Weekend Camping Trip

The June long-weekend just passed and Gigi's father came down for a visit. We are lucky enough to have a reasonably amicable co-parenting relationship and both want to give Gigi wonderful childhood memories (as most parents do).

Gigi's father wanted to take Gigi camping, so we organised a trip to Crystal Waters Eco Village on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, about an hour away from home.

 

 Gigi and her father playing by one of the many creeks.

 Crystal Waters is an alternative community set in 650 acres of bushland. The community includes a number of private residences, village green/ common area, bushland reserves, creeks, lakes and the village camping area. 

Gigi wanted her face-painted with a Unicorn

The community holds a market on the first Saturday of every month, selling everything from fruit and veg, to plants, clothing, handmade goods and second-hand items. There were also several small bands playing, delicious food and kids face-painting. Its was almost like a small festival, or a village fete from medieval times. Best of all, there was about twenty kids of all ages running around, playing together and not an electronic device in sight. Gigi had an absolute blast. 

The village camping area was a short 300m walk from the village green and was surprisingly luxurious. I'd packed an array of cooking equipment to cook over the campfire and an esky to keep our fruit and veg cold, but it was completely unnecessary. The camp area included a camp kitchen hut, which had two refrigerators;  gas cooker; sink; kettle; toaster; microwave; cutlery; crockery; pots; pans; and utensils. We still had a campfire every day and cooked all our meals over it, but having the use of a fridge and proper washing up facilities was amazing. 

A delicious camp meal of Quinoa salad and crispy-skin salmon 

As an added bonus, the camping area also has real toilets, hot showers and a laundry! All for $10/per adult/ night!

But the best thing about the camping itself was the surroundings and the company. Three other families with kids also stayed at the campsite for the weekend, as well as a German backpacker, a couple and a single. During the day, everyone did their own thing; but of a night, everyone gathered around the campfire and shared food, wine, tea, hot chocolate, marshmallows and great conversation. All within a beautiful backdrop of  native bushland. 

It was a great weekend, one that I hope Gigi will remember and that I also hope we can repeat in the future.

Gigi and I by the creek

I would definitely recommend Crystal Waters Eco Village as a wonderful camping spot. 

Backyard DIY Part 3- Chicken Nesting Box

Part 3 of my DIY Weekend involved building a nesting box. I left this to last because I had put qa lot of thought into how I was going to build it. 

When I first bought my block, it had not fences and people would often dump rubbish on it. Usually cans, wrappers and the occasional random item. One day I discovered a wooden drawer a passer by had gifted me with. Whilst old, it is in perfect condition, so I kept it to use for a project. I was thinking it'd screw some wooden legs on it and make it into a planter box. 

My dad then suggested that I should use it as a nesting box. The drawer is so old, any toxins in the wood would be long gone, so perfect and safe for chickens. 

I cut four thicker lengths of bamboo about 40cms long to make corner posts, four long lengths for 'beams' and floor 'stabilisers' and four short lengths for 'beams' and floor 'stabilisers'. I then assembled inside the drawer, as show above to ensure all the pieces fit. Several had to be trimmed to ensure they were the correct length. I then drilled holes in the ends and connected all the pieces with zip ties.

Next I drilled holes along the top and bottom pieces and inserted thin pieces of bamboo the entire length of the box. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of this step. The thin lengths of bamboo gave additional support to the structure.  I planned to weave very thin pieces of bamboo through the supports to create something like a woven basket. I wove about half of the rear wall before deciding that it was too time consuming and I couldn't get a tight enough weave. I then considered using rags and doing a cloth weave, but I didn't want to waste my cleaning rags. Then I remembered that as a kid, my neighbours and I used to make huts out of branches with paperbark woven between the branches. I thought that the same technique could be used for the nesting box. And it did.

The completed nesting box is a little messy-looking but I like it. And the chooks seem to like it too.

Chooks exploring their new equipment

All three DIY projects in the coop. 

The girls roosting on the nesting box,
one chook is in the nesting box. 

Now all I have to do is wait until the girls are old enough to start laying and there will be fresh eggs to be enjoyed.

Backyard DIY Part 2- Chook Feeder

After building a Bamboo Water Trough, I decided to use the same basic principle to make a Bamboo Chicken Feeder. 

Once again, I used an entire segment of the bamboo, so that the chicken feed would sit IN the bamboo piece. The bottom of the bamboo is acting as a bowl, I guess. I cut two large squares out of the bottom of the bamboo. The idea is that the chooks can easily get to the grain, without pooping in their food. I've cut two squares so that at least two chooks can feed at the same time. 

I also drilled two holes at the top of the feeder to that it could be tied-up for security. 

Close-up

 The chooks immediately got the idea and came over to enjoy their feeder.

Success

Backyard DIY Part 1- Water trough

My parents have decided to get some chickens. Their main purpose would be as egg producers, but also as pets. Its been 20 years since my parents had chickens. We had them for a few years as kids, but our cattle dog and foxes eventually ate them all.
My dad built a chicken coop a few weeks ago from a kit and its been settling/ airing since.

Chickens need three basic things- Food, Water and Shelter. I've decide to build a Water Trough, a Feeder and a Nesting Box from whatever I had lying around or could source for free. So basically, this meant Bamboo creations.

I went and harvested a heap of Bamboo from where it grows on the roadside not far from my parents house. I went to a 'Building with Bamboo' Workshop at The Planting Festival, back in May. From this Workshop, I learnt that Bamboo is best cut down with a fine-toothed saw. Turns out its true. The last time I cut Bamboo, I used my large-toothed pruning saw. This time I used a run-of-the mill building saw (can get them for about $7 from Bunnings). Wow, was it so much easier and faster than the struggle of the large-toothed saw.

I cut and loaded up a ute-load and took it home for 'processing'.

Ute-load of Bamboo

Bamboo

I chose a large, solid piece to build the Feeder and Water trough out of. This particular Bamboo is a species of 'clumping bamboo'. They grow tall and reasonably straight. Bamboo consist of several segments, each segment is hollow and watertight. This is what I was planning on taking advantage of for the Water Trough.

Bamboo Length

Cheap saw, bamboo with rectangle cut out

I sawed the bamboo on either side of the two segments so that I had one intact central piece. I then used the saw to cut two lines perpendicular to the bamboo piece. Using a chisel and a hammer, I chiseled along the piece of bamboo from one cut to the other cut. Then I was able to pop out the whole centre piece in one chunk. For this method to work, it is important to understand the structure of the Bamboo. The bamboo fibres run vertically up the bamboo and it is prone to splits on the vertical plane. By using the saw to create vertical cuts, it is then very easy to split off the whole rectangular piece. 

Next, I cut a small cylinder of Bamboo and split it, using the chisel. I drilled holes through these two pieces to create a stand for the water trough and drilled holes through the larger segment.  I next mounted the water trough to the stand pieces, wedged a small stick of bamboo through the holes and viola! A DIY Bamboo Water Trough

bamboo stick as a nail

Water Trough in-situ in the Chook Pen. 

Roaming around Nana and Poppas Garden

My parents were away for the weekend, so Gigi and I had their hobby farm all to ourselves. Its mulberry season at the moment and their Mulberry Tree is loaded. Gigi was eating them as fast as I could picked them. She'll be eating a lot of Yogurt with Mulberries, Porridge with Mulberries and plain Mulberries over the next few weeks. I'm also hoping to get enough to freeze some for later in the year.

Mulberries

Gigi and Pippi, our dog,  in the Orchid

Being winter, the citrus trees are fruiting too. The mandarin tree, whilst small is loaded with small and extremely juicy mandarins. Gigi loves to pick and eat them. 

The lemon tree has lots of lemons this year. I'm not sure what to make with the surplus of lemons, nor how to preserve them, so I'll have to do some research. I may just end up gifting them. 

Mulberry tree, with mandarin tree
in foreground and lemon tree in background

Tiny mandarin Tree

The custard apple trees have begun to grow perfect little fruits. Now begins the game of waiting for them to get big enough to pick, but picking them before the birds have a chance to destroy them.

Plenty of Lemons

Custard Apples

We had a bit warmer weather (for winter) over the weekend and also a fair bit of rain. We found this little guy on the back road, heading for the dam. I picked him up and carried him over to the dam so that he wouldn't get run-over. He's the second turtle we've seen this year. This particular guy is an Australia Native, known as an Eastern Long-Neck Turtle. They are very common and this guy is getting close to the upper size limit of the species.











We also spent some time watching the Guinea Fowl, who are settling in nicely and are starting to extend their range. They came up to the house and we had to chase them away. Guinea Fowl by the house are NOT desirable!

Alternative Pesto Recipe

Mary, Mary

Quite Contrary

How does your Basil grow?

WILDLY

As mentioned in a previous post, the basil in the herb spiral is growing very well. The time had come to harvest and make pesto. I don't make pesto to a specific recipe, instead I usually experiment and use whatever I have in the pantry/fridge. So the following is a guide and contains various substitution options, based on your likes/ dislikes/ pantry situation. 

For this recipe I used:

• Bail (10 Cups)
• Sun-dried Tomatoes (5-6)
• Sun-dried Tomato Oil (5-7 Tbsp)
• Parmesan Cheese (5 Tbsp)
• Walnuts (5 Tbsp)
• Cold Pressed Olive Oil (if required)

I collected about two colanders worth of basil leaves, so approximately 10 cups of Basil, added it to my blender (the all-mighty Vitamix). Next I added about 5 or 6 Sun-Dried Tomatoes (all that was left in the jar) and the oil from the jar. The sun-dried tomatoes that I buy are preserved in olive oil and the delicious tomato flavour has infused itself into the oil, along with whatever herbs are used to flavour the tomatoes. This is the secret ingredient that really makes it.

Turn the blender/food processor on its lowest setting and sundried tomato oil a little at a time, to allow the basil to be blended. Turn off the blender and add Parmesan cheese. The amount of cheese depends on how strong its flavour is and how strong a flavour you like. I have really strong flavoured cheese and love a strong flavour, so I added about 5 Tablespoons. Next add whatever nuts you prefer. Most recipes call for pine nuts, but these are super expensive. I had an open packet of walnuts, so used those. Pecans, cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds are also good options.

Inside the blender

Blending 

Turn the blender back onto its lowest setting and blend away, adding more oil if required. The secret to good pesto is blending it until it is combined, but still a little chunky. 

I then spooned out the pesto into cupcake molds and stuck them in the freezer. Once they'd frozen I popped them into a container and will now have pesto for several months. 

Sort of chunky perfection

Enough to freeze

If making large batches of pesto, it is much easier to freeze them into single batch portions, then chuck the portions, once frozen into a container. 

Extending the Edible Garden.

Food garden pre-mulching

Over the weekend, I mulched and added a few more plants to the edible garden, which next to the Hugelkultur.

Pre-mulching with first row of cardboard

My favourite weed-matting material is cardboard boxes. Its thick, its free, it breaks down, forming compost and its fairly non-toxic. Its important to overlap the cardboard on the edges and to ensure its in the perfect location in relation to the tree stem. Too far means you'll get weeds growing up, too close can kill the plant. I usually leave a gab of a few centimetres and also don't mulch right up to the stem. I also find the cardboard more manageable if its slightly damp. So either water it, or leave it out for a few days. 

Cardboard weed-matting. 

Sugar Cane Mulch

After laying down the cardboard, I covered in a thick layer of sugar cane mulch. The mulch is really rough, straight from a sugar can farm about 40 minutes away. I prefer to use it because it smells great, sort of sweetly and I like the look of it.

Gigi 'planting' 

 I haven't added a border to the garden yet, mainly because I ran out of time over the weekend. I am also planning to extend the garden so the the whole area of the fruit orchid is mulched out. I haven't yet decided whether to add borders as I go, or wait untill I've finished the whole lot. I need to mulch out the whole area as its a little difficult (actually very difficult) to mow.  I didn't plant the fruit trees in row, just haphazardly all over the place. Lesson learnt for next time.