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.

Spring sprung...

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous first day of spring...blue sky, green grass and a warm breeze.

Although it was Father's Day here, His Lordship & I spent the afternoon in the backyard-mowing, trimming, moving strawberry beds and cleaning out the chicken coop.

I don't think that I've ever shared the interior of our hen's home-they spend the day outside free ranging in the orchard- with access to the coop via a ramp. The layer pellets, water & nesting areas are inside.

You can see the sawhorse roosts, galvanised bin for pellet storage and feeders (all of which are raised on bricks). The floor is a concrete slab; which we cover with some form of straw and then regularly replace ( with the manure rich old straw going on the garden)

Wilma wondering why I'm standing there with the door open!

There is one nesting box built as part of the shed-shown here being entered by a headless chicken!

Looking back towards the door & ramp-we have used an old plastic dog kennel as a nesting box..the lid lifts up for easy access to the eggs.

The Committee of Management waiting for me to vacate!

 



The old manure laden straw is placed on one of the fallow garden beds.





 

Busy....

...planning, preparing and planting.




Spring is a-comin'!

Cash for clutter....

There are a few items around here that are no longer being put to good use-the trampoline is a case in point. Although not yet 3 years old, the safety net & pads had basically dissolved in  the weather! We had bought it for the grandkids to play on when they are here-but the reality is that when they visit we tend to be in the garden or around the corner at the playground when weather permits outside activities. 
 
His Lordship was all for throwing it out-but the frame, springs & mat were still in good order...so I did something that I have never done before and listed it for sale on a local online buy/sell Facebook page. I sold it the same day (yesterday) and the couple came & collected it today-it's going to a house full of boys..so is sure to get a good workout! :)
 
I've also now listed my desk as it's no longer used and is sitting in the garage gathering dust. I used to do a lot more work at home and since I've stopped doing so and started using my laptop more the desk has become redundant.
 
It's this one here (bought at Harvey Norman a while back-this photo is from their site) and although it is gorgeous I'm happy to now sell it and use the money to buy more plants for the garden!
 

 

How about you? Have you ever made money from a cull of unused or unwanted items?

Tuesday's tip....

Well...it has been a *little* while since my last post hasn't it? Welcome aboard to the new followers. :) It's been very cold & wet here for the past few days-so not much happening outside other than collecting eggs & picking salad greens! The snow peas have just started to form and I have had the first asparagus spear ( which was eaten raw before I made it back to the house..).

I've had the all clear from the surgeon and have returned to work & also some activity. His Lordship & I are also changing some of our eating habits-aiming at a much cleaner and vegetable/salad based diet. We both love meat but will be scaling back our portion sizes!

One of the tips I have for anyone out there looking for a quick way to cook lean meat/chicken is to use a sandwich press.....it's handy for more than quesadillas & toasties!

Make sure kebab ingredients are similar in size for even cooking

Lower the lid and cook until ready.

Shoo household wildlife away.

Actually human I am bored with your culinary efforts-bring me my meat!

 
 
 

Last night's dinner- lamb loin chops with grilled tomato, cauliflower mash & home grown green salad with a yoghurt & sweet chilli dressing.

Anyone else have other uses for household appliances?

 

Mute Monday......

Planting-how much?

When you are growing your own vegetables-how much do you need? The answer will always be variable...it will depend on factors such as whether you are aiming to supply your entire vegetable needs, or to just supplement your purchases with freshly picked salad ingredients.

I was wandering the web when I stumbled upon this very handy chart:

Asparagus: about 10-15 plants per person
Beans (Bush): about 15 plants per person
Beans (Pole): 2-4 poles of beans per person (each pole with the four strongest seedlings growing)
Beets: about 36 plants per person.
Broccoli: 3-5 plants per person
Cabbage: 2-3 plants per person
Cantaloupe: figure on about 4 fruits per plant (estimate how much your family would eat)
Carrots: about 100 seeds per person (1/4 oz would be plenty for a family of six)
Cauliflower: 2-3 plants per person
Collards: about 5 plants per person
Corn: start out with 1/2 lb. seeds for the family and adjust as needed
Cucumbers: 3-6 plants per family
Eggplant: 3-6 plants per family
Lettuce: 4-5 plants per person
Okra: 3-4 plants per person
Onions: 12-15 plants per person
Parsnips: 12-15 plants per person
Peas: about 120 plants per person
Peppers: 3-5 plants per person
Spinach: about 15 plants per person
Squash (including Zucchini): about 10 per family
Sweet Potatoes: about 75 plants per family
Tomatoes: about 20 plants per family
Turnips: about 1/4 lb (200grams or so) seeds per family
Watermelon: about 1/2 oz.(10 or 20gr) seeds per family

By using the annual recommendations above and spreading your planting across the appropriate season, you should be able to calculate what you need to plant.

I found it over at New Life On a Homestead-so make sure you pop over and check out the whole blog. :)