Our Friend Lisa Checks in… Winter in Tasmania

One of our favorite readers, Lisa from Tasmania is checking in today and sharing what winter{yes winter!} is like in Tasmania. 

Well… after the long hot summer – one with pretty much no rain along with half of Tasmania being on fire, we moved into a very very long wet dark winter. It wasn’t really super cold… just grey and miserable for a lot of it!

In fact, at one point our whole front yard went under water, it washed away the path by the shed and created a midnight waterfall – taking all the woodchip and gravel down the back yard! A mess which we have been slowly cleaning up. (although it was kinda pretty at the time). So after being literally scorched in summer and losing a distressing amount of National Parks to fires, many areas simply got washed away. Talk about extremes!

A good part of winter life here revolves around wood – we have a wood fire, so to keep that going, we need to have a decent supply at hand.

We try to stock up as much as possible before the season really turns, but eventually we need a top up.

In the Mavis-Spirit of being frugal, I did manage to barter for a few loads of firewood which was awesome. Cousin Jeff (not to be confused with Husband Jeff) sorts out our wood supply issues. At one point I went and helped him paint a house, and another time I did some photography work for his family. In return, he dropped off a few loads of firewood! We were both pretty happy with the deal!

And this is me totally rapt with my bartering skills!

While on the subject of saving – still haven’t caved and bought a clothes drier. I am the eternal optimist about line drying – sometimes I win, sometimes I lose (which is where the fire comes into play!)

I also spent some of those cold rainy days in front of the fire teaching myself a new crocheting project – shawls (thanks youtube) and have gotten quite a long way towards sorting out a number of this years Christmas presents

We did manage to get out into the garden at times to work on new projects when the weather took a break from being feral. Now that we have access to water (We had a bore dug last season) I am totally over excited about this seasons garden prospects. So we started working on the idea of extending the growing areas here and there.
The ‘duck yard’ is really just one of the chickens’ playgrounds, so we got in and dug it up with the view to using it to plant corn, zucchini, pumpkin & use the fence line for the runner beans.

We also slightly relocated the strawberries – the whole yard out the back is one we want to develop into gardens, but it’s a small start with a new strawberry patch.

In June, I gathered the (almost) last of my garlic and planted it out. I think I have about 130 plants in. We love using it, just in general cooking & in some of the sauces I make. It is also very easy to sell… so it will be good to have some extras this year to make a few dollars off it too!

Because we don’t get buried in snow over winter, we can extend our growing season for some things quite a long way. I picked the last straggling tomatoes in August (from the hothouse) (which is our last month of winter) and the garden still had plenty of broccoli, carrots, a surprise celery plant (one that got forgotten in a pot and went mad so I have happily been using it) chillies in the hothouse just keep slowly ripening, even now, one by one & I have parsley everywhere! Our spoiled chickens have pretty much kept laying the whole winter, so we haven’t been short of fresh food of some kind.It wasn’t all bad weather and work. We got out for walks and mini-adventures where we could and when the days were nice
Then we went through a stage where we were almost getting a rainbow every day! All day would hover between sun and rain – and of course that combination treats you to some great colours in the sky.

Our Siamese Cat, Pip has spent a lot of winter buried in our bed or in his sleeping bag! On occasions when the sun has been out he ‘helps’ me garden!

As ever, my camera is my constant companion and I really enjoy finding a bit of colour or interesting subjects to photograph.I do have a blog now – over at http://www.headintheclouds-feetinthedirt.com/ where I hope things will get a bit more interesting now that our season is spring and everything is starting fresh again!!

Thank-goodness for Mavis and her garden photos & stories to keep me ‘garden inspired’ while we were stuck inside!!
Cheers!

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Pantry Pics – Submit at least 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
• Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go  HERE for the official rules.