Alley

stuff

2009-11-14T05:12:40Z

Rambling, cross-posting, and having an update session. So neeeerrrrrr

I have got everything set up to brew even in the heat of summer, including a spare working fridge with an external thermostat in the shed that will hold it just nicely at 14-17 degrees for fermenting in my big beer fermenter. Only - we used the fridge out there as an actual fridge months and months ago when we had people stay, and then we totally forgot about it. SO the thing (which we remembered to switch off but not empty!!!) is just covered in disgusting black mould and there's no way I'm going out in the shed in 39 degree heat to scrub mould out of a fridge!!!! Eeeeek!!!

Hopefully we get a cooler break (Monday's looking ok) and I can do it then, and quickly get a beer on so that it will be ready in time for xmas.

I'm rambling.

Yes, we still have 2 guinea pigs - afffectionately referred to as the poo factories, because they are NOT at all tame or strokable but they do convert our food scraps into loads of manure. And we have 4 chooks whom have just been moved into the back corner of the yard under the old paperbark for some shade in this weather. They have to stay locked up 24/7 thanks to the foxes, and they are in a McCallum chook tractor, which is great to move them around to new spots in (but requires 2 people coz it's HEAVY) but awful when we really only have on shady place in the yard.

They are happily laying at the moment, getting at least 3 a day. We have one barnevlder left from our original lot (all the rest got foxed ages ago - can't remember if I posted that here or not!) and we have 3 adoptees from the 'free range' chook farm up the road. They were doing their 18 months of age cull and we adopted some of them - standard RIR crosses but incredibly unafraid of humans, happy to be picked up and carted anywhere, and laying brilliantly.

As for gardens - I have none. I have 3 pots. One has a strawberry plant, (wilting in the heat) one has parsley (dying) and one has lemon balm (looking ridiculously leggy and not at all happy)

We still have plans for a big vege garden but plans is all they have stayed as. Funnily enough, DH has been getting excited about it himslef, which TBH is not something I EVER thought I'd see. I think it's because it's summer, salad season, and he's been doing the grocery shopping lately and realising both how expensive fruit n veg is round here and how AWFUL the quality is at the supermarket. I'm trying not to get too enthusiastic for him, because he really loves it if he can convince himself things are HIS idea - so I'm just nodding and smiling on the outside but bouncing on the inside right now. It's just really hard to be part of a family and feel that you are the only one interested in this stuff, so I'm very very glad he's finally catching on.

My sewing has been going OK. I have plans to do some more markets soon, which will be exciting, and I also really would like to hear back from a local shop who is interested in stocking my cloth nappies. And I'm sending out some feelers about self-publishing a knitting pattern book, and buying a cottage liscense to sew some AMAZING handbags that I found the patterns for in the US. If it all manages to come together, it will be fabulous!

In the meantime I'm still working in the petrol station. All 3 kids are at school now (how on earth that happened I'm not sure - they grow so fast!) so I've been doing a couple of extra in-school-hours shifts when they are available just to help for xmas things. Means there's no time left for anything else, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Preserving has been so far off my radar lately. Mind you since tomato season isn't til Feb around here, then that's probably not surprising. I've been using my previously preserved plums to make icypoles for the kids in this heat, which they love, and I had a friend's dehydrator for a while and i made roll-ups for school with it, but that had to go back.

Rory's excema has all but disappeared thanks to me finally biting the bullet and taking him off all wheat and gluten products as well as his dairy free stuff. It's irritating that GF stuff is so expensive, but so nice to see him with smooth skin for the first time ever! Especially in this heat - he's no longer scratching until he bleeds. It looks like there might be some residual marks on his skin from it because he is very blotchy where he tans - some parts where there USED to be big excema patches are bright white next to the gentle sun he gets - but that might even itself out over time.

I think thats pretty much it from us! Lots to catch up on i guess, but time tends to get away.

Ali

Foxes suck

2009-05-17T07:18:19Z

Yes they do. For a relatively non-violent person, right now I'm feeling rather homicidal. Towards foxes.

Rescued the chooks, mind you, but only just. One has a very bedraggled tail end and is DECIDEDLY stressed out - i don't know if she'll make it all the way through.

Can I point out that this is the second time we've had a fox attack - the first time, it killed 6 of our 7 chooks. And it was only 2 days ago that we got a few new feathered friends for our single remaining lady - and the fox strikes again!

So for now our poor chooks are in the tractor, on a solid concrete floor. We've softened it up a bit with some sawdust and a bale of hay, but it's just not the same as a good dirt scratch up.

If only Ruddy would hurry up and stimulate me - then I'd have a perfectly large happy fox and eagle proof run. It would be brilliant. *sigh*

I should re-name this blog "intermittant"

For those who wanna hear about the store, or preserving - I have two other blogs now, which are both equally intermittant. But they are with blogspot. Holler if you wanna add them to anything *grin*

Ali

ali_celt @ 2008-12-28T18:59:00

2008-12-28T08:31:28Z

I fail totally as a blogger.

I just can't keep up! Reading previous post (which incidentally was the last time I even logged in here!) I see I am supposed to have put up pictures of a holiday that happened over 6 months ago.

Hrm

see.

blogger failure.

I no longer even have those moments where I *think* in blog-speak.

*sigh*

On the upside - have been working lots (ok, maybe that isn't really an upside).

Have a loom now, am going to play Weaving Woman. Indeed.

We're all going on a.....

2008-07-10T08:27:32Z

Winter Holiday...

Lalalalalala!

Yep, that's where I am, on a holiday in the middle of Tassie, it's all lots of fun!

Needless to say I'm a very sad individual for logging onto LJ on my sister's PC (ergh dial-up where I'm staying OMG!!!!) just so I can gloat like a madwoman, but meh... Why NOT???

Not telling you much about whats going on because I intend to PROPERLY blog it all - with actual photos and stuff like that!!!!

So yeah, just saying hi and all that lovely stuff *grin* will do proper photo filled delightful posts of holiday stuff later on, when I'm home and all that!

Ali

PS for all you woolly people who read this = I went to the Waverley woollen mills today, and came home with NOTHING AT ALL.

I'm 'rather impressed with myself. Oh, and i've been having spinning lessons. WHEEE!!!!!

A day in the life of...

2008-07-02T00:42:27Z

Well
Something has motivated me of late. So I have been tidying (eek, I hear you say!) and cleaning (ARGH!) and even more than that, knitting!

ANd I've even managed to update my Ravelry page with all my current plans. Which is totally unlike me.

However. I have found cupboard-style homes for almost all my preserving jars, which is good because it means the dining room box collection is almost sorted out. And there is floor space there now!

So on today's list of things to do - finish bottle sorting, organise to recycle all empty boxes, vacumn the now-empty space, do washing, pack up a BIG box of stuff to send to Alice for Tully's shop, deliver that to Dan and Bec (my lovely, no charge couriers LOL).

OH, and knit. Because i got really tired last night and didn't quite get to where i wanted on my current WIP, and really really need to get it finished soon. So during today, I MUST get the whole body bit before the sleeve join finished - so I can knit a sleeve tonight. And another sleeve tomorrow night, and then join them on Friday and finish the top. And hopefully do the shawl collar on Saturday and Sunday nights so I can wear it on Monday.

I might be dreaming.

Anyhow, enough blogging! Lots to do and little time to do it in!

Wowsers!

2008-06-24T03:39:01Z

How long has it been since I blogged!

A very long time, that's how long.

SO!

I am now a working woman. That sounds dodgy. What I mean is, I now go to work for 8 hours a day, Thursday through Sunday.

Probably why I don't blog much anymore. If at all.

Having a bit more of an adult life is - unusual. Not that it's really an adult life. But I get to speak with adults. During the day. About things that don't relate to kids.

This hasn't really happened on a regular basis for, oh, 5 years now. So it's unusual, for me.

On the home front - the garden hasn't happened yet this year. It is going to be moved, you see. But there's quite a bit of heavy lifting and sorting that needs to be done first, and that hasn't happened yet either, so at the moment - no garden.

The front yard has been completely and totally cleared to dead flat. Nige levelled the whole darn lot except for a few of the tall banksias, and now we have a type of lawn, thanks to madly sprouting sour-sobs and weedy grasses. At some point we are going to install some frames and plant some fruit trees there, to espalier. Lots of different ones, apples and pears and plums and other yummy things. Also hoping for a row of citrus along the very front, to act as a bit of a privacy hedge thing.

The side yard has also been cleared out. Not sure what we are putting there yet. Aviaries have been pulled down (or kicked over, which happens to be more accurate really) and currently that space is earmarked for the new vege beds - once all the dried out stuff we tore out of the front yard has been disposed of.

On the inside of the house - well, nothing much has been done. We have finally arranged for a slow combustion heater - it's been VERY VERY cold without heating lately. And I can't wait until the heater gets installed and I have a nice toasty fireplace of my very own.

I specifically bought one that I can sit a kettle/pot on top of and boil water, heat soup, that sort of business. I like the thought of using only one heat source as much as possible. And our oven is dead (I bought a tiny little electric plug in unit which works fine though - can't live without an oven!) so having this option is great.

Have finished bar the grafting, one Thuja, and cast on for the second, but got distracted this morning by this http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTemerald.html
so i have cast that on too - in a lovely purple soysilk-wool blend yarn. Will I ever finish a project?? doubtful LOL

Haven't done much preserving at all lately and the stocks are getting quite low. I'm going to need to come up with more food I can stick in a jar soon - and the time to do it as well. Love having my pressure canner though, it's been great opening a jar of home-made pressure canned soup and just eating it whenever I want to. Much better than trying to squeeze extra stuff into my freezer. I'll have to take some photos of the canned goods storage - which is spread out all over the house in every available cupboard space at the moment.

Well, that's about all that's new here. Not really much to show for 6 months of not blogging, is it! Ahh well. Someone's gonna have to kick me up the bum and remind me to blog more, I think

Random Musings

2008-01-28T09:35:06Z

Funny how the very oddest things can alter your mood so very quickly
AS I was standing by the back fence today, looking out at the destruction, I was reminded of one thing that our daggy back fence does have going for it - it plays music.
One of the poles, which are very tall round ones, has been set in the ground with the top unused drill-holes on a slight angle. And whenever the wind blows (which is often!) those holes create a beautiful tune.
It's hard to describe - it's very quiet, but because the wind direction varies constantly, the tones are always different. Almost like pan pipes but not as breathy.

It's astounding how something so beautiful can happen from a simple mistake really - I'm pretty sure the pole is supposed to be straight on like the rest of its' fellows. Yet this one pole is slightly different - and creates soo much beauty in an otherwise drab place.

Many possible metaphors there. But I just like listening to the music...

Long time no post!

2008-01-08T22:34:30Z

And this one isn't going to be too long either.
Just breifly! I'm still here, still alive and still kicking.
DH is now only working 3 days a week so the race is on for me to find employment. Had an interview yesterday so we will keep our fingers crossed for that one!

We have not done much around the yard.
All the tomatoes got a icky virus and are in various stages of death-by-leaf-curling. The rest of the garden has pretty much fried in the intense heat - and the massive wind gusts have removed my shade :(

There is one tiny zuchinni on the plant out the front, along with one tiny roma tomato.. i'm holding out that maybe those plants wont die - and if they don't, I'm planting the next lot in straight horse-poo too.

Even the pumpkin is not coping with the heat, and is badly hit by downy mildew.

Parsley is still alive and kicking though!

Potatoes I think are already boiled in the ground.

Chooks are doing well, we now have no roosters at all and generally get 6 eggs one day, 3 the next. The bantams seem to only lay every second day, especially in the heat. Fine by me, I've got 3 full dozen eggs in the fridge and I really need to use some up!

Kids and family are good.

I've been doing loads of bottling and preserving. Bought a tomato press yesterday, and another 10 kg of tomatoes, so today I'm bottling those. Will have to post a pic another time!

Ali

Another Garden Update

2007-11-23T07:40:35Z

Well, I took more photos today.
I also did some construction!!
SO, thanks to some tomato stakes, freecycle (Thanks Greg!) for the polypipe, donated shadecloth (Thanks Lucretia!) and a roll of packing tape (yes... I said packing tape.....) here it is...

The Vegie garden SHADE!!!!

And another shot from the other end...

So here's to keeping the rainbow chard from wilting

Meanwhile, a few more garden pics...

The potato patch (yes, its' a true miracle, and now I have little potato plants popping up all over the place!)

The pumpkins

New tomatoes, (there are some basil plants and some capsicums or chillis in there too )

The peas

My nectarine tree, which isn't very happy at the moment.
I have just watered it again and mulched it up with some fresh pea straw. Poor tree really needs to go in the ground, only there isn't any prepared ground to put it in yet.

This is what the chooks look like now. Take a good look at the white rooster - if I'm feeling motivated enough I will be getting up stupidly early tomorrow to put him in a box and take him down to the auctions. 2 roosters is definetly 1 too many - possibly even 2, but we're willing to give the handsome black fella a second chance..

Next to the current chook run is a tamarillo tree. It's flowering and starting to fruit madly. I fertilised it a bit when we first got here and it seems to have made a difference. Now I just have to remember to water it lots - and try and find recipes for the fruit.

ALso next to the run is this thing. It appeared all by itself from UNDER the weed mat. It has no thorns at all. I'm hoping it's a thornless blackberry that I can get some yummy fruit off over the years. Then again it might be a weed. It also might not get the chance to make any fruit, especially if the chickens get to the flowers!

THis is my rain gauge. Why the photo? Because the other week it told me I had some rain and I coudln't figure out how much it was. SO here it is.

And this is what the bottom says

Essentially - I'd had 15 mms of rain. One day I will learn to read things properly.

Last but not least I thought I'd pop this pic in - this is the back of our house from the development that is going on over our back fence. (Yes, there is a fence there, its' just a dog-wire one that you can hardly see)

Loads of big trucks over there again today and dust everywhere! Oh well. One day they will be finished. One day!!!

That's it from me!

My sewing project

2007-11-16T10:50:16Z

And now for something completely different.

I'm calling it "mermaids rising"

My neighbour's 9 yr old daughter went to a disco tonight, and I was cheif dress designer and creator and sew-er.

SO here is the finished article

And a close-up of the bottom of the dress, showing the under-dress....(or skirt really)

GIven I have no daughters, and had no pattern, I was rather proud of myself. ANd she seemed happy - although a little nervous about having her photo taken just after I said it was going on the net LOL

SECRET SWAP JOY!!!!

2007-11-16T10:47:55Z

YAYAYAYAY
This is my amazing secret swap from the Woolaholics forum.
It's soooo nice
It was a kitchen swap, and whoever my swappee was did their homework!

I got some beautiful things.....

Here you can see them in action - knitted tea cosy and cup cosies, crocheted teapot trivet and cup trivets! AND some yummy green tea!

In case you didn't know - I have a thing for tea. And teapots. And tea cosies. And matching sets.

SO thankyou secret swapper - you just hit all my buttons at once!!!

ali_celt @ 2007-11-16T21:11:00

2007-11-16T10:45:01Z

HMMM
COuple of things to catch up on today
First - I wanna show off some of my sewing room.
Actually I wanna show off the mess of all my yarn LOL

SO this post is just pics of yarn. Yarn in boxes, shoeboxes, and all sorts of places.

Random Yarn

Pear Tree Yarn

Semi-organised yarn via the shoebox method

Gratuitous fabric shot - because i can LOL

My first recipe post

2007-10-26T06:08:17Z

I am .. not the world's best cook. Not the world's worst, either.
But I have a tendency to say "to hell with a recipe!" and just chuck things in a bowl and hope they work out.
They often do - but not into anything worth writing down. Stuff that the family happily eats. But not blog-worthy.

Well, today I did a blog-worthy off the cuff muffin. And I am super-impressed with myself, after the taste test. So here is the recipe!

Apple and cranberry muffins.

First, get yourself one of those groovy machines that peels, cores and slices your apple with a simple turn of the handle. Then put 3 big apples through it. (I used 2 pink ladies and one granny smith)

Then, take said curly bits of apple and cut them into teeny peices. Not as teeny as if you were grating them tho. We want them to stay juicy!

You should end up with a good just full of apple peices. Then, chuck about 7 heaped tablespoons of brown sugar on top (stops apples getting brown while you do the next step)

THen, in a biiiiig mixing bowl, sift um about um 3 cups of SR flour. give or take half a cup. (I said I just chucked things in, didn't I!!!)

Add some cinnamon. And a half a cup of dried cranberries. Then pour over the apple mix and stir like mad.

THen add 3 eggs and stir them in, along with.. umm.. 1/3 cup oil?? and a splosh or two of milk.
Stir stir stir.....
Until it looks like a good muffin consistency.

Stick into muffins cases in muffin trays and bake at 180 for about 15-20 minutes. (made 21)

Then eat them.

So today I have been really good, done a batch of muffins, a batch of choc=chip cookies, there's a loaf of banana bread in the oven, having slow-cooked roast lamb for dinner, and I've done the dishes.

See, when one has hayfever and can't go out int he garden, one gets lots done inside instead!

My ROCKET!!!!!

2007-10-05T08:48:03Z

My rocket is no more.

WEll, practically.
There were about 25 little green fat caterpillars all over my rocket, eating it into the ground.

I say 'were' because I picked em off and fed them to the chooks MuHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA take that evil caterpillars!!

Of course, there are also some on the brocolli and cauliflowers.
Along with some other weird grey bug things that are very tiny. I have no clue what they are.

SO it's caterpillar exams for my vegies every morning and afternoon here - and a lovely high protein diet for the chooks!

A stash sorting we will go...

2007-10-05T05:14:51Z

Yes indeed.

Got a little sick of the current state of the sewing room. And since the advent of the new knitting machine I haven't used the bond, nor the bond table, for a while. So I packed the whole lot up and pulled it out of the cramped space it was in.

Then I hauled out the rest of the plastic bags of yarn that were jammed into various corners, and boxed them up in the plastic shoeboxes of joy.

Now it's not all my stash. Its not even a quarter of it. But it is the tidiest bit in my craft room! And I can see what I've got. It also means there's a lot more light and space in here. Which is soooo much nicer.

Only Lucretia could probably tell you what it looked like before, if she wasn't so bedazzled by the enormous piles of fabric on every other surface in here (which of course are still there - but you have to start somewhere, right??)

Hmm, i will have to find the camera and take a pic of the tidy part soon!

SO I have 30 plastic shoeboxes full of yarn, set up in one of those grid shelving units.

*bliss*

Now the question I have is, what am I going to actually do with all the novelty yarn i found in my clean-up? I think I have a small problem. It's some kind of colour/texture addiction. I walk into spotlight/bigw/any place that sells yarn - and i head to the clearance tables - and I just buy a ball of this one, and a ball of that one, and 10 balls of the other coz it's only $10 for 500g!!!!

Then I collect it all in a corner somewhere, and have no CLUE what I'm going to use it for.

I will have to search for patterns for feathers yarn.

Amusement indeed!

2007-10-05T05:05:51Z

Why is it that kids are just so... funny??

Master 4.5 was playing with the firemans set on Wednesday. The fireman was standing on the heli=pad on the roof and... !!! A FIRE!!! At the TRAIN STATION!!!!

IN fact, the train station chairs were on fire. Because someone didn't LIKE the chairs, so they got out their fire hose, which blows out FIRE not water. And he FIRED the chairs!!

SO the fireman had to go and put the fire out. Except, he couldn't. Because he is still in his pyjamas! SO he has to get dressed first. But he can't because.... his ARMS aren't LONG ENOUGH!!!!

Then he made his arms grow, and got out of his pyjamas into his firefighting clothes... and got very strong, and climbed off the roof of the firestation, and went and put out the fire. With his hose, which squirts out water.

*smile*

In the car yesterday, from same 4.5 yr old, I got...
"Mummy, why does that man with the costume that lives at Grandmas house (superman!) wear his undies on the OUTSIDE of his pants???"

Followed rather swiftly by "Mum, why do you have to smash the eggs on the bench to get the insides out?"

I will miss this when he becames like master 12 and starts telling me why things are, instead of asking....

Weekend Delights

2007-10-05T04:59:46Z

Went camping on the weekend, hi ho hi ho hi ho...

Twas much fun.
Headed down to Hindmarsh Island for the first trip out in the caravan. Set the annex up for the first time too.

It was good! The weather held out, we learnt a few things about camping with caravans (like, you really DON"T need all that bedding - 4 people in one small caravan makes it HOT!) and we tripped around Goolwa and surrounds, while I practised a back cross carry with my Storchenwiege and a 4.5 yr old.

I felt all accomplished, at being the one who drove the car and van down there with just the boys. OK, so I got someone else to reverse the van into the parking space, but other than that, I did good!

I also felt reasonably accomplished about only requiring a small amount of help to get the annex up despite having a constantly wailing 3 yr old on my back in said sling.

THe other half came down on the Saturday night, so I was camping solo for 24 hours.

Then, of course, Rory and I both came down with some icky lurgy thing.
Rory got a lovely temp, which we borrowed some children's nurofen from our fellow campers for - and of course he threw it up all over the bed 20 mins later. It's been so long since I last gave him that sort of thing that I forgot he gets sick with it.

Of course Hindmarsh Island isn't in the middle of nowhere, so I bought some homeopathic goodies and we were set for a snotty miserable last few days.

But still - wouldn't miss it for the world!

Sunshine!

2007-09-24T06:12:32Z

Yes, there's a lot of it around at the moment. SO much so that the tomato seedlings and various other things i had in small pots out the front, have been starting to droop and wilt.. and the parsley was going yellow.

So this afternoon I planted them out in the strawbale bed, which is now officially full. I'm feeling like I really don't have enough space at all. There's only 5 tomato plants in there - and with the two others I've got out the front, I don't think there'll be enough crops to bottle pasta sauce to last us the winter. So I'm going to have to make up more garden beds somewhere, and soon.

After I put the tomatoes in (and the few capsicums - well, i hope they are capsicums, they might be chillis - I forgot to write it down) I stuck the el-cheapo $10 plastic greenhouse on top of that end of the bed. Hopefully it will keep the conditions nice and damp in there for them. I also took advantage of the sides of the straw bale bed under the greenhouse and put in some more seeds - this time, and entire punnet of capsicums (that's 12 little individual thingies with seeds in them ) and 4 chillis. And 8 celery's. Because the celery that was in there before dried out too much. Again, hoping the greenhouse effect will keep the damper.

Also put my other four garlic plants in, and the unknown things-that-looked-like-pumpkins.

Which I found out (by process of elimination - which seed packets were open) are in fact, butternut pumpkins OR bush cucumbers. Luckily there is only a couple of each, and I planted them right next to the sides of the garden bed, so I should be able to train any vines out and along the straw, rather than having them overtake anything that's in there.

I also bit the bullet and put in some rosella seeds. Apparently they like heat to germinate, and we've got a lot of that around at the moment. And I topped up the peas that got dug out by starlings (or mice, not sure which yet) so i can get a good wall of peas growing on the frame.

Still haven't organised my plot for the corn/beans/other peas. Nor my zuchinnis or the other pumpkins. My lettuce's have just about done their dash (these are winter ones i grew from seed) and I'm going to pull them up shortly, and dig in some straw/poo from the guinea pigs pile (which is slightly composted) Then I'm going to put some zuchinni seeds in there I think, and train them across the empty yard space.. hopefully!

Right. that's it for now!

Garden update time

2007-09-09T08:43:14Z

While I was mowing a section of our lawn with our push-mover this afternoon i realised I haven't updated with garden pics for a while.
So I pushed my dreamy way through the swarms of baby dragonflies flirting with the breeze (ooohhh i love living here!) and grabbed the camera to take some pictures.

We have finished the raised bed!!! Altogether finished it, except for the final bits of planting.

It's pretty long, but I'm already out of space and trying to figure out where to plant the corn and carrots and other beans....
Here is the best spot according to DH - out of the way and stuff - but oooh! all the work I have to do to make it happen is a little scary. I need more power tools - only i don't have them. And there's black plastic and scoria buried under all that..

Also, we have to contend with these critters...

The red-legged earth mite. Yes, they are eating the weeds - but they also eat my spinach, and other things that I wish they wouldn't!

This is the aviary that is falling apart. Putting the chooks in it was a good idea until we realised just how much it was falling apart.

My aim for this week is to carefully cut off all the wire and roll it up for other uses (more chook tractors probably LOL) and then wire the frame for growing cucumbers, zuchinis and gourds and luffas up.
I have to try and figure out a way to improve the soil in there too. All i've got left of my supplies are a couple of bags of chook manure and the litter from the guinea pig houses.

Mystery flowering tree - remember last time it was all pink? Now it looks like this

Still no idea what it is.

So here is my brocolli - happily heading up (or whatever it is called). Unfortunately it's the only one that is so far..

Tomatoes - they will go in the empty end of the raised bed once they are big enough

Thyme - man, it's hard to beleive that the parsley next to it was planted from seed at the same time. They must call it thyme because of the sheer amount of the stuff it takes to actually grow!

This is pot luck. I planted out some seeds. And I didn't write them down. I can't remember what they were! Obviously some sort of cucumber or squash or pumpkin or... hmmm, you get my drift. Although I'm pretty sure I didn't put climbers in there... who knows!

For some strange reason, out of about 4 large pots I'm sure I put various capsicum seeds in, only this one seems to be growing. And I'm not positive it's not a tomato.
Given the amount of capsicum that gets eaten in this house, I think I need to put in some more

NOw back to the strawbale bed. Good news! The broad beans that lucretia and her girls helped us plant have actually popped up! I thought they wouldn't at all. ANd yes, I know it's too late. I know broad beans are a winter crop. But I like watching things grow. It might work! The seed packet said it might!

These are the seedlings I bought from the farmers market last weekend. I went back and bought more garlic this weekend, but haven't put it in yet.

And this is the potatoes under straw bed that I did. I am actually thinking it might not work. It seems too dry.. i shall have to sneak out late at night with my watering can, so that the people driving my don't dob me in for illegal watering. We have a huge rainwater tank that I use, but you can't see it from the street...

Also, here is the other side of the bed, where you can see the beginnings of my path system. I have laid down cardboard from old packing boxes, and covered it in sawdust from my uncle.
He has a half a wool bale of sawdust waiting for me to go and pick up now, which MIGHT fit in the back of the van.. but will probably finish off the paths rather nicely!

Well that's probably enough for now. SO my jobs for this week are to get the chook wire down and new support wire UP for the vine plants, and dig in something good in there so they will actually grow.
THEN I have to massacre the enormous weed patch out the side somehow, so I can dig something into that and let it sit and become a good place for corn, peas, beans, and pumkins.
THEN I have to mow the other side of the house - because it's Rory's birthday on Saturday and we're going to have a house full on Sunday. Can't have them getting stung by the nettles!

Hmm and don't forget all the other million and one things LOL

I will leave you with a picture of the chickens. I'm even more positive that we have 3 roosters. This is going to be interesting!!!

At the very least, you can see how much they have grown!

Today I...

2007-09-09T08:15:39Z

had a numbers of hours, child free.
Could have been better though.

Yes, I know I sound like I'm complaining, but sheesh! I went birthday present shopping for my almost 3 yr old and oh my god there is nothing but row upon row upon row of plastic crap in the shops for kids.

I had SUCH a hard time finding anything!
His request for his birthday was for a 'mum duck and a baby duck and a pointy house for the ducks, and a turtle to live in the pointy house too"

I think I've been showing him too many pictures of chicken tractors.

So I came home with some Schleich animal figures - no ducks, because they didn't have any!! - but a swan, and a couple of geese, and a trio of chickens (one rooster), and, because he loves "bears in the night" and ALWAYS wants to drive home the back way so he can see the 'owpaca" I bought him an owl, and a lama.

Also bought some metal garden tools in his size (how hard were they to find !!!) and a wheelbarrow.

And a tricycle. And some books and t shirts and a few other odds and ends.

Phew! That's done.

Got home totally glad to be away from so many people, so much plastic, so much 'pink and fluffy' on the girls side of the shop and 'dark and violent' on the boys side of the shop.

Also came home with some timber and a few tiny hinges from the hardware, thinking that just MAYBE I can make the pointy house for his geese and chickens for him??? We'll have to see...

So far today...

2007-09-01T03:03:24Z

We went to the local farmers markets, where I spent quite a bit more than I really should have. But there was a lady there with all sorts of herbs and things....

So now the completed part of my raised vegie patch is full! There's only about a metre left to fill up with the mushroom compost, I was going to do it today but the bit of planting that I did sparked the hay fever, and it's really hard to shovel whilst sneezing. Also have to go out to do Father's Day shopping soon anyway.

But I digress.
No photos, but I now have oak lettuces, rainbow chard (red, orange, white and green!) rocket, mignon lettuce, parsley (lots - Declan could live on parsley alone.. although add beetroot and he'd be in heaven!) coriander and... (drum roll please!) GARLIC!

I'm soooo happy to have garlic in there. I know its a long-term winter type crop. But I'm over the moon to actually have some, I can't find garlic in the shops to sprout coz it's all horrible chinese irradiated stuff. Next week I'm going back to the markets to get more, because I could eat garlic forever!

Also found a comfrey plant, which I put in the front yard.

So now I have a few problems. Firstly - I'm running out of garden bed. Well, that's the main problem really. I don't know where to put another one. I don't know where my DH will be happy with another one. And I don't want to do another no-dig because the finance for straw and mushroom compost just isn't there now.

I'm thinking I will turn over a few patches of lawn or something. I've got seeds in to sprout - and a cucumber poked it's head out this morning!!! - so I will shortly need somewhere to plant them. The rest of the raised bed I think is going to be dedicated to a few tomatoes and maybe carrots?

I honestly never thought I would run out of space. But I've got to find somewhere for the climbers - pumpkins and cucumbers and zucchinis and gourds. Also the rosellas (mental note, get seeds into pots soon) and then there's all those Chinese greens...

I have to stop stressing about it! And go and plant the snowpea seeds *grin*

Chickens and tractors

2007-08-30T23:50:11Z

Right.
My idea WAS a good one! AND I learnt how to unstick a staple gun all by myself. AND ... well, the chickens are in their new tractor.

Only, it aint really a tractor. Because while my idea had lots of merit, my techno-design skills fell down in a heap when it came to figuring out how to attach wheels.

I think I will leave that important bit to my DH.

Here are some photos

This is the inside of the closed section - they will need the light for a few more weeks yet!

This is it from the top - see how that WAS a cupboard door til I took to it with a power saw? NOw it's split in two, half over the covered section, and half with a big wired-on window.

Here you can see the run section - it doesn't actually have a floor, but since it's in the garage I put cardboard under it to slightly insulate little toes and make it easier to clean up thier mess.

DO you like the circular entrance hole to the warm bit?? *grin*

WEll, there is it. Just needs wheels and handles, then it's in and out whenever!

Yesterday.... and a bit of today

2007-08-27T05:48:32Z

So the chickens are inside. But they are getting big, and engaging in chicken-type behaviours. Which means that there is sawdust and food and... other unmentionables ... being scratched out of cage and onto carpet. Not a good look.

Saturday decided the issue - new housing was needed, and quickly. Something that could sit outside on the grass- ummm weeds - during the warm days, and go inside the garage during the cool evenings when little chickens still need a light on to keep them warm.

So by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around I decided some action was required!

Armed with a power saw in one hand, a power drill in the other, and after some judicious use of pencil and ruler on an old, back-less cupboard, we have.....

a half finished, non-photographed chicken tractor.

OK, so the lead-up was good. But seriously, I never knew playing with power tools could be so much fun!

Hammering fencing staples onto badly supported timber, over recycled chook wire, however, isn't at all fun. Hence the thing is only half finished.

I determined this morning that i needed a staple gun to finish the job. Handy things, staple guns. So i bought one (only thing i bought for the entire project, so I figure that's pretty damn good. Tools don't count anyway, because they can be used for sooo many things, right?) and got to it.

Staple gun worked wonderfully. top and one side fully enclosed with chicken wire. Then the staple gun jammed, and for the life of me I can't un-jam it!

So since part of this project is to a)prove to DH that sometimes my ideas DO work and b) prove to DH that not only to they work, I can build them, i got intensely frustrated with said staple gun, and called upon my bestie's DH - who will be here shortly to un-stick the staple gun for me.

I WILL Have this thing finished and the chickens in it by tonight! There will be no more chickens in our house when DH comes home...

And then i will have photos too!

Ali

My Garden

2007-08-24T04:17:04Z

So I decided I'm going to blog my garden trials and tribulations.
This is going to be a LOOOONNNGG post, with lots of photos, so I'm going to do the swanky LJ cut thing (biiig thanks baroquestar!)

OK.

In case you didn't know, we moved recently.
This photo is of our weed-infested side yard. There really isn't anything there other than piles of stinging nettles, which I am endeavouring to turn into nettle beer sometime in the near future.

Here you can see what I'm in the process of constructing - a strawbale raised bed. That pile is mushroom compost, awaiting the shovel to go in the unfinished section. It's also sitting over the top of where I'm going to plant potatoes-under-straw ala Peter Cundall, as soon as I get around to it.

Close up of the strawbale bed. In this, the finished end, we planted some broadbean seeds just yesterday. Mini ones - only grow to a foot high so they dont need frames.

This is the unfinished end of the bed. Just a few more bits of guinea-pig hutch waste, baby chicken waste, and some chook poo i bought on the side of the road, and I'll top it up with the mushroom compost and straw. Then it will be time to plant!

Here you can see my not-too-happy looking passionfruit vine. It came from Dad's house and looks a little sad. I'm going to plant snow peas either side of it to utilise the frame shortly.

This is a no-name fruit tree which sprouted from Dad's compost heap. He brought it down for me and we put it in the barrel because we hadn't planned the orchard yet. We still haven't, but the tree looks happy.

Some marigolds at the base - what can I say, flowers are cool too, yeah??

This is the front yard. From the driveway. Bit overgrown and weedy! But it has potential. North facing and all that. And yes, there's a boy in there!

Small patch of Strawberries and beetroot in the front yard.

Smaller patch of calendula - there was a row of marigolds in between these two - but something ate them the day after they were planted!

This is my seed-raising zone. It is along the front wall of the house, which faces North, and the heat seems to work really nicely for my seeds. Also, the roof keeps the frost away, which is excellent too! At the moment we are waiting on various capsicums, pumpkins, zuchini, cucumber, and other yummy things to sprout here, for eventual transfer to the raised bed out the side.

Close up of some more beetroot seedlings. These ones were grew from seed here. Everyone loves beetroot in this house, so we are putting LOTS in and I will learn to preserve them later on!

This is my other vegie patch. It's in the front yard, the soil here is pretty sandy and not too good, but Dad turned it over, and I poured in some cow manure and other bits and peices. They get watered with water from the worm farm and so far they seem to be growing OK.

Broccoli and cauliflowers.

Lettuce (yum!)

The spinach is badly effected by the red-legged earth mites we have all over EVERYTHING here. Its very frustrating to see your plants being eaten, but there's not much I can do to stop it. So I'm just going to have to see how well they do.

These are some tomatoes that are growing from seed. They are called Siberian Tomatoes and apparently will continue to fruit even in 10degree weather. Interesting! We will see how they go.

Parsley - yum!! Declan eats this by the bucketload - I really need to put more in.

Ok last few shots! The woodpile waiting for us to find a chainsaw to borrow - oh, and a wood fire to burn it in LOL

A tree that is in bloom. We think it might be a cherry - well, i'm hoping anyway.

This is our t.. ummm tangelo? Some sort of fruit tree. It had fruit on it when we got here. Not sure how to look after this one. The thing you can see behind it is the side of the decrepit aviary complex which we still don't know what to do with yet.

Yep, that's it for now. Will update as things grow and change!

Thanks for reading!

Chickens

2007-08-24T01:24:03Z

Yes there are more pets at my house
These are some feathered ones we adopted from kindy. I don't actually know whether they are girls or boys yet - nor do I know what we are going to do with the boys. I have been reading up on how to break a chooks neck but I think I'm too squeamish.