Mountain Wildlife

It's that crazy chook lady again.....!

2012-01-22T20:48:00.000+11:00

About time for a chooky update I think, it has been a loooong time!

So .... the cute little balls of fluff all grew up, made it outside to reside in the chook pen with our existing 5 girls, and after a little bit of chasing and pecking, everyone knows their place and is happy! We currently still have all of them with us. I did have 2 friends lined up to buy some around Christmas time, but both fell through for different (and genuine) reasons. Really I didn't mind either, as I wanted to watch them all grow, and it took us quite a while to judge the girls from the boys.

Finding a comfy seat - age 9 weeks

Of the 13 chicks, 7 are Australorps and 6 are Rhode Island Reds.

Australorp pullet (hen) 15 weeks

RIR pullet - 15 weeks

Of the 7 Australorps - we have 3 hens and 4 roosters (average odds)
Of the 6 RIR's - we have 4 hens and just 2 roosters (better odds!)

It doesn't take a maths genius then to work out that we have a cockadoodle-doodly total of SIX ROOSTERS with us at present ..... OMG! Luckily they all seem to get along fine, with no macho fighting displays as yet.

And since we are talking crazy numbers, the grand total now in the pen- old and new, guys and dolls- is a whopping 18 chooks!!! I think I am a very strong candidate for crazy-chook-lady of the mountains :-)

....and quite a few out of shot.....!

The young ones are 15 weeks old today. Which means the cockerals will start probably start crowing in the next few weeks and officially become roosters. Obviously we can't keep 6 roosters, but I am glad we have kept them this long. We are planning on keeping one, and have a firm favourite of the Australorps. He is a very handsome young chook, the biggest of the bunch with stunning feathers and a lovely temperament. He will sit quite happily on our laps or in arms for a pat as long as we want, as the others will too.

'No. 1' rooster guarding one of his ladies from the camera!

"and look, I can do comical feather stuff too!"

But the RIR boys are lovely too! They are very happy to be picked up and handled and I don't really want to say goodbye to them. I would like to keep one but 2 roosters is probably too many for the 12 hens we will have. It would mean that we could breed both Australorps and RIR's in future years though......

One of the 2 (identical) RIR roosters, getting his lovely feathers in

Clearly I am not good at culling (!) and we are still deciding exactly who to sell. The roosters will probably have to go soon, especially if they start crowing. I might sell 2 to3 of the hens, or perhaps a hen and rooster as a breeding pair. They are good stock lines so it may be an option.

Speaking of options, we are considering if we can't sell the roosters that we may 'dispatch and process' them ourselves. Not a option we like of course, and we haven't done this before, but if no-one wants to buy them for breeding and they are going to end up in a pot, it may as well be our pot! Hens will always find a home of course, seems a little unfair doesn't it?

POT??? Is that why we're lining up??!!

No 2 black roo - how could anyone not want this handsome creature?!!

You may have realised from the photo captions that we have NOT named this hatch lot yet. It has been a long time but it has worked to lessen our attachment to individual chooks, so when selling/culling time comes it should be less emotional.

In theory.

BTW - do you remember I had to splint one of our chicks legs? I am happy to report the band-aid splint worked perfectly and just a week afterwards I had lost track of which chick it was! So it is now one of our healthy happy chooks with no leg problems :-)

Anyway, I will leave you with a couple more photos from today.

Miss A feeding the hungry beaks

3 girls having a rest :-)

Bargain Yarn find ! Now, what do I do with it??

2011-11-20T16:16:00.001+11:00

Oh dear, it seems I have become a little bit of a yarn-collector!

I already have quite a big wicker basket full of assorted yarns and oddments such as random granny squares and knitted sqaures from when I practiced new stitches. It didn't feel excessive though, until yesterday ......

We were enjoying a day out up the road in Bathurst yesterday, and stumbled across a small market in the town park - always a pleasant surprise! I had been hoping to pop into Spotlight to check out any cheap yarn they had, but instead I found a charity table at the market stall, selling a whole load of new mixed yarns- talk about serendipity! Well I couldn't resist now, could I??

The stall holders had no prices, they just asked for a donation for any items. I took 2 of the 3 yarn boxes and 1 pair of 8mm needles (I have thinner ones already) and asked if $20 was ok - they were thrilled with that and I was thrilled with my new stash. Win-win :-)

Since getting home and checking out my new goodies properly I think I have a real bargain -- 75 balls of yarn altogether!

One box contained 44 balls of 50g cotton (38 denim blue blend, 6 cream blend) They all have 'sale' stickers from spotlight, reduced to $2 each, so there is $88 (even at sale price) worth right there!

The other box contained 31 mixed balls, (although most have decent amounts of each) and apart from a few 'novelty' type acrylics, most are wool blends, lots of mohair and even alpaca wool!! Some expensive looking yarns there.

All of the yarns are either Patons or Cleckheaton.

So now dear friends, I just need some ideas of what to do with it all !! I much prefer crochet to knitting, although I can knit at a basic level I still feel quite awkward with knitting needles. I find crochet is much more comfortable, quicker and easier to follow patterns.

I've been making scarves and granny squares lately, and checking out amigurumi (Japanese crochet toys) which looks like a lot of fun and great for using up leftovers. But now I have a bigger stash......

....Any ideas you crafty lot??!!

The Clueless Broody and the Emergency Rescue

2011-10-13T12:52:00.000+11:00

THE STORY

We had been planning on adding to our existing flock this year and Spring is the perfect time to do it. The weather is warming up (well, maybe not so consistently where we are!) and it's the time that more chicks hatch naturally as mother hens go broody.

That's another reason for our timing - we had a broody hen, Blondie, for weeks now. She has hogged the nest and made herself appear scarily huge while she guards her non-existent chicks. So it seemed the right thing to do at the perfect time.

We wanted pure breed chickens again, I have talked before about our reasons for this and against short-lived crossbreeds, bred for intensive egg laying. Australorps and Rhode Island Reds are good layers and well suited to our climate, as well as making good pets, and generally lovely looking chookies :-)

We travelled down to Barters Hatchery who were extremely helpful and not only gave us the eggs we wanted, and gave us 15 for the price of 12, but also gave us ones that were in the process of hatching so we didn't have to wait the usual 21 days! The owner said he was worried that our broody would finish her stint before the 3 weeks was up as she had been sitting for so long already. So home we rushed with our Australorps and Rhode Island Red chicks, with 4 hatching out on the way home (!!!!) wrapped up in their boxes and towels for warmth, carefully guarded between our 2 kids in the back.

We got home and quickly prepared the area and calmly popped the eggs and new chicks under Blondie. She seemed happy so we left her to do her thing in peace and privacy.

BUT THEN....

It seems no-one had explained to Blondie what she was meant to do. Now most hens will naturally know how to hatch and raise chicks, they've been doing it on their own for thousands of years after all. But when we went back to check about half-hour later, she was off the nest, making a huge fuss and racket, and there were the eggs and chicks ...... left alone and very cold. In fact she had buried the 4 chicks under the wood shavings in the nest.

PLAN 'B'

Hubby quickly gathered up the eggs and I got the 4 chicks (3 of which were very cold and lifeless) got them inside in my jumper and then between my cupped hands to try to warm them, breathing on them and rubbing gently. We got the incubator out and set it up in record time (about 1 minute!) luckily we kept it from our last hatching although I didn't think we would need it with having a broody hen.... grrrr...

anyway, all we could do is pop them all in to warm up and cross our fingers.

The 4 first to hatch, with one Australorp just hatched in the incubator

THE RESULT.....

Incredibly, the 4 chicks that I had tried to save have all lived. They are now happily chirping away as I write. Of the remaining 11 eggs, one was half-hatched and unfortunately dead in the shell when we found it. The rest all hatched later that day or the following day, although a couple had difficulty with the shell membrane drying out as they had very prolonged hatches. I had to assist a couple with drops of water onto the membrane, and also peeling off tiny sections of shell as they had trouble breaking out. Probably because of this and the time they were left cold, we did have one chick born that was unable to walk. It was painful to see it throwing itself around blindly, knocking the other chicks over and generally suffering. We waited until day 3, but when it was clear it wasn't going to improve we had to put it down. It is an awful thing to do, but I suppose also part of responsible ownership.

From this ....

.....to this- in under an hour!!

First lot, out of the incubator and into the brooder box

We have also had a couple of chicks with suspect limps, but one improved over the first few days and is now walking perfectly and another I have splinted at the moment and is looking very good now. The splinting procedure for splay legs is explained HERE -- although our chick was not nearly as severe as that one, just standing with one leg too far out to the side rather than under its body.

Chick physio! Section of band-aid used as a spacer

So, all in all we have ended up with 13 chicks from 15 eggs, which, although it is sad we lost 2, is an incredibly good hatch. We have 7 Australorps and 6 Rhode Island Reds. Of course buying them at 'almost-hatch' helped (whilst giving them to a clueless broody did not) As for Blondie, well most annoyingly she went straight back to being broody and is still hogging the nest. It is difficult to be sympathetic now, after we gave her a chance and she blew it. Mind you, we do get to keep this lot inside now ----

Because our hen rejected the chicks they will not be properly cared for outside, so we will continue to raise them inside for a while, until they are fully feathered and large enough to cope with outdoor weather and our other chooks.

We plan to keep some hens for ourselves, maybe 2 of each breed, perhaps a rooster too. Since we still have our existing 5 girls, I think any more would classify me as the local mad-chook-woman! The rest I am hoping to sell on to good homes once we find out who is who.....

Love my chickies :-)

My first blog award -- awww, thanks!

2011-09-14T16:49:00.000+10:00

I was very pleased and flattered to receive my first blog award today, from the wonderful Chris over at Gully Grove. The Liebster Blog award is given to little blogs like mine with less than 300 followers, to promote the lesser known blogs and also to provide links to others we may not have otherwise found.....

The idea is to link back to the persons blog you received the award from (I am sure there is a better way to write that grammatically!) and then nominate 3 blogs of your choice to recieve the award.

So thank you Chris x If you haven't checked out her blog at Gully Grove yet, have a peek. Hers was one of the first blogs I came across when I started, and she has inspired me, made me laugh, and I have even cried at times! She is an amazingly strong and resourceful woman.

The 3 blogs I would like to nominate for the Liebster Award are:-

Eat at Dixiebelles - a wonderful woman and mother with a social conscience who really strives to make a genuine difference in this world of ours. She cooks, she grows, she even permablitzes! Is there anything this woman can't do??!! I think not! And yet she is down to earth and so honest in her blogging.

Loopity Lou - Anne is a fabulous woman who can whip up amazing creations with nothing more than a pair of knitting needles and a piece of yarn! Her creations are so lovely, elegant but earthy at the same time. The kind of clothing you would ooh and ahh over if you saw it in a store (while trying to not stroke it!) And shes a mountains woman- yay!

Funky Frontyard Farmers is my surprise choice- surprise only because I just found their blog yesterday!! Jo and Joe are also in the mountains here, and have a fantastic blog full of great reading. They are working very hard on their own garden but also spreading the word in the community, and not just talking-the-talk, they are walking-the-walk (!) and have started a local 'Crop and Swap' group which sounds like a mighty fine idea, and on that basis they definitely deserve a Liebster Award!!

So thats my 3 choices, if you were nominated, please pass the Liebster along by linking back here and nominating your own top 3 blogs (with under 300 followers).

I could have picked more if I was allowed! I would certainly have mentioned the chook woman herself - Jacqui at Life in the Dome but Chris had already nominated her, and I wouldn't want her to struggle and juggle 2 awards :-)

Hope you enjoy reading some new blogs :-)

The Not-So-Quiet Winter

2011-08-30T11:30:00.003+10:00

If you believe the gardening books, winter is supposedly a quiet time in the garden. A time for rest and reflection, maybe planning ahead for the following year. Are they kidding??!!! I have been busier than ever this winter working in our garden.

I posted about building our veggie patch a few months ago after we moved here. I am pleased to say that although it was a fairly rushed job, with me desperate to get something (anything!) into the ground before winter hit, it has done extremely well and has fed us many greens over the colder months.

Plenty of kale, spinach, silverbeet, rocket and lettuce through the winter

Following that, in the past 2 months I have :-

Planted a row of 6 bare-rooted rose bushes, outside our main front window (as a bit of a privacy screen from passing bushwalkers and locals walking their dogs!)

I have since made this into a long strip of 'rose bed', with mulch to keep out competing grass

Planted a hedge- row of 5 hazelnut trees I bought 2 years ago. see here for the original post. Somehow they have miraculously survived living in large pots (thank you) and hopefully will thrive now they are in the ground.

Planted over 500 flowering Spring bulbs throughout the front, back and side gardens, and in pots which can be moved around to suit our window view when they flower. Some of the daffodils are just starting to flower now. I also planted tulips, freesias, jonquils, muscari, anemones, ranunculi, ixias, snowflakes, dutch iris, chincherinchee.... so many more!

Established a small garlic patch of both Australian Purple and White bulbs (around 30 plants) and a separate potato patch (around 30 seed potatoes) including Sebago, Nicola, Desiree and Ruby Lou.

Planted 2 varieties of blueberry bushes -Northland and Anna- in the back garden. The area I chose to plant them in is a sunny spot but has pine trees hanging over the fence from the property behind- this means the soil here is naturally acidic which blueberries love, and the pine needles that fall create a natural acidic mulch. Ideal conditions for them, less work for me!

Planted a variety of dormant berry canes- thornless blackberry, boysenberry, and 13 raspberry canes. All are against fences where they can be tied up when they start to grow (hopefully profusely!)

Started transforming the side garden into a mini orchard (we call it the side garden, its the equivalent of a normal front garden but our house is long and sideways on a corner block). In there we have planted 3 apple trees- (Granny Smith, Red Fuji and Gala), 1 nectarine and 1 peach (all dwarf varieties) along with rhubarb and the raspberries. I am thinking of buying a double-grafted pear as well, if I can make a space! The garden was already quite full with deciduous trees and a few other random trees, including a huge cypress which is beautiful but creates a lot of shade Luckily this is a sunny North facing garden so the fruit trees should do well. Our daughter has claimed the Gala as her tree, and our son has always loved Granny Smith apples and wanted his own tree since he was 3, so it was a happy day when he got to plant it :-)

This corner was not even visible when we moved in- covered in overhanging trees

Oh and of course not forgetting our feathered friends! We put up a brushwood fence along the back boundary to hide the tangled mess of ivy and other weeds in the property behind us (after lopping off several huge pine tree limbs that were overhanging our garden). We then built the chook pen similar to the first one we made. Chicken wire and star pickets, old gate, A-frame inside for shelter, sleeping and nest boxes. It is approx 25 m2 so plenty of room to scratch around in.

Our hens were so happy they immediately started laying again! After our egg-less winter, the very next day 3 of our 5 hens had laid! And they haven't stopped since. we are now getting over 20 a week from the 5 chooks which is great.

It is exciting to see my vision coming into reality, although I can be a little impatient at times (!) and the vision is a pretty fluid one, and often morphs into other ideas.
Our ultimate aim is not to be self-sufficient here, but to provide as much as we can for ourselves of fresh, healthy food, whilst enjoying our garden and also living in a practical and beautiful space.

Achievable?

Watch this space.

:-)

Bread.... and the book that inspired me

2011-08-03T09:49:00.000+10:00

I've been making a lot of bread lately, and I've been so pleased with the results. I have been making no-knead bread like this for quite a while now, but still had that niggly little voice in my head pushing me to try making bread the 'real' way again.

So, for a bit of inspiration I bought myself this book -

Its part of the River Cottage series of book and I have to say, it is the best bread book I've seen (and I've borrowed A LOT from the local library!) It goes into a lot of detail initially about the ingredients and the whole process of making bread, as well as the history and why we should all try making our own, before it shares a whole load of recipes. I found it strangely interesting! It even has instructions at the back on how to build a clay oven ... something I would love to do with the ugly old brick bbq we have out the back.

I've been making Roti breads -fabulously quick and simple, great to make with kids. The whole process takes about 10 minutes from getting the ingredients out to flopping the big puffy pillows onto plates (or maybe 5 mins without children helping!) We were all cheering as they puffed up in the pan! Perfect with winter curries and casseroles and they cost next to nothing to make (flour, water, salt).

bread dough using 1kg flour (note my daughters hand for size!)

Then after making a batch of dough that could rival the 'magic pudding' story, we made 2 loaves and 4 large bread rolls with this lot above. I generally use both unbleached white and wholemeal flour, often around 3 parts white and 1 part wholemeal (or whatever I feel like!)

Some I left plain and others coated in oats. All turned out perfectly! The crumb of these breads is very different from my usual no-knead loaves, which is much more like a sourdough texture. The traditional bread texture is much more even and is much easier to slice and use for lunchbox sandwiches.

I think I much prefer the free-form shape, rather than baking them in a loaf tin. Perhaps its the more home-baked look, with each loaf taking its own shape :-)

I have made quite a few now, each working well, and trying different shape loaves and coatings. I have recently tried using bakers 'strong' flour, but actually found the cheap brand plain white worked better for me. I think I will try half/ half next time.

Last week we made pizza bases for the first time and it was so easy I am kicking myself we haven't been doing this earlier! No photos unfortunately, I forgot this time and the pizzas vanished so quickly, even though from 500g flour we got 8 smallish pizzas (about 15-20cm across)
I put out bowls of various veggies and pineapple, and the kids delighted in making their own combinations- all 8 different to each other. So different to greasy take-away pizza, much more like the traditional style.

I am looking forward to trying more recipes from my book, everything from focaccia to croissants, and poppy and caraway crackers.. mmmm!
I bought my copy from The Book Depository online- only cost me around $16 which was a bargain, (amount changes daily with the exchange rate) I've easily saved that in bread already, not to mention it was the only book that actually got me great results!

What a difference a day makes ....

2011-06-21T21:47:00.000+10:00

.... 24 little hours..... since yesterday- this is how my patch looked today!

Snow came from nowhere, extremely exciting for kids, beautiful to look at. But I hope my veggies survive!

My New Winter Veggie Garden

2011-06-20T12:38:00.001+10:00

I think its about time I showed my new veggie patch- it is still very young and new but showing lots of promise! I picked this area as it receives sun most of the day and is very sheltered. Our back garden is much warmer than the front (open to wind) or side (shady) which is important in our cold climate. The colorbond fence at the back and the shed to the side make a little microclimate, which I am hoping will equate to more food in less time!

We roped in my in-laws to help while they were staying here (hey, no such thing as a free lunch eh?!!) which made things take shape pretty quickly. We used whatever materials we had for borders- some timber offcuts and old timber posts, short star pickets and even an old sign was cut in half! Hopefully one day they will be replaced with handsome hardwood sleepers, but for now I was happy to just get something to hold the soil in. A few bricks are makeshift 'steppers' so I can get in to the middle without crushing the plants.

My helpers and the newly filled bed.

Only these few herbs were plants, the rest raised from seed.

The main patch is a raised bed as the garden is kikuyu lawn, which truly is like digging into carpet. Much easier for quick results was to put down cardboard and thick newspaper layers (to block the grass growing through), then heap up with around 30cm deep of good soil. We bought our soil in from a local nursery and it is a rich mix of animal manures and mushroom compost, a specific product for vegetable beds.

The main bed pictured here is 6 metres long x 1.2 metres wide, and used about 2/3 of the 2 cubic metres soil we bought, so cost around $70 to fill. I think it was worth doing for the quick results and less back-breaking for us :-)

....and yesterday, starting to look a lot greener

So what did I plant? Well here in the Blue Mountains winter choices are pretty limited for this season. I chose things that we will actually eat, that don't take a lot of room and that work in our climate.

English Spinach
Silverbeet
Curly Kale
Tuscan Kale
Rocket
Italian Lettuce

Broad beans

Sugar Snap peas
Massey (shelling) peas

Snow Peas

Leeks

Broccoli (Di Cicco)

Broccoli (Romanesco)

and various herbs- parsley, thyme, oregano, lemon thyme, lemon balm, coriander

English Spinach

Trying to coax my peas to find the string!

Each has its own section, but given that I had my kids 'helping' some of the the seeds were broadcast thickly rather than sown in rows, such as the curly kale which germinated fantastically, possibly because a whole packet of teeny tiny seeds was spilt! I'm working on the permaculture principle of having no gaps to block weeds :-)

I have used no fertilisers other than a couple of waterings with diluted worm juice from our worm farm. I think the soil has enough goodness to last quite a while.

Curly Kale- enough to feed the street!

We will certainly not have enough to feed our family, (unless we live on kale!) but even supplementing our shop-bought groceries is a great start. It is a great on-going project for the whole family, our kids have learnt so much and now get really excited when they see the huge fat worms in the patch because the soil is so good!

Leeks in recycled poly-pipes to blanch the stems

I have just started another section as well, up to the shed, to plant my garlic and potatoes into, but I will leave that for another post.

Happy gardening! :-)

Propagating Rosemary & other lovelies

2011-06-20T11:36:00.000+10:00

OK, this must be one of the easiest gardening tasks I've done. I know it is supposed to be easy, lots of people have said that, but I never propogated anything before so it was a first for me.

I started with a bunch of rosemary bought from the local fruit and veg store for $2. I cut the tips off 8 stems to roughly 8-10cm or so, (the rest of the stems were dried for kitchen use) removed the leaves up to about the top 2-3 cm (I don't really do exact measurements!) and dipped then ends in some honey before popping them all into a plant pot of seed raising mix.

The honey apparently does a similar job to hormone rooting powder- it encourages roots to form. And seed raising mix works better than normal soil because it is fine and well draining (although a coir peat/compost/sand mix can work well too).

That was done a couple of months ago and I'm very pleased that all the cuttings have taken and are growing happily. 3 of them have only small roots and so are still in the 'mother' pot (!) but these 5 were very vigorous, and were planted into their own pots last month. I placed them in front of the veggie patch and when I moved them yesterday I found the roots were coming out of the bottom and growing into the garden!!!

small but strong- these have roots out of the pots~!

Now I have the happy task of finding permanent homes for my new plants. 2 of them have gone near the back door, close to the kitchen.

I also have some hydrangea cuttings taken from our last house before we moved, they have also taken very well, I think I have around around 6 out of 8 survived, using the same technique.

Dizzy with my success (!) I am also trying lavender propogation, from a big overgrown lavender I bump into every time I walk out the back door (I don't mind though, it smells incredible!) I want to ensure it lives on before it the mother plant gets a severe haircut!

:-)

And now.... exhale.

2011-05-23T11:02:00.000+10:00

Well it has taken me a long while... but I am finally ready to do an update! We were very busy for a while moving to our new home (and all the usual dramas that brings!), then within a few weeks we were busy again with family staying from overseas, but I am very pleased to report we have all settled in to our new surrounds beautifully.

Early morning mist in the valley

We love the house - which is much larger than we are used to but strangely not too big at all - it still feels cosy in the right places! Our kids now have a very large open playroom with lots of tables for creating, and shelves for their books and games. They just love it! And we love not tripping over toys and standing on lego in the lounge room.

We even get to watch the sunset from our dining room, or upstairs out on the balcony, something that always stops us in our tracks.

Sunset from our balcony

We love the area too - very peaceful and beautiful, friendly people and the village is perched on an escarpment overlooking magnificent valleys, which provides us with fabulous bushwalks!

Our local bushwalk/ dog walk- only a couple of minutes away

All animals made it through the move too. At the time we had 2 chooks broody and the other 3 moulting, so they looked a bit rough for a while, but are back to normal now -fat, feathery and happy! We are even getting a decent egg supply, 10-12 a week which is great considering the colder weather.

It didn't take me long to get a food garden going- I was planning it within 2 weeks and building shortly after! With nothing in place to start with, we picked a sunny area across the back of the garden, and built a long garden bed 6 metres x 1.2 metres, using whatever we had to hand, and bought in 2 cubic metres of 'veggie mix' soil to make a raised bed. Excellent stuff, full of manures and mushroom compost! I will post some pictures of the patch soon when its looking a bit greener, but already everything has germinated and so we have a bed full of little green sprouts, ready to provide us with winter goodness. I planted lots of winter greens, peas, broad beans, broccoli, herbs.... and am waiting on my potatoes and garlic to arrive, though I'll have to extend the patch as its full already!

This house has also inspired me to try something new in the garden- flowers! I've always admired others gardens that burst with glorious colour, but to be honest I kind of thought flowers were a bit frivolous, after all isn't this the age when we should all be turning our land into something more productive? Well, I'm not sure exactly what changed, but you know what? For the first time, I think I deserve some frivolous flowers!! Of course, when I've waited this long, I'm not doing things by halves, so I bought 2 bulk packs of Spring bulbs from Garden Express, a total of a whopping 405 bulbs!!! Sounds a lot, but some of them are really small ~ lol ! A bit crazy, maybe. But we have space on all sides of the house, with lots of deciduous autumn trees (which looked amazing when they turned) so some will go under the trees, others will be planted outside our windows and some in pots.... I'm sure I'll find a place for them. Watch this space and see how I did!

Its all a work-in-progress of course, there is always more to do in the garden and inside, but it feels like we are home again at last, and I can finally exhale.

:-)

Ready, set, GO!

2011-01-24T12:06:00.002+11:00

Well as I hoped we have certainly hit the ground running this year! Lots happening in our little world- the biggest news is that we will soon be moving again! Everything has finally fallen into place for us and life has become a whole lot easier this year.

Following my last blog post we did some major house hunting around the area (our record was 10 houses seen in one day!) and I am very happy to report we found a truly fabulous house- Woohoo!! It ticks all the boxes for us, and much more! It is a much bigger home than we have ever had, but somehow still feels cosy and homey inside which is important to us. It has that 'good energy' kind of feeling that is hard to describe, but you know when you find it. There are enough rooms to host our family from England when they visit (and they are coming....!) AND I get my very own dedicated sewing/craft room! There is an ENORMOUS family room, perfect for lounging around/ kids toys/ art tables/ lego villages ..... oh how lucky we are! On top of all that we got it for a really great price, far less than we budgeted for or expected, which means much less financial pressure. YAY!

The block is pretty much average size, but we will have 2 gardens due to the layout. One is a bit park-like and peaceful, the other is fenced and perfect for our children /dog/ chooks. The gardener in me is already planning fruit trees and veggies, though I will try to be patient and get to know the place first to plan it. As it stands it is really quite pretty and will be nice to move into.... until I get the itch to don my gardening gloves and grab the spade and secateurs !!!

We are all very excited about it, the kids are happy as it has stairs (strange fascination!) and they can choose their bedrooms and have their own bathroom (though unfortunately not the ability to clean it themselves lol!)

We are currently in that odd period of waiting for settlement, hopefully it won't seem like a lifetime, although clearing out our 'stuff' will definitely fill a fair amount of time. Where does it all come from? I admit I am was a bit of a hoarder, but really we are not the kind of people that buy or keep a lot of 'stuff', and yet our garage tells us otherwise........ :-(

A few other things happening too, but since I have raved on so much I will take a break now and post again later!

Farewell 2010, welcome a fresh new year!

2010-12-31T20:07:00.000+11:00

Oh how time has flown away again! New Years Eve already, so we are saying goodbye to 2010, and welcoming in a New Year, (and in fact a new decade) with all the hope and anticipation of what it may bring.

2010 has been a huge year for us, with many changes and transitions, and not all in the ways we imagined.

We have moved to a new village, rented out our old home, and rather than building our new one, we have sold our land. In my last blog post we were still negotiating, but we actually sold to the first couple who saw it, the first day for sale. We are very happy with the price, and very happy with such a quick sale. We have been looking at houses to buy, and will continue the search when the agents open again in a few days.

Our children completed their kindergarten year, which seems to have flown by amazingly fast. They learnt an incredible amount, far more than I expected for their first year, and far more than I did at that age, I'm sure. Ready for Stage 1 next year, I wonder what new experiences that will bring for them. They will be in the same class again, which was a decision between teacher/parents/both children and was pretty unanimous! We also know who their teacher will be and which classroom they will be in, so that all helps toward preparing for the new school year.

I am thankful for all the experiences 2010 has brought, both good and bad, as I have learnt valuable lessons along the way. These transition periods can be difficult, but it is all worthwhile when we come out of it with new knowledge and a bit wiser for the experience.

So heading into 2011 ..... I am excited and optimistic it will be even better than the last year! A new home to look forward to, with a new garden of course! and who knows what else lies ahead waiting to delight us? A new start, fresh and open to exciting possibilities.

May this New Year (and new decade!) bring true happiness, good health, compassion and peace. May we learn the value of love, real friendship and gratitude. I am so thankful for all that I have.

I wish for you all that you need.

x

The changes we had to have....

2010-11-15T11:07:00.003+11:00

Warning- this is a long post! Getting it off my chest at last.... (you might want to get a cup of tea!)

I've been putting off blogging about our lives for a while, part denial, part hope that things will somehow all work out as we planned. But I have found that I can only wait so long for the good luck fairy or fate or mother universe or whatever you believe in, to bestow the goodness upon us. Some big decisions had to be made, and some big changes had to happen.

Some of you will know we bought a block of land over 2 years ago with all the hopes and dreams of building an amazing home for our family, and managing the land to live as sustainably as possible. We would have a home that would be as green as possible (for a project home) built facing north and a long homestead style designed to be solar passive, with solar power and huge water tanks. The chooks would have a large run, and I could have a rooster again and breed wyandottes. I would try to work their area into my food forest plan, permaculture style with raised rotational veggie beds and a small orchard of fruit trees.

Sounds idyllic? We really thought we could do it. We have come very close. It has been 2 and a half years of planning and working with builders, discussions with council and the RFS, struggling to make our dreams a reality. I can't express in writing what we have been through, but it has been so much hard work- blood, sweat and certainly tears.

I love that land. We all do. We knew the moment we saw it that it was for us. There were 'signs' everywhere. It is totally unique, 22 acres of amazing bushland, with views to world class bushwalk areas and canyons. But is is more than the description to us. It was our dream.

So what has happened? Well, the dollars required have increased (as these things usually do) and our dollars available have decreased. The council and RFS have changed our plans from our dream to 'something-kind-of-close'.

But the biggest change of all has been our thinking. We sat down and worked out what kind of lifestyle we would be living if we continued down this path, following our dreams. We worked out how much it would take from us, and for how long. Even if we could fund the building work, we would be paying for it for a very long time. Its not like we didn't know at the start, but somehow our priorities have changed over the past 2 years, and 'living the dream' at the expense of actually enjoying life just seems so wrong. The important thing is that we are all together, healthy and as happy as we can be.

We don't want to be always worrying about money, whether we can afford school excursions, Christmas, kids parties, not to mention emergencies like illness or car problems (having just lost our car has made this foremost in our minds!) I know lots of people do have to live that way through no fault of their own, but why would we choose to live that way when we can choose something else?

We had planned on selling our old home to help finance this dream, but after 8 months of having an empty house for sale while we pay rent where we are just wasn't working. We know for sure that we don't want to go back to our old town, so the first decision was to take our old home off the market and rent it out. This way we can get some income at least, and the house is being lived in.

The same day we made that decision, we decided to put the land up for sale. We had agonised over it for so long, that it was actually a relief to do something about it. It felt like I was taking charge again, instead of waiting for it all to somehow work out for us.

So, less than 2 weeks later - tenants moved into our old house on the weekend (we had a choice of applicants within 3 days!) and the land went up for sale on Friday, with an interested couple visiting on Saturday and have already put in an offer which we are negotiating at the moment.

All of a sudden things seem much clearer and easier. Have you ever struggled on down a path in your life thinking the best things are worth fighting for? I thought they were, but now I am not sure. Maybe the hard struggle is not the way to go. When things seem to fall into place easily, maybe that is meant to be.

If this works out and we sell the land soon, we plan to buy a house again. A regular house, probably in a regular street. It will not have acres, but it will be big enough to grow some veggies and maybe a couple of apple trees. Our kids will love it and it will become our home.

It will not be our old dream, but it will be our new dream.

:-)

Cicada rescue!

2010-10-16T21:28:00.003+11:00

Well what a surprise to find this cicada today- I think he has been tricked into coming out by the recent warm weather, poor thing only to find the weather was FREEZING today! We had snow for most of the day, and so my husband 'rescued' him from our front garden, he swears it was shivering!

Look at those amazing golden wings!

Alien-like face, strangely compelling!

Anne from Loopity Lou and Jacqui from Life in the Dome have both found these recently - and I'll trust both their opinions that this is a 'Masked Devil' cicada. Anne has some amazing photos of hers hatching (is that the correct term for cicadas coming out?) I just did not expect to see any this far up the mountains, this early in the season.

We brought him inside to warm up a little. He was pretty lifeless for a while, then started to move just a little. By the time he was getting quite lively, I thought it might be better for him to sleep in the garage tonight (rather than rattling around the house when we are trying to sleep!)

He can get out of the garage easily, but if he is still there tomorrow, hopefully we can find a suitable home for him again.

All things sweet and gloopy.....

2010-10-04T21:50:00.001+11:00

Wow, what a productive day today! I blame the rain we've had for the past few days. Terrific for the garden and the few seeds I have germinating, but lousy for kids on school holidays. Oh well, make the most of indoors time and get productive!

First up I juiced a huge basket full of lemon/limes I was kindly given from a friend. I call them lemon/limes (or 'lime-ons' as my kids have named them) as my friend said they were limes from her mother-in-laws tree, but they are bright yellow and lemony inside. Thin skin and no seeds like a lime, but look and smell like a lemon. Taste? well, they taste like a lemony-lime. Whatever, they were free, need to be used and taste great.

So I decided to make the majority of the juice into cordial, using Linda Cockburns recipe from the latest Organic Gardener mag which landed at my door last week. Sensational Linda- and great timing!

With 1 litre of juice, 1 kilo of sugar (EEK!) and 750ml water, I made 3 bottles of delicious cordial. It is diluted 1 part cordial to 4 or 5 parts water, so this will go a long way.

Looks plain-but tastes incredible!

Sterilising the bottles was the hardest part- I've never done it before and tried the drying-in-the-oven method. That was ok, apart from the bit where I melted the plastic bottle stoppers onto the racks :-( OOPS! Oh well, maybe my foil makeshift tops will do for us!

After that I made liquid soap, using a recipe from Daharja you can find HERE. I used half the amounts as I thought that would be enough (it was). It worked amazingly well, even setting in a couple of hours instead of overnight. I wanted to add some pretty colour, and let my daughter choose from the food colourings, she chose pink, no surprise there! Just one drop of red colour in almost 2 litres of soap made this totally gorgeous pale pink. I ended up filling a 500ml pump, and almost filled 2 x 250ml pumps. One for the bathroom, laundry and kitchen.

yes, I even made a label!

It is a bit similar to the laundry gloop I make, though that uses washing soda instead of glycerine. I made a new bucket of that yesterday too. It is so easy and cheap to make, and much kinder to sensitive skins. If you haven't tried it, you can find the recipe on my original post HERE.

After all that, I then made playdoh for the kids. Yes, the gas company just loved me today! I did the cooked one, the recipe is on the cream of tartar box, and since Miss A got to choose the soap colour, Master A got to choose the playdoh colour. 'Alien Green.' Eeeuukkk! Well, they loved it anyway, and I love making playdoh that is so cheap, non-toxic and the past batches I've made have lasted over a year, no kidding. Wrap in cling film, pop in the fridge.

Oh, and the last thing I made (apart from minestrone soup for dinner, but that is neither sweet nor gloopy!) was a big tray of brownies. YUM. And that is my next task, after my very productive day ....... a sticky brownie. With some lemon-lime cordial of course :)

why do brownies always look a wreck but taste amazing?

(if you want more details about the cordial or playdoh recipe, let me know. I have a brownie waiting right now though, so I'll get to it later!)

:-)

Fluffy Visitor

2010-10-02T21:50:00.001+10:00

Well how cute is this guy? He came to visit this morning and sat on our fence for such a long time, we were all outside marvelling at how adorable he is! He is a Flame Robin, and the first I've seen since last winter, when I saw my first one.

OK, now the apology- I have been away from blogland for soooooo long its ridiculous. I have been popping in to read yours every now and then, but not doing the writing thing myself. And since being so lazy, I'm amazed to see I have picked up some new followers! So welcome to you :) Hopefully I will have something more interesting to read soon than, well, the nothing I've been doing. I think I've been in hibernation over winter. Coupled with the real-estate woes we have had (don't ask!) has not made for a happy blogger. But hey, although the woes are still pretty woeful, I am still here and although I'm not promising to do the blogtoberfest like those of you more energetic than myself, I promise to not go missing for months on end again.

In my hibernation mode I did learn to crochet and knit (yes, knit -much to my amazement!) did lots of baking, and started sewing again as I had a request for a couple of items- which meant a couple of sales, which in turn has lit my creative spark again. I currently have several piles of fabric lying around showing several unfinished projects! More on that later.

So, thanks for sticking with me through my winter of discontent! I hope Spring brings new life, energy and warmth to us all.

Historic Hartley

2010-07-20T13:39:00.001+10:00

Visited Hartley on the weekend, a small rural village about a half hours drive from us. The local buildings inspired me to play around with the photo settings.

The Girls are Back in Town ....!

2010-07-15T20:21:00.001+10:00

I'm so happy! My girls are back with me after living at my friends place for the past few months since we moved here.

Ruby at the front, checking out the new digs.

My friend who was looking after them went jetting off to Europe for 5 weeks (oh, the high life!) and I was visiting them twice a day for feeding/cleaning/egg collecting etc. Problem was, we hit freezing times here and went below zero a few days in a row, so their drinking water was freezing solid and I was tripping back and forth to give them fresh water.

Silvie (no comb) and Blondie (huge comb) ??why ??

After much guilt and anxiety, I practically begged the real estate agent to let us have them here, and within 3 hours they said the landlord said yes! Woo hoo!

Lady- fully recovered from the fowl-pox that killed Racey Rooster, but still she is still not laying after 3 months.

We can't move the ark here yet so for now we built a ramshackle lean-to into a holding pen. Bit of chook fence we went to our old house and pulled down (it is STILL for sale -not happy) and a bit of a hutch thingy and hey presto - new chooky accomodation.

BG- more Blue than Gold but still a beauty

Blondie - check out the mad comb!

The wyandottes are HUGE now- I really didn't understand how different they are to other breeds until I had my own- they are like soft round fluffballs! Check out the fluffly butts !!!

They seem very happy, even though they are still trying to figure out where they want to lay (there has been a few eggs rolling around the ground!) I made a nice nest inside the hutch and they just dragged the whole thing out :-0

So then I made a box on its side with straw in, but instead of using it to lay in, all 5 of them stuffed themselves in to sleep in it last night.... what the ???!!!!!

Crazy chooks - love 'em.

:-)

More animals......

2010-07-13T20:11:00.000+10:00

The latest additions to the mountainwildlife household .......

Rainbow and Google (before their lovely wall-paper went on!)

A Shubunkin called Rainbow ("cos she has lots of colours") and a Black Moor called Google ("cos he has funny googly eyes!")

How could you not love those BIG eyes?!!

Both joined us on the weekend, hand picked by our kids. Well, given a total free-choice I think they would have gone for 'Nemo' and 'Dory' but since we are running a coldwater tank, tropicals are not on our list.

"Hey, check it out... another Shubunkin!"

We played safe and started with goldfish (yes, they are both goldfish!) as they are hardy and relatively easy to look after, and there are really so many different looking ones, I was quite surprised. 2 for now, then when the tank biology stabilises (another steep learning curve for me- aquatic management!) we can get another couple, but we might go for some little Zebra Danios which are just lovely and can live happily with the goldfish, if the numbers are right.

Google pretending to be a shark!

We picked up a great little fishtank on freecycle, 50cm/ 38 litre so fairly decent size, and enough for a small fish community. The nearest big pet shop is in the next town, and they have a huge range of fish and assorted bits and pieces. What they don't know about fish in there I can't imagine! Talk about fish.... well you could be there all day!

Other exciting animal news- we have our chooks back !!!! Hooray !!!!!!!! More news about that later, along with some photos (if it ever stops raining!)

:-)

Happy birthdays :)

2010-07-09T16:56:00.001+10:00

Has it been another year already? Sure has!

Despite the fact that I always get a little bit stressed about it, I do love the whole birthday-cake-making thing. I love thinking about cake ideas with my children, looking through books and thinking about colours.

Miss 5 decided a pink-and-purple flower cake would be just the thing this year, and was very happy with my interpretation!
Master 5 got his idea from a drawing he did the week before, a colourful rainbow-rocket. And we were all pretty pleased with the cake! My version is very-loosely based on the rocket shape from the womens weekly kids cake book.

I haven't worked with soft icing before, only ever doing butter frosting for the past 4 years. So that was interesting in itself, and with some helpful ideas from a brilliant cake-making friend of mine (as well as loaning a bit of equipment!) I had a great time working different colours into it and cutting shapes to make the ideas become reality.

I think they looked better in reality than in the photos. The rocket was brighter colours. Well, you get the idea anyway.

I also made hearts and tiny pink icing petals into flowers around the flower cake, and the rocket 'flames' are made with soft icing through a garlic press (never used with garlic!) It was very much like playing with playdoh! Thankfully it tasted a lot better though :-)

And of course, to top them off, sparklers out the back of the rocket and one through the centre of the cake (not shown on photos as we were too busy when they were 'sparkling' -especially when we set off the smoke alarms!!)

The party was lots of fun, 12 happy kids all enjoyed themsleves (and quite a few parents as well!)

Another year older, another year of childhood behind them. Oh, how can I be so happy and sad at the same time?

Blog make-over...

2010-06-18T21:13:00.001+10:00

I have been playing around with new design ideas for my blog, please bear with me while I decide if I like it ! Or let me know what you think....

Creativity unleashed!

2010-06-17T12:03:00.000+10:00

I have never been a 'knitter'. Wool (or 'yarn' as I am learning to call it) and myself have never really been on speaking terms with each other, let alone being friends. Despite many efforts on my mothers part to teach me knitting, I just never 'got it'. Or I wasn't interested enough to persevere. I can do a basic plain stitch, so long as someone else casts on /casts off and if I drop a stitch I'm totally lost. :- /

But things are changing around here. Whether its moving to a new village where the population are wonderfully creative that has done it, I'm not sure, but something has ignited my creative spark once again.

I recently began sewing again at a sewing group, and have made bags with linings and a couple of pairs of school trousers - 2 things I just couldn't get my head around previously. I now know how to read a pattern (they really are written in English!) and next project on my table is a patchwork quilt.

But now...... the craft which has taken me truly by surprise - crochet!

I attended a couple of workshops recently which were provided by my children's school at our regular coffee morning, to learn beginners crochet. 'Why not?' I thought, after doing my half hour reading with the kindergarten class I was free those mornings. The teacher was a local woman who was very good at instructing total beginners (all of us!) and patient too. Although she did say that we would be crocheting beanies by our 2nd week, which I almost laughed out loud at! (beanies = woolly hats, for those non-aussies!)

But guess what? After learning a few different stitches (and unravelling a few test squares!) I was amazed to find that I actually can do it. And while an expert would find more than a couple of faults, I might even go so far to say I am pretty good at it! Well, its only my 2nd week and my first project.

So here is my beanie so far, in its raw state -

My first crochet!

The yarn is acrylic, (it was easier to buy at the time) although wool would be better. But I love the colour! I need to join the ends to make the back seam, and gather in the top to make it hat-shaped. Not entirely convinced it will look perfect but to be honest I am just amazed I have managed to do this far. (BTW- those plastic bread tie/ring things make great stitch savers!)

Meantime, I decided to revise my lessons and try some squares, commonly known as 'granny squares' (which to me is almost enough to put anyone under 60 off) but nonetheless onwards I went ...... I made these last night while half watching TV --

For these I am just using odd balls of wool and acrylic I picked up in vinnies, a big bag for a dollar - ideal for practising I thought. Although I am realising that lots of the balls (or is it skeins?) I have are just too fine and end up looking a bit spindly and straggly, (like the dark blue above). I definitely prefer the thicker yarn.

Wow, listen to me, talking like a real knitter! Or is crochet-er? Crochet-ist? Crochet-atier??? !!!!!

Next step is to get myself an aluminium hook and some proper wool. Not sure what I'll be making but I'm enjoying just creating for now.

Anyone else left in the world apart from myself who can't do these can find fabulous instructions with short videos at Meet Me At Mikes blog -(scroll down the right-hand side)
Pip shows step by step, very s-l-o-w-l-y so you can follow along in real time. It really helped me as I had forgotten how to get around a corner!

And since starting crochet (and consequently having my self-esteem boosted) I have even been thinking about trying knitting again. You know mam, I might even get that scarf going again- the one you started me on 5 years ago!

:-)

Muppets rock!

2010-06-16T11:53:00.002+10:00

I came across this at meet me at mikes and just had to share it....!

I remember the muppets and this song from my childhood, and I just love this video!

Fozzie bear, Animal and Beaker made me laugh, and remember the swedish chef and the 2 old guys?

The band kicks off at about 3 mins! Wait until the end for Miss Piggy... I couldn't see Kermit though?

Anyone else remember the names of this lot?

Alas poor Racey.....

2010-05-13T12:36:00.001+10:00

Sad, sad news ..... our lovely rooster Racey died on Sunday. He developed fowl pox, which is relatively common in chooks, and usually not fatal, but he went downhill very quickly and died after having it only a few days.

A young Racey before he grew in his beautiful long feathers

One of our hens, Lady, had it first, and had been sick for around 3 weeks. I actually thought she wouldn't survive the move from our old house up to their current residence at my friend's place, but she slowly improved and looks like she will be fine. I think she had a bad time of it as she was moulting at the same time, so she is looking a little rough and has lost a lot of weight.

Poor Racey though, we all loved him, he was such a beautiful wyandotte rooster, stunning to look at and very tame and friendly. I had hoped to breed him to the wyandotte girls and have some lovely chicks next season, but that was not meant to be. He was so ill that his eyes were swollen shut, so he wasn't moving around much or doing any normal behaviour. We tried to open his eyes but couldn't, to help him find food and water. He was managing to eat, but perhaps he wasn't drinking enough, or perhaps he was going to die anyway, we will never know.

A few days after hatching- check out the hairdo!

He looked after his girls well, finding them food when they were free-ranging and always keeping an eye on me when I picked the girls up! They were obviously loyal to him too, they were huddled around him when he died.

A sad end to an otherwise lovely Mothers Day. I was showered with cards and presents from my two littlies, including hand made photo frames they made at kindergarten, small gifts from the school fundraiser and even a collection of 'special rocks' from our garden LOL!! I am amazed they managed to keep it all secret! They were so lovely I was smiling all morning. Porridge and milo in bed, (in my new pj's and dressing gown!) bacon and eggs later, and some lovely treats from the local market. Yum!

We have all settled in to our new abode, it feels great to be living here. Moving was relatively painless, although we realised we have way too much 'stuff'. A big clear out ahead I think. We are all enjoying walking to school (most days when we are not in a mad rush!) while the weather is still above freezing.....!

Movin' on up ....

2010-04-25T09:38:00.000+10:00

Time for some changes ..... we have been so busy here lately I keep thinking of stuff I want to blog about but never have a chance :-(
I have been trying to keep our house in tip top condition, all spic and span for the inspections we have been having (not so easy during the school holidays with 2 mini-hurricanes charging around!) Luckily it has always looked tidy and clean, and we have had quite a few people through, but no buyers yet.

The good news however is that we have got ourselves a rental house to move into, I looked at a few and the only one that was suitable was in high demand! I had no idea it was so competitive, there are so many people out there going for each property. Of course that pushes the prices up as well as making it harder to get what you want. We weren't even that fussy really, just wanted a 2/3 bed house with heating (I can't believe some places don't have heating in the upper mountains ...brrrrrr!)

Anyway, we did get the one we applied for and I am so happy! I will be able to walk the kids to school instead of driving 96 km every day -hooray!

The main problem was having somewhere that has a fenced yard and will take a dog. The chooks would have been a much bigger problem, except that a lovely friend has offered to house them at her place for us while we rent. She has had chooks in the past and really enjoys them, although never had a rooster, so we are both hoping that won't be an issue with her neighbours. We still have to discuss who will be responsible for what, but they will be close by so I can visit and hopefully our shared-care arrangement will work out!

Hopefully we will be able to get a removalist to help us move in next weekend, (we have done it ourselves way too many times, its not worth the chiropractic bills, not to mention the damaged furniture!)

I will report back form our new surroundings when we get settled, no doubt there will be a few tales in between :-)

Chestnuts for breakfast...lunch....dinner....

2010-03-28T16:08:00.001+11:00

What a fabulous day out we had yesterday! A trip to Kookootonga Chestnut Farm in Mt Irvine organised by the blue mountains fruit and nut tree network made for a great family outing. The drive there is beautiful in itself, through the upper mountains villages, across the Darling Causeway, through Bell and Mt Wilson, which I think always looks gorgeous in Autumn.

One of the first trees

There were chestnuts aplenty, less trees than I imagined but far more nuts than I ever imagined could come from each tree! The owner took our small group up over the hill to his 'best' tree which was enough to keep us happily picking for an hour or so, each filling our buckets and still leaving some behind! It was so enjoyable gathering the nuts under the cool shade of the huge tree as it was unusually warm yesterday.

Tough gloves essential (oops and sensible footwear too!)

A trio of treasure inside the prickly casing

The farm also has a good supply of walnut trees, and although these aren't quite due for harvest yet, our children managed to find a 'secret' tree (much to their delight!) where they were the sole collectors of a good kilo of walnuts already fallen to the ground. Apart from the occasional running-off episodes, they really enjoyed the day too.

Miss 4 filling bucket no.1

Bucket no.2

I found discovering the chestnuts in the dewy grass and peeling them from their prickly covers really addictive (!) and therefore when it came to weighing and paying, we ended up buying far more than we needed, but it was well worth it for the experience.

This cheeky fellow joined us too

To wrap it up, the group had organised a roasting in the grounds near the farmhouse, and we all got to taste hot chestnuts roasted on the BBQ, which was a first for us.

Our nutty bounty at home!

Since returning yesterday we have tried them microwaved and oven baked, and I also picked up a range of recipe cards at the farm with lots of yummy ideas. Just as well - we have a LOT to use!

:-)

Suddenly...lots of news!

2010-03-26T13:16:00.000+11:00

Where is this year going? I keep thinking of blog posts, but somehow get swept up by events going on in my 'real' life and never get round to writing.... but so much is happening here in the world of mountain wildlife!

Firstly, our twins started school in February, a huge milestone for all of us! They are in kindergarten and settling in well, we are very proud of them. The only downside is that I have to drive 30 mins, 4 times a day to take them there/home and back/home. We decided to start them in school in the town we will be moving to, rather than where we are now, as this will be far less disruptive for them when we do move, having already settled into school and established some new friends. We were being optimistic that we WILL build this year and it WILL go according to plan!

Which leads nicely to our second big event-of-the-moment --- the builder we returned to late last year (after a year of owner-building-nothing-getting-done dramas) seems to be handling things well and getting things moving far faster that we did. Of course I still have moments of impatience when I would like things done TODAY (!) but at least things are progressing. The council application should be ready to submit in the next couple of weeks- waiting as I write- on a bushfire assessment. Our block is surrounded by, and covered in, natural bushland so this is a very important report which will determine what modifications we will have to incorporate into the house. We already have a good understanding and have budgeted for such things so hopefully there won't be any surprises.

However, because of my afore-mentioned impatience (LOL!) we have decided to sell up our home now, (news no. 3!) and rent further up the mountains while the building progresses. Hubby will be travelling further as he works down the mountains, but that would happen eventually anyway, and besides ---news no. 4!! -- we have bought a second car so he can do that! Its an older station wagon, cheap but hopefully reliable, and has heaps more room than our other car. The train he usually catches doesn't run from our new place, so this was going to happen sooner or later. But, the school run will be so much easier, we can be more part of our new community, and our children will be closer to their new friends. Me too, as I have met some lovely people through the school and made some new friends already!

So, our house is up for sale and the agent is confident it will go quickly. Hmmm.... now, where are we going to live??!!!

I have been searching for a rental in the upper mountains (news no.5!!) - they are quite rare - and the ones that do come up that look suitable/affordable are so far not allowing pets. Not good, as we have our lovely dog with us.
Oh, and did I mention the 5 fat hens and the rooster who does hilarious attempts now at crowing? Well, I didn't mention it to the agents that's for sure! I think the chooks might be taking up residence on our land with daily visits from me, it's hard enough finding a rental that will allow an outdoor dog!

News no.6 - we are selling our investment property at the moment as well, hopefully that should all go through next week, so its all contracts and paperwork here!

Between building, selling x 2 and house hunting, as well as driving 100km/day, you may have figured out why I have been missing lately.......

So much going on, fingers crosssed everything will soon fall into place and I will be able to exhale again!

:-)

No-knead bread tutorial - Rustic, crusty, tasty, yum!

2010-02-14T19:46:00.001+11:00

3 posts today- I think that's a record for me!

Inspired by Jacqui's post last week, I just had to give this a try. (Thanks Jacqui!)

Check out this youtube link to watch a how-to-make No Knead Bread.

Basically it is a simple flour/yeast/salt/water recipe, mixed up and left overnight (or at least 12 hours) and baked hotter than usual. The link will tell you more, but I also wanted to add a few hints and my own result.

It produces a fabulous ciabatta style loaf, and I am very proud of my first effort!

Yes, it is supposed to be cracked and rough!

I have baked bread before, both hand baking and using my bread machine (picked up on freecycle) but lately my machine-bread has been collapsing in the top (no reason) and my hand baking has always been a bit hit-and-miss. Edible, but not worth shouting about. Or blogging about. And while I find the whole process enjoyable, I rarely have the time to bake from scratch.

But THIS .... THIS I like. It has that real rustic home-baked look, a super-crusty crust and soft, holey middle. Perfect for drizzling olive oil on, or for jam to fall into those holes!

A few things I did that I think the youtube video may not explain -

I covered my mixture loosely with cling film and a tea-towel when it sat overnight (room temp)
I very lightly 'punched down' when shaping and flouring it
I let it sit for another half hour, didn't rise much then, but did HEAPS in the oven.
Then baked at 250c in a preheated pyrex casserole dish (lid on)

and don't be surprise if it doesn't look like usual bread dough when you first make it - it is really, really gooey!

My dough after overnight rise - looks like glue! Even after turning out, it was sticky and gloopy. Hmmm, I was worried....!

Looking better -shaped into a rough round and a generous dusting with wholemeal flour

Still hot in the dish -baked seam side up to get that cracked crust!

If you haven't baked bread before, give it a go - this is SO EASY ! Honestly, young kids can do the mixing (if you don't mind some serious mess!) First part takes less than 5 minutes, next day takes maybe another 5 mins, then into the oven. I am going to try to make one every weekend, evening prep for lunch the next day.

Beats supermarket bread anyday. You'll even have the local baker worried!

Wyandotte update!

2010-02-14T15:59:00.002+11:00

Feeling a bit chooky ..... feel the need to post some new pics ...... :-)

Wyandottes taking shelter from the rain last weekend on our back deck.

Check out Silvie the fluffball at the front! Not even laying yet but I'm sure she looks like she'd make a fine broody hen, all puffed up like that, I can just imagine her guarding her clutch of eggs...... !

Here she is again, just to prove she can walk upright, and is not infact, just a ball of feathers. And she does have a neck.

Perfect lacing, such a beauty. Looks very straight backed for a wyandotte on this photo, but she is actually curvier.

Wyandottes are "The Bird of Curves' according to poultry standards, and should be basically 'soccer ball' shaped, with their tails, legs and head outside the circle. Maybe she was practising in the first photo!

B.G. - the original gold chick, who then turned completely black, who then decided to grow some gold again. Reminds me of someone dyeing their hair, trying different colours to see what suits!

Mostly her lacing is quite 'peppery' in breeders terms, but her chest is lacing up lovely, and she is still molting and deciding just how much gold she would like.

And the natural blonde, like a true blonde is getting a little darker as she ages and also a sprinkle of grey LOL!

Lastly, here is Mr Handsome himself .... growing some beautiful gold hackle and saddle feathers, and his 'blue' in his blue-laced-gold is so truly blue. Legs so yellow you'd think I'd painted them (another Wyandotte standard) Hopefully the girls won't be able to resist his charms.....! And still not crowing - I can't believe my luck, though probably jinxed it now.

They are 17 weeks now, the girls looking much redder than they did even last week, in their combs and little wattles. Getting ready for laying.... a few weeks away maybe, but definitely getting ready.....!

Recent rains

2010-02-14T15:21:00.003+11:00

It is a little late, but I thought I'd post a few photos of our recent downpours .....

This is what happened to our backyard (and has again several times since this photo was taken) The photo doesn't show very well, but we had gushing surface water spilling down our backyard.

Although we do have a lot more grass than we did last year when the chooks made a moon-scape, we still had a huge amount of run-off and it all pooled when it reached the brick wall of our house .....

There is only so much water the earth can hold before it is totally saturated, then of course the rest gets washed down the slope as run-off.

Mother nature does not like patches of bare earth, and the recent rains have shown how much more destructive they can be without anything to slow the speeding water. Although we have a lot of tree canopy cover, we also have areas with nothing beneath the soil to drink up the water.

So now, where our grass was successfully growing back, it currently looks like this .... little tufts hanging on for life among the sandy, gravelly soil.

We were also affected, like many other mountain residents recently, by the landslides due to the rains, and the resulting road closures and train derailment. Fortunately no major problems from these, just inconvenience.

Still, on the upside, our local park, which usually has a trickling waterfall at the top, is now in full-flow and looks fabulous.

Australia Day - Mountain Wildlife style

2010-01-27T15:43:00.000+11:00

Since moving here 12 years ago, we have celebrated Australia Day every year with all the enthusiasm of new immigrants proud of their new home! Since we arrived in early January, 1998, yesterday was actually our 13th Australia Day.

We decided to stay local and have a pretty low-key day .... however, that doesn't mean quiet! We managed to see some live music, go to a lookout, drive up a mountain track, followed up with a cafe visit for scones and milkshakes all round, and finally time for a play in a park.

The Blue Mountains - with distant views of the famous 3 Sisters

And in true Mountain Wildlife style - we started and finished with some true-blue aussie wildlife.........

While we were getting into our car to start out, Miss 4 screamed out "Aarrgghhh!! Look - a big giant spider on the car!!!" And boy was she right - a huge huntsman spider had taken residence on the rim of the hatchback. (For those non-locals - a huntsman is a horrible hairy beast, complete with monster eyes and big boots. OK, maybe that last bit is my imagination) I don't normally advocate the destruction of any animals, but anything that comes into my car and threatens my family is fair game in my book. So hubby did a quick-flick-with-a-big-stick, and that was the last we saw of Hunty.

And at the other end of our day, we met another scary local (karma perhaps?) We were in a park in Medlow Bath, when Miss 4 tripped over a tree root and landed too close for comfort in front of a snake. Now apparently, these snakes are supposed to flee at noise and commotion, but this one was more than curious to see what was going on, and slithered on over. Luckily our daughter screamed "SNAKE!!" and hubby (hero again!) grabbed her up and moved away. Less than a minute later, we couldn't see the snake anywhere (not a good feeling) until hubby and Miss 4 came back to the car and snakey decided to make an appearance yet again, right in their path!

A quick detour and we were all out of harms way, but I couldn't resist getting a photo or two.... no, I'm not THAT stupid, I used the max zoom on the camera, I was actually a fair distance away!

It was obviously after some water, there was a tap and bubbler nearby and someone had left a dish of water underneath (for a dog maybe?)

Anyone wanting to ID this slithery creature for me is most welcome - I can only guess at a red-bellied black, even though it was more cream-bellied-grey! they can look like this too.

When we left it was sliding into the grass, happy with it's cool drink, and seemingly unaware of the effect it had on our heartbeats!

It was a good opportunity to have a talk with our kids again about safety and what to do when we see snakes.

Happy Australia Day everyone!

Bye Big Red, and other comings and goings.

2010-01-19T16:22:00.002+11:00

Big Red before he left home today!

Today we said goodbye to Big Red, one of our two Wyandotte roosters. He is such a lovely rooster it was sad to see him go, but on the upside -he hasn't gone very far away and he has gone to a good home.

Xena has taken him to live with her existing chooks and her stunning new Silver Laced wyandotte pullet. Big Red is the result of a Blue Laced Gold (BLG) rooster and a Silver Laced (SL) hen, so he could happily make beautiful chickies with either Silvers or Golds.

"You looking at me?"

It was a very difficult choice between the two roosters we have (which is why Big Red left today at 13 weeks old, not as a young chickie!) In the end it came down to which one was better suited to our wyandotte hens, and which one we were more attached to. We kept Racey, who was initially quite flighty but has since calmed down a lot, and he is very happy to sit and have cuddles! He seems very close to Blondie too, so it would have been mean to break up their little romance! I think he is going to be stunning too.

Racey the Blue Laced Gold Wyandotte Rooster

As a little parting gift, The Boys decided to have a last lie in the sun together, how funny do they look? They lay in the exact same position looking exactly the same way! And stayed like that long enough for me to get a few photos. Thanks boys!

I am just thankful he will have a new home as a breeding rooster, and not as chicken soup! :-O

Luckily for me (and him!) he turned out handsome and healthy! I hope he looks after your girls well Xena.

In other comings and goings, we said goodbye to some lovely friends last week who have headed out west for a new career and new life. At least we had a lovely morning with coffees and cake, for grown-ups and kids to say our goodbyes. And there are promises for cafe mornings mid-way between mountains and the west when school starts again.....!

We also had a lovely time on the weekend seeing Jacqui and Mick again (more coffees and cake involved- do you think this is a problem?!!) It is so good making new friends with similar interests, who- if it were not for the wonder of blogging- I would probably never have met, even though we live nearby. You made quite an impression on our kids too!

And hello to K&L ! more locals who have been reading my blog, and who appear to have been drawn into the wonderful world of chook-keeping and the wonder of wyandottes..... beware .... you will never have enough!

Our son feeding Big Red this morning

I smell Autumn.....!

2010-01-18T15:21:00.000+11:00

I know it is far too early, but I truly smell Autumn in the air today. Everything tells me it is already here today -the temperature has dropped, the wind is blustering and the sky is that super-intense blue with the sun blazing but the heat is just not quite reaching the earth. And mostly, I can smell the crispness in the air.

All of these are typical of our early Autumn weather here. Strange thing is, it is only mid January! Spring doesn't start officially here until March.

Yesterday we were slapping on the sunscreen and hats, today it was socks and hoodies just to play outside in the backyard! When I was younger, it could never be too hot for me, 40 was bliss. But now, by the end of summer I am pleased to see the back of the scorching heat and searing, bushfire-risk temperatures.

The highest temp this afternoon outside has been 21 degrees c, what a change from the high 30's of last week. Apparently they are on their way back later in the week, but hey, I've seen a glimpse and I'm telling you ...... Autumn will be here before we know it. I'm looking forward to it already!

2010- Oh what a start....!

2010-01-08T14:21:00.000+11:00

I've been out of blogland for so long it is getting a bit silly now.... I had intended on a short break over the Christmas hols, but with some lovely festive words to wish you all well and share the joy, however circumstances once again overwhelmed my intentions.

First let me be positive - We had a really lovely Christmas, a great day during which we opened some beautiful gifts, our children were excited and amazed and full of the joy that only children can bring to you on Christmas morning, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of cold meats/prawn and mango salad/other salad-y stuff (great food, but not too much that we regretted it!) and laughed a lot together as we tried to play on our new toy, a wii we received from my husbands parents. Really enjoyable.

Then ...... New Year's Eve.

It came with a bang, actually several bangs. Some moronic neighbours closeby thought the best way to see in a New Year is clearly with some explosive noises in their backyard. Not fireworks, just the ear-ringingly loud explosions. Clearly these must be people without children or animals, (and without any consideration for anyone elses). So our start to 2010 was divided between trying to comfort our dog, (who was shaking uncontrollably and so scared he didn't know where to hide), checking our sleeping children to make sure they weren't doing the same, and outside in the dark chook pen with a torch making sure that they hadn't all died with the shock (which apparently is more common than you'd think).

The following day at least we had some friends over for a coffee/ kids play/ wii time, which was heaps more fun than the previous night. We had planned a BBQ with more friends, but wet weather put the dampers on that.

Then it all went wrong.

I managed to get myself a hefty dose of food poisoning (my own fault- I left some fancy cheese out of the fridge too long, put it back in and had some the next day) Nothing like a dose of listeria to turn you inside out. I'll spare you the details, but I lost about 5kg overnight (which ironically WASN'T one of my resolutions this year). After the dehydration and meal-missing for 2 days, a migraine kicked in which lasted nearly 3 days. Could it get worse?
We all know when your immune system is down, colds come from nowhere to seek you out, and so it did.

So now I sit here, full of cold, worn out and red-nosed as Rudolph himself. All of this in the first week??? And let me tell you, the combination of 7 days of rain, being sick, and 2 children at home does not make for domestic bliss!

I had such high hopes for this year too. It is a year of big changes for us - our children start 'big' school (kindergarten!) and we are hoping to finally build our home and move in before the end of the year. (I'll do another post on that some other time, as that is a story in itself!)

Well, I am hoping that all my illness this past week is getting itself out of the way for the rest of the year so I can enjoy good health for the other 51 weeks!

Finally, I wish you all a belated happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, and hope 2010 brings all that you need!

:-)

Chicks, chooks and cock-a-doodle-doo's!

2009-12-20T22:43:00.004+11:00

Time for a well overdue chooky post ...... WARNING - this has turned out to be a LONG update!!!

Remember our little fluffy chickies last seen here and here - well they have grown unbelievably and are now 9 weeks old today! A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to post some photos and questions on Backyard Poultry, and had some great feedback on my flock of many colours.

The BEST NEWS is that 'Big Grey' (who Mick the breeder told us at day 1 was a cockeral because of his colour) is actually a female !!! Whoooo hooo! I have had a soft spot for Big Grey since day 1, and when we thought it was a 'he' it was tough as we had no silver girls to justify keeping 'him' for breeding. But Mick admitted he was wrong with that one - so now the chicky formerly known as Big Grey is ..... SILVIE ! (ok, maybe not that inventive for a Blue-laced Silver, but at least the name fits and it is girly!)
He also said she has incredible lacing for a young chick and will grow to be stunning! Well, we knew that already ;-)

'Silvie'

Speaking of name changes, the chick formerly known as 'Goldie' (because she had such a golden head) grew up to be almost totally black! My daughter thought of the name B.G. (kids cartoon character), which we thought fits perfectly, since she is actually a Blue-laced Gold! Her lacing is not quite correct, very thick for a wyandotte, which is why she is very dark with gold highlights, but we love her so much that doesn't bother us at all.

She is the most incredible chook I've ever known (ok, thats not that many, but still...) I swear she is like a pet cat or dog!!! She will come up to us straight away looking for a pat and loves sitting on my lap being stroked. Yesterday she even JUMPED ON MY BACK when I was bending down- honestly!!! She hopped right up to my shoulder! I was freaking out a bit, but she thought it was great!

Meet~ B.G. !

Blondie is still called Blondie (at my son's insistance!) She is beautiful, a Blue-laced Gold 'Sport' which basically means she is unusually light. White, pale grey and gold and beautiful lacing already. She hasn't changed her flightiness since she was a chick, I am sure she hatched thinking she was a budgie! If she doesn't settle down soon (whick she might as she is getting much bigger and heavier) we will probably have to clip her wings to stop her flying over the fence!

'Blondie'

So..... that's the hens.

Now, the 2 boys. Oh, yes, did I mention we have TWO roosters-in-training?!!

And here we hit a problem. We love them, really- they are gorgeous! When we didn't know what we would end up with, we were hoping to be able to keep one rooster so we can breed our own lines in the future (in our area the council allow roosters, but only if your neighbours don't complain). We even have someone wanting to buy a surplus rooster if we ended up with more than one (hi Xena!)

But how do we pick one to keep? They are very different, but both lovely, and its sooooo hard to let one go! I asked on BYP which would be the best for matching up with our girls, but apparently they are both winners!

We haven't renamed Big Red or Racey (even though Racey no longer has his racing stripes!) in a weak attempt to lessen the attachment..... yeah.

There is a glimpse of Big Red above with Blondie- a Blue-laced Silver with some mysterious red in there too. He has the most amazing colours and patterns -black, blue, white and deep reddish brown. Initially thought his colours made him no good for breeding, but it turns out he would be good for Gold-laced or Silver laced hens, (which we have both of) and he will produce an amazing array of coloured chicks. (This info from a breeder with a LOT of genetic knowledge!) Apart from that, he is the best natured cockeral I could imagine. He is very placid, happy to be stroked and I reckon really handsome too!

Big Red

The other cockeral is Racey, a Blue-laced Gold. He is the more obvious choice to keep because his colour and lacing are very good, much more typical wyandotte so may breed more true-to-type. The breeder I bought the eggs from reckons he will be excellent knowing his stock lines. He is a bit more flighty, way too heavy to fly anywhere but not so much into playing the pet and having strokes. Like Big Red, not aggressive, just a bit more nervous.

Racey

So, what to do......? Neither is crowing yet, so not sure which (if either) will be noisier. Neither is aggressive. Both fine for breeding.

We have thought (naively possibly) that we can keep them both..... but the problems with that may be -

1. We don't NEED 2 roosters (could be said we don't need one...)

2. The crowing may increase if they set each other off

3. Which may not go down well with neighbours! (or us)

4. Extra chook to feed who is not keeping themselves in egg production!

5. Aggression problems if they fight over position or over the hens (will be 2 roo's to 5 hens)

6 ..... Jacqui from lifeinthedome pointed out that the hens may well be exhausted from all the ...erm.... roosterly ..... attentions!!! Crikey I never even thought of that!

So for now, they are still together, with the occasional mild and gentlemanly hackle-raising and STARING contests (honestly, it is hilarious!) And while they are smaller, they are still being bossed around by the long-standing chooks Ruby and Lady ---

Who knew that we would end up here? Wondering how many we can keep? I didn't think I would even like roosters! Just over a year ago when we got our first chooks, I couldn't even hold them, I was terrified of them flapping! Seems hilarious now :-)

I can see why people end up with a crazy amount of chooks LOL! Especially raising them from chicks, they are so friendly and much more like pets, I love them! And I'm not the only one .... hubby wants to keep them all too, and of course our kids do too.....

Oh well, Christmas time is too busy be making such decisions.......!

:-)

PS - Just as an afterthought ---- it turns out that apart from being thrown off the scent with Big Grey/Silvie, my first instincts were right about all the other chicks' genders! And they say you can't tell with wyandottes until they start laying or crowing.... ;-)

Christmas crafting

2009-12-14T21:45:00.000+11:00

Here are just a few of the many things now adorning our home......!

Our children made these beautiful snowflakes at preschool. They were laminated and given pretty Christmas ribbons, and then given to us at the preschool party last weekend to take home.

Our advent calender with a difference ~ instead of taking gifts out of pockets, the idea is to add a gift to the tree each day. All the decorations are numbered up to 24, and a little piece of velcro makes it easy for little ones to attach them. I really liked the idea of giving to the tree, rather than getting a cheap chocolate or plastic toy. They are happy to takes turns each day too, and good at keeping track of whose day it is!

I bought the panel from ebay, added padding, bit of quiliting with spare fabric on the back, and then the kids and I got to work adding lots of glitter to 'highlight' toys and candles etc. Actually by the end, almost everything has glitter on it! The joys of being 4 :-)

I made this cushion from a panel I bought on ebay too. The photo doesn't show it well but I padded the front and quilted a little around the borders. I backed it with red corduroy and a matching strip across the back.

And these ones for the grown-ups.... I bought a huge panel with 2 cushion fronts and 3 stockings on it from.... yep, you guessed it -ebay! The whole panel only cost me $2 and I think the cushions have come out great! I backed them with some lovely upholstery fabric from my stash, one gold and one cream. I have never done anything padded like this before, so it was a great experiment. I kept it simple and just sewed around the borders and star lines to make it appear quilted. There are beautiful gold angels and words to carols around the centre, I love them.

Our home is becoming so colouful and Christmassy with kids decorations on the tree and on the walls and doors. Less than 2 weeks to go which is just as well, we are running out of room!

From the mouths of babes.....

2009-12-12T23:27:00.000+11:00

Whilst listening to 'Little Drummer Boy' on a Christmas CD ~ our daughter (4) singing along ....

"Come they told me
Barumpa-pum-pum...

.... me and my MUM. "

Priceless.

:-)

A serious health issue for our children

2009-11-26T14:46:00.001+11:00

I have been wondering whether to do this as a request and finally decided to take the responsibility as it is such an important issue.

Mountain locals may have seen in yesterday's BM Gazette a story about a couple of children suffering health problems due to the unflued gas heaters in Blackheath Public School. While the article outlined their personal story, I thought it was a real shame that they didn't mention the campaign that has been running for a while trying to raise awareness and gather signatures on their petition. http://www.cough.org.au/ (Campaign Opposing Unflued Gas Heating).

I am concerned personally because my children will be attending Blackheath school next year, however the reality is that many schools across the Blue Mts and NSW have unflued gas heaters which are posing a threat to our children's health. It is a particular problem to us as we have more cool days requiring heating than schools in many other areas.

There is a huge amount of evidence worldwide linking health problems with this type of heating- and it has been BANNED for many years in most other countries, and in every state of Australia except NSW. W.A recently ordered complete removal of all of these heaters from schools by Christmas this year - (ironically due to this NSW campaign) but yet our own schools still have them. (It is not a decision of each school, but of each State's Dept. Education and Training). There is a load of info on the COUGH website if you want to know more.

OK, I've stood on my soapbox long enough, thank you for reading this far!! Now some ACTION---

Whether this affects your children directly or you just care about other children- Please take 2 minutes to sign the online petiton here -- http://www.cough.org.au/

It is very easy - just your name and email and they send a confirmation email to make sure you are genuine. (And if you have more than one email address both parents can sign it) I'm not asking that you stand outside protesting with banners (!) just a quick online signature .... and if you know anyone else with young children- please feel free to pass this on.

We need to ensure all of our children are safe in their schools.

http://www.cough.org.au/

................................................................

Lost my mojo...

2009-11-24T13:53:00.000+11:00

LOST - One Blogging Mojo. Energy to get stuff done.

LAST SEEN - Looking very flat and tired, wandering aimlessly. Doing half jobs.

If anyone knows how I can find my mojo, or how to tempt it back I would be most appreciative of some advice.

REWARD? Well maybe I can finally write again (if I manage to get anything done worth writing about). Maybe even stick a few nice pics in there too.

My new (old) sewing table

2009-11-06T14:44:00.001+11:00

I've been meaning to blog this for over a week, but chicks seem to be dominating everything at the moment! I found this table by chance at an op shop last week, it was sitting outside, shouting out to me! Apparently it had just been donated, it certainly wasn't there the week before when I called in. At just $30 I bought it straight away, luckily hubby was with me to do the heavy lifting :-)

Its an old Janome table, same brand as my sewing machine, and its really sturdy! Lovely solid timber except for the veneer on the drawer fronts, with only a few marks on it, great condition for an old table I think.

The top has 2 hinged 'arms' which fold outward, really smoothly, 4 drawers and a little flip out bit at the front, maybe for pins etc? Strangely reminds me of the old school desks we used to use in England (minus the inkwells- yes, I really am that old!) I don't know how old it is, I'm thinking maybe 70's because of the veneer?
I emailed Janome asking for any info such as how I might be able to fit a new machine to it, but no replies :(
I do know that they don't even make tables now though.

Of course, these impulse buys are not always thought through perfectly .... mmmm.... I assumed I would be able to fit my machine in the space but unfortunately not.....

I think it would have once had it's own machine fitted, and thanks to some knowledgable folk over at ALS I am told there would have been 2 hinges at the back holding the machine in, and it would have folded down into the table. No way that can happen with my machine, firstly its the wrong size for the hole and secondly modern machines are way heavier than the old ones.

I am thinking maybe just filling the top in with a board so my machine can just sit on the top, that way I can still open the top parts up to spread fabric out etc. Or even easier, just stick it on the top like this !!

But still, I am very happy with it. I think it's a great old table and just what I need. Now, I just need to actually DO some sewing to justify my investment!

And then there were five .....

2009-11-04T22:35:00.001+11:00

We said goodbye to tiger and boss chick last night, it was very sad and a very unpleasant job but they weren't getting better and their hock joints were looking very painful and swollen. It would be more cruel to make them suffer, and they weren't happy, they were just existing.

The five survivors .....

"No, I will NOT smile for the camera. This IS my best side!"

.... and Blondie's new trick - she jumps up so easily onto the top of the water bottle to get a better view! She is the smallest of the lot and the others look at her like "how the ? did you get up there?" LOL!

"Oh, I just KNOW I can fly out of here - if only she would leave the lid open...."

Chicky Update

2009-11-02T22:58:00.001+11:00

Well, our little chickies were 2 weeks old yesterday, and I've had a few requests for an update- so here it is!

(I had intended to do an update earlier, but our household has all been hit by coughs, colds and horrible croaky throat germs for nearly a week now, hubby having a week off work and trying to make the most of it, having a crisis about the non-building situation (long story) and the usual chaos that is our daily lives here. And I still don't have my own voice back!)

Bad news first - 2 of them have developed a 'slipped tendon' in the hock joint, which basically is a dislocation in the main leg joint. This is a fairly common event in young chicks (particularly wyandottes I recently found out) and although there is some disagreement amongst the experts about how it is caused the outcome is the same. It is not able to be fixed and the long term prospects are not good. Most breeders or experienced chook keepers will cull the chicks as soon as this happens.

Of course, we are having a hard time dealing with this. The two chicks I am sure are both hens which makes it worse as we would have kept them.

The first to have the leg problem was 'tiger' - our daughters favourite. She has the most beautiful feather patterning, all stripes and gorgeous colours, really stood out from the others. She has adapted a little bit by hopping around but often loses balance.

The second one was 'boss chick' the first born who helped all the others out of their shells and has a beautiful nature, and after the first few days I started to realise she was much more of a mother hen than a rooster.

We still have them, but probably not for long. As they grow it will be more difficult for them to have normal chooky behaviours such as scratching the dirt and foraging for food, perching to sleep and making themselves dust baths etc. Already they are last to get to the feed and sometimes get pushed out. I am trying to see that it is more cruel to keep them than to let them live but it is so hard!

So, of the 5 remaining I am convinced 3 are roosters now.

Big Grey has been confirmed by the breeder as a cockeral due to his colouring (they way his breeding program went he can tell this for this chick only) He is a gorgeous fluffy silver chick, very gentle for a cockeral.

Big Red - I am sure is a cockeral too, he stands so tall, wide comb, very confident and bigger than the girls.

And Racer Boy- the most aggressive by far, likes to pick a fight with Big Red and let everyone know he is the top of the pecking order- literally.

BTW- they still don't have real names - I thought that would be be good so we wouldn't get really attached to them yet. That idea didn't work :)

Little Blondie (my sons fave) is so cute - the breeder thinks she is a pullet (young hen) and I am sure she is a female too. Silvery blonde and has tiny gold bits coming through on her wings, she will be a beauty. Apparently she is a Blue Laced Gold 'Sport'- a much lighter than usual colouring.

Goldie - hmm, not sure about this one. I'm thinking hen, I'm hoping hen, but not 100% sure. Comb is narrower than the boys. Size between hens and roos. Lovely chick all the same.

So we may end up with 2 good hens and hopefully keep 1 of the roosters too (I have a soft spot for Big Grey already!)

They are all showing off big wing feathers now and some are starting to show their shoulder feathers and spiky tail feathers coming through.

And they can fly. Did you know chickens fly? Oh yes, they can definitely fly. Blondie especially is a flightly little thing, leave the smallest gap in the brooder lid and she'll have a go. It's like having budgies! Ok they don't get very far, but they are quick. I'm hoping this will lessen when they get bigger and heavier....

They moved into their spacious new residence yesterday- Jacqui's rabbit hutch! Still indoors for a few weeks yet, and still with an infra-red heat lamp on at nights, and days when it is cool.

Hopefully will post another update when they are a month old. :-)

Happy Birthday Mountain Wildlife!

2009-10-29T21:56:00.000+11:00

It has snuck up on me! My Mountain Wildlife blog was officially 1 year old today :)

I can hardly believe it's true - this past year has flown since I made my very first entry HERE. I did remember sometime last month that this anniversary was coming up - and of course I planned to do something special.... but .... well, it kind of slipped away and now it's here and I have nothing special for you! :-o

I am pleased that I have managed to keep it going though, as blogging this time last year seemed like a very mysterious kind of process, and I wasn't sure if anyone would even be interested in reading my ramblings! But here we are, and I have certainly had some readers.....

I have a stat-counter at the bottom of my blog which I can log into for lots of nerdy info- nothing personal of course but they do tell me for instance which countries my visitors have logged in from, and how many new and return visitors I have had.

At the time of writing- I have had 3,935 visitors in 12 months which truly amazes me! Over half of my visitors are 'return' visitors, which I guess means you have liked what you've seen and want to come again, and over half of those return visitors have been here more than 10 times.

And you have visited from Australia, UK, (not so surprising as my family are there) but also from Portugal, New Zealand, all over USA, Canada, Thailand and the most surprising - a handful of visitors from South Africa including Sudan! WHO ARE YOU?? !!! Pardon my ignorance, but I wasn't even aware there were many computers in the Sudan!

It is really interesting to know these stats, but I would truly love if more visitors would leave a comment when they visit my blog.
I do have 18 'followers' at the moment, (only 2 of whom I have met in real life!) who are more regular readers and some of whom do comment. I really appreciate your comments and input, it makes blogging a little less 'one-sided' as fellow bloggers will know!

I've found some great blogs through the year too, I really enjoy reading others efforts and experiences of gardening, chooky exploits, sewing, baking, thrift shopping, building, green living and generally trying to make their own part of the world a better place.

So here's to the first year, and apolgies for the lack of party-ness! Maybe I'll be more organised for the 2nd birthday..... :-)

Mamma Mia! - It's some real Mountain Wildlife!

2009-10-25T19:32:00.001+11:00

The past couple of days I have noticed a couple of areas in the back garden have been mysteriously overturned ... too small an area for our dog to be the culprit, and our 2 chooks haven't been out of their fenced off corner. So we thought maybe a possum....?

But today our cheeky visitor showed his face - and his HUGE body !!!

brush turkey

He was running around our garden like he owned the place, then after a quick chase from our dog (with some panic on my part!) it jumped up onto our fence. Initially we thought it was a lyrebird while it was racing around, but once it settled we could see it was very different. (BTW- I know its a 'he' from the colouring- yep, we are nerdy enough to own a field guide to birds!)

As far as I know, brush turkeys are not usually found around our area. They are more common further north right up the eastern coast of NSW and Qld in warmer coastal-bush areas. I've certainly never seen one in the 10 years we have been living in the mountains.

Anway, he was helpful enough to stay perched on the fence long enough for me to get a few photos, then he hopped off into next door's garden and away. He had obviously been here before and was not at all bothered by us. I also realised later that our dog obviously hasn't been too bothered about the turkey's presence either (until we got all excited -oops!)

Despite their tendancy towards destruction, it was really good to see a brush turkey in the garden! (I am sure those who have them all the time will definitely disagree!)

In other news ....... on Friday night I went to Star City with a couple of friends to see Mamma-Mia- the musical, on its opening night. What a fantastic show! I am still smiling :)
It was a great night out, with a quick dinner before the show and then almost 2 and a half hours of amazing performances.

The cast were brilliant, very, very funny! Lots of dancing and of course - loads of Abba songs woven into the story, which was done really well.

If you liked Abba even a little bit- you will love this show! And I defy anyone to not at least do a little jiggling in their seats, if not a full-on dance in the aisle!

My Abba Gold CD had a dusting off and been played today, and my kids were dancing their little legs away, arms waving and bums wiggling! (I don't know where they learnt to dance like THAT! lol!)

The show started on Friday and will be touring Australia for almost a year, and in Sydney until next Feb. Get some girlfriends together and go see it - release that inner-Dancing Queen !!

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheeps!

2009-10-19T20:49:00.001+11:00

OK, get ready for the cutest fluffballs you've ever seen!

lunchtime in the brooder box

Finally yesterday (on day 22- 1 day late!) we hatched 7 out of our 8 chicky eggs. It was so exciting! The first one was out by the time we got up (at 6am :-o ) lying in the incubator ... I was worried for a second but when I shone a torch in it jumped up so quick and ran around chirping madly .... and then hardly stopped for the next 12 hours !!

pair of fluffballs

The next 6 we all had the amazing privilege of watching them hatch - it was really fantastic. After waiting all day Saturday with nothing happening (very frustrating!) at last we had our little chicks.
The 8th egg is still in the incubator, however its unlikely to hatch now, it was the only one that didn't 'pip' (start knocking a hole in the shell) and no chirpy noises from inside. I'll leave it until tomorrow.

After fluffing up and drying out, we moved them to their new residence- the Brooder Box. Ours is a very low-tech cardboard box, although it is prettied up with coloured paper around the outside. Newspaper and 50mm wood shavings in the bottom, then some non-slip matting on the top, (for the first couple of days while they find their feet, avoids leg problems later).

Heating is provided by a heat lamp very kindly loaned to me by the wonderful Jacqui from Life in the Dome blog, who lives nearby and helped me out immensely with some chicky things (I think I may have found a kindred chicky spirit LOL!) While I am giving out honourable mentions (!) Big thanks and a virtual bouquet to Chris from Bushlandproject blog for giving me lots of info and tips and whose emails calmed me down! You are wonderful women! I also got heaps of help and info from Backyard poultry - how amazing technology is that we can share so much information at the press of a few buttons!

Now, here is the ID parade! I don't know at this stage whether they are male or female, though I have my suspicions so I will share them here and you can come back later and see how right or wrong I am!!

So here is the line-up.... they are all Wyandottes, a mix of gold, silvers, blue-golds and blue silvers!

First to hatch- The Boss. Not sure if its a rooster (I suspect so!) or a future mother-hen but this is one lively chicky. After hatching ran around constantly helping the others out of their shells, pecking anyone who dared lie down for a rest (although this is apparently good to keep them moving after hatching) and once in the brooder box -even taking food to the other chicks who hadn't found it yet. Amazing behaviour!

Second out is this blue/grey beauty (I'm suspecting roo as well!) The fluffiest thing on legs. Actually its legs were a little weak for a while, but it is good now. Helped by The Boss to get to its feet.

Boss look-alike. Strange how similar they look as one came out of a Silver-Laced egg, the other out of Blue-Laced-Gold egg! It decided to sit nicely for its photo :)

This little one has the most stunning stripes and dots on her head - so pretty she just has to be a girl !!

This is my one Gold Laced Wyandotte, the photo doesn't show it but she is gorgeously reddish brown with stripes through her back. Another girl I think - look at that beautiful face!

This cutie having a bad hair day has a racing stripe down its back (boy racer with hair gel?)

And lastly, little Blondie - she is so cute! Very light with almost yellow underneath and wings.

We are all so in love with them, I'd love to keep them all! (not likely unless there is only 1 rooster) It has been an amazing project to incubate them and fantastic for the kids to watch.

So cuddly :)

Day 14- 8 out of 12 going well

2009-10-10T22:25:00.000+11:00

I had meant to blog earlier about candling our eggs ... however as often happens life seems to have got in the way (and loss of it, poor Emily.) Thanks to all for the lovely comments BTW on my last post.

It's not as if we weren't candling, in fact I was so impatient there was no way I could wait a week so we had a look on day 4! and day 6 .... and day 8 ... and day 12.... and tonight -day 14 ! Apparently it doesn't harm the eggs, they don't spend long enough out of the incubator to lose heat so lots of people (impatient ones like me!) candle them often as the development is pretty amazing.

There is a lot of info on the internet about candling, so I won't go into it too much here, but basically it involves shining a light through the egg to see whats going on inside. It needs to be done in a fairly dark room, with a torch or lamp that can concentrate the light through the egg -not around it. We used a normal torch and it worked fine.

Unfortunately I haven't got any photos as they wouldn't work well, but even at day 4 we could see a dark mass inside (on non-fertile eggs there is just light). We could even see the eye which is one of the first things to develop. At day 4, it seemed there was maybe 10 out of the 12 developing, though some were more obvious than others. From day 6 onwards, there has been 8 developing out of the 12, which is a pretty good rate. Wyandottes are rose-combed which lowers the fertility rate (strange but true) so I wasn't expecting all of them to work, but hopefully these 8 will make it to the end.

Tonight (day 14) there is not much left to see. The chick has grown into most of the egg, so its very dark, with just a small space left to grow into, and the bigger end of the egg has an air sac which lights up really well.

As I mentioned in my original post I have mix of silver-laced (3 left), gold-laced (1 left) and blue-laced-golds (4 left). BLG parents have chicks of BLG's, gold laced, and splash (which is gold/white with blue) so I'm very interested in what is going to come out!

There is still another week to go, fingers crossed that the remaining 8 will all make their way out of those shells, and that they will all be hens!

RIP Emily

2009-10-07T20:49:00.001+11:00

Our beautiful Emily

Our lovely Australorp Emily, my most favourite chook, died today.

Our dog managed to dig out the bottom of the fence to their chook pen, and pushed open a gap for them to come out and play. Of course, his idea of play is not the same as theirs.

I came home and heard the unmistakable awful noise of a very scared chook, and missed her by a second. I actually saw her still alive and picked her up, but only for the last seconds, and then it was too late.

Our children didn't see it happen but there was no getting away from it- I had to explain. I really didn't want to have a talk about life and death to them at 4 years old. They are both very sad about Emily but seem to be accepting and understanding it.

She was the best of the 3 chooks we have left, a beautiful animal, gorgeous peacock green sheen to her black feathers, and lovely temperament. She was the best layer too, eggs almost every day (unlike the two remaining who give us 2 or 3 eggs a week). We would have had her a year next week.

Emily was always our favourite, we are all upset and will miss her. Gone but not forgotten.

Sleep peacefully little chooky.

It's waratah time

2009-10-05T23:16:00.001+11:00

Todays rain on one of our waratahs

It was a public holiday here today, and we spent some of it up in Blackheath at our land - the land we bought over a year ago now to build our dream home on. I haven't blogged much about this at all, partly because I want to keep it as a private place for now, and partly because not a lot has happened on the building front.

We go up there a lot because it is such a lovely place, a big quiet bush block with hidden tracks and mountain views, full of beautiful native flowers and trees, and various wildlife including lyrebirds (although there were a lot more around last year compared to this year).

Today though, we were thrilled to find some of our many waratahs were flowering- they are my favourite flower, so spectacular in the bushland against the green gums and the huge blackened tree trunks (the big fires went through our land a few years back) There was also a light rain when we were there, not enough to spoil anything, but enough to add interest......

So of course, we took some photos.....

I love the way the bracts on this one seem to swirl around the centre -

And this one with it's dancing flames

And finally I'll leave you with this macro-shot (courtesy of my husband!) Amazingly on our big photo, we can even see him INSIDE THE RAINDROP taking the photo- so cool !!!

How beautiful are they with the raindrops on them? I'm always amazed to see them growing in the most rugged landscapes.

(PS- the waratah I have as my blog-photo was our one and only flowering one this time last year!)

September's sewing

2009-10-02T16:04:00.002+10:00

Time for a sewing update I think... here are a few things I made last month.

A couple more aprons for 2 little boys (brothers so I made matching but different trim) ....

A new bag for myself - smaller than a tote bag but like a large handbag/shoulderbag. It's the first bag I've ever made and just made it up and figured it our as I went along. I put a little pocket inside for my phone, and that used up every scrap of this fabric- perfect!

The fabric is a lovely thick and strong woven cotten, from my little stash I received from freecycle a while back.

I am really happy with it, fits all my bits and pieces as well as snacks or drink bottles for the kids in it.

Total cost- nil (except time and brain-strain!)

Feeling so pleased about making my everyday bag, I made a shopper/tote bag the following week, which was very easy in comparison!

The fabric is actually a lovely old pillowcase I picked up in Vinnies (charity shop) for 50c. I have bought a few different ones for various projects, no-one seems to buy them (maybe don't like second hand bed linen?) but all you need is to think outside the square ...." now, what else could I make this into?" !!!

I cut open the flap and then sewed it to the open end, then folded it in on itself to become self-lining. This also makes it stronger as the cotton isn't very thick. I 'boxed' the corners so its wider at the bottom rather than 2 flat sides. No pocket in this one, and the handles are just unbleached calico from my stash.

I just love the fabric, I thought it was very Spring! Have used this one heaps already too.

Total cost - 50c.

I didn't get as many projects done as I would have liked this month, what with other less interesting things to do (general life stuff!), trying to get on top of building plans so we can get them into council (still working on them-groan), learning about incubating eggs, a boomerang-migraine that just kept coming back every few days, and then sick kids this week :(

Anyway, I'm happy with the few things I did make. And my pile of 'waiting to be mended/ altered/ created' pile sits happily waiting......

:-)

Chocolate challenge- the end.

2009-09-30T15:18:00.001+10:00

Well it has been a whole month since this challenge started - to eat only fair trade /slave labour free chocolate.

I have been a bit slack on reporting my progress, I did a week 1 update then seem to have lost the other weeks....! It wasn't because I had given up, only that lots of other things have been going here.

I have just read Dixiebelle's final report on her blog, and agree with her that some of the challenge was easy, but some a little tricky.

In my week 1 update I said that the things which caught me off-guard was the 'hidden' chocolate things like my morning milo drink, or having drinking chocolate shaken on top of my cappucino. I realised in that first week just how many products have chocolate in them that I might not otherwise think about. And the rest of the month continued pretty much the same ......

I had no problem sourcing fair trade chocolate bars (available in our local supermarket and also a fair trade stall at our local monthly market) although I have only tried one brand- cocolo. I am more than happy with that but will try some others when I find them.

Biscuits were never a problem as I've been making my own for a year now, since I decided to no longer buy commercial ones, so I know exactly what goes into them. I have made cakes (also only make my own) but only non-chocolate ones this month.

So that bit wasn't too difficult.

Now for the confessions......

I have still had a few milo drinks, and still giving it to my children when they want it (how do explain to 4 year olds they can't have milo in case it has slave-sourced cocoa in it?) I'm honestly not sure how we change this one.

I have used normal drinking chocolate on my coffees, because I had it anyway, but will buy some fair trade when it runs out rather than continue buying it. Same with cocoa- I have a box still in the cupboard as I rarely use it, only for cooking. I can buy fair trade cocoa in a nearby co-op so will replace it with that.

And when a friend came round for coffee and brought some fantastic choc-mud cake she had made .... well I have to say it was the best ever mud cake. Hands up, I weakened on that day.

So I'd love to say it was all perfect and easy and I didn't slip up, but I suppose that's what a challenge is.

It has made me more aware of where another product is coming from and the issues around it. It has made me (and my husband) more concious shoppers. And finally it has converted me to fair-trade chocolate bars, which is the major source of chocolate in our home, so we have changed our buying habits again and I'm happy about that.

A final thanks to everyone else who took the challenge, and to Dixiebelle for starting it!

:)

Wyandotte Eggs are in the 'Bator!

2009-09-26T19:17:00.000+10:00

Well, now we've gone and done it !

12 little eggs heating up as I write! Here they are carefully arranged before the lid went on.....

The eggs are marked with the hen colour (keep reading for our choices!) and I have marked a 'o' and 'x' on each side for turning purposes.

I bought a Hexabator unit last weekend online after reading a lot of reviews and research done by lots of people more experienced than I am! It ticked all the boxes for our needs. I only wanted an entry-level unit as I'm not sure how often we will use it, and while there are others on the market that are huge or have extra features, the cost was way beyond what we were prepared to pay.

It can hold up to 60 hens eggs, has fan heating, clear top viewing window and digital thermometer. Its also made of plastic which is so much easier to clean after hatching than the other lower priced models made of polystyrene.
I bought it from Planet Poultry, with registered postage cost $230 all up. So far I am really happy with it, so easy to use, the temp is stable, very quiet - no worries.

Chris from Bushland Project had used hers succesfully before I bought mine - see her more detailed review here.

We drove down to Penrith today to meet a Wyandotte breeder named Mick, a great bloke who was very helpful. We even got to see his chicks at around 8 weeks old so we could see what they might look like as they get older. He breeds a huge range of Wyandottes including the popular Silver-laced and Gold-laced, as well as more unusual Blue Laced Golds, Blue laced Silvers, Buff laced, ... and more!

We ended up getting a pick'n'mix! We bought 4 x silver laced, 2 x gold laced and 6 xBlue laced golds- the offspring from BLG's produce a range of the ones mentioned above so we should have a colourful flock!

So now we just play the waiting game for 21 days until they hatch......

All I need to do meanwhile is turn the eggs twice daily, top up the water reservoir if needed (for humidity) and we can 'candle' the eggs in about a week to see if they are all fertile. I will do another post on candling later with the results - cross your fingers for us!

Sowing & Growing List

2009-09-22T23:51:00.000+10:00

I've been meaning for a while to make a list of all the food plants we have on the go, including those currently in our 2 patches or in pots as well as seeds I have sown.

I have just finished the list and put on as a side 'widget' to the right ... ---> you can find it under my 'followers'.

I am amazed there are over 40 foods on there- particularly as it seems we have hardly anything to harvest! There might even be more as I'm going from memory (it's nearly midnight!) and previous blog posts.You would think from reading it that we were fully self-sufficient, but actually far from it.

The reason is that a lot of the foods are at different stages - things like the herbs are almost always growing and really hardy. However others like potatoes, leeks and garlic have been in for a while but won't be ready for a couple of months yet, and a lot of the others I sowed the seeds recently so are either seedling stage (no food!) or yet to germinate (no food!) Also some need a lot of time and patience, like the hazelnut trees which are just showing their first leaves of Spring, or the Cherimoya fruit seeds that I just started today. Both of those won't produce anything edible for a couple of years. Hmmm... long wait.......!

The bean seeds and some mesclun salad leaves have germinated, and both produced really well last year, lasting us for months.

Until then .... well we are going pretty well in eggs with 12 a week average, and have lots of parsley, (my seed saving from January worked!) so scrambled eggs with parsley is a popular option!

:-)

Stocking up on market goodies!

2009-09-20T21:24:00.002+10:00

How's this for a burst of Spring colour? I don't usually go for these kind of potted annual flowers, but these were just so cheery!
We went out to the local market today, and it was brilliant. I usually enjoy the markets anyway, but this month there seemed to be so much more 'good stuff' (and less scandalously priced rubbish!)

I filled the tray above with 15 decent size pots - for $22, which I think is a bargain! I could have had any combo of veggies/herbs/flowers. This was my choice today:-

2 hot chillies
2 Black Russian tomatoes
2 curly parsley
1 lemon basil
1 pot of celery (about 10 plants in it!)
and 6 lovely flowering annuals.

(I don't even know what flowers they are, I let our children just pick what they wanted!)

I thought the flowers can go somewhere in the centre of the back garden, so we can see the lovely colour from our lounge room doors, and they will be near to our second patch, so hopefully attract some bees.

Also at the market today - a new stall which sells vegetable seeds from the local seedsavers and small amounts of herbs/plants/veggies that local growers have excess of. It is such a great idea, I hope it takes off. I bought 5 packets of seeds from there, at only $1 each !!!
Ruby Chard, rocket, New Zealand spinach, curly kale and marigolds (for beneficial insects) are now added to my ever growing seed collection, but not for too long - they will be potted /planted this week. There is info on every packet including the harvest date and where it was grown. Brilliant!
I also bought some beautiful lemons there, and bay leaves (can you believe just 10c a sprig?) so I was very happy with my purchases.

I also picked up a handful of seeds yesterday from a Cherimoya, which is a kind of cool-climate custard apple. Never had one, but apparently it is the fruit of the Gods, a mix of beautiful fruit flavours! I guess it tastes better than it looks ....... !

I got them when went to a talk given by the Cooerwull Plantsmen from Lithgow, about growing fruit and nut trees in the Blue Mountains. It was a great morning, loads of info & tips, nice friendly crowd of about 20 people, and it was in the community gardens in Katoomba which I hadn't been to before, so it was really interesting to have a look around there too. Oh, yes, and of course I got the Cherimoya seeds from a generous man who had brought a bag to share around!

Speaking of nut trees (and yesterday we did!) our hazelnut trees are starting to wake up from their winter sleep. The buds are bursting open with beautiful tiny green leaves, looks lovely. It was good to see some mature hazelnut trees at the community gardens, to get an idea of what our will look like in around 5 years. For now they are in large pots until we build and move, but I was told that they will be fine like that, even for a couple of years.

So lots of planting and seed-germinating ahead for me this week, although I never feel like its a chore, I really love getting outside into the garden and having lots of plants at various stages of growth. Hopefully we will have lots of edibles soon!

:-)

Spring means ..... chicky time!

2009-09-18T15:02:00.001+10:00

I'm so excited! We are going to get some eggs for hatching! Woo hoo!

We have decided (well, ok, it was mostly me) that it would be a great idea to try hatching some chicks. We can add to our chooky flock, try a different breed and it should provide a bit of fun for us and the children too.

When we started off keeping chooks last year we played safe and bought some mixed point-of-lays (POL's) from a local produce store. That was fine, but now its time to step up a little!

I have always loved Wyandottes (well, since last year anyway!) they are such beautiful birds and their temperament makes them an ideal backyard pet and a good layer.
For the non-chooky readers out there (!) there are a lot of different colours and patterns, check out THIS LINK from Backyard Poultry for heaps of info and pics.

We will be buying a dozen eggs from a breeder who is fairly local, and although he does breed some amazing and rare colours I think I will go for Silver Laced and Gold Laced. (well, for now- ssshhh.... !!!) They are amazing looking chooks!
BTW- a dozen eggs doesn't mean we will get a dozen hens - some may not hatch and some that do will be roosters. (Don't ask what happens to roosters, we will cross that bridge later......)

We also need to buy an incubator to hatch them.
*Unless any of you local chooky gals have an incubator gathering dust you could loan out?*
The alternative is to use a broody chook (none of ours broody at the moment) but also we don't have the space to keep a broody and eggs separate before they hatch and while they are small. Besides, the idea of keeping them inside and watching them hatch is half the fun!

I am blaming Chris at Bushland Project for this latest interest! Click on the link to check out those cutie chicks and her progress of hatching them. How could I resist :-) And many thanks to her for doing loads of research on incubators!

Hopefully we will have our incubator next week and wyandotte eggs soon after- and of course I will keep you up to date with progress ......

:-)

Costa's Garden Odyssey

2009-09-11T14:28:00.001+10:00

How great is this new show? I love it! And how wacky is Costa? He is like a hippy Steve Irwin of the gardening world, all animated and arms flying!

I watched the third episode last night and it was so full of interesting and useful bits and pieces. I loved the permablitz idea, where groups of volunteers work to transform someone's garden, and in exchange they learn whatever skills they are interested in by hands-on work and in workshops. It reminded me a bit of the native gardening course I did last year, there was a lot of weeding, planting and mulching! but I learnt a lot both in the classroom and outside.

I think it beats the other 'lifestyle' shows on tv hands-down (Better Homes than mine etc) there is a lot less fluffing around sticking lace onto plantpots (or whatever!) and a lot more gritty, useful permaculture-based ideas.

Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, despair no longer! You can watch them online and get all the info HERE on Costa's website.

I'm looking forward to episode 10 at the end of next month, he has done a segment from right here in the Blue Mountains!

Costa's Garden Odyssey - SBS Thursday nights 8pm

All is Good in the Garden

2009-09-10T21:43:00.003+10:00

Today was one of those days I walked around the back yard and thought "yeah, actually things are going pretty well". The sun was shining and things are growing again.

The seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago here are coming up great - all 4 types of beans, 2 types of tomatoes, beetroot, vegetable spaghetti, basil and peppermint. Even one of the watermelon seeds is peeping out early.

The potatoes are showing through the mulch in my trial-spud-sacks .......

And the second 'patch' we started a couple of weeks ago in our bare centre of the garden is looking ok, instant green at the front with lots of herbs that were outgrowing their pots, and a few new ones I bought from the Gardening Australia expo including this Chocolate Mint .....

I don't know what I will use it for, but doesn't it sounds great? And it smells exactly like one of those after-dinner mints!

I also put in 2 rows of mixed lettuce and a row of parsley from my saved seed. Parsley is slow to germinate, but hopefully there will be a mass of green by the summer!

And these new plants in our old patch - some rhubarb kindly given by a lovely friend who was moving house, they have settled in nicely and I made rhubarb muffins the same day I planted them in! I'll give them a rest now to grow a bit before harvesting again.

We planted this beautiful wax flower years ago as a tiny plant, its now taller than me and about 2 metres across, and fills the garden with a lovely scent. Luckily for us, it is one of those plants that thrives on neglect! It is an aussie native and has never been watered other than the rainfall we get. So pretty.

Even the chooks are happy ..... although their needs are few .....warm safe house, bit of space and exercise, food and water ..... and they are giving us around 12 eggs a week between the 3 of them (although one is laying as much as the other two!) They didn't even stop laying all through the winter which most chooks do. They are such great pets.

All was good today in the garden of Mountain Wildlife...... :-)

Chocolate Challenge- week 1 update!

2009-09-07T12:11:00.000+10:00

Well, further to the challenge of only eating fair-trade chocolate for a month .... I have a few things to report!

I was pretty confident the actual chocolate wouldn't be an issue as I was prepared and armed with some good bars of Cocolo (!) and I was right, that wasn't a problem at all. Yes, I managed to eat both the milk and the dark orange chocolate perfectly fine LOL!

HOWEVER, there were a few little 'issues' I hadn't actually thought about......

For instance, the very first day, the first thing to pass my lips in the morning (as every morning) was my usual cup of milo. DOH! I didn't even realise until later in the day, then it dawned on me that of course milo has cocoa in it. Oh, dear - fell at the first post. Well never mind, I thought, at least my mind now connected it.

Which then made me realise, of course Cadburys drinking chocolate is off the menu. Not that I drink it (or very rarely) but I do treat myself to one really good cup of coffee a day (with this coffee machine I bought with Xmas money) and whats a cappucino without a dusting of choc on top? I have little salt and pepper shakers on top of my machine, filled with drinking chocolate and cinnamon, just for my coffees. Indulgent? Yep, maybe, but thats my daily treat to myself. So, now its a coffee, but hold off on the chocolate dusting.

My third issue of the week happened when I took my children to playgroup, and had to pass on the fine looking homemade slice with my tea, because it had chocolate in it. OK, my will to succeed wavered a little then. Luckily I wasn't alone, Xena who is taking the challenge too, also passed on the cake and we had a good discussion amongst the mums that day. Talking about important issues -not a bad thing I think.

And my last test for the week was yesterday, at a friend's son's birthday party. We had a lovely time down at Wascoe Siding, with loads of miniature steam trains keeping everyone happy. I watched anxiously as she cut the cake ..... yes, of course, chocolate. Luckily my lovely friend knows about my chocolate challenge, although I still felt a bit bad not having a piece of birthday cake. I had made a lemon and coconut cake so joined in with that instead.

Am I being too strict? Maybe, but -its difficult to justify the indulgences if people have to suffer so I can have sprinkly chocolate on my coffee. When I think about it that way it seems ridiculous to complain about it.

So onto week 2 a little wiser! The fact that I have become more aware already is good enough reason to keep on with this.

By the way, I haven't thrown any other chocolate products out. My cupboard still has the drinking chocolate, milo and choc chips in it. I am not sure yet, but I think I will use them up once the challenge is over and then replace them with fair trade products. My reasoning is firstly that they have already been bought, throwing them out would be wasteful (which I am really against) but also it seems worse, even insulting, if someone has suffered in the making of these for me to buy them and then throw them in the bin without even using them.
Any thoughts?

Oh, and I have to give a big, very honourable mention to my amazing mother, who stunned me this week by casually revealing that she ALWAYS buys fair trade chocolate and herbal tea. I had no idea! OK, in my defence, she lives in England, its not like I see her pantry shelves every week! The shops there have many more fair-trade products in the general supermarkets, even clothes. Good on ya mum!!!

:-)

September's Chocolate Challenge

2009-08-31T20:59:00.008+10:00

September's challenge -(should you choose to accept it!) is to eat only fair trade /slave free chocolate for one month. I'm joining Dixiebelle HERE and Daharja HERE , amongst others, in taking a stand on this one.

I've committed to it. And for good reason. A couple of weeks ago I read about child slave labour in the cocoa trade on Eilleen's blog. You can find out much more at her blog Consumption Rebellion She has posted an extensive list of companies who do /do not use slave labour, as well as various brands and where to buy them (so I won't bother copying it all here!)

Once I read about it, I couldn't let it go. It stuck in my mind and gave me that awful uneasy feeling that happens when you know your actions and your morals are not on the same path........

Could I really enjoy it now, knowing that young children (or anyone) has suffered so that I can have a few squares of chocolate? Could you? Somehow the sweetness turns to a bitter taste in the mouth after that.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS !!!

There is an alternative-hooray! There are many fairtrade chocolate and chocolate bars available, many of them in Coles, Woolworths and IGA supermarkets here in Australia. So no excuses about not finding any!

Just yesterday I bought these .....

Whilst having a lovely day at the Gardening Australia Expo, I stumbled across a fair trade stall. I bought 2 boxes of herbal teas (the white spicy tea is the BEST herbal tea I've ever had!) and some Cocolo chocolate, which is organic and fair trade. 1 bar of milk and 1 of dark chocolate with orange ..... yummmmmm......

They had tasters available of all chocolates- I think there were 6 types- and also the teas. The stallholders were so lovely and even gave me 2 free packets of sample teas as well!

Cocolo is available in coles (and maybe elsewhere?) and Qi tea in woolworths, IGA and foodworks.

Wondering about the cost? Well, I was quite surprised to find the Cocolo chocolate was about the same as Lindt per 100grams (who, according to Eilleens research, DEFINITELY source their cocoa from slave labour and unethical practices).

The tea is about the same price as other organic herbals, which I usually buy anyway.

I have tasted both of the ones I bought (research of course!) and they both pass the taste test. I may well have to try a few other brands throughout September (oh, the things I have to do!) so I will keep updating my efforts and trials.

And if you think such a small gesture can't make a difference, did you know that CADBURYS have finally given in to consumer pressure and will at last be producing their best-selling Dairy Milk from certified fair-trade sources by 2010? (Not all Cadburys products will be fair trade, but it is a big step in the right direction).

Check out the Fair Trade website for more details.

If anyone wants to join me on this one, leave me a comment to let me know or sign up on Dixiebelle's blog. You know that this is a challenge worth taking. And it's do-able. Even for chocoholics like me.

:-)

The Age of Stupid

2009-08-25T20:05:00.005+10:00

After much anticipation, the movie 'The Age of Stupid' opened in Australia last week, and I went to see it yesterday.

Lots of you will know about it, and I know some have already seen it, but for those who don't know it is a 90-minute movie about climate change, set in the future (2055) starring Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist looking back at media footage from 1950-2015 and asking why we didn't do something about climate change when we had the chance.

check out the website for more info -- http://www.ageofstupid.net/

Here is the trailer --

The Age of Stupid Trailer Feb 2009 - SD from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

I have been thinking about how to review it, and have decided I can't do it justice with my interpretation. But I can tell you I came out of the movies like a stunned mullet. I am pleased I went alone to see it, as I couldn't talk to anyone for a while. It thought it was really well-made, engaging, fascinating, shocking, terrifying .... and definitely thought-provoking.

There was more documentary footage than 'movie', which was great as all of the footage shown from 1950-2008 were genuine events, and the fictional component to the movie is based on projections from factual scientific data that is widely available now.

It delves into the effects of extreme weather conditions, peak oil and the big oil companies, consumerism, alternative energy and more, but presents it all a 'watchable' and very humanistic way, and some of the characters in the movie will stick in my mind for a long time.

I thought I was quite aware of what is happening around our earth, but this movie still managed to shock me. The way it was presented was like an alarming wake-up call at full blast.

If you possibly can, go and see it.

And then check out what you can do about it ---

http://www.notstupid.org/

Spring Seed Plantings

2009-08-22T20:56:00.008+10:00

Maybe its the lovely weather we've had lately, or maybe I just need a bit of optimism in the garden, but today was time to start off my vegetable seed plantings for Spring.

I have a lot of seeds left from last year so no need to buy any more yet, and I enjoyed picking through and seeing what I could start off now. We have quite a mild climate here, mostly it is safer to wait until the soil is a little warmer before planting in the garden, however most veggies can be started off in pots now ready for planting out in 4-6 weeks. (Its only 9 days until Spring officially starts anyway!)

I prefer to grow from seed than buying seedlings for a few reasons - it is definitely more economical to grow from seed, depending on what you buy and the company you can often get 200 seeds or more in a packet costing around $3, whereas a punnet of just 6 seedlings of most things will cost around $4. Even factoring in a few failures you are still way ahead with seeds. Also you can choose non-hybrid, non-genetically modified, open pollinated and organic seed much more easily than finding seedlings of the same. By growing these types of food, you can then save your own seed if you wish for the next year, with a much greater chance of growing true-to-type plants. These types of seeds are also more disease resistant, hardier, produce over longer seasons, have more nutritional value and are tastier !!! (Have I convinced you to try yet??!!)

Some good online companies I have seeds from currently are --- The Lost Seed, Cornucopia Seeds, Green Patch Seeds and Diggers (Check out their websites by clicking on my links.) I have found The Lost Seed (based in Tassie) to be most generous and have loads of helpful info on their packaging including germination info and seed saving tips (do you know any other industry that tells you how to NOT buy their product again??!!!!)

I also have a few odd packets from swaps I have done with other seed-savers, and some seeds I saved myself from last year.

I use commercial seed-raising mix, and whatever I have for containers. The best I found (from many experiments last year!) are the containers from strawberries/alfalfa/cherry tomatoes etc, they already have the drainage holes and have their own little lid, which is handy until the seeds germinate.

So today I planted -----

Bush Beans -Cherokee Wax
Climbing Beans - Purple King
Climbing Beans - Blue Lake
Broad Beans (only 2 left from last year)
Vegetable Spaghetti/Squash (never tried it, but looks interesting!)
Butternut Pumpkin -Waltham
Watermelon - Moon and Stars
Beetroot - Rainbow Mix
Tomato - Grosse Lisse (full size)
Tomato - Tommy Toe (cherry size)
Cape Gooseberry - Golden Nugget
Peppermint
Basil
Echinacea

I have some more to plant but ran out of time today, lots of lettuce varieties and some more herbs, but will do that another time .... they will go direct into the soil.

So hopefully in a few weeks I will have a whole load of seedlings ready for planting into warm soil. Until then I will keep them covered on my back deck, and for the containers that don't have lids I will show you my incredible germination greenhouse-system ......

Yes, its a plastic bag. Came as excessive packaging from something or other. I think if I can't avoid plastic bags at least I can reuse them!

Works well to keep heat in without drying the soil out, with a few little breathe-holes. (If you use these, remember to take the pots out when the plants germinate or they can rot).

I always like to know what others are growing, and what works for you, so let me know!

:-)

Shameful gardening update ...

2009-08-19T14:46:00.009+10:00

I haven't blogged about any gardening for a while ... and if you continue reading you will understand why!

I wrote about the state of our backyard recently HERE after the chooks had 'moon-scaped' it, I am thinking I will put a mulch-type pathway through, going around the middle section, and up to the top corners where we go a lot (washing line one side and chook pen on the other) which sections off the centre. Still thinking of what I can put in there, as it is shady and has lots of tree roots, but need to do something fast as the soil is turning to dust..... any ideas welcome!

That leaves the front rectangle to become grassy again, and the fence sides ... well, not sure about them.

On the food garden front - well that has been somewhat shameful too. Practically nothing grew over winter, even though we didn't get frost. The patch is looking very sad :-(

The little bits of green that are growing are parsley, a handful of lettuces and a few silverbeet.

My cauliflowers didn't work at all, the few that survived long enough to transplant into the patch have just sat there providing food for the odd snail, but not displaying anything that looks like a flower.

My leeks, which I grew from seed in April, still look like skinny, spindly grasses sticking out of the soil. I was dreaming of leek and potato soup over winter- no chance!

I have about a dozen or so garlic plants in, which seem to look ok (above the ground anyway) but when I sneakily dug one up yesterday for a peek, there was just lots of roots.

Times like this are so disheartening! I really thought we could have a patch full of healthy, organic produce over each season, but instead it is depressingly empty.

:-(

Ho Hum, life goes on. Spring in a couple of weeks, and the weather is warming up already, so I will simply get my box of seeds out and sort through what can go in next. Its does seem that leafy greens do fine in the patch, but root vegetables and fruiting ones don't, so I wil bear that in mind. Perhaps the soil has lots of nitrogen but not much else? Nitrogen produces lots of green growth but not so good for fruiting or flowering, although by composting our chook manure it is supposed to stabilise all the nutrients ...... oh, I thought this was going to be easy - so wrong!

Oh, almost forgot, I did do something today! I found these in the back of my veggie cupboard .....

Oh yes, the shame again! I couldn't believe the enormous shoots on these potatoes, (my children thought they looked like 'aliens' !!) and decided they would be great for planting. Certainly not going to eat them anyway!

I read recently about planting them into sacks, with compost and mulch, a bit like the potato-cage idea. As they grow, you just roll up the sack a bit more and top up the compost to cover the stems (so you don't get poisonous green potatoes!) We have loads of big sacks from the produce store (they give them away, used to have bulk chook grain in them) and also loads of compost to use (2 compost bins full) so with my 2 little helpers we planted the wrinkly spuds into a sack each.

We spent quite a bit of money and effort last year on certified seed potatoes, only to yield -nothing. So, this time ....

If they work - bonus! Lots of free spuds!
If they don't - well, we will have neat sacks of compost ready for the next experiment!

:-)

Sticks in Pots!

2009-08-06T20:08:00.005+10:00

Well, they may look like sticks at the moment....

I wrote a little while ago about buying hazelnut trees as part of my overall plan to one have a fruit and nut tree orchard when we build our next home (sounds mightily impressive but really talking about a handful of apple trees, couple of citrus and few others)

I collected them from Blackheath Community Market on the weekend. They come as bare-root stock ready to plant, but as we don't live on our building land and haven't planned out where exactly the trees will go, I had to put them into pots for the time being. (Hopefully this will only be for a year maximum). They all have loads of buds so I will looking forward to watching them develop!

So, the stick family are .... Butler, Ennis, Halls Giant and Willamette. No, I haven't gone completely insane and named them, they are the varieties which will hopefully cross pollinate each other and give us lots of hazelnuts over a long season.

I may have to wait 2 years before gathering a feast, but it certainly beats walnuts, they can take 10- 25 years before bearing any nuts!

The New Chook Corner

2009-08-04T12:08:00.008+10:00

At last, it is done! (well, actually, almost done....!) But at least Emily, Lady and Ruby are finally in their new place, scratching around to their hearts content.

It was one of those jobs you would look at and think "hmmm, couple of hours work at the most....". Well, I can tell you it was waaaaaay more work than we thought, possibly due to our amateur building skills. (which is a teesy bit of a worry since we are planning on building our own home at some point!!!)

We used -

5 star pickets (mostly 2.4m) and post driver

9 metres of chicken wire

fence wire to tie to posts

asst nuts/bolts/screws

1 gate ($10 from ebay last year, I just KNEW it would be useful! It even matches our shed!)

We picked the 'best' site in our back yard, (which was mostly the corner that previously was a huge compost pile!) It is mostly shady, not much will grow there (certainly not veggies anyway) Also it has strong existing fencing on 2 sides and a shed on another.

So after a clear-up we only had to fence 1.5 m behind the shed, and 7.5 m across the front. I dug the bottom of the fence into the ground and 'splayed' it out a little to deter any 'diggers' from trying to get in. The gate needed different size hinges and fence was bolted onto the tin shed.

Sounds pretty simple? Well truly - it was like a comedy of errors. We could have been doing a scene from 'Thank God You're Here'.

There were many cringe-worthy moments, but the highlight would have to be when we finally finished, late Sunday, the gate posts finally straight and the gate hung, and then hubby said ..............

"So, do you think the ark will actually FIT in through the gateway?"

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!! *$##!!!#$^*^&^^$!!~~## !!!!!

What a couple of dopes. I still can't believe we built it without putting the ark inside first. Lesson learnt.

We had to take out the end section which involved about 12 'u' nails through the fence, and re-do it. It was actually dark when we finished.

Anyhoo, the chooks now have a lovely corner with thick straw carpet, and their house on the INSIDE.

There are 6 small trees inside the enclosure which are giving lovely dappled sunlight most of the day, and when the Japanese maples grow back in Spring, the area will be fully shaded for the heat of summer.

I need to fix a small square of fencing to the top of the gate, (just in case they decide to learn to fly properly) and a lock on the outside of the gate. Also I want to put a couple of low horizontal tree branches in for them to roost. (like a chooky-gym!)

Looking at it positively, I learnt a few lessons, gained a few new skills, and now have happy chooks and dog. The area is much bigger than needed for 3 chooks, but we are considering getting some chicks in the Spring so the extra space will be appreciated.

Now, I just need to regenerate the rest of the garden that has become a moonscape....!

The trouble with chooks ......

2009-07-29T14:54:00.027+10:00

.... I have decided, is that they are Creatures of Mass Destruction. For those who don't have any, oh yes, you'd better believe it, and for those who do have chooks, well, this is old news.

But to illustrate my point, here are a few photos I took this afternoon.

This was once our 'lawn' .......

Note the distinct lack of green-ness to it? Yes, we live in drought and I have never actually watered any part of my garden, but in 11 years we have been here it has always been green due to moderate rainfall in our area, and the trees we have lining both sides of our yard and 10 or so in the middle creating lovely shade in the heat of summer. (I'm not a huge lawn fan, but we're planning on selling when we finally build our dream home, and not sure anyone else wants the farmyard-look!)

OK, still not convinced it's the chookies? Well take a look at this ..... on the weekend I raked up huge amounts of leaf litter and general garden rubbish and piled it all up on one side to use later as mulch. Within 2 days, my darling chooks had redistributed it for me.

Here they are at work......

Australorps Emily and Lady with legs a-blur, and Ruby-Lou digging for bugs....

So, what's the solution?

Well keeping them in their ark (see top photo) without a decent run seems unfair, especially since I wanted free-ranging hens. As it is, they only free-range in the afternoons because we also have a dog, so he has to be tied up during their turn of the garden. Not good for anyone, and a situation I haven't been happy with for a long time.

So last weekend we decided to section off part of the yard to use for the chooks, allowing all animals more freedom, and hopefully get some green back into the garden by Spring.

It is taking longer than I expected as general life-stuff means we can only do bits here and there, but here's a sneak preview .....

Using lots of this ....

a handful of these ......

an old gate ......

and a whole lot of this!

Hopefully we will get it finished this weekend, and all will be good again.

Watch this space!

On Being 40 .....

2009-07-20T14:45:00.004+10:00

Well the big day came and went, we spent the weekend in Canberra to mark the occasion and I am now officially on top of the hill, (surely the place just before you are over the hill?) and the view here is actually OK.

I have decided I am totally fine with being 40. Possibly, that is, because I am in total denial. I mean, I know I was born 40 years ago, its just that I don't really think I am a '40-year-old'. I suppose it has to do with my perception of what a 40-year-old is. As long as I can remember, being 40 was actually pretty old. When I was a child, being 40 meant you wore tan tights with A-line polyester skirts, wore hair rollers and knitted things. Wore nanna-shoes. Baked a lot wearing an apron. I mean, I knew quite a lot of 40-year-olds, and I am surely not that old. It's not that I am a super-youthful glamourous type (oh, so not!) but you see, I am still ME. Just like I was before.

I have never been one to wish I was younger, or yearn for the return of my youth. Don't get me wrong- being younger was pretty good too and I had some great times while I was there, but I wouldn't want to go back. Getting older to me is just about growing and evolving, and discovering who you are. Through my 20's I had no idea who I was, like lots of people I went to uni, drank too much and spent too much time clubbing. By my 30's things changed a bit and I felt like I grew up a lot then, deciding to return to Australia, getting married, settling down, having a family.

And thats where things changed, because thats the time I started to feel like I was in the right place, doing the right things, being the right person. This past year especially has been one of discovery. I know there are people who find out early on exactly who they are and where they are headed, I'm just wasn't one of them.

So, maybe thats what being 40 is about. Or maybe it has just coincided with another birthday. Who knows?

I'll give the tan tights and the hair rollers a miss, but I'm happy baking (with or without the apron!) and most of all, happy being whatever age I happen to be.

:-)

Busy Birthdays

2009-07-13T14:09:00.008+10:00

Well I've been away from blogging yet again (as all bloggers know, so easy to do!)

First we all had the dreadful flu -by the time it had been through all 4 of us, it was 2 weeks long....

But then- hurray! We were all well just in time to celebrate! Our twins turned 4 just over a week ago (wow, where did that time go?) and we had lots of celebratory-days .....

Firstly we took them to Sydney Museum on their actual birthday, to see, among other things, the fabulous dinosaur exhibition. It was well worth the trip and we all enjoyed it ... except for that scary mini-movie they show.... well I had no idea it would be quite so realistic. Hmmm, I think they need to put a 'not suitable for small children' rating on it. Anyway, everything else there was great and later we watched the sun go down (and the bats come out) over Sydney harbour. Beautiful.

The following day we had booked pony rides for them both in Megalong Valley. It was a big surprise and they didn't guess until we pulled into the driveway and saw the beautiful horses, they were truly surprised, it was wonderful to watch their excitement. And they rode so well, while we just walked alongside, they were like naturals! (unlike me, who had wheezing asthma by the end. Oh, yes, still allergic to horses!) Never mind, it was worth it to see their happy faces.

The third day was The Party. Just a small one, less than 10 children and it went very well. Party food, couple of party games, lots of noise! (No red jelly, just natural noisyness!) Whoever invented those party blowers? And why did I buy some?

I thought that was the end, but when they went back to preschool on Monday I sent 30 little pieces of birthday cake (I made sooooooo much!) so everyone sang happy birthday to them once again while they shared.

It was a really lovely long weekend, and I'm glad we all got through it well, because .......

I have flu AGAIN. :-(

Aarrggghhhh! Not fair! I only had one week off!

Really hoping this is a quick one because its MY birthday next ..... (and its a big one!) I will blog about it later....... ;-)

Fantastic Freecycle Fabric Freebie

2009-06-30T19:48:00.014+10:00

Ooooh, did I get the score of the week recently! Picked up an enormous amount of fabric on freecycle on Saturday that was up for grabs. I wasn't even the first to ask, but after the first 2 people offered didn't show (quite annoying when you are giving stuff away) I was offered the lot.

There is a lot of 70's style knit fabric in every colour you can think of, as well as other jersey knits, lots of cottons, linens, satins, and even some thick boucle-style fabric. There are over 50 pieces, and apart from a few smaller pieces (under 1 metre) most are large enough to make clothing or large craft items, some up to 4 metres long!

This is such a brilliant lot for a novice sewing enthusiast like me! I have made a few items of childrens clothes recently, but still learning along the way and always wondering what I will try next. So great for practising my skills and trying out a few different things.

Here are some of my favourite prints ....

If you haven't joined freecycle in your area yet ....... why not? There are freecycle groups all over the globe, and if you haven't one near you - start one! Its a great way to give away unwanted (but decent) stuff that might otherwise go to landfill (and to pick up stuff too!) I've given away heaps from kids toys they've outgrown, to backyard ponds, and picked up some great things at times too. You know what they say - "one man's trash is another man's treasure" !

http://www.freecycle.org/

Oh, and today I made my first SALE! (Completely unintended, but welcome all the same!) One of the childrens aprons I made recently was spotted by my friends sister-in-law, who loved it and asked me to make one for her daughter. For money! For those who make their living doing this, it may seem trivial, but it was such a confidence boost for me. And the validation that someone else is prepared to pay for something I have made was a real pleasant surprise.

And finally I will leave you with this .................

(shamelessly taken from Judi at ALS) -

Reasons To Buy More Fabric

It insulates the cupboard where it is kept.
It keeps the economy moving. It is my duty to support the cotton farmers, textile mills and fabric shops.
It is less expensive and more fun than psychiatric care.
I’m participating in a contest – the one who dies with the most fabric wins.
It keeps without refrigeration, you don’t have to cook to enjoy it, and you’ll never have to feed it, change it, wipe its nose or walk it.
Because I’m worth it.
Like dust, it’s good for protecting previous empty spaces in the house.
Like the ironing board, the laundry basket and the dining room table.
It’s not immoral, illegal or fattening.
It calms the nerves, gratifies the soul and makes me feel good.
Because it’s on sale.

(or freecycle!!)

:-)

Feeling a little NUTTY ?

2009-06-07T22:12:00.012+10:00

Oh, I am excited!!!

Today at Blackheath Community market I put my order in for some HAZELNUT trees, which are being distributed as part of the Hazelnut Tree Project, a community bulk-buy scheme organised by the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute. (Have a look at their great website here HERE )

Hazelnuts are particularly suited to our climate here in the mountains, and are an excellent food source. You can read more about them and how to grow them at Hazelnut Nursery Propagators , who just happen to be right here in the mountains!

They are wind pollinated, (so don't depend on a healthy local population of bees) and you do need a minimum of 2 trees so they can cross-pollinate. We have ordered 4, which I understand will be different varieties to maximise the yield and the length of the growing season, as some are early and some late season producers.

They are a decent size tree, bare-root stock, and at just $15 per tree, a great investment!

It is a little early for us to buy them, as our land still sits empty waiting for our dream home, but you know what? In a couple of years we will have a fantastic food forest growing there complete with fruit and nut trees!

In the meantime we can either try to pick the best spot for our future orchard or plant the hazelnuts out into large pots while we wait ....

I'm just happy to be moving further towards our dream ........

:-)

Vanilla Custard Slice - too easy!

2009-06-01T12:39:00.009+10:00

Ok, this is such a cheat I feel almost embarrassed blogging it - except that it is SO delicious if you don't already use this recipe, I'll bet you will from now on!

It uses SAO biscuits instead of pastry (in UK- maybe cream crackers?) Works a treat....

1 litre milk
4 heaped tbsp custard powder
4 level tbsp sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence
Sao biscuits (I used 18 for this dish)

1. Bring 3 ½ cups milk to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Mix the custard powder, sugar, vanilla and remaining milk in a jug to a paste, then add to the hot milk. If this doesn’t thicken enough straight away, continue to heat until thick.
3. Layer sao’s in a deep dish (I used a square baking dish which fit the biscuits 3x3, but just trim them to fit whatever you have)

4. Pour custard over the biscuits, then layer the remaining biscuits on top to cover.
5. Pop in fridge until set

6. Passionfruit icing – pulp of 4 passionfruits mixed with 1 cup icing sugar. (may need 1 tbsp warm water to get smooth consistency)
7. Spread over top of slice, back into fridge to set.

This cuts easily when cold, and the sao’s soften the next day which makes it even tastier!

Simple Kids Apron

2009-05-24T19:43:00.007+10:00

I recently decided to try making some kids' kitchen aprons, partly because my own children love to help baking and partly because all of their friends are turning 4 around now and I thought they would make nice, and different, gifts for them. (Its not easy to knowing who has what toys and books already!)

Well I just finished my first one last night, (just in time for a party today!) and I was really happy with it. I bought some cute cotton drill fabrics through the week, a little bit retro, a little bit funky, but definitely cute for a couple of little party girls! Some purple 70's style flowers, and some bright flowers, and some bright bias binding to match each in purple and orange.

I cut the 'pattern' from an old shirt and just kept sizing it to my daughter until it was right. No hemming of the apron, just wide bias binding around all sides with one piece continuous from back tie to neck loop to the other back tie. Add a little pocket to the front with the bias border and hey presto!

In with the apron went a little wooden spoon with a pink satin bow, so the birthday girl can have her own spoon too! I'm happy to say it was well received, and I felt good that I had hand-made something and given one less plastic, over-packaged present!

The bright flowers will become an apron before next weekend's party, then my own kiddies turn (with some Thomas fabric for my son he is very happy with!)

:-)

Autumn in my garden

2009-05-11T14:09:00.013+10:00

I just love Autumn in the mountains ...

I was despairing yesterday at the state of our back 'garden' since gettting our chooks (the price of free-ranging!) They have destroyed a lot of the soil, scratching up too much and turning areas into dustbowls. So I am trying to focus on the nicer aspects today, if I look up to the trees and not at the ground it seems so much better !!!

We have 9 maples in our back garden, and a few at the front. At this time of year they do look their best as the leaves start to turn ..... some just starting to change quietly to soft yellows and pinky-orange, others (like the one above in my front garden) screaming scarlet red.

The trees mark a definite season here, and I love that about this area. Somedays it feels as though Autumn is sort of lost somewhere summer and winter, as we can have gusts of really cold wintery weather, then strangely warm again for days. So it's reassuring to be reminded we live in a part of Australia that does have 4 definite seasons (the little bit of English left in me likes that!) and what better to remind us than our own back gardens.

:-)

Happy Mothers Day

2009-05-10T19:16:00.002+10:00

x from my little cuties x

Happy Mothers Day to all the mums out there xxx

Little Pink Dress

2009-05-08T15:39:00.004+10:00

I'm pleased to report I finally finished Miss A's dress. If I had made it non-stop it probably would have taken me 2 hours max, but grabbing 10 mins here and there made it stretch over a couple of weeks!

She had a little pink fleece dress about 2 years ago that I loved, (but way too small now) so I decided to trace around that for a pattern and give it a go, like a true amateur!

We picked some bright furry-fleece from Spotlight, matching thread and off I went. I found the fleece really easy to work with, (once I figured out which way I had to cut for the stretch) and very forgiving of little mistakes due to the thick pile!

The photo doesn't show any detail, but I did zig-zag stitch on all seams, and a patch pocket with purple pattern stitch across the top. I am planning to get a little applique for the pocket to take the 'plain-ness' off a little.

I used less than half the metre I bought, so cost roughly around $3-$4. But more importantly, I am pleased my machine is getting some use, proud I have been able to make something, and that it looks good! Miss A loves it, (it feels like a teddy!) and it's great for the colder weather already.

Next project is for my son, and a bit more ambitious for me - a sleeveless vest. Hopefully I will get it done before the end of winter!