From our garden

We are getting this and more every day!

Makes me happy! (anyone have a good summer tomato salad recipe??)

Our new girls!

We love our girls. (This is Renae by the way - she gives us one egg a day without fail - as do her two mates - Corinne and Aramina)

They eat our scraps. They give us eggs. They provide me with fertiliser for my vege garden. And they make me happy.

And now they have some new neighbours!

(and for the record - it was all my husbands idea! He found them, talked me into them, and dragged me back to get them after work!)

Meet our two new silkies. Ok - they may not ever give us the egg supply of our existing three girls ... but they sure are cute!

Meet Sweetie



And Cutie



These are Miss E's chickens. She is already pretty good at looking after our existing chooks ... but these are just HER size. They are still pretty young so we are hoping that they will get used to her handling them early on ...

So far it looks like they don't have a choice!



(And Paul is secretly looking forward to cooking an 8 egg omlette for one I think!)

In our garden right now ...

Chillies ...


Tomatoes ...


Berries ...

The cutest capsicum you ever did see ...


More Tomatoes ...


Apples...


Zucchini


Cherries


It seems rain really does make a difference!

I feel like a grown up!

OK - why did no one tell me how empowering this could be!

Today .... I bought .... my own power tools!

Specifically I got sick of not being able to get the garden done when and how I want and having to wait ... I like to get what I want now!!

So I went looking. I was going to buy some hedge trimmers. That's all. And look what I found!

BOSCH has a new range of garden tools!!! Including these amazing hedge trimmers. Light weight. Easy for me to hold. Oh - and rechargable thank you!!!!




And then I splurged. Lookie lookie!!



A line trimmer (whippersnipper for you aussie folk!) that is light enough that I can actually manage it. And it doesn't use that horrible plastic line so it doesn't get tangled (I guess it isn't a line trimmer then ... but you get what I mean)

Oh - and it is RECHARGEABLE too!!!!! No power cords. No petrol. (or whatever you put in those mower type things)

I am in LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! Look out garden! Here I come!

Next thing you see I will own my own cordless drill :)

Now - if someone could buy me a rechargeable lightweight lawnmower and I will be in power tool heaven!

Veggie garden update~

We are having so much fun in our garden! For the first time in forever we are getting regular rain - and our vegies are going mad!

Our tomato plants have started flowering ...



We planted another bed today (this year we are using raised garden beds (these were from aldi but hardware stores have similar items) and they have been fantastic. Much easier than digging the ground, and much easier to keep on top of the weed situation.)
The bed we planted today has dwarf beans, zucchini and some spaghetti squash in it (which I am SO excited about!)




This is my "greens" garden bed. Heaps of salad greens and a few veggies which make preparing a fresh salad so easy. I just pick what I want as I need it. No more lettuce going limp and sad in the fridge. Our radishes are in here too ... and should be ready to start using next week.



Paul helping me stake our tomatoes. We are planning an overload of tomatoes this year if we can keep the stinking fruit flies away! Most of the tomatoes we have planted are heritage tomatoes from the diggers seed company. These are unusual, traditional varieties, that taste like tomatoes are MEANT to taste. They actually have flavour. I am beyond excited about these!




This is the sort of gardening I enjoy. And I am having so much fun this year! Only decision is what to plant next ...

Spring is on it's way!

My chickens are back up to their one egg each a day production ... and are going great guns at using up my scraps ...



And veges are getting planted! Hurray!

Today's decluttering challenge - the front entry area

Today's challenge for me was our front outdoor entrance to our home.

Weeks of demolishing and building had taken it's toll. That - and cleaning it up seemed just so overwhelming.

Most of the big stuff had gone - but there were still plenty of piles to remind me of the renos ...

like this one here ...




Today is stinking hot and muggy - so maybe not the best time to do it, but I was sick of all the muck being tracked into our home.

So - like everything ... 15 min at a time ...

And things are not perfect - but they sure are a lot more peaceful now!

Five minute room rescue

It's amazing what you can do in 5 minutes!

This is one of the tools I LOVE from flylady!! From her site ... what is a 5 minute room rescue?

This is a reminder to spend just 5 minutes clearing a path in your worst room. You know this area of your home: the place you would never allow anyone to see. Just 5 minutes a day for the next 27 days and you will have a place you can be proud to take anyone.

Our worst area is our yard and shed. Neither of us love to garden (although I WANT to and I am going to try!) We have committed for the next 27 days for Paul to spend 5 minutes a day in the shed and me to spend 5 minutes a day in the yard.

I did not want to today. I am tired.

But really - it is only 5 minutes. So - since it was raining I spent 5 minutes in our undercover area at the back. It is a mess since it is where we do our artwork, store outdoor toys, and hang laundry when it rains.

Well - look what you can do in five minutes!