Massacre

Warning: this post may contain disturbing images and acrimonious sentiment directed primarily at nature and, well, the entire world.

Just as my veggie patch was starting to flourish, some evil, nameless, faceless creature decided to sever ALL of my biggest, strongest and most promising plants from their roots, leaving their bare stubs poking aimlessly out of the ground.

And as if to rub salt in the wound, the precious plant stalks and leaves haven't even served a useful purpose in nature's food chain - they've just been scattered carelessly across my garden beds. Total pointless destruction. Who or what could it be? I can only think of a nasty crow or similar. It can't be rabbits because they would have surely eaten their loot.

Bread heaven

I have been looking for an excuse to re-invigorate my feeble blogging efforts... and it took a lesson in sour dough bread-making from a fellow smallholder, and a successful second attempt at baking it!

I am very excited about the look, smell and taste of my sour dough bread. See for yourself:


And if only, dear reader, you could taste...it is as good as any sour dough I have ever bought - Irrewarra, Red Beard, La Madre - I've tried them all. And it's so easy to do! Thanks to my friend Sara, I am now a bread-making convert...

Rock-hewn veggie patch

Mr Mac and I have been busy butchering the earth in the name of food production. That doesn't sound very harmonious does it... but the truth is, we don't quite feel in harmony with nature just yet, mainly due to a rampant rabbit problem on our property.

As such we have had to dig a trench around our 10m x 8m veggie patch, and no doubt will be spending every waking (non-working) hour over the next week installing a rabbit proof fence.

Nevertheless, our little plot is starting to look rather well landscaped, thanks to a glut of small rocks on our property which I, feeling very proud of my resourcefulness, decided to use to neatly demarcate each bed.

However I started to feel unsure about my ingenious idea, as I soon realised that rocks are also homes to many a small creature...and many a vicious bull-ant!

DIY worm farm

My worms seem to be settling well into their moist, three-storey polystyrene home:


Not only are they ravaging all the scraps I'm throwing them, they also seem to be reproducing at a great rate - I found loads of baby worms squiggling about this morning!

With great excitement I also collected my first helping of worm wee, which I promptly diluted in water and sprinkled over our precious seedlings:


But it's the "castings" that every gardener lusts after most - the rich dark compost that worms create when they eat and wriggle their way through decomposing organic matter. It's supposed to be miracle food for plants.

My first batch of castings is just about ready to collect - now comes the tricky part: enticing my worms out of their lovely and familiar middle tier and up into the top tier where fresh, tasty scraps await...

Panoramic thrills

Our disgustingly picturesque view from our new 3.5-metre-long window:


There is an enormous variation in scenery depending on the time of day and the season. On a frosty morning:


And on a sunny afternoon:


Equally spectacular.

As one door closes...

Before and after front door shots. So why does this deserve it's own special blog post? Well we think the improvement is pretty significant, especially given that the original door was technically intended as an internal door...

The transformation continues: painting marathon

In the space of four weeknights, Mr Mac and I painted our freshly gutted and plastered, 50sqm kitchen/pantry/dining/living area.

Pre-painting:


Post-painting:


I think we nearly killed each other, and ourselves, in the race to get it finished before the sparky came to put the lights in!