WELCOME to my BLOG

Hi there!

I’m slowly working towards some simplicity within the home, but hey! It’s a lot of hard work!

I love having a go at growing my own veges and always use herbs fresh from my garden. I try to plant from seed whenever I can and have learnt to save and share my own seed for the following year. I make Award Winning preserves and pickles; and my husband brews Award Winning boutique beers as well. I love to stockpile and try to limit quick trips to the shops. I dabble in bread making and enjoy making my own stocks too.

I enjoy feeding my family good hearty meals, nothing like those tiny restaurant stacks you have to look for on the plate. My husband maintains our vehicles and machinery and we both enjoy fabricating on a small scale mostly relying on metal & timber recyclers for any materials needed.


While I don’t always have time to reply to comments, I love reading them. I hope you enjoy your stay and I hope you learn something new because I love sharing what I learn, and I'm always looking for another new skill myself.

Cheers!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Wow! What a list!

Once in a blue moon, I take stock of what is growing in the garden......I was surprised this time to find such variety...You can view my list on the left hand side of this blog. I think the variety is due to the fact that I have decided to put in winter veg....
I have never tried growing winter veg.....so here's a first for me....wish me luck.

Have you grown winter veg for the first time, if so, I would love to hear from you and how you went....What did you grow and what was your best crop? 

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While sewing some more seeds directly into the garden today, I noticed I have yet another RAT in the garden sharing my garden......now I don't mind sharing with anybody, as long as they only have two legs......I have  had intruders on two other occasions.......Rusty always tells me when we have an intruder in the garden. She becomes near obsessive....sometimes to the point of exhaustion.....Now, I don't know what you think of Rats, but to me they are Vermin...if they are in my garden.....they need to vacate the premises.   



The first time I put down traps....over 5 days, I got 6 rats & 5 mice....Sorry; but a good rat is a dead rat!!  

Bring on morning I say, bring it on! 

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After hanging 2 loads of washing, working on a rough copy of my Prices Diary, paying bills online then planting;  the rest of the day was taken up running errands.
I posted a call out on Freecycle for empty glass jars...getting emails back this morning, one lady tells me she will put them out for me around lunch time....I emailed her back saying thanks, and told her I would like to give her a few jars of preserves in return.....Ahh she emails back that she likes Tomato Relish....If I have any she would be ecstatic.....I had a little laugh to myself....
I love bartering, even if the other person doesn't know it's going to happen lol. 
I appreciate other people's generosity, and like to show that in return, often handing out either preserves or baked goods.

So, now I'm off to the Post Office to send off a vinegar mother to Harriet.....
Harriet, it's on it's way. 


A vinegar 'mother' in the post.

With that stop I can also pay the paper bill. 
We only get the newspaper on a Saturday, so it's not a great expense, besides; I need to know when the garage sales are on....and I wouldn't have gotten those cement bricks if I didn't have the newspaper delivered.

What else is on the to do list....Oh I had to make a dental appointment for DH; he has been complaining about a bad tooth for about 5 weeks now....
NOW he tells me, "Make the appointment!" 
I suppose I can understand the delay...I hate dentists too. 

Last stop before coming home was to drop off my Library books....I couldn't resist, and needed a break from the heat of the car....Yep, more books came home to read.....
If you are paying full price for books, I beg you to get to know your local library...they can't be more helpful.
Check out your local library today and don't pay full price for books anymore. 
If you like reading as much as I do, it will save you heaps of money.

The books I borrowed today are: 
Making fresh bread - ISBN: 978-1-4075-4901-9

Beds & Borders, simple projects for the weekend gardener - ISBN: 1-84172-805-5

The Ice Cream maker companion, 100 easy to make Frozen desserts of all kinds - ISBN: 0-517-22746-0

The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook, How to save energy, save money and reduce your carbon footprint - ISBN: 978-1405-039611

What books do you have out from your local library at the moment? 

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What's for dinner tonight?

Another nearly free meal of fresh fish that we caught. Tonight we had fish and chips.....
I 'flour-egg-n-bread crumbed' the Flathead fillets..then shallow fried them in olive oil. I have started draining fried food on newspaper instead of kitchen paper and kept them warm in the oven while DS19 went down to the local chippy and got some hot chips to go with the fish.

Here are some photos of the Flathead fillets being prepared.


Flour - Egg - then Bread crumbs, Oh so yummy.
Try seasoning your bread crumbs with dried herbs from your garden. I did!


Fish n Chips, that's what is for dinner tonight.

I might just go check those rat traps before going to bed...lol  
I just can't help myself.



5 comments:

  1. That is a great list of veg that will keep your family fed I have just started to grow veg not as many as you but in a few weeks I will start to harvest some of them

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  2. Absolutely agree about the bartering.... I shared my old but good electric stove on Freecycle, the guy who came to get it suggested in return he could bring his chain saw and prune back some of my overgrown trees....yes please! What a great surprise. He even took away the rubbish. Nice man.

    With you too about rats.....I found one snuggled down in a cosy little hole right under my chooks nesting box....yuck. Tossed a bait right in there.....out of reach of chooks...and hauled out a dead 'un a couple of days later, and have since picked up a couple more.

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  3. Thanks Cathy, some of it is still seed in the ground or just a few leaves, just hope it all grows and I don't keep sharing with the rats...

    Nanette, that's excellent, all that work for you done. I have always found that generosity breeds generosity...smile at someone and a smile is returned. Glad you got rid of your rats, Hope I do too...I checked the traps today, and 3 were turned upside down and no food left...How frustrating that was!!!!

    On a lighter note.....
    I am harvesting purple runner beans every other day, not many but enough to add to a salad....soon the climbing butter beans will be ripening too.

    Thanks for commenting on my blog.

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  4. Your mention of Freecycle rminds me to check it out. The fish looks yum.

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  5. Great idea Rose, and yes, the fish was yum.. we had the rest of the fish in a thai curry over rice with leftover fish from last night...No more fish left, and we can't go fishing this weekend,because my weekend is full with a Cheese Course I am booked in for...A birthday present from my mum. Thanks Mum

    ReplyDelete

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