St Patricks Day

Hoarding is hard to stop!!!

Wow, am I having a hard time?!

My house has 4 bedrooms and as I am only me I only use one. That leaves 3 rooms not being used.....well they are being used......to store 'stuff'. I am a hoarder and it is out of control! I had put aside Monday to start cleaning out those rooms and so procrastinating I sat down at the computer to check out some blogs. Magdalena form Anglican, Plain wrote a timely piece on Hoarding and Waste which really which really kicked me into gear!



It is so hard to do. I know that due to the up coming energy crisis that the world as we know it will change, no one can say for sure how it will change and I think that's why I'm finding it so hard. My fear is if the prices of things rise then things like fabric and clothing could well become out of reach of most of us. With this in mind do I throw out/donate all those clothes that no longer fit?. The fabric could be restyled or used to mend and patch clothes (as a sewer I would possibly be able to barter this skill and use of fabric in return for grain, meat etc.) but do I have room to store this fabric on the chance that this will be the way it works out?



I want to use the 2 front rooms as an office and workshop space for my soap making which will only leave the small bedroom as a storage area. As I have mentioned previously I like to keep a stock pile of food so most of it will be stored in that room, leaving space at a premium. As you can see from the top picture, which is one of the front rooms, what I have in there currently is not stored in a neat or tidy way.....in fact I may have just stood at the door and thrown stuff in there.

So that's where I'm at, trying to throw things away to help simplify my life and my home but struggling. I have a huge fear of 'being without'. I have some books that I have 2 and 3 copies of, they are incredible useful books that will come in handy but I know I only need one copy. My fear is what if I give the second copy away and then something happens to the copy I have...then I have no copies. I know it is irrational but it is a real fear that I need to deal with.....maybe I'm just destined to live in a house full of useless 'stuff' Arrgghhhh!!!! Help!

Lost Friends

Yesterday was a sad day here. Those who read this blog regularly or know me in real life will know that I had three ducks. Mr Walker, Leeanne and Tracey. I am saddened to say that I now only have Leeanne. I let them out at about 10am yesterday when I fed them and the other poultry. I worked inside all day and at about 4pm I went outside to go into town. I found white feathers everywhere and Mr Walker and Tracey with out their heads :( I would say it was a dog attack as it was so light by 10 that a fox is unlikely, also a fox would take more than their heads I would imagine. They were dear friends and I enjoyed Mr Walkers playful nips at my ankles when I was out in the garden as well as their quite quacking. I am very sad. Leeanne is lonely and calling for them constantly.

Grey Water Treatment

Where I am living we have no grey water treatment system at all. It is the way it has always been out here. Black water goes into a septic tank but my bath and shower water drained out into a neighbouring paddock and my laundry water out onto the back garden. As the block where my bathroom water used to go has been sold I feel now is the time to do something about treating the water here. I have been reading a lot about reed bed filtration systems and I feel that this is the way I want to go
Please check out this link that explains, simply, what I mean.

I intend to set up two small tanks each about a metre high then into each place a 44 gallon drum. Into each drum I will place a PVC pipe with holes drilled around the bottom then fill the drums with gravel. Jamie will be drilling a hole on the side of the drums about 15 cm from the top and when the water reaches that point it will run through the hole into a pipe down to the bottom of the tank which is then also filled with gravel. The tank and drum will be planted with reeds and edge dwelling plants and their roots will act as a filter for the water. After the first tank is full the water will drain into the second drum/tank set up and hopefully buy the end of that process I will have clean water ready to run into a new pond system I will be putting in out the back as part of my new back garden spruce up. I will hopefully be getting it set up this weekend so I will post pics then....that will make it a bit easier to understand what I mean.

Denim Overalls???

I need your help!



I have been looking for a pair of plain denim overalls that I can pull on over my dress for working around the yard. As I need to do all the jobs myself like fencing, roofing and plumbing as well as caring for the animals, mucking out shed and stuff it just makes sense. I have found a great shop in America HERE They stock them in big sizes which is what I need especially if I'm going to be tucking a dress into them! Thing is they don't ship outside the U.S.A. Does anyone now where I can get something similar here in Australia or in an online shop that DOES ship internationally? I really will appreciate any help on this one!