WHAT HAPPENED TO MARCH?

So much for me keeping up with blogging, March just went so quickly but I did spend more time fixing up the veggie patch.  There's still a long way to go but I've managed to get a bed ready to get some beans, cabbage, broccoli and garlic growing. 

After having my fingers in so many pies over the years, I'm really making an effort to get back to basics this year.  Our financial situation will be changing again at the end of the year and anything I can do now to set us up will be beneficial.  With teenage and adult children now it's so easy to get caught up with what they feel are needs not wants and this relates to not only clothing etc but food as well.  I've been so lazy when it comes to cooking from scratch, don't get me wrong, takeaway is something my family only gets a few times a year (the older ones that earn their own money seem to eat it a lot more) but convenience foods have made there way back into our home and it's because I'm not prioritizing our health.

I've looked very carefully at our budget and what we can change and for now it's cutting back on our food budget.  I made the decision to try something new a couple of weeks ago, for years I have done fortnightly shopping with the intention of buying more fresh food on the off week but every fortnight we go over because I am constantly at the shops buying bread, milk etc then adding more stuff that I see on special.  Two weeks ago I decided to slash our food budget and then halve it to do weekly shopping and it's working, the kids never stop eating and they were always running out of food, now for whatever reason, there's always food in the home.  I can only guess that I'm putting in more effort into cooking and simply not allowing myself to buy more, if we run out we can wait a few days until next shopping day.

So what have I been busy making?  First of all getting back into the swing of making daily bread is a huge saving.

Juice, now my kids drink this stuff like it's going out of fashion, but not anymore when they have to prepare it themselves.  We are saving a heap on store bought juice and to help out I pre-peel the oranges and pop in the fridge so it's easier for everyone. 

All of the orange peels are not wasted around here, they will be made into orange cleaner by simply popping them into a container and filling with vinegar.  Leave them for a few weeks and let the orange oil seep from the peels.

We have had unseasonly warm weather this past month and my kombucha scoby is going into overdrive, time to separate I think. 

Today I picked our Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples, our tree is small and tends to get taken over by our monster apricot tree but this year it was loaded.  There's coddling moth in some of the apples but I will be cutting that out and stewing and freezing the apples for winter.  This is the last of the cherry tomatoes and chillies so I can finally remove the beds they were in, I might make a chilli paste for  Darren tomorrow.

I will try and keep updated a little more frequently but for now I'm going to enjoy school holidays.

A BIG EFFORT IN THE VEGGIE PATCH

Spending most of this weekend in my patch has been bliss and a lot of hard work.  I got talking to my sister on Friday about some changes I wanted to make regarding the layout and functionality of the garden beds and it was decided that I would go back to beds on the ground.  You see I have used my raised beds for years now and over the last few years I have struggled to keep up a good quality soil in them, I find they just bake over summer and all nutrition is lost.  Even though it's relatively cool where I live, our summers are getting hotter and I think the plastic surrounding the beds is cooking the soil.

Feeling rather ambitious today, I attempted to remove 3 of the beds, not as easy a task as I thought it would be but with a bit of help from Hubby, we managed it.

A look at out raised beds before removal, up the hill towards our new back fence.  The new fence is a story on it's own, you see we had some really terrible neighbours for quite a few years and their home was taken from them.  Two couples on the street behind us bought the home and renovated it but when it came time to do the yard they realised it was a huge garbage pit, the previous owners had dug pits to bury used nappies and everything else you can think of in them, then covered them up.  When they put up the new fence they asked if we minded if they changed the fence line giving us an extra metre of land all the way across our yard.  While we were happy about that, in the future should the house sell and someone looks at plans, the fence will have to be shifted back.  What we didn't know was that one of the garbage pits is now on our side of the fence, I have a raised metre wide piece of land full of old nappies that I don't know what to do with.  I am thinking a retaining wall to hold up the garbage and soil as I don't want to remove it all and then have the fence shifted.  I'm still thinking about what to do on this.

A before look from the new raised land we now have.

Heidi being ever so helpful with the removal.

3 beds gone and a lot of weeding to do.

After a full day of removing rubbish and weeds with Agnus helping every step of the way, it was time for a rest.

During the week I hope to remove a couple more beds and finish off this shade house that was once my hot house before the plastic needed removing.

On a side note, we lost Cyril, Chia and Goldie to a fox this week, we have never had any trouble with foxes before so are devistated.  Poor Agnus and Muriel have been getting special attention and care at the moment as they seem quite stressed and timid.

IT'S MONDAY AGAIN

Early morning picking today as the weather heats up, lots of zucchini and cucumber, the last of the beans and some yummy tomatoes.

At this point in our lives I have had to make compromises, my aim for 2017 was to cut back significantly on waste particularly single use plastic.  Of course I am constantly thinking about this when I purchase anything but circumstances have changed in our little home and our usually strict budget has now become a lot stricter. 

As I am the main accounts manager and shopping queen I now have to look at things a little differently.  For instance, today I needed some fresh produce for lunch and some cooking, there was some organic loose leaf lettuce mix going out for half price, bargain! except that it was wrapped in plastic.  I had to make a decision and I chose to buy it.  There are other things that I would normally not buy due to plastics but I now may have to if they are a lot cheaper than the plastic free variety.

My lunch today was a salad using organic lettuce mix (half price), spring onions (in season and on sale), home grown cucumber and tomatoes, a small amount of feta (on sale and I will use it 3 different meals), a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.

We all have to make decisions, some more important than others, I'm not going back on my ideals but may just have to compromise here and there.  I intend on growing a lot more produce all year round to cut back on waste and of course keep up my cooking from scratch so that of course cuts down on a lot of waste.  If we all do a little bit, then we are making a difference.

For dinner tonight I thought I would use up some eggs from my girls and a couple of our zucchini. For the meat eaters in our home, curried sausages with rice and for me, zucchini slice.

ON THIS DAY...

ON THIS DAY...

It was lovely to have a coolish day today to open up the house and get some scrapbooking done in my planner.  I went for a wander up into the patch, it's so good that I am picking something every day now, that makes me so happy.

I've started following a few new blogs and on The Life Of Clare (sorry having trouble linking) she had a post on on gardening journaling.  This is right up my alley and over the years I have keep gardening journals so it's time to start another.

HARVESTING

* Zucchini
* Tomatoes
* Pickling gherkin
* Bush Beans
* Herbs - Chives, Parsley, Bay Leaves
* Eggs

PLANTING

* Beetroot
* Carrot
* Broccoli - in trays

TO DO

* Preserve Excess
* Keep Up Watering
* Weeding
* Tie Up Tomatoes
* Clean Around Beds
* Find Space For New Beds
* Clean Out Chicken Beds
* Take Off Netting
* Clean Up Herb Beds
* Make Use Of Pots

I LOVE MY GARDEN

I have been picking heaps of beans from my Gormet Delight and Cherokee Wax bush beans. Freezing them has been the best way to deal with the glut but fresh, they are oh so yummy!  I am now letting a few beans mature on the plant to collect the seed.

My very first tomatoes for the season, YAY.  They are small but will be delicious I'm sure.  I'm pretty sure they are Tommy Toe that self seeded from last year.

My first pickling gherkins were picked also, time to find another yummy recipe for them and the girls are as always giving us lovely fresh eggs every day, not to mention eating all the scraps from the kitchen and weeds and snails from the garden.

My efforts are well and truly paying off this year, it also helps that everything is behind so I'm actually home to care for my patch instead of running around the countryside with my son's cricket.

AROUND MY GARDEN

What a lovely day we had today and I didn't need any other excuse to get out into the garden and plant some of my wonderful Eden seeds that came last week.

 

Just a few photos from around our place:

The herb garden is slowly filling up thanks to some awesome people from our Permaculture group that I've been swapping herbs with.

My quince seems to like being espaliered, lots of gorgeous flowers all over it.

While inspecting my plum tree that I've threatened will be chopped out if it doesn't produce this year, I've found that it has indeed got some fruit setting.  It also has a mass of aphids and heaps of these lady beetles on it.  Maybe they are full because they don't seem to be doing their job.  After consulting our Permaculture group once again, it seems they are good lady beetles and should eat the aphids, so I'll just wait and see.

Now back to those seeds.
I was busy pricking out some of these tomato seedlings, I can't believe how many I have this year, I'd say that's because I'm making a conscious effort to water them twice a day in the hothouse, usually I get busy and the trays dry out and then I wonder why I don't get many plants LOL

....and lots more yummy veges are now planted, the wire is over the top to stop our pesky cat Hugo from lying in the trays.

I pulled out the dehydrator for some quick dried chard and broccoli leaves.

 

 All pulverised up ready to add to casseroles or green smoothies.

 

That was my day, hope yours went well.