Gone Fishing... will be back when I feels like it!

Welcome to another blog installment! we have had quite a busy 2 weeks, firstly Mr M has been building! what the house? I hear you cry! No, a garden shed! He started the week after July 4th, so he was already 1 day down, then something else distracted him for a day, but this last week he has been working hard and it is nearly finished!

We picked a spot tucked away in the corner, and it will be perfect for the mower, strimmer (weed whacker - look at how bilingual I am), chainsaw etc.. and ofcourse the deckchairs! we definitely need more storage as my greenhouse is completely full!

First you dig out the base and level it off with gravel and forget to take photos of it!

Then you put down the floor and frame it...

 

Roof trusses go on, and then the roof..

 



Next you line it with roofing felt and then clad it in cedar - we have a lot of cedar!!

This week it should be finished up and then I can get some order back in my greenhouse!

Mr M is off to meet the planning guy on Tuesday - imagine his horror when the gentleman told him to be there at 8am!! I will be in charge of prodding him gently to wake him from his slumber!  He has his house plans ready to tuck under his arm, hopefully this meeting will give him any pointers on what, if any changes are needed!

Next job on our property is a retaining wall along the South side of the barn, then he will be putting in a water storage tank and bigger pump house.  Currently we are relying on our well full time, it is preferable to have some storage in case we get a really dry period, we don't want to "stress" our well, so apparently the shed is practice for the pump house!

We enjoyed our first 4th of July in Port Orford, total contrast to our experiences prior to this.  Port Orford made a big deal about the holiday, there was a parade which I think EVERYONE and more attended, there were events on all over town all day, and the most surprising thing and the complete opposite to Maple Valley was the lack of fireworks.  The local fire department do a big public display down on the beach, Mr M popped down I stayed at home with the doglets!

The local parade consisted of lots of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars with their sirens going! all very exciting, and then we had some local community groups, some classic cars, a horse, a logging truck, a fishing boat, and some tractors - here you go Dad, some photos just for you....

Love a nice 4 day week... oh sorry 3 day week for some of us!! (not me) our neighbors across the street, Butch and Barb were in town for the 4th, and we finally got some non-windy weather, so they got the boat out and asked Mr M if he wanted to go fishing with them and their friend Fred (who got very seasick)... so off he went!

They launch in off of the dock with the crane, Butch has his boat all set up for this function, Mr M said it was quite exciting especially stepping onto the boat from the dock over the gap down to the sea!

Heading out to the secret fish stash...

Obviously a good secret spot, Mr M was the star of the show and caught the biggest fish, isn't that the point of fishing to brag about how big yours is compared to everyone else....

They had a very successful trip, they caught 14 fish in total.  Butch and Barb are amazing, as not only did he not have to take anything with him, but they cleaned and filleted all the fish for us upon return! we ended up with 4lbs of sea bass! really yummy and we have plenty in the freezer for a while!

Right, enough about him.... onto the more exciting stuff about me! I am harvesting lots from the garden, why do veggies from the garden taste SO good?  We had some rain which was much appreciated all round!

I have never been able to grow carrots, so these are pretty good for me :) these are ones I have thinned out and are delicious raw at lunchtime!  I am hopeful for some larger ones to come!

 

Yukon Gold early potatoes... sooooooooooooooo tasty!

I grow peas for us to eat raw straight from the pod, they are just coming ready all we have to do is make sure we get to them before Daisy Dog does, she LOVES raw peas!!

My zuchinni plants are over achieving, in fact I took a basket full down to the farmers market with me on Saturday... sold them all, does that now make me an official Market Gardener?

And the wait is over, this weekend I harvested my garlic...

It is now curing in the only space we have available.... its in the airstream of course......

FINALLY the big news from the FU, our lovely ladies Dozy and Dippy Duck, appear to be lovely gentlemen, they might be part of the LGBT community we aren't sure, they are definitely having some gender identity issues, they were girls, now they are boys but we still call them "she".

It's a shame that we won't get getting any eggs but at least it is a good excuse to get them some wives!

Mr M - forget the house, build a bigger duck run........... *cracks whip*

Welcome to the FU!!

Well there really isn't much to report on from the "house" build, Mr M has been tied to the desk working hard on the plans, he has sent off for some prints and then he will be meeting with the planning officer to go through them and then refine!

So apart from that another duck house has been built, this one is to be sold and if we are successful he will make another one - so on and so forth!

So what's been happening in the garden? Courgettes (zuchinni) are giving back daily in huge quantities - I might have planted too many plants, but the neighbors are enjoying them too! We are eating them, the dogs are eating them and the FU are enjoying them too!

I have been making lots of zuchinni bread!

Nasturtiums are blooming marvelous and the bees are happy...

Enough to bring them inside - they smell so good!

Our local thug "the deer" has been back and nibbled off a 3rd of my beans.   WELL I am fighting back with CD's, apparently these work, deer are scared crapless of CD's!  Of course they are, you just have to make sure you get the ones that aren't to their music tastes.  The local deer around here like both kinds of music, Country & Western, so we have gone with Straight Up Gansta Rap!

Everything else is loving all the sunshine and growing so well, I have been picking cucumbers regularly now, and hoping tomatoes won't be too much longer...

My garlic is nearly ready to harvest, usually you plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest day, of course that depends on location and variety!

Finally we have had politics at the front of our minds recently, 2016 could be a pivotal year here and across the pond!  Our little community has seen the formation of the FU (Fowl Union), the joining of 2 coops.  Last week we took a vote and the majority spoke so the adjoining wall came down!

The FU ensures that there is freedom of travel, trade agreements in place for the trade of... well um well, chicken feed!  The opportunities are bountiful to allow each community to live and or work in the other, there is also a new decree in place to encourage cross border communications, the ducks are learning "cluck" and the chickens are trying to master "quack".

There is also a common currency which is well, um well chicken feed!   There is a strong belief that the newly formed FU will have the weight to influence the big picture!

We let them carry on thinking that, it is easier that way!

We feed them salad bowls...

And provide rain when demanded...

A Happy FU is a peaceful FU, if only the problems all over the world could be solved with a salad bar and a hosepipe!