Possum Magic

And on a lighter note, from yesterday our little celebration of all things local and good on Australia Day. We read our very dog-eared copy of Possum Magic (again), one of my all time favourite childrens books - at the very least it's in my Top 5.

"Grandma Poss made bush magic.
She made wombats blue and kokaburras pink.
She made dingoes smiles and emus shrink.
But the best magic of all was...
...the magic that made Hush INVISIBLE."

How much do I adore Grandmas Poss in her stripey slippers and purple apron....or those beautiful rainbow colored 'magical' stars. Love it. Love it. Love it.

And made Lamingtons from here. Actually we ran short on time so fudged it and used two packs of cake mix in a lamington pan and then iced as instructed. Either way it was delicious. Num-Yum.

Note; thrifted etched glass cake stand, $3 - yay!


I am such a sucker for themed baking. I did stop myself before the Pavlova though, mainly because the temps where 35 degrees ++ and muggy with it & I didn't want to stand in front of the oven one second longer then required. And here was I boasting of what a mild Summer we were having this year - Hoi!

Most of my summer vegies have died, or are dyeing off in the heat - a few eggplants and silverbeet hanging in. We've emptied out most of the pots & planted hardy mediteranean herbs in others - think rosemary, thyme and lavender - which don't mind the heat and use very little water to good result (in fact, they prefer less).

Come the end of February we'll be building our strawbale garden and the first of the Winter crops will be going in at the start of March. I've been reading about others blogging their seed mail orders - for Spring planting in the Northern hemisphere I guess - and it's got me all enthusiastic about trying some new Heirlooms this Winter.

January 2007 Challenge update

Well the buy nothing new challenge for 2007 is ticking along nicely, it's actually not that huge of a stretch anyway as we've been living on a smallish income for a while now & have learned to fore-go many of those shiny new purchases. Having said that I've reconfirmed something about my buying habits that I guess I already knew - it's the small things that trip me up.

My challenge boo-boos so far include; fairy themed birthday candles, disposable piping bags, craft paste and contact....just the little things that slip in to your trolley while grocery shopping that you barely notice. And boy do they add up.

Coupled with the fact that buying small 'thingies' does in some false sense satisfy my screwey emotional consumption addiction, it's something I definately need to keep a lid on. If I'm depressed I buy something, If I'm stressed I buying something, If I've had fantastic news I buy something to celebrate...scarey pattern indeed. And what I buy is always small, of little intrinsic value & is all about me trying to plug emotional wants with little luxuries - it can be as silly as scented bodywash, disposable plates or the nicest brand of pasta sauce in a jar. None of these things is wrong in and of themselves of course, it's just that ultimately it's only a 30 second consumer high and it doesn't really address the issue at all.

I guess I've become more aware of how much I emotionally over-spend on little panaceas. I want to know why whenever I feel the urge to 'treat' myself it has to involve *buying* something & perhaps find a better way.

At the same time I have a real problem outlaying on things that cost more then about $20, with a real 'can't afford it' attitude. Which is actually a load of crap - there are definately things we should consider investing in more such as a furniture, white goods & work clothes where a decent investment in quality pre-loved goods may be very worthwile in the longer term. I tend to live in these little homes with quite minimalist furniture, appliances and decoration because I just can't commit to parting with the dollars & I think it's an area where we probably could be a whole lot more lenient then we are.

Instead of frittering (Gad! I hate that word!) small bits away on wee things that are transient, I'd like to invest in objects that are pleasing and practical for many years to come. I don't want to go overboard or anything, but seriously, we live in a home with *no* pictures on the wall, rugs on the floor or objects on display. It wouldn't hurt for that to change a little.

Anyhow, this book from the library has been a good find & it's been fun thinking about creating a home from conciously sourced materials. I *love* the look and the second hand/re-purposed goods ethic of this book - to me it screams that the people who own these homes are mature & confident in themselves and their style. They bring these fantastic character pieces from salvage yard, thrift stores, etc... into their lives and weave them together in a way that takes a hell of a lot of artistery. And just think, a home built up this way will always be absolutely unique. Got to love that. So yes, I am completely blown away & can't wait to give it a go.

And when those little temptations like the shiney new IKEA catalogue arrive in the mail, [I'd have to be made of stone to be immune to it's powers of persuasion!] it's good to have inspiration like this to flick through.

Step 2 - a Wee Addiction

So my dirty little secret? Definately crafting goodies - here was I busily trying to rationalise to myself that they're not an object, they're raw materials looking to become an object so that was okay.

Bzzzzt! Wrong Answer!

Ultimately the only person I was deluding was myself. Usually I'm not a hoarder but when it comes to crafts you name it, I probably have it stashed away - dressmaking, embroidery, knitting, soaping, beading, dollmaking, dyeing, baking & a whole scarey litany of *stuff* that accumulates around it. I actually *ahem* have a whole room devoted to craft in my house. It's fondly referred to as 'the Studio' - or less fondly as the Junk Room.

And now it's time to stop - no more buying anything for the stash for the next year. Nothing, Nad-da, Zip. Starting on Monday (tommorow) as all good diets do, but I think I'll get a head start by not buying anything today. *lol*

Initially I was going to go with just 6 months, but as a case in point I laid out my yarn stash on the table (below) & realised that 6 months wasn't even going to be a challenge. So 12 months without buying any more stash - I'm organising a list of projects in the blog sidebar to keep me busy using what I already have and I'm looking forward to the challenge of turning boxes of storage in to functional or wearable objects.

This is about 90% of it, there are a few more bits in transit.

Thrifted 2nd hand pieces to finish off garments are permitted within reason - bits and bobs like buttons, zippers and 2nd hand knitting needles. But the ultimate aim is to decrease the need to accumulate, not collect gently used 'stuff' - so will be monitoring that closely to keep a handle on it.

2007...the Year of Living Dangerously

Well 2007 has rolled around again and I've got a few new resolutions on the burner. I could go with something sensible like; eat better, go to bed early, excercise more, reduce caffeine consumption to a sane level, meditate on the meaning of life, etc.... But where's the fun in that?

This year I'm attempting to hop off the consumer bandwagon and go with;

2007 - the Buy Nothing New Year

Inspired by projects like the Compact, I've been thinking and gearing up for this for a while.

I aim to reduce our overall consumpition habits as a

household by only buying our basics -

food, shelter, health & safety in 2007.

For everything else I'm attempting to re-use, make-do, thrift, repurpose or recreate objects that are already into it's second go round in the consumption cycle, eg. 2nd hand goods. Although of course, using or recreating something we already own would be preferable. Batering, trading and swapping encouraged.

Our exceptions - and there always are, aren't there?- are transport [although we're going to be leaving the car at home alot and using people power and public transport] and footwear as I have a deep-seated ick factor about 2nd hand shoes & they are a little out of my skill set to make myself. I will however be attempting to make our own girly underthings out of thrifted knit t-shirts and the like -wish me luck on that one!

One of my long term aims is to encourage the giving and sharing of goods and services within small commmunities - freinds, families, local area & of course, internet buddies. I'd like to do this in the spirit of giving freely without worrying about what we're going to 'get' in return.

It's a bit different from bartering/trading for things that we need. I hope to be a little braver about this in the new year, as frankly I find it terrifying asking people if I can barter for goods of value. But there's no need to devalue what *I* can do or create either. So time to swallow social inhibitions & just do it I guess!

That's it in a nutshell....

So we officially started on the 1st of January, but have already encountered a hiccup...can you guess what it involves? More on that & our radical solution in the next post.

Garden Rescue

My poor little food forest has taken a beating lately. Mostly of the Mama-has-been-preoccupied, not enough watering, pruning or feeding type. Add in a scorching summer, no rain and a couple of naughty dogs who *adore* blood'n'bone, compost and all organic fertilisers & the result was not pretty.

It looked pretty dead and overgrown before I started. No photos as it makes me sad. Bad plant mama! It was definately looking more like a jungle then a forest at this point.

So....a wee harvest of what I could salvage;

Then started pruning, ripping out dead plants, re-potting, grasshopper removal, fertilising and watering.

For days.

Then to top it all of we added a length of 50/50 sunshade type fabric over the top to stop the poor babies burning to death in our Aussie summer, which has worked an absolute treat - it will probably be there until February at this rate. It still lets a goodly amount of light and rain in, just not enough to fry stuff.

Seriously, it's absolutely tops for growing vegies throughout summer - you must try it!

The dog fence is another unfortunate eyesore that has been scarily effective. No more dug up vegies, the dogs sit plaintively outside and dream of digging instead - mwahahaha!

I wish I'd got a better photo, but rest assured that the tomato bushes are absolutely dripping with roma tomatoes, with more ripening every day. The rainbow chard is growing at a great rate - chard recipies always appreciated - thinking of using it instead of spinach in my 'Potato & Spinach Daahl' recipe.

We also have lots of ripening chillis, although not yet enough for my dreams of homemade sweet chilli sauce. Umm-yumm.

The eggplant bush continues to go nuts. That thing is absolutely huge and so prolific, a must plant for next year. We must have picked at least a dozen or more so far and there's another three growing as I speak.

And now it's raining - finally - and my green babies are rejoicing.

I'm going to see Santa!

Today was the day of the annual pilgramage to the city - fraught with stress, heat and confusion at this time of year - and what for, why to see Santa of course!

I finished constructing Lolly's Christmas dress at 1am this morning, sewed the final buttons up the back on over breakfast and then we were of to see Santa in our pretty new dress.

It's based on an old Sew for Toddler's book & has a fully lined skirt and bodice, button back, a stiff little collar, puffed sleeves, lace trimed tiers and a satin ribbon that ties at the back. Yes, I'm definately loving old fashioned little girl's dresses at the moment.

I used to *hate* when my Mum dressed me in frilly little dresses as a child, but now I get it. It's just too dang cute!

So did she like Santa? Is the pope a catholic? She told him she wanted something pink (*lol*), smiled beautifully for her photo & then went for a ride on the mini Christmas train at the store. And all for free - we were even allowed to take our own photos with the digital camera - can't beat that. Props to the Brisbane Myer centre!

Signal Interrupted

Well my goal of blogging every day this month for NaBloPoMo has come to a crashing end with a 3 day loss of phone line, it started with crossed lines on Thursday and by Friday afternoon it was dead and stayed that way until Sunday morning. I was extremely disappointed, but realistically without a lot of options. I've found it a little hard to get my posting Mojo back since then, but am working on it....

Meanwhile this package arrived in the post Monday & definitely put a smile on my face. It's my Yarn Swap goodies from the lovely Bec, who is obviously a great judge of taste as this is something I never would have dreamt up myself, but at the same time is right up my alley - if that makes any kind of sense!

It's called "Mango Mania" and is super-yummy, just like a ripe mango. Which by-the-by, are just about to start coming into season here in sunny Queensland. It has some lovely warm yellow through to soft reddish tints, so very pretty. I can't wait to knit this into a soaker for Lolly - yes, glutton for punishment that I'm am - I'm going to attempt yet again to get one that;

a) fits

b) looks good

I will master this knitting thing! And this time to make it even more risky I thought I'd give it a go in the round.

Yupp. Crazy.

Eggplant!

Yum! And in the mailbox today.