Motivation For Housework

Very few people I know really enjoy housework but I'll tell you what gets me in the mood.

Firstly, I like to do it on my own. I like everybody out of the house. No other pulls on my time.

Secondly I have found that if I have the radio on I am more likely to potter about. Chosen music on the stereo is not as effective for me. I listen to City Park radio where I get a very broad variety of music, a bit of chitty chat and few advertisements. It's a community radio station run by volunteers.

Saturday afternoons is the best time for me to make pasta - when the Italian program is on of course!

Yesterday I worked 8hrs in my paid job but before I got there I had washed the floors and washed the ceilings and walls in the bathroom and hallway.

I don't know what it is about the radio but it puts me in a contented housework frame of mind. It could be that it triggers something like Pavlov's dog. I remember my grandmother in the outback always having the wireless on. 

When I sit myself down to prep vegetables or fruit for bottling and preserving, the radio keeps me company over those hours. 

So I can't sit here all day and I must go and turn my radio on. I sure hope after I wash another few walls that it will motivate me to sew that tea towel order I have waiting. 

So what gets you in the mood? What is your motivator? Is it lists? Is it pinning on the pinny?

The Nesting Boxes

Craig made our nesting boxes from recycled wood and we have two for our chickens.

It's an interesting example of behaviour when the fowl are ready to sit and they check out who is on what nest and a bit of juggling and jostling goes on. We like to situate the boxes so they are not facing the door, turned and a bit dark and private. I think it's a time of vulnerability and the last thing you want is a predator coming upon you. I also believe when passing an egg you would appreciate a bit of dark and quiet.

When I clip the poodles I have at least a shopping bag packed with soft hair (not fur). Because it is quite cold here it is rare to have flea cycles. I have only ever seen fleas here on our dogs once in the last 25 yrs. The dogs are only clipped after being freshly washed and they use the same products I do, pure home-made tallow soap and vinegar herb rinse.

This makes a beautiful soft and insulating nesting material.

I also sprinkle some huon pine shavings in the boxes to deter insects.

Nutritionally do these sort of things improve the egg quality? Probably not but I believe that working with an animals proclivities rather than against them makes for a happier animal that stays healthy and produces well.

Changing Shades of Love

Both the girls travelled up from Hobart last weekend and stayed till Sunday afternoon.

They brought me some beautiful big old fashioned roses, heavenly scented, from the garden.

I had a concept of love that I used as a yardstick when I was expecting my first child but I was not prepared for the many shades it takes over time.

No-one told me it changed and found other dimensions, not even my mother.

I wish my grandmother was alive now so I could ask her about it.

When my children were little I had a fierce, protective love. It was a very "busy" love of the heads down, bottom up keep going soldier on love. I became a lioness when anyone threatened my children.

Now they are grown, I no longer hold the reins, it is a more intense love. One that is not hampered by value judgements and lesson giving but of sideline barracking.

I am ridiculously and exquisitely excited when I see them. They are not perfect yet I feel so proud of them. They are not yet formed and are still changing, finding out what and whom they want to be. Their little hurts and disappointments still cause me pain and I wish at those times I could still be Mummy that makes everything go away.

Perhaps Mum has tried to tell me these things and it is a case of me not really paying attention. There are not many things that Mum has been able to tell me till I was ready to hear (listening and hearing are two different things I have found)

I know Mum has talked about "physical pain" that she has felt deep inside her when I have gone through my many trials and tribulations but I listened and judged it as a touch of the melodrama (which is ridiculous as my mother is definitely NOT melodramatic) and a way for her to communicate empathy with me.

My girls are yet to go through such things for they stand at the beginning of their adulthood.

I can't help wondering about the next familial love - that of and for the grandchildren and for the change in my children when they in turn become parents (of that I am sure)

I was astonished to experience the change in love for my brothers (4) too as we got older. Distance makes it harder to revel in but it is a much maturer loving feeling that is without the competitiveness that I think we must have subtly operated on as children. I'm sure it is just a biological hard-wiring fact. 

Do families talk about this changing love or is it something the generations aren't able to hear till they go through their various stages of life.

As the roses get blousey and heavy, past that first proud magnificent show, I have been plucking them from the stem and drying them for when I have amassed a suitable quantity for rose petal jam. If you can get hold of some pesticide free roses do try it, there is nothing quite like it on scones.

Disappearing Bees

This too important for you not to read.

It is the continuing fall out from the effects of intensive cropping as seen in Food Inc.

This is the story of disappearing bees and colony collapse disorder.

Even if you can shrug and feel apathetic about the loss of our food pollinators, I would urge you to think and make the link to your own health and safety.

This is part of a chain and we are part of it.

Without further ado here is

Disappearing Bees by Holly from "Easy Living The Hard Way"

Here is the link for "Food Inc" a must see for every household.

and the link about systemic pesticide (that's poison IN you food not ON your food)

Danger Lurks Everywhere

Yesterday I was invited to speak about the Living Better With Less concept at a women's rural group.

A science teacher (ex or current, not sure) raised concerns about teaching people how to make soap. She was concerned that lye was a very hazardous chemical to have in the home.

Despite reassurances that all the proper cautions and protective wear was covered off in the class she continued to rant about the danger. 

So despite the reassurance, her ongoing concern clearly suggested that housewives and mummies were not capable of following process and procedure. She had no trust or faith at all that parents could keep hazardous substances out of reach of children.

This is the kind of over-kill and fear that has started to over-take common sense. 

Inventions like the tamper resistant cap and mandatory obvious warnings and internationally recognised poison symbols mean our awareness of the way we store and handle such products have come a long way. I can assure you that anyone taking my soap making class was left in no uncertain terms about the cautions and warnings.

Because something is potentially dangerous I don't think it should be removed from the home all together just locked away safely. There is no evidence to suggest that a person without a degree cannot learn procedure or process.

Our playgrounds for instance are becoming so sanitised that I don't think kids are ever going to learn about tumbles, falls and the lessons of being careful. I can still remember the play rules; "don't walk too close to the swing", "one at a time on the trampoline" and "get smartly off the slide when you get to the bottom".

Danger lurks everywhere.

And not in such obvious ways as the chemicals in our home.

What about the dangers we can't see?

Salmonella is a killer that we can't see. It is only by proper practices and procedures that we prevent it.

So where is the line on dangers in the home?

Should we take the potentially hazardous food preparation role from parents and leave it solely in the hands of manufacturers or qualified chefs? 

Of course not.

Our role throughout our lives is to learn and to teach, not to be frightened and wrapped in cotton wool.

Going For Gold

I'm drying Calendula petals.

For some soap and for a healing ointment.

I'm also juicing lemons and freezing the juice

And making preserved lemon peel

It's nearly time to make the Christmas Cake.

I've cut into the last of our stored pumpkins and made some warming soup.

And I've mixed up a good hearty cake for Craig's lunch box.

It's my "Most Asked For" recipe

Apricot and Pumpkin Seed Loaf.

Mum likes to eat it buttered!

GOLD!!!

Sowing The Seeds

It is still too early for summer planting here despite the popular Tasmanian mantra which says basically plant out for summer on Show Day (which always falls at the very beginning of Oct). I don't know where this myth came from; maybe it was tied in somehow when the Show used to be in December (1834) or maybe the weather patterns have changed in the last few decades, or maybe it is something touted by the nursery industry to deliberately boost sales.

We are still getting frosts and I guarantee that anyone who put tomato seedlings in a couple of weeks ago are buying more already.

Our winter crops are coming to their finish; I'm picking broccoli, silverbeet, salad greens and soon will harvest cabbage and broad beans. I'm sure if I had bare beds I would be breaking my neck to get something in there too, but for now I am content with successive sowings of mizuna, bok choy and rocket etc.

In the meantime, this is where our summer crop starts....

Using recycled seedling punnets, egg cartons and toilet rolls, seed is sown and protected by a "lean too" of glass. The area gets lots of sun and is protected from wind. The combination of pavers, sun and shelter provides the ideal climate for germination. A lot of people forget that it is the soil that needs to warm up not just the outside day temperatures.

Can you see how Craig has written on the rims indicating what and when?

Turns out a marker pen is more indelible than a biro.

Doh! I'm going to have to call in Lee the wonder horticulturalist to sort out what I have planted in here! 

The other protection you must provide for seedlings is from slugs and snails.

So in a few more weeks when danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed up, we will be pulling out broad beans and brassicas and the time will be right for our seedlings. This year I am going to try staking the tomatoes with this Florida Weave method that Funkbunny blogged about here.

Here is a bit of a walk around and update on the Front Yard Fruit Forrest

I have a Pomegranate and a Blueberry bush that were given to me for my birthday in June. You may be able to see silverbeet seedlings tucked all about in order to make use of more space while these guys are growing.

I have transplanted some raspberries from the back garden. The idea is that a lot of these berry and currant bushes are planted in proximity to each other so if I have to resort to netting they will be easier to protect. I like to think that animals and humans can get a share of food but sometimes the bird population out numbers what I think is a fair share. After all, my chooks also have to get a feed of raspberries too, it's their favourite.

Here are the rat tail radish seedlings. You can't see them yet but you know where they are! This is another good tip. Grab an ordinary old stick fallen from a tree and stick it next to your seedlings, especially in heavily mulched areas. This way everyone will know there is something precious there and won't stand on it or weed it.

Has anyone tried the Florida Weave method? What is your preferred staking for tomatoes?