Chairs

I picked up this little set of chairs from a recent garage sale. They are from the 1950s but painted an awful gold colour and had fluffy pink covers that just reminded me of one of those old toilet seats! - So I have painted them in spray paint white enamel and ordered some great outdoor fabric online from the US. Not a great reno - but they do the job in my never ending quest to add as many seating areas within out yard as possible. I will keep them slightly under cover - I don't think they are waterproof - just weather proof. The website I ordered the fabric off if you are in Australia and interested is: Fab Outdoor Fabrics dot com dot au

New plants

We are going to try out some new plants (bromeliads) that my mum has given us. The cold (ie frost and snow) aren't good for them - so I have tied them to moveable objects (ladder) and may move into the back shed during the really cold snaps, to see that helps. We are entering into Summer here soon, so hopefully no more frosts for a few months. The ladder that you can see in the photo is the other half of the long one we found buried in the back yard - the first half is happily hanging our pots in the kitchen :) Also in the background of this photo, behind the fish pond you can see some tortured willow I picked up off a pile from the community gardens in Katoomba. The tortured willow is so beautiful - but in Australia it's been declared a weed of national significance and so aren't great to have around. These are the types of dried branches you see in fancy white urns in gorgeous interior design mags. The branches are wonderfully curly. They look like they belong in a whimsical children's book.

Potatos -third lot of hay

And this is an updated pic of one of our Potato tubs. The third layer was added yesterday. It's growing at a tremendous rate - almost a cm a day I think.

Vege Patch mid Spring

Vege Patch mid Spring

I thought I would post a pic on the vege patch - we have been enjoying bountiful lettuce and rocket. Something is coming up which looks like a brocolli hybrid of some sort. - (towards the back of this pic). I pulled out the dregs today of the rocket and planted some new Lettuce, Spinach, Peas, Beans and Carrots.
Click here to see the evolution of our VEGE PATCH

Dried Lemon Balm

Here is the Lemon Balm - dried and being put into some tins. I intend to make various things out of this - will post my various failures and successes.

The first thing I am going to start is this :) check back for results :

Melissa Liqueur
Home made Lemon Balm Liqueur

2 ½ tsp dried lemon balm

sliced and scraped peel of ¼ lemon

a pinch of coriander

a pinch of cinnamon

2 peppermint leaves

1 cup vodka

½ cup sugar syrup

Place all the ingredients in a bottle and steep 3 weeks. Shake the jar daily during the steeping period. Strain and filter into a dark bottle, adding more sugar to taste. Mature for 2 months.

Sugar Syrup

1 cup white granulated sugar and ½ cup water

Bring to a boil, and stir until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is clear. Always cool before adding to alcohol mixture.

Dried Lemon Balm