MORE FROM THE LAST WEEK!!

 

A bit of a focus on food here this week!! A walk around the vegie garden this morning - last remaining basil plant - going to seed now but still a few leaves to pick. A couple of 'to do's' for through the week - gather the seeds to propagate for spring and cut all the leaves off to dry. The latest planting of broccoli.

 

 

broccoli, cabbage, silverbeet and cauliflower - first winter planting well on their way.

lettuce ready for continual picking.

 

 

seeds coming through - I believe there are carrots and parsnips here, along with celery, cauliflowers and cabbage seedlings just planted this week.

 

last years strawberry planting - well and truly established - runners starting to root into the ground - soon time to find another area to start planting the runners!! And yes we did get some nice strawberries from the plants through summer.

 

Pak Choy/Bok Choy or whatever they are called and celery plants. Need to remember to save all of the juice and milk containers to make the guards for the celery!!

 

weeds grow really well in our yard!!! At least we know the ground is fertile with the stinging nettles flourishing. I finally found my long 'welders' gloves through the week so now I can pull the nettles out!! Thinking I will soak them in water and make some green liquid manure tea for the garden beds!! Just cannot bring myself to make what I have always known as weeds into something I personally am going to eat - no matter how many people tell me to!!!

 

 

Our first plantings for winter are starting to come to maturity fast.

 

 

Our freezer has been well stocked this week. It is salami making weekend here and these are the bones leftovers and pork sausages from our salami pigs. A friend of Greg's and his father make the salami - our share will arrive in 5 weeks. Underneath the pork is lamb that Greg did on Saturday and underneath that is chicken (commercially raised) and beef (homegrown) that my stepson gave us. The only problem is that I now have to unpack the freezer to get to anything below the first layer. My good upright freezer decided to stop working so it is at the freezer doctors - be glad to get it home - uprights are so much easier to pack and to get what you want out of!!! I still buy fish, sausages and mince but what we produce ourselves is quite a saving!!

 

 

Last nights dinner - lamb fry, heart and bacon with gravy (there was a glass of a nice white beside it on the table also!!) - one of my most loved comfort meals from my childhood!!

 

New season lemons starting to ripen.

 

Old and new season navel oranges - the old ones are starting to get a green skin but we have just about finished them just in time to start on the new season ones!! I am not an orange eater but Greg and Karah usually have one each day.

 

New season mandarins starting to ripen.

 

It is always a good feeling to know we have a good supply of home grown on hand. We are spoilt and I always feel a bit guilty saying we have a roast a couple of times a week, or a casserole made from the expensive cuts of beef - but we are very appreciative that we are able to do that and we do love our home grown!!

 

All of our vegie gardening is done straight into ground level beds or raised beds made from recycled containers and materials. The bed below is the next in line to become raised - using 1000ltr containers cut in half (you can see some already in use in the top right corner of the photo). The digging and maintenance of planted vegies is so much easier for both Greg and I in the raised beds that we are both looking to convert the whole garden over. The joys of getting older!!

 

 

Re-arranging the vegie garden means I have to shift my compost heap. On the left is the remains of it which will be shovelled onto existing raised beds. just have to decide where I am going to put the new compost heap!! I am also gathering any old carpet I can get my hands on - getting fed up with my green thumb weed growing and then having to spray to get rid of them - the carpet is going down on all the walking areas between the raised beds. The rocks are all being slowly moved into the yard garden - going around existing beds so I can top up with soil and keep the mulch in (our dogs love the straw mulch for sleeping on and in!!).

 

Have a great week everyone!!!