Another month goes by...

 Wow, nearly a whole month since I last posted!  School holidays have come and gone, and we're in the depths of winter.  One of our original 3 Isa brown chickens died a few weeks ago, so we decided to add another 2 chickens, to bring the flock back up to 8.  This is Moss and Sage, our 2 new Australorp hybrids (crossed with Isa Browns), purchased at the Newtown Farmer's market.  They've been treated pretty badly by the others so far, and are currently hiding.

 Our citrus trees are bringing some colour and flavour to our garden, the above picture is of our mandarin tree, which has small, but very tasty fruit.

 This is our orange tree, which we'll leave a while longer before we pick them, they should grown a bit bigger.

 The lemon tree never fails, even after we gave it a big haircut last year.

 Interesting fungus in the woodpile next to the wood oven

 A bit of winter cheer- paperwhite jonquils

 And in the kitchen- freshly made mozzarella, and chicken stock

In the garden this week

 Kale, radishes, leeks, lettuce, all chugging along

 Chilli's still adding some colour, as well as garlic, mature leeks, raspberry canes that need taming and a trellis

 Winter colour

 A new front fence that Andrew has been working on for the past month, with some help from my Dad.  They've done a good job haven't they?  There's still a few bits to finish off, and a passionfruit to grow along the wires.  We now have a no junk mail sign.

 Lots of little oranges

 Silver Princess blossoming

 The 2 new chickens, I think they're about 15 weeks old now.

 And a new back fence went in yesterday (as well as 5 new fruit trees!)  Our neighbour had a big canopy of plumbago and something else with an orange flower, that was growing over our side, pushing over the fence, and creating lots of shade for us.  With the canopy now gone, and a new fence up, we've been able to fit in some trees on dwarf stock.  There's 2 new pears (Corella and Conference), an apricot Trevatt, which fruits after the 2 Moorparks we already have, an apple Cripps Pink, otherwise known as Pink Lady, and a cherry Lapin, which fruits after the Stella we already have.  I'll gradually mulch this bed with the chook straw I clean out every week

I've done another fruit/nut tree count, and now we're up to 33, which doesn't include the kiwi vines, the passionfruit that will go in, or any of the berries.

Winter in the front garden

As winter draws to a close, I thought it was time to update on the front veggie garden.  The 2 empty raised beds have or will have potatoes in them this week.  There are freshly pruned capsicum and chilli plants (they were still covered in red fruit until the weekend, but they were a bit soft and past it).  A nice row of garlic coming along well.  Broad beans on the teepee, with lots of baby broad beans on them.  Lettuce, perpetual spinach, mizuna and parsley.  A few leeks are left, but most have been enjoyed in soups and risotto.  It must be time to start planning and planting for spring!

Giveaway and sale time!

In celebration of all things Winter, end of financial year, and winter school holidays coming up, I've decided to have a little giveaway.  The prize is one item from my Etsy shop, or I'll custom make for you if need be.  All you have to do is tell me in the comments section below, which item from my shop is your favourite.  You can gain 1 extra entry each for a mention on your blog, Facebook, Twitter etc.  Just come back here and put in another comment for each extra entry.  Good luck everyone, winner will be chosen by random number generator on the 1st of July.
I'm also offering 25% off all orders until the end of June with the code JUNE25

Winter woollies in summer

I've turned my focus at the moment to making woollen vests for winter using blankets from op shops.  It's turned into a bit of a production line, and I'm making up to 4 in each style, in sizes 1, 2, 3 & 5, but considering doing a size 6.  The size 5 would fit for a while I'm sure though.  Evie at 6 1/2 will fit into her 5 for at least a few years I'm sure, though she is slender.  I just found 4 more blankets at op shops yesterday, so there are more colours to come.  Some vests have gorgeous handmade wooden buttons bought on our recent trip to Tasmania, and some have fabric covered buttons.  I'll stash these babies away until the weather has a bit more of a chill in the air.

Winter garden tour

We're trying strawberries in hanging bags this year, after not much success with them in the garden thus far.  Just have to remember to keep the water up to them!  They're the Alinta variety from Diggers.

 One of our 2 new hazelnut trees- we have a Cosford, and a Wanliss Pride next to each other, both from Diggers.

 Cherry Stella, a self fertile variety, looks like a stick at the moment.

 One of our 2 Avocado Rincon, that tolerate the cold well, and only grow to 3 metres tall.  So our driveway that used to be full of pittosporums, now has 2 avocado, an almond, 2 hazelnut, a cherry, a cox's orange pippin apple, and an apricot tree.  And there's room for one more up the end, when we get some more tree stumps out.

 Andrew's wheat crop

 Our bumper crop of yummy carrots

 Potatoes coming back after the frost knocked them back.

 Some very healthy broccoli heads- no grubs on them this year.  We had a visit from a blue wren and his little brown mate yesterday, in the broccoli patch.

And our 7 chooks having a feast on some broccoli leaves, thinned to let more light in.  One of our chooks (Louisa the little araucana) died on one of the frosty mornings about 3 weeks ago.  I don't think she was a healthy bird.  On a lighter note, I think today will be a five egg day, with both Plymouth rock's laying an egg (both chooks jammed into one lawn mower catcher!).  If so, it will be the first time we've had five eggs in one day.  Can't wait for the araucanas to start laying again.

Winter solstice

A candle for yesterday's winter solstice. Last night was spent hovering over Evie with a high temperature, as she slept on and off, and mostly refused water. Kiddie medicine did not help the temperature, which was a bit unnerving. She's a bit flat this morning, but eating potato chips/crisps for breakfast- terrible, but she wasn't going to eat anything else, I don't normally have them in the house.
Jasmine in June? I pinched this jasmine that was hanging over my friend Alison's house (didn't think you'd mind Ali, you think it smells like cat's pee right?) as it is flowering at the wrong time of year. I have it in my kitchen, and when I walk in there my brain keeps thinking it's spring for some reason. I love the smell of jasmine, but it shouldn't be flowering now. I saw jonquils flowering a few weeks ago too.

Winter snippets

Nature table

Oranges

Last of the raspberries

Winter

We've gone with a bit of a snow theme this winter, last time we had snow in these parts was in my prep year, 1986! I remember there being a tiny bit of snow along the back fence. Not much at all. No snowmen to be made. The penguins are Buntspechte, the Eskimos (Inuits), dog, and polar bear are Ostheimer, white silk from Sarah's silks, and the nesting cave is from Spiel & Holz.