let the sowing begin!!!

Well, it is sad to loose the mighty Masarap mob to this funky little challenge, however, its a bit like not eating your broadbeans or sweat potatoes for the first season, so that you have more to harvest the next. We wish you guys the very best in your new venture and are sure that you will reap a greater harvest in the seasons to come. The very best of luck to you all.

As for progress on our suburban front yard, we have had some trees removed allowing a great deal more light, and therefore, more growing space. the toilet rolls have been put into action, and the seeds have been sown for the summer harvest. we are going heirloom this year, with crookneck zuchinni's, all manner of old fashioned tomatoes, and golden midget watermelon to name a few. We also want to create a substantial tea garden with some peppermint and chamomile for home made teas. Lots of fun days ahead.

But most exciting of all, the CROP & SWAP (food swap) will kick off this November. we have hired a hall and tied up the public liability red tape matters so that we can legally meet other veggie growers in our neighbourhood and swap our fruit and veggies, just in case someone's head explodes at the sight of a bag of home grown tomatoes.

On a sadder note, I may need to seek professional help. I think I am addicted to buying horse manure. I purchased another 8 bags last week, and 2 weeks before that, 10 more. Now, whenever I drive past a paddock, I catch myself looking for "Poo for Sale" signs, my hands get all clammy, and my heart rate increases with silly daydreams of covering my entire front yard in horse manure. I look at myself in the rear vision mirror and think, "you've changed"... Any suggestions?

dinner plans have changed

so ... we were in for the all up day's worth of meals.

well ... that's gonna have to change now ... please bear with us.  you see ... our dream has come true.  my IT geek of a hubby has landed an exec IT job in rural NSW.  so we are moving far, far away ... to commence our bush life in absolute glory.  so dinner is gonna have to wait.

short term we'll live in a rental in Casino (hubby will be a sr lvl IT exec at Southern Cross Uni), until we find the land to buy and reclaim.  so it will be patio boxes and aquaponics till we get settled.

J&J ... you should drop over and have a yarn with hubby about aquaponics before you throw the baby out with the bath water.  he went to a DIY course and it all makes easy sense to him.  speaking of which ... i have some propogating stuff, pots n plants n compost ... willing to part with some if you are inclined!  just send me a private email.

we will stay very interested in this blog and continue to participate ... i'm just afraid it's not gonna happen as soon as we had anticipated!

our journey in earnest can be followed at http://www.backwardssimply.blogspot.com ....

Do you think we should keep her??????

busterly bummers... its really windy

After a quick dash to the front yard to heard the chooks back to their pen, in the wild and relentless winds, I noted a few garden tragedies on my travels. Our little green house has copped a beating from the breezes, after having just mended it 2 weeks ago. And worse still, the main patch of broadbeans have also suffered heavy casualties in the wind.

Be gone wild weather!

On the upside, I went for a poo run yesterday, down toward the Windsor/Richmond district and picked up 10 bags of horse manure for just $10. Squashing them into the back of the hyundai, I sped off feeling like I had just made the biggest poo heist of the century. We mulched it in under most of our fruit trees, and still have 5 bags left to dig into the patches where we will grow our pumpkins and tomatoes in spring.

We are also another step closer to starting a local food swap in our neighbourhood, powowing with the the local council to confirm a meeting place. We hope to begin the foodswap around October/November.

j&j

an update .... of sorts!

i really had hoped that i would have a bigger yield from my veg patch by now.  things are coming up .... but nothing is ready.  the only thing i am harvesting is parsley and oregano .... and heaps of that mind you!

the broad beans are blooming .... both my crimson and white.  so check .... beans are coming!
asparagus is bedded in well .... but nothing there until spring
peas are looking great.... both the front patch and the back patch .... but no blooms yet.
same with the snow peas .... they look amazing .... but no flowers yet
garlic is coming up nicely .... thinking about a last minute additional plant there.
kipfler potatos are in ... waiting for a second batch which should come shortly.
lots of seedlings coming up well .... celeriac, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, herbs galore, comfrey, leeks, onions
i even have some early season borlotti beans seeding  ....

but alas .... nothing is ready to eat.  all that can mean is that spring is gonna be bountiful!

hubby went to a DIY aquaponics course last weekend through Milkwood.  had a blast and learned heaps.  has already purchased his first bathtub off ebay for $20 (brand new).  the beauty of the course was that the guy teaches how to make it out of what you have and what you can source, vs. "i have a kit and make it from this."  so hubby is happy and itchin to get going .... just a few more keyhole beds and things to build for me first <g> ....... and of course i am off to a mushroom workshop this weekend through the same mob .... can't wait!
maggie
backwardssimply.blogspot.com

Birth of A Perpetual Garden and Goings on In the Vege Patch

I am a dreadful procrastinator...and one of my favourite sayings is of course, 'yes, I am going to do it...' while all evidence is that I have got sidetracked onto something else.
Perpetual farmstay garden is  doing nothing but sitting there.With a great big pile of building materials around it. It is cold and the fire is so inviting to sit near instead of going outside .I need to get out there and do something.
Solution is to go and plant the seedlings for it!! Now I have to by the end of  the long weekend , have the bed ready.

I have some different types of brassicas to plant and

winter lettuces as well. They will need have at least two weeks growing time and then in they will go. This will give the new bed time to settle and be ready for planting too.

The perpetual garden will be different from my other beds as it is really a traditional garden bed . I normally use raised beds or chicken tractor beds. It is important for us to have lots of different gardening styles going here because different styles suit different people. The aim is to get as many people gardening as we can.

 This is the chicken tractor that David built for me. I might be a marvel in the garden, but this is the reason... I am married to this incredible person who can basically build anything and is happy to do it.
This chicken tractor is 'mark 3 ' of david's designs , since he always has to improve on things. It is really great , but it is also really heavy. He is thinking about doing a dome design in a lightweight aluminium frame (many years ago we did try poly pipe but it gets pretty windy on our hill and it just kept blowing away much to the consternation of the chickens ) . The bed shown here is just ready for planting.... these chickens are my best scratchers ever, but I am finding they are going faster than I can grow seedlings in the preparation of beds.

This is my other chicken tractor (mark 1 of david's designs) . It is the easiest to move but not quite the standard of  mark 2. . We have a very old breed of bantam in this one. ....silver duckwing  leghorn bantams ( bred in the 1800s ) . We bought them just to keep an old breed going..just have to find a duck wing rooster now.Also want lots of eggs to feed farmstay guests and make pasta!
They are at point of lay at the moment. We check for eggs everyday.

They are a bit flighty  , perhaps something to do with the older breeding. We love watching them roost at night because there is always one chicken who MUST be at the very top of the roost ...and they flutter and fuss till the pecking order is all set out in roosting order.
Today we are going to let them run around ...this will be their first outing in the yard. We are going to do it close to sunset , so that their roosting instinct sets in and they are happy to go back in the pen. Considering how flighty they are, I hope they go back in okay. I can just see myself at dusk lifting roosting chickens out of the mulberry tree or something.
We believe it is important to let our chicken tractor chickens have time outside. We have found that with set routines you can train them to be herded back to the pen on sunset. But...we always have to supervise. There is nothing more tempting to a chicken than a freshly mulched garden bed with seedlings in it. It is worth the time to see them racing around the yard excitedly telling each other when they have found something delicious like a snail!

More Beds!

So ... i'm putting in three more beds this weekend.  <g>  more broad beans to be sure! i've got my diggers order ready to go .... can't believe it's about time to start thinking about the seedlings that need to get planted for the spring planting!  makes a heart hope!

anyone know much about bush tucker?  i'm thinking about dedicating a small area of my front yard to that ... it could be very fun, and a great learning experience for us and the kids!  let me know if you guys know anything about that!