No rest for the wicked, so they say. I don’t think I was wicked, just very busy for most of the day.
Up at 0730, had a cup of rooiboss, and got ready for the gym for my exercise rehab session.
Out the door at 0810, had a great workout, and then back home to get stuck into the garden. Watered the entire veggie patch and did a little bit of maintenance (pruning runaway tomato bushes), but half way through, Kim brought out breakfast to me, and we ate it al fresco. A bacon, egg and mushroom toasted sandwich. How decadent, but Sunday is our once a week breaky treat day.
After breakfast, it was back to watering. Kim went next door at about 1000, and I then cleaned out the chook house. It was just their sleeping house this week. I clean out the run fortnightly, and their little house once a week. The house generates about two 10 litre buckets of chook poo and pea straw, which I let rest and dry right out for a week and then either use it for mulch or dig it in to a new bed. The plants love me for it. Here are the happy chickens after I put them back in their coop. They are all very healthy, and love the perch I made for them out of the dead cherry tree from the front yard.
After the chook house, I decided to clean up the shed. I was sick of hoarding all of the e-waste that I had collected over the years, and removed four wheelbarrow loads of old monitors, computers, DVD players, and other consumer electronics. I put them in a pile near the Hybrid, and will take them to the recycling centre when I find one.
Then I tidied up the benches, sorted through all of the glass jars I have collected over the winter, put all the PETE bottles back in their boxes and swept the floor. I should have taken a before shot, but all you have to imagine is over a year of neglect with junk everywhere. A bit of a bomb site. This is what it looks like now. Very tidy.
I now have an area for my home brew making on the steel bench, and probably enough room for soap making as well. Notice the Caustic Soda to the right. I nearly have all the ingredients now, just got to track down some coconut oil. And yes, I like Star Trek!
I also have a place for all of my fowlers-vacola jars and preserving pan.
And a little to the left.
It gets quite hot in the shed, so when I work in there, I have a pedestal fan turned on. To keep the home brew fermenter at a constant temperature, I put it under the bench sitting on the concrete slab. It keeps it at about 24C during the summer months, which is just right for brewing.
I finished the shed after about 3 hours of hard labour, and decided to have a little rest. Just as I sat down, Kim came back home and asked if I would like a glass of Perry from Henry of Harcourt. I certainly didn’t refuse an offer like that. It was divine.
Then I caught up with some paper work. I had a look at the course notes for the Carbon Accounting course I start tomorrow. I am looking forward to it and am very excited. Hopefully, I will meet some other like minded people during the course, and it will open a few new doors for me. Will have to wait and see.
At about 1600, I decided to make dinner from the garden. I even wrote a short post about it. I forgot to mention that I had home preserved plums and icecream for desert, and Kim and the kids had a piece of chocolate marble cake that Megan made yesterday.
As the evening draws to a close, I am about to watch a TV show on SBS called Changing Climate, Changing Times. It is from France, and looks pretty good. I let you know if it taught me anything new.
I plan on watching the same program, being in west aussie it is on at 2030 our time.
Just for fun…the remainder of your “no rest for the wicked” goes…”and even less for the righteous” lol
The carbon accounting course sounds very interesting, am looking forward to hearing more as you get into it:)
Gavin, you can put your chook muck straight on to new garden beds without letting it dry first — in fact, it’s probably better to water it straight away to start decomposition.
Hi Gavin,
I knew there was a reason I liked you, a fellow Star Trek fan…cool.
I forgot all about that show on SBS, hopefully my husband recorded it.
Phew! Just reading that wore me out. So far today I’ve done…erm… zilch! Well, unless you count warming up the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner for lunch, that is.
Was the documentary any good then?
Sounds like a busy day. We’re covered in a blanket of snow here in Ohio so no garden work for us. But I did make homemade english muffins and a couple loaves of whole wheat bread made from freshly ground local flour. YUM YUM!
Great work on the shed, If your before looked anything like ours does it was a big job … One on my to do list but I will continue with the de-cluttering of the house first.
Hi Gav,
First day back at work and at the end of the day, I just read your post. I’m exhausted now (where do you find the engery my friend?).
Think I need another holiday 🙂
@ Molly. The doco was excellent. Kim cried three times, because the future looks very sad if we don’t act soon. It helped spur me onwards to help solve the problem in my own way.
@ Chookie. Well you learn something new every day. I have been told that fresh chook poo will kill seedlings though?
@ Nevyn. Live long and prosper. Peace and long life.
@ Sharon. Everyone needs a rest day mate. Yes it was a great doco. One of the better ones I have seen.
@ Chiot’s Run. Those muffins and bread sounds great. It is so nice to be able to source local flour.
@ Tammy. Yes the shed was a bit of a bun fight. 3 hours of hard work never killed anyone though.
@ Sarhn. Welcome back, nice to see you again. The energy comes from within, and the self hypnosis works a treat. You can convince yourself that you are Superman if you really put your mind to it!
great work Gav you can come and do my shed next week love to see you
ELLIE