Cards from Colouring Books

Does anyone else have a stack of adult colouring books that you haven't touched for awhile? As a kid I loved colouring in, but as an adult I find it a waste to colour in without a purpose for the finished pages. So since I love stamping and colouring in cards I figured why not colour in my books and stick them on blank cards.

I coloured these in using alcohol ink pens - they don't show up the darker sections where the ink overlaps like sharpies and markers do. For the bigger ones I cut to size first then used double sided tape. The smaller tags are blank business cards. I covered the card with a glue stick, pressed onto the paper and once dry I trimmed it with scissors to match the card.

Kitchen Window Herb Drying

I like to grow calendula flowers which I use to make calendula infused oil for my hand balm - I use the instructions from grow forage cook ferment.

For infused oils they need to be dried first, I do have a dehydrator which is great if I have enough to fill it. So when my plants are just starting to flower I bring them inside and hang them up either until dry or there are enough to fill the dehydrator.

I was originally using one of those portable peg hangers that you can dry all your socks on. Not very attractive, or all that easy to hang in my kitchen!

So I opted for a tension rod across my kitchen window, shower curtain rings and curtain hooks from Ikea.

It is out of the way, looks so much better and if I ever need more room I can add hooks, or even a second tension rod. It also now uses what was technically wasted space and we can still open the window and blind without moving the rod.

Most herbs and flowers hang well from the clips. For collecting seed to dry out I use paper bags. The red mesh onion bag is currently holding sugar snap peas, purple snow peas and beans for seed saving.

Desktop Drawers

I always love those cute little decorative drawers that you can buy to clear up all the clutter on your desk. For some reason though I had never bought myself a set, I just have those ugly clear plastic ones that don't actually hide my junk.

Until I saw these and decided it was time for an upgrade that doubles as a craft project.

It was so easy, spread pva glue on scrapbook paper, stick it on the drawer front, smooth out the bubbles then once dry trim the edges with a craft knife. The silver one was actually glitter contact which was the same process since it didn't want to stick to the mdf. So quick to do and it looks so much nicer.

Superworms

I know, lots of people think superworms are gross (my husband included!) but my chickens and quails love them! I used to breed the mealworms for them because they're easier to get to pupate than the superworms but then I got lucky and my container of superworms decided to start the process all on their own! 

The main reason I go through phases of breeding them is when they get a grain mite infestation in their bran - it is impossible to get rid of and grosses me out. I tried freezing and microwaving the bran before the eggs hatch, but it seems inevitable that they survive and take over. I've researched these guys a lot trying to find a different bedding solution but all I kept finding was bran or oats, so I started experimenting.

First up I tried no bedding but it ends up with a lot of moisture on the bottom and the worms started dying off. Then I tried sand but it also ended up holding a lot of moisture on the bottom of the container. I had tried them on fresh mulberry leaves, which they liked so I dehydrated and crushed so many leaves which worked well, but was a lot of work! 

Now occasionally when I garden where I used to compost all the quail bedding I kept finding what looked like elongated mealworms so I thought what about plain dirt? Obviously I didn't want to bring garden dirt in to hatch who knows what to contaminate my worm colonies (or my house!) - so what about those coir blocks that you add water to and they expand?

Yep it works great - they eat it just like they do with the bran and it doesn't hold a lot of moisture in the bottom as the worms help move it around, which in turn helps it dry out faster. And I've found it doesn't get as smelly as the bran either, I tried with a lid and without a lid - without a lid they stay even drier of course, but even with a lid I don't have moisture issues.

It wouldn't be as easy to sift out mealworms as the coir isn't as consistently fine as bran, but it's great for the superworms.

Puppy proofing the garden

I guess I shouldn't just call it puppy proofing when fencing off the gardens started because of the chickens. Luckily a short fence that I can easily step over and move works to keep both Archie and the chickens out!

And even better, flimsy, wobbly fences seem to work best! If it's nice and solid under his paws, Archie will happily jump and lean on it, but if it flexes or moves he won't touch it in case it falls and makes a scary noise (yep typical big dog, big sook)! For the chickens if it looks like it has a nice sturdy top they will happily land on it and jump in the garden. Like this fence we put around the mango tree - they liked to sit up there and watch the world go by!

These chicken wire and fence paling fence panels were my original chicken fences to keep them off the concrete and out of my pot plants. They have seen better days, and I'm surprised how well they've held up to Archie. A couple of panels have a new use as a rather rustic plant trellis for my snow peas. In front of those are puppy play pen panels which work great to keep the chickens out - and Archie. It's nice as they are cheap, easy to install and easy to see the garden (and mess) they're protecting. I do use garden stakes and zip ties for a little extra support.

Similar to the puppy pen panels I have an assortment of old panels off rat cages and compost cage panels which also work well with garden stakes and zip ties. They normally get used to cover Archie's excavation attempts so the grass gets a chance to grow back!

Since I can't trust Archie with the chickens I did want something a bit stronger between them. So I made some simple fence panels using only fence palings. I then either use screws or zip ties to attach to garden stakes, the chicken cage or the verandah posts. They look so much nicer, unfortunately they do block a lot of the view into my gardens - I think I'll save this type of fence for hiding messy areas! They are nice though as I can make sturdy gates for them with proper latches.

Once I've settled on a layout for our backyard we will do a permanent fence for the gardens, until then I'll stick with my current mix of panels. Who knows, by that time Archie might be too lazy to destroy my gardens and I won't need the fences anymore...