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.

A family moment for my mumma

It has been wet and rainy in my tiny corner of the world, the frost is sparkling in the mornings, winter is creeping ever closer. Goodbye to my favourite season, by July I'll be wishing for spring.

 This week has been a necessarily restful one, I live with a condition that flares up every few months or so, I will hopefully have it under control again soon, but until then I am taking it very easy. It's not been all boring rest though, it was my Mumsy's birthday yesterday, I was too unwell to make the traditional birthday pancakes, (something the spawn are promising to remind me of every morning in the hopes I'll be well soon and make them, they are owed.) but we did go out to our newish traditional mums birthday restaurant. 

Mumma and the gorgeously sweet 19yo spawn who for once, didn't get the chicken parma. 

Miss perky pants and our beautiful mumma. I forgot to get my own photo with her, next year we'll have to get a nice one of the three of us. It is so hard to get a good shot of my mumma, once she sees the camera all you see is her hand.

My partner and my crazy lovable 20yo spawn. (How old do I feel?) He told me he is going for his motorcycle P plates next week, Good luck and be safe! 

And my Justin and I. I am now thinking the piggy tales are a subconscious refusal to believe I have almost grown spawn. Miss perky pants bought her awesome partner as well, I need to think of a code/nick name that suits him, and we all had a wonderful night, especially the birthday girl. 

I am sure food growing posts will resume soon, I know I wrote from the start that I didn't want my blog to be predominantly about the garden, but it seems so far that's what it has mostly been, I will have to think about the whys of that. For the most part I think it helps to keep my perspective positive, sharing something I'm proud of, and having a record of my successes and lessons learnt. A Huge thank you to 15yo spawn for looking after and feeding the youngest two last night. 

Wishing I hadn't run out of gas again, I'm really missing the hot baths,

Bek.

Ego building tomatoes and A mystery tree...

It is an Autumn that feels like winter and I am still picking tomatoes, I don't know if this is normal, but it makes me happy. I've picked six in the past few days, finally a decent amount. 

They seem to be dying off, I think it's time to pick what's left and let them ripen on their own, most of what's left is a decent size. I've heard that they won't be as sweet as the sunripened ones though, we'll see, I think home grown will still be better than supermarket bought. And in the green house, those cherry tomato plants are already growing tiny little buds. 

I think I am slowly getting the hang of this food growing business, either that or, tomatoes are just extremely forgiving for the fumbling amateur home gardener. I am going to pretend its the former, while knowing it's far more likely to be the later, I do know the tomatoes are doing wonders for my gardening ego right now. 

The two garden beds look kind of sparse, even though they are full of potential seedlings and seeds. 

Garden bed 1 - cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, spring onions, leeks, parsley, swede, sage, dill.

Garden bed 2 - spinach, rocket, iceberg lettuce, celery, tomatoes, and a strawberry experiment. As soon as I rip those tomatoes out there will be some salad mix planted in. 

I did get ridiculously excited yesterday when I saw what I thought was an elderflower tree in my backyard, unfortunately I have since discovered the flowers though similar, are wrong. Elderflower has five stamens, this flower has many more. 

Here are some pictures, if you know or even have a suspicion about what this tree is, I would love for you to tell me. 

The tree is huge, much higher than my home, and the only similar flower I've seen in my research is cotoneaster, but I have never noticed, in the six years I've lived here, any red berries. Not that that cements anything, as I didn't notice it could have been elderflower either. Any help is appreciated.

15 yo spawn is in bed today, sick with an awful cold. I am off to try and move her to the couch where it's warmer. Whilst the heater is on, sourdough seems like an excellent idea, plus I seem unable to waste Seymour when I feed him, and his container is getting full. 

A non manic Monday for a change,

Bek.

Catching up

Wow, it's been awhile since I've been here. In my last post I mentioned that I needed to kick the flu for Groovin' the moo, it happened the other way around, the flu beat the crap out of me and I missed out, I'm still trying to lose the last unshakable fluey dregs. 

I did make my own delicious sourdough loaf.

15yo spawn and I made our own starters a few weeks ago, hers is named Sheldon for the Big Bang Theory's bacteria-phobic character, and mine is Seymour for the little shop of horrors as every time I see it I think "feed me Seymour, FEED ME." I know the plants name is Audrey II, but I like Seymour better, maybe if I make another starter I'll name it Audrey. It is incredible how good sourdough bread tastes fresh out of the oven! This will be something I do regularly. 

The garden has been neglected for the past few weeks, thankfully things are still slowly growing, though the weeds are taking over quite fast. I am almost ready to pull the tomatoes out, the pumpkins have already met their end after talking to my Sweet Sydney Sis, and discovering that if they get too cold the insides become mush. I have been watching Alys fowler/the edible garden for inspiration, and freaking out my spawn as she looks very like someone in our world, the resemblance is really quite eerie, they say everyone has a doppelgänger... I wonder who mine is and what she does. 

Baby spawn went to camp last week, it is amazing how much bigger my little home felt, or maybe the correct term is how empty my tiny home felt, all I know is how happy I am to have her back at home! Mothers day made me feel all kinds of appreciated, a long bath with a candle and bath salts, a cooked breakfast, and all 5 of my spawn giving me love. Love, and pressies. I didn't have to go far to appreciate my Mumsy, we keep her in the backyard. Well, in a bungalow in our backyard, she got pressies, breakfast, and love too! Miss Perky Pants's (formerly Little Miss Perky,) car broke down and it was one of those "I am so proud of my family" moments, watching everyone chipping in to help. Unfortunately it wasn't something that could be patched up, the alternator is gone. My Justin will be looking for a new one, just because he is awesome. 

And Murphy has been my comforting pal while I've been unwell. I find this photo funny as he really is huge, in a Shetland pony kind of way, and yet he looks so small in this shot...

And here is a favourite of Murphy with two of my spawn.

A very poor quality shot of him and I taken by my son, but you get size relevance.

And finally him jumping up on 19yo spawn for a kiss. As second oldest and second tallest spawn, Micheal stands at 5'10" which means Murphy is taller than me.

He is a big beautiful boy! 

I am off to catch up on some blog reading whilst hoping my gas bottle is delivered soon, there is no mains gas in my little town, if I want a hot bath I need gas. Have a terrific Tuesday Peeps!

Bek. 

It's been a little while...

With so much going on in my world, I haven't really blogged about the garden, or how my food growing experience is coming along. Nor have I provided the photo onslaught I promised. After the loss of my sisters lab Gerome, I was sad, then my daughter kindly passed her flu to me, but I did always teach her to share, and it's just been go Go GO! No rest for the weary, or sick, not in my home anyway. I did get my Annie back, not sure if I'm convinced she's driving like a dream yet, and I have been out there in my garden, but mostly just for a wander around, I haven't had much energy left for the garden, so if you see weeds or long grass please forgive my laziness, I should have edited it all out *wink*. 

These tomatoes are so tasty! But sadly even with nine plants, there is only ever one ready at a time, and a week apart. I will definitely plant these earlier next time, and maybe have another variety or two for back up. 

The celery is doing great. Slow but great. It is so convenient to just run out the back and snip off a stalk or two.

Next to my celery are the iceberg lettuces, so tiny but full of potential. 

The butter beans that I didn't plant enough of are now left to seed. I think I'm supposed to wait until the bean dries before harvesting, I'll add that to my research list.

Spinach in the green house, there has been a slight aphid and white fly issue in there, but I think we are doing okayish. 

I think it's time to call quits on these lettuces, it's almost like they're frozen in time, no growth for over a month at least.

And the cherry tomato seedlings are not so cheery, it could be the greenhouse isn't quite protecting them from the cold, but it might also be some sap sucking insects, I see evidence on the leaves. 

The peas are growing really well. Baby spawn and I planted the seeds straight into the red clay soil, after digging a bit so the roots could have an easier time, so far so good. 

I have noticed some small fruit on the capsicums, I'm not sure if they will grow or drop off with the cold. Lots of seeds I planted a few weeks ago have peeked up through the soil, spinach, rocket, swedes, carrots, parsley, dill, sage, cabbage, and cauliflower. It is so amazing to me, how this food all grows because of a tiny seed, look at the size of a pumpkin seed and imagine just how huge a pumpkin vine can be, I find it absolutely fascinating. And speaking of growing, I leave you with this image of my baby spawn looking so grown up, I parked at the train station to pick my mumma up, turned around and had to snap a picture. Music and a book is a common theme in my family, we all seem to have an appreciation for both. At the moment she is reading the maximum ride series.

 

I am off to clean the kitchen so that I can cook dinner, like I said, no rest for the weary or sick. But once the spawnlets are in bed, I will be out for the count, in under 2 days is Groovin' The Moo and my sister and I have tickets, I need to kick this flu hard! I do not want to miss City and Colour...

Bek.