Hi! I cut this latest loaf and it worked out so well! The colours actually worked out how I imagined them for once! I had a bit of fun putting the mirror images together
So – anyone want to take the ink-blot test? I thought I would make a little competition… comment what each blot reminds you of and the person that matches my thoughts the most will get a couple of bars of soap posted out 🙂
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I’ve written my list so I can’t change my mind – sometimes I’ve seen a bigger picture, other times something smaller within the soaps.
Anyway… a bit of fun! Looking forward to reading what other people see!! Cheers
Hello! Yesterday – well, I got up to steady rain so opted to have a nice lazy day. Pip took one look at the weather and went and buried himself under our doona and didn’t emerge for most of the day!
Today was an improvement. More sun with a few spits of rain. I was able to get out the rotary hoe and give it a go!! Yay!
Pretty sure Cousin Jeff overestimated its ability to chew up all the weeds… I did spend some quality time unbinding it haha – that and the red mud clogging things up… but overall…. sweeeeeet! Will get back into this patch soon
The tarp did a pretty good job! This patch was a lot easier to dig up.
What to plant!!! It does get shaded by the plum trees, but its a nice patch of dirt, so…
I had a little go at the duck yard garden but thought it infinitely more sensible to get this mowed back short first.
Hmmmm I think I have lost this cucumber. Most of the cucumbers on the Hugelkultur bed are doing ok… nothing amazing mind you, but I’d actually left them under their plastic containers for the last few days due to the horrible cold. Some have pleasingly shown signs of growth!
Zucchinis. I really wish I had a photo of them from the other day. I was a bit worried about them. They were growing, but so pale – more yellow than green. The other day I covered them all completely with the blue ice cream containers. Literally overnight they gained a better colour!! So odd! So I have continued to cover them at night while the weather is cool and they are looking a lot better.
The pumpkin seedlings are doing fine. They also get covered at night – more because there are a lot of slugs under that mulch!! I’ve removed a lot on my midnight raids so its getting safer.
Whoops… that reminds me. I have to go out and lock the chooks up. Hang on … brb
Ok – I thought I was missing one but she had decided to sleep on the nest tonight. I reduced the snail population slightly while I was out too.
Since my nets were empty and the day sunny – I picked a lot of oregano to dry. It doesn’t even look like I touched the plot!!
Now – to wait!
I’ve been wanting to pick and press flowers too – but I am guessing picking them wet is just asking for them to go mouldy! So… got in today while the going was good
Sharon just made up a bunch of soaps with flower collages all over them and they look amazing! She is coming to raid my garden soon
Well… I did make soap yesterday and cut it this evening. Really pleased with it too. For once the colours worked out in real life pretty much what I was aiming for!! I’ll take some photos tomorrow. The swirls are really cool. Hope everyone had a splendid weekend! Cheers!
Hello!! I was dying to get into digging with the little machine, but I really had to sort out the strawberries. It was a testing day weather wise. Actually I was quite a grumpy pants by the end of the day – does weather do that to you? It wouldn’t make up its mind… we’d get bursts of lovely sunshine then ten minutes later – icy rain. And wind. I think I was just over it and after a good nights sleep I am sure my positive self will bounce back! 🙂 Plus – I feel bad for being annoyed at our weather when friends in Queensland have been evacuated from their home tonight! Fires everywhere, harsh winds and the temps have been high. Its not even summer yet! 🙁 Its not good up that way!
One direction you get this gorgeous sky… And in the other direction a slightly more ominous kind of gorgeous!
So – strawberries. This bed needs to be moved, (cows stick their heads over the fence and graze) so I weeded it all up and started moving soil over to a new bed.
I decided to move the best strawberries from the worst affected plot and give them a total fresh start. After putting in the recycled soil, I topped it up with potting mix, cow poo, sheep poo and compost.
In the next few days I’ll see about trying to rescue the really poorly leftover plants.
The plants in the other plot were doing better, so I have decided to leave them where they are, but hit them with a triple whammy acid trip. First I removed the straw mulch… Then I dug in some sulphur and coffee grounds around each plant.
Then I topped both beds with a pine needle compost that Sharon was kind enough to bring me yesterday (which involved her running about the forest in the rain for me – awesome mate!!)
So! Now I wait and see how they all go.
The lettuce patch is going quite well – I had some random deaths but the rest look pretty good. I think I will mulch with the seaweed – probably better than the straw as the slugs wont like the slightly salty seaweed. I need to mulch as well mostly because the rain and watering kick up the sandy soil and with the crunkle leafed lettuce I tend to not always get all the sand off. I am not especially fond of super crunchy salad! haha
Herb spiral is still underwhelming. 😀 Can’t expect crazy growth for a while though… its just too cold.
Hmmmm – not sure I am impressed by this! Hopefully the plant will be ok
My first proper self seeded tomato!! Its doing a fine job all by itself! I guess I should move it before too much time passes.
Earlier in the day I moved one of the tables and dug the area up, added in mushroom compost and blood and bone and put the new capsicum seedlings in.
Looking forward to moving all the seedlings out into their forever homes so I can move the other table and finish planting out the hothouse.
Cousin Abbey dropped in with eggs and tomato seedlings for the stall and informed me that I can eat rocket flowers!! Yum! Lovely and peppery!!
Yesterday I noticed that annoyingly most of my beetroot seedlings had been chewed!! I am guessing birds not snails or slugs as I doubt they would have left any plant at all. Just all the tops nipped off!! So I hastily sorted out some netting to give the seedlings a chance.
Handy to have all the bits and pieces ready to set up.
Little basket of fresh stuff!
Hope you have an excellent weekend planned!! Cheers!
It rained, it hailed, I’m boring – The End. Thats about how exciting my blog is going to be today haha The wind hit some crazy level – somehow trees still standing.
So… not much super dooper was going on. Sharon dropped in and we happily talked soap until she had to go and collect her daughter. Cousin Jeff dropped in and gave us a loan of his rotary hoer and I am MEGA excited to have a go (hope weather is ok tomorrow! Will dig everything in sight!) Another friend who does cool arty stuff with beach glass and pottery dropped in to grab some things I had collected to make use of in her work.
So – you might ask why Pip is sitting there with socks on his head? Jeff was getting ready to go out on a short river hike despite the weather – Pip was just sitting there. So Jeff threw a sock on him. Pip didn’t bat an eyelid. So he threw the second sock. Still Pip maintained the extreme ‘I don’t care’ attitude. In fact, finally he turned around and settled in, socks and all. Daft cat.
Latest soaps –
Love Spell!! The fragrance is light and sweet – I thought I should go for the pinks and purples.
Meyer Lemon. I like the way all the swirls happened on this one… side bottom and middle!
Love cutting…
I also made up a double batch of lavender… the colours were a lot softer than I planned… but never mind. Lavender was so popular at the last market, so figured it was good to have a decent stash on hand.
Lastly, yesterday I made a loaf of English Rose. I cut it today but haven’t taken photos. Again – the colour was supposed to be ‘Dusky Rose’ Its very subtle.
Looking forward to the upcoming markets. Fingers crossed to sell heaps. I need room in the library!!
So… Back to Pip. He is trying to get attention. “Pip – No!!” “I mean it!! NO!! Cats don’t belong on the tallboy” “Stop right there Mister!!” (Cat sprints and leaps onto tallboy and settles in) “Fine!!” (Note to self… pleased we had no children – their behaviour, based on our inability to discipline our cat – would have been hideous) Honestly, at his age (I think about 11) we are pleased he still has the zip and zing to play up and leap up tall furniture in a single bound and tease us as he KNOWS the things he shouldn’t be doing. Mind you – just note that smug look!! Little brat!
Yep – actually went shopping today that wasn’t at the supermarket. Ok – it was for garden stuff but still… Anyway, backing up to yesterday.
I moved the two portable compost bins down to the garden – and started filling one with just the leaf compost. The wire surround was doing well but it was in the way and didn’t look that fantastic.
Actually these would look a lot more fantastic with a bit of a scrub… Anyway, I was surprised at the amount of breaking down the leaf compost had already undergone in the few months since I created it. Worms everywhere!
I also layered the coffee grounds into the bin as well.
Its got enough space for some more leaves – but for now, its another job off my list.
The other compost is going well – apart from the thriving potato – HEAPS of worms and worm eggs!!
The new side is just a mix of the chook-poo-hay and coffee. Composting is so weirdly satisfying!
Baby rocket already!!
Corn shoots showing up now!! I went back out on snail and slug patrol last night to ward off a few more pests.
I think I should cut these seed pods off the top of the onion. The bulbs still aren’t formed enough – probably another 2 months of growing left. And the leek are wonderful! Really should look up some recipes and start making use of them!
Yesterday I also went out and picked up a soil pH kit. Investigating my strawberry patch
Annnnd – there is my issue right there. Suspect the mushroom compost in the new soil has caused the rather alkaline soil… and the strawberries are not appreciating it.
So – I will start a new bed for one strawberry patch (the worst affected one) and plant some more alkaline tolerant plants in the abandoned patch while slowly getting the pH down. The other one I will try adding sulphur, coffee grounds and pine needles to help the other patch along.
Today! I put the eggs out the front and before the day turned back to winter with howling winds, sideways rain and hail… I sold 6 dozen eggs. (Abbey dropped some more off yesterday!)
I popped out to Spotlight and bought some pinking shears so I can start cutting material to make more bee-wrap. I am really enjoying using the ones I made.
I bought a mixture of potting mix, compost, cow poo, sheep poo etc. Then caved and got some more mature capsicum since my first seeds failed.
And some pretty flowers
This afternoon wasn’t much chop for being outside. It just wasn’t nice. So I made some soap and finished sorting out the thyme that I had drying in the nets.
I put the fire on again – I had a very pleased cat! Five minutes after I have lit the fire he is sitting in front of it meowing at me and giving me pointed Siamese Looks. So happy to be warmly wrapped again!
I hope you weren’t enjoying something nice to eat… 😀 Last night I went outside to put the snow peas into the carport for early morning collection (Swapping for farm fresh made butter) and I saw so many snails!! So I went on an impromptu snail and slug hunt. Ew.
The chooks were a bit overwhelmed… they love snails, but were confused with the serving dish. Every now and again, one would get brave, snatch a snail and run… then the others would chase her to steal it. Eyeroll – but very entertaining.
I staked the hothouse tomatoes and sprayed them and the snow peas for aphids with some home made spray. Hopefully that will slow them up.
Ta-Daaa! Passionfruit flowers!
So far Tentacular, the passionfruit vine, is keeping to his corner of the hothouse.
It rained on and off and was cool – nice timing of course because I did laundry. Mostly dried pretty well hung undercover on the veranda though. We did a lap of the river and I booked myself into two markets for later in November. Debating if I need to make more soap. Probably… (Optimist haha)
Not much else spectacular to report from my part of the world! Hope your week is starting well! Cheers!
Hello! The day after we got back from our hike I did quite a lot of work in the disgraceful bbq area (again) I should have stayed put inside and rested, but the weather was good and the next day pretty wet, so that worked out ok.
The embarrassing ‘before’ photo. Its been a LONG time since getting in here (clearly) and when in a rush doing other things or tired from the end of the day – it is a very inviting place to ‘put’ stuff.
Back to square one. Lets see how long I can keep it under control. I moved the two green compost bins to the veggie garden. I’ll use one for leaf litter and coffee grounds and maybe one just for grass clippings?? Not sure yet. But what leaves I swept up in here I put straight in one of them as a decent start.
Finding buckets and boxes of shells and rocks (what a surprise) so I weeded the ‘rock garden’ and added the rocks I found. Then added water – I never get tired of seeing the amazing difference!
Just an updated view of the garden.
Carrot seedlings are clearly up in their rows. The snow peas are starting to find places to cling on.
Flowers on the raspberry canes!
Galahs waiting for their share of the chook food.
The white garlic –
Potatoes! Ready for a bit of a hoe between the rows and mulching.
Have decided to start growing wheat sprouts for the chickens.
And after checking daily forever – nothing nothing nothing… climb a mountain, return and look! Lateral ready for planting!
My cousin Abbey dropped off some eggs for the front stall – and gave me some seedlings. Lettuce and spinach I think!! Cool!
Going up is ok – but kinda wasn’t looking forward to coming back down over this!
Scramble scramble
Lovely native pepper-berry.
A lot of conglomerate rock up here
Views just kept getting more amazing.
And finally coming about to a spot where we saw our destination!
Not long after this I ‘Had a Little Moment’ !! I just overheated and felt really bad. Had to sit and take off my pack – and also charmingly throw up whatever was left in my tummy. Yay. Luckily I had a nurse on hand. Hat came off, gaiters off – but sadly there was no wiping of furrowed brow. I got a bottle of water tipped down my back. Not in the least bit romantic but it sure helped!! 😀
Still enjoying the views while I got my equilibrium back. Jeff wanted to know if we should turn back…. “Not on your bloody life!” Definitely not after getting that far! It just took about 10 minutes to rest and cool down – and I was perfectly fine. Onward!
Coming out over the other side was nothing short of spectacular!
We got to the edge where we could see the little town of Tulla
But not at the trig point!
There was no clear path to the trig point and we were not actually keen to crab walk across this rock. Trying to remind ourselves we are not lithe young things anymore.
So we decided to sit and rest and enjoy the views before going back
What a spot hey?
I took a few more snaps before we started back… then we spotted the ‘track’ that we missed that would take us to the very top. Short debate ensued – then decided we would be annoyed for not putting in 10 more minutes of effort.
And there we go!! End in sight!
A dizzingly look down – but hard to get that from the photo!
And here is me again – just because I am happy to have made it and Jeff got a couple of nice shots of me too haha
And now time to turn and head for home! Plus we got to use a whole new set of muscles for the long trip down. The tops of my thighs are aching badly today – mostly from putting the brakes on for a couple of hours!
What’s the worst sound when hiking in places like this? Well… I now know its when you’ve turned a corner and behind you, you hear a great lot of earth and stones give way and go crashing down the slope and you wonder if your husband has gone with it!! Not a nice moment. Luckily he had the other foot firmly planted and his weight was not on the part of the track that disappeared!!
Helpful ‘do not cross’ rock barriers so you don’t go wandering the wrong way
Sketchy narrow mountain tracks.
Lovely markers.
At this point I was looking for a place in the sun to sit and have something to eat. Very excited to use my bee-wrap for my sandwiches. 😀
Doesn’t that look both pretty AND environmental?
Yummy egg sandwiches and the best seat in town.
Energy restored – time to move on.
The rope climb! Which I didn’t photograph on the way up. So glad that was there. Again – the photos make it hard to see how steep (vertical) this section was!
Anyway, Jeff down safe and sound
My turn. Thought it was best to concentrate on hanging on not taking snaps
Eventually I got down too… then it was more traipsing down through the afternoon sun
What a day. It took us not quite 6 hours! Definitely worth all the effort – even through the aches, it was a really enjoyable day! Hope you’ve enjoyed it from a more comfortable viewpoint!!! 😀
Hello! Saturday and its steadily raining. A good day to stay in my nightie, catch up on the blog and maybe do some soap later!
Well… the latest hiking adventure! Mt Murchison. 1275mt (4183ft) above sea level including a climb of about 700mt within a 2.5km space. In otherwords – a bit relentless haha
Below was the flattest part of the hike. Crossing the road to the starting point.
Straight up into the bush.
(apologies in advance for all the Jeff-Butt photos haha)
Just so you know what you are in for.
This area was so pretty
The river track is good for keeping up the fitness but it doesn’t prepare your legs quite enough for this. I stopped a lot but keep reminding myself we are not doing this as a race. We are meant to enjoy it as well! We were late getting to the start because there were so many roadworks slowing us and stopping us on the way – so we were a little unsure on the timing.
Finally we broke out of the bush and got some of our first views
From this hike you actually get a good view of the Overland Track, but we couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact mountains from this side. Still… was great to see.
We didn’t actually check the map carefully to see which mountain was the one we were climbing. At this point we didn’t know if we would be swinging about to the left or heading straight ahead.
Love the geological formations
Already so far above the road
That tarn was looking awfully inviting! We were sweating quite a bit!
Some of the track had fairly steep dropoffs.
We found out a bit further on that we were actually heading up to the right and the summit was hidden behind what we were climbing. We met some people coming down who told us. They had a dog with them too! First time the dog had been on such a climb and he was looking pretty pleased with it all! He was firmly attached to his owner – the rope climb part must have been a challenge for them!! 😀
Some great rocks up here too! Jeff believes there was zinc in the quartz.
Still going up up up and no sign of the summit! We were keen to find some water too.
We found water but lost the track!! Actually we lost the track a few times so I can certainly understand the warnings for this climb in bad weather. Sometimes there were little yellow markers on trees or scrub but they weren’t obvious or many. What we mainly looked out for were the rock cairns.
I am not sure who did them all – rangers or a cumulative effort by hikers, but they were really great in keeping us on track or getting us back on track!
Anyway, we finally found the right way to go and continued on up.
So many times I stopped just to look around (and rest) and enjoy the view.
Heaps of fat grasshoppers everywhere – all colours too!!
I’ll pause here – time for a hot drink maybe? Be back soon with Part Two! Cheers!
Hi! I didn’t take it easy today – and I should of! Still… got a major job done (cleaning bbq area) which has been bugging me again forever. I just finished post processing yesterdays hiking photos but will blog about it tomorrow (as I am scheduling in a slow day).
Quick snap of the lovely little basket of food picked for tonights dinner. So very much enjoying having some home picked lettuce again! Not to mention branching out a little from the cos lettuce!
Hope your week has ended fabulously! Cheers!
Haha – Pip was out with me today… he ended up under the decking and came out covered in spiderwebs! And he has a sticky eyebrow, probably from schmoozling his face against the sappy wood out the front!
