Simple Living Sunday 42

It was a hot and sunny weekend in my part of the world so not ideal for gardening. We also had the boys's regional athletics competition on Saturday which was an all-day event. The four boys did well and got through to state for all five of their events - looks like I am off to Brisbane again in December. Yesterday was spent harvesting, tidying and catching up on jobs...plus I did manage to declutter my wardrobe and purge more of Paul's stuff from the top of the wardrobe which made me feel really good. Every box I fill is comforting in some way.

It is lovely to see more variety in my basket now. I still pop a pumpkin in because I still have about 20 in storage which are keeping really well. I was so pleased to harvest a zucchini as these guys were elusive for me last season. My other squash did really well but I only got a few zucchini.

This second plant is not faring quite so well but I do need to plant more flowers to attract the bees to this side of the garden.

I harvested three cucumbers and left this one on a little too long so it is yellow. It won't be great for salads as the taste will be bitter but I will pickle it to avoid wastage.

This is my largest squash plant, in the food forest. I harvested a couple of small ones which had dropped off but now have a few large ones which have taken off.

In front of the squash is my one and only thriving LabLab bean. It is now knee high so I expect it will start producing soon.

I also have two healthy pigeon pea, despite planting a whole row. They are now thigh high and thriving.

This is Paul's pink trumpet tree which has recovered well from the frost and is looking better than it ever has.

The arrowroot has taken off near the Jaboticaba tree and is almost as tall.

I was fascinated with the growth of brussel sprouts. I don't think I will harvest many due to pests...

...but I love how they just bud all along the stem. I never knew that.

Happy to see I have an eggplant growing. This plant is from last season and I left it in to see what would happen.

Another shot of my cape gooseberries. There are heaps of them now, all in a row.

Finally, I found this little forgotten fellow under the lemon tree. Not a great position for it...the chooks went mad over the soft capsicum.

So, there is my quick garden tour for the weekend. When the sport settles down I will be looking at updating some previous simple living posts and projects, as well as getting stuck into some more. As a single mum, my boys are always my first priority. Bring on my two weeks off over Christmas!

So, what have you been up to at your place? Is your garden growing well?

Simple Living Sunday 39

This weekend was a write off in terms of spending time in the garden and on my projects. Even if I wasn't running the boys around all day Saturday for football, the torrential rain (Yes, Rain!!) would have prevented me from getting stuck into it. The rain was very welcome though to fill the tanks a little and green up the farm after the frost.

Kale, pumpkin, spinach and citrus are the main items of produce from my garden every week now. The chooks have been laying well again and you can see the three different coloured eggs. My favourite layer Ivory has got a cough I noticed today so it's off to the feed barn tomorrow to see what I can get for her.

I keep missing the fine line between letting the broccoli grow bigger and it going to seed. I let this one go and the bees have been going crazy.

This is supposed to be brussel sprouts but I can't see any sprouting :)

Another small cabbage head survives.

This eggplant has 'regrowth' like the gooseberry so I will see what happens with it.

I was wondering if the mulberry tree would fruit again as it had an unusual season earlier this year. Well, it looks like I will have a few mulberries but not a full crop as I did not get a chance to trim the tree back.

Although the berries are out of focus, I have left this photo in as it is a great shot of the block and trees.

I read that a good thing for a sick chicken is clover and I found this patch yesterday, so hopefully that will help her. Apparently apple cider vinegar and garlic in the water can help too.

I lost the battle with my husband's arson tendancies. I will get the boys to dig the rest of the bladey grass out and I will have another garden to plant.

This Russian Red kale is amazing, almost a metre tall and has not stopped producing, even through the frosts.

The same plant I took a photo of last week, and now there is a little baby cauliflower under the leaves.

The lettuce seeds I planted last week are already beginning to sprout.

And so is the black mint which I got from Fair Dinkum Seeds.

Finally, I was asked to take a salad to a party yesterday and came up with this pumpkin, kale and quinoa one. It was very popular and used up some of the pumpkin and kale I have here. Recipe later this week.

I hope you had a lovely weekend and enjoy your week! What did you get up to at your place?

Flood-Proof Friday: Floods Again

The view from my upstairs verandah this morning

Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me with her unpredictability. Just last week Gympie was officially declared a drought zone and farmers became eligible for much-needed assistance. Calves were being sold for a few dollars each because the cost of feed was just too high for many farmers to maintain. I also read earlier this week that, even though we were expecting some rain, Autumn rainfall would be below average - leaving not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. Then you get thrown a curve-ball.

It has rained heavily here for the past few days. I estimate we have had over 200mls of rain in the past 48hrs. Because the creek was bone dry, and the forecasters only predicted minor flooding, I was not really expecting to be flooded today. I suspected the roads would be cut, and I would not be able to get to work, but in the top photo, the water is well past our power pole...which means the Six Mile Creek bridge is under water.

Our first job this morning was to rescue my little red car the boys drive around the farm in. It conveniently ran out of petrol at the bottom of our block, so...

...Paul and the boys towed it to higher ground.

The water is coming from the gully which surrounds our property. This side is well and truly overflowing, and the water level of Six Mile creek will determine whether it keeps coming onto our block. At the moment it is only a few metres from our house, and even though the creek is slowly falling, the water is still creeping towards our house.

That's the nature of floods. They are so unpredictable. It is the decision-making which is the most frustrating part though, at the moment. I have the kids downstairs cleaning out their rooms, and preparing to move their stuff upstairs....just in case.

You can just see the water through the trees here. This is where we have lost cars before, when there was little warning.

The rising water brings all sorts of rubbish from the creek onto our block. Some of it is stuff that washed into the gully in the last flood. The black blur in front is Puppy Bella, who runs like the wind.

Despite the threat, there is beauty to be seen during a flood. The birds are already enjoying their temporary lagoon.

This is the latest photo I took a few minutes ago and the water is now coming up from the back, which isn't a great sign. So, I am off to clear upstairs just in case we need to bring everything up...plus it needs to be done anyway. There is always a bright side :)

I hope you are having a wonderful day so far, and a little less adventurous than mine!

Simple Living Sunday 21

Well, let's just pretend it is still Sunday...where did it go? We are having another heatwave here in Gympie so I did not get all the planting done that I wanted to do on Saturday. I am hoping it will cool down for this weekend where I have two full days at home and my boys are away at their Army Cadets training camp. Fingers crossed. Oh...and the eggs are not mine, they were given to me and are farm-fresh so I thought they would fill out the basket nicely :)

Despite the lack of water the limes are going crazy and I am collecting a dozen or so a week.

The lemons are almost there too. Just waiting to ripen. It has taken a long time to recover from last years flood.

I am hoping this will turn into another big pumpkin. I am pollinating like crazy with little success...

...most of them end up looking like this.

I am amazed that this squash just keeps on going. I have not tended to it for ages.

My newly planted seeds in the water tank garden.

A surprise find under the gum trees. My daughter Lauren planted her own garden when she was little with cuttings from her Nan's garden. I'm sure Valerie would be smiling from heaven to see this hibiscus bloom.

Out of focus but it's a cicada shell on my passionfruit. Wonder if that's why I have no flowers?

The aloe vera are looking very healthy.

The side garden which needs to be prepared for Autumn planting.

Pity it's the wrong season for Rockmelon. These two have popped up from a few seeds my husband left in a pot.

I decided to use some of my homemade yoghurt to make greek yoghurt - something I had not tried yet.

You just let it strain through cheesecloth for about two hours in the fridge.

And the result was just devine. Beautiful creamy yoghurt. I will be doing this with all my yoghurt now. It's also less sour than the natural yoghurt.

I bottled up some bircher muesli to have during the week. Old coffee jars are great for this, to avoid spillage in the fridge.

With all the limes I collected I decided to make lime juice cordial....and it tastes just like Bickfords! Will post the recipe later this week.

Finally, a beautiful card posted by a beautiful lady - Eva from The Multitasking Mummy. It certainly did brighten my day!! Thanks :)

So, now for another huge week at work. Bring on the weekend!!