Feather your Nest Friday, 18th August, 2023.

Thank you for so many comments on yesterdays post.  I am deeply touched that many far and wide shared such similar experiences and feelings.    If the ants know we also can surely know.  I am so grateful!

Well, it has been a big week!   

Kelsey has some chickens that lay pale blue eggs. So pretty!  This became a goal for me.   I have been stalking a lady on FB with a chicken page who breeds "Easter Eggers" and she posted a photo of eggs she had just collected.

One dozen of the coloured eggs were available.  They would have to come through the post and all the way from Queensland...  which is a LONG way.   Eggs too shaken up will not do well... so there are no guarantees.  But nothing ventured nothing gained, right?   The lady packaged them eggstremely well. 

Each were bubble wrapped and inside a polystyrene egg container.   

I carefully unwrapped each one,  the incubator was warming up...  

Each eggs was in perfect condition.   They went in yesterday and I moulded today as day one and marked my diary for 21 days.   We will see!  I put this egg container into my animal pantry in case I ever give someone else fertile eggs.  

Meanwhile the six rescue chicks are all doing very well and all have grown a lot.

We had Tom come to play.  Chloe has a lot of farm bookwork to do and Tom comes and helps me in the garden.  😊  Here he is working hard putting the screws into a dinosaur Andy is helping him put together. He is good with a screw driver (well a kids one and kid sized screws.)

We got the stack planters assembled and filled.   So far I am very pleased.   The test will be

how well the watering system works but to me it looks good.  

For the Australian's that cannot get GreenStalks... these are stacksapots.com.au  I got the largest size and the extra layer.   I would say I can grow two or three lettuces per space.   I have two ready to go.  Spring is  two weeks away.... so this turned out to be good timing.   Each year the more I have grown in containers the more success I've had.    Even at the end of winter I have quite a few containers looking pretty reasonable but I am getting excited about what I can plant!

I continued to move self sown tomatoes and parsley plants into pots they can grow up in and pot up some where they are just too crowded.   When it has been sunny I am out working on this.

When they grow I will take some to the swap table and give some as presents.  I have three trays full so far.

My cook up for the week was spaghetti sauce,  added shredded zucchini from the summer harvest (freezer) and lasagnes.  This one was huge and I gave it to Chloe.   Her family should get two dinners out of it.  I also froze a lasagne.

I almost didn't make it but I got my Koala bear for the week made. I thought I had better make a boy and even things up.

I have a lot of the creamy coloured velvet and enough brown for one more.   A couple are cut out ready to go on with and I went through my trims and florals and matched some up which is really fun!

Chloe gave me a bag of Parsley seed.   I am going to package some up as gifts and plant some.

We had heaps of rain.  There was a huge storm yesterday.   A storm had gone through and I waited for things to calm down to drive over to Chloe's.    While at her place a second front hit.   We all watched from the window.  There were some of the blackest colours I have even seen.  Then thunder and lightening,  pouring rain...  I thought I would never get home.    When there was calm I headed home before the next lot hit.   

Back at the house Scout was missing.  She hates thunder and Andy also wasn't home when the lightening was full on.   The dogs  have shelter,  kennels etc.  but maybe this was the first time neither of us where here when such a big storm hit.  I also noticed the house generator was running so the power had gone out.

When Andy got home Scout still was no where to be found and we began searching and calling.   We got pretty worried.   Eventually she must have heard our calling and she came running up the driveway.   What a relief.  She has never run off before.   That was really some storm and our paddocks are covered in water,  our little creek is running. 

We have made new friends with a young newly married Christian couple.  They came for afternoon tea.  I used my fresh lemon butter to fill a sponge and got out the pretty teacups (for the girls.) This was very simple but they seemed to be absolutely thrilled and we had an afternoon of true fellowship.  It really blessed me.

How did you build up your home, pantry, garden or community this week?   We LOVE to hear! xxx