Category Archives: Self-reliance

A Weekend in the Garden

Leave a comment

For the first time in what seems like months, we actually had a weekend where the weather was conducive to being outdoors.  Lately it has either been 35C or raining or both so gardening has not really been on the agenda.  We were delighted to see a forecast of mostly sunny days with a maximum temperature of 27C.

Yesterday, we decided to firm up our vague plans for a freestanding walkway/pergola to define the entrance to our garden.  The idea is to have it covered with a flowering creeper.  We have had a general idea of what we wanted but now have calculated the materials and so then it was off to Bunnings to buy the 6 large posts for the uprights.  These are now positioned on sawhorses under the house where GMan has begun painting them.

We have marked out the exact location of the posts as you can see in the photo below.

2018-03-18 01

We are hoping to get the construction started over the Easter break when we have a couple of extra days off.

There will be more updates once there is more progress.

The perfect weather deserted us overnight and we awoke this morning to drizzling rain and cloud drifting past the windows.  However, we did not let that stop us and we braved the overgrown and out-of-control vegetable gardens.  Everything was covered with the wild cherry tomatoes.  I had resolved to pick all the fruit which was ripe and not damaged before removing the plants.  It was a massive job but we successfully cleared the garden beds and planted a variety of seeds.  There are now beans, radishes, spinach, beetroot, lettuce, kale and cucumbers planted.

Hopefully, these freshly dug and planted beds will soon yield a range of produce.

2018-03-18 02

I don’t have a before photo but suffice to say that this is a vast improvement on how it looked this morning.

It may be a little difficult to see but there is an addition to the area.  We constructed a new compost area in front of the hen house using some panels of pool fencing and some star pickets.  This allowed us to put all of the cherry tomato plants in a single heap.  I also cut the asparagus back and added that to the pile.

The forecast warm weather with showers every day fort he next week should give the newly sown seeds the best possible start so I am feeling quite optimistic.

 

Completed Quilt

Leave a comment

A month ago I wrote a post about making another quilt.  You can read about it here.  Once again, I had a deadline because it needed to be completed by early this week as it was a retirement gift for a work colleague.

I met the deadline and here is the finished quilt.

2018-03-16 01

This one included some new fabric bought specifically for the project as I simply did not have enough of the chosen colour palette.

I have been busy for the past week or so with finishing the quilt as well as working and being away from home for a couple of nights.  However, it is now the end of the working week and no specific engagements for the weekend.  The weather forecast does not include rain nor super-hot weather so GMan and I are looking forward to spending some time outdoors, particularly getting vegetable gardens back in order and prepared for planting now that the extreme heat is behind us.

I hope to bring you some updates from the home front before too long.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you have planned.

A Bulk Buy

1 Comment

As you know, I am not a great fan of shopping.  However, there are still things that need to be purchased.

I needed more eucalyptus oil which is an ingredient of the homemade cleaner and wool wash that I make.  It is also a useful disinfectant and aid for removing labels from jars and the resultant glue residue.  Needless to say, I use a bit of it and was keen to buy a larger quantity than the 200ml bottle that I had recently emptied.

After some online searching we managed to source a 4 litre bottle in Australia.  It is the same brand as the previous bottle and was significantly cheaper.  In fact, I calculated that it cost about 60% of the cost of buying an equivalent volume in 200ml bottles from one of the major supermarkets.

2018-03-10 01

Although it is in a plastic container, this quantity will last me a lifetime and I will not be buying any more 200ml plastic bottles of eucalyptus oil.

I understand that many people would not be interested in buying this sort of quantity as there is a significant financial investment as well as storage issues.  Neither of these are a particular problem for me so I am happy to have been able to buy a large quantity of eucalyptus oil.

If you live in my vicinity and would like a smaller portion of this eucalyptus oil, please let me know and I will let you know all of the details including pricing which will be the same as I paid.  I am not doing this to make a profit but simply to give others the opportunity to access eucalyptus oil with minimal packaging in quantities that are appropriate to your needs.

**Please note that this is labelled ‘Commercial Grade’ and the directions are for use in cleaning applications.

There are a couple of hyperlinks in the second paragraph to the ‘recipes’ for cleaning products that I make using eucalyptus oil.

Almost Brand New

Leave a comment

I recently mended a cotton blanket which was wearing out.  It must be close to 20 years old and it would have been very easy to simply buy another one but I decided that was unnecessary.

This is what the top edge looked like.

2018-03-06 01

However, the bottom edge was pristine.

2018-03-06 02

So, I removed the satin binding from the top edge and unpicked the hem at the other end.  Then I bound the bottom edge using the salvaged satin binding.

Here is the result.  It looks as good as new.

2018-03-06 03

Sadly, the previous top edge was in a rather sad state.

2018-03-06 04

I contemplated cutting the damaged part off and then re-doing the hem.  This would mean the loss of some length so I was not keen on that solution.  Instead, I used some fabric from an old sheet to make a wide binding that covered the damaged part while still maintaining the original length of the blanket.

2018-03-06 05

The colour blends in nicely and it will mostly be tucked in at the foot of the bed.

I was very happy with the repair and hope that the blanket will last for many years to come.

Organising Assistance

1 Comment

I regularly speak out about the fact that you can be organised without spending ridiculous amounts of money.  I often read or hear about people buying dozens of matching containers to organise a linen cupboard or re-arranging their pantry with an entirely new selection of containers that happen to be the trend of the moment.

Apart from the cost, this behaviour bothers me from an environmental perspective because many of the containers are plastic and/or are manufactured in jurisdictions where workers are not paid a living wage, work in sub-standard conditions and the factories do not meet any type of environmental guidelines.  Next time you are tempted to buy new items that seem very cheap – stop and think about why they are so cheap.

Back to the main topic.  I did buy something which will be useful in organising numerous areas in my home and I expect that it will last me for a long time to come.  It is a labeller.

2018-03-02 01

I had previously borrowed one from work to label some jars in the pantry but finally decided that it would be useful to have one of my own.  It is battery-operated and the labels come in a cartridge which is inserted into the back of the machine.  I purchased 2 cartridges of the clear self-adhesive labels.  I also noticed that you can buy cartridges of iron-on tape so you can make your own labels for clothing.  This is not something that I would use but could be beneficial for my daughter with children going on school camps and similar.

My first attempt was to label this set of mini-drawers which fit perfectly on the shelf in my sewing room.  The drawers came from my mother and I have found them really useful for keeping track of some of the smaller sewing items.  I have memorised what are in the top row but other than that, I have to open the drawer to check.  That will be a thing of the past with these new labels.

2018-03-02 02

Now, what else needs a label?  I think I am going to have fun with this gadget.

 

A Matching Set

Leave a comment

Since I buy all of my dry goods from bulk bins, I need to have storage containers for my pantry.  Some are glass and others are plastic but most are screw-top jars that I have either inherited from my mother or collected from various sources over a period of time.

This photo gives you an idea of what my pantry looks like on a good day.

2012-02-12 04

This is an old photo and some things have been moved around but you get the general idea.

However, it has been quite some time since I last cleaned and tidied it properly and it definitely starting to show.

I really need to keep larger quantities of some of the ingredients in the small plastic jars so I have been considering my options.  A couple of weeks ago I was in one of the local charity shops (there are 4 in our small town) when I spied some large glass jars.  They are Moccona coffee jars and have a tight-sealing lid.  I bought all 5 of the largest size for $4 each.

2018-02-24 02

Today I optimistically checked to see if there were any more and was surprised to find another 4 matching ones.  I now have 9 large glass canisters which are airtight and cost me the princely sum of $36.

I will do another blog post with photos once the pantry is sorted out and the new containers are in place.

A Spot of Re-Arranging

1 Comment

While I am pretty happy with the level of organisation in our home, there are always little things that can be done to improve to make things work a little better.

We have a dehumidifier which is almost an essential in our climate.  In fact, as I write this the clouds are floating past the window.  The dehumidifier is generally stored in the wardrobe in the guest bedroom when not in use.  This is not a major problem although I do need to remember to get it out if we have guests coming to stay.  Moving it would also provide a bit better access to the hanging space in the guest room.

2018-02-23 01

I feel that the ideal spot to store the dehumidifier would be in the laundry, however, that is a small room with limited storage space.

2018-02-23 02

The project to re-arrange things has evolved over a few months and the first step was to tidy and adjust the shelving in the linen cupboard.  This was relatively easy as I knew the space was not being utilised in the best way.

2018-02-23 03

The ultimate goal was to allow enough space to store the vacuum cleaner at the bottom of the cupboard.

2018-02-23 04

Then it was a simple matter of relocating the dehumidifier to the laundry cupboard.

2018-02-23 05

When the electrician was doing some work earlier in the week I asked him to change the single power point in the cupboard to a double one.  Now, the stick vacuum charger can remain plugged in while I am running the dehumidifier.

The dehumidifier is portable so does get moved from room to room but it is great for drying off damp towels or freshly ironed clothes in the laundry.  Since it is a small room, the drying effect is magnified and quite efficient.

I am currently researching the next stage of the project which is to purchase a ceiling mounted airing rack for the laundry and then I will be able to eliminate the mobile hanging rack which I move back and forth between my sewing room and the laundry at present.  This is the sort of thing I am looking at.  I also need to check with GMan about the practical implications of installing it.

2018-02-23 06

Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t think of this long ago but on the other hand it can be better to allow ideas and processes to develop over time because you will generally get a better outcome in the end.

The Production Line

2 Comments

On Sunday, GMan and I decided we needed to pick the cherry tomatoes which are growing wild in the front garden.  I have been picking and using plenty of them for the past couple of months but there were so many that we really needed to do something with them

We picked 2 large buckets of cherry tomatoes and discarded almost as many again that were rotten or otherwise unsuitable.

Here is one bucket of our haul.

2018-02-21 01

The next job was to remove the stalks, sort and rinse them.  The ones that were fully ripe were bagged and frozen.  This is 6kg ready for the freezer.

2018-02-21 02

The remainder were spread on trays to allow them to ripen a bit more.  Here they are on the kitchen bench.

2018-02-21 03

Today we both had a rare day off during the week and this afternoon the rain eased off enough for GMan to head down to the vegie garden where there are more cherry tomatoes.  He brought another bucketful upstairs which I prepared.

There are now 10kg of tomatoes in the freezer, 3 trays of tomatoes ripening on the bench and 3 trays of tomato puree in the dehydrator.

Tomatoes are not the only produce we have in abundance at the moment but more about that in the next post.

 

Another Quilt

2 Comments

No, this is not turning into a quilting and patchwork blog, however, I am making another quilt using the same techniques as the one I have just finished.  This is for another work colleague – a retirement gift this time.

It is very different colours – generally autumn tones.

2018-02-17 01

Here are some of the squares cut out.  I had some of the fabric in my stash but nowhere near enough as it is not the colours I tend to use.  The remainder is made up of some new fabric specifically for the project as well as some that I found on an op shop crawl this morning.  We are fortunate to have no fewer than 4 op shops in the small town near where we live.

I spent the afternoon and evening cutting out and piecing fabric. It is coming together nicely and these are the first 5 completed blocks.  There are another 11to do before I arrange them to get the best balance of colours.

2018-02-17 02

While I was hunting out suitable fabric at an op shop, this piece caught my eye.

2018-02-17 03

A 1 metre length of brand new cotton fabric which is 112cm wide.  It cost me 50c and will be used to make a sleeveless shirt for me.

The other thing I bought was not fabric so I will save the story of that for another blog post.

 

Finished

2 Comments

The last 10 days have been pretty busy due to some self-imposed deadlines.  One of these was to complete the baby quilt for one of my work colleagues.

After completing the patchwork, I added the batting and backing before doing some simple rows of straight stitching to quilt it and the final step was to add the binding which I finished by hand.

Here is the end result.

2018-02-12 01

And a very happy mum-to-be (holding the quilt doubled over).

2018-02-12 02