Feather your Nest Friday, 21st October, 2022.

It has been a hectic week and today it ended with a downpour of an inch of rain.  That is a lot for us and just fantastic.  I am sorry for all the places in Australia that have been flooded as that is just terrible but for us this afternoons rain was a real blessing.

Because the week has gone by so quickly I am very glad to sit, stop and consider what I actually did.   It is a bit of a blur to be honest.   Last night I was talking with a friend and we both said our lists were so long they were overwhelming.   So today I just worked to cross as many things off the list as I could.   I have always loved Elizabeth Elliot's "do the next thing."  When you don't know where to even start just do the next thing.  It all adds up in the end.  I would like to pay tribute to Mimi who taught me so much especially with recipes, cooking tips, management and more and she always shared that her Mother lived by "just do one more thing."  Mimi tragically passed away this week and I am forever thankful to her for so many things but I will carry on her and her Mothers advice to just do one more thing.  

Early in the week  I added a lot of seedlings to my garden.   I counted as I went... 

18 Lettuces in my stack planters. 

6 Yellow Zucchini.

7 Continental cucumbers. 

6 Basil.

8 Tomato.

I was watering daily up until this rain today.

I have been picking Snow Peas and Broad Beans every day.

The ducks have grown.  After a couple of days two more Guinea Fowl hatched out.   Before they hatched one lone Guinea was just a buddy amongst the ducks.  No one seemed to realise but someone looked to be the odd one out.

Tomorrow the ducks are going outside to my outdoor brooder and they are getting a swimming pool.   (An old baking dish.)  The Guinea Fowl are tiny and will remain inside.

I really love the ducks.  They are very entertaining.   I think messing around with ducklings and Guineas is the source of some of my time issues!  😊

Now that this batch of eggs is finished hatching I collected another 14 Guinea Fowl eggs and got them started in the incubator. 

My mint in pots is looking good so I gave this one a trim and made a lovely Raita and a Butter Chicken dinner.

I made Banana Muffins to use up some Bananas I bought on a big special. 

I saved egg shells and banana skins for the garden.

The food processor was used to chop heaps of Chard and Spinach for the dehydrator.

It was little Tom's second birthday.  Chloe made an absolutely beautiful cake and set it up so a train ran on a track around it.  It was impressive and a massive hit! 

We had a beautiful afternoon tea and it was just a lovely time.

I made a big batch of Spaghetti Sauce.   Some was shared, some eaten and some frozen.

In the stores I found some really good deals.  This was amazing as lately there have not been good deals at all.   I check all the catalogues.  If one of us goes anywhere I check the catalogues for that town.   The local town has a Fruit and Veg shop with a Facebook page.   By watching that I saw that they had an amazing deal on Broccoli.  I went in and it was beautiful so I got ten kilos.  (22 pounds.)  The supermarket also had a fantastic deal on hand soap. laundry soaker, shampoo and conditioner.   I stocked up on them all.

The chemist had a gift with purchase which was a bag of all kinds of things which included shampoo, toothpaste, items for the first aid kit and more.  

Some of us have very big worries with the cold weather coming in and electricity and gas issues.  One of my Bluebird friends in the UK has given me updates this week.   If you live in a place that gets sub zero temperatures please have ways to stay warm and cook without gas or electricity.   Here we will soon be preparing for fire season.   Spring has been beautiful and I am enjoying it but we have things to do before we get hot weather.  For us the hottest time is usually between Christmas and March.  

I hope you had a good week.  How did you build up your home, pantry or garden? I hope many opportunities came your way! xxx