Living and loving it Monday 26 August 2019

Hello from Dora, who has found that the chair next to my desk gets wonderful morning sunshine and has a quilt over it, which of course is what a well-brought-up cat desires in her bedding! 

We have had some sunshine this week and lots of rain too. The 3000 litre water tank is finally full, and DH has put a bucket under it to catch the overflow! We were both greatly impressed with the Greening the Desert video of a permaculture set up in Jordan, on the same size block as ours. We are inspired to try to do a lot more with our resources, including water! Do watch this video! 

We had bok choy which we harvested leaves from and then let flower and set seed. These are the seeds. I have picked them and put them in paper bags (I got nearly a thousand paper bags free from a neighbour!) and they are drying. We want to grow more! As it is coming into cabbage moth season, we will need to provide a insect free tent for them to grow in. 

My main work in the garden has been to keep spreading the mulch. DH had to go to get some more! The Council here gives us vouchers for  some free trailer loads per year, -they recycle green waste from the city. Mulch is really a key to our garden: it feeds the soil and reduces evaporation. I have some tomato seedlings coming up, and have been encouraged by signs of life in the goji berry plants I repotted and put into the big free tubs we picked up a few weeks ago. Our deciduous trees are showing signs of leaf and bud growth.

I am a collector of cornucopia vases- the ones shaped like little horns. I found this one in an op shop. It is an Italian one and it cost me just $4. It is perfect for a single rose or two. This rose is a rambler we grow on the back fence It is always the first to come to flower, and has a lovely old fashioned perfume. 

You can see the back and a little of the front of a small table runner I made from scraps. 

Here it is on our new-to-us coffee table. This runner was a test run of a few new-to-me techniques in quilting. I wanted to use my new wedge template, I wanted to try adding the binding before I trimmed the runner  and I wanted to use a new binding tool to help me make the final join on the binding flat. It was a good exercise. 

If you are looking for a good inspiring read, see if you can find this one from your local library. I am loving it. 

The other thing I have been busy with have been a couple of community projects, including attending a rally to try to make a ban on fracking in WA. I find that action is a good antidote to depression at the state of the news of environmental problems around the world.

Thanks for reading. This blog is my journal and also a way of connecting with like minded people.