With the grumps

Hallo!

So even though it's been a gorgeous sunny Winter weekend here in Melbourne, I've been hibernating. I think I have man-flu even though I'm a she and not a he. I think it's man-flu because surely, as you men folk can attest (Mark? Gaz?), this affliction is pure misery. I blame the 10km run I did for charity (Berry Street) last Sunday. I didn't actually ever get around to training but with $700 raised I couldn't very well back out! I did it with sheer stubbornness as Mr Bok said - I did however vomit once and fall once, also felt sure I was going to faint at the 8km mark and scoffed 3 mini chocolate bars along the way. But I did it all in 1hr 13 mins - absolutely ages I know but I did it!!

Master Bok has been really sick too.  I'm very thankful for the amazing Children's Hospital we have here in Melbourne.  Still don't know exactly what's wrong - more tests this week.  It's been awful so far and the worst test is yet to come but Master Bok (3) has been very brave.  Even with those bung things in his arms. But look at this - the newly renovated hospital has a meerkat enclosure and a huge aquarium to entertain the children.

 

Hey, can I complain a bit more please?  (I was born in England after all and acting the part of whinging pom is my prerogative at times like this). 

Poor lil Ru got his paw stuck in a large crack in the floor the other day.  But we can't replace floorboards etc 'until we renovate'.  Just like we can't replace the roof 'until we renovate'...even though we have gone from having to use 1 bucket to using 3 when it rains  :)

Lil Ru snoozing

When we first moved in we did a bit of a cosmetic renovation (stripping carpets, white washing floors, pulling off wallpaper, painting everything white, stripping every doorway even removing doors and leaving them off, adding a vegie garden and fruit trees etc) but we always knew we'd have to do a full scale reno further down the track as our 100 yr old home is falling down and needs structural work.  We did all this damn hard yakka knowing all our efforts will be wiped out when we do a full scale reno anyway thus our reluctance to spend on roofing and floorboard replacement now.  These bloody Melbourne earthquakes don't help with the cracks and foundations either.  And Master Bok really has outgrown his tiny room - would love to be able to fit a wardrobe into his space!  He would just like more room for fire engines and race cars...

 

Love sweetpea at this time of year 

We also broke our bed recently (no smart remarks thanks!)...and got in a mattress and base yesterday.  Mattresses just aren't firm enough for us so we've gone with a base this time for added support.  Our old bed is in the garage awaiting rehoming.  It's weird not having bed posts or even a bed head, but fun to plan a bed head - I'm thinking maybe just very striking wallpaper instead like this one.   Any ideas?

  

Oh!  And look who I spied out of the bedroom window!

 Speaking of the girls...

 

Compare the bright fluoro egg yolk of the egg laid by Coco (top) with the pale yellow yolk on the bottom belonging to a very costly store-bought certified organic free range egg.  Hrmm.  The colour difference freaks me out.  Our girls roam about eating as much grain, grass and vegies and bugs as they want - I wonder about the girls roaming free in large dustbowls.  I'd like to point out that nothing my chooks eat has any additives - the grain they eat is just grain only, the fluoro yellow of the cooked yolk (normal pale colour when uncooked) is due to the grass and greens in their diet.  They eat more ree ranging than they do of the actual grain.  Fellow hen keepers have reported the same thing in their free roaming hens.

Oh that pic on the right is the last of our home grown garlic harvested in Autumn.

  

Sat in the garden drinking lots of hot soup and watching the antics of the bok flock.

 

 

 Wild flowers and snippets of natives from our local park 

AND don't even get me started on politics right now.  Or on work.  Grrrrrr.  Grumps indeed.  I'm not usually this grouchy!  I'm blaming man-flu.

Bok Flock get squished in

So you've all heard me complaining about the damage the chooks are doing to the yard, the vegie beds, the lawn, the deck!!  So we have found them a new spot in the yard.  We will slowly get to fox proofing it, until then we will still keep locking them in at dusk each night.  Here they are, pottering about where their old hen house used to be, wondering where on earth it's gone and helping to spread out their chook poo and rice hulls.  This will be the perfect spot (if a little shady) for a vegie bed.  On top of all that chook gold.

More pics of their new abode in the next post.

Meanwhile here is Little Ru!

And a Buddha's Hand citrus.  Isn't it amazing?

Winter

Hi everyone.

I's been a while since I've posted here!  Seem to have lost my blogging mojo...the possums and chooks have been eating everything in my garden so there isn't much for me to tell you!

I would however like to introduce little Ru (or so the kids call him-for now - his name changes daily!!) a little Siberian Forest Cat kitten.  Any name suggestions?

The girls have had their monthly dusting of diatomaceous earth and I know I've got to clean out the deep litter but honestly I don't have the energy!  It's been far too cold and wet!

They're using the feeder happily now.

 

But they are in the bad books.  They've completely destroyed two of my vegie beds...and again I haven't the energy to do anything about it so I'm just letting it be for now!

 

Chook ravaged beds

The rest of the garden is very neglected but still being productive most surprisingly!

  

Plucked a few of those lemon sherbet babaco even though they never did turn yellow...does anyone grow it down here in Vic?  Perhaps it's too cold here for them ever to ripen properly?  They did taste reminiscently of lemon sherbet but I'm sure they aren't ripe.  And I have no idea what to do with the tree now, knowing I'm supposed to cut it or some such fancy thing?

 

 

Finally pulled out the trombocino zucchin!   Was still going strong but I was sick of looking at it and eating it.

Hope you are all tucked up cosy inside wherever you are...

Who's smarter? The bunny or the chook?

Hallo!

Who do you see using the grandpa feeder?

Look  closer!

I know!!  Who knew bunnies were smart enough to work a treadle...
and who knew they liked chicken feed??  (In our case - red hen free range layer grain)


And where are the hens?

Ummm...so yeah...that pretty much tells you how well it's going!  The hens eat a little out of it - although it's really only Conchita and Consuela who are brave enough to tackle the clanging thing!  As an aside they are moulting EVERYWHERE to the point I thought a fox had come...I hope it's over soon because I really miss their blue and green eggs.  OH and Tessa the welsummer has finally started laying!  Only Matilda (aka snowflake) the light sussex is free loading.

A few images below to fill you in on the last month, the last warm days of Autumn I'm thinking.

Picnics at the botanical gardens

Lots of lounging on the deck

 

Easter!

 

The last summer vegies

I've been very slack in the garden.  I'm a bit disheartened - the possums keep eating everything I plant!  My beautiful big bushes of rainbow chard - gone! Capsicums - gone!  Chillies - gone!  Any ideas aside from netting?

 

The amazing vegie gardens and vines at Montalto winery

 

  

Yeah Tim Tam!  You own that hen house!!  Cos the chickens are just chicken!!

p.s. thank you for all your well wishes, Mr Bok is on the mend and will be back on his bike in no time!!