Winter on the Farm

The rains have been in for the bigger part of the last month…

Not the heavy deluges that are much needed around the country to fill tank and dams, but the mizzley rain (mist crossed with drizzle) that keeps you indoors, and turns everything to slush or mould… 😐

We have managed to get two new merino beds put out into the paddock, which currently have garlic, lettuce and a couple of zucchini babies in.

We’ve been slowly putting hoops over the beds in the Big Veg, so that we can put covers over the beds when needed during the bug season.
We currently have two of the beds covered, and they have the brassicas and such in: cauli, broccoli, rutabaga, kale, brussel-sprouts and turnips – which have done wonderfully without the snacking of the cabbage moth babies!!

We’ve finally finished the front roundabout project of beds, and they are a bright welcoming sight as you come around the corner when driving in.

We’ve had a great Gooseberry haul this season, and have had bowls in the fridge while waiting to be made into jam, but a lot have been eaten during the collection stage too. lol

More lillypilly jelly has been made and canned, and we’ve also canned some lemon juice, lime juice, beans, gooseberry jam and pickled radish.
We’ve canned another few kilos of mince which was on special too, as we had used most of the stock that we had put up last year.

We made a lovely natural air freshener with some lemon myrtle leaves, made into a tea, and then stored in a jar for a few weeks to steep.
Smells amazing!

It’s been a long time since we cooked some of the favourites that our kids use to devour when they were little, but in the last month we’ve also made Brownies, Banana slice and English Matrimonials.

We’ve planted a bougainvillea, a carambola, more lettuce, and are slowly working our way through – getting the nursery plants either moved or planted out.

We’ve been lifting and reseating the pavers in the nursery area, as we have some iron furniture we want to put under the tree there.
It will make for a really nice little spot to either work, write, read or just sit for a quiet catchup and cuppa.

We had a last quick glut of tomatoes and capsicum before the first frost, and have chopped them up and frozen them as they came in, so that once we have enough, we can make our special Strigidae Sauce and can it ready for the summer months.

Our wonderful whipper-snipper fella Rob came last week when there was a break in the weather for a few days, and trudged his way around the Farm over two afternoons, through the slop and mud, and cleared all the fence-lines, dirt piles, garden edges etc.

The majority of the day after he finished, was spent mowing, mowing and mowing, but there were some spots that we just couldn’t get to, or we would have been bogged quick-smart!

And inside our little wonderland home, we’ve been trialling an idea we had when we managed to land a whole pile of old corrugated iron a while back, which has been sitting out in the paddock awaiting a project!
[big thanks to our buddy Marcus for delivering it for us!!]

Gotta say – we like what we’ve done with it so far!!
Whaddya reckon?

 

Lemons and Limes ready for juicing, so we can preserve for later use.

 

Lemon and Lime juice fresh out of the canner.

 

Pickled radish to add to salads. Delicious!!

 

Gooseberry jam. Such an amazing colour.

 

Garden goodness

 

Banana Slice

 

Strigidae Sauce & Turkey Mince

 

English Matrimonials

 

Apple Cumcumber

 

Multigrain Bread

 

Growing a Ginger Ninja

 

Baby Peas

 

Starting to plant out the Roundabout Gardens

 

Lifting and re-seating the paving in the old nursery area.

 

House-yard veg beds in full winter flourish.

 

Looking down toward to Big Veg beds where we’ve been putting up new tunnels (hoops).

 

The fence that we’ve moved part of the nursery to, and then the Big Veg beds further on.

 

Another new free-form garden we’ve put in. Its coming along well!

 

Part of the old nursery, and the ‘potting table’, which has been overtaken with cuttings and seedlings!

 

Lovely little Apple Cucumber – it was very tasty!

 

A peek inside one of the Big Veg high tunnels.

 

Checking the hole depth for a bougainvillea.

 

This new bed will have passionfruit added, to shade the house wall during summer.

In the midst of cementing in posts on either side of the passionfruit bed, the quality control Puppa needed to check things out.
Recommendation: “Add a bit more Mummas!”

THIS is the start of an indoor project we’re both pretty darn excited about!!!

 

#1 test sheet in place…

 

#2 test sheet in place.
We have yet to properly install and level etc, we’re just checking that we like it as much as we think we will! lol

 

Sometimes ya just need a picture of a cute cheeky dog.
Hello Mabi!