Some good news if you love Bamboo :)

If you're like me & you think bamboo is incredibly beautiful & have always wanted some growing at your place, you might be interested to know that not all bamboo is invasive & difficult to control, as seems to be the common belief. There are 2 types of bamboo, 'running' & 'clumping' bamboo. The running variety can spread very quickly & may become extremely difficult to control, & near impossible to remove once well established 0_0 Luckily for us bamboo fanciers there is the clumping variety \[^o^]/ These bamboos (as the name suggests) only grow in a contained manner & are much easier to control, they can actually be quite challenging to propagate, which tends to result in them being a little pricey, usually upwards of $40 for a small plant. That's ok though because as many people already know bamboo is a type of grass & is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, with certain varieties having been recorded at growing up to 1 meter in a 24 hour period [: I...
Bamboo has many uses, some varieties have edible shoots, the wood can be utilised in a huge variety of ways (& has been for centuries, especially throughout asia) it makes a beautiful, natural screen, & is very aesthetically pleasing. There are over a thousand varieties of bamboo, & they can vary greatly in size, shape, colour, foliage type, density, etc. I have been investigating varieties which are suited to my particular area (Victoria, Australia) & happily I have quite a few to choose from :) redcloudbamboo.com.au has some helpful information & photos, but I managed to find bamboogrove, which is closer for me, & they carry many of the same varieties :D
In the next couple of weeks or so I should have some lovely little bamboo plants in the garden & photos will definitely follow :p The only trouble I'm having is deciding which variety to choose, there are so many @_@'...

*Please note that these photos are NOT mine, they're all courtesy of Google images ':)


G'night all...

Best chocolate drink. EVER

If you find it, try it ;3
Also available as a single serve drink box, I go through one of those in about 30 seconds, so I was ecstatic when I found these large ones at my health food store :) Now I always have some in my fridge :p


Ja...

Progress out in the Garden - Complete with photos of course :)

So far things outside have been a little up & down, I'm sure that's not uncommon, especially for a pair of inexperienced permies like myself & Eli. However we are persisting, & we're both confident that over time we'll be successful with most (if not all) the things we're trying to grow ]: )
The main issue where we are is poor soil, it seems a little compacted, clay heavy, lacking in organic matter, has pretty average drainage, etc. The yard has been bare for many years, mostly just grass & common 'weed' species (which I have learned give clues to the issues with the soil) As a result our present aim is to improve the soil as quickly as possibly. Our main techniques so far have been compost, worm tea (not enough castings yet) & support plant species. Given that this is really our first major attempt at gardening I'm pretty pleased with how things are going.
So far the plants we've had the most success with are snow peas, potatoes, salad greens, choko & daikon. The strawberries, cabbage & onions are ok too. The carrot seeds unfortunately never made it, & the watermelon was a no show ]:( However, recently I did buy a significant number of new seeds, so adding some diversity should (hopefully) really help :)
Today I also began using Fukuoka's seed ball technique (or something similar anyway) so I'm very anxious to see whether it will be successful... only time will tell :/


Photos -->

Both the chokos are going strong. We started these by basically

burying a whole choko, & both were successful & sprouted :D

I love these squiggly vines, they remind me of the long curly cord

on those chunky old telephones <3

My father gave me some random beans, I planted a couple & both

sprouted lovely shoots, this is one, which I have planted next to

some Rosemary. They are companion plants (or so I read) so I'm

hoping they do well next to each other :)

Salads-a-plenty \:D/ & so very tasty .___.

One of the many pea shoots that have sprouted from seeds within

the pea straw covering the beds. I'm pretty much just letting them

do their thing, & I'm glad I did, they're starting to flower, & this

one caught & held some of last nights heavy rain, very beautiful!

And and and! our very first snow pea! /'XD\

Officially this is really our first vegetable (aside from lettuce)

Having grown virtually everything from seed & in soil that's not

the best, I was really excited to spot this lovely little thing :)

Here's hoping we start seeing a lot more produce very soon ^___^

I always seem to have heaps to do out in the garden, loads more seeds to sow, compost to make, photos to take, it's keeping me very busy, & I feel like I'm learning a lot by finally being hands on, up to this point most of what I know has come from books or the internet. I'm starting to understand little things that didn't quite sink in when I'd read it, & I've also gained new perspective, a lot of things I had previously considered to be annoying or useless I can now see as being the opposite 'X)
Getting outside & becoming involved in gardening using permaculture techniques has been amazing, I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to do it, & I really hope that permaculture spreads & more people get started growing food using these techniques. It's certainly making me very happy, & soon I'll have some lovely fresh vegetables to eat & share :)


Definitely time for bed!
More tomorrow,
Ja ne...

Top 3 texture packs for Minecraft :) (((+ screenshots from my games :3

Just quickly, here are my 3 current top favourite texture packs for the ever amazing Minecraft :)

1. 'Adventure Time' texture pack - This is a lower res pack, so it should run well even on a slower computer :) This is the most 'cartoony' pack I have found & the colours, pixel charm & quirky character won me over & now I use it all the time. Most of the paintings come up blank for me, but hopefully this will be fixed in a future version, other than that it's pretty much the bee's knees ;p

2. 'Sphax pure BDCraft' texture pack - Great texture pack, very smooth & clean, higher res than Adventure Time pack, but should still run well on an average computer :) All the elements in this pack are beautiful & fit together seamlessly. This is my next most used now days.

3. 'Minecraft for Kids' texture pack - This is one of the first packs I started using & I still love it, it's really only dropped down to 3rd because some parts have not been updated for 1.8 (understandably, there have been a lot of updates released) & the colours are a tad flat & uniform (I like a bit of whimsy) This pack still has my most favourite glass texture, the wool is super & the water is great too. This pack is high res & may cause some lag if you're not using a decent computer.

So there you go, that's my 2 cents on texture packs for the moment :)

Enjoy!

Ja ne :3

Sorry for the lack of activity... but here's a mayo recipe! + photos ;)

*Insert embarrassed greeting here*...
I feel kinda bad having blogged so little lately, it's been a combination of things keeping me away, but I'm pretty determined to keep up with it as best I can.
All that aside, I made mayonaise this morning, completely from scratch using fresh ingredients & it was pretty amazing :) I'm going to list the ingredients, & the approximate amounts I used, however it's another one of those 'loose' recipes that you can adjust to your liking :)
This recipe is based off miss Voodoo's mayo recipe, which can be found >>> HERE


FRESH HOMEMADE MAYONAISE


Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 6-8 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4-8 tsp vinegar (I like my mayo a bit more vinegary, so I opted for 8)
- 1-2 tsp raw sugar
- A pinch of salt & pepper
- 1/2 a small clove of garlic
- A few sprigs of parsley (or just about any other fresh herb, dill, sage, chives, etc)
- Good quality olive oil


Method:
1. Add all ingredients except the olive oil into the blender & mix until well combined.
2. Set the blender to a low speed, remove the lid & slowly drizzle in olive oil until the mix thickens. *Be careful not to add too much or the mix with become sloppy*
3. Replace the lid & blend at a moderate speed until thick & creamy.
4. Check the flavour of the mayo & add ingredients according to your taste, briefly blend again to combine, & it's ready!


I put my batch into a mustard jar we had saved (& washed of course :p) You never know when jars are gonna come in handy! :)
The mayo was delicious, fresh, & free from any nasty or unusual additives :) It went straight onto my egg & lettuce sandwich, & it was amazing!


photos photos photos ...

The Vitamix looking a bit messy after the mayo adventure :p
T o t a l l y worth it though!

The finished product, it was the perfect amount for the jar, lucky!

My lovely breakfast :)

I picked the lettuce straight from our garden, & the eggs are from the market.

All accompanied by the super tasty Vitamix mayo! :D

What a brilliant start to the day <3

I have a bunch of backlogged ideas to write up, including a really great gluten free cookie recipe & the easy curry recipe I mentioned a while back, & I'm almost ready to post the follow-up to the washable pads I bought a few months back.
I'm off to do a few things out in the garden, & I'm going to take the camera, so expect a post later this afternoon with update about our plants so far :)


Thanks everyone!
Ja ne...

Herb Blog by Mudbrick Cottage

The Mudbrick Cottage Herb Farm is based in Queensland, here in Australia, they grow hundreds of varieties of herbs & also run a blog & classes to help teach people about the wonders of fresh herbs. They sell seedlings which they can send just about anywhere in Australia :) I came across their blog yesterday whilst searching for organic seeds, it's full of useful & amazing information about herbs & their seemingly limitless uses :) I am trying to learn as much as I can about these incredible plants, which is probably good given the number of different herb seeds I bought yesterday ^___^'
There are far more useful herbs than I ever realised, helping with everything from stomach ache, ulcers, helping with dry/damaged skin, stress, deterring pests, attracting beneficial wildlife, assisting other plants, etc,etc,etc...
So if you've ever sought a natural answer to something you need, fresh herbs could provide the answer!


& check out their blog for heaps of information & ideas for how to use fresh herbs-
Herb Cottage Blog


I'll leave you with a picture of a herb I'm particularly interested in at the moment because not only dose it have a variety of uses, but it's very pretty too :D
& it's called Borage -

Ja ne...

'Tomorrow' a beautiful documentary everyone should see...

Please watch this short documentary about Pets Haven, & the amazing work they do, whether you have any pets or not it's a valuable film to see...


Tomorrow from Visual Contact on Vimeo.

& please spread the word about Pets Haven...

petshaven.com.au

A tumbleweed rolls by, & in the distance a lone figure stands...

It's me! :D
I haven't stopped blogging, just a dry patch people, no riots necessary ':)


Quite simply I've been tied up, I'm embarrassed to admit it that it hasn't been with anything terribly important, just a lot of things all at once >_> things in the garden, some random (paid) work, *cough* minecraft *cough* & other such things.


I'm back now, & happy to say that I'm in no shortage of things to post about, actually I have a huge backlog of ideas now ^___^' videos, recipes, photos, all the usual things.


To start things off, here are a few photos from around our garden...

These are some of the only plants we have bought (& not started from seed) just a few scented & herbaceous plants to add variety & (hopefully) help keep some pests away 'X0

The smaller top bed, we put this one in near the balcony so that we could utilise the support posts to put up wire for some climbing plants like snow peas ^_____^ We have started all of these plants from seed & have used purely organic techniques, no harmful chemicals will ever be used on our garden :)

We bunched up some random rocks/pebbles to help reduce erosion from water that drips (& at time gushes) from an open spout from the gutter above.

Seeing the climbing plants gripping to the wire we set up makes me feel warm & happy <3
Go snow pea GO!

We have 2 much larger beds down the bottom, & some of the plants are doing quite well so far, including strawberries, onion, garlic, potato, etc. We are however having some issues with slugs :( To try to help remedy the imbalance we're going to allow our plants to get a bit bigger in pots before planting them out into the beds, I'm also starting to research plants which are natural deterrents to these hungry buggers so we can incorporate them into the garden. We have also started to encourage predatory animals by planting species that they like, as well as creating shelters & water sources for them, so they will hopefully move in & start making a meal of the pesky slugs 'XD Some time in the not too distant future we plan on investing in a few chooks, so maybe they will find & eat some pests too :)


Well it's getting late, & I have a super busy day tomorrow, but I hope I can post lots more very soon.


G'night all~