I bought a new book today. I've been on the look out for Jackie French's "Backyard Self Sufficiency", after seeing it in a bookstore several months ago and stupidly neglecting to buy it, but still no luck. However, I found this one, also by Jackie French, and it's instantly become my favourite book!
I bought it simply on the strength of the name, but when I first opened the book to this page, I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed. I just love it. Jackie French brings organic gardening from the realm of too difficult, into the reach of those of us who don't have the time or knowledge to test our soil, or get everything just right.I was inspired enough that when we got home, I went out to the vegie garden and staked up my tomatoes (with stakes cut from scrap wood left over from the house building) and planted some more peas, beans and cauliflower. I was also going to have a harvest picture in this post, but unfortunately the 3 potatoes I uncovered had lots of brown spots, and the miniature rockmelons weren't ripe (self seeded out of season, so not surprising). The peas are going great though, had my first one a couple of days ago, and savoured the whole 5 peas that were in the pod! Lots more on the horizon soon. Jackie French guesses that you need 4-6 square metres of peas to get enough for a family of four. I think I have maybe 2 square metres. I think I'd better get planting! Unfortunately, it's a bit dark for that now.
So instead I'm going to get knitting! I've promised DH a beanie, and I think this beautiful grey wool, spun and plyed, looks just right. This was my first attempt at plying, and I think it turned out OK. What surprised me was that wool plied from two strands actually ends up thicker than the two strands together would be! I had two bobbins of this, and plied them together to get three! Very strange.
It's now all washed, and wound into balls and ready to go. How satisfying is that? I also love the way the wool winder leaves the middle end of the wool easily accessible. Knitting from the middle of the ball stops it rolling around the floor as you unwind it, much easier! Now to figure out how to knit a beanie...
7 comments:
hi - i stumbled across your blog and i hope you don't mind, but i have been reading it all afternoon! your writings about building your new home are very inspiring and my tired vegie patches are about to get makeovers thanks to you :) are you finding your rosellas are still doing well? i'd love to try my hand at them sometime. would you know where i could get hold of seeds fairly cheaply? oh, and i think we're neighbours [of sorts] - i get our fruit and veg from the caboolture markets too! though i can't seem to get there nearly as often as i'd like.. kind regards, jaime.
Hi Jaime, lovely to hear from you.
The rosella's aren't as prolific as they were earlier in the season, but still have a final harvest left on them. I'm hoping to wait till I have some strawberries as well to make some strawberry/rosella jam. I have plenty of spare seeds if you'd like some?
We make it a priority to make it to the markets each week, as the fruit and veg is just so much cheaper, and my daughter goes through rather a lot.
Great to hear from a local.
wow! thankyou i'd love some seeds if you're sure you have enough to spare. my email address is biskitty@hotmail.com . i got out into the garden today, pulled out some weeds and found a few brown frogs! they gave me a fright but it was very cool to have them living here, in with the lettuces :) your tanks look lovely and big! jaime
I suppose I should introduce myself too...found your blog recently and have read all the entries back from the start. I love reading what you are doing with your place and the skills you are learning. And YAY Jackie French!!! I have this book, and backyard self sufficieny, and the chook book. Now I just need some land to practice on haha. Dont quite have enough room for chooks on my balcony (in Hornsby NSW) but am getting my garden up and running slowly, one pot and bag of soil (hauled up three flights of stairs!) at a time. I am SO envious of the space you have!!! And in the meantime I am reading LOTS (I think I have just about every book written on organic gardening and Permaculture lol) and practicing skills like preserving, knitting and cooking from scratch :)
Hi Em. Lovely to hear from people who are reading my blog! I started out in the courtyard of my unit, but luckily I didn't have that many stairs to haul stuff up! I was actually reading this article (http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/selfsufficiency-on-a-balcony/2007/04/23/1177180569548.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 today, about gardening on balcony's, thought you might be interested. (Of course, you may have already found it!) Good luck with your garden!
I have ordered this book at the library.
www.homesteadblogger.com/ourlittlehouseintown
Ooooh thankyou, no I hadn't found that. One can never have too much reading material :D
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