Accidental mushies

I love how the random fungus that has sprung up in this pot is almost as big as the rosemary grown from seed has managed to get so far. There's more in the apple crate vegetable gardens too. Hopefully spring will fix that.

Hills of Huonville

When I see a hill, I want to climb it. It's partly simple curiosity about what might be up there, partly just because I like the views, and partly just for the challenge and being able to say "I made it". Yesterday, I walked up a big hill east of Huonville that I've wanted to go up for ages. The red gravel road can be seen from the centre of town, snaking it's way up the hill. A large yellow boom gate marks the start of the very steep climb up to the  end of Knights Road. On the way back down I slipped and landed hard on my behind. Lucky there was no one around to hear me curse. So what's up the top? A lovely rocky outcrop commanding district views, but it's completely encircled by clumps of horrible prickly gorse so I couldn't reach it. Despite that nasty weed, a lot of tiny wildflowers were out. It's clear that a big fire has been through the area. It looks like Tasmanian Devils live up there somewhere, as I saw several sets of tracks. The views aren't bad either. The track I was on continued east on the other side of the hill. I suspect I could walk all the way to Sandfly or Margate from there.

Tas Farm Gate Market

Last Sunday we FINALLY got to the Tasmanian Farm Gate Market in the Melville Street car park in Hobart. For some reason it never seems to fit in with our Sunday plans. But I'll make sure to go again... even though it was a drizzly morning, there was a wonderful range of produce for sale. If I hadn't been on the way to the airport, I would have gone mad buying vegetables. They just looked so fresh and lovely. I did buy some of Amanda's delicious pear and vanilla bean jam for my mum, and some Bruny Island Cheese to take up on the plane for friends in Sydney.

I bought a copy of 'Gourmet Farmer' Matthew Evans' new book, Winter on the Farm, as beautifully described here on Michelle's blog. And yes, I did ask him to sign it. Why not. I love that TV show. I love 'meeting' the people in it and drooling over the great Tassie produce it shows to the wider Australian audience. The new series starts on SBS on 25 August. Watch it, then buy your ticket to visit, you won't regret it.

Update: Comedy in (or near) the Valley

Wednesday this week saw the last Comedy Night at Brookfield Vineyard in Margate which I posted about recently... but the laughs don't stop there. From next month, a new monthly comedy room will start up in Kingston, at the Southern Lights Hotel. $12 at the door on Wednesday 7 September. Please get along to see some of Tasmania's best stand-up comedians and usually also a visiting act, who may be from Melbourne or as far away as Canada. If you are in Hobart, you can get to The Comedy Lounge at The Lower House the following night, for the same deal, same price. This week we saw musical comedy from Ryan Coffey who is very talented indeed. My face ached from laughing, a very good sign.

Winner

Last weekend we went on a shopping spree at our local hardware store, Clennett's Mitre 10 in Huonville, because... I won a $300 gift card as a result of signing up to receive email newsletters from them! Lucky us. We've spent a fortune in the hardware shop since we moved here, at both the Huonville store and Fork in the Road at Kingston. I know it's the same when you move into any new home, but now that I've started growing vegetables and so on, it's even worse. In the old days, it was only David who was not permitted to enter a hardware store unsupervised (I was not allowed into Officeworks). Now I could go mad buying all sorts of useful stuff in there as well.

We bought a lemon tree, plant pots, some nice pruners, a small trowel for transplanting seedlings, potting mix, sand and mulch, pop rivets, a cordless drill, a poker for the wood fire... and no, it didn't all fit within $300 but the big discount most certainly helped. Thanks, Clennetts.

Through the mist

Mostly in winter, the fog is way down below us in the valley, and we wake up to clear skies and frosty sunshine here up on the hill. But last weekend we were shrouded in grey cloud and misty rain. It was quite eerie. But the rainforest on our property loves it, and the rivulet is flowing strongly.

 

Damp dogs

This week's misty rain has drenched everything thoroughly... including the dogs. They've been sleeping inside, but on Saturday they were outside all day and this is what they looked like. Oh dear. What a sad picture. More than damp, that's for sure. Then I went to Sydney for work for a few days and left poor David to face dog toweling duties alone. It's hard work.