Lettuce
Broccoli
Spinach
Onions
Capsicum
so far...
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1 month ago
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
the beginning of the fish pond
Yesterday I began the fish pond. I actually dug the hole and put the pond in last weekend but I needed to take it out and put fresh water in yesterday. - Bit of a tip for the newbie - don't leave a whole bunch of sludge at the bottom thinking it will disappear! You need to have the pond as clean as possible when you put the water in. So take two and that's what I did yesterday. The lovely A bought a whole bunch of sandstone and ironstone rocks from her work and will also collect more this week. So a trip to the pet shop later and we now have 4 gold fish and some acquatic plants. I placed a pump and fountain in the middle to test it out - it worked well. But we will now build up a little stone dome for the fountain to sit in and flow naturally over. Last night it went below freezing and I came out to check on the fish this morning - they were swimming under a full thick sheet of ice. But thankfully survived. And hopefully that's will be a rare frost before spring hits soon in a couple of weeks. A taste of it today - gorgeous sunny day - we have taken our three dogs down to the local community gardens for a walk.
our second araucana egg
This is our 2nd araucana egg - it actually is a little more bluey green than this photo suggests. I feel like a proud mum. Yesterday we checked the nest and there was Mrs Fatso laying and a couple of other chooks lined up. Unfortunately we only have one nesting box at the moment - plans to add more have been now sped up. :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Orchard :)
This weekend we worked hard. (well not so much me - don't like digging too much!) It was all A. She created our vege patch, dug the lane down to the chook pen (which was about half a foot deep which we then filled in with roadbase) and this morning I planted the beginning of our Orchard :) Its all starting to take shape - it's organically evolving as opposed to us having a master plan. Once the path was in we saw that the perfect spot for the vege patch would be that corner, then after that was created, we thought to put the 3 citrus trees in the remaining small green patch leading from the shed. - Once these grow bigger this will create an almost separate garden area - which you will come across through that small gateway. Which I have plans to grow a little archway over. I can't believe what a difference all this is making already. The citrus trees we planted are: mandarin, lemon and kumquat.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Larry, the path, the chookpen
Meet Larry. Our new dog. (A says that's a bit committed - we do have a week to "return" him). We found him through doggie rescue - an organisation in Sydney which rescues dogs left in the pound. Larry is a labrador (maybe cross with Golden Retriever), who we think is around 3. A big boy, a slow boy. But we think pretty happy. The kelpie and sausage dog are so far ok with him. The chooks too. Larry is hopefully going to be a more playful companion to our kelpie as the sausage dog is getting a bit old and not that interested in playing. Notice the path leading to the chook pen. NEW! as of today. Go A - who is a complete legend. The pile of dirt which Larry is getting familiar with is where the vege patch is going.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Our new chooks
Meet our two new chooks, which arrived this morning. Mrs Fatso (I have forgotten the breed - please check back for that). and the araucana - which doesn't have a name yet. I am excited about the araucana - as it is the layer of famous blue/green eggs. These two are apparently laying every couple of days already - so as soon as our first eggs arrive I will post some photos. (the old ford in the background of the photo is sitting rusting away in the neighbours backyard. I like it. - Reminds me of being in the country). Our two new chooks have lured Marmalade and Blacky out of their pen and into their run. However they have also enticed our kelpie to start barking. It's mainly Mrs Fatso's fault. She's big and a bit noisey. Not quite as placid and hospitipal as the first two. Marmalade and Blacky are sticking together, not hanging with the new peeps in town yet. Ignoring the barking, ignoring the new chooks. It's like West Side Story, with the two gangs checking each other out, staying far enough away to just observe.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Snow Time
It snowed on Sunday...a wonderful beautiful event - does anyone ever get tired of it. - There is nothing like snow floating down. A & I continued working in our yard through it..(clearing out our awning to move in our workshop tools - which is probably a whole other post). We were snugged up in several layers. It was great - freeing. This picture is of my lovely old theatre chairs which have traveled countries with me, towns with me, abodes with me. I woke up Monday morning and snow had contined to fall lightly during the night. It's not the snowy mountains, but a little bit of snow every year will be such a ethereal magical event to look forward to.
chooks
The chooks have arrived. We picked them out last Saturday and brought them back up the mountain. Marmalade and Blacky are very placid - they didn't take flight or flap a single wing when our kelpie came up to bark and protest. A is suprised & relieved at how well kelpie is coping. The chooks took to their new chookpen like a duck to water, or a chook to a pen :)... The only small concern we had was t if they would suffer shock from the sudden drop in temperature. As it turned out the following day (Sunday) was the biggest and lets face it only true snow fall or the winter. We have put hay all around the pen - almost feels like we live on a farm! The chooks are about 2 or 3 weeks from point of lay - (that's chook speak for when they start to lay eggs). This weekend we are probably going to get two more. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
the Chook pen - almost done.
The chook house is almost done. Only gates and wire to be put in and then the chooks arrive. The windows you can see here are from a bunch I have been dragging from house move to house move for a few years. I bought about 25 of them for I think $30 from the Moulin Rouge movie auction after the film was complete. They were props for little french windows i guess . Inside is perspex not glass. - Quite useful for a chook pen! The true french doors from the same auction (the same ones that were for Ewen McGregors characters room) will be put into our house as the doors to the deck). More on that when it actually gets done.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Chair restoration
Early this year I picked up a couple of mid century broken chairs in bits off the side of the road - in the annual clean up in Katoomba. Legs were off - the seats were off. I gathered all the parts to make up two whole chairs.
I am quite happy with the new look - basically put them back together - stripped them down, oiled them in my beloved Organoil and then reupholsted the black vinyl in gorgeous Amy Butler fabric from the US.
Total cost $12 for fabric. :)
I am quite happy with the new look - basically put them back together - stripped them down, oiled them in my beloved Organoil and then reupholsted the black vinyl in gorgeous Amy Butler fabric from the US.
Total cost $12 for fabric. :)
Chook Pen
Doesn't look like much yet - but stay tuned - the chook pen is under way! The two posts and more were cemented in by A last weekend. This weekend we build the chook house!
Starting on a mosaic path
I have started a mosaic path to lead to the studio. Featuring Blue Mountains rare wildlife.
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