Summer Harvest

I must admit, the garden has been sadly neglected in this heat. Luckily we're getting reasonably regular rain, because I haven't even been watering it. Went out this afternoon in the cool of the evening, and picked these. I planted 20 Roma tomato seeds a few months ago, and they have just produced and produced. This was just today's pickings, and because I haven't been out recently, there were just as many rotting on the ground. Guess I won't have to plant seeds again next season! Surprisingly we haven't had much trouble with bugs or anything, perhaps because in my laziness I didn't even stake them, and the plants are just heaps on the ground, with the tomatoes protected under all the leaves? Whatever the reason, I have a freezer full of tomatoes. Think it's about time I had a pasta sauce preserving session.

I didn't pick this watermelon today, but it's sitting there all ripe and ready to pick. Just as soon as I finish the one in the fridge that I picked a few days ago. You can tell when a watermelon is ready to pick because the curl at the point where the stalk joins the vine dies off. From the nine seeds I planted this year, looks like we'll have enough watermelons that we won't need to buy anymore this summer. And they're staggered enough that they won't ripen all at once either, should be just about right. And my goodness, they are DELICIOUS. A store bought watermelon has nothing on one you grow yourself, let me tell you.

Apparently my grandfather, who was a farmer in the Mary Valley when my mum was a girl, said the trick to a good watermelon is lots of water while they're growing, then stop watering in the last week so that the sugar can develop. Which, funnily enough, is exactly what these ones had. We had rain on average 2-3 times a week for the initial growth period, then in the last few weeks, only once a week or so. Couldn't have arranged it better if I'd tried!

So, just to remind myself, next year I again have to plant about 20 Roma tomatoes, and about 9 watermelons!

Present Pictures

And here are the promised princess tent pictures. It really was a nightmare to make. Cutting out the windows let the walls stretch out of shape, the wire around each piece buckled, and you don't want to know the gymnastics it took to get those pieces under the food of the sewing machine. I did hand sew some of it, but I would never have gotten it finished if I had tried to hand sew all of it.

DD loves it though, and has played with it every day since Christmas. She doesn't see any of the crooked stitches, the seams that show, the walls that aren't the right shape, or the roof that sags. And in the end, that is what I was aiming for, something that made DD happy, so I'm trying very hard to overlook all those imperfections myself.

I'm much much happier with how this doll turned out, although she does seem to have rather a lot of hair...

DD of course, seems less keen. She's far happier dressing up Big Bird or Simba. The fairy dress (made after Christmas to match DD's) has helped though, and today she has been asking to have her hair in pigtails like dolly, so I guess there is hope.

For anyone who is interested in trying their hand at making one, I bought my pattern for download from Dancing Rain Dolls. It was a really easy to follow and comprehensive pattern, and I definitely think I'll be purchasing some more of her patterns in the future.

Growing so quicky

I did take pictures of DD's tent and doll today with the intention of posting them, but then DD spilt water on the mouse on DH's computer, so I can't use it to download the photos. So instead you'll have to make do with this closeup of our local wild duck family. They're growing so fast!

Tomorrow I'll post the pics, I promise.

Our Christmas

Since DH was working Christmas day, DD and I spent the day at my sisters. We had an absolutely lovely day, decorating her apartment and playing with her baby.

And now, since all the present giving is done, I can finally post some pics of my latest round of crafting. I don't have good pictures yet of DD's presents, though you can see the princess/fairy dress I made her in the above picture. I'll try to get some pictures of the fairy tent and Waldorf doll in the next few days.

This bag and cushion went to DH's mum and dad. DD drew the pictures with special fabric crayons, then I used them to make these. I think they went down rather well.

These went to my sister and her husband (I'm sure you can guess which is whose.) They picked out the materials, and I sewed them up. I think the colour combinations worked really well, even though the camo and orange isn't quite what I would have chosen!

The handmade gifts has been a great experience this year, and I've really enjoyed making them, and thinking of ideas for each person, though next year I think I should start the sewing a little earlier! I felt a little unsure on Christmas morning, when DD only had 6 presents to unwrap, and when we were wrapping them, I felt this urge to go straight out and buy more, but overall I think the smaller number was better. Yes, she was still looking for presents at the end of them, but then, aren't kids always looking for more presents? On the plus side, she actually looked at each of the presents as she was unwrapping them, stopping to put on the dress, and play in the tent before grabbing the next present, something that I DON'T think happens when there are large numbers of presents. I certainly don't think she was disappointed, and we could see from the expression on her face that she was thrilled with her princess tent. She also didn't become overwhelmed and overexcited as she seems to when there are large numbers of presents to open.

Hopefully we'll be strong enough to stick to a similar low key present opening next year.

One Christmas Job down...

Well, I finally sewed the last patch onto the Advent Calendar tonight. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Made using fabrics I had lying around, and only a few purchases of bits and pieces for the numbers from spotlight (a few iron on numbers and the like). You might recognise the backing as the material I was using in an attempt at crocheting a rag rug (that I gave up on). The pockets are made from some scrap Christmas material that I had from my mum, and the rectangles on the front from the felt that I bought a while ago (still have some left even).

I've tried to do each number slightly differently, to keep it interesting. I was partly inspired by this calendar here, although I of course, had to go the hard road of making it from scratch!

And here are some of my favourite pockets. I just love these sunflower buttons. They are just so cheerful and happy.

I love these cute little letter accents too, that I found in the scrapbooking section at Spotlight. I still have lots more, so no doubt more will make their appearance in other projects in the coming months.

And finally, this one was sheer inspiration if I do say so myself. DD wanted to use the little red plane button, and I knew I couldn't fit 23 of them on this square, when suddenly it occurred to me, sky writing!

And, as if Advent calendars and all the other things I have to get done weren't enough, I'm trying to turn this Thomas the Tank Engine tent into a princess castle! DD saw one at Spotlight (can you tell where I've been spending a fair bit of time lately), and wanted it. I managed to convince her that she might get it for Christmas, then by the time we got back there to get it, they were sold out! So are all the other Spotlight stores.

Do you think I can do it? Well, I'm sure I can, but in the remaining 3 nights before Christmas? (OK, cheating, I have actually started, but only last night...)

Christmas Preparations

And I was under the mistaken impression that December would be quieter than November, and I would have more time to post. How mistaken was I?

In previous years, we've bought all our presents. We've made sure we get toys and items with long term playability, and preferably good quality and educational, but still all that shopping and deciding is a major undertaking especially at this time of year. This year, I've been looking around at all the toys in the shops, and been very disappointed in what was on offer. Most things are plastic, and have very little long term playability. Maybe it's DD's age, and the fact that things are becoming very commercialised (why does everything have either Dora the Explorer or Disney Princesses on it?), but I have found very little that I wanted to buy for her. We have purchased a couple of presents online, but the plan this year was/is to make the majority of DD's presents, as well as everyone else's.

Of course, being presents, and given the fact that many of the recipients read this blog, I can't even post any interesting pictures of all the crafting that is happening! The pic above is the beginning of DD's Waldorf doll, that is nearly finished now. I will write more about it and post some pictures after Christmas hopefully.

As if making all those presents weren't enough, I had this crazy idea half way through the month to make an advent calendar! We've been doing it slowly, doing a pocket a day (usually in a rush after DD is in bed!), and though it's nearly finished now, I'll save the final picture until the past pocket is on.

We've had a lot of fun with it though. Instead of going the commercial route for surprises for each pocket, I've been trying to stick with things that we've made ourselves, or things that are some sort of activity we can do with DD. In this picture, you can see the paper strips that were our first surprise, used to make paper chains. We've also had bubble mixture, Christmas cookie cutters, and a treasure hunt. It has been lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to making it a yearly tradition. Hopefully it won't be so stressful next year when the calendar is already made! (And hopefully I'll come up with some ideas throughout the year so that I'm prepared.)

Local Wildlife

One of the greatest things about rural living is the amazing wildlife we get to see on a regular basis. We have a family of magpies that live in our area, as well as many little mickeys, some plovers, and pigeon dove birds. These we all see nearly ever day, but with spring in the air, there have been some new and exciting visitors to our backyard.

We first saw this family of wood ducks, with their 9-11 ducklings (hard to count them, they keep moving so fast) on the side of the road one morning. They visit our backyard every couple of days, and we regularly see them in neighbouring yards as well. Aren't they adorable?

These brightly coloured rainbow lorikeets visited a few days ago, along with these little green parrots. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but they were beautifully colourful.

Then this morning we heard a very strange noise, almost like a child screaming. After looking around, we found these two koalas up a tree on the other side of the road, fighting! They screamed at each other, growled, then the lower one left the tree.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Watching and Waiting...

Remember the raised garden bed where I planted 9 watermelon seeds? Well, there is no sign of the raised bed itself now, and it's starting to send out feelers into the bed next to it!

There are two big watermelons, about 20+ cm long now, and dozens of smaller ones. They're growing so fast with all this rain we're having (thunderstorms 3 times a week or so I'd say), that they almost seem to double overnight. I'm hoping these big ones will be ready in time for Christmas, but they might not make it.

I think next year though, I'll plant the watermelons up the back, they are really a little too big for the area at the front. We're constantly stepping over watermelon vines. But then again, who cares if it means they get to eat yummy, juicy watermelons?

We do have another problem though. Our Biolytix wastewater treatment system is in the corner, right near these vines, and we had our first service a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately there is storm water getting into the tank, and the solution is to dig it up, and concrete it in. I'm hoping there will be some way for them to get to it that doesn't involve running a large piece of machinery over my watermelons (and the rest of the garden). Either that, or they don't get around to it until after we've eaten them all!

Adventure Playground

DD has just learnt how to tie a knot. DH showed her once, and she practiced lots. When she got frustrated that they weren't holding, we suggested she tie two knots, and it's taken off. Most afternoons this is what my living room looks like. This was a balloon shop. We've also had flying foxes for the toys and traps to catch dinosaurs. Isn't an imagination a wonderful thing?

Rasberries

With all the heat and rain, the rasberries have been busy growing. Remember back in September when I planted them and they looked like this? On the right is the rasberries, on the left are the beans I planted. Brown beauty. Not the greatest eating raw bean I don't think, but maybe they'll taste better cooked?

Although most of it is green leaves, there are the occasional immature berry laden branches like these. Don't quote me on it, but I believe rasberries fruit on last year's growth?

And, hidden down the back, some of these.

Not too many, just a taste.

You may have noticed that posts on here have been rather few and far between lately. Truth is, I'm a bit worn out from all the time I spent on the computer writing during November, and now am trying to spend a lot more time off the computer to get that balance back. I resolve to be a better blogger though, and try to update here semi-regularly. I have a lot of photo posts like this of stuff around the garden and house planned for the rest of the month, then hopefully back to a few more detailed posts next year, when things settle down a bit again.

Nothing New November - Conclusions

Well, November was certainly a hectic month. I probably could have chosen a better time for my Nothing New challenge, seeing as I was completing NaNoWriMo at the same time, but then again, perhaps the lack of trips to the shops helped in that regard too!

So, I guess what everyone is wondering is, how did we go? Did we manage to get through the whole month without buying (or swapping or accepting) anything new? The answer, of course, is no, but I still feel that we've done pretty well. So onto the exceptions first, then I'll summarise what I feel we learnt from this challenge.

Well, I don't really count this one as an exception, since we had booked it before November, had the money put aside for it, and it was a non-negotiable essential given how badly our gutters overflow every time it rains, but we had someone come out and install gutter guard in November. It's brilliant. No more climbing up on the roof to clean out the gutters every week, or having water going everywhere because they're overflowing. And the roof looks heaps better because all the leaves/sticks are washing right off rather than gathering in the guttering and looking untidy.

And this one, I make no excuses for what so ever. I was at the markets getting our weekly fruit, and saw a stall with lots of old kitchenware, and thought "they wouldn't have....?" and they did, so I couldn't leave it there, even though it was $12! It's a very old bread knife like the ones we had when I was growing up. They just don't make ones like these, or anything like them anymore, and I know, because I have looked. See the metal out the side? That's the cutting guide, which allows you to cut an even and thin slice of bread. I was nearly ready to give up on home made bread simply because I couldn't cut it thin enough to wrap around a sausage, but not anymore. Now I can cut it perfect, every time. Well worth $12. When I mentioned it to my sister, she wanted to know if they had another one!

And finally, one of DH's workmates was wanting to get rid of this guitar, so DH bought it off him for $10. A bargain we couldn't pass up. DD loves it, and I think it's pretty cool too. I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar.

I'm afraid that I also fell down on my decuttering challenge of getting rid of 100 things in the month. I mean, in terms of actual individual items, which was my original challenge, I probably managed over 100. I've decluttered about half a dozen boxes of toys from DD's playroom, several bags of unwanted clothes, and much more from the rest of the house, but there is still so much to go yet. But I'm still pretty happy with how it went in the scheme of things. I think that trying to do two challenges in one month (three if you count NaNo as well!) was just a little too much!

So that's it. In the month of November we bought only three things other than food or medications. Not bad I don't think. We saved over $500 that we have paid off the credit card, $500 that probably would have otherwise been spent on things that we obviously didn't really need. We didn't feel deprived, didn't even really feel annoyed that we couldn't spend the money. In fact, in some ways it was liberating. No looking carefully through the catalogues that arrive in the mail each week, we just threw them out. No stopping to window shop somewhere, and no deliberating over whether we really wanted something or not. We just avoiding all that hassle.

Sadly, I don't think a month is really long enough to do this sort of challenge properly. There were many things that though we didn't go out and buy, we simply put aside to be bought at the end of the challenge. Like needles for my overlocker. The ones I have aren't ball points (required for sewing stretch, or the material gets damaged), so I couldn't finish sewing the t-shirts I am making for DD. I could, of course, have sewn them on my sewing machine (which has ball point needles, just not the right size for the overlocker), but I was too lazy. So in terms of changing our consumer habits, it wasn't a huge success (although I suspect we will be evaluating things a little more carefully in future), but in terms of saving money, it was definitely good. And for that alone, we'll probably try it again, though not this month!

Itchy, Itchy, Itchy

I had planned to write this nice long post about our No-Spending-in-November month, but after a day cleaning out chicken pens and bathing chickens, I just don't feel up to it. Yes, our chickens have mites. In fact, we seem to have a whole infestation of them. The chook pen was teaming with them, and they were jumping onto us and coming into the house with us. Took us a little while to figure out why we were so itchy, then DH walked in to collect the eggs from the chooks, and there were little bugs crawling all over his feet.

We've done many searches on-line, and of course, the most prevalent treatment is to bring out the insecticides. I'm not terribly keen on this, so we're going to try the organic route first. Therefore, we've spent the day pulling all the bedding out of the chook's shed, hosed the entire thing down with a high pressure hose, and then sprayed it all with a diluted solution of tea tree oil. Each poor chook was dunked in a tea tree oil bath, which they were not happy about. Though surprisingly not as bad as I thought they would be, visions of trying to bath cats floating in the back of my mind. Chooks are MUCH easier.

Unfortunately, though we have eliminated probably thousands of mites, there are still plenty left. Tomorrow we're going to lime the entire area, and the chooks, and probably keep them locked in for a few days. They must have caught them from the local birds, since they don't have contact with any other chooks or anything.

All our clothes are being washed in a hot wash, and we're all having several showers a day while trying to get them under control, because every time we go near the chooks/chook pen, they're all over us again. Lucky our tanks are full, and our hot water is free from the sun.

Hopefully, with persistence, we can beat this, and not have to resort to the nasty chemicals!