Progress report

As you can see the bottom half is now pretty much complete. 

A tough wire mesh has been added to stop foxes breaking through the chicken wire. It’s not very tough 

 

A ring of steel has been placed around the whole coup. With some on the inside. Even if a fox tried to dig under they won’t get through and probably end up with sore paws 






We have strong netting for the top 

And to help connect the two “wings” of the chook palace 


We have worked hard all week and although it doesn’t look like it, we have progressed a long way 

There was a lot of measuring and remeasuring 

And trying to get the old hoops to look more uniform and squared off took a long time 

But I’m the end it’s going to look amazing 

I hope the chickens appreciate all that hard work  

Chicken ready

Yesterday Jody and I put this up on our own.  The boys were off procuring what ever it was they

Said we needed. So rather than just wait we started and finished

We were pretty proud of ourselves 

Today we used to old hoops from my green house and Chris made the metal base at home 

So we could slot them all into it and keep it all square a neat 

It’s going to be a bit chicken palace 

Totally enclosed and fox proof 

We used the old chicken house and have started to patch it up 

Since the whole enclosure will be sealed we just took the old door off and left it like that 

Here we have started enclosing it in wire 

Still a couple of days worth of work 

But everyday we have achieved so much. 

We all work really well together and just know what needs doing next 

We did have a meeting to discuss how would would “marry up” the two sections 

And came up with a few ideas but haven’t settled on anything as yet. 

Original I wanted it be one big long enclosure, which would of make it easier to connect 

But this configuration looks nicer. 

I’m sure we will figure out something  

Towards the end of the day, I felt like I had eyes one me 

And I turned to see this. 

I’m sure we are quite entertaining to the livestock 

I didn’t get pics, as I was very busy working, but we had both cats stay with us most of the day 

Making sure we didn’t cut corners and did the job right 

So after another busy day 

I’m now having a little rest before I pack away the three cheese pies I made for lunch and dinner 

Bring in hubby’s washing and repacking my swim bag for tomorrow morning 

Hopefully the chicken palace will be finished by the weekend and I can go shopping for some chickens 

Your typical day

This morning we did an early run into bunnings 

I got more food seedlings but I couldn’t resist these pretties 

I had a few pots that needed a make over so we pulled out the half dead what ever was growing in there 

And added some fresh potting mix and I planted out the bulbs 

I did save my peonies and repotted it. I’ve also added some tulips around it. 

I pulled out the tomatoes from the first garden bed 

These will go out into the paddock. Hopefully next week I’ll have chickens to 

Feed the garden scraps too 

I’ve now planted this garden bed out. 

There are lots of cauliflowers and broccoli.  

Beetroot, onions and peas 

I’ve left the eggplants in for now. The days are still sunny and warm so until they absolutely 

Have to come out. They can stay.  You never know your luck 

The back is now all flat and ready for stage two 

You can kinda see where all the trenches were dug, all new piping has been laid

So wafer will run nicely again 



Hubby is currently making the little dam deeper 

The paddock next to this always seems to flood lately so the dam will be able to hold 

More water and they have made spoon bowl drains to take the excess water from the paddock and funnel it

Into the dam 


While all this was going on, the neighbour across the road dropped off a box of just picked 

Produce from their huge market garden 

While we were at bunnings our emergency app beeped 

There was a fire in the next street 

So we hurried home and saw the firemen 

Our back neighbours had lit a Bon fire last night 

Someone must of rung the brigade 

Unfortunately we can’t light fires just yet. So a big no no 

I don’t think it was ever a danger but rules is rules 

So yeah just your typical day here in the rural hamlet we live in 

A big day

Today was the day that our friends were coming over to start a heap of work out the back 

So this morning I got up and made a slice for their morning tea, forgot to take a pic 

And got cooking for dinner. 

I made curried sausages with all the veggies coming from my garden 

I also made a soda bread.  This is half white flour and half rye 

Workers are always very hungry at the end of the day 

This is their truck. The machine they used to dig the trenches was on the back 

Here they are all working hard. Even hubby is there helping 

Once the new drains are in and covered they will start work on my new chicken coop 

I’m ver excited about that. 

Drains are not that exciting but they really needed doing so I don’t end up having to swim to 

Get the eggs 

The other exciting bit of news was I finally met my stalker lol 

Another blog writer, who’s blog 

https://sparklingmerlot.blogspot.com/

I’ve been reading for a while. We worked out we were in the same area

And that her grandchild attended the school near me. So I waited outside at home time and she pull over and 

It was like meeting a long lost friend 

Isn’t blogging a lovely world to inhabit 

Cooking

After cleaning and organising my pantry I found I had a few opened packets of flour so I decided to use them 

And I made a batch of ginger snaps 

They turned out lovely. I had one. To taste and they were good 

So today I decided to try a keto version 

I only had one cup of almond flour so I had to make up the recipe with almond Meal 

I’m using eggs from our customer and he gave me a tray with lots of double yolkers so 

The mix was wet. I had to add extra almond meal to dry it out 

So instead of making balls I had to use two spoons and make them into oblong shapes 

So they don’t look as nice as the round ones but they still small nice and taste nice 

I’m going to buy more almond flour and try the recipe again 

But for now these are perfect to have with a nice cuppa even if they do look a tad ugly 

The end

This is the last zucchini relish I’ll be making until next  harvest 

There is one plant left but we will just eat what comes off that 

I found a recipe for cucumber relish   We had five big cucumbers and two small green ones so I decided to make it. I had all ingredients except for the crushed ginger so I got that today after swimming 




I think my cucumbers have finished now 

So these five jars is all I’ll have 

The pantry is looking quite healthy now

Combined with the beef off the paddock and frozen vegetables from the garden 

We are going to be well fed over winter 

Hopefully things will slow down in the next few weeks and I can get back to indoor crafting 

Slowly it’s happening

Pulled out two of the tomatoes today 

I felt sorry for them. They were the first to get planted so I thought they had 

Produced enough 

Ignore my thongs they had a major blow out and are now going into the bin 

I bought a punnet which had two each of broccoli cauliflower and cabbage 

I think there is one of each in each barrel 

I had planted two sweet potatoes and they have started to spread so I bought two more and I’ve planted them between the 

Other two 

This is a purple cauliflower 

By the time it grows the zucchini will be well and truely gone 

I only left it as there are a few babies 

This is a broccoli that I’ve just put in the pot 

This pot had a spare bean in it and it did well so I figured I’d try my luck again 

I think I’ll find something to put the pot on as bending dow this low hurts my back 

Cauliflower you harvest once and it’s done but you can get a few harvests from the broccoli 

If you look closely you can just see a baby corn 

I have a spare plastic for the hot house so we will rig something up to cover this bed to keep the crop growing 

As I was typing this my witch spun around, she has spun even further since the pic to be pointing south 

It’s the equinox, day and night are equal. From now on the days will grow shorter and the nights longer 

Our weather usually changes around. 

Is my witch signalling the change has come 

If so I better organise that plastic and cover my corn sooner rather than later 

Hopefully my pumpkin vines start to die off now and then I can do a count of how many pumpkins I’ve got for the winter 

It’s an exciting time in the garden 

Getting ready

I finally picked up my quilt this morning 

I’ve already cut off the excess of the backing fabric and put that away for a 

Future project 

I Will trim this all up and add a binding once the weather cools off 

It’s too big to handle while it’s so warm 

I’m very happy with it. 

Can you see the detail of the professional quilting 

I’ve practices doing free motion quilting on a very small piece but I’d never attempt anything this big 

So it was money well spent 

Craft quarters is having a 25% off jelly rolls. Just for today 

So I grabbed a black and white themed one and some red fabric 

As I saw a log cabin in those colours and I really want to make one 

This is a pic from Pinterest 

Once the blocks are made you can arrange them in so many ways 

If your on Pinterest, and let me tell you if you are you will get lost for hours lol 

Check out black and white log cabin quilts 

Some very talented people out there 

So this is now in the craft room 

Waiting for the right day for me to start on 

You kinda have to be on a good pain day, with the right temperature 

To get able to work on something large 

I do also have a few yarn projects going so I really need to finish those off first 

I’ll try and be good and not start anything new until I clear the list a little bit 

Well that’s the aim anyway lol 

Resting

I’m up before sunrise today 

But I haven’t gone swimming 

I think I’ve been overdoing and my pain levels are really bad 

Yesterday I was in so much pain my fibro fog was terrible 

I didn’t even drive anywhere as I just couldn’t concentrate 

I haven’t been that bad for a very long time 

I have stripped the bed and the sheets are in the wash but that’s all I’m doing today 

I need to get this under control as I have Ana tomorrow 

I need to be able to function 

Constant, chronic pain not only makes it hard to do things 

It takes away some of the joy in your everyday life 

I love being active 

I love being able to do things 

But sometimes the payoff is just too much and I wonder why I even try 

Yes feeling very sorry for myself today 

And I didn’t even swim

This morning started with a power failure so we got up reset the clock hubby checked his cpap machine and because the dogs started barking we checked outside 

Poor Trixie went out to toilet and must had a touch it diarrhoea so when she sat in the bed she left a present for mummy 

So while hubby bathed her I pulled off the doona cover and threw that in the wash 

Got it out under the back veranda to dry 

This was all before 7.30am

Since I normally get out of the pool at eight I didn’t bother going so I told the girls I’d meet them at the shopping centre for coffee

I left home in plenty of time so I went to Bunnings for seedlings 

These are not what I purchased today. These are my herbs the parsley is looking a tad sad and the basil only sprouted around the edges so don’t know what’s going on there 





The dill was only sown a few weeks ago and seems happy for now 



Here are the seedlings I bought today 

In here purple cauliflower and kale 


 

Broccolini and more kale 

In here we have brown onions, cabbage and I’ve planted dwarf snow peas. They don’t need a trellis so that’s a bonus 





The tomatoes will be getting pulled in a few weeks so purple cabbage has been planted in here 



And more purple cabbage has been planted around the chillies I might remove the smaller ones if they don’t get going. But I won’t bother until the cabbages grow 



We have planted celery in here I tend to cut the leaves off and use them in salads do they won’t need lots of room for a while 



The spare silverbeet is doing really well in here 

So I put one cabbage in to see what happens 



So after all that. I went to the reject shop to buy my cleaning products and I had to go back to Telstra to get my watch connected to its own number. It allows me to take and make calls even if I don’t have my phone. I couldn’t do it myself snd the young man at the shop was lovely 

So now I’m home sitting and resting 

All done by 10.30am 

An afternoon of crafting awaits