Composting

 

 

So before I start producing my own food, I need good soil.  The best way to get good soil, add compost!

 

I'd love to try hot composting but I don't have enough space, so I've gone with the usual compost bin.  

At $40, it's cheap and easy!  By the time I get usable compost, I'll probably have my block of land, but at least it will be well practised in the art of composting...

 

And be building some muscle trying to turn it!

 

I've also got out my old Bokashi bucket and bought a huge bag of Bokashi to keep it going.  I'm thinking I can get two to rotate so I can leave each one for a couple of weeks to degrade before throwing it into the big compost bin!

I've been surprised with just how much vegetable waste we have - mostly throwing out leftovers, but also stuff that never got used.  At least now it can get back into our little ecosystem!

In the meantime, I really need to pick up some more sugar cane mulch to curb that weed growth!

Day 7 of Prep! Three weeks to Kick Off

Growing some herbs and spinach!

I love Mondays!  A whole perfect unblemished week ahead of me! 

I finished off today by planting up a few herbs (rosemary, oregano, and parsley) and some spinach to start my "Veggie Patch".

And I had a parcel waiting for me when I got home! 

My Tea Tonic order arrived! 

I love their teas and stick to this place because their relaxation tea is the only one that has everything I want in it! And they have chocolate tea!  The teas are organic and a naturopath creates the different tea formulations!  And I always get a few freebie samples in the box!

I have a GLEW (Ginger, Lemongrass, Echinacea, White Tea) tea steeping right now!

These are to help curb my coffee habit that I've developed over the last year - previous to that I had gone 14 years without coffee, and had only been drinking tea again for 3 years.

This week I am trying to get into the habit of packing lunches and snacks for work.  I have tried before and got caught up in the perfectionism and tried to count calories and have awesome photo worthy deliciousness packed each day.  How could that possibly fail?

Instead, I am now packing whatever I can get my hands on!  Today was some rice crackers, chicken with lettuce, and a mandarin.  The lettuce got frozen by the fridge at work.  Not a great start - but a good start as I didn't buy my lunch!  I'm only at work for school hours so only need one snack and a decent lunch, and water.

Once the program starts I can get some prep work done and have a plan for the week for what to take for lunches.

Last night:
I hit the chocolate icecream!  It was quite yummy! :)  And then I was up at 3am and had a muffin to tame a grumbly tummy!
Sleep:  2am bedtime (reading!) up at 6:45am.  I'm trying to get myself up earlier in the morning so I can start morning training once I hit a 6am start time!  An earlier bedtime might help!
Today:
Breakfast was half a coffee (don't seem to need it anymore) and some pumpkin, ricotta and spinach frittata.  Cam ate a fair bit of it, which was just as well because it was a huge serving for my little tummy (which is very unused to breakfast!)
Snack: flavoured rice crackers
Lunch: 100g chicken breast (from leftovers)
Afternoon Snack: Cuppicino - had one of those satchels left and thought I would get rid of it - dash of milk, no sugar.

Day 5 of Prep

I am so on a roll!  This morning I hit the garden as soon as I woke up.  We have a massive yard with lots of trees - palm trees in particular!  They are horrendous for shedding leaves and quite a few of them are very tall, so tall we can't reach to remove dead leaves.

And if the palm trees aren't tall, they are clumping!  See those two small palms near the shed (right side).  We got a full load of green-waste from that today!  We also removed a rather large bush growing behind it which was blocking our access to behind the shed.

You might also notice that at the base of the washing line we now have a large green pot and pot stand so I can grow some herbs and leafy vegies this spring! 

And I love that we are starting to see the grass greening up a bit - even though it will mean mowing the lawn very soon!

I am looking forward to summer this year!  I turn 40yo!  Our yard will be in great shape as it warms up with the amount of shade drastically reduced in the yard itself, while not affecting the shade for the house and entertainment area.  We should be able to have some nice BBQ dinners outdoors by spring time!

I'm excited to think that I will be in shape too.  We have a public swimming pool just down the road from us and I am looking at purchasing a season pass for the family so we can go down of an afternoon to cool off after school and work!  It will be so nice to feel confident in my swimmers, even if I don't have a 'perfect figure'! 

Last night:
had a peanut butter sandwich before bed.
Bad case of restless legs (but then remembered I still had my patch on)
Stayed up late (2am), woke up around 9am
Today:
Skipped breakfast and morning tea but had two coffees
lunch was bacon and eggs
afternoon tea I had flaxseed crackers and salmon
dinner: having a treat meal!  KFC and salad with icecream for dessert.
Exercise:  gardening, steps: 10000.