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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Friday, February 9, 2018

around here

Australia Day in the park.

Pavlova.

Stripping leaves from dried oregano.
  

Herbs for a friend.

Saving seeds.

Figs.



Beautiful skies.




Sourdough.

What 47C (116.6F) plus looks like...


Time to cool off...


We had rain...


Foraging for free food...


Home...







Having fun in the big smoke...Train driver Phil!

A special birthday boy.



We are having lots of very hot weather here.  How about you?

See you soon,

xTania


26 comments:

  1. You can almost put your dough out in the back yard to bake! Make a black steel oven and it might heat up enough. We can probably make ice cream in our back yard at night though it is warming up over freezing during the day.

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    1. I think you could definitely bake bread in the sun! I know you can fry an egg outside (in a cast iron pan) when it is so hot. An investment of a solar cooker might be in order I think :)

      Hope you get some decent warmth soon,

      xTania

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  2. It's nice to see some scenery without SNOW, though I don't envy your heat.

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    1. Hope our heat made you feel just a little bit warmer Gorges.

      xTania

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  3. Hope you are staying cool Tania. It's sad to see vegetables wilting in hot weather.
    Here we have ver pleasant weather these days. It was around 25°C this morning.

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    1. Thank goodness for air-conditioning Nil, but even that struggles after so many hot days. I go out several times during the day to check on things and water if necessary.

      I love temperatures around 25C and I cant wait until they arrive.

      xTania

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  4. 47 degree's I'd wilt too!
    I've visited Winton in outback Qld quite a few times (love in there) and there used to be an old Chinese market gardener there, he died some decades ago, but they have made his old house and remnant gardens a tourist attraction, it is bewildering to think he grew enough vegetables and fruit to make a living in such a harsh environment. Not only the heat, and cold but the soil looks pretty crap there too. What a remarkable man, and he didn't have the luxury of modern irrigation etc etc either!

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    1. Hi Cheryl,

      I heard on the radio that outback Queensland is going to get some hot dry weather this coming week. I imagine that we have similar dry conditions to outback Qld. I have been observing the environment around here, and will be moving the veggie beds to a shadier position for next year. Hopefully I will have more luck keeping them alive.

      xTania

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  5. Today is the first day of a hot spell that is going to last until next Friday according to forecasts. Not anything like 47C but the mid 30Cs bad enough! Love all your photos, that pavlova looks scrumptious! Meg:)

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    1. Hi Meg,

      Our temperatures are so draining. A lot of time is spent inside under the struggling air conditioner. Night time is hard to get a good nights sleep as the temperatures are up in the high 20's.

      xTania

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  6. Love your posts Tania ... Love your dishcloths which I saw on instagram. Gosh your poor veggies ... all wilted in that heat. We are getting good rain as I type this & I am so thankful as it was Sooo needed. Happy weekend to you Tania.

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    1. We finally received a cool change late this afternoon after a very hot week. It was so lovely to spend time pottering outside in the coolness.

      No rain here unfortunately, but not to worry.

      Have a lovely weekend too Julie,

      xTania

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  7. Those red and pink clouds are amazing. I love evenings the best especially with a good sunset.

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    1. They are aren't they Phil? We had another beauty tonight, it lit up the sky. That's the one thing I enjoy about living here, I can just go out back and see the most beautiful colours of a sunset. The sunrises are spectacular too, but I am too lazy to get out of bed to capture them :)

      xTania

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  8. I don't know how any one survives in 46 degrees heat...shocking I can't cope with 35 here in Brisbane normally I think today was 39. The sunsets look great and so does all the forages apples.

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    1. Thank you Kathy. Yes we were so over the hot weather, a lot happier now with the cool change arriving :)

      xTania

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  9. Beautiful photos Tania, though I don't envy you the heat. Made it to 42 here for one day - touched 40 a couple of other days, then we've been sitting around the mid 30s. Today is low 20s, and I have the windows open to freshen the house. We have a solar oven Wayne made for me a couple of years ago, it is wonderful and it will bake bread. I found it best for things that need to slow bake, not so good for cakes/biscuits etc. Haven't used it this summer, but we're a small family at the moment so I'm not doing too much baking/roasting. Your poor rhubarb - hope it came back with a deep drink and a bit of overnight respite. Your photos are always so stunning, I just love looking at them. Hope you have a nice week ahead. xxxCath

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    1. Thank you Cath.

      Yes the rhubarb recovered okay, but boy the veggies have had to be tough this year with the heat. Even with shade over them they still struggled.

      I would like to try a solar oven, mainly out of curiosity. I see there are instructions for them on the internet, another project for hubby to try lol!

      Wishing you a lovely week,

      xTania

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  10. Arrgh! Tania! That heat! And yet you look like you're cool, calm, collected, organised and living a life of plenty. I'm fascinated by your dried figs. How do you use them? Very impressed! Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Hi Mimi,

      I want to make fig and olive crackers, this is the reason for drying them. The recipe states black figs, but a fig is a fig in my book. Will see how they go :)

      http://thehealthtohappinessproject.com/fig-olive-flax-crackers/

      xTania

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  11. Thank you for sharing your world with us all! As you deal with the heat, we are awaiting a winter storm with up to 6 inches of snow. At least it will warm things up a bit...it has been in the lower teens (fahrenheit) here the past few days.

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    1. Hi Debbie,

      Sounds pretty cold where you are, hope it starts to warm up for you soon. It has been cooler here this week which has been so nice. It also gives the plants a bit of time to recover before the next burst of heat.

      xTania

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  12. Such lovely pictures Tania. Did your digital thermometer read 50 degrees Celsius? :O

    We've only topped 42 degrees C, thus far. It's the string of hot days however, that's the killer.

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    1. It says 47C Chris. We had a run of really hot days and it actually reached a bit higher than 47, but I didn't catch it on the camera. You know it is hot when the birds congregate at the front door and birdbath in the front garden...we even saw some hot little blue wrens which we never see otherwise :)

      xTania

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  13. I cant wait for my fig tree to give me fruit so I can dehydrate them as that's my favourite way to eat them! I have been waiting for 6 years....the guy I bought it from said it was grown from seed and would take about 7 years to fruit, I only found this out after 5 years lol. All of your photo's are amazing!

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  14. Looks lovely! Wish I could have some of your desserts! Thanks for sharing a link to my blog in your side bar...very much appreciated...love your blog!

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Your comments really make my day. Thank you for taking the time and for being so kind.