AloeView

09/12/2021

I could hear this tree before I could see the bees! I hope these are my girls because they all have full pollen sacks ready to take back to the hive!!

23/10/2021

Weekend DIY masterpiece 😁. New outdoor table made using a merbau fence panel from Bunnings along with metal table legs also from Bunnings. Completed with chairs from IKEA!

05/09/2021

Another day, another project….

Today’s project was to make a wheelie bin composter! We had a wheelie bin left here by some tenants so decided to repurpose it!

We marked out the opening and then David (ever willing hubby 😁) cut it out and reattached it with old hinges and a recycled bolt. We drilled holes in the bottom for excess liquid to drain through and worms to enter in. The holes in the sides and back are for aeration.

We took the half composted material from the tumbling composter, which was getting too heavy to turn and transferred it into the new compost bin. We used a piece of corrugated roofing which slid easily underneath to transfer the compost out.

The stuff in the wheelie bin can continue to compost whilst we fill the tumbler again. We will then add that on top. By the time the bin is full, the stuff at the bottom should be ready to use.

Project cost: 0
Time to make: 30 minutes

04/09/2021

This has been a project we’ve done over the past couple of weeks. I call these my “Back to HUGELEDEN” gardens because they are a combination of the hugelkulture and Back to Eden styles of gardening 😁

The base is all hugelkulture….the bottom is filled with tree branches and twigs of different sizes (managed to miss getting a photo of that!!). Filled in the gaps with leaves and leaf litter etc. Then we added some recent horse p**p, more smaller branches, aged horse p**p, mushroom compost and topped it off with 6+ inches of wood chip mulch.

I will let this settle for a couple of weeks and water it regularly before I plant anything into it.

15/08/2021

We moved some more fruit trees today. Sadly they have been somewhat destroyed by the previous tenants horses, but hopefully they will grow better now with some loving!! Soursop, black sapote and longan

14/08/2021

Today we moved a few of the fruit trees we’d planted here a couple of years ago. Now we’ve moved in we have a better idea of where we want things growing. Yellow jaboticaba, macadamia, jaboticaba and pomegranate.

They’ve been well watered in and the outlet from the grey water will be moved around each day so they all get some more water.

We are having to be a lot more water wise now we aren’t on town water! With only 2 tanks and a total of 40000l we can’t afford to waste water. Eventually we will double our water capacity and once the dam pump is fixed, we will be able to use dam water for watering veggies.

12/08/2021

When we bought our house a couple of years ago, there was a neatly stacked wood pile.

Over the past couple of years some of the tenants have used the wood, but a lot of it was just left there. Cleaning it up over the weekend revealed that the stuff at the bottom had completely disintegrated, which has left me with some absolutely fabulous soil to use for seed raising.

I’ve riddled it all so I only get the nice fine soil and all the leaves etc have gone into the compost.

The soil is very hydrophobic at the moment, so I gave it a good water and will leave it soaking for 24 hours so it really absorbs the moinsture again.

Now I just need to find my seeds to plant!!

16/01/2021

Back in October I picked up a small swarm of bees. They have built up in numbers over time and 2 weeks ago I moved them from a 4 frame hive into a 10 frame hive. Well goodness me they are busy!! There is activity on all the frames now and I suspect they are going to need an even bigger home in another few weeks!!

10/01/2021

I was so lucky to be given some Pitomba fruit this week. I’ve used it to make some delicious jam. Such an easy recipe and it was quick to make. Check out my YouTube video

How to make Pitomba Jam, rare fruit jam. A quick and easy jam recipe that can be made in half an hour. Subtropical fruit jam, easy to make.

05/01/2021

I had a bit of fun with a time lapse video this morning. Pretty cool to see how much my sourdough starter rose during the 5 hours that this video took. Even the cat took a look at one point 🐱

Time lapse video over 5 hours of a south south starter rising

04/01/2021

A hairy caterpillar just hanging out and evading capture by a hungry chook. It’s much prettier as a caterpillar than the moth it will become.......but just don’t touch it!!!