighten them. The bananas might ripen.

July Food.

2011-07-31T17:17:00.004+08:00

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.

2011-07-28T12:32:00.000+08:00

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.

2011-07-20T16:35:00.000+08:00

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.

2011-07-19T08:09:00.000+08:00

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.

2011-07-16T20:49:00.001+08:00

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

2011-07-15T14:44:00.000+08:00

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?

2011-07-15T10:39:00.000+08:00

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.

2011-07-12T06:49:00.001+08:00

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?

2011-07-06T14:26:00.000+08:00

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?

2011-07-01T07:08:00.000+08:00

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?

I Made Bread.

2011-06-28T12:35:00.001+08:00

I used daughter L's recipe and even though it is a white loaf it was alright.
The bread was crusty on the outside but light and soft inside. It wasn't very high but I *may* have put it in the oven too soon.

But it was made from scratch, no bread machine here.
Next time I will use wholemeal flour and add stuff but this, with some Choko Pickle and cheese, made a nice lunch.

We had it with Tomato soup, shhh, out of a can! But Hubby like it. Next time I will take some soup out of the freezer so it will be better.
I am going to try the *Five Minute* bread but this one was quick and easy to put together so I'll see if one is better than the other.

I'll ask L if she minds me putting the recipe here and if she doesn't I'll add it

I Made Soap.

2011-06-26T19:35:00.000+08:00

Well, kinda. I helped DD make soap. We made the soap together. Whatever way is was we did it.

We have both been wanting to for ages but you read about the dangers and it makes you a bit wary and you keep putting it off. Because it's not safe.

Yeah, right. It's just like anything else and of course there are things you need to be careful of but it's not like it's going to explode and blow your head off. Unless maybe you did something stupid and weren't careful with the mixing but I think that a normal person with a bit of common sense should be OK with it.

The ingredients we used were all L's and as she wanted a Castil soap that she could use for anything they were pretty basic, Pure Olive Oil, water and the caustic soda. It remains to be seen if we will be happy with this soap seeing as it only has Olive oil but our next batch will be a different recipe so we will be able to compare.

Weighing the water.

Adding the Caustic Soda to the water.

I had a turn mixing...

She had a turn mixing.


Pour it carefully into your mould.

Wrap it up and wait a couple of days before we can see what it looks like and then a longer wait before we can use it.

But we both now have the confidence to make some for ourselves whenever we want to.

Neither of us has a Bamix or a stick blender strong enough to mix soap with and when Hubby heard that it would take a long time to mix before it was ready he made up a little mixer thing for us. It goes in the cordless drill and worked a treat.

Unwanted Nighttime Visitors.

2011-06-25T08:08:00.002+08:00

I was lying in bed this morning wondering if it was too early to get up when I heard a noise outside. So no, not too early and I get up, look for a torch, discard 2 that need new batteries, rummage under a pile of stuff and find another one and go out in the wet and cold.

Everything looks OK but I put on Hubby's old workboots and as I go clumping towards the chookpen I see some red eyes in there and I start shouting at the bloody things. I hear them go out through the fence and think that there were at least 2 of them. I go in the pen and see the chooks roosting, some in the fruit trees, some on the ground. They all would have been an easy target.

Hubby will be home sometime today but not up to doing much so I will put them, the chooks, in a lockup pen closer to the house tonight and borrow a foxtrap from a friend. I might even sacrifice my liver to the buggers. Well not my liver but the one in the fridge that I was planning on cooking for lunches.

Hubby will ask why I didn't get the gun out and shoot them but it was 4.30am. And dark. And son still has the gun. And I can't shoot animals anyway...

I hate foxes.

Hours later....I am back from a walk and can definitely smell fox outside the gate and front fence. I will ask son to bring his dogs out today and maybe get him and the daughters to save the dog poo for me. I have heard that is a deterrent and other years when we have put it out we haven't had the foxes back. Could be a coincidence but worth doing anyway.

Choko Mustard Pickle

2011-06-20T21:21:00.000+08:00

This afternoon I made the "Easy Choko Mustard Pickle" from the Year In A Bottle by Sally Wise book. Hmmm. It's OK but I must have done something wrong. I did double the recipe because the kg of Choko it needed was only 3 and as I had a bucketful to use I thought doubling the recipe would be the way to go.

Maybe it wasn't. I think there was too much liquid for the amount of choko and the cornflour didn't seem to thicken it so I added more but it still didn't thicken. I was going to let it simmer away but it was getting too soft so I took it off the stove and bottled it.

The recipe said the Choko should be finely chopped but I think next I won't make it as small as I did today.

Sometime over the next week I will make up a different batch but I will use my mothers Cauliflower Pickle recipe, if I can find it. Not sure why I didn't use that today as I know that is really nice when she makes it so I would know if I had the taste right or not. 'Cept I couldn't find it...
With this one, maybe it's suposed to taste like it does... I just had another spoonful and the 5 jars will be eaten as it's not awful and I'll see what other people think of it before I decide if it's worth trying again or not.

The whole process would have been easier, and safer, if I didn't have to keep kicking the cat out of the way so I could get to the stove.

Really Really Free Markets Have A Blog.

2011-06-20T16:14:00.000+08:00

And I just found it.
If anyone is interested the address is http://rrfmwaroona.wordpress.com/
It tells about what they are, where they are, when they are...

Check it out and if you are in the area then come along to one.

Choko Season.

2011-06-20T11:25:00.000+08:00

It's Choko time again and though Hubby isn't too keen on them I think they are great. They don't have much taste by themselves but they do take on the taste of whatever they are cooked with. And I *have permission* to plant a few more. Last year I had a massive one out the back, it had been growing between a couple of the tank gardens for around 3 years but last year after it died down after fruiting, as they do, it was eaten by slaters. Luckily I am a slack gardener and had left a few fallen fruit in one of the tanks and a couple sprouted and they are this years vine. It's not as big or as healthy as the last one but is still giving us enough fruit. I say fruit but it is probably classed as more of a vegetable. I planted a few more around the place last year but not many survived so I have 2 growing and giving us fruit now.

Choko in a tank garden in backyard.


Choko planted behind a drum alongside the driveway.

I will plant a few more this year as eventually I want to do away with the one out the back as it shades the big tank garden too much.

I add them to all soups, stews and one pot meals. The daughter added 1 to her vegetarian lasagna that we had for last nights tea. I use them as a dessert by adding to apple or pear and cooking them and serving as stewed fruit. I actually add them to most things, much to Hubby's disgust.

I have a bucket of fruit inside now waiting to be made into pickles. I was supposed to do it last week but haven't yet. I did make some into a Bread and Butter Pickle and they are really nice but these ones will be more like a Cauliflower Pickle. So...Best get to it.

Really Really Free Markets.

2011-06-19T10:10:00.001+08:00

These were on again in our town yesterday and as I have been decluttering I had quite a bit to take down. And I am pleased to say that most of it went. There were a few things that I was thinking if they didn't go then I would bring them back inside and keep them but someone needed them more than I do so that is good. Yes, it is, really.

Because of the weather the markets were held in the hall this time and there were tables set up along the walls and down the middle, most of them were full of stuff. The first 45 minutes or so were very busy with dozens of people going through everything and taking want they wanted. It was great. There was even free tea and coffee with freshly baked that morning muffins and choc chip biscuits. I saw a couple of people taking photos, there may be some on the Facebook page.
Oh! there was music too. A group of people were on the stage playing and singing. Real cool.

I know that the people putting these markets on would have had to pay to hire the hall so it was great to see such a great turnout. It shows that there is a need for such a thing and if it saves stuff being dumped then it is all good. A few people knew that the money was coming out of the pocket of the people who organised it so a bit of money was donated to help cover the costs of hall hire. I think that was real nice of the people who thought to do that and next time I will donate a bit too. I don't think that the people who organise it should be out of pocket at all but they believe in the concept so much that they don't seem to mind.

I came home with a few things but all stuff that I will use.

Notice the Earth Children books. Two of them in hardcover. A great start to me collecting the series.
I have been umming and arhing about buying a rack for the back of my bike and lo and behold, one was here. A couple of other books that will be taken to the next one when I have read them. Some lace curtains in the bag, I'm going to see if I can make them fit my living area windows, if not then they will go back to the next one for someone else to use. A floor jigsaw for the grandaughter to have out here. A good haul and not clutter AT ALL!!

The next RRFM is on Sat, 16 July. in the hall as far as I know but check out their Facebook page, become a member, come and see how they work. I'm sure they will have just the thing you need.

Barb'sBackyard

Not Much Happening Here.

January Gardens.

Giant Pumpkin Challenge.

Wee Wipes Revolution

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 3.

I Caved.

Followers and Readers... Thankyou!

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 2.

Self Sufficiency in Food.

Eat From Here Challenge. Day 1.

Eat From Here Challenge.

Busy Week.

Monthly Challenge.

Giant Pumpkin Growing.

Fox Trap.

January, First Week, What I did.

Dog Drama.

Our Challenge...What's the point?

Things to do this week.

Challenge Thinking.

2012 Challenge.

December Update.

More on Scaley Leg.

Thankyou for the Beetroot Seeds.

Thankyou for the Gingerbread House.

ThreeThirty Is Too Bleedin' Early.

Scaley Leg.

Clucky Chooks Galore Is On my Mind.

December Gardens.

November Happenings.

Thursday Night.

Hello!

Wet Weekend.

Been Away.

Sprouting.

Strawberry Season.

Moving Sand

On My Mind... Lots of hard work.

Pass Me The Grass Killer.

Sunday Morning. Chook Chat.

On my Mind...Fox Proofing.

And Again...

More *Frig* Words.

Lone Survivor.

Lentils.

Busy Day Ahead.

Frig, Frig and Frigging Frig!!

Night-time Visitor.

September Veg.

Rat Traps.

Chicken Update.

Pests? I like them.

I made Pasta. And Pickled Beetroot.

Happy Birthday RRFM.

Slaters for Chooks.

I'm Not Well. Moan, moan and groan....

Pests and Weeds.

To Poison or not To Poison...

Four Minus Two Is Still Four.

Four Minus Two...

Surprise!!

August, We Bought...

Baby Update.

What To Plant. What Will Grow.

Lucky for One.

Wet Weather.

Under Water.

Sunday Mornin' All.

Mornin' All.

No Comment.

Is Brown Cow Pregnant?

Mother and Baby Are Well.

Stormy Weather and Bloody Cows.

Ten Oranges.

Made More Soap...Kinda.

Still Lovin' My Gardens.

Enclosing the Front Verandah.

It's A Write-off.

In My Head Living.

More Frig Words.