The Hardest Working Pets in Town

Would you define earthworms as pets?  It is probably a stretch to do so, yet I am very fond of the earthworms in my two worm farms.

The worm farms take all our 'green' food waste, including vegetable and fruit scraps, tea bags and leaves and coffee grounds, and turn them into beautiful, dark worm castings and worm 'juice' that, when diluted, makes a fantastic liquid fertiliser.

I have two commercial worm farms, a rectangular one and a round one.  I have had them for at least the past decade and they continue to work beautifully.  About once a week I add a handful of lime to neutralise the acidity of food scraps, but that's about the only maintenance the farms require.

I once killed off my entire worm population during one of Adelaide's severe heatwaves, so I now bring the worm farms into the laundry if I think we are going to have a run of extremely hot days.  The composting worms are quite expensive to buy, so killing them off is not a good idea.

I love my worms so much that when we moved to Adelaide I brought tub of my Melbourne worms in the car.

My goal for next summer is to produce all the garden fertiliser I need on site.  I hope to use a combination of compost, chook poo and of course, the wonderful castings produced by my composting worms.

Getting Out of the Car Habit

Ever since I started travelling to work by bicycle I have been driving my car a lot less.  It's not just the work trips: I'm less inclined to drive my car anywhere.

For example, on Thursday I rode my bike to work and back home again.  I work a short day each Thursday so I was home by about 2 o'clock.  I then realised that I needed to put a cheque in the bank, and even though rain was threatening, instead of taking the car I walked to the bank.  

I didn't really think about it at the time, but after I came back home I realised that in the past I wouldn't even have considered walking to the bank.  I can't believe how many short trips I have driven in my life, when I could easily have walked.

The advantages of riding a bicycle or walking short trips instead of driving are enormous.  You become much more aware of the world around you.  You can smile and say g'day to others who are out and about.  Your level of fitness will improve.  And of course, you'll save petrol, which is good for your bank balance.

Of course, I still drive sometimes.  For instance, I haven't worked out how to manage a weekly grocery shop for six people on my bicycle yet, although I know if I had to I could do multiple trips on the bike.  I am wary of cycling at night as it doesn't feel safe, even with flashing lights on the bike.  And kids' sporting events are often too far away, and travelled via really busy roads, to make them safe for this nervous bike-riding mother and her children.

However, I often arrive at the weekend to discover that I haven't use the car since the previous weekend.  I am saving money and getting fitter in the process.  And it feels so easy.

Ecstasy

Ecstasy for chickens is being able to dust-bathe.  

They spray dirt all over themselves and ruffle their feathers.  They roll around and writhe and close their eyes in sheer bliss. 

And if one chicken decides to dust-bathe, every other chicken nearby will try to get in the same hole to dust-bathe too.

Autumn Waning

Autumn is almost at its end and the days draw shorter and colder.  The leaves are changing colour and gentle rain soothes the garden.

Autumn is a season for nesting, for putting extra blankets on the beds and browsing cookbooks for recipes for warming casseroles and hot puddings, and finding where the hot water bottles are hiding.  It is a season for snuggling up with a mug of hot chocolate in front of an open fire and looking through rose and seed catalogues.

I hope you are enjoying the season, whether it's autumn or spring in your part of the world.

Saturday Musings

enjoying: bike rides to work; the first eggs from our chickens; my warm and cosy bed on cold, autumn nights

harvesting: pumpkins and the last of the eggplants, cherry tomatoes and basil

anticipating: the first winter vegetables, which are still very small, and the first oranges from our orange tree

reading: (well, actually re-reading) Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym


wondering: how best to wear a skirt on a bicycle.  It's not easy; even quite long skirts ride up.

How to Darn Your Woollens

Darning is not something anyone does by choice, but unfortunately I recently had to get out my darning needle and thread.

Chilled by the recent cold weather, I put on a jumper only to discover that the moths had been feasting on it over the summer.  There were three holes in one sleeve.

I have never really learn to darn; usually I just sew up any holes in a straight line - with varying success.  However, this time I decided to try the method recommended in Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations, a book of wartime pamphlets.

This woven method leads to a much stronger darn than the method I usually employ, and the result is quite neat, although the spots where the holes were look a little puckered - probably due to my lack of expertise rather than the method itself.

Anyhow, I now have a jumper that should last a few more winters - although perhaps I should invest in some mothballs.

First Egg

There was great excitement at our red house yesterday when we found the first egg laid by our new hens.  It was perfect in every way.

2011

Going back through my blog archives I found the photo below of the first, tiny egg laid by one of our Melbourne bantams four years ago.  The hands that held it were four years younger and smaller than the hands in yesterday's picture, yet the excitement of discovery was exactly the same.

2007

Mother's Day Breakfast

I felt like the luckiest mother in town when Miss 14 walked in with my Mother's Day breakfast this morning.  Think crisp French toast, apples cooked in caramel sauce and an 'I love you' piped in whipped cream.  Oh, and a little dish of real maple syrup on the side.  Just in case I needed it.

Autumn Vegetable Garden: May 2011

This is the first autumn that I have had a vegetable garden in Adelaide and I am amazed at how long my summer plants are lasting.

The eggplants and cherry tomatoes are still fruiting, although growth is slower than a month or two ago.  Even more surprising is that the basil plants haven't blackened off yet, despite some very cold nights.

I'm thinking about leaving the eggplant and capsicum plants in the ground until next summer to see if they will produce for a second year.  Have you ever done this?  Was it successful?

Apart from the remains of my summer planting, I have planted out some seeds and seedlings of winter vegetables such as lettuces, beets, turnips, swedes, broccoli and broad beans.  The tricky part is keeping the chooks from digging them up.

What are you growing in your garden this May?

Jap pumpkin

eggplant

iceberg lettuce in a planter

cherry tomatoes

chillis

Partly Free Range

When we had bantams in Melbourne they free-ranged over our backyard all day long.  They only lived in their 'house' at night.

However, here in Adelaide we don't have side gates, so we have to keep our new chooks, Temple and Caramel, in their pen during the day.  They only free range in the afternoons when someone can be outside to keep an eye on them and keep them out of mischief.

Full size hens make much more of a mess than little bantams, so for the garden's sake it's probably a good idea to keep Temple and Caramel locked up most of the time.

It does feel strange though, to have graduated from babysitting children to babysitting feather-babies.

And no, I'm not feeling at all clucky.