I am at home alone. The men have gone to a family birthday party down at Goulburn, so I dropped them at the door of the airport and went home to the quiet. I can read in the quiet, and can think in the quiet, and be on the computer in the quiet and not go anywhere in the quiet. I do of course miss them but sometimes it is nice to have alone time.

So this morning I have been to the tip to get rid of our rubbish. When you have to dispose of your own rubbish it certainly makes you think about it more. Cardboard in this bin, general rubbish in that bin, and recyclable stuff to be separated into individual bins for glass, aluminium and plastic. We don't have a lot of rubbish, but I don't like going out, I think that is all it comes down to, so if I can have less rubbish then I don't have to go over quite as often. Though it only takes maybe ten minutes all up, but still, I could be doing something else. But we have to do what we have to do :p


The above photo is of a flowering paperbark full of birds though you can't see them :)

The lovely flowering paperbarks that I have been admiring are still lovely, and now I am taking more notice, the large paper barks are flowering too. You just have to look harder as there are not so many flowers on them and they are high. The bats are coming in at night to feast on them, and during the day a variety of birds are making a racket eating them including parrots. They are all competing with each other and make such a noise pushing each other out of the way.


Some more seeds are pushing their way through the soil, though looking at them six times a day does not make them grow faster :) I have forgotten what I planted so am looking forward to them coming up so I can identify them :p


I have Gota Kola growing in a lot of my pots with other things so it is good to get some of them out of pots so they can all start to spread. I actually have two pots of Gota Kola just by themselves, but having in the other pots means eventually I will have more (I was also afraid of not having any, so went a little overboard with bring it up here).

There is actually a fair bit growing around the property, in the wetter spots like the gully running into the dam. However it is not as good looking as mine as it doesn't get looked after, but I like knowing it is there.

Gota Kola is a ground cover, very easy to grow and have a lovely shaped leaf. It contains vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, B12, B17 C, D it also has calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc. It is good for arthritis, to increase brain capacity and for longevity. It can be added to salads, which is what we do, or cooked.

Isabell Shipard has written quite a few pages about this herb in her book so really worth looking up.

So I guess I had better have a salad with my meal tonight. I haven't used too much out of the garden as it all still getting established, but seeing as it is just me, a few leaves here and there won't hurt :)

I do have a plan for the garden, though it doesn’t really look like it. It is not written down anywhere but is in my head. Well, it is a kind of plan, and so far it is working.


I have realised that random gardens don’t work very well, for me anyway, and it really does need structure so you can reach everything and nothing is clashing too much. I like the whole companion planting thing but a lot of those herbs don’t grow here, or certainly not all year.

I decided on a square plan (never done that before) with long rectangle gardens each with about one metre square sections. However now, after talking with a friend, I also want round gardens made from old tyres, each tyre will have something planted in it, all those tyres are in a circle and then a garden in the centre of that. My friend also has a few acres and plans on doing this, so I am unashamedly stealing the idea and want to do it too.


I have always wanted gardens in tyres but my partner in crime and life doesn’t want anything so messy (he doesn’t always have an imagination), so anyway, I am going to incorporate this into “The Plan”. The only thing is I have to make so the ride on mower can still get around it all.

So far I have the square marked out with pots (and some plants in them) and I have one long rectangular garden. The clothesline is off to one side so I can admire the garden while hanging the washing out, and the hose from the tap at the dam can reach when three hoses are joined together, and I can use bore water for the garden to my hearts content.


A plan to have long and short term edible plants in the garden. The short-term plants are the usual things like tomatoes, cucumbers, some herbs, lettuce (if the grasshoppers don’t get them), pumpkins, stuff like that.

The long-term plants are the tropical ones that will survive all year and can be eaten all year. So far I have:

1. Sweet leaf – the leaves can be thrown in salads, sandwiches, curries, stir-fries etc. Vitamins A, B, B1, B2, C. Good source of potassium, good for circulation and detoxing the body. Easy to grow and little plants just shoot up everywhere (well, they do for me)

2. Abika – New Guinea Spinach. I just use it like any other spinach. It grows from cuttings and can get huge leaves.

3. Kang Kong – Chines Watercress. It is related to the sweet potato and spreads across the garden, easy to grow in warm climates. Vitamins A, B, C . Has Calcium, phosphorus, iron and potassium. Good for colds, anemia, boils and insect stings. Used in salads and sandwiches, stews, stir fries, soups and curries.

4. Sweet Potato – way better for you than white potato.

5. Betel Leaf – Easy to grow, puts out runners. It is a digestive, stimulant, antibacterial, antibiotic, and tonic. It is used for headaches, arthritis, joint pain, toothache, coughs, and asthma. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked.

6. Lemon Grass – Vitamins A, B, C. High in iron, magnesium, selenium, zinc, calcium. Easy to grow by root division. Can be used to treat fevers, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and headaches. Is used in soaps, perfumes, food and drinks. It is used as a tea, in curries, fish and rice dishes, and stir fries.

7. Kaffir Lime – Vitamins B, C. It is digestive, antibiotic antioxidant. Used for coughs and colds, chest congestion, sinus, sore throat, aids digestion. The leaves are used to flavour Thai cooking, flavour meats, curries, herb vinegar and when crushes have a lovely smell.

8. Bay Leaf – It is antiseptic, diuretic, stimulant. Beneficial to health coughs sore throats, indigestion, and stress. Used as flavouring in meat dishes soups.

9. Stevia – Sweetener.

10. Galangal – Is a root spice and looks like ginger, is spicy but not as hot as ginger. Used in curries, stir fries. Good for stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting.

11. Aloe Vera – used for burns, insect bites and so many other things. Is a healing herb.

12. Mother of all Herbs – Also called “five in one herb”, “five spice herb” and other names. Vitamins A, B, C. Calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron. Used for sore throats, coughs, indigestion, stomach cramps, pain relief. Use chopped leaves with meats, vegetables, stews, stir-fries.

These are the permanent plants I currently have in the garden. They are so useful, and I often forget just how useful, I usually only think about what meals they can go in and forget about the medicinal uses.

All the above information has come from my very handy book “How Can I Use Herbs In My Daily Life?” by Isabell Shipard. I also have her other books which are very useful, easy to read wonderful books. If the house was burning they are one of the many things I would grab.

I am thinking about purchasing her DVD’s one day when we are financial again and the money tree grows, she also has a website, http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/index.html with information and you can buy her books and DVD’s from there too. They really are great books.

So that is my sort of plan, of course ever evolving, but trying to plant the most useful things for our climate. There is more but I think that is enough planning for one day.

We had a cool morning this morning, when we went walking I didn't even take off my long sleeve top, though I did pull up the sleeves. So the rain has gone for today, leaving it a lovely sunny day, good enough to catch up on the washing which has been piling up a bit.

There is just a slight breeze which is coming through the shouse and freshening everything up, and the dog is lying in the open doorway in the sun.


Some of our paperbark trees are flowering. I don't know if there are different types of paperbark trees as not all are flowering, but the smaller ones are. They are a lovely pale yellow and look a bit like wattles, and from a distance are quite snow like.


When I got up close, I could see (what looked like) MILLIONS of bush bees. I love bush bees, they are little and cute and don't sting. I did also see some regular bees. This is a good thing with the world bee crisis and everything, I am also happy to see them around some of my flowering herbs in the pots :)


So lovely to see all these flowering trees, very pretty and very Australian bushlike, which I love. Not sure if they smell at all, I don't want to get a bush bee up my nose :p

We have done a fair bit of cooking the last few days. We have had the fire going outside to put the camp oven on, and then we got cravings for sweet things. We actually persevered without anything sweet, as I didn't want to drive into town and spend money, though I nearly caved in.

On the campfire, we made a stew the first night in the camp oven. The recipe came from one of our camp cooking books, and had a stubby of home brew beer in it and I can’t remember what else, I think some mustard. Just threw in some stewing steak and stacks of veggies and put the camp oven on the fire, my partner in crime and life also made some beer damper which we ate after the stew as we were very full.

We decided to have another fire as it will be a while till we can have another one due to the men going away to a family function. When they get home, my partner in crime and life then goes off the next morning to Tamworth, NSW for work for three weeks. So we decided to make the most of it and made meatballs but not with tomato soup as we usually do but with vegetable soup.

Seeing that my partner in crime and life had some arthritis, and things like tomatoes make it worse, we went with vegetable soup instead and it was lovely. We cooked our veggies in foil on the fire including beetroot. Sooo YUM.

It has been raining on and off here for a couple a days, I have gone between "YAY" the tanks are filling, and then when the sun comes out "YAY" the solar hot water system is heating. Between all this we have fenced and mowed and gardened and cooked.

The other things we have made are chocolate biscuits and a chocolate cake, both without butter, as I wasn't going to drive anywhere just to get butter. One of the recipes is from the Simple Savings Book “The $21 Challenge” and the other one I am pretty sure I got from the site from one of the lovely people who contribute there. I tell you, they certainly fixed the cravings.


The other thing we made was Microwave Chips, don’t know where this came from, I usually write these things down so I remember, but maybe Simple Savings from a long time ago, I just can’t remember.


So these fixed the chip craving. I have a slicer thingy that I bought from a show and has been one of the better handy things I have in the kitchen. It has a few different slicing thingys (wish I could think of the names) and so I can slice the potatoes thin enough to be like potato chip in the packet.

I then just put a bit of salt (only a bit as they can be very salty) or other seasoning, we used garlic salt, and into the microwave for five minutes, then one minute bursts if needed, we didn't need it. It does take while to get a bowl full but everyone can just have less and appreciate it.

We have also made, actually my partner in crime and life has made, sour dough bread, though we haven’t got the taste right yet so need to work on that. We have the plant going and the bread works well but not much sour taste so we will keep researching. He also made two loaves of regular wholemeal bread for lunches this week, he is such a good husband :)

We have had a busy few days building a fence around the shed, so now we have a house yard and the dog can roam in it. She was getting stressed not having any boundaries and no area that is hers. It also has the added benefit that no-one can just walk through the open doors, they have at least go through the gate first.



We spent two days building the fence, we bought an Auger, which is the fancy name for a post hole digger, and there was a fair few rocks in some of the holes. It is very dirty work and my partner in crime and life did most of it until he let me have a go.


It was very hard on the hands and shoulders, so my partner in crime and life had very sore muscles and finger tips and also a ripped nail.



We also got dirt over the weekend to fill the garden, so at long last the kang kong has been planted out, it was fairly root bound. I planted some more seeds and also dug another hole and planted the sweet leaf, it was also looking a bit sad in the pot.


I planted were more Lebanese cucumber seeds, in hope these will do better than the others. I planted snake beans , rocket (also hoping that these will do better too), shallots, basil and another one which I can't remember. I never write these things down and get a surprise when they come up, if I recognise it :)

The abika plants aren't going so well, one isn't too bad, so I took two of them out of the pots and cut them and put them into the garden and hope they will take.

So it is back to work tomorrow for my partner in crime and life, and I get to go back to my regular life too :)