another month on!

I havent done an update for quite a while again!

I will get back to regular blogging here eventually!

I took a month off work and spent lots of time wiht the kids which was good, also went away to the beach for a week which was also relaxing (or as relaxing as 6 plus kids in a small 3 bedroom house can be!)

I'm still going along with most things.

The chooks are giving us lots of eggs and boy are they yummy! I think 2 are still not yet laying, but the rest are and we get 4 eggs most days. I'm having alittle bit of drama with themlaying where they please at present instead of in their house as they free range from sun rise til sun set!

Our bunnies and guonea pigs are great, all healthy and thriving and all the animals are giving us loads of mulch and manure for the garden. I have been heaping it below the lemon tree and the tree looks healthy now. I'll have to take a photo.

I'm participating in FebFast
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/Susan_Darcy
If you wish to sponsor me you can but please don't feel you have to. I just think its a good idea health wise for me and also to raise funds for youth drug and alcohol users.

The vegie garden is going OK. The lettuce/silverbeet bed has mostly gone to seed so i am hoping to get a fair amount of lettuce seed for future use as the guineas and rabbits love it all.
The tomatoes have been great though the chooks stole a few! I have a few plants I planted later that are just coming in to ripen now and the other ones are nearly ready to pull out.

We've been enjoying plundering the potato patch and feasting on home grown spuds! This is first time I have had success with spuds!

The garden does need a bit of work though. I need to plant more and start preparing the front beds and try to improve he soil. Everything out the front stayed stunted all season, very weird! I need to do a soil test still, I just didnt rush due to holidays and being busy.

I'm still knitting, still only dish cloths though i did knit wrap to use for photo sessions for newborns!

thats it for now. Lots more to update but will do it later :)

so much more relaxed!

ahhhhh


I am sooooo pleased xmas has finally passed!

I have some time off work (ok I still have a little work but nothing like the pre xmas pressure!) and have been potteirng in the garden, spedning time wiht the kids and animals. making plans (like my list) and just feeling oh so much more relaxed!

I must get ut and get more garden photos! I did some more planting this week. Transplanted a heap of silverbeet that I planted from seed a while ago. I also planted more seed of radish, corn, and coriander a day or so ago.

I am going to fence off two more of the garden beds as the chooks are grabbing the tomatoes the moment they start to turn red at all and thats just not on :)
The rabbits have gutted one garden bed and I have added heaps of their litter waste to it so will do some planting in that soon and then start to prepare the front beds to attempt some sort of winter garden.

I havent grown a winter vegie garden before. Being in Melbourne its always a bit colder so more difficult. This year I am going to try and start a bit earlier in the hope of getting it better established!

On a side note, I have many new plans for my photography bsuiness in the coming new year. I am going to expand into pet photography (so if you are in melb and have a pet you'd like done, send me a message at pets at susandarcy.com.au as I need a few to do for free or cheap to add to the port folio! I am after a variety of pets, not just your standard dogs and cats!)

Also business wise I am really going to push the 'green' message more in the coming year through my business. So if you have a local product or service that falls in any way under the 'green' banner (I'm pretty open) then again send me an email to green at susandarcy.com.au so we can discuss some promo of your product/service!

I think I might go bask in the glorious sunshine now! its so nice to be on holidays!

Far out!

I think I have to accept i wont be able to keep up wiht blogging land until I have finished all my xmas rush work for my business! I just havent had time to update.

There has been lots going on.

We have the chooks, 2 to start with,m they have been named Belle and Marg. They are fab! They are laying nicely. The brown one hadnt laid any eggs at the past house for quite a while so we are pleased she is nowlaying again for us. They seem quite content though, they have come form living in a an aviary where they didnt get out in the yard mucvh at all to having a huge space that is all theirs! We've left the gate open for them to come out further into the yard but they are funny, they stick their beaks out and look then go scurrying back to their own yard!

am loving the eggs they are sooooo deliscious!

Vegie gardens are booming, picked my first tomatoes this week, jsuta few grape type cherry ones. all the plants have lots of fruit on them now and I put in some more seedlings a week or two ago. Also picking zuchini pretty regularly and ofcourse lettuce has been being picked for a while. My cucmbers have stunted and are going nowhere, might try some seedlings and see if they growe!

I had to fence of one of the garden beds as the rabbits were enjoying it a little too much. it has recovered well and is now thriving.

Christmas! My gosh when did it come round so soon!

I am so disorganised!
We are going easy on the presents for the kids thisyear. Both my girls want digital cameras. I picked up[ a bargain wiht one today and got a 7.1 mp for $115 as it was the shop stock one! Now to hunt for one for the other! I also got them high school musical on ice tickets as they are huge fans of the show. other than that they will get a couple of little stocking fillers and thats it. Liam I have no idea! I had some stuff picked out on laybuy will have to go check what it is. He is right into pirates and anything to do with sport and cars so he is pretty easy.

I hosted our big family xmas do here last week with all the cousins, aunts uncles etc and we do a zkris kringe. i gave some knitted dish clothes i made and a bottle of wine for mine. Would love to make more xmas presents but honestly dont think I have a lot of time left@!

anyway I havent eaten tea and am hungry! Promise to come back some times soon and post photos of the chooks!

vegie garden and thinking of going vegetarian.

Many years ago I used to be vegetarian. I made sure I ate a balance of foods to try to make sure I got the vitamins needed. I obviously lacked in something though as I was comepeting in competitive sport and a few times I passed out after competing! Not good. I also found I craved steak, yes bad, but its always been a food i really love. I could live without all other meat happily if i could eat steak occasionally.

So anyway. Lately we have been making more and more vegetarian meals. Joey and I eat out for lunch once or twice a week and we almost always choose vegetarian options now. We found a fab little cafe in upper ferntree gully called Tastee Az that has the most yummy vegetarian meals (they serve meals with meat also) and we now go once a week to make our way through there very tastee menu! I highly recommend anyone in the area to go and eat there you won't be disappointed, plus the food is reasonably priced.

So in all this I have been thinking about taking the step back to being vegetarian once again. For me it would be primarily for health reasons, secondly for the environment and thirdly for the animals. Is it unethical if I chose to eat meat on the rare occasion? like when at visitors who just find it too hard? at social events when there is no other option? and once in a while to curb my steak cravings? Give me your thoughts :)

Now on to a yummy recipe.
I made a vegie quiche this week which was soooo yummy!

Here is the easy easy recipe I did this time.

I used a square baking tin.
Put down a sheet of puff pastry.
then layered in the cut up vegies
Tomato
mushroom
silverbeet
red onion
red capsicum

then some crumbled marinated fetta

then relayered the vegies again
then topped with more marinated fetta and some asparagus and grated cheese.

then mixed 4 eggs with a little milk and cracked black pepper and poured over the top.
bake in the oven til risen and firm and brown.

then eat!!!

It was really yummy!

This is it with just the vegies layered in. I got busy and forgot to photograph the rest!


the garden is booming along out the back. I need to retie the tomatoes and transplant a few of them.
I posted apic just after planting about 2 motnhs ago, they sure are doing well here!


Int he pic above you can see the main tomato bed at the front which also has some basil, chilli and parsley in it. All growing well.
Behind that is a bed with more chilli, spring onions, cucumbers, beans and some lettuce. also tomatoes that have sprouted from previous years seed in the soil that I need to transplant this weekend.

to the left of the picture not in the built up beds I have zuchini growing and pumpkin and parsley and mint. to the right I have strawberries and another pumpkin (the pumpkin is a smaller variety that wont take over the garden hopefully! Its already flowering too.)

the back bed is the main lettuce bed which also has carrot and parsnip growing now and more silverbeet and radishes.

I'm really disappointed about the front beds, everythign is still not growing and just dying off :( I figure I am just going ot kep adding to the soil and keep trying. I probably should buy and do a ph test to see what is up with it.

Oh I picked and ate a snow pea yesterday. I was lamely excited by it :) pity the plant is out the front and joining the others in dying off so not sure if I will get much more thsan the one pea off it!

echo echo echo.......

Yes yes I'm here :)

Thanks for the messages asking after me :)

The biggest reason for my absence in posting is that this time of year is the busiest for me business wise. I am behind business wise also which isn't at all good. Everyone wants photos in time for xmas, every year I say I will organise it better and havent managed yet again. I will rectify it though and I will get on top. Plus I am shutting up shop for 6-8 weeks over december/Jan to be ready to start afresh all organised in the new year.

Now lets see, other than work.

Queensland:
It was really great! I worked but most of my jobs finished by 10am so I had the days to explore. I drove all along the coast (from Brisbane down the gold coast) and also drove inland and through the part of the hinterlands and Mt Tambourine. I loved tamborine it was gogeous!
I sipped wine with new friends often and ate fabulous often too and I made the most of my child free time but just enjoying the peace.
Poor Husband at home ended up haivng to deal with 2 sick kids with gastro! Oh well, he definitely had a new appreciation for me once I got home!

The Garden:
Out the back is growing great! My Tomatoes are thriving, I also have them self sprouting everywhere form lasts years crops so have transplanted some and given some away.
One chilli plant died but the other 2 are going really well. zuchini, pumpkin, cucumbers, beans, lettuces are all going great. some of the capsicums are thriving too.
Out the front is a different story.
I think the soil sucks! I used mostly a heap of dirt we got from someone who mulched a tree. The father in law brought it home and I didnt really want it at the time but hoped it would be OK. I added manure and compost and blood and bone to it but nothing wants to grow in it.
Everythign is turning yellow and dying and just stunted in growth. I am now adding lots of the animal litter to itin the hope it improves in time. i am going to transplant heaps of the self seeded tomatoes to it and just see what happens. I focused more out the back this year anyway.
Oh my potatoes out the back are booming too as is my passionfruit. I have recently planted a heap of seed too - radishes, silverbeet, spring onion, parsnip, carots and some lettuce out the back beds too and they have all sprouted now.
My lemon tree seems to have coped so far wiht the heavy prune I gave it and is starting to show alot of new growth. I pile most of the animal hay and litter under it all the time too so maybe thats helped.
I reconnected the hose fomr the washing machine this week too as the grass is already starting to really brown and die, earlier this year!

The house:
is CHAOS!!!!!!
Because I am snowed under wiht work the house has been sorely nelgected!!!! I just aim for the bare basics each day and am happy if that gets done. I think I might to get osme paid help in to get back on top :(

The Kids:
are all great!

The animals:
are all growing! Stella the rabbit is gorgeous. she free roams out the back now as well as the house. she eats form the vegie garden but doesnt demolish it, probably because there is plenty there. The guinea pigs are all gettign bigger and healthier.
The dog is the same old same old. actually we realised she is getting old! she is about 13 or so now!

The worm farm:
takes care of itself mostly :) I just add every few days and they are multiplying well now!

Op shopping:
I still go most weeks, if not more than once a week. Its my release! I've picked up loads of great books and stuff for the kids. When i have more tiem I'll start reposting my bargains!

Oh I am still knitting, still basically, nothign fancy but i am building a collection of dish cloths now and I find it really relaxing!

NEWS!
After much discussion we are seriously considering selling in a year or so and moving into the Dandenongs! very exciting!

I am sure there is heaps I have forgotten but will try to get back to more photos and updates :)

Just so you have at least one photo here is my Bunny Stella, taken this morning in one of the vegie gardens.
isnt she pretty :)

Knitting, gardening and more new pets!

I haven't been a very good blogger recently!
I've been a bit flat emotionally, need to see the doc to discuss my meds. But then again it is also that time of the month so maybe thats all it is.

I have been busy again though and have lots to update on!

The wrom farm is coming along well. I havent set up the second one yet but will soon. I give the worms food every few days to once a week and they are getting it though most of it now. You can see a mouldy apple in there the kids add to it sometimes too!


I planted tomato plants and some basil and chilli and a mini capsicum in the front bed of the new beds. Yes they are bought seedlings, I am going to grow more by seed though too, we just eat loads of tomatoes in the summer season and I magaed to grab quite a few different varieties including some heirloom toms and some diggers toms as seedlings.
My parsely self seeds each year and i always have an abundance with our new animal friends enjying it I have made sure i am transplanting the constantly emerging seedlings as they grow so we have an even more plentiful supply.
The radished are coming up more each day!
The snow peas are coming along very very nicely.
This is the potato bed and I also planted parsnip seed at the far end.
Last weekend the girls and I went to the market shopping for new pencils and a visual diary for them to make into their 'nature diary'
Each of them decorated their books and are journelling some of the things we are gorwing, writing about our pets and writing about any projects we do.
This week are growing carrot tops!



and here is my beautiful bunny Stella again. She has settled so well into our lives. we love her dearly :) She is a indoor house bunny mostly though she has a run outside she goes int for some sunshine and grass munching.
nibbling parsely leaves, one of her fav snacks!
and yes I am a sucker! We have 2 more new additions ot the house!
Meet 'Puss'
and 'Boots'

our darling new guinea pigs. Puss is just 5 weeks old and Boots is 12 weeks old.
The kids adore them and they are much more kid friendly than the rabbit so Stella is happier too :)
Plus I have so much more animal manure and hay for the compost and garden beds now.
I found a good cheaper produce store yesterday too and I will be growing a lot of their food for them.

Oh and my sugar n spice yarn came in so am part way through knitting my first dishcloth!