MARCHing On...

I haven't seemed to have gotten too much achieved this month and not sure why.  It's not like I've been out and about every day, not even every week.  We did go away for a few days just recently but that is all.  I have had weeks of crankiness so maybe that's why.  It seemed a busy month but I think I've been busy being cranky and that's not productive.  I need, and want, to be more productive...

Our town has markets one Sunday a month and for the last 6 months or so I have been saying that I will have a stall at one.  But I haven't.   What with the honey extraction and jars of honey around the place it seems like a good time to get organised and book a stall.  And I want to...but the jars of honey need proper labels, ones with proper information on them.  And I am too tight to buy any and thought that it would be easy enough to make some myself...I haven't worked it out properly yet and can't sell any honey at the market without labels...I have 5 days to get them sorted.  Daughter and I will also have a table with odds and sods on it so we need to get tables, float, shade, anything else that sellers at markets need, ready.  She will come out here during the week and we will try and get something done about it all.

The gardens need more work and I need to get more seeds in if I want to be eating from them anytime soon.  Chokos are coming along nicely and I may have enough of a decent size to take down to the markets to sell.  Will maybe have some excess capsicum and chillies too so that will be good.

House is a mess, I haven't done anything with it for weeks what with being cranky and all so will need to start a list to try and get that back into some sort of order. 

I want to get the van cleaned out and taken in for a service, this has been on my list for weeks but still hasn't been done.  I really want to get onto that as I'd like to take it up to Lane Poole for a solo overnighter.  I want to do this but...I need to stop being such a SookyLaLa about it.  If I don't hurry up and do it though it will be too wet and cold and then I will use that as an excuse...There are so many things that I want to do, places I want to see...it seems like I am wasting my life away.

We recently heard sad news about a bloke that husband used to work with, he probably wont get to do the things that he and his wife planned and I have had sad news about a friend, the chances of her getting to her next birthday are very slim...How do people handle stuff like that?  And here I am whinging and being cranky for no good reason.  I want to change that.

And today is/was my birthday.   It seems like life is passing me by, some are out doing what I am too scared to do, some wont get the chance now...
I don't think I am depressed, just sad and cranky and to be honest it will more than likely be fixed as soon as I start eating better and moving more...maybe I'll try that, starting tomorrow.  I hope so, I want to do better with a few things before the next one gets here.

Feeling Cranky.

Today I am a real ol' CrankyBum.  To be honest I have been for a while now and I'm not really sure why.  I have reasons and some of them are my own doing so of course I'm not going to own up to them ones.  The other ones are because some people are idiots.  Proper idiots that I'd rather not deal with but sometimes have to.   But I shouldn't let their idiotness affect how I feel, that's just dumb.  And some people have other ideas on what a plan should be, what would be a fun thing to do...so in the end no-one does anything...

I have a birthday coming up soon and of the everything that I was going to do since the last one...I have done nought.  I have done nothing of the plans I had for this month, last month, the months before.  And to be honest again, will probably not get next months plans done either.  Even my had for ages birthday plan is now not going to happen and I'm real cranky about that.  I have made a new plan but it depends on husbands plans when he gets home from 8 days away.  On how long he is home for, if he will now have time to fit in my new plan...Maybe I need to sort out a back-up plan...

So why not, why haven't I followed through with anything?  Why make plans if I don't follow through with them?  Dunno.  I don't know why I let things slide, not sure why I don't follow through...It's not like these plans are going to cost a lot of money, it's not like there is too much hard work involved...

One plan was to get fitter.  That has been my plan for years and I still haven't just got on and done it.   I went for a bike ride yesterday...only around the corner, less that a kilometre, and by the time I reached my destination I was huffing and puffing and feeling a bit crook.  I am now the unfittest that I have been in a long while and all because I am too lazy to do something, anything, every day.  The sad thing is if I did get out and do something, anything, then I maybe wouldn't be so damn cranky!!

I planned on getting the van cleaned out and serviced then going up to Lane Poole, just for an overnight stay and a bushwalk.  Nope, I moved the van closer to the shed to make it easier to clean and it's been there now for 2 weeks with grass growing up around it and all the dust and spiders and mess still inside...Went to move it yesterday and the battery is dead!  I haven't been away anywhere, haven't taken the van anywhere, nor even caught the train for a day out in Perth.   All because I am too damn Sooky to go by myself.  Dumb.  Stupid.   And I have no friends to go with...probably because I am so damn cranky all the time!!

I know what I need to do to get out of the CrankyBum stage, know I will feel better all round when I stick to the plan...but for some dumb reason I choose not to. 

Do you ever feel cranky for no good reason?  Tell me what you do to get over it.  And I am open to any and all ideas on how to make a plan and actually stick with it so that some of the crankiness wont occur in the first place.  Thanks.

Husband Found A Calf.

I was at Vinnies on Friday morning when I got a phonecall from the husband.  He wanted to know if there was anything down there that would be suitable to feed a calf.  A calf? says I.  Yes a calf says he.  I tell him to look in the bottom drawer, lefthand side, back corner.  That is where I keep a teat suitable for lambs or calves.  Because that is how prepared I am.  So say I anyway.  In reality I cleaned this drawer out sometime last year and found this teat and ummed and ahhed about keeping it.  We had had it for a few years and hadn't used it in that time but it had been used quite a few years back.  I though that it might be used again some time in the next few years and it was better to keep it *just in case* even if it was never used again.  But I win!  It was needed and used again...

Why did he need something to feed a calf with?  We have cows and sometimes they have unexpected calves but they always feed them themselves.  This calf...Poor little baby calf (ha, I said it!) was found by husband under a tree, by itself but with our cows mooing near it.  It didn't belong to any of our cows.  It belonged...?  Where?  Where was it's mumma. 



Husband was driving home with a super from a neighbours beehive on the back of his ute when he first saw this calf but he had to bring the super home and unload before going back to the calf.  It was a real hot day, he had no idea where the cow was.  He looked around and across the railway line where sometimes cows are but there weren't any there.  So he brought it home, gave it a bottle of milk, with the teat that I had kept!! and put it in a small chookpen.  When I get home daughter T is there with the calf out on the grass.  The poor little thing is weak, can hardly stand but we figure it is less than a week old and maybe weak from no food and the heat.  We go into town to talk with the vet and buy some more full-cream powdered milk.



The calf has cloudy eyes and we asked the vet about that but without seeing it he couldn't say if it was bad or not and said to give it a few days to see if it clears.  In the meantime the poor little thing doesn't seem to see too well.  We feed it another bottle of milk but this time with a raw egg in as I had read somewhere that that is good to prevent scours.   Throughout the day we feed it a few more times but it still seems weak and has trouble walking and I wasn't expecting it to still be alive in the morning.  T feeds it around 6PM before she leaves and we bed it down on some hay.  I go in to see if it wants more milk just before I go to bed at 10 but it wont wake up so I leave it in peace.  The next morning I figure I should feed it before I have my coffee and when I go out at 5.30am it is standing up and has moved away from it's hay bed.  It looks good.  During the morning I ring the ranger again and she says that someone has reported a missing calf.  A newborn!  Bleedin' hell, that's not good.   She rings him, he rings me but I miss the call, I ring him but have to leave a message.  I tell him where we are and not too long afterwards 2 guys show up.   They say the mother is old but the baby did get a first feed and she was missing it.  He says the cow and calf were in the paddock across from us over the railway line but there were no cows in that paddock.  We looked.  And looked again. 

They took the calf away, back to it's old mum, Saturday morning.  On Sunday one of the guys comes back here and says that the cloudy eyes is cataracts and the calf is blind.  The mother is old and wont eat so they are supplement feeding the calf.  He doesn't think that the mother will be able to look after the calf.  Did we want to?  Did we want to hand feed this blind calf for 6 months then give it back to them so they could send it off to slaughter?  He says he will give us a week to think about it.  Do we want to do that?  No, no we don't.  I cried.

They had no idea, we have no idea, how this blind newborn calf managed to get away from it's mother, through a fence, up an incline and over a railway line, over a road and through a small mesh fence into our paddock.   But it seems it did.   I have no idea why they wouldn't call in to houses in the area as soon as they noticed the calf missing and the mother cow fretting but it seems they didn't.

March Extraction.

March 2014 and I have had the first proper extraction from hive number 1.  Husband says I need to number them so that when I have lots a few more it will be easier to know what needs doing with which hive.  So, Hive number 1 was extracted.

Here it is amongst the bushes, easier to get to now after I cut them back a bit and cleared the long grass.  It has a bigger bottom box, the Brood Box.  It is where the Queen lives and lays her brood and we will not extract this box.  We have an excluder on this box so the Queen cannot get up into the top boxes and that saves having to keep an eye out for her whenever we remove any frames.

This is me, the empty box is to put the frames from the top-box into.  I will not be able to lift the box off, I will need to transfer frames one at a time into here then wheelbarrow it back to where I will extract.  Husband is home and has agreed to *help* me.

OK, I have puffed smoke around the entrance and over the top and taken the lid off.  I need to use the hive-tool to loosen and lift each frame out.   They are stuck together with honey, the bees are cranky,

 Pull a frame out, give it a good shake to get the bees off...

I managed to do 2 frames, they're heavy and it's hard to shake hard enough to quickly get the bees off and they are cranky... I asked him to take over...Notice he doesn't wear gloves.

This is the next box down, it will need extracting next week but we took it off to check the box of foundation that husband put on last week.

It looks OK, the bees have started *drawing it out* which means they are building it up with wax ready to fill with honey.

 And here it is all put back together.

And nice husband pushes the box of frames filled with honey and the now empty top-box back into the yard for me.  Thanks Hun...Hun, honey... Ha!  I make myself laugh...

I know it looks like there weren't very many bees buzzing around my head trying to get to me but there were heaps more than these...maybe the million others were camera shy...

Then after all the selfies were taken it was back to work.   These frames are old and not very clean looking but underneath the honey is fine.  Husband cuts off the capped wax so the honey can be released from the frames. 

The extractor we have holds 3 frames and is turned manually.  It doesn't take long before the honey is spun from the frames and settles in the bottom of the can.

We can then open the gate/tap and let it drain into the bucket.  I mucked up here though as I forgot to put the strainer and mesh over the bucket so now I have to strain it all into another bucket then back into this one.  I want it back in this bucket because it has a tap at the bottom to make it easier to fill jars.

This is the crate that we scrape the uncappings into.   Later on I will scoop it up and mash it and drain the honey off and add it to the bucket.

I thought I'd be clever and put the uncappings into a mesh bag and spin it to get the honey out.  It kinda worked but not as well as I thought it would.

Husband says that I have around 15 -16 kilos of honey from this one box and next week when I/we/he do the other box we should end up with the same.  I will weigh it up as I put it into jars but I am happy with this.  Next time I/we extract, in 3 -4 weeks time, there will only be  the 1 box to extract but if I get 15 kilo of honey each time it won't be long before I have enough to have a stall at the local Farmers Market.  That will be cool.

I Extracted. They Attacked.

Stung on the neck by one of my bees.   How rude!  I was kitted out but didn't have my shirt top button done up or the collar pulled up properly.  It got me through the net on my throat area..   Their honey is yummy though so worth a sore and red neck but the comfrey oil seems to have worked on the sting so it's not that bad.   Yep, home-made last week Comfrey oil.  It's all happening here folks.
More soon. 
I now need to get out and extract some older frames that I found in a box in the shed last week.  Not sure where they are from...They had wax moth so I put them in the freezer for a couple of days but they now need to be extracted and cleaned up. 

My Bees Hate Me.

I have 2 beehives now.  The first was given to us and hadn't had anything done with it for a couple of years.  The bees are dark and nasty, aggressive little sods that want to sting anyone that goes near their hive.  If someone actually gets up close and starts to work around it...they come out in the thousands and chase you away.  Well they try to anyway and a few months ago they did, they chased me away every time.   They made me squeal and run walk quickly away.   Now though, not so much.  I have put me big girl panties overalls on and braved the swarm of people hating bees. 
I've been out there a few times over the last week, since the husband put on another super for me.  By myself which is good 'cept there is no-one to see how brave I am being.

The hive now has 4 boxes and the top one needs extracting.  Soon.  I was going to do it yesterday but this hive is in amongst bushes and long grass and after seeing that snake the other day I wasn't going to be in there.  So yesterday I cut back some branches and whippersnippered the long grass around the hive.  They didn't like that!!    I quickly left and went back later to rake it all clear.  Spoke to husband last night to find out my next step.  "Crack the hive" he says.  Ummm, OK...How do I do that.
  
This morning before Vinnies I dressed for success and went out there to 'crack the hive"   Smoker stops smoking so back in and get that going again.  I *fixed* this smoker yesterday and I think I fixed it wrong because it doesn't seem to stay alight as well now.  I will unfix it if it happens again.  With bees buzzing around me and dive-bombing my head I tried to get the hive tool under the top-box.  It was stuck down tight but I eventually managed to get it under the edge but when trying to prise it off the edges broke away.  This box is/was the original box and has wood-rot through it.  Tried a different spot, then another. I did manage to get the tool under and shifted the box a little bit over.  This is supposed to make it easier and cleaner when I go out to lift the box off for extracting.  Another Hmmm here.  The box is heavy and too high for me to lift off.  My plan is to extract a few frames at a time until the box is light enough for me to lift.  If husband helps me he will lift it off but either way it needs to be *cracked*

And I was supposed to buy some kilo buckets to put the honey in.  I haven't and I can't find my big bucket so not sure what to do with this honey tomorrow.  I need to stay on top of things.  Not sure why I don't but it sure would be less stressful if I did.  I now have a few things that need doing by tomorrow whereas I have had a couple of months to get organised but didn't.  HoHum.

Eventually we will re-queen this hive and the new bees will be quiet and docile....  My new bees will not hate me...

Pip: Permaculture Magazine

A couple of weeks ago my daughter was here and told me about a new Australian Permaculture magazine that was hoping to get printed and *out there*.. She talked me into pledging and I thought it was a good idea but then promptly forgot about it.  As I do. 

But I'm sorry that I didn't put something about it on here so that a few more people may have seen it and become involved.

It may be too late now but I still hope that someone might find it interesting.  Here is the link, go have a look and let me know what you think of it.  http://www.pozible.com/project/175807

Have you seen it before and did you think it was worth becoming involved with? 

So Much To Do. Because I Don't Do It!

I have been spending a bit of time working out in the gardens but still haven't planted enough of anything.  So much for getting the food production up.  I'm blaming the hot weather but really it is me not doing anything.

I went out for lunch last Friday then out the caravan for what was supposed to be a few days but turned into only overnight.     Mobile phones have a lot to answer for...Get home Sat lunchtime, have the grandkid there who is staying overnight and because it is hot we are mostly inside where it was cooler.  We'd go out for a bit then come back in then out again, in again...Early evening I go out to do a few things, wandering round barefoot as I do, as I tell the kids not to do...I keep thinking that the bleedin' grass needs mowing again and I only did it a week ago...I finish up and walk around the front as husband is getting home so we sit down out there and no sooner than we do when he says "snake"  I look and see the tail disappearing into through the drum gardens into the messy pen where I have put chooks to try and get the grass down...Bugger!   He says it was maybe under our chairs and w disturbed it.  Hmm, I am the one now disturbed.  It is too overgrown in the pen it went into to see where it went but he says it was in a hurry and will be gone real quick.  Yeah right, he'll say such things to make me feel better but I know it is in there waiting for me to forget about him and walk in there with no shoes on to dig up some spuds or try and clean up a bit.    I really need to staple my boots to my feet so that I have them on all the time so my toes wont get eaten by these things...HoHum, maybe I just need to keep ALL the grass and edges around the house clear and tidy, free of piles of weeds, buckets, bits of wood other hideyhole places ALL the time.
Needless to say, early the next morning I was out there mowing and whippersnippering.  Got must of it done but by 8.30 it was so darn hot I finished up.  And here we are 2 days later and I haven't done anymore since. 

I was at Vinnies yesterday, Monday is my all-day day.  It was quiet and there weren't many customers but close to closing time a few people came in.  I was in the brickabrack room looking through  tidying the books when this bloke comes in, says how hot it is outside, how he and his wife are on their way home, mentioned her having a van...I went out to meet her, what a woman, I want to be like her.  So I came home and got poor ol' neglected Wanda out and will spent some of today getting her cleaned up so I too can go on an adventure.

I also need to get onto the bee stuff as apparently, according to husband, I am too slack in that area and need to keep on top of them and why haven't I put that extra box on yet...Ummm because we looked at them not long ago, I suggested it, you said they weren't ready yet...Apparently they can become ready within days, I know the Redgum is out and I need to keep a check on them...HoHum, I am a bad beekeeper.  Must get out there and have a look today but not sure what I am supposed to be looking for...He ended up putting the box on one night after work...when I was out the beach relaxing.  Thanks Darl, I'll *check* the other hive aye?  No he did that one too.  He is such a darl, I am such a slacko.

And, I have the cheek to ask for a bucket of honey so I have a spare.  So funny.  He works with an Apiarst, does bees all day then comes home and has to do mine, the ones I really really wanted and will learn all about so he doesn't have to do anything with them and then I ask for a bucket of their honey.  I do have a bucket of Redgum in the shed, processed by me from the scrapings left here last year but you can never have too much honey can you.   I'm waiting for them to get onto the Jarrah though as that is my favourite but they don't do that every year and I only have a small amount left.  Maybe 3 kilo, haha, like that is not much.  When I/we/he do my next extraction here we'll be rolling in it.  Or not as that would be very sticky.

Breakfast now then the van.  Or should I look at the hives before it gets too hot?  I have to get the mower out again and the gardens need more mulch on them...Oh, it's all so hard!  Coffee first then decide.

Cut Down On Chemicals.

There is a lot of information out there in webland on why it isn't good to use so many chemicals and telling people how to stop using *poisons* on themselves and in their homes and some sites even come up with ways on how to go about it.  In theory, I think the less chemical/poisons we use the better.  But!  I live with a smoker so how serious about it all can I be?   I can't change the smoker but I can choose to buy and use less of the man made muck that seems to be everywhere and in everything.

I have Fibromyalgia and many many years ago I started to think that all the chemicals and poisons that we used wouldn't be helping.  Tiredness and stress were big contributors for me but I was pretty sure that different chemicals that seem to be everywhere and in everything played a big part in it all too.

After a bit of thinking about it all I decided to see if I could try and cut some of the chemical use out.  But there were so many, everywhere...  In everything...Where to start?   And now, so many years later I can't remember where I started, what *poison* I stopped using first.  I knew that a lot of the deodorants made me come up with a rash but I eventually found one that didn't and used that for a couple of years until it too started stinking and making it hard to breath when it was applied.   So I stopped using deodorant unless I was going out somewhere but I was more stinky so I started spraying myself with Vinegar.  Normal white vinegar as that is what I had.   It didn't stop the sweating but it did seem to inhibit that stinky smell that comes with working hard and getting up a sweat.  I know, who'd have thought, me doing enough to get up enough of a sweat to actually be smelly.  But yep, it happens.  Not so much now though.  Because I spray myself with Vinegar.    I also like putting powder/talc on after a shower but read that that wasn't good for you either.  But I liked the feel of it.  So I started using Cornflour and Bi-Carb as a powder deodorant.  The first time I tried this it seemed to work OK but after a week or so I noticed that I was getting a bit of a rash so stopped using it.  Started again after reading about others using it but changed the amounts that I used.  I now use slightly less Bi-Carb than Cornflour and that seems to work without the rash and soreness.  I put in on after a shower and again in the morning before getting dressed.  If anyone decides to try this mix then you may have to experiment with the amounts until you find what works for you.  Others use different concoctions on themselves, some are quite complicated but I am a simple soul and like simple things.  I am also lazy and tight so the more simple the better for me.

The shampoo and conditioner were the next to go.   That was easy as I have short hair and I am lazy and tight and rarely go to the shops so not buying this was a no brainer.  Just don't buy it any more.  See, easy.  There is a bottle in the shower still that has been there for close on 2 years.  One day I might take it out and put it away but I leave it there in case the shampoo that the husband uses gets empty and he needs it.  That is my excuse anyway.   Me, I just rub my head while standing under the shower and the dirt and sweat gets washed away down the drain.  

Soap is over-rated too.  You know if you use a flannel/wash cloth you can get just as clean?  Yep, you don't need soap in the shower to be clean.  A rub down with a flannel works really well.  I do use  soap when washing my hands at the bathroom basin, after being in the loo, after digging out in the dirt, sometimes before eating...

I use detergent for washing the dishes but usually nothing for clothes washing.  The clothes are washed in a twin tub machine in cold water.  I do sometimes use some homemade laundry powder on husbands work clothes but mostly not.

All those smelly toilet sprays that you can buy?  You don't need them.   I have a box of matches and a spray bottle with Vinegar with a Vanilla pod in it in there if anyone wants to spray anything .  And those horrible scented toilet rolls...buy and use unscented but cloth is nicer and works better...

Most of the awful over scented cleaners are not needed and there are dozens of natural recipes that will help you get your house clean if you wanted to use something.  A regular wipe-over with a damp cloth works just as well...or so I have been told...

Over the years I have been trying to cut down on toothpaste use and even when we were kids we were taught to just use a tiny bit.  You don't need to cover all the bristle on the brush like they show you in the ads.  I have at various time used salt, nothing, Bi-Carb, but always seemed to *forget* and go back to toothpaste.  It was there, it was easier...Over the last couple of weeks I have made a concerted effort and now believe that I will stick with the Bi-Carb.  I have it in a pretty container on the bench next to the toothpaste and brushes so it is now no harder to get to.  It used to taste horrible too or was that all in my mind...now though, no yucky taste and no foamy mouth like the toothpaste.  I think it is more the brushing that cleans your teeth not the paste so maybe even the Bi-Carb is not needed but for now I will stick with that.

There are so many ways that you can cut down on the use of chemicals and I know that many of you already do but if not why not try and rid yourself and your home of something this month.  Choose something to not use, try it for a few weeks and let me know what you think.  Do you need to go back to spending lots of money on products or can you use less and be just as happy.

February, 2014. What's Growing...

We are getting a bit of food from the gardens still, enough to not have to go the shops every month but there are a few things that I have bought lately and no longer want to.   Watermelon is one of these things.  I love Watermelon and it is one of the things that I look forward to with the warm weather but I cannot seem to grow them.  Last year we had 2 or 3 but none like the ones that the shops sell and we didn't get any this year though I planted some.  This year, next Summer, I want to not have to buy any. 

We are growing and eating:
Sweet Potato. Potato, Tomato, Capsicum, Chilli...surely there is other stuff out there...Will soon have Eggplant, not that we are that keen on that but these 2 plants came up by themselves and are doing really well with fruit and all so if I can't give them away we will have to find a way to eat them.
There are pumpkins coming on and the JA's are flowering...So much should be available but sadly, because I slacked off too much, the quantity and variety is not there...

We are still getting Grapes but lost most of them to birds and wasps because I didn't get the netting and bags on them soon enough.  Figs are ready but the tree is in the chookpen and they like them too...Strawberries...Not much other fruit but soon there will be apples.  If I get some bags on them to stop the Parrots and other birds.   The Strawberry Guavas are fruiting and ripe but we only eat those if I am out there in that pen and pick a couple otherwise it's used as free chookfood.  Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a lot of fruit.  Some Passionfruit but the main vine is way passed it's prime and none of the other 3 are anywhere near as productive.   Boysenberries are just finishing...There is one lot of bananas out there but they are a few weeks away yet.  Maybe I need to work on getting more types of fruit that we can have over the Summer months.  I need to learn how to grow Melons.  I will learn how to grow Melons...

The chooks are starting to lay again but these chooks are very hit and miss with their egg laying and we have this circle thing going.  I tell them that if they lay more eggs then I will be more inclined to feed them more bought food but they want more bought food first, I give it to them they don't lay as well as I think they should...What I want is a flock of chooks that can look after itself in getting enough food from the grass, the bugs, the mice, the scraps they get...Ideally, I will never buy commercial food again...Husband says that's not possible if I want eggs but I believe it can be.  I just have to get the right chooks, the ones that know what I expect from them.  You know...eat the bugs and lay me eggs and I won't chop your head off and eat you...Sounds reasonable doesn't it?  Or am I asking too much?  I *know* there are people out there that don't buy in food and they still get eggs...I want to be one of those people.  Buy nothing in, send nothing out...That is my goal!