Happy Australia Day

Our Backyard BBQ

How to catch a Yabby...

 

This years biggest adventure so far would have to be 'Yabbying" at Gran & Pops Farm. 

All you need to catch your yabbies is a quiet afternoon and a Dam full of Yabbies... Throw in a  piece of  meat attached to a piece of string and once those yabbies get a smell of the meat they grab on with their claws. You drag them in and scoop em up... 

Catch em . . . Cook em . . .   Eat em . . .



Last night I had a dream....

Actually it wasn't a dream at all... I was on  HOLIDAY!!

We took ourselves on a little holiday far far away,  20 hours driving time… down into the Bega Valley, NSW to visit old friends…They live on a 450 acre property with 4 children a few cows, sheep and a couple of alpaca.  How envious we were as we drove through their front gate for the first time to see this vision…

Rolling Hills  and Green Pastures, Old Stables and Barns, Milking Sheds, Old Piggeries and the cutest little old laying boxes that you ever did see….

 

Huge fruit trees growing in the paddocks, Pear, Apple, Quince, Peach, Apricot
and 150 year old Oak Trees…

Mm mm Mulberries ....

This has to be one of the most, if not the most, prettiest place I have ever visited…It is an Old Dairy Farm with so much History and Beauty. I used to dream about living on a property like this...

Although I have to say now having arrived back home,  How much I truly appreciate what we also have in our backyard….it has only inspired me to work harder to achieve what I see in my dreams…

There will be more Fruit Tree planting this year, there will be larger Vege Gardens established, there will be new fences, and a new front gate, probably another shed extension…, a bigger and better chook coop (which is already under construction), plus cute little old laying boxes which I’m sure I can reconstruct myself from something around here, there will be new ponies for the children and maybe even a sheep or two…

My Kitchen and Cookery plans for the year is a never ending list…and My Craft Box is overflowing with many started projects.  

Big Visions…Small Steps….

      Thank you to our Very Hospitable Friends for sharing your life with us... 

Whose that squishing around my squash...

I always have someone down in the garden with me and today it was Miss Annabel.

Basket in hand ready to pick what goodies we might find...

A few months ago I planted a handful of mixed squash seeds behind the chook coop, I really didn't think any of them would survive. Firstly they have to make it through the daily chicken scratch up and after that  its hubby's Whipper Snipper!!!  He likes to keep a manicured lawn (yes,all 5 acres) and if it's not in my one of my allocated garden areas then it's fair game to all...

You can imagine how surprised I was when I noticed this prickly little Squash vine growing up from under my Mulberry Tree.

Last week flowers...This week baby squash...

 

We both admired this baby squash as if it were a piece of Gold..Then we ATE it...as soon as it was picked...It was sweet and crunchy, I couldn't imagine boiling these little treats up for dinner now after knowing how yum they taste fresh and raw...I think I'll be making these a salad vegetable from now on....

There should be a few more to pick by the end of next week...that's if no one else finds them...Sshhh...

And then it all went pear shaped....

  So it turns out that someone was quite taken with the idea of more than just one

Orange tree in the backyard. 



So impressed in fact that he decided to surprise me with a few more delicious  fruit trees just before Christmas. We got to work straight away, with the forecast for a week of rain ahead there was no better time to get planting. The ground was already nice and wet from the previous weeks rain, it was easy to dig and a perfect environment for these new trees to spread their roots... after planting we did our rain dance and the sky's opened....it rained, it poured it rained some more and it is still raining...and this is where it all went wrong...My new trees are totally waterlogged and drowning.....

We are now just crossing our fingers and hoping that the rain will stop and the ground will dry up a little...

We thought we were quite clever directing all our washing water down the slope to where our new Orchard would be but unfortunately this is what has caused the biggest problem....

The ground was saturated before it even started raining....  

 

Pear



Peach

 

Peachycot

  

Nectarine (before)





Nectarine (1 week after)



Hoping they survive now, I would like to be putting my own stone fruit on the table one Christmas soon...







Stage 1

1st January 2011
The boys have started work on the new coop...
I have always wanted to extend the coop into my garden and now that hubby has finished all his special little projects he is happy to work on one of mine.

It  was getting a little overcrowded with all the new chicks that have arrived the past couple of months. So just like our house, we thought we'd add on a few extra rooms to accommodate this other ever growing Family of mine...



The design was approved, The holes were dug, The posts are in place.

What a great productive start to the New Year.

Lollies....