Category Archives: Self-reliance

Weekend Work

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After spending my weekdays in the office there is nothing I enjoy more than spending time in the garden on the weekend.  I will start with what we actually did last weekend.

We finally finished building this raised garden bed.  There are now 4 beds complete and we eventually plan to have 9 of them.  The cardboard is a large carton that was the packaging from the refrigerator we bought last year.  We always keep any large pieces of cardboard as it makes a great base for the beds and is very effective at smothering the underlying grass before eventually breaking down.  I will cover the remainder of the base with some more cardboard before gradually filling the bed with a combination of fallen leaves, mulch, compost and grass clippings which will, over time, become rich soil.  It will all be sourced from our block.

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We also created a bed for the asparagus.  Since asparagus grows very vigorously and spreads, we wanted to make sure that we are able to contain it.  The Duke dug a trench and buried some offcuts of Colorbond steel to a depth of 320mm to form the border of the asparagus bed.  Here is the work in progress.

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This is what it looked like once we had finished and planted the asparagus.

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The lettuce seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago have not put in an appearance so yesterday I bought some seedlings and planted them in between the corn which is growing nicely.

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The other thing we did today was to start to tidy up around the citrus trees.  Here is the lime tree with a new border of rocks and some mulch.  You can the orange tree behind it and grapefruit to the far right which have been bordered with rocks and now I just need to finish weeding them and put the mulch down.

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We decided to border the other orange tree and the lemon tree in one large area.  The Duke collected up the rocks from down the back near the water tanks.  We have an abundance of volcanic rocks on the property so it is good to be able to use them.

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I have planted more seeds – most expired by several years – so will see how they go.  Lettuce, radish, chilli, tomato and bok choy all went in today.  I am determined to grow more of our own food and am hopeful of greater success now that the vegetable patch is completely fenced.

Mini Moments

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My focus has been on the real world rather than blogging over the past week.

We have had a long weekend here and a house-guest which was lovely.

Much of the time was spent chatting and being social so not too much housework was done.  However it is interesting to look around and see that there was not too much that needed doing.  I think that the trick is to do a little bit frequently.

It only takes a moment to get a few small jobs done.  As you know, we do not arrive home from work until after 7pm.  Last night I made salad while The Duke cooked the salmon on the BBQ. After dinner I hung out a load of washing that I had done before I went to work and brought in the dry clothes from the line and folded them.  I also cleaned the vanity and mirror in the bathroom and re-made the guest bed.

Vanity

This morning I unloaded the dishwasher and tonight will bring in the washing plus finish the ironing.  There are only about 5 items as I did most of it on the weekend.

Hanging rack

I simply do not have the time or inclination to spend huge chunks of time on housework so this method works best for me.  It also means that my weekends are kept reasonably clear for spending time in the garden or more time-consuming jobs like preparing several meals.

The Garden Grows

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After being away for six weeks, the vegetable garden was in need of some attention.

I cleared out the remains of the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower which had been harvested while we were away.  There are now corn, lettuce, radish and cucumber seeds planted in the spaces available.

The area inside the fence that I had earmarked for a herb garden is now sporting a couple of very healthy  parsley plants as well as several basil seedlings.  I planted these on the weekend as they were kindly left for us by the house sitters.  They commented that it was cheaper to buy a pot of seedlings than a bunch of parsley or basil.

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I have previously shown you here the netting that we bought at the Garden Show and we intended to ask the house sitters to put it on the peach tree as I felt it would need to be done while we were away.  That did not happen so now all of our small, green peaches are enclosed.  If this is successful, in a few months we will be harvesting luscious peaches that have not been stung by fruit fly. I can only hope!

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Before we went away we planted the asparagus and rhubarb in styrofoam boxes until I could prepare the areas where we wanted to plant them.  On the weekend we dug a trench and set the concrete blocks into the ground to form a border for the rhubarb.  I hope to plant some flowers in the small soil-filled pockets of the blocks.

I hope to prepare the bed for the asparagus in the coming weeks.

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We have a long weekend coming up and I am hoping to get some more done in the garden.

Maintenance and Mr Bunnings

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Home maintenance is an ongoing issue and one with which we have varying degrees of success.

On Saturday evening The Duke announced that he would need to go to Bunnings the next day.  Bunnings is a chain of large, supermarket-style hardware stores and the nearest one is about a 60km round trip so it is not a matter of jumping in the car and going around the corner.  Therefore, we tend to make sure that we get everything we need in one go.  We also took the opportunity to go to the fish shop and buy some more salmon.

Anyway, off we went to Bunnings and bought a new garden sprayer (the initial reason for the trip), new blades for the Stanley knife, a new garden tap, plumber’s tape and new rollers for the sliding door.

The outdoor tap had been leaking for some time and changing the washer made no difference so The Duke decided it was time for a new tap which proved to be successful.

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The next project was to install the new roller on the sliding door in the bathroom.  We  had to remove the timber pelmet which covers the track mechanism.

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I did not take a photo of the actual tracks but we had to replace one of the rollers as it had broken.  The door could still be used but it did not run smoothly and it was evident that there was a problem.  We took the broken piece with us to ensure that we bought the correct sized replacement.  They did come as a single item but we decided to buy 2 so that we would have a spare.  At $4.00 each it is not a huge investment and we have another in case it is required in the future.

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Two out of two jobs successfully completed!  The Duke and Mr Bunnings worked well together.

I think the trick is to know wat jobs are within your capability and what are not.  Do you reglarly undertake home maintenance jobs to keep things in working order?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Shopping & Gluten-Free Muesli

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As many of you would be aware, I buy most of my dry goods from the bulk bins at Simply Good.  This means I can buy as much or as little of an item as want with no packaging and no waste.  This is a topic dear to my heart and one which is being encouraged during ‘Plastic-Free July’.  I use re-usable mesh bags for things like dried fruit, seeds and nuts and reuse paper bags for flours and almond meal.  Once I get home they are decanted into storage jars.

Storage jars
These are the ingredients I use to make my gluten-free muesli.  You can adjust the quantities to suit yourself.

2 cups coconut
3 cups pumpkin seeds
3 cups sunflower seeds
4 cups almonds (roughly chopped) – I use the food processor
2 cups sultanas
2 cups flaxseed meal
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/4 cup ground ginger (optional)

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Gluten-free muesli
I store my mix in a large airtight container.

Muesli container
To serve – I use 1/4 cup of muesli and add 1 dessertspoon each of chia seeds and psyllium husk.  I usually add 1 apple (grated) and 1 kiwifruit (chopped) plus a spoonful of plain yoghurt.  It makes a delicious and satisfying breakfast.

Garden Progress

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After our visit to the Garden Expo on Saturday, we spent Sunday afternoon out in the garden.

Our first project was to remove the old bird netting from the peach tree and to prune it.  This is what it looked like before we started.

Peach tree
This is one of the nets which we bought at the Expo.

Fruit tree net
The nets will protect fruit trees or garden beds from birds and pests, including fruit fly.  I had been looking at them online but when I saw them at the Expo I decided to go ahead and buy 2 of them.  Here is the website.  We bought the 2m ones.

It is recommended that you do not put the netting on until after the fruit has set otherwise it impedes pollination.  Since it is likely that the time to install the netting will be while we are away, we decided to have a trial run after pruning the tree.

New netting
While this would be sufficient to keep the birds away, you need to gather the fabric up and secure it around the base of the trunk to be sure of eliminating any fruit fly infestation.  We will ask the housesitters to put the netting on at the relevant time and hopefully look forward to a crop of unblemished peaches.

We also pruned the fig tree, grapefruit tree and one of the lemon trees.

Next weekend I will be planting as I have ordered some rhubarb crowns and asparagus.  I had a phone call today to say that they are ready so I will pick them up on Thursday.

Another First

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Following on from my first attempt at patchwork, I decided to try my hand at some bunting.  My thoughts on making this is exactly the same as patchwork – it should be about using up the scraps that you have – not buying a bundle of mix’n’match fabrics for a ‘perfect’ look.

Miss O and Izz are here tonight and they were keen to help.  They both gave their opinions on the fabrics we chose to use and Miss O was able to turn the triangles after 2 sides had been stitched.  I completed the turning with the aid of a knitting needle to fashion the point of the triangle.  She also helped to arrange the sequence so that there was a good combination of patterns.

Bunting

This is what we ended up with – a couple of metres of decorative bunting in a selection of pink tonings.  There are large and small florals, checks, stripes and abstract prints.  Some of the fabric is very lightweight and other is quite heavy.  All of it has been salvaged from the offcuts of other projects – some new and some used.

It is a quick and fun project which uses a relatively small amount of fabric and produces an almost immediate result.  A perfect school holiday activity if you have small helpers!

Something from the Garden

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Back to one of my favourite topics – eating what is in season.

Last night we had salmon for dinner.  While the salmon is not strictly local, it does come from Australian waters.  It is farmed in the clear water of the Huon River estuary in southern Tasmania.  The salmon could hardly be considered a budget meal as it costs about $10 for enough for 2 serves.  We always barbeque the salmon and season it with a little salt and some lime juice to enhance the flavour.

Dinner
I served it with pumpkin mash, stir-fried pak choy, balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes and avocado slices.  I poured some of the balsamic/tomato juice over the salmon as a glaze to finish it off.  All of these ingredients came from our garden so you can’t get much more seasonal or local than that.  It also means that a meal of salmon is quite a reasonable price.  What would you pay in a restaurant for a meal like this? $30 – $35 perhaps?

Not every meal contains as much of our own garden produce but I do try to include it as much as possible.  Tonight we are having pizza which will be spread with mango chutney (made from the neighbour’s mangoes) instead of tomato paste and have balsamic roasted pumpkin as the main topping.

We have had a bumper harvest of pumpkins this year so I am constantly looking for creative ideas to use them.  As well as the ubiquitous pumpkin soup, pumpkin mash and being used on pizza topping I have also made some pumpkin scones recently.

What do you have a glut of?  Do you have any pumpkin suggestions?

Housekeeping – How To?

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What is housekeeping?  The literal definition would be ‘keeping house’.  According to the wonders of Google it is ‘the management of household affairs’.  This is a fairly broad definition but allows for everything from shopping, cooking, providing meals to cleaning, organisation, paying bills and filing.  Does this sound familiar?

I am not planning on getting into a debate over the merits of mothers who stay at home versus those who do paid work or male versus female workload within the home.

My interest is more about what you do, how to do it and where you learned the skills/methods that you use.  Today I was at home and it was a sunny winter day here.  I took the towels and bathmat from the bathroom and hung them on the line where they could air thoroughly and dry.

Towels
This got me thinking about how often I wash the towels and why.  We have one towel each and a bathmat and these are washed once a week.  I do this because this was the routine my mother used when I was growing up, and I suspect, her mother before that.  That is not to say that that I have religiously followed everything my mother did.  An example is the 3 pegs on the towel:  I do this because I can’t stand the way the towels go out of shape if you just peg them with a peg at each corner.

We have a climate where it is possible to line dry the washing virtually all the year round.  As you can see from the photo the line is undercover which gives protection from the rain and when it is cold we generally have the fire on at night so the washing is finished off indoors.

So, where did you learn your housekeeping routines and skills?  Have they changed and evolved over the years?  Do you ever discuss things of this nature with others – friends or family?  Have you intentionally taught your children or do you just expect that they will work it out for themselves.

Shopping & Sewing

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Firstly, thanks for your kind comments on my ‘Hollywood’ outfit.  I am really pleased with it and quite looking forward to the occasion.  I am considering keeping the skirt as well as the top because I am thinking that there could possibly be other occasions for which it will be suitable.  Also, I dislike being cold and it can be quite difficult to be warm and glamorous so this would definitely fit the bill.  I could even add leggings under the skirt.

I am not keen on shopping but sometimes it has to be done, so yesterday we made a bit of a pilgrimage to a couple of the larger shopping centres which are about 30 minutes drive from where we live.  I won’t bore you with all of the details but I did manage to buy this piece of fabric at Spotlight.  I will make a camisole to go under the black top of my Hollywood outfit.

Fabric

While I was at Spotlight I also bought a round plastic tablecloth.  It was reduced in price and I had a discount voucher so ended up being priced at $5.70.  It is to go on a plastic outdoor table that previously belonged to my mother.  I wanted a permanent cover on the table so I decided to cut it a bit bigger than the table and attach elastic to the outer edge.

Here is the piece I cut off the cloth.Excess tablecloth
Coincidentally, there is a discount clothing store in the same complex as Spotlight and The Duke bought some new underwear and discarded several pairs that were looking the worse for wear.  I salvaged the elastic and used that to attach to the plastic cloth.

Elastic on cloth

Here is the finished article on the table – and no sign of the Bonds underwear elastic!

New table cover