Air Conditioner Screen

We got a big air conditioner for the living area a couple of years ago and I've been wanting to make a cover for it as it is just so ugly! The thing that kicked me into gear was that I got sick of seeing the cage I put around all the pipes to stop the puppies chewing them, that and all their toys getting stuck underneath it.

Now I could have easily bought one, but where is the fun in that? I used hardwood garden stakes for the frame and fence palings to cover the sides, and smaller stakes to cover the top. I also made it bigger than I needed as it is a great place to put pot plants and trays of cuttings, safely out of reach of a certain puppy!

The other bonus of the air con screen is that it is just sitting there without needing to be attached to the house as there is a piece of garden stake sitting down behind the air con so it can't tip forward - this piece also had to sit between the air con unit and the pipes attached to the house wall.

Since I'm terrible at taking progress shots (and before shots) here is the model I made in SketchUp so you can see how simple it is. Oh and please ignore those beautiful mitered corners, as you can see when it came to all that wood cutting I took the lazy route!

Etched Tree Glasses

For Christmas 2015 I decided that I'd etch sets of glasses for everyone. I chose trees as my theme so everyone got a different tree for their set just to make them all slightly different.

This year I forced my poor husband to help since these were the gifts for his side of the family and after all, they're from him too! He got the job of washing off the cream and removing the stencils, it was great as it went so much faster :)

They all look pretty similar so I won't bore you with photos of each set. And as you can see, I still haven't had much luck photographing the glasses, maybe one day I'll figure it out!

Native Bees

I found out about native bees many years ago and have been a little obsessed with them. We have planted lots more flowering plants and I have planted a small vegetable garden with flowers in between each crop.

Two years ago I started making a dedicated bee garden and we bought our first stingless bee hive from a local man who really knows his stuff! His hives are so well made and they look lovely in our garden.

Tetragonula Hockingsi

Then a few months later we bought our second hive in a huge log, to go in our completed bee garden - next to the chicken coop. (I love my crazy paving using random bricks and pavers)

Left to Right - Tetragonula Hockingsi, Austroplebeia

Then last year I extended the bee garden across where the chickens were so I could make room for yet another hive!

Left to Right - Tetragonula Hockingsi, Tetragonula Carbonaria, Austroplebeia

And then, once the hives are full I can add an empty hive to the front and hopefully end up with a new hive. This is called an eduction, the other way is to split the hive.

The bee garden has also become my orchid garden as they both enjoy shady summers and more sun in winter. I have shade cloth over this area that I remove once the weather cools down.

Pillowcases

I made pillowcases for our nieces, nephews and little siblings for their birthdays last year. It was actually the first time I was so organised since I made them all at the same time! I read a few tutorials but found it easier to just grab one of my pillowcases to copy. Obviously buying a pillowcase works out cheaper, but these are all fabrics I chose for each child based on what I thought they would like. Lucky for online shopping as I couldn't find the ninja turtles or pokemon fabric in a store near me. It was worth the wait as those two were so happy when they opened their presents!

King Quail

So I absolutely adored raising my chicks and wish we could have a rooster where we live so I could raise them over and over! Since caring for and breeding quails are similar to chickens, and they aren't classed as poultry, I decided to breed them instead. 

I experimented with incubating them and allowing their parents to incubate naturally. I sold lots of pairs but most people want females so I ended up with a lot of males and no more space since each clutch of males needed their own cage. I ended up selling my breeding pairs and now have around 15 males running together in the bottom of  "the quail shed". I have to say it is so much easier to have them on the concrete floor rather than having to clean a million cages, and they don't fight as bad now that they can get away from each other and have more room to run around and burn off that excess energy.

Let's face it, quails don't use all that space in the top of the cage so why not add finches! Most of them were given to me as they were special needs or disabled. Once I put all the quails on the floor of "the quail shed" I moved all the finches into one big cage, but still in the shed as it is mouse proof.

I had loads of fun raising them, but king (button) quails are not as friendly as chickens, they will snatch mealworms from my fingers, but they don't want to be petted, picked up or cuddled. The boys are between 2 and 3 years old so I don't have plans for more quail breeding for a long time!