Hajja Kuntenta - A Contented Life

2024-02-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon everyone.

its been a while since I have written for my blog. I just got the urge to do it today and feel like it may be the beginning of something .

i think the key is consistency so i will try to keep the content exciting and full of information you can use to improve your gardening journey.

this months post

February is a wonderful time of year as it when most of the vegetable planted in spring start producing well and if its nice and warm then the plants can produce a lot and then you have to think of ways to use it all up.

i have discovered lots of new recipes simply by the wonderful abundance nature provides.

All gardeners would know that alot of produce has imperfections and as a grower, i know a lot of work goes into to getting the maximum amount of yield for your effort and expense. So it would be wasteful to throw out something you have just freshly harvested due to a small defect. Even if I do have to throw anything out like a rotten tomato, I make sure I let the seeds ooze out onto the ground so next year I get loads of free seedlings.

So this month i have been busy harvesting and preserving.

i wanted to introduce you all to Tomatilo......

Here is a link that describes everything about them.

Essentially they are a greenish /yellow tomato and they are Mexican. They are used to make Salsa Verde.

https://www.webmd.com/.../what-are-the-health-benefits-of...

I was gifted by nature thousands (or it seems) of Tomatilo plants that I did not plant. They even got zapped with the frost and all came back ok to produce kilos of fruit.

I was attracted to the Tomatilo plant as its fruit looks like lanterns and i just had to grow it. Its wonderful that it grows here and its almost a weed as now after three years of growing it its everywhere I look.

I did take some time to look into the health benefits of this wonderful plant and the information is in the above link. i think the benefits pertain to its raw form but i could be wrong.

the benefits i took note of are that they are good for eye sight and also may aid in the prevention of cancer. Read for yourself.

Here are a few pictures of my veggie boxes and some Salsa i made with produce that has little defects.

I'm loving this simple yet rich life that is hard work and toil, but oh so worth it. i would trade it for anything.

let me know if you want to order a box , or just a few things or flowers or seeds. I have a extensive range and adding every year with new plants.

this year i will have red velvet and lime sunflower (huge flower) as well as normal sunflower seeds. I can post them.

until next post happy Gardening.

if you want to order a box , send a message to my Yarralina Produce face book page. thanks

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Our Garlic Achieved 1st and 2nd prize at the Royal Canberra Show

2019-04-08T05:59:00.001-07:00

Prize winning Garlic

Hello everyone and thanks for reading my posts.

We are happy to have won first and second prize for our Australian garlic. We also sold out this year and this encouraged us to plant double the amount we planted last season. We are hoping to achieve even better result this year weather permitting and combined with our growing experience ( which get better every year due to learning from our mistakes).

Our Garlic has a strong flavour and is of the hard neck variety. I still have some bulbs left and they have kept well and still look and feel fresh. I think I have saved enough to last until the next crop is ready for harvesting.

Did you know garlic has many health benefits . Some of these benefits include improving our blood pressure, lowering our cholesterol and even preventing Dementia or lowering the risk. Here is a link to read more about the health benefits of garlic.

If you would like to order some of our garlic you can contact us on Zanil.design@bigpond.com.

It is the time to plant garlic if you want to have a try to grow it yourself. There are many useful sites to get information on how to grow it.

Prize winning Garlic- Our back breaking work pays off

The harvested and processed Garlic

Bunches of garlic ready for sale

2018 Garlic harvested and Processed- Phew

2019-01-05T21:10:00.002-08:00

Welcome to our Blog

About our Garden and little plots that we hope to inspire you with and grow into a market garden.

This year we planted about 320 bulbs of Australian Garlic in April 2018. We watched it grow with anticipation and it gave us great joy to see it doing so well. In early November the scapes started appearing . It was a dry season and we had to keep the water up to the crop.

I cut some of the scapes as part of a little experiment to see the effect on the harvested bulb size and to also sell and educate people what they were . People were interested and one interested person even asked what effect it would have on the bulb. Well the scape is the flower of the garlic bulb and it contains granules that can become seeds and be planted. A garlic bulb can be grown from it , but it would take a long time for it to grow into the bulb size we are used to seeing at the supermarket. You can plant the scape and use the chives that grow in cooking. You can also use the scapes instead of the garlic as they taste the same. If you plant the largest cloves you will get large garlic bulbs.

We harvested the garlic early December at the correct time , before all the rain came . Luckily as it if had rained it would have been ruined. We also were in the middle of processing it when huge storms came over and all of it had to come inside , so the house had garlic smell and boxes everywhere. I am not sorry as it was harvested and it looks like the best crop we have had in the 4 years of growing it.

I had to pickle some of it as some of the bulbs were water damaged and were beginning to rot. I have carefully selected the best garlic for sale so my customers get the best quality.

I plan on entering our best bulbs this to see if we can get another first prize at this years Royal Canberra Show. It makes us so proud. Anyway who wants to buy some locally grown Australian Garlic that's chemical free.

Harvesting the Garlic

We ended up with Two wheel Burrow full!

Garlic has be processed , dried and bundled , it looks great and is firm and fresh

This is some of the Garlic after it has been processed.

Harvesting complete. Its quite labour intensive as we hand harvest it using pitch forks.

For Sale. Selling in bundles of $10.50, $7.00 and $4.50 ( not pictured).

send me an email if interested in joining our email list to get our fresh produce delivered to your home. Only Canberra North side customers sorry. Or if you lace an order you can come and collect it from Dickson.

2018-04-22T05:58:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone- Welcome to my Gardening Blog.

We have decided to give our market gardening dream some serious time and start making it happen. It has long been a dream of mine to be able to grow vegetables efficiently to sell some of it, to pay at least for the soils, nets and seeds etc. Its starts to get a little costly when you start buying tonnes of soil and metres and metres of netting.

Anyway we thought we are not getting younger and we seem to be getting busier and there never seems enough time or the right time to begin our market garden dream. There is no time like the present so we have begun. Now that we have decided it will be a steep learning curve as there is more to it than just growing plants as I have learnt by reading a few articles on market gardening.

Would you believe there is lots of maths involved, with marking out garden bed sizes , rows , yields , number of plants for the space and the list goes on.

I am so excited and so is Steve. He will be doing all the heavy work and I will too off course , but there are limitations especially since I am much smaller than him. We are starting with what we already have except for the new soil and netting that we need.

We have marked out a new large area that we will get new soil and start planning where what we want to grow will go.

We are going to learn so much and add to what we already know , as well as gain skills on planning and marketing.

We are going to be Chemical Free and use our own Chicken manure and try to grow a mix of vegetables in winter and summer. I will be doing lots of record keeping , this is the part I hate. I usually start out enthusiastic, but then lose interest , or lose the record book. I will have to be more vigilant.

Our idea is to be able to offer our customers fresh vegetables ( and Fruit- we have some fruit trees) in a vegetable box package as well as sell at markets and perhaps to a select few restaurants.

And so it begins , this wonderful dream of ours to build a market garden on our YarraLina property and work together . I am sure we will find our strengths and weaknesses, but most importantly we will be putting our ideas into ACTION.

This winter we are on growing Garlic, Broad Beans, Sugar Snaps, Snow peas, Kale, Broccoli and a few other plants ( once we work it out). We are also using this winter to record yields etc to gain a better understanding how we can make it all work.

In the Garden

Planting the 2018 Garlic

Monaro Purple

Planted 320 cloves in 14 Rows 21/4/18

This is an older picture- I am going to try to still be creative with my vegetables

Kent Pumpkins - 2018 - this pumpkin weighed 5.7 kilo. This vines were transplanted from seeds that fell and there were lots of them so I picked the strongest ones and nurtured them until the rain came on Feb 24th and then the plants exploded with female flowers, much to my delight.

Snow pea Bed

1m X 2 m bed

planted 86 seeds.

Also planted some Ice burg Lettuce seed.

Garlic Harvesting December 2016

2017-01-10T23:29:00.002-08:00

Hello Everyone

Greetings from YarraLina Farm ( our property), a humble few plots of garden beds that give me endless pleasure and where I escape to think things through. I also marvel at the wonderful things that nature has to offer and how its so amazing that form a small seed you can grow kilos and kilos of food.

I started this blog over 5 years ago and I just got so busy to keep updating it, but I am going to keep my inspiration going and keep updating interesting items, such as this post and hopefully turn our humble plot into something that I can eventually do full time and rely on a source of income. Well you have to start form somewhere and as they say from little things big things grow.

Here's to giving it a go!

The process of Garlic growing.

So here are some photos of our Australia Garlic harvesting. Thanks to all the people who bought our garlic, Thank you so much for supporting us as its this support at the beginning that gives us the confidence to try and make it work.

I initially started growing garlic about 3 years ago and bought some seed from a local farm ( keeping it local) and planted about 240 cloves. I did have a few issues at the beginning as I thought I would just grow it and see how it went. It wasn't until I was not getting much success that I decided to do some research.

There are so many varieties to grow, we decided to grow the hard Neck Australian Purple, and may grow another variety as times on. We have had some great feed back about this variety and I love cooking with it, it has a strong flavour and hot as well.

The ground is prepared with a rich manure and cloves planted in April.
Then it is watered and weeded ( or you can mulch to prevent the weeds) until late October , early November.
When the scapes form, they are cut off ( can be used in cooking) so all the energy goes into forming a large bulb.
then after a period of about 2 weeks of dry weather the bulbs can be harvested, cleaned and dried.

A wheelbarrow full of fresh harvested Garlic

In the Garage , cleaning the Garlic and removing excess dirt

The cleaned Garlic

Look how beautiful and firm and purple it looks.

Want to buy some. we have some left.

We are selling them in $12, $15 and $20 bunches

Send us an email and we can post it to you. Postage of $9.50 applies

zanil.design@bigpond.com

Cheers and happy Gardening

To Be happy is to be Grateful

2011-02-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome Again.

Thanks fro visiting my blog , I do hope you enjoy your visit and become inspired to become a little more self sufficient.

It has been a while since I last update as I have been busy in the garden and with 5-6 garden beds to water and weed and tend it takes up a lot of my time. I do love it and I find I get lots of ideas on new things to plant , grow and ways to make the garden better. I also get ideas for my jewellery making while in the garden. And If I am sad or angry these feelings are also somewhat less when I have had some time weeding, harvesting and just pondering . In fact I am sure being in the garden is good for your mental health.

I always emerge from my garden with a grateful

heart and outlook particularly when I see what

nature has achieved in my absence and when I have just picked 4 kg of Cherry tomatoes and 6 giant Zuchinni's and a few other vegies. I just so love being able to be a little self suffiencent so we have some control of our lives and not be totally dependent on outside inputs.

We have a long way to go, but just helping ourselves a little does a lot for your confindence to keep going and with every little step you achieve more independencce each year. It is not easy, but nothing in life is so I say have a go and you will be pleased with the results.

So far we have been harvesting Cherry Tomatoes, Capsicums, Zuchinni, Cucumbers, Beans ,Corn ( nearly ready) , Potato, Garlic, Strawberry, Rocket, cabbage.

I am going to try and grow 1000kg again this year- last year I grew about 400kg of food.

Anyone interested in sponsoring me 1c per kg of food grown to be donated to a cancer research. Growing your own vegies and eating them fresh and free from pestiside has to be better for your health and may even prevent you getting cancer in the first place. By having this challenge and this fund raiser I hope to inspire others to grow their own therefore benefiting others health indirectly.

Send me an email if you are interested in sponsoring me and when harvesting is all done- arround june - July , I will donate the money to cancer organisation.

email me zanil.design@clubtelco.com

To end this post here is what I find to be happy ,is to be grateful for the things we have and where we are right now .

Now is what we have, so enjoy now and know that when all si said and done- everything does work out .

Regards

Lina

First Harvest

2010-11-22T03:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my contented life Blog.

I am sure everyone has been busy in their
gardens planting seedlingsor seeds ready for summer.

we have been or trying to inbetween the wet weather and stormy days. Glad to get all the rain though. We have lots of self seeded cherry tomato plants, that are looking healthy as a result of all the rain. They look better than the ones we translplanted.

I plan on thinning them out and moving them to another section so we can make sure the chickens don't trash them when they have fruit on the vines.

As you can see from the picture we have been picking some green and purple snow peas and broad beans. The ones on the left are off the purple broad bean plant and are smaller than the heritage variety. We have also been picking lot of juicy strawberries.

I seem to have less time this year to plant in the garden and I fell I get stressed out just thinking about what needs to be planted so we don't miss out. I find that when I do spend some time in the garden the stress just melts away and I feel I have all the time in the world.

I am determined to have my garden so in the next week or 2 , I am planting out the tomatoes, sowing some pumpkin seeds and water emlon seeds . I also will be clearing out the broad bean plants and harvesting the cabbages.

Recently I came to the realisation that not only do you need time to plant and nuture the garden, but you also need time to harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Sounds a bit like life really- need time to plan , nuture and enjoy your life.

I am looking forward to school holidays where I hope we will just not go anywhere to often - sounds boring, but I think I prefer that to the constant feeling of running here and there and never quite feeling like I have enough time to just sit and think and even have a cup of tea .

Cheers and happy gardening . I am going to try and grow 1000kg again this year. Wish me luck.

Lina

A New Growing Season Begins- Spring 2010

2010-09-12T03:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to My Contented Life Blog

This blog is about the simple things in life and how pleasureable they can be when we take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Enjoying life can be as simple as noticing the smallest of things , like a flower or the smell of some jonquils growing in the garden, noticing all the self sown seeds that in time, grow to give you nourishment.

We have a few things on the go in our garden- we have self sown Lettuce and Spinach plants.

We have been eating these. I have just used up my last harvest of tomatoes from our green house and manged to stop buying canned tomatoes for 1 whole year. I am so glad. we also have some strawberry plants that are in flower.

We are waiting for our broad beans to grow as well, and I am so looking forward to making broadbean meat pies with them. Yummy.

The next challenge is to grow everything we need and use it in our everyday cooking so we limit the amount we are getting from the grocers, so we can really reduce our carbon foot print.

Our Silver perch and trout are almost big enough to eat- they have taken a long time to get to this stage so this will be our reward when they are finally ready.

Here are some photos of our green house vegies at the moment. There is going to be an explosion of growth over the next month or 2 as it will be getting warmer and more things will germinate. I planted some cucumber seeds, but none came up and found some empty seed pods, eaten out by the resident worms. Very diasppointing, but I will not give up - I am imagining enjoyinh a mouth watering and succulent cucumber mid summer- so will have another go.

Thats all for now- happy gardening- It is still a little early to be palnting out the vegies, but if you have a small green house , start getting your seedlings ready.

Cheers- and have a happy life.

Lina

Winter Begins

2010-06-06T03:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome all to my Blog.

What glorious weather we have been having and we also got a lovely drop of rain. Autumn /winter is such a good time in the garden as you can work all day in the garden and not get too hot like you do in summer.

Over the last few week ends my partner and I have been preparing this garden bed and it involved removing 50 wheelburrows of dirt out and back into this garden bed. Why did we do this? We did this as there was some deep rooted grass roots that if left here would just grow and take over the garden again. Steve my partner did most of the work, I helped towards the end.

I will get a photo of it once the plants grow a little more. I have planted garlic, Kale so far and will get some more seedlings soon. This week end has been very productive as I also planted purple snow peas. I cleaned out the chook shed ( very smelly work ) and dug up and cleaned the weeds out of another garden bed. I slept well that night as I was so tired.

Anyway I realised that you can get a lot done , just by putting your mind on the job.

I have been reading about attachments and detachments when it comes to our life . We could have attachements to our material things or our feelings. I was reading that if we let go of our attachments , we are able to do more and be more. Sometimes we may be attached to how we feel about something that is stopping us from achieving. Once we analyse why we are keeping these attachments and decide that we no longer need to and detach ourselves from them, we are free to do whatever makes us happy.- read this article as it explains it well.

On Being happy and contented , I know I talk a lot about being contented and I would like to clarify a few things incase I lead anyone astray. It is most desirable to be happy most of the time, but sometimes we do feel sad and that is natural and good for us to feel sad every now and then. I always say that if you never feel sad, then you would not know what feelig happy was like. Things happen to us that make us feel sad , as long as we go back to being our normal happy self once you have dealt with the issue at hand. Also being sad makes us analyse and perhaps change direction of our lives for a better outcome. Hopefully that clears things up.

In the end you have be happy with the person that looks back at you in the mirror.

Parting Advice:

Love makes us happy and smiling at people we don't even know can bring joy to them and you when they smile back. Practice simple acts of kindness often and you will be amazed. Material wealth rarely brings everlastings happiness, love does.

Cheers for now.

Lina

A bountiful Table

2010-04-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

A Bountiful and Abundant harvest- Ye Shall Reap What Ye Sows!

May your lives be as abundant and happy as this table is full.

Hello Dear Friends.

Autumn is here and it is my favourite time of year as the weather is just gorgeous. I also love it as it is the time of year when you harvest all of your hard work in the garden and it is so rewarding. The best part is that the vegetables are fresher and more tastier.

Here is a picture of some of my pumkins, I feel so lucky. Some of these were planted , but half were from self sown plants. Also we grew about 50kg of cherry tomatoes and all were from self sewn plants.

Gardening is not that hard- you could do it too- all it needs is for you to have a go. It also doesn't have to be expensive- just start out with 2-3 plants ,prepare your ground before and see what happens. Don't worry if you don't succeed the first time, just try again - a goal with purpose and determination will always find a way.

One tonne challenge update- 275kg

Here are our chickens- looking for food in my car. There are probably some crumbs where the kids sit- unfortuneate for the chickens as they couldn't get in there.

Planting now

Broadbeans

Lettuce

Brocolli

Garlic

Cabage

Cauiliflower

Bye for now.

Lina

One Tonne challenge- 30 days to go

2010-04-03T00:03:00.001-07:00

Welcome once again to my gardening blog.

Hope everyone is having a lovely and safe Easter.

My family and I have had a blissful 2 days so far and we have not drivem more than 5 km in 2 days. How wonderful .

In this time I have pulled up all the Gladiolis and replanted some strawberry plants. We have also ripped out all the strawberry plants from one of the aquaponic grow beds as they were aphid infested and no amount of garlic spray was going to get rid of them.

I am so tired now , but at least it has been done. Next thing is to get the garden beds ready for broad beans and brocoli. Time for planting garlic as well. We are going to try to plant some in the aquaponic grow beds with the strawberries as a companion plant to see if they will keep the aphids at bay.

One Tonne Challenge Update

With only arround 30days to go, I have managed to harvest more than

155kg of food.

I am so pleased. I still have quite a lot in the garden so keep posted for the final amount.

Gardening Tips

Gardening is fun and you can do it also . Set your self an easy target first and you will be suprised and the result will make you want to keep going. I recomend growing cherry tomatoes , they are healthy and easy to grow.
Canberra region vegies to grow now- Garlic, Broad beans, Kale, cabbage,cauiliflower, brocoli, lettuce.
mulch well to keep mositure in the the ground.
Gardening is also good for you - forget the gym get out there and grow some food it will keep you fit.
Did you know that looking at a garden or nature lowers your stress level. Surround your self with a garden and enjoy a less stressful life.

Cheers hope life is treating you well.

Lina

One Tonne Challenge Update

2010-03-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone

Welcome to my blog. I just love writing about my garden and hopefully you are enjoying what you are reading and I hope that I am inspiring you to grow some of your own vegetables for a healthy and more rewarding lifestyle.

Update on my one Tonne Challenge.
So far I have harvested a massive 105.7 kg and I think I will make to to close to 300kg as there are a lot of vegetables still waiting to be picked.

All this lovely recent rain has revived my garden and especially the pumkins to sprouting lots of new shoots. Keep posted for the wonderful photos that I will post when I get a minute.

photo:Chickens waiting at the door for food.
Gardening tip.
Keep trying and don't give up, if you really want to succeed you will- just need to have patience.

Gardening is so good for us and your health. Growing your own vegetables is one way of looking after your health.

Cheers and happy gardening

Lina

Harvest Time- Reaping What You Sow

2010-02-23T16:20:00.001-08:00

Welcome

One tonne Cahllenge update

So far I have harvested 88kg of fruit and vegetables

This month I have been harvesting some yummy vegetables, and it feels great to pick your own vegies. Not only are they fresher and free from chemicals, it is rewarding to wait for something and then finally pick it. A bit like having a layby ( which I absolutely love) working for something and then finally getting it, make it more worthwhile.

I feel like I was playing with my food as I was arranging these

vegetable to make a lovely display and photo.

Would you believe that these Romana and Cherry tomatoes all came from Self sown plants. I have picked about 16kg of produce and I did not even plannt one plant. This is another benefit of having chickens and a compost.

I did however rescue about 20 plants from the compost and replanted them to a position of better soil and water accessability. I unfortuneatley still have to share soem with the chickens as they seem to love them just as much as me!.

The capsican plants were last years. I saved them at the end of summer and replanted them in mid spring.

Good luck with your gardening endevours.

Tip for a contented life.

We only have time in our lives for the things we make time for. Make time for things that will make your life happier and you will be content.

Until next time

Kindest regards

Lina

Rain - A Blessing- Brings New Life

2010-02-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome

I hope you are leading a happy and contented life.
Well I was certainly happy when the rain came and down poured.

We needed the rain, and even though there was some damage to our newly laid drive way , it was very appreciated.

There is nothing like a good soak for the garden. Watering the garden with a hose is not quite the same.

My dying pumkin vines have spung back to life with a mutitude of new shoots and growth and now there are quite a few female flowers with fertilzed buds that will develop into pumkins.

My cherry tomotoes have also srung to life and I have been leaving the tomatoes on the vine to vine ripen. They have grown to about 2-3cm diametre. There is nothing like the sweet taste of a warm vine ripened cherry tomatoe to quench your thirst.

I even have a small melon vine that suddenly grew lots of new shoots and I may even get a melon or 2 before the season end, if the chickens don't hack into it.

The rain also coinsided with the hatching of our eight new baby chickens - 5 white and 3 black. They are so adorable and I have been having cups of coffee with them nearby. I sit and watch them scratch arround and listen to how mother hen calls and coos when I throw bits of food to them.

I hope your garden is growing well as mine is and that you are finding solace from the non stop busy days in your garden. Nuture your soul and spend some time in the garden. Not only will your be doing your mind some good , but also your health and reaping vegetables as payment of your hard work.

Tip.

The best fertilizer in any garden is the foot prints of the gardener.

Kindest regards
Lina

A Sight to Behold

2010-01-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Blog

Happy New Year to you all. Hope you had a great Christmas and wonderful new year.

Here is a lovely photo of our frontage lined with these majestic looking Red Hot Pokers. We haven't watered these so it's amazing
to see so many flowers.

One Tonne Challenge Update

Just Updated my One tonne Challenge- Now have harvested 39.4Kg of produce.

Here is Fred the rooster Crowing

Did we all make resolutions?. I made one about consuming less and trying not to rush around so I can enjoy the here and now more. So far I am living up to the consuming less- we bought a soda stream and have saved about 10 plastic bottles already. Also stayed at home ( bliss) for a day or 2 without going anywhere (saved some petrol) and sorted out some stuff and donated some toys , blankets and threw out some rubbish ( old toys broken , missing pieces). It made me think of how wasteful we are.

Do you know that sometimes when we want something, it the conquest in aquiring it and once it is aquired it no longer holds its appeal and soon we are pining after another object of our desires? Does this sound familiar? Do you know if you go to the after christmas sales, you are not really getting a bargain unless it is something that you need or wanted for a long time. Are you buying only because it was reduced to 50% off- in which case you have paid 50% too much.

I just love this time of year and how relaxing it is compared to the end of the year. This January I have been in business for 18months and I use this relaxing part of the year to plan whatI want to achieve for the year ahead. This year I hope to support more charitable causes through my handmade jewellery business and support other handmade artists. If you would like me to come and do a jewellery show at your office, please contact me and we can discuss how we can raise funds for your charity.

My Jewellery Website- http://www.zanildesign.blogspot.com/

Email: zanil.design@bigpond.com

I leave you with some photos of our Vegetables growing in our green house.

Lina

Summer Harvesting Fun

2009-12-29T19:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Blog

What can I say , Thanks God for all the glorious rain that has made my garden spring to life.

It also flooded out our chook shed , which we had to clean out. I almost fell over several times in the slimy and smelly mud and my partner had to dig a drain in a room 2/3 his size. I am not going to complain as it was great to get so much - our rain water tank is full and the garden is blooming.

I am having so much fun reaping what I have sown over the last 2 months or so . So far on my 1000 tonne challenge I have harvested 31 kg. I am not entiurely sure thatI am going to make it to 1000 kg, but I am sure it will be well arround the half way mark. I am having fun and that is the main point. It is all in the journey and that is also so true of life.

Accross is a picture of what I have been harvesting on a daily basis for a few weeks now. The beans are a dwarf bean that are so prolific , from 5 plants I picked 108 beans in one sitting. This produce was harvested from our aquaponics system. The Cherry Tomatoes and Strawberries are so sweet.

I left some old stumps of tomato plants in the grow beads and as soon as the conditions were right they sprouted. We haven't staked them well so next time, we will build better climbing apparatus, you learn as you go. We are getting more than enough fo us.

Capsicans

I have also been picking Capsicans. I also left 2 old plants in the grow beds and they also sprouted when the conditions were right. They are even more healthy than the year before.

Last year they were riddled with Aphids and I was forever spraying some home made galic spray almost every day. This time around we dont have the aphid problem and it makes a huge difference. On one of the plants there are about 6 capsicans. I just love looking at it and the new flowers that are developing.

I also saved about 4 plants at the end of summer in pot plants and then replanted in the garden once the risk of frost was over. These are also going well and I have picked one or 2 capsicans, well ahead of the new seedlings I have also planted.

TIP

Save a few capsican plants at the end of summer and pot them up in pot plants. water over winter ( will have minimal growth) and replant the next spring.

Eggplants

Once again i saved a plant in the aquaponic grow bed and it is going ok with lots of new growth- hopefully will result in some fruit. i planted some new seedlings and there are 2 eggplants growing well. Once again doing much better since there are no aphids to stunt the growth.

Cucumbers

I am anxiously waiting to harvest my first cucumber and I have planted a few more seeds to ensure I dont miss out. Last year we harvested heaps of crunching Lebanese cucumbers that were so sweet.

Zuchinni

I have picked a few Zuchinni and looking forward to making stuffed zuchinni when I get a huge one. I also have a great recipe for Zuchinni Bread as well as a vegie juice . Will publish these as soon a I start to make them again and the recipe is fresh in my head.

I have also planted pumkins and water melons. These should helpm me achieve my outrageous and fun target.

Keep you posted and over the next few weeks my one tonne challenge harvest weight will skyrocket as the vegies start to be prolific.

Maltese Bread Pudding

2009-12-23T02:39:00.003-08:00

Merry Christmas to all.

Today I made a Maltese Bread Pudding for Christmas . I made a few changes to the ingredients to make it more like a traditional Christmas pudding.

I have tasted it and it's yummy. This recipe uses day old bread , so if you have a lot of bread left over it is a good way to use up the bread so there is no waste.

Ingredients.

800 grm bread.
3 eggs
50 gr butter melted
100 grams sugar
1 table spoon Vanila essence
2 table spoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
grated rind of 1 orange
50 grams mixed peel
200grams sultanas
1 1/2 cups milk

Optional extras
Walnuts
glazed cherries
mixed fruit instead of sultanas

Method

Soak bread until all moist and soft - about 1 hour. Drain bread until alomst dry. In another bowl
combine othr ingredients together and add bread graduallt mixing well. Add Walnuts last.
pour into greased and dusted tins ( makes 2 meduim sized puddings) and cook for 1 hour in 180 degree C.

check if cooked by testign with a knife. Insert knife and if it coems out clean then it is cooked.

I decorated the top with walnuts and cherries prior to cooking.

New Baby Chickens

2009-11-23T21:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my contented life blog .

About 10 days ago we hatched 10 new baby chickens. New life is such a miracle. Baby chickens are so cute. We hatched 3 black , 5 white and 1 brown speckled chick. It is amazing to watch them and how mother hen looks after them and teached them how to find food. She also is very protective of them and will peck you if you come near.

All nine fit under her and she keep them warm under her wings.

If you have a rooster you could hatch your own too.

Hatching your own

Keep fertilized eggs at room temprature. Once you have enough ,about 7 eggs, place them under a broody chicken that has been made comfortable in a cage or another area away from the other chickens. Make sure she has water and food.

After 21 days you should have some baby chicks.

Atfter 10 days we already have lost one. I suppose nine chicks may be too much for one mother hen, or perhaps a cat come and got one.

I hope we end up with a few more hens , loving the free range eggs and making lots of yummy food with them.

cheers happy hatching

Lina

You Win Some and Loose Some

2009-11-03T02:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome again.

Today we had a major problem with one of the pumps in our aquaponic system in that it stopped working due to a capacitor breakdown. The water could not be pumped and aerated and as a result not enough oxygen was being generated for the poor fish that subsequently died, 36 in total. Needless to say that we were pretty annoyed .

Luckily it was Melbourne cup day and my partner was home to go to the shop to get another part to fix the pump.

Oh well you win some and loose some and in the end it all evens out.

This lovely rain has made the garden come alive. Today I noticed that we have hundresd of self sown Tomato plants in the patch where we dunped the Chicken manure. I just cant wait till harvest time.

So far I have harvests 8.7kg in my one tonne Challenge. I am going to have lots of fun in achieving this milestone.

good bye for now- worn out from all the landscaping and gardening I have been doing.

The One Tonne Challenge

2009-10-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Contented life blog.

Spring weather is finally here although we did get some cold weather accompanied by some much welcomed rain, just after planting some seeds and seedlings. So thank you God for sending the rain at the right time.

Yesterday , I picked some young Broad beans and had them with our dinner lightly steamed. They were so nice. Broadbeans can be eaten straight from the pod. I am going to make some broad bean pies and my favourite Broad beans , garlic and parsley salad.

So far this season I have harvested some lemons and strawberries which I have made into Lemon curd and Strawberry jam. I am stockpiling it for my up coming exhibition to provide some yummy treats for people to buy.

You are probably wondering what the one tonne challenge is. Well I have set my self a challenge this season to harvest 1000kg of fruit and vegetables from our garden. Well I hope I can do it, but the gain and joy is in the ride and journey. So wish me luck and I am going to try my hardest to get there. I haven't been measuring much so far, but will start.

Last year We harvested close to 300 kg of fruit and vegetables.

To measure my progress I will update the total list on the right had side of my posts.

Send me a comment Would love to hear from you. What do you think. Am I mad, do you think I will be able to achieve it?

This weekend I am planting out all my capsicums and tomatoes. I have planted out all the Eggplants and sowed Watermelon and Zucchini seeds.

Happy gardening. May you reap what you sow.

Lina

Another Good Reason to Grow your own Produce

2009-10-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Contented Life Blog.

I have spent the weekend in the garden and it has been lovely weather, the first nice weather this spring. It was perfect for being out door and getting your hands dirty and reconnecting with nature.

I planted some Egg plant, Baby Spinach, Capsican , Artichoke and
Zuchinni Seeds. I hope we dont get a frost. I have saved some seedlings incase we do.

We have been getting lots of beautiful strawberries from our green house. Slugs have been a problem and some of the best big juicy ones have been attacked. Why can't they choose the little ones? We have found this great organic pest control gadget to get them under some sort of control. It is a container ( will get picture soon) that you can pour beer into and the slugs are attracted to it and when they fall in they die.

I was reading an article about another reason to buy organic or grow your own . Apart form the pleasure of seeing the lovely fruit and vegetable develop and the wonderful flavour ,there is a lot of pesticides and chemicals that are used in commercially grown crops. Read the article here.

Perhaps if you can't grow much, you could grow the fruit and Vegies you eat then most of .

I made some wonderful strawberry jam with our own strawberries and lemons ( for pectin). I had some on my pancakes this morning it was delicious. I am going to make some lemon curd with our lemons soon.

Cheers and happy gardening

Lina

Medicine for the Mind and Soul

2009-09-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

Connecting with Nature

Welcome once again to my posts.

These lovely photos have been taken at the Tulip Top Gardens in Sutton , Canberra. I have been working there for the last week and for the next week or so.

It is such a beautiful garden that I have spent some time after work just walking and sitting and admiring the miracle and beauty of nature. The blossom trees are a sight to behold and some blossom trees have two different colours.

The 500,000 bulbs have all been planted by the owners and the garden have been laid out beautifully. I am so glad that I have been able to work there. I am working in the cafe and you get to meet so many different people. My team members and owners are a great team to work with.

After work today, I came home to do a little bit of gardening myself as the weather is just perfect and the days are a little longer that you are able to potter in the garden till late afternoon. I was just thinking how blest I am to connect with nature when I am planting a cultivating vegetables and flowers. I just feel an inner peace and contentment when I am in the garden. It's a feeling that you have all that you need and there is no desire to be anything or be anywhere else, a feeling that you can do anything if you wanted to. It made me think that if we could feel this way more often , then it just might be this connection to nature that is the perfect medicine for your mind and your soul.

To be creative is my other passion and I also feel that anything is possible when I am in the middle of designing and creating when all my creative ideas come together. It is no wonder that I have become additcted. Nature and colours in nature have inspired some of my creations.

My advice is to find your connection, it may be that you love animals , or that you love walking through rain forests, or watching birds. Take the time to find your connection and I garantee that you will be happier and feel you have more time to spend with your family, friends and in general be more relaxed. Forget the endless to do list, it will always be there and the items on the list will get done, more so if you are relaxed about it. If we are constantly busy then we have not time to stop and take stock of the direction our lives are taking and to even get to know ourselves. When we know ourselves , we will know what we need to make our selve happy.

Please comment on this post- would love to read what you think.

Find your connection to nature and find an inner peace that is priceless.

Cheers,

Lina Z

CEO

ZaniL Design

Lina's Water Saving tips for the Summer Months Ahead

2009-08-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome

I hope you are living a Hajja Kuntenta in every way. The aim of my blog is to share my experiences and hopefully inspire you in some way.

This weeks blog is about water saving tips and you have probably read lots about this very important topic. I will not try to reinvent the wheel, but as we live on tank water I think I have some interesting ways of saving water. I also feel great that when we do save a precious resource like water we are achieving a very worthwhile goal. We lived on a 5000 gallon tank for ten years and through some really bad summers of low rain fall. In all that time we only had to buy water about 4 times. So here are my tips, perhaps there may be one you did not know about and perhaps if you have a few minutes you could comment and and share your tips. That way we all learn from each other.

In Canberra we have a population of approx 350, 000 people ( check government website for a more accurate figure). Our daily water target for example on a given day is 105 mega litres i.e 105, 000, 000 litres. At the end of this article you will see how each person by making very minimal , but dedicated changes to how you live and approach reusing and saving water will save at least 10,000, 000 litres per day. Read on if this interests you.

You do not need to immediately spend any money at all to start or begin this very import way of living and thinking about a resource that is going to become more precious as our population increases and almost doubles at smaller intervals of time ( eg.bacteria in a petrie dish ).

At the end of this blog post there will a simple rule to remember that if followed religiously will save thousands of litres every year and keep river levels above critical levels.

Lina's Tips on how to save thousands ( of litres)

1. Toilets use up a huge amount of water and a Friend of mine advised me of a little rhyme.

If it's yellow, let it mellow , if it's brown , flush it down. Each flush uses anywhere from 3 litres( very efficient to 10 litres). Lets do a little calculation.

Say you have a family of 4 and each of you saves 2 flushes each assuming a efficient toilet,
that's
2X3X4= 24 litres of water per day for 365 days a year = 7760 litres per year.

2. Cut Shower times to less than 4 minutes - my advice it to get a timer - sand timer will suffice.I have one that takes 4 minutes for all sand to run out, with a suction on the shower door.
4 minutes in a shower is an eternity and I still have the occasional shower that last 4 minutes.
Efficient shower heads use 6 litres per minute to the non efficient of up to 15 liters per minute.

Lets do another calculation - cutting your shower from an average of 7 minutes to 4 minutes saves 18 litres if you have a efficient shower head - so for 4 people

4 peopleX3minX6litres = 72 litres every day for 365 days = 26, 280 liters per year.

3. Washing machine- you will probably not take this one up as no -one wants to spend hours doing the washing - but I just love it as I find doing these mundane tasks really are a time for me to think and plan and perhaps even just take time out from a busy schedule.

Here's what I do. I have a front loader ( I do a full load) and I wash the whites first- once they are washed first cycle I save the suds. Then allow clothes to rinse and have another large basin ready to save the rinse water. Next load simply reuse the suds and discard after second use. when rinsing second load , simply reuse the saved rinse water from previous load. just be careful when lifting water , use a smaller bucket . This way you have only used 2 loads of water instead of 4. Now if you don't particularly like this tip you could just save the rinse water after each wash ( does not save as much but better than nothing) - another calculation.

Each load most like uses 80 litres- so if you only save 2 loads per week of 160lites per week for 52 weeks -that's an amazing 8320 litres.

You do have to be close by near the machine for this tip , but why not schedule some ironing the same time.

4. You could use the washing machine water for some gardening plants - just remember to use vegetation safe products , there are plenty at the supermarket. Potential to save lots. You could also use some of the washing water to flush the toilet occasionally.- remember even if you only do this 3-4 times a week ( saves 12 litres ) every week these small savings add up. You could also use the suds to wash tile floors - depending how often you do your floors- potential to save up to 3o litres per week- 1500 litres per year.

5. While waiting for warm water to come out of the shower nozzles why not fill up bucket to use on the garden or to flush the toilet - saves 5 -10 litres per day. Also applies to sink taps - why not fill up a bottle or a kettle or jug- for drinking water or boiling water - saves up to 5 litres per day.

6. Reusing the water is off course better than saving it as it is used twice or 3 times and you are getting better use of the resource without using anymore if it. To do this permanently perhaps you could look into installing a grey water system.

7. Most important tip- make 2-3 of these tips on saving water a habit and that way they become part of your daily routines and then it becomes a way of life and then it becomes easy to do. Perhaps start out with a month long target to get the habit started, record the before changes water usage and then make a few changes that you are willing to adopt and then record the after changes water usage. The result will make you want to do more.

8. Simply put and easy to remember by using simple maths=

Each person saving 2 flushes a day saves 6 litres per day
Each person reducing shower time to 3-4 min - saves 6 litres per minute - say you only save 2 minutes off your shower time - remember use a timer - saves approx 12 litres per day.
saving cold shower water (waiting for warm )in a bucket saves 6 litres per day
saving tap water before it comes out hot in a bottle or jug ( handy to have a bottle or jug near tap) saves 1-2 litres per day.
use a cup when washing teeth - save 1 litre per day
add up all the large bold numbers - 6 + 12 + 6 +2 +1 = 27 litres per day per person with very simple and easy to implement changes.
Multiply savings per person by the number of people- 27Lt X 350,000 people

= 9, 750, 000 litres per day saving

Remember more savings achieved if you do save some of your washing water ( perhaps you have a front loader which are the most efficient). I prefer the top loaders as the front loaders take forever to complete a cycle. I don't mind spending a little extra time saving the water, but this suits me and may not suit you.

My earliest memory of washing clothes wash helping my mum with when we had an old fashioned machine with exposed ringer like two rolling pins on top of each other. Once I got my hand caught and my arm proceeded to be fed into the ringer to get rung out- very scary for a 12 year old. If I could get my hands on one of these I would love it.

So what do you think - have you any tips that I could use as I am so passionate about reusing , recycling and generally minimising my impact on the environment.

Make time to do the important things and the rest will look after it self.cheers for now- check out my jewellery blog if you have time.

Lina

Spring is in the Air

2009-08-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.

Spring is almost here and there are already early signs that it won't be long before our natural enviroment is bursting with new life.

Spring is my favourite time of year, filled with promise of a garden of beautiful flowers and vegtables for the next few months.

Spring is definitely a great time to start thinking of what you would you like to grow and start planning so that once the frosts stop ( Canberra) you can press ahead to ensure you get a full growing season.

My tip is to make gardening a normal part of your life to enjoy it and to make time for it and that way you won't feel that you have not got the time to invest in it. Also another tip is to add 1 or 2 new things to grow each year and make them part of what you normally grow ( depending on how successful you have been in growing the new plant). this way it won't be long before you are growing quite a large array of what you need to prepare fresh, healthy and tasty food full of flavour all from your own back yard. The hardest part about gardening is in the planning and the sowing of the seeds and seedlings. Once this is done, all you need to do is water and weed, mulch and basically watch the plants grow. The results ( hopefully good ones) will make you want to succeed and do more.

Growing your own fruit and vegetable helps in reducing carbon emissions as the food we buy from supermarkets are very high in food miles and energy per kilo joules of food. Not only do we use fuel to drive there to get it, fuel and energy has been used to grow it as well as transport it to the market place. Buying from a local producer is also a great way to reduce your carbon foot print, if you are unable to grow your own , due to health and space restrictions.

Benefits of growing your own.

You have more flavoursome and vine ripened vegetables. It is healthier to eat fruit and vegetables that have been sun ripened- have more vitamins.
Freshness- pick when you need.
sharing- swaping with friends for things you can't grow.
sense of satifaction
saves money
healthy past time - gardening is a form of excercise
relaxing when you look at the beautiful fruit forming.
educational - learn about plant/bugs/ pruning etc
reduce your carbon foot print.

Disadvantages

hard work - but who said life was meant to be easy - you reap what you sow in more ways than one.
time consuming
plant failure - always learn form mistakes - that's a positive as long as you don't keep making the same mistake.

Tips to get you started on your very own veggie patch

Start out small - only grow 4 -5 things and grow them well- your success will feed further successes.

These plants are a good starting point

Zucchinni's - these are fast growers- you will be amazed.
Parsley- very useful herb.
Garlic- plant bulbs in winter .
Lettuce also very easy to grow
Beans
Potatoes - these can be grown in old tyres , just keep adding dirt as the palnt matures.
sun flowers to attract bees
Pumpkin vine

Happy gardening, I am sure you will not look back once you have decided to grow a few things.

best regards

from the Bejewelled Gardener

Lina of ZaniL Design Jewellery

How to slow time down

2009-07-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Contented Life Blog

Do you think the pace of life is speeding up? Are you constantly busy with no spare time for your self? Do you want to know how to get more time for your self.? Do you find your self looking to the future at the next holiday or next job that needs to be done.?

I remember as a child, time did pass so slow and it was a long time between birthdays. As I got older time did seem to go faster and faster. We all seem to think that as we approach retirement we will have more time to do the things we want. I think this is a fallacy as many retired people I speak to seem to be very busy with grand children, and the usual things in life. I also thought that when I left my full time job, I would have all the time inn the world and I would be drinking cups of tea everyday. I quickly found that the reality was quite different.

How to make time Slow down.

When we think of the way we spend our days, we are constantly looking into the future at the next job , next holiday, next whatever. This does tend to make us live in the future and we do not fully appreciate the here and now. If we only had a few months to live, I think our focus would be to enjoy the moments we have and to live them in the present .We would not be looking too far in the future ( as in reality we know that the future is never ours).

My advice on how to make time go slower is to simply slow down, what is all the rush about. Why do we want to cram so much in to our every day activities, are we afraid that we won't get them done ? Make time for important things like friends and family.

cheers

Lina