Veggie garden & home made lemon cordial

Well, here is an update on the veggie garden - as you can see it is looking great :-)

All is going really well and the broccoli is very big but no broc's yes :-(

The tomatoes are growing BIG but I have to say the snow peas are doing the best.

Can you see how many snow peas are on there!!!!

The fruit trees are thriving too :-)

Lots and lots of new growth.......

I am pleased with the way it is growing so hopefully I will have lots of vegies soon.....

Today, Mum sent me an email with the recipe for making your own Lemon Cordial. Jemma stayed down at Mum and Dad's over the school holidays and she LOVED this cordial. When I picked up Jemma, Mum's friend had given her a box of lemons and Mum gave them to me. So, this afternoon after work, I made YUMMY lemon cordial.

LEMON CORDIAL RECIPE

2 & 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup lemon juice

2 cups water

Combine water & sugar, stir over low heat for approx. 3 mins until sugar dissolves.

Increase heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes without stirring.

Pour in lemon juice and bottle. Makes approx 1 litre. Keep in the fridge.

I got the bottles from the Vinnies shop today and washed them out. I doubled the recipe and got 2 litres of cordial. There is a lot of sugar in it, however all cordial has heaps of sugar and at least you know exactly what is in it. Had a taste test and it was YUMMY. Great for using up lemons or if lemons are cheap and you buy a box full!!! (or your mum gives you some - thanks MUM!!!)

Rach

xxxxxx

Rescue Animals

Hi again

I thought I would feature some of our wonderful animals - our doggies and cats.

I am constantly amazed how society is obsessed with a "throw away" mentality and unfortunately this also how some treat their animals. I will only have rescue animals ie animals that someone else doesn't want (for what ever reason). It is a very sad fact that many beautiful animals are needlessly put down because the novelty wore off, people didn't want to spend the $$ or someone just didn't care. PLEASE PLEASE GET YOUR ANIMALS DESEXED!!!!


Introducing..............

Poppy (L) and Donut





These 2 cuties were probably pet shop puppies whose owners tossed them in the pound when they stopped being "cute puppies". They were about 9-12 months old when we got them.

Donut is very nervous around people she doesn't know and it took Poppy about 6 months to realise she had a home (and to STOP trying to escape the yard). All is good now though.

We got Poppy from Cordy's Rescue - http://www.cordysrescue.com.au/ and Donut from Doggie Rescue - http://www.doggierescue.com.au/

They are both lovely doggies and we LOVE them.

AND

Introducing.......

Victor (L), Honey (middle) & Cody

Victor is from the AWL & I got him as a kitten to be friends with Squishy (see my first post to see Squish and her story). Then Alex brought home Honey as a flea ridden kitten from some person she knew whose cat had kittens (grrrrrrr people who don't desex their pets grrrrrrr) and then we got Cody from my sisters vets. He is a pure bred Cornish Rex cat - chocolate in colour (and prob cost about $600!!!) and is previous owner "didn't want him anymore". Go figure....

So even "pure breed" animals are disposable (Squishy and Cody) - it is really sad.

So if you are considering a new animal for your family, please consider a rescue animal too. See my links for some sites. I so wish I could save more but we have 4 cats and 2 doggies and 2 chooks - Greg has put his foot down!! LOL

Oh, I also have rescue hen's from the battery farm (sadly I had 5 but only 1 left now). I will feature my chookies in another post - I have 1 ex-battery and 1 silky bantam now :-)

Rach xxx

Making soap is MAGIC!!!

Hi again - sorry it has been a long time between posts........ I have been a bit slack LOL

Anyway, on the weekend I decided to try making soap from scratch. I bought a cold processed soap kit from http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/ and followed the directions.

Well, believe it or not I made some beautiful soap - Vanilla and Hemp & Lime. It is hard to believe that you can melt some oil and put it with a caustic soda/water mix and in 24 hours you have made soap - AMAZING.

It is more expensive to make than purchasing cheap soap from the supermarket - however, there are no foreign ingredients and no animals have been harmed in the making of the soap (eg animal testing) AND if is fun to make. I also think that it makes a lot more than what you get at the supermarket and if you let it dry for 4-6 weeks then it will last a LOT longer than the cheap stuff. It is also much better for your skin too (non drying).

I put mine in washed out 1L milk cartons and we cut it with a knife and mitre box. I broke a bit off and tried it - it lathered beautifully, smells devine and my skin felt great after (not dry).

Have a look at aussie soap supplies and see what you think :-)

Here is a picture of the soap I made (the green is the hemp and lime & the brown is the vanilla)

OMG I LOVE my new pie maker

Well, I decided I "had" to have a pie maker. I checked on Ebay but there wasn't a lot on offer. Lucky for me I received a voucher from work - my wonderful supervisor, Amanda, nominated me for a recognition award - I received a $50 Westfield voucher!!!


So, I went to DJ's. $79.95 for the pie maker I wanted (Sunbeam 4) mmmm I think I can do better than that - Bing Lee $69.90 mmmm I can do better than that - Mum took over (hehehe she couldn't wait for me) and we ended up getting the piemaker for $62 (just for asking "is that your best price?") - so it only cost me $12 - BARGAIN.


I decided today that it is TOO expensive to buy pastry from the supermarket at $3 - $5 a pop!! So I made my own today - and it worked brilliantly - soooo easy. I made meat pies and apple pies and they went down a treat with everyone (even the kids!!)





The pastry - home made, cut, ready to go.....



So here is the pastry recipe (from Simple Savings website)

• 2 Cups plain flour (or SR)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (don't use if using SR flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar (for sweet pastry only)
• 1/2 Cup butter or marg (I used marg)
• approx 4 Tablespoons of cold water

Process all ingredients except water. Slowly add water with processor running until ingredients combine and form a ball. Roll out to desired size and thickness. Can be frozen and thawed.

I made apple pies. I bought a bag of granny smith apples (on special for $1.50 as useby date was soon). Peeled, cored and chopped and put into a pot with 4T sugar and 2T water. Simmered until mushy and soft. Then put in a handful of sultanas and approx T ground cinnamon and mixed. Then put in the pies. YUMMY AND CHEAP. Serve with icecream. Can be frozen for later.

Apple mix in with home made pastry in pie maker

With their lids on...........

Cook for 8 mins in pie maker......

YUMMY home made apple pies.......

freeze and re heat for 30 mins or so..........

Will post my meat pies next time...........

Rach

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Veggie Garden Update

As mentioned on my previous post here is a picture of my veggie garden planted up, the fruit trees we planted and the herb garden.





We are growing: tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, capsicum, pumpkin, snow peas, cucumber, white cucumber, corn, spring onion, rockmelon, celery and onions!! Fruit trees: lemon, lime and honey murcott mandarin (these are planted in front of the chook pen. Herb garden: strawberry plant, corriander, rosemary, parsley and then mint up the back yard (no photo).







Fingers crossed they grow well - currently looking good :-)

Rach
xxx

1st Blog 1st Day of Spring....

Wow - my first post!!! Very exciting...........LOL What I hope to do is tell a little of our life and introduce a little of our world to yours. Never know - someone out there may find it a little interesting and may even learn something new (as I have from other Blogs and Forums).



Well, for Greg, Jem and I this has been a very busy weekend. Lawns, garden, washing aggrrrhh does it ever end - no it doesn't!!



I have wanted a vegie garden for a while now and this weekend and last weekend have been perfect to get these done. So Greg got into action last weekend and made me two perfect garden boxes (isn't he clever :-) So here is the progress:








These are 2.4m x 1.2m treated pine sleepers and bolted?? together. We bought the wood new as we didn't have anything laying around but they wern't too expensive (around $10 ea - so $60). Greg made me two of these boxes and after putting down thick newspaper on the ground, we filled them with beautiful compost made by our chickens from lawn clippings and kitchen scraps!! BEAUTIFUL RICH SOIL - and all free!!! I have planted them up but will show that in another post later.



Another thing we did this weekend is clip & wash the dogs and our Persian cat Squishy. Squishy was a stray kitten that my sister gave me when she was dumped at the vets where she works. She is beautiful however is a high maintenance cat. I personally think the breed is a mean one - with that hair grows sooooo long and then matts/knots so easily, her squished up nose (hard to breathe) and a jaw that makes it hard for her to pick up food off the ground. We keep her clipped in the "Lion cut" - her body is shaved and her head, paws and tail are kept fluffy. We DIY as we bought a shaver. We are not experts AT ALL but our animals don't complain that they don't have designer haircuts LOL.



I have to post this picture of Squishy having a bath (we didn't know but she had fleas :-( YUKKY HORRIBLE things but nothing a bath and Frontline won't fix :

AWWWWW how cute!!

We that is enough for today - bye for now

Rach
xxxx

About Us Critters

Hi there and welcome to my blog

Critter Cottage

My name is Rachael and I live in Sydney, Australia in our little cottage near the bushland and down the road to the river.

Alex (L), Me - Rachael (R)

I am a mum to 5, (yes 5!) gorgeous children who range in age from 23 years old to 11 months old.  I live at Critter Cottage with my partner Greg.  

Our focus is to pay off our mortgage as quickly as we can, while trying to have as much fun as we can - but on a budget.  We also have 2 rescue dogs - Donut & Poppy and 3 rescue cats - Squishy, Victor & Honey.  I love making handmade soap as a hobby and I have a blog called Soaptastic Soap (which I should update more frequently!) and a Facebook account with the same name.  I also love chickens and hope to get some more soon.  I enjoy lots of things, so please check out more of the blog to see what they are.

We have very recently  found out that we have a genetic condition called Fragile X in our family, which has been passed to some of my children from me.  It causes intellectual disability, amongst other traits, to those that are affected and my son Michael is affected by it.  One of my twins is a carrier for it (as am I) and we are still proceeding down the path of testing everyone at risk.  

This has been a huge shock, especially for Greg and I. I personally have had to face some of my worst fears in this time - having a child with a disability.  However, through the shock, sadness and probably most importantly, the FEAR - I have come to see that this isn't the nightmare that I first thought it to be. 

Yes, it is hard. Yes, sometimes I wish it was different. Yes, it is upsetting.

But it is not a nightmare, it is not terrible, it is not bad..................

It's just different and different is great!

L-R (back) - Jemma & Alex  (front) - Michael, Ben & Rhys (twins)

Rachael & Greg

I will add more pictures of the non-human critters soon!

I hope you enjoy my blog :-)