Potatoes in a Bathtub.

Now I am not a great lover of potatoes but really think they are a quick meal filler that if I serve them it's usually covered in chillies or drowned in curry.  So it's a bit of a step for me to grow my own. Wanda on the other hand loves potatoes and I think I've created a bit of jealousy not only in the bathtub but the potatoes themselves.  they are pretty much taking care of themselves this time and going wild. I only splash water on them and let them do their thing. When I start harvesting them I'm already thinking of hot chilli to make to complement.

Additionally I'm filling the cupboards at the moment experimenting with all sorts of traditional recipes for food storage and continuation. So included is a photo of my first sourdough sponge as it ferments to make a loaf tomorrow and of my pickled onions mushrooms and chillies. I have had success with chillies previously and the onions were a natural progression. The mushrooms were purely a hack as I had a bit of spare pickling liquid and a couple of spare jars, the mushrooms had been in my fridge a week and rather than let them go to waste it was a 2 min job to prep them for a jar. Now it's a waiting game!

Tanya

xmas has come and go and this year for my birthday i got bee hives in the yard, one more step towards the goal. 

The first day they were here they went a little crazy and were flying around the house and buzzing everybody nobody got stung so that was good, the  next day never saw one around the house.

we have a large population of wild bees around here too, they seem to be getting on no major problems yet.

This year(2013) we ended up with 16 chickens 5 duckling and 11 baby geese a good haul i thought, we the rain all through the summer so far the grass has managed to stay green for them so there is plenty to forage in.,

the six hives

New Aquaponics

In the last few weekends I have set up my own Aquaponics setup which was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Using scavenged parts, a couple of Toys R Us kiddie pools, and Bunnings pipes. I copied the Tank layout at Wanda's place. It was worth the effort and I've thrown yabbies in one tank and feeder fish in the other. I'll be excited when I can get some eating fish in it.

The plants are standard for me. Chilies,  Capsicum,  coriander,  eggplant and Tomatoes.