"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.

garlic growing in Sydney

There's a lot of truisms about growing garlic - plant by St Patrick's Day (15th March), harvest by Christmas, etc.

The problem is that a lot of this stuff is supposed to apply along the entire east coast of Australia which seems illogical when Hobart gets snow, Melbourne is wet and soggy, Canberra gets frost, Sydney is merely 'cold', and a Townsville winter looks like a Hobart summer!

Even going by a 'cool temperate/warm temperate/tropical' doesn't always help - regional variations can affect frost, how much frost you get, even the rainfall! My suburb gets a touch of frost, but not so much that under the ground freezes.

I found a video that detailed how this guy from the US (who gets snow/frost) in his area grows garlic - it was actually about how to get large garlic heads - and took down his notes. I'm going to try to adjust them for an Australian setting.

Growing Garlic (large heads)
- sprinkle of worm castings
- large cloves into hole
- cover in mulch over winter
- remove in spring
- feed superfood in spring
- compost mulch

My modifications are:
1. planted in May
2. sprinkle of worm castings under clove
3. leaf mulch over winter, pull back a bit once the green bits show
4. feed in spring? (NOTE: what's superfood - NPK? Have super-K in a bag somewhere, might as well use it)
5. compost mulch in spring

I've just realised I'll have a vegepod available during this time, and that might be a good place to do the growing experiment from.

This is going to be rather specific, and it could get kinda interesting to see if I can do this successfully, growing the garlic to a decent size over the winter.

throwing shade

Back garden is a lot of shady spots.

What do I need for filler? Where do I need it?
- shady spaces, like in the south-east corner (hellebores, coleus, bromeliads, aussie native violet, anemones)
- under the avocado tree where the tomatoes are failing miserably (daffodils for spring? aussie native violets, maybe the kidney-shaped leaves thing)

Planning for climate catastrophe:
- water (want to get a filter for the tank water - filter entry on the tank, filter outlet, too?)
- fire protection: if fire comes to the neighbourhood, how to stop it from spreading?
- petrol runout (bicycles - need to do some work on them)
- electric cooker (induction top?)

 

May: feed citrus
pruning branches and leaves
spray lime sulphur (1st time)

June: spray lime sulphur (2nd time)

July: spray copper, run chooks in triangle garden

August: grafting, run chooks in triangle garden

 

Bought 7 african daises, 5 single-petal hellebores, 5 dahlias.

African daisies to go on the far side of the fence; Hellebores to go in the shade space; Dahlias to go in the trimmed-back picket fence garden space.

dear diary: 7th May

WEATHER:

Cold but sunny the last few weeks, cold and clear in the next week, then cold and wet the week after. There's a fair bit of wind tonight (Sunday) - some pretty hard gusts that make the chook coop tarp creak - but that should ease tomorrow morning.

RAIN

Spatters, mostly. A little hail today. It was raining pretty hard in stints at our hockey game on Sunday 7th - freezing cold rain, then less cold stuff. There's more happening tonight and probably some tomorrow.

CHOOKS:

Caramba is laying, everyone else is off the lay. Sisi is still being a bully and refusing to let the other girls in the coop at night; she won't go up to the top rung so she can basically keep them from anything but roosting in the doorway.

Goong does her own thing, doesn't really bother the Qs, but the Qs are very aware of her. It's only Sisi who's vengeful and chases them away whenever possible.

OBSERVATIONS

The Dual Plum is growing really whippy on the Mariposa side. I'm still debating whacking the whole top off and just seeing what it does next.

The Apricot frame intended for espalier growing is tilting at a 15degree angle. I might have to pull that out and fix it when I replace the chook tunnels.

Flower bed by the driveway post is looking wonderful!

PREPARATION:

Really should dig out/rake out the chook poop pen. Put the stuff in bags and boxes, leave until spring.

Pulled out the ornamental grasses under the lounge window, added some mushroom compost, raked over the soil to even-ness.

PLANTING

A mix of Meadow Seeds in the bed in front of the lounge room. Not sure if it'll be warm enough to start growing - might need to put down a little more pea straw mulch to give it a decent chance of germinating; it's presently a touch too cold, I think...

I made the APPLE-CREPE into a proper brassica bed; planted out the various brassicas I had, then made a rough frame and covered it with netting. Not sure it'll get quite enough sun until summer, but I guess it'll do for the moment.

RIPENING

Still the avocados. One I picked the other week is still hard, so not sure when these are going to be ripe.

Oranges are colouring up; they'll need to stay on the tree a while to get fully ripe.

HARVEST

PUMPKINS - I've picked the large ones, I really should lay them out under the house (downside: rats). Also, it would help to get an idea of what, exactly, I've managed to grow.

MUSTARD. I never quite know what to do with these. But they do grow well!

CORIANDER is growing quite nicesly (and not bolting) in at least two places in the garden.

TOMATOES - in the triangle bed, apple end, have fruit but may not manage to ripen them given the cold snap we're seeing. TOMATOES in the triangle bed, pointy end, have set fruit, but also may not ripen: the Amethyst Cream has a couple that are ripening, but it's hard to tell what else is ripe - if anything.

RASPBERRIES: autumn ones aren't as nice as the spring ones. Might need some pruning.

PRUNING

All the fruit trees/shrubs need pruning right now. And then chipping, now that I have the new blades.

THOUGHTS

I have barely enough energy to keep up with the house right now - last fixing up of the windows, and then moving everything back in and sorting it out; I'm not sure I'd manage with the garden as well. So, holding patterns are the thing at present.
1. Backyard paths and grass.
2. pruning all the fruit trees significantly, then chipping the prunings
3. replacing the chicken tunnels with more solid make.
4. replacing the garden bed frames (and seeding/planting out the ones that I don't intend to keep using).

House: closing the gaps

The windows are in but the job isn't yet done!

There are a lot of gaps:
Gaps between the architraves and the walls:

Gaps between the glass settings and the window framings:

And then the standard gaps in the floor:

All of which pull drafts up through the walls under the house.

I was linked to this really great site called GIY - Green It Yourself: Australian, full of practical advice, perfect for those of us who live in gappy old houses that weren't built for anything below 10C or above 28C (ie. most of Sydney). We may not want to run the a/c all summer, and the reverse-cycle a/c (heat pump) all winter - we might just want our houses to be liveable without needing to burn more energy...

I wish I'd found this site sooner, it has some really good advice!

First things first: How to Caulk. Get thee a caulking gun and learn how to use it! Anyone can use it, you just need to get familiar with it. Learn not only how to use it, but also how to clean up after! Also, trim your nails right down and have the hand-cream ready! You can wear gloves, sure, but there's nothing to beat your fingers doing the walking.

Second things second: the actual type of caulk to use. If you only have options from Bunnings, use options from Bunnings. Better to be draft-proofed than not! However, the stuff at Bunnings is for your average DIY - their bread-and-butter is the weekend DIY warrior. Tradies tend to use tradie-specific hardware places and the stuff there tends to be better quality. My local tradie hardware is Hardware and General, but I got the white gap filler from my local Reece hardware and plumbing down the road.

My new double-glazed windows are white, so I'm using the white caulking (Soudal Gap Filler) around the edges, and to seal any gaps between the window frame and the wooden architraves themselves.

However, my skirting boards are white, and my floors are natural wood - polished floorboards done (rather badly by sub-contracted "professionals") after we pulled up the carpet. I used the white caulking for three floor gaps and...well, it doesn't look great. But that's done now and can't be undone, and they're in 'bedrooms' rather than the main room. Which was pretty intentional. It's gonna be clear caulking (HB Fuller - Ultra Clear Caulk) for the rest of the floorboard gaps!

Also, might try to fill in a few of the spaces between the floorboards - wood putty might do the job if it can be neatly cleaned up.

Third things third: I'm doing this now is because we have all the furniture and stuff out, and it's easiest to do when it's all out of the way. Moving furniture is a PITA and no fun, especially when you're doing it all by yourself.

Plus if I get it done this autumn, then when full winter turns up, at least it won't be quite as bad as it used to be...

The downside is that I've been basically exhausted the last two weeks. Painting the window architraves, sealing them up. Sealing up the floors, putting up curtains (where the windows are ready)...

On a personal, I think I might also have come down with something. It might even be COVID, although very mild and largely asymptomatic thanks to full vaccinations and all the boosters. But I've been absolutely shattered for the last week and probably should have gone for a PCR or a doc visit. I might do that this week, if I can scramble the time.

Dear Diary: April 2023 - the one with two fewer chooks

WEATHER:

Cold change in early April, after a warm and lovely March.

RAIN

Spatters here and there, at one stage there was enough to fill the tanks, but then I opened the stopcock on the carport tanks and they've been pretty much empty since. Stagnant, too. Once the windows are done, I should disconnect them and clean them out.

CHOOKS:

Coldie died on Easter Monday, followed a week later by Shan. They were both sick, both had gone to the vet in the previous month but died overnight.

RIP 'The Banquet': our 'lockdown chooks'.

Q1, now known as Carambah (Caramel), is laying decent sized eggs. Q2, now known as Choquette (Choux Pastry) hasn't even got her comb in! it's really weird. She looks like a large-sized pullet, while Carambah looks like a full layer bird!

It's a bit weird without any of our 'older' chooks. I can't explain why, it just is.

OBSERVATIONS

Everything is dropping leaves and dying. The backyard is full of things mulching and it's not idea. I really need to hire those JW kids to come round, pull up the grass, put the cardboard down, and cover the paths with mulch.

PREPARATION:

Winter is coming: need to think about what I'm going to plant where and for what purpose...

I might just pull up the tomatoes in the APRICOT-AVO bed, because they're not actually producing anything, and maybe pull up the bed itself so it can go back to the grassy/herbal area that I'm planning for it...

PLANTING

Planted out a bunch of brassicas in the APPLE-CREPE bed, watered them in with brassica water (rotted purchased brassicas) so they get the nutrients to grow and flower.

RIPENING

Pomegranates: not sure when to harvest them.

Tomatoes - some of the late varieties I planted - might be the Blue Smurf, or the other ones I got from Elisha (I think; look it up)

HARVEST

Pomegranates. Persimons. Pumpkins. Lots of Ps in there.

Also: Avocadoes!

PRUNING

EVERYTHING needs pruning and chipping and digging up. All the grass in the backyard.

THOUGHTS

We have the windows in as of ANZAC day and that's a relief. There's still some sealing up to do: both along the skirting boards and along the undersides/tops of the windows. I need to find somewhere that sells the kind of filler that they were using (turns out it's Anywhere That Isn't Hammerbarn). Also need to pry open a skirting board somewhere where it won't be too spotted and see what it looks like there... Could be a bit hairy!

Maybe leave that for Saturday.

next thoughts on the house

Next thoughts on the house

1. sealing up between the skirtingboards and the floorboards - particularly in the study and the lounge and my bedroom (all major draught areas)
- probably should use something between a silicone and latex sealant: very narrow tip (pinprick, really) and with a shaped nozzle to keep it lined up. White? To match the skirting

2. painting the inside frames: they're primed, but they'll need a coat of paint.

3. external awnings (b1 wants external awnings - at least to the west, so she can let down the awnings at will; I'm more for a vergola, myself...)

4. creating some kind of a seal/stopper for the wall vents, at least for the winter season, to determine if it helps the thermal profile of the room (may want to keep them for in-wall ventilation)

5. cleaning up all the paint specks and wood fragments from around the garden and the grass; might have to ask if there's a kind of 'external vacuum' and whether I could use it to get the worst of the paint chips, etc. up.

Inside the house: more cube storage things and the boxes that fit in them so we can put things away

outside the house: more storage spaces and boxes-that-don't-break-down (or maybe just go with plain cardboard ones)
- chooks
- pruning and tying up
- netting and fruiting
- sprays and pesticides

Need to do a "cleaning tools" day with PSN