Vege Garden.............

Considering the heat wave we had last week the 

vege garden is doing well.

With the spring rain we had and now hot weather every thing is growing.

Tomatoes are ready for picking... The lettuce bolted though and I am waiting for the new ones to grow a bit more.

The leeks and onions are nearly ready to harvest as well.

We have had purple snake beans all winter and they keep self seeding so 

we are getting a never ending supply of them.

The zucchinis are also being picked and these little round 

yellow ones are perfect for burgers.

All of our veges seeds are heirloom so I find that they continue to self seed. I always

leave plants to go to seed. I have not planted lettuce for ages as they pop up every where.

Grapes..

We use grapes as shelter in the vege garden.

The green house and glass house below benefits from the vine growing on them and it helps to keep the seedlings cool in mid summer.

The grape vine we are training as it will then shade the strawberries and asparagus...

We also have a trumpet vine growing ,but this year I think the grape will be big enough.

A window to the garden beyond.

Grapes are so small but they are every where. It looks like

it will be a good season this year. I can't wait to have enough to make wine!

We also grow our grapes all around the vege garden which makes for a cool micro climate in the middle of summer. This is important here as we are still in spring and have already had 40 degree heat 3 days in a row.

What are you growing and harvesting atm.....

This afternoon after work I am planting apple trees, but that is a post for another day..

Enjoy your week end...

Mandy

Around the Home...

First up I had to share this....

It was Grandparents week last week and this was set up in the shopping center.

Here I am with the Sutton babies.

Harrison, Sienna and Madison.

Speaking of Grandchildren (AGAIN I KNOW )

but.....Christmas is not that far away when you have 11 grandchildren and 11 children 

to organize pressies for.

I think this is the first time the sewing machine has been out in 6 months.

Instead of wrapping the presents I am making bags for them to go in.

That way they can be reused. These are for Mason and Phoebe in Charters Towers.

Mason loves Lego and Phoebe loves destroying it on him. I promised him

I would get Phoebe pink lego so she might leave his alone. hahah

So one bag down 10 to go !!!!!!!

Thursday is baking day.

I bake for my shop here so it is always fresh each week.

All left overs go for the boys morning teas that week.

The vege garden has gone mad and every thing is growing.
This was last nights salad. I only pick what I need daily.

I can't wait for these zucchinis as I have plant 4 different heirloom verities this year that I can save the seed from.

The daises flowered all winter and were the only color we had,this
is the last pic before I gave them a good hair cut.
I love the daisy such a simple beautiful flower.

Have a great week....

Mandy

 

Family and Farm...............

Hello to all,

I am hoping all Queenslanders have been getting this rain.

We have had over 5 inches now for the month of Oct.

This cheeky little rabbit is my youngest Grandchild William (Billy)

Billy is going to be a big brother in May 2018

Grand baby No 12

God has blessed us so much with our children and continues to bless us with grand babies now.

Our quiver is still filling..

Cassie & Billy were home for the weekend. Love having this girl home, she is truly a bright light. Always fun (naughty) and has such a loving heart for all those around her...And a fantastic Mum to Billy and wife for Ben....

We had a market on at our local hall on Sunday.  I think this is the first market I have done this year.

Too busy with the shop these days.

The market is the reason Cassie came home. Her hubby Ben is a saddle maker,

and leather worker so Cassie had a small stall as well.

These 2 are the newest members on the farm... They are doing a great job of keeping the snails down as well.

 The Jacaranda tree is in full bloom and the front yard is a carpet of blue.

As is the veranda

 The Flame tree is out early this year as well.

This is the Tea Garden

I have all tea herbs in here. Lemon verbena to Vanilla grass.

and all in between.

This was a hot unused area in the vege garden and is now the prettiest with the calendulas flowering in there. 

With all the rain I am getting my exercise mowing.

My ride on died so I am push mowing the yard, Between the edging, mowing and 

wiper snipering I do about 2 hours a day to stay on top. 

I tell you what I better start losing weight !!!!!!!!!

Blessing

and have a great week.

Mandy

A Day Out.......

Yesterday (Tuesday) I went out to

Jimbour Homestead

for the 

Women in Ag Day.

It rained all the way out there and home again.

But yet not once while we picnicked under the fig tree in the gardens.

We had a fashion parade, and the guest speaker was very good.

And I am so sorry I have forgotten her name. We sat at the same table and had a good chat and I still can't remember. Well she was inspiring...

What an amazing day this was.

I met up there with all 4 of my daughters which made it extra special.

My eldest daughter Jessica had a stall out there as well with

her candles.

I must say that her stall was the most pretty there.

This girl has style, took some greenery and transformed the gazebo.

The table Jess made all on her own as well.

Jess's range of pure soy candles are called Jersey. The name was a nick name from her friends

as a child.

Vegetable Garden

The vege garden was inspiring but a lot of work as well I bet.

This is the entrance and the hedge is Olives.....

Loved that and really want a hedge of olives now....hahaha

I also love the way they have trellised the tomatoes

How easy would these be to pick, and you could plant lettuce under them mid summer.

..

 Billy and I enjoyed this part of the garden the most...He loves eating and I love growing things.

We are a perfect team......

Such an inspiring day...

Felt good to get out with my girls, enjoy good company meet amazing people.

And drink good wine hahaha

Blessings to all

Mandy

SPRING IS HERE....

Hello and welcome to those still here....

 Winter has been very dry with not much rain at all, but Spring has lived up to it"s name.

We have now had 50mls in the last 2 weeks.

There is new growth every where and the grass is turning green once again...

This year we entered our garden in the Lockyer Valley Garden Comp. 

We were so excited when we came 2nd in two categories..

Large rural garden

and

First time entrant.

It sure made all the hard work worth it....I am already planning next year......

With Spring comes Spring cleaning. I remember when all the kids were little and at home it was a real ritual here. September holidays we would clean the house from top to bottom. 

Now I have to do it myself hahaha.

This was the first room to get done. The spare room.

We also now rent this room out on 

Airbnb

Through the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers both our Airbnbs were booked out 10 days straight.

A nice way to make some money that I must admit I spend most of it on plants.

How is all your spring cleaning going?

Below are the Elder flowers. They have been in since Jan this year and boy o boy are they growing.

I will be giving Elder flower cordial a go soon with all those blooms on them.

The veranda has had a good clean as well.

I love my dog but Molly sure does leave a lot of hair around...

Today she gets a hair cut so that should help with the shaggy rug.

I hope you all enjoy your day..

Blessings

Mandy

Winter time.....

Well it's that time of the year when the stove is lit and keeping us warm....

Something about Winter makes me all homely and content to stay indoors baking.

I have my sour dough up and going and baking bread every day is a job I love....

So do my hips!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heading out to visit my girls after work today and will be taking my sour dough with me...

Really can't trust the boys to feed it.

This photo is all about love.

Cousin love 

Friend love

and Grandma loves it..

 Every morning I enjoy a cuppa with the crazies on the farm....

These 2 aren't sure what the are.

Human

Dog

Cat

duck

but surely not chooks, so we won't tell them.

They roost at the top of the orange tree every night, chickens are rain forest animals.

So apparently trees are where they feel safe. I can not keep these two in the hen house so the yard is there domain.

I hope you are enjoying the slower rhythm of winter, and enjoying the

cold nights by the fire.