Holiday Fun

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Posted on September 27, 2013

No organising happening here today as we are too busy having fun. Miss O and Izz are staying for a couple of nights as it is school holidays here.

It has been a full day which included picking strawberries at a local farm as well as buying some fruit and vegetables and getting hair cut. That was just this morning!

Then it was time for lunch.

A platter which included freshly picked carrots and avocadoes plus some cracker biscuits. A cup of water and some strawberries rounded off a healthy lunch.

The weather has been really quite hot the past few days but even though it was much cooler today it was still warm enough to play in the pool.

Climbing ‘mountains’, hide and seek and racing around the yard used up some excess energy.

And taking a moment to smell the roses AKA cannas.

Going, Going………Not Quite Gone

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Posted on September 26, 2013

Last weekend we did some more demolition work on the old chicken coop. We have been fairly careful in how we went about it because it was our goal to salvage most of the materials for use in future projects. There is now only one piece of chain wire to remove and then the posts.

The Colorbond sheeting from the roof and walls will come in handy for some of the remaining raised garden beds that we are planning to construct. The posts have been earmarked for use in building the perimeter fence of the vegetable garden. That was the reason that we fenced the new chicken run before the vegetable garden as the posts for the run were taller so had to be purchased.

The woodshed which is in the foreground of the photo will be retained and some minor modifications made to it.

I will also be making some changes to how the wood is stored. Although it cannot be seen in this photo, I had wood stacked quite high against the side wall. I use the past tense of ‘had’ as recently there was a tremendous crash during the night and we have now discovered that my carefully stacked wood has collapsed and is now a disorganised jumble on the ground. I suspect that some of the local wildlife was instrumental in this event.

As always, there is always another project lurking in the background, even if it is only in our minds at this stage. Once the structure is completely removed this will open up the possibility of having at least one large limb lopped from one of the jacaranda trees. There is also a very large boulder which has dislodged from higher up the mountain and is resting against part of the old fence at the top of the block. We may remove the fencing to allow the rock to roll to the bottom of the garden (another ‘meteorite feature?) before repairing the fence.

Then there are the possibilities of what to do with the area where the chicken run was but I will save that discussion for another day.

The Production Line

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Posted on September 16, 2013

Having a productive garden entails more work than just planting, watering and harvesting the crops.

The next step is to make sure that the produce is used wisely. It is difficult not to have some wastage, especially when there is a glut.

At the moment we have an over-abundance of lemons and grapefruit and are doing the best we can to deal with them.

On Saturday evening, The Duke and I juiced and froze about 3 litres of lemon juice and a litre of grapefruit juice. Most of the lemon juice is in 1 litre quantities so that I can thaw it and make cordial when required. However, I did put some into ice-cube trays for those moments when I just need a tablespoon or so of juice. We have 2 lemon trees and it is only a rare time when there are no fresh lemons available but it is best to be safe and have some on hand.

You can also see more beans and carrots that we picked on Saturday.

What are you harvesting at the moment?

Nachos Night

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Posted on September 13, 2013

As per my menu plan for the week , we had nachos for dinner last night. Like everything I prepare on weekdays, it is quick and easy.

Corn chips
Tinned tomatoes
Refried beans
Cheese

I make my own refried beans from the recipe here using dried kidney beans. I freeze the mixture in 500g tubs for future use.

Last night I used tinned crushed tomatoes but you can use chopped fresh tomatoes or even a bit of diluted tomato paste.

Here is the first layer – corn chips, refried beans, tomato and then grated cheese.

Add layers until desired quantity is reached.

This is 3 layers ready to go into the oven. I use 2 small Pyrex casserole lids as I find the Pyrex easier to clean than a metal tray. This used half a packet of corn chips and is a substantial meal for 2 adults. I serve this with home-made guacamole and yoghurt on the side.

Total preparation and cooking time is about 20 minutes.

Sustainable House Day – A Review

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Posted on September 10, 2013

As you would be aware from my previous posts, Sunday 8th September was Sustainable House Day here in Australia.

We decided to register our house as open for the event and were happy to show people the features of both the house and garden. We had 4 groups of people come to visit and while the number may seem disappointing, there are some very positive ways of looking at this.

We were able to spend time in direct one to one conversation with the visitors
Security issues were not a concern
The people who came were really interested and committed to making a difference in their own homes

I was pleased that 3 of the groups were young couples who appeared to have clear visions of what they wanted to achieve and we hope that seeing what we have achieved with our property went at least some way to inspiring them.

I do not anticipate registering next year as we are likely to be on holidays. If I decided to participate in the future, I would definitely do more to promote the day, particularly with the local council. I was surprised by the lack of organised promotion of the overall day, especially since it has been an annual event for more than 10 years. A lot of the advertising seemed to be left up to the individual homeowner and unfortunately I was interstate for the week immediately prior to the event. This was due to circumstances beyond my control.

Other Stuff

Sustainable House Day 2013

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Posted on August 27, 2013

Sustainable House Day 2013 is an opportunity to check out a variety of dwellings in your area with sustainable features. You can check out the website here.

We have chosen to be involved and are included in this list. If you are in the area and would like to see ‘The Castle’ in real life please come and say hello.

I am looking forward to being able to show people some of the features of our house and garden which reduce our impact on the environment and invariably save us money at the same time.

Chicken Castle

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Posted on August 25, 2013

We have been working on a new chicken run for a couple of months now. The end is now in sight and at last I can show you that we are really making some progress.

The chicken wire is unrolled and attached temporarily to the top wire in several places. Obviously, it still needs to be tensioned and attached but we have a much better idea of how the finished product will look.

I hope that by this time next week our chickens will be firmly ensconced in their new home.

We have assembled the coop which we bought online. It was easy to assemble and I think it will be perfect for the girls.

I Can Grow Carrots

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Posted on August 24, 2013

This probably seems pathetic to many gardeners but I have finally managed to grow some carrots. It is a crop which has eluded me for the best part of 30 years of growing at least some food crops.

Some of my earliest memories are of the carrots growing in my grandfather’s vegetable garden. Carrots were one of the vegetables that my parent’s grew also.

So why is it so difficult to grow carrots? The seed is very fine and can easily dry out, blow away or be taken by birds. Whatever the reason, I have been unable to even get them to germinate previously. Then there is the issue of the soil. It needs to be a bit on the sandy side, well-drained and definitely no rocks or you can end up with some strangely shaped carrots. Mind you, I was so desperate to at least have carrots growing that I could not have cared less about them being misshapen.

When I sowed carrot seeds a couple of months ago I covered them with a few layers of damp newspaper until they had germinated and this seemed to do the trick.

These are the carrots I picked today. They are really just a few that I pulled to thin them out. They are still smaller than the beans that are also from the garden and I can almost hear my grandfather telling me that the soil is too rich in nutrients as they have all gone to the tops. I know, I know……..but at least I have carrots. I am so proud of myself. The beans and carrots were eaten for dinner.

We have been busy putting the strainer wires up for the fencing on the chicken run today. Tomorrow we hope to attach at least some of the chicken wire and also assemble the coop which we bought. It is currently still in the 2 flat pack boxes in the garage.

I am looking forward to the day when the fencing is all done and the remainder of the raised garden beds are built and then hopefully I will be able to concentrate on improving the results of my vegetable gardening efforts.

Demolition Derby

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Posted on August 11, 2013

We have managed to get a bit more done in the garden this weekend but is has not been all about building. Some of it has entailed destruction – namely demolishing the original vegetable gardens.

This is what it looked like about 2 years after we moved here. These beds served us well but we are now working on a revamped plan. So far we have built 3 raised beds and eventually there will be nine of them in a fully-fenced garden area.

You can see some of the old beds in the enclosure in the background of the photo above. Below is what it looks like now.

You can see the posts for the chicken run in the background. That will share a common fence with the bottom of the garden enclosure. The string line on the left hand side marks the eastern boundary of the vegetable garden enclosure. As well as the 9 raised beds I plan to grow herbs in beds along the fence line nearest to the house and asparagus and rhubarb on the eastern side. I do not want these in one of the raised beds as they are perennials rather than annuals. There will also be chilli bushes and blueberries nearest to the front boundary as well as a screened area for the compost tumblers. We have one tumbler at the moment and will probably get a second one as well as keeping one ‘open’ compost bay. I am quite keen to clear up the ‘Steptoe & Son’ arrangement that is there at the moment with a cut down rainwater tank as well as a rusty 44 gallon drum.

We put in 4 more posts for the chicken run fencing so next weekend we should be able to attach at least some of the top rails and the strainer wires. Because the fence is 1800mm high in this section we will have three horizontal wires. One at the top, one close to the ground and the other in the middle so this should prevent any sagging of the fencing wire. We are using heavy gauge chicken wire as our plan is to make sure that the chickens do not get out nor any unwanted guests finding their way into the run.

Our original plan included incorporating a coop into the run but it all got too complicated so we have opted to have a ready-made, freestanding coop situated in the run. It will be something like this.