Glasshouse....

Hi All

Just a quick post to show you the finished 

Glasshouse

.

As you can see we had enough windows to get it finished.

I have a couple of shelves in here with tomato seedlings, ferns and

geraniums.

A view from the outside looking in.

This is what it looks like from the back yard.

French doors make the front wall, the wooden ones are the door way.

Inside with the sun streaming in through the dirty windows. hahaha

they looked clean until I saw this photo.

I love my recycled glasshouse and am going to get a lot of use from it.

Have a great week end All

Mandy

Frozen Wonderland....

Brrrrrrr

It has been cold today, the wind is howling through here.

Wednesday morning I woke up to my bottom garden completely frozen. The plant above is my Chinese lantern and weeds. Below is the chair with icicles hanging off it. It was a frozen wonderland down there.

I must confess that I left the sprinkler on down there over night, all that water and 0 start mornings led to the big freeze. See the branch below? it was covered in ice and so heavy it was bent to the ground. The amazing thing is that as of this afternoon nothing has been harmed, the plants don't even look like the have been frozen, I'll see what the next few days brings.

I didn't spend all day in the garden today as the wind really was horrible to be out in. Instead

I took the opportunity to clean the boys room while

they are away. 

I thought I would show you a picture as it is  very rare to see this room clean. 

Robbie and William have been at there sisters Jess for the last week having a holiday, they went out

on the bus Saturday morning. A first for them both.

They have been having a great time out there.

Tomorrow we will be going out to pick them up, we'll stay for the week end then head home Sunday as they start school Monday. It has been so quiet here with no children but boy o boy have I got some gardening done....

Have a great week end

Blessings 

Mandy

The Front Garden.....

What perfect gardening weather we have been having here,we

have spent the last 2 days in the front garden. When I say we I mean myself and a lovely 

backpacking couple from England.

Above is the garden today, I did get a little carried away pruning as you can see the same garden below in summer. hm mm a lot barer now.

The corner garden I have completely revamped, Marcus pulled out all the 

things I didn't want any more, there were lots of plants that were just getting old and not doing well so out they came. Lots of cuttings have been potted up from all the pruning.

The salvias needed cutting right back as well and they will all grow back

and flower in spring.

All the roses were all pruned back hard, fertilized and well watered.

I have planted lots of daises for lots of colour come spring.

Have you been spending time this winter in the garden getting ready for spring.

Later in the week these gardens will all be mulched with bark chippings to help keep the water

in come summer.

Blessings

Mandy

In the winter garden.

I bet you were all expecting photos from Melbourne

weren't you. Yep me too, only thing is when I went to put all 

my photos onto the computer I some how deleted them all.

 I had also had spent the day on Thursday at the Gold Coast with my youngest grandson Mason, yep lost all those photos too. I tell you I still feel sick from doing it.

Still don't know how I did it!!!!!!

 So that's why your getting photos of the garden.

The good news is 

Bruce is building me a glasshouse made from all recycled windows.

We have been collecting them for a while to do this.

He is building it in the vege garden adjoining the shed, you can see the collection of windows and doors we have. All looks a bit messy now but will be amazing when it is finished.

Below you can see it is taking shape, won't be long and I'll have 

my seedlings growing ready for spring.

Enjoy your week end, the weather is amazing here

a beautiful warm winters day made just for gardening.

Mandy

Around the Farm.

                     This week I have been laid up at home after my procedure on my

leg...The good news is I got the all clear on my nose

so there will be no botox....which is just as well as I hate needles.

So I have been doing some cooking and fluffing around the house, funny

thing is when your told to stay still for a few days all I want to do is get up and do things.

These are super easy biscuits to make

2 cups almond meal

1 cup rapidura sugar 

2 eggs

bind all together and roll in wet hands so the mixture doesn't stick and

cook in a mod oven for 10-15 mins...

WARNING do eat the mixture before cooked as it tastes soooooo

good there will be none left....

Almond meal is quiet expensive so I buy the almonds and grind them up

in my thermomix.

I also use this mixture as a tart base with apples laid on top sprinkled with

cinnamon and sugar. yummo 

I got these recipes from Tania Hubbards book Gluten free Grain free. 

http://www.glutenfreegrainfree.com.au/gluten-free-blog/

Her recipes are so quick and easy go and check her site out.
I have turned these into jam drops, tarts, choc chip bics, ginger snaps what ever you want.

News Around the Farm.

Chooks

I have 3 new Araucana chooks, these little sweeties lay blue eggs.

Below you can see the difference in the eggs,brown, white and blue, they are a true blue colour aren't they pretty? and yes they taste the same and no the egg is not blue....True I have been asked that!!!

I have found that these girls a very flighty so I have had to keep them in a smaller

pen for now, I'm not sure if it is there nature or they need taming a little more.

My other exciting news is we have had our first lambs slaughtered...

Our first farm fresh meat.

We got both lambs done, there is a lot of roasts and chops some stewing meat as well.

Molly was on hand to help, she sat there the whole time watching me pack the meat up.

The only time she moved was when I put it into the baskets to take down to the freezer..

Other exciting news is next Tuesday I am flying to Melbourne for a few

days with my Mum and Alanah for a girly time.

I have never been to Melbourne so am so excited and looking forward to it.

Now if any one has any tips for where to go while we are there let me know.

 Have a great week end

Mandy

What about some botox????

Hello All

We are enjoying another Sunny perfect winters day here. I thought I would 

start my day out with a cuppa in the garden before I headed into the doctors. Enjoying sitting in the sun

I saw it......Hair and I do mean hair every where honestly my legs looked like they belonged to some one else, some one very hairy.

Straight to the bathroom and out comes the Emjoy that torturous device that pulls every hair out one at a time. This had to be done as I was going to the docs to get a skin check and there is a spot on my leg that needed checking so I have to get rid of the hair for him to see it.

Things are  getting harder to do for this 48 yr old I'm telling you.....here I am trying to balance on one leg while getting close enough to my other leg to get all the hairs(which I can't see real well any way) then my  glasses start to  slowly slip down my nose. OK balancing on one leg holding on to glasses trying to get all the dam hairs....I'm going back to shaving......Shaving.....better shave the armpits too I suppose.

Is it just me or do I  spend more time looking good for the doctor than my husband???

And because I'm getting a skin check I can't wear makeup and with this

nose I need lots of make up...feel free to turn away from this scary photo...what about the 

poor doctor that had to get close, which I am glad I went to the trouble to remove all hair as this was 

a very cute doctor...hahaha

 The skin check went OK have to get another nasty of my 

nose which won't do it any favors, thinking that this time when I go to the cosmetic surgeon

I might just get a few other tings done.....not much, new nose, nip and tuck, bit off botox in the lips, 

you know general maintenance stuff...

Hey  a girl can dream can't she...

Meanwhile in the real world I have house work to get done.

Enjoy your day....

Mandy

Week end...

How is your weekend going so far?

Friday saw William home from school with a tummy bug when I rang the school there where a few away so something was going around.

As I had made chicken pie for Tea Thursday night I had a nice chicken stock sitting in the fridge.

I made William a nice batch of chicken soup and he liked it!!!

 Meanwhile the chicken pie was left in the oven a little to long.....

Still tasted good though.

Saturday saw me blending up a lot off tomatoes. I decided to try something different this time. As I still have a good stockpile of tomato sauce and pasta sauces in the pantry I thought I would try freezing tomato sauce. All I did was blend up the uncooked tomatoes, basil, oregano and garlic in the thermomix and then put the sauce into stackable containers. My plan is I can then use the mix as base for soup or pasta sauce. At the moment I have plenty of freezer space so this works well.

Saturday evening we lit up the big pile of palm tree waste and had our selves a good ole fashioned bon fire. We had a great night with family and friends.

This morning it was all looking much cleaner.

In this photo below you can see to the right how big the pile was. It was a real eye sore and needed to be cleaned up.

Today I am having a day of nothing which includes a little reading, a little knitting may also be fitted in.

Enjoy your Sunday

Mandy