Hunter Gatherer

The garden is going so fantastic. I just can't believe how well everything is doing! I'm making a salad for tea tonight (to have with the fresh scnapper from last night). The salad will be gourmet lettuce and rocket and baby spinach leaves, spring onion, radish and tomato - all from our garden! Oh! and the chives on the baked potato will be from the garden too! How mouthwatering does all that sound?!
I've got a very busy couple of days ahead......... I have to get a bed ready for the 40 corn seedlings that I raised. It's a lot of corn but I want to get heaps of kernels in the freezer. We have 4kg of peas in there that we grew and harvested ourselves, I want to do same again with corn. I've also got a lot of spinach growing too. I priced it the other day at Woolies. $3.50 for 500g of frozen spinach portions, Can't wait to get mine in the freezer and add up how much worth it is.
Also on the SELF SUFFICIENCY side of things........ Home Brew Rocks! I have a brew of Corona going at the moment, and I have a Blonde and a Crown to put down as well. Also, I've been making my own fruit juice wine. I did the first batch as the instructions told me to, but now I'm experimenting. I made some apple and cranberry champagne and everybody is going nuts for it. I can't keep up! Have also made some apple cider with honey and cloves in it (haven't tried that one yet) and apple and blackcurrent wine with a star annise in it (haven't tried that one yet iether). I have 2 Christmas shows to go to this weekend, so all flavours will be getting a go.
Anyway, this isn't getting the gardening done, is it? Want to do a bit of fertilizing before the wind picks up too much. Oh well, better get cracking hey. Seeya

The Rain is Optional

Hey Warren, this one's for you!






Just wanted to say 'G'day' from Cleve!

We're getting some fantastic rain at the moment. Here's a couple more pics

This is my tomatoes and silverbeet. The background is the neighbours land. Where I is the light coloured stuff to the left.

This tree is to the left of the house. The light coloured stuff in the front is oats. That is a paddock. I reckon it would be great to plant grapevines in it and start a boutique winery. Everyone reckons i'm 'full o' shit'. LOL

Okay........ Not necessarily a part of the garden................ But a vital part of the gardening process, none-the-less. My home brew pale ale. Ve-e-r-r-y nice!

Cluck Like a Chicken!

Meet the new chooks! 6 hens and a rooster. They're only a few weeks old. Hopefully in a little while they will get all clucky and broody and make lots of babies for the freezer. Please forgive me but with all this new livestock happening (lambs and chooks) I just can't help thinking "Hmmmmmm............ Webber.............".

They're living in a kind of holding pen at the moment so the other chooks don't monster them and kill them. But they will be let out into chook society as soon as possible.

And guess what else?! The zucchinni's and strawberries have got heaps of blossoms on them, and the tomato bushes are absolutely loaded and Scott found a red one this morning, so we should be getting some PRODUCE really soon. I'm so excited, I just can't wait. I really need to get busy out in the garden over the next 2 weeks though, I have to get a bed ready for the corn seedlings to go into. I want to plant them out Christmas Day because I know I'll be off that day, and I just didn't realise how close it is.

Things are finally starting to pick up at both jobs, I had a fairly busy week this last week. I thought I had another job too and I was really happy about it, but it turns out I'm not going to be able to do it because of conflicting hours, so I had to let it go. But next year when everything goes quiet again I can re-apply, so I'll definitely be doing that.

Things are good. I've been walking every day (am thinking to forget about it today though - just catch it up tomorrow), diet has been good (till last night and today), I'll definitely get back on track tomorrow. I've been keeping a food diary on calorieking.com and checking into the forum there every day for support. My budget goals for December seem to be falling into place. I've got the cardboard to make my dreamboard for 2009, and I've been giving it a lot of thought, so I'll be getting stuck into that over the next couple of weeks too. I didn't make one last year and I got a little lost, seemed to lose my focus, so I don't want THAT to happen again! Anyway....... I'm going out to say hello to the babies again and see if there's any more blossoms in the garden. What's that they say about a watched pot never boiling?.................

Ho-Hum

A quiet week on the home front. Planted a whole heap of seeds last week, and they are all coming through. They'll be ready to put in the ground around christmas, so that is actually my idea of a perfect Xmas day, planting everything out.

Check it out! A new baby lamb. It was a twin but the other one got tangled up on a fence and died. Please forgive me, but I just can't help thinking "Webber..........."

My home brew is GREAT! This week I had a go at making some wine. I found this place on the net that sells yeast and special caps for juice bottles. All you do is add a measure of the yeast, cap with the special caps, wait 4 days and get into it. So tomorrow is the big day.... having our first home-made wine taste-test.

I've been doing lots of baking in an effort to keep the grocery shopping down to the barest minimum. I've always cooked meals from scratch, never been much of a fan of jars and cans and that. I always baked when my kids were little but haven't done much of it for years. I'm really enjoying it. It's working out a lot cheaper and it's definitely healthier, because I'm using all low-fat recipes. I'm thinking about having a go at making bread. I'm looking around at the moment to see if I can find some tins. I don't want to use a breadmaker, they're too expensive to run. That's a little goal anyway, something to get around to.

Still waiting for tourism to go into overdrive around here. Everybody is saying it won't be long now. Can't come quick enough for me. I want the money! Can't wait to do some serious banking.

Started ANOTHER diet today. When I quit smoking on Feb. 25 I promised myself I wouldn't beat myself up about my weight for 1 whole year. But 9 months and 15 kilos later, I don't think I can afford to wait anylonger. Any health benefits I'm gaining from quitting are being negated by the massive amount of weight I've put on.

So..... Wish me luck with the diet, the garden, the tourism situation, the livestock...... Whatever. Just check in with me again next week and I'll let you know how things are going.

Rain Guage

Home Brew

Had a fairly busy week, but just don't seem to be achieving anything!
Well..... That's not exactly true. Had the day off on wednesday so did a major sort out in the backroom and now I have somewhere nice to sit while I watch Home n
away. So while I'm sitting there watching it (which I actually haven't yet cos I've been too busy) I'm going to go through all my cd's and get them organised. There are still plenty of boxes to go though, so I can't go taking it too easy just yet.
I am today though. I went to Lucky Bay yesterday to see a friend. I took a couple of my home brews to try....... And guess what? They worked! Oh Boy did they ever work! I'm a little bit hungover today so I'm taking it pretty slow.
I had planned on doing some gardening and housework but that didn't happen. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Weighed in this morning. Oh God! Am getting fatter by the minute! I'm trying to figure out if it still because of quitting smoking or just because I am a gluttonous pig! Think I might know the answer to that one....... Just gotta get my head in the right place to do something about it. I have the knowledge (and gawd knows I've got the equipment!) to be doing everything right, but knowing what needs to be done and doing it are 2 entirely different things, aren't they?

Kimba

Hello.

This is the brochure from the pub where I work at Kimba. Not sure about the technicalities but I think if you click or double click on the image it will enlarge it so you can read it. Kimba is 70km's north of Cleve, it takes me about 50 minutes to drive there. I know that sounds like a long time to just go that far, but there are SO many kangaroos on the road I take it REALLY easy.

The girls I work with are all really nice, the whole pub has such a lovely, friendly atmosphere. The renovation is quite recent, they won awards for the reno.

The first time I went to the pub was about 4 months ago for a birthday party. I drove over from Wallaroo (that would be a 5 - yes - FIVE hour drive!), and it was a shocking drive! It was raining, there were trucks everywhere, my phone went flat and I was super dooper grumpy when I finally arrived.

Gotta go. Am bottling another brew today. Have already got one pale ale bottled, should be ready by weekend. This one I'm bottling today is another pale. Want to get a couple of blondes down though. Am a bit handicapped by the shopping situation (or rather..... the LACK of a shopping situation!) here though. Will have to stock up when I go to PortLincoln next time. And am also struggling to find bottles.....

Till next week then.......

Baa-aaa-aaa

This is James Bond, the new ram. The red glow is from the tail lights of the ute.

When Scott went to put him in the holding pen he neglected to mention to James that the holding pen was actually meant to HOLD him, and James went a little bit berserk.

He charged up the race and jumped over the wall of the holding pen and landed on the wool table, knocking it over with him tangled up in it.

So there he was, wool table on it's side, legs poking through it, and Scott and I standing there thinking "Oh Shit! How we gonna get him out without breaking his legs!?".

But big, tough (?) Scott saved the day. He grabbed James by the horns and lifted him and the table upright and STILL managed to hang on to James while he kicked his way out of the table, then somehow, finally, managed to get him into the holding pen, this time to STAY PUT!

I took a little bit of movie of the flock. Hope it works for you to see, am still practicing with all this technology....... am a bit technology illiterate, but at least I'm having a crack hey! Watch closely at the start and you'll see the little lamb and if you look closely at the end you'll see James..

Next week I'll tell you about the garden..... OH! And my home-brew! Seeya!

fotos

This is the humungus trailer borrowed from
my new neighbours, Mike and Sue.
All my worldly goods and possesions are
with-in..... some very creative packing went on....




This is my after my first ever fishing trip.


I went to Arno Bay in my friend Scott's boat


and got our bag limit of Whiting


plus a couple of squid.


An I actually contributed and REALLY FISHED!!


I wasn't just along for the ride.


It was really exciting!

This is Scott

Tree Change

So......
In the last month I have......
Quit my job on the ferry,
come over to Cleve and found 2 new jobs,
(well.... 3 jobs if you include my helping my mate Scott build sheds....
not sure if I'm a help or a hindrance some days tho.....
*giggle*)
gone back to Wallyworld and closed up my unit and
brought all my wordly goods and possessions over
here to stay at Scott's place and officially moved in!
Also got a bit of a cold, 2 really aching knees and
a helluva lot to learn about farm-living!

Job number 1 is at the Kimba Hotel/Motel,
cleaning and cooking breakfasts.
Good job, good fun, great bunch of girls
to work with.
Job number 2 is at Arno Bay in the beachfront cafe,
official title is second cook, take-away cooking... you know,
burgers and fish 'n' chips and that sort of stuff.
Also, as I already said, helping out where I can with
Scott doing his shed-building business.

It's now exactly 8 months since I quit smoking
(& 10 kilo's grrrr!!).
I'm trying to walk on a regular basis but time is a
bit of an issue, yet even without a regular daily walk I'm still
averaging 15,000 steps/day - that's how busy
my new life on the Eyre Peninsula is!

The people over here are so warm and friendly,
the lifestyle is pretty laid-back, (sometimes annoyingly so....)
but so far I have no regrets.
I reckon this is going to be a very
enjoyable chapter in my life.

Don't forget to look up
my 3 new towns....
Cleve, Kimba and Arno Bay.

Will post again next week. Bye!

OhMiGod!!!
I just got my first post!!!!
Thank you Melissa -
knew it would be you honey
lvya babe
xxx

woohoo! 1st blog

okay
have bit the bullet
this is my blog