Amanda Brooke

Winter Garden Produce

Garden produce at our place is slow at the moment. Our hens haven't been laying for a while and I am thinking about buying a couple of Hyline Isa Browns, as ones we have had in the past layed throughout the cooler months. I don't like having to buy eggs. They just don't compare.

Our citrus this year has been fantastic and we have our first basket of oranges from our young tree. I am looking forward to making a citrus cake this week and perhaps some orange jelly? I picked our first rhubarb for the season too and made rhubarb muffins lastnight. Yum!

On a roll with 'First's' in the garden the raspberry canes are producing raspberries and I am dreaming about raspberry jam! There is something exciting about the 'first' fruit, the first glimpse of a little effort paid off. We are only at the beginnings of growing enough food to sustain us and it is exciting and humbling cooking and preparing meals from what our garden has supplied. You don't need a big garden or lots of plants to achieve this feeling. Even a sunny apartment balcony with a few pots of herbs will provide you with this same satisfaction. Most herbs are easy to grow and hardy making them a great food to start with.

Why do I love the concept of growing our own food?

• It's a positive step towards healthier eating
• Provides important life lessons for our children and creates opportunites for our family to connect with our environment
• Environmental impact - reduces need to travel to buy and buy food that has travelled
• Gets us outside digging, picking and collecting in the fresh air
• It really does taste BETTER...especially those eggs!
• Reduces food waste
• We eat what is in season

Can you add to this list? What are you growing in your garden and are your chooks laying?

Thanks for visiting,

Planting seeds with Little Eco and the Huglee's winner!

Something that takes a lot of my time up at the moment but excites me to share, is updating Little Eco with brand new arrivals! The newest product that I am thrilled about adding to the store soon are The Little Veggie Patch Company Heirloom Seeds!

Isn't the seed packet amazing! I love the vintage design... and of course the fact that they are Heirloom variety seeds! The pair behind the Little Veggie Patch company which is based in Melbourne, are Fabian and Mat. They have released a lovely book Growing Food in Small Spaces and sell boxes in their shop for small spaces.

I decided to stock the seeds as I am so passionate about motivating and encouraging kids outdoors and starting a little veggie patch with your kids is such a simple and fun thing to do. However I think these will be just as popular with the adults too, especially those that appreciate Heirloom varieties. Heirloom plants are usually old fashioned varieties of vegetables where seeds are harvested from plants and replanted year in and out. They are generally quite hardy and tastier than most seeds commercially available. Just remember to save the seeds for replanting the following season.

We haven't planted any vegetables at all this Spring. I am going to get on top of a few things around here and then we will get back into it next year. To be honest if I did get the veggie beds up and going they just wouldn't get the attention they need. We have started preparing new beds and planted our newest fruit trees and the weeds are almost a full time occupation with all the rain and sun we have had here!

Well I assume that many of my readers are popping over here not to hear about gardening and heirloom seeds, but to see who won the Huglee's toy, so the winner is:

The winning number two comment was by Kari! Congratulations to Kari...she has chosen Woofie as her favourite! Thanks to all readers who left a comment on my blog to win a Huglee's toy. I am going to run a special on all toys in Little Eco next month, so I will let you know here when that happens.

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

P.S Ben's first tooth emerged last week...and no tears yet!

P.P.S There were some great suggestions made in my last post about using egg shells in the garden. Do pop in and have a read of them if you are interested in using egg shells as a natural fertiliser. Thanks to all who left a comment!

 

3 Ways to use egg shells in the garden

I don't buy any store bought fertilisers for our garden. I use compost, worm tea fertiliser and egg shells. I am not sure if this is a good thing entirely, as our garden may be missing out on something, but it is healthy and thriving, so for now we will continue as we are!

Egg shells are comprised of mainly calcium carbonate and this is one of the main ingredients found in agricultural lime. I have read that you can completely dry your egg shells out, crush them to a fine powder then spread them on the garden....much like lime. I am not a gardening expert, but you might find this article from Burkes Backyard helpful if you wish to know more about why lime is good for the garden.

We have 5 chooks and two chook houses. We feed our chooks household scraps and an organic blend of grains from our local grain store. They are free to scratch and eat in a large run where we have most of our fruit and citrus trees.

This is one of our chook houses.

3 ways you can use your egg shells in the garden!

1. We save our egg shells mostly for use in the compost.

 2. Something I have just started doing is hand crushing egg shells to use around our plants that I do not wish to be eaten by slugs and snails. So far this has been effective. It won't be long and the birds will be a problem for the strawberry plants, so we will need to net these soon.

3. Another idea is to make Egg Water. This is pretty yucky, but I know of someone that does it and their garden is AMAZING! Using a bucket that has a secure lid, fill 3/4 with water. Add your egg shells (not cooked ones) to the bucket and in time it will stink and become rather brown. Dilute it down with water and use as a tea fertiliser. I don't know the ratio of dilution, but at a guess, (as is it quite rich) I would say 1 part egg water to 10 parts plain water.

Can you add to this list? Do you live in apartment and have other ideas for saving and using egg shells?

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

Bartering with a slab of beer!

Have you ever exchanged something for a 'slab of beer'? This may be just an Australian thing perhaps? We come across this several times through the year when we receive something in exchange for a slab of beer. The beer generally costs less than the item/service we receive. 

We were fortunate earlier in the winter to have tree loppers tidying trees along our roadside and they had a chipper running at the same time. We approached them and asked if we could buy some of the mulch for our garden. The answer was yes, and all that was requested for payment, was a slab of beer. We got his mountain of mulch delivered to our door the next day.

The best bonus of all, is that it has been sitting in one spot through the winter it has been soaked through and started to break down a little. The mulch pile has turned into a living worm farm and is full of worms!

I felt terrible disturbing them and I hope they survive as they are transferred to our garden beds. I haven't gotten back into our garden sine I last posted about my weeding and mulching  plans, but that's okay, I'll get into it again soon.  For this reason I am glad that I didn't continue weeding the entire bed, as the weeds would be back with all this lovely Spring rain and sun we have received in the past week.

I would love to hear if you have ever exchanged a service for a slab of beer? I think we have bought slabs of beer for friends that wouldn't accept payment for their help too. It's kind of like a liquid currency...not for everyone obviously, but for some it is an appreciated system! We also barter eggs sometimes and like to gift back preserves, if we are given fruit. What do you barter?

On a sad note I would like to let my readers know that I won't be posting again until next week. A family member has fallen seriously ill and I am travelling interstate to say 'goodbye' and to spend some precious time with family. I need time to prepare for my trip and to prepare my own family for my absence.

I will be writing this Thursday on the Simple Frugal Green Co-op blog and then be back here I anticipate by Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

 

 

 

A Temporary Haybale Compost Heap

Earlier this week the sun was shining and I got outside and caught up on some weeding and tidying up of the garden beds. My mum was staying with us and played with Ben while I worked in the garden. It was very refreshing spending this time alone in the garden, out in the fresh air and catching up on tasks that I have been wanting to get around to for some time.

As mum and I sat and had some morning tea I mentioned to her how I was waiting for Dean to 'build' a large double compost heap and mum then went on to tell me about hers back home, in NSW. Within 10 minutes I was upright and marching towards our stable...and this is what we did...

It's hiding there along the fenceline.

This is our new 'temporary' compost heap. Mum helped me move the bales to make a square shape with an entry. We positioned the bales length ways so their sides face the sky.

I emptied out the current compost bin contents and spread it around the garden. I then positioned the bin inside the bale square so I can easily empty and refill the bin. The bin stops the dog from eating the freshly deposited food scraps etc and we can place other garden waste to the side of the bin.

This design isn't perfect, but it has enabled me to collect more waste and creates a useful space to empty and turn over the compost. I actually like the rustic look and I like making use of the hay bales too.

Something I have realised this week is that according to my blog posts our weeping cherry tree is blooming one entire month earlier than last year. I wouldn't have remembered this as I don't normally take notes...however I have started to this past week...but that is for another post! Having a blog is a wonderful tool to record changes in your home and garden and I hope that this time next year I will be looking back at this 'old' compost heap and remembering the day my mum helped me to create it.

I am wondering what my readers use to compost scraps and garden waste? Do you use the plastic bins or a handmade heap? What do you put on your compost heaps?

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

P.S I've posted a recipe today over at the cop-op blog, so do stop by Simple Frugal Green Co-op for my Great Grandma Goldsacks lovely sandwich spread. It's simple and delicious!