Have been doing some housekeeping and thought it was time for a change. Here is the new look blog. What do you think??

Tracie

I haven't been too good at updating my blog lately.

Here's a small update.

We are harvesting pumpkins at the moment, Butternut pumpkins, they grow like weeds, we counted at least 20 pumpkins on I can't remember how many vines. We have a couple of Jap pumpkins on one vine as well. To look at the Jap pumpkin you would think there was at least 3 or 4 vines there. It has taken over the back yard.

The chooks are laying 2-3 Eggs per day. We are happy with this, we sold our first dozen and a half the other day. If we can sell 5 dozen a month this will pay for their feed and we are happy with that. We only eat a few, and we get enough for our consumption and we keep our family and friends happy.

Steve is waiting for the corn to ripen at the moment, we have about 30 cobs so I hope they don't all ripen at once.

A couple of Sundays ago we planted, Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beetroot in the garden. Unfortunately it looks like the snails have eaten them, we will have to plant more, we are just waiting for the seedlings to be strong enough to plant tin the ground.

Well I think that's all for now.

Tracie

Yesterday we spent the day with our friends from Brisbane, QLD Deb and Graham, Deb and I started school together a very long time ago (42 years). Even though months can pass without us speaking when we do its like we only spoke yesterday.

We took them down to Cronulla for a walk along the Esplanade. We walked from one end to the other and back again. I packed a picnic lunch and we sat at Shelley Beach and ate it and chatted. This was so much nicer than eating in a restaurant, and cheaper too. We walked and talked for about 5 hours. Stopped and had a coffee twice and just kept talking. I hadn't seen them since 2007 and Steve hadn't seen them since 2003. It is always good to catch up with friends, this was their first trip away with out their children who are either working or in Uni now.

Oh and by the way... Happy St Patricks Day.

Tracie

I'm going to rave for a few minutes to get something off my chest...

I just want to let you all know that it is a good idea to do a Greenslip Quote online with NRMA and not just Renew your policy. My Greenslip was due for renewal today 8th March, I had a look at it on Saturday and noticed it was $300.00 more than last year. I got straight on to the Greenslip calculators and it came back with the cheapest quote as the NRMA for us (we are gold members), as $436.05 my policy renewal was $678.00.

I got straight on the telephone to them to be told that I didn't have any other insurance on the car in question. When I told the very rude person on the end of the phone I did have insurance just not with NRMA, the policy came done $200.00, to $487.00. I was told online quotes aren't always correct (when you do them in comparison websites) and as soon as you fill in your info the premium will increase.

Went to pay the policy tonight and thought I would do the online Quote again but this time in the NRMA website, I got the same amount $436.05, so I decided to ring again, to find out about the $50.00 odd difference, to be told again that Online quotes can change once you fill in all the info and was given even more run around... Whilst on hold for the fourth time I decided to see what would happen If I continued and filled in all my details, guess what, it went all the way to payment and was still only charging me $436.05, I ended up telling the person on the end of the phone, who kept trying to make me out as the fool, that I would just let the overpriced policy lapse and purchase a new policy, for $51.00 less

I wouldn't have stayed with NRMA but for us they have the cheapest green slips around. So don't just pay the policy...

Do some surfing and save yourselves some money.

Sorry It's so long winded but I had to tell the whole story so you got the full picture.

Tracie

My favourite show at the moment is "The Gourmet Farmer" on SBS on Thursday night at 7.30pm. I've just finished watching it, he does some great stuff, tonight he was having an illegal dinner party. He was using foods that they can't sell at their market stall that had all been produced in an old fashioned way. Things like raw milk cheese and procuttio cured with out chemicals. The food looked fantastic. I do know why somethings should be done in certain ways, but I think we still should have the freedom to choose what we are willing to eat.

Bye for now.

Tracie

So Sorry I have been missing in action for the last month. Nothing much has been happening around here. We lost our beautiful grey chook about three 3 weeks ago on a 45 degree day. It was too hot for her. Neither Steve or I were at home to make sure they both stayed cool with lots of iced water etc. . On Australia Day we picked up 3 more hens. It was very sad watching Rosie follow the cat around, as her only friend on earth. So we got her some friends. 2 Australopes and a Rhode island Red. They are abouth 18 months old, and Rosie is the boss. With Berta she was never bossy, they were just two sisters together. But Rose sure puts the new hens in their place.

The three new hens weren't in real good condition when we got them, but now 3 weeks later they have bright red cones and are giving me three eggs per day. Not bad for old chooks.
They aren't very friendly, but they are getting better. Time will tell.

Steve Planted a garden full of root veges yesterday. Carrots (purple ones), parsnips, turnips, and we already have beetroots in. There are Broccoli, Cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts in seedling trays. we will plant them out his weekend. I ordered purple cauliflower seeds from http://www.thelostseed.com.au They sell Heirloom seeds. I like to keep old varieties going.

I just finished reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It was fantastic. The story of one family eating only local food for one year. This included food from their own garden, farmers markets and he local area. I was also about only eating food that was in season. Not only fruit and vegeables but meat as well. I would highly reccommend it. I got it from my local library.

I have also given myself the challenge of not buying magazines. I have a 2 year subscription to "Super Food Ideas", and I buy "People's Friend" every week, but that is it, no other magazines are allowed. So far so good, When I was at the library the other week, I noticed they had all the mags there to read and you couldn't borrow them till the next month, so that is what I'm going to do to get my fix.

I hope everyone is well,

Tracie

I'm Currently listening to ABC local radio on the web and they are live streaming The Tamworth Country music awards. Troy Cassar-Daly has already won 2 of his 7 award nominations. I love Troy's music have all of his 7 albums. In the last few years I have been there to cheer Troy on. Tonight I'm cheering him on from home.

You Go Troy...

Tracie