A peek at the ODK

I always imagine it will take less time

than it actually does

to do stuff.

Like the Outdoor Kitchen (ODK)

I have spent all my spare time out there

and it is still far from finished.

But I know a couple of you are keen to see it.

So I 'styled' it a little and took some photos.

It looks a bit like a still life art piece.

The bench and finishing touches needed 

and the pergola at the front needs completion.

 Tomorrow is the last chance 

to join in Winter Wednesday.

Write a post about what you 

have enjoyed about winter and

link it to my post.  

Pop by and leave a comment 

on my post and I will 

put a link up to your blog.

Everyone is welcome...

especially those who have not played before.

Su STAINABLE tea

We drink a lot of tea here.

So much that I reckon

if you drew blood from me....

it would be brown!

Unilever, have set themselves a goal 

to source all tea in Lipton tea bags 

from Rainforest Alliance Certified estates by 2015. 

Now I haven't done enough research to work out if this is SUS or not.  

If you know, do not hesitate to let me know!

Anyway this post is really about 

the STAINABLE in sustainable.

Tea does such a great job of staining the insides of our cups

that I began to wonder if it would do the same to 

the pine boards I have used to line the outdoor kitchen.

So we have been saving the tea bags and today

I brewed them up in a pot.

I will let you know how well they do!

Test Results

Well you all did very well in the Creativity Test.

I was very impressed with your ideas

and wish I had several old worm farms

so I could put some of them into practice.

However, this particular worm farm is now a cupboard.

...with a shelf.

I think it will do a handsome job of hiding the ugly
but necessary  items such as the detergent bottle and matches.

Also on the topic of cupboards.

Look what I found today!

A metal corner medicine cupboard.

It has a mirror on the front and the cutest little knob.

I am sure to be able to find a spot for it in the new kitchen.

I also found a sink which I can flush mount

under the bench to conceal as much

stainless steel as possible.

I may even make a lid for the hole so that it is hidden

when not in use.

I bought the sink at a second hand place. 

I wonder why he didn't charge me for this

wonderful rusty darling.

The Cook and I also went back to those old properties today

and collected some wood for trims for the outdoor kitchen.

Do you get the idea that

I am enjoying this project?

Don't forget that tomorrow is 

WINTER WEDNESDAY

Just write a post

about the joys of Winter

and then link with me.

Anyone can join in

even if you haven't before.

But do come and play...

there are only a couple

of Wednesdays left!

Creativity test

What possible use could I make of

my mother's old worm farm?

Mernda Saleyards

In search of more inspiration for the outdoor kitchen,

I stopped off at the Mernda Saleyards the other day.

These ceased trading as a 'proper' sale yard in 2005.

From that time till June 2009 it was still operating

as a small animal market each Monday.

Following complaints about animal cruelty 

there were inspections by the RSPCA.

New laws that required more paper work to prevent

and/or track livestock and disease made the market unviable.

The market attracted buyers from a wide range
of cultural backgrounds.

Many of the animals were bought for home butchering

and transported in the boots and back seats of cars.

It saleyards been trading for over 120 years.

You can tell I am coveting some of that timber, can't you?

Isn't the Internet wonderful?

I just found the minutes from a Council Meeting last year

that say the market has a heritage overlay.

 Parts of it will be preserved, with some of the later

parts demolished and used as a local market/farmer's market.

I did have my eye on those little doors, but I will

be a good girl and leave them where they are

for future generations to enjoy.

:-)

Kitchen dreams

My dream of the outdoor kitchen is moving a little closer.

My Great Nephew has agreed to lend his muscle

and some tools to the project in return for

looking after his dog.

All I have to do is have a clear idea of what I want

and gather some materials... by Saturday.

With that in mind, I hooked up the trailer 

and headed back to that second hand yard

I was so in love with.

But there was a different man there today and

the prices he quoted for some of the things were

much higher than I was given earlier.

The window I wanted had gone from $90 to $150!

It was the exact same window... not just a similar one.

I just said,  'No, thank you',  and left.

On the way home we stopped at an old property

I have been eyeing off and went fossicking.

I don't know if the box below will be part of the kitchen,

or just a raised garden bed nearby.  I love the chewed ends!

The tin on these little doors is flattened out drums.

If I use them...I will be recycling the recycled!

I am thinking they may make suitable cupboard

doors...but I will have to go back with a big

screwdriver.

Other people have been in and taken

lots of materials ... probably for firewood.

The land is for sale and about to be swallowed

by the encroaching suburban sprawl

in one of the fastest growing corridors

around Melbourne.

These structures will be bulldozed and burned.

I am glad I can reuse some bits and pieces.

Prosperous recycling of the old and repurposed

I retrieved this unique hanging pot from Mum's place the other day where it has been hanging around for a long time.  While I was planting some pretties in it, I realised that it had, originally been some sort of metal light shade.  Someone had, at some distant time, repurposed it by adding the chains. 

Nothing says, Welcome, 

like some plants at the front door 

and look, not an edible one in sight.

The jade plant is sometimes called the money plant and is often seen at the door of Chinese restaurants.  Feng Shui says that they attract both money and prosperity.  Although I am not that much interested in lots of money, I do like the idea of prosperity. The Legatum Prosperity Index rates countries using 79 variables including health, social capital, safety and security, education and personal freedom...and that is the definition I am going with.

Somebody (I bet you can guess who) has given my jade a number one crew cut.   I bought a new one (see it in the billy) to replace it. However, as I was about to tip the old one out I realised its stems were still green.  

So I have tidied up its fringe, conditioned its roots and given it an encouraging talk...in the hope of recycling it.  

Woo hoo...

maybe double jade plants 

mean double prosperity?

The project...

Some of you made great guesses and although wrong on this occasion have given me food for thought. A couple of you were absolutely right...or close enough.

It will be a rustic outdoor kitchen.

Suzanne AKA Mrs Enchanted Moments is my inspiration for this project.  If I knew where she lived I would go and steal this.  As I don't know, I will have to try to re-create the feeling by myself.

This is just the artist's impression and isn't to scale.

We went out with a tape and measured up and this one is to scale.

I have toyed with all sorts of ideas from a pergola attached to the house, a free standing pergola with the kitchen attached but all of these block the view from inside of the ridge and the trees beyond our property.  The pergola on the front of the kitchen will offer The Cook a bit of shade if it is hot.  An umbrella makes a lot of sense because it is adjustable.  If it is a hot day we will all be down in the creek anyway.  Those stepping stones lead to the table and chairs under a tree...shady in there.

At this stage, the ground will be granitic sand/gravel.  When we are rich one day we can pave it.

The kitchen will come soon, but the pizza oven is a project for later.

We paid a visit to a fabulous second hand building supply yard yesterday.  All those goodies just waiting for someone to come by and see their beauty under the dust and cobwebs.  This little lovely, or one just like it will be going into this project.

There were wonderful doors, skirting boards, wood of all kinds, kitchen and laundry troughs, toilets, basins.


Check out these wonderful pastel pedestal basins.  I am having one of those...for another project I have in mind...blue, I think.  I wish we had thought through our bathroom refurbishment a bit better now.  *sigh*

Pees and Leaks

Following along nicely from yesterday's post I spent the afternoon 

planting peas and leeks in the garden...

or should I say peaing and leeking in the garden. 

However, I think the computer has decided to censor me and is playing up.  

I cannot turn this first photo the right way...

so you will have to gently place your right ear 

on your right shoulder 

to get the right view.

That raised bed is made from those boxes 

I salvaged from the school's rubbish pile and is now home to ...

and....

I also planted  brown onions, some more cabbages (savoy) and cauliflowers (snowball) and broccolini.  

There are also telephone peas (which I assume will climb to great heights), snow peas, broad beans (dwarf Coles).  

Today I am off to plant some more root crops as the full moon is here again.

I am turning into a real Steptoe

Yesterday I wrote about sentimental treasures from my family home.
Today I went scrounging in a real rubbish pile at the local school.  They have had some building works done and there were many useful things to be gleaned.

Not pictured are three wooden boxes that are destined to be raised veggie beds...somewhere in the garden.  Some wood off-cuts for the fire, the pictured wooden thing, some star pickets, and bits of reo to grow things up.

That trailer I bought cheaply on ebay has paid for itself over and over!

The Cook is making quince jelly tonight and saving the pulp to make quince paste, or membrillo.

You can click here for last April's post about quince jelly, including the recipe.

When we get the membrillo up, I will post some pictures and the recipe.

Trash or treasure

One person's trash is another person's treasure

Isn't that the truth!
I may have mentioned that my mum has gone into an aged care facility and my sisters and I have been busy clearing her house.  It was a surprisingly simple task as she has always been house proud and the queen of decluttering. 

Why oh why, didn't I inherit the cleaning and decluttering genes instead of the big bum gene?  *sigh*

You can have a look at her house if you want.

Anyway, as part of the process the whole extended family has had the opportunity to choose from the household items.  I found it interesting which items were highly sought after and which have been left to take to the op-shop.

Here are my treasures.  

The look and feel of these large jars conjure memories of Saturday mornings 

in Mum's kitchen, cooking up a storm with the sisters.

The peg tin!

Once again, the feel of the edge of the tin in fingers and its weight are evocative of my childhood.

This is also a sentimental object as it is an old tin that once held infant formula.  

The infant was Tyrone, a cousin and the tin is about 60 years old.  

I know certain family members in Kalgoorlie will love this one.

 

I also chose this mirror which used to belong to my grandmother, the vase from mum's wedding crystal and a couple of glass items. 

Then there was the shed...Dad's shovel, the drill and bit (destined as art somewhere), his hedge clippers and other bits n pieces.

But best of all.....  I got the dunny door!

It has hardly been used, because we all used to sit on the throne with the door open, enjoying the view out over the garden.  I will post about it at a later date and show you what I will use it for. 

I don't understand why no-one fought me for it!

Canned Veggies

An early photo.

Some of you who have been reading the blog for a while you may remember a post entitled, 'Can Do'.  

I had been casting about for ideas for garden edges in the veggie patch and I decided to try cans.

I was very skeptical at first and the reflection from the sun hitting them was so strong, it hurt my eyes.

We all agreed they looked pretty awful.

 Over time, the cans have rusted and only the ends of them are visible. 

Now they blend in and are less obvious.

They do a great job of keeping the mulch on the paths and the soil in the beds separate.

Because they are small units, the edges can be made into any shape, curved or straight, long or short.

Just place the can where you want and press it down with your foot, to the level you desire.  

The cans can be easily lifted out if you want to change the shape of a bed.

It is inexpensive and saves the energy of transporting the cans and recycling the steel - or worse, from them ending up in land fill. 

  

With three cats and two dogs we have quite a few cans and I am still adding them.  

I would highly recommend this idea to you as something worth doing.
Maybe not in the lovely flower garden or by the garden gate, but in the veggie patch
it works very well.

But there is another reason 

I absolutely love them.  

I always hand water the vegetable garden and as I sprinkle, the water hits the cans.
 They provide a soft musical percussion background that compliments the natural sounds of the birds and the creek and the breeze in the trees.

It's quite lovely!