Digging Into Serenity

19/06/2026

Before heading out to tackle Mulch Mountain, I decided to do tired me a favour and make dinner first.

I grabbed a basket and headed into the garden, coming back with lots of mushrooms, leafy greens, celery and green onions.

First up was a mushroom sesame stir-fry:
🍄 Mushrooms
🧄 Garlic
🧅 Onions
🥢 GF soy sauce
🐟 Vegetarian fish sauce
🌱 Sesame oil and sesame seeds

Then a vegetable stir-fry:
🥬 Leafy greens
🧄 Garlic
🧅 Onions
🌰 Water chestnuts
🍜 Noodles
🌱 Coles Soy Chicken Strips
🥢 GF soy sauce
🌶️ Sweet chilli sauce
🌱 Sesame oil and sesame seeds

Homesteading garden-to-plate is really starting to happen!

I'm grateful to have food growing right outside my door to help fuel these big garden projects. Building and filling beds is hard work, especially when the mulch has to travel 45 metres from Mulch Mountain to the garden that needs it.

One wheelbarrow at a time, the mountain gets smaller and the garden gets bigger. 💪🌱

19/06/2026

A homesteaders dream. a garden, some land & a simple little life raising my kids with the love of my life.

19/06/2026

Today I started tackling the huge mulch pile!

My method is pretty simple: rake mulch into the wheelbarrow and a light basket, wheel it out the back, then dump it where it's needed. The only real lifting is the basket into Behemoth Bed.

I'm definitely feeling even the light lifting, but I'm happy with the progress. Every barrow load moved is one step closer to turning this space into the productive garden I'm dreaming of.

Slow and steady still gets the job done. 💪🌱

19/06/2026

🤣🥰🤣🥰🥰🤣



Hope the algorithm is kind to everyone today

✨🌟✨🌞🌟🌞🌟✨🌟

17/06/2026

I had a busy day planned. The new mint and elderberry beds were supposed to be today's project. Unfortunately, Roxy's bowels and my Pfizer mesh had other ideas. Well... 💩. Time to focus on what's actually achievable.

The rain this morning had the mushrooms screaming, "Pick me!" and we also had a vet appointment to attend. So mushrooms and mizuna were harvested, and the vet visit was ticked off the list.

The mushrooms can become a stir-fry tomorrow.

One of the most important lessons in homesteading is learning your own limits. The garden will always have another job waiting. The harvests don't stop, and neither does the to-do list.

It's okay to say, "Not today."

The goal isn't to do everything. The goal is to build a sustainable life — and that includes looking after yourself too.

17/06/2026

Mushroom blocks under straw... do they like it? Yes! Take a look.

The only downside is cleaning the mushrooms to cook can take longer.

17/06/2026

17/06/2026

16/06/2026

Do you cook with a definite recipe?
Sometimes I do. Other times, like today, I start with a general idea and taste my way to the finish line.
With winter well and truly here, and a big pile of freshly harvested mushrooms waiting to be used, mushroom soup seemed like a comforting direction.
Today's harvest included oyster, chestnut, lion's mane and shiitake mushrooms.
I gathered together what I thought I might need... didn't use some ingredients, added others, and ended up with a delicious creamy mushroom soup.
Ingredients 🍄 Lots of mushrooms 🫒 Rice bran oil for frying 🧅 2 onions, peeled and diced 🌿 3 celery stalks, chopped 🧄 Garlic - lots! 🫘 1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed 🍋 1 lemon 🥄 1 heaped tablespoon miso paste 🥕 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables 🌱 Chopped parsley 🥬 Leafy greens for serving 🌶️ Salt, pepper and chilli to taste 🥣 Stock powder and water
Method
Clean and prepare the mushrooms. I separated mine into two groups: small whole mushrooms and larger diced mushrooms.
Set the slow cooker to high. Add a little oil, then the onions, celery and garlic. Allow these to soften while frying the mushrooms in batches.
Add stock powder and water to the slow cooker, followed by the butter beans and diced mushrooms. Cook until softened, then blend with a stick blender until creamy.
Add the frozen mixed vegetables and extra water if needed. Near the end of cooking, stir through the miso paste, lemon juice and seasonings to taste.
To serve, place shredded leafy greens such as silverbeet, rainbow chard or tatsoi into a bowl. Ladle over the hot soup and top with the reserved mushrooms and chopped parsley.
Enjoy! 🍄🥣❄️

16/06/2026

It's so cold this morning that the mulch pile is steaming.

At 1.7°C with a "feels like" temperature of -3°C, I'm looking at that warm, composting mountain and wondering if I could burrow into the middle of it like a wombat and stay there until spring.

Instead, I'm running on my second coffee, nursing a Dobermann with an upset tummy, and trying not to think about what this frost has done to the garden. There was even ice on the mushrooms!

On the bright side, if the mulch is generating enough heat to steam, perhaps it's onto something. 🌫️❄️☕