Cymbidium and Dendrobium Orchids 09/22/2011
 I used to grow orchids up from babies. When I downsized a few years ago, I gave my entire orchid collection to my daughters. Then I found this country summer retreat; and hoped I might be given some back. lol, I got my wish, and I now have the narrow side of our place beneath the deciduous trees and creepers I planted for summer shade, as my cymbidium and dendrobium orchid home. :-) They look happy - so am I Kathy Shell  Add Comment Australians Asked to Love Ugly Fruit. 01/24/2011
 A campaign is being urged to teach Australians to love 'ugly' fruit. I know I have been turned off by the quality and price of fresh fruit and Vegetables and I am living on the produce in my own vegetable and fruit garden and some frozen or tinned produce and buying very little fresh vegetables as the affordable ones are in my opinion fit for the pig bin not human consumption. When i run out of the current supply, if the frozen variety is better than fresh I will continue to use frozen products before I will eat limp vegetables. I do not mind marks n the outer skin, it us just spongy half bad vegetables are beyond ugly they are rubbish and that is what some shops are offering us at huge prices at the moment. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon is keen that fruit and vegetable imports be kept to a minimum, despite food shortages in flood-affected states. He is urging retailers and consumers to support Australian farmers, even if local produce is slightly damaged or more expensive in the next few months. Senator Xenophon says a campaign could highlight the beauty of imperfect Australian fruit and veges. "Just because fruit and vegetables might have a few blemishes, they're just as good to eat," he said. Shortages of fresh food prompt a call to promote ugly fruit and vegetables to consumers
Hydrangea and Hot Topic Links 01/05/2011
   Anti Cancer Council of Victoria Australian Society for the Study of Obesity Dietitians Association of Australia   International Obesity Taskforce National Consumer Website Nutrition Australia Nutrition Society of Australia  Linking with Today's Flower  "The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." - Lucille ball Having a lovely morning at my youngest daughter's home :-). The back garden is looking beautiful, they have a marquee up ready for the party tonight. Staying here for two nights, 40th birthday party for a family member tonight. Very special occasion . Morning Walk. 11/10/2010
 Back from a lovely morning walk. My best weight loss supplement when I get to do it is this walk around the estate several times a day. Starting to chat with the neighbours who are also out and about enjoying spring gardens and the bush and cutting into my work time but confirming more and more what a great community we live amongst in this rural setting. There is one big community mail box that also serves as an exchange point for books, magazines and notices for items for sale. Reg always exchanges books he reads there and I often swap a magazine and I bought a great auto tray for my studio for only $20. The best part is that the walk takes me around the lake and back via some beautiful gardens then along the poplar lined roadside beside farmland. I clocked up 3,634 steps before breakfast just walking around to check the mail. I love the bird life we see on each walk. The black swan has been sitting on its island nest for over a month now.      Here is the before and after of the oat crop harvest outside my writing studio window. Reg in charge of the camera. Slept well, pleased to be back in the country away from the suburbs and car fumes. Enjoying the fragrance from the oat crop being harvested early, obviously to get ahead of the locust plague we are expecting late spring. It is lovely to drink coffee and watch the farmer, hard at work. Not a bad day's work :-). A great start to the first of the month for him. I hope I can be just as productive in my own way. I am glad we came home last night, after visiting family near Melbourne, and we did not miss the harvest. We will be able to watch the hay bailed, stacked and moved over the next few months. lol, we get joy out of watching the farmer managing the seasonal changes and in knowing he has such a great fodder crop in this year. The Goulburn Valley is a dairy industry district as well as being considered the fruit bowl of Victoria. After years of drought in this region as long as the landowner can stay ahead of the locust plague predicted, it should be a great year.    Sharing My Beautiful Spring Morning. 09/28/2010
   Eight hour sleeps several days in a row and having time to catch up a little on things like reading and housework and planning a visit to see my daughter and her family. What a difference. I love being busy but not too busy. One of my greatest joys is being able to take my morning coffee and wander around looking at my garden and being able to sit in the garden in the afternoon and read or write. My office/lounge room window overlooks my garden. Yes the garden is a huge part of my life and the fact that the garden has no boundary, the view over the road is of the farmer’s oat crop then the distant eucalyptus that grow along the irrigation canal then the blue sky with the current spring clouds. Even when that sky is dark and moody I look up from my work and love the view, I enjoy every aspect of nature, I relish being so closely surrounded by the outdoors. It is how I feel when we travel in our eco-tourer caravan which I partly chose because of the big panoramic front windows. As long as I can look up from my work and see panoramic vistas, and add to this a side view of my husband relaxing reading or doing his Sudoku, and the dog, contentedly in her armchair beside him, with the comfort of knowing my daughters and grandchildren are doing OK in their own lives, I know I have everything I could ever want and I am content. For me as a self-employed retiree, carer, one day is the same as another. I work every day, I do not long for the weekends for a day off and when work is intense it is intense every day there are no day's off. Right now the work load is perfect. I have enough work to feel fulfilled without being so overburdened by it that I can’t look up from my work or step outside away from my work and enjoy my surroundings go for walks with Reg and the dog to enjoy even more of our beautiful natural surroundings.    FREE Mulch! 09/17/2010
   With all the wonderful spring rains and the official news from Victoria's premier, (as if in the middle of a flood we needed to be told), that the drought has broken, it is easy to forget there could still be a long dry summer and parched earth ahead. While lucerne hay is my favourite mulch, it is also costly so I am always on the lookout for quality mulch at an affordable price. I have found my answer over the past 12 months and that is in doing the community service of maintaining the free flowing road gutters in our country road. All the free leaf letter and twigs mulch I want and I can build my garden 200 cm or 8 " thick with mulch (pulled away from contact with the plant's stem), this saves me weeding and watering time and keeps the plant roots cooler in summer and with a lot less moisture evaporation. Not only do I get the benefit of free mulch but I am not wondering what is the best weight loss pill if I can keep myself doing active jobs on a regular basis. If you are mulching, (and I do it every springtime), try to get the mulch on after a good soaking, once the soil has warmed and before the heat of summer, late springtime is ideal. Well-rotted organic matter is far better than raw wood chips which cause deficiencies in the soil. Todays Flowers, Springtime in Mooroopna. 09/09/2010
    A lovely walk in the sunshine today, the gardens adore this intermittent drenching rain and spring sunshine. I have to remind myself to stay active, keep walking and know if I do this enough I will never have to think about diets or diet-pills, walking is a great all round exercise I can do easily. After a very cold winter here in northern Victoria, Australia, the winter flowering camellias are blooming at the same time as the early spring blossoms. The wattles look spectacular reflecting in the flooded Goulburn River. Everyone loves a garden so I have linked to a garden meme so you can take a look at some of the other garden blogs and enjoy them.        Today's Flowers Meme Early Spring. 09/08/2010
 My garden is thriving with the recent alternating days of rain and sunshine. The debris I cleared from the storm water drain today following the flood peak in Mooroopna, I placed on my garden between my plants as mulch and to build my garden up above the road level. Those storm water drains sure had a good colon cleanse, the drinking water in our taps needs to be put onto a rolling boil for 2 minutes for a while as the floods flushed out a lot of septic tanks. This might be great for the farms and gardens but I will be buying my drinking water until further notice.  | Art & Art Print Gifts can be viewed & purchased from
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