And So It Goes – Day 30 NaBloPoMo 2016

30 Nov 2016 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Chickens, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , ,

Today is the last day of the blog challenge for 2016. I think this is the third year I’ve been involved with NaBloPoMo and this one’s probably been the easiest in many ways.

Life has been no less busy, in truth I’ve probably been more stressed than I have in years but after three years of NaBloPoMo and three years of constant writing for university under my belt, I tend to make time in my day to make these blog posts happen.

I’ve got back into the habit of writing!

And perhaps more to the point, I’ve got into the habit of seeing and doing things that I want to write about and share here. Today was a very good case in point – as soon as I saw this in the yard I wanted to write about it!

I had to say goodbye to my apricot tree a while back (my favourite fruit). Sadly, it had brown rot and I really couldn’t save it. In anticipation, I planted another two years ago. It’s doing really well and I decided to let it bear a couple of fruit this year so I could at least have a taste of apricot goodness. Unfortunately, we had some high winds and I found the few fruit I’d let stay had fallen 😦

And then, this morning while I was weeding around the tree, I found this!!!!

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It is quite big and won’t be ripe for at least another month, possibly six weeks, it might not even make it – who can tell? But it’s the only one on this little tree and I’m unbelievably thrilled.

Meanwhile, the rabbits and chickens are incredibly indignant. We’ve had workmen in to remove English Ivy from the backyard. The rabbits were upset that we had to move their hutches near the chickens and the chickens were indignant that the rabbits were there at all. And then there’s been all the noise and power tools upsetting everyone’s calm – it’s been bedlam! Hopefully, it will all be finished tomorrow and we can get back to the usual run-of-the-mill bedlam that passes for normality in my place 😀

I might take a break from blogging for a few days – I have baking to do tomorrow and my birthday to celebrate on Friday – but there’s things afoot that I’ll want to write about coming up.

So thank you for reading, and take care dear friends wherever you may be on this beautiful little planet. I’ll see you soon ❤

A Blast From the Past – Day 29 NaBloPoMo 2016

29 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Baking, Biography, Urban Farming, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, things still haven’t calmed down after yesterday’s post about Callum! Thank you so much to everyone for your lovely comments on Facebook – it means a lot to both of us 😀

Today has been almost as busy and very satisfying!

I went back to my Doctor for test results and yes, the diagnosis was correct and the drugs have dragged me back to blessed normality. I don’t have to take another blood test for 3 months – huzzah!

In the post today I received books I ordered online. One is a present for a friend, one is my text book for my new unit, Writing Poetry and the other was a book I grew up with and learned many basic cooking skills from.

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The Green and Gold was quite an institution where I grew up in rural South Australia. My grandmother had a first or second edition from the 1920’s, my mother had one from the 1940’s and I was given one in the 1970’s. My copy was sadly destroyed some years ago and I bought this on a whim from good old eBay.

I’m fairly certain this is a 1960’s printing as the oven temperatures are all in Fahrenheit and the advertisements are all from that era.

As I flicked through the recipes this afternoon, I could hear both my mother and grandmother instructing me in my first adventures in making cakes and biscuits around the kitchen table all those years ago ❤ I must be getting nostalgic in my old age!

Speaking of which, it’s my birthday week! I’m having a morning tea at work on Friday and promised The Superstars cake in return for them entertaining me. I think I might have to bake something from this for them 😀

And finally, when I was watering this morning I found some treasure! I don’t know that I’ll have enough for a Raspberry Upside Down Cake as I did for my birthday last year, but it’s a good start to the season.

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Take care and see you all tomorrow for the last post for NaBloPoMo 2016!

A (Mostly) Sunny Sunday – Day 27 2016

27 Nov 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Urban Farming, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

After the brooding gloominess of yesterday, today was mostly sunny and warm – so back to the garden I went!

As I’ve complained in lots of posts, all the rain has meant a bumper crop of weeds this spring and it was getting a bit out of hand. So I dragged out the brushcutter a few days ago and got it running today (with a little coaxing). In my experience, small engines don’t fare so well if they’re locked up in a shed too long and I generally only use this once or twice a year, so it’s no wonder I need to take it in for servicing now!

Bernard Black Bunny was not impressed at all! And even after I’d finished an hour he still wouldn’t come near me for a pat, let along a cuddle! On the other hand, my doe rabbits, Bella and Boudica, stretched out and snoozed like it was all perfectly normal. The chickens kept their distance but were watching me from the safety of their coup, waiting for food as always.

Along the back of the chicken coup and the south facing fence, it’s mostly too shady for vegetables, so I’ve planted some aromatic plants that like the conditions and attract bees and native birds. In particular, I’ve got quite a few Australian native mint bushes (Prostanthera sp) which are long time favourites of mine.

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As you can see from the shape of the flowers, these little beauties are certainly in the global mint family (Lamiaceae), which makes them cousins of thyme, sage and rosemary. This is Prostanthera “Poorinda David” a common cultivar, which flowers profusely in spring. The aroma of the crushed leaves of most species is far more subtle and complex than the more commonly grown culinary mint, and I like them far better. As a backdrop, I’ve planted another lamiaceae plant, Balm of Gilead (Cedronella canariensis), another old favourite of mine, that grows to 2.5 m and will sprawl every which way if left to its own devices. I cut it back today and will do it again in autumn. The heady scent is like a blend of camphor and eucalyptus, and it blends surprisingly well with the subtle notes of the Australian mint bushes. Consequently, it’s a lovely spot to walk through, from the rabbits to go and see the chickens. 🙂

Behind the chicken hutch I planted a couple of quite low-growing Australina native tea trees last autumn, a Grampians Tea Tree (Leptospermum turbinatum) and a cultivar Leptospermum “Riot”. 

I first saw L. turbinatum many years ago when bushwalking in the Grampians in Victoria and it’s a delightful spreading shrub, with shiny, deep green leaves and classic tea tree flowers.

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On the other hand, L. “Riot” is a mass of vibrant, cerise pink flowers that cover the plant and are incredibly attractive for me as well as bees, other desirable insects and native birds!

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I’m thrilled these two have taken so well to this otherwise difficult spot. And I love anything that helps the bees ❤

Meanwhile, I’m having an early night. It’s been a long and energetic day and I start a new unit for university, Writing Poetry as well as work at Oak tomorrow. Also, it’s the start of my birthday week – I figure when you get to my age, you can fully expect to celebrate it for a week rather than just a day 😀

Take care and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Saturday Musing – Day 26 NaBloPoMo

26 Nov 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Urban Farming, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

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kunanyi/Mt Wellington late this afternoon

It was a strange day, but typical of Hobart in the spring.

Chilly westerly wind, and dark clouds off kunanyi/Mt Wellington, making Hobart look very gothic. One moment rain. Then sunshine and a reminder that summer is officially less than a week away.

My mood was equally odd and quite gloomy, I felt decidedly unsettled.

After running around chasing my tail most of the day I settled to doing some more to the shopping bag I started yesterday. I find repetitive tasks like this calming. Amazed, I realised I’ve nearly finished it!

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I got to the end of the netting section and discovered that I wasn’t going to have enough of the main colour to finish, so found a skein of  cream for the top band and handles. I’m very pleased with it but the real test will be when I take it to the shops and fill it with groceries!

Finally, when I went to the evening feed tonight, I decided to pick a few sprigs of lavender from my newish Munstead. I’ve got two bushes, both less than a year old, one in the ground and one in a tub, and they’re doing very well. Lavender is a wonderful herb, I love the scent and using it in sachets as well as desserts. I recall my mother used to keep a fresh sprig in her pocket to take out and sniff occasionally when she had a headache or was feeling out of sorts. She always said it cleared her head.

But tonight, I just wanted to enjoy having a little pot of it in the kitchen, to smell, enjoy and clear my mind  ❤

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The Sweet Spice of Variety – Day 24 NaBloPoMo 2016

24 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Articles, Biography, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , ,

It’s been a hectic day, and it’s not going to ease up – so here’s a quick post for today.

After yesterday’s rain and being stuck indoors with books (bliss!) today couldn’t have been more different.

I spent a busy morning with the animals and trying to get my brushcutter working. I only use the thing a couple of times a year but it’s handy when the grass starts to get long, which is certainly the case at the moment. All the rain and then the sudden burst of warm weather meant the weeds have boomed this week and really need attending to.

Because I use it so infrequently, the brushcutter’s not running properly. So it’ll have to be serviced before I can really make an impact on the jungle!

Meanwhile, I had a delivery of sheep manure this morning. This is my preferred means of feeding garden beds and I’m pretty happy to have got 11 bags delivered to my gate by a really nice young guy who’s trying to make a living out of garden supplies. This much should last me almost two years, though a good deal of it will go around fruit trees, asparagus and the ever-hungry rhubarb bed!

Then I had to quickly get changed and pop down to a nearby coffee shop to meet my friend Jenna Cesar. She’s a fellow blogger and another online writing student who lives in Hobart. We had a lovely chat, and she interviewed me about the work I’ve been doing at Oak Tasmania with Callum and The Superstars. Jenna’s writing her piece for uni but will be publishing it on her blog in weeks to come and I’ll put a link up here when that happens.

After a quick lunch it was back to the yard to carefully move all the bags of manure into a pyramid (more like a ziggurat!) so it’s easy for me to access with my problematic spine!

My dear friend and former neighbour called around this afternoon too. I miss her very much – and so does the lovely Oscar. Karen rescued him a couple of years ago and when she and her daughter moved, there was only room at their new home for one bunny. So Snowflake (her daughter’s rabbit) went with them and Oscar stayed here with us, which is really lovely as he’s a beautiful little fellow. He was so excited to see Karen today he really wouldn’t sit still – it was just gorgeous.

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He’s a dwarf lop and such a character! We couldn’t get him to keep still for a photo until we got Bernard out to say hello! This is the first time they’ve come this close to each other as their hutches are quite apart.

There was some growling – but to be expected with buck rabbits! Also, we realised that Bernard Black at 10 weeks old is already larger than Oscar. Not difficult really – but how big is he going to grow?

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But once Oscar was removed from the scene, my little camera hog was his usual chilled and affectionate self ❤

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For something different, tonight I’m going to gather photos together and put up some ads on Facebook for plants that are extra to my family’s needs. I realised that I really do have too many tomatoes and basil plants!

And tomorrow I’m at Oak with The Superstars ❤

Life is good here – hope it is with you too 😀

Volunteers and Patience – Day 22 NaBloPoMo

22 Nov 2016 4 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , , , ,

Hi everyone,

I spent a lovely day out in the yard today – no uni work to do. Woo hoo! So I had a chance to actually pay attention to a few things.

Like the worm farms. I’ve got two of them I bought a few years ago for converting all the kitchen waste that my chickens can’t have, (tea leaves, coffee grounds, potato peelings and so on) into lovely rich compost. I haven’t really taken a lot of notice of them since I emptied the bottom trays some months ago and put the compost out for the potato beds and wicking barrel fruit trees.

Well, imagine my surprise when I looked closely at the plants coming up in the gap between the trays today.

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In the picture above are mostly Roma bush tomatoes that I dried back in autumn, and after saving what I thought was the best of the seed, put in the rest in the compost bucket. Note a tiny potato plant in the right half of the photo – that has come up from a peeling! I’m planning to pot the strongest tomatoes up and let them do their thing. I’ve found Roma is a great variety for growing in tubs.

Volunteers are actually really common in my garden beds. At the moment, I’m picking from several Golden and Ruby Silverbeet (Rainbow Chard) and Curly Endives that have popped up in quite unlikely places and every autumn I have Corn Salad (Valerianella locusta) and of course, there’s the potatoes.

It’s really hard to find all the potatoes at harvest time and it only takes one to see a new plant sneak up in the middle of whatever’s in the bed next. Usually, I pull these out as they are like weeds – unwanted interlopers! On the other hand, in spring, I always find new plants of the perennial Wild Rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) that has made a home in front of the asparagus bed that I like to transplant or put in pots.

This is the asparagus I grew from seed last spring and planted out in autumn. Despite needing a thorough weeding, it’s doing really well – much better than first year crowns should – but I did spent quite a few months preparing the bed with copious amounts of sheep manure, seaweed and spent straw from the rabbit hutches. Also, I haven’t seen any berries yet (which identifies female plants) but with the slow start we had to spring, they might not appear until next month. The biggest stem was about pencil thickness so I might take a stem or two next spring but I won’t start cropping properly for another couple of years.

Most of the food I grow is fast to produce and crop – gone in a season. Apart from the fruit trees, asparagus is the only really long term food project I have, but I know it will be worth it. After weeding, I’ll be piling more manure and seaweed over it – and wait.

Patience is a virtue 😀

Speaking of which, this young fellow has no patience! This is Bernard Black charging in to eat ALL the food this morning, giving me the “get out of my way woman!” look on the way ❤

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Well Hello Summer! – Day 20 NaBloPoMo

20 Nov 2016 3 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Today was quite spectacular – brilliant, sunny and really quite hot. Too nice to be stuck inside with assignments, so I spent the day working on getting the garden up to date because it looks like summer’s here!

It was too hot to work in the greenhouse today, so I set up a work area outside on top of the currently empty rabbit nursery hutch. With a cold bottle of water and a good audio book (Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester) I spent quite a lot of time getting seedlings into tubes.

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It was a lovely place to work but here in Tasmania the sun is deceptively intense. I’m quite fair skinned and burn easily so I usually wear long sleeved cotton shirts, long pants and a hat when I’m out in the yard. Silly me forgot to roll my sleeves down after I did the watering this morning and after 10 minutes sitting working, I could feel my forearms burning. It’s not too bad tonight after a shower and plenty of soothing skin cream but I really try and avoid getting too much sun.

I potted up a lot of seedlings today – especially eggplants and basil – into toilet roll tubes. It’s an effective means of recycling an otherwise useless product and because the cardboard tubes disintegrate, it pretty much eliminates transplant shock when the seedlings go out into a garden bed or into a larger pot. If you’re interested in reading more, I wrote about it here.

Later in the afternoon, I made a wonderful discovery. I was weeding the path in front of the main raspberry bed when a flash of colour caught my eye – raspberry season has officially  started!

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And they were delicious – worth getting a little bit of sunburn earlier in the day 😀

To finish, Bernard Black is very well settled in and getting very inquisitive about his surroundings – and eating lots!

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Tomorrow is submission day for final assignments and discussions about future units. In particular, what am I going to do for my final year project. I’ve got a few ideas but I really need to run it past some of my tutors.

Lots to think about!

Let the Madness Begin! – Day 19 NaBloPoMo

19 Nov 2016 5 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Baking, Biography, Cooking, Preserving, Produce, Tasmania, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , , , ,

I had a really good day today.

Because I’m back on schedule for my uni assignments, I decided to make the most of the lovely spring weather and spent most of the day in the yard.

There were rabbit hutches to muck out, chickens to talk to and (at long last!) tomatoes to start planting, and later, I did quite a lot of work in the greenhouse.

Around this time every year, life gets a bit crazy for me with lots of summer vegetables that I start from seed. These either need to be either planted out in garden beds (like tomatoes, beans and salad greens) or potted up for growing in the greenhouse (primarily basil and chillies).

This year is no exception, and this afternoon I potted up one of my favourite summer herbs, Shiso (Perilla frutescens), also known as Beef Steak Plant.

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I use it shredded in salads and when the leaves are full size, as a wrap for sashimi and even for pickling and drying. I love it’s spicy, fresh flavour. I have a really good and simple pickling recipe here if you’re interested.

To have enough for fresh and preserving, I usually grow about two dozen plants in small pots and keep them in the greenhouse. I use a weak home made liquid feed once every couple of weeks

There was also a punnet of Bergamot (Monarda didyma) that I’m planning to use to attract bees, and add flowers to salads and for tea that yielded a dozen plants, more tomatoes and a punnet of five very healthy Jam Melons (Citrullus lanatus).

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These very old fashioned fruit are a real blast from my childhood, when my mother would use a melon to make autumn fruits go much further for desserts such as pie fillings, tarts and of course, Melon and Lemon Jam. The melon is fiddly to seed but once cooked, the translucent flesh takes up other flavours beautifully. I was given the seed by a lovely woman in northern Tasmania and I’m really pleased these grew. I intend to grow the strongest two but don’t have large enough garden beds left to put them in! So, I’m planning to put them in big tubs and let them spill out across what used to be the corner of shame – now well tended pine bark around the plum tree.

It’s a little bit of forward planning (and maybe wishful thinking) but I’m hoping to have at least a couple of melons to use for making the last of the berries stretch that little bit further at the end of the season ❤

Tomorrow I’m potting up the first of the basil – the official start of “basilapocolypse” – and more tomatoes. Next week, some of the chillies will be ready to go. Then things will get really crazy!

A Taste of Summer – Day 17 NaBloPoMo 2016

17 Nov 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

So it’s Day 17, over halfway through NaBloPoMo for 2016 – which is pretty amazing in itself! But today we had a proper taste of summer!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post the forecast was for 29 C (84 F) and the Bureau of Meteorology got it right! I managed to get some gardening done early and watered everything thoroughly. And when I went down to do the afternoon feed it looked like I hadn’t lost any of the new beans I recently planted.

Before I went down to the yard, I took the opportunity of a warm day to knock a small loaf of sourdough together. No yeast – just 2 cups of sourdough starter, 2 cups of bread flour, a little olive oil and water. After I kneaded it and put it in a greased loaf pan it looked like this. I covered it with a damp tea towel and left it to rise in the warm kitchen.

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Earlier this evening (about 6pm) just as I was about to put it in the oven it had risen to the top of the pan.

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And the finished loaf  ❤

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And this afternoon I pulled all my notes together for my last assignment, a treatment for a 16 page children’s picture book with instructions for the illustrations. Just as I finished the body of the book, I got a phone call from a friend who’s started keeping gorgeous little Netherland Dwarf bunnies – mini versions of my giant breeds. She had come home and found a tiny newborn in the middle of the floor!

After carefully checking the newborn kit and making sure it was warm, she checked her two does, one of whom she’s only had a few weeks. I suggested her new girl might’ve come to her already pregnant, But it appears her other doe was really a buck! I’m happy to say mother and baby are doing well. Human mother has calmed down now and is doing a fabulous job for a first-timer 😀

It’s quite tricky to sex (identify the gender) of very young rabbits and this kind of mix up happens more often than most of us want to admit. I’ve been caught out before and I find it difficult to reliably tell under about 10 weeks.

For instance, Bernard Black came to us a couple of weeks ago as a fully weaned, 8 week old identified buck. The day he arrived I checked and think that’s probably correct but I couldn’t be 100% sure.

Now, after what my friend has gone through, I plan to check Bernard again on the weekend – just to be sure!

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A very beautiful and much bigger bunny than when he first arrived a few short weeks ago ❤

Sunshine at Last! – Day 16 NaBloPoMo 2016

16 Nov 2016 5 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Business, Cooking, Creative Writing, Inspiration, Music, Produce, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m really tired tonight.

Last night I went out and celebrated Meraki Management’s 1st birthday, had a drink (yes, only one!), listened to some wonderful local, original music and caught up with lots of friends – it was lovely! There’s a fabulous vibe in Hobart at the moment valuing live music, which in many ways is bucking against the global trend. Long may it prosper!

This morning I slogged away at more weeding and prepared another area for tomatoes. It was overcast but very muggy, and as the morning progressed, the cloud burned away and it ended up being a really lovely day. But tomorrow is forecast to be increasingly windy and 29 C (84 F), well above average for this time of year.

I hope all my baby beans survive but this is perfect for the raspberry bed, which is looking like a wonderful (and early) crop this season.

With overnight temperatures only predicted to go down to 11 C (52 F) and no rain likely until next Tuesday, I’ll probably be up early and out watering everything before it gets too hot. Although I live close to central Hobart and have mains water, I like to use rainwater out in the yard. I’ve plumbed a gravity feed line down the the back corner and the greenhouse and I have a small electric pump that provides mains pressure. It’s a good system but I’m continually tweaking it. Over the coming months, I’m planning to set out extra lines off the gravity feed with soaker hoses that I can turn on and off as needed. It’s a big job and quite fiddly, so I’m happy to take it one bed at a time.

Tonight I had the house to myself and being tired, I decided on a very simple dinner. A piece of fresh fish, a little butter and everything else from the garden. I cooked off chopped garlic in the butter, added a sliced mushroom (from the compost bags again!) and once that had softened, I pushed it aside and put the fish in. Once I turned it, I tossed in shredded silverbeet and sliced fresh snow peas. I covered the pan for a minute or two while I got a plate and cutlery ready, serves the veggies first and put the just cooked fish on top. It was delicious!

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Tomorrow after watering, I have to finish off my last assignment for my current unit. I decided to put myself way outside my comfort zone and prepare a draft for a children’s picture book. Maybe that’s what I’ll write about tomorrow for NaBloPoMo.

Sometimes I don’t know why I do this to myself!

Goodnight friends, be well and I’ll see you tomorrow ❤

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