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

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Weekly Update

Hello dear friends,

It has been a quieter week here.

There was busyness with the usual day to day things to do. 

Our son is making good use of the new shed. He is dismantling another car because he wants to swap cabs with his current 4wd.  

He is finding out just how much work is involved.  It is not a small exercise, but he is eager to get it done and most nights after finishing work he goes out to the shed to do a bit more. When this is finished he can then start to do the same thing to his car.


I put more time and effort into my health this week.  I changed my diet to completely raw (vegan) in the hope that I lose a bit of excess weight and gain more energy.  I am definitely feeling the benefits already.  My skin and hair have softened, my eyes feel not so tired and I have an increase in energy. The best thing though is I have lost 2.6 kilo since Monday! I think I will continue for a month to see how it goes.  

I also decided to stop drinking tea or coffee and just have lovely refreshing water. 

I start my morning at 6.30am with breakfast, then I go for a walk. At night I have been going to bed earlier, usually by 10pm. It is taking a bit for my body to adjust, but that is not surprising because I have been a night owl all my life.

I have been eating an abundance of raw fruit and veggies as well as smoothies and juices.  

The smoothies are made with almond milk, frozen bananas, mulberries or strawberries and a little organic honey.





For meat lover hubby, a special request for  rabbit stew J

I had some of last years figs in the freezer, and I didn't think I was going to get to use them before the next crop was here.  So I once again whizzed them up and spread them on trays to make fruit leather. I had previously stewed the figs and I was a little concerned that it was too mushy and thick, but after three days in the outside dryer the leather turned out just right.  

Our tree is a white fig, hence the lighter colour.



The finished leather is yum!

Next I tried the frozen whole figs.


Look how delicious they look, 
and they are very tasty too.
 

Here are the apples I dried a last week.  They also turned out well.  

I am loving this new solar dryer...


 I saw the cutest sight the other morning while out on my walk.  

The house to the left had their bantam chickens running loose.  Out on the road was a young rooster and a wild bunny playing. The bunny would run up to the rooster and prompt him to play, and the rooster willingly obliged.  I stopped to watch, but as soon as they spied me the rooster went back into his yard. The bunny sat on the road for a bit before going into the yard also.  As I continued walking past I looked in and the bunny was in with the other chickens. 

I really wish I had been a bit closer to capture it on video. By the time I took a photo the rooster had run away.
 This really was a great start to my day!

A bit further along the road, this sleepy lizard was making his way across.

Out in the veggie patch, I have a dozen more barrels waiting to set up. I didn't get to do much in the garden this week.  I had to top up the water in a couple of the barrels, the rest of them were still wet.  They lasted the whole week without watering, then last night a thunderstorm went through and it rained. Woohoo!  
We had 28 points (7mm)in the guage. Not much I know, but it was enough to perk things up again.


 The plants are growing really well.






This strawberry plant is growing well, but I am not getting many strawberries off it.  Lots of flowers but no strawberries.  Not sure why, any one know?

We have baby granny apples, hope they hold on to give us a taste.


I am still picking mulberries J

 Out in the chookhouse the baby chickens are out and about with their mums. They are all doing well.




I hope your week has been a good one.

Until next time, 
Take care.


31 comments:

  1. I'm very jealous of you having figs. Figs fresh off the tree are the sweetest thing, We tried them freshly picked in Greece last year. They are nothing like the supermarket ones we get in the UK. I am eating fig jam from France at the moment though. Its my breakfast treat on toast at the weekend.

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    1. Yum I love fig jam, this is what is on our breakfast menu too. I made lots of jam last year and will do the same this year. I love picking them off the tree and eating them too :)

      xTania

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  2. Sounds like a lovely week Tania.

    Your garden is just beautiful, all that lovely fruit to enjoy now and the prospect of delicious truly fresh veggies to come. We had rain yesterday - hooray - and more to come today I hope. The garden always seems much brighter and the plants perkier after a rain watering I think.

    Watching a bunny and a rooster play would have been a gorgeous way to start the day, what a lovely memory you now have.

    Have a lovely week,

    Cath

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    1. I think we are going to get more rain this week Cath, that will make the veggies grow some!

      Yes the bunny and rooster were cute, not something you see everyday!

      xTania

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  3. I have no desire to be vegan, but I have no doubt that many of us would be better off if we reduced the meat in our diet.

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    1. Why not Gorges. Going vegan will turn you into a young man again lol!

      xTania

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  4. Hello Tania, lovely post. Thats a huge amount of weight to loose in one week. Well Done. Those tubs are working very well for you.

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    1. Yes I am happy with the weight loss Lynda, and I feel so much better. Not sure how long I will continue with the diet though, don't want to get too skinny lol!

      xTania

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  5. Dear Tania,
    I hope that bunny comes back! If you could get a video of that it would become famous! So cute!
    Thank you for your help in my finding bantams. I rang that girl plus a guy in the hills also. Both have Pekin chicks. I need to be able to exchange roosters as I cant kill them. Anyway it is looking promising! I will let you know!
    I am happy you got that rain. It looks possible here today. Also all your produce coming on is looking amazing!
    We are putting our names down for more barrels and I will let you know if we have any luck. Hopefully.
    The dried figs look divine. I am so impressed Phil built that de hydrator. I am wondering if you could post a few photos of it, close up etc as I will ask Andy to make me one or something similar. Hot weather coming and fruit coming... this would be amazing. It is such a good idea. If Phil ever gets sick of his job he could make egg collecting baskets, produce baskets, de hydrators and all these good things as I am certain there would be queues of people wanting to buy them.
    Have a great new week. With lots of love, Annabel.xxx

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    1. Oh I hope you get those chickens Annabel, fingers are crossed for you.

      Looking like we might get some more rain this week. I shall be out in the garden tomorrow getting some more barrels ready before the rain gets here...

      I was going to post the dryer instructions and started the post, but then forgot about it. I noticed it was in the drafts the other day. I will take another look tomorrow and hopefully post a tutorial for you.

      xTania

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  6. Tania, did you buy or make your solar dehydrator. We had a homemade one hubby bought at a garage sale but it fell to pieces after a few years and I would like to get another one. I think I mentioned that while I was away hubby needed the blue barrels he was going to give me for wicking beds. Oh well. Glad your health is improving.

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    1. Hubby made the solar dryer Nanna Chel. I am hoping to post the instructions very soon :)

      Pretty simple to make when you know how lol!

      xTania

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    2. Thanks Tania. I look forward to seeing the instructions.

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  7. I think lack of fruit but lots of leaves on plants is a nitrogen issue. That gives you something to google anyway

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    1. Thank you for that information Dee, I will look into it :)

      xTania

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  8. Planted a fig tree this years so hopefully next year we will get some figs out mulberry dropped all its fruit so I'm hoping with extra love this year next year we will get some. The bunny and rooster sound cute xx

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    1. Figs trees are great to have as are mulberries. I hope they do well for you Angela.

      Yes, a bunny and rooster playing was a little out of the ordinary, but oh so cute!

      xTania

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  9. Have a look at Chelle Goes Raw on Facebook.

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    1. I have Joolz :)

      Chelle's posts have got me inspired, and guess what? Everything she says is true, I feel the best I have felt in years. I am hoping I can continue on with it like Chelle has done. I don't want to be too skinny though!

      xTania

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  10. Hi Tania,
    Sounds like a terrific week. I especially enjoy times when I see animals playing and interacting with each other - it is most often cute and sometimes very funny.
    The rabbit stew you prepared for your hubby looks delicious, our rabbits are nearly big enough for the pot and Mr.B is looking forward to not only rabbit stew but also braised rabbit and rabbit & rice casserole.
    I am glad you've shared your experience with the vegan diet this week. I think it would be beneficial for most folks to consume an all raw fruit and vegetable diet several weeks each year.
    When I read about your foliage but not much fruit on your strawberry plants, like Dee, I too thought it may be caused by an excess of nitrogen. I hope you can figure out the cause and enjoy an abundance of fresh strawberries this summer.
    Also, your son has undertaken quite the task. How proud you must be of his ambition and skill level.
    Blessings to you and yours,
    Mrs.B

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment Mrs. B.

      We hadn't had rabbit for many years, and it was a meal that was very much enjoyed. I normally would crumb the rabbit, but hubby wanted stew, so stew it was. I love the sound of your recipes.

      xTania

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  11. The bunny and rooster playing would have been a wonderful sight and a great start to your day. Dried fig look great and so do the apples, a post on how to make the drier would be great.
    We are getting lots of hot weather then we get a couple of cooler days with showers, we have also had a few afternoon storms already,
    Have a great week Tania,

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    1. We had some rain Debbie, but not as much as others. We will take what we can get. Hopefully there is a bit more kicking around today. The veggie garden will be ten foot tall this morning :)

      xTania

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  12. We've planted two mulberries (black) but I suspect I'll be old bones before they fruit! We did harvest medlars this week which are getting pretty rare over here - but a great tough fruit tree! Good for you making bunny stew as a vegan, nice to make choices for hubby - I'm impressed!

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    1. I wasn't sure what medlars were, so I googled it. We don't have them here in Australia that I know of.

      Our mulberry tree is only small but it is producing well this year.

      I am on a vegan diet for health reasons, I don't worry about those that want to eat meat, especially wild meat. Rabbits are breeding up at the moment, I counted a dozen on my walk yesterday, We will probably go out hunting again this weekend :)

      xTania

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  13. If I recall rabbits are an invasive species there? We have problems with grey squirrels and rabbits here - same solution :)

    I do keep looking at your fig leather - must try that next season, we love both gooseberry and rhubarb leather, so fig should be good too!

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    1. Yes rabbits are a problem in Australia, they seem to love the dry conditions :)

      The fig leather tastes lovely, give it a try and decide for yourself. I have rhubarb growing so I might try that too :)

      Have a lovely weekend,

      xTania

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    2. Try strawberry rhubarb as a mix - we love it in crumbles, fruit leathers - even cordial. It just works (mind you we got fed up of strawberries this year. 20 pounds a day will do that)

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  14. Raw vegan - wow. You are very inspirational....I have always wanted ti give this a shot. I badly want to be rid of this crippling tireness

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    1. Give it a try Phil, you wont believe the energy a raw food lifestyle gives you...I feel great. It has improved my mood no end :)

      xTania

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  15. Sounds like you had a busy and wonderful week! I don't eat much meat and never touch red meat. Drinking lots of spinach smoothies and walking most everyday definitely improves my mood and well being.
    Oh yum figs!,
    Laurie

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