Thursday, January 29, 2015

Shoo Fly

With a list of chores complete and the kids happily playing I sat down with the local paper, only to be covered in what felt like a swarm of flies.  It was more like 2 or 3 but the constant bothering was unbearable.

With a quick Google and browse through Pinterest for homemade fly repellent I found long list of essential oils that do the job. Lucky I have quite a few so I grabbed what I had from the list and got mixing.

It's works really well - the pesky flies are avoiding the kids and I and I've even sprayed the dogs bedding in the hopes to deter flea (if not she'll  smell good).



Shoo Fly Repellent

300ml Spray Bottle (I got mine from www.arthurholmes.co.nz)
75ml Witch Hazel
75ml Vodka
150 Cooled Boiled Water
Lavender, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Tea Tree, Citronella, Cypress Essential Oils

Put witch hazel, vodka and water into spray bottle.  Add 5 drops of each oil.  Shake well and spray on skin, clothes etc.  Shake well before each use.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Busy Mumma

The last few months have flown and the poor old blog has been on the back burner.

With my boys growing, more active and curious and with 5 times as much vegetable garden to tend to, time to sit and write is pretty much non existent.

There were a lot of distractions this spring so the only thing I needed to give my seedlings - water - was forgotten quite often, so they were a little thin this year.  What I did manage to rescue has grown well - mostly flowers, cosmos, sweet william and sunflowers.  Early summer included a last minute flurry seed planting to make up for the spring failure.  I managed to get some corn, gherkins and apple cucumbers to sprout, which were planted before the holidays.


Corn next to the cucumber and gherkin frame (broken umbrella frame)
I brought some  heritage zhuccini seeds and planted them early summer too, I just chucked half a bucket of compost in a mound and dropped in seed or 2.  Now look at them - behemoths spreading out over my silverbeets and path.  We don't mind though, they make perfect veggie steaks.  We slice them thickly length wise, toss through a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and grill on the BBQ - so simple, so tasty.

Behemoth zhuccini!!


I 'cheated' with most of my tomato plants this year, buying seedlings - shameful for Mrs-grow-from-seed-it's-cheaper.  The first sweet, sun-warmed cherry tomato I picked yesterday made it all worth it - there I a mountain to come too.

Everyday I'm bringing in loads of food - pretty soon there will be too much to eat so pickle recipes will be tried, and with luck, blogged.