Catching up

Have been a tad slack with the blog with all thats been going on so though it was about time to have a crack... 1st up, here is a post on our other blog with a few shots of our Wedding.... (click on "Wedding"..)
Now to the garden....

Gates...

The 2 side gates finally have been fixed.... Both are a temporary fix but should last for a few years... I think they were mentioned in a walk trough Clip last week...



Mushrooms...

The first flush of Swiss Brown Mushrooms have been harvested...We bought a kit from a local nursery, set it up about a month ago & forgot about it...  B? harvested just over ½ KG of fungus on Friday night... The top layer of peat has dried out a bit so it got a small watering & is being misted daily now but fear we may have neglected them for to long...



Out with the old...
A decision was made to remove old Goliath to help make room for the reception marquee so a new one was made out of bits of leftover play equipment... Not as big as the old one **Sigh** but will still hold 2 loads from our 7.5kg washer... It looks like we will be making a proper more permanent line in this style up the side of  the house...

Quick update clip...

When wicking beds go BAD !!!!
This is what was found in & under the plastic liner in Bed #5 when it was removed....

Harvests....
We have been getting heaps of fresh veg from the patch at the moment...
Left is what the Raspberries looked like before the wedding & the guests got to sample the fruit... Getting ready to cut it right back after the last 3 or fruit ripen... Right is the Swiss brown we picked on Friday....


Left is the huge Kohlrabi that has been used in 2 stews, last nights Chook & tonight Beef one... Right is a shot of Mangles in the patch... After reading a thread on Simple Savings we "thinned" some out last night & they tasted great in the stew... The leaves make a great Spinach substitute...

Have finally started to harvest some mature Carrots over the past week or so & must say, we are most Chuffed with the results... No bitter taste as some have told me their home grown ones have had... We will be making up some more Carrot seed tape tomorrow so another batch can go in...
The Beans, Snow & Sugar snap peas have all gone crazy... We are harvesting about 500g of each every 3 or so days... Think the Snow peas my be nearing their end but have plans for that bed so all is good...

Right... Tonights Beef stew with Carrots, Beetroot, Kohlrabi, Beans, Snow & Sugar snap Peas from the patch.... Very Tasty!!!!!!


Thats about it for now...
Have a great one all...
: )»

Read More..

Catching up with the chooks

Has been quite a while since a post was made on our poor neglected blog. So though I would pop up a bit of an update on a few changes to the chickens yard & water feeder..
To start with, the chickens water feeder has been modified to take another dripper station with both of them being connected to a float valve fed water barrel.. I think our daughters were more excited about this development than the chooks as it is one less job they have to do every day ;) 
The clip below is from a few months ago when the system was set up & will give you some idea on how it was made..



I have found that the barrel has started to grow a bit of algae after I neglected to add the apple cider vinegar.. You can see in the most recent update from the chook pen below..
Had a bit of rain over the past few days so thought I would show how we use dolomite lime to keep the odours down when the chicken pen gets a drenching.. It also doubles as a lice & mite treatment as well which is a bit of a bonus.. A new fence has been built down one side of the day yard as well which will help give them a bit of privacy from the neighbours dog..



Also thought I would include a look at how we are making up their nesting box filler using shredded paper.. Our shredded bills/scrap paper has been going into the worm farms for a while now & we have expanded our use of it due to Bianca collecting discarded "newspapers" on her daily train commute..  We are now using it  in the girls nesting box thanks to our increased supply..  



Would also like to use shredded paper & cardboard as bedding in the night pen as well but will need to stock pile a few more papers before we can manage that methinks ;)

Thats it for a quick little look at how the girls are going at the moment.. Hope to have a few more updates on the aquaculture systems as well as a run down on the soil patch posted in the next week or so, time permitting..

Cheers all & have a great one,
Rob :)

Read More..