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 Joy of Making – Day 25 NaBloPoMo

25 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

Super quick post today, as I’m about to go out for dinner and board games at my friend Karen’s place 😀

First of all, happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends. In countries like Australia and the US, we have much to be grateful for but I (like so many people outside of the US) are deeply concerned about the new regime that will come into power in the new year. I only hope that in four year’s time we will still have as much to be grateful for!

As the holiday season is only a month away, I’m making presents!

A couple of years ago, I got sick of washing my dishes with cloths that are really just softened plastic. So I started making my own knitted cotton ones from new and salvaged thread.

I’m particularly fond of purple and I paired this purchased 3 ply with a fine white cotton I found at the local Tip Shop to make a fairly chunky cloth that can be put through the washing machine and reused until it starts to fray. Then it can go in the compost and become worm food!

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The pattern couldn’t be simpler. My mother taught me this when I was very little. Every row is plain (there’s no purl rows) and I use whatever size needles take my fancy:

Row 1: Cast on 2 stitches.

Row 2: Knit 1, bring the yarn forward and k 1. (Bringing the yarn forward or to the front of the work means you makes a stitch when the yarn loops over the needle to knit the next stitch).

Row 3: Knit 2 bring yarn forward and k 1.

Row 4: Knit 2 bring yarn forward and k to end.

Continue in this manner, increasing 1 stitch every row until you have a decent sized triangle of cloth – about 50 rows is good for an 8 ply cotton. The selvedge will have an eyelet effect from bringing the yarn forward for that one stitch at the beginning of every row. This eyelet is continued with the reducing rows too.

Reducing Rows:

Knit 1, knit 2 together, bring yarn forward, knit 2 together and knit to the end of the row.

Continue in this fashion (reducing a stitch) until you get down to the last 2 stitches. Knit them together and make some chain at the end to make a loop to hang off a tap or hook in the kitchen.

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Too easy! I can make one in a night – if I don’t get distracted with other things!

Today I bought 2 balls of vibrant red 3 ply cotton to pair with the rest of the white cotton. I’m going to make four or five of these in red and white for a friend who’s just refurbished her kitchen and bought some rather dashing red chairs. I know she’ll appreciate something handmade ❤

And I splurged and got a couple of balls of 8 ply cotton to make a shopping bag. This pattern came via a friend of mine who’s always on the look out for new and interesting ways to use yarn and fabric.

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This crocheted cotton bag is a present for me! If it turns out well, I might make a couple more for friends. When I was kid, we had old fashioned netting string bags that my father showed me how to make with twine. I’m really tempted to get a netting needle and go for it!

Anyway, must dash! See you all tomorrow ❤

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 😀

Book Time – Day 23 NaBloPoMo 2016

23 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Book Review, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

After our short blast of summer, today was wet and surprisingly cool. So I went into the city and cleared my holds and lay-by at Cracked & Spineless New & Used Books. And I’ve spent the rest of the day reading and trying not to drool over my bounty!

As I’m sure many of you know, I’m a huge fan and student of cinema. I love the history and culture that surrounds and informs it, particularly the pop culture source material that cinema draws from. As a child of the 60’s, I grew up watching Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, so when Richard showed me this secondhand treasure today I really had to get it!

 

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Sir Christopher Frayling is an academic and educator, and has written widely about pop culture. His style is scholarly but very accessible, something that’s often lacking in these kind of titles. But it’s obvious the man loves his work. I think I first came across him back in the late 90’s with a wonderful documentary and book Nightmare: The Birth of Horror. 

Speaking of which, I also picked up today the revised edition of The Hammer Vault by Marcus Hearn.

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This is a stunning collection of (often rare) artifacts from Hammer films, such as annotated script pages, unused promotional artwork, rare still shots and even private correspondence. The revised edition includes recent productions, including The Woman in Black (2012) which is a really lovely, old school Gothic horror film that is worth watching if only for a really fine post-Harry Potter performance from Daniel Radcliffe.

And finally, there was this beastie!

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This book goes right back to the very beginnings of Marvel and it’s really fascinating to see how some of the enduring characters have changed over time. Equally, it’s fascinating to note how many of the essential traits of characters such as Luke Cage, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have made their way across to the movies.

Recently, I went to see Doctor Strange (2016) and was thrilled that the production designers took note (and really paid homage to) the psychedelic and surreal artwork of Steve Ditko.

I think this book is a gem for anyone who loves pop culture history and comic books. Also, it really underlines how much the comics have informed the production values in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Tomorrow I’ve got a busy day. A load of sheep manure is turning up for the garden and I’m meeting a friend who’s writing an article about my work at Oak Tasmania, so I’m off for an early night of more reading 😀

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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Headaches and Happiness – Day 21 NaBloPoMo 2016

21 Nov 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Creative Writing, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

Well, I think I’ll sleep well tonight.

After yesterday’s long day gardening in the sunshine, all I’ve really done today is use my brain. And I must confess I don’t feel like there’s much of that left now!

This morning I double checked my assignment, made sure the format was correct and uploaded the beast into the ether!

After a celebratory lunch it was back to the grind. With one enrolled unit left for 2016, what units do I choose to study next year?

People have been asking me about what I’m studying so here’s the story.

Although I live in Tasmania, the southernmost state of Australia, my university is Griffith, which is based in Queensland. I’ve been studying online, one or occasionally two units at  a time since November 2013, so it’s been a long slog. And consistent. Unlike being on a physical campus, the year is broken up into four study periods (SP’s) of 12 or 13 weeks and they go all year round. So I haven’t had a real break from study for three years.

I’m enrolled in an undergraduate degree course, (Bachelor of Communications) and I’m on track for a double major in Creative Writing and Screen Studies. After discussing it at length with folks online, and working out what was available in which study period, I’ve opted for my last 2nd year elective in SP1 Writing Crime and Contemporary Romance which starts in late February, and although I love pulp noir fiction, I’m not a chick lit fan.

Then in SP2 it’s the start of third year subjects and a Screen Studies unit, Media Audiences, which I’m really looking forward to. It looks at the theory and methodology around audience studies as well as constructing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative research and how it is applied to media policy and content. (Yeah, I know – it’s pretty dry but I like that kind of thing!)

SP3 is back to creative writing with Writing Gothic and Speculative Fiction an area I’m very interested in learning about and I finish 2017 with a cross over unit which applies to both Screen Studies and Creative Writing, Documentary Scriptwriting. This is going to be a fascinating and intense finish to the year with assessment work to research, furnish a proposal, write a draft and revised script. I already have an idea brewing for this!

Meanwhile, it’s late, I’ve got a headache and all I want to do is sleep. But it’s really hot tonight (24.2 C at 10:20pm!) and I have a whole week off before I start SP4 and Writing Poetry, my last unit for 2016.

I wonder how much gardening I can get done in a week?

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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!

Remembering Days of Reading Past – Day 18 NaBloPoMo

18 Nov 2016 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Writing Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hi everyone,

A very quick post today as I’m on the home stretch with my last online university assignment and playing catch up with some discussion posts I missed while I was sick. As some of you might recall, this unit is Writing for Children and Young Adults and it’s been another excellent undergraduate level exploration. I’ve learnt a lot!

One of the discussion post questions was especially provocative. We were asked to think back to adolescence and talk about a book or series that really resonated with us. Of course, for me and many others in the unit, our first thoughts were to Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, while for others it was C. S. Lewis’ Narnia stories, which while excellent in their own right, I have always found somewhat “vanilla” and a little too preachy for my tastes. (Having said that, I still think Lucy Pevensie is one of the best heroines in contemporary children’s literature!)

I found my self remembering T. H. White’s dark and somewhat forbidding retelling of the Arthurian legend in The Once and Future King series. This is all the more fascinating because I haven’t read these books since I was in early high school – around 40 years ago!

Even though I couldn’t recall everything that happened in the four books, the overall feelings I gained from them remain to this day. I particularly loved the first book, The Sword in the Stone, which introduces the very old and absent minded Merlyn, who is living backwards through time, and Wart, the inquisitive and innocent adopted son of Sir Ector.

Now I want to read them all again, to see if the magic is still there – or if my memory has embellished it.

It also made me think about the profound effect that particular books can have and the amazing power of words on the human psyche.

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity”
Hermann Hesse

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