Running out of plots!

Ha! Just last week I was thinking how only a few of the guilds currently had plantings in them and of all the ones ready to go that the chickens had already vacated - but anyway, today the next lot of seedlings were ready for transferring out. Then I put in another patch of onions and carrots (not holding out much hope for the first lot since I can only see about 5 onions and not so sure where the carrots are yet) and dug over another patch for more corn which I will put in during the week - this time I'll directly sow them in the soil rather than raising them into seedlings first. I added a few more bean seeds directly into the ground to see how they go - my first ones were doing so great but unfortunately went all floppy during the week but the new growth may be salvagable. So out of the guilds available for planting into, there are only two more to catch up on (the chickens are moved on about once a week).

The chickens had a blast out running around for a few hours - but were beginning to get a bit pesky after a while and kept trampling over my seedlings and running around in circles making it worse when we tried to shoo them off (and my official shoo-er-off-er had retired for a rest by this time).

I will take a photo tomorrow to add in for comparison as things start to grow. The planting currently take up just under 1/2 of the available planting area - so plenting more plots to be used up and hopefully the first ones will then be available again for the chicken tractor to be moved back onto before they run out of space to graze in (although I haven't quite figured out how we'll maneuveur it back over to the start since it's not in a circular pattern as per Linda Woodrow's plan).

So the potatoes were OK afterall...

I very dubiously planted my seed potatoes a few weeks back after having them out sprouting for a couple of months with not a lot of sprouts appearing - and the ones that did were still very short. So I decided to just put them in the ground anyway and see what happened. Well I was down weeding the patch this afternoon and spotted some greenery that was kind of unweed-like. So I gently (well I hope so!) burrowed down and yes it was attached to my seed potato, so now I know what the tops look like in the early stages. Out of about 20 potatoes that I planted, 10 have so far sprouted up - so woohoo!

Progress on the trench and trough

This was the result of last weekend's efforts. Simon has dug it out all the way down the garden and tomorrow plans on laying the hosing and getting the bath in position. The tap (at ground level) has no pressure, so will just trickle down into the bath. Might need to get us some frogs to eat any mozzies. Or maybe we'll get to see some cool dragonflys on the hunt for mozzies too.

Hand-crafted tools

My gardening tool stash is quite *old*. Mostly it is made up of hand made tools that my granddad made. It's amazing how they really have lasted for so long. Granddad would be about 110 now, which really does date the tool stash even more than usual.

I also have this cool tin watering can which my nana handed on when she recently moved out of her own home and no longer needed gardening items (not entirely sure of it's history or where it came from though). It is such a cool can. It is lovely to hold, pours so evenly without leaking and the spray that comes out the rose spreads about half a metre in diametre. This can holds a LOT of water as well.

The only downside is that it's a pain in the bum if Helpful Children add dirt and grass - it clogs up the pipe bit and takes a bit of sloshing around to keep on watering...and then of course I forget to empty out the crud for next time and repeat the same process again. Today I *did* empty out the crud and went back to a happy time watering.

A few belated pictures...

I like photo's. My blog is just not the same when it's all writing - I've been slack at downloading my pics lately, so here are a few I had meant to post...

The pumpkin cake


My op-shop finds

Spring Surprises

Out wandering in the garden this afternoon, we spotted HEAPS of plums developing. Tiny still at only about 1cm diameter, but there are masses. Last summer the amount of fruit we got was a bit of a disappointment (suspect it is a tree that fruits every two years) - but that's ok, I don't think I would have had great plans for bottling and storing it all anyway. This year, I will definitely make plans for what I can do. Mmmmmmm.


The apple tree also has some lovely blossoms on it. Unfortunately I wasn't on to it and didn't protect it against codlin moth which seems to attack it every year. But hopefully we'll be able to cut around what is ok and do something useful with it anyway. They are old fashioned apples (not sure what variety) and I'd say the tree dates back to when the house was built about 50yrs ago. The tree is looking quite decrepit and not too good - but the wonderfully tasty fruit it bears makes it difficult to chop it back and risk it carking it completely.

I've been waiting to to do this...

Haha, nothing so interesting really!

Everyday I've been keeping an eye on my patch where I planted the carrot and onion seeds directly into the ground. Unfortunately, the weeds also began to come away at the same time and it was really difficult to see where my seedlings might pop themselves up (and one of those hindsight things, I forgot to mark my rows as I planted them). So today it became evident what were onions and what were definitely not carrots (haven't ruled out some of the weeds just yet though as they're still in the early stages). I don't seem to have nearly as many onions as what I planted, and it really doesn't help that one of the neighbourhood cats has been using it as a pooping patch and therefore scratched up so much of the area!

So, I set myself in for a spot of weeding and spent a good hour down there and it looks much better.

We now have two patches of potatoes, one of corn (with some pumpkins positioned around the top on a mound of compost), one of greens, one of carrots/onions and beans along the fence.

I finally have "currency"

With the on and off talk of "green dollars" or "voucher systems" or "barter systems" over the years, I've always wondered what I could offer by way of exchange. Well I have discovered one way. Seedlings! A friend bought around a bag of used clothes for Danielle the other day and it felt great to finally give her something back for her generosity (considering Danielle lives in 80% of this friends hand me downs) - I had potted up some seedlings for her and knowing that she is keen to get a garden going, this has given her the incentive to get it all prepared to put some things in.

When I attended the talk with the permaculture couple a few weeks ago, they were discussing how back in older times, swapping seeds (your best ones too) was considered a very generous gift - I can certainly believe that if your family was relying on home grown produce!

Found!

How it got in behind the entire stack of recipe books I have no idea! At least the house got a spring clean in the process - that sure wasn't one of the first places I thought to look in. And what is it with the little bits of crap that are in corners, bits of paper, tiny "things" off things...at least with those gone the house actually looks very tidy - oh and the floors finally got a mop too! Danielle has developed a fear of "fluff bunnies" chasing her down the hallway (complete with terrified screeching and panic), perhaps I need to become a bit more of a Flybaby and get onto vacuuming before the dust collects to a decent size - I'm not surprised she freaked when they fly along the floor after her looking like a small furry animal!

In the last few days I've spent time in the kids rooms sorting out the winter clothes and bringing out the summery stuff - of course, we might have had a few really hot days that called for shorts and t-shirts and then today it was freezing and called for the fleece tops again!

Where oh where are you??

I've lost my gardening journal - grrrrr, I knew I should have logged it electronically as well. I know I need to do some seed planting in the next week or so and I can't recall what I figured I needed and how many!

Off for another search...otherwise I'll be improvising...

On snail watch...

Well some slimey little creature has been attacking one of my bean plants (strangely, only the one out of many). So Simon went down to the garden last night after dusk with his headtorch on to see who was out there. He found one offender. So he'll go down again tonight and see if there are any more lurking around.

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin...

I'm sure with all the pumpkin seedlings I have on the go, we are going to be well and truely sick of them (or orange) by the time we have harvested and eaten whatever grows. But I am discovering some really yummy looking recipes which I look forward to using again. Today I made a pumpkin cake (actually used butternut squash) and it was great! I also discovered a pumpkin ice cream recipe a few weeks back too which I look forward to trying out. I can see how these unusual recipes came about - if others have grown large amounts of one vegetable, you really want to have a variety of options for it all!

A bath for a trough

Well, I've found me a trough!

My stepdad (who would have fit on the set of Steptoe and Son) picked up a bathtub that was being off-loaded at the tip while he was there, so he quickly snaffled it up before being spotted by the "dump people" and told not to scavenge. He had no use in mind for it and it's just been lying around taking up space at his house, so it's been offered to us - yay! He also picked up some roofing wire which will be perfect for fitting over the top to safety proof it.

I'm hoping this will be worked out in the coming weeks (need to source the piping to sink into the ground) - the weather has warmed up and I really need to access water now instead of toting the large watering can up and down to the garden to refill!

A spot of op-shopping

After feeling inspired to make Christmas gifts, I went off to the hospice shop this afternoon. Scored some really good things too. But boy, I might avoid shops in general coz of the frenzied feeling to spend, spend, spend that comes on - but I found today, it was even stronger in a 2nd hand shop! What is with that? Maybe because I feel OK about buying things that are already out there, buying clothes that have already been washed of all the pesticides and nasty chemicals and finding unique finds that you really wouldn't in most regular shops. Just as well I don't frequent them too often!

So, I came away with 2 large glass jars with clamp lids for my pantry (I'm slowly building up my supply whenever I go down there and buy up what's there), 8 lovely linen serviettes with 2 textured type ones in contrasting colours to make my hot rice bags, a woven nana bag (haha) with bamboo handles - quite funky actually and great for shopping and popping things into (like library books), some clothes for Nathan (short and longsleeve t-shirts, pj's, fleece top for next winter), a woollen jumper for myself and a cool patterned jar to put the bath salts into.

Just a pottering weekend

Well, our weekend only starts on Sunday's now (and finishes on a Sunday, but we get Tuesday as well) so since I've been hanging out all week to get into a few things that have just been hanging around, we finally got onto them today. After a slow start since I had to go and pick Nathan up from his nanny's house where he stayed the night and after picking up some compost (I've used up my own supply), going to the library and back home it was 11am. But, it was a really productive day that saw us outside for the majority.

~ Repotted my corn seedlings (new ones) out of the propogator into their own pots to remain under cover for a wee while longer (loving my new (hand-me-down) workbench set up on my front porch for doing gardening "stuff")
~ Planted more corn seeds in the propogator
~ Dug a trench along one fence in my front yard (after Simon had mowed the lawn) and added compost and transplanted a heap of my self-seeded pumpkins that are coming along nicely - and they were still there at the end of the day without the birds scratching them out! Have found homes for some of the other seedlings that I am loathe to rip out.
~ Dug out along the front of the house (ornamental grasses got transplanted elsewhere) which is a lovely sun trap to make way for my capsicum plants eventually and this will also take next years tomato plants to ensure rotation from the other sunny corner of the house where they are going this year
~ Reorganised/swept my front porch so it no longer looks like a junk yard
~ Had Simon tidy up the front yard and remove the dug out camellia's that were still lying around
~ Transplated my kumquat tree into the front yard that was in a pot on my porch looking very sad, so I'm hoping it will bounce back to life
~ Was domestic too and made a lovely soup and bread for dinner (amazing how a break from soups for a few weeks makes them more appealing again lol) and Simon even had a batch of muffins made for his lunches (have phased out supermarket muesli bars) and I trialled making hummus yesterday which was amazingly easy and tasty and for half the price of store bought
~ Simon continued on chopping and sorting firewood for next year while keeping a ear out for Nathan who had found a new friend over the back fence and was off over there playing

Roll on Tuesday so we can get out for another bike ride.

Talking with permaculture guru's

A friend and myself went off to our local community garden information night again and the guest speakers tonight were a local couple who are a part of the Permaculture NZ group. It was fascinating hearing them talk about it all (rather than just reading books as has been my only real exposure) and I even got to ask a few questions to help problem solve some issues I was facing. I have finally (!) figured out my dilemma on whether to get our bore assessed which would include having the water tested and then the $$ required to fit a pump etc or to go with the existing water tank that is built in under our porch from the days when there was no town supply (only 20 or so years ago). The problem is that our water tank will only provide a slow trickle of water down the gentle slope towards the garden, and there is no pump attached, however, we should be able to trickle feed the water out of the tank via a hose into a holding tank/trough where we can scoop a watering can into and water the garden that way (or get an irrigation hose with holes that can deep water the garden). Phew, sounds simple, now just need to source the trough to do that with (and safety proof it from the kids).

Emergency kit reassessment

After getting our emergency supplies finally in order a few months back - it really gave me a sense of security in knowing that we'd have about a months worth of food at least and then our fruit and vege supply on top of that. Well I've since added another 5kg bag of rice to our stocks (already had 10kg). I did have a feeling of unease though recently that I hadn't accounted for everything, so a few nights ago I had Simon lug the wheelibin up into the house to unpack and itemise it all with expiry dates for replacement (which I hadn't done in my haste). Well it seems it was just as well - we discovered a heap of things were wet as one of the water containers had leaked and sprayed over everything. So I'm now needing to replace all the tinned food as the tins are starting to rust on the outside, so would rather do that now and know it's all OK. Fortunately everything else was fine (or in plastic bags).

I have also now added a crank/solar charging radio/torch, a decent multi-tool and sleeping bags.

And, I also feel I need to let my friends and family know that we're working on our supplies (not that the bin in the lounge can be missed!) and gently encourage them to assess their stocks too. Last thing I would want to be doing in times of emergency is worrying that people we care about are not prepared to at least feed their families!

The key to my garden's survival

It's so simple really.

To go back a bit...I do not have a good track record with houseplants and previous attempted gardens. It has nothing to do with plants being eaten by pests, or lack of fertilizer, or overgrown weeds (well, those things probably would be an issue if it ever got that far!) - no, the key is owning chickens.

Why chickens? Well, the big issue for me is my slackness at providing water for said plants - and chickens provide me the means of remembering to water my plants at the same time. I spend time down in my garden coz my chickens are so cool to hang out with and watch that I then realise my plants need tending and looking after...

So there you have it!

Now the test will be, if my plants make it through with enough water, will the other factors then go against me?

Pedal Power

I have me a new bike! We have also set up Simon's bike with a child's seat on the back for Danielle. Nathan's a bit of a whizz on his bike already, so we set off for our first family ride today. It was awesome! I haven't been on a bike for about 20yrs so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it wasn't as daunting as I expected (after all they do say you never forget lol) - even with those 24 gears to navigate around. I just loved cruising alongside the river paths and it was soooo easy. Nothing like riding my old Ten Speed back in the day. Simon asked how the seat was and I realised I hadn't even noticed the seat after an hours ride - guess that's the point, that it was the right one and comfy too!

More homemade gift ideas...

So far I've come up with these ideas:

Potted tomato plants
Potted capsicums
Make a cushion cover using recycled fabrics
Scented bath salts
Dress up clothes
Lemon honey
Laminated pictures (using the kids paintings) for grandparents
Hot rice bag (rather than wheat bag)
Ginger beer

My circle of friends

The lovely Sharon has awarded me with this...

"...for those bloggers who are nice people and good blog friends - those who bring good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world."

I have found blogging to be so much more rewarding that I ever anticipated. The friendships and people I have *met* in blogging-land have really added in such a positive way to my network of friends.

Two lovely ladies I have blogged alongside and known to some degree prior to blogging who I would like to nominate are:

Sandra - love reading about your garden and you're such a strong insprirational woman and I am pleased to know you.

Anoushka - the friend who I really want to meet one day soon! A blog that started off about a sad little garden, has become a large happy-garden-to-be.

xx

Thinking of Christmas presents

Well this year there really will be homemade gifts. I always have the best intentions, but to date haven't really found anything that feels right. This year I am growing a tomato plant for each of the great-nana's since none of them need anything, and what better than fresh produce. Maybe I'll have a go at making soaps for others and then just need to come up with a few ideas for the blokes. Any ideas?

A rush job

*Sigh*

Another frost tonight.

So this evening we went down and I covered over my plants that are in the garden already with plastic containers and then put newspaper over them all and some of the bigger plants had mulch popped around them. That's all I can do, so we'll see how effective (or not) that was.

A wee little surprise

Upon discovering this wee present this afternoon, Nathan announced "Well done girls!". I'm not sure who laid it, or when, but it wasn't there at 9am this morning when I went down to feed them.

So, here it is up against the other eggs in the fridge. So cute...

Oh, there's another...and another...and another...

I noted a few days back that I had found a self-seeded pumpkin in my front garden where I added in my compost while trying to add nutrients to my sandy soil. Well, it seems that every day I go out there, there are more and more! I have now counted 5 plants growing. It was quite timely with re-reading a section in the Home Permaculture Garden by Linda Woodrow a few days back and glanced upon a bit where she wrote that she doesn't plant pumpkin seeds as she has sufficient crop up by themselves from her compost which she just replants elsewhere. So it seems we may have heaps of pumpkins this year along with the seedlings I've grown myself.

Turning more vegan every day...

I'm approaching this from a strange angle I know! Does one just go from being a meat/dairy eater to a vegan without coming at it from an ethical-kill-no-animals angle? Sure there are many reasons to become vegetarian, but vegan just seems like that little bit more of a "freak" thing to do (and no offense to any vegans reading this!).

However, as I understand and grasp more about a range of issues (for the main part I'm thinking peak oil and climate change) it just seems to be the next logical step. I've been thinking how we can be self sufficient food-wise while living in a town on a standard 1/4 acre section. There is no way of owning a house-cow or goat where I live, so unless dairy products and meat are still able to be supplied somehow if TSHTF and food is suddenly very expensive or unavailable, it makes sense to scale back our dependency on these products now.

Way back when I started blogging I made a commitment to reduce our meat intake from daily to every second day. And we've done that. Even when I've been tempted to do meat two nights in a row. And we enjoy it.

So! I discussed with Simon tonight about adding a few more vegetarian meals into the weekly cooking (afterall, I am the cook around here generally) and he wasn't phased by it. After poring through my cookbooks this evening and taking into account that we are on a tight budget (well, I really want to save $$ to pay off a large chunk of mortgage when it comes of the fixed term in a years' time), it seemed to rule out a lot of vegetarian meals that are loaded with dairy in them and in fact often hike the total meal price beyond a basic meat meal. Because at least half of the vegetarian meals I cook over a month would be vegan anyhow, I figured it wouldn't be too much to add a few more into the mix. From now, the aim is to eat no more than 2 meat meals a week (we have already cut back the meat portion sizes too for the nights when we do eat meat).

I do struggle with being hungry after eating a vegan meal occasionally, and know I need to include a bit more protein to that longer lasting energy, so have been more mindful of adding rice or quinoa to our vegetable soups. I have just purchased a few second hand vegetarian cookbooks which I am still waiting on to glean new ideas. I do wonder (if TSHTF) how we would get B12 on a fully vegan diet if there were no processed/enriched foods to rely on since it is not naturally available (aside from not washing our hands after using the toilet and reabsorbing our own stores of B12 or adding human manure to vege gardens and leaving the unwashed - blech). Of course, if my chickens start (!) laying eggs then that will be a source of B12 for us.

Back to the menu planning - and maybe we'll even be able to stretch grocery shopping day from once fortnightly out to once monthly with the reduced dairy/meat (since our little freezer can't cope with larger amounts and we switched off our large freezer a few weeks back after Simon left it open one night and defrosted it's contents!).

Recycling...refashioning

Since Simon finished up with his job on Friday and over this weekend as I was in the process of washing/folding the weeks worth of business shirts which were embossed with his company logo, I started to wonder how I could reuse them.

Then this morning I read on Melanie's blog about making bags, and I've been reading about making cloth bags for yonks and never actually got around to it (lack of random fabrics I think and I didn't really want to go and purchase special fabric for the project). And besides, I have a calico one that I use already for library books on Errand's Day.

So, this evening after the kids were in bed I dragged out my no-often-used sewing machine and whipped this up in about 20mins. It's kinda rough, but pretty functional and I may even funk it up a bit if I feel inspired. The strap is long enough to go across to my opposite shoulder. Looks kind of like a skirt from the side LOL.

Now, I've got another 3 of these shirts out there. I was thinking they could be torn into strips and used to tie up my tomatoes when the time comes since the fabric is quite thin and soft and easily tie-able. Any other ideas on what else I can do with them?

Fantastic Fruit

I've spent the afternoon adding more fruit delights into the garden. Initially I wasn't really focused so much on fruit as we were fortunate enough to already have 5 different types of fruit trees on our property. But it got the better of me and I planted a blackberry and a passionfruit. A previous owner has certainly had the lower section set up as quite a garden in times gone by as there are many trelised areas all set up in the best sunny spots, so it made my decision easy on where to plonk them. I even found a rhubarb in my compost that I had pulled out a few weeks back since I found one buried under some long grass so sacrificed one, but I couldn't resist popping it back in again since it seemed to have bounced back to life. So those are nestled on either side at the base of the passionfruit. I also bought some strawberry seedlings to plant out during the week and have the wire meshing that I inherited from my nana's place when she moved which will come in handy.

Tried & Tested

Well I stink no more! Hehe.

The baking soda under on the armpits is fantastic! I have been out digging in the garden, planting seedllings, potting a new batch of seeds into propogators and generally busy this morning and not a whiff to be had. And it's a lovely warm day.

Think I'll pop some BS into a little pottle to keep in my handbag for those times of feeling like a freshening up and pat some more on. So go on, give it a go!

(The tooth powder isn't too bad either, can't rave about it yet, it's really only just tolerable as far as taste and feel goes but does the trick).

Baking Soda Strikes Again...

I thought I'd do a follow up post from one of my first in blogging-land. Here I first discussed all the ways I had switched to baking soda and in effect eliminating shampoo, sprays, toilet and shower cleaners, how it is great for polishing stainless steel and removing grime, good as a facial scrub and much more.

Well, I have now decided to try it as a replacement for toothpaste and deoderant.

I have dabbled with using a deoderant stone on and off over the years, and have reverted back to it recently when my last bottle of roll-on ran out, but it really still doesn't cut it.

Last night I went on a girls night out and one of the ladies uses baking soda for the base of tooth powder (the old fashioned way to clean teeth) and deoderant so I thought I'd give it a go since I am well stocked up on it in both my shower and bathroom already.

For the tooth powder I mixed a bit of cinnamon into it to flavour it up slightly (peppermint oil would be nice too, or orange zest). It wasn't so bad! Slightly salty tasting, and quite gritty, but definitely do-able and I have heard that it tends to eliminate that next morning furry feeling permanently - I wonder if it somehow neutralises the acid in saliva or something?

As for my deoderant, well I just patted some on after my shower (using the shake bottle that I use for washing my hair) - so will see how today pans out with that one! A bit of lavender sprinkled into the bottle of BS might be quite nice for a light fragrance too.

That poor salesman who knocked on my door the other day giving me the speil and quoting that most people spend up to $400 a year on cleaning products and how their product for only $80 for a litre of cleaner was value for money....hmmmm.....not for this house.

First day of Spring!

Well it was a really mild winter and we got through only buying one cord of firewood and had a little bit of extra wood left over from last winter to tide us through. I'm sure there were evenings where a nice hot fire would have made the room temperature a little more pleasant, but really - if I'm sitting on the couch reading or at the computer, a rug over my lap will suffice (what a nana)!

Nathan spent a lot of winter asking when spring would be here (we have a gardening game that he went through a phase of playing which follows the seasons) - well my boy, here it is!