How did the pressure canning go, AUSSIEDOWNUNDER ??

Cant say I’ve heard that one, Snags !! I don’t grow my spring onions in pots, as I can kill the hardiest pest species in pots.

Back to KMnO4 – I bought a vial of it recently at a local pharmacy. Being a dispensing facility I sort of expected them to measure me some out, but it was already in a 5g container on the shelf. I use it as an eye…[Read more]

Humidity is still the challenge with drying food. I also am in a low humidity zone over summer, but with harvest time typically march/April is when I’m drying fruit, and random overcast days can spoil ones drying.
I’ve resorted to my Ezidry which makes the exercise a lot easier with being thermostatically controlled. We’re on solar with battery…[Read more]

Better keep this one going !
Currently outskirts of Canberra – with the heat and dry making a challenge of my garden. I’ve got my alarm clock beeping every hour for me to move the water supply to the next soaker hose. 300m2 of garden is easy when it rains, but Jan/Feb is the death of me most years. We’re on dam water, so the pressure isn’t great.

After 22 years in and around Canberra, we also are on the lookout for more hospitable (climate) country, as well as possibilities of more village oriented neighbours. In all this time I still haven’t formed any friendships where I could drop in for a cuppa without formal club events or invitation only get-togethers. Even my immediate neighbours…[Read more]

I’m guilty of forgetting about forums since facebook has become quite addictive on my phone. PC use is too associated with work, so phone use has replaced our television for evening entertainment !
Thank goodness for forums being accessed by google searches, as obscure information is still available.

Potatoes store well enough not to preserve them.  I grow my own and never buy any. Sometimes I might run out for a month or so, and that’s when I use Jerusalem Artichokes as an alternative (generally mid spring when I have a hungry gap).  I don’t think the taste of canned potatoes warrants the effort.  If I really felt the need to preserve…[Read more]

I was at the farmers market last weekend – & reminded me of this discussion.  They’re available everywhere now.

There isn’t a set “rate of return on investment” because of the many variables, namely the cloudy days in your sky are unpredictable.There are tables available on the internet telling you your average sun hours based on your latitude, then you need the efficiency of your selected type of solar panel,angle of your panels,The normal retail price for…[Read more]

You’ll have to wait until the plants are dormant – over winter sometime. They’re at early flowering stage at the moment.

Hive beetle isn’t such a problem.  We first came across them 2 years ago when we had a wet/humid summer. We found that folded chux wipes caught the legs of the beetles, and the bees could deal with them. Last year we didn’t have any beetle, but we ended up feeding the bees because the dry left them with no food in the district.  This year, life’s…[Read more]

Loverly !  You must be in a warmer district, cos my painted corn are still only a foot tall !

Imd80 – I use arrowroot as a clear thickener for fruit sauces.  I imagine you would dry and grind the root.  The commercial product I believe isn’t even arrowroot, even tho the name is on the jar. I use 2 tsp per cup of fluid.

Face book seems to be all the rage now – connected to smart (dumb really) phones, everyone’s chatting like there’s no tomorrow !

A standard way of getting around councils and the structural requirements, which you’ll find is how they get around mud-brick & strawbale construction ( not all but most) is to build “post & beam”, so the walls are merely in-fill, and not a structural concern.

I’ve built with “light earth” which is stud walls filled with cob between the noggings.…[Read more]

Bobbee – I’ve tried the potato/broadbean combination this year, but with late frosts the ground was colder than ever in the shade of the beans, so I’ve totally lost the potatoes that were coming through. Those planted on their own have managed to recover! You win some, you lose some.
I’m not that keen on broadbeans, so I reckon they’ll go back to…[Read more]

I’m still looking for the attraction of straw-bale. I keep reading about the insulation properties, but honestly, that sounds like living in a bubble.
Wouldnt I still have to warm it up when outside is cold?
Is the atmosphere cool when its stinking hot outside – I imagine only possible if you keep it locked up… or run an airconditioner

Sorry,…[Read more]

After living on the coast all my life, moving to Canberra was a shock because suddenly the idea of frost meant a minus 5 or even 7, not a quiet zero. Trying to grow anything in potters clay has its own challenges to.
My best investment was the “Australian Vegetable Garden” by Clive Blazey ( Diggers ). It goes into the specific temperature ranges…[Read more]