Qld trip April 2012

End of term one NSW school holidays I headed north for a week. The focus of this trip was the friends catch ups that were sadly missed at Xmas due to illness. Unfortunately Wisowaty's were crook this time, so will have do with images and chat over the Interwebs for now.

The cheeky Miss Paige and I

Happy and huge (tall!) Dante

You're a strange one Sarah!

Entire Matthews clan

I still had some good quality time with my family. For something a bit different I stayed a few nights with Joel and Bree. They are also into 'home harvesting' but have taken it to another level then me with a huge, drip irrigated, netted, staked, with worm hotels, raised garden bed in the front yard.

Joel and I sharing a bevvy on the verandah

One of the reasons the garden bed in the front yard.
Joel and Bree's 'puppy' Kiddo

Watched Jake play a game of soccer

and hung out on the sideline with Sammy.

Alex, Neets and Scott were there too but I didn't get photo of them. Alex is tall! Well over me now - taking after his Dad and Uncle Matt.

Tina's Wedding

I was very excited to be invited to go to Tina's (one of the girls I work with) wedding. No only is Tina awesome, gorgeous and deserves every happiness in life, she and her now husband John, are Aussie-Greek and we had heard at work all about the plans for their a smallish (375!) Greek Orthodox wedding. My first Greek wedding.

New Pathways Website!

I just have to share, because it is fantastic... http://www.pathwayseci.com

If you are at all curious, please, have a look around. Lots of photos and a few videos. You will find me in the staff photo and if you don't blink you can see Matt in the video for the SIBS art project opening night.

Perhaps even a donation to the building project? (*cheeky smile*)

Happy Feet Two Wrap Party

All dressed up ready for the Dr D - Happy Feet Two wrap party. 

Below, the lovely couple to the right of Matt and I are Cherie and Gareth. Gareth is an animator (lensing and pre-vis artist). He and Matt get along well. Cherie is an OT. They are both fellow (ex) QLDers. Cherie and I hit it off straight away and for the past two Dr D Xmas parties I have been trying to convince her to come work for Pathways. I finally succeeded, Cherie and I have been working together for about 6 months. It's all a little cosy, but they are such beautiful individuals and a great couple - fast becoming firm friends.

Garden Update

I can't believe it is week 6... halfway thru term. As half-expected the garden has been progressing at its own pace, we still haven't finished the veggie planter. Weekends have been Mat working and/or me working and/or wet. This past weekend we did get as far as buying the necessary gear from Bunnings, then it rained.

I spent a few hours on the balcony today, sun on my face (with the occasional sun-shower), 24hr news on in the background and Smokey for company. A beautiful relaxing Monday. Here is how it is looking:

  *** bonus points if you can find Mr Smokey!

Bottle Brush - has lots of new growth

Lettuce

Onions (up the back)

Onions, Alpine Strawberries, Capsicum and Carrot, Carrot, Carrot, Broccoli and Cauliflower

Natives (for companion planting, beneficial bugs and to be pretty - I love native wildflowers) - Everlasting, Golden Everlasting, Grass Tree and Kangaroo Paw

 

Break time!

This is not a gardening blog, but...

 ...the garden is my current obsession and I am so excited about how it is starting to take form. I am also concious that once term starts again weekends seem to disappear too fast. The garden will probably go into state of 'growing & maintenance' rather than 'designing & building'.

Last weekend we tackled what is undoubtedly the biggest single job within the wider project. The 'Vegetables - Square Foot Garden - Raised Planter'.

If you are wondering what the hell is Square Foot Gardening, this was new to me only a couple of weeks ago. Google it and/or look here: http://www.squarefootgardening.org

After many hours of research on the internet (again) I worked out what I wanted, but, I couldn't find anyone in Australia who stocks this sort of thing and to get something from overseas will take 2-3 months (and goes against the spirit of the project). After discussing (whinging) with Matt we decided to attempt a DIY. Matt and I are both a little crafty, but I was a bit dubious about tackling such a big project ourselves. Below is the outcome, and I am pretty darn proud of it (so far). 

The base - plywood on rails

The ends of the box
and yes... Matt has a red fauxhawk for those who haven't seen it :)

The sides of the box

Supervisor - his new favourite spot, the worm farm ?!?!

Box onto the base... my turn with the drill

Almost finished, sort of.

We couldn't get trestles in the size we wanted and while we knew these ones would be big we thought they might do. Nope. I can barely reach the back and the whole thing looks and feels not secure. We have since drawn more plans and will be back to Bunnings over the weekend for the parts to make legs. I may be on holidays but Matt is not and I would prefer his help with this.

Meanwhile...

I mentioned before that I have decided to keep the worm farm, here's the long version why. The worm farm was very neglected for a range of reasons including spiders and dark evenings, instead, we have started using a Bokashi bin and I love it! With the Bokashi it stays indoors, for us, next to the main & recycling bins. It doesn't stink!!! and it can take a lot things the worm farm can't (onions, citrus and meat). Once full, the recommendation is to bury the contents into your garden (um...) or into a hot compost, not worms - they don't like it. So... I tried to find a composter small enough for our balcony with no luck. There were a few available, but only overseas and most people complained that they didn't really work. I did find a couple of blogs/people who had tried putting their Bokashi contents into a worm farm with success, so I thought lets give it a go. The bucket was full a couple of weeks ago so had already sat fermenting. I restocked the worm farm (when I looked there was one lonely worm left alive) last Monday and on Friday put in a couple of large scoops from the Bokashi bin. I added some 'worm conditioner', a handful of potting mix scattered over the top and a worm blanket to reduce the acidity and improve the conditions for the worms. This morning (Wednesday) I checked the worm farm and they seem to love it (too!). All the worms are alive and squirming around in the Bokashi contents, not their original bedding. My verdict (so far)... you CAN put Bokashi bin contents into a worm farm. Now, I just need to chat with work as I no longer have a spare worm farm to donate :)

Meanwhile...

I have new hair

I hadn't done anything with my hair pretty much since the wedding. So it was getting long, natural brown and lanky. It needed to come off!

Before

After

Assymetrical bob

Purple!

Wedding (pro) photos

For anyone we haven't shown these to... here are some of our wedding photos! We are in the process of wading through all the beautiful images Stephen took for us and putting together albums. Hopefully school holidays soon means it will get done.


http://www.stephenhenryphotographics.com/Home/tabid/39/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/61/My-Way-pt-1.aspx


http://www.rocknrollbride.com/2010/11/sarah-matts-red-black-gothic-wedding/