Category: Uncategorized
Gin & tonic anyone?
Why does lime season not coincide with gin and tonic season? It’s just not right. This is but a small sample of the tsunami of limes coming off my Tahitian lime …
Sunday Mango Magic
I can’t believe that I once hated the funky taste and slimy texture of mangoes. Now I think they’re divine! So when we went to the Kalamunda Markets last Sunday and …
Homesteading kids
We have always believed in “family-centric parenting”, which amongst other things translates in our house to everyone pitching in and helping out. Therefore the kids have a few daily chores, to …
Rebalancing
I spent today in the garden. I stoked the bonfire we’d had the night before. I weeded and fertilised the vegetable patch. I sowed every packet of flower seeds I owned, something …
A glorious winter weekend
You gotta love Perth in winter. Almost balmy conditions by some people’s estimations, it was t-shirt weather this past weekend and the Thierfelder family made the most of it, gardening and …
How I plant a tree
I often get asked gardening questions by friends and was recently asked how to plant a tree (after the tree in question had already been planted, of course.) My friends had …
The cost of growing your own food
Interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald aimed at urban beginner gardeners, which makes a compelling economic argument for growing your own food (if you do it right), to say nothing of the …
Winter Wonderland
Edgefield is so beautiful this time of year. There’s something beguiling about winter in the Perth Hills: dripping trees, misty mornings, citrus trees groaning under fruit, mushrooms popping up and …
Itching for a concrete slab
We’re back on schedule according to the builder’s program, as opposed to being ahead of it, as we were. But how can I complain about that? Progress has been slow …
Edgefield Design Session #3
The kids were in bed, it was a rainy Sunday afternoon and I’d been to the library earlier in the week returning with armloads of divine inspiration. So with …
House footings and an asparagus patch
We’ve started Edgefield’s new house project with a bang, I’m thrilled to report. In a week and a half, our builder and his earthmoving team, have managed to complete a massive …
The dulcet tones of a bulldozer starting work on our new house
First two days of work on the new house. No, I won’t be posting photos of every little thing that’s done, it’s just kinda exciting that it’s finally underway.
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Researching natural swimming pools
I’ve just started a concerted research effort into natural swimming pools and found this great article from American website Houzz. Jeff and I have decided to ditch the conventional pool we’d earmarked …
Where food ethics meat reality: killing our own chickens
The three cockerels cock-a-doodle-dooing sealed their fate. We’d bred them from our own flock. They were handsome cross-breds out of our spunky Silver Spangled Hamburgh rooster, Dirk Diggler, and half …
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RIP Sassy, my best mate
Sassafras – Sassy – Sass – DogFish, my jet black, rambunctious puppy turned grey-muzzled, arthritic old dog passed away naturally on Monday, 9 December 2013 aged 10 ½. It’s not …
New fertile eggs for clucky Mona
Mona, my lovely chocolate brown Barnevelder hen, went clucky last week for the second time. So far I’ve hatched two clutches of eggs at Edgefield: four eggs by Mona – …
Bunch ‘O Bananas!
And they taste divine I’m very happy to say.
Garlic harvest
Garlic harvest at Edgefield for 2013.
Homesteading: time-consuming but satisfying work
We’ve had a glut of lemons, oranges, grapefruit, silverbeet and leek (the last of the season) plus endless mulberries and strawberries at Edgefield of late. So I’ve been channelling Martha Stewart and …
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