Someone is five, already!

Looks like a partay!

Yep! This is the birthday clown.

He's five!

A cake was made.

Another party over and dusted.

Next a trip to Indiana,

but back in time for a

Ninety-fifth birthday.

The Aztecs

I began this post,

then thought of our own dear departed

Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs.

OK! so I am showing my age!

But doncha love the dancing, and the suits?

And why was I thinking of the Aztecs?

Because of the corn and the beans of course.

I waited until the corn was up and growing...

then I hilled up the soil around their roots

and planted climbing beans.

Just like the Aztecs 

(the civilization, not the band)

used to do in South America.

This combination is the absolute pinnacle

of companion planting.

The beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the hungry corn,

and the corn provides something

for the beans to clamber up.

A real win-win situation.

Of course, the Aztecs would have planted

some squash nearby and allowed it to ramble

through the lot to save space.

And no 'poison ivy' in sight!

Can't wait to see how much it has grown

when I get home.

Fat Fruit Friday # 9 - Tomatoes

I am so disappointed with these photos.

They do not do justice to the tomato. 

You can sort of tell how tall it is

by the size of the chair.

Not only is it tall...it is strong!

Look at the girth of those stems.

Here is the one in the garden (they are both grafted Grosse Lisse).

This one is doing very well for a tomato

at this time of the year in Melbourne.

However, it is only half the size of the one in the greenhouse.

This one is climbing
up the racks.

There are three
BroadRipple tomatoes
in this basket.
I had planned to take two out
and plant them outside...
but I ran out of time.

We ate some of the salad greens 

from the polystyrene box last night.  

The first food 

from the greenhouse.  

Yay!  

Footnote:  These photos are a week old...te tomtoes are prbably up to the roof and going out the vent!

Hand luggage? Check!

My airfare to the States is the cheapest one 

my son could find.

The one disadvantage, is that it goes via

Upper Kombuckta West.

Well, via Sydney, San Francisco, Chicago and then to Indiana.

It is only about 20 hours flying, 

but I ended up traveling for about 42 hours:

Monday 7.30 am to Wednesday 1.30 am (Melbourne time).

That was a little more than expected

because I missed a connection because of a late plane.

So five of those hours were

in a nice hotel bed in Chicago.

Reading material

I quite like the actual traveling.

I even quite like the food...sad, I know.

I know it isn't good for the planet, but if I didn't fly,

I would never see my son and his family.

I do not fly for any other reason.

I have learned to take one smallish bag on the plane.

One that will fit beneath the seat in front.

That way I have access to it at all times.

The atmosphere in the plane is very drying.

So here is my survival kit.

Eye drops (just liquid tears), spritzer to spray my face, lip balm, and saline nasal spray, some moisturizers, toothbrush and small toothpaste, ear plugs, neck pillow...and some clean knickers.

Well, I  am off to play with the grandchildren.

Fat Fruit Friday #10 - The Tardis

Something you may not have known 

about the Fat Fruit Greenhouse.

Just like the Tardis it is much bigger inside than it appears.

Incorporated in one side, 
is a chicken coop!

The nest box opens from the top for easy egg retrieval.

The whole door (with the nestbox attached) swings out

for easy cleaning.

There is mesh above and below the nest box for ventilation.

At first I was a little worried 

about the heat factor inside the coop.  

But I have been monitoring that with a thermometer

and am very happy that the ventilation works well.

It is ideal for Jenny and her babes.

It would take three or four hens if you were using it as a night coop

and had the door open during the day to allow them to free-range.

In this view from the side you can see that it is a triangular prism.

Daniel is going to make benches with one shelf at the top so,

from now on, the coops will be square in profile.

Can you see the marine ply, on top of the coop, under the shelves?

In the winter these panels come out and there is

a mesh panel to keep the chooks out of the greenhouse.

(You can see this in the second/middle photo)

Two of the panels fit exactly in the grills on the door,

above and below the nest box.

In the colder weather, the chickens are protected from the draught

AND

the warmth from their bodies will help to even out the temperature

in the greenhouse on cold nights. 

Now, isn't that clever!

Fact: Chickens' body temperatures range between 39.8C and 43.6C.

Four corner views #2

I took these photos as a record of the veggie garden

as I headed off on my trip.

So I will be able to ascertain the difference

when I return...and, if I have to,

I will use them to whack The Cook

over the head if she lets it all die.

Check out the potatoes in front.

I have three colours of climbing beans growing up that tee pee
made from fallen branches.  It is very tall.

Oh no! 

I just got an email from The Cook

to say the creek pump, which feeds

all the taps in the garden,

has gone on the blink.

Being the mechanical incompetent

that she is, she will have no hope

of fixing the pump...

even if it is the simplest problem.

She is using buckets.

I am expecting to see the veggies

all tall and lush and

The Cook, all thin and taut

when I return.

We're all going on a Summer Holiday...

Who's going on a holiday?

'Hey Sis, if we cover our eyes with our ears, 

we won't have to watch the world whizzing by!'

At the Goat Resort.

Also known as 

'The Farm Where We Were Born'.  

'Hey, waddaya mean? You'll see us in a month?  

Come back, you humans!'

Rob, the man who sold us the goats was,

thank goodness, very happy

to have them back while I am away.

He muttered something about

having to keep Bubba away from the boar.

I hope he is successful,

that's all we need...

another goat...

or two or three!

Poor sooky Bazza, bleated miserably,

as we drove away.

It bought a tear to The Cook's eye...

but not to mine!

I am hoping to fix the fences

when I come back...before

they come back!

Dunno if I like it

 The windows  

(particularly on the north side of the house) 

needed painting.

We picked the colours.

But I think the walls are a bit 'pink'.

Never mind, it looks nice and fresh

and it is protected for a few more years.

The bearded woman

I'm sorry little chick,

but araucanas are funny looking!

Who ever heard of a bearded chook?

Or are you a rooster?

I suppose you could always get a job in a circus

as the bearded woman (if you are a hen).

Otherwise, chip chop, in the pot!

Now you will notice that is two posts about

cooking roosters...

but I will never be able to do it!

I'm too chicken!

Tra, la la la la

..la la la,

I'm just like My Daddy, Rocky!

Look at my lovely wing feathers,

Tra la la la la,

They are coming through black and white

just like My Daddy, Rocky's.

Whaddayamean?  

If I am too much like My Daddy Rocky, 

you are going to cook and eat me?

Overseas Job

I have suddenly been recruited for a job overseas!

Next Monday, I am off to the U.S. of A.

for a fortnight's child-minding duties.

Here are my charges!

Cute eh?

Well, OK, they are my grandchildren.

Now, where did I put that passport?

What colour is the water in the creek?

The same colour as the sky, of course.

I love this creek!

It has a good permanent flow, is beautiful, fresh, full of yabbies, trout and other fish,

home to platypus, wonderful to sit in on a hot day

and it provides the water for my garden.

So I think the water is actually golden.

Fat Fruit Friday # 8 - Leafy and fruity

Yes, I do know it is Sunday,

but if it is any consolation, these photos

were taken on Friday.

The greenhouse is a wonder!

One capsicum...

...and more on the way.

Salad leaves and...

...huge leaves on the eggplants.

A little tomato and...

...ripening chillis.

Everything is so lush.

Oh, I know I promised pictures of the tomatoes.

But for some reason the computer keeps turning the

photos on the side and they just don't look as 

exciting that way...so next week.

A face only a mother could love?

This post will not go down as a culinary highlight...

to be commented on for days.

The meal wouldn't get me a gig on Master Chef...

and I wouldn't serve it to guests.

Maybe it is a meal only the grower could love.

But I had to share it...cos it is a >90%  meal.

We haven't had many of those since autumn.

(The Great Goat Raids of the Winter of 2011.)

So here it is...

plain and simple and extremely green.

Silver beet and spinach, carrots,

broad bean, green garlic, mint, mash with and feta and olive oil

(ala Suburban Tomato - Liz's looked nicer but this one tasted fine)

and a lightly poached egg from Hortense.

Seven out of eight main ingredients...

I'm claiming that as more than ninety percent home produced.

May there be many more!

Garlic re-calculation

The garlic was beginning to yellow and dry a little.  Some were starting to flower.  It is a couple of weeks earlier than I expected to harvest...but harvest I did...and I harvested, and harvested and harvested!

I was so thrilled with the first few that I pulled, I whipped out the camera.

Then I kept harvesting...

Not a bad haul, hey?

However,  these were just the ones planted around about 

and not in the main garlic bed.

So I kept harvesting.

146!

There were no humungous ones, 

but very few small ones either.

They were all about the size of these ones below...

sort of 'shop size'.

When I planted these, way back on the Autumn Equinox

on March 21st, I wrote a post entitled 'Garlic Maths'.

Out of the 150 cloves I planted, only four didn't prosper.

So here is my updated garlic maths:

146 bulbs x 7* cloves each = 1022 cloves of garlic.

*only an estimate...they may have more cloves.

That's a lot of garlic!

The early bird...

gets the worm.

In this case, the early pumpkins....

started as seeds in the little greenhouse

and planted out 

are way ahead.

Potimaron...pumpkins

 These little fellas, were planted

in the garden as seeds once the soil warmed.

 

I have planted fewer pumpkins this year. 

But looking at photos of last year's harvest, maybe I will

poke a few more seeds in somewhere.

I am having a go at some watermelons and cantaloups too.

For Madame Bok

Cornellian Cherry 

White Sapote