Clear Mountain Living

Spring has sprung - more like pole vaulted!

2017-10-08T18:31:00.000+10:00

It's been an incredibly dry winter with little rain at Upsidownimal Farm. Spring then lasted about three days and now we're into summer. It's still be very dry but thankfully last week we got some decent rain and everything brown is green again.

My gardens are, well blooming. I'm having to spend at least a few hours every weekend to keep on top of things and if I don't harvest every week, I'll lose things.

Some veges like BokChoy and a few of the lettuces just bolted but I've managed to be really lucky with most things so far. There is plenty of silverbeet, the spinach, pak chop and mizuna were a real success. And the sugar snap peas dwarf beans were devine and plentiful. I've now planted another crop of peas and will drop in a second row soon so that I don't run out (you can never have enough peas in a garden!).

Eggplants galore (and there's about 6 plants - this is only one)

There's lots of mixed salad leaves to harvest from and we are eating fresh salads quite a few times during the week.

I'm hoping to focus pretty heavily this year on three main plants - tomatoes, chilli and basil. I've planted about 40 tomato plants - all of different varieties but mainly heritage ones - and I think we'll have our first harvest in the next week or so. Although I appear to have a bit of competition from possibly a bandicoot so I'll be pulling out the trap in the next few days to convince him to move on. It's a catch and release trap so he'll just be finding a new home - far away from my tomatoes. The chilli and basil has been planted in the bath tubs and I also threw some chilli and basil seeds in the ground a few weeks ago that are starting to pop their wee green heads through the soil.

Chilli and basil in old baths surrounded by bricks

The coffee trees are blooming again and still growing. I'm not sure how big they'll get but they're only two - three years old and a good 4 metres tall. Gonna' need a ladder this year...

Coffee trees flowering

I also recently started bringing home the used coffee grinds from a coffee shop next to my work (thanks to the guys and girls from Tonic). These are really high in nitrogen and grubs hate it so I sprinkle it around the lettuce and, if I ever have another crack at brassicas I'll have it everywhere. I also bring home a big box carrot peelings every Wednesday from a local Vietnamese Deli and that got to the donkeys, a neighbours horse and a friends' two cows (one who was previously called Sirloin - you might remember him, although he's not so miniature now...).

I've got big hopes for these wee beans

The donkeys are still contributing with their contribution to the weed juice container a few years ago. The stuff in that bin is gold!

We've also got ourselves some bee hives, so I'm planting more flowers and flowering herbs like borage amongst the veggies to encourage them. The bees love the water fountain. Everything does seems to be growing better since they arrived.

Wild dogs are a bit of a problem this year again in the area, they seem to surge in numbers every few years and this year they are everywhere. It's not much a problem for us because we no longer have chickens. I really miss not having them but I refuse to feed the local fox and wild dog population. On an upshot, I don't need those ugly fences around my gardens anymore. But I miss the chooker moles...

We'll also be running some more dog fence around another large section of the bottom yard in a few weeks time. This will mean the dogs have more space to run and play. Bella still has to stay inside during the day and be supervised whilst outside - she's little enough to be eagle fodder around here.

I've planted corn too, a couple of varieties including a blue corn (can't wait to see how that comes out). First harvest will be next week.

Seed saving

MOTH is making pesto right now. The basil has been prolific the last two weeks... love it! I'd eat it every day if I could.

There's also been a few introductions and trails that I've always wanted to have a crack at. I bought a pepper vine and, after a bit of a slow start, he's off and running. He will grow along the fence between the top and bottom garden beds. I've also grown my my first pumpkin. It was nice. So, have dropped some more seeds on the far side of the compost to see what we can grow. I'm also planning on trying to grow some loofahs (something different), tamarillos (or tree tomatoes if you're from NZ) and my ultimate challenge - a vanilla plant.

Pepper vine

I think the garden is finally looking like I'd imagined it to be way back when I first started planting it. It was looking quite destitute about six months ago but there's a wee story about that. In March I injured my ankle and had an ankle reconstruction in May. The garden was suffering from my lack of attention and so I found the most amazing woman to come and help me out. Without Tab's help I wouldn't be writing this blog today, it would have all been made into lawn. She's a breathe of fresh air and has done wonders for the garden. We're back to producing food for the house and plenty of extra for friends - all part of why we do it, right? There is nothing more satisfying than taking a bunch of fresh veggies to a friends place and saying that you grew it.

At the end of the day, I love getting covered in dirt - I think I really am an Earth child...

Top garden

Bottom garden bed

Top 4 garden beds

Bottom garden bed has an urn feature you can look down to from the house

Alternative view of top garden beds surrounded by bush rocks

Roman

2017-08-16T19:38:00.000+10:00

Gosh, it's been so long since I last posted that I forgot another, very important and unexpected loss to Upsidownimal Farm.

Roman was suddenly and very unexpectedly taken from us in June last year. He had developed a tumour on his heart and suddenly went downhill. I had no alternative but to put him to sleep. It was quite a shock and incredibly difficult time.

This image best sums up Roman

OK, so he might have been a bit special

Don't all dogs do this in the hydro bath?

The hole in our lives was huge. I didn't realise show much sense of security and piece of mind a male dog provides you. It was a real problem for us.

We solved this issue with a new introduction to Upsidownimal Farm (next post) ... soon I promise...

Forgive me - it's been more than a year since I posted a blog...

2017-08-16T19:25:00.002+10:00

Gosh, a whole year!

Well, I can genuinely tell you there's been a few reasons why.

Last year I got struck down with a shitty breathing (OK, couldn't breathe) thing that, after a few months, landed me in hospital. So, that was winter and spring... Summer was hot, damn hot... and in March I took an unexpected wee tumble and caused some pretty serious damage to my foot and ankle. Move forward to May and post ankle reconstruction surgery, I was in a moon boot and on crutches for way longer than anyone would like. It's now August and, thank to lots of physio and supporting therapies, love and tenacity I'm now (kinda') walking (almost like a normal person, not really) but generally on level even surfaces - which isn't great when you live on the side of a mountain. Firefighting is off limits still #frustrating.

The consequences of this have been many but the one I want to share with you has been my beloved garden. From March to June it lay completely untended until I had a brainy idea and hired a gardener. Introducing the wonderful Tabs. Tabs is a Swiss Goddess who has been my arms and legs in my gardening pursuits and passions over the past few months. She has dug, planted, mulched, fertilised and nurtured our vege garden back to a producing contribution to our kitchen. The herbs (of course) mainly survived the lack of love but most of the veges simply disappeared while I had be laid up. Now, it's looking just like I had planned it to be in late summer last year - ready for us to harvest and cultivate in coming seasons.

Anyway, let's have a look at the garden...

Here's a small snapshot of the lower garden

Looks like comfrey is our sacrificial plant this season. This stuff grows abundantly so I'm OK with losing a bit.

Compost heap has been well replenished

Coffee trees had a bumper crop this year but unfortunately I couldn't harvest them at the optimal time (this is a late fruiting)

A very rare sighting of MOTH (man of the house) in the wild

Peas! (thanks for the rio Brad)

Not everything goes to plan. The early heatwave (it was more than 30 degrees here today AND IT'S STILL WINTER) has caused a few things to bolt and seed. Will be saving seeds for next year (earlier planting a must).

Anyone guess what this is? Hint: used in spicy food

I can see olives in my future...

My favourite plant at the moment - beetle leaf

My precious baby - a pepper vine. May it grow and prosper @ Clear Mountain

So, I'm still alive. Unfortunately we did have a loss in this department a few months ago. Our lady of the mountain, Dogue de Bordeaux. Baillie was put to sleep from old age and some pretty aggressive cancer - a decision made by not wanting her to suffer. I'd had he since a puppy (she was nearly 11 which is an amazing age for a giant breed dog) and we all miss her terribly (including the other dogs). Thankfully though, she's taken pride of place in the orchard and is still up for a chat whenever I feel like one.

Yes, at one stage we had 3 Dogues (Baillie, Roman and Harley)

She was so patient

Baillie and Bella (now officially a terrorist)

RIP Baillie x

Fat fish, coffee beans, lots of lemons and lots of compost

2016-05-02T18:42:00.001+10:00

Another weekend ended, another sense of achievement.

Special thanks to our neighbour, Mitch who popped up on his tractor this morning to do some tractoring (his has a bucket, ours doesn't). Unfortunately he broke when he was helping unload the trailer and has hurt his back. Wishing you a speedy recovery Mitch.

But his handy work was well appreciated. He took out an unsuccessful garden bed to open up the patio outside the downstairs apartment. I'm going to drop some turf on this next weekend.

OK, first dilemma - fat fish. A few years ago I put about 30 fingerlings (the edible kind - sleepy cod, silver perch and eel tail catfish) into our water fountain pond. They were less than 5 cm long. They're now plate sized but, because of too many fish in the pond, general consensus is that they're over nitrogenised and potentially toxic to eat. So... what to do with the fishy wishys. Options are to drain the pond and try and catch them, then relocate them to a neighbours dam where they can live a long and happy life (Lord knows how, our driveway if very very steep). Negotiations will include fishing rights. If we do this, I'll be able to clean out the pond (read cattle trough) and start again with less, ornamental fish. Apart from begin a really nice focal point on our driveway, the bees love it and I'm more than happy to make the bees happy. I would love love love to have some bee hives but am very allergic to stings.

Harvest time today for the turmeric. I got about 1-2 kilos and several rhizomes for replanting and sharing. That's more than $100 of turmeric. Seriously worth looking at planting, it's a lovely plant with really pretty flowers. We will chop it into 1cm chunks and freeze.

A bit of planting... (actually, there was a lot of planting)

Some boasting (check out the size of one of my parsley)

And the gum trees are flowering (makes me think of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie - overseas visitors will need to Google this)

Oh, and Lots of Lemons they said... (tick), dwarf tree (not so apparent)

All this gardening, of course, means excessive compost. Woo hoo!

Exciting news, out first harvest of coffee beans is nearly ready for harvesting. MOTH (man of the house) is very excited about this. Four more coffee trees being planted next weekend.

I previously posted about a couple of old baths that I mounted in old red bricks. The intention was to use them as strawberry beds (which is going really well and am expecting our first crop next season). Have also added some chilli bushes to the baths and, good news, they're going great. Never thought this companion planting combination would be so successful.

Next weekend, I'm harvesting our significant ginger crop (about 2m squared). Keen for ideas of how to preserve ginger.

And, the roses need a good pruning - they're out of control and very unattractive.

Another quiet weekend in the country - can't wait to get back to work tomorrow for a break.

Gardening with donkeys

2016-04-25T14:31:00.000+10:00

Apart from the obvious benefit that donkeys provide for the garden, they can actually be a bit of fun while you're gardening if you plan it right (and nothing unplanned happens - like a low flying aeroplane or any sudden noise, really).

For some reason, fresh donkey poo doesn't seed like horse poo does. But I still don't put it directly onto my garden because it's, well, lumpy and doesn't break down well. So I add it to my weed juice container (refer previous post here).

Yesterday, the boys helped out with a few other things.

Firstly Guinness mowed the lawn. Now you have to be careful with this, he loves cooch and will rip it out by the roots, leaving large bald spots on the lawn (we learnt this last winter).

Then they both helped me moving the palm fronds to the compost heap.

I think Caruso thought this was the best part of the day. I'm always careful not to give them too much of anything that's not in their natural diet but they do enjoy a pile of sweet potato leaves, a couple of banana leaves or boysenberry cuttings.

Finally, there was a little unscheduled rosemary hedge pruning.

I was a little over zealous last time I pruned it with the trimmers and it's taking a while to kick back. Might need some weed juice.

Roman was supposed to help but couldn't drag his sorry ass off the day bed (seriously, that Dogue thinks he's a Shitzu!)

MOTH took down #5 of 7 huge palm trees that have been leeching the goodness out of my veggie garden beds. It was HUGE and didn't come down without some effort. Thankfully it landed exactly where it was originally supposed to (we had several contingencies).

And finally, all of the diggy dogs were very excited last Sunday when Colin M Schnauzer, Claudia and their baby brother Zed (a 4 month old Russian Black Terrier who will end up making Roman look like a midget) came over for the afternoon. After initial greetings and bouts of bossiness and jealous from the little one, everyone had a lovely afternoon. It was impossible to get a good photo, they didn't stop moving!

Life is never dull at Upsidownimal Farm...

Helping mum

2016-01-02T19:40:00.000+10:00

Hi guys, it's Bella here. Thought I'd write up a quick bloggy thing for Granny and Pop in Wales so the can see how fabulously helpful I've been.

Mum bought a trailer load of dirt today for the paths of her vegie gardens. Dad's been helping with some brick edges cause Mum has had a sore elbow for a few months now - apparently it's something to do with tennis (not that she plays it).

First I had to wake up Roman to help (grabbed his tail for some attention)

Roman and I were ready to help out...

Roman didn't really want to help but man, he was keen on staying on the trailer (Mum had to unload around his big fat a**)

To finish off the garden, we needed a few more bricks... I had it covered.

Then we cleared some old palm fronds and put them in the burn pile.

A quick drive in Mum's ute and we were basically done.

Mum was really impressed except when I jumped out of the trailer to chase Pussy Galore, the chooker mole. (She taunts me)

I love helping out in the garden...

Sunday in Australia

2015-12-20T11:07:00.002+10:00

I think Roman has melted

Photographer comes to Upsidownimal Farm

2015-12-19T12:26:00.004+10:00

The awesome Nadine Andersen of Nadine Andersen Photography popped in for a few photos and a lamb roast yesterday. She was keen to capture some of the antics at our little farm (the chooker moles didn't want to participate). And of course, the animals were all ready to participate (except Moet, who hates cuddles). Here's some of the action - can you spot the supermodel?

No, Mum, dooonnnn't cuddle me...

Max was a bit keener

We tried to get them to sit up for a photo but, you know what they say - never work with kids or animals

Beautiful Baillie. She's nearly 9 years old and has definitely taken on the role of Nanna.

Roman demonstrating why it's called Upsidownimal Farm

Cheeky little Bella

Handsome Caruso will be 2 in January, he's such a smoothie boy (loves cuddles)

What? Carrot peelings for us? Cooool.

Num num num

Bella seem to have this photography thing down pat

Happy donkeys

You saw a what? Where?

Will model for treats

And smile...

A note from the Terrorist

2015-08-21T14:41:00.000+10:00

Mum's been so slack with her bloggy thing, I thought I'd have a crack at it.

Hi, I'm Bella. My mum calls me a Terrorist but really I’m a Jack Russell Terrier. I’m only 8 months old and, yes, I’ve been adorable my whole life. My doggie brother, Roman, and sister, Baillie, are both Dogue de Bordeaux and weigh about 60kg each. But I’m bigger than they’ll ever be.

I love playing with Max the cat and the big dogs and gardening, with my specialty being digging up Dad’s lawn. I’m very good at chasing chickens and Mum doesn’t like it when I catch them and try to make them run again (don’t think the chickens like it much either).

She took me to something called Dog Obedience a few times where I got to meet heaps of other big dogs like me (Bentley the Saint Bernard was my boyfriend) and she gave me lots of treats when I did things she wanted. That doesn’t happen any more – she said I was too smart for my own good (whatever that means).

Ciao, love Bella. x

RIP Irwin as terrorism strikes Clear Mountain

2015-03-01T18:19:00.000+10:00

Sad bit first...

After 8 weeks, the neighbours gardner and dog found Irwin while driving down our shared, very long and steep driveway. Actually, the dog noticed him first (or smelled him first). Peter, God bless, went and found him. He had fallen into a deep hole, kinda like a cave about 8 foot deep, and broken his neck during the fall. When I went down and checked on him, he had obviously died instantly, there was no sign of struggling or anything. The ground above the hole was incredible steep and had lots of ruts in it caused by rain over the years, covered by dense grass. It looks like he'd tripped in a rut and fallen to his death. It was incredibly steep above the hole.

We went down there today to try and fence it off and MOTH declare it too unsafe. Guinness had also found him, with a few piles of relatively fresh poo sitting just above where he lay. So, we are confident the risk to the other two is minimal (as long as Guinness is as smart as he makes out).

The support and help from our local community was amazing. Through a couple of Facebook and poster campaigns and signs on local roads, there were quite literally thousands of people looking for him. I received more than 500(!) personal messages, many from strangers, on Facebook when we had found him. In fact even today, I had a man at the hardware store (who I didn't know from a bar of soap) give me his condolences over Irwin. Irwin went missing on 30 November.

RIP Iwrin.

Now, onto the other comings and goings on the mountain. The Terrorist (some call her Bella) has quite simply taken over our lives (cats and dogs included). Who'd thought something so small (1.2kg when we got her, now 3.5kg at 16 weeks) could cause so much havoc! But, we wouldn't have it any other way - she is simply adorable!

Bella helping me garden today - she would dig like a madman and then eat the worms - ew!

Last weekend Bella tried her hand (or should I say jaws) at electrical work (was plugged in)

No trying to kill (sorry - play) with Max the cat

Cleaning Roman's jowels and teeth - again, ew!

House training is 90% there and she is learning some basic commands. Just need to teach her not to touch cane toads or snakes (not sure how to do this but am keen for suggestions). I'm thinking screaming like a banshee might stop her initially and then the fear of hearing another banshee might put her off...

Anyway...

We have also had a new addition to Upsidedownimal Farm. Meet Caruso...

He turned one on 31 January and arrived just days before we found Irwin. Guinness was brave enough to pop into the horse float and travel 2 hours to go meet and bring home Caruso so he wouldn't be too scared alone in the float. They have quickly become BFFs and are inseparable.

Caruso will grow to be much bigger than Guinness so he's very happy to be the boss - for now.

Over the past few months, MOTH has progressed from making chutneys and cider to cheese - yummy cheeses, fresh cheeses and now - smelly cheeses. He has even surrendered the bar fridge from the shed to convert it into a cheese cave (blah blah blah keep cheese at the right temperature) but I know there's Stilton in there so Mum's the word.

Today's freshly made Haloumi and some ready to eat on the plate - it was yummy!

Guess who I got a cuddle from on Australia Day whilst at the neighbours place for a BBQ?

Now called Vege Burger and a little bigger than he used to be

Last weekend we were all battened down for Cyclone Marcia, which ended up being pretty much a non event at our place, except for more than 500mm of rain in two days. Slight landslide (nothing too major and the Great Gabion Wall of C stood up to its reputation).

Rain pouring into the driveway drains

Bella was very keen to help MOTH digging the drains in the lawn (to manage the run off).

The rain was pretty intense and the animals were starting to climb the walls. The donkeys got a little creative with interior decorating their stall...

Lucky for them, the farrier had been only the weekend before so their feet looked fabulous deerrrrlllling...

Guinness has a bit of a crush on Peter the farrier

It's still early days but I think Caruso already likes him too

And yesterday MOTH and I, along with femme mini MOTH (now a learner driver) headed to the vets with all 5 inside animals for their annual vaccinations and checkups. Only took one and a half hours for the consult and it all went off without a hitch. The vet was stoked to see such an integrated "herd" of animals who all get on.

Just remember peeps - what doesn't kills you makes you stronger (except for bears - bears will kill you!)

Terrier-ism hits UpsideDownimal Farm

2015-01-04T18:21:00.002+10:00

Several years ago when MOTH and I were considering properties to buy we also discussed in detail what breed of dog would suit to keep Baillie (Dogue de Bordeaux) company. So we decided on a Jack Russell Terrirer, known for their big-dog-in-small-body attitude to life.

Then we bought Roman, the mentally challenged Dogue de Bordeaux - he really is handsome. Roman is, without a doubt, a small white fluffy dog in a giant red dog body. Matter of fact, he just now got stuck in the stock yard fence as I was typing this - true story!

Anyway, the time has come where Baillie is entering her senior years and has significantly slowed down over the past few months. She is healthy but nine is very old for a Dogue.

Dilemma - let Roman teach a new puppy/dog the local tricks or get a new puppy now? The answer was pretty obvious. So, introducing MOTH's Christmas present, Bella...

Since joining us TWO LONG WEEKS AGO she has taken over! We love her to bits and she was very young (7.5 weeks) when we got her but man oh man, she's got UpsidedDownimal Farm sorted!

Max the Manx, who suffered a snake bite Christmas Eve has now worked out what's it all about and realising in a heavy duty play toy. They love each other. [sorry, couldn't upload video]

The Dogues are very patient and don't really like being barked at in their faces (nor do I - and my hearing isn't what it used to be two long weeks ago) but they are very patient.

Moët, the princess cat, kinda likes her cause she's a baby but also does not hesitate to give her a quick swat.

MOTH is totally besotted in his baby girl and she can do no wrong (although I have started to broach the suggestion that she really might be a terrorist)...

So, she slept on the bed for the first week or so. And with a 2am and/or 5am trot outside for a quick wee, everything had been fine. Then we introduced the concept of sleeping in your own bloody bed - did not go down so well. But I learnt that I can apparently sleep through anything - MOTH, not so much... Last night he weakened and at 4.45am I was woken from my deep slumber by a pull on the ponytail by Miss Bella. I didn't let her on the bed - just sayin'

We have a cunning plan to keep her safe when we return back to work but nothing under .5m may ever be the same in our house again. Antique rug has been put into storage.

No news on poor Irwin, which leads us to think he was more than likely stolen. It's been really sad, especially since Guinness has taken up opera singing... The whole valley is also now really sad. Who knew donkeys were that loud? Have started looking for a new friend for Guinness but it's slim pickings this time of year and I would rather put the effort into restoring a rescue donkey's soul and faith in humans than just go out and buy a new one.

Anyway, happy new year to you all. Let me know what your plans and dreams are for 2015. I think I might write a book!

Aliens abduct donkey

2014-12-07T11:04:00.001+10:00

Irwin is missing, vanished into thin air. There's no clues, nothing.

The local community has been awesome helping to find him with lots of Facebook postings, letterbox drops and signs going up but, no donkey.

Let me tell you a little about Irwin...
Irwin came to us about 5 years ago from a cattle farm near Boonah where he was one of 6 donkeys guarding a herd of cattle. He was too big for the ladies who had him to look after and so he was offered to me. When we went to pick him up I learnt 2 things about Irwin - he loves a good scratch and he does NOT like floats. Prior to living at Boonah for a few years he had been rescued from the doggers pens on the day Steve Irwin died with another donkey. Steve now lives near the Gold Coast and last heard was learning how to pull a cart.

Irwin came to me with a few trust issues. Whilst he's let me halter and rug him, pop a lead rope on and he'd freeze, with pure panic in his eyes. After about 3 and a half years we sorted that out and now he'll do anything for me (even if he is still working out how to deal with other people).

He is about 15 years old now, which isn't old for a donkey - they live to be about 50. We've fixed a few health issues along the way - bad feet and a bit of a weight problem - and I was only commenting to MOTH last Sunday morning what good condition they both were in while they played next to the house in their paddock. That was the last time we saw him.

He and Guinness get on a bit like two grumpy old men, they occasionally annoy each other, play, and sometimes Guinness (who is only 9) runs away leaving Irwin very upset. When this happens Irwin comes up to the house and brays a very forlorn tone. He's a bit of a scared cat and would never go near the electric fence - that's way too scary for a big grey donkey.

Being a TV star on Totally Wild (he wasn't as into it as Guinness)

Which brings me to the alien theory (which several people have now suggested)...

Initially we feared he'd been bitten by a snake, but after extensive searches of the property, no donkey. And Guinness doesn't know where he is. I've channelled Guinness' Lassie and Skippy but no result.

So, either wild dogs have pushed him through the fence and now he's list, injured or dead OR aliens took him. Here's hoping we find him soon... (Guinness won't shut up)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2014-11-30T19:09:00.000+10:00

The poinciana is in full bloom and it's magnificent. Our neighbours have some too and there are a few more on the way up the driveway. Apparently they only flower like this every 10 years - magnificent.

The chilli bushes have their baubles ready and hanging (there is literally hundreds of them)

And my poor poinsettia is even giving it a go. Poor thing was rudely transplanted 5 years ago and hasn't received a skerrick of attention since. I must aim to change this.

Even Russell Crowe (who is looking a little worse for wear) has his little red festive flowers all lined up in bloom.

Inside our home, my contribution continues to be minimal. Even though I had committed to putting up the tree, it's still in it's box somewhere (not quite sure but am sure I will find it when the time comes). I have, however, started on presents and being still November - that might be a record. I'm usually a last minute shopping kinda' girl.

As you may or may not have been aware, Brisbane had a massive hail storm on Thursday. Unfortunately for my new ute, we got stuck in the middle of it and, well, insurance claim for damage is pending. I have to say that the noise of bigger-than-golfball-hail hitting the roof of the car was a little intimidating (I did duck a few times - no idea why).

We are continued to be blessed with a large number of bees at the moment, many of whom visit the garden and stop off at the water fountain for a drink. Am not sure what kind they are - any suggestions?

Ooh, and last night I was once again lucky enough to rescue one of these. Max bought him in as a 'gift'. Its a baby sugar glider and it wasn't hurt from what I could see. I just scooped it up and took it outside. Cuuuute. They only grow a wee bit more when they're full grown and have flaps of skin from their front to rear legs on each side and fly/glide from tree to tree. Lord knows how Max caught one (he's no speedster). Google it - they're interesting little characters.

Luckily Max or Moet are not really hunters and this is probably the 3rd mammal or bird I've had to rescue in as many years. (Previous felines have been a little more active in this space.)

Anyway, happy start of December everyone. I'm off to put up the tree - or at least think about it...

How to make weed juice and other stuff

2014-11-23T16:19:00.002+10:00

I really do plan on writing a blog every week but there are always some shiny things that distract me along the way.

So, this time I thought I'd share something worthwhile with you all - how to make weed juice. Weeds, when broken down can make an excellent source of nitrogen and when mixed with other waste stuff like animal poo and other green waste then broken down, makes an excellent liquid fertiliser that I call Weed Juice.

So here's how it's made...
Step 1 - Get your hands on a large container like this one with a loose lid (so there's no gas build ups). I know that most produce stores sell them. Buy a tap, an O ring and a clamp (to put on the inside and hold the tap in place) then drill a suitably sized hole to match the tap. Add a little silicone or plumbers tape to ensure a seal and put it together. I bought this stand from Bunnings years ago but you can also use an old bucket.

Step 2 - Fill it with water. I'm using the (Council made me do it) water tank off the new shed and have placed the Weed Juicer next to it for ease of access to water.

Step 3 - You need weeds and poo. Guinness and Irwin gladly helped out here and I've put one and a half barrow loads of donkey poo into the container. I also added weeds from the garden.

The poo and weeds will float until they start to break down and then become Weed Juice.

Step 4 - Pop the lid back on and let it do it's thing. The heat from the sun, combined with the water will start breaking it all down and in a few weeks you'll be able to extract weed juice from the tap to fertilise your garden.

NOTE: Mix weed juice 1 - 10 parts with water cause it's concentrated. Then just water it on your garden.

Step 5 - Keep adding weeds, animal poo and any other green waste as you get it and top up the container with water. Horse poo works well and it won't seed if you use this technique.

Meanwhile, it's also been hotting up there in South East Queensland. Last weekend was record high temperatures for this time of year and outside my car got as hot as 46.5 at one stage - crazy! The weekend before I'd given the animals all a good haircut - bet they were thanking me for that (even if they didn't appreciate it at the time).

Baillie was particularly keen on keeping cool last weekend.

Meanwhile Guinness thought it would be fun to play in the cold ashes in the fire pit. He does this to keep the insects off (although no one else does it) and he seems to have an unnatural attraction to fire when we're burning...

Roman had a brain fart one day a few weeks ago and decided he needed to eat Max. A night at the vet and Max it was decreed that Max had used up a few of his nine lives, having only two bitemarks (it must have been bloody close - you could see where the other teeth didn't penetrate his skin). So, no more inside dogs. Roman seemed particularly put out about this when we were all inside last Sunday in the airconditioning during the heat wave and he was outside on the deck.

This morning Max seems to have totally forgotten about the incident and was playing and smooching with Roman like they used to. Don't think he's long for this world, that one.

This weekend it's been hot again (nothing like last weekend, thank goodness) so I've had a chance to get into the garden. The bees were keen to help out when I cleaned out the fountain. There were literally hundreds of them and it's good to know they have a water source on hot days. I've planted lots of bee and insect friendly plants so they can help me with pollination when I need it (win/win). Am keen to learn more about bees and maybe get a few hives.

The eggplants are going nuts!

The waterlillies are starting to flower as well.

I've been splitting a few herbs as well and have a heap of lemongrass ready to share. (Happy for anyone to come pick one or two up). My comfrey just keeps on giving and its ready to be split again (I've done it 3 times in the past year).

My tomatoes have been a bit disappointing so far this year and I've had to resort to spraying them today for bugs that are eating all of the romas. Interestingly the other breeds aren't being eaten. Fussy bugs?

Lost a couple of chooker moles to a goanna (it wasn't pretty) a few weeks ago. I've had a good chat to Red Rooster about toughening up and he seems to be taking it on board so far.

It also looks like we're going to have bananas up the ying yang again in coming months. MOTH peels them and then freezes them on a metal tray and then pops them into a container. That way they stay separate and we can grab a couple for smoothies, etc. and they don't go brown.

Can't believe it's Christmas season again - where did the year go?

A quiet weekend on the mountain

2014-09-28T17:21:00.001+10:00

After a major shock to the system of having gone back to work after some months off for varying reasons, I made it through the working week to Friday afternoon.

My focus for the weekend was going to be my poor garden and animals, following several unwelcome visits from neighbours young dog who terrorises my chickens and cats and then proceeded to rip up my sprinkler systems and trash my vege garden, which was full of heritage seedlings that I had been lovingly nurturing into plants. All I will say here is Grrr! (but I've said quite a lot of other words - trust me.) So while my neighbour is on an international trip, I'm starting from scratch with a number of seedlings, hoping I'm not too late in the season to get them to grow. He, however will be paying for a man to come and fix the sprinkler system.

Anyway...

First things first, some fire brigade training on Saturday morning with a couple of neighbouring brigades. This was a great way to check out the setup of each others appliances, meet the crews and learn a few new things.

The donkeys had some special attention this weekend. Poor Guinness recently succumbed to an absess infection at the base of his ear from a tick. Then, when I fed them on Friday I noticed that Irwin had several ticks. So, drastic times call for drastic measures! I developed a 3 stage approach to trying to minimise my poor donkeys from these horrific little creatures (and the other animals by default). The boys walk through long grass and the bush every day, ticks latch on and then they come up to the house and I'm assuming that eventually ticks jump off, potentially into either the path of dogs and cats or... hungry chickens.

So, my cunning plan:
Step 1 - wash donkeys. (Note: Donkeys do not like cold water. This issue can be negated with pony pallets.)

Step 2 - Clip donkeys
Irwin started by just standing there shaking but, by the end, he wanted more and kept coming back while I was trying to clip Guinness. Guinness, however was ticklish around his flank and we had to have stern words about not kicking me. Lucky he's a quick learner.

His coat was nearly 2 inches long!

Step 3 - Tick collars for all

Handsome Irwin

Guinness didn't like it at all (and obviously camera shy).

Here's hoping this helps the poor guys out this summer.

Baillie helped me out today with my gardening chores. This is the only photo I had of her awake! Apparently, it's very hard work helping me in the garden...

I've been sowing heaps of heritage seedlings to try and replace those destroyed. Pumpkins of various sorts, gourd, artichoke, lettuce, bok choi, coriander and some more edible flowers to start.

I'd also planted a few things that, now that they're growing, I'm not sure what these are. Any suggestions on what this might be when it grows up? It's doubling in size every week and is now starting to grow flowers. [Note to self - label things.]

Some of my lavender is flowering - pretty - and I noticed that my wisteria has buds on it for the first time too. I have several colours of lavender but this one is stunning.

Last weekend I split my lemongrass and comfrey and have potted it out in the hope some/most of it will take.

MOTH has been playing super chef this weekend and treating me to all sorts of culinary delights. Last night it was home made ravioli that was obviously made in heaven and sent down especially. This evening it's homemade Arancini balls with a cold sauv blanc with the neighbours and then Pork Belly for dinner. Yum!

Back to to salt mines tomorrow...

Our deck

2014-09-20T09:12:00.001+10:00

We obviously spend a lot of time out here.

Roman is such a photo bomber

On a clear day (not today) you can see out past Redcliffe to Bribie and Moreton Islands

Upsidownanimal Farm

2014-09-20T09:03:00.001+10:00

Seriously, what is it with my animals...

The chooker moles will be in on it next...

Spring has sprung (and I nearly missed it)

2014-09-14T16:24:00.000+10:00

Hi all y'all

Apologies and excuses once again for not having blogged for so long. But I was sick, then MOTH and I went to the UK and France for several weeks and we're back. Felt very missed by the animals and have little fury shadows still following me everywhere.

On a sad note, we lost Mia the Manx to a suspected snake bite while we were away.

With so much having happened since my last ~~confession~~ blog, I don't know what to include.

My garden has been going well, although most of the seedlings I planted before we went away didn't make it.

My artichokes were going gangbusters until disaster struck, well cockatoos actually. They completely destroyed the plants, not even eating any of them.

So, with a little thinking I went old school and decided to build a scarecrow with a little help from Lulebelle the chicken and Moet the cat.

So, please meet Russell (Crow).

So far, he's doing a great job.

I have been successful in growing something else a little different...

And Moet has also taken up crochet... she is such a princess.

Our local mummy wallaby seems to have another bun in the oven. This is her on the driveway, she is there most mornings near the dam.

And my ongoing problem with upside down animals is getting worse. I think we'll name the farm UpsideAnimal Farm. Guinness looks like he's taking a nap!

Take a look through some of my previous blogs to check out more upside down animals.

Well, that's a quick update. I'll look through my overseas photos and post a few in coming weeks.

It's been a while...

2014-06-29T18:57:00.001+10:00

Hi all, firstly sorry for the lengthy time since my last blog. I've been working hard, had some surgery, got a super bug in hospital and it's taken a shitload longer than I imagined to bounce back. But HERE I AM!

First big bit of news since we last blogged is that (amazingly) I found Jeff's owner and they were happily reunited.

Jeff (aka Rocky) heading home with Sam, his dad. Is it just me or did he look really sad to be leaving?

Lots of animal things have been happening. Baillie continues to eat cat food, which I promise her will make her ears pointy.

Roman (God bless his simple headed soul) continues to "help" me around the place.

Roman helping me bag dog bones from a friends cattle kill (he's guarding them - growling included)

Roman helping me with a pile of excess donkey straw, which is full of donkey poo and probably the odd snake. It must have been warm.

Then, he's also had his moments, like last week's hydrobath - and every other hydrobath for that matter. Roman LOVES the concept and attention of having a hydrobath. It's just the actual bath bit he doesnt cope with. He goes to his "special place" every time.

Roman visiting his special place while having a hydrobath

And then this morning, I found him doing this...

Obviously trying to find out which came first - the chicken or the egg!

SirLoin has left us - but not what you think. I had bought a new freezer, booked the butcher and then he decided he wanted to go meet the neighbours. Long story short, one of the neighbours fell in love with my little fence crashing steak on legs and they bought him from me for a sizeable fee. He is now living the Clear Mountain Cow dream living in a huge paddock with Devon, the world's largest Fresian steer.

Next one will be called Westinghouse and there will be no photos on social media!

Donkeys are fine, happy and healthy. They spend a lot of time around the house paddock due to grass being in lack of supply (sans SirLoin). So, I'm in the process of opening up another 10 acres of mountain for them to graze and hopefully exercise on. It's soooo steep in areas that I have never seen the bottom of some ravines. In the interim they are being very well hand fed (not without the constant requests for more).

Irwin helping me trim the driveway for a bit of an outing

The farrier came a few weeks ago for a donkey pedicure.

Guinness sharing the love with Peter the barefoot farrier. Look how calm he is.

Red Rooster has grown some lovely tail feathers. He is very friendly and comes in the house if the front door is open. Last week I was working on the deck and, who popped in for a visit...

Red Rooster is such a friendly and lovely boy

And... I've traded in the SUV for a truck! A ute to be precise, a big black VW Amarok and I LOVE IT! It's only been a couple of weeks (I couldn't drive because of my surgery so MOTH got to break it in) and I can't fault it. The dogues had to get accessorised appropriately of course...

Dogues ready to ride in the back of their new ute

Finally, a new addition to the family. Meet Mia the Manx. She has been with us for just three days and is still spending most of her time in the bedroom taking in the rest of the zoo. She is coping really well.

Mia ready to break of of jail at the RSPCA

Mia the Manx is still getting used to the rest of the zoo here at Clear Mountain

I made my best ever batch of pate yesterday (highly sought after).

There has also been many jars of various chutneys (mainly by MOTH - I grow and harvest, he cooks) produced over the past weeks and this weekend it will be lime time.

So, if I make lime marmalade and add a splash of vodka, will it taste like a vodka lime and soda?

I've also taken up crochet again after many many years to make myself a granny blanket for in front of the fire. So far, so good. Being unwell has forced me to slow down and sit still a lot more than I'm used to.

Hopefully I'll be good to go in a few weeks when MOTH and I head off for a bit of a holiday. We have a zookeeper coming in to manage the animals.

Then it will be bushfire season and then summer. Gosh, 2014 - what happened to you?

Stuff I see...

2014-04-25T18:29:00.001+10:00

Well, the list got smashed last weekend - and some! Only things not done are sprinkler system and plant pumpkins seeds. But I also went out and bought about 150 plants and MOTH helped me plant out the new garden. And we cleaned up the place to look brand new in preparation of our special visitors. Chooker moles also got some extra attention they really didn't want.

This weekend there's a whole lot of preserving going on. So far we have Wild Guava Chutney bottled, Chilli Jam on the stove for the next 12 hours and there's green PawPaw Chutney "resting" for booking tomorrow.

I also popped some pork ribs that had been marinated in BBQ Bourbon sauce into the wood fired oven this afternoon for several hours… LOOKING GOOD! Then MOTH is going to crank it up a few degrees for pizza night.

I popped out into the yard to see what I could see and there is a surprising amount of colour around for this time of year.

I need to get on top of these aphids on the lemon tree tomorrow...

But it looks like I already have some help on the kaffir lime tree (I love ladybirds)

With the new garden bed almost done, it got a quick cat scan of approval from Max the Manx...

Included in the garden are our new coffee trees (below), a blueberry patch, plenty of herbs and other edible plants.

Here's a shot of the new finished shed… how did we ever live without this!

Oh, and we had the film crew from Totally Wild here yesterday to do a story on Rescued Donkeys. Guinness (aka Mr G for the kiddies) thought he was a filmstar!

Gotta say, it was fun - even the last part that I'm not too sure Ranger Stacey was prepared for…

Should be on TV in about 8 weeks time.

The list

2014-04-22T19:59:00.000+10:00

Well, the long weekend is over and I am stoked to say the list (see previous blog) was all but accomplished (excluding planting pumpkin seeds and the stuff that was to flow over to next weekend). I did add a few more (significant) things to said list and, with MOTH's help (albeit not 100% keen), we got it done. Poor MOTH, he wasn't keen on helping me plant the couple of hundred plants I turned up with on Monday afternoon.

But great news, my new garden bed has finally gone from this…

And, with a little help from a very large excavator, to this…

And then I did this…

… to this…

After a comprehensive cat scan…

...this is what passed muster...

Just a sprinkler system, a few more plants and some mulch to go… thank goodness there's another long weekend coming up!

Then I can start on my next project…

BTW - Jeff has settled in magnificently and I think someone is a bit of poser when the camera comes out. How could any human dump such a magnificent creature, he is just so lovely.

Meanwhile MOTH got caught on Sunday afternoon tormenting Red Rooster by recording his crow and then playing it back to him over and over and over. Poor bloody rooster is mighty confused now! Again, how could someone dump an animal so magnificent?

And there's always time for another UpsideDownAmil shot of Moet (they all do it)

Four days off and I feel another list coming on...

2014-04-18T08:38:00.002+10:00

I'm a compulsive list writer. If I don't I get easily distracted and don't achieve my goals. And there is nothing more satisfying than crossing something off a list.

So, I've got four whole days to get some things done around the place and I can't wait - that is as soon as I've written my list.

I want to finish my new garden bed this weekend. That'll involve several tasks...

And we have a film crew coming on Thursday to do a story on the donkeys so I'll have to tidy up that section of the yard. That'll involve several tasks...

Then there's the usual stuff cleaning, washing, tidying house stuff - more tasks...

In between all of that there's some animals that need tending, feeding, groomed, etc. - lots of tasks here...

Oh, and did I mention I get easily distracted?

See why I need a list!

1. Pull out nut grass
2. Fix watering system
3. Tidy under stairs area
4. Move paint tins to shed
5. Move water trailer
6. Water all the animals
7. Clean out chook shed
8. Move palm fronds out of garden
9. Lay bricks in centre feature on new path
10. Move compost heap (maybe leave the one for next weekend)
11. Mow lawns
12. Fix fence around new garden and make wee entry gates
13. Get a load of crusher dust for donkey stall
14. Get a load of deco to finish paths with
15. Plant kafir lime tree
16. Return empty seedling pots to Dean's nursery
17. Install new sprinkler system in new garden (next weekend?)
18. Chop down banana tree
19. Move firewood from orchard
20. Stack hay off trailer so I can do items 18, 13, 14 and 10
21. Hose out donkey stall and downstairs patio
22. Buy and plant something yummy in bottom garden bed (tomatoes, basil and marigolds?)
23. Plant heritage seeds in trays
24. Plant pumpkin seeds
25. Spray weeds

There, feel better already... Now off I go...

Crocheting a rug

2014-04-06T11:57:00.003+10:00

I want to make a throw rug and have decided on making one from crochet.

Haven't crocheted since I was a little girl and have no idea where to start. I would prefer natural fibres than acrylic but that's about as far as I've gone.

Any suggestions?

Oh and it will be shades of red.

More comings and goings @ Clear Mountain

2014-03-23T10:06:00.003+10:00

I was watching TV on Friday night and flicked through my Facebook account. There was a post from a friend saying that she had just witnessed a bloke pull up outside her apartment at Redcliffe and let a dog out of the car and drive away. I was horrified. My friend rushed down to the busy road to find a very scared boxer trying not to get run over. She took him back up to apartment but knew she would have to take him to the pound in the morning. He was a sweet thing, very friendly and old.

I saw the photo of him and immediately asked MOTH if we could foster him. Surprisingly he said yes. She took him to the pound and he has no microchip and they were more than happy for me to take him as they well bulging at the seams with animals.

So long story short... Meet Jeff the Boxer.

He has fit in really well with the cats, dogues, chooker moles and donkeys. You should have seen Max's face when 3 red dogs walked into the house - who knew… cats can count! We went to the vet for a checkup and we agreed he is about 8 years old. Need a few more tests on his heart tomorrow but he is otherwise in good health, albeit very skinny (won't take long to fix that).

On the goings front, SirLoin has left our farm but he didn't make it to the butcher (I had to call and cancel). One of our neighbours has seriously fallen in love with him and so I agreed to sell him. He will have a long and happy life with his new BFF, Devon.

I also did a random walk around my poorly loved garden and found a few surprises. Tomatoes ready to be eaten (I haven't planted tomatoes for about a year), a couple of cute little capsicum, lemons (a little green but someone else has been picking them - me thinks of the animal kind) and some wild guava down at the dam (makes awesome chutney).

Am off now to don the latest fashions in whipper snipper and trim the electric fence line around the paddock. No doubt my two long eared friends will be there to help.

Oh, and my friend's premmie mini foal, Dumbledore, now has his own Facebook page - www.facebook.com/dumble1.

Glam gardening

2014-03-16T08:27:00.001+10:00

I took some advice from a fellow blogger (am so sorry, can't remember who it was) yesterday and glammed up my gardening outfit with a couple of flowers in my hair.

Funny, it makes you feel a whole lot different...

The water fountain is going strong and the 30+ fish I've put in it are growing well.

Need some advice on whether I'll be OK to eat them. Someone said they could become toxic - no idea how. The water is pretty clear all of the time, there are plenty of water plants in it (all healthy) and I top it up every weekend with fresh water from the tanks (no chemicals there). The water is continuously reticulated through the fountain. Any thoughts?

Am loving the sound of the new rooster...