August 2007

While all is dry and desperate in QLD we've had floods down here. Huonville, one of our frequent shopper stops (we go once a fortnight) went partially under, the local pontoon that's also a riverside fish and chip shop went for a bit of a wonder, but not as far as last time when someone woke up to find it in their backyard. Bit of a new slant on home delivery. We were high but not dry at home, though of course it all made life a bit difficult for Trev on the building site and has held him up some. He's on the home straight now with the 'sticks'. Looking to make our next timber order, the joists, bearers etc. When it rained he designed and welded up 4 bearer holders to slot the 4 X 3.6 metre long 250mm X 75mm bearers to the sticks. Hmmm, not sure that made much sense, should stick to gardening I think.

I've been doing lots of it, it's fantastic to push down on a garden fork and see it sink it's tines deep down with virtually no effort and, what's more, even unearth some of our first worms, and they are fat and glossy little monsters. Remind me of the ones in Queensland and how Caleb would be in the garden (2-3 years old) and yelling, "'Nake!, 'nake!", which was always just a little bit alarming till he learnt the difference between those and worms.

I've been digging up garden beds, weeding, planting out broadbeans, english spinach, peas, onions, carrots, cabbages and brocoli. We've been eating Romanesco brocoli at the moment. I love its geometric shape, almost fractal like. Still eating carrots, onions, parsley, potatoes and yams, though the last of the pumpkin is now gone.

Andrew, our next door neighbour turned up in a tractor yesterday and ploughed up around 1000 square metres of soil into which we plan to plant chickpeas, corn, wheat and sunflowers. Some of which will be ours, some we'll share with the goats. It's exciting to see all the fresh ground begging for a crop. Gosh, and I was salivating over worms yesterday too.

Caleb recently celebrated his 9th birthday and promptly became quite serious about growing, and will need new long pants to cover his ankles soon. He received a book, '101 things to do in a shed' by Rob Beattie. I figured it was quite apt gift considering we live in one, and half the time it's raining. He's made a few things out of it, his favourite, of course, is the Bartesque Shanghai. It has a real 1950's feel to it, and is a wonderful book to delve into and get kids making things with their hands and starting up the kind of skills that could eventually see them building their own houses one day. (if it's still legal that is).

August 25

Trev has completed the ring of 30 - 3.6 metres long, 250kg beams. Bolted, levelled, the lot. Another building stage is over, and while there is still big timber to go, nothing like these. 7.5 tons all up, and Trev has shifted them by himself, with a little help from some friendly neurons zipping around in his brain. The next load of timber has been ordered, and was due to arrive yesterday but hasn't. Which means I have abducted Trev and smuggled him back to the garden where he is currently spreading out cardboard boxes and covering them with straw. We uncovered the strawbales to discover quite a few have become very wet. We've decided to use those in the garden and sell off the rest. It was due to my impatience that we bought them when we did. But it will be some time before they are required and offloading them now before they all degrade is the best idea. Chalk that one up.

A glorious time of year, with 16 and 17 degrees, a refreshingly light breeze and a sense of spring popping up along with the daffodils.

I made 24 bars of soap this week. It's all part of my attempt to exclude the use of animal products, not just from the table but from the entire house. Though Trev's mouth is a non exclusion zone, snails were never a long term alternative to steak.
The saponification process had me suited up, at least with goggles and gloves as once the sodium hydroxide hits the water it instantaneously reaches a temp just under boiling point, splashes of which are caustic and likely to blind if not eat through numerous layers of skin. Beyond that though it was a lot like making a very large batch of fudge. I added clove oil just before pouring and it is exuding the scent nicely while it sits in the bathroom and cures over the next six weeks. It is a far more pleasant process than the one depicted in last weeks Worst Jobs in History on ABC TV Sunday nights, in which they showed a man boiling up sheeps hearts and assorted animal organs to obtain tallow for the soap making process. Judging by Tony Robinson's (Baldrick's) face it didn't smell like roses.

I've been reading a couple of books on the subject, The Soapmakers Companion and The Natural Soap Book by Susan Miller Cavitch, but there is also an online soap making calculator that is very useful at Oz Soap Calculator

I have meant, for some time, to post that we had been nominated for a Bloggers for Positve Global Change Award by a couple of wonderful women, Rhonda and Kate you might like to visit their blogs as they have similiar interests.

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