Celebrating Life, Death and Australia Day

It seems very quiet around my blog I know but in the world of real life time its been very busy.

I love the new cups at ut si cafe, they remind me of ripe squash and pumpkins. Their garden is the perfect spot for enjoying the gorgeous summer days of endless blue skies....

and isn't that a double edged sword!

No Rain!

A lot of my time has been devoted to watering.

I have been at the market every Saturday and everything is really growing quite quickly now and thirstily sucking up all the water I can give it as more respiration is happening across the leaves in this weather. A lot of people think a plant is all about the roots but there is a lot going on in the upstairs too.

I have been devoting a lot of time to the tomatoes and this is the first year I have tried the Florida Weave method for staking and I am so far very happy with it. You can read  more about it here on Funkbunny's blog. Although you can't really tell by this photo, I am able to transverse the bed between the plants, they are held quite orderly in their rows and supported in lines. The fruit is still small at this stage and I will be interested to see how this method copes with more weight.

I have been invited to a lot of people's places for dinner. There are so many kind people keeping me busy and filling my nights so that I am not moping and lonely with Craig far from home.

For the first time I went to a Murder Mystery Party and it was so much fun. It was set in New Orleans Mardi Gras time and I was invited to make a Lemon Meringue Pie to take along. I highly recommend this recipe and will be making one of these for Craig when he comes home.

I have been busy with the chickens too as people have come to collect them now they are grown to pullets. As readers correctly suspected there were two roosters and one has gone to a new home in the country by the river. I understand his name is now not Rooster 1 but Lord Pedro of Midworld. As the numbers dwindle so too does the workload and when another 6 pullets go on Sunday, the 2 that I am babysitting go back to their home and the remaining rooster is dispatched for dinner, I will be finally back to a normal flock again. This week I also had to cull the oldest girl from the flock. She was four years old, well past laying and really, really cranky. She sat on the nest all day long, week in week out denying access to any other hen putting everyone off the lay. She pecked at anything viciously within spit distance and when she was off the nest she was denying all others access to the water and the food. The flock has settled remarkably quickly with her gone and I even imagined I could here them singing in munchkin voices "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead"

She is too tough for eating but I will make stock from her today.

It has been a very bust time at work with extra hours and long days, I don't know how the doctors do it.

This week is also the Living Better With Less class week and Perth had their class last night because of Australia Day today. It will be off to Exeter on Sunday for theirs. This month we have been talking about berries; growing, harvesting and preserving and some organic gardening tips for pests and diseases. With the berry prices around $4+ for a 150g punnet, this is one place you can save a fortune by going to pick your own farms or growing some at home. Berries are so packed with nutrition and they should be a significant part of people's summer diets.

After class I was lucky enough to still be in time to catch the Australia Day fireworks from the balcony at a friend's place overlooking the city and the river. It was a spectacular show that I enjoyed while eating Apricot Chicken in the glow.

I am not sleeping very well with Craig gone, in fact one day I was up for 23hrs straight, but I'm sure things will settle and adjust. I feel exhausted but at the same time very blessed to have so many beautiful caring people in my life.

Happy Australia Day everyone, I'll be having a small BBQ dinner with Craig's family, another blessing, and I hope you are also celebrating with your loved ones too.