Month: April 2019

Finally – the poor chooks! We picked up a bag of the chopped straw and found time today to clear out their coop.
I am sure they will have a lovely time kicking that all out again!
Little darlings. They continue to dig holes in our yard!

I didn’t light the fire back up today. I think we’ve sorted the majority of the rubbish for now. The cement blocks are all crumbling away. I think we need a proper and more permanent fire pit.
I did move more wood and sticks over to the pallets.

Jeff finished off pulling up the corn stalks

I think we need to mow again soon!!
Hoping that next week will be start of the tree removal. Also hoping that we can make a lot of woodchips too – just to dump on all the pathways and slow that grass/weeds. (And pop into the compost)

I filled the compost up with chook-poo straw and made it smell better by mixing the coffee grounds through it.

Looking forward to next season as I think the asparagus will have settled in. Fingers crossed for lots to pick!

My butternut pumpkins are getting lost in the tall weeds. I think I will just have to go in and take them all out. Some small ones have started but really – they won’t have time to develop at this time of year.

The hothouse needs pulling apart completely again – and Tentacular needs a severe trim!! Its hard to get in the door and he keeps grabbing hold of me! haha

And I think I should give up on melons. This is my one rock melon.
I will cut it open tomorrow and hope its still sweet and edible. Not very awe-inspiring though!! Never mind.

These tomatoes were all from the duck yard garden.
Picked up a few fallen apples too.

The last patch of corn didn’t pollinate very well – I wonder why?

Anyway, its good to get tasks done. I am enjoying crossing things off lists!
I still have too many projects on the go at once, but at least I never have to say ‘I’m Bored’ …. ever! 🙂

Enjoy your day!
Cheers!

Still muddling along here at Norwich House!
A few more tomatoes to add to the collection!
I used my home made tomato paste in a spag-bol sauce yesterday and was rather pleased with it. Thinking I should make up some more. I certainly have enough tomatoes to use!

The fire down the back has been going for days now. It took a while to fire back up this afternoon but it eventually got going again.
I probably don’t essentially need to keep burning, but its cool out there and I like an outdoor fire!!
The area is looking nice and clear ready for the huge job ahead.

I picked up my coffee grounds today. I bought another bin, so I can just swap in a new one when I collect one. Seemed to make more sense.

The protea is putting out new flowers

The salvia is looking pretty but its being swamped by the tree that was only supposed to grow to 2mt!!

Enjoy your week!
Cheers!

I heard it start to rain late last night so wasn’t expecting such a gorgeous day!
I dragged my smokey gardening clothes on and stoked up the little bonfire and cleaned up a bit more wood and rubbish. The area is just about done and we now have space to work on trees as they come down.

I need to make time to do something with the apples! Cook, give away – just something!! I’ve been ignoring them as I am fully distracted by tomatoes!
They are rather lovely and sweet at the moment!

I picked a container of cherry tomatoes off the self seeded bushes that are sprawled all over the back veranda and behind the hothouse.
The plants in the main garden and duck yard need picking again!

Pip was sitting so pertly and beautifully on a rock – until I came near with the camera… “Go on Pip, back to the rock… sit!!”
Yeah. Cat. Nope.

Um… not the look I was going for…. (Plonks Pip back on rock)
Ta Daaa!! (Thanks for turning around and not facing the camera. Sigh)

He is currently curled up like a little button on my lap as I type!

My granny square (willow) population is steadily growing!
I am resolved NOT to start any more blankets until the current 4 have been finished.
Still… I am having fun with it. I enjoy the quickness of each square. (Well… I timed one and it takes me 45 minutes now per square if I don’t have an exciting movie on. haha)

I made one with a combo of all the colours and I really love it. It would make a fabulous blanket like that BUT… changing the yarn 4 times with all those extra tails to tuck in?? Not a chance. 😀

Anyway, that was basically my Saturday!
Hope yours was lovely too!
Cheers

Well, I finally finished that batch of BBQ sauce that I started a few days ago!! Smells (and tastes) pretty good!!!

I got back out in the yard today and continued burning more rubbishy wood and started stacking more of the cut wood. Since I filled the big kindling box, I moved a pallet down under the plum trees and made a start there.

I was going to pull up the corn… but I quit not long into the project as it was just not feeling comfortable on my back. I’ll have to do it little by little. A lot of them take a lot of force in the effort of digging and pulling them up.

I’ve got a bit of time before I need the patches to put the garlic in.

What do you reckon this problem is?? I haven’t actually done any research on it. I know its also been nibbled but the hard scaley looking crust is a new thing to me. I have one offending plant. I really should pull it up and chuck it on the fire.

Funny – I haven’t looked at this patch for ages… seems among the weeds some lettuce survived!! I have plans to empty this raised bed and move it into the duck yard garden. Its not an ideal place to have it with hungry cows next door.

Pumpkin beds dying down – a few nice pumpkins in that lot.

This crazy tomato plant grew in the path… who am I to argue?? I may even get some fruit off it before the frosts arrive! Looks pretty healthy and happy – and BIG!

I’ve been taking in capsicums while they are yellow but waiting for them to turn red. They taste better red.
Lettuce is lovely and plentiful now too.

Still plenty of beetroot in the patch. Will probably need to pickle some more soon! Its been so so so good! I eat it almost every night!

I did a bit of a potato scavenger hunt. Not that we need more potatoes but its still fun to dig them! There have been a few plants here and there that have yielded quite a few potatoes without any help from me!

I didn’t do a proper tomato pick.. just grabbed some of the obvious ones.
I’d like to make up some more tomato paste with the tomatoes I have hanging around at the moment.
I’ll have to investigate my levels of jars and bottles before making up any more relish or sauce.
Perhaps soup should be next on my list!
Anyway, hope your weekend plans are great!
Cheers!

Hello, hello!!
Time to pull up the corn hey?
All in good time!

A huge job started under the Macrocarpa trees today. Before we start taking down the next lot of trees (hopefully under controlled circumstances this time) we need to clear the area so we have somewhere to work without falling over pallets, bricks, polypipe, timber, wood etc etc
What a mess!

Not that moving some of those pieces of wood is going to be easy.

I thought we were going to take stuff down to the tip, but Jeff started the fire. Honestly… thats way more fun. Also because a lot of the stuff we were burning this time was drier, it didn’t create that awful smoke.

Its still a work in progress but we did get a LOT of stuff done today.

I need to move more of those big stumps of wood but I had to quit as I was feeling a wee bit of an ouch factor.

Jeff (and I) had cut up a lot of smaller pieces for our fire so I tidied up the big kindling box a bit and filled it as much as I could. I’ll have to set up another place for the rest of it.

In between barrow loads I kept chucking more wood on the fire and raked up the small annoying stuff to throw on too.

While its not exactly pretty, I lined up all the bricks along the bottom of the garden fence… hopefully it will block some gaps and deter those rotten chooks from digging under it as they seem determined to do!

Anyway, reckon this fire will still be going tomorrow so we will be able to clean up a bit more if the weather doesn’t change dramatically.
I think we should look up how to make a proper fire pit too… the cement blocks are starting to crumble.
We enjoy getting into these tasks – very satisfying to make real headway on a job.
Have a great day!
Cheers!

Hello!
I’ve been trying to work in a lower gear setting this week.
Its kinda working 🙂
I got out into the garden between rainstorms and collected a few seeds.

The runner beans are great – I didn’t plant any but they always pop up. Easy to get some new seed too

The silverbeet (chard) is also doing its thing but a while to wait yet.

Never having grown rocket before I am a bit astounded how big they get when flowering and the million seeds they produce. I should be sensible and rip them all out bar one.
I reckon I’ll have rocket sprouting everywhere next season!
Soon I won’t actually have to plant anything since so much just springs up now of its own accord!

Hey! I finally found an eggplant!!! Oh dear. I think I can admit defeat here and just pull up all my eggplant plants. Never mind.

The lettuce look a lot better since my midnight slug raid. I should go back for another go but now the weather is so much colder at night and I am way too comfy inside in front of my fire!

I left the snow peas a bit long – I am sure a lot of the pods have sprung open and distributed the seeds.
Still.. I got a reasonable amount. (More than in the photo)

I still have plenty of carrots. I have failed to get around to put in new seed and its probably too late.
I pulled up a bunch of creatively shaped ones yesterday!

I did enjoy spending time watching the bees and butterflies visiting the marigolds. They were very busy in the sunshine!

In other news, the bank paperwork is underway and I have been in touch with the ‘tree guy’
We might be making a start within the next week or so!
Better get my fill of slowing down before we have to tackle the tree clean up!!
Cheers!

Hello!
Its been a fun week of touring with Rino. Five days went really fast!
Did I mention that we met Rino’s Mum, Chinami, when we were travelling in Japan a few years back? She is part of the Tokyo Free Guide group which is awesome for people travelling in Japan for the first time or for people like us who were unfamiliar with Tokyo.
You get matched up with a guide before arriving and exchange emails and your guide finds out what kinds of things you are interested in etc.
When you arrive and meet up they take you around, show you how to use the subway system, get you orientated etc. All you pay for is their travel expenses, entry fees and food! (Highly recommended!)

Anyway, the weather stayed mostly remarkable nice for Rino’s stay which made things much nicer and easier.
Her first afternoon we trotted down to Sisters Beach.

Rino spoke English pretty much as a first language (attended international schools as a child) so communication wasn’t an issue!

It was a lovely afternoon to get to know each other a bit more and plan what we were going to do over the coming days.

The following day started out wet and cold… but we headed on up to Dip Falls, the Big Tree and Stanley.

We panted our way up The Nut and by that time, the weather had cleared up beautifully for some amazing views.

Then we drove around the area and did the tourist thing!

The tide was right so we ducked into Black River Beach for a walk and a fossick .

There were excellent sand patterns that day!

So many wallaby tracks in the sand! They were clearly having a day out at the beach!

Of course, no trip to us would be quite complete without a day up at Cradle!
We had two choices weather wise… Thursday or Saturday. Jeff was working Thursday, but knowing how the weather forecast can change closer to the day, we opted to go on Thursday and we are glad we did… the weather changed dramatically for Saturday and we managed to get the best day!

We went up to Marions Lookout where we had lunch, before heading across to the base of Cradle and scrambling back along the Face Track and the Twisted Lakes track

We hiked over 13kms that day and it was great!

The Twisted Lakes track is a bit more of a challenge here and there but it is a very pretty detour off the normal route.

The following day we did a short drive around the cape but kept things pretty low key and finished up on Saturday by driving up to some of the local towns and then heading home via some beaches.
Reckon Rino has had a fairly decent look at our area in her short time.
Not to mention getting to pick and eat some of our fresh food!

BTW that carrot weighed in at over half a kilo!! (All eaten now haha)

She was pretty amazed at our tomatoes too – we picked 12kgs one morning.
That is my next job after posting this – sort, cut and cook!

So now – guest free and no plans! Wow. Since early last year we’ve hosted 26 people so its time for a decent break! Its been crazy and fun but we are looking forward to a solid six months of just us and get caught up with all the Norwich House ‘stuff’

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!
Cheers

Sunday afternoon I will catch up on the last few days fun – been pretty busy but having a lovely time with Rino.
We hiked over 13kms yesterday at Cradle and it was a stunner of a day up there. Good choice of time to go… now its pouring!

Anyway, I get home to find a parcel in the mail!
This gorgeous pure wool jumper made by my very clever Mum. I love the rusty colour and it fits beautifully!
I wore it out into town today – it was wet and miserable and cold… and I eventually had to take it off because I got too hot!!
So its going to be used a lot this upcoming winter!

I was not long home and about to sit and open my present when Dad rang. I said that I was about to have a hot chocolate and open my pressie when he said very relieved… oh you’ve got it? Here – tell your mother!!
Mum proceeded to tell my where my parcel had been. They posted it last week and because A. I had been busy and distracted and B. I never expect parcels to arrive quickly and C. Hadn’t realised it was about the end of the week, I hadn’t unduly worried.
Apparently it went from Wodonga (Victoria) up to Sydney (NSW) then across the country to PERTH!!! (WA) before making it to Flowerdale!
So I said I’d open it and be in touch later to tell her how much I loved my present haha

Well… of course when I opened it I knew why she was ringing all over the place! So much work had gone into it – I’d have been having kittens if it was me! So glad it eventually got back to where it was supposed to be!
And I rang back immediately to tell her how well it fitted and how much I loved it!

I’ve tried cable stitch and know how annoying it is.
Parts of it have also been undone and redone (one was a moth issue!!!) Its a bit of a thing in our family to tease Mum about her knitting. She is a ‘bit’ of a perfectionist and was notorious for undoing and redoing knitting projects!
So kinda glad this one has followed tradition!

So lucky me! I have an awesome Mum!
Cheers!!

Hi!!
Just flying by to say hello!!
Keeping on my toes. Rino is a really lovely girl and we are enjoying having her stay. Its a whirlwind tour as she only has 5 days.
Planning to hike at Cradle tomorrow – the weather is meant to be good. (But we all know that can sometimes just turn into snow)
Fingers crossed for a good day.
Will catch up soon with photos and stories.
In the meantime I am just here to show off my carrot!! Half of this monster fed 3 of us for dinner last night (yes there was more on the plate than carrot)
I am running a little contest on my gardening page to guess the weight (in grams)
Love to hear your guesses too!!
Cheers everyone xxx

OK – thats clearly not yard work… buuuuut … I took no photos today so I am sharing the current crocheting projects first before I waffle on without the aid of photos to tell you what a fab job we did in the yard 🙂
You might remember I started crocheting a fancy blanket in blues for my Canadian niece? Well… its nearly done.
Then I got distracted – I bought myself some lovely yard and got all keen to make myself a cosy knee rug (winter is coming after all)

I love the colours and its a bit chunky!

Then I found some thin yarn (by accident) that I thought might make a nice baby blanket?? So I put aside mine and started on that. Happily a friend had a surprise baby (yah – thats how out of the loop I am with people) so I have a bubs to finish it for

Its a nice blend of silvery greys – its slower work with the thinner yarn and small hook. Not sure how big to go… and it will need to be something used on top or for show maybe – I am just thinking small fingers in those holes… Still… I can work on the idea 🙂

Of course, being in the middle of three blanket projects isn’t enough and I picked up some yarn the other day for another Christmas present I have in mind. I wanted to do something new so I learned how to crochet the willow pattern granny square! (I love youtube)
Its hard to get the colours right in the artificial light -and there is a cream yarn too which I have now made up two squares of – they all look rather nice together. Will have to get Margie to teach me to crochet them all together when the time comes (If I can hold off starting any more that is!)

I am enjoying doing these ones.

Anyway – yard work!
Tomorrow we are due to collect Rino from the airport in the early afternoon. I thought the yard was looking so shabby that it was about time we made it look like we actually care!
Jeff got out the mower and made a start. I moved hoses, cords and miscellaneous ‘stuff’ to help out.
We took the netting off the raspberries – oh dear what a mess in there. I had to get the spade and dig out heaps of massive thistles that had taken over.
The kind with armour-piercing barbs.
I am not sure I enjoyed that bit. 😀
I also weeded the front path – it really needs a new load of woodchip put down on it. There were also the straggly geum plants – they send out flowers on long stems that look great… but after they die off they look not great. They’ve been looking not great for too long.
The sunflowers had had it, so out they came – as well as weeding back one half of the strawberry patch.
Meanwhile, Jeff has mowed and whippersnipped his way around the yard and garden. So much easier to navigate in the veggie patch now!

While I was weeding something, Jeff decided to take the steel plate off the septic to take a look… and I am thinking ‘what were you thinking????’ (Hey Rino, welcome to Tassie, don’t mind the pong haha)
BUT – its mad. I have to take a photo. There is a concrete slab down the back with the steel plate on. Lift plate to reveal… a whacking great hole bored down about 15-20ft and probably about um… a metre and a half wide?? (I’ll take a snap)
Its all dirt walls and goes down into dirt. A small polypipe goes down into it but its one that comes from another area and goes nowhere.
Ummmm… I wonder where our septic goes?
After seven years here we still come up with mysteries!!

Well… since we are having a guest come in I figured I should come in and wash the dirt off, make up a bed and do some vacuuming and tidying.
I am in the bathroom washing my hands – a lot (that red dirt!!) and I glance in the mirror to see an ant on my head!! One of the half to three quartre inch, massive pincer type ants!! NOT COOL!
Cue the mad ant dance.
I’ve flicked my bandanna off in the hope the ant went with it. No ant to be seen.
Since I have hair you could lose a badger in, I had to yell for Jeff to come and inspect. Getting bitten on the head by one of these buggers was not going to be an optimal end to the day.
He cant see anything, helpfully hands me a hairbrush and stands back.
Hair must have been surprised at the vigorous brushing since it doesn’t get groomed much.
No sign of ant falling out or ant on floor or vanity or bath or bench.
Time to disrobe – didn’t want the chance of ant rummaging about in any of my crevasses.
Finally while I am standing there in my foundation garments, ant wanders over the bath mat.
Ant is now missing along with all toilet contents in the mystery septic.

Life around here is never really dull
Cheers!