I have a thing for orange at the moment

Im a bit sad there are no orange flowers in the garden at the moment, I might have to make a trip to the nursery tommorow and sort through my seeds and see what I can plant.

Getting jobs done

I have had a few little jobs around the home for a while now that I wasnt sure myself how to do and Im usually always busy so they get put on the back burner,
A few months ago I bought my Dad a stove as his oven didnt work and only one element on his stove worked, I finally got the stove hooked up on the weekend and now he has the use of the full stove and oven.
In my house I had bought a fan and light to be installed in my bedroom for the hot summer nights I wont say exactly how long it has been sitting there to be installed but it was a couple of years. Well today that was installed.
A couple of months ago I got a container to be used as a water tank from work, well today I got that connected to my shed.

Im pretty impressed as its up nice and high so I can water gardens down the back.
The guys who did it got a stack of pallets and thats what it is sitting on. Then they covered them with more pallet wood which I can grow somthing around it and pretty it up.
I also have some left over pallet wood which they are going to make me a couple of vege beds near by, oh I just cant wait.
It was just such a windy rainy day today the wind was awful they managed to get this done in the morning then came inside to wait for the rain to stop but it didnt

and this is what happened lol must of been worn out working outside in the rain.

 There is nothing like picking fresh produce out of the garden

 Rhubarb crumble was on the menu for tea and it was just delicious.
In a saucepan I placed bunch of rhubarb and 2 apples and sugar and slighty cooked it

 The crumble was 2 tblsp butter, 1 cup coconut, 2 tblsp of sr flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup of Be Natural manuka honey spice clusters and flakes {cornflakes or muslie would do but this cereal is delish}
Rub butter into ingredients and place on top of rhubarb mix bake until brown.

This picture is tonights main meal shepards pie, a favourite of the kids.
So easy to make
boil 500 g mince, 1 onion chopped and mixed herbs
when cooked drain the I use a bottle of home made tomato sauce but you can use tin tomatoes or normal sauce. Garlic
Place this in casserole dish.
Boil and mash potatoes add garlic and cream to them place on top of meat and grate cheese
Its very very simple but nice on a cold night
Pretty happy with todays jobs

Enriching my Earth

I think it has been 3 years now that my journey to living a bit greener began, before that I just thought you dug over a pile of dirt { and I did do that} on a grass patch and tadaaa there is the vege garden, hmmm guess what happened to that patch ...... not much.
I never had a compost bin and no chooks, I had no clue [ not that I really do now]
Today is a little different I don't know what happened to me, I think it was when I discovered blogs and I just love sitting down to relax to read them, I don't watch tv , I read blogs and I love it.
Slowly I am enriching my little piece of the earth.
I throw out no food waste, that is a crime in my house

I have a ice cream container sitting on the sink, it will either go to the chooks, compost or worm farm.

This is my compost bin, I would love to make one with pallets soon.

Three year ago my backyard was bare, now I have lovely rich mulch.
Most of my gardens down the back are no dig gardens, I save all cardboard and newspaper,
the waste from guinea pigs and chooks, pea straw, and horse poop.
I think its very important to keep enriching the earth.

All my weeds and clippings go to the chooks to scratch around then they go back on the garden.

This picture is just outside the chook pen its all mulch .Comfrey usually grows here but it has died down over winter.

I have an escapee chook at the moment who has been escaping everyday, this is what she does.
She hasn't wrecked or eaten any plants, she isn't to bad actually, she just seems to dig up the mulch , but I clipped her wing today so hopefully tomorrow she will be still in her pen when I get up.

A worm farm is also a must, there is such beautiful rich soil in here ready for the garden when I find a moment to work out where I will put it.

In the corner of the chook pen is where I throw all the clipping and weeds and the chooks have a carnival in there kicking it all about then they leave me with this rich mulch for the garden.
Who would of thought 3 years ago I would be running around the back yard taking photos of different piles of dirt I had, the kids wonder what Im doing and my daughter wants to know why I have pictures of dirt on the computer.
Simple things really do amuse me like look how beautiful this dirt is .......... the response ..... um ok.
I am simply enriching my earth.

Discover

 I ordered this book last week of ebay and it has come just in time for me to take to work and have a good read. I often read about this  documentary over at "The Greening of Gavin" . Last week at work was terribly boring and just mind numbing so I need something to get me through the day, and this is it.

I spent the day with India today in Geelong no photos to take as we just had quality time together.
Although while I was away somebody had been using my camera and had taken about 20 photos of this little baby bunny, I was informed they were in love with it because it is just so fat and they would like to keep it and they have called it Tubby , I must say it is adorable.

My house

I actually love this house, it can be hard work at times but I do love it, I was thinking about selling so I wouldnt have so much to do but I probably would get bored then.
I still have so much I would like to do and it may take another 20 years but I know I wont ever be bored.

These are not very good shots as I scanned them but this is what the house was like when I moved in.

 This is the front now its not finished but its getting there

 The garden  has mainly been grown from cuttings from friends and family

 

                                         
This area is my potting area where I pot up cuttings and seedlings to give to family and friends. The other photo is my deck and BBQ area

 My little gardening friend Nala

 Dahlias were divided and potted today

 So was rhubarb

Waratah seeds coming along nicely

 A couple of months ago Dad had some edging laying around at his place instead of wasting it I put it in the backyard, covered in newspaper , horse poo and chook poo and remains of guinea pig cages now today I placed some peastraw on the top, its looking quite good Im hoping I may plant somthing around September in there, Im going to mainly use it for food for the chooks.

 Teneale bathed the dogs for me today which was a big help, one less job for me

 Kat was quite interested in what was going on.

 Beautiful clean girls

Some collectables in the bathroom.
There are so many things to do and not enough time in the day.
I was happy I got outside today for a couple of hours even though it was pouring rain.
Its such a nice feeling
I love Rhondas saying from Down to Earth blog
Bloom where you are planted xx                

Rainy day

Its a rainy day outside and Im longing to get some gardening done, I could go out and do some in the rain but I chose to go and have coffee with my niece today who I havnt seen in quite a while.
It was a lovely catch up as she has moved back to Ballarat from Melbourne with her family.

 My Father bought these berries for me on Friday, not something that I would ever buy but Dad likes to pick up bits and pieces for the kids as treats, I usually have my own home grown berries but I used the last of them a couple of weeks ago to make some jam.
I must say these were delicious I made berry and banana and white chocolate muffins
1 1/2 cup sr flour
1/4 teas bi carb
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 banana mashed
1/2 cup white choc bits
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup milk
1 pkt these berries
delicious

 I was a bit excited today as the girls have been off the lay for a while and slowly I have been getting one egg a day, I did put a fake egg in the nest to encourage them, today I finally got 4 eggs the most Ive had for a few months Ive actually been buying eggs.

 After reading a few blogs last night and reading how easy it was to make vanilla essence I put some vodka in a jar and split vanilla beans and put them in , over night it has started to color up, I just need to add a bit more vodka as this is all I had at the time.

 Tonights tea an easy lasagna, I have plenty of food for the weekend with left over pasties and cauliflower soup now lasagna, so I may have a rest tommorow. Im due for one I think.

 I also baked another banana bread for toast in the morning

 I added this picture as its a vintage dress I had sitting in my wardrobe its from the 60s and I had never wore it but today I decided to as at the moment I have a thing for orange I love it. This dress is black and bright orange I love it.

A photo from my kitchen window its looking a bit bleak out there.
Now to sit and relax maybe a movie, I rarely watch tv but think we shall watch something tonight.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend xx

Yay its the weekend

Oh  thank goodness its the weekend, after a couple of busy days, not much has been done around the house, I did re arrange one room it was the computer room, today I finally got all the furniture moved to where I wanted it including a piano, oh my goodness they are heavy to move and they always must be placed on an inside wall.
The kids are back home today so the noise in the house has returned, grocery shopping done, menu planned for the week, last time I did a 20 day menu plan but I have found that with my juicing every day the fruit and vege needs to be done every week so Ive decided to just do a 7 day menu plan from now on.

 Couch moved into the computer room

 Finally catching up on posting my ebay sales

 The long awaited hair color, turquoise, only 2 foils though

 Tonights tea home made pasties and I did make a batch of curried cauliflower soup, the pasties are dead easy, just mince beef, 4 carrots 5 potatoes onion, all grated salt and pepper and sheets of puff pastry. It made 4 large family pasties .

Finished result of Indias hair.
Its been a busy day, Im really looking forward to the weekend and hoping I can get into the garden at some stage, Im missing it and I have quite a bit to do out there.
Have a great weekend everyone xx