Home Grown Veggies Support the Local Green Grocer

I ventured out yesterday to see how the supplies in the shops were faring.  Even though we were not in a flood area many of the shelves of our local Green Grocer were quite empty.  Milk was particularly hard to get and only 2 bottles were left on the shelves last night.  I had looked at the heavily laden chokos on my clothes line before going down to the shop and wondered if these would help.  The response was " we would be very grateful for any vegetables".

So I loaded up my trolley first thing this morning, and wheeled them down.  I wanted to give them away as I did on Freecycle, but this wasn't allowed.... so we agreed to barter.  This way their business doors would remain open a little longer, locals could still get veggies and I would be supporting my local grocer by using their shop.  I still have plenty of chokos left over for low income earners on Freecycle, plus a fresh bumper crop on it's way.


It was 7.0am when I made my delivery and found they had only managed to get about half doz bottles of milk, .......so I very was lucky to receive one in my barter.  The rest would be gone in half an hour or sooner. I also managed to get a pack of carrots.  Some prices had gone up ....some by 30%.

Thankfully, our local butcher is not having any trouble getting beef and lamb as they source their meat locally from places like Pittsworth.  Chicken is scarce though, with a convoy of trucks blocked by flood waters.  I did notice that the sides of lamb had also increased by 30%....even so it was still an economical buy at $7.99 per kg

So, if you have a surplus of home grown veggies contact your local shop and see if they need help in supplying the community with fresh produce and help keep their doors open.  Many need food NOW.

Some of the produce that may be hard to source now and in days to come will be things like Chinese greens, capsicums, broccoli, tomatoes etc.  The Lockyer Valley was the salad bowl of Queensland and supplied most of the state as well as many parts of  Australia.  Some of these veggies are fast growing, so planting a few extra in your garden now, will go a long way in supporting our local communities during recovery.

Well  I am off to plant some Chinese greens and potatoes,  prop up my tomatoes, blanch and freeze my beans and get the snails off my silver beet......after all there are just so many chokos one can eat  :)

All the best to those affected in any way by the floods
Cheers
Joan

We Are OK

Thanks to all who rang or emailed wanting to know if we were affected by the horrific flash flood in Toowoomba. I had just left the CBD when the inland tsunami ripped through our main streets.

There are many You-tube videos of this inland tsunami's incredible force and  devastation  as it tore through Toowoomba., down the range to Grantham, Murphy's Creek, the Lockyer Valley and onto Brisbane.

I haven't been down town since as I have been glued to the TV for news of the floods in Brisbane and Ipswich where my children and grandchildren live.  All are fine with only my eldest son David and his family having to be evacuated from a low lying area in Ipswich.  His house was an old Queenslander, possibly about a hundred years old.  It was built  high on wooden stumps so the water only came up to the floor boards.  Those old timers certainly knew how to build houses to cope with all seasons.

The long term concerns for us are the food shortages after the state wide loss of crops and live stock.  The forecast is that prices for meat, fruit, vegetables etc. and petrol will increase.

So out comes the fork and shovel....it's time to get serious about my veggie garden.
For over 3 years now I have had a surplus of chokos and pumpkins that I have passed onto Freecycle members.  Mostly young families, single parents and aged pensioners.  This year I have also had a surplus of eggs from my little bantams that have helped  to stretch their budget a little further.  With the inevitable increase of prices for fresh fruit and vegetables an even larger variety is needed.  I suspect that we will all need to apply the same ingenuity that our grandmothers used during the great depression for quite some time....even if we have not been directly affected by the floods waters.  There is already a state wide ripple affect, so we need to be prepared.

First pumpkins of the year scrambling over a shed.



This years Chokos on my clothes line



"Minuscule" in the Backyard: The Wasp and the Spider

I was feeling sorry for myself ........so much to do and so little time.....until I saw the labour of this "minuscule".

The pace was a fast walk for me and more than my camera could match......... and within a few minutes it was gone .....out of sight .......leaving me to ponder on the mystery of nature.....

WOW...look at the size of that load....

This camera is so slow...she has travelled at least 5 metres between shots.

Onto some rough ground...........

No such thing as gravity .....I was still having trouble keeping up with my camera.

OK, where to now....what a silly question. she knew exactly where to go.

Before I could focus my camera again she was over the seven foot fence..........and out of sight.

 This incredible little wasp had dragged her catch a good 25 metres before I lost sight of her.

How Small is an Egg?

My girls are all grown up. It only seems like yesterday that they were day old hatchling. Oh, so cute!

" I'm the King of the Castle"


This tiny little black and white chick was taken by a neighbours cat a few weeks later.  We were absolutely devastated.

"Where's my Mummy?"

"Taking the Youngsters for a Walk"

Five of the eight hatchlings raised by my two broody bantams were roosters.  They were later adopted into homes of generous "Freecyclers", where they could roam free and crow to their hearts delight.  So my two broody bantam mums are now left with one hatchling each..........a huge Black Rock and a tiny Belgian D'Anver.

"All Grown Up"

"Is that cat back again"

Over the last week or so my Black Rock pullet has been giving me an egg every day for lunch in spite of the cold snaps up here on the Toowoomba Range.  I did a little research and it seems that I can look forward to nearly 280 eggs per year from her.

Just yesterday my delightful tiny D'Anver laid her first egg. There were squeals of delight as everyone marvelled at it's remarkable size.  Can an egg really be that small.



Belgian D'Anver - One of the prettiest little hens I have seen

What was that.........?"

                         

"How small is an Egg....?"  Eggs from my two pullets