Looking forward to November...

Things have been crazy here, prank callers, missing children (who were not actually missing due to a school miscommunication, but it was a stressfully and scary two hours.), 15yo spawns mystery illness now known as urticaria, and a crazy dog who decided to let himself into the house and make mischief, with the clean washing on the couch, the washing that took me three days to dry as my dryer is broken and I have a tiny clothes horse. A broken kombi, again! And the general day to day business, nothing ever stops. The good bits were getting 15yo spawns boyfriend hooked on firefly, the best Joss Whedon creation ever! And my honorary Nephews 18th Birthday. 

Some of Murphy's handy work, he knocked over the chicken wire fence to squish my poor broccolli seedlings, I hope they bounce back.

My younger sister, aka. Miss perky pants, was going to Nepal at the end of the year, but due to some issues, it has been put on hold. Instead, she is going to hike Mount Kosiosko for four days and the the blue mountains for another four, with a stopover at our older sisters in Sydney, we shall call Sydney Sis The sane one, I think she's the most normal of the three of us. (The three of us from my mum, I actually have four sisters.) The best bit of the trip? She's taking me! Yay! Walking is kind of difficult for me and requires a walking stick if it's for any length of time, I won't be hiking, so while she's out climbing mountains, I'll be enjoying complete and utter solitude. A much needed and rare thing in my world, I am almost never alone, oh to write or read uninterrupted, to use the toilet without hearing "Mum?" (how do they always know?). November can't come quickly enough! The added bonus is Miss perky pants is hilariously witty, I am sure we are going to have an amazingly carefree and memorable time, with lots of bonding and laughter. Not to forget mentioning how wonderful it will be to see my nephews, nieces, and brother in law, at The sanes ones home. I miss out on so much living in a different state. My new mantra, November is coming, November is coming, November is coming... Now all I have to do is hang on to some frayed strand of sanity until the trip.

The garden beds this week - 

Slowly there's a little more green coming through, we are down to our last celery, and when will these tomatoes die? Theyve started flowering again, it's winter? I've also got some seedlings growing, there is kale, broadbeans, peas, brussel sprouts, and a lettuce mix. Murphy is still enjoying the home cooking, though with me unwell, we did cheat a few times, and this week I am buying a worm farm or two for fertiliser, and further waste reduction.

If I don't post again by Thursday, have a wonderful Winter solstice, for those in the Northern part of our little globe, Summer solstice. 

November is coming, November is coming, November is coming...

Bek.

Weeds are my friends

After my last post I was a little anxious, and fought the urge to delete it, but I'm fighting my self conscious urges, repeating in my head 'good crazy or bad crazy, I am who I am, and this is my space.' I think it might have been my mantra for this week, along with, 'sanity over sanitation.' As I look about my house and feel guilty for all that I can't do at present, the good news is I am on the mend, and day by day I can do just a little bit more. 

It has been raining so much here on the western outskirts of Melbourne, my weeds are very happy, and there is so much green. My poor garden has been very neglected. In my food growing journey, I have thought weeds an enemy, but I have noticed something, the weeds have softened my rock hard clay soil, their roots digging deep saved me back breaking work, so for now, I will unashamedly leave them, as long as they aren't dropping seed or taking valuble space. Not a lazy gardener, a smart one. Okay, I am lazy but now I have a good excuse, and I have a great way to get free organic matter into the clay. 

This was the section my capsicums were in, with my partners help, I have moved them to the greenhouse. The fruit just wasn't making it in the frosty winter mornings. The grass you see had grown lushly all through this bed, even though before planting I'd weeded, dug through lime, and covered thickly with newspaper and sugarcane mulch. The amazing thing for me was, before I'd started, this bed was hard and dry rocky clay with not a worm in site. As I dug up the capsicums and weeds, not only were they the easiest weeds I've ever pulled, but in the bottom of every hole, WORMS, lots and lot of worms. I was so excited! They say if in a shovelful of soil you find ten worms, your soil is rockin', my soil is positively kick arse! As soon as the rain stops, I'll be out to finish ripping out the grass and weeds as this will be my brassica area, and I have some kale and broccoli seedlings in need of a home. 

The garden beds this week, I still haven't pulled out the tomatoes, but the celery is going to good use. Soon I'll have space for more plants. 

And finally, there has been lots and lots of bread making. This loaf was made by Baby spawn, who marked it with a huge A for Amelia, and I am posting this picture with pride. I am off to snuggle under the throw rug on my couch with My Justin and watch a good 'end of the world as we know it' flick, with a little warm apple pie and cream, and 15yo spawn who loves to be scared.

Bek. 

A little self examination...

Okay, so I thought quite a lot about what I write, and why I write more about my veggies than anything else, and the conclusion? I am a self conscious nutjob. Well, it's not quite that easy, there are some extenuating circumstances, but I have realized that for the most part, I am chicken, I can hear that subconscious bwaak bok bok bok right now. There are reasons and excuses, privacy issues, and some of what I'd like to say might not be my place to say, as, although it might be my thoughts or experiences, it might also be a shared thing that someone else wants to keep private. It's okay, I know I'm neurotic, in-fact, Little miss perky pants brought me this journal so I could embrace my various neurosis.

I love it but I haven't really used it, and again, it's that self conscious thing kicking in. Then there is the how much of my children's lives should I share? Or my partners? My friends? The only safe things are usually the garden, Annie my kombi van, or my dog... And due to my medical condition, at the moment my life is in the toilet, not metaphorically either. I have Interstital Cystitis, I spend a lot of flare up time in the loo and, if thats all my life consists of for now, what positive experiences can I blog about? I could share the hilariously embarassing or depressing tales of living with this condition, but I fear coming across as a negative person, or worse, a whinger. As for my personal struggles and frustrations, how much is too much? Do I really want to vent my tortured soul on the Internet, crying woe is me? I have a shrink for that, and there are many people in the world who have a much harder time of it than I. 

So now that I've opened the proverbial can of worms, the beast of self analysis, the admission that I am cowardly, now what? Do I shove it all back down and pretend I didn't discover my cowardess? I did name this blog Musing or Madness for a reason, so I think it's high time to suck it up sunshine, and put myself out there. I won't stop sharing my food growing experiences, that is a big part of who and where I am right now, but I will try and step a little further out of my comfort zone. 

Good crazy or bad crazy, I am who I am, and this is my space. 

Bek.