Month: December 2023

Hello! I hope everyone’s festive season has been splendid!

What did everyone do? Big dinners? Family time? Something totally different?

Jeff and I had a quiet, normal day… unhurried but nice. We picked plums. Jeff cut some of the fallen tree branches off after we harvested and I dug up my garlic… and made soap. We had a nice steak dinner and ice cream custard and pudding for dessert.

Well… I am currently in super soap making mode. The Friday before Christmas at the cruise ship markets I sold nearly $900 worth of soap!!!! Insane day!! Never had a market like that before!! (All cash snicker)

Christmas Eve was also a good sales day, although not anywhere near as grand as Friday!! Basically I need to be making soap all of January fairly solidly to keep up. One local shop has about sold out and wants more and I have Steamfest in early March to stock up for.

I have mentioned I wanted to keep this as a side hustle yeah??

Hmmmm

Well… the above Mulled Wine fragranced soap didn’t go to plan. The colour was meant to drip into the bottom layer!!

Still looks nice enough.

White tea and ginger… sweet fragrance. Plus these moulds are so popular!!

Honey and beeswax. Apologies if Ive posted any of these before… I am on my tablet and can’t check back.

Melon… I am sure you guessed

Lemongrass and exotic lime. Double batch as the local shop wants this one.

Lemon verbena… and cute butterflies.

I sold all but two of my chai latte soaps in the two markets so thought it best to make more.

Double batch of black raspberry and vanilla

And then a double batch of eucalyptus

Belatedly realising that this fragrance might be extra popular with the international tourists.

I’ve also realised that valentines day and Easter will be here next so now is the time to make bunny and heart soaps… so prepping for that

I made a bunch of varying blue soaps… they are to be cut into little squares to be added back into soap for an interesting design.

And yesterday I worked on creating a layered soap in my slab mould.

I calculated for one and a half batches and divided it into four.

Underwhelming from the top…. I had to make each layer separately and pour… let set and then do next one.

Sneak peek.

I am looking forward to cutting them but will wait for the loaf to harden a bit so it’s easier to handle. Need to be patient since I put the effort in all day yesterday!!

Today I picked more raspberries but also squeezed in one more batch… oatmeal and stout with an oatmeal scrub and used Mediterranean red clay to colour it.

Nice and easy!

Well… its all a flying start. Clearly my recent B12 injection is kicking in haha.

Enjoy what’s left of the year

Xxx

Hi!!
Gosh… this time of year is mad isn’t it? Apart from Christmas, everything is growing and wanting picking… and getting ready for the last markets before Christmas etc.

Theres my wild looking husband who got into the raspberry patch while I was tackling another part of the garden!
We’ve had a bit of a constraint on harvesting as its been raining A LOT! (If you are not a berry grower – picking in the rain kinda guarantees your fruit to get mouldy quick!)

I have another market scheduled tomorrow… Cruise Ship again.
So I have picked more raspberries today and popped them into proper containers to hopefully sell along with some plums.
Oh yes… soap too!
The last cruise ship market was a washout mostly.
The weather was on and off again raining and the wind was horrible… they didn’t put us in the wet weather location either so it was a constant battle… and the cream on top was the cruise ship didnt dock!!! Argh!!
Fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow!

Right… you might have seen this mess before??
And this one?

Pulled two of the brick beds apart, tried to get the twitch out as much as possible and reconfigured the area

I’ve tried to leave more mowing space and also moved it from being completely under the pear tree.

I did a little digging to nestle the first brick layer in

I’ve saved some of the soil to sift and reuse somewhere too

Seriously though… who has time to sift soil???

Since I was too stingy to buy soil and too impatient to collect it etc I thought I’d make this into a straw bale bed for now.
Might take longer for the twitch to get up that far!
Unsure exactly what I will plant in here but I’ll figure out something!

I did sprinkle some blood and bone over it to start the conditioning process… watered it in a bit but I am being a bit frugal on the water as our bore pump is cactus… unlikely we will get the new one in before Christmas shut downs.

Its stopped working all of a sudden. I thought it was just the electrics… which it was but the fellow brought up the pump to check that we weren’t spending heaps on the new electric box if the pump was a week off dying too.
We got seven years out of it so not bad considering we got it online for about $1000 less than what we could buy it locally. We were quite pleased at how long its lasted.
So… we’ve been really happy with all the rain that has kept the garden going and the tanks topped up!

I better get to bed. Silly early start tomorrow!
xxx

Hi there!
I am sorry… will start with the sad and work my way up.
We lost our oldest chook a couple of days ago. She really was slowing up and when she couldn’t get up on her roost, we knew we couldn’t dilly dally longer.
Its awful when you have to do it yourself. 🙁
I hope thats the last for a good long while.

(Above: it’s s pig face. Mesembryanthemum-‘candy pink’ starts a mustard colour then turns pink, then yellow . Has all three colours on it at the same time!!)(From my friend Jude)

Raspberry season is upon us!
Kicking myself for not listening to the nagging I was doing about weeding and mulching

Its going to be an adventure every day I pick!!

So much fruit in there!

I pulled up one of the garlic bulbs!
Not all are ready but a lot more are ready earlier than usual

Went well in the spaghetti sauce with some fresh herbs etc

Speaking of fresh herbs…

More oregano for the drying nets

And I put the garlic scapes in the dehydrator. Haven’t powdered them yet

The lemon balm is trying to take over the world.
So we got in and did some severe haircutting

So much and it smells so good!

Now we can walk down the pathway again!

I also yanked weeds out of this area, then mulched

Stop for pea break…

Mulched and fertilised the butternut pumpkins.
Since planting them out they’ve been fine but not thriving along as yet. Hopefully they’ll perk up soon.

Cut back the oregano a little to free up space at the bee watering station

The chamomile I potted up looks so happy in its new home still

We have one chook who is broody… and she hasn’t given up. I piff her off the nest daily… she just melts into the ground like a big feather puddle… then when I give her a nudge she goes sprinting for the bonfire area to have a dust bath, bok bok bokking all the way like a mad thing.
Its funny to watch

Anyway, I need to go make soap. I am waiting on a fellow to call me about coming up to repair bore pump electric box as its cactus… and we NEED the water for the garden ASAP
Hot again and windy.

xx

Hi…
While I was in Japan I bought various craft stuff at the markets. I had a vague idea what I wanted to do with them, but they’ve remained in a little box until I had the time and motivation to whip something up.

Luckily one of my friends has a Wiggly Willow tree and I was able to snaffle some branches that had been cut down.

(Sorry… pretty average snap, but you get the idea lol)
I also think I need to fill the jar with sand.

I loved the little felt balls. This sweet lady at one of the markets was selling them for approx $3 per bag. So I got a bag and modestly filled it so I could fold the bag over. Nope. She insisted on stuffing it full to overflowing!! So funny.
I stuck to the three colours and I think they make an effective combination.

Another lady made these sweet flowers out of kimono fabric… and some balls so I got quite a few of those too.

And not least the little chime bells and ceramic owls!!
Overall I love the look. Its sparsely decorated – the Wiggly Willow really is a decoration on its own!

xx

Since we both have the snuffles, Jeff suggested an afternoon gluing stuff together!!
We hadn’t had a chance to get back to the Book Nook and continue for quite a while.

We played nicely together, sharing the glue and problem solving without tears, squabbling or divorce.

Jeff worked on the upper bookcase cabinet, chairs and table

Fiddly but not impossible

Its so satisfying seeing it take shape

I worked on the lower cabinet and bookcase

This kit is from a company called Cute Bee if anyone is interested. I think I bought it off Amazon tho…

The scary part is going to be attaching the third wall…

The railings are snugly in place

The table might have a slight lean… (only we are going to notice)

We put the vase on the table and pasted the ‘letters’ on too but we both agreed that we are going to leave out the dog that sits at the bottom of the table. It looks extra fake. I’ll take a snap to show you …. hang on.

Next thing is going to take a bit of time. I haven’t gotten around to working on the tiny books.

So I need to cut out all the covers and paste them on to the boards that Jeff snicked out of the templates and sanded ready to go.

It will be fun arranging them all when done.

So… we’re getting close and we’re still enjoying the process. Every time we have a go at it we make good progress, so its not a project that has to take as long as we’ve taken haha.
Its only a matter of finding time to sit and enjoy.

xxx