2023 - permabee

WHEW.

Permabee done!

It was a long day - from 10am until about 5pm. A few people left at lunchtime or just after, but the stalwarts stayed on until sundown to finish up the projects to a point where I could manage them myself (sort of). So we didn't get everything done to completion, but we made headway, and I'll take that!

Lunch was a hit - two soups (a Spiced Carrot Soup from a recipe book and a Roasted Thai Carrot & Sweet Potato soup) plus homemade bread (dutch oven, yeast-risen), plus banana bread, and other things people brought/made.

The compost bays are done, reduced in size to be smaller and more manageable. I think the back is hardwood, so that should last a decent while.

To do on Thursday get some lids on the bays - I have some roofing metal, and some wood that can be used as framing - because we have a rainy week in the offing.

The chook tunnels are 80% done - the sides are anchored in the ground, a section of the top is done, but I need to finish off the rest, which I can do myself over the coming week.

to do Thursday: cut/trim all the top sections so they're the right fit.

The garden beds got only about 50% done. The sides are prepped and cut into lengths, I have to drill them into the stakes for the corners and set them into place (sometimes digging down to get them in and level-ish).

to do Friday: take out the old, rotting wooden pieces from the garden, get the screws out (where possible) and put them on the verge for special trash collection.

to do Saturday: set up at least one garden bed, to give an idea of what needs to be properly done, and so I can work out the fitting of the chook tractor over the garden beds.

Not done: chipping the remainder of the tree branches, spraying the trees, fixing up the chook tractor. Ah well, I hoped but didn't expect.

That said, I really need to spray the trees ASAP.

Next things to do:
Clean out the blue water barrels
finish chipping the wood
fix up the wheelbarrows

dear diary: 3rd June - spraying

Sprayed the fruit trees today - Lime Sulphur
Peaches & Stonefruit was 20% solution
Apples was 10% solution
And just for kicks I also did the frangipani (1%) which has rust on its leaves and is probably spreading it everywhere through the garden

Gotta do it again in a week.

Then the week after, the Copper Spray

I think at least one of the trees shouldn't be sprayed with one of the sprays. I think it's the apricots with Copper spray.

Permabee is going ahead - new chicken tunnels! Maybe new garden beds.

"Grocery? No, Sirree!" challenge

My sister is going away for two months as of next Monday, and in her absence I'm thinking about doing a no-grocery challenge.

It's simply this: I buy no groceries until she's back. I have to live off what's in the pantry, fridge, freezer, and garden until she returns. That includes staples.

Now, this isn't a hardship, just constraining. We have a pantry that is absolutely BURSTING with foodstuffs and all it would take to work through it is a little organisation. And maybe a slightly less elevated palate.

I have soups and stews, tinned food of all types and kinds, various containers of frozen fruits and vegies, a lot of frozen meat (if that freezer goes down we are SO SCREWED), the chooks lay eggs, and if I plant some leafy greens now, I could cook those (although I could also use the Okinawa spinach which is growing crazy next to the carport). There's almost certainly sweet potato in the ground, too, which I just have to dig out. And it would make me think beyond my usual diet, which is very 'typical Australian' (I do love my meat).

I have canned and pickled and dried fruit - peaches, apricots, nectarines, apples - and some bought jars (morello cherries), and it's citrus season (oranges on the tree, limes from the neighbours, I'm pretty sure I could find some locals who'd just give me a couple of lemons if I needed), so I'm not going to get scurvy...probably.

The pantry has cooking and baking staples; if I had to make bread, I have yeast. There's dried pasta (and I can make it fresh with eggs and flour if I really need it), and noodles and everything.

I'd have to eat more sparingly of meat, which I can't replace. Proteins would primarily come from the chickens, and maybe from legumes. I might miss tomatoes because it's the wrong season for growing those, or maybe I'd just have to be more considered with the tomatoes that I'm growing?

The main thing that I would miss and which I can't get from anywhere else or really freeze is dairy: cream, milk, and cheese. I have some cheeses in the fridge, and I suppose I could store some cream and milk in the freezer, or I could make the exception for a carton of cream once a fornight (to go in my coffee), or else switch to my sister's soy milk. IDK. See how it gets complicated really fast?

That said, I'm well aware that being able to do this is a privilege. We've had the money to buy all this, to stock up. The house has space to have a garden. I have space to store things, and we have a deep freezer that enables purchase of meat and freezing of things ahead of time.

It increases the requirement of thinking about meal prep; reduces the amount I buy.

I'd make an exception for takeaway (once a week, maybe) and for going out with friends (doesn't happen often) or being invited to someone's house (eg. parentals).

I feel like I could make a charity drive out of it: donate to this charity and I'll do the challenge - raise $5K to get me to do it, raise $10K to exclude everything but dairy and takeaway and dinner out, raise $15K to exclude everything but takeaway and dinner out, raise $20K to exclude everything.

$20K feels like a lot, sure; but I know a fair bit of family with fairly deep pockets who'd probably move to do this.

The downsides?
1. It's the depths of winter.
2. I'll be doing this solo in the house.
3. Excluding social eating confines me to pretty much solitary.
4. None of this would be great for my mental health.

I did the Ration Challenge five years ago, and it went pretty well - raised quite a bit of money because a) it was a cause that lots of my friends believed in, b) people know how much I love my food. But that was only for a week.

I have ten days to think about this anyway.