Sun & strawberries......

Welcome aboard to the new followers-I'm always so surprised  pleased when people see something here that appeals to them.

As alluded to in my last post, we have moved our strawberry beds-we have had two 1.2m x 1.2m raised beds along the southern boundary of our vegie garden (plus 1 other bed used last year for onions) and decided to move them & better utilise the space.

All three beds have been moved to the eastern side of the vegie garden and the middle bed has the Cambridge Rival variety, whereas the two outside bed will have the Aroma variety ( we have enough runners from one of the old beds to now create the new one as well).

The space that has been freed up will allow us to put in a 5th water tank plus a 3m x 3m garden shed..in the future when we can afford to!

We are coming to the end of our 3rd year of living here and we have worked out the best way of using our acre of land. Many of the plans will wait until we have either the time or money required to bring them to fruition...but that just means we will appreciate it even more when it happens!

We will add a compacted gravel path around the beds

Committee of Management keen to destroy transplanted strawberries assist.

Autumn activity.....

Today...........is a dreamy Autumn day. Sun is streaming through our windows, warming the inside of our home. Lightly blows the breeze and I have a morning at home to utilise.

The freezer yields 1.5kg of strawberries, frozen at the height of summer's bounty-strawberry jam is made...5 jars now sit glowing on my kitchen bench. Alongside the ruby hue is my sourdough starter ( Edie), newly fed in anticipation of sourdough bread and English muffins and keeping company is the cooling beef casserole base which has been pressure cooked into succulent tenderness......3 or 4 meals worth for us.

 

Mine is a working kitchen- it has the capability to look "pretty" but is rarely so....it is clean but not magazine feature worthy! There is always something from the garden hanging around-at the moment there is a plate of pumpkin seeds drying in anticipation of next season's planting; a bowl of the last tomatoes and a large pumpkin.

 

Later this week we will have most of our children, their partners & children here for dinner and my hard working kitchen will provide plenty for all.

 

What is your kitchen like?

 

 

Linking up at:

http://hickorytrailblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/efforts-and-assets-linky-party-1.html

http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

Chickens and change....

I didn't post a Thursday thrift yesterday because I spent my hours before heading to work outside-with my chickens.

As chicken converts will tell you, it is far too easy to become enamoured by chicken antics. Yesterday I cleaned out the straw from their coop-closely monitored by the Chicken Committee of Management! Ruby and Betty head this committee- although our young rooster Bebe Le Pew would like to think he rules the roost!

I raked the old manure filled straw out the door-where the girls happily pounced on it, scratching madly and snaffling any bugs they found. If Bebe found any tidbits, he would politely cluck deep in his throat and duck his head a couple of times, indicating to "his" ladies that " Look, I Rooster, have located this prime piece of protein purely for your pleasure!"

Bebe Le Pew's presence ( as unplanned as it was) has added much to our flock. From the early morning shenanigans ( when he wakes up in a "loving" mood and the girls try to dash past him when I open the door) to his standing sentinel to protect "his" ladies from the local Magpie Mafia; he entertains us daily!

Anyway, after clearing the old straw ( and laying it on one of the new vegie garden beds) I laid the new. That's when the Chicken Fiesta started! The flock of 9 launched themselves with glee into the fresh layer, munching up any bugs and spiders they could find. This went on for an hour or so before Rusty headed to one of the laying boxes; unfortunately not long before Betty decided that she too needed to attend to her daily contribution to our egg collection.

Rusty refused to budge, Betty became more demanding-even trying to push Rusty out with her ( Betty's) rear end! By the time that Betty climbed on top of Rusty I was in hysterics! Despite the fact that there was another available laying box, neither girl would give ground and eventually both laid their eggs. :)

Refreshed by my time with the flock, I headed off to work with a smile on my face.

Tonight we are expecting our youngest daughter, her partner and their 2 week old daughter for their first visit since our grand daughter's birth. We will also have two of our grandsons staying over.

This visit set me to musing about our lives and our current place in them. His Lordship and I were young parents and thus find ourselves in our mid 40's with 5 grandchildren-we wouldn't have it any other way!

Many of our friends have young families or are just beginning their's now-and many of them lament the fact that if their own parents are still alive, that they are often too old to have the energy to spend a lot of time with their grandchildren.

In days of yore, our situation would have been the norm; but these days "careers" have become so important that the median age for first time parents is becoming older and older. Ergo, as is that of the grandparents. Thus many parents are finding themselves relying on childcare and without the supportive wisdom of the older generations.

I wonder if this is truly a good thing for society?

Mad day away from home!

I've just finished one of the longest days I've had at work in quite a while! Tired much? :D

Although not being home for more than 10 hours I still had the enjoyment of letting the hens out this morning, then collecting their eggs when I put them into the henhouse tonight! I also took one of my flatbreads filled with homemade rhubard chutney, homegrown spinach and cheese. Tasty and satisfying!

You say potatoes....

This afternoon the Husband & I spent the afternoon planting potatoes with two of our grandsons (aged 4 & 3). One of the joys of being grandparents in your 40's is having enough energy to deal with boisterous boys! ;) Husband dug the trenches, the boys and I laid the seed potatoes (well, they laid a couple each and then spent the rest of the time collecting grubs & worms to feed to the chooks!) and then we lightly backfilled.

We planted out Snow Gem, Ruby Lou, Bintje, Kipfler and King Edward varieties-hopefully in a few months we will have enough of a harvest to handle our potato needs for the winter! After last years Great Bobcat Debacle we are optimistic about our chances of gathering more than 5kg this year!