from the blue shed

suburban farm update - we have worms!

This glorious weather has had us out in the garden a fair bit this week. We had quite a surprise yesterday to find two ducks having a little paddle in the pool. Perhaps it needs a clean. Rowen decided to keep an eye on the ducks and have a dig in the dirt when she discovered our compost is home to some lovely slimy worms. I can hear my grandmother squealing in horror as I type this. Anyhow, she quickly scooped them up, named them and asked if they could sleep in her bed that night. Once the disappointment subsided, she set about making them a bed outside when one of the ducks swooped down and ate one of the worms. Well, that's her version of the events. I thought the poor girl would never recover.

Our suburban farm is really starting to establish itself. Our first winter crop, along with the reliable rocket and lettuce, is producing zucchini and broccoli. Adam has built a compost area. Mixed with fresh poop from the girls out the back we (I use the term "we" loosely) have created some fantastic soil. Our radish and chilli seedlings have started to sprout and we are ready to start it all over again.
 

Pinspired by Closet Cooking and produced by our wee suburban farm it's Zucchini Carbonara for dinner. Yum!

suburban farm update - mini key lime tarts

A little update on our suburban farm  The lovely ladies out the back are struggling a bit with this sweltering summer. They are off the lay a little and one hen is a bit broody, just waiting for a non existent chick to hatch. The poor thing is off food and looking rather pathetic. I wasn't really prepared for this aspect of "farm" life. The watermelon patch that threatens to swallow up our back garden is producing melons at an amazing rate. If you sit very still, I swear you can watch them growing. Homemade pesto is a new favorite. Slathering the made from scratch variety onto a bag of pasta just really makes it feel like you cared about dinner instead of screamed in the door frantically at 5:30 in a oh no what's for dinner kind of panic and just whacked it together. The limes are falling off the tree. We are concocting all sort of lime recipes. mini key lime tarts, dressings, salsas and I am on a mission to perfect the Mojito.

We are ready for our third round of seeds to be planted. As I have said before, I never thought our veggie patch would amount to too much, not being much of a green thumb. We have however enjoyed watching it grow from seed to seedling to edible veg this summer. The best tomato I have ever tasted in my ENTIRE life was a few weeks ago straight from the garden. I didn't realize they could taste like that! If you don't have a little green patch of your own; a bed, a bathtub or a pot you really really must. Really.

suburban farm update

My loss of sleep over the well being of our seedlings was unnecessary not to mention slightly crazy. Our veggie patch is actually producing food and we have even managed a watermelon! The kids are loving collecting their dinner from our garden. Our meals are becoming more simplistic and better appreciated by the picky eaters. Hmmm "they" were right!

It's amazing what a bit of TLC not to mention reticulation on a timer can do. 

Favorite salad of the summer

Roasted beetroot
Rocket
Feta
Toasted pine nuts or almonds 
Toss with freshly cracked salt and pepper, olive oil and lime juice 

the suburban farm - the seedlings are in!

The soil has arrived.

...treasures have been buried and found.

...and the seedlings have been planted.

We're crossing our fingers, oh yes, and watering! 

Now, a few days later, they are looking extremely limp. We foolishly removed them from their toilet paper rolls when we planted them. I already loose sleep over the chickens when it rains. Now I fear these little babies won't make it.  Why do I do this to myself??? 
Perhaps we should install a veggie cam?? 

suburban farm - seeds

We have started the second stage of our suburban farm. I came home from a long weekend working at the shop to find my husband and the kids had built our veggie patches. This working thing is working out a treat!

Our keen writer labeled the toilet paper tubes.

The kids and I then set out planting seeds. Buying seedlings was so tempting but I really wanted to show them the wonders of growing from seed (which I have never actually done before) And what a wonder it was. It actually worked! Each tube was filled with soil, this stage almost ended the whole exercise. How do you fill a tube with dirt when there's a hole in the bottom??

 Now a week later, tiny little heads have started popping out of the soil. I went through this exercise with great hopes but really, I didn't think it would actually work as I generally can't grow anything, but hoorah! 

We may buy a few tomato seedlings as I am completely impatient. If all travels along nicely though, We can pay off the mortgage in watermelon sales! Will keep you posted!

introducing....

* Dipstick * Lava Girl * Chicken Licken * Marmalde *

They have only been in the family for 24 hours and already we've had a break in, a break out, a canine stand off, a missing chook, a very restless sleep (re:missing chook) a found chook (hooray!), 500 hundred chicken cuddles (they are really quite cuddly) and one gal who has fallen in love with them (that's me) I didn't think I would be so fond of them, we are talking about chickens here. We are all so thrilled to have our new family members.
Here's a few for the album;

 
 
We still have a few weeks until they start laying. The ones pictured above are the plastic encouragement variety. Step one of our suburban farm complete. At this rate we could have a pig and a goat by the end of the year. The council may have something to say about that, not to mention the neighbours. 

Thank you Adam, hooray for chickens!

the makings of a suburban farm

A couple of times a year my husband always asks me the same question, "So, wanna move to the country and start a goat farm?" and my response is generally the same, "Um, I don't think so". It's not that I don't get swept up with the romantic notion of country life every time we visit it. It's just that I am a big city girl, now living in suburbia. That is a big enough step for this decade I think. For now we'll just try to inject a bit of country into our little patch of suburbia. 

Step 1. Chickens.

When I first moved to Australia and discovered that people kept chickens in their backyards, I thought it was, well, ridiculous. I didn't really give a lot of thought to all the benefits at first, I just thought they seemed so out of place in a suburban area. Adam has wanted chickens forever. He conveniently found an old wooden trunk (perfect for a laying box) and a few other bits lying on the side of the road. Mix that with the relentless pleading from the children and here we are.

Isn't that just the sweetest thing? My initial hesitation was how our dog was going to cope, Jack Russell's being chickens main canine nemesis. The amount of fun Adam and the 2 girls have had planning and putting it all together though, it's just gotta work. Right??