A Pause

Apologies for the quietness of the blog recently. Even when I’ve posted my heart hasn’t been in it. I think I’m going to take a little break…a few weeks or so.
Everything is overwhelming at the moment, boxes, house stuff, moving and adjusting. There are so many ideas, directions, people and tasks that are clamouring for my attention that it’s hard to know where to start. I need to stop, regroup and prioritize, as well as have a think about the blog and its direction.

SO….I hope everyone enjoys the next few weeks and I will be back soon, bright, shiny and raring to blog again!

Hay Ewe!

In addition to improving the quality of the soil in our garden we had decided we needed some mulch as well. Preferably straw which is light, insulating and can be dug in to the soil as it composts down.

After an exhaustive and fruitless search of the Internet ebay produced results and for a nominal amount and a bit of a drive the straw bales would be ours.

Sunday was an early start, we borrowed a Ute and a trailer and headed up towards Bendigo. The day was sunny, the sky blue and wildlife out in force. We saw horses and sheep and cows of course but also many parrots, three very fat Kookaburra's and an echidna crossing the road as fast as his little legs would take him! (moving too quick for a photo unfortunately). However I did take a few shots during the day.

The open road...

Fields of green.

Fields of yellow!

On the way back some cows were very interested in our trailer load!

More exciting for me was the sheep...because sheep = wool = knitting. Also knew that in Bendigo there is a Woollen Mill although we didn't go there because we were on a mission. Can you see the sheep on the hill?

The long road home
The trailer load

Our Haystack! I keep going outside to look at it!

Dirt, dirt and more dirt

We had a bit of an adventurous weekend. As recent posts show we’ve been trying to get the veggie garden but one of our main problems has been the quality of the soil. In our absence the garden was badly neglected and in order to improve the soil quality and water retention ability we needed to do something fast.

We looked around and did our research, trying to be frugal at the same time, and we decided that we needed compost....large quantities of compost. After wandering around a number of garden centres....something that I am quite happy to do with or without a reason, we were about to purchase a trailer load or two when the grandparents came to the rescue. Gardening is a little beyond them now and their compost heap had been getting out of hand. It's a win-win situation!!
So Saturday was spent shovelling the most lovely loamy compost on to the garden! And the best thing is it was free!!!

The first bed to be composted....you can see the difference between the soils.
A trailer full of dirt

The garden bed after composting, digging and raking.
Carrots!! I'd bought a punnet of carrot seedlings not so long ago and when the bed was ready I was able to put them out. All 87 of them!!!!!!!!! eek
Of course that wasn't the only adventure we had this weekend.....stay tuned!

Argh me hearties

well I don't often post twice on the same day but I just had to share this bit of info....today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!

And in honor of the occasion I shall share my favorite joke in the world, which just happens to be about pirates.

Q. Why are pirates called pirates?

A. Because they Argh!


hehehe never fails to make me giggle!

Seedlings

Wow it's been a week of garden posts huh! Well it's what I'm doing at the moment I guess and I am rather excited by the fact that I have my first seedlings (that I have sown) of the season. Blurry but growing and I can see movement in a few other pots so by next week everything should be bursting with life.

Store bought seedlings are coming along nicely too

Pumpkins....

Red Cabbage...
Ruby Chard...
My strawberry runners (Red Gauntlet) have settled into their new homes and are putting out new leaves.And my rhubarb looks equally as happy to be here

Space utilization

Found this on the weekend and figured it warrented a photo! I know these will grow anywhere but this is a tad ridiculous right! Who'd of thought we'd have to check our guttering for plants!!
Pretty tho. Will have to find a spot in the garden and transplant it.

Fruit trees...my not so secret love

I love fruit trees. I love the blossom in the spring, I love standing under the trees and pretending it's snowing as the petals fall around me. I love the hum of the bees that are attracted to the flowers and mostly I love that something so beautiful will produce delicious fruit with very little help from me!