Carrots & Cups

Amelia and I picked 2 kgs of carrots on Wednesday. They are the last for a little while as I am fiddling about with the beds and having a good think about them. Wesley and I blanched and froze the lot on Thursday afternoon so there is a good lot put away. I also pulled another heap of beetroot and pickled them. I think we should have enough now to last us the summer.

I bought these Eco cups about 6 weeks ago and have been using them everyday. They are made out of bamboo and are 100% biodegradable. They have the look of melamine and are not dishwasher safe though you can use them for hot or cold drinks. I paid $20 for the 6. It will be interesting to see how they go with long term use! Part of you kind of expects them to go soft sooner or later!!! Ha!

The Great Kilowatt Challenge

Gavin from The Greening of Gavin is hosting The Great Kilowatt Challenge! I would suggest for everyone to click on the above link and participate. You will learn how to read your meter so when you put some energy saving actions into play you will be able to see how much you are saving!

Gavin explains it far better than me so pop over and have a squiz!

Done and Finally Done!

I have finished off one of my Xmas presents. It is the blue and green half apron.

Wes kindly modelled for me as long as I didn't put his face on here in the apron! Ha! I am sure he will happily be modelling on Tuesday afternoon when his braces come off!

And here is the fruit and vege bags that I was going to make...oh about a YEAR ago! I have had the mesh since then patiently waiting for me in the cupboard. They are really light - 4 to 9 grams depending on the size and much stronger than the plastic bags provided in the stores. Looking forward to using them this week!

We got worms!

Not the nasty ones! We finally got our composting worms happening now that the frosts are gone (crossing fingers). We don't have a worm blanket so we are using dampened newspapers. Bit exciting.We had to move it a little further back so that the sun is fully off it by 10 am. Thats at the moment, so I will keep an eye on it as summer comes on, dont want fried worms. This iris is in the fairy garden, it is so beautiful. Happily the weeds you can see in the photo are now gone!

Primulas - Dave's favourite
Strawberries are flowerring - go go go!

Landcare

Today we went to a workshop called Starting in your own Backyard that was run by our local Landcare www.gwymaclandcare.com.au . It was really interesting, hosted at a local reserve we went for a weed walk, talked about sustainability and native habitats. the guy from Primary Industries was a walking weed encyclopeadia and being able to actually see the weeds in real life is much better than a book!

i have been wanting to put native plants in my frontyard and now will do that sooner rather than later as one lady talked about how pockets of native vegetation make "stepping stones" for fauna to get to established habitats. Which makes sense but was something I had never thought about. When finishing the day they gave us all a small bag of compost and a wattle tree - isn't that great?

I also met one of the people who are trying to get a community garden off the ground. I gave my email address so i could be kept up to date on where they are at with it.

Toys

You know when you find something out that you know you should of known but it just never had hit home? Umm did that make any sense at all? probably not!

Anyway, Dave and I went browsing on Saturday and we had a look at a toy sale one of the big chain stores are having, heaps of toys everywhere not even just in the toy department. I must have picked up 20 - 30 different toys and everyone was made in China. Every single one...all different brands and types. How does one country have such a monopoly? We are trying to buy more locally and even though I knew lots of toys are made in china I did think I would be able to find ONE that wasn't. But alas no, Dave was surprised that I was surprised, there were a lot of "designed in ....." on the packs followed by "made in China".

That's a bit depressing, that unless you search and search you can't buy a locally made (and I'm talking anywhere in the country) toy for your child.

Amelia was getting in the swing of things saying on top of her voice "is this one china?" while holding a toy in the air. Ha! Kids are sponges!

BTW this post is about how the option to buy locally has been taken away from us through companies choosing to manufacture overseas for economic reasons, not a stab at China for being the place where they are manufactured. It's kind of like how more and more food is produced overseas and options for local buying are growing smaller. Somethings just can't be bought locally anymore.

Green Stuff

Firstly for the garden green stuff ~ I found these bulbs near the fence, I have no idea what they are, I don't remember them from last year and I didn't plant them. So I have shifted them to a bit further up the back. I hope they continue to grow.

The garlic has sprung up and the four boxes all look like this. Like happy soldiers all straight and tall.

I just felt like planting something, so I filled this planter with some soil, a line of lime and planted some more dwarf peas. I just put the planter against the wire fence so the peas have somewhere to climb. Here is our cherry tree before pruning. I don't think it's every been pruned as the shape is a bit weird with the centre not very open. This is after we pruned it, we had to get it low enough to net and to pick the cherries. We tried our best.
Now on to other green stuff. We got our save power kit and it's a little bit exciting.
There is a power thingy that tells you how much power each appliance uses in kilowatts and $$$, it also tells you how much greenhouse gases your looking at too. There is a thermal thermometre, stopwatch, a compass and another thermometre to test that your fridge, freezer etc are at the correct tempretures. You get a worksheet too. Not too shabby. The "audit" will take a few days as things like the fridge need to be tested for 24hrs as they run in cycles, so you get a better idea over a full day.

I will report our findings here. I found out how much a kilowatt we actually get charged, 22.1c, I had no idea which is not particularly smart of me!

Mystery Solved!

The plastic bag mystery was solved when MultipleMum from And Then There Were Four left a comment! Thanks! It was slowly killing me thinking about it. As for the plastic bag challenge - I have only had one bag come into the house and that made it in by me being unprepared. Actually maybe the count is 2 as Dave let the butcher put our meat in one. So yeah two. I have had to send Dave out to the car for our reusable bags and on one occasion we carried our groceries in our arms to the car! Thankfully it wasn't too many!

I have got the bags permanently in the car as well as carrying an enviro bag in my purse all the time. Its working.

Plastic Bags

I am a massive blog surfer! Those listed on the side are only a fraction of those I read, mostly daily. I love having a little peep in other peoples lives and hearing their messages of what they feel personally in touch with, what they love and what they do. Its great!

I recently read on one blog that the blogger was going to try and have no plastic bags come into her house (I have tried to find the exact post and failed though I will continue to search so I can give the right person the shout out) for a week. I am not a massive plastic bag takerer so I thought I would give it a go. I started today and had to say no to three plastic and one paper bag. I said no to paper as well as I didn't need it as I was reading my Grass Roots mag before I even left the news agency. One shop wanted to put a little deodorant in a grocery bag sized plastic bag! Crazy!

I have to say Yay to Target Country though as they will only give you a bag if you pay for it! Though quite frankly those bags rip if you look at them so you are better off with out them I think. I really will have to remember my reusable bags, so wish me luck!

I am still searching for that blog! Grrrrr!

Red Door!

Our door is finally hung! This is Dave's baby, he has put one coat of primer on it and 3 coats of topcoat. He was really worried that the previous door could be quite easily punched or kicked in. Now this door is solid. You can actually feel the weight when you swing it open.

We have also replaced the handles. The last one had a knob style handle on it and it was completely annoying.

Here is our solar hot water system. We timed it today and it got full sun from 7.00am to 4.00pm (at least as we didnt check after that). So we are looking at at least 9 hours of full sun a day. Woohoo! It is electric boosted and we are now on off peak which we werent previously, David would have to physically switch our hot water on/off at the switchboard to save some money.

This is the hot water holderer and pump. It holds 400L, we decided on the big unit because it was only marginally different in price from the next one down which was about 300ish L and this was only about $60 more. Isn't it beautiful?? LOL???

Another Weekend

I started working fulltime last Monday and it has made for a few changes, some I have done, some are works in progress.

I have started cooking the next nights dinner. So tonight I am cooking a beef and potato pie for Mondays dinner, I will just have to cook a few veg when I get home. It seems to be working well, I have been using the slow cooker alot and Wes has been helping out too which is great. Last week he made a couple of batches of biscuits for the school lunchboxes!

I am also slowly going through and organising everything so it will be easier to keep tidy. I have done Amelias cupboards and wardrobe, the linen cupboard, pantry, spare room cupboards, utensil drawer and the plastics cupboard. I am also - and I can not believe this - up to date with the ironing!!! Yay!!! I always feel like I am on top of the housework if the ironing is done, whether I am or not.

Our solar hot water system was installed on Friday. I went out and hugged it! Everytime I see our panels it makes me happy. It will be interesting to see what the next electric bill is, and how quickly the rebates come back.

Solar and Savings!

Winter is certainly coming! Brrrr! Monday night was one of those nights where until you go to bed or jump in the shower I could not get warm! This morning all I could see was fog outside. I love having four seasons!

We still haven't got a date for our solar hot water system to be installed, though they did say they would put us up the list 'cause we having being waiting on them to organise their finance. See we paid a 25% deposit and then have 2 years to pay the rest off interest free. We are actually hoping to pay it off with our tax return. I hope it's soon as our HWS is crappy, with us only getting about 200l of hot water from a 415l tank! We also got the electricity bill yesterday - $528, thats about average. Thankfully we get money taken out every fortnight for that so we only owe $53. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference the solar makes as they say hot water accounts for 40 - 60% of the electricity. I heard that the cost of electricity is going up something like 17% which would take my $528 bill to $618ish! ouch! Though I have heard of people - people we actually know - getting bills over $1000!!! I think I would resort to candles!!!

I have cleaned out Amelia's cupboard and cleaned out 3 garbage bags of clothes! Some went to be passed on to a friend and the other to vinnies and a few school things to the clothing pool. Thankfully Amelia is tall and that alone save me $80 yesterday! The school is phasing out the winter uniforms with one pleat in the back which usually sell for $30, they are going with the 2 pleat in the back design from now on (though most kids will be wearing the older ones for years) they sell for $60. Luckily they were selling the old size 10's for $20 each and while they are the tinest bit big they fit her lengthwise perfectly. I grabbed two and saved $80, and a friend gave me some pants and blouses for her that their daughter had outgrown so that is money saved too!

Muesli Bars

Maiden voyage of my love heart cake tin

Organised sewing gear! Finally!

Pillowcase Dress

As I mentioned we had a recent trip to Bellingen. In one of the shops was a simple dress made in vintage material (I think it was a sheet) and it had a doily sewn on to the front, which I have seen in about half dozen spots on the web attached to different items of clothing. This dress was about a size 4 and was selling for $57.

I wanted to have a go and the results turned out pretty well and it cost a lot less. Firstly this dress is in a size 8, I bought two pillowcases ($1 each), a doily (50c), extra material for the bottom as the pillowcases werent long enough (20c) and two buttons ($1.25 for both). So for a grand total of $3.95 I made the dress. I haven't counted the pattern I bought for $5 as I will use this heaps but even adding $1 for the pattern (based on using it a minimum of 5 times) the dress still came to $4.95. Time was not very much as it really is an easy pattern and would have been even easier if I hadnt made my own binding for the armholes.

Amelia first asked me 'you want me to wear a pillowcase?" But now she loves it and wants to wear it to Bronwyn's tomorrow. Since she is a showpony she happily posed for the pics.

On gardening news this has brightened up the fairy garden - isnt it gorgeous?

I also had to remember (thanks Google!) how to make a chatterbox, apparently I look like a monkey! (Tip: Don't pick number six).

Lastly here is the new bits of decking done, so though it isn't very handsome, it IS structurely sound with no chance of falling through!

Ginger Beer!!

Right, I have now officially started my ginger beer plant! I mixed a dessertspoon of sugar and another of ground ginger and a pich of dried yeast into my water that has stood since yesterday. So it is on its way.
I forgot to tell you about a freebie I scored yesterday. I went to the salvage yard to price some 2nd hand galvanised iron (cause if you think I am paying $60 a sheet your dreaming) for what will be my new veggie patch and the fellow gave me two off cuts for free. It should be nearly enough for the two long sides - cheering!!!

Lunch Wrap

Here is the lunch wrap I made for Amelia, I think it turned out well. She thinks its pretty special with princess on it. You can fine the instructions for it here. I am going to make some for Wes, Dave and I too. I think they will be great for picnics too as you can use it as a place mat when you eat.
The bonus is that so far she has brought it home! I am thinking about making a pouch along a similar vein for biscuits and muesli bars.

Lessons Learnt

I have learned a couple of things since making bread that have resulted in some deflated loaves. They still are yummy and everyone still takes their lunches on them but they are smaller slices.

So far I have found out that if you accidentally get water on a loaf that's risen (2nd rise) it will deflate. And last night I found out that it will do that if you get the cling wrap stuck on the top and have to rip it off - I had obviously missed a bit when I greased the plastic wrap. So if you are going to try and make bread learn from my mistakes! :)

I made some banana bread last night with some very over ripe bananas and it was yum. I also made tonight's dinner which is a beef, mushroom and tomato casserole. I will have it with kipfler potatoes, carrots and peas. I will have to make tomorrow nights dinner tonight as I am working a full day tomorrow as well.

Another lesson learnt yesterday - I went to the local fruit shop and asked which apples were the local ones from Tenterfield or Stanthorpe (that I had been previously told they had by a worker there) and the owner told me that they buy them through the markets. So they don't buy them direct like they told me before. That has kind of turned me off them so I am going to go to another fruit and veg place that might be better. Hopefully since I know where their farm is it might have more local produce. Lesson learned.

Four Week Challenge!

I have set myself a challenge for the next four weeks. That is to NOT have any store bought cakes, biscuits or bread. Only homemade.

One of the main reasons for this is to save money, when I add up all the stuff I buy for lunchboxes, afternoon tea and just snacks in general it is alot!! A single box of 6 snack bars it usually $4 -$5 and with two kids (or two adults ) that only lasts 3 days. And taking into account how much I pack into the lunch boxes its expensive.

I am also cutting down the amount of food I put in the lunch boxes. I have talked to the kids about it and we have come to a decision about what is a good compromise. I am hoping if I do this for four weeks it will become a habit. It will also cut down on our household rubbish and recycling as there is a huge amount of packaging used in the store bought snacks.

So that's my challenge. The hardest bit will be when I just don't feel like being bothered.

In other news I got my sewing machine out of layby. I have had a little go sewing up a pair of Amelia's Pyjama pants that had ripped at the seams. It went beautifully!

Everything you need to make washing powder.

The recipe I use is;

2 bars of pure soap - grated

1 cup of washing soda

1 cup of borax

Just mix altogether and use a concentrate scoop to measure.