How Nice

how nice is it to just take a day off work, well thats what i did on monday. never taken a sickie before, it felt great & a little bit naughty.

spent most of the day down in the chook yard.

i had dug a new bed on sunday & A' added compost from one of the bays & dug it through.

the chooks went nuts for all those worms & bugs. ended up shooing them out before they spread it all over.

planted out sweet corn & made another row for butternut pumpkin, topped them off with some straw.

in the hen house there has been quite a bit of pecking going on, so late in the afternoon i did a little more fencing & moved Miss White & Miss Brown over to the Green & Red hen house. they have settled in & still sitting. when i went down to feed the chooks that morning there was a little grey chick in the nest but unfortunately it was dead.

sunday also saw two more posts in the ground for the new veggie garden.

rows three & four in the potato garden have now come up, Nicolas & Dutch Creams.

this morning i made a new garden journal, think ill sit outside tomorrow afternoon & fill it in. nothing like a new book for a new season, bring on the lists :o)

Back at last

my computer got a nasty worm virus about a month ago, took a week to get me up & running again but unfortunately all the programs i know & love could not come with me to my new & improved computer as they were so old & you cant get updates for them. so now i am trying to work all these new programs that are really not easy. needless to say there have been a few tense days & a few choice words mumbled at the screen. not liking windows 7 at all grrrrr, google chrome doesn't do much for me either.

well enough about that, how about an update on the solar

our new bill came in & went went from $520 on our last bill to $124 this bill, how cool is that.

over summer will be even lower as this bill was over the winter, shorter days with rain & cloudy over cast days. we dont generate power unless the sun is on the panels. so over all i think we did brilliantly.

on the garden front, we are swamped with yellow grapefruit & mandarins, the grapefruits i have been leaving out the front for people to take. on a side note just before i came in i went out the front to bring in the crate & what ever was left of the fruit & some crappy person took the crate as well as the fruit. next week i will have to put a sign not to take the crate, that is after i bring home another one from work.

there are happenings in the chook yard, potatoes have sprung up in the first two rows i planted & last weekend the other two rows were planted out.

i let the chooks into the second part of the run to clean it up ready to plant out some corn.

as for those girls of mine, Miss Brown, Miss White & Miss Grey are taking it in turns to sit on 8 eggs. so who knows maybe this year we will get a couple of chicks. last year their shed got flooded while they were sitting, it was a very bad 2 weeks.

as for the rooster that i was assured was a hen has decided to jump at me when my back is turned, his spurs are an inch long so a little scary. if hes not careful he will be destined for the oven.

this is what my rhubarb looks like after a month, i can already taste the apple & rhubarb crumble mmmm

today we put in two posts for the new veggie yard, curtsy of the lovely old lady next door, the area will be fully fenced with the wire concreted into the ground as we did with the chook run. the reason for this is the area is not just for garden beds it will also have a couple of residents, the quacking waddling type.

last month found us at the Gardening Australia Show, it moved from Homebush down to Rosehill. it wasnt all that great & it was a lot smaller than it was before. however i did pick up 18 packets of organic seeds from the Greenpatch stall, so it was worth the trip.

that same weekend we went to the Organic Expo down at Darling Harbour. one of the reasons for going down was to find a new meat supplier as our old one only sells to butchers in the city now. no luck with the meat but did get few good ideas, oh & lots of samples esp as we had trade passes.

Out in the Garden

spent the day in the yard yesterday
pruning, mulching, fencing off some of the lillypillies that Sally keeps pulling out
chopping firewood, turning over the compost (its looking really good)




planted out the Lemon tree i received as a B'day gift in 2007
fenced it off as Sally loves to pull out anything that has been freshly planted



the boys & i fenced off a part of the chicken yard & dug 4 potato beds
today i purchased seed potatoes from http://www.bulbsdirect.com.au/
King Edward
Nicola
Saphire
at $7.50 for 20 potatoes of each variety
also ordered a Silvan Giant Rhubarb

CD Book

i saw a picture of this on a scrapbooking site, thought it was a good idea so i made my own.
it holds all of my photo cd's in date order.

i drew the camera picture on some grey gabardine, layered on the skull fabric then 2 more lots of grey. hand stitched the lines with black DMC floss
i cut out 2 squares of heavy weight card board, layered each piece between 2 pieces of grey & stitched around it with my sewing machine.
the size of the cover will depend on the size of the sleeves that you use. i used 6X6 scrapbook page protectors. made the cover about 1/2 inch larger.
punched the holes to match the sleeves.

for the sleeves i adhered stripes of patterned paper. using stamps for the date, the film strip & the camera. cut black paper to fit each sleeve so a disk can be put in each side.
each pattered paper strip has what is on each disk

put it all together with snap rings & added the badge

Recycle This

ultimate mattress recycle

a new bed came into our house so that left us with an extra mattress.
i listed it on freecycle & someone said they wanted it but didnt turn up to collect.

so i got this idea into my head to see how much of it i could use.

take 1 single bed mattress & a pile of old Jeans
help/hindrance from my Sally girl & 1 teen boy

i cut off the top & bottom fabric

removed the top & bottom foam


cut the recycled cotton matting from the springs & cut it in half on both sides

removed the side foam
then all that was left were the springs

cut up a stack of old jeans & sewing together to cover the recycled cotton matting, making 4 mats for Sally.
the denim is easy to vacuum & wash.

Sally Girl trying out her new mats

there were 4 lots of foam under the fabric, 3 of these i used to top up my old couch

the 4th i will use to make a cushion for a bench
1 of the side foams was used to hold the cover on my couch by tucking it down the back

the springs will go into the garden as a trellis for my spring peas

all that is left is 3 side foams & the top & bottom fabric, haven't decided on those bits yet will update when i do

a Day in Town

Last Sunday 'A' & i ventured into Town
[for those of you who dont know where Town is well that would be Sydney, Circular Quay to be our destination] we dont go into Town very often we just arnt Town people with our Rail,Bus,Ferry tickets in hand we caught the Train into Central & changed for one to the Quay.


it was about 9 am when we stepped onto the platform. a short walk from the Quay found us at The Rocks where the market was setting up.
we had a lovely wonder around & then popped into the Lowenbrau's for a hearty breakfast mm cant recommend the breakfast.




then we were off to our intended destination, we had come to see an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney. for those of you who dont know the museum was built on top of the First Government House. $10 entry fee & a bright orange sticker stuck to my cardy, up the stairs we wandered.
the exhibition we had come to see was

'Skint' Making Do in the Great Depression

The New York stock market crash called BLACK TUESDAY, 29 October 1929 was the beginning of the Great Depression. 'A' & i spent a good 2 hours in there reading about how people lived/survived what they did for fun, stories that made me nearly cry, listening to radio broad casts from Don Bradman & Phar Laps melbourne cup win.

it is a very inspiring exhibition, made me even more thankful for all we have.

we live a life a luxury they lived a life of necessity

80 years ago people survived with no homes, no work, little or no food & in doing so created the 'Make Do' principle that they would pass onto other generations.
now more so than at any other time since the end of the great depression, the 'Make Do' principles are coming around again. we are becoming more about family/friends, reusing, recycling, keeping chickens, growing our fruits & vegetables, bartering & sharing knowledge.
we could all learn a lot from the people who found a way to live.

for anyone wanting to go to the exhibition it is open until the 25 July
or you can go here for some film footage
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/03/26/2857612.htm


while in the museum we also saw another exhibition called 'Up The Cross' a photographic exhibition by Rennie Ellis & Wes Stacey 1970-1971



after leaving the museum we headed back to the Quay & caught the ferry over to Manly. for me Manly wasnt the attraction it was all about the Ferry. for those of you who dont know, i lov traveling on ferries
[trains come in a close second]
as a kid a spent a lot of time in the wheel house of pretty much every Sydney Ferry as well as some of the floating restaurants.
the rock & sway of a vessel on the water is awesome.
we had some fish & chips for lunch & the ferry back to the Quay
[we did go over to the beach & i have to say i have been to hundreds of beaches & Manly wouldnt even come close to being a must visit a second time.]

for anyone who hasnt been on a Manly Ferry, they never have to turn around there is a wheel house at each end, so the skipper & engineer just walk to the other end.

Seasons & Soup

Seasons & Soup

Autumn has come & gone i spent some of my bits of time admiring all the autumn leaves, even bringing some inside but alas as the house is so warm from the fire they only lasted a few hours before they crumpled & died. a stem of crumpled leaves in a glass jar still sits on my table mmm
from Autumn we now meander on into Winter the lovely cold season of woolly hats, coats & scarves, hot hearty meals, fresh home made bread.
most of the beautiful colour has been stripped from the trees leaving behind the bones.

as sit here looking out my window on a cold rainy day i see piles of leaves ready to go in the compost bay, a few determined leaves clinging to their branches on the maple tree, their beautiful colours warm my heart.
out of all the trees in my yard, my favorite has to be the giant blood plum trees standing guard with their winter arms swaying in the breeze, green lycan clinging to the bark.
these trees are beautiful in all seasons, the end of winter is marked with the first buds showing themselves as they spring forth with new leaves & spring finds them covered with blossom & buzzing bees, a hammock between the two gives me somewhere to relax, read & think.
summer the flowers turn to beautiful dark purple fruit that is sweet & juicy.
as the weather starts to cool again the last purple leaves fall, the hammock is stored away & winter is here again.

on this cold winters day i think a recipe is in order pumpkins are ripe & bringing visions of a thick orange soup with a crusty sourdough loaf
whether you grow your own or pick some up at the green grocer they are super cheap,
this is a very easy soup to make it just takes a bit of time [you can spread it over a few days as i sometimes do when time is limited]

Pumpkin Soup

this recipe is not exact as im not big on measuring
choose the type of pumpkin you like best
for me i like either butternut or jap
this recipe will make about 4lt of soup [ i make a lot more so i can freeze individual portions for lunches or quick dinners]

3 medium butternuts or 1 medium jap [ about 31/2 to 4 kg ]
chopped into about 2 inch chunks
1 large full head of garlic [ russian is best as it has large cloves ]
1 tab oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1/2 tea nutmeg
1 tea cumin
course salt & cracked black pepper to
taste vegetable stock powder No Salt Add [depending on how thick you like your soup]
extra oil
oven 190 Celsius

place chopped pumpkin & whole unpeeled garlic cloves into oven pans,
drizzle with the extra oil toss to coat bake for 20 mis or so until garlic is soft, remove the garlic [dont over cook]
bake the pumpkin until its soft & has some black caramel bits [adds to the flavour]


place all pumpkin into a large mixing bowl squeeze the garlic from the skin into the pumpkin
heat the oil in a large pot over a medium heat cook the onion until it is translucent & soft
add the nutmeg, cumin, salt & pepper cook for 1 min stirring the whole time.

make up your stock using boiling water 2 or 3lt at a time
you can use a food processor but as i dont have one i use my blender
place a small amount of pumpkin plus the onion mix into the blender with some stock blend until smooth & pour/scrape into your big pot
continue until all the pumpkin is blended

your soup will be thick so add water to thin it down to your desired consistency, heating it on a low to medium heat
[we like ours thick so it sticks to the bread]
serve with a crusty bread

freezes well/defrost in the fridge

Solar Power

Solar Power

i got home from work today just before dark to this sight
just makes me smile from ear to ear

16 solar panels went up on our roof today :o)
Saturday we will be connected to the grid
another step toward our greener life style

Market Day

Lawson Market day


a beautiful warm Autumn morning found us at Lawson Market,
it is becoming quite a local meeting point.
i can highly recommend Peters Breads
http://www.wix.com/nutuccino/wix1
his Honey & Fruit Bread with butter & a cup of green tea is Devinne for morning tea when you mossy on home. 'A' likes his with Creamed Honey.
if you live in either Leura or Katoomba you can have your bread delivered.


Honey & Fruit loaf, Rye & Linseed two loaves for $6
two new rolling pins have found a new home
5 bars of Goats Milk & Lemon Myrtle soap
as well as two Willow Nut Loaf Tins

now i am after recipes for these loaf tins, so if you have one or two id love to hear about it.


'A' tells me i have too much junk, & i must say i do have quite a lot of old stuff. i dont buy as much as a use to, im a little more selective with the things i do bring home.
i do have to say tho, everyone should buy the things they lov, things that make you smile, things that say please take me home i want to live with you.

Sunday Baking

Pear Flan

4 large Pears, peeled, cored and sliced
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp mixed spice

mix all then add pears, bake in a spring form pan
until golden & cooked through
about 40 mins at 160*

serve with ice cream or cream




Bananas comming out of my ears at the moment so the only solution was to bake with them

Banana cake
Banana Bread
Banana & Sunflower Seed Cake

these will be going in the freezer

Reused

Hard Wood


this is a story of one plank of hard wood.
this one plank, started life of course as a seed, this seed grew into a big beautiful tree
then one day the tree was cut down & taken to a saw mill where it was cut into many planks.
8 of these planks were built into a platform to hold a water tank & that is where they stayed for many many years. then one day about 15 years ago the property where the platform & tank lived were sold & purchased by my sister in law. the water tank was replaced with a larger plastic tank & so the platform was not needed. we happened to go out there for a visit on the day my brother in law was pulling down the old platform. that day those 8 planks of hardwood become mine.
they were trimmed & sanded & made into a table top, for about a year that was how they stayed.
the year we moved up to the mountains they were pulled apart & stored for a couple of years.
when we moved into 'The Lodge' also known as 'Filamina Cottage' again they were stored for a while until one of those planks was made into a seat as a B'Day gift for 'A' it was engraved with a message & our names.
when i say seat it was two logs with the plank placed on top & to secure it i used old railway pegs. two more of the planks were also made into seats the same way. i have to say they were the best seats to sit on in the garden.
that left 5 planks & four of those became sides for a sand pit.
in 2003 all items were pulled apart when we moved to Tassie.
2005 found those planks back in the mountains & in storage only to be gotten out as seating between straw bales when there was a party.
in 2010, 7 1/2 planks are still in storage but that other 1/2 plank now has a home on my kitchen wall with five coat hooks attached. the left side still has the whole where the railway spike was.
2 of the hooks i picked up on my travels the other 3 i purchased from an on line hardware store.
it now holds my aprons & maybe a few other things as time goes by.

learn something new

i was just reading a post about 'The Ripped Off Generation' over at Living Simply Blog
http://permaculturepathways.blogspot.com/2010/04/ripped-off-generation.html


boo hoo to all those who were not taught how to do for them selves its never to late to learn
i learnt at an early age that you had to work to get what you want & you didn't always get it
i also learnt that working & raising kids doesn't always work

i was a teen in the mid 80's, parents who worked all the time & i was relied on to not only look after the house, the meals, the washing & not to mention 4 younger siblings that needed homework supervised, baths taken & fights worked out. i learned very quickly how to cook for 7 people & to keep a house.

i had no one to teach me all of the things that i wanted to know, all that i have learned over the years has come from books. i wish that i had had someone who could teach me how to knit, tend a garden & all the other 100 things i know how to do, it would have been nice to have someone to turn to.

so what im here to say is if you don't know it then pick up a book or go on the net, everything you need to know is right there for the taking.
sure it would be nice to have someone teach you but why wait for that someone to come along, rely on your self, teach yourself. become the independent person that the 'ripped of generation' was taught to be.

Solar Power

Solar Power


for the last 2 weeks all 'A' has talked about is Solar Panels
so after much research, phone calls & emails we will have on the 11 May 2010

3 KW Grid-Connect Package

16 Enertech 185w Monocrystalline Solar Panels (25 year warranty)

01 Xantrax Inverter

all for the low low price of $9000
our power company will buy the power we generate & we will buy it back at a lower price.
fingers Xed we will generate more than we use & if thats the case we will receive a cheque

My Place & Yours

this week at My Place & Yours
what do you see when you walk in your front entry.....
well our front entry/veranda is more exciting than when you walk through the door
it as an entry in progress


this is my small to medium veranda, i like bird houses so quite a few live here to greet me when i arrive home.


a wall not finished & a sheet/curtain for doors to my linen press
one of my fave wooden kitchen chairs holds another bird house & my super cute spotty umbrella

200 Post Give Away

up for grabs are these earrings made by me
sterling silver with black glass beads & turquoise stones


To Win
leave a comment & you will get one entry
become a follower & leave a comment & you will get 2 entries
will post anywhere
closes Monday 12 April

the winner is .............. Xena
email me your addy & ill post them off to you on thursday :o)

secondhand

The Best $20 i have ever spent :o)

today i came home with the find of the month
two sheet sets both in their original packets one a queen size & the other a single
both sets are two flat sheets
so 70's, they make me smile
$10 each what a bargain
beautiful thick 100% cotton, they dont make them like this any more

its not every often you find something like this.
in my mind i think they were wedding gifts that were put in the linen press & made their way to the back & only found the light of day when the house was cleaned out at a deceased estate
now they will be loved 30 odd years after they were made.


this is the queen size set & they are in the wash as i type & they will be going on my bed this afternoon. the original price sticker was $5.99
EDIT - it turns out these are a double bed set so i can only use them as top sheets, they shrank a bit in the wash. its all good tho as i will make two pillow slips today from the second sheet & who knows what else :o)




this is the single set, one of them is destined to become a skirt & an apron




i just noticed that this is my 200th post [April 2006 to April 2010]
so i think a little give away is in order
i will have a little hunt around my studio tomorrow & let you know whats up for grabs & how to win