Lovely junk

One bonus of having all this reno 'stuff' lying around is it is perfect for making shade for my new seedlings on a particularly sunny day like today. 
The other bonus is I now have a giant dirt mound.....and what do you do with that - plant some seeds of course! I have growing in my dirt mound flat leaf parsely, cape gooseberry and cherry tomatoes (self seeded from dirt that were dug up near the original plants) and I also popped in some seeds from my butternut pumpkins I grew earlier on in the season. 
Hasn't cost a cent and is putting an ugly mound (with good healthy soil) to use.
Have you created something handy out of 'junk' recently?

Snakes and Birthdays

There's been a lot going on here the last few days......
We had a carpet python try to steal our eggs or chickens..... 
I planted out our garlic, gifted to me from various friends......
We had lots and lots and lots of rain and now lots and lots and lots of mud....
And I had a birthday and was amazingly spoiled!
What have you been up to lately?

Raining snails

When it rains it snails!
These guys are from round 2 of a scan of the garden, the first round had twice as many. 
I love to go out into the garden after a bit of rain and round up all these slimy critters that love to eat my juicy plants and especially my new seedlings.
Then I squash them up and feed them to the chookies who love them.
Sounds a bit harsh but then that is the nature of organic gardening I guess. 
Have you had a scan of your garden lately to see what critters you can manually remove and save using those horrendous chemicals?

Drying herbs

The other day I watched a clip of rats running all over dried chillies, my skin crawled. 
Another tick in the box reason of why I like to know where my food comes from. 
So it also got me thinking about other food items I have in my pantry and how I can go about making them myself.
The first one I saw was my dried herbs. Boom!
So yesterday I went out to the garden to pick a selection of herbs (Basil, Oregano, Thyme, flat and curly leaf parsley and Rosemary) and then I popped them into my dehydrator.
Dried out for a few hours and then pulled off the stalks and crunched up. Viola!
Have you had a thought recently about where your food comes from?

Garden to Plate

A hard workout at the gym today called for some good protein and nutrients and what better place to find my 'happy meal' than right here from my own little patch of goodness.
Nothing beats good ol' scramble eggs tossed with shallots, capsicum, silverbeet and chives with a side of dragon fruit of course! 
Feeling super satisfied and nourished now
Whats your go to meal after a tough sesh (in the gym, garden, or anywhere)?

Goings on

A few of the goings on around here..... eggplant, shallots, pumpkin, passion fruit, turmeric and corn just to show off a few and I have just planted some new winter seedlings today. 
Have you started planning your cooler season garden yet?

Dragonfruit glory

Yummo! Dragonfruit. 
This little gem of a fruit packs some seriously amazing nutritional benefits. With its mildly sweet flavour it is easily a fave in our house. I look forward to the very short fruiting window each year.
Some of its super powers per 100g serve include:
Calories: 52.
Protein: 1.1 gram.
Fat: 0.4 grams.
Carbs: 11 grams.
Fiber: 3 grams.
Vitamin C: 34% of the RDI.
Iron: 10.6% of the RDI.
Thiamine: 2.7% of the RDI.
Have you tried this delight yet?