September 27th, 2008 AndrewD
At least once per month we try to visit the Farmers Market in Canberra. It is a great, market two sheds full of food. The first shed you must be the actual grower/producer of the food. The second shed, you must know the grower/producer. The markets are each Saturday and from 8am – 11am.
It gets a good crowd and lots of people riding bikes instead of driving. But it makes me think, while I am eating locally produced food, I do feel guilty that we are driving50kms each way to get the food (but fresh local garlic is amazing).
Yass itself does not even have an independant fruit shop. The only fruit and veg (unless you grow your own) is from Woolworths and Franklins. I know that I am growing (or attempting to), but there will be times that I need something that I do not have. It would be good if Yass could have its own markets. A place where local produce can be sold or even any excess that home gardeners have can be sold. We are a town of 5000 – maybe a letter to the paper to see what interest there is.
Posted in Food | No Comments »
September 26th, 2008 AndrewD
Well next door where the photo of the cria was taken (earlier post) there are also three ewes who have been pregnant. Two days ago Lee-Ann had noticed that one of them had given birth and there was the addition of a lamb. Well today when Lee-Ann and I were going for a walk around the block, wine in hand, I noticed that the other ewe had just given birth and there were now two additional lambs (we missed it by only minutes). The ewe was concentrating on cleaning one, but the other lamb, being ignored was getting headbutted by one of the others everytime it tried to stand up.
So after watching for a few more minutes to see if the lamb was OK – and obviously its mother had forgotton about it, Lee-Ann went to the people that own the animals down the street to inform them of this.
By the time we got back the little abandoned lamb had attached itself to the cria “sherry” as its mum. Anyway when the owner got there she picked up the weak little one which she said had not even had a drink yet. But after a bit of nudging by the owner the little lamb latched on to it’s real mum, so all ended OK.
Posted in Animals | 1 Comment »
September 26th, 2008 AndrewD
The other week I got a $150 giftvoucher from work (only for a particular online store). Anyway wondering what to do with it I bought a bread maker. Well it turned up this week. Looking forward to our first loaf this weekend.
The breadmaker
Posted in Food | 1 Comment »
September 22nd, 2008 AndrewD
Well we now have approx 13 metres by 2 of new vege patches which have walls (on three sides) of pea straw(bales). This method will hopefully help with the wind, heat and moisture retention. Also it will provide us with lots of mulch for next year. So in total with the other vege patches I have approx 36m2 vacant (or soon to be) for spring/summer planting and I still don’t think that will be enough. I will be planting the pumkins, water melons, Minnesota melons and zucchini all elsewhere so they can just sprawl.
So in the first straw bed (approx 3×2) this will be corn, I plan to plant 4 seeds each week. This should give us (assuming all seeds come up) over the summer approx 24 – 30 corn plants.
The next 5 metre bed will be tomatoes and capsicum. The last 5 metre garden bed will be beans (hopefully we will get enough to dry. On top of that we have approx 3 other available (or soon will be) beds (another 10m2) . I still think I am a bed or three short, but we will see how they go over he next few weeks.
Two of the three straw beds
Posted in Gardening | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2008 AndrewD
Spring has now hit us (and they say it will be a warm spring). And the fruit trees are now blossoming. The peaches are the first ones with a mass of pink flowers.
The peaches are first to blossom
The next is the quince with a mass of white flowers, the rest are just still budding, but I expect they too will break out in flower over the next month.
The nut trees are still basically ‘sticks’ hopefully they to will show signs of life soon. Actually we are beginning to get worried on the nut trees, they were bare root stock but there have been no real signs eg budding/leaf growth. So if anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated. All 11 other trees (fruit) seem OK.
Posted in Food, Gardening | 1 Comment »
September 22nd, 2008 AndrewD
Three weeks ago it was my daughters 7th birthday (Alyssa). And for the first time I was not there. Not because I did not want to be, basically because it was a Tuesday and I was at work in Sydney. It is times like that I really hate this commuting between Yass and Sydney, and subsequently having the three days spent in Sydney.
Alyssa cutting her cake at home - when I was in Sydney
Anyway on the next weekend Alyssa had a party at the local park with some of her friends from school, where we had a BBQ and games were played with the kids. On the agenda was such games as egg and spoon, sack races and balloon races all the “ol fashioned” games. A good time was had by all and no broken bones at the end of it. Lynsey did manage to fall into the river.
Egg and Spoon race
Posted in Family | 1 Comment »
September 8th, 2008 AndrewD
One of our aims next year was to put a bee hive in, so to claim our honey/sugar locally. Anyway Lee Ann just noticed that out front in our gum tree it appears we have a hive in one of the branch hollows. So our bee keeping plans are goingto have to bee advanced!
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
September 1st, 2008 AndrewD
As some may know I still work in Sydney. They let me work remotely Monday and Friday, but I need to be there mid week. So rather than drive I catch the XPT. It takes approx 4 hours (3 hours driving), I can have a beer/wine read my book and relax. Anyway with summer approaching my ticket this week went to $50 (one way). Through autumn and winter it is $39. My yearly cost is at least $2500 (but more likely closer to $3500). But get this there is a international backpacker ticket that would only cost me $400/6 months, but you need to be an international visitor. So today I wrote to the Hon John Watkins as he is the Minister for Transport. My letter is below. Hopefully he will have something to say about the issue.
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Hon John Watkins,
I am writing to you in what seems to be unfair practice by Country Rail NSW.
I live in the town of Yass, NSW and work in Sydney. My family and I moved from Sydney to Yass approx 1 year ago. Now I have been lucky and the business I work for has let me work remotely from home Monday and Friday, but I do need to be in Sydney mid week. I could drive but I do choose to catch the XPT from Yass to Sydney (and in reverse as well). In off peak season (autumn to spring) this costs $39.95 each way, in summer that jumps to almost $50 each way. Now if I was only catching the train occasionally that would be OK, but I use the train as a commute.
There should be a scheme for me to help reduce the cost (either six monthly ticket or frequent traveller plan). I am sure that over the past year I would have qualified for either. The big ‘rub’ comes when I see on the Country Link (http://www.countrylink.info) website a deal for international back packers (see below).
Why can there not be a similar deal for people who use the XPT on a regular basis? I choose not to drive to Sydney where I would be adding to the congested Sydney streets and air pollution so I see myself as
A/ contributing to the State of NSW
B/ being responsible in my transport options
Can you look into this and please rectify this unbalance.
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From the website – http://www.countrylink.info/travel_passes/backtracker_pass
CountryLink’s train and coach network operates to over 360 destinations linking Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane with regional NSW. And the best way to see it all is with CountryLink’s Backtracker Pass, combining flexibility with great savings.
Backtracker pass fares *
14 days – $232.00
1 month – $275.00
3 months – $298.00
6 months – $420.00
* Conditions apply. Backtracker passes are available only to overseas visitors holding valid passports and a return airline ticket. The Backtracker pass must be within the valid dates printed on your pass for you to redeem the bonus CityRail tickets. All prices are for economy travel for one adult and are in Australian dollars, including Goods and Services Tax, and are valid from from 1 April 2006. Travel must commence and the pass validated within 6 months of the date of purchase.
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I look forward to your prompt response – of course if you would like to discuss this please do not hesitate to give me a call
Posted in Transport | No Comments »
