Gathering the Fragments 5/09/2021

This week seemed to drag. I woke up on Tuesday, and thought "oh, it's Saturday", then the alarm went off and I remembered it was Tuesday. That happened every morning! I needed my day off yesterday.

The weather was spring in Melbourne. Sunny and warm one day, pouring rain and jolly cold the next. The rain has been such a blessing, what is left in the garden in going great guns.

The lavender has started to bloom, it is going to be stunning when in full flower, and I can't wait to cut some for the house and to make sachets. I deliberately chose scented lavenders so the flowers could be used. I've cut some more for strikes too; a few more to fill in blank spots and some to sell when they are established.

When I sat down I wondered what I had accomplished, but looking at the list on the fridge, the days were busy.

*Topped up two small beds with worm castings and soil from one of the veggie beds we are moving.

*Put three tomato frames together and set them into the garden, ready to plant
*transplanted some older strawberries that had new runners on them into the smaller beds by the fence.

*Used all the cardboard I've been saving to put down in the bottom of the new veggie beds, then added all the apple tree prunings I've been saving, then a layer of straw before adding new veggie mix.

*Dug up the beautiful, beautiful soil from down the side of the house to mix with the new soil for the veggie beds. Nothing grows on that side of the house so we'll pull the garden out and lay down stone.

*Wednesday was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, so I switched up the meal plan and we had a salad. I boiled an extra egg and then enjoyed hard boiled egg, potato salad, lettuce and cucumber for tea on Thursday to use up the leftover salad bits. The boys of course had their pizzas.

*Went through the pantry, checking canisters. The sultanas, currants, raisins, craisins, apricots and mixed peel all had little amounts in them, so I tossed them all onto the scales, came in at 1038grams, and used them to make fruit cake. Then the canisters were washed and dried, ready to be refilled. And Wayne was happy to see more fruit cake.

*The whiteboard on the fridge is working really well for keeping track of little bits in the fridge. Everyone checks to see what it is, then uses those bits before opening a new jar or tin or making the same thing from the pantry. Is it saving money? Yes. Is it stopping waste? Yes, everything is used before it has time to go off. $6 well spent!

*Wrote the September meal plan on the whiteboard - having it on the fridge stops the "what's for dinner" question every afternoon.