Monday, September 9, 2013

How satisfying

To bake what my girls call "sultana bread", with eggs from our chooks, buttermilk left over from making butter, and very local honey bought at a sustainable house day location around the corner from us yesterday.  Now it can be spread with some home made butter.  The girls have been requesting sultana bread, and with the school holidays coming up, a bit of baking in advance was due.  Most of this will go in the freezer.  I'll get to eat some of this as I have to eat gluten for a month so I can have the Coeliac test.  It's made of spelt, so hopefully it won't make me feel too bad.
The Araucana chickens started to lay again, as soon as the first whiff of spring arrived, so we have gorgeous blue eggs again.  This time of year seems so busy, with lots of gardening jobs to do, on top of all the other things that need to be done, and so many birthdays!  Blogging is a bit sporadic, I'm hoping I'll be a bit better at it next year when both my girls are at school.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Spring in the garden

 Spring has well and truly sprung, with the last week of winter feeling very spring like.  I don't think I've photographed the front garden from this angle before, I'm enjoying the daffodils, calendulas and thyme bushes in the driveway garden.
 I've started mulching the garden beds with sugar cane mulch, I always think the garden looks better with some fresh mulch.
 A new apricot tree went in last weekend- my Dad rescued it from a skip bin at work, a bare rooted one in a bag.  Some leaves have started to open up, so it looks healthy so far.
 My berry patch, things are happening.
 Here's a couple of raspberry canes starting to get some leaves.  My friend Bec gave me these after I drowned mine last year.  I gave her some canes a few years ago. 
My golden raspberry in the middle- I saw this at a nursery, and thought it might be fun to grow.  I have planted perpetual spinach, and alpine strawberries as a border.