Today I was actually meant to have a heap of photos of me covered in mud running about, climbing over obstacles and crawling through water.
They were meant to run the ‘Burnie Challenge’ today but it was postponed due to inclement weather… Bad weather would have made it more awesome in my opinion! I am to stay tuned to when it will be rescheduled.
So I spent some quality time chopping tomatoes.
6lb went into the sauce – I am making bbq sauce (sorry – the only recipe I can’t share) I only made the first part because somebody ate all the brown sugar and didn’t tell me!!
No – it wasn’t Pip – it was the other blue-eyed boy!
I cut up more tomatoes and cooked them – Will find space in the freezer tomorrow or make some fancy pasta dish with them.
Then I went out in the (pouring) rain and picked more.
Seems like we are about at the end of the corn (sob) But zucchinis are still appearing – how on earth they suddenly appear so big is beyond me!
Damn – I just remembered I left all the eggs in the nest! I didn’t put them in with the veggies because some little charmer pooed all over them! Yuck.
I am slowly working through my list of things to do before Texas.
I am hoping to get a small notebook written for my friends daughter who is getting married and her (soon to be) husband with some house holding tips (clearly not the cleaning type of tips though haha)
But I have a good number of simple ‘go – to’ recipes I use that don’t cost much in time or money to make and am pretty good at budgeting and fairly ok now at gardening. 😀
Since this will be their first time out running/managing a household I thought maybe a small book on things I have found useful might be handy for them.
And I can include pretty pictures!
Anyway, its a work in progress!
I also ordered some ‘business cards’ I tend to make friends wherever I go (and invite them to Tasmania – haha, Jeff has stopped rolling his eyes about this and started inviting people all on his own!!)
I just figured it would be easy to hand out a card with my details instead of looking like a lunatic with no pen. (or paper)
Its pretty simple – and if anyone spots an error, don’t write to me about it.
Snicker. Its too late!
I accidentally got up at 7am this morning. Our daylight savings ended, but even 8am is not my optimal time.
However… I was partway through my coffee and fully awake before I realised it.
Suppose I could start working through that ‘to do’ list that I haven’t gotten around to writing yet!
I put the stall out the front first thing – had a friend drive by and pass me $20 out her car window – she raided the garden while we were on the Overland Track and was squaring up what she owed. Cool. Easy start.
Not many other people stopped by today – only picked up another  $5.20! But happily the same friend dropped by and restocked up on vegies but instead of getting money off her, she is bringing me some of her home made goats milk soap in exchange. I can use those for some presents on my upcoming trip.
Zucchini still steadily producing
I zoomed on down to the local market today to pick up some wheat for the chooks. Dropped in to see Margie and Ruby – Margie had made me a lovely sponge cake for my birthday, so it was an extra special visit for a cuppa and catch up!
Keeping a few beetroots on the stall table
It wasn’t on my (mental) list but we had run out of laundry detergent. Not good when you have a bunch of smelly hiking clothes to wash! So I made a batch of it. I didn’t have the borax, but it still should do an ok job.
I am rather keen to get into the hothouse and sort it out a bit. I didn’t but wanted to show you the late self seeded tomatoes that are taking over the world in there!! They have gone mad!
The more pressing garden task was to pick the last of the corn from the first patch and pull up the plants
They are just past their best, so I really wanted them picked so I can get the kernels off the cobs and freeze them for later use.
We aren’t the only ones enjoying the corn. The chooks get a few dodgy cobs and they love them! Keeps them amused for ages!
I’ll still need to dig out a lot of the roots. Once this is all dry I will run it through the mulcher and add it to the compost
Yet another self seeded tomato producing well… this one in the middle of the second corn patch!
And more tomatoes.
We even made time to hike the circuit around Anniversary Bay this afternoon!
Got to keep the momentum going!
I am about done for the day!
Maybe tomorrow I can write that list and then panic properly about what I have to get done before leaving the country! 😀
Hello!
I didn’t get to sit and play with the last days hiking photos, so here is just a short random wrap up of things happening around Norwich House.
Yesterday was gloomy and soggy – today cloudy but only spits of rain.
We have been for three hikes around Anniversary Bay since returning from Cradle – we are much faster at this hike as, of course we are a lot fitter than before and not carrying 20kgs makes the world of difference!
Today – threatening skies
Always nice to stop and have a lamington break 😀
We dropped in to see Ruby the day before yesterday with the intention of me gardening while Jeff mowed the lawn. Unfortunately the mower wasn’t going – battery dead and the jump starting thingy was also out of charge!
So we had cake and coffee instead!
Ruby also had a new fence made – so we picked up all the old palings and brought them home
I have this vague plan to cut and split most of it, tie them in bundles and see if I can sell some for kindling. We already have tons at the moment from the last lot of fences Ruby had replaced, so thinking to make a few extra $$ that way. It burns like a demon 😀
The tomatoes keep on coming! The stall out the front brings in a steady amount of money – every little bit helps.
Quick pick for dinner
Just loving our home grown meals every night. Still a lot of corn out there. It took me an hour and a half to cut and de-seed the last lot of chillies – and there is a bunch more in the hothouse to pick again!
Have made another batch of tomato relish and sold 10kgs of tomatoes to cousins/friends so they can make sauces too! And I am STILL swimming in tomatoes!
Random self seeded tomato plant producing well!
Its just a lovely time of year – plenty of fresh food and reasonable amounts of sunshine!
Hello!
I am still working on Day Three of the Overland Track. It was one of the more demanding (and long) days of the trek.
And since I am trying to keep my hours more sane and not staying up until the wee hours of the morning, I decided to pace myself somewhat!
I chopped up and sorted quite a few kilos of tomatoes today. Then went and picked a whole lot more.
My hothouse needs some desperate attention as do lots of other area’s in the garden.
I have been getting a few dollars here and there from putting the stall out most days.
If the weather holds out tomorrow I will put it out again. Decided its no point if its pouring rain. No-one stops and everything gets soggy – including me!
Still waxing lyrical over how great our dinners are lately. We haven’t gotten sick of fresh corn and other salad as yet. I pickled some more beetroot the day before yesterday and I am fanging my way through it. Jeff is not a fan, so I have that all to myself!
Hope your day has been fabulous!
Will be back tomorrow with Day Three of the Overland Track!
So the day starts out pretty normal at Norwich House.
First things first, catch a bird that somehow got inside and pop it back out, have breakfast then make the monumental decision about the hiking clothes. To wash or burn.
Of course we washed…
It was a gorgeous day so all the laundry dried happily in the sun and breeze.
We aimed to take today nice and easily – although for me that meant diving into the garden to see what was going on!
Wow on the tomatoes
Just one of the many tomato patches with ripe fruit!
Even though my lovely cousin Beau ate through as many as he could and shared around heaps and took home a bag full – there were countless more in the garden to pick today.
I have managed to put 6lb of the tomatoes chopped into the starting point of making relish, but will need my market stall out the front early tomorrow to help deal with the rest.
Rachel helped me set it up later this afternoon – we got $7!! Yay 😀
Some monster beetroot in there! Time to make more pickled beetroot.
There is so much corn ready. Will put a good amount of that out the front tomorrow too!
Seems I have an hour of chilli cutting and deseeding ahead of me tomorrow as well!
I am dying to get into my hiking photos but, as always after such a trip, there is a lot of cleaning up and sorting to do of your gear and general house/garden stuff to attend to.
Not to mention how tired I seem to be right now!! Still a few hours sleep to catch up on I reckon!
Dinner was amazing tonight. We really missed our fresh food. I have to say, the corn is divine!
Hello!
So far, I reckon Autumn weather has been much nicer than most of summer! Another lovely day today.
I put the stall up out the front before I had breakfast (no, don’t ask what time that was)
I got to talk to some really nice people – travelling workers. They were cherry picking, now moving on to apples.
Then found a couple of random European people wandering down the highway on their way to Wynyard! They had not long arrived in Tasmania and had work up at a nearby farm. So I ran them into town. (Safer)(And quicker)
Anyway, grand total of $42 today!
Well – its a week away… the big hiking adventure! I have succumbed to list writing again to make sure I have everything sorted.
I dehydrated more curried beef & rice (well… its still going)
I did another half hour on the bike (Bottom much less sore now, thank-you for asking 🙂 )
Cleaned the dining room. (yawn – very slowly because I kept finding other distracting shiny things to look at/do)
Then I thought I would feel good about myself if I pulled some weeds out.
The weeds in the duck yard garden where there is no seaweed mulch have gone crazy
Jeff said there is a LOT of seaweed down at our usual collecting beach right now. Deciding if I can fit in a trip to get a couple of loads before we leave…
I did a fair bit but was conscious of not over doing things as the last thing I need before heading up a mountain is a sore back!
Still – it was nice to see a couple of big weed-piles!
The pallet fence garden is going nicely. I relocated quite a few self seeded tomatoes in there – just because I could. They now have lots of little cherry tomatoes happening.
Not sure if we will get any apples this season. They might disappear like the plums did, which would be sad. Lots of windfalls… lots of codling moth… late ripening.
Still… we have very happy neighbour-sheep!
“Bleaaaargh” (I demand an apple!)
So – get to the end of the day, ready to finish off cooking dinner and the power goes out for over an hour. Handy. Sigh… was looking forward to that shower too!
Anyway, so we sat out in the sunroom and amused ourselves with hobbies and chatting.
Jeff has taken to carving and whittling. (and a much higher use-time on the vacuum cleaner)
He got some knives to help make spoons.
We have plenty of firewood… he practices on all different sorts
Yes that’s blood!! Sigh. More practice with his new sharp tools needed!
Jeff was telling me about a current patient who all the staff have been smitten with.
A sweet elderly lady (in her 90’s). Sadly its possible she will be with them until the end.
I asked if he wanted to take her in a bunny. (Of course yes!)
So I got one that I had nearly completed and finished him off
For weeks now (ok, lets be honest, probably since I got here to Tasmania) Margie keeps looking sideways at my hair, sighing a bit and running her fingers through the tangled endy bits and acting all wistful
She is a hairdresser.
And the lack of attention I give my hair in her opinion borders on criminal.
This is why I have bandannas. I love my bandannas – I won’t cut my hair short but I hate it getting in my eyes, so it works for me.
Anyway… the ends were getting pretty much to dreadlock stage so I figured I better let Margie have her fun and having hair a little more manageable for the upcoming hike.
Really… I could do without returning home harbouring various flora and fauna in there from Cradle Mt.
Margie has cut my hair once before. Other than that, I have generally just yanked my hair around to the front and attacked it with scissors myself. (I really don’t care)(And did I mention I am one of the least expensive wives out there??)
There! All done! I swapped some eggs for the haircut – but reckon I should make up Margie a bit of special home made ice cream at some point.
I could have done this myself (er- not as neatly of course) but then where’s the fun in that, as we had coffee and a good long gossip!?!
I grossly under-calculated my earnings yesterday … I made $8 not $7.
People from Texas can tell me how many cups of coffee I can buy with that! haha
BUT – today was a LOT more exciting!
$49!!! How great is that?? I met a couple of the customers. One sweet old fellow was just browsing while his wife (seated in their car) and I chatted. He kept choosing stuff and handing over more money!
Another fellow bought stuff then immediately came back to get the rest of the tomatoes because his wife told him to. They really loved the Black Russian ones.
I gave him a complimentary cucumber.
And then we get to my favourite time of the day…
Vegetable Arrangement Hour
Thrilled with my chillies this season.
At this point I was thinking I needed to feed Jeff so he could go to work!
Playing with my food!
I couldn’t get into my groove today. I was half heartedly doing some housework. Going to have to do it more whole-heartedly tomorrow! The days are slipping by and there is still a bit to organise before going up to Cradle on our hike.
Next step – write list.
There are a lot more chillies in the hothouse to pick. I left them for today as I wasn’t in the mood for standing about cutting and de-seeding. Maybe tomorrow?
This is a patch of thirty random tomato plants – the ones that self seeded in the hothouse that I relocated. A lot of them have fruit. We are yet to see if they ripen
I thought they would all be cherry tomatoes! Not so! I am seeing quite a variety so far!
I think this garden bed may have gotten away from me! The lettuce were in here earlier in the season. Half of it has now been taken over by self seeded tomatoes. I have a ‘meh’ attitude towards them. They can look after themselves and if I get some fruit, then yay! Not going to (as Ruby would say) break my heart over them.
The other half of that garden bed contains the relocated beetroots which are going really really well. Some big ones getting along quite happily in there! The few lettuce that are also there are going nicely and are at the point where I can snag a few leaves here and there for dinner
Still got more than enough parsley around to keep us going. And rogue potatoes everywhere!
I would say this one is about ready to dig up – but no rush, since we already have so many.
I don’t have so much of a bean arch, as a bean slump! Some repair work needed! I have gotten a couple of zucchinis off the plant in the middle, but not a lot. Random tomatoes are also growing among the beans.
Ahhh, my rhubarb! I have never cooked it before so I am completely procrastinating about tackling it!
I put in some purple carrot seeds in one part of the carrot patch. They were old, so it was a bit of pot luck. They have raced to seed.
On a happier carrot-note, I saw some tiny shoots popping up where I planted some of my first saved seed. (er… like three so the photos as yet are not inspiring)
There are still happy cheerful flowers dotted about the yard which keeps everything upbeat.
Hope everyone has had a fab day!
Cheers!
Turn your back for two seconds and zucchinis turn into baby elephants!
