Sunflowers

Why do sunflowers always reach towards the sun? There are two schools of thought: It’s due to differential growth of the stem. There’s a growth-regulator that builds up in the shaded side of the sunflower’s stem, making that side grow faster than the sunny side. This causes the stem to bend towards the sun. Go… Continue reading Sunflowers

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Categorized as Plants

New iMac For Grandma

Today I organised the purchase of a second-hand iMac for my Grandmother. She’s outgrown her old Mac II, and now wants to join the rest of us on the internet. It wasn’t too bad a deal, either – $820 for a 350 MHz G3 with 128 Mb RAM and a 6 Gb hard disk.

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Categorized as Family, Mac

Renovation Plans Are Ready

We got our renovation plans back from the draftsman tonight. They look great – the living area of our house (excluding the garage) will go from 100 square metres to 182 square metres! Finally somewhere to keep all our crap!

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Categorized as House

Tumbling Compost Bin

I’ve been wanting to buy one of those commercial tumbling compost bins for a long time now, but they cost over $300 bought new. You’d have to make truckloads of compost for that price to be worthwhile! Time for some miserly cunning. When buying bales of lucerne from the feed store at Albion Park Rail,… Continue reading Tumbling Compost Bin

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Categorized as Gardening

Vegetable Garden

I began building the new vegie patch on 16-9-2001. Railway sleepers are bloody heavy – don’t start a garden like this with a pregnant wife who can’t help! By 17-10-2001 (hey, nothing works fast in our house!), the retaining walls were set up. I laid a thick layer of newspapers over the grass, then arranged… Continue reading Vegetable Garden

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Nursery Preparations

We bought a bare pine chest of drawers for the baby’s room. After much deliberation, we decided to paint it a gender-neutral bright red and yellow. The cot we bought off a friend also got a lick of paint while the brushes were out. All we need now is a baby.

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Lettuce ‘Green Cos’

Mr. Fothergill’s (seed) Lettuce ‘Green Cos’. An excellent variety of cos lettuce, producing large, firm hearts with a crisp texture and good flavour. It is suitable for both Spring and Autumn sowing. Sow: Spring and Autumn, a few seeds in each clump, 6mm deep. Cover with a fine layer of seed raising mix or soil,… Continue reading Lettuce ‘Green Cos’

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Christmas At Husky

On Saturday 8-12-2001, we had our first Christmas dinner with Mum and Dad down at Huskisson.

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Categorized as Gardening

Zucchini

My favourite way to cook zucchini is in a small saucepan with butter and thyme. Towards the end of their fruiting life, I leave one or two zucchinis per plant to grow into a huge marrow. These are great stuffed with chilli-flavoured mince and topped with grated cheese. It pays to have plenty of bees… Continue reading Zucchini

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Categorized as Plants