Trying to keep going….

So, where have I been?  I promise that I’ve not been sulking in the bedroom, or yahooing around the town, or even drinking far too much of anything – be it tea or wine or whiskey!  I’ve just been at home, growing, preserving, baking and currently trying to knit and crochet – dishcloths. I’ve also re-joined my Tai Chi for arthritis group (Monday mornings at 10am), still attending the local walking group (Tuesday mornings at 10am) and once a month, usually a Tuesday afternoon, a champagne catch-up with a chum (that one’s my favourite!). In fact the next champagne catch-up will be rather exciting as the said chum has just become a grandmother! I’m still waiting for the photo’s.

Baking bread has become a bit of an obsession recently too.  I usually only bake sourdough breads, from plain white to multigrain and rye, throwing assorted seeds and grains in the mix willy-nilly!  But the above pictures show a loaf that contains no yeast, sourdough or flour. It consists of oats, seeds and nuts and is truly divine. It is also incredibly easy to make which is a big plus with me.  I first saw it on a blog post of “My New Roots” who I think must be a nutritionist and she called it “The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread.”  Well, it hasn’t changed my life just yet, but I’m certainly enjoying waiting for the said change eating this bread.

  White and rye sourdough.

       These  pictures show what the grow house was like in Summer. See the little yellow flower peeking through the greenery in the third picture. It was meant to be a rock melon. I planted rock melon. The vine looked like rock melon, the same as last year. But, it was a pumpkin. A plain, grey pumpkin. I didn’t have any pumpkin seeds and if I had I certainly wouldn’t have planted them in the grow house. Even if it was self seeded from my compost, I usually buy butternut pumpkin as it’s so much sweeter. I do remember buying a different type, once. And now I have seven of them sitting on the back table drying out ready for storage.

I’m still collecting tomatoes from the grow house too. I still have some eggplant, capsicum (1 only), chilli and parsley in there. I’m slowly clearing beds ready for feeding and resting but I can already see baby tomato plants coming through…..  We have plenty of preserved tomatoes, frozen sauce and jars of dried tomatoes with lots of jars of spicy chutney, relish and pickle too.                 

  

So apart from the above my life is just cruising along. Summer here seemed to go on and on but now it just seems like a memory as it’s pretty cold and windy outside. But I have been out today and planted some bush peas and some snow and sugar snap peas too. I have yet to prune all the trees, I keep putting it off as there’s so many. A relative of the woman who lived here before us has moved back to Dover and has asked if she can come along when I’m pruning the trees as she would like to try propagating some of them as it was her father who planted them. Naturally I agreed as it’s a beautiful way to continue a memory. A friend came along and tried to name some of the many varieties of apple that we have and I was thrilled to have some names like “Crofton; Gravenstein; Geeveston Fanny; Coxes Orange Pippin; Red Pippin; Granny Smith and Red and Golden Delicious to name a few. But then there was a dispute on the Geeveston Fanny by another friend so I’m still unsure, sigh.

I also have a freezer full of plums too. I thought that I had lost most of the plums to the really HOT day in January but I still have plenty to stew and freeze for our porridge. I didn’t bother making jam this year as we really don’t eat that much jam. It is handy to have on hand for gifts though so friends will have to go savoury this year.

There are no Bali trips this year for me (sob) but I am looking forward to visiting my daughter in Queensland in September for two weeks. Hopefully it will be relatively quiet in the garden then and M will only have the chooks and Terry (the dog) to worry about whilst I’m away. Sara, my younger daughter, lives close to Airlie Beach and that’s where I’ll be staying. I’ve not been there before so I’m really looking forward to it. Sara and her family have only lived there since January 2012 as she was Adelaide born and bred. My oldest daughter Naomi is currently in Bali with her family on holiday. They all love it there too and I can’t wait to hear about it on their return to Adelaide. My son Shaun lives in Adelaide and spent two weeks here in Tassie in February when we went to Strahan for a few days and he caught up with friends and we all went to MONA.

Earlier this month I realised that I had reached the 40th anniversary of my arrival in Australia from the UK. I sailed to Australia on a Greek ship called the “Australis” as a 10 pound pom and when I stepped onto Australian soil at Fremantle, WA on 9/5/1973 wearing a t-shirt and jeans I remember thinking that if this was nearly winter I’m never going back to live in the UK. And I never have. The original plan has been to come and grab some sunshine for two years and then return. Hah, not this little black duck.  I must admit that when we first arrived in Adelaide I thought we’d been in Dr Who’s tardis because it was 25 years behind the times. I had left the north of England after many music festivals like the Isle of Wight and Reading and Bath and having access to seeing concerts by Hendrix, Dylan, Pink Floyd etc. and being a typical hippie child dancing whenever and wherever I wanted. Now in Adelaide I was shocked to be told by a new friend that if I wanted to dance in a club I had to wait until a man asked me!!!! And then there was the time I went to a work Christmas function and I was the only woman in  trousers – bright yellow ones! There wasn’t even colour television.  But things changed quickly and when we went back to the UK for our first holiday in 1980, only seven years later, with 2 daughters in tow, we found that everything had stayed the same and now our home town was behind the times and old friends seemed “suburban and settled down” and they viewed us as the “wild and exciting lucky ones”. Which I suppose we were. I love Australia, it is my home.

  Smoke over the bay.

So, that’s a little bit of where I’m at. I’ll try and be more consistent.

Jan

ps. the local hotel burned down in April this year………..

                                                                                               

Could it get any better?

I feel like a bit of a cheat here.  This is not my dog. In fact this is not my photograph.

But it is my view from the local beach and the dog and photo belong to a friend of mine, Maree.

I’m sure that she won’t mind me showing you this beautiful and peaceful scene.

Jan

How could I eat it?

 

When it’s so valuable in other ways …..

Let the bees enjoy it.

(with thanks to Steb Fisher for this wonderful shot of one of my artichokes)

Was that it?

 

So it rained – 4.4 mls.

Then it got windy and the sun came out and dried it all up again…..

Sigh

Jan

Here it is 2013 already..

So, what’s been happening? Hmmmm, well there have been weeks when this house has seemed like a busy railway station and then others when I haven’t seen one single person. Neither scenario bothers me too much. I am happy in my own company and naturally, there’s always something to do in the garden (or kitchen).

                                        

The weather has been absolutely crazy with heatwaves followed by wind, rain storms and even snow!  I’m still not smoking, it’s been three months now (the cashew jar has taken a beating though) and I still have pangs every now and again. I just give myself a good talking to and remind myself how poor I can be again if I start smoking!

M and I went to a fabulous free concert at MONA (Museum of Old & New Art) and my nose got very sun burned (just one side of it – great look!). We did the right thing and left our car in Hobart and caught the special coach to take us out to MONA. So glad that we did. Not only was it sensible for the planet but with over four thousand people there, there was no parking left and some families had to walk for quite a long way in the sun. I would probably have whinged and whined and spoiled everything if I had to walk a few kilometres in the sun. But I didn’t have to so everything was great. We even bumped into some good friends and was able to muscle in on the grass with them. (for all non-Tasmanians who might read this, when a “blow-in” such as myself actually bumps into a friend at a function or shopping centre etc., it means that you are ALMOST local. You can never be truly local unless you are born here). So I was quite excited to bump into friends in a very large crowd as you can imagine. The voices that we heard singing that afternoon were brilliant. There were a few songs that I didn’t like but it was a choir after all, singing “soul music”. Three hours of music, one glass of beer (just shows how hot it was – I only drink beer when it is HOT), sunshine and all free with no trouble or fighting. Just fabulous. Well done MONA. M has already bought his ticket for MONA FOMA in January and I will stay home and mind the “farm”. Well, I might just pop up for one concert. M will stay with friends in town to save on petrol and driving every day, it’s a one hour drive to Hobart from our little town.  

NOTE:  All of the above was first written on the 8th of December 2012.  It is now the 24th of January 2013……..

It has been a busy time, one way or another.  Christmas and New Year came and went for another year and phew we survived. I didn’t have to cook a meal on Christmas day which was brilliant and we had eaten at the local pub on Christmas eve with the family and then back to the house later for the opening of the gifts (European style). All family had left by the following day so we went to the usual “orphan’s party” which is always terrific fun and involves all those of us who don’t have family close by.  Prior to Christmas, and just after, we had our usual visit of our friends from Queensland and really mellowed and enjoyed their visits. New Year’s Eve was at home with two other couples and I actually managed to stay awake.

It would seem that my problem with Ron the rooster is no more. The addition of three extra girls just might be the reason.  A friend asked me if I would care for her “girls” who she absolutely adores, as she is no longer able to keep them at home. It is a sort of loan I suppose and a win-win situation for us both.  But, and it’s a fairly big BUT, they don’t recognise Ron as the rooster “in charge”.  In fact, they’re very rebellious and I’ve had to go traipsing next door on a number of occasions to bring them home. Putting it in perspective our back yard is almost an acre but obviously the grass is always greener. Meanwhile, Ron is beside himself, clucking and dancing and getting little nibbles for them but they just don’t care. In fact last time the girls went walkabout next door they took Ron with them! My original two, Eddie and Thelma are MOST put out by it all. They’re behaving like Misses Goodie Two Shoes and don’t wander too far away from the chook house at all. Which is another perplexing problem for Ron, as how can he oversee two lots of ladies in two completely different locations? Squawk….

In the garden, garlic harvested and hanging up; scarlet runner beans taking over the tank but leaving a bit of room for a couple of cucumber plants; the rock melon in the grow house turned into a pumpkin!  How that happened I’ve no idea as I don’t even have any pumpkin seeds……  Tomatoes coming in thick and fast now; the Tigerella seem to be the most prolific this year but the Black Russian, Mortgage Lifter and Brandywine could match them. Eggplants developing along with chillies, but once again no capsicums!  We’ve eaten lettuces, rocket, sugar snap and snow peas, pick strawberries every time we walk past them and are enjoying the blueberries from the one little bush. But our stone fruit, sob, was badly sun burned on the hottest day ever recorded in Tasmania. I think about 80% of our plums are ruined; 95% of the nectarines (we only had about 20 on the young tree), 50% of the peaches (again a very young tree) but the apricots seem okay.  We have a Moorpark apricot tree and it’s still about two weeks away from ripening.  I had a tip from one of the locals here too, about curly leaf on the peaches etc. He plants mallow around his stone fruit and even drapes it through his trees and somehow it keeps the curly leaf away as he never sprays, ever. The apple and pear trees are sunburned but hopefully we’ll still get fruit. The grass is brown and crunchy underfoot and we’re slowly dribbling small amounts of water to all the fruit trees every day until we have some decent rain. I could never be a farmer, it’s so heart-breaking when you lose a crop to unpredictable weather. But, after the fires here in Tasmania which didn’t come near us, I’m thankful to have a garden at all!

M went up to Mona Foma (music festival) last week and had a ball. He stayed at a friend’s unit in Hobart so he didn’t have to drive up and down every day.  I had quiet time at home and wow, did I get a lot done! I also had blood tests taken as the x-rays that I had done prior to Christmas have shown osteo-arthritis in both ankles and knees (I already kinda knew that anyway) and the doctor just wants to check that there’s no other nasty lurking there. She’s also checking my cholesterol, as I have put on so much weight since I stopped smoking I’m ashamed.

There have been quite a few birthdays since the new year and my son is coming for a two week visit next week. We usually have a jaunt somewhere in Tassie whilst he’s here so we’ll wait and see what the weather is going to be like then. I wonder if his eating habits have improved?

My sour dough bread baking is very popular amongst my friends which is incredibly gratifying. M still prefers the rye with caraway or fennel seeds but I usually send a couple of french sticks along to parties etc. My larger white loaves can still come out looking like mutants, one side rising and the other not, but they still taste good. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong there so any suggestions are welcome. The rye is baked in a clay pot with a lid and always rises and looks great, as do the french loaves. But the white bread, which I prove in Bannerton's, slash and then bake on a pizza stone, are always a lucky dip! I just never know.

Australia Day is coming up and we’ve been invited to a barbecue at Roaring Beach. I must remember the aeroguard! My legs are already covered in midge bites from a previous party and I was only outside for a short time!

Well, I will try and get back to this blog in a more regular fashion this year. I feel a bit more positive about 2013, everyone I ask hated last year for one reason or another, as did I.

So, have a great weekend.

Cheers

Jan

This and that–a bit boring really!

It must be spring as I had a bit of a tidy-up of the seed packets! There seems to be quite a few so I tried to sort them seasonally. But then I kept forgetting which pile was which and would have to stop and recheck every couple of minutes. Obviously tidiness and logicality are not my dominant features. But, I have been able to plant some seeds and some are even poking up and waving at me! How cool is that? It was only today that I noticed that the tank that holds my garlic (which finally has some scapes) has scarlet runner leaves poking through.Leftovers from last year making their way upward. It’s brilliant as they should still give the garlic enough time to thicken up some more before I have to pull them to make way for the beans. 

I was going to get out in the garden today but the pouring rain deflated my enthusiasm. So I made some sourdough bread instead. I prepared it last night, as an afterthought, and put it in the fridge overnight. This morning I brought it back into the kitchen, plopped it into my proofing baskets and then later onto my pizza stone to bake. All done before 10.30am this morning. The round(ish) one is multigrain and the longer one is white with sunflower seeds. I have to watch M, as he loves warm, fresh bread, and quite often if I’m outside and I’ve left the bread cooling I’ll come into crusts missing from BOTH ends of the bread!

 And then I had to vacuum the floor! I seem to make such a mess when I bake. Once the bread was finished I made a batch of oats and apricot slice. But this time I had mixed dried fruit from Angus Park which includes apples, pears, apricots, peaches and sultanas. I had to have a taste test and mmmmmm. But I forgot to take a photo before I cut it all up and put them in the tin, sorry.

Otherwise I’ve not much else to report. I visited the Cygnet market last Sunday and caught up with Kate (Vegetable Vagabond) and her handsome son who is on a visit. Then we popped in to see another friend who lives there too and checked out her garden. She puts me to shame. She’s a single mum with two kids and the fruit trees and vegetables she has growing are amazing. It’s a huge garden too, so much to try and keep under control. But at this time of the year that’s going to be impossible. The grass and weeds are growing overnight down here with the mix of rain and sunshine! I might have to toddle over with my trusty brush cutter as she can’t use one due to her carpal tunnel problem.

My rooster, Ron, is on his final warning. He has started to “have a go” at me. I’ve warned him that he’s not my favourite feathered friend, the way he “rapes” the girls and then struts about. And the noise he makes! So far he’s charged my legs and attacked my feet and hasn’t hurt. But the length of his spurs does cause some concern. So if he has another go he’s gone!

This picture is about 12 months old so his spurs are thicker and longer now, ouch! I’ll ask my farmer friend who gave me Ron if he wants him first. (he probably won’t – he has a few already). Then I’ll put a notice up on the noticeboard in the shopping centre. But if nobody wants him, it could be the pot!

Anyway, the sun is meant to come out for the weekend so I’ll be able to get out there. Whatever you have planned for the next couple of days I hope you enjoy it!

Avagoodweegend….

Jan

So that’s it..

 

 

 

But it’s not even that. Tuesday was sniffing, sneezing and feeling like s**t.

Wednesday and Thursday – not a sniffle nor a nose blow.

Today, Friday – dripping nose, blowing constantly. I’m even on to the toilet roll now!

Could it be hay fever? I’ve never had that, in all my life.

It’s not an allergy is it – to red wine?  Noooooooooooooooooo

Jan

The Latest

This is why M was up in Burnie. This greenhouse was pre-cut in Southern Tasmania, transported by trailer to Northern Tasmania and erected in the farmer’s field in one and a half days.

The farmer’s pretty happy.

Jan

I know it’s not halloween yet but

It’s been a strange few days. It has been gloriously sunny and warm – that’s just for starters – and I have been outside catching up on the gardening weeding and nurturing baby seedlings both inside and outside of the grow house. I think I’m going to have to call it the “Tomato House” this year as besides all the tomatoes that I’ve grown from seed this year, i.e. Brandywine, Ox Heart, Roma, Black Krim and Black Russian and a stripy green one which I can’t remember the name of, quite a few volunteers from last year have popped up! That includes Tigerella, Wild Currant, Gardeners Delight and Moneymaker. I am determined to be strong and strict this year and trim all side shoots and pull out wimpy seedlings but already I am slightly overwhelmed. I mean, I have the most flourishing kale plant, but it’s inside the grow house. I didn’t plant it there, I have never had kale inside the grow house, that would be just stupid. I haven’t even had the kale seed around the grow house. So the scary question is “Where did it come from?” Has the wind picked up the seed from the kale outside and miraculously blown it in through the door and then dropped it in the planter 10 metres away from the door? Perhaps one of the birds that has flown in from time to time has secreted (or excreted it) it in the planter?  Or does Mr Kale have a master plan to TAKE OVER THE WORLD one grow house at a time, eek! Meanwhile I’ll keep using it in salads and soups etc. I have left the one outside in flower deliberately as it is over 18 months old and I plan to collect the seeds but the one inside was growing long before the one outside was flowering.

And then there’s the rock melons….  I planted three seeds in a little pot. Only one grew but that was okay and I kept watering it and giving it encouragement daily.  Then I noticed something that looked like rock melon sprouting up in the bed of the grow house – two of them. I hurriedly planted the little one from the pot but alas, I don’t think it is ever going to catch up with its brothers, sigh. Of course, the rock melons are going to have to magically weave their ways around all the tomato plants too.

I have a theory about capsicum. I think that it’s vindictive! I don’t eat capsicum because it repeats on me – over and over and over again. But M likes it so for three years now I have been trying to grow capsicum. I don’t care what colour, red, green or yellow, it’s fine. I have a mini chocolate capsicum, bought as a seedling from a shop two years ago, but it’s sooooo mini once the seeds are discarded there’s barely anything left! So once, again I’ve planted  green and  banana yellow capsicum seeds and so far a big fat nothing! Just ‘cos I said I didn’t eat capsicum it’s sulking, hrumph…

But back to the strange few days. M is up north putting up a grow house in Burnie. He left on Sunday with the trailer loaded up and will be home sometime tonight, Tuesday. My question is, why is it that when he is away I stop eating sensibly? I always cook from scratch but what is my problem with doing it for just me? So instead of two regular evening meals with veggies what did I do? I ate a chicken leg on Sunday night and last night I went crazy and cooked a mushroom omelette. I have salad in the fridge, did I eat that? No. I have an assortment of veggies in the fridge and the garden, did I bother? No.  Consequently I have made a vegetable soup for tonight and crammed as many veggies in as I could to have with my freshly baked sourdough bread. Soup is good when you have no idea what time he will be home. But I do this every time that he’s away. My theory is that because I can get so much more done when he’s not around to interrupt divert me that I end up doing too much for too long and then just can’t be bothered doing anything else in the kitchen. What else could it be?

But, to put the whole darn thing into complete strangeness – I woke up this morning with a cold. In one nostril only. Streaming  all day, dew drops a major hazard and rib crunching sneezes. This afternoon I even had to have a little lie down. I have not been near anyone with germs, I only went up to the corner shop to collect the weekend papers  once. If you leave it until the Sunday you can get both and have a real news fest! M has been away and I have not been outside of this house/garden for a week (that sounds a bit sad but I like it like that). So am I back to the wind dropping germs into my left nostril, I know it wasn’t a bird, I would have noticed. I think.

I haven’t even started on the story about the dog………          

                                                                               

Jan

I’ve just worked it out!

I was born in the wrong century

 

Meet Nellie Page, an exotic dancer from the 19th century. 

I wonder what would happen if she tried to join a dance company today?????

 

Jan

An email I received this morning -

If you never learn the language of gratitude, you will never be on speaking terms with happiness.

A father and mother kissing their dying little girl goodbye. If you are wondering why all the medic people are bowing: in less than an hour, two small children in the next room are able to live thanks to the little girl's kidney and liver.

Jan

I love this picture

 

 

That’s all.

Jan

Losing Confidence

So here I am – again.

It’s been a strange year, not altogether pleasant either. The times that I have been the happiest have been when I’ve been away from home. That’s not right, surely. In my working life, I mean when I got paid for working for others, my home was my refuge, my haven, and I loved it. I used to work in an area that had me assisting the homeless, dysfunctional, sick and unemployed so at times it was somewhat testing if not scary even. So to come home at night was an absolute dream.

I’ve been outside of the paid workforce now for three years and I feel like I’ve lost touch with the world. I was confident in the work that I used to do and quite happily voiced my opinions when required. I usually had a funny story relating to the workplace that I could tell (never breaking confidentiality) and friends would ask for advise or just be happy to use me as a sounding board. But I also believed that I had such a lot to learn about living sustainably with gardening, cooking from scratch, baking bread and everything else that once retired I would be fulfilled. Hmmm.

Now all I can tell people is how high the broad beans are growing or that my sourdough bread is coming along nicely or that spinning wool is not for me. Not exactly exciting for most. Somehow I have become a recluse, silent and nervous with people I don’t know. Staring at the computer screen, wondering why I bother. Nobody reads boring blogs and I don’t seem to have anything interesting to say. But here I am. I keep trying and I plan to go back and read some of my early posts to see how far I have come in my plan to live more sustainably. I know I have improved in some areas but lost out in others such as my personal belief in WHO I AM. I don’t know anymore and some days I just don’t want to be here – anywhere – it’s all too hard. But let’s stop there before I begin to wallow!

One really, really good thing is that I haven’t had a cigarette now for six weeks and I have no plans to have any more. I knew it would be hard so I took advantage of the prescription available from the doctor which blocks the receptors in the brain with regards to nicotine. The drug itself has a bit of a dodgy reputation so I have continued to visit the psychologist and warned friends and family to tell me of any drastic personality changes. So far, so good. But then as I am a bit of a recluse that could be cheating. If only they could make a drug that blocks the receptors in the brain that encourage eating too much!

                  

Yes, the Tulip Festival in Wynyard, Tasmania was last weekend, 13th October and my friend Sue and I drove up for a couple of days as neither of us had been before.  The flowers were stunning and we were both impressed with the town and its use of tulips in the verges and town centre. There seems to be a great pride in the town and after the Saturday morning foreshore market had been dismantled and removed there was not one item of litter to be seen! Very impressive I must say, as it had been very busy when we stopped for a mooch around. It was a lovely market, with a huge selection of items for sale at “real” market prices. It wasn’t full of cheap and nasty either. I even saw kitchen tools that my mother used in her kitchen that I remember, they looked as old as my mothers too but were still going strong. (My mother would have turned 100 years old this year). I was able to pick up a couple of cake baking pans and a small radio for M’s workshop, none of which was over $2. My friend Sue surprised me with an early Christmas present. She had spotted the perfect baking bowl for my sourdough bread. Once again it was similar to the bowl that my mother used so many years ago and is the perfect size and not too heavy.

After the market and a visit to the tulip fields we went to the nearby Table Cape Lighthouse and climbed the 70 steps to the top for these magnificent views:-

                       

The weather wasn’t the kindest on the Saturday, being a bit cool and the occasional shower of rain but it didn’t manage to diminish our enjoyment. The day ended with a spectacular fireworks show and we had the best view from the pub (the meals there are pretty good too).

So, that was last weekend.  Let’s see if I can think of things to write closer to home……  Next time.

Jan

War on home gardens - Canada town outlaws food self-sufficiency

 

Monday, August 06, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036709_home_gardens_attacks_self-sufficiency.html#ixzz22l17QcIy

 

(NaturalNews) A Canadian couple that has been growing a beautiful, meticulously-maintained front yard vegetable and herb garden has been ordered by city officials to uproot most of it by September 1 or else face lofty fines. CBC News and others are reporting that the town of Drummondville in Quebec is actually planning to ban all front yard gardens in the municipality beginning this fall; a move the spells the end of food self-sufficiency for many Canadians living in the area.
Michel Beauchamp and Josee Landry love to grow their own food. But the back yard of their well kept, Saint-Charles area home does not get enough natural sunlight throughout the day to grow the many varieties of fresh fare they have long enjoyed. So they asked their town's Environmental Services Inspector if it was permissible to grow food in their front yard, and they were given a verbal affirmative that this was not a problem.
"They used to have flowers growing, but Beauchamp has high blood pressure and wanted to eat healthier. So they planted cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchinis, beets, onions, and Brussels sprouts, among other vegetables," said CBC News about the garden. According to the same report, Beauchamp has lost an astounding 75 pounds since first planting the garden, and much of this is due to his having been able to grow and eat his own healthy food at home.

Drummondville changes its mind, betrays Beauchamp and his wife

But after the couple invested roughly $2,500 to install the garden, which is among the most tasteful and orderly front yard gardens that you will likely ever see, by the way (http://grist.org/list/city-officials-are-waging-a-war-on-gardens/), Drummondville officials turned on the couple and told them that they would have to remove most of their garden or else face a daily fine of up to $300 -- and the couple was given just seven days to comply with this demand.
According to city officials, every front yard garden in Drummondville has to contain at least 30 percent grass, a requirement that Beauchamp and his wife did not comply with when they installed the garden. It does not appear that the couple was ever even told about the requirement; as they had previously received approval to plant the garden as it currently is.
When Beauchamp and his wife challenged the city on the order, officials did not relent, but instead gave the couple a compliance extension, telling them that they had until September 1 to rip up part of their garden. The two are still fighting the city over the issue, though, and continue to try to convince officials to do away with the silly ordinance.
"It must be a right to be able to grow our own vegetables on our land," said Beauchamp to CBC News. "It is nonsense to ban it."
Meanwhile, Drummondville officials are moving forward with a new ordinance that will completely restrict front yard gardens altogether, no matter their size, which puts Beauchamp and his wife and many others out of the food self-sufficiency business. Since many back yards in the area are too small or do not receive the proper amounts of natural sunlight, many areas' residents will essentially be restricted from ever growing their own food unless they move.

Food oppression also escalating in the U.S.

Similar jack-booted oppression by local officials is taking place in the U.S. as well, including in Tulsa, Okla., where a woman recently had her entire front yard garden illegally bulldozed by city officials (http://www.naturalnews.com). Similar cases of home-grown food destruction have taken place in Georgia, Michigan, and New Jersey.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cbc.ca
http://www.sherbrookerecord.com
http://www.cbc.ca
http://grist.org/list/city-officials-are-waging-a-war-on-gardens/
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036709_home_gardens_attacks_self-sufficiency.html#ixzz22l1M5OOe

I have shamelessly lifted this from a friend’s facebook page. This is too important to ignore and I hope that Australia does not follow in these footsteps!

Jan

Sick, Sick, Sick

Since M and I have returned from our holiday in Bali we have both been sick. Chest infections, coughs, snotty noses. aching muscles and no, I repeat, no energy or inclination to do much! I have known M for twelve years now and I have never seen him take to his bed before, ever.

We have had a few days here and there where we worked at maybe 80% of a functioning level but still the coughs continue.

It has been a hard winter down here in the far south of Tasmania and the nights have been very cold. A lot of the days have been too, and wet. I think a lot of our small country town has been hit with this dreaded flu as has the surrounding district. We have also had three deaths in a matter of weeks. We have another funeral to attend tomorrow. One of the deaths was possibly flu related but the others were bowel cancer in one and old age in the other. Friends have taken to their beds and I have become almost a hermit. I don’t want to infect anyone although I don’t think I am contagious any longer, but I also don’t want to mix with anyone who could be sick. I’m just so over feeling like crap I don’t want any more germs!

Now, having had my major whine I can report that I did have a wonderful three days with my friend Sue who turned 60 recently. She also wanted to avoid the ra-ra-ra that comes with a significant birthday here in our town, so we beat a hasty retreat to Cradle Mountain.

We stayed at the Lodge and what a fabulous place to stay. Within an hour of booking in there was a knock on our cabin door and one of the staff members stood with a bucket of ice containing a bottle of Tasmanian Sparkling Wine “for the birthday girl”. What a fabulous surprise. They knew it was Sue’s 60th birthday as I had ordered a surprise birthday cake for after our dinner that night.

We ate in the bistro and I made Sue wear the tiara that she had brought to Bali for me to wear on my 60th birthday. Payback is a wonderful thing! We had a wonderful meal and I had managed to have a quiet word with our waitress about when to bring out the cake. Well, not only did these two beautiful young, women bring out the cake, with candles lit, but they also sang Happy Birthday to Sue too.   

We finished in the bistro and asked that the remainder of the cake be put in the fridge as it was incredibly rich and neither of us could even finish the slice on our plates. Then into the guests’ lounge with big leather chairs and a roaring log fire.

We chatted on with a young couple and met another couple who had also received a bottle of sparkling on arrival – and an upgrade. Why the upgrade we asked. “Because we just got married” was the reply. Once again I was impressed with the service and thought that the Cradle Mountain Lodge had towards their guests.

We went back to the cabin before it got too late and off to bed. We were hoping for snow but knew that it was highly unlikely as the sun had been shining all day and was supposed to be repeated tomorrow. And it was. But first the car looked like this

                       and this                          

Boy it was cold first thing. We took great care walking to the lodge as we had been warned about possible black ice. The breakfast, which was included in the price, was A M A Z I N G! Just think of any food that you might possibly like to have for breakfast (or even eat anytime) and I think that it was in the buffet. We thought that we would try and be restrained so we started with some fresh fruit – and then greed and the thought that we wouldn’t be here for lunch took over. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and a baby croissant and four cups of coffee (small cups). But there was everything from sushi – porridge – baked beans – salamis and cheeses - pancakes and even bread and butter pudding! I noticed quite a few men taking full advantage of what was on offer, two or three times!

After breakfast we caught the bus to Dove Lake and walked as far as we could, first one way and then the other. We actually got too warm in the sun. It was a beautiful day.           

    When we returned to the Lodge we had a glass of mulled wine each and decided to explore the surrounds. There were a few “easy” walks and one of those was called “The Enchanted Walk” which took us past the Pencil Pine falls. The mosses, lichens and rocks certainly had the feel of a fairy forest. There was proof that wombats were in the area but we had to wait until much later in the day for our sighting of the wombat. We saw lots of pademelons, wallabies and a very tame and demanding possum.

                               

 

Another splendid meal and more mulled wine that evening followed by chatting by the log fire. We had to leave the next day as this was just a flying visit but I will definitely be going back. The drive home was as uneventful as the drive to the Mountain had been, although the weather was definitely changing. We tried to estimate the time from A to B and we think it was around six hours, allowing for a lunch break and stops along the way.  I dropped Sue home, along with the cake we had remembered to collect from the kitchen fridge, and made my weary way home. To be greeted by M – in bed – “Didn’t you get my message – I told you I had the flu and maybe you should think about staying away”.

That’ll teach me not to turn my phone on……….

Jan

The new hoophouse workshop

This is what M has been working on since we’ve been home from Bali. It’s the new improved model of hoophouse. It has the wooden floor to enable him to lay plastic out to cut to size. The plastic is then welded together and a hem sealed on the ends to have rope slid through to tighten the plastic around the skeleton hoops. This will make for a much tighter (and neater)fit and when the summer months come along and the plastic has more “give”, it can be easily tightened again. Plus, if the plastic needs to be removed for repairs or replacements, it is just a matter of releasing the ropes and slipping it off. No more staples, brilliant.

Now I’m sure that it is a lot more technical than how I have written it above but I don’t have a head for that sort of fact. My head is full of trivia and I know that one day I will need one of those little bits of trivia in a hurry! So there’s no room for other stuff. But M knows what it is all about and is very excited to have finished this workshop. Now he can get onto producing the new proto-type of his relocatable, rural and commercial hoophouses (although he has said he would like new names – sigh).

 

         Relocatable                                                                         Rural

He wasn’t happy with my suggestion of “Condom” (well it is plastic and slips on and off…..) so I’m still working on that one. He has had a number of enquiries from his website but had to complete the workshop to be able to build them through winter.

The new system will make transporting them a lot easier too, so trips all over Tasmania will be coming up soon. It will be soooooo good (not to say reassuring) to have some business happening again. I’m sure our anxiety will soon be lifted.

So fingers and toes crossed and I’ll let you know.

Jan