Honey, I shrunk the bees

Thought you might have been wondering what this little yellow box was at the base of our poinciana tree from yesterdays post.  This is our beehive. But not just any bees, no, these are the infamous Australian native stingless bees ( yep I'd never heard of them either).

You see other than Lego which is Legomans life passion and only vice, his other genuine interest is bees. For several years there has been acquisition of bee books and grilling of honey sellers at markets. There were several stimulating debates on the subject  as I provided a voice of reason that with small children who have allergic tendencies,  traditional bees with the whole fancy outfit and smoke bizzo would not be a great combination.

So he did his research and then sold me on a hive of the native stingless variety and ordered them from here . And of course they were the highest priority on the weekend that we moved house, forget the truckfuls of possessions that required unpacking and sorting. Much contemplation went into the correct placement of the hive as it must not have too much or too little sun. Also once the hive is placed it can only be moved less than a metre or more than a kilometre otherwise the bees radar can become scrambled and they may not find their way back to the hive.

They are quite small- like a compact little black fly with no obvious buzz and obviously no sting. They do however produce honey- a small pot every month but it takes 9 months to get the first pot so we'll get back to you in April  as to how it tastes.

Like others in our family they too have some interesting quirks. They don't bother getting out of bed unless it is 18 degrees celsius- sounds like a supermodel kind of demand to me. In winter this means they are often not staggering out until around 9-10 am and are all tucked up in bed by 4 pm.

Recently we also had some interesting swarming around the entrance of the hive. We consulted our trusty bee book to discover this was part of a battle to the death as a rogue faction of bees from a different hive were trying to invade ours. Sure enough our neighbours observant 8 yo spotted all the dead bee bodies piled up in front of the hive. And here was I thinking they just rehearsing for an aerial display.........

This went on for a few weeks and was slightly annoying for the kids as the swing went through the swarm and then one day it was all sorted and life went on as normal. ( well perhaps not for the several thousand casualties) We did start with 5000 in the hive and we haven't been able to do a roll call to see if everyone was accounted for.

If you get up really close to the entrance pipe of the hive you can see them returning from their travels with little pannier bags on each side filled with different coloured pollen- mostly white, yellow and orange. Unfortunately I don't have the macro camera skills or equipment to show you but there is also a hive within a log at the Mt Cootha Botanical gardens as part of the kids nature trail.

And if you jump over to here you can get more info on the bee hives, chickens for hire or purchase and a range of really cool creature kits for kids as well. Trying to decide if Roboboy is too young for stick insects for his 5th birthday, might have to start with ladybirds.............

Time for a bath and a lie down

Well after another day of hard slog we finally have something to show for our efforts. Not by any means finished but frankly even half finished is an achievement when there is a toddler in the house.

Ooooh and doubly exciting- I just worked out how to enlarge a photo- might have to nip back and enlarge yesterdays before shots as well.

So we managed to completely level the back left corner and get it flat enough to get the trampoline off the sandpit where it has been for months. Our previous house had a backyard the size of a postage stamp and was completely taken up by a huge mango tree so a trampoline was completely out of the question. So as soon as we moved in here in August we had a massive garage sale and ordered the trampoline.
As the grass grows back it should fill in most of the dirt nicely and then we will keep a small garden bed along the fence line - partly as we can't face doing any more digging than absolutely necessary and also so we don't expose the roots of the tree in the middle.

The other major achievement was redoing a border around our gorgeous poinciana tree- the one that has been earmarked for a treehouse.







Sorry about the scrappy photo on the left which is the BEFORE shot - forgot to take a photo before I started this little project as I didn't think I would get this much done. As you can see the garden edge is all overgrown, most of the rocks were submerged and the chooks had scratched most of the barkchips all over the surrounding lawn.

The AFTER shot on the right shows the same garden bed from a slightly different angle complete with a new rock border- made with all the previously submerged rocks , all dug out separately with a mattock and shovel (hence the need for a bath and a  lie down) Then just behind the rocks is an edging of mini mondo grass which had been dug up and recycled from the big garden bed we had been working on since yesterday.  I  do know that rock garden edging is so so 70's but if I want a new kitchen I need to save up for one so that means making do in the garden. Being able to recycle the mondo grass  means that no money was spent on this makeover at all. Also my hope is that the mondos act as a barrier to stop the chooks flinging all the bark chips straight onto the grass. Will get back to you as to whether this actually works or not. 

This job too was only half finished ( I just didn't photograph the back half) so guess what I will be doing in fits and spurts for the next few days. Hopefully if the weather holds we can get stuck into the rest of the big garden bed next weekend. Then I get to try and wangle some new plants for my birthday! Then again there is that  gorgeous retro bicycle I have my eye on............

Time for some hard work

Well finally there were no excuses anymore, it was time for some hard work. No rain  - check, no compulsory days of celebration and festivities- check. No new natural disasters - check.

We have had the small issue of about 40 square metres of overgrown garden bed that we decided should be dug out to increase the usable space of our yard. We have been trying to get to it for 6 months but some other issue has always come up- mainly the almost constant rain and resultant mud.

We have also had the added stress of my mother ( who is known for spontaneous rants on all sorts of topics) proclaiming that the feng shui of all that dirt in the north east corner was a big problem ( can't remember what kind of problem) and that it must be dug out before mid February or we would have to leave it there until next year....... WHAT THE?

So we decided it would be much easier to just remove all the dirt rather than debate the details of this statement any further. This is what we were dealing with

Behind the tyre swing is a prairie of weeds interspersed with a few scrappy Deites, Rhoeos and a solitary Yucca atop about 20 cm of elevated dirt bordered by broken pieces of concrete. We need to level it out to fit our trampoline which has been currently living on top of the sandpit rendering it completely inaccessible.

So we got into it early and the girls were right by our sides helping, well maybe less helping more general involvement . I have come to the conclusion that chickens either have no peripheral vision or very small brains as  a mattock swinging millimetres from their heads does not deter them at all. Several times I was close to decapitating them both and or turning them into uni toed chickens.

See how close the mattock tip is to Dora's head and all she is thinking is "where's the wormy, I know if I just scratch and peck a little more.....ooooh beetles, there would have to be beetles...." By the way I do actually have a head and face under that hair, just happened to have pigtails today which has rendered me a very fluffy cousin IT.

Well it was a veritable feast in there- worms galore, beetles and a lizard that both girls fought over like the last handbag at a Myer Stocktake sale- they got half each in the end! I did have to keep pausing to ensure no accidental decapitations and I got the distinct feeling that the girls thought Legoman and I were just out there working to procure them lunch and there was no higher agenda than that.

Dora ate so much she them promptly collapsed on the lawn for a lie down. Sooty, if she had those same urges simply chose to eat through it.

Finally late afternoon it was down tools and over to the neighbours for a swim. We had levelled about 1/3 and almost made enough room to move the trampoline. Now all I need to do is not focus on exactly what the girls ate today and how it will end up in their eggs tomorrow.

The girls come for a sleepover and decide to stay

Remember a few posts back when I showed you that drawing of us living in the house- the one drawn before we even moved in? Well if you look carefully in the top right corner of the picture you will see 2 chickens.
Well they jumped out of the drawing and sought us out, initially  in the form of a chook-sitting opportunity.
We had talked about chickens for years but thought we should get the yard a bit more organized first. Well the girls had other ideas.

Only a few weeks after we moved in with Betsy some of my husbands work colleagues said they were going away for a months holiday and would we look after their girls for them. We thought what a great way to try before you buy and that weekend the girls were delivered complete with mobile coop, bags of seeds and treats, water dispenser and egg collection box.

They stayed and had a wonderful holiday for 6 weeks and then the owners came to take them away. They mentioned that they had dismantled their bigger coop and just bought a new puppy. The girls did not want to leave and hid under our house for an hour before being captured and packed away. Gardening wasn't the same without them - we would constantly dig up tasty beetles and worms only to remember that there was noone to share them with.
Then 2 weeks later we got the call and an offer to keep the girls and the coop for a small sum to compensate for the sale of the coop. We didn't hesitate and the girls just came home to us last weekend.

We seem to attract second hand pets who are prenamed so say hello to Sooty and Dora. Sooty is meek and mild and generally quite agreeable. Dora is like her namesake and is a complete explorer who frequently flaps over the fence into our neighbours yard to seek tastier treats or torment their dog. She is also much more assertive and has wandered into the house on several occasions to scoff down the cat's biscuits.

They are extremely good company and we let them wander around our garden digging and scratching and pecking to their hearts content. They  love nothing more than assisting in a little weeding and preparing of garden beds,

Followed by a feast in the compost bin and rounded off by a generous squeezy how long can a chicken hold it's breath kind of cuddle. They produce an egg each every day with yolks so yellow they are like a drop of pure sunshine.

The most wonderful and most surprising thing is that they actually talk. They are so happy to see us ( and our puffed rice and corn cobs) that they will run up tooking and clucking away in a very conversational manner ie I chat to them, they wait their turn and then answer me back. I am hoping they will teach this conversational style to Roboboy who is unable to answer any direct questions eg"  what did you do at school today "and interrupts with his agenda constantly " mama I've built you a cleaning machine with 27 attachments and here is a blow by blow description of how they all work......"

The chicken cuddle photo above also showcases Betsy's grubby blueness with equally grubby cream trim. Betsy and I have been experimenting with some alternate frock colours- more on that soon. And the giant yellow plastic thingy is a pig with a lid that followed us home from a kerbside cleanup and  is super for hiding little sisters in while mum panics that she has wandered off down the road.

Crepe myrtle delight

Roboboy and I ventured outside today armed with ladder and secateurs as all our gorgeous crepe myrtle trees are flowering. They remind me of a musk stick crossed with fairy floss. We left a little trail of tiny pink balls all over the garden and the butterflies just kept coming.
Lots of gorgeous velvety black winged creatures with dashes of white or electric blue, often in pairs, exploring Betsy's garden of floral delights. Too fleeting to photgraph of course.

Today we were recovering from a wonderful Australia Day all day marathon event. Our old street around the corner hosted a party for all those in the surrounding three streets who were flood affected and those who helped them clean up. 130 people showed up- the street was closed off and an army of children rallied with bikes and scooters to make the most of a car free slope. There was a jumping castle for the littlies and endless supply of cold drinks, watermelon, snags and lamb chops (of course). The sun was hot, the air was still and toddlers armed with spray bottles provided cooling relief. Neighbours who had barely seen each other before swapped stories about gumboots, generators, salvaged possessions and strangers who became helpers and friends over a few short days. It was sensational and hopefully will become an annual tradition.

We then staggered over to our good friends in the next suburb who had provided much needed power to us during our 4 day blackout. As they had come through the floods unscathed but had also witnessed close friends in need they had also decided to host an afternoon celebration. Another jumping castle ( with slide this time) lamingtons, hotdogs, pavlova and many happy small children with many relaxed parents made for an awesome afternoon.

The highlight was the arrival of our good mates whose brand new house had flooded through the entire lower level - the one that we had all helped clean two weekends ago. Despite being displaced to the far northern suburbs of Brisbane to stay with family and no insurance assessment completed yet they were in great spirits and came dressed to celebrate in a very Aussie way.

There is nothing like the aftermath of a natural disaster to bring out the Aussie elite athlete in those of us who are on the wrong side of being able to wear lycra. We love you guys and wish you a speedy return to your dream house. In the meantime hold onto the positives- your kids and most precious possessions were saved and you really didn't want that pool table anyway.

So now we are in the midst of a real Brisbane summer - hot and muggy with the blue skies so clear they make Betsy really look like she needs a good scrub. Life for many of us feels the most normal it has in months, those old predictable hot sunny days the reassurance we needed. But all you have to do is drive around the corner and there are rows of houses that are too quiet, the hedges are dry and brown and a smell of something dank still lurks and it is a reminder that for many people things will not be right for a long time.

There is one amazing positive in all this though- an amazing show of community solidarity, genuine concern for neighbours who were once strangers now friends. Let's hang onto it as long as we can and hope our children get a lifetime of benefit.

How to accessorize your cat

In the wee hours of the morning I was awakened out of a stupor with Roboboy holding up our cat to share with me how they had been spending the first 30 unsupervised minutes of the day. Who said that men had no awareness of how to bring out a girl's best with accessories? Surprisingly our cat was not looking grateful for this mini  earring makeover- I suspect that she knows that  the pink/taupe combination is SO last season.

Our wonderful burmese Bella has an acute awareness of seasonal home decorating fickleness as she was given away when she was no longer required to match the home decor. She had been purchased by someone who had never even owned cats or even liked them that much but who thought she really looked good as a feature pet in their coffee hued balinese furniture inspired unit. ( incidentally she could definitely have been  cover shot material for Home Beautiful magazine- they did have a phase of photogenic pets on their cover)

We were happy to adopt her ( unoriginal name and all) and she has been eternally grateful and incredibly affectionate ever since. She did subsequently sway a lounge purchase in the direction of a taupe colour that matches her incredibly well and really brings out her chocolate highlights.

She and Roboboy go way back to days of being best mates because he had the cleanest bedding in the house. Actually even before that, when I was heavily pregnant she knew, and she would lie on my tummy and purr him a lullaby.

 She is a total princess and will not lie on any surface sullied by her fur or dirt and will seek out the clean washing or the freshest set of sheets to bed down. She tolerates being carried around the house with legs dangling, dressed in clothes, bandaged by the " vet" and transported in wheelbarrows. She is part of our family and Roboboy is adamant that she smiles at him. I have watched her closely and she does seem to either be asleep, look huffy or have a Mona Lisa type expression if you are saying nice things about her.

I'll tell you about our other cat who emancipated himself from us another day.......

Crochet 101 here I come

Isn't this a delightful work of art that seems too good to be destined for a life of pins? My gorgeous friend Trace from  here  made it for me as she knows how much I admire her creations and that I am on a path to be more creative this year.

So I am extremely proud to announce that I have in fact made an actual committment to being more crafty and have enrolled in a Beginners crochet class starting in a few weeks at this wonderful place . It will be my birthday around then so Legoman looking after the kids for three Saturday afternoons in a row while I get to be frivolous and crafty will be the best present a girl could ask for.

My other source of inspiration is this beautiful cardi made by the endlessly talented Kate from here and my dream is to learn enough to be able to make one of these for Liongirl. Hopefully I'm not being overambitious.
I must mention that I'm very excited to have worked out not only how to add a link but also a photo during this one post!  Apologies Kate if this is not the right way to showcase someone elses work/inspiration - is there meant to be text underneath the photo as well?

So now the pressure is on to actually produce some work of my own and follow through on my plans. I kind of like having this sense of responsibility to the blogging world to come up with the goods so to speak. Otherwise I am sure I would just float around dealing with domestic hazards of the day and have nothing to show for it for another year.......