It's all about the little things

My partner got around to stringing up the wire trellis for our cucumbers today, the first cucumber flower bloomed last week and it was ridiculously exciting to see! I immediately sent a bragging text to my partner, Justin, with the above image. They are growing in a narrow strip of dirt between some concrete and my fence, and were a little overdue for something to climb, thank you Justin. Today those first buds were noticeable on the pumpkin vines, the tomatoes, and the melon of some sort has so many blooms that I'm hoping not even half will become fruit. I can always share with my neighbors, an apology for my dogs super sonic bark? I kid you not, Murphy is the James Earl Jones of dogs and his bark is as loud as thunder, rattles the windows.

There is something unexpectedly satisfying for me watching my food grow, even in watching my youngest eat our first strawberry of the year, (the strawberry I had dibs on,) having her declare how delicious it was. I've got my eye on the next one.

I have downloaded Be Write HD for my iPad, my laptop has too many bad sectors to function like it should, after a lot of fiddling around, and a couple of test shots, Justin has got the app working (I hope). If you are reading this it worked and Yay!

And finally, I leave you with this shot of Murphy, cooling down on a hot day after a good hosing, just because he's gorgeous. 

Bek. 

Australia Day or Invasion Day...

Just a small post today to share my thoughts... I am pondering how to celebrate something that has brought a vast amount of suffering to our indigenous people? For me, I am reminded of an episode of Northern exposure, where the native Americans threw tomatoes at people to celebrate thanksgiving. I don't want to wear my food, but there is something to the idea of acknowledging this is more than a public holiday, or a celebration of the day Englands first fleet arrived. For our indigenous Australians, it is an anniversary of an event that changed their culture forever. Surely we can find a way to celebrate our wonderful country, this amazing melting pot of global culture, and show our pride, while acknowledging how it came to be. Or at what cost and to who. A way to create and celebrate unity. Random thought over. Bek.

Happy Birthday My Justin...

Today is my partners birthday and it is, in part, his fault I have started this blog. In my quest for self sufficiency, I have been reading other people's experiences on blogs such as this, all of the advice and information has been invaluable. Not that I am in anyway experienced, but I am learning. Justins thought was that I should be sharing our veggie venture, creating a sort of online journal, so that I can look back and see how it started, having a good measure for the progress we make. I love that he is enthusiastic in his encouragement of my humble beginnings in our Veggie patch. And although I don't want my blog to be predominantly about the growing of vegetables, this post is for him.

The veggie patch was a little inspired by Hugh, that infectiously enthusiastic chap from the river cottage series, oh the seed had been planted long ago, but he definitely made sure that seed germinated, and grew! As a vegetarian I can't enjoy all he does, but I respect when he slaughters an animal, he respects the animal enough to waste nothing. With this new idea of growing my own food, high on information overload gleaned from two months of non stop internet research, I went to Justin and rambled and ranted and raved about all things permaculture, and growing our own veg. Poor Justin, for all he had to listen to, watch, and read.

The first thing I did was plant pumpkin, right next to my ashamedly unused greenhouse.

 There are 3 Kent pumpkins and one melon of some sort, but that's a tale for another day. I am amazed at how fast they've grown in less than a month! We also have 2 raised garden beds and are hoping to make use of every part of the garden we can for food.

My veggies planted just before the end of the year.

The same bed this morning!

We are currently growing cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, pumpkin, some sort of melon, leeks, celery, strawberries, zucchini, and butter beans. There are also various seedlings we have grown from seed, I can't wait to plant them, watch them grow and eat them.

I still have a lot of work to do, and there is so much more I will share over the coming weeks, but it's a fair start, and for Justin's dinner, tonight we ate something I'd grown, some delicious home grown Basil on some home-made pizza's.

Happy Birthday my Justin.
Bek.

Hello?

Hello Blog World, I've watched you from afar and wondered what it would be like to be a contributing member of your society, with a nervous trepidation I am dipping my toe in the water, just to see if I like the temperature. I am unsure what you can expect from me, I know A little about a lot, and am expert in nothing in particular. Just a kombi driving, mum of five who loves Books, music and her Xbox, with grand dreams of self-sufficiency. Anything else you get from me is a Bonus, I hope... So here's to the awkward first post almost over, cheers! I look forward to a positive blogging experience, and being able to look back at my Musings and laugh at my Madness. Bek.