5 March 2021

Weekend Reading

I'm getting excited about getting closer to starting our gardening season. We've had cooler evening temperatures, soon the humidity will ease and then I'll start pruning and planting. I sowed seeds during the week - 15 Woolworth's flower, vegetable and herb seeds and open pollinated seeds from Eden Seeds.  I'm hoping I got the timing right and when the seedlings are ready to plant, it will be comfortably cool enough to do it.




I also put out some kipfler potatoes to chit last week and when they send out some shoots, I'll grow them in a grow bag. Over all this season, we'll grow the potatoes, silver beet/Swiss chard, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchinis, Welsh onions, purple turnips, all the herbs we eat and a variety of fruit.  The passionfruit are doing really well and should be ready in April - the two vines are full; there are plenty of lemons on two trees and they're still flowering; and it looks like there will be loquats to pick later in the year.  We pruned the tree six months ago, fertilised it and then there was enough rain to soak the fertiliser in and it's made a real difference.  The dwarf banana needs some help and it will get that as soon as is cooler.  It's certainly enough to keep me busy every day, engaged in outdoor life and breathing fresh air. I can't wait.


Here is one of our lunches from the week - pork fillet with red cabbage, sweet potato and potatoes. The gravy is from the mix I showed you last week. A delicious meal and quite cheap - $6.50 for the pork fillet which was enough for both of us, red cabbage from the stockpile cupboard and the potatoes are vegetables we always have on hand. I served them with butter and green onions.  Today we're having chicken parmigiana, potato salad and salad. I think we're very fortunate to eat food cooked from scratch every day. A good variety of meat, fish and vegetarian meals that suit our tastes and keep us healthy.


The final simple living workshops are on the weekend - Backyard, gardening and chickens. We've all had fun with these workshops, I think the ladies have learnt a lot and it's been a treat for all of us to sit with our cuppas and talk about how we live and what the challenges and benefits are.  I'll be doing a workshops for the Ku-ring-gai Council, the North Sydney Council and the Willoughby Council soon too. The Ku-ring-gai Council workshop on Baking and Cooking and is on 16 March, the ad is above. That is booked out and has a waiting list. The other Council workshops will be in June and July.

I hope you're staying healthy and happy, have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again next week. xx

This week's readings:




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11 comments

  1. Isn't it fun to plant the first seeds of spring? I have grown potatoes several years, they are fun and easy.

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    1. We love growing potatoes. We've grown them in the front and back gardens and in grow bags and they're always an exciting crop. Harvesting them is like digging for buried treasure.

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    2. We are in the Southern hemisphere so its coming into Autumn here but Rhonda is in an almost tropical climate so its too hot over summer to plant with the bugs. They do get a lovely mild winter which im jealous of as it gets to -7 here in Canberra.

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  2. Rhonda, I was all excited about the tomatoes I had coming on this year as I saved the seeds from tomatoes I bought at the Farmers Market. Now they are covered with green vegetable bugs and I am not happy. I had one volunteer plant that produced tomatoes all through winter and I used to put them on a sunny windowsill to ripen and they were great. In future I might just buy them from the Farmers Market and stick to growing silverbeet 😏 Live and learn eh? Give Gracie a pat from me.

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    1. Those green bugs are all over the place in summer, try planting again now, or in spring. Gracie is under my chair, she liked the pat. xx

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    2. I will try that, Rhonda. It was so disappointing.

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    3. yes i got attacked by the green bugs also, got my cucumber, zucchini and pumpkin :(

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  3. We are beginning our spring crops as well. It's such a thrilling time of year to see all of those babies popping their heads out of the soil. Mother Nature is truly amazing.

    Thank you for the list each week. I enjoy going through it during my afternoon reading time.

    Hoping you and yours are doing well. Be Blissed!

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  4. Yum-yum-yum... that pork looks absolutely delicious! Happy weekend! ~Andrea xoxo

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  5. You are inspiring me to grow potatoes again. Congratulations on the workshops. You are such an excellent teacher. Glad that you are still able to work and teach during this pandemic. Zoom is amazing!

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  6. Sadly our growing season is coming to an end here in Canberra. The frosts start up in a month or so, the nights are already getting blessedly cooler. I did manage to get a lemon tree in the ground and my sweet potato although it could be too late for that, i may have to wrap both in some bubble wrap to see them through the winter, along with the rhubarb which is a second planting after last years died.

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