Karen's Choice

Checking in....

2009-06-27T02:03:00.001-07:00

It's been quite some time but with two part-time jobs plus home-keeping (another whole fulltime job in my view) I have been kept very busy.

Just wanted to note outcome of my using bicarb soda venture - I'm sure my salt/bicarb mix whitened my teeth quite a bit which was a huge bonus other than the money saving side of it BUT I found with continual use that the roof of my mouth would get sore (a little skin would peel off) or I would end up with an ulcer if I didn't rinse my mouth properly which was more my fault than the bicarb's. I was so upset about this because I loved using it. I really got use to the taste and feel of it and it made my mouth and teeth feel especially clean. I have read contradicting things about the harshness on teeth - some saying dentists reckon it will damage teeth and others saying it it just fine. So, armed with all this info I have decided to try using the bicarb/salt mixture once or twice a week tops and toothpaste for the other times and see how that goes.

I also liked what it did for my hair - felt like it had more body BUT again, I started to have breakages along the front of my hair line and that was enough for me to stop that little experiment :(

Love to use it for cleaning though. My DH cleaned out my oven the other day using the vinegar / bicarb trick and some steelo it came up a treat - thanks DH!

Next Challenge!

2009-02-25T04:12:00.000-08:00

Okay I'm really hoping that bicarb soda is okay for you - not only am I using it as shampoo and to clean my whole house with we have been using it in our homemade toothpaste!

I cannot remember where I got the recipe from but we just use a mixture of bicarb soda and salt - six teaspoons bicarb to 2 teaspoons of salt. It takes a little getting used to but in all honesty I think my teeth and mouth feel cleaner after using this mix. In fact, I normally have a slightly yellow tinge to my teeth (yuck, but it's genetic I'm afraid) and I think my teeth actually look whiter after using this!

I was looking for a container at the shop the other day to keep my bicarb soda in seeing as I'm buying bigger boxes these days LOL! It was about $6.95 to buy a glass jar from Coles that would have been a suitable size. I decided to drop into the op-shop instead and I'm very glad I did. I found a lovely white Maxwell Williams brand one for $3.99! (container on right)

Although I bought it for bicarb I ended up putting my bicarb in the salt container which is kept in the cupboard and the salt in the new one as this is kept out on display.

The salt pig (I think that's what they were called!?) on the right was also from the op shop and only cost $2.99 - it is also a Maxwell Williams brand. This is what I keep our homemade toothpaste in on the bathroom bench. We just wet our toothbrushes and dip lightly into the mixture.

There are lots of different toothpaste recipes out there with oils, etc in them but I find this to be perfectly acceptable once you get used to it which really did not take long at all. Happy brushing!

I've been slack!

2009-02-25T03:27:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, I've been so slack lately. I've been fighting a sore throat for what seems like weeks now but I think it has finally gone but now my asthma is playing up! I went through and thoroughly cleaned out my bedroom just in case some dust was setting me off!

Well, I'm up to Day 18 without using shampoo! I must say I haven't really noticed a difference in my hair other than perhaps, more so in the beginning at least, it has a bit more body but I'm hoping that is due to it not being coated in goodness-knows-what from the shampoo and conditioner and not because it is damaged from the bi-carb soda!? LOL

When I washed it with shampoo I had to do it every day. I make my hair go every second day now (will just tie it up if it's not looking too crash hot). I have not really had to deal with "greasies" thankfully!

So for now I am going to keep on going with the bicarb (1 tablespoon disintegrated into cup of water and thoroughly rubbed into scalp) and rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar (1 tablespoon mixed in cup of water and poured over after). Will keep updating progress.

I have done absolutely nothing in the vegie garden. I'm really letting it all just die off now ready to start again. My DH is going to take some holidays in March and that is when we will really get stuck into it again as well as all the other jobs that need doing around here. Why does there seem to be so many of them!? I'm hoping we may be able to get our chicken house built then too :)

Bye for now!

Day 5 of No 'Poo

2009-02-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've made it to Day 5 of not using shampoo!

I didn't use anything yesterday - not even bicarb/vinegar as I had read that it is best not to use the bicarb every day and as I spent the day mostly at home I thought it would be a good day to give it a rest but by the end of the day it was feeling pretty yucky though it didn't look as bad as I thought it would. I mean, I managed to endure it! (When I told my husband what I was doing he said he hadn't even noticed and that it didn't look too bad at all).

I washed it with bicarb again this morning but this time I disintegrated it first in a cup of water as suggested elsewhere which made it easier to distribute. I also used the vinegar rinse for the first time just on the ends of my hair. I must admit although it doesn't feel clean when washing it like it does with shampoo, once it is dried it actually looks fine. And I'm not sure whether it is my imagination but I feel it actually has a tiny little wave in it (you got to understand, my hair is so straight that even using a curler is a waste of time!) so this is encouraging me to persist with this!

So onwards I go in great hope that I will eventually be able to get rid of another product off my shopping list that isn't particularly good for me anyway!

No 'poo

2009-02-13T03:55:00.000-08:00

I have heard about other people going the no-shampoo route. I cannot stand to not wash my hair every day - because it is so fine, it looks very lank if I don't so I was not really tempted to give this a try. But this site has motivated me in the direction of giving it a go:

http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html

I also have straight-as-a-board and fine hair so it was good to read that this type of hair coped well.

I'll let you know what I think!

Needing a kick....

2009-02-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

Oh what is wrong with me? I know I am sick to death of this hot weather - I feel so frustrated because I can't get outside and work on my vegie patch where everything is pretty much dead except for the capsicums and one sick cherry tomato bush!

And I have lost all interest in my housekeeping or anything for that matter. I feel frustrated and tired and I feel like I need a holiday (which is not going to happen for at least another year). Does anyone else have times like these??

School Lunch Ideas

2009-02-02T23:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I am always trying to come up with new ideas for kid's school lunches. It's boring having sandwiches day in and day out (I am not even very keen on sandwiches myself!

One of my kid's favourites is Cheesymite scrolls. I just whip up a batch of bread dough in the bread machine. Roll it out a bit and top with grated cheese and vegemite. Roll up like a scroll and slice. Sprinkle with extra cheese and bake in a moderate oven for a while. Of course you can put any toppings on you like. I used to do bacon or ham and cheese ones too.

My kids also like mini pizzas on English Muffin bases but all the ones you purchase from the shops have horrible preservatives so I tried this recipe here http://www.recipezaar.com/English-Muffins-Bread-Machine-Method-63244

and made my own. I divided the dough into 6 largish portions (which will later be divided into two - so you end up with 12) as I wanted them to be a good size so they would fill them up!

I didn't have much in the way of toppings as I was just using up some leftovers but here is the finished result:
They turned out really nice and are very yummy.

It was really easy and will definitely be making these again because I like easy!

Worms are on the move!

2009-02-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

I bought a Can O Worms bin today costing me a hefty $74. The one we had set up down the side of the shed (which was free I might add) was working very well but the problem was accessing it. The bushes down there kept growing over it too fast so getting to it was a job in itself. Despite that, it was still getting too much sun and with the hot weather we have been having I was concerned what it would be doing to the worm population. I couldn't move it to the patio area as it would be in a very visible spot and it was not a pretty thing by any means!

So I finally bought one and now it sits right out the back door. It is located outside a window that is kept slightly open and the evap cooler blows out this window so hopefully will help keep the worm's home cool and I don't have to fight a jungle every time I want to feed the worms. The liquid should also be much easier to access as well.

It took two of us a good couple of hours to sit and sort through the dirt to get all the worms out and into their new home. I was covered in dirt from head to toe and was surrounded by lots of wriggly worms - who would have believed I would ever be doing this!

More shade structures

2009-01-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

My dearest husband kindly put some more shade structures up over my recently made vegie beds. I just need to purchase the shadecloth, sew up some seams and slip them onto the pipe. They really are quite quick and easy to make.

These are the three beds I would like to alternate the chicken's home in, perhaps alternating every 3 months or so (with some time in between those months on the lawn area if need be). The grass keeps growing up into the beds (blessed cooch grass) so I'm hoping the chickens will make short work of that! Everything is looking very sick and bare due to the horribly hot weather - the shade structures should have been put up long ago. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Chicken Update

2009-01-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've been doing some research and asking around. Apparently having a silkie bantam together with an Isa Brown is not a good idea. Isa's supposedly don't accept other chickens from other breeds very well and would probably pick on the silkie.

Now I am a little uncertain which way to go. I really like the Pekins but they don't appear to be much better egg-layers than the silkies. It's a matter of finding a good layer that will happily live with a silkie.

I was visiting someones home today - she keeps her home and garden immaculate - although it's nothing fancy, everything is neat and tidy and clean. She even had cushions on her outdoor chair! We get the easterly winds quite strong where we are located and everything outside gets covered in a fine layer of dust (cushions would not last long in our patio area!) so it's hard to keep it clean looking. Spiders also seem to love our house and we have webs everywhere even though I get rid of them on a regular basis. I couldn't help but think wouldn't it be lovely to have a nice, neat, organised yard like that - what the heck am I doing thinking about getting chickens??!!

It really comes down to the matter of lifestyle choice doesn't it?

I suppose I could look at it like this: Well, my yard/patio never looks tidy anyway because of the constant blowing in of dust and leaves, so I might as well go the whole hog and get the chickens too! LOL Can that be classed as 'positive thinking'?

To chicken or not to chicken....

2009-01-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

That is indeed the question. I am considering purchasing a couple of chickens - the main reason being my DD9 is really keen to get a silky bantam as a pet (her friend has one) and I thought I could get another chicken that was a good layer for a companion and to get some eggs. Plus I could end up with some lovely free fertiliser.

It feels like a big step though. I mean, what do we do with them when we want to go away? We can't take them with us so then you have to start asking people to come and mind them for you and it all gets quite difficult.

Then I was worried about the smell, the flies, lice and worms and diseases (I've been reading - can you tell?) I have been speaking to other chicken owners on the Simple Savings site and they have calmed my fears about these issues a little.

Oh, to chicken or not to chicken......it's my little quandry at the moment.

Vegie update and decluttering the home...

2009-01-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

Nothing much is happening in the vegie patch - with this horribly hot weather we are having everything is taking a bit of a beating. One of my patches has shade but the other ones don't. Although my bush cucumbers in the sun seem to be surviving better than the ones in the shade fortunately so I will need to remember that for next year. I picked a cucumber today and it promptly got eaten by my DD9 and her friend! I wonder what it tasted like?! The capsicums do not handle the sun at all - even the ones in the shade house cop some of the late afternoon sun and have scorch marks on that side!

I just cut all my spring onions down and chopped them all up and froze them. They are already starting to re-shoot for my 'free' second batch. The beans have pretty much had it - I'm not sure when I should chop the bushes down. I think I remember reading somewhere they should be dug back into the soil? so I will do that when it cools down (ha! we are heading for 40 deg C in 2 days time - ugh, I hate the heat!)

So I have been spending time inside decluttering. For some strange reason I find it very freeing to do this. I threw out all my DVD cases and put the DVD's into DVD holders so instead of having a drawer full of them, I have managed to put them into 2 small DVD holder cases and freed up practically a whole drawer - so much more neater and manageable!

I have been very good this week, as far as not being wasteful goes anyway. I waste too much food - I forget things I have put in the fridge, I don't use them up before the expiry date and, the one I do a lot, throw out vegies because they have turned bad before I got to use them. Well, this week I dug them all out of the fridge before they got to the point where they needed ditching and made two pots of soup - a chicken and vegetable soup and a Cream of broccoli soup. My DH has been taking these for lunches. Now I just got to remember to do it again next time!

Happy New Year

2009-01-07T01:21:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe how fast 2008 passed by and that we are now in 2009!

New Year Resolutions - do you make them? What are they? One of mine is like everybody else's - more exercise! I spent some time away after Christmas on a beach and went for some lovely walks and even broke out into a jog every now and then and I must admit I felt a lot better for it. Now walking down a suburban street isn't quite as nice as on a beach but nevertheless, if I take my MP3 it shouldn't be that bad and if it is too hot I don't have the excuse not to walk as I have a treadmill!

Another area I want to work on is our finances - in particular, sticking to a budget. Why oh why do we find this sooooo hard?? I have worked out a budget which unfortunately doesn't leave us anything for 'sanity' money, that is pocket money, for ourselves. I can't see where we can cut our budget to allow for this at the moment though either. I think we will just have to see if we can live on the budget we have set first and then try and determine where we may be able to cut back.

My DD's are in private schools which takes a rather large chunk of our money each year but we feel it is well worth it as they are lovely schools so education is a very big expense for us at the moment.

I try and not buy any meat costing more than $10 per kilo. We try and have a meatless meal each week (though this will normally include a little bacon) such as a quiche. I no longer buy much in the way of cleaning stuff and sanitary products. I only use half strength detergent in the dishwasher and washing machine and always wash in cold water. I grow my own vegies (well, I'm trying too!!) and have a couple of fruit trees, all of which by the way is struggling in this terribly hot weather we are having. I always menu plan around the specials and I stockpile the specials too.

DH has just started to brew his own beer which is a big, big saving and well worth the effort. He thinks it tastes just as good, if not better, than bought beer. After all, as I understand it, it's the same as what you can buy except doesn't have the preservatives - win, win situation all round I reckon!

And now this is all down in writing it will act as a reminder throughout out the year of my resolutions.......unless of course I choose not to read it!!

Floor cleaning the enviromentally friendly and frugal way...

2008-12-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

I really gotta stop talking about cleaning - what is the problem with me??
'But I just had to mention my one other favourite cleaning tool - my microfibre mop.

I find this to be the most environmentally friendly way to clean my floors - I use only about a cup of water to clean all my floors (and I have 'mop-able' floors throughout my house) with not a single drop of any type of chemical / cleaner and my floors always look shiny and clean.

But the very best thing, it is the most simplest and easiest and cost-effective way.
And you can't beat that!

I have had a big clean-out of my DD's rooms - sorting out outgrown clothes, school books and stationary for next year and just general junk! I often declutter their rooms and it is getting easier by doing it fairly regularly.

I'm a huge fan of de-cluttering and trying to keep the clutter down as it makes cleaning soooo much easier.

Now I need to finalise the last of my Christmas shopping and work out what I'm cooking for Christmas day so I may not be around for a while.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Soil Fixing

2008-12-13T05:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Gavin at http://greeningofgavin.blogspot.com/ I am hopefully on the way to fixing my soil problems. I've watered it with detergent/water mix to try and help it to be a little less water repellant and the next day I watered the Powerfeed in.

I will see how this goes before I try testing the soil with a PH kit as they approx $16 from Bunnings which was a bit expensive so I'm kind of hoping I won't have to resort to that.

If this crop doesn't end up thriving, I may count my losses and concentrate on working in our homemade compost which should be good enough to use soon - I think and I hope!?

Thanks again Gavin for all your help.

Soil Problems :(

2008-12-09T01:52:00.000-08:00

I am very disappointed with the soil in my new vegetable beds. Nothing is thriving and it is very water repellant. So I have some work ahead of me to try and fix it now.....humph!

The plants are not thriving and are very yellow so it seems to be very deficient in something.

This is my sweetcorn - they are actually a lot yellower than they look in this photo :(

And the lettuces are not doing much better...

(Again, they look a lot yellower in real life!)
I planted the chives on the left the same time as the ones on the right which were planted in a different bed. You can certainly see the difference.

Whereas my SFG bed is doing very well and everything grows so much better in it. I have heaps of tomatoes and will probably need to find some recipes to use them up in! Though I have heard that they can be frozen by just directly placing them in the freezer. Of course they are not suitable for salads as such, but great for spaghetti bolognaise, etc type dishes (a staple in our household!) so I will definitely be trying that.

I am very pleased with the beans - we have several nights worth of meals in the freezer now. I have also planted bush beans to compare them to the vine type.

I have little baby capsicums everywhere - they are so cute!! So I can hardly wait for them to mature. The cucmbers are doing well though I have noticed powdery mildew growing on them - possibly due to rain we have had lately? I know last year I sprayed them with a milk and water mixture though I have forgotten the ratio so will have to look that up too.

Growing vegies is certainly proving to be a huge learning experience for me! Off to do some research again....

Christmas decorations!

2008-12-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

I love putting up the Christmas decorations - not the taking down and putting away part so much though!

Other than the Christmas tree, which has fairy lights, these are my favourite decorations because they have fairy lights too - I have a 'thing' for fairy lights - love 'em, love 'em, love 'em! They add such a magical feeling to the room. Probably not very frugal nor environmentally friendly but I can't resist them and we only have them on for such a short time.

This idea came from my sister. We bought the garlands on special at Myers and I decorated mine with fairy lights, tinsel and baubles and they look absolutely wonderful at night....

This is also a craft my sister created and I copied! I probably must stop doing that....

This JOY was cut out of wood (thanks to my Dad) though you can buy these from scrapbooking shops or Spotlight and I then modge-podged scrapbooking paper onto them, painted the edges and wha-la! Unfortunately I did mine when I was rushing so I was a little disappointed but it still looks okay - just hope my sister doesn't see it up close! LOL

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner and sneaking up fast - are you ready??

Cleaning....again

2008-12-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Whilst on the subject of cleaning, I cannot recommend the microfibre cloths enough. If you haven't tried them yet, you just got to! I cannot believe how many kitchen sponges I went through before changing to microfibre cloths. The sponges would get stinky and disintegrate whereas the cloths can be washed again and again and again. And a lot of the time you don't need to use any cleaners with them. You may have to try a few different ones though because the one that I love my Mum doesn't like much at all whereas the one she loves I don't like because I think it goes 'slimy' quickly!

I have also found that using the netting from orange bags works fantastically as a scourer and again, can be used over and over - the best bit of course is it is 'free'!

I also use a homemade general purpose cleaner for most of my cleaning now. This is the recipe that I use:

1 litre water

200ml white vinegar (I use cleaning vinegar)

40ml dishwashing detergent

few drops eucalyptus oil

2 dessertspoons washing soda

I pretty much clean everything with this other than the inside of the toilet and I use it together with bicarb soda to clean the shower recess - I spray it on, then wipe over with some bicarb on a microfibre cloth, then wash off.

I love walking past that cleaning aisle!

Cleaning.....ugh!

2008-12-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Cleaning is not a favourite word of mine and certainly not my favourite thing to do. But I have found a way to actually make it a little more enjoyable. I have been downloading things to my MP3 to listen to whilst I work.

Lately I have been listening to some interesting sermons from www.sermonaudio.com by Dr John Barnett which I know wouldn't be a lot of people's cup of tea but nevertheless I feel as though I am achieving two goals at once - getting the cleaning done and learning something. And the best thing is sometimes I have to FIND extra things to clean or declutter because I have finished cleaning before whatever I have downloaded has! LOL.

Now I am sure there are lots of interesting MP3 downloads out there in internet land on living frugally, being green, etc so if you know of any please let me know as I haven't had time to really have a good look!

Happy Cleaning!

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

2008-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

At last, my tomatoes are finally beginning to turn red. I did not think it was ever going to happen!

Rhonda at Down-to-Earth blog picks her tomatoes green and ripens them inside so I am going to experiment and do just that.

I have noticed a little green stink-bug type looking thing on them lately which has me most concerned so I need to go and look up on the internet what he might be up to on my tomatoes. I've go my suspicions it's not anything good!

I am very impressed with these bush tomatoes - each plant has at least 30 tomatoes on them so I should end up with a minimum of about 180 tomatoes! Yay. We love tomatoes - DD's eat them for snacks. They are just the Sunnyvale First Prize tomatoes and I will be definitely be growing these again (as long as they taste good of course!)

Now off to do some research on those bugs....

Night Light

2008-11-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter still likes to have a night light. Even though we have changed our globes to the more environmentally friendly ones that are supposed to cost less to run, I still wasn't happy with having to leave that light on all night.

Here is our solution:

Solar lights - they are just like the ones you have in your garden. Originally we headed off to Bunnings to buy a couple of the outdoor ones you stick in the ground. We thought we would just sit them in a pot or something when we bring them indoors, but we found this one on a nice little stand with 3 separate lights - so we can put one in the hallway, one in the toilet and one in her room if she wants.

We take it out first thing in the morning and leave it in a spot that gets sun for most of the day and then bring them in at bed time. Free light! I love it!

I've been tagged!

2008-11-25T02:25:00.000-08:00

I was tagged with the "The Tree of Happiness". Thanks Gavin .
The idea of this tag is to list six things that make you happy and then tag others with it and spread the love.

I don't know much about 'tagging' and I'm not much of a blogger because I am not much of a writer - it certainly isn't my gift! So I always keep things pretty simple so here goes - in no particular order:

1. My family
Where would I be without my hard-working husband (who is also a great Dad) and my two wonderful daughters?

2. Organisation
It helps my home to feel more peaceful if it is kept organised and running efficiently (and helps me to feel more at peace also knowing everything is clean and running smoothly).

3. Our Vegie Garden
We only just began vegetable gardening last year. I love being able to go out into the garden and pick fresh vegies - yum!

4. Living Simply
I am enjoying endeavouring to live a more simple life. In all honesty I am tired of 'materialism'. I don't believe that having a big house, brand-name clothes and an expensive car makes you a better person even though society tries to tell me otherwise....constantly.

5. Living Frugally and being Green
I put these two together because I think they actually go together a lot, fortunately! For example, making my own cleaning spray - it saves the environment and saves me money. I am endeavouring to try and see budgeting as a challenge rather than a deprivation. Sometimes I enjoy the process and other times it can be frustrating!

6. My faith
This gives my life purpose and meaning even though I constantly stumble and have so much to learn.

Now, I am going to tag a Secret Hippie because I would love to find out a little bit more about this lovely person.

Another favourite organisation trick....

2008-11-23T20:32:00.001-08:00

Why oh why did I not do this sooner?

I don't know about you but we tend to have dozens of cords that belong to who-knows-what. Well I sat my husband down one day and we went and sorted out what cord belonged to what. I promptly labelled them, tied an elastic band around them to keep them neat and now I don't have to go and ask my DD13 every time I want a particular cord if I have the right one or not!!

So simple, but oh so much easier.

Bean obsessing...

2008-11-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we ate our little stash of beans for tea tonight and my DD's comment was "Mum, these beans are really nice!"

When I was cooking them they had a really strong bean smell and when we ate them, they had a really strong beany, fresh taste - I guess we just never even really knew what fresh beans really smelled and tasted like!

My bush beans that I recently planted are starting to sprout so we should be able to eat yummy fresh beans for some time and hopefully have some left for freezing too.

Organisation Central

2008-11-19T17:51:00.001-08:00

Members on Simple Savings site were discussing their favourite organisation tool. This has got to be mine. It is a little organiser that sits on my kitchen bench. At the back I have my household notebook which has everything in it to keep us organised - calendar, school info, medical info, phone numbers, finance/budget, etc. In front of that I keep my blank shopping lists ready to grab and fill out and behind these I have pre-printed absentee notes for school - I just have to fill in the date and reason for absence. I keep pens, scissors, stickytape, spare paper, etc all in here. It is much better than having them lying all over the kitchen bench :)

Organisation Central

2008-11-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

I'm so impatient!

2008-11-19T01:55:00.000-08:00

Everything seems to be taking FOREVER to grow this year or is it just my imagination? I have had lovely green tomatoes on my tomato bushes for what feels like forever and they just don't seem to want to turn red! Do they know that I am waiting, hovering ready to pounce on them as soon as they turn red or what? My seedlings seem to be growing painstakingly slow if at all, the capsicums don't appear to be doing much at all either. My rockmelon and pumpkin seedlings have finally grown a third leaf! I'm so impatient! I'm busting to see more output for all the input we have done!

BUT I did actually get to pick a nice handful (175g) of beans today to add to my teeny stash in the freezer and there seems to be quite a few baby ones so that is something! I worked out that I have 14 climbing beans planted so I would hope that I am going to get a lot more yet :) And the worms seem to be thriving, which is good.

Patience is a virtue...

Worms!!

2008-11-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

I was going to put a picture of our worm farm on here but of course the camera batteries are flat. Doesn't anybody know how to change them in this house?? After all, they are rechargeables, grrrr.

Dear friends who moved to Tasmania, gave us their worm farm which is basically made out of a big plastic drum turned on its side and a square hole cut out of it. A lid was made out of another piece of plastic. We drilled holes in the sides as we didn't feel the worms were getting enough air. We filled it with compost and shredded paper and have a 1000 worms in there purchased from Bunnings (they are not cheap!!). Each week I go out and give them a bucketful of scraps which I keep on the kitchen bench and fill up during the week. If I have too many scraps, they get wrapped in newspaper and put on the compost heap. I learnt to actually dig a hole in the worm farm to put the scraps in and cover it up otherwise it attracts all the little flies. We have not had a problem with the flies since I have been doing that. We then covered the lot with newspaper and wet it all down. Now we just have to sit tight and wait for all those lovely castings....

I will post a picture when the camera batteries recharge.

I have been picking beans as they mature and just placing them straight into the freezer, not even blanching. Tonight we discovered we didn't have any greens for tea so I went out and picked the ones that were ready and with the ones I already had in the freezer we managed to have our serve of greens. They were very nice indeed.

Homemade Present for a Friend

2008-11-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

I have a very talented and very lovely friend who is making me a quilt for the end of my bed for my birthday. (I told you she was lovely). Well, I wanted to make her something in return but I haven't really been blessed in the creativity department but I really wanted to make something - to put in the time, effort and love as she has. The only hobby I occasionally get to indulge in is scrapbooking. So I decided to make her a scrapbook calendar. I couldn't afford to buy much in the way of nice accessories unfortunately so I had to use what I had - which wasn't much! Because of this I am a little disappointed in them and I sincerely hope she won't be disappointed. I've agonised over whether it is good enough to give to her so much that I don't think I will make something for someone again in quite some time! A few shots:

Beans - note to self.

2008-11-10T03:36:00.000-08:00

I planted about 10 climbing bean plants but am finding that I am not getting nearly enough for us. For example I picked about 6 beans that are ready today - there are a dozen more not quite big enough yet. So what do I do with 6 beans,whilst waiting for the other dozen? It is such a nuisance when you can only pick them in dribs and drabs.

Note to self, next year, PLANT MORE BEANS!!

According to "Growing and Using Vegetables and Herbs" by John Mason, I will probably need at least 40 plants to feed my family!? I think I may try bush beans as I have limited vertical space to grow the vine type ones, hence why I have so few.

So, what to do with 6 beans? Blanch and freeze? Not very economical. I found this info:
Freeze blanched beans 10 to 12 months at 0ºF. Unblanched beans will hold up for 6 months at 0ºF. I might put them in the freezer unblanched for now and just keep collecting.

Oh, never mind..........................the kids just ate them raw!

Compost

2008-11-09T18:18:00.001-08:00

Another new thing I am trying - making my own compost. We made a composter out of free pallets. We levelled out an area down the side of our house and cable-tied 4 pallets together to make a box shape to put the compost in. We then tied 2 more to the side of this box as a 'holding area' for leaves, etc to enable us to add them as the compost heap requires it.

It is amazing how much stuff you put in there and it just keeps breaking down to practically nothing!

We have just put in lawn clippings, vegie scraps and leaves we have swept up. We turn it each day with one of those cork-screw type things you can get from Bunnings. It would be easier if we had made it so you could open the front pallet like a door but the area where it is located doesn't really allow us to do that easily so we just reach over the top to turn it. It is breaking down really well and when we turn it there are worms everywhere!

I can't believe I can now get excited about worms and rotting leaves and vegies, etc!!!

Thanks DD!

2008-11-09T03:56:00.000-08:00

A BIG thankyou to my lovely DD13 who made my banner for me - where would I be without her technological know-how?? Bannerless I tell you! Well, not totally, a plain old usual one... That is an actual photo of our vegie patch too!
Thanks my clever DD!

Seedlings

2008-11-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

I transferred my Grosse Lisse tomato and Tommy Toe seedlings to these neat little newspaper seedling pots. Here is a link on how to make them: www.nuganics.com.au/2008/01/18/how-to-make-seedling-pots-from-newspaper/

I did have to put a little bit of sticky tape to keep them together. I did try the origami square ones but found they collapsed a lot easier and these round ones are much simpler and quicker to make I think!

I may have transferred my seedlings too early as I had read on Rhonda's blog "Down to Earth" that she transfers them when they are about 8 - 10cm tall. Oh well, they weren't far off! I planted them quite deep into the newspaper pot, all the way up to the top of the stem. Fingers crossed they will survive...

Vegie Patches filled

2008-11-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

Lettuces and Broccoli in one bed....

Sweetcorn all planted up - haven't ever grown these before so should be interesting to see how they go.

We really need to mulch but I need to find a source for it and then the money to buy it! I had heard Lucerne or Sugar Cane mulch were supposed to be good so I will start to keep an eye out for them.

The third bed has a directly sown zucchini seed which hasn't sprouted yet. I will also be putting in my Grosse Lisse tomatoes, Tommy Toe tomatoes and capsicums in this bed once they are ready to transplant. This is the first time I have endeavoured to grow from seed and transplant. Previously I have only directly sown seed.

Leftover Sausages?

2008-11-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

I don't know about anyone else but we always tend to cook too many sausages when having a BBQ - now I will be tempted to do it deliberately because it made for a nice, easy and tasty meal the next night using this recipe:

SAUSAGE & POTATO PATTIES

1kg potatoes chopped
6 thin sausages
2 green spring onions, finely sliced
¼ cup finely grated parmesan
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley (we only used a little bit - not big parsley lovers)
1 egg
¼ cup packaged breadcrumbs
S & P

Boil, steam or microwave potatoes and mash.
Cook sausages until browned, thinly slice. (Use leftovers like we did!)
Add sausages, onions, parmesan, parsley, egg and breadcrumbs to potatoes. Season.
Divide into 12 portions (about 1/3 cup mixture per portion) and shape into patties.
Fry.

Nice with salad.

Life's Choices

2008-11-07T04:56:00.000-08:00

Life is all about choices isn't it? Well I have chosen to endeavour to live my life in a more simple, frugal and environmentally aware manner. As I see it, it can only enhance my life by enabling me to save money, save our health (physically and mentally) and save the planet!

The first big step we have taken is to build a vegetable garden. This is the raised garden bed we built last year: We decided to start small to see if we would enjoy it, be able to cope with it and most of all, actually grow something!!

Well I thought there was nothing better than to be able to go out and pick a freshly grown capsicum for our salad and my little daughter loved to eat the apple cucumbers straight off the vine! I found it an amazing experience to plant a little seed and to watch it sprout and then grow into something you can actually eat.

So this year we decided to expand and my dearest, most patient husband built me three more raised beds: (He did a GREAT job!)

The first bed was made from old railway sleepers my dearest brother was getting rid of from his garden so they were free! (Thanks Bro!) It was based on the square foot gardening method - it was filled with 1/3 compost/manures, 1/3 cocoa peat and 1/3 vermiculite which seemed to work quite well.

We had to buy the sleepers for this lot unfortunately as they are not cheap but hopefully will be worth it in the end! We put weed mat and cardboard down in the bottom of these beds. Luckily there was a council clean-up at the time we built these and I managed to get heaps of cardboard off the side of the road much to my littlest daughter's disgust! She said she didn't mind 'scabbing' for good stuff but not just for CARDBOARD! Oh well, it saved me having to chase up shops etc for their old boxes....

We then filled them with a 'veggie mix' soil blend and added heaps of different types of manures and the vermiculite (I find this makes it a nice light blend). We didn't add the cocoa peat this time as I had heard that it may not be the best for the vegie patch but I did add some water saver granules. So it will be interesting to compare how these beds go.

I will take some photos of them now they are filled for you to see as soon as I can!