Early spring

The frozen milk cheese worked out well.  My next venture is to try soap recipes and work out one that suits what we have.  I am actually rather challenged by the idea of starting a new project.  It took me years to work out a good method for hard cheese, I just hope soap is easier. I have the goats milk, and Indi has a good supply of olive oil, so we have the main ingredients to mix with the caustic soda.

I have not had time to start this project yet because this week I have had to drive and pick my grandsons up from school on several days.  Yesterday I had to drive further so that I could get Grandsons, Grandson’s girl-friend and grand-sons girl-friend’s dog.  Apparently, dogs are not allowed on buses.  As a complication Ollie was missing and his phone had died. Eventually this was all sorted and everyone was OK, but it is all such a waste of my time. Grandsons OK but girls and dogs will have to fit in.  

Spring is here, and the wattle and daffodils are in bloom and everything is very yellow. The Lucerne trees are starting to shine with their white flowers and the native wisteria has purple beginning to show.  We have eaten the first planting of broccoli and are working our way through the cauliflowers and swedes.   The snow peas have finally begun to produce edible pods too, but kale and spinach and rocket are still our most used greens. We have lettuce, but it is not quite lettuce weather yet, though we did have a very warm day last week.

Edd spent one day fetching concrete blocks and second-hand bricks to make the west end wall and is now trying to fix the metal at the base of the kitchen splash back.  He refuses to let me start with the tiling until this is done. I would have just left it loose but Edd likes things to be right.  I am now waiting for other people to do their bit before I can continue with my projects which is a bit frustrating.

I was lucky enough to find a tall glass fronted cabinet in the recycle yard and on Monday Lyn helped me clean up the relics from the fire and arrange them for view. The school students dug up all these relics and they have been stored in an alcove opposite the camp toilet, which is not ideal.    They are an interesting collection because they demonstrate that when glass melted, and heavy brass pans collapsed, cheap ceramic balls survived unscathed.

Indi came in early to borrow the trailer, so she could fetch a water tank.  It did rain yesterday but overall it has been very dry, and she needs more water storage capacity.  The drought in Queensland and NSW has continued to worsen.  The news shows pictures of bare earth paddocks and distressed farmers.  The price of animal feed has started to rise, and we could be in for a very difficult year. We have not had a bad year for drought or fire since 2009 but it could all start again any time.  In the last drought I squandered dam water by using a sprinkler for the garden but now I only water with a hand-held hose.  Just in case.