Beetroot Pickles

This is a batch of beetroot pickles that I made today. These beetroots have been growing all winter and will add lots of flavour to our summer salads. We harvested lots of beetroots and it took all morning to get them into the glass and it produced 6 jars. Next winter I will plant lots more as it doesnt seem like alot of produce for all the work. I will plant more beetroot now and have it fresh all summer long too.

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girls night in

Yesterday I went to a girls night in. Its a party that women go to and play games and have raffles and auctions to raise money for the cancer council of australia. Last year we raised $1600.00 and we were hoping to get to $2000.00 this year. We final tally was $2100.00. So a very successful day all around.
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A quick update

Just a quick update on the goslings. We have four fluffy little goslings and they are out and about with their parents grazing. Its very hard to get near them but I will endeavour to get a photo to post as soon as possible.
They are so cute.
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A common thread

On many blogs to day the common thread is the credit crunch thats in all the news. From The states, canada, new zealand and australia people are worried and hurting. I know we will be ok. We have spent the last few years getting rid of debt, most of it anyway, and our garden has grown year after year. But as I hear about whats going on that feeling of having to stockpile neccessities and plant more seedlings grows also.
A really good read is rhonda blog down to earth, which you will find on my links section. She has some great advice on how to get ready and survive any hard times that you might encounter.
Reading all the blogs I do, I get lots of great ideas, but also I know that there are others out there all experiencing what I am and together we can all pull through.

The new pond

This is the new pond. the old pond did not hold water and when the water dried up the foxes got the ducks. This time we dug down till we hit clay and lined the pond with it. It has filled up with the rains and the level has stayed steady. If it still has water at the end of summer we will get more ducks. They are great for keeping the weeds around the trees down and the drains clear.

welcome to the new babies

Here they are the new arrivals. 4 goslings hatched but unfortunatly only 3 survived. This is the best picture I could get as the papas are very protective.

These are some other babies. Some baby apricots and some new seedlings

The very angry geese

These are our geese and their home. At the monment we cannot get too close as the male gets very threatening. I do however go into their pen every day and put food close to the sitting mother and every other day to give her water. They only leave the pen once a day to swim in the pond, but as soon as you go throw the gate into the permiculture area they all waddle back to protect the eggs. So I cant candle them to see if they are any good. I really hope at least one hatches for them they are so dedicated.