From op-shop to prim........

I discovered this shelf for a couple of dollars at an op-shop (goodwill) a few months ago. It was painted a pastel blue, not prim at all. Time for a make-over!






We had some left over paint in a grungy green, so in the interests of economy I decided to use it to paint my shelf.

We have a tumbledown old house on our property, which I keep raiding for primitive goodies. One thing I have found there is some wonderful rusty pressed ceiling tin. It just so happened that this tin was just the right spacing for my shelf!

My darlin' cut it to size for me and I brushed it down, sealing it with a spray clear enamel. I fixed it to the back of the shelves and they were ready to hang!



This is my little stitching/reading nook. I love the shelf there with a few prim dollies on it. The chair is a very old one I bought at a second hand shop, and the cushions are all op-shop finds. It's such a cosy little spot, especially on a winter's day......

Hey Pesto!!!!!!!

There is nothing better than growing your own food, it is sooooo satisfying! My basil has started to bolt to seed and is doomed to a frost-bitten death very shortly, so what better to do than to make a bulk lot of pesto and whack some in the freezer?

I found this oh-so-easy recipe http://video.about.com/vegetarian/Pesto.htm

and set to work.... a very short time later I had enough for tonight's dinnner and 5 other meals to freeze.....yummo..... My entire kitchen was filled with the gorgeous aroma of basil, parmesan and garlic, and the best thing is it's all done for next time!

How easy is that? Just boil up some fresh pasta, pour a glass of red wine and sit back and enjoy..... And of course those seed heads weren't wasted either, they are hanging upside down in a brown paper bag in the kitchen, drying in preparation for seed harvesting.... In spring they will be planted out and the whole basil life cycle will begin again....

Playing.......

I've been playing today when I should have been working, here is the results lol......

The top pic is Callum (16) and the other is Rhys (15). If you would like to pimp your pics go to http://www.pikipimp.com/ Have fun, but be prepared to stay for a while lol.....

Tank garden update

Ian and I have finally sown some seeds in one of our tank gardens. Ian built a teepee structure out of wattle saplings and wired them together at the top. This is the support for our broad beans. Around the edge we have planted carrots and radishes. As you can see we used well rotted compost on top of the straw. The plants will germinate in this and by the time they get their roots down to the straw and manure layers below the 'lasagne" will be well rotted too. That's the theory anyway!

We will probably plant potatoes in another tank, but will leave most of the gardens empty until spring. By that time they will be really ready for action and we will have more compost made in our pallet heaps. The compost is working beautifully, it's really hot when we turn it and is smelling quite sweet.

You can just see my tiny radishes emerging here....... this pic was taken 9 days ago so they are about an inch tall now. What am I going to do with all these radishes? I only grew them because we got the seeds free with our Digger's Seeds membership, I don't even know whether I like radishes lol..... I will plant some more carrots in the next few days to make sure we have a constant supply, can never have too many carrots. I read somewhere that broad beans make good wine so I will have to investigate that further lol.... Tom and Barbara Good (The Good Life BBC TV) used to make pea-pod wine so I reckon we might give it a good go... Ian cut an old hose up to make a safety cover for the edge of the tank- don't want to cut ourselves after a few vinos! Thankfully we have had 55mm of rain here - over 2 inches, so the place is really greening up. Hopefully our oats will have time to establish before the winter frosts, that is if the galahs don't eat the sprouting seeds first!

My tin-can melt warmer.

A dear friend Ann on P4P has corrupted me with her talk of scented melts so I splashed out and ordered some melts (tarts) from http://www.sugarcreekscents.net/store/Default.asp . There was so many yummy scents to choose from I ended up buying a mixed bag of 50 lol...... This then presented me with a slight problem - what to warm them in? Now I have an oil burner, but I wanted something just for the melts. So into the freezer went a tin can full of water. This morning I pulled it out, taped a simple design ( hearts and stars) to it and got busy punching holes using a nail and hammer.

I ran the can under the tap to melt the ice, took the base off it with a tin opener and sat it on a little quiche pan in which I had placed a tealight candle. I sat a pie pan on the top to place the melt in and there it was - my tin-can melt warmer!

After a couple of minutes the candle snuffed it so I ended up drilling some holes near the base of the can to allow the candle to draw more air. It now works brilliantly! Next time I will try a more intricate design, perhaps a willow tree? And I think using a bigger nail would work well too.

Merran's new bag....

I found this great idea using a pair of babies overalls on Kelle's blog http://twodancingcrows.blogspot.com/. What a great idea! I changed it a little, boxed the base and added the pom-pom trim and ric-rac. I also changed the buttons. Merran (10) loves it!

More pics of our place.......

Caramel is my gorgeous Jersey cow. This pic was taken when she was about 18 months old, that was about 2 years ago. Since then she has had a calf and my hubby Ian milked her. She has the creamiest milk - yummo! She needs to go back to the bull very soon, she keeps chasing Ian with an amorous look in her eye!

Why buy new when recycling is so much more fun? We made our letter box from a tiny old electric oven that we picked up for a song from our local junkyard. We bolted it to a post and put a tyre filled with dirt at the base to make it more stable. A few succulents in the tyre garden and it was finished. At least my kids know what I mean when I ask the to check the stove..... The neighbours have an old drum painted in spots like a fresian cow for their letter box. I love looking at all the great ideas people come up with, must be fun for the postie!

We used an old stock crate and recycled corrugated iron to build our chook shed. We bought old army issue eskies for nesting boxes and even used old paint to do the sign. If you look closely there is a little galvanised tin rooster on the top of the cage. The girls are off the lay at the moment so we need to get a few extra hens from the battery egg farm down the road. The owner lets us have his older hens cheap, and boy do they love coming to live with us! Their poor little claws are so bent from being locked in tiny cages, with us they are free range for most of the day so they must feel great. We only lock them up at night to protect them from foxes. The neighbour gives us scraps from the restuarant where she works in return for eggs, it works out great for all of us.