Whooper Egg!

This is the biggest egg yet from our lovely ladies - usually they lay small - medium (around 50-60 grams) but this was a whopping 80 grams - we coudn't even close the egg box!

(Show here in my daughters hands next to a littley!)

Turned out to be a double-yolker of course. Went down well for kids scrambled eggs tonight!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Thought I'd share this - I found this recipe for homemade laundry detergent quite a while ago on ALS, and finally decided to give it a go.

My motivaton is that I don't like the chemical cocktail that goes into commercial powders, for any of us, but our son especially gets skin irritations from some of them, and the couple that are OK for sensitive skin cost a fortune.

So here is the recipe for my 'gloop' - makes 10 litres ----

1 cup Lux pure soap flakes

1/2 cup washing soda

Water

Melt the soap flakes in 1 1/2 litres water, in a big pot over medium heat.

When dissolved add the soda, mix until thickens.

Remove from heat and pour into a bucket (normal 9-10 litre size) and top up with hot tap water.

Can add essential oils at this stage if you wish.

Leave overnight to thicken and it should come out as a thick gel consistency (called 'gloop' in our house!)

I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and it is great! I use 1-2 scoops in our top-loader for a full load, and considering we have 2 active 3 year-olds I am very impressed with the results.

The equivalent amount of laundry liquid (10 litres) would cost us around $50. These ingredients cost around $2 to make the same amount, and cleans at least as well without the nasties.

The only thing I would change next time is I will look for non-perfumed soap, as lux smells very 'soapy', (though less when its made up) and I will add eucalyptus oil which also acts a softener. Oh, and a bucket with a lid would be better!

Weekend gardening update

Well I hope all you blog-readers had a lovely Christmas, I have been out of the blog-osphere the past week but we all had a great Christmas, lots of excitement with our children on the big day and enjoying some family time off together.

The summer garden however, stops for no-one! So after a few days neglect it was back into the gardening ... actually never feels like a chore as its always enjoyable.

Firstly, we collected a wheelbarrow full of compost from our first compost bin - it was the really slow type, cold as we filled that bin before the delights of chook poo! Since then we have a second bin full of hot compost (the holy grail of gardeners!) almost ready, and have re-filled the first bin which is also now hot too.



For those non-gardeners amongst you, our compost is made up of garden waste (grass and tree clippings, dead leaves and bark etc) some kitchen scraps (veg peelings, tea bags, eggshells etc) and lately whatever gets cleaned out of the hen house (newspaper, woodshavings and manure).

The kitchen scraps are becoming less as scraps go to chooks and the worm farm, but at least we hardly have any rubbish going out each week.

The resulting compost comes out as a fabulous nutrient rich soil, great as potting mix, topsoil for the veggie patch, seed raising ....

If the carbon : nitrogen mix is right, it will heat up and be ready in a couple of weeks (and no it doesn't smell!) If its cold compost, it takes forever but gets there eventually when the worms move in.

Other garden news - planted out into the patch a row of capsicums and row of beetroots I have been neglecting in small pots for a while. Also a couple of tomato plants to replace the ones that gave themselves up. Zucchini plants are HUGE- now with fabulous flowers which look glorious in the mornings. Purple King beans now are growing up a teepee frame made of bamboo stakes, and Blue Lake beans doing well in their box.

Over Christmas we used our own salad greens for salad with lunch and dinner (can't get fresher than that), and used some of our hot chillis for garlic and chilli tiger prawns on Boxing Day..... OOOOH, YUM !!!

Aussie 12 Days of Christmas

There are a few different versions of this round, but we have this one out from the local library at the moment, and our kids love it (and so do we!)

So COME ON .... you know you want to sing along!

And don't forget when you get to five, its "five---kang----a---rooooooos" !!!

On the FIRST day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
A kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the SECOND day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the THIRD day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the FOURTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the FIFTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the SIXTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the SEVENTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the EIGHTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Eight dingos dancing,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the NINTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Nine crocs a-snoozing?
Eight dingos dancing,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the TENTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Ten wombats washing,
Nine crocs a-snoozing?
Eight dingos dancing,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the ELEVENTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Eleven lizards leaping,
Ten wombats washing,
Nine crocs a-snoozing?
Eight dingos dancing,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

On the TWELFTH day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me,
Twelve possums playing,
Eleven lizards leaping,
Ten wombats washing,
Nine crocs a-snoozing?
Eight dingos dancing,
Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a-surfing,
Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds,
Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skis,
And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

Great singing! xxx

Free trees for carbon offset

Blue Mts council are currently giving away 2 tree seedlings per household to encourage local planting as a 'carbon offset' initiative. Organisations can get up to 20 - which our native gardening course have already claimed and planted, but I did want to get our 2 for us- so we collected them this week.

There was a huge range of natives to choose from in either tube-stock or small pots. We chose Eucalyptus Sieberi and Eucalyptus Oreades, both beautiful but will become huge trees, so we will plant them up on our land at Blackheath where they will have plenty of room. Both trees are found naturally in that area too.

Anyone local interested in getting your trees- more info here

Veggie garden December update

Just realised I haven't posted about the patch/pots etc for a while - other general life stuff taking up my time! So here is the latest with some new pics ....



Strawberry seeds germinated and growing well in their lovely blue pot- just need some juicy red strawberries in there now - C'mon!

Zucchini have grown enormous, no flowers yet (so no zucchinis) but this big in just one month ... hmmm... thinking now that 5 plants may be far too many!

Chilli plant is doing well, ripening from green to red. Either colour- they are HOT !!!

Potatoes growing really well, 'hilled up' against the fence. With all the rain and heat lately I am 'hilling up' every couple of days. Need to just trust though that there are actually some spuds under all that straw.....

Tomatoes, like nearly everything else, growing lots of lovely green leaves, but nothing edible yet. There are some little yellow flowers though, so hopefully soon.... I have 12 plants in these pots, if they all fruit at once we'll be living on salads and pasta sauce! The black crate is full of my 'rogue' tomatoes - ones that just turned up by accident from old seeds in the compost - will be interesting to see what comes of them!

And lastly 'the patch'. Fabulous salad greens at the front- we have salad with dinner most days (all 4 of us) and there is always more again the next day. This has been my most successful and reliable crop.
Also growing here - carrots, silverbeet, zucchinis, beetroots, capsicum, eggplants, more tomatoes, cherokee wax beans and purple king beans.

So happy with this new hobby! Slugs have gone elsewhere too- thanks to a few tips from others. Broken eggshells and wood shavings (we use as chook litter) work well between plants, and traps made from vegemite /sugar get them in but not out ..... like the beer traps but cheaper!

Aussie Jingle Bells

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden Ute,
Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's Summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Engine's getting hot; we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too.
All the family's there, sitting by the pool,
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce, are swimming in their clothes.
The time comes 'round to go, we take the family snap,
Pack the car and all shoot through, before the washing up.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

'The Future' as seen through 11 y.o. eyes

We received this poem by email yesterday - our 11 y.o. neice in UK wrote it for a school project (she won 2nd prize overall, and came 1st of the girls)

We are very proud of her, although a little shocked at how much insight she has - the poem is quite dark but just goes to show that children are not sheltered from what is going on in our world.

THE FUTURE

Welcome to the future, the world is under the sea,
The human race has died out - no more you or me.
Global warming melted the ice caps.
It was too late, we could not turn off the taps.
Rain poured and caused a flood,
Mountains fell and turned to mud.
World sobbing,
Hearts throbbing,
People dying,
Children crying.
Panic sets in,
This battle we will not win,
There's no way out, there's no escape,
Stop global warming now before it's too late.

Caitlin, Year 7
(copyright!)

Chubby gingerbread boy & girl !

Made some ginger biscuits with the kids today- loads of fun (and mess!)

Used this recipe (adapted a bit from Renee at green tardis blog)



Ginger biscuits

125g butter

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 egg, beaten (I used 2- ours are very small ones!)

2 cups self-raising flour

3 tablespoons grated preserved ginger (I used 1 tsp ginger powder)

Mix it all together, roll out, cut into your fav shape and put it in the oven. 180 Celsius for 15 mins.



Made 30 biscuits of various shapes (using play-doh cutters!) and 2 ENORMOUS gingerbread people - I had no idea they wold spread THAT much !!! (would make maybe 40 biscuits normally?)

The shapes looked much better before they baked- the girl had a triangle skirt and dainty feet - but they somehow baked into obese thighs and stumpy feet !!



Oh well, the biscuit recipe tasted delicious so I'm sure they'll be eaten anyway!

Native slope regeneration

This week saw the end of year for our native gardening course. It is run by TAFE NSW as an outreach course one morning each week, which has been perfect for me as I wasn't able to attend the college. Our small group has been weeding, planning, planting and mulching on a steep slope, which was initially covered thickly with weeds.

As well as the practical work, we spent time each week in the 'classroom' learning about and discussing native plants, soils, pests (the garden type!) non-chemical weed control, encouraging wildlife, choosing site-appropriate plants, pruning, composting, seed saving, water issues, mulching etc.

I have learnt so much this year, and met some lovely people too. I will be going back for one term next year, as I started in term 2, and hope that we can finish the site.

The photo shows some of the site - a 'swale' area was incorporated to reduce soil erosion and water runoff, and has worked really well. There is an area beyond the native grasses almost as wide as the front area, also planted with appropriate native trees and shrubs.

Unfortunately I don't have a 'before' photo, but the whole hillside was thick with coreopsis, dandelions and other weeds.

No chemicals were used as the area is adjacent to a pre-school and other childrens services, and is home to numerous wildlife such as lizards and frogs.

Little Dragon

Spotted this cheeky Mountain Dragon (or is it a Water Dragon?) on my back deck today- on the side of a planter box eyeing up my lemon balm!


(Luckily for me it didn't want any, it took me ages to grow) It was only around 10cm long including its tail. Hung around for ages, posing for a few photos!


I also saw a swamp wallaby on Thursday morning, right on the side of the road only a minute away from our house! Looked a little lost there .... but bounced off happily into the bush as we drove slowly past.

Mountain Wildlife's Wildlife in the Mountains!