Guinea Pig Home

I bouhgt the guinea pigs a new hutch from ebay last week. Its really great, its 2.75m long and 70cms wide so heaps of space for the 3 little piggies to run around in! Plus it has an area undercover and also an area with no bottom so they can munch on the grass at their whim :)

I did have ot make some adjustments ot it though.

This is it as I picked it up.
Before shot, it came in 2 pieces. The main hutch part was fully enclosed with wire so I had to remove it form the end where the hutch was to attach on.


Inside the hutch BEFORE. It has a wire bottom and is just a bit too open for the piggies.AFTER:
This is the first after shot, before puting the last bits in.
I went and bought some timber and got my neighbour tocut it for me with his electric saw.
As you can see I enclosed the sides in more to protect them form the weather more.

I added string to the roof atached to the frame to make it easier to leave open.
The renovated inside :)
I covered the entire floor with wood.
Then I built them a covered home/sleep area (the box bit) and they will have a ramp (its there but I took it out after the photo as itsd not attached or safe yet)
The box part comes out easily for cleaning.
All finished with the piggies inside.
I bought about 10 metres of fleece from the op shop during the week and am cutting it up an trialling it for their bedding. under it is newspaper at the bottom then nappies on top then the fleece. this should mean cleaning is easier and not needed as often (before i had to do a full hutch clean every day)
There is a tray with paper and hay inside the box also.
They LOVE it!
They started running around and jumping all over the place like mad when we popped them in there.
they have sooooo much more space then they did before and I have been watching them tongiht through the window and they are consatantly back out to the grass for extra munching (even though I picked a big handful and added their daily veg to the covered area!)
My second kknitted dishcloth!
Love the colours, I want to knit myself a head band from the same cotton.
This one was much larger/longer than the last as Joey requested bigger cloths.

First planting!

Today we did our first planting!

Remember I mentoned the wood structure thing i picked up from the side of the road? well today I got round to fixing it up, covering it etc so that my seedlings have a safer. hopefully warmer home to start them off!

Here is the structure below hoked up to the wall so i can get in easily underneath.

Front on lifted up.
Inspired by Ali of Our Patch I cut up a used plastic milk bottle to make some plant labels. I used collected egg cartons for the punnets for the seeds and we made a seed mix from sand, potting mix and compost. I planted seeds for capsicums, cucumbers and silverbeet today. I also bought a seedling of a blck russian tomato. I have tried growing these the last 2 years wihtout success. The first year it was stolen form my yard and last year it met an early death by the whipper snipper.
The end product down in place. I have plenty of room int heir for seedlings and some plants too and its in a good spot to get sun. My original plan for it was to be a chook tractor but it can always be converted to one if this fails and we want to reuse it :)
My eldest is at Rye for the night wiht some cousins and her two grandpas. So it was just these two today. they were so good and helpful really. They spent loads of time outdoors today and even when the rain didnt bring them in!

Recipe Book

Today I helped a good friend wiht a bit of packing as she is moving into their first home!

In the mormning I got up and decided to clean up a bit before going and then figured I'd cook too.

Yestrday I missed the osso bucco due to Joey being out for the night so we did take away.
So today i cooked it.

I photographed as i went along as i am thinkig I will make a recipe book for the kids with all my fav recipes for them.

This is Osso Bucco.

Brown Osso Bucco in a pan and lay in baking dish.




dice up
-1 carrot
-1 onion
-2 cloves garlic
-2 sticks celery
- 1/4 red capsicum

In a pan, cook diced vegies until slightly softened.
-add around 1 cup of wine (choose a wine you like whether its red or white, amke sure you at least likethe tatse!)
-1 chicken stock cube (or 1 cup of chicken stock)
-1 large tin chopped tomaotes (or fresh tomatoes if you have them)

Cook for around 10 minutes on a medium to high heat.


Pour mixture over Osso Bucco and cover with foil and bake. Preferably ina slow oven for many hours, if not ina medium to high oven for 1 hour (ours today had 4-5 hours in a slow oven)

serve with mashed potatoes and steamed greens (we had silverbeet from the garden, about the only thing currently growing !)
FREECYCLE is cool :)
Check out these gorgeous cannisters I picked up today! They are like new and are really lovely! I also picked up 2 dripper hoses yesterday form freecycle for my vegie garden.
I also went op shopping today and yesterday! I picked up this great little enamelware/cast iron pot. Its made in poland (or so it is stamped) I initially bought it to use a pot for a plant outside (have been collecting enamelware pots for this in different colours) but now I am not sure if i want to keep it in the kitchen instead!


I picked Liam up some dinaosaur activity books which he will love as he is dino mad!I also bought myself a heap of different books over my travels.
I LOVE hunting out books in op shops. i am drawn to cookbooks, gardening books, sometimes novels, books that I had in childhood etc. I love reading, love researching, love learning and books fulfill all of those things!

Some of the titles i bought:
The Australian heritage Cookbook
Australian counrty style -country rooms
The complete gardener
Natures super foods
and many more!

Market day.

Yesterday was market day. We live near the Dandenong market and we try to get there each week on a Tuesday to stock up on fruit and veg for the week. It saves so much money when we do this as prices are quite competitive. We usually try to go an hour or so before closing as prices drop even more.

They do have an organic section but lately prices have been insane in that area and unfortunately my budget doesn't stretch to accomodate me there. I do head there first though and pick up what I can.

Some good bargains from the rest of the market though were
$1.99 kg broccoli
5 avocados for $1
apples and pears for $1-1.49 kg
big large head of cauli for $2
big bag of baby carrots $1
Bananas a bag for $2

and much more for good prices.

With 3 kids we go through a heap of fruit anf veg each week, we always have to shop 2 times each week for them. Its great that we eat such variety but without the market we wouldnt be able to afford it some weeks.

Yesterday I also took the bagged up lettuce to school, in all I gave away 6 decent bags of lettuce and still left myself with 2 bags. the mums were most appreciative!

I also checked out my local fishing store again and this time they had red worms in so i grabbed a punnet and brought them home and added them to the worm farm.
The worm farm is going well. We haven't been feeding them a lot yet as they establish. But they are starting to eat there way through what I give them.

I'm heading out this afternoon to get osme plastic to cover my mini greenhouse/seed protector :) Will post photos once I am done!

Frugal Award

Thanks to Robin for nominating me for a Frugal Subversive Award!

I am not on par at all with most of the other bloggers who have also recieved this, but my naturally tight arse ways have obviously led me to this award. Hey can only be good :)

In turn I nominate

Kez
Lucy
Ali

If you are given an award and want to take part in this meme, you can in turn select three other bloggers who have inspired you to be a frugal subversive. Passing the rules on with the award will make it easier for everyone to participate. Congratulations on the award. I hope it helps you spread awareness near and far.

MEME RULES

1. When you are tagged, write a post with links to three blogs who have inspired you with their frugal creativity or innovation.

2. In your post, please link back to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme and save the award graphic.

3. Leave a comment or message for the bloggers you’re tagging, so they they know they're received the award.

4. Display the Frugal Subversive Award badge to identify your blog as part of the movement that is turning its back on consumerism at any cost.

Thanks to Rhonda at Down to Earth

op shopping

Well I had alovely lovely afternoon yesterday, went tinkering waround op shops in the arfternoon all on my lonesome! It was great.

I picked up some nice buys. Some clothes for Jaime, a black jacket, a beanie and a skirt. I'll take a pic later and show you all.
I also got a shirt for Liam, so saddle club books for Tiahna, a book on organics for me and a novel for me too. I also got some cool old fashioned photography booked from the 60's.


my best buy though were these ultra cool pots. I knew I wanted them as soon as I saw them. I am going to drill holes in the bottom of them and use them as plant pots int he backyard, just have to decide what to grow in them now!




I am doing heaps of research at the moment on building a chook house form recycled materials, thats my next project!