Big Tank Garden...Chook Cleanerupperers.

I have been putting the Isa Browns out in the big tank garden in the hope that they will eat all the slaters and other bugs out there.   I was going to somehow put up a chicken wire surround but this netting came off the Apricot tree and hadn't been put away yet so instead of finding somewhere to store it I draped it over the tank garden.  It was easy to do as there are star pickets and framework that the beans and cucumbers had climbed up so the net sits on top of the ringlock wire.   At first I just had the netting draping down onto the ground but of course a few chooks found they could get under it so the husband helped me tie a long rope around the base of the tank.  I'ts a bit more trouble getting them in and out but once in they can't get out and into the other gardens.  

It's working and this weekend I will put them out there for the last time.  I am going to use this garden for some Winter crops.  Not sure yet what will go in there but hoping for at least some Beetroot, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower...I know I have seeds for those so will see what comes up and grows I suppose.

I am thinking I will leave the netting over the garden in the hope that it will keep a lot of the Cabbage White Butterfly out.   I had a lot of trouble with them last year so this is at least worth a try.  The eggshells and hanging plastic cutouts didn't do much of a job last season and we lost a lot to the caterpillars.  If this keeps them out I will at least have a chance of not having to pick out little grey things before I shove the cooked cabbage or caulie in my mouth. 

Plants from Diggers.

We have bought some more trees to help with my self sufficiencey in food plan.  Daughter is a member of Diggers so we now have 3 coffee trees, 2 Babaco and 1 Chocolate Pudding tree.  Buying them with her membership saved us some money so I will be able to get more things later on...

Husband has been wanting the Babaco for quite a few years but we haven't been able to find any in WA and Diggers never used to send them here.  This year though, seen, ordered, bought and planted.




When the box of plants arrived one of the coffee bushes was looking very sad, and the Babaco had lost all of their leaves. 
I took them out, pulled all the sticky tape off them gave them a good soak and they are now looking good.

 Husband wanted the Babaco in some drums outside the front door so they would be "looked after" Hmffft!

 It took me ages to empty out the crap dirt that was in them and replace it with better stuff and get it ready to plant in.   Once they were in I made up some rings of wire and tied some shadecloth bags around that to protect them from the heat, wind, anything else.  I will leave them like that until they are bigger and look like they are growing properly.  They have new leaves on after a week so should be OK.

Photo coming...

 The plan was for me to get the others planted as well but I didn't get to it yet and this week is going to be hot! so I will wait 'til it cools a bit.  I have the area where the coffee are to go ready but don't want to risk them keeling over.  I am going to make some more wire box things to go around them but these will also need to be protected from the chooks. 

As yet I am not sure where to put the CP tree.  That will grow big and I am thinking of putting it out in the dam area but the pear trees that are out there don't get looked after and are looking a bit crook so as I don't want the same thing to happen with this I am still undecided.  I will need to get it decided on though so I can dig a hole and get this in the ground as soon as it cools.  These are the sorts of things that should be all sorted before I actually get the plants but hey!  It wasn't so I now need to pull me finger out.  And will do so over the next few days...

February Gardens. We bought...

A 5kg bag of carrots and a 10kg bag of potatoes.  Half the potatoes were for planting but we , shhh, yes, me too, did eat some.   All other veg came from the garden.  Nope I tell a lie, I had one meal where some leftover bought frozen peas and corn were added.  I didn't buy them though so does that still count. 

Not sure what we will eat this month.  Well yes, I do know, we will eat what is out there.  I have potato, capsicum, onion, chilli, sweet potato, few tomatoes, silverbeet, lettuce, butternut pumpkin ready to pick. We will not starve but things will be repeated over and over.  As they always are anyway.    These BP were supposed to be Trombocino but really aren't.  Not sure what happened with them   Maybe I was given the wrong plant by mistake, maybe they cross pollinated with the pumpkins growing in the paddock a few hunderd metres away...We have had a couple and they look and taste like butternuts. 

I have other things coming on but they wont be ready for March eating.

We have plenty of eggs, plenty of fish, plenty of pork.   The son has brought out a few meals of nearly out of date steak and some bacon.   Us eating it saves it going in the work bin. and really there is nothing wrong with it.  We are going  fishing most Wednesday nights so we can get a supply of fish in the freezer.   We have crabs in there too and will add to that stash next week.

All in all we have heaps of *fresh* non bought food so are in no danger of going hungry.
Life is good, I love not having to shop for food every week.  

What will you not need to buy this month?

Done. Kinda. Good enough for now.

I have a few pictures and lots of *good* words stuck on my board.  But there is also some blank bits because I could not find a suitable picture.  Lots of pictures but nothing that called to me.

I will keep looking and when I find the one I want I will stick it on the board.  I would like one of a nice van and I did take a photo of one I really liked so might just get that printed.   I want a picture of someone riding a pushbike and someone walking through the bush.  I know I have seen these here somewhere but couldn't find them today.  I will keep looking and stick 'em on when I find them.

In the meantime I have a board that will remind me that I will be happy, healthy, fit.  It shows me the lovely lush vege filled gardens that will be here.  It shows some places that I will get to explore.  It tells me that I want to keep eating fresh healthy food.  There aren't any photos of *things*  It would have been easier I think to stick stuff that I could buy on but there isn't anything that I want.

It's a long way from being perfect but it is done and I am reasonably happy with it. It is now sitting on top of the microwave so it's easily seen and it gave me a good reason to clear that area of the bench.  I still haven't found the other pictures that I wanted but they will be found sometime soon and if not then I will look elsewhere.   That person in the middle in blue is not me but she looked fit and healthy so I'm pretending!  Will change that one when I find something I like better.  It looks more bare than I thought but with it now being up on display it should motivate me to look, find and stick on other pictures. 

Vision Board. Problem.

Well I thought this would be an easy one...and it should be.  Grab some magazines, cut out some pictures, stick em on a board...How hard is that!

Well I am here to tell you that I have made it harder than it should be.  I have spent the afternoon, on and off,  looking for suitable pictures.  I have found 2.   I have read some gossip about people I have never heard of, I have read about people travelling around the place, I read about some peoples gardens...Looked at pictures of flash caravans and campers that cost more than this place did.  Didn't see much that I wanted to bring into my life.  I must be looking at the wrong sort of mag and will see if I can find some health/fitness types ones tomorrow.  And I need a picture of a van similar to the one I have but newer and slightly bigger in a magazine I don't mind cutting up.

I didn't think finding suitable pictures would be so hard.  I thought I'd see something and it would jump out at me and I'd know that was the one I needed.  Not so.

And as of now, 9.30PM everything is still spread out everywhere and I am no closer than I was 8 hours ago.

I'm out on Wednesday so MUST get it finished tomorrow.  

A good thing though is that I must be pretty content as there isn't much of a material nature that I want.   I might just end up writing some inspirational things over a piece of paper and that will be OK.  I did want pretty pictures though!

I need things from magazines as I don't have a colour printer and wouldn't use the ink if I did.

Monthly Challenge. February. Vision Board.

OK, I am so far behind in this it's not funny.  'Tis laughable though.

I had set out to make a Vision Board this month, even wrote it down so I would be accountable...Hmmm   That didn't work so well.

I have a few days left and need to get the VB started and finished.  I have the board.  I have a vague idea on what I want on there.  I have a few magazines I can cut up.  No glue but will make some with flour.  If I remember how...

I have hurt my back again so will be inside for longer that usual and will start on it later today.

Still Nothing Happening.

We've been home a week.  That's all it took for my house to become a tip again.   For the yard to have crap from one point to the next, for me to be stuck on this bleedin' thing too often, for my life to become what I don't want it to. 

It's Friday, I will be out for a bit this morning, have the grandkid this evening/night.  As soon as she has gone tomorrow I am going to get stuck into the house, get that looking reasonable, then the front yard, then work my way around.  Then start the mowing again and work my way around. 

If nothing else though I will make time to get the pig fat rendered this weekend...So much for my monthly challenges.  They have gone to pot and it's only February!

It seems to be taking me forever to do the basics and I am not making time to work on any projects that I wanted to.  And of course this bleedin' thing!! 

Better get back into it, lots more to do before I leave.

Home Again.

We have been away, went down to Denmark for a few days, home mid afternoon yesterday, fishing last night and today I am home alone catching up on the watering and chook looking aftering.  I don't need to do much there though as the daughter fed the chooks for me and looks like she may have watered in places as well.  Nothing is dead so that's good.

Of course everything needs a good mow but in between doing that I am going to be working on clearing out the big tank garden out the back.  It is dry, full of slaters and not doing at all well.  I am going to wire it off and put a few young chooks out there until it is cleared then top it off with chookshed stuff, let them scratch that in for me and get it ready for winter crops.  Apart from somehow putting a fence around it it should be an easy way of getting some life put back in it.  The fence will be started on tonight and hopefully finished tomorrow.

Some jobs for this week include:
*Whippersnippering the driveway edges.
*Picking up all the fallen fruit and cooking it up for the chooks.  An ongoing job as we have fruitfly infestation.
*Doing something with all the Passionfruit.  Other than more cordial which we don't drink.
*Dig out and remove gravel from the front garden.  Replace with dirt from the chookpens. Mulch on top.
* All the other everyday stuff that I need to do.
*Make more plaster eggs.

Lets see how I go with this lot.

Not Much Happening Here.

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.

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.