Winter chores

Tip day. We try and delay the trip as long as we can. Taking our rubbish and recycling to the refuse station is an hour and a half return trip. Bins are loaded onto the trailer and off we go. Once at the tip, we hand over one voucher (purchased from the council offices) per rubbish bin. Recycling is free. 

The trailer is backed up to a big shipping container and our waste gets tipped into it.

Surprisingly, the tip is clean. It is winter, so there are no putrid smells.

What people throw away is amazing! All of this stuff has to go somewhere. 

I dealt with burrow loads of rose clippings this way. Shredding them for the compost heap is not worth it. Injuries from rose thorns are all too common when planting seeds and digging around in the garden beds.

The roses are all but pruned. The garden beds look empty and bare. The bulb leaves are starting to come up and the daffodils are starting to bloom. 

It was a marmalade kind of week last week. The citrus fragrance wafted through the house for days. 

There's something quite satisfying in seeing a new batch of marmalade on the bench. Orange and Cointreau was one, and the other was Three Fruits. Delicious!

Some of our little chickens that were hatched in March have started laying. I picked up this very wobbly, thin and deformed egg at the entrance to the coop. Better luck next time chookie!

The young pullets are not the only ones laying for the first time. Our young ducks have started laying too. Just look at that cute little duck egg! Oh, see the egg box? I wrote that blurb in the lid when we gathered our first dozen, nearly three years ago and gave it to Sara. This box has done the rounds and always makes it back home.

What's under the wax cloth? Mmm.... I was lucky enough to get a lesson in making sourdough bread from Angie Smales from Birregurra last week. She kindly shared her starter with me too. It's not difficult, but you do need to be patient. It's not a quick process. But it is so worth it. Thank you Angie!

The dough is sitting next to the wood stove. Rising gently.

And here are my first two loaves, baked in the wood oven. 

Simply add jam!

We were treated to another lovely rainbow a few days ago. We never tire of them. We do believe we have found the pot of gold!

Have a great weekend!

Till next time....