I made a gourd garland!

I haven't been crafting much of late but I was inspired to give this a go today. I bought the gourds a couple of years ago and had them in a big wooden bowl. I wanted to be able to see their lovely shapes more so I strung them on a rusty wire with some cinnamon sticks and pine cones. Thanks Ian for drilling the holes! Looks and smells great above my kitchen window, very prim..... I have some gourd seedlings coming up in punnets at the moment. Bit too early to plant them out, don't want to get them frost-bitten, but it won't be long before they are rambling all over the place. It will be exciting to see what type they are as I bought a mix of heirloom seeds. Once they are picked it will take a while for them to dry out enough to use for craft, but when they do - look out!

Cute little guy....

I love living in the country..... Today Ian dismantled an old tank stand to reuse the railway sleepers for garden edging, little did we know that these little guys had made their home there. Growing up on a National Park I have a great affinity with our native critters. If you want to see where I grew up click here- http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/parkContent/N0037?OpenDocument&ParkKey=N0037&Type=Xo

After a quick photo session on Rhys' hand we returned this little guy to his mates in the hollow log. I just think his fat little tail is so adorable. He has the stickiest little feet which makes me think he is a type of gecko, and the softest pink belly........

How gorgeous.....

Just had to share this. After an afternoon of planting we were lucky enough to get 4 mms of rain, not much but enough to give everything a drink and create this lovely double rainbow......

Chicks.....

Woooohooo you should see my chookies now..... actually you can lol.... hard to tell the battery hens from the original girls....... their combs are bright and perky and we got 10 eggs from 11 birds today!

Apologies for the quality of the next pic, a bit tricky trying to photograph the baby budgies in their nesting box while fending off their protective parents...... This is the bird's first clutch and the first prospective money-spinners for Braeden (12) who breeds them.

And so it grows on.......

Yum, yum, yum.......... I can't believe how easy and successful this no-dig gardening is........I found my first pea-pod today, can't wait to munch on those, and have been nibbling my baby carrots (some call it thinning lol....). We had a gorgeous salad of chillean lettuce, parsley and chives drizzled with Mum and Dad's homegrown olive oil and some balsamic vinegar with our dinner last night. It was delish.... of course the yummy quiche made from our free range eggs wasn't bad either! Wonder what the poor people are doing........ After checking the supermarket prices for veg today I am soooo glad we have started our garden, who wants to pay the ridiculous prices they are asking when you can grow your own and eat salad that's been picked 5 minutes ago? Added another layer of tyres to our potatoes today, and planted out our 5 colour silverbeet and coriander....always something to do lately.........

Peas

Chillean lettuce

Chives

Broad beans

Nutmeg the vegetarian......

We really do have the strangest animals here...... Braeden (12) didn't finish his dinner the other night, so up hopped Nutmeg to finish it for him. However all that was left was the broccolli which she polished off very quickly! Truely though, our critters are just nutty, we had a bonfire last weekend and it was all we could do to keep Caramel the Jersey cow from jumping in the fire! She loved it, jumping about like a crazy thing whenever the sparks flew up........ Nearly put us off our marshmallows - NOT!

Bye-bye Midge....sob........

My darlin' had to say goodbye to our feathered friend Midge the magpie last week. We have hand reared him for the past year after he was blown out of the nest as a fledgeling. Whilst he was a joy to have around we decided that it was inhumane to keep him in a cage so he has gone to stay with a WIRES carer until he can be released. She will look after him until she thinks it is time to leave the avairy door open. Hopefully the local magpies will adopt him.... meantime if you hear a magpie wolf-whistle at you just say "Hi Midge!"