Housekeeping

I've just been doing a little housekeeping since starting my second blog, Ravs Creations.

One of the things I have done is move the creativity & sewing focussed blog links across, just to make things a little tidier.  So If you are looking for one - please visit.

I'll be trying to move the photo albums across soon too.

All the best

Ravs

Shredding

I had a little more time than expected on Thursday afternoon due to not being needed to help at school,  so I decided to start a job that I have been putting off for ages. I tell myself it is out of consideration for the neighbours as it is extremely noisy.

I started shredding the pile of tree trimmings that have been sitting under our nature strip tree for months (and months and .....).

Shredder, chippings and the pile of trimmings under our poinsiana.  The larger leaves you can see are sweet potato, the rest is weeds.

I bought the shredder on ebay for $60 (or was it $80?) anyway, a pretty decent price.  And the blade had just been sharpened too.  The idea is that I chip a fair proportion of our garden trimmings, up to the size it can handle, and therefore save money on purchasing mulch, tip fees and the petrol used to do either of these.  Plus reducing my carbon footprint (the petrol again) and the amount of nutrients lost to landfill (though much of the green waste does actually get composted).

It is going to take a fair amount of time to save on the mulch though - the occupied volume of the trimmings is at least 4 times that of the chips.  But never mind, it's the thought that counts.

I did shred some of the trimmings when they were first cut, and still green.  It took ages to get through - the shredder kept overheating.  Which is part of the reason I put it off so long.

And now I am glad I did.  The branches have lost so much of their strength with having dried out (and in some case started to rot), so it was much quicker and the shredder took longer to overheat & trip out.

I have a bit more to go on this pile.  And then I have to tackle the one inside the fence.

Pretty much over my lurgy now, so should start to get more done in the garden (the soccer pitch desperately needs weeding), including finishing off the first of the new garden beds.  The cooler weather should help too.

Cradle to Cradle

I have just finished another really thought provoking book, "Cradle to Cradle; Remaking the way we make things" but Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

OK - not anything to do with the book - but it is a 'Cradle' in a (almost) pristine environment - and a really nice picture.

I came across it when ordering my copy of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.  It looked interesting so I put it on hold through the library.

It's only a relatively slim volume, 186 pages plus notes, but the ideas are wide ranging.

I started reading it to learn more about what we can do to reduce our impact on the environment - but this book isn't about that.

It's premise is that we should be moving towards redesigning all we do so that our ecology, economy and culture (equity) is enhanced by our actions.  That biological and technological 'nutrients' (such as metals) need not be squandered, but that the systems and objects in which they are used should be designed such that they are returned to the nutrient pool at the end of one 'life', ready to begin another, at a similar level of quality.

It is far more than a book about saving the environment - it is a whole different way of looking at economics, design, resources, and society.  About effectiveness, rather than just efficiency.  Professor Braungart has a great summary of their vision here.

It is a long road to travel, and I felt a bit overwhelmed & depressed in the middle - everything looked so complex and so bleak.  But there are some inspiring stories of major companies starting to look at their business in new ways, and the final chapter points to the value of each step on the journey to a world enriched by our presence, not damaged by it.

Now we just have to get it onto the reading lists of all engineering, economic, business, legal, architecture, chemistry, design......schools on the planet, and build a generation of thinkers to take us there.

Highly recommended reading.

Pests!

I've been experiencing some pest issues lately.

First - grasshoppers are having a feast on my wee little apple trees.

I've never seen the shed skin of a grasshopper before.  Have you?

And from a different angle.

I manage to catch quite a few, then I go up to the chicken coop, call the girls, and give them a real treat!

Then there are the crows.  Not after the eggs this time, but they find the nearly ripe passionfruit before I have a chance.  Pull them off the vine and dig in.

Also damaging the passionfruit are our first FRUIT FLY!  I noticed a mark on one of the fruit in the bowl, and the fact that it was going a bit soft, cut it open and found the delightful wigglers inside.

It is important not to put infested fruit in the compost - as the maggots actually need to burrow into the earth for the next stage of their life-cycle, so you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Instead, I went around the garden picking up all the fallen fruit (some unfortunately have probably already deposited their load of larvae) and putting them in a black plastic bag.  This is now hung on the post of the steps, where it can catch the sun (not that we've seen much the last few days).  This is called solarising.

Solarising the Fruit Fly

I thought they then had to go into the bin - but according to the link above, and this book (which is in my personal library), when the maggots are properly killed off I don't have to waste all that organic matter and can add it to the compost.

Also microwaving, cooking, drowning or freezing (which is what I do to avoid weevils, pantry and clothes moths - yes I put the woollens in the freezer) are supposedly also effective.  I wonder whether fermenting like I do with the invasive weeds before composting them (and using the diluted 'tea' as fertiliser), would work as well?  I guess that would come under drowning.

The chickens haven't been exempt either - or at least their food hasn't.  During the day the crows (yes, them again) have a go mainly at the scraps (though they do wait until the chickens have finished), and the spotted turtle doves go into the coop for the seed.  They are going through it at a rate of knots!

And last night there was a RAT in the coop when I put the chickens to bed!  Too fast for me to tell if it was a native or a feral species.  It was pale to mid grey, not black, obviously larger than a mouse, but only about  1/2 to 2/3 the size of the rats you see in the pet shops.  It ran rather than hopped.  But like I said, it was too fast to see the tail properly (i.e. whether it was scaly or furred).  Either way, it's still eating the chicken's food, and potentially spreading other, even more annoying pests.

The sooner I move the chicken coop into the (old) vege patch, with a rat proof wire mesh underneath, and a bird proof net above, the better.

An ounce of prevention, as they say.

Ravs

Pineapple

Remember those pineapples we had growing?
Well one was well and truly ready to pick the other day.

The same day we bought ourselves a juicer, and SMD was going to use this in his first experiment!
We were all thankful that I stopped him, as it was probably the most delicious pineapple we have ever eaten.  A pale buttery yellow it was sweet but smooth, a 'rounder' flavour than the shop bought ones, not as acidic.
I think it was due to two things - being left to fully ripen in the sun, on the plant, and being devoured within a few hours of being picked.
They take a while to grow & produce fruit, but they are well worth planting (and easy, just sit the top of your pineapple on the soil & let it go).  They can be quite decorative too.
Yum!
Ravs.

Separation of Powers

Actually - it's a separation of topics, rather than powers.
As this blog has tended more towards the garden and environment I have decided to separate off my posts about my 'craftier' pursuits - sewing, knitting, crotchet, refashioning, repurposing etc.
You can find these at www.ravscreations.blogspot.com
I have just posted about a diary cover I made last week.

And have the photos ready for a tutorial on a laptop bag (my very own design!).
Hope to see you there.
Ravs

Building a Raised Bed - Part 1

My vege garden is in a bad state - but this is deliberate.
I found that the location made the garden difficult to work in, without tramping all over the garden itself, so I am letting it go fallow - and starting to build new vege beds.
But don't worry, all the work Mr & Mrs Skivvy & I put in won't go to waste - the chickens are going to move in, and stay in the run when we aren't home.

So now that J5 has started school - I have the time to start building the new beds, with the help of Mr Skivvy of course.

I decided on corrugated iron beds, but when I investigated purchasing the size and number of bed I wanted from a commercial source the cost added up to over $700 dollars. Eeeeeek!

So, after seeing the rustic, recycled corro beds at our friends' house in Stanthorpe, I decided to do it myself, and source the iron from the Treasure Market.  I worked out that this would cost about $35 for the materials.  A bit of a difference eh?

But......then a friend told me how reasonably priced they found the Colourbond bought direct, and cut to length by the supplier.  Getting new steel, to match the shed, would make SMD happier, and there would be less sharp edges & rust for the kids to injure themselves on.  The cost? $177.  I did compromise my recycling ideals, but I have made SMD happy.

After collecting the steel in Mr Skivvy's 'Truck' (read Landcruiser - an old one for towing their off-road caravan), 4 x 2200mm and 4 x 1200mm, we had to cut the sheets in half lengthwise.

The standard width is about 850mm, but I want my beds around 400mm high, so they needed to be cut, and the supplier's machine can't cut lengthwise.

I looked up info on cutting corro & found this page.  We bought the appropriate blade for Mr Skivvy's circular saw just before collecting the material.

SAFETY - You will notice that I am wearing long trousers, long sleeves and a high neck, hearing protection and (harder to see) safety glasses.  Mr Skivvy (who held the sheet still from the other end) was wearing the same.  These precautions are essential.  The swarf (the little bits of metal that fly off when cutting) come off the saw red hot and, although being so small they cool very fast, they do sting as they hit.  I think I would wear a hat and a bandanna over my mouth if I were ever to do it again.

We have wood supporting either side of the cut, and decided cutting in a trough was easier than cutting on a peak, as the saw could rest on the peaks either side.  A proper tradey would have a much better set up.  But this did the job.

One important point - make sure that your power cord is kept completely out of the way.  A significant cause of death & disablement in the garden is people cutting through power cords while using hedge cutters & similar.

More soon (I hope) - as soon as I get onto the next step.