Make, Bake, and Grow

Make

One of the happy things about living in the Blue Mountains is the abundance of birds that appear in our garden.  Jemima and I have been trying to identify our visitors in our bird guide and the other afternoon we thought we'd make them some tasty treats to try and encourage them to come and see us more often.

First we gathered some pine cones we had collected and tied some garden twine around them. Then we covered them in peanut butter (the natural kind - birds don't need added sugar).

Then we rolled them in bird seed with a bit of cornmeal mixed in to it.

J climbed the trees to put them up high and the next morning most of them were picked clean. I think we're going to have to get up earlier if we want to see the bird feeders in action!

Bake

Today is J's birthday and last night Jemima decided to make him one extra gift. This was her first attempt at making fudge and it didn't go quite as we had planned.  I think it was due to her creative measuring of ingredients.  Not to worry, as far as she's concerned it came out exactly how she wanted it to. All we had to do was rename it from chocolate fudge to chocolate chews!

Grow


Rain, rain, go away. My spring planting is so behind. I do have lettuce, tomatoes, peas, cucumber, and herbs growing in one raised bed. The soil here is horrible. Full of roots and dry as dust. For my next bed I'm going to use the no dig method and forget about trying to make something out of the awfully depleted soil we have here. I miss my old gardens!

The flower gardens are a huge job at this house. We have loads of them but they're full of grass. It's going to be a big job clearing and planting them.  I'm going with the current style of the garden (untamed) and attempting to create something wild and magical. I have some days earmarked later in the month for a garden transformation - if the weather ever improves!