Feather your Nest Friday, 11th March, 2022.

I am late to sit down and write tonight.  It was a big day!  It has been a beautiful week of perfect Autumn weather.

We have Easter Lillies that come up here and there.  These signify the end of summer and the end of hot weather.  I love them!   Sometimes as we drive around there are lots of these in the paddocks.   These are next to Chloe's gate.  So beautiful!  

I pretty much continued on with my "make hay while the sun shines" strategy.  

One area I have been working on is to increase my trading/bartering.  We cannot really hope to produce everything ourselves.  But we can hope to produce some things and also we might also have resources that are very handy ie I have endless Bay Leaves and pinecones, fire wood etc.   I have something to trade.  But I have been working on more things to trade! 

This week I traded again with a lady I met via Buy, Swap and Sell on Facebook.   She messaged me that she had more Basil to give away.  She said she didn't need eggs, pears or apples!  mmm.  She was happy to give the Basil away but I want to be a good trader that people will want to keep trading with so I made her some cards.   I know she likes gardening (obviously!) so that was my theme. 

I packaged them up and tied with a bow.   So that was one trade.

I met my friend Wendy.  I took eggs and pears.  I came home with zucchini and rhubarb!  And we had a lovely catch up!   So that was another trade.  

My new herb lady friend told me about a swap group in the town.  How did I not know about this!!?  But it turns out to be a fairly recently  group.   There are two tables that are a it hidden out of the way and a Facebook group.  So I immediately applied to join. 

The deal is you add whatever produce you have an excess of and you take what you need.    Today was my first visit.  I had a basket made up to take.  Eggs,  Bay Leaves packaged up, Sunflower and Parsley seed and Pears.     It was so exciting!   I followed my map.  Like a treasure map!   

When I saw the little sign I knew I was on the right track.  

I came to a little set up.  There were boxes of chilli, succulents and herbs.   I left eggs, seeds and pears and took succulents.

Then on to the second location where I left the rest of my produce and took a bag of tomatoes and more succulents.   

So thrilled!  I have been collecting more succulents for my garden and wheel barrow.  Just what I need. 

Another great swap! 

This afternoon two guys arrived to use the cabin for the weekend.  They arrived with a box of beautiful veggies.  

Vegetables are like gold. A cauliflower is about $8 here now.  Today I looked at broccoli and it was on special for $6.99 a kilo.   Now I am set with lots to work through!    Another trade! 

As I drove home I thought about what could I take to the produce cart if I had no produce?   I came up with... plant pots, seedling trays,  little envelopes for seed saving,  produce bags, jars for preserves,  labels and tags,  I considered my crochet dish cloths,  shopping bags,  bags of manure,  pinecones, firewood/kindling, gardening or cooking looks or magazines..    What I know is now I will keep my eyes open for things others might want even if it is not something I will use myself.  It might be something I can trade.   I've already though how at Christmas it would be beautiful to leave something special like little Christmas cakes or jars of honey ... 

There will almost certainly be trading groups, produce groups near you.  It is just a matter of finding them.  Now is a good time to build up a trusted group that you can barter with.   To become a producer.   My Aunt is a member of a gardening club.  The group take turn to meet at each others houses.  They have a trading table where everyone brings their excess and cups of tea and chat.   So that is another idea for trading with friends. 

I had a few op shop finds.   One was a lovely lasagne dish for $4.   I like to watch Acre Homestead.  Becky does great big cook ups and loads of freezer meals.  She showed how she collects baking trays and lasagne dishes from thrift stores.    With Chloe having a baby I will be cooking a lot ahead.   So this dish will hold an extra meal.   I also continued on with more cards...

My container gardens are going really well!   They have grown so much!  

This seems really fast to me.  Certainly miles faster than growth in the garden.  So I might be on to something...

I have another huge container.  It is Mum's x duckpond, x cattle trough!    So far we picked it up on the trailer, filled it with great soil and compost.  I hope to get it planted up tomorrow. 

Andy has always wanted a dog that would come with him on the mower.  Scout and Molly are not takers on this offer.   He just discovered this week that Zackie is into it.  So now when Andy goes past there is Zackie in the trailer looking very happy about it.

I said she needs a mat or a cushion.   That is my opinion.  

Thank you for so many replies and wonderful comments re preparedness and disasters.   Experience is really the best teacher.   We don't want the experience but if we have knowledge to share then it can help someone.   Hard times seem to bring out other the best and worst in people.  I have usually found surprises in that some of the people you never expected to are wonderful and help and some of the people you were sure you could count on turn out to be useless! haha! 

I hope you found ways to add to your pantry and garden.   Most of us are noticing some pretty severe price rises.  Our petrol (for cars) is now $2.20 a litre. Or around $8.30 a gallon.   This is a big country.  Goods travel long distances, mostly by trucks.    Huge areas have been flooded.   Yes this is going to affect food prices and availability.    We all know Ukraine is a massive food producer.    Watch well to the ways of your household and be busy as a bee! xxx