Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Look where the guinea fowl are nesting...

In my potato tower...

They're so funny...

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Dreampot cooking....and a bit more permaculture learning....

I purchased a dream pot a few weeks back, and this is the 2nd time I have used it. Yesterday I cooked up a coconut ginger chicken and rice. Both the rice and meat dish cook at the same time, and after the initial heating up on the stove, the pots are place in the dreampot and continue to cook. This works very similar to a slow cooker, but doesn't use any power or gas after the initial heating, so will be a great option for when we move to the property, as we will be on solar power.

It can also be used to make yoghurt and keep things cool. They're not cheap to buy, but hopefully a good investment. It will also be good for when we next take the caravan on a trip away, as it is safe to cook in this whilst travelling, which is what a lot of people use it for.
Not too much happening here other than that at the moment, I have things I could be doing, but can't seem to get motivated enough to do them...it's starting to get hot here again during the day, and I'm not a real heat lover, once it gets over about 28 deg my energy levels drop and I would rather be inside. Probably live in the wrong place then! The late afternoons after about 4.30 are just beautiful though....great outside and BBQ weather. I am currently reading Linda Woodrow's book on home permaculture design, I am really enjoying it. Even though I have done my Permaculture Design Certificate, this gives more detailed instructions on the actual setup...Linda, where did you learn all this info from? You are so clever...it's giving me lots more to think about with regards to my design at the new property...I thought I had it worked out pretty much, but back to the drawing board I go :) Better now than after I had started putting gardens in though...
The Permaculture Home Garden

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

More progress...

The shed frame is up. Just waiting on roofers now to do the sheeting, then the interior walls for the shouse will be started.

Damian came down from the property on Thursday night, and on Friday we went and picked up a fibreglass shower and the vinyl, and then we went to the Ettamogah Pub for some lunch. In the afternoon I cleaned all of the windows I have purchased over the last few weeks for the shouse, while he went and picked up all of the framing timber etc to build the internal walls. Hopefully this can all be started some time next week.  The weekend was very hot here, especially Sunday, over 35 deg here, so I just chilled inside with the airconditioner on and watched Bathurst. I brought some little chickens who are living in the cage in the shed out into the shaded area of the pergola in the afternoon, and spritzed them with cool water to keep them cool.
Yesterday I purchased a cheap little site shed to go up to the property. I plan on painting it up and turning it in to our office/craft room, as we really won't have the room in the shouse, and my office equipment and sewing equipment are too expensive to just setup in the shed itself. The site shed is 5 metres long x 2.5 metres wide, so should be a perfect size. I think we will end up putting a sofa bed in there as well, and we can use it for an extra sleeping area for when people come to visit. As we plan on building our new home over the next couple of years, I wanted to have somewhere to keep my stuff, having it locked away for that long is not an option I was looking forward to. It's a bit ugly right now, but once I'm finished with it it will be nice - a new paint job, another window and new floorcoverings and probably an air conditioner and it will be all good.

At this stage things are on track to relocate at the end of the school year. The 2 older kids are planning on staying in this house and renting it off us, as we don't really want to sell it just yet. We want to keep our options open and the market really isn't real flash for selling at the moment either.  In the meatime the chickens have totally wreaked havoc in my vegie garden. Since I have confined them to a large area up near their pen, they have been very determined to get in to my vegie garden. There is pretty well nothing left except some comfrey (just) my potato towers. some shallots and my garlic and some nasturtium flowers!! I have now thrown my hands up in defeat, so I am going to heavily mulch the garden and leave it for now, and will start on my new gardens up at the new property. We won't have Michael's dog up there, so I will be able to let them free range over the yard again so hopefully they won't be as determined to get in to the vegie gardens. I think everything up there may need to be pretty secure, as we seem to have dingo's, hawks, rabbits, goannas etc so the vegetable garden design is going to need to be like fort knox, as are the chickens pen and domes. Lots to think about, but right now the main focus is going to be on getting the shouse built.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Progress

The slab was poured last Friday, all went well.

The shed construction has been started today, this is where they have gotten up to today. About 1/4 of the frame is standing.

On the weekend we did a trip up to Mt Perry, to have a little look around. We travelled through the Boolboonda tunnel, which was dug entirely by hand. It is also full of bats flying around as you drive through. It was quite interesting and very pretty.

 

 
 We had a pretty lazy day on Sunday other than that, and spent most of the afternoon lazing around with hot cups of tea and reading. Yesterday we went to friends for a roast dinner and a relaxing afternoon, which was nice. So a nice long weekend around here. Looking forward to seeing what happens on the shed tomorrow.