Making baby shoes
Budget Bytes - a great cooking blog
Human gummi bears
Creepy photo portraits of retired ventriloquist dummies (!!)
How to make an emergency candle with butter
FROM THE COMMENTS THIS WEEK
Missus Moonshine
Winkel's Crazy Ideas
The Canadian Housewife
...............................................................................................................................................................
The free workshops I'm doing with Ernie start next week at the Sunshine Coast Libraries. If you come along, please introduce yourself. I'd love to meet you. There are also paid full day weekend workshops as well. Email me if you need details of those.
It's been a big week here and I'm looking froward to the weekend. I hope you enjoy yourself over the next couple of days and do something you love. ♥♥
WRITING WORKSHOPS
9/03/2013
|
1:00 PM
|
2:30 PM
|
Noosa Library
|
13/03/2013
|
2:00 PM
|
3:30 PM
|
Beerwah Library
|
14/03/2013
|
2:00 PM
|
3:30 PM
|
Kawana Library
|
19/03/2013
|
2:00 PM
|
3:30 PM
|
Cooroy Library
|
20/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Nambour Library
|
21/03/2013
|
1:00 PM
|
2:30 PM
|
Maleny Library
|
22/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Coolum Library
|
23/03/2013
|
2:00 PM
|
3:30 PM
|
Maroochydore Library
|
26/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Caloundra Library
|
BLOGGING FOR BEGINNERS WORKSHOPS
7/03/2013
|
10:30 AM
|
12:00 PM
|
Maroochydore Library
|
12/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Caloundra Library
|
15/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Coolum Library
|
17/03/2013
|
10:30 AM
|
12:00 PM
|
Noosa Library
|
26/03/2013
|
12:30 PM
|
2:00 PM
|
Kawana Library
|
27/03/2013
|
10:00 AM
|
11:30 AM
|
Cooroy Library
|
28/03/2013
|
1:00 PM
|
2:30 PM
|
Maleny Library
|
I am thoroughly enjoying reading your blog,I dip in and out and have picked up so many good ideas. I just wish that I was able to attend some of your workshops. I am working full time at the moment but planning to cut down to 3 days a week very soon. I have a fairly big garden and plan on making it work to feed us this year. I already grow lots of soft and tree fruit so just need to get in on the vegetables.
ReplyDeleteThanks for listing me on your weekend reading list! I feel honoured. :)
ReplyDeleteOOOO no fair. So far away BUT i am attending a Harvesting and Preserving course on the weekend. FREE - thanks to our local council and Shoestring Gardening. Looking forward to it - the garden is going gangbusters and i dont know what to do with the overflow. Not enough to do preserving but too much to eat! Chillies in particular. Cheers Rhonda.
ReplyDeleteThat's good news about the garden. I dry my excess chillies. Just cut off the top and slice the chilli. Spread the flesh and seeds out on a piece of paper towel and leave them to dry. After about four weeks, put them all in a sealed jar for use later.
DeleteOh Rhonda, last night a dream came true. I always imagined that when the garden was built that i would love to see my nieces two little children running around the beds, playing hide and seek and laughing at my funny ornamental animals through the garden. Well last night it happened and it gave me such joy. Then they came in with a cherry tomato in their little hands and proudly showed me that they had picked them. I asked if they wanted to eat it and they did. So funny watching the 3 year olds face do all manner of contortions to get it down but at the end a big open mouth to show me she it was finished. I gave her a big applause and hugs. Such joy in my new patch. It was my sons 16th birthday (remember he didnt want the garden - change is hard for an Aspie). He said in the middle of his birthday dinner that he didnt think he would like the garden but he does now.
DeleteThat't lovely, Lynda. And what a great step forward for your son. I do remember you telling me about him. Gardens have a way with people. :- )
DeleteHi Rhonda, hope you get some "battery recharge time" over the weekend as your workshop dates look pretty daunting. I'm off to Fiji on Monday for a week with my daughter, Daneal. Funnily enough the weather forecast in Fiji is for 4-5 days of rain out of the 7 we are there. As Daneal says we are going to lie in hammocks, read ++, eat, sleep, swim , walk on the beach, have massages & drink cocktails (she emphasised the drink cocktails), & rain falling will just add to the relaxing ambience. I'd love to get to your workshops when I get back....... 26th March is looking a possibility as I could come down & do the morning one, bring a packed lunch then do the afternoon one before driving home....... sounds like a plan!!!
ReplyDeleteSee you at Caloundra, Ann. Enjoy your time in Fiji.
DeleteThanks for including my blog with your links, what a nice surprise! Have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to admit that the ventriloquist dummy link was the first that caught my eye--my family loves anything unusual like that. Then I read further down the page the dummies were on, and saw a link to a photo series about "People with Passions," which is exactly what it sounds like--people photographed with the things they are passionate about. That got me wondering about what *I* would be photographed with, and I decided that my portrait would be in front of my home, with my family. I am truly passionate about this place, and the people I love within it. Thanks for all you do to reinforce our passion for homemaking. Have a beautiful weekend!
ReplyDeleteHeather in California
Hi, I am a regular reader of your blog and I live on Brissie northside (Brighton), so I am only maybe an hour or so from you. I point that out only because I presume we live in a similar environment for growing things. I am on a disabled pension and have been trying very hard to grow a few veggies and herbs to save $. I grow everything in pots on my deck as I am not able to work the ground due to my health. Last winter, I had a bountiful crop of cherry tomatoes all grown in hanging bags, even enough to freeze for soup. I was lucky to have them producing in the bags no matter how cool the weather. I also have multiple other veggies in pots, but about 4-6 weeks ago, I noticed they all have pest damage. My friend who is a pest control guy has identified what I have as "scale". These little white furry things have destroyed my heirloom tomatoes in pots, and also zucchini ( even in hanging bags!) and at the opposite end of the house. They have also ruined my Portulaca, which in the past I have always had good luck with. I grow that because it reminds me of my mum who always had it too but has since passed. I made a spray of garlic, chilli powder, dishsoap and water to spray them and it seems to kill them, but more keep coming and destroying all of the above mentioned plants when I am not looking! I am feeling like I just need to give up and start over, but I am not sure just how to make sure the scale is gone.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering what you and Hanno do for pest control in the garden as I really don't want to buy chemicals...I want to eat the food I grow! thanks, debbie
Debbie, when you garden in pots, the plants are more protected than they are in the open garden. That means you'll get a lot of bugs because of the great conditions you create for them. In the garden, spiders and ladybugs eat scale and mealybugs, another form of scale - the white fluffy ones. They love humid, warm conditions and they're common on patio plants. Scale secrete a substance called honeydew that ants love. Ants 'farm' scale and carry them around placing them on plants so they have a supply of honeydew. The scale stay on the plants because they suck the sap. You might notice black mildew on the leaves of some plants, that's from the honeydew. Look for ants nests near your plants and pour boiling water down the nest. You might have to do it a few times before the ants get the message and move.
DeleteIf there are a lot of scale on the plants, make up some white oil. One cup of vegetable oil with half cup of liquid soap or dish liquid, and mix it until it turns white - either shake it in a jar or mix in a blender. Dilute one tablespoon of this to one litre of water and spray all affected plants thoroughly. Make sure you get into the crevasses and under the leaves.
I have found it's better in our climate to do your main planting in autumn and garden through winter and spring. Have summer off, there are too many bugs around. Good luck.
Hi Rhonda, Thank you so much for your reply. The ants are terrible here, so what you said makes perfect sense. I will get the kettle going just for them. I appreciate all the detail and knowledge you have taken the time to share with me. Sending virtual hugs and gratitude, debbie
DeleteThere's also a really interesting article here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2013/feb/25/well-educated-but-useless
"Robinson's main claim is that our current education system dislocates people from their natural talents. I would like to go a step further and propose that besides our talents, the system deprives us of what used to be passed from generation to generation – a working knowledge of basic life skills."
Rhonda, I love going to all the different sites you list under weekend reading. thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe are getting ready for our summer garden with our grandchildren. Last weekend we made seed tapes with our carrot seeds. My 3 year old grandson did a great job putting the tiny seeds on dots of glue. It's never too early to start children gardening. It is something they can do their whole life.
Susan from Michigan U.S.A.