My first attempt at goats’ milk soap is now being cured. I hate it when you have to wait weeks or months (in the case of cheese) to test out how a product has turned out. At least the soap looks and feels like soap even if it is not very elegant! I have now learnt the importance of keeping detailed notes so that good experiments can be repeated, and faults corrected. The actual process of making soap was less complicated than I remembered. The last time I made soap I did not know that American ounces were different to the UK ones which caused some confusion. This time I have stuck to recipes in grams.
Spring is marching onward and deciduous trees are breaking bud. The mulberries and quinces are ahead of the rest with green leaves already showing. The chooks have increased the number of eggs they are laying so that we have gone from 6 eggs a day to over 2 dozen. This week we weeded and mulched the vegetable gardens and planted out the last of the broccoli and cabbage seedlings, as well as more snow peas and bok choi.
Edd is struggling with Skiddy, our mini digger. The caterpillar treads had to be replaced but this is easier to say than do. Ben helped Edd get on the first tread but the other one is proving even harder. I am far too weak to be much help here and even Edd is complaining of a sore back. We have done better with the next building stage. My friend’s son, Andrew. has started to work at the west end of our house. A wall goes from the end of the house out into the paddock to retain the soil over the roof, but the wall just ends before the earth does so that it looks very messy. Even on the first day things started to look better when Andrew cut back the bank into a straight edge. The next stage is to build a retaining wall the curves round and gradually decreases in height until it reaches the ground. The footings for the wall were poured yesterday when l it was dry and sunny. Today we have had showers and hail, so we were lucky to get it done.
Al is helping us by preparing plans for a car port at the east end of the house. It would be good to have the cars nearby and sheltered. When we were first here we kept them with the goats and hay in the big shed. There were problems with this because the rats in the shed got into the cars and ate through tubes and other vital bits. One even died in the ute air conditioning system, which could not be used again for years because the car stank awfully if you put the fan on!
Our next move was to park the cars on the drive outside the house. The snag with this is that they are out in the hot sun and other destructive weathers. The plastic strip down the sides of my car broke away at the edges and curled up. Edd stuck them back with glue and gaffer tape, but this was going a bit far for me and I threatened to buy a new car, so he took the strips off completely, which looks much better. A car port would help a lot but to get one to fit in with the house will be bordering on the too expensive mark, which is a worry.
We do not see much of Al since he has moved to the coast. I really miss his family, but luckily, we see a lot of Bo’s kids which helps fill the gap. I drive the boys to and from school several days a week when Bo has to leave home early to get into the city. She is nearly at the end of her music therapy training and people are already offering her work. The course sound absolutely fascinating. She uses her music abilities, her research skills, and is learning more about a broad range of medical practices, from disease to mental issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment