this and that

Just a simple post about life during C-19. Here are some of the happenings around here in the last couple of months.  No matter what is occurring around us, life still goes on...

~from the kitchen...

The gift of chillies...

 made into some very hot chili sauce.

My mum wants to learn how to make sourdough bread, so I checked to see if some of my dried sourdough would come back to life.

and it did!

I baked this delicious pumpkin cake.

A recipe from Sophie Thomson's book "Sophie's Patch".

Anzac biscuits to take away with us. I make these with our home grown honey instead of golden syrup.

Delicious honey crackles...

Chocolate muffins...

Stewed rhubarb from the garden.

We had a pizza night with friends, so I whipped up a quandong crumble for dessert.

Soup made from one of mum's home grown pumpkins.

I put my order in for a chopping board and this is what Phil came up with. They are made from a couple of pieces of red gum we had in our wood pile.

A new flavour of kombucha using black, green and organic hibiscus tea...so delicious. No need for the second ferment with this one.

Collecting, sorting, cleaning and using vintage cutlery. They don't make things like they use to...

Apple scrap vinegar...

~the work of my hands...

Some crochet while traveling. A couple of place mats for the caravan.

Making a hot water bottle cover for my daughter.

On my needles recently, were three pairs of nice and warm wool socks for family members and myself.

Produce bags...

~from the garden...

Another appreciated gift from a friend.

Off our tree.

 For lunch...

What to do with leftover sage? Smudge sticks! Not that I want to smudge anybody out haha! Mind you I wish I could smudge out this virus!

My big haul of amaranth seeds haha! I will add these to my sourdough loaves.

~Travels...

We journeyed to Manna Hill to surprise our friend Di. She had let us know that she had a part for the flu of an old wood-stove we have stored in the back shed, so we went to collect it. The wood-stove is going to be brought back to life and used to cook on outside. Di owns and runs the Manna Hill hotel, call in if you are ever passing through. She has a lot of memorabilia contained within, it is not your regular hotel.

The old railway station across the road.

Driving back roads...

No kangaroos out here, just pigs wandering around!

We couldn't believe our eyes.  There were pigs everywhere, all over the road and in the nearby paddocks. I am not sure if they had escaped from their enclosure or just let out to run loose.

I really miss the views from my home town.

 A bit hard to see, but there were lots of cormorants on the rocks.

~other this and that...

My friend bought these for me for $1 each at a recent garage sale.  I LOVE pottery!

I recently acquired this bread crock from a house that was getting demolished. It has never been used, has no chips or cracks and is huge!

We have wonderful friends that give us jars.  The large coffee jars are perfect for pantry storage.

We have a couple of new additions to the hen house.

And the girls are laying again after a long break.

Having fun at Nan's. Play dough is our favourite thing to do...

 Lots to learn...

The spiders are awakening from the cold winter.

Life for us is pretty much continuing on as normal.  We are not people that socialise regularly at pubs, clubs, gyms etc. Give me a cup of tea, cake, friends and family any day... 

The home and garden are my peaceful haven, and I do not mind if I have to spend time in both of these should we go back into round two of lock down. We are unable to travel interstate, but that is fine too because so long as there is no second wave of C-19, we have plenty of beautiful places in South Australia to visit. 

Tell me, what keeps you grounded in these unusual times? 

See you soon,

xTania

PS. Yesterday I had blogger change this blog over to the new format. I thought I would give it a go, but what a nightmare! The photos wouldn't line up and the sizing is all wrong, so I have reverted back to the original. I don't know if eventually I will have to use the new one, but for now I'll stick with what I know. Anyone else had issues with the new blogger changes?

out of hibernation...

Hello dear readers,

I had not intended to stay away from this little space for so long. Somehow life took over and in amongst it all I decided to take a break from all the busyness of writing a blog, scrolling mindlessly through facebook, instagram and such.

The good news is we are all well here. However, Australia, in particular Victoria, are having a resurgence of C-19. To say this virus is not causing stress is an extreme understatement. I have had quite a few "down in the dumps" days, but somehow manage to keep on keeping on. It is a worrying time for the whole world and the unknown that lies ahead for each and everyone of us.

Living day by day is how life is going for now. Trying not to think of what is ahead and concentrate on the now. Living in this moment. Enjoying this moment.

Phil and I took a five week break and did some travelling around. We visited our home town, not once, but twice and spent a little time in Adelaide doing shopping and catching up with friends.

I would like to welcome all my new "likers" on my "out back" facebook page.  The numbers have been steadily rising in the past few weeks.  It is such a treat to have you all join me on my simple life journey. My facebook page can be found here. I don't post there as often as I would like, only when I do a new post. I am still trying to limit my time on social media these days.

Anyway, without further ado here are some of things currently going on around here...

The veggies I planted in foam wicking boxes are doing well. There are two boxes of beetroot, one of baby spinach and one mixed lettuce. As you can see I have been picking the spinach and lettuce leaves and occasionally the beet leaves.

Beetroot growing in pots, bok choy in containers and strawberries in other pots.  The strawberries are not really doing much this time of year, but there are new shoots showing.

More bok choy in containers.

In this area we put in a native garden {for the bees}.

Phil has been working hard in his spare time to get this finished...almost there now.

Who says you cant grow lemon trees in a pot? This little tree is over loaded.

I have grown my first Sturt's desert pea. So chuffed about this! Hoping now this little beauty spreads out on its own all over the back ridge.

The wattles are flowering, much to the delight of the bees.

Out back there are oranges...

Mandarins...

An enormous amount of grapefruit...marmalade coming up soon!

The beginnings of a flower on the mango tree...I think!

Such a beautiful day here today, 24C {75F} and looking a lot like spring woohoo!

Inside the patch...

Parsley.

Silver beet and beetroot seedlings...

Carrots...Yeah I know they need thinning out, but I feel mean about doing that. I am just waiting for them to get a little bigger and hopefully harvest baby carrots...

Baby cabbage and beetroot seedlings...

Oregano spreading to the neighbouring pot...

Kale...

Tomatoes from summer plants that grew in the ground...

Mini cabbages...maybe I should have allowed more space, but so far they are doing okay.

I do not normally grow veggies during winter, but this year it felt like I needed too and I am very happy with the results. They have no bugs either!

Baby cauli forming...

 Mustard greens...

The last of the old bok choy. The plant on the left re-shot after cutting.

Broccolettes...

More carrots.  Have been eating these, yum!

Its been slow growing for the peas I planted. Hopefully they will take off in the warm weather...

Kale in a foam wicking box...I transferred these from one to the barrels because they were not growing properly. Now they look much better!

Lettuce...

Silver beet seedlings...

I have re-potted some of the fruit trees into bigger pots. Next I must find places to plant these.

 Jade with a tiny flower...

 Flowers on the blueberry bush.  No leaves, just flowers...

Artichokes...I plan to get these into the ground this week because they say there is rain coming...fingers tightly crossed because we have not had much rain over winter.

Spring is not far away...this fella was out and about today.

We have moved the bee hives to another location where they will be shaded in summer. We now have an extra hive because Phil got a call to remove a swarm from a mates place. That makes four! And later on, we will split B1 and B2 to make more hives to prevent them swarming.

That's all the news from me for now.  I have a busy week ahead, but will try and post again through the week. Thank you for your patience and concern.

And lastly, a little something for those that are interested J

Frugal Queen is back. Here is her new website and she is on facebook and instagram. She is also on youtube these days...

I loved watching this new video on you tube and I am sure you will too. Fantastic camera work.

How to make soil bacteria...

An another interesting video I watched recently. 

Low energy living is possible...

Take care, and I will see you all soon,

xTania