Greetings and gratitude....

Thankyou for all the thoughts whilst I was unwell. I'm back in the land of the living-it's taken a double bactch of antibiotics though!

I still have a hacking cough-although I am no longer scaring small children with it!

The next few days will be spent catching up on household chores and layering more manure and straw into the garden beds to prepare for Spring plantings.

Vaguely vacillating.....

I've just finished a post about how tired I've been this week due to treble normal work hours and His Lordship "suffering" with a MAN cold-and the ether ate it! AAARRRRGGGHHH!

So here goes again..probably a more truncated version now..

Despite the workload this week, I've still managed to get through most of the jobs I had listed in my head at the start of the week. Instead of the daily schedule I had planned, I've just done what I could when I've had the energy!

As I posted yesterday, the dog food was made and the chooks dosed with a mash. I've also got some homemade ginger beer started ( the plant anyway) and made some caramel fudge as a treat. Meals have all been homemade-although to be honest I would have happily resorted to takeaway last night!


This morning we had some straw for the garden delivered for the garden at 7am. I have spread horse manure over the top soil shifted by His Lordship last weekend and the straw will be strewn across to create mulch.

Even when busy outside the home, it is possible to live a self sufficient lifestyle, using skills which the corporate world would prefer us to forget!

Much manure.......

It's been a busy week! The baby shower went well. One of the most poignant moments was when our daughter's friend had arranged for us all to write letters to the baby. These were kept private and handed to the Mum-to-Be, to be read at her leisure. In 21 years they will be displayed at baby's 21st birthday-what a lovely momento! To say nothing of the thriftiness!

In addition, over the weekend we ordered 6m3 of topsoil for the garden-it was duly delivered and moved via wheelbarrow by His Lordship and two helpers!

The soil is being used for raised strawbery beds ( mixed with our heavy clay soil, horse manure and partially composted straw-thanks to our hens!) and in garden beds across the front of the house. We bought the basic topsoil because the "enriched" soil cost nearly double the price-which would have cost us nearly $180 more! We have access to horse manure for $1/bag- and will only need 20 or 30 bags to toss on top before mulching....it's worthwhile taking a moment to research what you can access locally for your garden to save money.

I have ordered a self-pollinating almond tree and strawberry plants to replace the ones which baked in the clay soil over our unusually dry Summer. The Strawberry plants are Cambridge Rival-a small yet exceptionally intense flavoured strawberry with a short summer picking season; and Aromas...a more modern type which provides large berries over a longer season. We have the garden ready to go as soon as the plants arrive.