at last.

...we finally have chickens. hooray!! those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will know how long i have been waiting for chickens... and my persistence has paid off (who said nagging didn't work??)!

two happy little isa browns came to live with us over the weekend and so far they have layed 11 eggs between them. they are about four months old and a little skittish but have enjoyed pecking around the vegie garden and are very good at eating kitchen scraps :) their names are Peggy and Harriet and they are fabulous.

garden produce...

we have had an abundance of tomatoes this summer. after the many months it took for my winter crop to ripen i have come to understand the important role of sun in speeding up this process. i have also come to learn that many days of continuous rain will result in split and rotting tomatoes. however, we have managed to collect weekly basketfuls to turn into tomato passata. just another little baby step towards simple and sustainable living.

p.a - am currently looking for a good reference book for future canning and preserving - any reccommendations?

*** vintage sheet swap sign ups over here

mornings in the garden

our vegie garden is undergoing a bit of a makeover as we move from four smallish garden beds to six big ones! It has been so nice growing our own fruit, vegies and herbs this last year but we have still been getting the majority of our fresh produce from the farmers markets or woolies (eek). Over the next season we are hoping to get the majority of our fruit and vegies from our garden and supplement what we can't grow from the markets. we still have a LONG way to go but my hope eventually is that we will have enough for our plates, enough to can/store/freeze/preserve and some to share with neighbours and family!

lately, because of the crazy daytime heat, we have been gardening in the morning. when the weather is nice, the morning sun helps to wake me up and the puppy sits outside the fence and waits for us. this morning the tomatoes were mulched, our compost bin was growing things, the morning coffee was enjoyed in the garden, a few prayers were said for the raspberries and the last of the old tomatoes and spinach were picked for ripening and eating.

5.30 in the morning has never looked so good...

exciting news

...my tomatoes have started to ripen!!!! woohoo!!

i know that when you saw the title of this post tomato news is probably not what you were thinking you would find here. but these little guys have been sitting on my tomato plant for MONTHS! i was about a week away from ripping it out and giving up. i had spent some serious time on google searching for 'how long does it take tomatoes to ripen' which did not ease my troubles at all (the standard answer was a few weeks). however, they are finally ripening and they are delicious. yum yum yum!

a morning on the farm...

i use the term 'farm' very loosely as we currently have one acre, one dog, three fruit trees and four small beds of vegies... BUT we have big plans to expand the vegie garden in the next few weeks and as soon as hubby has finished the chicken coop we hope to adopt three chickens! I have wanted chickens for years and have been pestering hubby about building me a chicken coop for almost as long. Apparently nagging works because he woke up last weekend with coop building plans... hooray!!

As far as fruit trees go, we have two lime trees and a lemon tree which are growing VERY slowly... the soil we have on our 'farm' is terrible! I am planning to add some orange, mandarin and avocado trees to this in the next little while. Does anyone know the best time of the year to plant fruit trees?

I have a small blueberry plant that is looking very sad and sorry... am not sure that the Brisbane climate really suits it. Anyone in Brissie had success with blueberries or raspberries?

This time next year, I am hoping to be getting most of our fruit and vegies from OUR garden rather than the local farmers markets. While I love our weekly trips to the markets I would happily substitute them with daily walks out to the vegie patch to pick dinner :)

Have a happy week - Kel x

green is for go...

yesterday i got home while it was till daylight and spent some time in the vegie garden. it is so satisfying seeing everything grow from seed to plant... we should be feasting on home grown vegies in the next few weeks. The pak choy is almost there and the cherry tomato plant is starting to flower... yay!

what i have learnt about vegie gardening...

I picked the last of the vegies from my garden over the weekend. I still have a whole bed of herbs going strong but had to pull out a lot of the vegie plants because of all the rain we had in Brisbane over summer. We got lots of cucumber, beans, corn and carrots but didn't have a lot of success with the zucchini, tomatoes or eggplant.

Here is a list of things I learnt through my first vegie gardening experiences...

- never underestimate the power of mulch - this stuff is amazing!
- pumpkin will take over your entire one acre block if it gets half a chance!
- homegrown sweetcorn is 1000 times better than supermarket corn!
- tomatoes are best grown on a sturdy teepee... not a flimsy little stake!
- cucumbers will grow through anything!
- I cannot grow ANYTHING in pots!
- keep a gardening journal...
- there is such a thing as TOO MUCH WATER!

At the moment the vegie beds are having a little rest and we are getting ready to plant again in a few weeks time :)

I'll keep you posted... xx

p.s - hi to all my new followers :) thanks for stopping by!

a garden of goodies

ever since i have lived out of home i have wanted a vegie garden. not just a few pots with some herbs in them but an honest, big, vegie producing garden. the other weekend this happened :)!! i have been so excited to post about this but i wanted to make sure that the seeds i had planted would actually grow and this morning i saw the beginning shoots of the cucumber, corn and carrot plants. i think that i was unnaturally excited about this but i dont care. it made my day to see little bits of green poking through all that brown...

we have four garden beds with pumpkin, lettuce, beans, zucchini, rockmelon, carrots, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumber and corn. and i planted some sunflowers just to see if they would grow. its all a bit of an experiment at this stage but i cant wait to (hopefully) eat the yummy organic results. hooray!

i will keep you posted on the progress...

my clever husband made me a compost bin too :) isnt he rad!

scenes from the weekend

baking, planting and bed making...

*the vegie garden is unfortunately not at my house (a group of us pitched in for a friends working bee)... in a few weeks time i should be organised enough to tackle the garden at our new place!!

*im working on number 46 on my 101 things to do in 1001 days list

in the garden

my husband and i are currently building a house out in the bush.

to clarify, neither my husband or i are actually the ones building - that would be the friendly building fairies who are hard at work while i am at work and uni. nor is it in the bush. it is however on a 1 acre block which i feel entitles me to say that we are moving to a farm :)

this excites me greatly and i am dreaming of a hammock, veggie garden, sewing room and a chook pen. i have already started planning our veggie patch which might just be the best thing ever.

(**)

bring on the farm :)