Feather your Nest Friday, 29th November 2019.

We were blessed with such a mild week of weather and even some rain.  Nice weather just makes life so much easier.  I have tried to take full advantage of it too!  So this week was quite productive!

Because the weather is good the garden is good!   My pumpkin patch is really growing!  I am so excited to even have a pumpkin patch!
My Foxgloves have flowered and flowered.  Everyone sees them as they are right near the kitchen door....

And I have pale pink Hollyhocks out.  They are so tall!  I love them I will be saving all of the seeds!

I fertilised all the veggie, herb and flower beds plus all the fruit trees and gave them a good soaking.  This was almost a whole days work. 

My first zucchini is ready to pick.  The parsley has gone to seed and when the seeds are ready I will save them and pack them up.

I planted two types of cucumbers and used an old wire garden chair as my climbing support.  It looks so pretty in the garden too!  I have been studying how you can greatly increase your garden space by going up. If you include supports for your tomatoes and have them go up instead of spreading out,  if you have a wall of fence add some wire or something and send up passionfruit or climbing beans or snow peas...   the sky is the limit to what you can plant that will climb. And it looks beautiful!  

I made two big impossible pies.  One was for us and one was for Lucy and family.  Each took a dozen eggs and garden spinach.   And I used my 25c bargain creams.  So they were very cheap to make and tasted so good.

I made Peanut Butter biscuits for the girls, this is what they requested this week.

In the op shops (thrift stores) I found new quality reels of cottons for $1. This is how I stock my sewing cabinet.  Also a vintage apron sewing kit.  It has voile underlay and organza top ... it was $4.  I will either make it up or give it as it is as a gift.

I made up some laundry liquid.  I recently ran out and I missed this a lot.  I use it for towels, socks, jeans, all the work clothes etc.  The spare amount is kept in a bucket with a lid and I have four large bottles on the shelf.   The recipe is the same one Jane uses from Down to Earth Blog.   I like Rhonda's recipes as she costs things out and provides links to ingredients and studies.   This was an older post and she costed it out to save you $80 every batch you make.  It would be more now!  I was shopping with Mum and many brands of Laundry Liquid were $20 each! 😬   When a recipe calls for grated soap I just use Lux flakes.  I think in the US there are Ivory flakes which are about the same.

There is no need to make it pink but it just makes me happy!  I walked away and later saw my pink roses drying, my laundry liquid cooling,  and my pink kitchen towel over my mix master.  These little domestic scenes make me so happy!

There are many times I just adore a little snap shot of life that is so beautiful.  A basket of eggs,  a bowl of lemons,  things just picked from the garden being washed in the sink...  sheets drying in the sun...  they are all so beautiful! 

We added to the family!  I have four ducklings!  It was an accident, I swear!   

No good pictures yet... they are Call Ducks which are what Bantams are to Chickens, only the duck equivalent.   I also accidentally got three tiny Pekin Bantams in pale lavender grey.  I hope I have photos soon. All this happened yesterday!   Unfortunately (for his health) Andy smokes cigars.  I said to him "you know how you just have to have a cigar in the evening? Well, I had this same kind of experience only it was with ducks."   And so I have ducks but also snuck in baby Bantams. 

I have been pulling up giant thistles in the hay shed to feed the chickens along with spent chard and spinach plants that are really tall!  Wherever I go I watch for potential chicken (and now duck) food.

I made Dad his favourite Sultana cake.

I cooked  roast lamb with loads of extra veggies.  When I plate up dinner I separately plate up enough for two more serves, cover it in gravy and hide in the fridge.   I love these "TV" dinners.  A complete night off!   What is left makes lunches and rolls.  A roast is a very good way to get many easy meals and also save a fortune on deli meats.  I do not buy deli meats.   Either I bake a ham or roast something then slice it up.  If you compare this can be over $20 a kilo cheaper and sometimes much more.  Also no added sulphates and so on.   The slow cooker does a good piece of cooked meat too.  So handy in summer!

So that was my week.  And today is just beautiful!  Sunny but not hot at all.  A man is coming to slice up the big tree stumps to make furniture with.  I will get a piece that will become a coffee table in the cottage.

I hope it was a good week for you.  How did you build up your home, add to your pantry, preparedness or savings?   Also Happy Thanksgiving to the USA ladies.  xxx